Pirates!: Band of Misfits behind the scenes...

[itsjustme]

It's always fun watching the behind the scenes stuff...this is pretty cool.

[Darkwing]

Every time I see the trailer, I can't help but think it's a Wannabe Pirates ripoff...

[largento]

I appreciate the sentiment, Darkwing, but every time I see it, I think, wow! If only I had a whole studio, the Wannabe Pirates would have looked spectacular. :-)

[Darkwing]

Correct me if I'm wrong, you had a monkey with title cards too, didn't you? I could be going crazy, but I was positive you had a monkey with talking cards.

[largento]

Close. Poco Boco, the mute sailor that joins Errol Flemm uses a chalkboard around his neck to communicate. Unfortunately, he only writes in Pig Latin, which Flemm cannot read. :-)

 

I really didn't notice anything in the trailers I've seen that would have prompted me to cry foul.

 

It does remind me of a story, though:

 

My pal McCrary and I were (and are still) huge Star Trek fans and in high school, we came up with the idea of doing a new Star Trek comic that would take place 100 years after Star Trek and we literally named it "Star Trek: The Next Generation." :-) We did a 40-something page story (I wrote the script, McCrary pencilled and inked it) and we sent it off to DC Comics (who had the comic book license at the time.) McCrary was brash enough to think that it would be instant gold and failed to include return postage. We never saw it again. The story (as much as I can remember) took place outside of the galaxy, the Federation finally having reached the point where they could venture outside of the galactic barrier. They encounter a hostile race and the Captain (and older man) is killed, leaving his first officer, Jonathan Blake in command and since they were too far away to return to Federation space, he would have to continue the mission. The only other thing about the crew I remember was that the new Captain's first officer was an Andorian.

 

I believe this was in 1985.

 

The following year, I read in Starlog magazine (the only place to get that kind of news back then) that Paramount was doing a new Star Trek show and they were calling it "Star Trek: The Next Generation!" And it was about an old captain who left most of the adventure to his younger first officer.

 

I immediately called McCrary and said we'd been ripped off! :-)

 

Of course, after I cooled down, I quickly recognized that it was the same set up as the aborted Star Trek TV show from the 70s (that ended up as Star Trek: The Motion Picture.)

 

The bizarre part was that the younger first officer on Star Trek The Next Generation was played by a fellow named Jonathan Frakes startlingly close to the name we'd come up with for our character, Jonathan Blake.

 

Eerie, but true. Somewhere in storage I still have the poster McCrary drew for it (to inspire me when I was writing the script.)

[Darkwing]

That is eerie! That's actually kinda funny though, because the guy I work with (Chris Kroznuski) about I dunno, 2 years ago came up with this concept he called Star Trek: Infestation. It's actually the sequel to Red Squad and the general plot from what I gathered, was essentially zombies invade the Federation. He put up a short concept vid on youtube and then shelved it for post red squad. Anyways, maybe 6 months ago or so, IDW comics released their new concept: Star Trek Infestation. What's it about? You got it! Zombies invading the Federation. Really does make you wonder if the 'higher ups' scour the webs for concepts and things they can use.

 

And as for Starlog, my dad has them. I used to look through them as a kid myself. I always liked the building of the XM or whatever it was. The ship from Rocketship XM.

[largento]

I think in both instances, it's a case of it being an obvious thing. Especially where the naming is concerned. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is the most obvious choice and "infestation" is pretty commonplace with Zombie-type stuff.

 

My belief is that DC Comics received our package, saw that it had no return postage and tossed it.

 

We simply didn't know any better back then and were full of that youthful confidence that is completely without merit. :-)

[Darkwing]

Hehe, I know that confidence, though it is beginning to wane a little in me