WALRUSMASTER ** I Wonder what the next task will be?

[Haschel Cedricson]

Boo to that.

[shaft.ed]

I'm not excited about it either

I can't wait to go over the Task 3 entries. Definitely exceeded my expectations

[NotAJumbleOfNumbers]

Show of hands: who made up a show

raises hand

[tris]

Show of hands: who made up a show

raises hand

thumbsup emodgi react

[shaft.ed]

Still have not gotten entries from schadd and Sirius

I do want them to submit before reveal starts.
I don't want to give them zero points.

I really want to start the reveals though :/

[shaft.ed]

Submit a song featuring an instrument that begins with the letter 'T'. Best song featuring a T-named instrument wins.

You will receive 1 bonus point for featuring a unique T-instrument.

You have 1 week.

Your time starts now.

(expired on 2021-08-06 08:19:21)

[shaft.ed]

So we're going to give late submissions a 24 hour grace period for this round (which ends this afternoon). After that 1 point will be deducted, and an additional point deduction for each 24 hours late thereafter with a minimum score no lower than 0.

[shaft.ed]

I was a tad worried about this particular Task, but I thought it would be interesting to recontextualize a song with some autonomy in that choice. After the first couple submissions made it to my Inbox, I was super stoked about this. I've overall been really impressed with the creativity across the board and I can't wait to get stuck into this group of submissions.

But one clearly stood out from the pack. I'm just going to quote the message directly from my Inbox without comment so it can maintain it's epicness.

THE TOWER FALLS

a lesbian cyberpunk crime heist drama inspired by The Handmaiden

THE STAGE:

2099. most of the human population has not survived the century's turmoil. cities, monuments of the failure of society, are ruins among which small devolved communities live. communication / transportation / survival is sustained by a patchwork of early to mid-century era tech, restored and frankensteined together over the years by intrepid mechanics. the lives of these people carry the both the freedoms and burdens of self sufficiency and governance. Insularity often breeds suspicion and outright hostility of outsiders. this however, does not apply to the last remnant of the ways of old: the sprawling, mountainous city of Tower's Crossing, or Crossing for short.

---

THE SETTING:

Tower's Crossing is where a significant fraction of humanity lives and is named after an old mountain road that used to go through an outpost. Centuries later it became a massive route bisecting the city into north and south, and the outpost became a central tower out of which most of the government operates.

Crossing is governed by representative democracy. it is not unambiguously a dystopia, and people are often rather happy with life there. theoretically it's possible to leave, establish a life outside of Crossing, but the land is harsh and sucks from like war and climate and whatever and doesn't sustain life outside of the human-made, towering Vertical Farms in the city. So any other options are significantly far away, and with gas being virtually unobtainable these days and high tech electric-powered transportation being prohibitively expensive, many travelers do not survive on foot. but it can and has been done! (although it is obviously subtly discouraged by both the culture and the media)

public transit is vibrant and well-funded. Verticality of both the land and its buildings mean that people get around via fun little cable lift / elevator systems. the richest alone have access to the most cutting edge technology and drop millions on cars that can fly about 30 feet above the ground. it can be a great place of culture and joy, but also corruption, crime, inequality, and hatred. this suffering exists outside of Crossing too but much less, proportionally. it is among that suffering that our characters live, work, and dream.

---

THE CHARACTERS:

• Andres Songbird
  . the head of the crime syndicate in Crossing, named after the old district of Mosare (now an autonomous zone largely controlled by them, and their primary base of operations). Violent only when they see necessary, powerful, and very capitalist. Andres himself exemplifies these values, and is ruthless but more even-handed than many would be in his position. he is hot as fuck. has a british accent. He is the front-facing antagonist
  
  
  
• Yun "KO" Kyungah
  . Kyungah, better known as KO, leads the Wilderosa division of Mosare's crime syndicate. Wilderosa is a district far south of the Tower. she is young, and desperately wants to purchase her own flight car and a decade's worth of stored electricity to "get out of this shithole." with finesse and ambition she fought her way to a leadership role which may let her accumulate such wealth. it is course not without its associated risks. korean. trademark boots and pink sunglasses. tragic backstory FOR SURE. one of the two protags
  
