Zeros 2 Heroes - The People's Publisher

Just because we're waiting for the committee's decision can,t mean I can't continue these, huh? :)

So I'm posting Season 3 even though I feel I still have a plot hole or two.... Nevertheless, this isn't set in stone. Yet :)

Codename: Deutschmaschine
TV series
Season 3

Season 3's working title would be 'War in Heaven', in which a schism in the United World Economic Council threatens the very fabric of society. For the first time in the series, Connell is seen as vulnerable since he is forced into the spotlight.

Main premise #1

The Mik-Centennial Group fights for its right to remain a member of the Council despite vast amounts of evidence against it. Zahra Haarland wants this badly since losing the seat would render her prey to all other lesser corporations. She also needs the connection to the Council to advance her secret cause.

Main premise #2

At the same time, Deutschmaschine must combat a shadowy outfit that uses hackers and programmers as living repositories and conduits for special endeavors, threatening world security. Their brains and an induced vegetative state increase their neural responses, allowing them to commonly become the world's most lethal hacking supercomputer.

Season Premiere: The Quick and the Dread
Deutschmaschine (as Mariana Steinberg), Karalee Haarland and her mother Zahra attend a preliminary hearing. After a brief argument, Itsuki Saito, head of the committee, admits the case in special court. Connell, threatened by Winters, strikes a shady deal involving the protection of Toson Zaibatsu interests. Wiretrip, in special care due to his comatose state, is kidnapped by assailants unknown. Codename Copper, separated from Colonel Winters, begins suffering from chemical dependencies related to his cybernetic augmentation, and ponders revealing Deutschmaschine's identity to the highest bidder. Lorie is notified of Wiretrip's kidnapping; she embarks on a mission to track down Mail Veillans and enlist his help.

Story Arc 1: Bluefire
Evidence is steadily being piled up against Mik-Centennial. Connell is revealed to be working with the Toson Zaibatsu in providing and archiving evidence for the trial. Copper goes to the one man he's told has need of everything but never reveals his hand: casino mogul Edgar Lemaitre, who, uninterested by the secrets Copper keeps, will offer him employment instead.

Sub-Plot: Intelligence 3.0
Deutschmaschine, infiltrating the technological high-rise of Tokyo, tracks down and finally corners Connell. He reveals that he works for the CIA, and that his government has no obligations towards Mik-Centennial, whose headquarters are established in a foreign country. He hints at another, more dangerous plot, but is unable to reveal more.

Sub-Plot: Love by any other name
Against all hope, Lorie will find Mail Veillans with Karalee?s help. She informs him of Wiretrip's kidnapping and asks for his help. He will initially decline until she bribes him into complying with considerable and surprising assets.

Sub-Plot: Snake Handling
Eager for more allies, Alex Galliano strikes a deal with Teresa Clarke, springing her from prison legally in exchange for her cooperation in bringing down Mik-Centennial. They will slowly amass data and attempt to submit it to the inquiry against Mik-Centennial through its head security officer, Connell.

Story Arc 2: The Sins of the Father
Karalee is in attendance on behalf of Mik-Centennial dexterously rebuking all sorts of allegations, i.e. prostitution, drug trade, lobbying, discrimination against men and slavery, when a revelation is made by Connell: her deceased father Nikolai Haarland's connection to an illegal German military project called Panzertraum. When the three representatives finally discuss the issue in private, Zahra chooses to fire Deutschmaschine for everyone's protection.

Sub-Plot: Karma
Mail Veillans tracks Wiretrip's implant serial to Edgar Lemaitre's secret compound and urges Lorie to spring him out of there fast. In doing so, he sends her out of harm's way: he secretly summons Lemaitre's security his way. Unfortunately, Codename Copper is dispatched and despite a worthy fight, Mail Veillans is assassinated in cold blood.

Sub-Plot: League of Character Assassins
Alex Galliano, ever the shrewd businessman, manages to track down Colonel Winters. Mentioning Winters' failure to deliver Deutschmaschine, he strong-arms him into joining his special delegation meant to take down Mik-Centennial once and for all by allying with the Toson Zaibatsu. Winters, seeing the potential to renew his corporate funding, reluctantly accepts.

Story Arc 3: Higher Ground
Lorie fails to deliver her lover: Wiretrip is found in one of the most unattainable reaches of Earth: Mik-Centennial's Sky Space Resort, the world's only entertainment satellite, guarded by Copper in a permanent luxury suite owned by Edgar Lemaitre. He and several kidnapped hackers are bound to the first human-powered computer ever, intend on hijacking satellite signals to hack into every database imaginable.

Sub-Plot: Lift-off
Deutschmaschine catches up to Lorie in time to learn about Wiretrip's location and condition. Hijacking a shuttle Lorie has always studied and dreamt to fly, they lift off, intent on reached the Sky Space Resort and exposing Edgar Lemaitre's threachery.

Sub-Plot: The Rise and Fall of a Foul Alliance
Karalee and Zahra Haarland, along with their lawyers, are left to fend off the accusations brought by Connell and Itsuki Saito when Alex Galliano, Colonel Winters and Teresa Clarke are brought in to testify against Mik-Centennial. With these odds stacked against them, it seems the battle is lost.

