(ORGAN)
TR (ANNC): And now, Rainbow Motor Oil and the Rainbow Family of Automotive Products brings you-- Dr. Mark Schlemmer, Ichthyopthalmologist.
(WIND, SPLASH, FLAPPING OF LOBSTER)
GK: Hang onto him, Maureen. Put the oxygen muffs on his gills, near his legs, please. Right over his hips.
SS: Here you go, doctor. (SFX)
GK: Put the heart monitor under the claws. (SFX) Now fasten the chin strap. (SFX).
SS: There. All set. (LOBSTER BREATHING)
GK: Thank you, Maureen. Keep him moist. Keep the hydrator on him.
SS: You keep referring to the lobster as "him," Doctor. Is that just a guess?
GK: I'm an opthalmalogist, Maureen, I don't get into the sex thing.
SS (TO HERSELF): I've noticed.
GK: What was that, Maureen?
SS: I noticed there are people standing over there staring at you, Dr. Schlemmer.
GK: So they've never seen anyone perform eye surgery on a lobster before.
SS: I suppose they think it's pretty ridiculous.
GK: The lay person probably would think so. (CLINK OF SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS)
SS: But you don't------ right? When you gave up your lucrative practice among the well-to-do to operate on lobster eyeballs, you had a purpose in mind, right? A vision?
GK: Lobster glaucoma is approaching epidemic proportions, Maureen. The seafood industry depends in large part on lobster.
SS: So you mean----
GK: When the lobster can't see the bait, then you've got problems. And so the lobstering industry has hired me to find a way to treat Intraocular pressure caused by aqueous humor buildup which can damage the optic nerve, leading to vision loss, and sometimes blindness.
SS: Well, we all have our vision problems, don't we. I mean, some people can't see what's right in front of them, Dr. Schlemmer. Right here directly in front of them. If you get my drift.
GK: You're blocking my light, Maureen. ----- Thank you. Scalpel please. (SFX) And now I'll make the incision, right here (SFX), the lobster has a very complex eyeball, as you can see, a thousand tiny lenses clouded by glaucoma. I'm doing an anterior sclerotomy to create a drainage channel to the external conjunctiva --
SS: All those words ----- you know so much-----
(CLINKING INSTRUMENTS)
GK: Now I open up the microscopic channels of the trabecular [trah-BECK-you-lar] network, so the backed-up aqueous humor will drain out through the zonules and out through the choroid to the sclera, reducing pressure. And I cut there. And there. (SQUISHING SURGERY SFX)
SS: Oh. Oh my.
GK: Perfectly normal procedure. (LOUDER SQUISHING, SFX)
SS: I'm feeling faint, Dr. Schlemmer. If I fell over, would someone catch me in his arms?
GK: Man, these are big eyeballs on this baby. Tremendous. (LOBSTER FLAPS)
SS: Uh oh. He's waking up. Dr. Schlemmer--
GK: We'll need the syringe.
SS: Oh my gosh--- my hands are shaking--
GK: We'll need to inject local anesthetic directly into his eyeball.
SS: I don't know. My knees feel weak. (LOBSTER RATTLING)
GK: Here we go. Right into the eyeball. (SYRINGE SFX)
SS: Oh my gosh. Oh my - (LOBSTER RATTLES FASTER) Hurry doctor Schlemmer.
GK: Shoot. Got the wrong spot. I'll have to do it again.
SS: Oh no.
GK: Retracting needle---(SFX)
SS: I feel nauseous.
GK: And here we go. One more time. (SYRINGE SFX, LOBSTER FLAPS)
SS: Please hurry, Dr. Schlemmer. This is terrible.
GK: This can't be rushed, Maureen. I'll just press the plunger here. (SFX). Slowly.... (EYE WOBBLE), slowly-
SS: Oh my gosh. I'm feeling dizzy.
GK: Hold steady Maureen.
SS: I really don't like eye things. I don't know if I've told you this before.
GK: You've been an ophthalmic nurse for fifteen years and you don't like eye things? (SHARK).
SS: Well, the truth is-----
GK: Manipulating the iris here. (SQUISHING)
SS: I did it for you, Doctor---you may not be ready to hear this, but---I love you and I want to have your babies!
(POP, GUSHING).
GK: Beautiful! We got drainage! (GUSHING, LOBSTER FLAPS) One more lobster saved from glaucoma. Now you were trying to tell me something?
SS: Oh never mind-----
GK: As I was probing the eyeball lenses, I didn't quite make out what you said.
SS: Just never mind. Just forget it. I never should have said that.
GK: If you say so.
SS: But Doctor----
GK: Yes, Maureen?
SS: Why do we work so hard to save the sight of a lobster so that he can better see the bait and bite the hook and die? What's the point in that?
GK: Maureen, I'm not a theologian, I'm an opthalmologist. My job is to heal diseases of the eye, not to think about ultimate truth----
SS: But in fact your healing of the lobster's glaucoma is leading to his death----
GK: I don't know. It's his choice, to take the bait or not.
SS: But you're working for the lobstering industry and they're promoting the killing of innocent lobster who only want a meal.
GK: I only know that I am curing glaucoma among lobsters, Maureen, which is my calling ---- the healing of disease is a good thing ----- I don't question that ---- I'm sorry that you do------
SS: Doctor, look out! It's a giant shark! (SHARK BITES, LOBSTER FLOPPING) Save the lobster, Doctor! Save him! (SHARK FRENZY) Oh my gosh. He got our lobster. Timmy the Lobster. He's gone.
GK: It's nature's way, Maureen.
SS: You cleared up his glaucoma so he could see even more clearly death coming for him -----
GK: Don't look back, Maureen. Time for our next patient. (LOBSTER FLOPPING) Ah, he's a big one. That's right, take him by the head and the tail. Put the oxygen muffs on. And the heart monitor. That's good. Okay----
(THEME)
TR (ANNC): Dr. Mark Schlemmer, Ichthyopthalmologist, was brought to you by Rainbow Motor Oil and the Rainbow family of fine automotive products.