TBF, Mags, you have been doing a lot of the heavylifting for the quest, so this will be in good hands.
To be clear to everyone, this is just me burning out on imagination of the quest, since my muse has been hitting me over the head a lot with so many different ideas that I just can't find myself too interested in this.
I'll still hang out here, though, since this still does have a sepcial place in my heart.
I'd like to thank you all for making this a wonderful experience while it lasted.
I'd also like to thank @Magoose, @Fluffy_serpent, and @Martin Noctis for doing so much to help prepare and write this quest. I couldn't have done it without you all.
Carrie was rather… well actually was trying to sleep. You didn't know what caused her to be such a couch potato, but considering she was still heavily pregnant… you were honestly surprised that she was the one resting. "You know, I thought you were working on that TV show?" She said.
"Well I was, but there was something that I wanted to do first." You said with a smile. "Are you okay?"
"Well I'm tired, and I am hungry and don't want to order takeout." She said.
"I'll be home later tonight." You said with a smile. "I'll make all the steak you want."
Carrie chuckled. "No, you won't, we don't have any, and you don't like to go shopping when you are working."
She was right. "So Paramount and CBS and ABC really wanted to have you on it."
You gave a smile. "Well I am happy to say this. I'm still deciding."
"Well choose something soon, I wanna have your steaks."
---------------------------
What do you choose?:
[]A Guest Appearance on Mork and Midny: Robin wants to work with you on his TV show, and honestly, you are happy that he thought of you first. He says it's only for one episode because he knows how busy you are. So… you're an alien going after the family for… Tax evasion? Thats cool.
[]Goodbye, Farewell, Amen: Lucille Ball has really called you and asked you to come back for an episode. To give the character Radar a Goodbye.
[]On the Muppets!: You would be remiss to not go onto the Muppet Show because Mary would love you guest staring at it. Also, Mark said that it was a lot of fun working with Jim and the Guys there.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12 Actions.
Lucasfilms Unlimited Actions:
[]1941: Steve's big-budget comedy Film that he had been making with Robert for Months. You honestly think it will be something cool and great. DC: 0
[]Blow Out: Brian wanted to release his film Earlier but had been stuck in the Editing Loophole from hell. So he has to release it at the same time as 1941… Maybe you can do something about that. DC: 0
[]Investing in the Future: You want to Spend some of that money you made into the company and make the whole thing better DC: ??? (Linetail what you want to invest in, and how much money you want to invest in it)
[]Look for Investors: Not that you need the money now, but maybe you can get people on board with this idea you have. DC: ???
[]Distributing Deals: Since you have a Distribution Company, or rather, are one… You can meet the major movie theater companies and strike a Deal with them. Even when you had really nothing to offer them. DC: ???
[]Importing Foreign Films: So… you may have a way to get some films showing in American Theaters. Maybe you can go to other foreign film industries and… well, ask to distribute their films. Sure many of those foreign film companies never expected an American company to distribute their films in the US… but maybe you can get money without producing them. (Linetail where you try to get films from, and if there are any specific films, line tail them below) DC: ???
[]The Ideas of Industry: This action is meant for a write-in to act as a sort of Idea machine for the company. You must detail what you want to do below this action. This action can be taken multiple times.
Personal Actions:
[]Treating Her Like a Queen: Carrie isn't doing much around the house, so you are hiring some staff for a day to get her house clean as a whistle.
[]The Gate Crashers: Freddie and Queen are back in town... and they have asked to to crash at your place because they know they would be safe. DC: 50
[]Mikes Great Get Together: Michael Jackson has called and asked if you could just hang out. Like just hang out and not do anything. DC: 30
[]Mike Eisners Contentment: "You do know my contract is coming to an end soon." "Yep." "You aren't worried?" "Mike if I were worried about you leaving us, I wouldn't we asking you to sit on the roof and drink a beer with me?" DC: 20
[]The Disney Reveal: Cat has invited you and almost every big name at Lucasfilms to a big event at Disney Land. Wonder what it could be? DC: 10
[]Steve's Wonder: Um Steve. You and George called everyone here. What dark magic have you done now! DC: ???
[]As Mary Grows Older: It's almost Mary's Birthday, so maybe you want to ask her how she's doing and what she wants.
[]A New Way of Doing Things Part 2: Since Brandon wants to be an actor, You decided that he will do things your way in how to handle a situation and of course, that means one thing. "I am not wearing that." It was a costume and a copy of Romeo and Juliet. "You asked me remember." DC: ???
[]Helping Brandon Graduate Part 7: So Brandon, you are now a junior. We are going to get you to graduate by the end of the year, so that you may join the workforce without sacrificing your education. DC: 60/???
[]The Lee Family come over to Dinner: Linda and Shannon are coming over. Time for dinner plays! DC: 40
[]Your Rival: Arnold Schwarzenegger. You have no idea who this guy is… also, why does he want to rival you. Also, what the fuck is he doing, going around saying you are the only reason that things got so weird? Whatever that means. DC: 30
[]Game Shows: You want to go on a Game show, you are sure that Lucille might get you in on one of them. DC: 40
[]A Well-Known Fan: So some really famous person is a fan of yours. Maybe you'll learn who they actually are. DC???
[] Learn to play an instrument: You want to learn how to play something DC: 80 (You have no idea what the hell you are doing.)
