Defunct script for Pern TV

[Brenda]

Yes, but he was established as Heir to Ruatha from the moment Fax renounced his own claim, and was confirmed when Lessa forfeited her own claim to go be a candidate. No reason for Jaxom to be acting the drudge. Lytol was immediately sent to be his guardian, which is a gesture of extreme trust.

[Hans]

Originally Posted by Cheryl

I didn't have a big problem with the change in Lytol once I thought about it. It's not a stretch to make an ex-dragonrider quite bitter towards those who haven't lost their dragons, and become antagonistic.<snip>

We actually have an example who is more or less like that in Giron, Lady Holdless Thella's accomplice

[Maleus]

Hmm, good one Hans. But (yes, I am picky here, can't resist picky discussion ) I had the feeling Giron was a little bit disturbed. He barely talk, his eyes are cold and empty, and one may wonder if he act on his own will. Not that I want to defend his actions when he was a member of Thella's band, he sure was no angel. But it's liked he obeyed her only because she gave him a goal in life, not because he was convinced it was the best thing to do.

Question is, how a dragonrider could be left alone, without help? If no one was able/ready to take care of him in its hold/hall, he should have stayed within his Weyr (Telgar?) But Thella found him a holdless rider...

[Hans]

That's why I said "more or less", Maleus. Giron isnot really vindictive ut just "lost it", but still he has no scruples and knows very well what kind of band he joined...

[Anneli]

I think he "escaped" from "protective custody", so to speak He was being looked after IIRC and somehow managed to do a runner...

Found it In Renegades he's supposed to be going to Southern Hold but disappeared. He was then discovered and escorted back to Igen, when on the way he

"saw sweepriders and seemed to take a fit. He was screaming and yelling, and he whipped up the poor runnerbeast so hard, we couldn't catch up. Last we saw of him he was swimming across the river". Then Lord Laudey says: " Tell them to watch out for Giron. Let them know who he is and that if anyone does him any harm, they'll answer to me - and to all the Weyrs of Pern."

Originally Posted by Maleus

Question is, how a dragonrider could be left alone, without help? If no one was able/ready to take care of him in its hold/hall, he should have stayed within his Weyr (Telgar?) But Thella found him a holdless rider...

[Maleus]

Thanks for the reminder Anneli. I completely gorgot about this. From what I read, we may think that Giron became lightly insane after his dragon died... Or deseparate. He acts like he has nothing to loose, like if any kind of emotion will never be enough to fill the empty part of his soul. It's no excuse but it helps understanding

Fine then, Lytol is a Renegade ex-Dragonrider (eeeek! ). It gives guts to this script, after all. But I wonder how they catch up with the main plot with that

I notice that many things we find changed from the books are more or less related to Jaxom. Lytol is a bad guy and he is certainly no fit for taking care of the future Lord Jaxom. Jaxom is no Holder descendant any more, unless they end up to make him Gemma's hidden son in some way. That does not prevent him to attend Ruth's Eclosion of course, since Lessa, Weyrleader of Benden, will be able to take him out of his drudgery in Ruatha. But still... Oh, and also, as Pass and Intervals sounds much much longer than we know from the books, does that modify what Jaxom was supposed to do with Yokohama's engines and the Red Star?

By the way! Do we know what books were included in this project? I may project too far in the series if it was only the first 3 (DF, DQ and TWD).

[Cheryl]

I can totally understand an ex-dragonrider preferring to live outside the Weyr, instead of being surrounded with daily reminders of what they lost.

As to what books were included, I would guess it would be whichever books they wanted to include as the rights to the whole series get sold as a bundle. They'd just have to wait an see how long the series ran for to decide what would get included over time.

[Hans]

Yeah, as far as I understood it (more from the time Alec needed to get the rights BACK) they had the rights to all Pern books/stories up to and including the latest published novel at the time.

It was the same for the Alliance Atlantis/Zyntopo deal.

[Anareth]

Originally Posted by Brenda

Yes, but he was established as Heir to Ruatha from the moment Fax renounced his own claim, and was confirmed when Lessa forfeited her own claim to go be a candidate. No reason for Jaxom to be acting the drudge. Lytol was immediately sent to be his guardian, which is a gesture of extreme trust.

Then he'd have to be a baby and that makes for lousy TV. Babies aren't characters, they're props. That or they'd have to make him Fax's adult/older teen son.

And I agree with Cheryl that I can definitely see some ex-riders prefering to be as far from dragons as possible. And IIRC (it may be in PoP) Lytol has when DF begins not only lost his dragon, but the family he made for himself after that. The guy was basically being kicked by the universe, knocked down, and then kicked some more.

