Script / Ronnie Rocket

Of all the various unproduced projects the auteur David Lynch has accumulated under his belt, the most well-documented is his initial planned second film after Eraserhead, which was originally titled “Ronny Rocket” in its first draft but was later changed to Ronnie Rocket OR The Absurd Mystery of the Strange Forces of Existence. You can read the first draft here and the second draft here.

Because this ambitious project couldn't be funded so early in his career, Lynch focused on making other films such as The Elephant Man before seriously trying to make it after Blue Velvet, with Dexter Fletcher first being considered for the title role before Lynch met Michael J. Anderson and cast him, Lynch’s other retinue planned for the other roles.

However, due to the production companies of both Dino De Laurentiis and Francis Ford Coppola going into bankruptcy, the script went into limbo, and this compounded with the planned industrial shooting locations becoming increasingly modernized past Lynch’s vision means this is one movie unlikely to be rescued from Development Hell, but who can say for sure?

The two drafts each have the same setup: A man simply known as the Detective comes into a dingy unnamed city to investigate a teenager with dwarfism named Ronald D’Arte (or De Arte in the first draft), and afterwards, the Detective gets caught up in finding the source of all the city’s ails, while Ronald gets kidnapped by two well-meaning mad scientists, Dan Pink and Bob Platinum, so they can experiment on him, turning him into a cyborg that can produce literally electrifying singing and dancing, which catches the eye of a greedy businessman.

The Detective and Ronald's storylines separate from there as we follow the former having to fulfill his destiny as the only one who can save the city thanks to his unique ability to stand on one leg and the latter getting closer to his new family that threatens to be shattered by people wanting to take advantage of Ronnie's increasing fame.

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Tropes Appearing Across Both Drafts

