Chapter XXXV: "Avalon, Part Two"

Time to Ramble...

"PART TWO"
Director: Dennis Woodyard
Writer: Lydia Marano
Story Editor: Brynne Chandler Reaves

I guess you guys were used to longer multi-parters from us, so you probably didn't think this was the last part when you saw Part Two come up after the title. I tried something different at the end though. Instead of writing "To be continued" I had them put down "To be concluded". It seemed (at least in my head) to increase tension to know that the next part would be the last.

I've been told by people that out of context, this episode is incomprehensible. I hope it's not quite that bad, but I will say that unlike the rest of our eps, I felt that multi-parter eps don't quite need to stand alone in the same way.

Still with all the time travel stuff, it's very complex. I remember Lydia having to come into my office after her first draft and needing me to diagram the time travel for her. The loop that the Archmage takes. I love it. But I guess it's not that easy to follow.

Anyway, this ep was designed to be the second part of a tryptich. This is the one where we focus on our villains and bring them all up to date, just as in part one, we focused on our heroes. All gearing to a MAJOR BATTLE coming in Part Three.

THE EGGS

Picking up where Part One left off, Elisa looks at Angela, Gabriel and Boudicca and says: "These are the eggs?" I love her tone there.

Guardian: "Sorry, I always call them that." It was a cheat to buy us, at least with some percentage of our audience, the shock value of expecting eggs and finding fully grown gargs and beasts instead. Still, I believe that a guy like Tom, dubbed "Guardian of the Eggs" would continue to use that term to refer to his kids, even after they are grown.

Goliath is initially shocked that the gargs have names. Angela says the standard human response: "How else would we tell each other apart?" This was done intentionally to both cover the issue of non-garg naming (which I still think is neat, but which is often a massive pain) and to indicate that these are gargs raised by humans.

BEACH FIGHT

So I'm in my office one day, after the script to "Avalon, Part Two" has gone final. And Supervising Producer Frank Paur and Producer/Director Dennis Woodyard come in. Frank hates the script. Dennis is calmer, but he seems to clearly agree with Frank, more or less.

I'm annoyed because it's VERY late in the game for them to be giving me these kind of notes. Things get heated between me and Frank.

I yell something like: "Well, what do you want me to do?!!!"

And he yells something like: "We need some action! Like a fight on the Beach with the Archmage!!"

And I start to object for about a second. Then I go, "Oh, yeah. A fight on the beach with the Archmage. That'd be cool. Would that fix it?"

"Uh. Yeah."

And that was it. Our fights were always like that. We always only wanted to make it better. He'd get worked up, but the solution wound up being simple and when push came to shove (we never actually pushed and shoved by the way) we agreed on nearly everything.

It was also good to have Dennis' calming influence. Frank and I would go momentarily nutty and Dennis would always maintain.

So anyway, after the fact we added the memorable fight on the beach. Now I can't imagine the episode without it. It forced us to trim down some the Archmages travels (cause we were already long) but it definitely improved the episode.

I think, not sure, but I think I wrote that fight because it came so late in the game. It's also possible, I might have taken it back to Brynne and/or Lydia to write. I really don't remember anymore.

Either way, there are some great lines:

Goliath: "Don't be too insulted!" I love how he goes nuts here. We really get a reminder of his warrior-ness.

Archmage: "Don't crow too loudly, after all, what have you accomplished: you beat up a beach." You beat up a beach. That's one of my favorite lines in the whole series.

Archmage: "At dawn you all will die. Get used to it!"

Tom: "Let's get out of here before the very air attacks us!"

The fight itself is pretty cool too. I like how Bronx and Boudicca immediately team up. I like the symbolic nature of the Archmage growing wings, turning to stone and then shattering. I think that was a board-artist's addition. I don't remember seeing that in the script. (And I'm too lazy to stand up and check right now.)

At the end of the fight, my five year old son Benny asked: "Why can't they glide to the castle?" I had to explain the flight rules.

