Daily Dialogue — December 1, 2016

GRAWL: Thought you could take over our world? Your kind knows no decency.

BAKER: You mean chick magnets?

GRAWL: No, aliens. Tell us your invasion plans. And don’t bother taking over my mind. If you do, Captain Kizno has orders to shoot me. If you take over Captain Kizno’s mind, Lieutenant Groit has orders to shoot him. If you take over Lieutenant Groit’s mind, Sergeant York will shoot Captain Kizno, Lieutenant Groit and myself, along with these three soldiers. Each man has a designated target in the squad. Should you succeed in taking over all of our minds, Corporal Hisk has orders to electrocute everyone. If this fails, the entire base is rigged to blow at the touch of a button.

YORK: Uh, General, sir, am I supposed to shoot Hecknavar or Kolski?

SOLDIER #1: I shoot Kolski.

GRAWL: No, you shoot Meckavoy.

SOLDIER #1: Well, then who shoots Kolski?

KOLSKI: I can shoot myself.

GRAWL: That won’t be necessary. Hecknavar, you shoot Kolski, Captain Kisno and graze Corporal Hisk.

KECKNAVAR: Yes, sir.

GRAWL: Not yet!

SOLDIER #2: Drop your weapon.

SOLDIER #3: You.

SOLDIER #4: No, you first.

SOLDIER #5: You’re mine, Hacknavar!

GROIT: I’m not taking my eyes off Kisno.

SOLDIER #6: Drop it, Dirt-bag!

GRAWL: Hold your fire! Hold your fire! Captain Kizno, get everyone out of here.

BAKER: Ah, you’re not thinking all this is my fault, right?

— Planet 51 (2009), written by Joe Stillman, original idea by Javier Abad, Jorge Blanco, Marcos Martínez, and Ignacio Pérez Dolset

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Alien Invasion, suggested by Michael Waters. Today’s suggestion by Will King.

Trivia: Dwayne Johnson initially turned down the main role, feeling he had no business being in an animated film since he wasn’t a voice actor. Eventually, he was cast the movie after he read the script and enjoyed some of the jokes.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Will: “The reverse alien invasion (humans invading other worlds) trope gets played up in Planet 51, along with the usual military paranoia. General Grawl’s excessive contingency over-planning makes for confusion not only for the audience, but for his troops as well. It’s an effective comedy tool to demonstrate Grawl’s excessive state of panic.”