Original subtitles

The whole world is watching and waiting.

Watching Bacchus, the largest rocket ever built

as she plunges through space carrying the hopes of the whole world with her.

Object Z is now about 200,000 miles away.

And unless we can score a direct hit with Bacchus...

- Here. - This horror from outer space

- six miles across... - Come on, it'll bring you round.

Will strike the Earth in nine days' time.

What time do you make it?

Seven o'clock. Haven't you been to bed yet?

No, I stayed up to watch that.

- You look awful. - I feel awful.

There's some interesting news about Keeler.

They say he's hiding out in the Scottish Highlands with a gang of his bully boys.

Says he will return "when his country needs him".

Until then he'll bide his time.

Well, you'd better get a move on, I suppose.

- Where to? - Haven't you heard?

The government's moving to emergency headquarters in Dunstable.

You better get down there with Peter. We'll have to cover all this.

If there's anything left to cover after the big bang.

- What about you? - I've decided to stay here.

- But you can't possibly... - Don't argue, Diana.

I have made up my mind.

- Any news, Ian? - No, John.

They're phoning here as soon as it comes through.

Hm. How's the shelter position now?

There should be room for about 10 million people.

The rest will just have to take their chances.

Of course, we may never need it, you know.

No, possibly not.

Cabinet?

Yes, this is Murray.

Yes, he is. Just a minute.

It's for you, John.

Chandos speaking.

Yes. Ahem...

Yes, yes.

Oh.

Very well then, I'll say that.

Yes, goodbye.

That was Ramsay.

Bacchus has failed completely.

Object Z is still approaching us at high speed.

I had, as you can imagine

wished very much that I could bring you good news tonight.

Unfortunately, though a direct hit was scored with Bacchus

no impression was made.

And I have to tell you that Object Z is approaching the Earth

on the same course as before

and at the same speed.

As you know

there is not enough time to prepare and fire another rocket

even if we could be sure that such a rocket could have any effect.

And there is nothing we can do but await the impact

with courage and calmness

as I know you will.

Switch the radio off, Diana.

- Penny for them. - Hm?

Oh, I was just having a good look at London.

Strange to think that in a short while it may not exist.

I'm glad we're getting out of it.

I wish I could have persuaded Brian to come with us.

Yeah.

I don't think the next few days here are going to be much fun.

Isn't going to be fun anywhere.

No, I don't suppose it is.

I don't understand it.

We scored a direct hit with a 1,000-megaton bomb

and we didn't even dent it.

Even if it's made of nickel iron...

- How do you know it is? - It's got to be.

- If it was stony, it'd be shattered to bits. - How do you know it's stony?

It's got to be either stony or nickel iron, these things always are.

But nothing like this has ever been seen before.

How hot is it?

It's pretty hot after that explosion.

I make it about 6,400 degrees.

Well, I better get to work with my spectroscope while it's still bright.

Be worth finding out what it's made of, wouldn't it?

Yes. Yes, it would.

I'll get on to Harvard and check with them.

There just won't be time to get 25 million people to high ground

unless we start now.

Then we must start now. That's all there is to it.

I think it's better to let people take their chance.

There's barely a 50/50 chance of our surviving anyway.

Why drive people from their homes?

Why frighten them? It's better to leave them alone.

If moving them gives them a better chance of survival

then of course we must move them.

Come in.

Ah, Ramsay. What's the latest?

The speed is increasing.

Object Z is now entering our gravitational field.

- So the speed will go on increasing? - Yes.

At present, it's about six miles a second. By tomorrow, it might be nine.

I'm afraid we haven't got six days as we expected.

In fact, it's barely four.

Only four days?

The speed of a head-on impact will be at about 15 miles a second.

This is much higher than we thought.

Of course, the effect will be much greater.

I can see that.

We think we can tell you now where it's most likely to fall.

Show us on the map.

According to our calculations

it will fall in the Atlantic, about sixteen hundred miles west of here.

Twelve hours before impact

we might be able to give you the point within 200 miles.

Suppose it falls here.

Then it will destroy New York and most of New England.

Complete destruction will extend north to Canada

west to the Alleghenies and south to Florida.

And here?

Then I'm afraid we shall be completely destroyed.

There will be severe shock and flooding

from Norway to Morocco

and east, as far as the Elbe.

We must speed up the evacuation. Start it tonight.