[]Investments: You want to invest your hard-earned cash into something that you feel will be a good return on investment. And as well as diversify your assets DC: 0 (Linetail what you wish to invest in below this action, and the amount of money you want to invest in)
[]The O'Riely Foundation Lobbying: You want California to help the men who have given nearly everything and more to this country. DC: ??? (Linetail how much money you want to throw at it, and what you want from the State)
[]A Charitable Heart: You want to invest your newfound wealth. Maybe even save some lives while you are at it. (Linetail what you wish to invest in below this action, and the amount of money you want to donate in)
[]Networking: Well time to start finding out who might actually be interested in meeting you. (Write-in what you want to try and network with)
[]Pray: It had been a long time since you went to Mass. You wish for the Lord to give you strength. DC: ???
[]Action Directing: It seems the town has been talking about how much of a beast you are at just being a stunt person. In fact, they knew you were a student of Bruce Lee. And they think you know how to stage and block a fight? Maybe you can DC? ???
[] Do auditions(Movies and TV Shows): You are going to go to some of the casting calls that are in the place where you can find work in. DC: 20(Possibility of only getting a commercial or TV show job, or extra work in a low-budget film)
[]Modeling (High Fashion): So you got a call from a photographer in LA, some no name. But that no name works for Gucci. And he wants you on their next lineup of products. And he needs you to model for him. Which is great… one problem, you have no idea what the hell you are doing. DC: 60
[]Modeling (Advertisements): Thankfully another Call Came in, one from an ad firm. They need you to have some pictures taken so that they are used for saner things. Like selling cars, or ice cream. DC: 40
[]Workout: A Healthy Mind and a Healthy Body are Key to having a good life, and you have been slacking as of late. Time to hit the workout and discipline, and perhaps, see things differently. DC: 30 Reward: You work out and feel better.
[] Ask Clint if you can act in a movie of his: You know you want to see if you can act opposite him, for a good time. DC: 40 (Clint wants to work with you.)
[] Gophering, and other signs of stuff: You want to try and learn how work behind the camera works, and what better way than being a gopher. DC: 50 (You have no idea what the hell they were doing, and you have no idea either)
[] Take a walk: Dad always said that the best ways to get inspiration are by walking, talking, and being open-minded. So you'll try that. DC: 10 (You are just going for a walk, what could be really said?)
[] Register in a theater: There are quite a few theater troops that are looking for some seasonal help for some play's that the regulars could not get to. Perhaps you can work there for a while. DC: 40 (Everyone wants to be famous here in Hollywood.)
[] Go to a bar or something to make jokes: You wanted to try some comedy, perhaps you can try. even with your shit timing. DC: 40 (Your Lack of comedy chops is going to be something that will bite you.)
[] Practice writing: You want to write something, maybe even a script. At least to learn the craft. DC: 20 (You try your hand at screenwriting, and maybe get something that is worth a damn.)
[] Research stuff, see if anything piques your interest: You may have graduated High School as a kid, but you never stopped trying to learn. DC: 15 (Write-in what you want to learn about below)
The Rewards for meeting and compleating the Mike Eisner Omake Challenge of 1979:
All Profits for The Films released in 1980 will now have a Profit modifier of x4 in addition to other modifiers already added.
All Critic and Audience Rolls will have an increase of +200, in addition to other bonuses.
All Film Quality rolls will increase by +100 for the next 5 years.
All Rolls next turn will auto pass.
Mike is pleased. (This is a very good thing)
In Addition
Martin is willing to work on Solomon Kane films next year if only to get his mind off a few... failures
Brian wants to be the next director of the Conan Series.
Steve has a surprise to show everyone.
We were still ripped when we were on the show because we fought Bob Foster during our time there but Radar will noticeably look older and even more hella muscular.
Would be hillarious if we had this line inserted,
"So Radar, what have you been up to?"
"Well when I rotated back home, I stayed in Hollywood for a while and fell in love with this wonderful girl named Debbie Reynolds."
[X] Plan Thankful for Autopass
-[X]Goodbye, Farewell, Amen: Lucille Ball has really called you and asked you to come back for an episode. To give the character Radar a Goodbye.
-[X]1941: Steve's big-budget comedy Film that he had been making with Robert for Months. You honestly think it will be something cool and great. DC: 0
-[X]Blow Out: Brian wanted to release his film Earlier but had been stuck in the Editing Loophole from hell. So he has to release it at the same time as 1941… Maybe you can do something about that. DC: 0
-[X]Treating Her Like a Queen: Carrie isn't doing much around the house, so you are hiring some staff for a day to get her house clean as a whistle.
-[X]The Gate Crashers: Freddie and Queen are back in town... and they have asked to to crash at your place because they know they would be safe. DC: 50
-[X]Mikes Great Get Together: Michael Jackson has called and asked if you could just hang out. Like just hang out and not do anything. DC: 30
-[X]Mike Eisners Contentment: "You do know my contract is coming to an end soon." "Yep." "You aren't worried?" "Mike if I were worried about you leaving us, I wouldn't we asking you to sit on the roof and drink a beer with me?" DC: 20
-[X]The Disney Reveal: Cat has invited you and almost every big name at Lucasfilms to a big event at Disney Land. Wonder what it could be? DC: 10
-[X]Steve's Wonder: Um Steve. You and George called everyone here. What dark magic have you done now! DC: ???
-[X]As Mary Grows Older: It's almost Mary's Birthday, so maybe you want to ask her how she's doing and what she wants.
-[X]A New Way of Doing Things Part 2: Since Brandon wants to be an actor, You decided that he will do things your way in how to handle a situation and of course, that means one thing. "I am not wearing that." It was a costume and a copy of Romeo and Juliet. "You asked me remember." DC: ???
-[X]Helping Brandon Graduate Part 7: So Brandon, you are now a junior. We are going to get you to graduate by the end of the year, so that you may join the workforce without sacrificing your education. DC: 60/???
-[X]A Well-Known Fan: So some really famous person is a fan of yours. Maybe you'll learn who they actually are. DC???
