New ROJ Episode 2 Notes

NEW RETURN OF JETMAN

"Future Shock"
(Episode 2)
Production Notes
by Christopher Elam
© 2006-2012 Christopher Elam

 

New ROJ Episode 2 - "Future Shock" wrapped principal writing on September 8, 2005. Its debut was originally slated to be September 30, 2005, but it was delayed due to Hurricane Rita.

This particular episode was designed to ease the tension created by the end of the first installment, while still following through on the threads it started. It's not quite as over-the-top whimsical as some parts of Episode 1, but it is much more consistent overall. I count certain elements of this story to be some of my favorite writing ever, fiction or non-fiction.

If I made a miscalculation with this episode, it was in the realm of obscure references. There are lines and in-jokes that are deliberately obscure, but the point of this was that they were obscure and off-putting even to the characters in the story itself. This exercise was meant as something of a commentary on the concept of fandom as a whole, but it ended up just confusing some people. Can't win 'em all, I guess.

• Whether by accident or design (I'll never tell!), this opening sequence somewhat parallels a sequence with Supreme Commander Odagiri in ROJ Episode 1.
  
  
  
• "Hot milk" is Ryu Tendo's beverage of choice in the Jetman series. Yes, a very odd detail indeed.
  
  
  
• Captain Annie is Annie from the 1984-85 TV series UCHU KEIJI SHAIDER ("Space Sheriff Shaider"). Incidental details in her exchange with Ryu like "Ginga Patrol" and "space sheriffs" are also from the series and its predecessors GAVAN and SHARIVAN. My decision to use Annie originally stemmed from my unabashed admiration for Naomi Morinaga, the actress who played her. Of course, I didn't want to overdo it for the exact same reason. Annie as a captain in the Ginga Patrol was an idea I devised while planning a crossover story that never panned out.
  
  
  
• Setting part of the story in Hawaii was chiefly due to my desire to open the series up a bit globally. I chose Hawaii specifically because its devoted Japanese superhero fanbase made it seem like a natural.
  
  
  
• The Hawaii Convention Center is a real building in Honolulu, and its location relative to both Honolulu International Airport and Waikiki Beach is (as near as I can tell) as I described it. I did take some liberties with how the building itself is laid out, but I'm chalking that up to "artistic license".
  
  
  
• As we learned at the end of ROJ Episode 14, Gohan's "Tiger Burai" project became a successful manga and was on its way to becoming a hit TV series. The Tiger Burai Convention is a play off the assorted events in Hawaii devoted to the TV show JINZO NINGEN KIKAIDA.
  
  
  
• Turbo Burai, Cobra Burai, and Burai Eclipse are the names of three other "Burai" characters created by actual Tiger Burai creator Lewis Smith.
  
  
  
• Mike Minami and his sidekick Butch are very broad parodies of certain attitudes of American fans of Japanese superheroes. They're both composite characters, and not based on any one person.
  
  
  
• "The only downside is that people see my name tag and they want me to autograph Godzilla CDs..." - Michiru Oshima is the name of a Japanese composer, and among her credits are the Godzilla films GODZILLA VS. MEGAGUIRUS (2000), GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA (2002), and GODZILLA : TOKYO SOS (2003). When I was making up a full name for JETMAN's Michiru, I arbitrarily dubbed her "Michiru Oshima" without even remembering the composer of the same name. This reference is one of those very obscure ones that were meant to be funny whether you got the joke or not, but wound up just confusing a lot of people.
  
  
  
• Reiko Hayasaka was established at the end of ROJ Episode 14 as being first choice as singer for the theme to the TIGER BURAI TV series .
  
  
  
• "When I hear it, it makes me think of justice!" - a paraphrased quote from the mighty RZM of the late lamented HOH Forum.
  
  
  
• The cosplay ("costume play") and stage show action are both staples of the Japanese fantasy convention, both in Japan and abroad.
  
  
  
• "Dr. Komyoji had told me how much he'd enjoyed Hawaii..." - Again with a reference to KIKAIDA's popularity in Hawaii.
  
