posted
I think a German character would dream about being in space as much as an American. The difference could be that the character might see it a bit more like a theoretical possibility, until his participance is finally approved of. Literally a down to earth character. This is for once because Cape Canaveral is far away, but also because in Germany there are many skeptics who question the use of manned space exploration and, in general, all science projects that are potentially dangerous or useless (and much too expensive anyway).
The individual German character should not have such an attitude, but it might belong to his background. The character himself (or herself) may have a very high respect for orders and regulations (although this is often exaggerated in films) and may want to be the best, not only out of personal ambition, but also to justify that he was chosen for the mission.
As for an interesting background of the character, you may think of having him come from a small village where people know each other well and where an astronaut is something "exotic" the people there don't understand (but are proud of the character, though).
OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
Member # 621
posted
Thanks for your suggestions, Bernd. This is what I wrote up last night, and I think he would fit in very well as being one of the few characters that don't have some sort of neuroses. In short, he could represent stability, demonstrating a more realistic profile of what kind of Mars astronauts would actually be sent. There is, I think, potential to play off this character with Benjamin Stewart and to a lesser extent, Peter Young, both who have made Mars their single unwavering focus in life. And if ya don't mind, Bernd, I'd like to use your name. Slim chance that this will ever make it to the screen in the first place, but would ya mind anyway?
Bernd Schneider Physiology � Sex: Male � Age: 38 � Height: 5�10� � Weight: 165 � Hair: Black � Eyes: Blue � Skin: Light. � Posture: Straight, regular. � Appearance: Neat, but occasionally slightly disheveled. � Heredity: German, countryside.
Sociology � Class: German working origin. Middle from accomplishment. � Occupation: Systems engineer. � Education: Undergrad in Mechanical Engineering, Master�s in Engineering Physics. � Home Life: Wife and a pre-adolescent son. � Religion: Atheist � Race, nationality: Caucasian, German. � Place in Community: Systems Engineer � Political Affiliations: None. � Amusements, hobbies: Logic puzzles, engineering. Somewhat Scotty-like. Simply enjoys engineering, both as a career and an amusement. Has an interest and is fairly knowledgeable in physics.
Psychology � Sex life, moral standards: Faithful to his wife, a bit of a prude. � Personal premise, ambition: None really. To be in space, but never considered it a great enough possibility to become overly ambitious about. To apply his skills to be a good engineer. He has a somewhat vague premise of furthering humanity, but he mainly does what he does because he enjoys it. � Frustrations, personal disappointments: None of note. He is thankful that he has come as far as he did. � Temperament: Cool, logical, rational. Not easily perturbed. Somewhat frightened about the possibility of a Mars death (i.e. from decompression or whatnot). � Attitude toward life: To work hard and apply his skills where they are needed. � Complexes, obsessions, inhibitions, superstitions, phobias: None of note. He is a very stable personality. Somebody to provide perspective against other less stable characters. � Extrovert, introvert, ambivert: Introvert, but friendly. � Abilities: An excellent engineer, possibly the most thorough and systematic of any of the crew. Has a photographic memory. Often catches things others miss. � IQ: 150 � History: Comes from a small village in the German countryside. Never thought he would have the opportunity to go to another world. After receiving his education, he worked on a government research project from which he was nominated for a spot on Ares VIII. He is considered a hero among his village, something, which embarrasses him somewhat. He has a healthy respect for authority, though not the over characterization stereotype Germans are sometimes portrayed with. � Mars: Went to Mars because the possibility was offered to him and because of the unique engineering involved.
Also, in case anybody's interested, are the full bios for two more of the main characters:
Peter Young Physiology � Sex: Male � Age: 32 � Height: 6�1� � Weight: 165 lbs. � Hair: Dark brown � Eyes: Hazel � Skin: Tanned Caucasian � Posture: Military � Appearance: Faintly cowboyish. � Heredity: Anglo-Saxon Texan
Sociology � Class: Middle � Occupation: Naval aviator, test pilot, and pilot astronaut � Education: B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Purdue University and a M.S. in Engineering Physics from CalTech. Fighter pilot and test pilot training. Somewhat knowledgeable of literature. � Home Life: Single. Somewhat of a womanizer. � Religion: Humanist � Race, nationality: Caucasian American � Place in Community: Second in command, in command in the absence of Stewart. � Political Affiliations: Slightly leftist in philosophy, non-partisan � Amusements, hobbies: Video games, card games, exercise, puzzles.