-[X]A Charitable Heart: You want to invest your newfound wealth. Maybe even save some lives while you are at it. (Linetail what you wish to invest in below this action, and the amount of money you want to donate in)
--[X] Project Lighthouse. $220 Million. While most Romanians are stuck in the nation thanks to the Biowar, there are hundreds of thousands who left in the early half of the conflict and need your aid. Try to help the Romanian refugees as best as you can so that no matter how the war ends, they will have some peace and refuge.
-[X]Networking: Well time to start finding out who might actually be interested in meeting you. (Write-in what you want to try and network with)
--[X] Dino De Laurentiis. The Flash Gordon films are what caused you to connect with George Lucas and they're what inspired George to create Star Wars. You owe a great debt to Flash Gordon due to all the positive butterflies that came with it, and supporting the film would also help Queen since they made the soundtrack. Connect with Dino and try to secure Lucasfilms as Flash Gordon's distributors. If nothing else, it would make for an excellent early Christmas gift for George.
Oh boy, a whole boatload of stuff to achieve with autopass. Once again, Magoose is trying to temper our ambitions with tons of Socials, but this is okay since most of them are pretty fun.
Have a reunion with the MASH cast and give Radar the proper sendoff he deserves. The other shows will last a couple more years but this needs to happen now.
Do 1941 and Blow Out so we can have two more successful releases and show Steve and Brian some love.
Carrie comes first, treat her as the Queen she is and do something nice for all the hard work she's doing as Lakers owner. Also hopefully some nice setup for Mary's birthday.
Hang out with Queen and the King of Pop, some more music fun and maybe Mary gets musically inspired.
Go to Disneyland and SEA what Cat wants. Fun fact for writing, Disneyland is one of George Lucas' favorite places in the world and he and his family were actually at Disneyland on opening day and stayed the entire opening week. So I guess George gets to share some magic with Wally and Wally and Mary will have some adventures.
Help with Brandon's acting and studies, hopefully with autopass this is the turn he graduates and he can do Kung Fu Kid next year.
FINALLY get to break the meme and know who Arnold Schwarzenegger is. At the same time do well known fan in coordination with the Arnold action and hanging out with Queen and MJ who we met through said networking action. Find out which big superstar is a fan of the Bruce and expand our possibilities.
Lastly, now that the Soviets no longer have a kill order on us, help the Romanian refugees.
Based on Lee Falk/Wilson McCoy's The Phantom story 'The Masked Marvel' from 1948 research done using a reprint by frew (The Phantom #1925, August 2022),
The Phantom was created by Lee Falk in 1936 and can be considered the first true costumed hero. A contemporary of Flash Gordon, The Phantom sits at the Halfway point between Tarzan and Batman. Like Tarzan, his Strength and Skills come from Hardy Jungle Living and he is mentally stable. Like Batman, the Phantom wages a ceaseless war on evil, armed with nothing but Immense Strength, skill with weapons and a terrifying reputation. Many of his adventures follow the formula of the wanderer arriving in town or other exotic locations, finding an issue and setting it to rights before disappearing, leaving only a legend behind.
And since Lucasfilm seems to be the boxing studio, here is the Phantom having a boxing adventure.
Pitch:
The Masked Marvel
GENRE: Action/Crime/Drama
SUBGENRE: Superhero Fiction/Adventure
FORMAT: Low-budget Movie
Set Up: Based on the King features syndicate character created by Lee Falk, an adaption of the 33rd daily newspaper written by Lee Falk and illustrated by Wilson McCoy, The Masked Marvel Is a tribute to the inspiration of the Phantoms fighting style Boxing.
Set somewhat ambiguously before the Second World War in a series of fictional African / Asian statelets named Gorgnza and Bartena, the specifics of the time and location can be easily adjusted from the early 1930s to the late 1980s
The Story opens with an egotistical boxer claiming he is the Masked Marvel, a boxer with an impressive win record known for fighting wearing a luchador-style mask. To the Boxer's frustration, no one believes him when he states he is the Masked Marvel, and he starts to make a scene in the small town bar. A tall individual in a concealing outfit consisting of a hat, dark glasses, and a trench coat arrives seeking a meal to go of sandwiches and a location where he can make an international telephone call.
The stranger asks for and receives a glass of milk to drink while he waits for it to be made.
The Boxer continues to make a scene attempting to fight anyone who doesn't immediately agree that he is indeed the Masked Marvel. At the same time, his Manager, Joe, tries to diffuse the situation. The stranger attempts to remain inoffensive, but when the Boxer makes fun of his milk drink and smashes it on the floor, the tall individual moves to confront him. The Boxer's Manager warns the stranger that the man causing the issue is the Masked Marvel and again attempts to talk the Boxer down. The Boxer is having none of it and moves to punch the stranger. The stranger strikes faster, knocking the Boxer out with one punch before collecting his meal and directions to a specific hotel before leaving the still-shocked bar as the Manager fusses over the knocked-out Boxer.
The stranger exits the bar and enters a cab, revealing that the stranger is the Phantom Traveling as Kit Walker with his love interest, Diana Palmer. They have been stranded and are off course after their previous ship experienced unspecified trouble and are attempting to make their way back to Bengali and the Phantom's home there. A few lines of dialogue establish that while they have begun a relationship, and Diana is aware of the Phantom's identity, they are still sorting out a relationship and getting to know each other after several years of separation.
On arrival at the hotel, they book in for a night before calling Diana's family in the United States. Her Uncle Dave informs her that her mother, Lily Palmer, is very sick, and Diana needs to return immediately. Contacting the airport has all planes booked out for the next month, no ship leaving for at least a week, and a passage time measured in months,
The Phantom briefly leaves Diana, attempting to find a private pilot with an available plane.
