Krusher Does Krusher - My rejected short play

Back in September, Gates McFadden sponsored a contest to help fund her play acting troupe.  The contest was called "Krusher Does Krusher".  Fans were given about three weeks to submit a play or short story of less than 2,000 words regarding a character named "Krusher".  The top ten would be performed at a theater in Los Angeles, California and each winner would get a program book signed by Gates herself.  Being a huge fan of Gates and her alter ego Dr. Beverly Crusher, I poured several hours into a short play and submitted it to the contest website.

The winners were announced on October 31, 2014.  I found out that weekend that my play did not make the final top ten.  Of course, I was crushed.    Upon further research,  I discovered eight out of ten winners were either established, award winning playwrights and/or professionals in the acting field.  Although I found this disheartening, I also took solace that it would be hard to compete with professional playwrights. 

The date and time for the performances has yet to be announced (rescheduled from November 22, 2014).  If I lived in L.A., I would attend, alas, I am on the opposite side of the United States.  I hope that her performance is a success and Gates McFadden exceeds her funding goals.

Without any further ado, here is my rejected play:

The Amazing Krusades of Doctor Krusher Presents:

“The B.I.G. I.D.E.A.”

Written by:

Rose Marie Rose

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Doctor Krusher:          An elderly, brilliant woman, who has seen both the wonders and the horrors of the universe.

Gwen Astor:               A seventeen-year-old girl who is intelligent and curious.

Crispin Jegger:            Space pilot.

Professor Shelley:       The creator of the B.I.G. I.D.E.A.

Drones 1 & 2:              Victims of Professor Shelley.

Act One

(The action takes place on a dreary night.  There is an old cottage

      with a fireplace inside where Doctor Krusher sits reading a book.)

[Gwen and Crispin approach the cottage.]  

Crispin:  You better be right about this Gwen.  I nearly broke my ankle back there

when we cut through that cemetery.

Gwen:  This is the place I read about in Doctor Krusher’s journal.  I am certain of it.

Crispin:  But we don’t even know if she is here.  You said she travels through space

helping people.

Gwen:  She did many years ago, but she’s older now, retired most likely.

Crispin:  I hope it wasn’t her tombstone I tripped over.

Gwen:  Hush now!  She’s not that old.  

[Gwen knocks on the cottage door.  Inside the cabin, Doctor

 Krusher becomes alarmed.  She gets out of her chair by the

                         fireplace, grabs a candlestick and waits by the door, ready

                        to strike.]

Crispin:  See, she’s not here.  We’ve wasted our time on this forsaken planet.   

Gwen:  There’s fire glow coming from under the door.  Someone is inside.  The

door is unlocked.  I’m going in.

                       [Gwen opens the door.  Doctor Krusher swings down with the

                        candlestick.  Gwen jumps back and all three of them scream.]

Doctor Krusher:  Who are you?  If you’ve come to rob me, there’s nothing here but some

old love letters and some canned goods in the pantry.  Help yourself to the food, but

leave my love letters alone. 

Gwen:  Doctor Krusher, you probably don’t remember me.  I’m Gwen Astor, from

Phantos Colony.  Twelve years ago, you came to my planet to help our people

develop seeds that would thrive with very little water on our arid planet. 

Doctor Krusher:  You were the little girl who drew me pictures of flowers that you

hoped you could grow for real one day.  I still have some of your drawings,

here, somewhere.  Look at you now, you’re all grown up.  Who is this young man

with you? 

Crispin:  I’m Crispin Jegger.  I moved to Phantos Colony four years ago.

Doctor Krusher:  That is why I do not recognize you.  Are you two engaged?

Crispin:  Not quite.

Doctor Krusher:  Well then, what brings you all the way here to this desolate planet?  I

am certain you haven’t traveled several light years just to say hello.

Gwen:  Doctor Krusher, we need your help.  Do you recall Professor Shelley who was in

charge of the seed project?

                         

Doctor Krusher:  The arrogant fellow with his head too large for his ears?  He’s the

reason I left as quickly as I did.   I had planned to stay to see the results from

the first harvest, but he kept questioning me on technology that your colony was not

ready for, and I had no other choice but to leave. 

Gwen:  Do you remember that hand-held computer you use to carry with you? 

Doctor Krusher:  Yes, of course.  I’ve had one like it for many years.  Professor Shelley

wanted one, but I could not give it to him.  It was too advanced for your society.

Crispin:  The Professor somehow managed to get the specs of it, though.  He created one

that also included a communication interface. 

Gwen:  He named it I.D.E.A. – Informational Data Emersion Application.  Everyone on

the colony started to use it to communicate with each other.  At first, it was little quips

about how their day was going, what they were eating - just small things. 

Crispin:  Then this concept of communication took over the colony.  Co-workers and

families who were in the same room began communicating only through I.D.E.A.  The

continual typing made everyone’s hands ache.

Doctor Krusher:  So you’ve come for my help about your colony’s outbreak of carpal

tunnel syndrome?   

Crispin:  It’s far worse than that, Doctor.

Gwen:  In an effort to prevent more cases of carpal tunnel, Professor Shelley developed

the B.I.G. I.D.E.A.

Doctor Krusher:  What exactly is the B.I.G. I.D.E.A.?

Gwen:  Brain Interactive Grommets attached to the colonists heads to communicate with

their thoughts through the Informational Data Emersion Application. 

