I've spent the last four days doing absolutely nothing but writing the ReBoot comic book (oh, and drinking coffee, tea, chocolate milk and eating melons, toast, scrambled eggs, and crackers) and phew - I need a break. Time for an update!
WARNING!!! INCOMING SPOILERS!!!
On days 1-3, I wrote a huge pile of notes. My notebook is now hugely full of... uh... notes. I spent a lot of time detailing arcs for the characters I thought needed complex arcs: Gnosis, Bob, Enzo, Matrix, Lens, Vector, and Ether. Here's a selection of primary arc-need describers I wrote.
Gnosis wants to become as powerful as a User so that it can become a Sprite.
Enzo wants to prove to himself and to his keytool that he has the heart of a Guardian.
Lens wants to redeem himself for taking part in the Codemasters' treachery.
So you can see that the story is already developing. After I got these done, I hit the computer to start nailing in the outline. Here's a short snippet of the outline for book 1, which I have tentatively named Paradigms Lost after Slackbot's awesome suggestion.
Both Bob and Turbo receive a private message to meet "someone" in a secret location. They go and meet the Codemasters: Lens; his servant, Ether; the High Codemaster; and his retinue of warriors. They explain to Bob and Turbo that they've invented a firmware upgrade called Gnosis that, when installed in the Supercomputer, will render it immune to viruses and that can be expanded to shield all other systems on the Net. The update has the power to corrupt viral code. Bob and Turbo agree to try it.
Unbeknownst to them, a Spyware Fly has observed this event, relaying video back to Megabyte.
See! I got the Fly in there! Oh, and I have decided to officially suggest this comic series be named ReBoot: Ascension. It just seems right. I will table that tomorrow morning when I meet with our new editor.
Professor WhizzyWig
Writer of Reboot: Arrival
Comments
00:11 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
Enzo will get a keytool so soon or is he trying to get one? Cool, the Fly is there! :-D More spoilers please!
00:16 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
I'm looking forward to the finished product... Not that I mind spoilers and teasers. I thrive on them. Thank you kindly for the update, but don't feel pressured to update us if it's easier to just write, write, write. It's up to you, of course! Thanks, nevertheless. It sounds amazing.
00:24 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
I'm glad to hear about the story's progress. It's getting me all excited about the comic. So Enzo has just gotten his keytool then? I'm still wondering how he escaped from Megabyte but I bet you guys will do your best to explain everything with either flashbacks or whatever. Keep up the good work! Yay! ReBoot is on its way to recovery!
03:55 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
Good stuff. Oooh, this autumn's gonna be sweet... ^^ Now go back and write!
05:27 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
etoile37 and Raws: Yes, Enzo get his keytool (in this draft of the outline) but he still has to learn how to use it. Also, the keytool itself doesn't take his commands until he proves himself to it. More on that later...
07:17 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
Yuck! You need a more varied diet. Or better yet, better food.
10:51 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
How much time will it take to make his keytool take commands? That would be interesting to see him getting it to work progressively, a new fonction now and then. As long as he's a kid (and I hope he'll stay a kid for a very long time, that would be too weird to have two adult Enzos lol), he shouldn't be able to use weapons with his keytool, only tools, more like Glitch in season 1 and 2. Can you tell us how he got it or that would be too much information?
12:41 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
Huzzah! Gnosis wants to become as powerful as the User so it can become a Sprite? Interesting. I like it, though the question in my mind is, after ataining User-like status, would it want to become a Sprite, which is so much less powerful? Or is the fact that Gnosis wants so badly to be a Sprite that it would give up that power the whole point?
12:41 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
Enzo has a keytool already? I can't wait to meet it and find out its name. I have got to practice drawing this weekend. I realize I haven't drawn a lot of things including a Codemaster before.
12:57 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
Liking what I read so far! Glad my Paradigms title proved to be useful. I have a few questions and comments; feel free to ignore them if you don't want 'em. (You know me, I gotta talk back whether anyone wants to hear it or not.) One, I hope that the PM to meet an unknown person gives Bob and Turbo a reason to go - otherwise it looks like they'll drop anything for any anonymous request they get. Two, the spyware fly seems to be Megabyte's Skuzzy. Where'd he get the bug? Three, Gnosis wants to become a Sprite - wouldn't it have a special interest in Hexadecimal, since she actually crossed that line? (Translation: Please please please with mint icing on top bring Hex into the story!) I'm intrigued by Gnosis wanting to become as powerful as a User so it can turn around and become a Sprite. That'd seem to be a big upgrade and a bigger downgrade, but we don't know what Gnosis's drives are. It might have very different reasons for wanting to be a Sprite than, say, Hexadecimal would. That's one thing that would keep me reading to the end.