While on the way to his private plane flying him to the next bout, the Masked Marvel notices Diana and attempts to Chat up Diana, to Diana's disgust. The Phantom returns, and the masked marvels Ego Results in another fight, which ends with another knockout.
The multiple knockouts delivered by the Phantom have resulted in Marvin requiring a month-long hospital stay. Since the Masked Marvel is supposed to have a match tomorrow night, his Manager Desperate for a replacement, the Manager asks the Phantom to take the Masked Marvel's position. The Phantom accepts on the condition that they use the Masked Marvels Chartered plane to transport Diana to America and her ill mother. The Manager accepts.
An emotional farewell takes place as Diana heads off to see her mother and Kit Walker for a night of boxing before attempting to catch up by plane or ship.
The match is to take place in Gorgaza. Instead of using the clothes of the Masked Marvel, the Phantom uses his own Signature outfit. There is the standard pre-match banter with some real hostility on Toma's part as Tiger Toma. Brings up all the trash talk that the Masked Marvel has been saying about Toma. Kit remains reserved and polite. At the beginning of the match, it looks perilous for a moment with him going down on one knee as the Phantom is surprised and blinded by the sharp lights and performs poorly. Kit is up again before the count reaches eight and immediately knocks Tiger Toma out. The whole match has taken less than two minutes.
Ecstatic at this performance. The Manager, Joe, Attempts to secure the ongoing services of the Phantom as the Masked Marvel, bringing up possible prize values, the effect it has on national pride and going so far as to Bring up a faked contract indicating that if Kit Walker won, he would continue boxing in the Identity of The Masked Marvel. Annoyed at being taken advantage of and already effectively having a pre-existing career, The Phantom rebuffs the Manager, leaving Joe frustrated that his best chance at a title has walked out of the door seemingly forever.
While leaving for transport to join Dian in the United States, the Phantom notices a fire in the Children's Hospital. He enters the burning building with two children trapped on the upper level and heroically saves them.
While being thanked by hospital management for saving lives, management reveals they lack insurance to cover the damages and will be unable to rebuild, leaving a critical gap in care. The Phantom turns back to a surprised Jo And asks if it is possible to raise enough money for a boxing career to rebuild the hospital quickly?
The Manager replies that the numbers are possible and after convincing him that the cause is worthwhile, Joe and the Phantom come to an agreement. The Phantom will give his entire prize purse. Joe the Manager, will give half of his. Some encouragement is needed on Joy's behalf, but once he sees the position that children are in. Joe agrees that it's worth it.
This detour tour has resulted in the Phantom not catching up with Diana at the expected time. a recovering Lily Palmer States that This proves that A kit Walker / The Phantom is An unreliable man and Diana should be looking elsewhere for a partner. Like that Jimmy fellow. Diana disagrees. Defends saying ocean trips can take months and that if he is at sea, he would be out of contact. Her mother concedes the point, but Diana is left disquieted.
Meanwhile, a montage Is shows with the Masked Marvel, beating opponent after opponent night after night in pubs and clubs in different towns. Training with Joe and sending checks back to the children's hospital. Interspaced is gradually growing crowds and interest as well as bookies starting to take note of the disrupted odds the Phantom constantly winning is making to their profit margins. Fights are reported in cheap local newspapers and talked about by junior local reporters in ill fitting suits
A cable explaining what is going on is intercepted and destroyed unread by Diana's mother.
The next significant challenge is Kid Boff, an aspiring title contender whose Manager is. Determined to get him there by any means necessary, including cheating. The Manager is in league with the mob. A warning is given to Joe for the Phantom to throw the fight. The Phantom refuses. An ambush is made on one of The Phantoms training runs by a group of thugs to teach the Phantom a lesson, and is promptly defeated. Finally, the match occurs, and still oblivious to the illegal dealings, Kid Boff is knocked out with one punch.
The promised hitman is about to complete his contract on the Phantom for beating Kid Boff when he is called off as killing the masked marvel at this stage with his impressive fight will draw too much attention. As the Masked Marvel is now a serious title contender, fights are more challenging and come less often but boast much more significant prizes.
A further montage.
More time between Fights, More intense training and far more excitement picking up between Fights. The quality of the newspapers commenting and the style of dress of the TV presenters slowly improves from seedy to respectable and professional.
As the montage ends, Kid Hercules, the current world champion, offers a chance at the belt . The proposed prize pool will allow the Phantom to complete their Children's Hospital so he accepts without much fanfare, to the continual surprise of Joe, who figures that the Phantom should get at least slightly excited by this.
The Publicity of the fight finally reaches Diana, who gets the first solid hint of what the Phantom has been up to away from her. She finds herself upset as the Phantom seems to have turned away from his Ancestorial fight against evil and simply been using his amazing abilities for personal benefit. Already annoyed by her mother, Finally coming around Kit Walker Seems to be a respectable sportsman now. She shares a Brief and repeatedly interrupted phone call in which circumstances conspire so the Phantom cannot explain what has happened. Likewise, her statement that she is uninterested in a Sportstar, but the Phantom is similarly frustrated. This garbled phone call, combined with external pressures, results in each independently deciding that their relationship may have come to an end.
Disappointed and a bit depressed at Diana's apparent attitude, The Phantom refuses to call off the fight, Deciding that the benefit to the children is worth more than a relationship with a woman who seems to want him to call off a fight. To demonstrate his devotion to her. A bit Annoyed at his personal misjudgement of Diana. He signs the contract with Kid Hercules.