ANGELA & GABRIEL

Elisa slides up to Goliath: "Angela sort of looks like Demona, except her coloring is different. Exactly whose daughter is she?" Again, I love Salli's reading here. That need to know. The jealousy. The feeling for Goliath -- who dodges the question by saying that all children belong to the clan.

But of course Elisa knows. Knows something that I believe never occured to her before. Sure, she knew that Goliath and Demona had been mates, lovers. But she didn't let her mind traverse to the next logical step. Parents. Together. Goliath and Demona.

And of course, the audience knows it too, I hope. It was never meant to be a secret to anyone but Angela who her biological parents are. These lines also served to point that out.

On the other hand, we didn't make a big deal of Gabe's bio-parentage. But I wanted it to be semi-clear that his folks were Othello and Desdemona (Coldstone and Coldfire). Anyone get that at first viewing?

REUNIONS

Everyone returns to Oberon's Palace. There are many injured and Gabe is apologetic. As Leader, he feels responsible. But there was 'never any need to hone our combat skills' before this.

Tom & Katharine are reunited. Elisa, the cop, picks up on the human dynamics, the relationships, immediately. She sees the Magus' reaction to their reunion.

I also really like the exchange between the Princess and Goliath.

K: "This is more than I could have hoped for."
G: "What you've done for the eggs is more than I could have dreamed of"

SLEEPING KING

We kept dropping hints. He's mentioned by the Magus, but the conversation moves quickly on.

Later, the Weird Sisters mentioned him. The Archmage is surprised to hear he's not a myth, causing Seline to say her famous: "All things are true." line. The Archmages promise to kill the king later.

And Elisa brings the guy up at the end. This policy was me trying to play fair and make his awakening in Part Three not seem artificial. But also not to allow the guy to distract from the matter at hand.

Of course, most of THIS crowd must have known the s-king was a ref to KING ARTHUR. Particularly when the Hollow Hill ref was thrown in too. But did anyone not know on first viewing?

LOOSE ENDS

This was an episode for tying up Loose Ends in a big way. Solving some mysteries.

Why did the Weird Sisters do what they did? (At least objectively.)

Why were Demona and Macbeth working together in "High Noon"? (Elisa: "They hate each other." Guardian: "I saw no sign of that.")

And how did the Archmage survive?

Tom unwittingly hints at the truth when he says that the Archmage seemed to be able to be in two places at once.

Now let's reveal...

WEIRD SISTERS

Wow! Did we get negative feedback from fans when we played the Sisters as villains here. Of course, I always had it in my head that the Sisters had three aspects. Grace, Vengeance and Fate. Sometimes one aspect is ascendent, but there is always a touch of all three in anything they do. But after the Sisters' Fateful appearances in "City of Stone", many fans rebelled at the notion that the objective reason they did all those things was for simple petty vengeance here in "Avalon". Oh, well.

[When Benny saw the Sisters for the first time, he said "Weird Sisters" with an interesting tone of awe. They're his favorites. But he didn't comment on them being bad guys here.]

The sisters have some nice lines...

L: "What is time to an immortal."
Phoebe: "This is true." (in ref to what cannot be broken can be bent).

ARCHMAGESES

Okay, this was just fun for me. In many ways the origin of much of this was the flat out talent of David Warner. He brought such life to the underwritten (and clichéd) part of the Archmage in "Long Way to Morning" that I just knew I'd have to bring him back. Many of the events of "Vows", "City of Stone", "High Noon" etc. were all geared toward bringing him back as a real THREAT!!

Yet with all this, I didn't want to forget the character's roots. We tried to set a balance between his clichés and his new power.

Think about it. The Archmage+ (as we called him in the script), had only been plussed for about a day. Still he's full of arrogance. His power hasn't raised him above that hybris nor above the thirst for vengeance nor above gloating or above impatience. That's his flaw, but also the fun, I think.

And of course, David. Wow.

