The Langoliers
Encyclopedia
"The Langoliers" is one of four novellas published in the Stephen King
book Four Past Midnight
in 1990.
from Los Angeles
to Boston
, ten passengers awaken to find that the crew and most of their fellow passengers have disappeared.
The ten remaining passengers are Brian Engle, an off-duty airline pilot traveling to Boston to attend his ex-wife's funeral; Dinah Bellman, a young blind girl with minor psychic powers; fifth-grade teacher Laurel Stevenson, who takes to watching over Dinah; Nick Hopewell, a junior attache & "mechanic" for the British Embassy; Don Gaffney, a retired tool-and-die engineer on a trip to see his grandchild; Rudy Warwick, a businessman; Albert Kaussner, a talented teen violinist heading to a prestigious school of the arts; Bethany Simms, a teenager being sent by her family to rehab; Bob Jenkins, a mystery author who acts as the voice of logic; and Craig Toomy, an irritable investment banker on the verge of a psychotic breakdown. They realize only those sleeping are now left on the plane. Engle takes control and lands the plane in Bangor, Maine
for safety reasons, despite Toomey's protests.
Upon arrival, the airport is abandoned with no signs of life. There are no odors, electricity, or echoes. Food and drinks are tasteless and matches simply sputter out. They soon hear "radio static" in the distance. Craig believes it is "The Langoliers", monsters he was afraid of as a child who go after those who waste time.
Unable to get to his business meeting, Craig snaps, hallucinating his angry, Type A personality father, and takes Bethany as a hostage. He shoots Albert, who escapes injury since the bullet has no energy. Craig is then subdued and tied up.
Bob begins to theorize that they have flown through a time rip, resembling the aurora borealis, that the airline spotted over the Mojave Desert
. Bob declares that the world they are in is the past, a place that forbids time travelers to observe or interfere with past events, instead being a deserted world that "time" and everything else has left behind. To get back, Bob theorizes, they must fly back through the aurora.
The survivors work together to refuel the plane. Since it still holds "present time", which Albert discovers by noting how much brighter the plane appears compared to the rest of the world, fuel will burn properly, unlike the combustible materials in the gun and matches.
Craig, now completely insane, escapes and rampages through the airport. Believing the others to be manifestations of the Langoliers, he stabs Dinah in the chest and kills Don. Albert subdues Craig and leaves him badly injured on the airport floor.
While the plane is in its final preparations Dinah telepathically communicates with Craig and persuades him that his board meeting is being held on the runway. Craig makes his way outside and hallucinates arriving at the meeting, but has a breakdown before his boss and screams that he deliberately cost the company millions, ensuring his eventual firing and disgrace as a way of getting even with his father & putting his demons to rest.
It turns out that Craig is right, in a way. Two creatures, followed by hundreds more, emerge from the forest and head for the plane, consuming everything in their path. Brian describes them in horror as large dark beach ball-like monsters expanding and contracting with semicircular caves as mouths and gnashing blurring teeth leaving trails of black nothingness in their wake. Craig flees in terror and heads for the refuge of the terminal. The first two Langoliers follow him past the plane, leaving Engle enough time to get the plane moving towards the runway.
In the plane, Bob theorizes that the Langoliers are the timekeepers of eternity, and that their purpose is to clean up what is left of the past by eating it. The plane takes off, and as they fly the passengers watch the rest of the land below falling into a formless, black void. As the aircraft heads for Los Angeles, they discuss their pasts. Nick reveals himself as a specialist in the British Army, on a mission to assassinate the girlfriend of a Boston politician funding the IRA
. Dinah speaks to Laurel about how her life is ending happily, then quietly succumbs to her injuries. Nick confesses his feelings for Laurel and his hopes of a romance with her after returning home. Albert and Bethany reveal a similar attraction to each other. All the characters realize that they have considerable regrets in their pasts, and that the trip through the rift has allowed them to come to terms with their actions.
Bob soon realizes that they must be asleep to survive going through the rift again. Nick volunteers to manipulate the controls, knowing full well this will cost him his life. He takes a moment to ask Laurel to pass a message to his father, telling that he, Nick, was going to leave the "business." The cabin pressure is decreased and all fall into a deep sleep. Nick vanishes as the plane passes through the rift, the only thing remaining being his watch.