The matches broadcast are televised. Individuals such as Tiger Toma, the hitman, Kid Boff's Manager and other stakeholders' reactions are brought up between rounds and punches as a series of cutaways, as a difficult and technically impressive fight ensues between Kid Hercules and The Phantom.
Diana, wishing to avoid what she feels is a reminder of her perceived misjudgement, deliberately leaves the home, her overly enthusiastic mother, and her Uncle Dave. Because of the Publicity surrounding the match, she is unable to avoid hearing about it from TV, radio stations and stores as she walks around town and finds herself caught up in the spectacle. She considers the man he is and if she could support him even with his new seeming mercenary bent. She walks past the telegraph office and goes in to hear the fight better.
At the end of the sixth round, the Phantom receives a telegram…from the children's hospital encouraging and thanking him, which steadies his nerves and reassures his purpose. He puts Diana out of his mind, resolving that if she cannot love him despite his oaths, she is not the one for him. This clarity of purpose leads to a seventh-round knockout of Kid Hercules.
Diana ends up running home excitedly, yelling that he won. The telegram she would send unsent as the Phantom won too quickly. She remains conflicted and resolves to contact him and discuss the circumstances the next day.
Meanwhile. Kid Hercules congratulates the Phantom or the Masked Marvel on his win. As per the agreement with Joe, the Phantom then collects his prize and Joe's half of the prize and wires it to The Children's Hospital, finishing off the financial obligations of the reconstruction.
To Joe's dismay, Kit then keeps to his plan and disappears back on The Phantoms Multi-generational crusade against Piracy, Greed, Injustice and Cruelty.
The Phantom's disappearance after winning the title and the revelation that his money was being used to rebuild the chair. Children's Hospital ignorance. Another massive. Round of public attention. Kid Hercules is surprised to find out that he still retains the title, as The Phantom will not be defending it. Diana reads the paper And find out The Full circumstances. The proper talk she promised herself never eventuates as the Phantom has already disappeared. Diana's mother laments that he threw away an excellent career as a boxer.
The only lasting legacy of The Phantoms meteoric rise in the boxing world and win is a rebuilt Children's Hospital with a statue Of the Masked Marvel supporting a child in front of it in Bartena.
As the world starts to forget the Phantom and Diana's mother's health has improved, Diana decides that she is no longer needed at home and sets out to find the Phantom. She starts by talking to Joe, who recognises her as the Phantom's girlfriend and comments about how torn up he was after the phone conversation, he stated that he was sure she would return after Kit made champion. Diana replies that she came back because he disappeared after making champion. Joe responds that he will never understand women.
Diane then guesses that The Phantom will be Returning to the Skull Cave. The Phantom's ancestral home and jungle stronghold. Diana finds it easy to charter a plane to Bengali and then arrange for a further overflight of the Deep Woods, where she bails out with a parachute. Landing in the Deep Woods just ahead of the Phantom's, she greets and congratulates him cheerfully.
Characters
The Phantom, is also known as Kit Walker, the 21st descendant of a man named Christopher Walker, who was ambushed by pirates off the coast of Bengali. He survived the experience, but his father and the rest of the crew did not. Cristopher Walker swore on his father's skull to devote his life to the destruction of Piracy, Greed, Cruelty and Injustice and declared that his sons and their sons would Follow him. So far, despite many hardships and temptations through the ages, this has remained true, leading to the myth that the Phantom, The persona Christopher Walker, is truly immortal, a less person and more vengeful spirit punishing evildoers and defending the innocent. The Phantom uses this perception, along with his impressive strength, fighting skills and accuracy with firearms, to continue his crusade. He has become less active as his recent adventures have reunited him with his childhood sweetheart, Diana.
Diana Palmer. Adventure socialite, globetrotting explorer and advocate for human rights. She was saved from a zoo escaped leopard by a similarly aged Kit Walker as a child, leading to a lifelong friendship. She was upset when he abandoned a nearly complete degree to return home and take over the family business after his father's death. After several adventures of her own, she has recently become aware that the mysterious Phantom is none other than Kit Walker. She is intrigued. Her mother disapproves.
Joe- Boxing Manager. Once a contender, he hopes to train someone up to take the title. So far, he has been unsuccessful due to his less-than-good ability to judge character. He nevertheless has a heart of gold and a talent for management and teaching boxing. Has a young son.
Supporting characters
Tiger Toma- Minor Boxer annoyed at the masked marvels trash talk
The Masked Marvel / Marvin – Plain-faced Masked Boxer high on his ego. A genuine contender if only his ego was not so big
Kid Hercules. Strait-laced boxing champion. Honest if a little egotistical. Quick to congratulate individuals on actual accomplishments.
Kid Boff –Another potential contender. Painfully Nieve. He is honest himself and has an ego but misses much of the subtext of the goings on around him.
Peter Vitale- Kid Boffs Manager. Crooked boxing manager.Wants the top and doesn't care who he has to step on to make it happen. Links with organised crime.
Lily Palmer- Dislikes the Unsettled nature of Kit Walker and wishes that Diana would settle for someone more reliable like that rich Jimmy Fellow.
Jimmy Wells – Bruce Wayne if his parents were not shot, he had a good life and didn't need to be the protagonist of a comic book, somewhat of a layabout playboy. Lily Palmer's preferred suitor for Diana.
AN
Darn too late.
I've been working on this one since Ali challenged Bruce. I expected it to be over and done with quite easily and function as a Recommendation to grab Charlton Comics, which I believe King Features Syndicate was a part of at the time as our comic book arm and allow for a sneaky cameo slash introduction if we swap out Jimmy Wells for the person he eventually evolved into after several more authors Bruce Wayne.