• Arc Symbol: Ronald frequently draws several signs, the exact ones differing in each version, and their meaning has something to do with defeating Hank.
• Bad Boss: Mr. Barko (Bucko in the first draft) treats Ronnie like dirt despite how popular he’s becoming, refusing to let him take enough time off to recover from overexposure to electricity, and he keeps pushing Ronnie to perform even when he’s on the brink of collapse.
• Big Bad:
  • Hank Bartells, the man behind nearly all of the city’s ills. In the first draft, he uses his powers to trap everyone in the city, while in the second draft, he sends out his Donut Men to spread even more misery with his reverse electricity. He seemingly drives people to insanity and even death just For the Evulz.
  • While not the looming threat in the background, and not connected to Hank in a direct way, the scummy manager Mr. Barko is the Big Bad of Ronnie’s storyline, exploiting his electrical properties for audiences as he progressively breaks down from having too much electricity pumped through him.
• Celebrity Is Overrated: Ronnie becomes a hit sensation with his electric singing and dancing thanks to Mr. Barko, but Barko and the audience dismiss or are oblivious to Ronnie’s increasing instability that comes from having so much electricity pumping through him. Dan, Bob, and Deborah initially went along with it, but after seeing how much Ronnie is suffering, they try to take him away, which Mr. Barko will have none of.
• Closet Shuffle: Dan and Bob have Deborah hide in a closet before Mr. Green comes in to punish them for wanting to back out of their deal with Mr. Bucko/Barko.
• Crapsack World: The nameless city where the entire story takes place. It’s filled with decaying industrial landscapes, grimy hotels and hospitals, near-abandoned train stations, etc. and thanks to Hank Bartells’ reverse electricity in the second draft, not only is light gradually being absorbed leaving the city in darkness, but it also sucks the energy out of people, leaving the majority of them passionless and prone to strange behavior.
• The Dragon: Mr. Green to Mr. Barko, doing his dirty work for him when Dan, Bob, and Deborah want to get Ronnie out of performing.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Detective never discloses his name.
• Gainax Ending:
  • The first draft: During the Detective’s confrontation with Hank, the Smiling Woman appears once again. The Detective follows her, and she lifts him up to the sky, elongating his whole body as she does so. In an attempt to stop them, Hank touches some unexplained part of his magic table, which the entire city and everyone in it can feel and are hurt by, though it doesn’t take. The symbols that Ronny drew repeatedly show up in the sky. The Smiling Woman takes the Detective to a glowing temple to reunite with Ronny, after he collapses on stage, causing the entire city to turn to light, except for Hank, who becomes a ball of tar. The Detective and the Woman merge with Ronny, while the city is golden inside of him. With Dan, Bob, and Deborah as angels beside him, Ronny sings a “beautiful cosmic love song”. The end.
  • The second draft: After the rest of our heroes defeat Hank Bartells, Ronnie floats up from his stage and they merge inside of him. Then the city fades into white light and becomes golden inside of him. Ronnie sings a song and becomes an egg. The egg floats with hundreds of other eggs in water. A girl asks her father when these new universes will be born. The father replies that it will be soon. A blue lady with four arms dancing on a lily pad points to Ronnie’s egg and calls out his name. The end.
• Happily Adopted: Or rather, “Happily Kidnapped”. As Ronnie’s speaking ability improves, he’s eventually shown to be this. When he wakes up at one point alone after being separated from his new parents, he tearfully calls out for them.
• Hidden Depths: Despite his childish personality and simplistic language, Ronnie is apparently quite gifted in mathematics, according to the high school’s principal after he takes an exam.
• Little People Are Surreal: Ronnie begins the story suffering from an unexplained illness, injury, or deformity that has made his appearance subtly distorted, and all he can do is scribble out strange symbols. After Dan and Bob fix him up, he becomes a Frankenstein’s Monster-esque cyborg whose voice and body can be manipulated in unnatural ways when exposed to music playing through electronics.
• Mad Scientist: Dan Pink and Bob Platinum are two doctors who were made pariahs by the medical community because of their experiments. They stole the near-catatonic Ronnie out of the hospital, and in order to get him to walk and talk, they fit him with plugs and other electrical devices which he needs to survive. After that, they even graft skin and hair onto his head in a somewhat botched attempt to make him look more “normal”. Despite all this, Dan and Bob didn’t do this out of malice, genuinely wanting to help Ronnie reach his full potential and growing to love him as their own son.
• Meaningful Name: Ronnie was originally named Ronald De Arte/D’Arte, but when a mishap in Dan and Bob’s lab temporarily launches him up into the air from electricity, he is given the name Ronnie the Rocket, which is then shortened to Ronnie Rocket.
• Mind Screw: The drafts handle this in different ways…
  • There's less weird characters and the unnamed city is less of an Eldritch Location in the first draft, but anything involving the Smiling Woman or Hank brings the screwiness up to eleven. Hank in particular uses his powers at one point to send the Detective back through time, or maybe let him see through time, to look back to when he and Terry were recently in the wart-woman's house. And then there's the whole minor subplot about the Detective and Mr. Fry possibly being the same person or part of each other in some way.
  • Very much downplayed in the second iteration, though still present. Unusually for a work by David Lynch, despite the quirky cast of characters and strange paths they take to get to their goals, most of the bizarre things that happen are vaguely explained away with sci-fi gibberish, while Hank’s supernatural powers are toned down in favor of making him a less present, more mysterious character. The Detective and Ronnie’s plotlines are relatively straightforward, being The Hero's Journey and a tale of how Celebrity Is Overrated, respectively. It’s only during the ending that things reach their peak strangeness.
• Polyamory: Dan, Bob, and Deborah are in a threesome, with Deborah taking turns making love to each man. As the story progresses, it becomes surprisingly wholesome, considering who wrote the scripts.
• Punny Name: Ronnie’s stage partner towards the end is a dancer called Electra Cute.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Dan attempts this after Bob gets shot in the chest by Mr. Green, but he gets a bullet to the head for his troubles. He and Bob get better in the second draft.
• Rouge Angles of Satin: Both drafts of the script contain quite a few typos and structural errors, especially the first, and sometimes dialogue will accidentally be given to the wrong character, such as the Detective showing up in a scene with Dan and Bob when he’s not supposed to.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Bob is the sensitive guy, being more passive in comparison to Dan and on the receiving end of his outlashes, and he’s the one to suggest backing out when the heroes are close to reaching Hank. Dan is the manly man, acting more on his own initiative and willing to throw a punch if he feels like it.
• Teens Are Monsters: The other prominent teenagers besides Riley are Johnny and his band who were the first to exploit Ronnie’s abilities. In tandem with Mr. Barko and Mr. Green, they bully Ronnie and progressively turn up the amount of electricity pumping through his body.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: After the Detective looks at Ronald in the hospital, their plotlines are mostly separate until towards the ending, with the narrative cutting back and forth between them regularly.

