Home > Halt and Catch Fire

1984

You need any help?

I got it.

Well... I'll just dry, then.

It's okay.

( TV playing )

( sighs )

- Donna. Donna! - Nope.

I am done feeling bad about this.

It's been a week. You've made your point.

You're sleeping in the bed with me tonight.

Get in there.

I'm still very mad at you.

( chuckles )

- I am! - ( sighs )

Gordon, can we go to bed now?

( thumps )

( rattles )

Wow. Sheesh, what happened here?

I don't know. Maybe it fell?

Across the room?

Maybe it was ringing too much.

- How about there? - Catastrophic failure.

You're gonna need wire strippers.

Looks like it, don't it?

I'd better run out to my truck.

Here.

Use mine.

You know, phone company's always hiring.

( chuckles )

Okay, so just leave them on the desk when you're done.

( sighs )

This computer y'all built, what's it say on the outside?

I think we get your point.

What does it say?

Cardiff Electric.

It says Cardiff Electric.

Whose name is that?

I closed ComputerLand at 100,000 units.

We'll be in stores March 1.

You're looking at a projected net profit of over $40 million.

I'm 65 years old.

Why would I want $40 million when I can settle for five and just kick back, Jack?

My phone's been ringing, too, people wanting to buy this company outright.

They've been offering me a lot of change to close her down.

Joe: This office... what does it say outside?

The sign in the lobby, what does it say?

You be careful, boy.

It says Cardiff Electric. Whose name is that?

Not just yours. Your father's, right?

Started in 1934, shortwave radios manufactured out of Longview.

I heard he ran the factory floor himself.

I'm not talking about money.

I'm talking about legacy.

The company shifts entirely into personal computing.

Overhead shrinks, profits grow.

You let me run this, Cardiff Electric becomes nimble and ready for the 21st century.

( sighs )

You both run it.

As equals... because you are a rattlesnake, and you-- you're a little bunny rabbit, but you're the brains behind this thing.

Fine.

Eight percent of the company, fully diluted, four-year vesting, cliff at one year for each of us.

( laughing, thumps )

You know, I should just bury you in a shallow grave.

I should get somebody else in here to run this company.

Hell, I should save a few bucks and just run it myself.

Good luck with that.

You gonna manufacture locally or in Taiwan to save some coin?

Japan has better output facilities, but the tariffs are tricky.

You might be able to do a deal with Intel in bulk if you know who to talk to, but it's the same guy who manages IBM's bulk deal, so it'll take some massaging.

Go 286 in the near future and switch to AMD.

- Bypass Intel. - Especially since AMD parts almost always clock faster.

Megahertz, minimum bucks.

But I don't know. What do you think, Nathan?

- Eight percent. - Each.

Split.

We can live with that.

We'll see, won't we?

( door closes )

( theme music playing )

( singing "Ride of the Valkyries" )

( all singing )

( all cheering )

The Giant awakens!

All right, this is the first test shipment from the manufacturer.

We got 100 machines here, so I need all hands on deck QA-ing these boxes.

Hardware, software, failed pixels, I/O ports...

- Pinch tension. - Pinch tension, internal temp, fit and finish.

Check every millimeter of this machine.

The Giant ships out in less than six weeks.

It must be perfect!

( all cheering )

Debbie.

Oh, Gordon, I don't know how to test a computer.

No, this is for you.

I figured you put up with me and Joe long enough,

You deserve one.

Oh, thank you.

Have you seen Joe?

- He's in Bosworth's office. - Okay. Thanks.

- ( TV plays ) - ( VCR clicks )

I wondered how long it'd take till you took the corner office.

- I just needed the TV. - ( VCR whirring )

Our first test shipment came in.

I got everybody going over it with a fine-tooth comb.

Did you miss the Bowl yesterday?

- I taped it on VHS. - Well, the Redskins still lose, so...

- ( VCR clicks ) - Forget about the game. Watch this commercial.

( VCR clicks )

( crew chattering )

- Joe... - Tell me that wasn't amazing.

Tell me that wasn't the best piece of marketing you've ever seen in this industry.

Yeah, it was neat. The girl that looked like Cameron threw the sledgehammer through the screen and freed the weird slave people.

They're telling the world that they're going to topple IBM.

Okay, well, I also didn't see a computer anywhere in sight.

My guess is, knowing those guys, the Macintosh is all bells and whistles and zero utility. You want a toy, you buy one of those.

You want a computer, you buy one of ours.

People will buy the Giant, but will they remember it?

If we delay shipping just a few months--

Absolutely not. We need to QA, give manufacturing the full green light, and ship.