Doctor Krusher:  It sounds dangerous.  Your people agreed to this?

Crispin:  Happily so.  The colonists waited for days in line to get fitted with their

grommets. When the colonists started communicating through thought only, they quit

going to work.  Children stopped going to school.

Gwen:  Some people stopped their daily routines.  Simple things like showering.

Crispin: And eating.  A few of the colonists starved to death before the Professor

discovered what was happening then he began feeding them intravenously.

                  

Doctor Krusher:  If the Professor has the entire colony under his control.  I have to ask,                          why aren’t you two attached to it?

Gwen:  I was, but the grommets caused me to break out in a terrible rash. 

Crispin:  I found her huddled on a street corner scratching at her head.  Her face was all

bloody.  She did not even realize she was hurting herself, so I disconnected

her from the B.I.G. I.D.E.A.

Doctor Krusher:  Why weren’t you connected?

Crispin:  I’m old fashioned, or maybe I like hearing myself talk too much.  The whole concept was beginning to creep me out.  I was planning to move off that rock and take Gwen with me.

Gwen:  But that’s when I remembered your journal.  You must have forgotten it when you left the colony.  I found it when I was a child and kept it all these years. That’s how we discovered where you were.  You wrote fondly about your Grandmother’s home, and we took a chance that you would be here.

Doctor Krusher:  What you are telling me about the Professor and what has happened to the colony is horrific, but I don’t know how I am supposed to help you.   

Gwen:  We need you to help us stop the Professor.  He used the original design from your hand-held computer.  We have very little knowledge about how the technology works, but you do.  Together, we can find a way to shut it down.

Crispin:  The colonists are dying and they don’t even know it.

Gwen:  You will help us, won’t you?

                 

                           [Doctor Krusher picks up the photo of a handsome,

                            distinguished gentleman in a red uniform.]

Gwen:  Who’s that?

Doctor Krusher:  My former Captain and my friend. 

Gwen:  By the way you were looking at that photo; he seems to mean more to you than that. 

Doctor Krusher:  You are very perceptive, Gwen.  Well, we better get some sleep.  We leave at dawn.

Crispin:  So, you will help us?

Doctor Krusher:  On my oath as a doctor, I have no other choice.

End of Act I

Act Two

(The action takes place in the overly lit lab of

Professor Shelley, who is working inside with

two drone colonists.)

         

                              [Doctor Krusher, Gwen and Crispin run up to the

                               entrance to Professor Shelley’s lab.]

Gwen:  I can’t believe we’ve made it this far.  We’re really going to do this. 

Crispin:  We enter at the count of three, okay?  One, two, three…

                             [Crispin, Doctor Krusher, and Gwen enter the room.  The

                              Professor, unalarmed turns to greet them.]

Professor Shelley:  Ah, perfect timing.  Doctor Krusher, it is a pleasure to see you again.  You are looking older.

Doctor Krusher:  And you are same arrogant egomaniac I remember. 

Professor Shelley:  Always with the quick wit, aren’t you?  So, what do you think of my ideal society?

Doctor Krusher:  Those colonists out there are only shells of their former selves.  By hooking them into this mainframe of yours, you have robbed them of the individuality, their sense of purpose.

Professor Shelley:  Individuality is overrated, Doctor Krusher.  I have created a society where there is no crime, no greed, no hatred or jealousy.  Everyone shares their thoughts, and there is absolute equality.  My society is nearly perfect.

Gwen:  Our people are dying out there, Professor.  Don’t you care about that?

Professor Shelley:  Of course, I care.  That is why I brought Doctor Krusher here.  Isn’t that right, Crispin?

Crispin:  Yes, Professor. 

Gwen:  What does he mean, Crispin?  You were helping us to stop this maniac.

                        [Crispin grabs Doctor Krusher by the arms before she can take action.]

Crispin:  So sorry, Gwen.  I needed you to believe that, but my real mission was to find Doctor Krusher and bring her here to the Professor.  The Professor knew you were close to her as a child, and you were our best chance at finding her.

                        [Gwen tries to pull Doctor Krusher from Crispin’s grasp, but the

                        two colonist drones grab her arms to keep her from moving.]

Doctor Krusher:  What do you want with me?

Professor Shelley:  The colonists are dying, but with your advanced medical and technical knowledge, we will work together to save this society.

Doctor Krusher:  I will never help you sustain this atrocity.

Professor Shelley:  You have no choice, Doctor Krusher.  Once I have attached the Brain Interactive Grommets to your mind, you will be more than willing to assist me.

                        [Crispin takes Doctor Krusher to the Professor and he forces

                        her into a chair.  The Professor begins his procedure.]

Gwen:  No!  Crispin!  Don’t let him do this.

Crispin:  I was never on your side, Gwen.  Get over it.

Professor Shelley:  Not to worry, Gwen, just as soon as I am finished with Doctor Krusher here, I will introduce you back into the society, where you will live a life of complete bliss.

Gwen:  Never again, Professor!

                        [Gwen breaks free from both the drones and runs to the control

panel and starts pushing buttons.  Crispin pulls a blast gun from his holster and shoots Gwen. She falls to the ground.]

Professor Shelley:  Did you really need to shoot her Crispin?

Crispin:  She was annoying me.