We must get the people out of London within three days.

Get 14 million people out of London in three days?

- It can't be done. - We must try!

It's about time we made a move, John.

The emergency headquarters at Dunstable are ready whenever you want to move in.

Dunstable?

Well, at least we shall be safe from flooding there.

I wonder if we shall ever see London again.

This must be the vastest movement of population

in the history of man.

In World War II, about two and a half million people left London.

This time, about three times as many have left the capital

and in about one tenth of the time.

As a feat of organisation, it is magnificent.

Police troops and transport workers have been toiling

12, 15, 20 hours at a stretch during the past few days

coping with the incredible numbers of people

that must be got out of London if they are to survive.

And these scenes are being repeated at this moment

in countries all over the world.

I have seen no panic.

But these people, however bravely they may hide it

are in the grip of fear.

When they arrive at their destination

they must descend into the shelters prepared for them

and there await the impact of Object Z.

As you see, we have less than three hours to go.

Object Z is barely 120,000 miles away

and it may be possible soon to give the exact point of impact.

But, at present, we can say no more

than that it will strike within a circle

east of Florida, and north of the Azores.

The evacuation of low-lying regions have gone well.

As you can well imagine

the task of moving so many millions of people

in such a short time was immense.

This map shows an up-to-the-minute progress of the evacuation.

As you can see, we are using the normal plotting techniques.

Fortunately, in view of the possibility of severe flooding

the government have built most of the shelters on high ground.

The rest have been fitted with flood proof steel doors

and enough oxygen for 48 hours.

The scientists have assured us that this will give us an ample margin

and that the floods, severe as they are likely to be

will have receded within six to ten hours.

- May I ask a question? - Er, yes?

These shelters, are they gonna be any good?

Well, they will improve the people's chances immensely.

The main damage is expected from the shock and blast

and the home shelters are proof against that.

Yes, but hasn't the public tumbled to what we all know?

That the shelters are virtually useless

they might as well take their chance up on the surface?

- That we're all doomed? - That's absolutely untrue.

We're not all doomed.

Ahem.

I'd better put a few facts straight before we begin.

Now, it's quite true that the home shelters will not be any good.

I've known that for several weeks.

But what would you have me do?

Leave people without shelter at all?

Or worse still, leave them without even the hope of survival?

Why do you think those who went into the deep shelters were chosen by lot?

Because it was the only fair way to do such a thing.

It isn't easy to condemn 30 million people to death.

I'm.

I'm sorry, sir. I don't think any of us appreciated your position.

Well, I hope you do now.

May I ask a personal question?

Certainly.

When the drawing of lots for the shelters was done

were there any exceptions?

- None whatever. - Not even to members of the government?

Not even to them.

Well, none of us were lucky.

- May I ask... - I think I know what you're going to say

and the answer is yes.

I was present at the drawing of lots.

I'm afraid I wasn't one of the lucky ones either.

What time is it, Peter?

Hm?

Six minutes to go.

Are you frightened?

Yes.

I suppose it'll be very quick when it comes.

Very.

We won't know what hit us.

- Oh, hello, Doctor. - Hello.

Well, I suppose everyone must be down in their shelters by now.

Yes, I expect so.

The lucky one in ten.

Well, at least we know where we are now.

Four minutes.

Now, you mustn't be frightened.

Life will go on.

Not ours, but others.

I find it helpful to think that some part of humanity will survive.

It would be too bad to think of everyone perishing.

That would be death indeed.

Do you think the world will ever recover from this?

Oh, yes. Quite a few people will survive

on the other side of the world.

They'll have to start again, of course.

But that's been done before.

Civilisation has fallen in ruins before.

Ruins so complete that even the memory of it has been lost.

But man has survived.

Civilisation has survived.

We must try and think of that.

One minute to impact.

Looks as though I won't be able to finish this after all. Pity.

I found it rather helpful.

What is it?

Socrates.

He wrote 2,500 years ago, but what he says remains true.

Look.

He said...

"Why should we fear death?"

It distresses us not when it is present.

For when we are here, death is not.

"And when death is here, we are not."

About fifty seconds to go.

Hello?

Yes, this is Ramsay speaking.

What?

Yes, I will.

Thank you.

That was Rickover in America.

Object Z has gone into orbit.

It will not strike the Earth.

And that you are all safely back in your homes

and the terrible danger which threatened us all

has passed us by.

