Why I Don’t Like Fairytale Endings

I’m not sure when this change happened, maybe it happened after I became a fan of The Wire years ago, but for years now I just can’t stand the fairytale ending.  Any time it’s a “happily ever after” bit, in any story, no matter how much I like the characters, I find myself getting turned off and a little disgusted.  Mainly because, as I get older, I realize that this never happens.

It’s called a fairytale because it’s make believe.  And those aren’t the kinds of stories I’d like to tell.

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On some level, every fairy tale is, really, a lie.  Oh, that’s not why we tell these stories.  I mean, would you want to tell a little kid that yes, Snow White and her Prince may enjoy a happy marriage, but there will be ups and downs, there will be fights, and making that marriage last is gonna take a lot of work?  I don’t think most kids under the age of 10 could handle that.  “Happily ever after” is the phrase we use instead. 

And, sometimes, we just need to escape from the drudgery of life.  We’ve seen too much misery, work is getting us down, a relationship with someone important in our lives is deteriorating, for a whole bunch of reasons we just need to forget about things for a little while.  Sometimes, a well told fairy tale does that.

But the morality of these stories is universally simplistic.  Most things are black and white, you’ve got the good guys and the bad guys, and the good guys always win without really suffering.  And I don’t mean they are put in danger, I mean what the good guys have to do doesn’t change them, scar them, there’s no sacrifice.

Another Script Complete…

So, another script is now finished.  It’s the 9th episode in our timeline.  Yes, we’re doing these out of order. 

This episode is probably the one which will put fans through the biggest emotional ringer, on a number of levels.  John, Sarah, a lot of characters hit absolute rock bottom in this one.

But it’s also when they start climbing out of the holes they’re in.  I’d say more, but, y’know, spoilers and all…

Big News: A Collaboration!

Hi guys,

Got some big news, as I mentioned in Twitter a few days ago.  This has been the reason for the radio silence lately, we’ve been working out the particulars with a modding group.  Let’s just say that this is what our future war scenery is going to look like:

That is just one of the images from the levels of the Cryminator mod for the video game Crysis 3.  It’s a Terminator modification for that video game.  We’re now working with this group.  We’re sharing each others’ models, they’re making the scenery for the Future War, and we’re providing voice work as needed.  Needless to say, this is a big, big amount of work that’s done: manufacturing the destroyed world of our project. 

How did we find these guys?  Thanks to you, our fans.  You guys pointed us towards this group, and we contacted them. 

More details will come in the monthly news update next month, and we will resume normal Tumblr postings next week.  If you want to check out the Cryminator mod, just go here.

Stay tuned!

Then why don’t you?  I might some day.

Man, so much goes in to this one scene I’d need about a month of posts to talk about it.  Just take Cameron’s language here and compare it to her actions later in the episode: she’s not saying “My chip, my body,” she’s saying “THIS chip, THIS body.”  And terminators always think their words out beforehand.

Very, very important phrasing.  I’ll leave it to you to guess why (and I will writing Tumblr posts about it in time, likely June).

(via )

Source: cameronbaum

Probably my favorite bit from Adam Raised A Cain.  But I’m a sadist that way.  Because this is how death in combat really happens.  One moment your friend is there, the next he’s not.  Or, he’s wounded and dies very painfully, like he’s shot in the gut.  And you don’t have time to mourn in the middle of a fight.

Keep moving.

(via thephantomcasebook)

Source:

Here’s our Opening Credits!  Let us know what you think on the video on Youtube here.

April News Update!

Hi gang,

Our Monthly News Update is up!  Here’s a short preview:

Two big pieces of media to upload for everyone.  First, we’ve completed our first video!  You can download it from our media page here or you can watch the video on Youtube here.  This is our opening credits, it’s going to remain so for our entire production run.  This is how we’re leading off every episode, and these credits will appear immediately after a short 3-4 minute teaser sequence.

Read the rest here!

Skynet and John Connor Part V

So, you have an AI who personifies hate and pride, while on the other side is a man who is a representation of love and humanity.  This isn’t exactly new, there’s other versions of the Salieri/Mozart dynamic at work elsewhere in fiction.  An easy example:  Po and Shen from Kung Fu Panda 2.  Another: Saruman and Frodo at the end of The Lord of the Rings.

The point of all this is that it’s actually very possible to write John Connor interacting with Skynet.  The template already exists in fiction, the path has already been paved. Do you have to know what you’re doing?  Yes.  Is it easy?  Of course not.  But this isn’t an impersonal relationship by any means.  In fact, it’s deeply personal for both of these characters. And that’s exactly the take a writer should want to take, because that makes for juicy drama.  Both individuals hate the other, but they are both aware of how interwined they are with each other.  That’s the ingredients for some very, very good dialogue.  But no one’s had the guts to try it.

Both have been trying to destroy each other for so long because they are in fact opposite sides of an equation.  For the life of me, I can’t figure out why the T4 writers never went this route at all, and it’s why the reveal of Skynet was so very disappointing in that film.  Skynet is just a cold machine, trying to fight a war.  That version is both a disservice to it, and the franchise, and as a result, the movie lacks a strong villain. 

At this point, you’ve got to write an encounter between John Connor and Skynet in the next movie.  Fans have been waiting for this for so long; these two are really what the entire war is all about.  Hopefully the T5 writers understand this, because if not, T5 is almost certainly going to be a disappointment.