Danny Phantom Online Community

[Firefury Amahira]

I think we may want to elect an executive writer for the episode, and let them piece together a working timeline from the ideas going around ^^;

[Goku-san]

you know if we went with an original character for one of the ghosts that attacks Danny and he loses, could always use the ghost weasel..:P He's not very strong, just really annoying 'cause he chews on people's legs and claws their faces. But it would be one humiliating defeat. (Just as bad as the hamster suggestion. The mental image involving that one is just amusing..XD)

[Bluemoonalto]

Goku-San, your comments inspires me to think of a technicality to get us around the canonical statement that the ectopusses were the first ghosts he ever fought. That is, this first encounter could be one in which he doesn't fight. He's scared, he doesn't know what to do, he doesn't have any control and so it never occurs to him to actually fight back.

That way, the ecto-puss fight in Mystery Meat would be a radical change for him: the ghosts are tormenting his friends, and he deliberately transforms and takes action for the first time.

[Kismet]

Firefury Amahira @ Fri 04 Jan, 02:09 wrote:

I think we may want to elect an executive writer for the episode, and let them piece together a working timeline from the ideas going around ^^;

I'm pretty sure I suggested Blue in the original thread... any objections?

Now, I'm pretty sure that other than minor details, we have the plot structure worked out. We could begin dividing it up into individual scenes and allowing people/groups of people to work on them now, and if some ideas are change, we can go back and edit them. That's how it works in the industry, anyway, scripts getting changed, things getting taken out...

[Bluemoonalto]

Quote:

I'm pretty sure I suggested Blue in the original thread... any objections?

Uh.... [raises hand tentatively]

Not so much an objection as a condition. IF you guys want me to be "head writer" for this episode, at some point it's going to have to stop being a democracy. I'd always welcome suggestions, but I'd have to have the power to say, "Good idea, but it won't work. Sorry." And then (preferably) not have people get all mad at me for being such a controlling bitch. :wink:

And of course, the same would go for anybody who gets stuck with that role. It's not going to be an easy job, I tell you!

On a related note, I had a new thought about the motive for Vlad's half-assed attempt at sabotage. If you believe the opening credits, Danny was the only person in the lab with Mom & Dad when they tried to start up the portal. But then, if you believe the credits, Danny immediately put on the jumpsuit and went exploring-- which we know isn't true, because of the events in Memory Blank.

Sooo....

What if Danny wan't the only visitor in the lab when the Portal start-up went kaflooey? What if there were a handful of media types and maybe a financial backer or two in the room as well? Then Vlad's minor act of sabotage would make more sense: not only did he temporarily frustrate Jack's project, but he publicly humiliated him as well.

[Darth-Frodo]

Ooh...I like. That seems much more Vlad, to humiliate them in public. That could definitely lead to the later belief that Jack and Maddie are incompetent in the realm of ghost research if this was a publicized failure.

I also agree that the head writer on the project should get the final say, no ifs ands or buts. That's what the head writer's job is after all, to make the executive decisions that work best for the plot of the script and the show overall.

[Kismet]

Well, Blue seems to know what she's doing, but if anyone else has any suggestions for it...

& as long as we're able to include all of that in the beginning scene I don't see an issue with it =3

[Bluemoonalto]

It's amazing how much information you can squeeze into a few seconds of screen time if you're willing to abbreviate and let the visual images fill in the blanks. For example, all it would take to communicate the presence of the media types would be a camerman, a sound tech and a couple of people with microphones and/or notebooks. Add a pompous ass in an expensive suit and a single line of dialogue ("This had better work, Fenton, or we're cutting off your funding!") and you've established the presence of the financial backer. It might take a writer half a page to describe it all, but on the screen it could be done in a matter of seconds.

I've actually thought about the time limits while working on the Livin' Larger episode rewrite project. We shouldn't have to "count" descriptions, blocking, body language or introspection against the 22 minute time limit. (Is it 22 minutes? Or did I just pull that number out of my left ear?) Only establishing shots, dialogue and action require any significant passage of time.

And if we run over... so what? Is the network going to cancel us? Cut our pay? (Half of zero is... zero.)

[imperfect]

Bluemoonalto @ 04 Jan 2008 09:33 am wrote:

Quote:

I'm pretty sure I suggested Blue in the original thread... any objections?

On a related note, I had a new thought about the motive for Vlad's half-assed attempt at sabotage. If you believe the opening credits, Danny was the only person in the lab with Mom & Dad when they tried to start up the portal. But then, if you believe the credits, Danny immediately put on the jumpsuit and went exploring-- which we know isn't true, because of the events in Memory Blank.

Sooo....

What if Danny wan't the only visitor in the lab when the Portal start-up went kaflooey? What if there were a handful of media types and maybe a financial backer or two in the room as well? Then Vlad's minor act of sabotage would make more sense: not only did he temporarily frustrate Jack's project, but he publicly humiliated him as well.

blue, thats brilliant! so very vlad.

[Firefury Amahira]

Sounds like a plan- and we established from the word go that people who participate will be subject to criticism and editing and adjustments to their contributions. I've no problem with Blue being executive writer for our Remix Episode 0 here :)

And ooh, if there was media and stuff present, that could set things up for Jack and Maddie's big blitz to get the working portal publicized after such a major failure!

[Darth-Frodo]

I'm sold on both ideas, and I think that it's only fair that Bluemoonalto be the executive writer for this one, especially after all her contributions and ideas to this episode.

[slifertheskydragon]

wait- so are we making a script for an animated thing, or a comic series?