15:48 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
'It might have very different reasons for wanting to be a Sprite than, say, Hexadecimal would' Who knows, maybe Gnosis fell in love with Bob too, no one can resist Bob's good looks and charm. lol
19:18 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
Just so you guys know, I'm not really going to engage in too much community story spitballing anymore. I will be posting spoilers from time to time but will NOT be giving out much else, including explanations as to why certain choices have been made. These are just to whet your appetite. Feel free to discuss the meaning of these little tidbits AT LENGTH, but I won't be weighing in on your opinions too often. There has to be some surprises left! :) That said, if I remember correctly, Skuzzy belonged to Hexadecimal - not Megabyte, right? How Megabyte got the Spyware Fly is not likely going to be addressed. He just has it.
19:43 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
Understood, sir^_^ And yes, she was saying that Spy is to Megabyte as Skuzzy is to Hex. Anyhow.. a new tool from Herr Doktor perhaps?
19:58 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
Megabyte got so dirty in the web never taking a shower that all the flies were after him!
20:06 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
Ewww megabyte = carrion?! That doesn't sound so far off actually. *Gnaws on spoilers/teasers* geh~ this is so exciting! And I don't have anything more educated or deep to say than that, cuz I'm too excited! I'm realllly looking forward to Enzo's journy after reading this. (Which is surprising since I like him, but he's not my favorite). Ah, I can't wait to see what's in store for Dot either x=
23:20 Fri Sep 14th, 2007
I really do like the spyware fly. It reminds me of the program bugs I had Megabyte create.
03:29 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
In the reboot world is there a difference between Enzo as a sprite and a binome? I like the idea I just wonder where it is going. Keep up the work!
03:30 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
No, I don't yet have a name picked out for Enzo's keytool. I was thinking of picking another famous Canadian, keeping the theme started by "Coupland". Egoyan? Cronenburg? Gibson? Finley? Atwood? Cohen? Mowat? Mitchell? Berton? Just ideas...
03:33 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
Definitely do Gibson! William Gibson ;) Actually, no, I forgot there was already the "Gibson Coil Pike" the weapon of the Codemasters :(
07:18 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
I have no idea who any of them are (not Canadian) but I like Berton.
13:03 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
I think Cohen rolls off the tongue pretty nicely... maybe cuz it kind of rhymes with Coupland. Speaking of which, if Turbo's still getting deleted, what happens to his keytool?
13:29 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
Actually, I believe that Turbo's keytool was named 'Copland.' That was the name of an unreleased Apple operating system in the mid-90s, but that may or may not be its derivation. I don't like the idea of keytool names sounding like regular surnames. Regular characters regularly have human-sounding full names, after all. I think that it'd site better for them to have names that come from computer terms. For example: Eniac Algol Prolog Joss Spark Oberon
16:18 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
I think you gotta go with Gibson for the keytool name. He did kind "create" the idea of cyberspace...in the 80's! Thanks for posting. Reading about other writers process is always interesting and inspirational. Cheers! MorganJ Z2H
16:47 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
I disagree with using Gibson because it's already been used in ReBoot. Lens's staff was the 'Gibson coil pike.' Naming a keytool Gibson would imply a connection with that staff.
17:10 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
*laughs* Well, I did transcribe most of the episodes. You learn a lot of trivia that way.
17:14 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
Beowulf. As in Beowulf Cluster. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf_cluster
19:09 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
Maybe it will be easier to choose his keytool's name once you've decided how he'll use it. For example, Glitch is a good name for Bob's keytool, but it would have been weird if it had been Turbo's keytool.
19:13 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
Something Canadian for Enzo's keytool? When I think of Canadian things, my mind immediately wonders to food. However, I don't think "Poutine" or "Nanaimo" would work very well. "Nanaimo! Bars!" *instead of solid metal bars, nanaimo bars would appear* After ruling out the funny sounding names, I've come up with: Bondar (Roberta Bondar, first female Canadian in space) Trebek (Alex Trebek, host of Jepordy) In terms of more computer related terms (not necessarily Canadian), I thought Flash would suit Enzo. To go more into the computer history that I can recall off the top of my head, there's a few things that I think sound kind of nice as keytool names: Ada Atari Turing Pascal I also like Slackbot's suggestion for ENIAC (I guess as a keytool it'd be "Eniac").