Praise for Salli Richardson as Elisa. For Kath Soucie as Princess Katharine and all three Weird Sisters. For Frank Welker as Bronx and Boudicca.

But this Archmage stuff here is a tour de force, I think. David just went through, playing both characters. Both versions of himself. Keep in mind, he hadn't been privy to all that the writers had planned. He had come in for his small parts in both "Long Way" and "Vows". Now suddenly, he's this guy(s). Amazing.

"Do you know what to do?"
"I should. I watched you do it."

"Show some dignity."

"I could put you back where I found you."
"No, no." (I love that no, no. So tiny and fearful.)

"Not where. When."

"If you don't know, don't guess."

"The book must remain in play."

"Try to keep up."

"We're not doing her any favors."

"The rules that cannot be broken can surely be bent."

"Nine hundred and seventy-five YEARS??!!"

"I hadn't thought that far in advance."

"What am I supposed to do, eat it?!"

"Now I understand."

"As it did. As it must. As it always will!"

All great fun.

FLAWS

All these episodes were being produced simultaneously. All in various stages of production. So inconsistencies were bound to happen.

The Egg boats are messed up here. Demona's model in her flashback. Etc.

And storywise, what's the deal with Macbeth? I can see why the Archmage wants to include his former apprentice Demona in his plans. He felt betrayed by her, and is glad not to be doing her any favors by enslaving her.

But Macbeth?

Okay, it's not a true flaw. Macbeth is included because the 'plan of the Archmage' -- birthed whole from the timestream without the Archmage ever actually coming up with it independently (though he takes credit) -- included Macbeth.

It is the provence of Luna, not Seline, at work.

But still, I'd have liked to have been able to figure out some connection between the Archmage and Macbeth so that he wouldn't question the boy's inclusion. Thankfully, the Archmage+ is so arrogant, he takes credit and thus never questions. It occurs to me now, that I could have made a connection between Mac and his ancestors, all related to Katharine and Malcolm. Oh, well.

CAPTIONS

These became fun for me. Adding Captions indicating place and time is one of the very last steps in production. So I'm in there for the "On-Line" with Jeff Arthur, our post-production supervisor, and I'm just indulging...

Sure we start with...

"Scotland, 984 A.D."

But pretty soon we're at "YESTERDAY" and "SIX HOURS AGO" and "ONE MINUTE AGO" and finally "NOW".

It still makes me smile.

POWERING UP

So the Archmage gets the eye. Power. But he's still an idiot. He needs wisdom. He eats the book, which I always thought was really creepy and cool. Now he understands. Now we truly have two Archmage+es. But they can't coexist forever. Aside from how complicated that would be to choreograph, and aside from the fact that the timestream needs the younger of the two to fulfill his role....

They also couldn't coexist because both are too arrogant.

So we repeat the scene of departure to close the circle and tack on: "Finally. I thought he'd never leave."

BATTLE FLASHBACK

We get to see a new clan awake from stone. I hoped that was fun.

Ophelia appears (pre-injury). She looked way cool. For all those people who thought that Gabe and Angie were a couple, take a look at the way Gabe is holding Ophelia and looking at her after she's injured.

LAYING PIPE

In addition to the Sleeping King, we were also laying pipe for our whole fourth tier WORLD TOUR. Tom says: "Avalon dropped me in your laps." He credits Avalon with sending him to Goliath.

The Magus declares that he is without magic and useless. Katharine rebels at that: "Don't say it, and don't think it!" She loves him. Just not the way he wanted her to love him.

Bronx and Boudicca want to go with Goliath.

Elisa asks about the Sleeping King...

And Goliath, Angela and Gabriel take off on a stealth attack.

And we immediately see that the Archmage knows they're coming.

Uh oh.

As the Archmage says... "[We've layed all the damn pipe we could possibly need and more], Now the fun really begins!"

To be concluded...

And that's my ramble. Where's yours?