Professor Shelley:  What a waste.  Well, then, we’re about ready to start, dear Doctor.  Let me just plug myself in here.

                        [The Professor attaches two grommets to his head and flips a switch.]

Professor Shelley:  Welcome to my world, Doctor Krusher.  Soon your mind will be a part of the greatest social experiment in the universe.  You will become…wait… something is wrong.

Crispin:  What’s the matter Professor?

Professor Shelley:  I am not in control.

Crispin:  Who is?

Doctor Krusher:  I am.

                        [Doctor Krusher uses the back of her fist and smacks Crispin

                        in the face, knocking him out cold.  She stands up from the chair. 

                       The Professor is horrified, but unable to move.]

Doctor Krusher:  Gwen must have changed the settings in the database, giving me complete control of the mainframe.  I can feel the allure, Professor, hearing everyone’s thoughts like you are some kind of god.  So much control, it is almost like an aphrodisiac, but I don’t want to be anyone’s god.  No one should have so much power.  I am shutting this down Professor.  Goodnight.

                        [The Professor and the two colonist drones collapse to the floor.

                        Doctor Krusher removes the grommets from her head and runs

                        over to Gwen.  Gwen is barely conscious.  Her wound is mortal,

                       and Doctor Krusher knows it.]

Gwen:  Did we save the colonists?

Doctor Krusher:  We did.  Thanks to you. I am going to see to it that this mainframe is dismantled and destroyed.

Gwen:  There was something I wanted to show you earlier.  There’s a photo in my right front pocket.

                    [Doctor Krusher pulls out a photo and looks at it.  She begins to cry.]

Gwen:  It’s a photo of my garden.  All the flowers I wanted to grow as a child.  You helped make it possible.

Doctor Krusher:  They are beautiful.  Just like you, Gwen.

Gwen:  Just like you, Doctor.

                    [Gwen dies.  Doctor Krusher places her hand on Gwen’s chest,

                     mourning her loss.]

The End.

I appreciate any feedback I can get.  Just remember, it is so short due to the contest guidelines.  Thanks for reading.  

Until next time, I am, 

Sci-Fi Fan FL  

    

 

Fan Fiction - A World of Endless Imagination

Back in 1983, I wrote in pencil an entire journal based on the HBO series Fraggle Rock.  The show was a Jim Henson creation about a mysterious world of creatures that lived underground below an inventor's house.  Little did I know that what I had written was considered "fan fiction".  It was not until ten years later that I found out there was large audience for stories written by fans, and I bought my first fanzine at the very first Star Trek convention I attended in 1993.  I was fascinated that other people took a similar interest in writing fiction and creating artwork based off a television series, and it inspired me to write more and to look for other fanzine publishers.

In the mid-1990s, I was what Lucy Lawless coined a "hardcore nutball" of the television series Xena:  Warrior Princess.  I was fortunate to contribute a few articles to a fanzine called "The Warrior Princess Press", which was distributed to interested readers in the mail.  Contributors did not have pay for the publication, which was nice.  The publication only last for a year or two, then the publisher had to quit without much explanation, (my suspicions are that he was printing the books where he worked and got caught and lost his job, but I will never know for certain).

For five years, I, like many people across the globe, got hooked by the series Lost.  The brilliance of that show was that the writers left the episodes up to interpretation and speculation, and that made it a fan fiction writer's paradise.  By that time, many fan fiction authors had found a new home for their work - the world wide web, where their stories could be discovered internationally.  I wrote several and collaborated with my long time childhood friend, Kelly on one, which were uploaded to the Lost fansite, "Dark Ufo".  This past week I went back to see if I could find them.  The site is still there, but unfortunately, the links are broken.  I am happy I printed them out and put them in a binder that I titled "The Lost Lost Stories."

  
I recently reached out to other fan fiction writers to find out what inspires them to write and whether plot or character were more important to them.  One of my cousins, Melissa, reached out to me to let me know that she enjoys writing Harry Potter fan fiction, and that she has collaborated with her best friend on several stories. Her best friend's mother, who is an author, has encouraged her to write fan fiction. For Melissa, creating plot and story flow are her strong suits, and she admits that although character is important, it is more difficult for her to write.  She publishes her stories to fanfiction.net, which is a cornucopia of fan fiction that contains hundreds of genres and stories based off of television shows, movies and plays.

My daughter, Rachel, has written some short stories based on the child characters in Lost who grow up and find themselves stranded on the island.  She has also collaborated with My Little Pony:  Friendship is Magic fans online with ideas and her own character creations and short stories. In her writing, she states that plot is more important for her than characterization, and she is inspired by the many fans who contribute to the series.

My friend, Vel, a long-time fan of Star Trek, told me that she has uploaded several of the zines she published over the years to fanlore.org.  She advised me that fanlore.org is a part of the University of Iowa's mammoth fanzine library.  People throughout the world send copies of the fanzines that have been written over the years to the University of Iowa to be archived for future generations.

Fan fiction opens a worlds of possibilities from crossover stories (like The X-Files meets Star Trek), to alternate endings of series (many Lost fans thought they could do it better).  Some creators and actors of television series even like to read or write their own fan fiction.  Recently, Gates McFadden (Beverly Crusher of Star Trek:  The Next Generation), had a contest for fan fiction authors.  The top ten stories are going to be performed on stage in Los Angeles and the winners receive a copy of the winning stories (and fan artwork) autographed by Gates McFadden. 