As you can see, that didn't exactly happen with the endeavour taking a lot longer than expected.
While this isn't the first work in the Phantom series, it is kind of the most typical. The Phantom wanders into a situation, beats up the bad guys, leaves an improved situation, and disappears mysteriously.
I figured this Reworking would be particularly timely considering the recent shenanigans in The California Legislature To have a boxing superhero Fighting injustice.
Have a reunion with the MASH cast and give Radar the proper sendoff he deserves. The other shows will last a couple more years but this needs to happen now.
Have to say, I agree with most of that and will happily vote for it, but do we really have to abandon the meme?
I can think of several things that I'd like to do rather than Ruin Bruces one-eyed scarecrow impression.
Like say, installing a single well on Bruce's land, so it's technically being used and developed while maintaining the rest of the site's beauty.
Now would also be a good time to network With or by outright Apple. This way we can be sure that Steve Jobs doesn't cause us too much trouble.
Heck, if we wanted to, we could just start Lucas Arts and make it so we also manufacture computers too. Lucas Crafts? or should we hold that offer at Toy Division?
Finally, we could open that pickle jar. You know, the one With the stuck lid. The one that nobody can get open but sits at the back of the shelf forever, That's legendary opening will begin a golden age or at least result in nods of respect from other men?
Agreed. Beyond the meme being hilarious, do we really want to use an auto pass to fix it? There are definitely better uses for that last action and it's not like it's that much of a detriment to not know who Arnold is.
Star Trek Phase II Created by: Gene Roddenberry
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Stephen Collins, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry and Grace Lee Whitney
Studio: Paramount Television
Distribution: Paramount Television Service
Original Release: September 1979-February 1980
Quality: 136
AudienceD100 + 100 => 190
Critic D100 + 100 => 108
Star Trek vs Star Wars, the greatest rivalry in all of fiction, or at least that's how the fans want the two franchises to act in some sort of bizarro war for supremacy of science fiction. It was honestly a pretty silly and stupid concept that the two franchises had to go to war and not coexist just because they both had "Star" as the first half of their title. They were two completely separate stories with different themes and settings, there was no reason they couldn't get along. George was always a fan and Star Trek was a partial influence on the movie, you enjoyed watching the original run with your parents, and Gene Roddenberry said in an interview that Star Wars was a fun movie. Yet according to the fans, there had to be a definitive winner, to the point where reportedly at this years Comic-Con there was a strange role-play battle between Star Trek and Star Wars Cosplayers.
Whatever the case, it could not be denied that for the moment that Star Wars was the more popular, beloved and profitable franchise. It made close to two billion dollars and was constantly hailed as the greatest movie of all time and several people's favorite. Star Trek may have been a good show, but it was no MASH of its heyday and even through its growing fandom and syndication success it was merely one fish in a big pond, while Star Wars was a killer whale which had no peers. Still, that didn't mean that there weren't people who wanted Star Trek to be Star Wars' equal, or perhaps its superior. Such was the hopes and dreams of Paramount where in their belief if they couldn't defeat Star Wars and Lucasfilms in movies, they would triumph in TV, thus leading to Star Trek Phase II, the creation of which was a long and hellish road.
After the modest success of the animated series and the growing size of the Star Trek fandom, Paramount paid Gene Roddenberry to come up with a script for a Star Trek movie, at a time where Star Wars was still a rough draft and Lucasfilms was in its infancy. Unfortunately for Paramount, Gene came up with some really bizarre garbage that would have surely been flops, most especially if they were released before Star Wars. Two very infamous scripts were "The God Thing" which was the most blasphemous creation since the Cult of Reason as the plot was the Enterprise chasing an extra dimensional being who is revealed to have been the creator of all religions, including being Jesus, and that all religions were fake bullshit, something that made your blood boil when you read the script and fortunately Paramount wisely decided to toss it in the garbage. The other was "Planet of the Titans" where the Enterprise encountered the mythological Titans and through a wormhole are sent back to prehistoric man where they teach them how to make fire. Apparently Gene had wanted either George, Steve or Francis to direct this film but all three were busy with Star Wars, Close Encounters and Apocalypse Now respectively.
Okay seriously, so one of the Trekkies' main digs at Star Wars is that it's not a true science fiction film but a fantasy movie set in space, and yet Gene pumps out nonstop scripts of extra-dimensional aliens with magic powers and that's hard science?!
Gene kept on pumping out garbage material and while continually fighting studio influence at the same time, Barry Diller started to grow very annoyed with Gene and was about to give up a Star Trek film and just move on. Then Star Wars was released and Gulf Western ordered Paramount to pump out Star Trek to cash in on the Star Wars craze. Everyone expected a Star Trek film to compete with Empire, but instead Paramount wanted to dominate TV and thus Star Trek Phase II was set to be the flagship of Paramount Television Service.
Only instead of being the flagship, Phase II was inflicted with the sequel curse Star Trek was suffering as Gene was reportedly being a major ass and delaying script production from micromanagement while butting heads with the writer's room over his vision, the ongoing drama of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner's contract disputes, Star Trek sets and models having messy constructions and then falling apart or burning, flip-flopping direction from Paramount on if they wanted to shift resources to a movie, messy direction and cooperation on set when shooting finally started. With no Star Trek, along came a Gundam which stole Star Trek's spot as the flagship of PTVS and became more wildly successful than Star Trek had ever been.
According to popular rumor, Gene was called into Barry Diller's office a few weeks into Gundam's airing. Gene had walked in cocky and full of bravado, and walked out as if he had seen a ghost. Few knew the full conversation from the room where it happened, but Diller's secretary quoted the CEO saying this,
"We don't need you anymore Gene. We have Gundam."
