Idea: 1950s B-Movie scientist who transitions using ATOMIC Power! (a cross post from Twitter under the readmore)
We open in a laboratory scene, in black and white. Tesla coils and Jacob's ladders arc in the background. There's a big machine with lots of lights and dials, including a prominent one with two settings: X and Y.
A group of journalists mutter "rhubarb, rhubarb" as an elderly man with white hair walks in, wearing a labcoat.
"Gentlemen, I've invited you all here today to witness the first application of my new invention, the Atomic Gender Manipulator!"
The rhubarb increases in intensity.
"As you all know, the difference between men and women comes down to chromosomes. Men have XY, while women have XX." he says, while gesturing to a chalk board with some outlines of men and women on it.
"And for centuries this is just how it's been... But what if we could change that? What if we could rewrite that Y into an X? Many have said it's impossible, and... It is."
The rhubarb stops momentarily
"But that's not the end of the story! Recall the development of the airplane. Many ingenious scientists spent years trying to replicate the flapping wings of a bird, and got nowhere. But how many of you flew here today? Clearly flight is possible!"
"no, it was only when we realized that we had to stop aping the natural world and think differently about solutions to our problems that the Wright Brothers built their first plane, or Dr. Braun built his rockets. And so the same strategy must be applied to gender!"
"I ask you... What would happen if all the Y chromosomes in your body were destroyed? Well, your body would try to heal, of course. DNA is miraculous in its ability to repair damage. Your broken chromosomes, now all merely X, would join back up together, forming XX strands."
"and this is why all our attempts to rewrite a Y into an X have failed. It's not rewriting that will create the XX we need, but destruction. Remove the Y chromosome, and your body will naturally heal, forming XX chromesomes using the only remaining material."
"But professor!" one journalist pipes up, their notepad still for a moment. "Doesn't that mean you can't reverse the process? You can't turn back into a man."
The professor smiles. "That's true, and an inevitable limitation of the technology."
"if you were to try to turn back, the machine would destroy all your X chromosomes. As a woman, that's all your chromosomes, so there would be nothing left for your body to heal. You would merely die."
One journalist, a handsome man with some real Protagonist Vibes, looks up from his notebook, a concerned look on his face. "professor, I have another question. What if-"
The professor waves his hand dismissively. "I'm sorry gentlemen, we're running behind schedule."
"it's time to demonstrate my device. As the first test on humans, the only ethical subject to use would be myself. I shall see you in a few moments, transformed!"
He steps inside a chamber, all metal with a leaded glass viewing window.
His assistant flips a switch, and the hum of turbines increases in volumes.
"I am now targeting the professor with carefully tuned atomic rays, which will only affect his Y chromosome" he explains in a Russian accent.
Indicators show levels increasing. The professor looks uncomfortable though the window, grasping his head and torso. The assistant throws a final lever, and the chamber fills with steam, obscuring the professor from view.
The gathered journalists look uneasy, but say nothing, watching intently.
The assistant turns off the machine, and there's the sound of rotors spinning down. The chamber's porthole only shows swirling clouds of steam.
They walk over to the door, release a safety latch, and pull it open. The steam billows out onto the floor, slowly dissipating. The journalists rush forward, eager to see the results, whether success or failure.
In the chamber stands a beautiful woman. Inexplicably the machine has given her a new hairdo and applied makeup.
The journalists rapidly ask questions, all blurring together. The professor raises her hands to silence them, and explains that she'll be happy to answer any questions later, but for now she's tired from the procedure and needs to change out of this ill-fitting labcoat.
She walks out, as the journalists write rapidly in notepads and discuss with each other. The protagonist-looking one walks over the forgotten assistant, and asks him a question.
"say, Ingvar, I had a question. The professor explained how targeting Y in a man turned him into a woman, and that trying to target X in a woman would kill her. I can assume targeting Y in a woman would have no effect, but that leaves one possibility:
what would happen if you targeted X in a man?"
The assistant looks nervous, and maybe a little disturbed by the thought.
"well, that would destroy the X, leaving them with only Y. The healing process would kick in, and result in YY chromosomes."
"my science classes were a long time ago, Ingvar... What's a YY chromosome give you?"
"nothing that God has created in his earth. That would be a new form, a new gender... There's no telling what would happen."
The journalist walks off, eager to return and interview the professor tomorrow. He's got many questions for her.
Naturally during the course of the movie, someone does get turned into a YY, and seem fine... At first.
Then they start transforming, becoming what's basically a werewolf. Bigger, stronger, hairer, more violent, able to shrug off bullets.
The professor and protagonist finally manage to stop them, but the professor dies in the process (that's just how these movies go, sorry.)
Then as the journalists look on at the remains of the lab, in flames, they voice one of those end-of-movie speeches. She tampered in God's domain, learned too late that man was a feeling animal, etc.
The scene is carefully shot so we only see the silhouettes of the journalists, and then only as a mass of people.
The camera cuts to the final shot, facing the journalists, and one of them offers to take the rest out for drinks, they've earned it. The protagonist wipes the blood and soot off her face and asks if anyone has a light?
Then patting where her double-breasted suit pocket would be, smiles. "and a cigarette?"
There's a rustling of purses, and she's offered plenty of both from well-manicured long-nailed hands from off screen. She laughs, and the film fades to black.
Directed by Ed Wood.
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