Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Screenplay by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore; story by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore; based on the TV series created by Gene Roddenberry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeGMHbK4NlA LILY: You son of a bitch. PICARD: This really isn't the time. LILY: Okay. I don't know jack about the twenty-fourth century but everybody out there thinks that staying here and fighting the Borg is suicide. They're just afraid to come in here and say it. PICARD: The crew is accustomed to following my orders. LILY: They're probably accustomed to your orders making sense. PICARD: None of them understand the Borg as I do. No one does. No one can. LILY: What is that supposed to mean? PICARD: Six years ago, they assimilated me into their collective. I had their cybernetic devices implanted throughout my body. I was linked to the hive mind, every trace of individuality erased. I was one of them. So you can imagine, my dear, I have a somewhat unique perspective on the Borg and I know how to fight them. Now if you will excuse me I have work to do. LILY: I am such an idiot. It's so simple. The Borg hurt you, and now you're going to hurt them back. PICARD: In my century we don't succumb to revenge. We have a more evolved sensibility. LILY: Bullshit! I saw the look on your face when you shot those Borg on the holodeck. You were almost enjoying it! PICARD: How dare you! LILY: Oh, come on, Captain. You're not the first man to get a thrill from murdering someone. I see it all the time. PICARD: Get out! LILY: Or what? You'll kill me, like you killed Ensign Lynch? PICARD: There was no way to save him. LILY: You didn't even try! Where was your evolved sensibility then? PICARD: I don't have time for this. LILY: Oh! Hey! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt your little quest. Captain Ahab has to go hunt his whale. PICARD: What? LILY: You do have books in the twenty-fourth century? PICARD: This is not about revenge. LILY: Liar! PICARD: This is about saving the future of humanity! LILY: Jean-Luc, blow up the damn ship! PICARD: No! NO! (Picard breaks the display case with a phaser rifle) PICARD: I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We've made too many compromises already. Too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds, and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here. This far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done. LILY: You broke your little ships. See you around, Ahab. PICARD: "And he piled upon the whale's white hump, a sum of all the rage and hate felt by his own race. If his chest had been a cannon, he would have shot his heart upon it." LILY: What? PICARD: Moby Dick. LILY: Actually, I never read it. PICARD: Ahab spent years hunting the white whale that crippled him. A quest for vengeance, but in the end it destroyed him and his ship. LILY: I guess he didn't know when to quit. (Picard returns to the bridge.) PICARD: Prepare to evacuate the Enterprise. DIALOGUE ON DIALOGUE: Star Trek (the various TV and movie series) had a long history of making references to literature. This scene also makes reference to the television show's third season concluding cliffhanger episode "The Best of Both Worlds" in which Picard was assimilated by the Borg and used to fight against the Federation. Picard's emotional wounds have not yet healed, and Lily points this out using Moby Dick's Captain Ahab as the metaphor for how she sees Picard succumbing to his inner resentment, an observation Picard isn't ready to admit.

Wreck-It Ralph (2012) Screenplay by Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee; story by Rich Moore, Phil Johnston and Jim Reardon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUh_M3KBk2A MARY: ...and lemon for Lucy. Rum cake for Gene. And for Felix--- RALPH: Hey, Mary, umm, what...what's the flavor of that mud that I'm stuck in there. MARY: Hm? Oh, uh, chocolate. RALPH: Never been real fond of chocolate. MARY: Well, I did not know that. RALPH: One other little thing, I hate to be picky but you know this angry little guy here might be a lot happier if you put him up here with everyone else. See that? Look at that smile! GENE: No, no, no. You see Ralph, there's no room for you up here. RALPH: Well, what about this: we can make room. Here, we can take turns. Easy! FELIX: How about we just eat the cake? GENE: Hang on! Felix needs to be on the roof because he's about to get his medal. RALPH: Well, then how about we just take that medal and give it to Ralph for once. Would that be the end of the world, Gene? GENE: Now you're just being ridiculous! Only good guys win medals and you, sir, are no good guy! RALPH: I could be a good guy if I wanted to, and I could win a medal. GENE: Uh-huh. And when you do, come and talk to us. RALPH: And then would you finally let me be on top of the cake with you guys? GENE: If you won a medal, we'd let you live up here in the Penthouse! But it will never happen, because you're just the bad guy who wrecks the building. RALPH: No, I'm not. GENE: Yes, you are. RALPH: No, I'm NOT! (Ralph pounds the table, squashing the cake and spraying it over the crowd.) GENE: Yes, you are. RALPH: Alright, Gene, you know what? I'm gonna win a medal. Oh, I am gonna win a medal. The shiniest medal this place has ever seen. A medal that will be so good that it will make Felix's medals wet their pants! And good night. Thank you for the party. NICELANDER: Is he serious? GENE: Oh please, where is a bad guy gonna win a medal? DIALOGUE ON DIALOGUE: Ralph is a character who feels limited by his role in the game. He's always the bad guy who never wins the medal, or the praise or acceptance of the other game characters. It all comes to a head when they throw a party to celebrate the game's 30th anniversary and don't invite Ralph. This scene is the inciting incident. Ralph decides to get a medal because he thinks that the medal bestows respect and admiration, two things he desperately wants. And that motivation will send him on a long journey, eventually to return having learned an important lesson.

