Sovereignty, sir. Ours!

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[This post was originally published on The Living Room Tumblr.]

This morning, upon seeing David Cameron’s huffy tweet in response to Vladimir Putin’s “small island” insult, I was reminded – as I often am, whenever British people get adorably piqued about something – of my favorite line from a terrible 1990s made-for-TV movie: “Sovereignty, sir. Ours!”

The line is from Pandora’s Clock, the critically panned, now largely forgotten adaptation of the John Nance novel that NBC aired during November sweeps in 1996, a.k.a. my sophomore year in high school. The film is so obscure, and the line I’m quoting even moreso (obscurity within obscurity), that if you Google “sovereignty sir ours,” the first 4 (out of 5 total) results that pop up are posts from my old blog in which I, or my dad, quoted that line.

The context, as I explained in a 2007 blog post referencing the line in discussing Iran’s capture of 15 British sailors, is as follows:

The English have a stiff upper lip, but they also have a stiff upper-cut when forced to fight. I keep thinking of that line from some awful TV movie back in the late 90’s, where the British officer closes a runway so an American plane suspected of carrying a deadly virus can’t land on British soil, and when an American officer asks him “What was that about?” he responds defiantly: “Sovereignty, sir… ours.” The British are proud people. If you push them hard enough, the Empire will strike back.

Because the movie aired almost 17 years ago (good lord, I’m getting old…#PANIC), and because it was terrible and pedestrian and basically no one remembers it except Joe and Brendan Loy, I didn’t think I would ever be able to find a video clip of that scene. Indeed, I’m pretty sure I’d failed in such efforts in previous years. But, on a whim, I looked again this morning…and guess what???

Amazing. Utterly amazing.

The scene in question begins at 2:45 of the video clip, but for the sake of understanding the context, you may want to watch those preceding 2 minutes and 45 seconds, too – if you can stand the campiness and poor production values. (Heh.) Anyway, the pivotal line is delivered at 3:39 of the clip, though it’s immediately preceded by a bunch of other good – er, “good” – ones, like:

  • “What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing, General?”
  • “People are being rearranged at the hospital.”
  • “Having a soirée, are we, General Knight?!”
  • (In a delightfully arch menacing tone) “This is British territory…”
  • “The cheek of you people!!”

God bless the Internet. And God. Bless. England.

By the way, the actor who played the sovereignty-defending Brit (Wing Commander David Crandon) is one Bill TerKuile, who you may also remember from his role as a hotel desk clerk in the 1992 CBS made-for-TV movie The Danger of Love: The Carolyn Warmus Story, and…um…well, that’s it, according to his IMDb page. His filmography is only one item longer than mine. So basically, “Sovereignty, sir. Ours!” – which, if I remember correctly, was his primary (if not his only) speaking scene in Pandora’s Clock – was the highlight of his screen acting career. It seems Mr. TerKuile now works in the green-energy industry as a “Property Rehabilitation & Weatherization Specialist” at the Seattle Office of Housing / HomeWise. He also evidently does poetry. (Google-stalking FTW.)

Well, Mr. TerKuile, if you’re reading this, please ignore my jokes at the expense of the movie, which are directed at the screenwriting and directing, not at you. Know this, in all seriousness and genuineness: I salute you for an absolutely delightful performance in that scene, which my Dad and I still haven’t stopped referencing 17 years later. 🙂