Contact

...clearly, I've never been there, but...

... usually the situation, obviously a major malfunction.

...whether or not their president is a crook.

Well, I'm not a crook.

...small step for man, one giant leap for...

Robert Kennedy was shot in that ballroom.

Thank God almighty, we are free at last.

A sniper has fired at President Kennedy.

...the Communist party...

...or have you ever been a member of the Communist party?

Old soldiers never die. They just...

Hi-yo, Silver!

...something never before experienced...

...1941, a date which will live...

And we continue this final edition of our Maxwell House Good News of 1939.

Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. North America...

...and all the ships at sea. Let's go to press.

CQ, this is W-9 GFO.

CQ, this is W-9 GFO here. Come back?

CQ.

CQ, this is W-9 GFO here.

Come back?

CQ, CQ, this is W-9 GFO. Is anybody out there?

Not getting anything.

Small moves, Ellie.

Small moves.

CQ, this is W-9 GFO here. Come back?

Copy, W-9 GFO. K-4 WLD here.

- What do I say? - Just be yourself.

- Where are you, K-4 WLD? Come back? - Pensacola. Over.

Pensacola, where's Pensacola?

I'll give you a hint.

Orange juice.

Copy that, K-4 WLD. How's the weather down there in Florida?

Pensacola, Florida.

I have to tell you, Sparks...

...one thousand, one hundred and sixteen miles.

Pretty good. That's the farthest yet.

- Can we hear all the way to New York? - Sure.

- Can we hear all the way to California? - I don't see why not.

- Can we hear all the way to Alaska? - Yeah, on a really clear day.

Can we hear all the way to China?

On a really, really clear day.

Could we talk to the moon?

Well, if it's a big enough radio, I don't see why not.

Could we talk to Jupiter?

Or what's the one after that?

Don't tell me.

I'll give you a hint.

Hula-Hoops.

- Saturn. Could we talk to Saturn? - Mm-hm.

Dad, could we talk to Mom?

I don't think even the biggest radio could reach that far.

All right, no more stalling.

Okay.

Pensacola.

Oh, Ellie, that's a beauty.

Now get some sleep.

- Hey, Dad? - Yeah?

Do you think there's people on other planets?

I don't know, Sparks.

But I guess I'd say...

...if it is just us...

...it seems like an awful waste of space.

CQ, CQ.

CQ, this is W-9 GFO.

Repeat. This is W-9 GFO. Come back?

CQ, this is W-9 GFO. Come back?

I'm gonna need a bigger antenna.

What do you think, Doctor Arroway?

Isn't she a beauty?

It'll do.

The village is five miles away.

There's a general store in the cantina. They can order anything from San Juan.

And when can I get some dish time?

Dr. Clark said you wouldn't be able to wait. Your first shift is tonight.

All right.

Go back.

Try back a little bit. You had something there.

There.

- Right there? - You hear it? Right there, that's it.

All right, 1221.46. That's well within the I band.

- Check off-axis. - Uh-huh. On it.

It's not in the neighborhood.

Ah.

Here it is. J-1741 plus 2748.

Catalogued November 4, 1982. Pulsar.

Well, I don't know, it must've been... The glitch in the timing is what threw me.

Must've been a starquake.

I think it's great that you listen. Most people don't do that anymore.

It's just an old habit. You know, it makes it feel more real.

- Ellie. - Kent. Kent Clark.

Hey.

They said you've been up at Owens Valley working under Drumlin.

How did you like him?

That much? And about what I'd expect after what he had to say about you.

What was that?

That you are brilliant, driven...

...a major pain in the ass, and obsessed with a field of study...

...that he considers tantamount to professional suicide.

- Anything else? - Those were the highlights.

Davio, Dr. Vernon. Dr. Arroway.

- Hey. Hi there. - How you doing?

And I believe you've already met our tireless research assistant, Mr. Fisher...

- Here, I need you to sign... - ...as well as his cologne.

Brook's looking at the black hole at the center of M-87.

Eli's studying Markarian 541, a major gamma-ray source.

And Dr. Arroway will be spending her precious telescope time listening for, um...

Listening for...

Little green men.

One down, a couple billion to go.

Arecibo, right?

Does it show?

Yeah.

- Cracker Jack? - No, thanks.

- Mind if I sit down? - Sure.

I hear the locals, they call it El Radar.

Convinced it has some dark military purpose.

I think we're pretty harmless.

Palmer Joss.

- Ellie Arroway. - Nice to meet you, Ellie.

What are you studying up there?

The usual.

You know. Nebulae, quasars, pulsars, stuff like that.

What are you...? What are you writing?

The usual. Nouns, adverbs, adjective here and there.

I work on a project called SETI.

Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence?

Wow. Man, that is out there.

Wait, are you a student or something?

Mm-mm. I'm a writer. I'm writing a book.

Down here doing research about how technology affects Third World cultures.

I'm also looking for this guy David Drumlin.

He's the new head of the National Science Foundation. I'm trying to get an interview.

- I take it you know him? - Mm-hm.

You could say that.

SETI, man. That's fringe.

I've crossed paths with this guy.

Something like that must really chap his ass, huh?

Compass.

For you, EI.

You better keep this.

Might save your life someday.

Will you have dinner with me tonight?

I...

I don't make a very good research subject. I'm just not very quotable.

No quotes. No quotes. Scout's honor. Just a good meal, good company.

I gotta go.

But, uh...

Drumlin's coming in this Tuesday.

Now I remember why I took that desk job.

- Dr. Drumlin, how are you? - Dr. Drumlin.

Glad you could make it, David.

If I'd known it was gonna take three planes, I might've reconsidered.

How is that new office?

I'm still settling in. They already wanna take half my budget and give it to the Pentagon.

Ellie. Still waiting for E.T. to call?

- Well, I understand we're having a little... - Good to see you too.

Asshole.

Uh-oh. Looks like it's gonna be a long night.

Science must first be accountable to the people who are paying for it, the taxpayers.

We need to stop wasting money on pie-in-the-sky abstractions...

...and start spending it on practical, measurable ways...

...to improve the lives of the people who are footing the bill.

Not unlike my L-band, globular-clusters work.

Wait, you're saying you wanna do away with all pure research now?

What's wrong with science being practical? Even profitable?

Nothing, as long as your motive is the search for truth.

Which is exactly what the pursuit of science is.

That's a rather interesting position...

...coming from a man on a crusade against the evils of technology...

...Father Joss.

I'm not against technology, doctor.

I'm against the men who deify it at the expense of human truth.

Kent, I've been meaning to have a word with you. Over here, please.

Yeah, I'll just...

I think that hurt my chances with that interview. What do you think?

You're a priest?

No, not really.

I got my Masters in Divinity...

...then dropped out of seminary to do some secular humanitarian work...

...coordinating efforts for Third World churches.

I couldn't live with the whole celibacy thing.

You could...

You could call me a man of the cloth...

...without the cloth.

You wanna get out of here?

All right, you see that sort of large, W-shaped constellation right there?

That's Cassiopeia.

And Cassiopeia A gives off a whole lot of radio signals.

I actually listen to them a lot. It's a remnant of a supernova.

When did you know you wanted to be an astronomer?

Well, when I...

When I was about 8 years old, I was watching the sunset...

...and I asked my dad, "What's that bright star over there?"

Dad, what's that star there?

And he said that it wasn't really a star at all. It was actually...

That's not a star, it's a planet.

...a whole planet called Venus...

That's the planet Venus.