I need hardly say how thankful we all are

at such a miraculous reprieve.

Object Z, as you know, is now orbiting the Earth

at a height of sixteen hundred miles

and going round it at the amazing speed

of nearly ten revolutions daily.

Why this has happened, we do not know.

Even the scientists are completely baffled.

Baffled as to why an object approaching directly towards the Earth

should suddenly change course...

- Hello, Brian. - Give me that file on McHenry.

- Charming. - Where have you been the last two days?

Having a holiday?

Very funny.

Come on, we've got a programme to get out.

What do you think we've been doing for the last two days?

Don't you watch your own programmes?

Well, you've taken a long enough time to get back.

It doesn't usually take people ten hours to drive from Dunstable to London.

Well, what do you expect with everybody trying to get home?

Diana, get me that address book!

Home, sweet home.

Well, what's the next step?

Well, the first thing is to set up a programme with Ramsay.

He's with the Cabinet at the moment.

They're having a press conference in an hour's time.

See if you can get him to agree to do a programme

or an interview about Object Z being in orbit.

That won't be easy. He's still under pressure from security.

Ah.

I wonder if my friend Captain Wade can help us there.

You know, I have a feeling he knows a lot more than he says.

There's one thing I don't understand about all this.

What's that?

Well, I'm not a scientist, so I don't know.

But how can a vast object

stop suddenly, as if it's hit a brick wall

and then go into orbit?

I wish I knew.

Such a thing is against all the laws of science as we know them.

Object Z is now orbiting the Earth at a speed of 15,000 miles an hour.

It might break up.

- Break up? - Yes, into millions of fragments.

Each one weighing anything from several tonnes

to ten or twenty thousand tonnes.

Twenty thousand tonnes?

If this object breaks up, how much warning of it shall we have?

Several days, I hope.

Any slowing down will be a sign that breakup was imminent.

So there would be ample time to get the people into the shelters.

Yes, but they'd be quite useless against a direct hit.

They would be useful against blast.

Yes.

Now, look here, I told you we were not to be disturbed.

Challis?

It's a Miss Challis and a Mr Duncan, John.

They've just arrived from the observatory.

- What are they doing here? - They have some new information.

Apparently they can't talk about it on the telephone.

Have them sent in.

Send them in, will you?

Yes, right away.

Who are they, Ramsay?

Challis is an expert on spectroscopy.

Duncan's up at Abernethy.

They've been working on the composition of Object Z

so far, I'm afraid, with very little success.

Thank you.

- Thank you. - Good afternoon.

Dr Ramsay, of course you know. This is Ian Murray.

How do you do?

Erm, we have some information.

I think you'd better address yourself to the Prime Minister.

I'm sorry.

Well, we've been working on the composition of Object Z.

It's very difficult.

The... the temperature and...

- Go on. - Well, as you know

we've assumed that Object Z was composed of nickel iron or stone.

Well, it isn't, sir.

It's made of sodium vapour.

Sodium? Are you sure?

Mm. We've been in touch with the Americans and the Russians

and their findings tally with ours.

And what's more, it's got a metallic centre

probably not more than a few hundred feet across.

Well, what has sodium vapour got to do with it?

When a space vehicle is put into orbit

it's quite usual to equip it with a device

which releases a cloud of sodium vapour at the correct distance from Earth.

A cloud of ten or twelve miles across can be formed.

It... It helps us to track the vehicle's course.

Track the vehicle?

Are you trying to tell us that Object Z is...

Artificial.

And it is not from our world.

- Come on, Peter, ten seconds. - Alright.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Good evening.

I've just returned from a press conference in Downing Street

with the latest news of Object Z.

For four weeks now, we've all been living in fear

as Object Z, until recently thought to be a minor planet

plunged remorselessly towards us.

Now, moments before impact

moments before the destruction of the Earth seemed absolutely certain

it has altered course and gone into orbit.

The vision of centuries, the nightmare of science fiction

an invasion from outer space, has come true.

For Object Z is no planet.

It is an artificial body of enormous size

and it is, we must assume

manned by intelligent beings from some other world.

We call them the Invaders.

Who are they? What are they like?

Are they anything like us?

Or are they so unimaginably strange

that our worst nightmares can give us no conception of them?

Where do they come from?

What do they want?

Do they come as friends or as enemies? Can we contact them?

We do not know.