20:20 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
A keytool named Flash? It'd be a *pretty* keytool, equipped with all sorts of bells and whistles, but it would run SO SLOW and on occasion interfere with its host's functions, necessitating a shutdown.
20:24 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
Also, I don't think it's wise to use trademarked terms as keytool names, at least if the term is in current use. 'Flash' could slip by because it's also a general English word, but 'Atari' couldn't.
22:20 Sat Sep 15th, 2007
Out of the names suggested so far I kinda like 'Spark'... mainly because it feels similar to 'Glitch' ... and I think little Enzo is always aspiring to be as much like Bob as possible. Plus... AndrAIa's pet name for him is sparky hehe. But picking a name that references some technology or Canadian thing also sounds good >_<
00:21 Sun Sep 16th, 2007
Slackbot brings up a fair point that had slipped my mind. I guess none of my ideas would pass then. Oh well. I'll get back to brainstorming.
20:49 Sun Sep 16th, 2007
The point about "Copland" is interesting. Was it really a piece of computer equipment? I guess I never went and, you know, checked. :) I agree with Slackbot - it should not be a proprietary term like Flash or Atari (or even Widget). We'd just get sued or something. Keeping it a techno-term is nice and simple. So... Driver Fuse Port Ping Screen or maybe some hacker slang? Berklix B1FF Eric Bixie Adger Blit I think I'm voting for the hacker slang. But I like Spark.
22:33 Sun Sep 16th, 2007
Copland: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copland_(operating_system) I don't think proper names, ever for keytools, should be ordinary items. Things like 'ping' and especially 'screen' just don't sit right with me. I do like the hacker slang, when it doesn't sound like a User name. 'Blit' catches my eye - maybe because I once created a character named 'Blitter.' ;) If we're going for esoteric terminology, how about 'Xyzzy' (a common cheat code/magic word, among other things) or 'Fsck' (Unix File System ChecK utility) OK, I know that last one would never fly, but it would certainly lead to amusing keytool commands.
00:44 Mon Sep 17th, 2007
Yay hey for Reboot! I can't wait to see what comes out! And Whizzy you keep right on sippin your caffeine and snacks, don't worry about us. We have plenty of old episodes to watch. ;) BUT - my boyfriend want's y'all to hear this idea: that Hex comes back, but 'recreated' as a young sprite (like Enzo was) - so she'd be a little girl about Enzo's age and they would be friends! After all, little Enzo liked Hex before anyway. And THEN Matrix would be all bent out of shape over his 'other self' being best buds with a little Hex!!
01:06 Mon Sep 17th, 2007
Hmm... why stop at having Hex brought back as a young Sprite? Bring her back as a newly-released Sprite! Now, who gets diaper duty?
02:21 Mon Sep 17th, 2007
I like Spark too. Blit is really cool, but I'm starting to think it might sound a little too close to Glitch. I like more distinction between the keytool names.
04:21 Mon Sep 17th, 2007
Enzo's keytool's name... I like the computer ones. Like Spark, but one I thought up myself was ALT. It sounds cool to me for some reason. ALT
14:36 Mon Sep 17th, 2007
Oh man, that's how I should be approaching my stuck-in-neutral comic story idea (that because of my citizenship, I cannot use for the Canadian CCN. But that's off topic)! Notes and outlines! Aaaah! I used to do that in high school, where I spent Junior and Senior year filling it out with outlined story ideas first about my Mary Sue character (that'll never be written and posted) adventures in all my favorite shows at the time. Though, later I started note taking and outlining bits of my first original story about my original, namesake character. As for Keytool names: I like Poutine simply for the sillyness. I've never had this dish, but heard much about it from Canadian friends, (Good ol' Zilla). However, my simple suggestion is: DON'T USE BLIT. Just change the first letter to the next letter in the alphabet and you get something naughty, and that might show in a possible typo... XD
15:11 Mon Sep 17th, 2007
Raptorix, using that logic, they should never have named Mouse's vehicle "Ship."
17:04 Mon Sep 17th, 2007
Well, they named Matrix's gun 'Gun'. Subtlety doesn't appear to have been an issue in the original series. :)
19:43 Mon Sep 17th, 2007
For some reason when I saw Eric I immediately thought of Eric the Phantom; I have been listening to the orginal broadway version of the Phantom. As for bringing Hex back as a baby is kind of similar to Hotaru in SM. I think the original creators should have a say in that department.
15:37 Fri Sep 21st, 2007
Bob wouldn't want to corrupt viral code but instead "heal" it.
Please login or register to comment
LadyLazuli
23:12 Thu Sep 13th, 2007
Sounds like great progress!