Tropes Exclusive to the First Draft

• Body Horror: Near the beginning, Terry and Bill walk with someone they think is the Detective, only for the unknown man’s face to break off, revealing a hollow body that oozes fluid.
• Butt-Monkey: Terry gets a lot of abuse from people, including from the Detective, all the way until he gets his throat cut by the wart-woman while in her house.
• Cruelty by Feet: When Bill catches his wife hitting on the Detective, he - being convinced by Eleane that it was the other way around - grinds his shoe on all of the Detective’s fingernails while holding him at gunpoint.
• In-Series Nickname: Hank Bartells is called “Mr. Magic”, a nickname not present in the second draft, and he’s shown to have powers such as shapeshifting, being able to set things on fire, and many other things.
• Killed Off for Real: Terry, Dan, Bob, and Deborah are killed, though the latter three become angels for Ronny after he merges with the Detective.
• Riddle for the Ages: A character who’s only called the “Smiling Woman” shows up at several points in increasingly bizarre ways, with her presence eventually being able to make the Detective elongate unnaturally, and it’s never explained who or what she is. All that can be said for sure is that she’s opposed to Hank and seems benevolent.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Throughout the story, the Detective has been looking for Bill’s brother, Mr. Fry, for some unspecified reason that may have to do with wanting to get out of the city. They seem to be connected in some way, since the Detective transforms into Fry and vice-versa several times, and after the two finally separate for good, Fry says that the Detective is part of him. Whether they’ve always been like this or if this is Hank’s doing is unclear.
• Trail of Blood: At one point, Terry tells the Detective that to find what he’s looking for in the inner city, he has to find a puddle of blood on the street, then go up to an old couple’s house, which the Detective does later on.

