RETURN OF JETMAN
"Things Falling Apart"
(Episode 9)
Production Notes
by Christopher Elam
© 2003-2010 Christopher Elam
These notes are based on material originally posted on September 2, 2003 on the now-defunct OWARI Message Board (formerly http://pub14.ezboard.com/bowari, currently http://owari.yuku.com/).
Episode 9 - "Things Falling Apart" wrapped principal writing on January 28, 2003. At one point, the title was going to be "Pick Up The Pieces" (after the song from Average White Band), but I decided to instead go in a different musical direction for the final title. One of my favorite bands is Devo, and they have described their music as "the important sound of things falling apart". And let's face it, "things falling apart" is certainly what happens in this story.
This was a hard story to write, and probably a hard story to read as well. Still, I felt like it was an important one to tell. I think it managed to be quietly effective while being extremely atypical.
- Though the ending of the previous installment was deliberately unclear on this aspect, it was always intended that Toranza (barely) survive the incident that killed Gai Tendo.
- The funeral sequence was based on my own experiences at funerals, more than any fictional depictions.
- The intercutting battle between Green Wyvern and Toranza is one of my particular favorites in the series. It's worth noting that, as an inside joke, I peppered Toranza's speech with Devo song titles. This was an attempt to make it seem a little "off", but, as co-creator Lewis Smith pointed out, they all seem to fit really well!
- The Devo titles that Toranza spouts :
"Peek-A-Boo!"
"Gut Feeling"
"Satisfaction" (yep, the Rolling Stones song)
"Going Under"
"The Super Thing"
"What I Must"
"Race of Doom"
"Soft Things"
"Space Junk"
"Pity You"
"Out of Sync"
"Turn Around"
"Big Mess"
"Beautiful World"
"Deep Sleep"
- The mecha "Veronika" is a multi-level reference. Toranza did have a robot by this name in the JETMAN series (ep. 44-45) and, by extension, a new version was what he wanted to create in Episode 8. The "female" shape is a takeoff on robots like Dianan A in MAZINGER Z and Venus A in GREAT MAZINGER (right down to the "missiles"). I'd also like to add that Lewis was singing the praises of a model named Veronika Zemanova at the time of writing, so the rest came naturally.
- The appearance of Dragon Wyvern in the story after the events of Episode 8 was probably my most blatant signal that something strange was happening. Ironically, I tend to think this is one of the best mecha battles written for the ROJ series!
- Black Condor being named the new leader was an obvious (though perhaps odd) choice in my mind, given the situation at hand. I tried to subtly give him leadership qualities throughout the early going of the series in preparation for this moment. It was just well-disguised by his attitude.
- "Is this because she's a woman?" - I felt it best to address the potential "sexism" angle head-on in the story. As it turns out, with the subtraction of Red Hawk, there are actually more active FEMALE heroes than MALE heroes in the remainder of the series. This was a complete accident, but perhaps it works better that way.
- The "metallic disc" that Ken has is implicitly the signal device that Kei gave Gai at the end of Episode 6.
- The whole "nightmare" angle was something I created for the fourth story of the old series. This particular version is far more effective and troubling than my original concept way back when.
- I hadn't originally planned on the suicide attempt, but...it is one of the more dramatically shocking and yet fitting moments of ROJ.
- Green Wyvern joining Jetman was the plan all along, but it happened in a much more roundabout way in the final version than it did in the initial incarnation of ROJ.
- All I can say about the rather bizarre ending with Ken and Etsuko and a certain abrupt change of heart is that it will lead somewhere.
© Christopher Elam.
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