If you have always been curious about fan fiction, there are thousands of web sites dedicated to it.  Some have large collections, and others focus on a particular television series.  It is a great way to spend a rainy afternoon, but what is even better, at least for me, is writing it.

Until next time, I am,

SciFi Fan FL



 

Defiance - A Season Two Review

Disclaimer:  This blog posting has some spoilers regarding Defiance.  

Defiance, which is found for a few short weeks on the Syfy Channel in the Summer, is currently one of my favorite sci-fi series on television.  Not since the new Battlestar Galactica has their been a sci-fi series that takes place in the future so well written with a remarkable ensemble cast of characters.  The series is set in a town called "Defiance", which was once St. Louis, Missouri, and the Earth has been inhabited by many different alien species who attempted to terraform Earth, which started a war that ended in a tense truce among the species.   It is a show worthy of much more than thirteen episodes a season, but the writers try to make up for the shortened time by showing flashback scenes and pointed conversation to give the characters more depth and substance than thirteen episodes allow.

 

Mayor Niles Pottinger and Berlin shake things up in Defiance.

This sophomore season saw some changes to the series with several new faces in the cast including three Earth Republic characters:  Viceroy Berto Mercado, new mayor Niles Pottinger, and Jessica "Berlin" Rainer, which complicated the lives to former Mayor Amanda Rosewater, reluctant Lawkeeper Nolan, and Deputy Tommy LaSalle.  The show, which originally focused on Nolan and his adopted daughter, Irisa in the first season, gave more screen time to the alien Castithan Tarr family, who are basically the town's top gangsters, particularly focusing on the liberation of Stahma Tarr, played brilliantly by actress Jamie Murray.   

Stahma and her daughter-in-law Christie grow closer.

My favorite episode of the season was "Painted From Memory" written by one of the show's frontrunner's Kevin Murphy, (who worked the short-lived sereies Caprica).  The episode saw the return of Kenya Rosewater, (Amanda's sister), who Nolan and Amanda had just rescued from kidnappers.  Kenya's re-appearance in the town is praised, but it is soon discovered she may not be who everyone thinks she is.

Nolan suspects Kenya may not be Kenya.

The only thing I disliked about this season (besides the fact that it needs to have twenty-two episodes), was the "Irisa" storyline, which dragged on far too long and resolved far too quickly.  Irisa (Nolan's adopted daughter) has never been a favorite character of mine, but this season she was more annoying than usual.  The only saving grace for her is Nolan's unconditional love for the child he sacrificed his career for and raised on his own.  Even though I did not agree with his actions in the Season Finale, he stayed true to his character.

It has not been announced if Defiance will have a third season.  I do not trust Syfy in the least in this respect, but the show ended on several cliffhangers, which I hope will have a chance to be resolved next Summer.  Defiance is not a show for everyone.  Due to its dark overtones and adult themes I would not recommend it for younger audiences, but I always enjoy quality writing and character depth and development, which this season did brilliantly.

Until next time, I am...

Sci-Fi Fan FL 

The Doctor is "In" - The Staying Power of "Dr. Who"

Disclaimer:  The following contains some spoilers from past Doctor Who episodes. 

I'm going to be honest here - I did not watch a lot of Dr. Who while I was growing up.  My father did not like the show, so it was not on in our house, but I did love listening to the theme song before the channel was changed.   My first real exposure to Dr. Who began in high school in 1988, when a fellow I dated told me he loved the show and he watched it loyally every Saturday night at 11 P.M. As I was smitten and wanted to be able to discuss the show with him, I stayed up and watched it.  I have to be honest again, I did not see the allure - the show was segmented into several parts and I started in the middle of an arc, so I was lost.  My time watching Dr. Who at that point was about as short as my relationship with the show's fan.   

This is the Doctor I saw right before Dad changed the channel.

I did not realize it then, nor did I care, but Dr. Who's first run from 1963 to 1989 was coming to end.  At that point there had been seven different Doctors and nearly seven hundred episodes.  It was not until 1996, a few weeks after my marriage to another loyal Dr. Who fan that another Doctor emerged on the scene in a television movie starring Paul McGann.  My newlywed husband was elated, and much to my surprise, I actually enjoyed it.   He and many others hoped that the movie would spawn a new series, but it did not.  The Doctor Who fan community would have to wait nearly another decade for that to occur.

In 2005, the BBC started a new series of Dr. Who episodes, which have grabbed the imaginations of a new generation, and thrilled fans of the original series by bringing in a mix of old adversaries like the Cybermen and the Daleks, and featuring former companions of The Doctor like Sarah Jane Smith while creating new characters to be loved and/or feared.  Over the past nine years, the show's popularity has exploded - so much so that Matt Smith, who portrayed the Eleventh Doctor was voted "Fan Favorite" and was on the cover of TV Guide here in the United States.

As a consistent viewer of the new Dr. Who series, I now understand why the show has always had so much appeal and staying power. It is due to talented show runners/writers and the ability to change actors without losing continuity, but at the same time keeping the show fresh by moving into new directions.