Sub-Plot: MetaConductivity
As Wiretrip is freed from cyberslavery, he uplinks with Connell by hijacking powerful satellite signals. The strength and danger of the high-resolution connection threatens to destroy Connell's cerebrum, and he agrees to relay the evidence Wiretrip amassed while connected to the Rampage program against his best wishes, upsetting Galliano's and unwillingly betraying the pact with Winters.

Sub-Plot: First Law of Business
When made aware of the loss of the Rampage Unit, Edgar Lemaitre, safe in his beach manor, deactivates the Sky Space Resort's thruster systems as well as detonating a bomb on board. Almost instantly, the station begins spiraling back towards Earth, to destroy all evidence left on board - as well as its unfortunate occupants.

Season Finale: Wotan Falls

Wiretrip's timely intervention reveals Alex Galliano's alliance with the Toson Zaibatsu, invalidating the trial process with proof of cartel involvement. As the Sky Space Resort fails, Deutschmaschine, Lorie and the exhausted Wiretrip assist the emergency evacuation efforts before leaving themselves. A pitched battle with Copper stalls everyone until they strike a truce in order to make it out alive. Following Connell's betrayal, the exiled President of the Unites States is assassinated by a cybernetic warrior on live television. The shuttle Deutschmaschine, Lorie, Wiretrip and Copper are in just barely manages to disengage and attempt the return home when the space resort suffers a dramatic collapse, plunging after them in a mass of fiery debris. TO BE CONTINUED...

 

There's one thing I have to talk about here... and a question for you all after.

Is the name super-important to you? Ever since Deutschmaschine became a serious contender for CCN back in the days I've wondered... is the name a seller? Because there are a few reasons why it might not be:

1. It's not Englishe
2. It's German
3. It's difficult to pronounce properly to those who have no idea how German works
4. As Will pointed out before, it can be mispronounced as DoucheMachine, and as childish as that sounds, it really destroys all the weight it is meant to have :S

That part of the reason why I called my TV series Codename: Deutschmaschine. You throw an English word in there and suddenly it's clear: it's a call name, it's not her real name, there's a basis in English in that show, there ya go.

As a graduate of fashion I've been taught to be very open to criticism and to accept changes from other authorities. That's why I'm always very open-minded when it comes to film adaptations. Whoever works on that film wants to create more than a live-action copy; they usually want to create a self-sustaining work of cinematic action. I'm fine with that. You can't let a 500+ issue canonical comic book bible weight you down, and if you create a film especially for the fanboys and girls out there you'll never go anywhere.

Market appeal, folks. Gotta think about market appeal. Another thing fashion taught me... one I'm unfortunate about but hey... Sometimes you have to sell your soul to get a job. Ask Blake. ;)

So yeah. I'm cool with producers asking for changes meant to increase the market appeal. I'm just adamant about her origins. I want Deutschmaschine to NOT be an American. She needs to be an outsider for us to have a reason to explain what the heck's wrong with the world.

Like I said in my subject line... What's in a name?
(And that's considering I never even had English Literature classes in my first French College... there were too few students with advanced enough English, like me, to warrant creating the class. Poo :(  )


So now, my question to you... Seemingly simple question, but complicated, too:
What producer- or executive-imposed changes would you be willing to accept for your own little baby?

Off to brunch,

- C -

Yeah, I guess this thingie I had to provide you with got lost in the Intertubes or something, huh?

Well, here it is for you, the translation of that newspaper article Deutschmaschine, Comic Creation Nation, Zeros 2 Heroes Media and I were featured in:


"Christian Major in the running for the Harold Greenberg Fund

In order to support, encourage and promote upcoming comic creators and their creative chores, Telefilm Canada finances Canada: Comic Creation Nation, a programme piloted by Zeros 2 Heroes Media, a Vancouver company dedicated to democratize the process of launching new properties so that fresh and thrilling creations can go from the bottom of the ladder to the spotlight.

Comic book fans are directly involved in the selection process of the Canada: Comic Creation Nation winner: every week, they can vote for their favorite projects on the Internet at www.zeros2heroes.com. The comic creator whose project is selected gains the help of a full team to bring his work to life and be made available online, and in doing so, becoming a finalist for the 15 000$ grant offered by Astral Media's Harold Greenberg Fund.

With his Deutschmaschine, the story of a cyborg spy employed by a powerful corporation whose mission, seemingly ordinary, compromises planetary equilibrium, Montreal comic creator Christian Major has reached a new stage of Canada: Comic Creation Nation. Zeros 2 Heroes Chairman Paul Gertz has greatly appreciated this work whose action is reminiscent of James Bond films and aesthetics worthy of the futuristic thriller Minority Report. "Christian's talent and creativity shone brightly in his pitch and I have no doubt that the fans made a great decision to see Deutschmaschine go into production", has noted Mr. Gertz inviting fans to freely view this animated film at www.deutschmaschine.com.

Awarded with a college degree in Fine Arts, Christian Major had left behind comic books for years in favor of fashion designing. Eight years later, he has rediscovered his passion for the medium, just in time to enter this contest whose eight great finalists will be known next month."

