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| | TYRANNO-MOVIES: "EMPIRE HIGHWAY" | | | | Wednesday, March 18, 2009 (4:29 PM) | | One of my favorite things to so is take long road trips. I don't have any problem with flying, but I enjoy the decompression time that comes with driving cross-country for hundreds of miles. I can stop whenever and wherever I want and explore the little treasures discovered on the road. Soak up the local flavors of the various towns and cities. Pack a bunch of snacks and drinks and consume them at my leisure. Marvel at the scenic vistas that pass before me. I was conditioned for this as a child, going on long trips with my parents or other family members. Of course, it was also a time where familiarity often bred contempt and we'd get on each other's nerves. Now with fuel prices skyrocketing, I can't really afford to road-trip any more. I really miss it. So I thought it would be fun to recreate the road trip experience through the skewed lens of Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Through the miracles of Digital Effects wizardry I don't have to actually drive anywhere, and I thought it would be fun to stuff the Tyrant and Dr. Klindowiener in a car and let them get on each other's nerves as they get into various little misadventures on the open road. I also wanted to reveal the world of Tyrantulania and the people who live under the Tyrant's rule. This is the inspiration for TYRANNOVISION: EMPIRE HIGHWAY.
Tyrantulania is under attack!!! (Again) Massive robotic forces from the small island nation of Tikinesia have invaded Tyrantulanian soil, and the Tyrant and his armies are there to meet them in brutal combat. The vast army of Tiki-Bots (Larry Lo Presti, I.T.S. and Greg LaTraille, voice, under the control and command of Khan-Tiki (Robert X. Planet), seem invincible as they massacre many troops of the Gorgeous Guard. The Tyrant is baffled over how such a small poor nation as Tikinesia could amass such a sophisticated military machine. Resorting to his supernatural powers and weapons of mass destruction, the Tyrant manages to defeat the mechanical horde, but not before Khan-Tiki escapes, vowing that this isn't over yet.
Barely recovering from the trauma of the war, the Tyrant is on the warpath for information. Khan-Tiki had help and the Tyrant suspects one of his fellow Tyrants at the UTI (United Tyrants International) might be responsible. Stonewalled by his peers at the UTI, the Tyrant returns home to find his popularity plummeting and the mystery of Khan-Tiki gnawing at him. His publicity agent, Morty Bergsteinowitz, tries to persuade the Tyrant that this recent war can be spun to the Tyrant's advantage, as war is the ultimate showbiz performance of a nation's leader. A hallucinatory breakdown during a drinking bender causes the Tyrant to freak out and destroy his favorite watering hole, Trader Dix.
Dr. Klindowiener, with the aid of his diagnostic computers, diagnoses the Tyrant as having PTSD (The Tyrant protests, "That's impossible! I used a condom the last time!"), and recommends a cross-country vacation road trip to Fantabulous Las Ta-Tas, Tyrantulania (Our whacked-out version of Las Vegas). Learning that the Tyrantmobile is "in the shop", Dr. K trots out a dinky little hybrid car called the Super-Hybrid Imperial Transport, an experimental new urine-powered car with an on-board sentient GPS computer (Peter "Leutennant" Adams) which can also control the whole car. Think of an amalgam of Herbie, Christine and KITT with a Teutonic Max Headroom for a brain. The Adams Car, Dr. Klindowiener, and the Tyrant comprise the Unholy Trinity of heroes who embark on this epic vacation road trip.
Countering the Tyrant's argument that they could have easily flown to Las Ta-Tas, Dr. K. explains that driving there would help them both decompress from the war stress by being in that long space between things, plus, the tyrant needs to be among his people. They hit the road on the EMPIRE HIGHWAY, a long "Route 66"-type of highway that snakes from the upper east coast of Tyrantulania to its southern west coast. It winds throughout the many different regions of the country, and is replete with mom-and-pop roadside attractions and curio shops, diners and coffee shops, fleabag motels, small towns, and National Parks...and umpteen-million billboards for the "SomeTHING (or Other)". Our heroes make many stops along the way, and have lots of little misadventures on the road to Las Ta-Tas, including a visit to their home town of Mt. Magma, built around a live Volcano of the same name. It is there where we meet the Tyrant's biological family for the first time...and (*gulp!*) his 30-year High School Reunion is in progress there as well! And they're not too happy to see the Tyrant. After the uncomfortable visit to the hometown and an encounter with the Volcano-God La'Vah, our heroes continue on to a whirlwind vacation spree at Fantabulous Las Ta-Tas.