  
  
• Laurel Nawa Ayala
  . classically trained as a tech-thief: hacking, engineering, etc. Since her late teens she has been coerced into working for the cops (in this case the Agency of Technology and Intelligence, or ATI), and lives under the constant threat of blackmail via nefarious ATI methods. the cops use her criminal experience as credibility in undercover operations and she is currently undercover as the division third-in-command under KO. short hair. tank tops. the other protag.
  
  
  
• Officer Brianna Catting-West
  . Brianna is an ATI agent and Laurel's handler/blackmailer. their relationship is sometimes filled with casual banter back and forth on a day-to-day, but a cold sharp undercurrent of mutual hatred runs underneath. brianna has no particular regard for Laurel's safety or precarious position and sees her as an expendable resource. She is sort of the "real antagonist"

---

THE THEME SONG

:
The theme song is

Tech Noir

by GUNSHIP. the title sequence will start with a monologue narrated by KO, mirroring the one in the song. It will go something like this:

I'm recording this because this could be the last you ever hear from me.
The city I once knew as home is teetering on the edge of total collapse.
You might not see it that way, but I can feel it.
I'm not sorry.
We had it coming.

Then it will be edited to cut to about 1:10 in the song:

Feel the breeze
I feel alive
Will you come
away with me?

You'll be my focus
Could this be, could this be, the highway?

Before you save me,
Just wait your turn, look at me now, steady as we burn
It was all for love
Just move yourself, drop it back down, push it out in front

this is a pretty long segment so the only pure "title sequence" part of it is the monologue. each episode starts out with a black screen and a really slow fade in of a title card still. for each episode, that still is the first shot of the scene, and when the song starts it will "unfreeze" and start unfolding while the rest of the song plays out. it will be like an establishing/action scene (no dialogue). when the song fades out it will cut to the meat of the episode.

---

THE PLOT:

There are THREE major plot arcs that comprise the first season of this show.

PLOT ARC 1: Mosare's grand bluff.

We are introduced to Mosare's shady operations thru their grand scheme against the govt. Through careful planning and placing of key connections, they are preparing to trick ATI into thinking that their lab, hidden far up in the mountainside, has been breached, and Mosare has access to all their top secret tech they use to protect state power and interests. Mosare knows from their sources that among this tech are advanced neuroscientific prototypes of cloning, memory wiping, memory transfer, personality conversion, and other things, still undergoing experimentation.

The first few episodes of the show consist largely of Andres and KO trying to maneuver around the ATI and get them to panic and relocate or go through some other emergency plan, which they intuit will make them vulnerable and enable them to actually steal this technology. This will culminate in an extended action sequence/shootout taking place in the city, in the backdrop of cramped cable car systems, balconies, and rooftops.

PLOT ARC 2: Andres has figured out that there's a rat.

Their conflict with ATI has given Andres ample opportunity to observe that there is a rat. He has figured out there's a leak in the Wilderosa Division and tasks KO with figuring out who. Failure to accomplish this will mean her death. The middle bit of the show is largely concerned with this action-filled, suspenseful game of cat and mouse between KO and Laurel. Laurel desperately wants to find a way out from under the cops' thumb, and is plotting on her own, trying to find a way to get the upper hand over Brianna. At this point in the season, the exact nature of Laurel's relationship with the cops is not known, and based on Laurel and Brianna's dialogue the viewers are kinda just made to think she's just your standard dissatisfied undercover cop.

At the midpoint climax, KO, and a few other side characters in the crime syndicate are involved in this big culminating battle in a warehouse where KO reckons with Laurel's extended betrayal. Laurel pleads with her, trying to explain how the cops forced her into this situation, but KO says she can't do anything about it or Andres will kill both of them. KO slides a blade above her collarbone, killing her.