Dr. Who is one of the few television series that has the power to gear me up emotionally.  One of the first episodes that had me weeping was "Father's Day", when the 9th Doctor's companion, Rose Tyler, went back in time and saved her father on the day he was hit by a car.  Her act ended up causing a time paradox, nearly destroying the world.  When her father realized his death would cease the destruction, he sacrificed himself, but at least Rose had the chance to say a final goodbye to her father which she did not had before.

Rose Tyler saved her father, only to lose him again.

The show also has the ability to terrify without being gory or gross.  In 2007, the show introduced a new alien species that feeds on people's future years by sending them into the past before they were ever born.  They appear to look like statues while you look at them, but if you cannot see them, or even if you blink they can move and their touch is deadly.  The "weeping angels" as they are called have become one of the most feared in the series history, and they introduced in what is considered a "Doctor Light" episode, where the 10th Doctor and his companion at the time, Martha, had very little screen time.  Instead, the episode revolved around a one-time episode character by the name of Sally Sparrow, who many fans would love to see again.

"Blink" is considered one of the best episodes of the "new" Dr. Who.

  
Another wonderful facet of the series, is that the show, at times, can bring to light social issues for discussion.  In 2010, in the episode "Vincent and The Doctor", the 11th Doctor and his companion Amy visited Vincent van Gogh in a touching episode that focused on the painter's struggles with bi-polar disorder and his suicide.  The performance by Tony Curran at the tortured artist gained much praise. At the end of the episode, the actors did a public service announcement about mental illness and suicide prevention.

Van Gogh shares his view of the world with Amy and The Doctor.

No one knows how long the new Doctor Who series will run. Tonight, a new Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi takes the helm of the Tardis with companion Clara by his side.  Whenever there is a new Doctor on the scene, there is much discussion and a lot of controversy.  After tonight, there will be a lot of chatter on the new Doctor and the new, long awaited episode.  All I know is this - our family will be watching with millions of others who are captivated by the mysterious Doctor and his flying blue Police Call Box.

A new Doctor and new adventures begin.

Until next time, I am

Sci-Fi Fan FL

A Star Trek: The Next Generation Special Edition : "Sub Rosa" from Script to Screen

I love Ebay!  As a sci-fi/fantasy fan and collector, I do a lot of my "yard sale" searches on the internet in hopes of finding a treasure or two from time to time.  A few weeks ago, I decided to go on a search for some Beverly Crusher items (I was hoping to find some stills from Star Trek:  TNG episodes that showcased her character), and came across something else - a First Draft of the episode "Sub Rosa".  It was the fourteenth episode of the seventh and final season of the series, and it aired the week of January 31, 1994.  The episode centered around the funeral of Beverly Crusher's Grandmother (Nana) on a Scotland type colony on Caldos IV, and her mysterious lover, Ronin, who lures Beverly into his dark, erotic world.

Until I started researching this episode, I never knew what the title meant, but as soon as I Googled it, I found out that "Sub Rosa" is a Latin term for "under the rose"  and "secrecy", which makes sense since Beverly was keeping a secret that she was having an affair with what appeared to be a phantom.  The original idea for the episode was from a freelance writer named Jeanna F. Gallo, who wanted to showcase Beverly Crusher's "Scottish" heritage, but Jeri Taylor wrote the story and Brannon Braga wrote the teleplay, which was originally titled "Passions", and I speculate that was changed because it sounded too much like the Soap Opera of the same name.    

Initially, "Sub Rosa" was widely panned by TNG fans.   In the  book Star Trek:  The Next Generation Companion written by Larry Nemeck, he calls it "one of the most atypical episodes ever".  Director Jonathan Frakes called it "...a wonderful out-of-the-box non Star Trek episode"  (Star Trek:  The Next Generation 365).   It was always one of my favorites, due to the fact that it explored a different side of Beverly Crusher, one of vulnerability and addiction that almost destroys her career and her closest relationships.  Of course, I could not wait to get my hands on a copy of the First Draft of the script, to see if there was more to the original script than what was shown on screen.

In the beginning of the First Draft, Beverly's grandmother's funeral scene runs a lot longer than what we see in the final on-screen version.  In it, Beverly recites a recipe for her Grandmother's Gingerbread, which according to Brannon Braga, "was the same eulogy his mother used at his grandmother's funeral", (The Star Trek:  The Next Generation Companion):

There is also a very long scene shortly thereafter, which was most likely cut for time, which centers on Deanna Troi and Beverly at Beverly's grandmother's house, where Beverly finds some old play jewelry she had hidden as a child.  Beverly talks about her make-believe marriage to a childhood friend named David Mullen.  This scene may have also been cut, because it sounded very similar to a scene from Season Four in the episode, "The Host", where Beverly talks about another childhood crush about an eleven year-old soccer player named Stefan, who she imagined being married to, but who "never even knew {she} existed." Throughout the series, Beverly's love affairs have both short and tragic, (her husband Jack's death and her ultimate break up with Odin in "The Host"), and also combined with her own suppressed feelings for Captain Jean-Luc Picard, reflects Beverly vulnerable side, and this cut scene from "Sub Rosa" makes a coherent connection to Beverly's fantasy love life and explains why perhaps why Ronin has such a grip on her early on.

Ronin's hold is like an ecstasy type drug addiction to Beverly.