...but an unseen malevolence is watching their every move............. | | | 75 Views | 0  Thumbs Up | 0 Comments |  |
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| | TYRANNO-MOVIES: THE NEXT LEVEL OF TYRANNY | | | | Wednesday, March 18, 2009 (4:24 PM) | | While TYRANNOVISION will still be presented as the occasional short video, the new push in production will be for self-contained feature length movies. Each movie will be a self-contained adventure, and not necessarily a sequel. They will not comprise any kind of "Saga", but will instead be just a Series. The goal is to have an official TYRANNOVISION website which will host video streaming of the complete movies, similar in nature to the fan-produced Star Trek series like Phase II, Starship Farragut, Of Gods and Men, and the Hidden Frontier franchises. Tyrannovision.com will also host e-commerce features to sell DVD's, soundtrack CD's, ringtones, and merchandise tie-ins (For now, you'll need to contact me directly to order merchandise items, like buttons and T-shirts, as I advertise them in commercials and photos and blogs).
The stories for the four planned movies can each be summarized, without giving away the plots, in these simple one-sentence capsules:
1) A buddy road movie (EMPIRE HIGHWAY)
2) A time-travel adventure (NO TIME FOR TYRANTS)
3) A tempestuous love story (TYRANT-2-TYRANT)
4) The Tyrant mentors a child (THE TOT AND THE TYRANT)
Each of these epic comedies will be chock full of the elements that make for blockbuster fun at the movies: Broad Physical Comedy, Witty Dialogue, Outlandish Action, Sex, Violence, Blood, War, Strange Creatures, Social Satire, Love Stories, Magic, and Bizarre Science and Technology...and Singing, Dancing Musical Numbers!
While I'll be making use of more and more local talent here in Phoenix, AZ, I still want TYRANNOVISION to keep its international flavor by including the online talent pool which has enriched the texture of the original Year One episodes and the Trial Of Doctor Interact saga. One of the ways this will be done will be by inviting "guest Stars" to produce TV Commercials, News Reports, and TV shows which will be used as punctuational narrative links, similar in nature to the Robocop franchise.
PUBLIC WORLD PREMIERES of each movie will be presented at the Alwun House Foundation in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, which since 1971 has been the premier alternative artspace that has nurtured emerging artists, performers and filmmakers. While the main gallery is housed inside the Alwun House itself, a beautiful outdoor garden space hosts a stage where the performances are held. Premiere screenings are followed by live musicians, deejays, and/or live performances of some kind. A booth is set up next to the stage for immediate sale of merchandise and signing of autographs following the premiere screening as the after-party pulses into the wee small hours of the morning. Mailers for the events are full color postcards sent to the approximately 5000 members on the Alwun House's mailing list (These make for nice collector's items as well). Publicity is aggressively promoted.
INDIE FILM FESTIVALS, especially those specializing in sci-fi, fantasy and horror will be another avenue for public screenings. If I can attend the events, I will personally promote and appear on appropriate panel discussions, maybe even in costume.
Another possibility for venues is SCI-FI and COMIC BOOK CONVENTIONS, where indie genre movies are sometimes screened, often with a table at the convention's dealer's room.
MICROCINEMAS are small little upstart movie theaters that have weekly or monthly showings of independent/underground features and shorts festivals. They are excellent alternatives to mainstream cinema and the multiplex mobs. They attract the kind of bohemian audiences that support independent culture and seek out something different. They are often hungry for content and are a great way to get a TYRANNOVISION movie seen by people who are unfamiliar with Viral Video. Personal appearances may be necessary to help promote the movie, draw more attendance, and sell merchandise.
The first movie will be EMPIRE HIGHWAY. | | | | 59 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | TYRANNOPEDIA: TYRANTULANIA...Land of Tyranny, and the Home of the Slave | | | | Wednesday, March 18, 2009 (4:19 PM) | | TYRANTULANIA and it's neighboring lands are FICTITIOUS, ALLEGORICAL places amassed on a fictitious "Eighth" Continent on Earth called MITOCHONDRIA, roughly the size of North America. It's not in some "Alternate" universe or dimension, nor is it on another planet. It can be reached by boat or plane (And in one instance, a meteor). It's best not to think too much about it, really. Tyrantulania as a fictitious allegorical construct is not without literary or cinematic precedent. The current season of "24" boasts a fictitious African nation called "Sengala", "Middle Earth" is basically a medieval western Europe rearranged for a fantasy world, "Taxi's" Latka Gravas and "That 70's Show's" Fez both come from completely fictitious foreign lands, "Syrianna" is the fictionalized Arab region in the movie of the same name, and in many action thrillers the heroes go to any one of a number of fictious South American banana republics. Oh, and let us not forget Springfield, Shelbyville and Capital City on "The Simpsons"! Tyrantulania is part of that grand tradition, and in the Tyrannovision universe it coexists on Earth with all the 7 other known continents. As with "Syrianna", a fictitious Arab country called "Arabistan" is tucked into the Middle east somewhere. There is no explainable logic to these fictitious worlds except that they exist solely in service to the gags in Tyrannovision. Just "go with it."
