WarGames

Beat Sheet by: Bryan Ierardi

Act 1

Opening Image: An ICBM silo crew gets launch orders. One of the crewman refuses to launch.

Theme Stated: "I think we ought to take the men (humans) out of the loop."

Setup: John McKittrick (Dabney Coleman) enters a meeting with the US President's Chief of Staff and the head of NORAD. "Are you sure the silo commanders didn't know this was a test? What do I tell the president?" McKittrick briefs them on the WOPR, the War Operations Planned Response computer. Enter David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) who is late to his high school class because of a Galaga video game. He tells a joke ("saves the cat") that earns the admiration of Jennifer Mack (Ally Sheedy). After class, she picks him up on her scooter and they go to his house. The parents are at work. David logs into the school computer and changes Jennifer's grades. She gets upset and leaves. The silo crew packs up and leaves as a technician installs computer controls to replace them.

Catalyst: While eating dinner with his parents, David sees an ad for a gaming company in a computer magazine. Back in his room he starts his computer "wardialing", autonomously testing sequential lists of telephone numbers looking for the gaming company's modem lines to "hack" into. The next day, Jennifer sees him at the arcade and asks if he can go ahead with changing her grade to an 'A'. They go back to his room at home and David explains the

Debate and Decision: Do they go into the rabbit hole? Of course. They start a game. NORAD goes on alert.

Act 2-A

Break Into Two: David arrives home. His parents congratulate him on his good grades. The TV news announces the emergency at NORAD. Jennifer calls. "Do you see the news?!" David responds, "What am I going to do?"

Start B-Story: "Joshua" calls back. David is picked up by the authorities and driven to NORAD.

Fun And Games: David gets a brief tour of the NORAD command center and is shown the WOPR. "Joshua," David mutters. While in McKittrick's office, McKittrick gets called away, leaving David alone, who logs into a terminal. Joshua reveals Dr. Falken's current address. David is locked up in a room. He "hacks" into the security panel. The "fun and games" is David eluding and escaping from his captors.

MidPoint: "You don't even believe me!" "I believe you," Jennifer reassures him.

Act 2-B

Bad Guys Close In: Jennifer and David meet up with Dr. Falken. He tells them to leave. "I came because of Joshua." Back at NORAD, Joshua restarts the attack simulation. NORAD elevates the threat level to DEFCON 2.

Losing Hope: Accepting that Joshua may start World War III, Dr. Falken discusses the natural cycle of extinction in life. "I'm not ready to die yet," Jennifer declares. "You don't care about death, because you're already dead!" "I thought I'd have plenty of time to learn how to swim."

The Darkest Moment: They kiss. Suddenly, a A helicopter appears in the dark of night. It chases them, and catches them. It's Dr. Falken! He tells them it's alright and to get in.

Act 3

Break Into Three: Back at NORAD, 300 Soviet ICBMS are inbound. A full-scale Soviet strike. "We are at DEFCON 1!"

The Final Battle: Joshua/WOPR won't let NORAD personnel back in the system to stand down the missiles. It begins sending random numbers to the launch silos in an effort to decipher the launch codes on its own. David suggests logging into the system to ask Joshua to play a game. Tic-tac-toe, the most elementary strategy program. He tells it play itself, in order for it to start "learning". Joshua begins a loop of lightning speed game simulations, draining resources from the master system. Computer consoles burst into flames as Joshua becomes overloaded. On the giant wall monitors, Joshua plays out hundreds of WWIII scenarios at incredible speed.

Final Image: Suddenly, everything all screens go blank. "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play," Joshua declares. "How about a nice game of chess?" Everybody erupts in cheering. David kisses Jennifer. General Beringer orders the alert level back down to DEFCON 5. The End.