Psychology � Sex life, moral standards: Moderately promiscuous, no qualms about multiple sexual partners, though by no means fixated on sex. � Personal premise, ambition: To be a Chuck Yeager/Pete Conrad/Right Stuff type of person. To take the greatest challenge and master it. � Frustrations, personal disappointments: His failure and inability at anything. Though these are generally very private to him, and he is still very easygoing. � Temperament: Easygoing, optimistic, always ready for a challenge and confident. � Attitude toward life: To take life a challenge at a time, to find a solution for anything that presents itself. � Complexes, obsessions, inhibitions, superstitions, phobias: A very private fear of failure, a near-obsession to succeed, sometimes inhibited in his desire to do something because of his drive. � Extrovert, introvert, ambivert: Extrovert, a very sociable person, out-going, and likable. � Abilities: A master pilot of any moving vehicle, a sharp engineering mind, and an excellent leader � IQ: 130 � History: A Navy brat, Young�s father was a submarine officer. Young himself entered Naval Aviation and quickly distinguished himself as one of the best pilots in the Navy. Became a test pilot and gradually became more involved with the engineering side. Aspired to be a Mars astronaut because it is the best and hardest assignment to get. � Mars: Went to Mars to take the greatest challenge possible and master it.
Dr. Samantha Ross Physiology � Sex: Female � Age: 32 � Height: 5�8� � Weight: 145 lbs. � Hair: Black � Eyes: Green � Skin: Fair, excellent complexion. � Posture: Straight and relaxed. � Appearance: Like a model, graceful and elegant. � Heredity: WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant)
Sociology � Class: Upper � Occupation: Medical doctor, biochemist. � Education: Pre-med, masters in biochemistry, Medical Doctor � Home Life: Singe, unattached. � Religion: Atheist. � Race, nationality: American, Anglo-Saxon. � Place in Community: Doctor, lead scientist. � Political Affiliations: None. � Amusements, hobbies: Painting, poetry, sketching, drawing, reading,
Psychology � Sex life, moral standards: No inhibitions about sex, no problems using sex or her attraction to obtain a measure of control over men. � Personal premise, ambition: Maya�s premise and ambition. (Mars Trilogy) � Frustrations, personal disappointments: Her inability to be with Stewart, which is a genuine attraction. � Temperament: Warm, caring, personable. � Attitude toward life: To experience what there is to experience, to make things work for her. � Complexes, obsessions, inhibitions, superstitions, phobias: Though she is usually comfortable with manipulating men, her persuasion is not quite as strong as Stewart's will. Nor does she wish to use her siren methods on him, as she has a genuine attraction to him. � Extrovert, introvert, ambivert: Extrovert. � Abilities: To convince people that she is right about just about anything. A brilliant scientific mind. Has a knack for hitting the right answer early on in trial and error scientific experiments. � IQ: 150 � History: Entered medical school at the age of 20. After completing her doctorate, she worked on several Mars and non-Mars related proejcts with NASA before applying as for the Astronaut Corps. � Mars: Went to Mars because its there. Went for the raw perception and sensation.
-------------------- If God didn't want us to fly, he wouldn't have given us Bernoulli's Principle.
posted
Well, could you either change the first name or the last name of the character?
-------------------- Bernd Schneider
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Make him a "Rolf." There's far too few Rolfs in the world, & for my money, you can never get enough of that sort of thing. Kinda like pictures of Reagan's polyps.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
| IP: Logged
that english guy
Ex-Member
posted
Mmmm, psychologist character ?
He travelled in his childhood because his father worked with an oil company. He's used to other cultures but is still quintessentially British, very patriotic but realises that everyone's going to need to work together to get to Mars. He was brought up believing that mankind would one day get there and virtually idolised Stewart.
OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
Member # 621
posted
No problem, Bernd.
I think I'll keep Bernd if that's okay and find the last name somewhere. I can prolly pull something off my family tree.
For the Brit, I like the oil platform dad idea and the idolization of Stewart is something I hadn't thought of. I don't know if I'll incorporate those into the English character, but I'll most likely use them as elements in some of the characters. In the end, I want to craft the English and Irish to have some sort of friendly opposition to. I'm not quite sure yet, but that's the direction I want to go in.
-------------------- If God didn't want us to fly, he wouldn't have given us Bernoulli's Principle.
OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
Member # 621
posted
*BUMP*
Been awhile. I've kept working on this. The Mars Society's annual conference is coming up, and I've submitted an abstract to present this to whoever will listen. Who knows, but James Cameron is a big fan of the Mars stuff. With any luck, he'll be there and...well...whatever.