The Northern Hemisphere continent of MITOCHONDRIA can be subdivided into three major nations: 1)COULDADA to the north, 2)LATINIGUA to the south, and 3)TYRANTULANIA sandwiched between the two. Tyrantulania is roughly the size of the United States, and has several Florida-like peninsulas on both coasts, giving it the look of a crudely drawn spider, or crab. when looking at it on a map or from space. Off the eastern seaboard is the large island nation of SANTA BANANA and way off in the western ocean is the small island nation of TIKINESIA Other countries of note are the IMPERIAL UNITED DOMINION (the I.U.D.) and ARABISTAN in the Eurasian Middle East desert region.
TYRANTULANIA is largely shrouded in mystery...mainly because it's often shrouded in a perpetually overcast cloud cover, conjectured to be created by industrial pollution, volcanic ash, nuclear fallout, or even just plain ol' bad weather maintained by a climate manipulation device created by Dr. Hans Rudi Klindowiener. There has also been rumblings within the various outside tyrant organizations of some kind of periphery dome force field holding all that cloudage in. Whatever it is, it makes Tyrantulania difficult for space-based surveillance, and the only clues to what goes on in Tyrantulania comes from the Tyrannovision broadcasts received by the outside world. Being that Tyrantulania is under the control of a Totalitarian Dictatorship, it's safe to say that the content of those broadcasts is also tightly controlled.
Tyrantulania has two main national products: Weapons of Mass Destruction and Red Paint/Dye. The national Flag bears a menacing black letter "T" over a field of red and black. Its military branch is called the Gorgeous Guard, but its soldiers and officers are more loosely referred to as "minions". Much of the landscape of Tyrantulania resembles the land of "Mordor", largely colorless, with craggy twisted mountains, cracked wastelands, numerous volcanoes and blackened craters. However, there are regions of rich vegetation and farmlands as well, but the bad weather makes it all look rather bleak. Tyrantulania is on the only continent on Earth where dinosaurs didn't completely die off, and some roam the lands with the occasional run-in with human enclaves.
Not much has been revealed about how or when the Tyrant seized power, but prior to his installation as tyrannical Dicctator, Tyrantulania was a Democratic country very similar in nature to the United States of America. It was called the Conjoined Continental Countries, or CCC, or ThreeCee(3C). It had elections and presidents, legislatures and judges. It had a Constitution. It also had been overrun by corruption. The Tyrant figured that a large nation that could easily be taken over by corrupt morons would be easy pickin's for his own despotic agenda. Upon the Tyrant's revocation of the CCC's Constitution, he made many sudden reforms, revealing the Tyrant as a confounding mix of extreme liberalism and extreme conservatism. These Imperial reforms include:
1) Abolition of all organized religion. The one possible exception being the worship of LA'VAH, a fiery god that lives in the Tyrant's hometown volcano, Mt. Magma. Worshipping the Tyrant himself is also permitted, and is even encouraged in the Tyrantulanian national anthem. Why not? He's muy zzzzzexxxyyyy!
2) Special Interest Lobbyists are illegal. Only the Tyrant's interests are what matters.
3) Prostitution is legal, as are all drugs and gambling. Although carefully controlled with behavioral guidelines for users, these once criminalized activities have become a boon for Tyrantulania's economy. Drugs are plentiful and produced domestically, and the private sector is more effective at restricting their use than the government is. No one wants to hire a stoner, so those who want the good jobs, don't do drugs, period.
4) The Penal system is brutally effective and has many tiers of punishment or rehabilitation. Prisons are no longer storage for bad people. Prisoners actively serve the state. Sex Offenders are made into eunuchs, and the more violent criminals have the option of medical experimentation, or hard labor in the Explodium mines.
5) Homelessness is now eradicated. There are no bums. Everyone serves the state in some fashion. If a person can't choose an effective career for themselves, they will be conscripted to a job of the state's choice.
6) Illegal immigration is no longer a problem. Citizenship equals Slavery in Tyrantulania, and foreginers are quickly conscripted into servitude in the crappier jobs. As a result, there are no fences preventing illegal entry into Tyrantulania. People from the neighboring lands AVOID these borders...and pray that Tyrantulania never invades THEIR countries.
7) There is no death penalty. The dead make poor slaves.
8) Anyone can marry whomever they please. There are no tax advantages either way, and Tyrantulania's bridal industries have flourished. Since religion is illegal, marriage is a contractual term agreement, which can be periodically renewed or terminated.
