The characters of the Clear Skies machinima series.
Main ensemble
John "JR" Rourke
Captain of Clear Skies.
- Ace Pilot: In episode 3, JR shows us why he's the captain.
- Chekhov's Skill: Rourke is shown to have an Elite Certification as a High-Velocity Helmsman hanging on the wall of his station quarters.note Later, in the battle of Messoya, he manages to kill two dreadnoughts with one battleship through the application of his high-speed maneuvering skills.note
- Dramatic Drop: In episode 3, he drops his mug when he discovers that Charlie was a Presidential Guard.
- Drowning My Sorrows: See Heroic BSoD.
- Exact Words: Exploits this while trying to turn away Mr. Smith, who wants to give him another job.Sol: [after JR has closed the door on Mr. Smith] John! I said "Be nice"! Talk to him!
[John opens the door]
John: [nicely] Go away! [closes the door] - Heroic BSoD: During episode 3, after losing the Maelstrom and nearly getting himself and his crew killed, Rourke decides he's hadd enough, and goes into a 10-Minute Retirement phase, where he just lies in his apartment and spends his days drinking.
- Heroic Sacrifice: A Chekhov's Gun saves him.
- My Greatest Failure: Rourke frequently laments the death of his friend Haffa during episode 3. And also harbors immense guilt over what (sort of) led to that in the first place: His accidental destruction of a civilian tour bus while helping Haffa steal a ship. Mr. Smith exploits the latter in episode 2; see Redemption Quest.
- Redemption Quest: In episode 2, Rourke is persuaded to risk his life and prevent Jared from destroying a populated station by being reminded of his accidental destruction of a civilian tour bus while helping Haffa steal a prototype ship.
- 10-Minute Retirement: See Heroic BSoD.
Solomon "Sol" Burke
Clear Skies's engineer.
Charles "Charlie" Fodderite
- Code Emergency: The second episode mentions that Clear Skies has fifteen emergency color codes; naturally, all were created by Charlie. Four can be seen on screen: Red ("imminent ship obstruction"), Orange ("imminent Judith Chalmers encounter"), Yellow ("it's time to start running"), and Blue ("armed incursion of the ship"); and a fifth and sixth are mentioned (Magnolia and Fuschia).
- Fence Painting: Pulls off a rather epic one
in episode 3.
Mr.* Smith
- Badass in Distress: In episode 3.
- Deadpan Snarker:John: The door's locked!
Smith: Yes, it would seem my captors thought of everything. - Embarrassing First Name: Tarquin.
- Last-Name Basis: Introduces himself simply as "Mr. Smith", though Sascha lets slip his first name, much to the crew's amusement (and much to Mr. Smith's chagrin).
- Mr. Smith:John: Okay, I've discussed it with my crew, and I'm happy to say you've got a place on our ship, Mister...?
Smith: You can call me Mr. Smith.
John: Hah. And here we are. Thousands of years down the line since EVE day one, and yet people still use "Mr. Smith" when wishing to remain anonymous.
Smith: Possibly I use it because that's my name.- No confirmation of whether it really is his last name or not, but that line does lead to a great Ironic Echo when the crew finds out his first name and John uses it repeatedly to bug him:Smith: [sighs] Must you persist in using that form of address?
John: [smiling] Possibly I use it, because that is your name.
- No confirmation of whether it really is his last name or not, but that line does lead to a great Ironic Echo when the crew finds out his first name and John uses it repeatedly to bug him:
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives JR of all people a pretty devastating one in an uncharacteristic fit of bad temper during an argument:"You have released one of the most dangerous artifacts I know of into the hands of a complete unknown! I now have a staggering amount of damage control to perform — I expect at great personal risk, when it isn't a tedious grind! I can't fathom the depths of ineptitude required to hand such an artifact over to the first person you met! ... Perhaps a year of soft jobs in this system has significantly reduced your faculties as ship's captain! ... Name me a recent situation where you didn't rely on the help of a friend to extract you! Or perhaps the sacrifice of one!"
- Sesquipedalian Smith: Tarquin Smith.
- The Stoic: "Might I suggest we retire to a safer part of the ship?" says Mr. Smith, calmly adjusting his tie as a bullet bounces off the wall.
- Upon being jammed and realizing he's going to be captured: "Hmm, it appears I won't be joining you on the other side."
- After using a hatstand as cover from the explosion used to free him: [straightens tie] "Most undignified."
- He has a Not So Stoic moment in episode 3 when he finds out the Jovian technology he gave to JR wasn't destroyed, and again during an argument they have after the same has been stolen.