(Obviously the reporter got a few things wrong... It's not an animation film, and there won't be 8 finalists... but hey, exposure is exposure!)

After much deliberation with myself, I decided to reveal my look at a potential movie trilogy for Deutschmaschine.

It's more bare-bones than what I like to do (some folks out there know how much I like to write) but I think it gives us a good focus of what every film is about and what the core of the script is about.

Some of you will recognize the first film as the setup for my first story arc/TV series, but the rest is adapted to create new bodies of work that are unrelated to previously released (tentative) material.
I aim to stay flexible and keep my options open; Edgar Lemaitre never struck me as a bad guy for the TV series, but here on film, it's just too good to pass up :)

Enjoy!

First Movie

Codename : Deutschmaschine

 

Synopsis

2140, Earth. The United Nations is dissolved, replaced by a council of economic superpowers. The United States are under martial law, its President in exile. Deutschmaschine is a secret cybernetic agent working for one of the most powerful corporations in the world. With information gleaned from the dealings of the United World Economic Council, she strikes at economic cartels, unlawful projects and corporate spies on behalf of her employer, Zahra Haarland.

 

A spymaster working for the President in exile, Connell, learns of the Toson Zaibatsu's influence in orchestrating the American Martial Law for economic purposes. Through a specific proxy (Wiretrip), he manipulates Deutschmaschine into handling the matter, unknowingly throwing her in the path of Colonel Mikael Winters, a military consultant for the Toson Zaibatsu, architect of the Martial Law, and one of Deutschmaschine's surviving creators.

 

Faced with the very real threat of being ousted as a cyber-soldier illegally working for the private sector, Deutschmaschine must find a way to uncover evidence of Mikael Winters' connection to the Toson Zaibatsu, and bring them to justice for willfully fomenting civil unrest.

 

Cast of characters

Deutschmaschine (Gabriele Weise), Zahra Haarland, Wiretrip (Miles Sexton), Lorie Heinen

Colonel Mikael Winters

Connell

Teresa Clarke

 

Second Movie

Deutschmaschine 2: The NanoTech Manifesto

 

Synopsis

After the events of the first film, Deutschmaschine and Lorie Heinen pinned down in the United States amongst Wiretrip's group. As Teresa Clarke wages an ongoing battle with Zahra Haarland for control of Mik-Centennial, a new group emerges, executing acts of terrorism and threatening to reveal evidence of governments' and corporations' cyber-exploitation of the public.

 

The revelation of the NanoTech Manifesto sparks worldwide fear and exacerbates Zahra and Deutschmaschine's woes. As Deutschmaschine finds refuge with casino mogul and friend Edgar Lemaitre, she petitions his assistance in safeguarding hers and Mik-Centennial?s private servers against supporters of the NanoTech Manifesto, only to be betrayed by Lemaitre, one of the leaders of this terrorist group.

 

As Wiretrip is being held and has Lemaitre's scientists intent on using his person as a living hacking server and repository, Deutschmaschine must seek uncertain allies (Winters) to defeat Lemaitre's endeavor while securing undeniable evidence of Teresa Clarke's wrongdoing.

 

Cast of characters

Deutschmaschine (Gabriele Weise), Zahra Haarland, Wiretrip (Miles Sexton), Lorie Heinen

Connell, Karalee Haarland, Mail Veillans, Fogwatch, Invapor

Edgar Lemaitre

Teresa Clarke

Colonel Mikael Winters

Codename Copper

 

Third Movie

Deutschmaschine 3: Projekt Panzertraum

 

Synopsis

After a series of failed attempt to contact Zahra Haarland and obtain a means for their extraction from the war zone that is the US, the President in exile is found by a cadre of corporate-sponsored operatives, only to be later assassinated in captivity by a mysterious cybernetic agent.

 

Attempting against all hopes to find the assassin and to bring him to justice, Deutschmaschine begins a tireless search, unaware that the spymaster Connell, along with Wiretrip's renegade media group, are at work uncovering the sinister truth behind the assassin's - and Deutschmaschine's - creation: Germany's top-secret Projekt: Panzertraum, and its ties with the Haarland family patriarch, Nikolai.

 

Cast of characters

Deutschmaschine (Gabriele Weise), Zahra Haarland, Wiretrip (Miles Sexton), Lorie Heinen

Connell, Mail Veillans, Fogwatch, Invapor

Colonel Mikael Winters

Codename Copper

 

Hey gang!

I'm terribly sorry I haven't been able to show you all this, but with the in extremis artwork jobs x3 I had to do over the last week-and-half it's been hectic a bit.

At least I'm (mostly) done now :)

I've finally finished and made public the Deutschmaschine Fantasy Cast gallery as well as The World of Deutschmaschine strip (not a strip per se, but an annotated strip of elements in Deutschmaschine's setting with hints of things to come) for your review, enjoyment and feedback.

I truly wanted to publish this earlier but, well... the modifications that the strip images required took me ages to finish. Glad I'm done now!

So go forth and mingle, and let's all have some fun while we're at it!
(goes back slaving on a Bristol board at the drawing table)

Cheers,

- me.