9) Alternative sexual lifestyles and practices amongst consenting adults is welcome. In fact, many of the slaves in Tyrantulania--especially the Slave-Girls in the Tyrant's fortress--are lifestyle slaves. The Statue of Slavery, long regarded by most of the outside world as a symbol of subjugation and oppression, is actually a beacon of sexual freedom. Unlike the USA's Statue of Liberty, there is no big plaque stating what Miss Slavery means. The right people figure it out.
10) One of the most ironic edicts from the Tyrant is that schoolchildren do NOT "Pledge allegiance" to any Flag at the start of the school day. Let's face it, the have no choice in the matter. The Tyrant runs the show! It doesn't need to be restated by schoolchildren. Instead, from kindergarten up, the children recite the old CCC Constitution (Younger ones just memorize and recite the Preamble), so that the words that declared the freedoms their parents abdicated in favor of "security" and dumb complacency are ingrained on their hearts and souls.
It is generally accepted that the Tyrant's overthrow of the corrupted democratic regime was not a peaceful one, and that destructive weapons may have been involved. The evidence pointing to this are the decimated Capitol Ruins, a fenced-in "reservation" of sorts for members of the old regime who now live a savage, ferile existence, stripped of their power and wealth.
Tyrantulania possesses a nuclear arsenal capable of incinerating the planet several times over. However, these enriched Explodium bombs are more often detonated recreationally, in lieu of fireworks, because--let's face it--blowing things up is FUN. This accounts for the deep blast craters that pepper the wastelandic regions of the country. For all the Tyrant's bluster, he happily keeps Tyrantulania in an isolationist policy. He doesn't really seek to conquer new worlds, but enjoy the power he has over his own. He has enslaved his own people so that no one ELSE will. The problem is that the Tyrant's success in achieving absolute power has made Tyrantulania and himself much larger and desirable targets for other Tyrants who want to expand their empires, or fear that our Tyrant may come after theirs. | | | | 68 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | TYRANNOPEDIA: GUEST PERFORMERS--The SUPPORT TEAM | | | | Wednesday, March 18, 2009 (4:15 PM) | | TYRANNOVISION has enjoyed the SUPPORT NETWORK of several members of the Viral Video community. While none of these people have been directly involved in the production of the shows themselves (and I hope to change that, too), their love for the series is exemplified through their technical web assistance, advice, publicity and distribution to spread the Imperial Word of Tyrannovision to more and more people.
MINDWIPE STUDIOS(UK)--
MindWipe is the DVD author of the YEAR ONE 2-DISC DVD set that you can download for free (Go to his page here to download the DVD's for yourself). I've been enjoying a really good relationship with him and Chris Jones Gaming, contributing voice-over work to podcasts, computer games, and promotional materials. An enthusiastic Audiophile, Mindwipe is also an excellent singer and musician, and I'm hoping to include his musical stylings in the various-artists soundtrack of "Empire Highway". Mindwipe has always been generous with his technical expertise and has also turned me on to some of the Star trek video work being done on the web throughout the world, which further inspires what I do with Tyrannovision.
VICTOR MULLINS/"Victor1st" (Scotland, UK)--from his signature "Hellooooooo!" it's easy to get hooked on Victor's vlogs, even if I'm unfamiliar with the subjects he discusses. He has a singular wit that gets me engaged in his monologues. He also co-hosts the ARGUS ARRAY, a Star Trek Gamers' podcast. I've enjoyed contributing voice bumpers to the Argus Array podcast, and Victor's very kind words about Tyrannovision have done much, I'm sure, to bring new viewers to my silly sitcom.
WILLIAM "WALKIE" WALKER/"Walkerviews" (USA)--Host of the , a science-fiction themed talk show, Walkie is one of the best interviewers I have ever met. He is definitely a stand-up guy. Being a Trekkie myself, doing a podcast interview with Walkie is like hanging out with a good friend for a couple of hours talking about your favorite stuff, and he asks good questions, too. Extremely friendly, thoughtful, and with his own unique vocal styling..heh-heh!...I hope to utilize his talents in "Empire Highway" as a performer.
GLORIA GLOVER at OnTheAirTV.com/"TrannyTelevision" (Baltimore, Maryland, USA)--Anyone who has met Gloria online knows her generous spirit. She knows her computer stuff, and sends my mind whirling whenever I get into a technical support discussion with her. For the past two years she has been developing the viral video sharing website " , and even, at one time, created a dedicated TYRANNOVISION channel there and uploaded all my episodes for me. Her enthusiasm has forced me to try to overcome my own proclivities for procrastination regarding the promotion of Tyrannovision. Her ebullient enthusiasm for my silly little show has inspired me to build this Ning site as a dry run for an official Tyrannovision.com website.