- Don't you want it to be great? - Joe, we keep futzing with this thing,

- it's gonna end up vaporware. - What about a graphical user interface?

- We could do a GUI-- - Joe, be realistic.

You think Cameron's OS slowed things down?

We don't even have hardware that's capable of doing--

A killer app, then.

We design a phenomenal piece of software, bundle it with the machine as a suite.

Gordon, what's our "Lotus 1-2-3"?

Our "Lotus 1-2-3"? It's "Lotus 1-2-3."

We built an IBM compatible machine.

You wanted a computer. You have a computer.

You need to sell your computer, okay?

She really did look like Cameron.

( VCR whirring )

And again, this is strictly to get a sense of the department I'm inheriting.

Please answer each of the questions with one of the following,

"Leading the way," "Moving ahead," "Right on track,"

"Falling behind," or "Off track."

How would you rate the quality of your work overall?

"Falling behind."

Care to clarify?

Honestly, I've been very distracted since Hunt left--

I'm sorry, Mr. Whitmarsh-- and for a while there, I was really caught up in--

I wouldn't call it an affair.

An emotional affair, maybe.

But then he left to start a company based on ideas he stole from my husband, so...

How would you rate the timeliness of your work?

- Off track. - And why's that?

I went to Vegas in November for three days and I didn't tell anybody.

Okay.

How do you feel about your future at Texas Instruments?

Do you think-- could you just write "N/A"?

Because, honestly, I don't see one.

I suppose we could give you two weeks.

Actually, I would really prefer if today were my last day.

Can I take you to lunch, ma'am?

- I got fired. - Congratulations.

I financed it. They were practically giving them away.

- What do you think? - I think it's about the gaudiest exorbitance

- I've ever seen. - Mm.

And everyone's gonna be looking at us when we drive in it.

Mm. Let 'em.

( phone line beeping )

( modem beeping, chirping )

( laughing )

( line ringing )

Graphics compression program is amazing.

So is phase modulation.

We're stable at 2400 baud.

How's my firmware holding up?

Modem's solid.

Hey, you authorized to access any of this stuff?

Are you kidding? If the suit found out, he'd shit a brick.

Lev: You know how many connections we can carry on the 3B5?

We can play "Zork" on this.

We can make our own "Zork," "Wizard, Warrior, Rogue."

God, everything is "Dungeons and Dragons" with you guys.

- You have to admit, this is pretty cool. - Yeah, I know.

Show your boss. People would flip if they could move data this fast across the phone network.

Well, then we don't get to be the phone company anymore.

- We're probably not even talking about a patch. - What?

- What is it? - Found a sev-one problem with the Giant.

Manufacturing or design? 'Cause if it's manufacturing, I can make a call.

- Honestly, we don't know yet. - What do you mean you don't know yet?

We can repro it and we're trying to pin it down.

It's causing the machine to turn off spontaneously.

- All the test machines? - No, just Debbie's.

What did you do to it? Did you drop it? Did you spill something on it?

- Did you lend it to your boyfriend or something? - No, none of that.

- Debbie, what did you do? - I didn't do anything.

These are delicate machines. You can't just throw them in the trunk of your car.

- Gordon, I'm sorry. - You've gotta be careful with them.

None of the hardware appears damaged. That's not the issue.

- Then we got a bad egg. - One bad egg out of the five we've touched so far.

Say one in five computers has the flaw? That's 20,000 units.

- That's 20,000 store returns at ComputerLand. - Exactly.

- Everything all right? - No, we have a problem.

- Ooh, how bad? - Gordon: We don't know yet.

Sev-two, sev-three maybe.

Oh, will it delay shipment?

Well, we'll have to check every test unit.

Maybe this is an opportunity.

Maybe we delay a month or two to fix the bug and make some improvements.

Then come March, ComputerLand will have a bunch of empty shelves.

I already got Dennis flying in first class from New Jersey at the end of February for the public launch.

This is bigger than plane fares and party costs.

We got software just sitting around while we figure out what's wrong.

Let me run with them and build a killer app.

By the time the bug is fixed, ComputerLand won't just have a computer,

they'll have a bundled suite.

We'll be out ahead again.

Now that's something to celebrate.

Look, I know this is unfortunate.

But life gives you lemons, right?

Joe: Okay, listen up.

We've had a little hiccup with shipping, which means we've got some extra time, and because we're who we are, we're not gonna spend it playing "Pong" and twiddling our thumbs.

We're gonna capitalize.

I know you've been chomping at the bit to write something that's not a peripheral driver.