The survivors awaken unharmed, with the exception of nosebleeds caused by the pressure drop. Seemingly, nothing has changed. The plane lands in a deserted Los Angeles. When they check outside, the passengers again hear a noise. It is not the ominous sound of the Langoliers, but a relaxing hum. Inside the airport, sounds echo and food has taste. Bob & Albert conclude that the time rift brought them into the future and that this is not a dead world, but one waiting for the present to catch up. The group takes shelter against the wall to avoid the soon-to-appear human traffic in the airport. They begin to see colors with holograms of people and activity going on. A flash hits them and they find themselves in the present again. Happy to be back, the group goes outside for some fresh air.
was adapted for a two-part TV movie in 1995. The TV movie starred Kate Maberly
, Kimber Riddle
, Patricia Wettig
, Mark Lindsay Chapman
, Frankie Faison
, Baxter Harris, Dean Stockwell
, David Morse
, Christopher Collet
and Bronson Pinchot
.
The movie version of The Langoliers, produced for broadcast on ABC-TV, was filmed almost entirely in and around the Bangor International Airport
in Bangor, Maine
(author King
's hometown) during the summer of 1995. King himself made a cameo appearance in the film as Craig Toomey's boss, during Toomey's hallucination
.
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
book Four Past Midnight
Four Past Midnight
Four Past Midnight is a collection of four novellas by Stephen King, published in 1990. The four stories are "The Langoliers"; "Secret Window, Secret Garden"; "The Library Policeman"; and "The Sun Dog".- The Langoliers :...
in 1990.
Plot summary
On a cross-country red-eye flightRed-eye flight
A red-eye flight is any flight departing late at night and arriving early the next morning. The term red-eye derives from the fatigue symptom of having red eyes, which can be caused or aggravated by late-night travel....
from Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, ten passengers awaken to find that the crew and most of their fellow passengers have disappeared.
The ten remaining passengers are Brian Engle, an off-duty airline pilot traveling to Boston to attend his ex-wife's funeral; Dinah Bellman, a young blind girl with minor psychic powers; fifth-grade teacher Laurel Stevenson, who takes to watching over Dinah; Nick Hopewell, a junior attache & "mechanic" for the British Embassy; Don Gaffney, a retired tool-and-die engineer on a trip to see his grandchild; Rudy Warwick, a businessman; Albert Kaussner, a talented teen violinist heading to a prestigious school of the arts; Bethany Simms, a teenager being sent by her family to rehab; Bob Jenkins, a mystery author who acts as the voice of logic; and Craig Toomy, an irritable investment banker on the verge of a psychotic breakdown. They realize only those sleeping are now left on the plane. Engle takes control and lands the plane in Bangor, Maine
Bangor, Maine
Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...
for safety reasons, despite Toomey's protests.
Upon arrival, the airport is abandoned with no signs of life. There are no odors, electricity, or echoes. Food and drinks are tasteless and matches simply sputter out. They soon hear "radio static" in the distance. Craig believes it is "The Langoliers", monsters he was afraid of as a child who go after those who waste time.
Unable to get to his business meeting, Craig snaps, hallucinating his angry, Type A personality father, and takes Bethany as a hostage. He shoots Albert, who escapes injury since the bullet has no energy. Craig is then subdued and tied up.
Bob begins to theorize that they have flown through a time rip, resembling the aurora borealis, that the airline spotted over the Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
. Bob declares that the world they are in is the past, a place that forbids time travelers to observe or interfere with past events, instead being a deserted world that "time" and everything else has left behind. To get back, Bob theorizes, they must fly back through the aurora.
The survivors work together to refuel the plane. Since it still holds "present time", which Albert discovers by noting how much brighter the plane appears compared to the rest of the world, fuel will burn properly, unlike the combustible materials in the gun and matches.
Craig, now completely insane, escapes and rampages through the airport. Believing the others to be manifestations of the Langoliers, he stabs Dinah in the chest and kills Don. Albert subdues Craig and leaves him badly injured on the airport floor.
While the plane is in its final preparations Dinah telepathically communicates with Craig and persuades him that his board meeting is being held on the runway. Craig makes his way outside and hallucinates arriving at the meeting, but has a breakdown before his boss and screams that he deliberately cost the company millions, ensuring his eventual firing and disgrace as a way of getting even with his father & putting his demons to rest.
It turns out that Craig is right, in a way. Two creatures, followed by hundreds more, emerge from the forest and head for the plane, consuming everything in their path. Brian describes them in horror as large dark beach ball-like monsters expanding and contracting with semicircular caves as mouths and gnashing blurring teeth leaving trails of black nothingness in their wake. Craig flees in terror and heads for the refuge of the terminal. The first two Langoliers follow him past the plane, leaving Engle enough time to get the plane moving towards the runway.