PLOT ARC 3: The lovers, the heist, and the escape.

The last half of the show starts back at the beginning, and the story up until then is slowly revealed through new perspectives. KO and Laurel fall in love in secret. Laurel confesses her true nature to KO, and using their combined resources they hatch a plan. there is a tender scene where they are in bed together and KO tells her about her dream, to leave for a better and kinder community during the turn of the century, and Laurel is like "yeah. damn, girl" etc.

While KO is pretending to work with Andres to pretend that they've stolen ATI tech, she is actually working with Laurel and her connection to the inside to ACTUALLY steal ATI tech. Together, they get their hands on some prototypes and Laurel uses her skills to engineer workable products. The Laurel who dies is of course a clone. the real Laurel is carefully surprising, overpowering, and wiping key memories from Andres to cover their tracks cleanly and fake her death. Don't worry, the plan makes full sense when you see the whole thing.

the last episode has everything. epic lesbian sex, stealing of a flying cop car, lots of action, major blows to the credibility of the state, explosions to the tune of the full theme song, and driving into the sunset, plunging into an uncertain future.

and of course, an "epilogue" scene teasing the second season. Andres too has somehow (how exactly will be revealed in the next season ofc) also had access to illegal ATI tech in a 5D chess move. He has managed to save his memories due to his paranoia, transferring them into a clone on regular intervals. the clone confirms that he has been the victim of a memory attack & transfers his original memory back to him. he listens to a recording taken from KO's apartment (KO has obviously since gone missing) -- it's an audio log, a diary, the recording is the NOW DIAGETIC monologue from the intro theme song. oh fuck!!! he listens to it one last time before crushing the device in anger, signifying his intent on revenge...

[tris]

Spoiler:

KO slides a blade above her collarbone, killing her.

no!!!!!!

The last half of the show starts back at the beginning, and the story up until then is slowly revealed through new perspectives.

oh, good

[Davsto]

sorry i'm preoccupied with like holiday-y stuff so i may not be able to be as in-depth or cool as that (of course here i'm implying that i would be if i weren't - which i wouldn't even slightly be but you don't need to know that)

[tris]

i wrote two sentences

[Psyche]

i copied a single sentence synopsis from a google search

anyway the hellbooks song is great!

[Chevre]

[MUSHSHAGANA]

I did, I think, 2 wall-of-text paragraphs... Hellbooks won the round, I'm only aspiring to second place.

[shaft.ed]

From a judges perspective here are some of my notes from hellbooks' entry

Song and show concept fit together fantastically, music would contribute greatly to a dystopian future of protagonists trying to escape to a better place. Can also easily imagine this submission as intro/outro music to a movie or TV show. Close my eyes and I see title cards and credit scrolls. Also like the layers upon layers that the video is showing people fighting by shoving VCR tapes into their chests and morphing into protagonists and antagonists of their contents. Extra liked that the Care Bears saved the day. *shaft.ed fact, my first or second Halloween costume was a Care Bear and one of my first memories was getting Champ Bear as a get well present when I was in hospital.

For the TV show itself, it's not right up my alley as far as genre but sounds interesting enough that I could be drawn in if people were talking about it and it got good reviews. I'd expect a really strong first season that tapers off as the show gets diluted and core founding writers move on to bigger things. Most concerned about clone shenanigans in future seasons. While it's a cool twist for the season 1 finale, I can see it as an easy mulligan after the team writes themselves into a corner in future seasons.

Would I excitedly tune into this show

and

jam out to the intro music? I definitely wouldn't tune in just for the show's tune, but it certainly helps establish the mood so I don't think I'd skip it.

[shaft.ed]

this week has been kicking my ass

I will get some more submissions posted today.
And poke people about Task 4.

Expect Task 5 to be released on Saturday

[shaft.ed]

OK so on the other end we had some submissions from genuine TV shows. I sort of expected a cheeky Taskmater theme submission, but no one went for that.