Good, because today, Cardiff Electric has entered the software application business, and in 60 days, I want a killer app ready to ship with the Giant.

A top-notch program for our top-notch machine.

Now this is blue sky. You got ideas, I wanna hear 'em.

And then I want us to make them.

You guys up for a challenge like that?

You bet.

( chuckles ) Good, good, good.

Hey, how was your first day off?

It was euphoric.

Oh. Where are the girls?

Sleepover.

Do you wanna have one of our own?

( briefcase thumps )

Donna: So, how bad is it?

It's definitely gonna delay shipping.

I think Joe did it on purpose.

I-I don't understand the benefit.

He can't live in reality.

He's always chasing some fantasy, you know?

- He's never satisfied. - I don't know what his endgame is.

It doesn't matter.

The truth is that I can't trust him.

Hey, you have worked too hard and risked too much to get here. We both have.

Nothing can be allowed to jeopardize that.

What are you saying?

I think you know what I'm saying.

I've got three teams running diagnostics on the 3B5, checking to see if you've corrupted it in any way.

Also got guys checking the network itself to see if it's damaged.

Come on, Eli. You're not that dumb.

You know the network can transmit way faster than we're letting it.

We can phase shift, modulate amplitude, insert error correction-- basically whatever we want.

Your modems were uncertified.

We dictate the terms of how the network is accessed.

- You understand? - Uh-huh.

So, let me guess. Southern Lines is setting up its own data network?

Who do you really work for?

( laughs )

Nobody. Not anymore.

All right, what do we got?

Come on, let's fire it up.

You, let's hear it.

Um, um, it's a moon phase calendar.

So you type in the date and it gives you the upcoming phases of the moon for the next 25 years.

So, like, on my birthday in 1997, it's going to be a waxing gibbous.

Okay. What else?

You.

Careful, you're gonna love this.

A simulator-- beekeeping.

Full-on "zimulation." Hardcore.

You start with three hives and you're able--

Guys, a killer app is something that everyone wants, they must have.

Think bigger.

What, so Cameron was the only one of you that had any real ideas?

Well, what are your ideas, man?

"Voila, An American Dream" playing in background

♪ Your voice it trickles down inside of my ear... ♪

Donna...

I know how I'm gonna do it.

Lay it on me.

What is Joe's Achilles' heel?

Casual wear.

No, Cameron.

He's in love with her, you know?

Of course I know that. What planet have you been on?

I'm gonna turn her in to the feds for hacking with Bosworth unless Joe leaves Cardiff.

Isn't that a little bit evil?

You're gonna ruin Cameron's entire life just to get rid of Joe?

Relax. I'm not actually gonna do it.

I'm just gonna threaten to.

Joe's too smart for that.

What happens when he calls your bluff and realizes you don't have the stomach to go through with it?

- No, no, no, no. - Wait, wait, unless... you show him proof.

Like this uplink from the bank's daemon.

It shows the alteration of transaction codes all routed back to Cameron's office computer.

Donna, this is a print driver.

Joe doesn't know that.

( knocking )

I can't do this without you.

Do what, Joe?

Cameron... come back to Cardiff.

You can do whatever you want.

You'll have carte blanche--

- No. - Fine, don't work for Cardiff.

Form your own company. I'll hire you as a vendor.

You'll never have to see my face. I just-- I need you.

Oh, God, you're pathetic.

- ( bangs ) - We can start our own company.

I'll leave Cardiff.

We can go to California, go anywhere.

We can start from scratch.

I wanna be with you.

That sounds nice.

We could build something together, a partnership.

Make our own future.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

Except you're not the future.

You're a footnote.

For a while, you had me fooled.

I mean, I thought I heard a heartbeat.

But it wasn't a heartbeat.

It was an echo.

I loved you... because you recited my own ideas back to me and pretended they were your own.

( scoffs )

You want to know the truth?

You're still exactly what you were the day your mom let you fall off that roof.

Yeah.

Just a sad little boy... with a lot of wasted potential.

( elevator bell rings )

Where the hell have you been?

It's past 11:30. Nice of you to show up.

Come here, you're gonna want to see this.

None of them showed up for work today.

Where are they?

Neil, tell 'em.

They all went to work for Mutiny.

I've never heard of it.

( chuckles ) Well, that's the best part.

Okay, I need you guys to buy as many XTs for the shelves as you can until these max out.

Okay, okay, but the modem firmware is bugging out all over the place.

- I can't predict the errors. - Okay--

We need to get onto the protocols, the interface, the games.

- Okay. - It'd be awesome to have someone dedicated to hardware.