Memo for "Avalon, Parts Two and Three"

In preparation for my ramblings, here's the memo written to Brynne Chandler Reaves & Lydia C. Marano on the last two parts of their Avalon outline. I've added a few [notes], to indicate some handwritten changes to the document.

WEISMAN 2-2-95

Notes on "Avalon, Parts Two and Three" Outline...

GENERAL

ARCHMAGESES
For purposes of clarity, I'm going to refer to the new and improved Archmage as Archmage+. There will be a number of scenes where the Archmage and the Archmage+ will be appearing together. And a few scenes (including one scene repeated twice) where two Archmage+s will appear together. For those scenes I'll refer to them as 1st Archmage+ and 2nd Archmage+, but they'll look exactly alike.

CLARITY
It goes without saying that any time travel episode is going to be complex. So make an extra effort to be as clear as possible. Both in stage description for the artists, and in dialogue for the audience. I know we resist expository dialogue generally. But as you'll see below, the Archmage+ needs to explain things to the Archmage. So it won't feel artificial.

ACT BREAKS
I'm going to leave that up to you. See how the scripts progress.

BEAT SHEET
"Avalon, Part Two"
1. Pick up right where we left off. Pretty much your beat XX. Tom does need to explain that he still refers to the gargoyles as
"eggs". It's an old habit. He apologizes if it caused confusion, but they have been in Avalon long enough for him to grow old. Of course the eggs hatched some time ago.

Also none of the wounded gargoyles should be at the shore. We'll see them back at the palace.

Also don't forget that Angela has Goliath's coloring, which doesn't escape Elisa's notice. And on your Beat XXB1c. the line should expand to: "Daughters and sons belong to all of us, Elisa. That is the gargoyle way."

2. At Oberon's palace. Pretty much your beat XXI. But keep in mind, that the palace is in crisis mode. Acting as a hospital of sorts, to many wounded gargoyles.

Elisa should notice the tenderness between Tom and Katharine when they are reunited. She should also notice the pain it causes the Magus.

Don't forget to describe the Magus as 72 years old. Also describe Gabriel as looking like a young Othello with Desdemona's coloring.

The fact that the young gargoyles act more human than the trio may be too fine a point to get across. They've been raised by humans, but as a practical matter a lot of what we would think of as human is really just contemporary. And obviously, the trio are much more contemporary than these gargoyles.

You need some reason why Tribeca doesn't already have a name. Maybe, Katharine and Tom had tried not to name any of the gargoyles at first, but it just got too difficult for them with the sentient ones. But they didn't bother to name the Beasts? [We dropped the Tribecca notion eventually, and Tribeca became Boudicca. -GW 5/21/02]

Also, both Gabriel and Tribeca will be present in beat 1. So you may want to introduce them there along with Angela. That frees Beat 2 to reintro Katharine and the Magus. (Magus may be acting as a healer, using natural remedies and polstices.)

When Magus makes his point about Oberon's Children having been absent for nearly 1000 years, he might slip in a subtle reference to the sleeping King. (i.e. Arthur.) Something like: "The island's totally deserted except for the sleeping king." And then before anyone has a chance to ask about the sleeping king, something forces a change of topic.

3. Pretty much your beat XXII. Except that the Magus and Tom should probably be the ones to go into detail. The Magus knew the Archmage the best. He'd recognize that the Archmage has evolved into the Archmage+. If the Magus wasn't positive that the Grimorum cannot be brought onto Avalon, he'd swear that the Archmage+ had it. Plus when the Archmage appeared, he carried the Phoenix Gate and wore the Eye of Odin. Goliath realizes that those items must have been stolen from him.

Tom led the first disastrous attack. He saw Demona (doesn't know her name, but recognized her as Goliath's former love) plus some human in strange armor who used a weapon that fired lightning (Macbeth) and the Weird Sisters who once guarded the island. Again Goliath and Elisa can put two and two together. Macbeth and Demona never escaped the Weird Sisters. The Sisters have been using them all along. When Demona and Macbeth stole Coldstone, it was just a cover to steal the Eye, the Gate and the Grimorum. They must have given the items to the Archmage.