The "B" storyline in "Sub Rosa", which centers around the damage to the weather substation on Caldos IV, does not really vary from the way it was originally written, with the exception of the scene where Ned Quint, a local who was the gardener for Beverly's Grandmother is killed.  In the First Draft, Ned Quint rants on and on about "a ghost" who is trying to kill all of them, before he ultimately dies.  The "ghost" aspect in the First Draft is much more prevalent than what is seen on screen.

The largest difference in "Sub Rosa" however, is the final act.  In the First Draft, a lot of the explanation of how Ronin was a anaphasic plasma life form that merged with Beverly's family's DNA throughout the centuries, is explained in a conversation between Deanna Troi and Beverly in Ten-Forward after Ronin's candle is destroyed and he flickers out of existence.  The screen version is much more dramatic as Beverly confronts Ronin in the cemetery after she discovers Ronin is not really a sensual "ghost", but a life form that has been feeding off her family for generations, and she ultimately has to destroy him when he tries to merge with her one final time. 

Sitting on my bed flipping through the screenplay while watching the actual episode was a pure delight for me.  Watching the nuances, little changes in the dialogue, and the performances from the page was remarkable.   It is something that I plan on doing again real soon.

Until next time, I am,

Sci-Fi Fan FL

Crusher Fan FL

Watching My Son Watching "Star Wars"

Disclaimer:  This week's blog contains spoilers for Star Wars:  Revenge of the Sith, so if you haven't seen it and still want to see it, then what are you waiting for?  The film was released nine years ago.

My son realizes he is different than his peers.  His classmates have called him "weird", "strange", ect.  It is hard to explain to other ten-year-olds that your brain processes things differently than other people, especially when it is difficult to understand that yourself.  My son high functioning Autism, which basically means that he is uncomfortable in many social situations, overtly shy, but mostly he becomes fixated on a topic and cannot shut it off in his brain and sometimes repeats things multiple times.  Last year, my son schooled me on the Marvel heroes, learned about all of them and their villain counterparts.  Now, if you ask me who Armin Zola is, I know the answer because my son spoke non-stop about him for weeks.

Although my house is filled with all things Star Wars related, my son never showed much interest in it until this past Spring, when Star Wars: The Clone Wars came out on Netflix.  He had seen many of the episodes before, but with he and his Dad watching them all in order, he really got hooked.  It is his favorite show of late, and he was recently watched "The Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones", he especially prefers Darth Maul and the light saber duels.

For weeks now, he has been begging me to watch "Revenge of the Sith" with him.  The Prequels are not my favorites, so I had been blowing him off until yesterday when he took a stand and called me a "liar" for telling him I would watch it with him and then blowing him off for the upteenth time.  He was right.  I was a liar. So in order to make things right, I grabbed the DVD and we went to the bedroom to watch.

As I was attempting to find the DVD remote, my son looked at the cover and asked, "Who are those two fighting on the front?", but before I could answer he had figured it out, "I don't want to see Obi-Wan and Anakin fight Mom, that will make me sad."  I told him that the scene where where Anakin goes to the Jedi Temple to kill the Younglings makes me sad, so we agreed to skip over those parts.  So, the movie started and my son starts his own commentary over the movie, which can get kind of distracting at times, because he likes to add scenes and dialogue that are not in the movie, so after a while, I was not really watching the movie, but was watching him watching the movie.  Some of his insights were rather interesting and at times humorous.  For example, when Mace Windu takes three other Jedi with him to arrest Supreme Chancellor  Palpatine, Palpatine kills three of them almost instantly.  My son laughed and said to me, "At least Kit Fisto (the green one) lasted a few seconds more than the other two, apparently they didn't know how to use their light sabers."  Later on, when Order 66 was issued, he screamed when one of the Jedi was killed, "Nooo!  Anyone, but Plo Koon!" When I saw this movie originally, most of the Jedi who were hunted down and killed were seen for a few seconds, so their deaths really did not have much impact, but my son had seen Star Wars:  The Clone Wars first, which gave many of these Jedi a back story and Plo Koon had a huge role on the series, so these scenes really meant much more to him because they were characters he had come to know and love instead of just some random Jedi getting killed.

 

Plo Koon's death hit my son hard.

We became so engrossed in watching the film, that we ended up not skipping over the parts we originally agreed to.  My son watched the final battle between Anakin and Obi Wan, it made him sad to see it, and it broke his heart when Anakin became Darth Vader, but he found hope in Luke and Leia being born, and I found new insight into a movie I originally thought was lackluster until I saw it through the eyes of my son.

Until next time, I am,
Sci-Fi Fan FL

Sci-fi Fan FL Spotlight: T. Rob Brown

T. Rob Brown is an award-winning photojournalist, who has received national recognition for his work.  For several years, he was Senior Photographer for The Joplin Globe  in Missouri, and is currently a freelance photographer for The Associated Press.  He has also been a contributing writer for both Star Wars and Marvel role playing books, and is currently writing a supernatural fantasy novel.  He is also my cousin.  Whenever we had to a chance to visit each other while growing up, we would spend hours discussing sci-fi and fantasy.  He is a kindred spirit, and I am very proud of his accomplishments. This week, I wrote and asked if I could interview him for this week's Sci-Fi Fan FL blog, and he graciously agreed.

Q:  When did you become a fan of science fiction?

