WALRUSMASTER ** I Wonder what the next task will be?
Forum rules
- Haschel Cedricson
-
Haschel Cedricson Mr. Know It All
- Haschel Cedricson
- Mr. Know It All
- Mr. Know It All
- Posts: 2827
- Joined: May 14, 2007
- Location: Cascadian Subduction Zone
- Contact:
- shaft.ed
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
-
-
NotAJumbleOfNumbers Goon
- Goon
- Goon
- Posts: 691
- Joined: April 30, 2018
- Contact:
Show of hands: who made up a show
raises hand
PSA: USE YOUR BOOKMARKS- tris
-
tris sheSplatoon Tetris
- tris
she- Splatoon Tetris
- Splatoon Tetris
- Posts: 3875
- Joined: January 7, 2019
- Pronoun: she
- Location: tris
- Contact:
thumbsup emodgi react
here's what it says- shaft.ed
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
- shaft.ed
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
- shaft.ed
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
- shaft.ed
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
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.
hellbooks wrote:
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 isTech Noirby GUNSHIP. the title sequence will start with a monologue narrated by KO, mirroring the one in the song. It will go something like this:
Then it will be edited to cut to about 1:10 in the song: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.
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
-
tris sheSplatoon Tetris
- tris
she- Splatoon Tetris
- Splatoon Tetris
- Posts: 3875
- Joined: January 7, 2019
- Pronoun: she
- Location: tris
- Contact:
- Davsto
-
Davsto HeFarce of Habit
- Davsto
He- Farce of Habit
- Farce of Habit
- Posts: 5279
- Joined: June 29, 2015
- Pronoun: He
- tris
-
tris sheSplatoon Tetris
- tris
she- Splatoon Tetris
- Splatoon Tetris
- Posts: 3875
- Joined: January 7, 2019
- Pronoun: she
- Location: tris
- Contact:
- Psyche
-
Psyche Jack of All Trades
- Psyche
- Jack of All Trades
- Jack of All Trades
- Posts: 8316
- Joined: April 28, 2011
- Chevre
-
Chevre Honourable Mention
- Chevre
- Honourable Mention
- Honourable Mention
- Posts: 845
- Joined: February 19, 2010
- Location: NEBRASKA
- Contact:
- MUSHSHAGANA
-
MUSHSHAGANA IT/ITSMafia Scum
- MUSHSHAGANA
IT/ITS- Mafia Scum
- Mafia Scum
- Posts: 1587
- Joined: August 13, 2020
- Pronoun: IT/ITS
- Location: Everett-Wheeler Branch Q-5992-CLF3, Third Mouth of the Worm
- shaft.ed
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
- shaft.ed
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
- shaft.ed
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
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.
This is definitely a great theme song. Has a nice bop to it.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.
Not sure about the show content, but the art style is stellar. Maybe I'd watch this?
I mean it's good movie/tv score music. It definitely feels fitting to a title/credit sequence. Not excited or anything about it.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!
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?
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.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.
The show premise on the other hand. I should probably check it out.- shaft.ed
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
This is the entry that got me really excited about this task.
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 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).
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
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
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.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.
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.
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.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.
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.
Cool song, like it. Feels a bit too complex to be a title theme. Like its too hard to sing along with.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~
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
-
hellbooks SheGoon
- hellbooks
She- Goon
- Goon
- Posts: 822
- Joined: May 15, 2020
- Pronoun: She
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"In post 188, MUSHSHAGANA wrote:I did, I think, 2 wall-of-text paragraphs... Hellbooks won the round, I'm only aspiring to second place.- shaft.ed
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
I did just watch Dave Baddiel and the aubergines last nightIn post 194, hellbooks wrote:
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"In post 188, MUSHSHAGANA wrote:I did, I think, 2 wall-of-text paragraphs... Hellbooks won the round, I'm only aspiring to second place.
not quite the same vibe but eating half an uncooked eggplant for nothing is special- shaft.ed
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
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.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.- Davsto
-
Davsto HeFarce of Habit
- Davsto
He- Farce of Habit
- Farce of Habit
- Posts: 5279
- Joined: June 29, 2015
- Pronoun: He
- shaft.ed
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
so last up we have the LateyMcLateFaces
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?The tv show is rihanna going around and bailing out horrible and failing small businesses and feeling unsatisfied
Song is cool, but I don't see it being a great TV vehicle.
Is this a theme song to something?there was none
My google powers led me to
I have to admit, I'm having trouble keeping up with the synopsis. I don't think this is my jam.- shaft.ed
-
shaft.ed dem.agogue
- shaft.ed
- dem.agogue
- dem.agogue
- Posts: 4998
- Joined: August 15, 2007
- Location: St. Louis
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 - shaft.ed
Copyright © MafiaScum. All rights reserved.
- shaft.ed
- Davsto
- shaft.ed
- shaft.ed
- hellbooks
- shaft.ed
- shaft.ed
- shaft.ed
- shaft.ed
- shaft.ed
- MUSHSHAGANA
- Chevre
- Psyche
- tris
- Davsto
- tris
- shaft.ed
- shaft.ed
- shaft.ed
- shaft.ed
- tris
- shaft.ed
- Haschel Cedricson