All Tom knows is that the Archmage+ is incredibly powerful. So powerful, he sometimes seemed to be in two places at once.

4. Enemy camp. Obviously, somewhere on the island, but where? In or in front of a cave? Someplace pleasant and relaxing, since the villains have every reason to be confident? I'll call it the GROTTO for easy reference, but anywhere is fine. [In the margin, I wrote: "Vengeance Angle"]

Present are the 3 Weird Sisters, Demona, Macbeth and... TWO Archmage+s. Each carries his own Phoenix Gate. And each wears his own Eye, (maybe imbedded like a third eye in his forehead?). They are dressed in black. Their beards are short. Maybe a metal skullcap (ala Merlin in EXCALIBUR). All very dangerous looking in contrast to the cliché Archmage that we knew.

1st Archmage+ says to 2nd Archmage+: "Shouldn't you be going?"
2nd Archmage+: "I suppose I should." 1st Archmage+: "You know what to do?" 2nd Archmage+: "Of course. I watched you do it." So the 2nd Archmage+ raises his Phoenix Gate and says the Phoenix Gate spell, disappearing into the past (see "Vows").

5. We follow 2nd Archmage+ back to 984 A.D. (He can even say: "First stop: 984 A.D." He can have a lot of attitude.) He arrives just outside the cave and secretly watches the battle between young Goliath, Hudson, Demona and the original Archmage ("Long Way To Morning"). (Again, he can fill us in, by commenting on it wryly to himself.) The Archmage loses the Grimorum and falls into the bottomless fissure, the Archmage+ uses the Phoenix Gate to pop into the fissure. He then uses the gate to transport himself and the Archmage to safety.

6. A hilltop or someplace safe. The Phoenix Gate deposits both the Archmage and the Archmage+ a few feet above the ground. The Archmage+ floats. He says "Freeze". And the Archmage freezes in mid-air. The Archmage+ says "Feathers". And a huge pile of feathers appears right below the Archmage. Archmage+: "Resume". And the Archmage tumbles into the pile of feathers.

We get some sputtering and outrage from the Archmage. And introductions. Archmage+ is his future self. Archmage realizes that means sometime in the future he accomplishes his goal of getting the Eye and the Gate. But what of the Grimorum? Archmage wants Archmage+ to use the Gate to go back and take the Grimorum back from the Gargoyles. Archmage+ says they can't accomplish their goals that way because they didn't accomplish it that way. History cannot be changed. But don't worry. We'll get the Grimorum. He uses the Gate and they both vanish again. [In the margins, by these two paragraphs, I wrote: "You want power, revenge. Allies Soldiers Weapons Base]

7. They reappear in 995 A.D. just in time to see the Magus use the Grimorum to reflect the Weird Sister's spell, turning all three of them into owls. (Archmage+ continues to use one word commands like "Float" and "Invisible" to keep them above water and undetectable. His command of magic is that complete. He can also fill Archmage and audience in on where and when they are, fairly naturally in dialogue.) Archmage recognizes his former apprentice the Magus, who's obviously grown into a potent sorcerer. But the fool just hands over the Grimorum, his source of Power, to Finella. Archmage thinks he understands now. They'll take the Grimorum from Finella. But Archmage+ says no. That's not why they're here. They're here to recruit. [In the margin, I again wrote: "Allies"]

Once all the various skiffs have moved on, the Archmage+ finds the three owls and transforms them back into the Weird Sisters. The Sisters are furious that they were defeated. When Oberon forced all of his "Children" to mingle with the mortals of the real world he had left the guarding of Avalon in their supposedly capable hands. Oberon will be very pissed off that they failed. Archmage+ offers them a chance to get even. It will take time though. The Weird Sisters don't mind. Time is one thing they have plenty of. "Then," says the Archmage+, "I will see you again in twenty-five years." And with that, he uses the gate and vanishes with the Archmage.