Has anybody ever pitched something in showbusiness before? Gotten in front of producers and laid out your idea?
(and Tom, I meant friendly rivalry between the Irish character and English character )
This is a pitch, a written proposal of a series concept.
Ares
Mars � The next frontier of humanity. A desolate landscape with an atmosphere a thousand times thinner than Earth�s, temperatures reaching hundreds of degrees below freezing, and poisonous air. A man exposed to this environment without the protection of a space suit would die an instant, horrible death. But amidst this danger lay a landscape of incredible diversity and wonder. Mountains, canyons and every manner of geological feature is ten times larger than its Earth counterpart and all manner of scientific mysteries to be answered. This is the setting for man�s next home in space, the New World of the 21st Century.
But only if Benjamin Stewart and the crew of Ares VIII can succeed. During Ares VII, four astronauts were lost in a dust storm and never heard from again. NASA has barely managed to avoid the wrath of Congress and the public and kept the program from a delay -- or worse, a cancellation. This, however, leaves no margin for error in the next mission, Ares VIII. If any crewmembers on Ares VIII were to lose their lives, or there was any obstacle the mission couldn�t overcome, the program would surely be cancelled entirely. Failure, quite literally, is not an option.
Benjamin Stewart and the twenty-three other crewmembers of Ares VIII have their work cut out for them. Scientists have been studying Mars with robotic probes for over sixty years by the time of Ares VIII, and humans have been walking its surface for over fifteen. And yet, the combined knowledge only scratches the surface of the true secrets of the Red Planet. A host of scientific questions lay before the crew of Ares VIII, all vital to the understanding of Mars and the question of colonization and terraforming. Are there large aquifers under the surface? Does life exist, or has it ever anywhere on or under the surface? Is Mars geologically dead, or is there still activity somewhere in its volcanoes or at its core? How exactly can humanity raise pressure and temperature and add water and oxygen to the environment, making it habitable for humans? These questions and hundreds more lay before Ares VIII as possible focuses for their efforts.
The Characters
BENJAMIN STEWART commands this critical mission. He is a man who knows Mars better than anybody else alive. Stewart was the second man to walk on Mars, during the first manned mission to the Red Planet. As a result, he enjoyed a celebrity status comparable to that of the Original 7 Mercury astronauts in the early 1960s. After returning from the first manned mission to Mars, Ares I, Stewart became the director of the Mars Exploration Office and oversaw all exploration of the Red Planet up to the present. Through all this, he has done everything in his power to make sure the exploration of our planetary neighbor continues. Now, the only way Congress will accept the program to continue without delay is if Stewart commands the mission himself. Though Stewart is past his prime, he has committed his entire life to exploring Mars and can�t help but do whatever is needed of him to further Mars exploration. Went to Mars because he is Mars.
PETER YOUNG is the second in command of Ares VIII, the executive officer and the only other crewmember whose dedicated function is command. He is an engineer with a sharp mind and a skilled pilot, but possesses the typical personality of a former fighter pilot � self-confident though mellowed by several years of experience. He possesses lots of raw talent and is similar in some respects to Stewart, though a less experienced, younger version. He is a very likable person with charisma, who chews gum and wears a cowboy hat and is somewhat of a womanizer. He has a very private fear of failure and a harsh frustration with himself anytime he fails or does something unsatisfactorily. Young�s personal premise is to find the biggest challenges out there and to overcome them. Young is the same age during Ares VIII that Stewart was during Ares I and will be Stewart�s Ares VIII age when Mars begins to become substantially colonized. Went to Mars for the greatest piloting and engineering challenge.
SAMANTHA ROSS is the chief science officer and the resident medical doctor of Ares VIII. She is no more than thirty-three years old and possesses the body and face of a model or an angel. She is a brilliant biochemist and medical doctor. She is a hedonist who enjoys raw sensation and perception. Stewart and Ross are attracted to each other, but Stewart is deeply devoted to his wife and she resists because she knows he would reject. She has no other moral qualms about becoming involved with him. Additionally, she won�t do anything during the mission because she is aware of the psychological dangers of fraternization during the mission. Anything between them was, by mutual unspoken agreement, automatically postponed until after they return to Earth. She sometimes uses her femininity to gain a certain measure of control over men. She is similar to Maya from the �Mars Trilogy�, though not malevolent or bipolar. Went to Mars because it�s there.
