L.J. Scott: Having no clue how to write a comic serial script, I treated this as a television script where I set-up the basic situation for each scene and provided the dialog. At the time it seemed like the right approach.
But now I recognize that, with a TV script, the actors figure out their facial reactions and body language, the directors figure out where the characters stand and fit in the filmed frame, the casting director and make-up people figure out what the guest characters should look like and wear, etc. In this case, all this was left up to studiorobb to come up with, with only me giving him more to work with on rare occasions. Only now can I grasp the creative strain I must have been putting him under with each new installment of "Retirement?"
Page
1: In the original script I had an establishing shot of the TARDIS as we would in a TV show just to let the audience know where the next scene takes place. Then we have a scene of the Doctor climbing an endless flight of stairs. That would play fine on a television show, but in a single, non-moving frame, lacks much of the intended feel, so studiorobb came to me and asked if he could add a little comment about the lift being broken. I thought it was a good idea and it helped to give context to what the Doctor is doing.
The line, "There is a time when we are young..." is the first line of my only book. I have it included here as an in-joke: I was a member of a writers' group at the time and read the first few pages of the book to the group to get their reaction. Upon saying this first sentence, one girl leapt to her feet and ran to her purse to get a pen and some paper, saying "Oh, my God, what a great line!" At the time, I didn't know if I should feel honored, or laugh. So when writing this script, to balance out my karma, I decided it was a good idea to have someone with a less enthusiastic response to the same line.
Also, we have two references that were tied in by the end. Ace does get to see Bessy, and they do end up visiting a grave. I would like to say this was preplanned, cyclical writing, but I think we just got lucky...
(Also, I don't remember any 'Professors' in the dialog of the first few episodes of this serial, perhaps George Lucas made a surprise visit to this web site.)
Page
2: You know, I don't think I got the newspaper foreshadowing, myself, until now. It's a good idea that helps set-up the time-frame for when we meet a character later in the serial.
Page 3: 'Mr. Fingers' got his name the same way Douglas Adams named many of his characters in Hitchhiker's Guide: I thought it was funny.
Page 4: The crushed Doctor and the crushing items were wonderfully realized! While not necessarily intended, I'll say that the six fingers on the Doctor's hand were foreshadowing as to what we're really seeing in this last frame...
studio robb: the beginning of a long journey. And
naturally, it shows. It took me a *long*
time to figure out how to draw "Ace" --- probably close to half the
series, especially in the early episodes. I was very much into a variety of
comics (still am), in particular "Love
And Rockets" by Jaime and Gilbert
Hernandez...and it shows. Often, "Ace" looks like a parody of a Jaime character!
Eyes and hands were always tough for me (still are!), as one can see from the
"lazy eye" Ace has on the first page...
Page
1: "I’m going to fix that
lift...one day..."
i thought L. J. had written this line, until she pointed out that *I* had...i guess i
wanted to start things off with a "Who-ism" --- The Doctor
is notorious though the series 35+ year run of *never* fixing things...the
reference to the cars is another "Who-ism", in particular, "Bessie", for the
Third Doctor (as played by Jon Pertwee). And of
course...the TARDIS crashing is a definite "Who-ism"... Oh, and the "gehennan scientist" logo on Ace’s shirt is none other than
my band...which is *still* together and performing live after all these years!
Page
2: Note the Dalek on the cover of the
newspaper...foreshadowing!
Page 3: When L. J. gave me the script to this, the only character she
named was "Count Brundo"...I believe her actual script
said something line "Count Brundo and six other
characters" and that was it...she was very liberal about letting me design these
characters (including the Hunt Director on the Vid-Screen
and the Club Secretary, Mr. Fingers). Count Brundo’s
name reminded me of "Bluto" from "Popeye", so I decided
and "pumped up" character was in order. The rest I drew pretty much as random
weird alien-type characters. The character with the helmet and mask was based
on an old stager persona the bass-player/vocalist/etc/etc in my band, General Farnirius Dogstalic, used to dress up on stage...albeit quite a bit
smaller, as I wanted Brundo to be the large
muscle-bound character. Ultimately, L. J. used the tank-helmet guy as "Kammandant Qui’Ouder" and the
Lady with the pointy headdress and the stone Viking dude as "Lady Harperia and her minion, Baltzar".
If felt sorry for the lizard dude, so I stuck him in some later stories...but the
"Laurie Anderson-looking chick" (she has a name-tag that says "Maxine") was
dropped, and she never shows up again...
Page 4: D’Oht! In the last panel, I drew The
Doctor with six freaking fingers!!! I was struggling with hands so much, I
never noticed until DWIS editor, Jay Ritchie, pointed it out to me after the
story was published! It was such a stupid
thing to do, that I’ve left it here for everyone to enjoy...
Also for fun, here's the actual script to this story, if you're interested in seeing the differences between start to finish...
|
to chapter 2 or back to the "Retirement?" Chapter Selection Page |