In the plane, Bob theorizes that the Langoliers are the timekeepers of eternity, and that their purpose is to clean up what is left of the past by eating it. The plane takes off, and as they fly the passengers watch the rest of the land below falling into a formless, black void. As the aircraft heads for Los Angeles, they discuss their pasts. Nick reveals himself as a specialist in the British Army, on a mission to assassinate the girlfriend of a Boston politician funding the IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
. Dinah speaks to Laurel about how her life is ending happily, then quietly succumbs to her injuries. Nick confesses his feelings for Laurel and his hopes of a romance with her after returning home. Albert and Bethany reveal a similar attraction to each other. All the characters realize that they have considerable regrets in their pasts, and that the trip through the rift has allowed them to come to terms with their actions.
Bob soon realizes that they must be asleep to survive going through the rift again. Nick volunteers to manipulate the controls, knowing full well this will cost him his life. He takes a moment to ask Laurel to pass a message to his father, telling that he, Nick, was going to leave the "business." The cabin pressure is decreased and all fall into a deep sleep. Nick vanishes as the plane passes through the rift, the only thing remaining being his watch.
The survivors awaken unharmed, with the exception of nosebleeds caused by the pressure drop. Seemingly, nothing has changed. The plane lands in a deserted Los Angeles. When they check outside, the passengers again hear a noise. It is not the ominous sound of the Langoliers, but a relaxing hum. Inside the airport, sounds echo and food has taste. Bob & Albert conclude that the time rift brought them into the future and that this is not a dead world, but one waiting for the present to catch up. The group takes shelter against the wall to avoid the soon-to-appear human traffic in the airport. They begin to see colors with holograms of people and activity going on. A flash hits them and they find themselves in the present again. Happy to be back, the group goes outside for some fresh air.
Television film adaptation
The LangoliersThe Langoliers (TV miniseries)
The Langoliers is a miniseries consisting of 2 episodes of 2 hours each . It was directed and written by Tom Holland and based on the novella by Stephen King. The series was produced by Mitchell Galin and David R. Kappes...
was adapted for a two-part TV movie in 1995. The TV movie starred Kate Maberly
Kate Maberly
Kate Elizabeth Cameron Maberly is an English actress and musician. She has appeared in film, television, radio and on stage.-Early life:...
, Kimber Riddle
Kimber Riddle
Kimber Riddle is an actress. She appeared in the films Love, Honor & Obey: The Last Mafia Marriage, The Langoliers, and Guy. She has also performed in the theatre plays The Good Soup and Tranced.-External links:...
, Patricia Wettig
Patricia Wettig
Patricia Wettig is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her roles in the television series Thirtysomething, Prison Break and Brothers & Sisters...
, Mark Lindsay Chapman
Mark Lindsay Chapman
Mark Lindsay Chapman is an English film and television actor.His credits include: Max Headroom, Dallas ,...
, Frankie Faison
Frankie Faison
Frankie Russel Faison , often credited as Frankie R. Faison, is an American actor.-Personal life:Faison was born in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Carmena and Edgar Faison. He studied drama at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, where he joined Theta Chi Fraternity...
, Baxter Harris, Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, with a career spanning over 65 years. As a child actor under contract to MGM he first came to the public's attention in films such as Anchors Aweigh and The Green Years; as a young adult he played a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and...
, David Morse
David Morse (actor)
David Bowditch Morse is an American stage, television, and film actor. He first came to national attention as Dr. Jack Morrison in the medical drama St. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988...
, Christopher Collet
Christopher Collet
Christopher Collet is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Jake Livingston in the 1984 movie Firstborn, and for his lead role in the 1986 film The Manhattan Project....
and Bronson Pinchot
Bronson Pinchot
Bronson Alcott Pinchot is an American actor. He has appeared in several feature films, including Risky Business, Beverly Hills Cop , The First Wives Club, True Romance, Courage Under Fire and It's My Party...
.
The movie version of The Langoliers, produced for broadcast on ABC-TV, was filmed almost entirely in and around the Bangor International Airport
Bangor International Airport
Bangor International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located west of the city of Bangor, in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. It is owned and operated by the City of Bangor and was formerly a military installation known as Dow Air Force Base. The airport possesses a single...
in Bangor, Maine
Bangor, Maine
Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...
(author King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's hometown) during the summer of 1995. King himself made a cameo appearance in the film as Craig Toomey's boss, during Toomey's hallucination
Hallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
.