InAlienable (2007)

Marina Sirtis: Attorney Barry

Quotes 

• [Howard and Amanda are in a restaurant with Crystal Barry and the Blue Skinned Woman. He hands two DVDs to Crystal] 

  Howard Ellis : So, view the DVDs, upload them to the Internet, link to every science fiction and science fact site there is. We need to get the word out.

  Crystal Barry : Telepathically? Or a letter-writing campaign?

  Howard Ellis : I think we'll stay with the letter-writing. I want 20,000 letters to Amnesty International and the Council on Human Rights.

  [to Amanda] 

  Howard Ellis : If we go to the Justice Department, they'll just freeze us out.

  Crystal Barry : What about the Earthling press?

  Howard Ellis : Avoid the tabloids at all costs. Especially The World, The Globe, and that rag, The Star.

  Crystal Barry : The New York Times?

  Howard Ellis : Uh-huh.

  Crystal Barry : The Rolling Stone? Wall Street Journal?

  Blue Skinned Woman : [in a very New York, non-alien dialect]  Unhhh. I work for The Wall Street Journal!

• Judge Deville : I have a writ of habeas corpus. Who speaks for the petitioner?

  Howard Ellis : Howard Ellis, your Honor, for the petitioner.

  Judge Deville : Jesus. And who speaks for the respondant?

  Attorney Barry : Victoria Barry, Deputy Attorney General on behalf of the United States. Your Honor, the government objects to this entire proceeding and moves that this petition be dismissed.

  Judge Deville : On what grounds?

  Attorney Barry : The court lacks jurisdiction.

  Judge Deville : Why is that?

  Attorney Barry : The petitioner is an alien, your Honor.

  Judge Deville : I know that.

  Attorney Barry : From another planet.

  Judge Deville : They usually are.

  Howard Ellis : Not from another planet, your Honor: the child was born here!

  Judge Deville : I know that!

  Howard Ellis : To a human father.

  Attorney Barry : We don't know that!

• Attorney Barry : [addresses the judge and court with her own opening remarks]  We all know the story of the Elephant Man. At best, he was a curiosity who engendered sympathy in a compassionate few. At worst, he was an object of scorn who was put on display and who was cruelly ridiculed by the public. And the Elephant Man was a human being. He, he could speak; he wore clothes; he had the power of cognition. This creature is not a human being, not even remotely. Not by any stretch of the imagination. For heaven's sake, just look at him, your Honor!

  [She holds up a photo of Benjamin] 

  Attorney Barry : This is an alien creature, first and foremost.

• [Amanda is on the stand in the courtroom] 

  Howard Ellis : Dr. Mayfield, what is the nature of your relationship with Eric Norris?

  Amanda Mayfield : We're colleagues.

  Howard Ellis : Anything else?

  Amanda Mayfield : We were lovers.

  Howard Ellis : To the best of your knowledge, does he have any other lovers?

  Amanda Mayfield : No. In fact, he explained to me that before our relationship, he'd been celibate for many years.

  Howard Ellis : [Ellis turns around to address Barry]  Would you care to object to that as hearsay, Miss Barry?

  Attorney Barry : No. But I wouldn't boast about it, either.

• Attorney Barry : Correct me if I'm wrong, Professor, but when the Founding Fathers created the Constitution of the United States, it was to protect the rights of human beings, not octopi. No further questions, your Honor.

• [Shilling is on the witness stand] 

  Shilling : Dr. Norris lost his wife and son in an automobile accident eight years ago. He's never been able to let that go.

  Attorney Barry : In what way, sir?

  Shilling : He's a sullen, detached man, with very few friends.

  Howard Ellis : Objection, your Honor!

  Judge Deville : Overrruled.

  Attorney Barry : And yet you've kept him on all these years. Why is that?

  Shilling : Well, actually, those are probably good qualities to have in a research scientist.

• Shilling : [feigning pity]  He's trying to make of this alien creature a child to replace the son that he lost. In his own mind, I truly believe he thinks that this parasite is his real child.

  Attorney Barry : Wouldn't you consider that to be extremely unhealthy reasoning?

  Shilling : I feel for the man. I understand his grief. The loss of loved ones is a terrible thing. And yes, that can distort one's sense of reality.

  [Eric closes his eyes in incredulous disbelief] 

  Shilling : And that's the reason why I keep him on. Because without me, he'd have nowhere else to go.

• [the Prosecutor has Benjamin, in a cage, wheeled into the courtroom. Benjamin is frightened and Eric shouts in protest] 

  Attorney Barry : THIS is what the petitioner would have you believe is someone's child. A human being's son! Would you want this thing crawling around out there? Would you want this thing marry your families? Look on my work, you mighty, and despair! This is not God's work!

  [Eric leaps up and the bailiff grabs him; they struggle together] 

  Eric Norris : I'm going to kill you!