Thus Gene Roddenberry had an ultimatum, stop being a wishy-washy and abrasive showrunner and get them something by the end of the decade or else Paramount was done with Star Trek and PTVS was going to be the Gundam channel. After going off the grid for two weeks, Gene Roddenberry returned with seven new scripts and Jeffrey Katzenberg was brought in as an Executive Producer for damage control and to keep Gene in check. For the next year, Paramount was doing its best to rush Phase II onto television before Empire Strikes Back came out, with some of the last episode's of the season still in production at the fall. It was an exhausting experience to push everyone to their limits, but Star Trek managed to finish. Weirdly though, they didn't contract ILM for SFX despite everyone in town paying ILM for their ambitious work and even the most diehard Trekkies wanting ILM to lend their magic to the show. Apparently Gene was extremely adamant that they do everything in-house.
So you curled up on the couch with Carrie and settled in for a weekly watching of your "rival" show. Just how was Star Trek Phase II, the long awaited sequel that Trekkies had been praying for the past decade?
Eh, it was alright you guess.
It's not like you were intentionally trying to look down upon it out of some rivalry nonsense, you gave the show your honest shot. However, if Paramount was truly trying to cement Star Trek as a peer and rival then they had failed utterly in every department. Even if one were to disregard its focus on science fiction, then Star Trek Phase II was for the most part above average quality, not even close to the level of MASH, even the seasons after your departure which everyone agrees is nowhere close to the golden years.
To start off, Phase II premiered with a 2 hour tv movie which was an utter snoozefest. Did they seriously have to dedicate five minutes to masturbatory slow shots of the Enterprise? It felt like half an hour and you literally fell asleep midway through that scene. Sure having a nap in Carrie's lap was always a good thing, but you're supposed to stay awake! The pilot movie was one of the most boring events you had seen with the first hour being nothing but dull fanservice and the second being a very dragged out and anti-climatic confrontation with an all-powerful alien ship. Yet why did the Trekkies absolutely lose their mind over this and bring in over 30 million viewers?
The rest of the series was a mixture of highs and lows. Either the episodes were pretty decent or they were bizarre and bad, though not the best or worst of television. The quality of an episode was largely dependent upon the writing where more often than not it was a major drop in quality from the Original Series where Gene went full ham and used bizarre and outright fantastical premises that made Star Trek appear more like a wacky comedy than a space exploration adventure series. Such weird premises are:
Kirktravels back in time to Pearl Harbor and Kirk falls in love with a woman living there, and they do jackshit about Pearl Harbor to preserve the timeline.
Christine Chapel is impregnated by a strange nebula in what looks like an allegory of rape, but everyone congratulates her and she pops out a magic baby that quickly grows into a man and turns into an energy being, having been the nebula all along.
Decker, Scotty and Sulu get trapped in a Sleeper ship where they undergo a simulation of 16th century witch trials.
The Enterprise gets hit with a weird beam of light which turns the crew into Savages and their primitive selves have to somehow make themselves normal.
The Eneterprise discover a world where a virus killed off all the men of a humanoid species and all the women want to fuck the Enterprise men to repopulate their world, most especially Kirk who a literal world war is almost started over for the rights to sleep with him.
The Enterprise encounters a Klingon cruiser with a 19th century British Lord aboard.
(These are all with only minor detail changes real scripts from OTL's cancelled Phase II).
Okay, you now know that the Trekkies have absolutely no ground to stand on insulting Star Wars as Space Fantasy when Trek more often than not was a Goofy Twilight zone with God knows how many magic aliens being the basis for a plot and so much techno-science that it made the Jedi and the Force look like nuclear physics in comparison. The plots also weren't helped by Gene actively trying to be preachy as all hell in his scripts and doing everything he can in the lore to make the Federation an Uber Progressive Utopia with several of what he perceives as "Bad" being washed away to the annals of history.
That is not to say that there weren't good stories, most especially when Gene wasn't writing them, Star Trek actually returned to its roots and was a decent show with thought provoking scenarios. The Klingon episodes were pretty good with the Klingongs being revamped to Space Imperial Japan with warnings of Imperialism, there was an episode which warned against the automation of war, Kirk uncovers a conspiracy by elements of Federation leadership to launch a false flag attack to incite war with the Romulans, two worlds locked in a Cold War state with a child being the only one with common sense. Generally whenever Phase II covered issues that were close to real life instead of doing a wacky adventure, they actually had some pretty engaging stuff not only intellectually but great conflict and stakes. You were very grateful for the injection of good stuff as it made the show overall watchable.
Outside of the shoddy writing, production values appeared to be above average at best. Star Trek really shot themselves in the foot by refusing to partner with ILM as the models and VFX work while okay, was like the quality of a student film in comparison to Star Wars. The non-Trekkies watching the show came hoping for basically Star Wars the TV show and were disappointed to find the quality of cinematography and special effects to be only a slight upgrade to the original show. According to the boys at ILM, Phase II was the same quality that Disney's Black Hole had been before they had stepped in.
The best part of the show, and what really saved it from absolutely tanking in the ratings were the cast. Even when they were given shit scripts, the cast did their best with the material given in and vastly uplifted the worst episodes through their performances into something passable. Everyone was on the top of their game and had talent comparable to the MASH cast at their peak, and probably the best scenes from the show were the dialogue heavy ones when they played off of each other's chemistry and just had conversations. For a Trekkie this was probably a dream come true to have the gang return after so many years off the air, and many fans would be pleased that their favorites had more spotlight with Sulu and the girls having more plot relevance, most likely to play off of the success of Obi-wan and Leia.