ARKADY BURKAVICH is the insightful chief engineer. Burkavich follows logic in everything he does, from his duties as an engineer to his own anarchistic philosophies on government. Burkavich grew up, not under the yoke of Soviet communism, but rather under the yoke of Russian democracy. This has given him a disdain of politics and governments, something that he voices quite freely whenever he is given the chance. Of course, he has his own ideas on how governments should be run, which follow his previously mentioned logical philosophy. But despite this, he has a certain knack for looking at any engineering problem and instantly seeing the solution. Went to Mars to build something new.
JANICE HANCOCK is in a constant struggle with the powers that be in running NASA. She has to constantly contend with political, bureaucratic, and media forces to further space exploration. Her constant battles have made her pessimistic regarding matters and human behavior and has become extremely pragmatic in her job. Administration is quickly wearing her thin, and she quietly thinks about resigning. Before Ares VII, she was almost certain that she would do it, but now that Ares VIII has become so critical and Stewart is commanding, she feels obligated to stay on until at least the end of the mission.
Pilot
Benjamin Stewart, Director of the Mars Exploration Office, is called down to Johnson Space Center in the middle of the night. A hundred million miles away, Mars Base Camp has lost contact with four astronauts on an Extravehicular Activity when a dust storm appears out of nowhere and cuts them off from all contact. Stewart, Hancock, the Flight Controller, and the International Partner Representative brief reporters on the situation.
As the weeks drag on, contact is never reestablished, they are never located, and there is no other conclusion to reach other than that they must have perished in the storm. The ramifications to NASA are daunting, Hancock must fend off a Congressman who wants the program canceled and Stewart fails to find support from a president who doesn�t lift a finger without a public opinion poll. Congress wants reassurances that NASA knows what it�s doing, otherwise the program will be delayed two and a half years. So they send Stewart.
Stewart must break the news to his wife, whom he is deeply devoted to. It is an emotional struggle; they are entering their golden years together, and he doesn�t want to leave her, but he needs to complete this one last mission, otherwise, his life will have been a waste.
Meanwhile, in the Antarctic, the crewmember candidates struggle to be selected for the mission while living in an isolated and dangerous environment. They run through exercises over and over again and are given every manner of mechanical failures to test their abilities, including the Mantra Run, the difficult final approach and landing sequence. One candidate cracks under the stress, revealing a pathology that wasn�t caught during the initial selection process. Unfortunately, these cracks are impossible to seal with a hundred percent certainty. The crewmember is removed from the simulation sight, but no such remedy will be available on Mars. The crew is selected, and it includes Peter Young, Samantha Ross, and Arkady Burkavich.
They fly to Kennedy Space Center, to complete the final preparations for launch. There, they meet their commander for the first time, and everybody prepares to leave everything they know, behind. Finally, the day arrives, and they are launched into space. The crew transfers into the spacecraft that will take them to Mars. Most of the six-month voyage is entirely unremarkable. But there are events that punctuate the boredom. A wife on Earth leaves her husband, starting him on a path of depression that will blossom in a future episode. Two other crewmembers experience a blossoming romance and our characters experience for the first time, the feeling of total isolation from all other humanity. Finally, the ship nears Mars, and the crew begins the difficult task of the Mantra Run. They successfully enter Mars atmosphere and land on the surface.
Sample Episode Stories
1. Young and a field team discover what could be fossilized life. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Hancock is trying to keep an aerospace firm from backing out of its deal to build and launch a series of satellites designed to monitor life on Earth. The suspected fossils are brought back to Mars Base Camp for more in depth analysis. The preliminary tests are still inconclusive, but there is a battery of tests to be done. The Powers That Be behind NASA refuse to fund the agency the money it needs to build and launch the satellites. Hancock desperately tries to convince those that be that they are important in monitoring Earth�s health. Simultaneously, news leaks to the public about the discovery of life, which has profound effects. NASA tried to keep it secret until they were sure, but now Hancock must conduct damage control. She has to deflect contamination threats and try to explain in rational terms what the discovery means. Finally, the crew is able to determine that it isn�t life, but it does offer a specific hope for the future discovery of life at some later point in the show to excavate a spot when they have the right equipment.
2. Two minor characters with a previous attraction find themselves all alone � something that almost never happens on a Mars mission. They succumb to their passions and have sex. The male leaks the secret almost immediately, and soon the entire crew knows. Jealousies emerge; other people begin to say �why not?� and others refuse these advances. Ross conducts a medical examination to the humiliation of both involved, while Stewart is faced with the difficult prospect of disciplining the two. In the end all he can do is order them not to do it again, and issue similar orders to the rest of the crew. The event causes Stewart and Ross to examine their own relationship with each other, and they resist only by their own will power. We are left with the distinct impression that this is the only thing that prevents it from happening.