ALWUN HOUSE FOUNDATION (Phoenix, Arizona, USA)--Established by KIM MOODY and DANA JOHNSON in the early 1970's, Alwun House is Phoenix, AZ's premiere alternative artspace. It has been the venue for premieres of many locally produced movies. The TYRANNOVISION series has been projected there a number of times and have been well-received by live audiences.
(More names will be periodically added to this list) | | | | 68 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | TYRANNOPEDIA: The GUEST PERFORMERS | | | | Wednesday, March 18, 2009 (4:13 PM) | | Time to give shout-outs to the fierce talent that has generously contributed to the tapestry of textures that makes up Tyrannovision! (I'm still writing this post, so be patient with me, Obeeeeedient ones!. --Dix)
PETER ADAMS/"LtAdams2247" (Germany)--A wildly popular creative presence on LiveVideo.com, Peter is the one who got me involved in the Tyrant War Video Roleplay. I really wasn't interested in getting involved in a LARP game, but Peter and I had been wanting to do a projects together. He had his character killed by Sylar, and suggested I be a sort of Necromancer who would resurrect him (Meanwhile, he had another participant clone him, and his storyline involved the fusion of the resurrected Lt. Adams and the Cloned Version). Lt. Adams is an evil alien entity who took possession of a young German stoner's body. Later on in the general roleplay Lt. Adams gets killed again, and the Tyrant is once again called upon for recussitation duties. Peter can be seen in the episodes "Resurrection", "RE-Resurrection", "Rude Awakening", "ReFLESHment", and "The Trial of Dr. Interact". Peter is also a huge sound effects editing enthusiast, and I've had him do the sound design for "ReFLESHment" and the Holopod Destruction in "Trial of Dr. Interact." He has also been my German dialogue coach since I do not speak German with any degree of fluence....fluentness?....fluentity?
KRISTIAN JOHN THOMAS/"KrisInteract" (South Wales, UK)--A kindred spirit with a penchant for grandiose narrative entertainment and a knack for creating and playing multiple characters, Kris has amassed his own impressive pantheon of fantasy characters such as Super Welsh Boy (A super hero whose power comes from copious amounts of beer), and his own tyrant persona, Doctor Interact, who has become quite fixated on defeating the Tyrannovision Tyrant, as is evident in his own crossover saga, "The Trial of Dr. Interact". Kris has been using this huge epic project to hone his editing and 3D animation skills. Kris is sometimes aided and abetted in his projects by his gorgeous significant other Elena Thomas("K" in "Trial Of Dr. Interact")
CHRIS WILSON/"AskTheTyrant"/"NefariousTheTyrant" (Scotland, UK)--Creator of a Tyrant Wars video LARP(Live Action Role Play) game on LiveVideo.com. Participants are invited to create their own Tyrant character and battle it out with other "tyrants" for global domination. Unlike the rigid legalistic rules of roleplay games like D&D, the Tyrant War is largely improvised. But as the roleplay gathered momentum, some players collaborated on their conflicts and started producing elaborate productions with specific storylines, delivered in installments. Chris Wilson appears in the episode "Fall Of An Empire (Tyrannovision segment)". He is the founder of the National Tyrant Organization (NTO).
BRUCE ANDERSON/"QPid" (Tucson, Arizona, USA)--It is unclear whether or not QPID works for the forces of good or evil, but he definitely manages to weaken all the NTO Tyrants with a "Love-Ray" that causes them to break out into song and dance, leaving them vulnerable to attack.
MICHAEL JAMES/"Sylar"(New York, New York, USA)--SYLAR rose up as a resistance leader in the Tyrant Roleplay on LiveVideo. Shortly after the Tyrannovision tyrant was introduced, Sylar had himself killed in an epic death to get out of the roleplay and concentrate on his music career. He did like the way the Tyrant growled his name, so I made that into a running gag catchphrase. Sylar became an arch enemy who does absolutely nothing, yet he is the first to blame when the Tyrant is having troubles. I used Sylar's ingenious music video "Symphony of Boredom" in my "found video" project, "Method Rhythm."
NICHOLAS BAKER/"NickBakerMusic" (Edmonds, Washington, USA)--I have watched Nick evolve as a musician and singer since I met him when he was 14. Since we both love electronic music and movie/TV themes, we became fast friends. The "Nick-&-Dix" show videos are examples of what he and I do when we just hang out together. Nick has evolved into quite the composer and writes original songs and jingles. A few examples of his work can be found on the Playlist on the main page. Even though he's totally blind from birth, he loves classic arcade video games and has made a jazzy medley of their themes. Check it out! Guaranteed to make you smile! Nick will also be contributing music to "Empire Highway" and I hope to put him IN the movie as the onstage band performing the songs at a high school reunion dance. Nick is also a walking vocal sound effects machine! Check out more about him at nickbakermusic.com
ALANDRIA (Canada)--In real life, she's the "Chosen One's" mom. She facilitated her daughter's desire to participate in the roleplay to revive Lt. Adams (AND his reindeer). Alandria even jumped into the fun herself by playing the Delivery Driver of the OOPS SkyVan. Her patient direction of her daughter's acting made editing and compositing both their performances a real pleasure for me.
