Addendum: Not sure if I should give EVERYONE perfect memory of the past as a result of the device or not. Also, the device was built by a group of scientists trying to create a "better world", all of whom were also shifted. However, there was a schism in their group and some of them no longer have humanity's best interest at heart...
(Yes, I realize that this is basically The 4400 Meets Odyssey 5. It's still a neat idea, I think.)
edited 12th Apr '12 9:43:45 AM by Psyclone
It's like Flash Forward 2009, except it actually has legs, given that not everyone is in the past. And even if it was all of everyone, you could get so much milage out of the could've would've should've questions.
Yeah, I was thinking about your idea a bit more (in the context of what I would do differently if I could relive the past 12 years) and I was thinking about chance encounters and how they might play out differently. There's this woman I met once that I had a very intense connection with, but fearing rejection I didn't pursue my feelings for her. If I had it to do over again, knowing as I do now that regret is much worse than rejection, I'd ask for that girl's phone number. There's a subplot idea for you... have one of your characters go after "the one that got away".
Jesus saves. Gretzky steals, he scores!Yes, that last one is a great idea. I also had another character idea though I'm not sure if he works better as aone off or a main character: a 20 year old who post shift finds himself regressed to 5 years old with the mind of a young adult. He was travelling alone so he doesn't know any of the other shifted. Every day he is conflicted as to whether he should keep "pretending" to be a child, explain the situation to his parents or become a child prodigy, the latter two of which is he hesitant to do since he believe it could land him in an insane asylum, kidnapped or worse.
Also, to give some more backstory on the scientists responsible (let's call them the Shifters). They were originally a quite large group (about 250) from a timeline in which human civilization collapsed in 2015 and they used their technology to escape to the past. They then tried to prevent the disaster in their new timeline but weren't taken seriously. However, in said timeline the world did not end but it still became a nasty Crapsack World. Eventually some of them proposed that they start shifting more and more people along with them so that their combined deliberate and non deliberate efforts (i.e. the effects caused by chaos theory) so that they produce radically different and hopefully better results. Then the Shifted basically started using the multiverse as their Petri dish, taking more people or less people back in varying amounts of time, in the hopes that they can find the perfect timeline and who know, eventually gain the means to travel bac k to their previously visited timelines and save them as well.
Now as in the case of Cassandra, some of the scientists started growing unstable due to their brains not being able to process the dissonance between their "internal clock" so to speak and their multiple sets of memories. They started growing arrogant eventually starting to believe that there is in fact no Multiverse and that every time they shift they are wiping the future clean. Eventually they came to the conclusion that since they had made causality their bitch, responsibility no longer applied to them. Now their only goal is to make their own lives perfect, no matter what the consequences. Luckily not all of the Shifters have gone insane and thus they are locked in struggle...
(sorry if this sounds convoluted. I am not a writer and I'm doing this for the lulz :-P)
edited 14th Apr '12 7:28:34 AM by Psyclone
I should do an update for Film School
I added two new characters to the main cast for a variety of reasons (mostly unused genres)
These two characters are Danielle (she does Horror but she's not a goth/emo) and Peter (he does romance films but isn't feminine)
You obviously get my point, that is all.
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Damn, I want your premise now. Can I have it?
In all seriousness, this is the sort of thing that gets my blood pumping when it comes to TV, a secret global event that changes everything, a countdown to something that blasts the lid off the new masquerade, and the implications and effects the people surrounding it have to deal with. Heroes was this it's first year with the exploding man and could have been so incredible if it hadn't dropped into "mastermind of the week" territory, Flash Forward could have stepped into it's shoes if it wasn't axed. (Granted that was probably better for it the way the ending was stitched together and the middle season lagged.) And Once Upon a Time is gunning for that spot, *if it can ever get off it's ass and tell a story,* but I digress. What I wouldn't give for someone across the pond to give us a half dozen episode arc of awesome instead of going for 20+ episode super seasons...
That being said, if you want to make this a thing, I'd be happy to help. But what happens to everyone under 15, are they Ret-Gone entirely? That, and wouldn't... AOL I guess, be going nuts with collaborations if their were millions of time displaced people running around?
edited 14th Apr '12 6:22:06 PM by moocow1452
Sorry it took a long time, but here is the next episode of The Underlings. Going for a more general approach to this episode, but if you guys don't like it, tell me, so I can go back to the old format.