In a world where beasts of all kinds coexist, a gentle wolf awakens to his own predatory urges as his school deals with a murder within its midst.

This is definitely a great theme song. Has a nice bop to it.
Not sure about the show content, but the art style is stellar. Maybe I'd watch this?

Succession! A TV series about the four siblings of the Roy family -- Connor, Kendall, Roman, and Siobhan! They're incredibly rich and well-off because they run the Waystar Royco conglomerate, but there's the problem of who will succeed their father, Logan Roy, in running the business when he dies or becomes unfit! Weirdly none of them seem totally fit for leadership themselves! Intrigue and drama ensues! There's also their doofy cousin Greg just looking to get by, as well as Tom Wambsgans, Siobhan's eagerly inept and ineptly eager husband! Who will come out on top!

I mean it's good movie/tv score music. It definitely feels fitting to a title/credit sequence. Not excited or anything about it.
Can't say I'm all too excited about the show premise either. However, I notice it has great reviews and is based loosely off the Murdoch empire, so maybe the part of me that hates cable news networks would like it?

I am a stuffy, middle aged bachelor with an enormous inheritance. The monkey is a charming but unpredictable rake, who is also a master thief. In the pilot episode he is arrested while trying to steal my collection of jewels. He charms the judge, who much to my dismay orders that as a condition of his probation, the monkey must become my butler. Hilarity ensues as we try to live together, each of us coming to learn and appreciate the other's perspective on life.

As a tongue in cheek nod to the terrible sitcom music of the 80s and 90s, I kinda get this. But otherwise the song isn't that enjoyable.
The show premise on the other hand. I should probably check it out.

[shaft.ed]

This is the entry that got me really excited about this task.

Show name: Vandal
Pitch: A homeless, drifter, polyamorous lesbian couple travel around, destroying the property of the rich and powerful for kicks. Structure similar to early Burn Notice: arrive in a new town, get to know the locals, find a power imbalance, decide on a way to destroy the hierarchy, then heist-style setup to destruction, close with escape sequence. Later seasons connect older places and antagonists into a longer narrative arc. MCs narrate about identifying manipulators/assholes and sabotaging things a la Burn Notice's spy shit narration. Less Thelma & Louise than a sympathetic villain protagonist piece. Recurring antagonist: ATF task force, bumbling incompetents. Season-long special guests join them, add their own flair and style to the baseline show, and leave to make room for the next one (a la Doctor Who with more turnover). Themes of the power of love, queer identity, anti-authority, and ACAB (and morons).

Really a great vibe. Can see the characters getting introduced over this beat. And the song feels tailor made for a TV show to the point I have trouble believing it wasn't intended for the show above.
Show formula sounds great. It might get old after a few seasons, but any show suffers from that. It would burn brightly while it exists.
And the theme song is great to get you in the mood for some anarchy.

[shaft.ed]

Look Beyond is a mystery show where a team of four people investigate various crime scenes in "The Beyond", an eerie alternate reality, and also try to find a way home. The show has eleven episodes, but only ten have been aired; the eleventh episode is actually an ARG. Look Beyond quickly became a cult classic, but unfortunately the company producing the show closed before another season could be made.

I have a bit of trouble with REM and a show them song. But I have to say, when the chorus kicks in, I do really feel a strong fit.
TV show sounds like a cool concept and I could see it existing and perhaps tuning in. I did watch Stranger Things.
Not too sure about the fit. Depends a bit about the tone of the show I guess. This feels a bit too upbeat for what the show would need to be to become a cult classic.

Gorilla Star Catchers:

It's an animated sci-fi western about a pair of blaster-carrying gorillas who venture off into space in their suped up space-van, looking for renegade talking stars that have bounties on them.