THE CHOSEN ONE (Canada)--In real life, she's ALANDRIA's daughter, and eldest child. When the Character of Lt. Adams was killed off a second time (along with his toy reindeer) she wanted to be the one to revive him. I wrote a series of episodes around her to do just that, and she delivered a beautifully soulful performance, even handling her more comic lines with great aplomb.
ELIZA DORKALICIOUS/Dorkavicious (Florida, USA)--A beautiful young woman involved in the general roleplay outside of the Tyrannovision "7/11" plotline, "Dorkavicious" made a brief sojourn into Tyrantulania when she was able to beam into the shield generator room and deactivate it, thus letting QPid sned his love-ray through to weaken the evil forces of the Tyrant and his underlings. I think she's romantically liked with Scruffy The Pirate (but you didn't hear it from me! SSSSShhhhh!)
SARA NOBODYSCHILD99 (New Jersey, USA)--Graciously appearing, along with her significant other, Rams, as courtroom extras in "Trial of Doctor Interact", Sara is one of the fierce multi-talents from LiveVideo that I have yet to really cast in a Tyrannovision project. But that is going to be remedied as she will appear in a more prominent capacity in "Empire Highway".
JEFF WATSON/North Star Productions (USA)--Longtime known as "The Shadow" on LiveVideo, Jeff Watson contributed a wonderful commercial for the Tyrantulanian Board of Tourism, and in true Tyrannovision tradition, played both characters in his video! I am proud to present it here in the Tyrannovision collection!
LARRY LO PRESTI/ "Khan-Tiki"/Creature-maker/ Scenic Designer (Tempe, Arizona, USA)--Artist and Filmmaker Larry Lo Presti is lending his TIKI-BOT to the production of "Empire Highway". We help each other on one another's movies, and he has been helping me build and document my large backyard greenscreen studio. Larry will be designing and building some of the physical "bigiature" set pieces.
DEON ALLEN/ "Cy Lahr" (Tempe, Arizona, USA)--A versatile painter/sculptor/jeweller, Deon will be making his Tyrannovision debut as Cy Lahr, the mysterious owner of Cy Lahr's Roadside Emporium in "Empire Highway".
ROBERT X. PLANET/"Khan-Tiki" (Phoenix, Arizona, USA) is a fixture in the local Phoenix theatrical community. He will be making his Tyrannovision debut as Khan-Tiki, a rival Tyrant from the small island nation of Tikinesia, who commands an army of Tiki-Bots in a full-scale invasion on Tyrantulanian soil at the opening of "Empire Highway".
ELAAN ARDIX (Phoenix, Arizona, USA)--My significant other, my better half, and a very good sport! She can be currently seen in her debut as Greta the Slave-Girl in "The Trial of Dr. Interact" and will also appear as Bettye Bentyne in "Empire Highway"
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THE PUPPETS--For THE TRIAL OF DOCTOR INTERACT Kris Thomas and I engaged the services of several LiveVideo puppeteers to play extras and members of the Press. Their generous contribution of footage of their puppetry gave the trial the look of a Jim Henson Muppet special or a Krofft TV show. Their presence added an extra dimension of color and silliness to the already madcap proceedings.
DAVID COLE/"TerryBubble" (England, UK)--Terry Bubble hosts his own hand puppet newscast called the BBC News (Bubble Broadcasting Company). He has gotten other LiveVideo puppeteers to participate as his news correspondents. It was his programme that gave me the idea to have a "Puppet Press Corps" covering the "Trial of Doctor Interact". Terry Bubble is featured in an interview with the Tyrantulanian SpokesMinion just before the trial commences. Puppeteer David Cole shares his love of puppetry and art with his significant other, Lisa Jackson
MORTIMER and CRANKY (USA)--Mortimer the Dragon, and furry monster Cranky can be seen seated in the courtroom in "Trial of Dr. Interact". They're the only non-humanoid puppets in the show.
SCRUFFY THE PIRATE/"DarkMessiahNF" (Somewhere in the Carribean)--Scruffy the Pirate hosts the news commentary on the trial in "Trial of Dr. Interact" as a sort of Doug Llewellyn interviewer outside the courtroom. He introduces the trial and interviews an "Actual Kangaroo"(Baron Dixon).