Dave: Shit.

Preferably an adult.

Okay.

( knock on door )

So, I can't pay you, but I can offer you a percentage of the company.

Why me?

My house is running wild with code monkeys.

I need someone with real hardware experience and attention to detail.

- Well, what's the idea? - Connecting people.

You dial in, you play games across phone lines with real humans.

We're writing the interface, the games, everything.

But phone lines aren't fast enough.

I've got a phase-shifting and amplitude modulation protocol that breaks 9600 baud.

You subscribe. You get a modem and software in the mail.

Wait, what is this really?

Some sort of revenge hire?

Some screwed-up way of getting back at Gordon?

Because I am not some pawn in whatever twisted chess match the three of you play with each other.

Donna.

I'm flattered, thanks.

But, no, thanks.

Okay. Suit yourself.

You wanted to see me?

- Look, Joe-- - Save your breath.

You got me.

Coders are gone. Any chance of a killer app is dead.

You're right. It's ready.

Okay.

Did any other test boxes display the same problem?

Just the one.

A thousand machines out of a hundred thousand, one percent?

Return rate will be less.

We won't even feel it in the profit margin.

So, what are you saying, exactly?

Ship it.

What are you working on?

Just a print driver.

I think the tailor cut it weird.

( scoffs ) Gordon, that looks so good on you. You look great.

Well, you know, Joe's gonna be all--

Oh, Joe is Joe.

You be yourself. Here.

Ah, I don't know.

- ( brush clatters ) - ( sighs )

- Give me 10 minutes. - We're gonna be late.

Well, it's my computer. They can wait for me.

- ( music playing ) - ( chattering )

Gordon: I'm already talking to Hercules about placing their CGA technology directly onto our motherboard for the next iteration.

Fantastic.

I'm sorry-- Donna--

Gayle, I apologize, this is my wife Donna.

Oh, so pleased to meet you.

- Thank you, likewise. - Man: Hey, Gordon, Gordon. Come tell 'em...

Can you guys excuse me for just one moment?

- Busy bee. - ( chuckles )

So, what do you do?

Oh, I-- uh, I'm not working presently.

Um... so, he looks great without the beard.

- Yeah. - It makes him look so in charge, you know?

Well...

Well, you sold your first computer.

Mm-hmm-- mm, which reminds me.

What-- what are we doing in here?

Here. Stand right there.

( quietly ) Okay.

Gordon?

Give me your hand.

I made a promise to you nine years ago.

Oh, Gordon.

( laughs softly )

It's just like the original one with the same polyalphabetic cipher.

I "darf" you very "gerp."

I'll "darf" you to the day I "zof."

Gordon, they're asking for you.

( clinking )

All right, everyone, listen up.

I'd like to invite you all out to the parking lot where the first shipment of Cardiff Giants is waiting to be christened for its maiden voyage.

- ( cheering ) - ( clinking )

Gordon: All right, first off, I'd like to start by saying that I wouldn't be standing here tonight in front of all of you if it weren't for Joe MacMillan.

None of us would be.

Sometimes you had to drag us forward kicking and screaming, but in the end, you were right.

The Cardiff Giant is an incarnation of everything you are.

It shows the reach and power of your vision

and the very best of your abilities as a leader.

To my partner, Joe MacMillan.

All: To Joe!

And to my wife-- where's Donna?

To my other partner, without whom I'd be completely lost.

- I love you, honey. - ( crowd sighs )

I love you, too, Gordon.

This vessel departs at dawn.

Good luck and Godspeed!

- ( crashes ) - ( cheering )

( crowd chanting ) Giant! Giant! Giant!

Watch your head.

( groans )

Hey, just give me a minute.

I can't believe it.

It just doesn't seem real.

Yeah.

Well, I'll see you in the office in the morning,

- bright and early. - See you then.

Thanks.

For everything.

( slurring ) 'Member when Joe followed us to "Return of the Jedi"?

Do you think he even watched the movie?

I know he didn't.

A few months ago, I called the coders a bunch of Ewoks.

He had no idea what I was talking about.

Then why did he have popcorn?

I think he just wanted to look more normal.

( chuckles )

( car engine revs )

- ( tires screech ) - ( heavy thud )

Son of a bitch.

( slurred ) Did somebody hit us?

You just hit a Porsche, buddy.

Hope you got great insurance.

Stay in the car.

Man! What the hell, You busted the-- ah!

- Keys! - They're in the car.

( grunts )

( groans )

( tires screeching )

Wait! Wait, my wife!

My wife!