Episode 5 - The Great Gobblyfest
Plot: Halloween's coming up, but someone has stolen all the decorations from the school. Lidia, the inspector, asks the Underlings if anyone knows who stole the decorations, because it's too late for the school to just buy new ones. Michael and Kaizer decide to make a bet to see who can solve the case faster, Michael using the British detective approach (fast talking, more physical approach to the case, less use of computers), and Kaizer using the American detective approach (repeating the facts, talking really slow and using a lot of computers). The rest of the episode plays out like a Sherlock homage when Michael is on screen, and a CSI homage when Kaizer is on screen. Meanwhile, Bia tries to convince everyone to join her on a protest against the prices on the cafeteria.
edited 15th Apr '12 7:22:51 PM by Stratofarius
Yeah, Shift sounds super awesome. Though if there are millions of shifted people in the world, I gotta think enough of them would have tried being open about what happened that, while they might not be believed by society at large, there'd at least have to be a big urban legend going around about time-travelers among us.
Okay; how about a one liner: Guy wins half a billion dollar jackpot in a national lottery and decides to invent an identity to go Crimefighting with Cash, but instead of invoking the Superhero Paradox by fighting crime on the street level, he works as an anonymous philanthropist who sneaks into crime rings and breaks them apart from the inside through adequate bribing and charisma.
A series about a psychologist or psychiatrist who's clients are supervillians and their minions and explore all the fridge logic and problems with having superpowers like all the collateral damage and why minions joined in the first place
Somewhere in the multiverse there has to be a place where every single cool thing ever happened.Another episode of the Underlings (again going for the more "general plot" approach, but the next one is going to be more detailed):
Episode 6 - 22 Minutes
Plot: The episode starts with all of the Underlings (except July) talking on the cafeteria about Halloween. July soon appears in the cafeteria reading her notebook, and everyone seems surprised that she's studying, since next week is Halloween and there aren't any tests. July, however, tells them that they do have a test- an English test that was moved to the current week thanks to Halloween. The characters soon stop and July tells them they have 22 minutes until the test begins, and they all burst out of the cafeteria to study. The rest of the episode follows each character as they try their best to study in 22 minutes- this episode is meant to act as filler until the next episode, a 2-part Halloween special.
edited 21st Apr '12 6:33:28 PM by Stratofarius
Filler is annoying enough in real shows where it at least has the excuse of the writers being under time pressure and needing to pad out the season in order to make money. What is the point of deliberately inserting filler into something not being filmed that has no such restrictions?
Never build a character piecemeal out of tropes.
The point of that episode was to simply be a normal episode until the next one, which is supposed to go into weird levels of weird. I only classified it as filler because I don't think there's a classification for "normal episodes". I felt that if I had a big episode before the Halloween two-parter, it would overshadow the Halloween special.
Gah, it's been a long time. I'm almost embarrassed by the old version of Already Been Chewed News I pitched here. My sensibilities have changed quite a bit and as a result my recent resurrection of the project has become more character-based and less wackiness-based.
Here's where I'm at right now: a good chunk of the humor comes from News Tropes and staying far away from actual current events, focusing more on how events are handled and skewing more towards parodying a mix of pundit shows and local broadcasts.
Already Been Chewed News now has a backstory built in; once a hard-hitting and beloved beacon of a news show and a beloved local staple, increasingly diminishing budget and most of the staff moving on to bigger and better things has left it a shell of the program it once was, an industry punchline kept around because airing the news gives the network a tax break. The staff:
- Keith Leonardson, the last vestige of the show's glory days and the show's anchor. His exponentially shrinking wage and increasingly incompetent cohorts has reduced him to a jaded, cynical shell, content to snark at his fellow on-air personalities whilst bemoaning his failure to jump ship when he had the chance.
- Jenkins, fresh-faced, wide-eyed, fresh out of college and convinced he can return the show to its former glory, only to be run rampant by the incompetence around him and marginalized by his peers. Wants desperately to be a good reporter but is timid and camera-shy.
- Danae Patelington, formerly famous in England but crashed her career in America and drank away any hope of moving home. Her failure to recreate her glory days in the USA had lead her to be deeply insecure about her talent, but the level of pampering she got as a star has made her entitled and belligerent.