GGUIDER (UK)--GGuider (Her LiveVideo username) lends her extensive collection of hand puppets as extras in the "Trial of Dr. Interact".
(Continued in next post) | | | | 64 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | TYRANNOPEDIA: The CAST of DIX CHARACTERS --"GUEST" CHARACTERS | | | | Wednesday, March 18, 2009 (4:09 PM) | | These are characters who have made brief appearances in Year One of Tyrannovision. Plans are in the works to revive each of them in one way or another, but they are not part of the core cast of regulars.
BILLY BOORE (a.k.a. "Caller #1" on the first "Ask The Tyrant" episode) is a documentary filmmaker in the Michael Moore mode, who keeps trying to interview the Tyrant, but never quite gets at him. I haven't really figured out a way to revive him on the show yet. I may have him do a series of short films, rather than be in the full-length movies.
BAHAMA BIN BADDEN-BADDEN is a "professional" terrorist from the country of Arabistan who leads the al-Bhundhi terrorist organization. A big fan of the "Ask The Tyrant" show, he likes to get technical advice from the Tyrant. Although he was killed off, I had a lot of fun playing Bahama, and since preposterous fantasy is a hallmark of Tyrannovision, I'm sure I could resurrect him in some fashion. He wil be aided and abetted by his mother, who is named--of course--BAHAMA-MAMA BIN BADDEN-BADDEN (Me in a black byrka and heavy eye makeup).
DUBYA (a.k.a. GEORGE W. BUSH) called in to "Ask The Tyrant" to request a dismantling of Tyrantulania's WMD stockpile, and only wound up pissing off the Tyrant, who suspects Dubya of being in cahoots with his passive-agressive nemesis, Sylar. Dubya is presented as a sort of Max Headroom-style animated character, complete with the electronic hiccups, which are strangely appropriate for the character since the real guy stutters a lot. Even though he's no longer occupying the White House, his evil nature makes him a wannabe tyrant, so he's working to get into the exclusive tyrant club, United Tyrants International (UT!), a sort of UN for despotic dictators and ubervillains.
COL. MUENSTER 7734 is an evil alien entity from the same planet as LT.ADAMS 2247. Having taken over the body of one of the Tyrant's minions, he operates from a secret base in the Tyrantulanian wastelands. His constant companion is an evil fluffy white Persian cat named Li'l Bastard (Binky the Cat). Because Lt. Adams is German, I wanted Col. Muenster to be German as well, but to differentiate his character distinctively from Dr. Klindowiener, I have Muenster speak only IN German. Peter (Lt. Adams) as functioned as my German dialog coach for the character. The further adventures of Col. Muenster are as yet unknown.
COURTBOTS were created especially for the courtroom scene of "Trial of Dr. Interact". I liked the idea of an "impartial" judge and jury (and bailiff) being made up entirely of machines. The courtbots consist of the Adjudicator XP Legal Computer, The Juroids, The Bailiff-Bot, and the Transl8R-bot I designed all the characters in Photoshop and animated them in ImageReady, SqirlzMorph, CrazyTalk, and Wild Photo Effects. They are 2D animated characters but with KrisInteract's new 3D skills could now be easily translated into 3D models. I used audacity to robotize the voices of the characters in various ways.
The TYRANT's BIOLOGICAL FAMILY still resides in their Mt. Magma home, and will be introduced in "Empire Highway" in a supper table scene reminiscent of Eddie Murphy's stellar multiple character scenes in the "Nutty Professor" movies. No matter how rich or powerful you get, your bio-family is always there to take the piss out of you.
LA'VAH is a Balrog-like volcano god worshipped by the people of Mt. Magma, and who gave the Tyrant his supernatural powers. The Tyrant met him when he would regularly deflower the virgin women who were being sacrificed to La'Vah to appease the god from causing Mt. Magma to violently erupt and decimate the town.
DON TYRANTE (pronounced "tee-RAHN-tay) is the self-installed "El Presidente" of the Spanish speaking country of Latinigua, Tyrantulania's southern neighbor. He is also the cousin of the Tyrant. He speaks in a smooth Corinthian leather accent, like Recardo Montalban. The Tyrant and Don Tyrante have some kind of childish rivalry between them, each trying to one-up the other. | | | | 59 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | TYRANNOPEDIA: The CAST of DIX CHARACTERS -- MORTY BERGSTEINOWITZ | | | | Wednesday, March 18, 2009 (4:05 PM) | | MORTY BERGSTEINOWITZ is the Tryant's PR Guy. He's your quintessential cigar-chomping Jewish New York talent agent, and his favorite client is the Tyrant. The Tyrant is quite possibly his ONLY client! Out of his seedy office in New Urbanopolis, he's constantly booking appearances for the Tyrant: Talk shows, Speaking engagements, shopping center openings. He understands very well that politics IS showbiz! The Tyrant is Morty's cash cow and he's gonna milk him for every drop.