A:  I became a fan of popular science fiction when the visage of Darth Vader burst forth onto what I would later come to know as the "Tantive IV." This was in May of 1977 when my parents took me to the drive-in movie theater to see the original Star Wars.  I read a lot of young adult science fiction and fantasy after that but I wouldn't say I became a die-hard science fiction fan until my sophomore year in high school when I was introduced to Robert Heinlein's novel "The Puppet Masters." That changed everything and expanded my horizons beyond just popular sci-fi and fantasy.

Q.:  Who are some of your favorite sci-fi/fantasy authors?

A.:  My favorite sci-fi and fantasy authors: [J.R.R.] Tolkien and CS Lewis had a big influence on my youth. I'm a big fan of George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice & Fire" novels and the "Game of Thrones" TV series that evolved from it. My favorite Star Wars authors (so far) are Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole (who I have taken many writing classes from), and Alan Dean Foster. The late Aaron Allston was pretty good too. Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman are also among my favorites -- both very inspiring for my love of [Dungeons and Dragons] and fantasy stories. I also enjoy the R.A. Salvatore Drizz't novels and the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher (who, like Margaret Weis, is from my hometown of Independence, Mo.).

Q.:  [As a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien], what do you think about The Hobbit movie series?

A.:  The Hobbit -- as I mentioned before, is a beloved book I read in my childhood. It was the most serious fantasy book I had read up to that point and it made a big impression on me. Peter Jackson did such an amazing job adapting The Lord of the Rings series and I know I've heard a lot of feedback that people think the Hobbit movies aren't as good. I don't know that I hold to that but I do realize the literary differences from which both stories stem as well as the changes Jackson is making to his version of The Hobbit to make it blend better with The Lord of the Rings. Not everyone realizes what he's doing there. He's taking what was a children's story, updating it to be the same maturity level as The Lord of the Rings novels, he's adding back in the missing pieces of the story that were told in the appendices for The Lord of the Rings to complete the story. He's not just milking one children's book into three movies -- though, I do think three was a bit much. It could have and probably should have been done in two. The action level in the first Hobbit film, An Unexpected Journey, is not quite up to the level that people came to expect from The Lord of the Rings -- and for that, it appeared to be a lackluster movie to many. I, on the other hand, love the idea of immersing yourself in the world of Middle-Earth for a while...take it in...smell the roses. People forget... these were books, you were meant to live in that world, feel the world, and become a part of it. I think this also is a result of the style of writing from Tolkien's time being different than say how George RR Martin might have written the story with character viewpoints and a focus more on characters and less on the world itself. But that's just it. In Middle-earth, the world itself IS the major character. The world has its own story arc and it changes, just as a character would. Without showing you the world and getting you to love it, how can its change from the Third Age to the Fourth Age even matter? Honestly, I enjoyed the first Hobbit film. I love that world. I love Bilbo Baggins. Even as great as Frodo was, Bilbo was always my favorite Hobbit. Martin Freeman does an excellent job of playing the young Bilbo and I couldn't have been happier with the choice to keep Ian Holm in as the elderly Bilbo to tie the two movie trilogies together. Desolation of Smaug was pretty good too. Was it perfect? No. I think they took a lot of liberties with the property but I still enjoyed it. That's what we go to see movies for, right? To be entertained... that's why I go. Not everything can be a literary or cinematic wonder. Frankly, I think that's the heart of the matter. Because of the greatness of The Lord of the Rings, people expected The Hobbit movies to excel on that same level or more -- they had big hopes for these movies and expected perfection. They might not be perfect but they're quite enjoyable.

Q.:  How did you get involved in writing role playing books?

A.:  I had been attending Gen Con in Indianapolis for several years and kept speaking to people at Wizards of the Coast about wanting to write for the Star Wars and/or [Dungeons and Dragons] roleplaying games. They get a lot of people asking. It takes a lot to standout. That didn't happen for me until I applied for a full-time position at [Wizards of the Coast] as a copy editor. With my vast journalism experience, I passed several cuts in the application process and had a phone interview. Though they didn't end up hiring me full-time, they did offer me a freelance position -- so the application process was well worth my time and theirs. It took another year to move through the system until they found an open slot on a book I could work on (they work quite a ways ahead in order to make publication deadlines). I started writing in 2008 for my part of the January 2009 release of "Clone Wars Campaign Guide"   http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Clone_Wars_Campaign_Guide  That book won a silver ENnie award at Gen Con in 2009. Having the first book you work on end up winning an award is pretty cool. My next effort was an increased role (twice the word count) on "Galaxy of Intrigue" in 2010.  http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Galaxy_of_Intrigue

For the Star Wars RPG, I worked under mentor Rodney Thompson. He's one of the brightest designers at [Wizards of the Coast]. He created the award-winning "Lords of Waterdeep" board game and a lot more.

In 2011, I went through the Joplin tornado (lost my home and car). So that year, I didn't really do much with game design -- but I did have more than 40 photos published in the book "32 Minutes in May."  http://route66news.com/2011/11/13/book-review-32-minutes-in-may/  In early 2012, I joined the design team as a freelancer for Margaret Weis Productions' Marvel Heroic Roleplaying. This was under mentor Cam Banks who was the creative director then for MWP. Later that year, my work on "Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event" and "Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways" released. For both, I wrote game adventure content and supplemental information on news organizations (something far from foreign for a veteran journalist) within the Marvel universe. I've been a big Marvel fan since elementary school when I started reading "Amazing Spider-Man" comic book line and watching the cartoon series. I'm also a big Incredible Hulk fan. So having worked on both officially licensed Star Wars and Marvel projects has been a dream come true. Coincidentally, both properties are now owned by Disney.