- Still has a much-abused offscreen boyfriend, who she keeps scared and submissive because she's afraid she'll lose him like she lost everything else. I've been watching a lot of Frasier recently, which warped this into a sort of inversion of Niles and Maris's relationship.
- Sunny Daze, optimistic and content with his lot in life. Got promoted from on-air weatherman to actual meteorologist when cash started running low. Has a bit of a guilt complex regarding his lack of skills, and feels no matter how few viewers they have he still has an obligation to them.
Those that have seen the Already Been Chewed News page may notice I haven't mentioned Nicholas, Lilo, Mae, Rebecca or Earnest, and that's because I have no idea how to elevate them above joke characters. But the cast needs to be bigger than the four above. They can't fill a half hour every week.
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.Well Film School is coming along nicely.
Still 3 seasons with 15-16 eps. I'm almost sure I have covered any genre possible. (I'm still considering some of the more impossible genres but I may not do it because the show's realism may result in me copping the plot out as All Just a Dream )
I'm still adding more secondary characters and thought up ingenius bits of Foreshadowing, Continuity Porn and In-Joke. Along with Freeze-Frame Bonus and plenty of Shout-Out.
I still haven't bothered writing the pilot and its not because I'm a lazy idiot but because some personal issues with school and crap came up so it's gonna be postponed until I can get it all in control.
edited 24th May '12 3:58:21 PM by JRPictures
Saw this thread, and figured I'd take a crack at it. Here goes.
Title: Eyes of Madness
Synopsis: A young man by the name of Bart Johnson has accepted a job opening for a secretary at a small detective agency in New York. However, when he actually accepts the job and steps into the office for his first day, he gets far more then he bargained for. The agency belongs to one Raymond Andrews, an enigmatic late 30's-something P.I, dressed all in white, (dress-pants, tuxedo, cowboy hat, shoes,) except for an eyepatch on his right eye, which is black. Appearing to be be quite the dashing gentlemen, he hides a sharp tongue and a hard edge, as well as something extra beneath that eyepatch; working with him are three associates. James, an impeccable sharp-shooter, Musashi, named after the legendary swordsman of the same name and quite skilled with duel-katana, and Cassandra, a sadistic vampire who indulges in her own unique brand of 'fun'. They engage in more then your run-of-mill cases, often getting into all sorts of escapades involving the occult. And as Bart gets more involved with these people, he finds himself becoming more then a mere secretary. (He also undergoes a permanent Gender Bender partway through the first season, and has to deal with the consequences.) Along the way, Sarah Summers shows up semi-regularly, leader of an underground cop-like group that deals with magical incidents in their own ways, and they have a lot of clout in the occult/magical community. Meanwhile however, a powerful organization known only as 'The Inquisitor's', made up of immortals, waits in the wings with a scheme that they've been planning for centuries, and they seem to have something of a link with Raymond...
Aside from all previously mentioned, there's also a reoccurring bar known as the Devil's Nest, located in another dimension that Raymond has regular access to, where humans&all manner of creatures are free to sit down, relax, and enjoy a drink. There also exists the demonized Vanessa, who may seem evil at times, but she never kills humans, with that 'evil' exterior just being a front; she's a love interest to Raymond. There's also Gerard, owner of a Magic-Weapons shop that our heroes occasional frequent. Aside from giving our heroes what they may need for the episode at hand, he also spouts wise advice, and there's also the odd episode focused on his Dark and Troubled Past.
Characters;
1.Raymond: Generally appears kind&polite, elegant, dashing; a real gentlemen. Yet he hides behind that a cynical personality, a sharp tongue, and a hard edge. Used to be a professional detective years ago, before his involvement with The Inquisitor's... He's a decent shot, but his real power lies with his incredible mind, as well as the eye beneath his eyepatch. It contains all the colors of the rainbow, and lets him do a number of different things — but the more he uses it for too long at a given time, the closer he comes to risking his sanity.