Morty's appearance is slicked-back hair, big thick Swifty Lazaar eyeglasses, and an ill-fitting plaid coat. His 20-year-old cigar never leaves his mouth except for him to gesture with it, waving it about like a conductor's baton. His brash, showy speech is often laced with contrived profanities and completely made-up Yiddish expressions, similar to Mike Meyer's "Ganektagazoink."
Morty Bergsteinowitz will make his Tyrannovision debut in the movie "Empire Highway". | | | | 74 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | TYRANNOPEDIA: The CAST of DIX CHARACTERS --The MINIONS | | | | Wednesday, March 18, 2009 (4:03 PM) | | THE TYRANT's MINONS are collectively known militarily as the Gorgeous Guard. They all look exactly alike and are differentiated only in voice,dialect and personality. Here are the key recurring Minion characters:
FRICK and FRACK are the two bumbling nincompoops who work directly under the Tyrant. FRICK, quite possibly the smarter one, speaks with a slightly lower, grunty voice (Based on that of my highs school biology teacher). FRACK speaks with a higher squeaky Brooklynese New York "Dead End Kid" voice and dialect, saying things like "Aw, geez, Bwoss!" They are the Larry and Curly to the Tyrant's Moe.
The SPOKESMINION, by his authoritarian nature, is obviously a higher ranking Minion than Frick & Frack. His job is to stonewall the press with Governmentese double-talk in a painfully droning voice. Although they haven't been seen talking to one another, it's a pretty sure bet that he talks like that to everyone, even the Tyrant, confounding him as much as he confounds reporters. Speaking in a thick Texas accent, the Spokesminion is based on every public official, police officer and gym coach that I experienced when I was growing up in Texas (I'm originally from California, but like George "Dubya" Bush, was transplanted to Texas long enough to develop a Texas accent). Many of the things the Spokesminion says are actually lifted straight from sound bytes or quotes from public officials in the news, and tweaked just a bit to fit Tyrannovision's needs.
The IRON LUNG SOUND GUY is a minion whose only job is to make that Darth Vader breathing sound to enhance the Tyrant's malevolent vibe. I haven't been using him as much because it's a pain in the ass to constantly composite him into videos with constantly changing angles, so I'm limiting his use to occasions where the Tyrant addresses the public.
The SENIOR DRILL INSTRUCTOR (Name as yet unknown) is the guy who makes sure the troops march in correct formation, stand at attention, and present arms. He's there for a small platoon or the entire army. His character is that of the standard-issue fussy Gay dance choreographer...totally the opposite of the gruff Marine drill sergeant, but--as any professional dancer can tell you--just as abusive! Before a parade or battle formation he'll clap his hands in that annoying attention-grubbing fashion and say things like, "Okay, people! Just like we did in rehearsal, girls, but get it right this time....a-FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT!" He is visually characterized by a different helmet with big pink feather plumes on it and a pink feather boa shrugged about his arms. The Senior D.I. will make his debut in the finale of "The Trial of Doctor Interact"
The TROLLGRES are also new characters, not as yet introduced at the time of this posting. They're a different kind of Minion. 12ft tall, with gray skin and scant, spiky red uniforms, they are fearsome creatures to behold. No one is sure if they are Trolls or Ogres, so they refer to themselves in a hybridized term "Trollgre". Lumbering into battle they either wield giant hammers or are firing super-heavy artillery that a normal human couldn't lift. Their appearance strikes fear into those who behold them for the first time....until they speak. Then their true nature is revealed: they're basically by-the-book military clerks, so afraid of losing their jobs that they do not bend protocol for anybody, even the Tyrant! Your weapon jams or runs out of ammo in the heat of combat? Tough shit. You gotta fill out the proper requisition forms in triplicate! And they always seem to miraculously have these forms with them. This is why they have red uniforms: They're the RED TAPE guys!
The Trollgres speak in very thick Midwestern accents from the region of Tyrantulania knowns as "Wisconsota". Picture the movie "Fargo", but with monsters instead of humans. "We Dohn't knoh if we're Trohlls 'r OHgres. We cahll ahrselves TrOHllgres, dohn'tcha knoh." Some are mechanics to the Tyrantmobile, always needing to "Ohrder mohre cahr pahrts", or they're traffic cops, riding around on disproportionately small motorcyles.
It is not known whether the Trollgres are a genetically engineered species or a naturally occurring mythological beast.
The Trollgres will make their debut at the opening of the Tyrannovision feature-length movie, "Empire Highway". I predict that they will become audience favorites very quickly. | | | | 59 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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