Q.:  [Earlier this week Marvel announced that the character of Thor] is going to become female.   Do you have any thoughts on that?

A.:  Thor as a female... yes, I did hear about that and saw several jokes about Thor telling Odin that he's now a female, about Thor telling Stark he's now female (which was golden). Lots of humor there to be seized. My question is this...why? We already had Thor Girl. Now we have two female Thors. Why? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Girl She's been around since 2000. Besides, Thor was always a male in the mythology, why change it? His nickname is "Odinson" -- he can't really be that if he's a female. *chuckle* Neither can "he" and Loki be "brothers." "Siblings" just doesn't have the same ring to it. Normally, I don't take much worry about rather they change the color of a character's skin (unless it's integral to a backstory -- like say, you can't change Black Panther to be say a white guy because he's the prince and later king of Wakanda, an African kingdom. Same goes for Storm, she's the princess of another African kingdom and later Queen of Wakanda when she marries Black Panther -- changing their race would destroy their entire backstory and ruin the characters). Did changing newspaper editor Perry White from white to black change anything in the most recent Man of Steel movie? Nope. Laurence Fishburne is awesome, to boot. Did changing Nick Fury from white to black affect anything? Actually, I think it made that character stronger and we traded up in the movie universe from David Hasselhoff to the totally awesome Samuel L. Jackson -- so that was a big win, I think. So, how about changing gender? Why should we do it? Is it because there aren't enough female super heroes out there? I doubt that. We have lots and some pretty awesome ones at that. Perhaps it's because the classic Avengers never had a major female member. Sure, Black Widow and Wasp are in there... but as Patton Oswalt would say, they're the B Team Avengers along with Hawkeye. Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America are the key members of the classic Avengers team -- all guys. I guess the writers figure Thor is the easiest to make female because he has long blonde hair but personally, I think it's just lazy writing. Later on, Ms. Marvel gets added to the Avengers and She-Hulk spends some time in there... the team "beefs up" in regards to its feminine side. I will be interested to see what they do with this new female Thor and see how much it affects their comic book sales. Who knows, women might cling to it and the sales could grow. It's hard to say but it sounds like a financial risk to me. Perhaps they have plans for a lesbian relationship between Thor and the Lady Sif or Valkyrie, I have no idea. No matter what they do, it won't be anywhere near as strange as Beta Ray Bill. *grin*

Q.:  [As a photojournalist], have you ever had an assignment that affected you personally?

A.:  There have been many photo shoots that affected me personally. An important thing to do in photojournalism is to not take sides, to not show favoritism, to try to distance yourself from what's going on. This isn't always easy. During the tornado aftermath, I found myself crying during photo shoots where people lost everything. I was also going through my own loss and emotions and related stress. Sometimes, those were the most difficult images to take but a veteran shooter like myself presses through it and gets the job done.

Q.:  What are some of the most enjoyable photo assignments you have had?

A.:  The most enjoyable? That's a bit tricky. There's the level of enjoyment WHILE taking the photo and the level of enjoyment of seeing the photo after the fact. Sometimes images are not easy to take but they are rewarding. For instance, I was in the middle of a police shoot out back in the early 2000s in downtown Joplin, Mo. I got some great images and won multiple awards for them -- but my life was at risk. A bullet hit a pole that was just a few feet behind me. While it was happening, it wasn't enjoyable -- although the adrenaline rush was interesting. After the fact, the images were rewarding if sad to recall that a man lost his life that day. The excitement of the moment comes with highs and lows. Few assignments are as glittery as most people might imagine -- but you have to focus that the service you do for the readers is important--they need to know what's going on in the world around them. Most of my greatest images are from sad, horrific, or scary events. It's unfortunate that this is the world we live in, but we also can't stick our head in the sand and ignore reality. I believe that's why I love sci-fi and fantasy so much. In my off-time, I get to immerse myself in another world where the action and violence are fantasy and of my own (or an author's, director's, or gamemaster's design).

Q.:   What projects are you working on currently?

A.:  My biggest current project is my supernatural fantasy novel "Rise of the Broodslayers" based on a fantasy world I created with about 15 years of development. My slug line for it is: "A party of religious misfits find themselves off to save the realms in the name of a deity none of them believe in." Religion and undead are a major theme in the story -- faith vs. magic and death vs. life. My main focus has been the characters, the dialogue, and some wicked plot twists. I'm currently at 52,000 out of a 100,000-word goal. I plan to release the book through Kickstarter and it will later be sold on Amazon, DriveThruFiction, and Smashwords unless a publisher picks it up first. I'm writing a screenplay version of it this year, as well, for a screenwriting class I'm taking as part of my master's degree. The novel is also an introduction to the fantasy campaign setting for my future RPG. Further information on that at http://2d10system.com and http://unlimitedjourneys.com -- I still have a lot of work yet to do before the RPG will be marketable. Playtesting will be vital.

A special thank you to T.Rob Brown, for taking time out of his hectic schedule to be spotlighted in this week's blog.  

Until next time, I am, 

Sci-Fi Fan FL