Thanks, Will, great suggestions as usual! As always, I appreciate your continued support of the Daily Dialogue series!

Shame - Directed by Steve McQueen, Written by Steve McQueen and Abi Morgan “Brandon & Sissy’s Heated Argument” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE2NuKD-U4g] INT. LIVING ROOM - APARTMENT – NIGHT BRANDON is sitting on the couch, watching a cartoon. SISSY enters the apartment, on her cell phone. BRANDON ignores her. SISSY: David? Pick up. I take it you're at your pottery class. SISSY: Have you eaten? BRANDON: No. SISSY: Are you hungry? BRANDON: No. (SISSY sits down next to BRANDON on the couch.) SISSY: Can you just give me a hug? (BRANDON puts him arm around her. She snuggles up to him.) BRANDON: He's not gonna screw you again. (SISSY sighs.) BRANDON: You left him a message, didn't you? You can't help yourself. It's disgusting. SISSY: Why are you so fucking angry? BRANDON: Why am I so fucking angry? That's my boss. You sleep with him after twenty minutes and now you're calling him up? What's the matter with you? You know he's got a family, right? You know he's got a family? SISSY: No. BRANDON: You didn't see the wedding ring on his finger? SISSY: No. BRANDON: You're a liar. SISSY: I'm sorry. BRANDON: You're always sorry. SISSY: At least-- BRANDON: That's all you ever fucking say! SISSY: Well, at least I say I'm sorry. BRANDON: Try doing something. Actions count, not words. SISSY: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I fucked up. I'm not perfect, I make mistakes. But I'm trying. BRANDON: Some people fuck up all the time. (BRANDON removes his arm from around SISSY.) BRANDON: Look, just forget it. This isn't working out. Obviously. You need to find somewhere else to live. SISSY: I don't have anywhere else to go. (Silence.) SISSY: This isn't about him. I make you angry all the time and I don't know why. BRANDON: No. You trap me. You force me into a corner and you trap me. "I've got nowhere else to go." I mean, what sort of fucking shit is that? SISSY: You're my brother. BRANDON: So what? I'm responsible for you? SISSY: Yes! BRANDON: No I'm not! SISSY: Yes, you fucking are! BRANDON: No, I didn't give birth to you. I didn't bring you into this world. SISSY: You're my brother, I'm your sister. We're family. We're meant to look after each other. BRANDON: You're not looking after me. SISSY: I'm-- BRANDON: I'm looking after myself. SISSY: I'm trying. I’m trying to help you! BRANDON: How are you helping me? Huh? How are you helping me? (BRANDON grips SISSY's face in his hand.) BRANDON: How are you helping me? Huh? Look at me. How are you helping me? You come in here, and you're a weight on me. Do you understand me? You're a burden. You're just fucking dragging me down. How are you helping me? You can't even clean up after yourself. Stop playing the victim. SISSY: I'm not playing the fucking victim. If I left, I would never hear from you again. Don't you think that's sad? Don't you think that's sad? You're my brother. (BRANDON pulls his hand away from SISSY.) BRANDON: Why is it always so dramatic with you? Everything is always the end of the world. SISSY: It's not fucking dramatic. I'm trying to talk to you! BRANDON: I don't wanna talk. Try not talking. Try just listening, or thinking for a change. SISSY: Yeah, cause that's working great for you. You're completely fine. BRANDON: Well, I've got my own fucking apartment. SISSY: Oh, whopee-fucking-shit. You have your own apartment, that's amazing. Your job and an apartment, I should be in awe of you. BRANDON: Well, at least I'm responsible for it. At least I don't depend on people all the time. You're a dependency, you're a parasite. SISSY: You don't have anybody. You don't have anybody. You have me and your fucking pervert boss. BRANDON: You slept with that fucking pervert boss. What does that make you? SISSY: Don't talk to me about sex-life, Brandon. Not from you. BRANDON: Whatever. (BRANDON makes his way to the closet, taking his coat.) BRANDON: I'm going out. SISSY: Right. And then you'll just come back and we'll just have this same fucking conversation again. BRANDON: No, you'll move out. SISSY: And then I'll never hear from you again? (BRANDON exits the apartment.) Dialogue on Dialogue: An argument without all the yelling… The facts that this scene runs long makes for a very interesting watch.

Thank you.