[edith]

Lytol felt "wrong" to me.
Perhaps it would have been better if they'd introduced another ex-dragonrider as Fax's right hand man and have a running battle (either mental or physical) between two tortured characters.
You'd have Lytol who has lost everything but who'll dedicate the remains of his life to the greater good, however much he is tortured by reminders of his past life and the other dragonless rider who does a Giron.
Perhaps Giron could be shifted into the story and, escaping by the skin of his teeth, joins Thella's band in order to bring a bit more point to a Renegades type story.

[Weyrlady]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Cheryl

I can totally understand an ex-dragonrider preferring to live outside the Weyr, instead of being surrounded with daily reminders of what they lost.

Oh, Lytol as an ex-dragonrider wanting to live outside the Weyr is completely, totally understandable. If I were in that kind of situation, I'd hate to be surrounded on a daily basis by reminders of what I had lost. Impressions must be so hard for him.

However, what makes Lytol's character so cool is the fact that he's resilient! He lost his dragon and his family and -I think- his craft-ranking, and he ends up stronger for it, for all that adversity. In a book OR TV that ought to make for a pretty engaging character, as long as they make what happened to him real so the audience connects with it.

Just having Lytol be the "bitter ex-dragonrider" is almost too predictable; anybody would be grouchy in that situAtion! But having him be the man who was nearly reduced to nothing and then rose above his challenges is very cool, and has the potential to be totally inspiring.

Just leave the part out where he came very close to hurting F'nor. Please.

[Hans]

[QUOTE=Weyrlady;133779]

<snip> Impressions must be so hard for him [Lytol].<snip>

There are several examples in the books that tell about this...

[Anareth]

To me, Edith's suggestion is too many characters in a script that's already clogged with them. I got the impression they were going to shoot for a redemption arc for him, at least the way I read it.

I agree Lytol's appeal is his resiliance, but that's hard to convey until they've established what he's lost. The script seemed a bit fuzzy on the dragons and their abilities and relations to their riders. There's also the bottom-up angle--this is where he hits rock bottom, and he needs to be given a redemption McGuffin to chase. Here's where Baby!Jaxom would come in handy, though a young-er child would also work. (If Jaxom's a teen I really don't see how they could work the angle of Lessa being his mother without a VERY young teen mom. Not a selling point for audiences.)

[D. M. Domini]

::small voice:: Has anyone else had the urge to do fanfic based off of this script-Pern?

::runs away::

::runs back::

I think it's your guys' fault...speaking of how RDM could pull the plot-line strings. I especially like the idea of Lytol going from gray to white, and Robinton from white to gray, over the course of the series.


::runs away again, from maurauding plotbunnies::

[Weyrlady]

So the plotbunnieds maraud you, too, eh Domini? Nice to know I'm not alone!

Just in from a dragonride (aka walking the dog), and I noticed how wonderfully the brim of my hat blocked the sun- this is not a new revelation. Anyhow, in the script F'lar and then Lessa wears, for some odd reason, a CLEAR visor. While riding. OOO-Kaay. Um, why? I can understand him wanting to cut the glare and all, but how pointless is a clear visor? 'Sides it would just be a hang-up in the wind- the guy is flying, remember.

[D. M. Domini]

Yeah, they maurad me! One got me too, wrote 2000ish words on it today. ::rubs bitten heel::

Re: visor - the visor made me think more of a clear motorcycle visor, not the type of visor that is sort of like a headband with a brim. Something that lets the dragonrider look skyward, for thread, but which cuts the cold and the wind from his face (although not the glare).

[DragonDance]

Originally Posted by D. M. Domini

Something that lets the dragonrider look skyward, for thread, but which cuts the cold and the wind from his face (although not the glare).

And it probably could prevent Thread from sinking into a vulnerable eye!

[Hans]

Dragonriders wear World War One/Two style goggles.

[Weyrlady]

Originally Posted by Hans

Dragonriders wear World War One/Two style goggles.

Yah- they do. You know, personally I always thought they should be mirrored, like ski goggles are. Just my opinion, though. Sunlight and high altitude. . . can ruin a nice pair of amber peepers much too quickly.

[GHarris]

Originally Posted by Weyrlady

Yah- they do. You know, personally I always thought they should be mirrored, like ski goggles are. Just my opinion, though. Sunlight and high altitude. . . can ruin a nice pair of amber peepers much too quickly.

True, but there is a problem with that. It's normally the UVa and UVb that actually does the damage, and if you put the wrong "impurity" into the glasses, you'll stop the visible light, but not the UVa and UVb. This is dangerous because if you dim the visible light, then the pupils will be more dilated, and allow in more UVa and UVb.

After AIVAS, they could figure out how to make goggles that keep out all of the "bad" light.

GH