ìNights Introî/ìThe End of You Tooî

Metronomy

Animated Short / Music Video

Heston, the cosmonaut chimpanzee, awakens on the eve of his first outer orbit NASA space mission. Riddled with anxiety and fear, he leaves his sleeping wife, Lydia, undisturbed and in curlers. Walking down the hall, Heston opens a door to find his son Julius, sleeping under a windowsill, filled with an ominous and luminescent moon. A lively lizard sits in a tank aside the bed, staring at Heston. Snuggled in Juliusí arms is an Apollo 11 space ship miniature. Heston sits on the bed, combing back his sonís hair. He gently lifts the model ship out of Juliusís grasp, and examines it in the moonlight, feeling the crevices and detail of the fine workmanship. He looks to the white enveloping heavenly body in the sky. The bedroom door opens; Lydiaís silhouette pours into the room. Heston places the rocket in its original place, and approaches Lydia. They embrace.

Morning. A launch platform sits empty. Heston is being prepared by scientists and staff for launch. A crowd of on lookers is gathered in the distance, waiting in anticipation. In attendance is Julius and Lydia. Heston walks to the platform. Servicemen drum a marching beat. A rocket ship is towed to the platform. Heston is saluted by the men, and fitted in his space craft. Meanwhile, the control room gets ready for launch. Heston is shot into orbit accompanied by other test animals, one of which is Juliusí lizard. A blipping dot reaches farther out of the gravitational pull of the Earth, as seen on displays within the control room. The test animals explode under the pressure, leaving only Juliusí lizard alive. Heston dials different controls, and presses buttons, stabilizing the ship. He flies through empty space to the moon. Propulsion rockets push Heston closer to his destination. One of the rockets burst, sending Hestonís ship off course, past the moon. Heston attempts to put the ship back on track, but is pulled into a black hole.

Colors, space oddities, and mysteries of the universe are discovered and experienced in this worm hole. The blipping dot vanishes from the control room display. Heston is emerged into a flashback of his capture and training. He is transformed by the black hole into a man. The lizard grows monstrously, breaking out of its containment; it pursues Heston around the cabin. Heston opens the airlock, clinging to the sides of the ship. The lizard follows emphatically, salivating, seeming alien like. No longer having the agility of a primate, Heston struggles to get away. The lizard tears into the side of the ship. Re-entering the cabin, Heston locks the lizard outside. He navigates his way out of the black hole, reappearing from where he entered.

The lizard continues to tear at the ship. The blipping dot pops back up on the control room monitor. Computer nerds of the 60ís astro age scramble to make contact with Heston. No answer. Heston stares at the picture of his wife and son on his dash board; Earth, big and blue, enters the windshield of his ship. Down below, Lydiaís eyes are shrink-wrapped in tears, looking towards the sky. Julius is in her arms, with the model in his hands. Heston presses the controls forward. The lizard makes its way to the front of the ship. The twoís eyes meet; the lizardís tongue slobbers; it claws at the glass. Heston dips the ship toward the Earth. They enter orbit as the windshield begins to crack. The nose cone of the ship gets red hot. Reptile and chimp feel the gravity. The blipping dot increases itís decent downward. The lizard burns up in re-entry. Flashing red lights alert Heston that the ship is losing integrity. The craft spirals furiously down towards Earth. The landscape rushes toward the breaking glass. The smoking ship can be seen by Hestonís family and the crowd. The blip hits the bottom of the screen. From an aerial view, a smoldering pile can be seen in the terrain, shaped in the likeness of a chimp.