3. Stewart and a team return to the Base Camp from a field excursion. Soon after, Stewart falls ill; first a fever, then progressively worse symptoms until he is unconscious. Young takes command as Ross tries to find the cause and a cure. Her limited equipment hampers her and soon other members of the field excursion fall ill. Simultaneously, Stewart�s condition worsens and he is in danger of dying. While other members of the excursion follow the same path, crewmembers who weren�t even part of the expedition begin to suffer the same effects. It becomes a race against time as everybody except Young and Ross become unconscious. Using primarily telemedicine, and an impromptu examining technique with telemedicine, the cause is discovered as a rare type of illness that one of the crew had caught from a technician days before they left Earth and which had been incubating since then.
4. The time comes to erect a new habitat, an inflatable dome. Arkady, in charge of the operation, and his team have to overcome every possible construction obstacle in order to get the structure up. On Earth, Hancock is clashing with dangers of cutbacks threatening the lunar program. The current team was forced to come home early because of a malfunction of equipment. The equipment is similar to that used on Mars, so the issue of safety is again raised. Hancock must battle opposing forces to continue support of the program.
5. A crewmember whose blossoming depression began on the journey out reaches a critical stage. He becomes inconsolable and starts missing his duty shifts and not completing his assignments. His descent culminates in a low in which he will not move from his personal space. Stewart and the crew quickly trace the source to his wife leaving him on the journey out. Stewart wasn�t notified when it happened and he becomes very upset over this, letting Mission Control have it. They respond that it has been standard practice since Ares V to leave the privacy of crewmembers� affairs to themselves, something that never reached Stewart. Stewart wants the policy changed, and Hancock is placed in the unenviable position of having to support him, though the majority of the Astronaut Corps is opposed to it. Other managers remain on the fence and the media debates in favor of everybody knowing of the health status of the crew. This, everybody in NASA rejects, but through the different POV, the subject of privacy is debated. A certain lack of privacy is required for the good of the mission, which is Stewart�s argument, while most of the scientists and engineers disagree on principle. The media�s viewpoint puts both of these into perspective. Allusions are made to current freedom to privacy debates.
6. One of the Sabatier reactors (machines which produce water, air, and fuel for the crew) breaks down, forcing the crew to cut back uncomfortably on their water usage. Meanwhile, the crew is stepping up their efforts to find a frozen aquifer under the surface, within drilling range. This is made all the more urgent by more political assaults on the efforts to expand the base. Scientists and engineers maintain that a large liquid water source must be found and tapped before a permanent large base can be expanded. The appearance of the eventual future president is presented, where he supports the science that Ares is doing and generally supporting the program. Hancock remarks that he probably won�t get elected if he keeps spouting off support for NASA.
-------------------- If God didn't want us to fly, he wouldn't have given us Bernoulli's Principle.
Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
A "real" space show would be lots of fun, and good on you for your efforts. However, the following list contains everyone who can get a television show started:
1.)People with years of experience writing and producing television (even terrible television). 2.) Famous film directors who have people with years of experience writing and producing television in tow.
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
Member # 621
posted
Wow, praise from Sizer.
Praise devoid of sarcasm or irony.
I understand that this is a longer shot than winning the lottery, but...I don't know...I have hope. If it happens, it happens. If not, then my life will remain ambigious for awhile longer. But it never hurts to be prepared.
-------------------- If God didn't want us to fly, he wouldn't have given us Bernoulli's Principle.
Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
My reputation preceeds me in a manner I am not entirely sure I am comfortable with. At any rate, I'm not so sure it's a matter of it being a long shot, but rather no shot at all. That just isn't how television works. If you're serious about it, I suggest turning it into a screenplay, and shopping it around as a movie. Mars movies were popular for awhile, may be again someday, and you actually have a chance of breaking in as a new writer.
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
Get in contact with as many people as you can in the buisness, and have a full script ready as well as a shorter treatment, and an even shorter summary that they can glance at, preferably no longer than a short paragraph.
Send it to everyone. Comic book companies, Sci-fi mags, TV producers...you name it.
If you really want to get in, it's all about who you know. They may hate your concept, but if it looks professional and you can talk fast, they may remember you for something else...
There's about a million fools out there trying to bust in somewhere...I should know. I'm one of them. But if you want it, go for it, and don't take any guff off those swine.
Even if somebody reads your stuff and tells you "Fucking sucks, this does! Get the hell out of my office!" just remember this: At least you're not working at Mcdonald's.
Registered: Jan 2001
| IP: Logged
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