Oh, shit.

( panting )

"2020" playing

♪ And what you see is really what you see ♪

♪ What you, what you, what you, what you... ♪

( lighter clicks )

( clatters )

♪ And what you see, you feel ♪

♪ Coming real ♪

♪ Take you away ♪

♪ Did you, did you, did you, did you ♪

♪ Did you, did you, did you ♪

♪ Did you, did you, did you... ♪

( phone ringing )

- ( TV playing ) - Joanie: Even more had.

All right, so Joanie's crunchy and Haley's creamy.

No, I'm creamy. Crunchy's gross.

I really hate creamy.

- Gordon: How about apricot? - Haley: Ew!

Joanie: That's really disgusting.

Why do you have gummies all over your lunch box?

- We were gonna eat that. - That's my dessert for after lunch.

- That's too much sugar. - No, it's not.

The Braswells moved over the weekend.

Did you see? There was a truck.

Hey, girls, why don't you go out to the van?

All right, I'll be home by 5:00 as usual and Rose will pick up the kids.

Love you.

Love you, too.

( seat belts click )

- You guys all buckled up? - Girls: Yep.

Here are your lunches.

- Joanie: I already know I'm not gonna eat it. - Haley: That's for sure.

( TV playing )

( TV clicks off )

Donna, there was a moment that night when I thought--

I thought I was gonna lose you and I never want to lose you.

I can't lose you, but more than that, you can't just sit here and stew.

You should do whatever it is that you want to do.

Come work at Cardiff.

I want you to be the head engineer.

I'm stretched thin running everything, and whatever we do next, it needs to be big.

Donna, it-- it needs you.

Thank you.

Thank you, you don't know what it means to me...

- Yeah? - ...for you to ask.

Of course.

But I don't think that Cardiff is the best place for me right now.

Uh, o-okay.

Okay, well, you know, you should work wherever it is that you want to work, okay?

Go wherever your heart takes you.

I'm gonna support you no matter what.

I've been thinking.

I actually got an offer from somewhere else a little while ago and I'm gonna take it.

What?

That-- that-- that's fantastic.

That-- that's great news.

Where?

Cameron: All right, everyone listen up.

Uh, I just want you guys to keep a few things in mind.

One, I'm not your boss. Nobody here has titles.

Your title is your first name.

Mine is Cameron.

- Hi, Cameron. - Hello.

Also, this isn't my thing. This is our thing.

Which means you'll get out of it exactly what you put into it.

For me, it's everything.

For all of us, it should be everything.

Otherwise why even do it at all?

( scattered applause )

Right.

Thank you.

Uh, and just one last thing.

A lot of people are gonna want us to fail.

But that's because we're the future and there's nothing scarier than that.

Yo-Yo: Yes!

- ( applauding ) - Man: The future!

- All right! To the future! - Men: Yes!

Donna Clark!

Hello, welcome to Mutiny.

Ed: "Unlike other portables, the Giant is not a strain on the back," blah-blah-blah.

"Overall, it's pretty fast."

There you go. "Also a wise value at such a low price..."

- Larry: Sounds good to me. - Ed: Yeah.

Uh, "despite the LCD screen being hard to read in bright light."

Bullshit.

What did he do, take it to the beach?

Okay, here we go.

"Overall, the Cardiff Giant Portable PC stands out as a strong contender in no-frills computing accommodation."

- Okay. - We can take that to the bank.

That's good, right?

A hundred thousand units...

So, what's next?

What are we gonna do next?

If Joe MacMillan were here, he'd have us building a damn spaceship.

Ed: Anybody ever find that guy?

Larry: I think he's a fry cook at Kel's.

Afternoon. Need a fill-up?

Uh, no, thanks.

Where you headed?

Fiske Observatory.

Is that around here? I can't find it on the map.

That's 'cause they just built it two years ago.

It's that way, though, right?

Sure, a couple dozen miles.

You know there's an access road about an hour away coming in from the south.

This way is just dirt roads and old horse trails.

Raw hills country.

Thought I'd take the scenic route.

Is it all right if I leave my truck here?

Hmm, some kind of stargazer, huh?

Yeah. ( chuckles )

I'll watch your truck for you.

Thanks.

You know there ain't nobody up at Fiske, save the one.

Lives there most of the year.

- She ever come down? - Not really.

See her in town once in a while buying groceries.

Pleasant enough. Not sure she's used to visitors.

Don't get yourself shot.

I'll be careful.

What do you want to see up there?

Lev.

This is hardware, Donna.

( chuckles )

Yeah, do you want to see your...

( music playing )