OK this definitely sounds like a show theme song. Not on the same epic playing field as X-men the animated series or Batman, but not bad.
Fits the show premise quite well.
Could see this working its way into younger me's Saturday morning cartoon schedule. Not hugely sure about modern days.

the gold pilot zooms around space in her golden spaceship on the backdrop of rising tensions between the major galactic powers. she's searching for ~something~

Cool song, like it. Feels a bit too complex to be a title theme. Like its too hard to sing along with.
Can see it fitting the show premise in stretches, but not all parts.
I'm not sure about the show. It could be really cool, or something I wouldn't like at all as the description is p vague. Could hurt or help the placement.

[hellbooks]

I did, I think, 2 wall-of-text paragraphs... Hellbooks won the round, I'm only aspiring to second place.

more than happy to fulfill the beloved taskmaster niche of "task where someone puts in an exorbitant amount of effort to receive a hilariously low amount of points"

[shaft.ed]

I did, I think, 2 wall-of-text paragraphs... Hellbooks won the round, I'm only aspiring to second place.

more than happy to fulfill the beloved taskmaster niche of "task where someone puts in an exorbitant amount of effort to receive a hilariously low amount of points"

I did just watch Dave Baddiel and the aubergines last night

not quite the same vibe but eating half an uncooked eggplant for nothing is special

[shaft.ed]

a tv show about a bunch of teenage fallen angels being edgy. yk like those angsty teen drama shows the kids all like. except this one's good for once maybe.

The whole aesthetic is giving me a sort of Buffy vibe. Don't know that a teen drama is a TV show I'd sign up for. Song's pace definitely has been ready to go though, would be excited for what's coming next. Fits for a TV show mostly. And goes pretty good with the premise theme.

[Davsto]

yeah the opening credits could be like. the first 20 seconds leading into the ending "the fallen are the...". snappy n all

[shaft.ed]

so last up we have the LateyMcLateFaces

The tv show is rihanna going around and bailing out horrible and failing small businesses and feeling unsatisfied

I think I would actually be very interested in watching this show. Would it be like Hell's Kitchen or Restaurant Impossible, and Rihanna is all condescending to the business owners and calls them donkeys? Would she be completely detached and just throw a pile of cash at them? Hire an entourage to do the work?
Song is cool, but I don't see it being a great TV vehicle.

there was none

Is this a theme song to something?
My google powers led me to

Two idols, Tsubasa Kazanari and Kanade Amō, collectively known as Zwei Wing, battle against an alien race known as Noise using armor known as Symphogear, which uses the power of music to counteract the Noise's destructive capability. However, Kanade sacrifices herself to protect a girl named Hibiki Tachibana, who ends up with a piece of Kanade's Symphogear relic, Gungnir, embedded in her chest. Two years later, Hibiki awakens the power of the Gungnir relic inside her body, gaining the same Symphogear armor that Kanade had. Using the power of song, Hibiki and her fellow Symphogear wielders must fight to protect the innocent and defeat those who would use the Noise for evil.

I have to admit, I'm having trouble keeping up with the synopsis. I don't think this is my jam.

[shaft.ed]

OK, this could get painful, but someone has to be the unbiased arbiter of truth.
so I think I'll use the Olympic Sport Climbing scoring system for this since there are three moving parts, TV show, Theme Song, Fit

I'll start with show ranking, keeping in mind these are the shows I'd most want to watch.

1.

schadd

- Rihanna interacting with incompetent business owners and feeling of ennui in the aftermath.

YES PLEASE

2.

NotaJumbleofNumbers

- I can see this being a thing I'd like. Ihope there are some bent spoons.
3.

MUSHSHAGANA

- Lesbians tearing down oligarchy. Sounds like a good watch
4.

Hellbooks

- Lesbians fighting against their dystopian future overlords. Sounds like a good watch
5.

Haschel

- Color me intriuged.
6.

Cheetory

- Maybe if I was younger.
7.

Chevre

- Not the biggest on reality drama stuff
8.

tris

- Not even sure what your show is about tbh.
9.

Psyche

- I don't know just seemed sort of boring. But I liked the art style a lot. Maybe this should be higher :/
10.

Davsto

- Never been a fan of teen dramas, even as a teen.
11.

Sirius

- Sorry I don't really like anime