2.James: James comes from the Vatican, which in this show's universe, are — beneath the surface — a group of demon hunters who answer only to their leader, as well the Pope. James himself is somewhat quite&reserved amongst those he just met, but when with those he knows well, he's a bit more outgoing and talkative. He's also never been in any real romance, or had affectation for much of anyone; the closet was a small crush on a pretty Asian girl in Middle School. Despite this, he's quite smart when the team's in the thick of it; he's gotten his teammates out of a hard spot more then once, and not just in battle, and not just with his guns. Has a Dark and Troubled Past, part of which has to do with the fact that he has Autism. He mostly behaves like a 'normal' human being nowadays, but he still has some quirks, and back in the day, when he didn't have any help, he was really having issues. Over time though, he got the help he needed, and by the time he was 18, the average person couldn't tell the difference between him any anyone else. However, there were still Programs that wanted to help him through College, and by this point, Jason was sick of them; for a while now, he wanted to be like everyone else, even denying his Autism, and now that he was was like everyone else to an extent, he wanted to strike out fully on his own. The problem there was that the Programs, which just wouldn't leave him alone, and his parents would hear nothing of being removed from them. So, Jason decided to run away from home, but it did not work out, as he was soon living on the streets, desperate with nowhere to go.
However, one day, he was attacked by a Vampire; luckily, some sort of hunter just happened to be around, and single-handily killed the Vampire. The hunter then comforted Jason, but through talking to him, learned of his past and his present predicament. With that, the hunter saw an opportunity. He was from the Vatican — that is, the real Vatican, the secret sect that hunted beastie's, such as Vampires, but also much more then that. Still wanting to prove his independence, James agreed to go along with the hunter, thinking that it would a wonderful, incredibly 'cool' experience. Little did he know that the road to becoming a hunter for the Vatican would be much harsher and more difficult then he dreamed; he passed, but in time, conflicts between himself and the Vatican caused him to leave the organization. The only problem was that the Vatican never left a loose end hanging...
Is an excellent shooter, wielding two magical pistols that can shoot through any matter. Also has special reserve 'Elemental Bullet's', if necessary. Wears red jeans, (if he has to paint them red himself, he'll do so,) a red t-shirt, and a red long-coat. Also had red sunglasses, and short red hair.
3.Musashi: Japanese, as well as The Stoic. Wears brown boots, a black t-shirt, and a trenchcoat, with two katana at his sides. Can be rather serious and gruff, yet can also make a rather Deadpan Snarker remark when you least expect it. Over the course of the series, he slowly becomes less withdrawn, less stern&serious, and reaches out to his friends more often. Haven't quite worked out his past yet. Is amazing with his blades, and also has energy-swords in reserve when the need calls for them.
4.Cassandra: Wears all-black skin-tight leather, though she'll put blue-jeans&a jacket over it when she's not working. Has scars all over her body, which explains the leather; also has long brown hair that reaches to just the end of her back. Is a Vampire, and a Heroic Sociopath with a vicious streak, but is rather kind (for her,) to Bart, post Gender Bender, on account of her own transformation — to Vampire — years ago...
5.Bart: The Everyman, the character the average viewer&newcomer can identify with, yet also possesses an above-average intelligence, and develops quite the spine, (in a non-literal sense,) over the course of the series. Also goes through a Gender Bender partway through the first season, which bring to him as many issues as you would expect, such as just who or what he is now, whether he's now a boy or a girl on the inside and if that really matters, etc. Also becomes a decent shot with the help of James. In both male&female form, wears a well-kept black suit, with hair color depending on the actor, and the hair's always short. Whether or not he/she lets it grow longer in female form depends on what direction his/her character development takes.
6.Sarah Summers) Long grey hair, (still in her late 30's,) with a grey business suit. Is rather stern, with no tact, though she is a vivid Deadpan Snarker. Raymond and his group often find themselves getting involved with Cassandra's police-like organization in some way, be it working for her, with her, or against her.