Sascha Culhane
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like:John: [to Mr. Smith] There we go. One unit of damsel in distress.
Sascha: Who said that?! Who said that?! Was that you?! Do I look like a damsel in distress?! I was distressed by your rescue attempt, I'll tell you that! Am I rescued or did we just crash into a scrapyard?!
John: Hey, whoa, leave my ship alone!
Sascha: I wish I could!
John: Well, there's the door, knock yourself out!
Sascha: How about I knock you out for getting me shot at, huh?! - Damsel in Distress: Though she isn't pleased about being called one.
Episode 1
Unnamed Raven Captain
The antagonist of episode 1.
- Evil Gloating:"That's not your concern, and it's certainly not the concern of a frozen corpse either. I don't care which particular unconcerned thing I leave in my wake. Now give me Smith."
"Shields are down, Rourke, shields are down. I bet you're not so smug now while your Matari bucket of bolts falls apart around you! [aside] Keep firing!"
Cormark "Cor"
JR's go-to backup.
Episode 2
Jared Mason
- Smug Snake: Very.
- Undignified Death: Killed when Rourke's sofa smashes through one of the windows of his ship.
- We Meet Again: Gloats over his apparent victory and is especially tickled that Rourke will be there to witness it.
Unnamed Scientist
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When Jared Mason jumps his ship into system at the climax of episode 2 we get a shot of the scientist's corpse sprawled across the blood-spattered command chair.
Haffa
JR's other go-to backup and old friend, though there seems to be some bad blood between them.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Appears briefly in episode 1, then plays a small but critical role in episode 2.
- Heroic Sacrifice
- Redemption Equals Death: "Now are we even?"
- Senseless Sacrifice: Subverted: Haffa sacrificed himself so that JR and company could get the cynosural jammer to the station in order to stop Jared Mason from jumping in a capital ship. They were too late, but managed to stop Jared anyway.
- Sociopathic Hero: To the point where Sol describes him as "someone who scares me." When we first see him, he's about to hit a mining operation before John's distress call reaches him seconds before he decides which ship to shoot. Turns out he's faking it and his conscience has been gnawing at him over the civilians who died when John helped him steal his Widow. "I never did tell you how I slept at night: Badly."
Shady Slater
One of the (many) privateers hired by Mr. Smith, and called upon to protect Clear Skies so it can deliver the cyno jammer to the station. Happens to be an old acquaintance of Charlie.
Episode 3
Ghost
- Artistic License – Gun Safety: Averted; while Hausmann is monologuing, he repeatedly passes in front of Ghost, who lowers his gun each time this happens rather than point it at him.
- Blood Knight
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Wastes time monologuing, which gives Charlie and Sol time to salvage a shell and use it to kill him.
- If he had just bought the power plant off of the Clear Skies crew in the first place, he probably wouldn't have had to deal with them coming back and looking to get even.
- Ludicrous Gibs: Ghost takes a direct hit from a van-sized armour-piercing artillery shell. There's not much of him left apart from a large smear of blood.
Hausmann
- Anti-Villain: Type IV (Villain in Name Only).
- Fighting for a Homeland
- The Heavy
- Just Between You and Me: Takes the time to explain his motivations to JR and his crew, even scolding everyone to let him finish when they start bickering.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Hausmann just wants his home planet back. The prospect of heavy casualties in this pursuit gives him pause and eventually makes him surrender. He was also quite unsettled when he found out that an artifact Ghost procured for him, which he'd thought had been "purchased from an anonymous source", had actually been acquired by attacking JR's ship, taking the artifact by force, and leaving JR and his crew to die.
Commander Mallozzi
- Obi-Wan Moment:Ensign: But sir! With no warp drive how will we escape?
Mallozzi: Our escape was always a luxury, Miss, and one that circumstances dictate we can no longer afford. I'm sorry. Today we learn what doing our duty really means. - Stupid Sacrifice: Undoubtably unintentionally. He orders the emergency warp-out that would have allowed them to live cancelled to buy Clear Skies the 2 minutes it needs to finish off the cyno jammer, guaranteeing the destruction of his ship. Which would have been all very well, except Ghost didn't even notice the jammer had been destroyed until several minutes after it had happened, making the Magellan's distraction honestly somewhat unnecessary- although it was possible Ghost might have noticed the attack warnings if the attack had been still been ongoing at the point the Magellan had withdrawn. Still, it's highly unlikely he would have been able to get any ships to warp out there in time.
- To be fair, they didn't know that Ghost was not aware of the attack on the jammer, and likely believed that he was ready to warp ships over the moment the Magellan withdrew.