[Kismet]

Well, we're working under the imaginary situation that this would be an actual episode. The artists' main jobs are to create storyboards -- I guess you could call it comics -- for the script. If we get enough participation we might animate certain things. I know Feri suggested such a thing, and more than enough people would be willing to provide voices. Our current priority is script.

So, Blue, looks like your condition is met. If we can just outline the scenes we need to work on now, we can begin the writing stage -- it's solid enough to where we can begin and flexible enough to change when the consensus (or Blue) thinks it needs to be.
(In case you can't tell, I am SO ready to start working!)

[Bluemoonalto]

Okay, pending an objection to my overlordship (BWAHAHAHAHA!) I’ll try to keep the ball rolling. Here’s a bare-bones outline; now it’s time to fill in some scenes. None of this is written in stone yet, but we can’t start writing scenes until we have a list of scenes that need to be written.

Specifics, folks, we need specifics. Each scene should be a short sequence of events, preferably with some variations in setting or combinations of characters. Give a one or two sentence summary and an approximate placement within the outline (such as “middle of act I”).

Remember that our central conflict is Danny vs. his new powers, with Danny’s secret vs. his family members as a secondary conflict. Optional “B” plot is Jack & Maddie vs. their financial backers.

I would prefer (as I have said elsewhere) to avoid repeating the frequent intangibility problems that were so common in the early season 1 episodes. If possible, let’s find ways to use invisibility and/or transformations instead.

Teaser: Vlad sabotages the public debut of the Fenton Ghost Portal.

Opening Credits

Act I, Scene 1 – Immediate aftermath of the accident, still in the lab.

Scene 2

Scene 3

Scene 4

Scene 5

Scenes 6, 7, 8 (if necessary)

Cliffhanger: Jack makes a speech at the dinner table, indicating how much he wants to dissect a ghost, scaring Danny into silence. (Possible distraction of Danny struggling not to float away from the table while Jack is speaking.)

Commercial Break

Act II, Scene 1

Scene 2

Scene 3

Scene 4

Scene 5

Scenes 6, 7, 8 (if necessary)

Climax: A ghost attacks, leaving Danny wounded and terrified.

Denouement:

[imperfect]

so how many "episodes" are we doing. Is this a season 0, or just an episode 0?



I just noticed something. Throughout all this disscussion and debating we forgot something. What are tucker and sam doing throughout all this. We know sam made danny go int he portal, but thats really all we have her doing. And tucker...poor tucker i dont hink has even been mentioned. (gasp we are doing what the real writers do, ignoring tucker) I think some of the focus needs to fall on them.

Or maybe if were doing multiple episodes, have this one be danny and family centered, and the next one be danny and friends centered.


back to this episode ,we really dont know what sam and tucker did, after the accident. we know what they were doing before.
Ive seen some stories say that tucker and sam freaked and ran away. Ive also seen some say that they stayed calm, while danny freaked.
I think it should be combo of both, sam, tucker and danny all freaking out, but sam and tucker sticking around anyway.

[Kismet]

This is just an episode 0 to understand the method and the skills we're going to need when Marmel finally -- hopefully -- delivers.

And Sam & Tucker, even in Mystery Meat, were really more like bystanders, watching and trying to be supportive with Danny's powers. Team Phantom's not really developed yet, so they're more or less friends trying to hold his hand as his life is completely jolted.

& Yeah, My Brother's Keeper confirms that family knew about accident, so I'm fairly sure the immediate aftermath of the accident involved more family than it did friends. And what you suggested is pretty spot on, Imperfect, they need to be worried but level-headed. Some stories have them running away freaked out and just ditching Danny?! That is SO not right...

[Darth-Frodo]

Seriously. Sam and Tucker would never ditch him like that. That's the beauty of their friendship and what makes them so endearing.

[Firefury Amahira]

Could be a combination of freaking out and being supportive. How long should Danny be unconscious after getting zapped? If he's out for more than a few seconds, I suspect his friends would have done what any good friend should do after a potentially harmful incident- go get the parents. If he's out for just a few seconds, he could get their attention before they call for help.

Here's my idea for that scene: Danny's out for a few seconds, long enough to send Tucker or Sam upstairs to fetch Jack and Maddie. Danny comes to briefly, has a spaz about his appearance, transforms back in front of whichever of his friends didn't run upstairs, and passes out again. Then when the other Fentons get down there, they only see their son unconscious and not as a ghost.

Then for whatever reason, Sam and Tucker don't tell the entire story about what happened: After all, Danny's appearance went back to normal, so maybe it was just a temporary thing, right?

[Kismet]

And they also don't want tog et their butts in trouble!

But once the Fentons find out that the portal is working and Danny was inside it, I see their spazzy scientists selves coming out. They fret over him for any possible injuries or ghost contaminations, then they bring him upstairs where he wakes up to see Sam and Tucker standing over him, worried...

[Bluemoonalto]

We can't bring Maddie and Jack in too quickly, because canon says Danny was in ghost form when he woke up--which means that there has to be enough time for him to be unconscious, then wake up, all before a parent comes onto the scene. I like the idea of one friend staying with him, the other going for help. Perhaps Maddie and Jack could be too busy dealing with the reporters and/or the financial backer to pay any attention to the pesky teenager right away. (Hello, B plot!)

That would give us two brief scenes, maybe with some cross-cutting between them:

1. Danny and Sam (or Tucker) in the lab as he wakes up in ghost form.

2. Tucker (or Sam) tries to get Maddie & Jack's attention while they're dealing with the aftermath of the failed demonstration. Parents are too upset to pay attention to pleas for help.