The Book of Masks Homepage

That Script, One Year Later

Almost exactly a year ago (and it feels longer than that!) I announced ("Fetching Up Point" ) that I was taking time off from BoM to write an unrelated script.

Unlike the previous time I tried writing scripts (that benighted "Spider-Man" project), this one not only went fast and easy, it was a joy to compose, probably because I improvised it from the start instead of trying to outline it first. I don't remember how quickly I got it done, but it has been completed and filed away for many, many months. (Closer to eleven months than to eight, I am sure.) I recently returned to it to make revisions and edits, and for anyone who is curious to see what I was working on and how it turned out, it is now posted in three parts.

It is a fan-fiction reimagining of the pilot of the 1991 animated series The Pirates of Dark Water. That is a fairly obscure series—I won't ask anyone to confess to watching it when it debuted 34 years ago—and I only watched it early last year (via Warner Archive's DTV release) because I was intrigued by some clips I tripped over on YouTube. It sat in my head for awhile, until the urge to do a fanfiction overwhelmed me.

Relevance to BoM? None, really. But I will note that when I went to invent an antagonist much nastier and dangerous than in the original series, I found it in TF fiction.

Also, it appears that Frank and Joe were haunting me as I wrote it. The relationship between Rathka and Ren (as I see it now, with some distance) somewhat recapitulates theirs, though in this case Ren is far, far more callow and immature than Joe is, and Rathka older and much sketchier than Frank. But even their coloration is similar. (Though in that case, it's because Ren was originally blonde anyway, and Rathka would need visual distinction from him.)

It is divided into three parts and it begins here: ""The Pirates of Dark Water" (Act 1)" 

There is also a commentary page (with spoilers!) that discusses some of the changes I made to the original story and lore, and why: "About this Fanfiction [Spoilers]" . I suggest saving that (if you do read any of this) for after reading the script, unless you just don't care.