7.Vanessa) Wears a white suit with black pinstripes down-across; beneath it lies a thin coating of black fur. Has thick shoulder-length black hair, which she need to comb every 6 hours or so; otherwise, it becomes incredibly messy&unkempt. Also wears a white bowler hat, white gloves, (with both fur claws underneath,) and wields a black cane. Also wears black-sunglasses, to hide her red eyes. Aside from the eyes however, her face appears completely normals, though she's done some special dentist work on the the teeth to remove her former fangs. Also had a long, giant Rat Tail, but through the use of magic, it's been drastically shortened and shrunken to fit inside her pants. Despite being a demon and having many physical demon traits, she does her best to hide them, especially when going outside of her bar. This is because she was originally a human child, but when she was 8 years old, she and her mother were attacked by a demon one night, on their way back from their Aunt's home. The mother's throat was ripped out, but the child was merely bit before scared off by an approaching pair of headlights. However, the girl soon noticed her hand becoming covered with fur within seconds, and ran way as fast as she could. Within 12 hours, she was fully transformed into an immortal demon. Since then, she learned the ways of the Magical side of the world, and vowed to gain power so that nothing like this would ever happen to her again. To that end, she was one day able to found the Devil's Nest bar, which actually did incredible well; part of that is due to the wide business policy, which accepts all sorts of beings, though that would likely be on account of once being human, but also now being demon. And as time passed, as she became more&more successful, she was able to hide her demonic appearance through a combination of clothing, surgery, and magic. However, a few years, Raymond first showed up at her bar for information. Since then, the two have started something of a relationship, which only blossoms as the show continues. As for her personality, she can appear rather cold and sexual at times, but beneath that demonic exterior, she never kills humans, and will help someone out if they really seem to need it. Will also use her great demonic strength to assist Raymond and his crew when needed, such as the Season Finale's.
8.Gerard) Owner of his very own Magic-Weapon Shop. Has a graying beard, and a ponytail. Is a bit muscular, and wears a white undershirt and bluejeans. Years prior to opening his shop however, he led a rather different life, which accounts for his Dark and Troubled Past. Despite that, he's generally pretty easy going, and often knows just what to say when either Raymond or one his crew needs to hear it. Will also help out in actual combat in either his Day in the Limelight Episodes, or in the Season Finale's if necessary.
I'll update it later, though I'm satisfied enough with it for now.
edited 24th May '12 6:23:09 PM by kkhohoho

OK, I'm Thread Hopping so I dunno if anyone has suggested something similar. Here's my idea:
Title: Shift
Synopsis: 01/01/2015 - it's New Year's Day at Anytown International Airport. We get a few scenes introducing our main characters. Suddenly, a man with a backpack in the crowd starts acting strangely. The policemen present suspect he's going to detonate a bomb, which is apparently confirmed when he reaches in the pack and activates some sort of device inside. He is tackled but they find it's not a bomb. At least not like any they have ever seen. The device activates and we see a flash of light...
Suddenly everyone present finds themselves somewhere else. In the middle of a conversation, waking up, etc but all in familiar places. They look in the mirror and they look different: younger, without scars they previously had, etc. Further investigation discovers why: they have somehow been mentally transported 15 years in the past, in 2000.
The show follows a handful of regulars trying to make the best of their situation. Some people try to benefit the world and others try to benefit themselves...either harmlessly or by hurting others. But the question remains: why did this happen? How many of the "Shifted" are there? And will the world change for the better...or for worse?
Characters:
Nick Stephenson: One of the cops who tried to stop the bomb, he now finds himself once again married to his high school sweetheart, whom he had divorced pre-shift. However, since one year before the shift, he had pursued a relationship with Janice, forcing him to decide whether to make his previous marriage work or return to Janice...
Janice Lively: Nick's pre-shift girlfriend who after the shift finds him married to his ex-wife. She is naturally not happy with this state of affairs but doesn't let it take priority over more important matters: pre-shift her mother had died of cancer and she is determined to not lose her again.
Cassandra Blake: A social worker with eidetic memory who post-shift decides to do her best to prevent catastrophes with mixed results. Her memories also act as a living database for the majority of the shifted. Not only does she have to deal with increasing mental instability due to two conflicting sets of memories, certain people around her seek to exploit her gifts as well...
Jason Niles: A recurring villain and Big Bad (at least intially). Originally a employee at a financial firm with a stalled career, he used his knowledge of the future to make a killing in investments and found one of the largest investment consulting firms in the world, Foresight International. He is obsessed about the Shifted and will do anything to exploit their power or prevent them from challenging him including kidnapping and murder. [The main concept for him is to be a Starter Villain only to eventually either get his comeuppance or end up becoming the rest of the Shifter's reluctant ally since at some point he can't exploit them anymore due to the world having changed to the degree that their knowledge is useless]
Several one off characters.
Plots:
edited 12th Apr '12 9:40:15 AM by Psyclone