There were however two controversies with the cast. The "Savage Syndrome" episode was torn to hell and back by the NAACP for what they saw as making Uhura into a racist caricature for turning her into an ape-like savage. In the words of NAACP President William Cobb, "They turned a beautiful, strong and intelligent Black woman who was a hero to Doctor King and made her into a monkey". Fortunately this seemed to be more of an unfortunate mistake on Gene's part as Uhura was simply one person of the entire crew who was affected in much the same manner regardless of race, and Uhura along with Sulu and Scotty had been critical in the plot in helping restore the Enterprise to normal. Nichelle Nichols said in an interview that she never experienced any form of bigotry during the episode or the rest of the season by Gene or the rest of the cast and crew and simply assumed her part was no different than if a white woman played a caveman. This helped the backlash to lie low, but some still held the accusations.
Uhura and the Savage Syndrome was rather tame in comparison to the "Kill Chekov" movement where in the leadup to the show's premiering, the Romanian-American community and many other ethnic groups in the US whose people had been victims of Communism and the Soviet Union in particular had loudly demanded that Chekov die or be written out of Star Trek because to them a Russian being a hero and part of the main cast with the ongoing horrors of the Soviet-Romanian War was a disgusting travesty. Trekkies fought back that Chekov was not a Communist but a good man and valued member of Starfleet, and the Russian-American community were mad and fought like hell to have Chekov remain on as he became a symbol of good Rusisans and what the culture could be free of Communism. While Walter Koening seemed resigned to getting written out of the show, all of the cast stood by him as a good man who played a character that was in no way connected to Communism and Gene was adamant that Chekov would stay as he was an integral part of the crew. The Kill Chekov movement largely died down after Phase II's release as it was clear that Chekov would stay, but this reinforced Romanians, Western and Southern Slavs along with Chinese, Vietnamese and Koreans major fans of Star Wars.
Controversies aside, how did America and the greater world take to Phase II? Well in spite of its above average quality and messy writing, the Trekkies went insane in adoration of the film and prostrated before Gene Roddenberry as the messiah of science fiction and television, in other words what happened when you or George had a fan meet and greet. Regardless of production value, Trekkies just cried tears of joy that their special TV show was back on the air with new episodes and they could hang out in the living room with their favorite characters and watch everyone go on cool adventures, which was a sentiment you could respect. Your average viewer at home also didn't really mind the show's flaws and enjoyed it as a simple and fun space adventure to have a good time with on Saturday nights. That being said, Phase II fell well below Paramount's hope of being an equal to Star Wars as the show was just barely on the Nielsen's top 30, an impressive feat with 15-20 million viewers on average but it was nowhere close to Gundam's performance or cultural impact, not to mention it couldn't beat PTVS' own Mork and Mindy or Taxi (Robin once again joke bragged that he was the King of TV Sci-Fi).
Critics were intensely divided on the show as half called it great and half called it garbage. The cast were constantly hailed for their good performances and the callbacks to the original series were appreciated, but writing and SFX were a constant target of criticism and you couldn't see a single review without a comparison to Star Wars or Gundam, most especially Gundam as critics hailed it as the best Sci-Fi show on television and it did everything right that Phase II floundered on, not to mention being far and away superior to Star Trek's animated series. No critic came close to the scorching review of Wally, who according to George when it was on the TV, angrily turned it off and demanded his Dad play Star Wars again.
So, what was the future of your main rival? Well, Star Trek may not be a peer to Star Wars, but it was clear that it was here to stay with its own slice of pop culture. Trekkie zealotry ensured it with the strong ratings and a successful merchandising campaign that saw Parmaount rake in $200 million worth of toy revenue, even with that stupid as hell "Luke Helmet" being turned into a Spock Helmet and clogging up shelves. Most likely due to disappointment for lack of Gundam's super success, Paramount has confirmed that Star Trek Phase II will only have one more season, thus five seasons of Star Trek for the five year mission. Said season will consist of 18 episodes with another 2 hour TV movie to serve as the season premiere and 100th episode of Star Trek and a 2 hour TV movie to serve as the series finale. This wouldn't be the end of Star Wars however as Paramount announced a Star Trek feature film (For Real this time, they swear) featuring the cast. From what Mike has heard through his men on the grapevine, this movie is keeping Gene out as writer and instead is going to be very "Star Wars" with a greater focus on simple action and adventure. Paramount is keeping its cards hugged to its chest, and all you know about the movie so far is it's codename: "Mongol Fury". Wonder what that means?
Have to say, I agree with most of that and will happily vote for it, but do we really have to abandon the meme?
I can think of several things that I'd like to do rather than Ruin Bruces one-eyed scarecrow impression.
Like say, installing a single well on Bruce's land, so it's technically being used and developed while maintaining the rest of the site's beauty.
Now would also be a good time to network With or by outright Apple. This way we can be sure that Steve Jobs doesn't cause us too much trouble.
Heck, if we wanted to, we could just start Lucas Arts and make it so we also manufacture computers too. Lucas Crafts? or should we hold that offer at Toy Division?
Finally, we could open that pickle jar. You know, the one With the stuck lid. The one that nobody can get open but sits at the back of the shelf forever, That's legendary opening will begin a golden age or at least result in nods of respect from other men?
Agreed. Beyond the meme being hilarious, do we really want to use an auto pass to fix it? There are definitely better uses for that last action and it's not like it's that much of a detriment to not know who Arnold is.
Okay I hear you guys. What do you want the action to be filled with instead? I guess I'm partial to Flash Gordon distribution, although I think we can do that next turn and there's other worthwhile pursuits. Kind of tempted to do auditions again so we can get on Mork and Mindy or Muppets.