Tropes Exclusive to the Second Draft

• Abusive Parents: It appears that Ronnie’s biological parents, Mr. and Mrs. D’Arte, are this. They don’t seem very concerned about reuniting with their son, get into a verbal argument in the Detective’s presence, and their daughter Celia implies that Mr. D’Arte does something to her that would warrant telling the police about.
• Adapted Out: Mr. Fry and the Smiling Woman from the first draft aren’t mentioned at all.
• Chick Magnet: Nearly every woman the Detective speaks to except for Mrs. D’Arte and Deborah offer their bodies to him or fall in love, and at one point a group of elderly knitters follow him around because they’re drawn to him. Whether this is just more Lynchian weirdness or somehow a result of the reverse electricity that makes nearly everyone act strangely is unclear.
• The Chosen One: What convinces Terry that only the Detective can save the city is being able to stand on one leg and speak at the same time, and whenever the Detective demonstrates this to others, they too are shocked by it. This is because Hank Bartells' reverse electricity drains the energy out of people, making them increasingly mindless and unable to do simple tasks like walking or standing for extended periods of time. That the Detective can stand on one leg and still has his faculties means that he has the best chance of getting to Hank within the Inner City, where the reverse electricity is at its most intense.
• Co-Dragons: The Donut Man and Bill to Hank Bartells, the former being in charge of the rest of the Donut Men, and Bill being the one to stalk the Detective and Terry around so he can turn the Detective in to Hank.
• Cool Old Guy: In a city where nearly everyone is content to let the Donut Men walk all over them and lose their humanity, Terry, a grouchy old man who frequently picks at his leg wound with a fly swatter, wants to put an end to Hank Bartells’ reign of terror. He’s the one to realize the Detective can do that and helps him in his journey. It’s a far cry from the first draft where he was mostly bumbling.
• Darkest Hour: During the confrontation against Hank, the entire party except for the Detective loses their senses to the reverse electricity and are unable to put their plan into action, and the Detective can no longer stand on one leg, meaning he’s losing himself, too. Meanwhile, Ronnie has collapsed on stage from his injuries, with the audience none the wiser and no one around to help him.
• Eldritch Location: The Inner City, the source of the reverse electricity and where it’s at its most concentrated. Vision and sound become distorted, it becomes harder to walk or focus, and the people there are covered in warts and act zombie-like. Hank Bartells operates there from his power station.
• Evil Former Friend: Bill to Terry. Bill willingly works under Hank Bartells, while Terry wants to put a stop to the reverse electricity.
• Fake Defector: Terry pretends to betray the Detective so that his former friend Bill can lead him, the Detective, and Riley close enough to the Inner City, after which the three beat Bill to death. The Detective isn’t too bothered by this.
• Five-Man Band: As the story reaches its climax, a party of six team up to stop the main villain and save Ronnie’s life.
  • The Hero: The Detective, the one who can best resist the draining effects of “reverse electricity”, especially within the Inner City.
  • The Lancer: Terry, the older mentor to the Detective, and the one with the most knowledge on what’s really going on.
  • Those Two Guys: Dr. Dan Pink and Dr. Bob Platinum, two of Ronnie’s kidnappers-turned-loving-parents who are only somewhat competent doctors. They may consider themselves The Smart Guy but they aren’t as smart as they think they are. Still, they have enough knowledge about electricity to make themselves useful.
  • The Heart: Deborah, the third parent to Ronnie, and the one who provides the most moral support to the rest of the group.
  • Sixth Ranger: Riley, the younger acquaintance to Terry who doesn’t appear until over halfway through the plot but ends up sticking with the main group the rest of the way through. He’s managed to figure out a way to temporarily pause the “reverse electricity” that’s plaguing the city.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Hank has thick black plastic-rimmed glasses.
• Lighter and Softer: Several characters who were permanently killed off in the first draft make it to the end, and the Five-Man Band (plus the Sixth Ranger) build a genuine camaraderie with each other in their shared caring for Ronnie and/or wanting to defeat Hank.
• Love at First Sight: The Detective bumps into a woman named Diane while running from the police, and instantly falls for her, with Diane reciprocating on the spot. The two go to a club together to dance, but they get separated soon afterwards until the very end.
• The Men in Black: The Donut Men, who frequently travel around the city in trucks that spread reverse electricity and carry prod guns that fire the stuff at victims to make them have extreme fits and seizure-like symptoms. Many bodies are left behind in their wake after each attack.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Hank revealing the wall of fire behind the curtain causes Deborah to roll away out of instinct and accidentally kiss Bob. This snaps them out of their fit, and they realize they can use The Power of Love to save the others and fight off the reverse electricity’s effects long enough put their plan into action.
• The Power of Love: In this script's universe, love is an actual force that can repel the negative effects of the reverse electricity, and it plays a crucial role in the climax. Though, as the Detective and Diane found out the hard way earlier, just because the reverse electricity can be abated doesn’t mean the Donut Men will be unable to do anything.
• Satanic Archetype: Hank Bartells is more apparently one in this version, whereas in the original he was seemingly more simply a dark magician type, albeit a very powerful one. He spreads misery and chaos all throughout the city via reverse electricity, his only ambition seeming to be to suck all the life and light from everything, and within his power station he holds a great wall of fire containing thousands of souls which can only scream in agony. He gloats to the Detective about how Ronnie will soon die from Mr. Barko’s abuse, so it’s safe to say Hank intends for Ronnie to join the others in the fire.
• Teen Genius: Riley’s age is never actually specified, simply being referred to as a boy by Bill and his wife, but his manner of dress combined with his emotional intelligence seems to imply he’s somewhere in this ballpark.
• Unexplained Recovery: Although Mr. Green shot Dan and Bob in their laboratory, the former in the head and the latter in the chest, they later reappear with Deborah in the Inner City. The three don’t know how Dan and Bob survived, and it’s never brought up again. Considering Hank Bartells’ evil powers, it’s possible that the Inner City is some sort of limbo.
• Weaksauce Weakness: In one of the strangest examples of this trope ever typed, the Donut Men and Hank burst into flames after having their shoelaces untied, the immolation only happening after the Detective then points out, “Your shoelaces are untied!”

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