Plotting episode 5 Friday, 12 June 2009

I’m a bit late with this post. We’re in production on episode 5 – you can watch the animation rough and read the “making of…” posts. But, this is the story behind the story – how was the plot for episode 5 developed, and who was involved?

We ended episode 4 with a gunshot – and no idea who’d been shot! We also know that Aileen was going to be captured by Beryl Potts and Grazp Pharmaceuticals.

So, the first thing to deal with in episode 5 was that gunshot. We decided that Beryl Potts shot at Otto Dafé and missed. So, we start the episode with Otto running and hiding – and managing to evade Beryl’s henchmen.

Next, we looked at Aileen in captivity. We decided that Beryl had found out who Aileen was – and locked her up because her cover had been blown. Bibliomane and Kiwi suggested that Professor Remi (from Sally Challenger’s expedition) might also be in captivity so that the two could compare notes. Di also supported this idea and it was agreed.

So, this gave us part of our main scene – Aileen and Remi, tied up and talking about the Ikhata. Bibliomane suggested that the Ikhata might be the key to unlocking the rejuvenation properties of the water and this great suggestion, seconded by Kiwi, was included. We’ve found out a lot more about the Ikhata thanks to Andrew J. Wilson’s catalogue entry for the mysterious artefact, although Remi doesn’t give much away as she’s distracted at a crucial moment.

We also decided that Professor Remi would look considerably younger than her seventy-eight years (although she wouldn’t be a little girl) confirming that the water, with the Ikhata, does rejuvenate.

We then needed to work out who would rescue Aileen. To our surprise, the poll was a draw between Lyn and bad guy Otto. Kiwi had started this storyline by suggesting that Lyn and Otto might be siblings, that Otto had been “sucked into the cult of KBE” and Lyn was trying to get him out. There was lots of discussion about whether this would work. Not everyone agreed that the two looked alike, and there was some concern about why Otto and Lyn hadn’t recognised each other in Copper Beeches Café. Bookaddictus came up with a great solution – if the two were working together all along then they would be pretending not to know each other. Lulu improved on the idea by suggesting they were both working for Invisible Inc – Otto’s only in KBE because he’s working undercover.

This suggestion was agreed so we needed Lyn and Otto to team up to rescue Aileen and Remi. At the end of episode 4 we’d left Lyn outside the building, and Otto inside running away from Beryl Potts. So, Lyn needs to get in (and get everyone else out) in an all-action sequence involving a helicopter… the helicopter was courtesy of Kiwi. And, Otto needs to sneak through Grazp’s security somehow.

This led to a great scene where Otto crawls into the room through a ventilation shaft – to Aileen’s horror, as she still thinks he’s a bad guy. Then, Lyn comes crashing through the window, unties Aileen, explains that Otto’s her brother, and gets everyone out.

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions that got made into episode 5. Thanks also to all of you who have voted in our polls, the writers of The Lost Book (Matthias, Bookaddictus, Norvaljoe, Rocketboy, Mary, QueenofSheeba, Bananagirl, pondweed, Professor Moriaty, IndiaJones, curlyshirley, Rocketboy again, ScoutingForBoys, Martha K., Caroline, LuLu and Andrew J. Wilson), and to Leo, Tom, ResQgeek, Ana Gil, Snaknap, Meg, and Bob. There wouldn’t be a story without you!