  
  
• Ah, Dirk Dixon and the multitude of retro futuristic details that inform his character. He was originally conceived as cannon fodder for the GUNMETAL BLACK/RETURN OF JETMAN story, but I decided I could salvage him when that project bit the dust. Conceptually, he is a Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon 1930s space hero type. However, I thought it would be interesting to use someone with that peculiar world view as an antagonist. His attitudes come across as extremely thickheaded and backwards by today's standards, but the exaggeration is not as great as it might seem. Times, as they say, change.
  
  
  
• The Clunk-O-Trons were a detail that was practically demanded by Paul "Igadevil" Sullivan (who even ended up naming them!), and I was more than happy to oblige. They owe their specific design traits of being silver, boxy, and wearing hats to the robots of the 1935 Gene Autry movie serial THE PHANTOM EMPIRE.
  
  
  
• "Uranus doesn't answer, sir." - This line was, I promise, uttered absolutely straight on the 1950s FLASH GORDON TV series that starred Steve Holland. My usage of it and the "Allied Solar System" name prove that, sometimes, I am still 12.
  
  
  
• "The Mongol Empire" - In the old Buck Rogers comics, his enemies were generic and wildly stereotypical Asians referred to as "Mongols". It made sense for Dirk to think of Jetman (and indeed, all Asian groups) in a similar way. It is slightly less than blatant racism on his part, and something that I felt was a bit risky to do. Still, Dirk is presented as a buffoon rather than someone who should be considered respectable in this context, so I think the inclusion works as commentary on the prejudices that were found quite casually in pop culture in the first half of the 20th Century.
  
  
  
• "There we can take on these Mongol dogs and make the world safe for Mom, apple pie, and the 48 states!" - This one of my favorite lines ever, and it also includes the subtle in-joke that Dirk is from a "future" where there are only 48 states in the United States. Obviously, Alaska and Hawaii didn't become states until the 1950s, which is beyond the reality of Dirk's character.
  
  
  
• According to Igadevil, a flowered Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and sandals are the required outfit for all Japanese superheroes when they travel to Hawaii.
  
  
  
• "Mr. Hoshi" is not just a random passerby, but a character whose mystery will be a thread throughout this series. Just in case you were, y'know, wondering about that.
  
  
  
• "Ah," he thought, "a jetpack on my back, a raygun in my hand, and the Mongols on the run. All I need now is a willowy brunette and an eccentric European scientist and this day will be perfect!" - Not only do I love this line too, but it's also somewhat accurate. Consider: if Buck Rogers = Flash Gordon, then Wilma Deering = Dale Arden and Dr. Huer = Dr. Zarkov. (Though I don't know if Huer was European, but you get the idea...)
  
  
  
• "Cho-Gin-Sin-Tie Jet Men" is a somewhat warped way to render the name phonetically, but might be your choice if you have no knowledge of Japanese.
  
  
  
• "I've never even been to Mongolia!" - It needed to be said.
  
  
  
• The rather skimpy explanation of how characters that shouldn't be able to understand each other somehow do is going to be the last word on the subject throughout the series. If pressed, I'd probably go into some convoluted pseudo-science involving the Omniversal Prism.
  
  
  
• "That would explain why he sounds just like Goro Naya!" - Oh man, this is another one that puzzled most people. That was the intention, actually, but several readers found it a bit distracting. Anyway, Naya is well-known voice actor in Japan. This particular gag refers specifically to the fact that he dubbed American actor Nick Adams in the Japanese versions of FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD and MONSTER ZERO (both 1965). Gohan being Gohan, it made sense to me that someone like Dirk would have the voice of a familiar voice actor to him.
  
  
  
• The "Dynamite Tension Training Method" is a parody of "Dynamic Tension", the training method expounded by Charles Atlas in numerous magazine and comic book ads. The statement "Here's something I owe you!" is from those same ads.
  
  
  
• Dirk Dixon's giant robot rusting out was a bit of a cop-out as far as climaxes go, but I hope it's funny enough that I'll be forgiven.
  

 

© Christopher Elam.