8. The year is 1020 A.D. ("City of Stone, Part One") and the Archmages appear via the gate. They meet up with the Weird Sisters. The Archmage+ shows them a vision of the forty year old Demona, the fifteen year old Macbeth and their enemy the HUNTER. [In the margin, I wrote: "Soldiers"] The Archmage+ wants the Weird Sisters to help Demona and Macbeth defeat the Hunter. Weird Sisters remind him that Oberon's Law prevents them from directly intervening in the lives of mortals. Archmage+ knows they are magically prevented from breaking Oberon's Law. But he also knows that they can bend it quite a bit. O.K., fine. But how does helping Demona and Macbeth do anything to help the Sisters and the Archmages achieve their goals? Archmage+ tells them that in order to achieve these goals, they will need powerful warriors, fighters adept at sorcery and weaponry, fighters we can control. These two are the perfect candidates. Guide them, help them, protect them for the next twenty years. The Archmage+ will return then with further instructions. The Weird Sisters agree and depart.

Archmage isn't too happy about this. He recognizes Demona as another of his former apprentices. One who betrayed him by losing the Phoenix Gate "years, uh... decades ago." Why are we helping her? Archmage+ tells him not to worry. This is our revenge. Believe me, we're not doing the gargoyle any favors. And again, he uses the Phoenix Gate to make them both disappear.

9. They reappear in 1040. The Weird Sisters report that they have done their best to aide Demona and Macbeth. The first Hunter is dead. But there is a new one now who's even more dangerous. Archmage+ is very pleased. He knows that Demona and Macbeth will arrive soon. He instructs the Sisters to guide them into making a magical pact that will link their life energy together. We will need them alive and vital centuries from now. We must make them immortal. [In the margin, I again wrote: "Soldiers".]

Sisters and Archmage are confused. Immortal warriors are powerful. How will we control them? Trust me, says Archmage+.

Archmage+ renders him and the Archmage invisible, just in time to see the fifty year old Demona and the 35 year old Macbeth enter. ("City of Stone, Part 3") We see the Weird Sisters link them magically.

Afterwards, the Sisters explain that the job is done. Neither can die, unless one kills the other. Excellent, says the Archmage+. Keep an eye on the two of them. Also keep an eye out for the Grimorum, the Gate and the Eye of Odin. The Weird Sisters are confused. Archmage+ has the Eye and the Gate. Archmage+ laughs. But I didn't have them. Not until you brought them to me. We'll meet again on an island called "Manhattan"... in 955 years.

Archmage: "Nine-HUNDRED and fifty-five years?!!" But before he can protest, the Archmage+ uses the gate to transport them both away.

10. 1995. Manhattan. Weird Sisters as NYC Fashion Models rendezvous at Tavern on the Green, with the Archmages. Archmage+ says: "Disguise". And he and the Archmage, seem to be wearing modern clothes. Over a pleasant candlelit dinner, the Sisters fill us in. All three magical talismans have fallen into the hands of this gargoyle... and an image of Goliath appears in the candlelight. Archmage recognizes Goliath, and can't believe that he survived this far into the future. Archmage+ says, "This isn't the future yet."

Archmage+ asks about Demona and Macbeth. Sisters respond that both are phenomenal fighters, proficient with modern technology and weaponry and half-decent sorcerers to boot. Plus each warrior has his or her own agenda. Demona is determined to wipe out humanity. And Macbeth is equally determined to wipe out Demona, even though he knows it will cost him his own life. They will be very difficult to control. Archmage+: "Yes, yes, but what are they up to now?" [And yet again, I wrote "Soldiers" in the margin.] The Sisters believe that Demona is about to cast a powerful spell to turn everyone in Manhattan into stone. Macbeth will take this opportunity to hunt her down.

Archmage+ is very pleased. He advises the Sisters to help Goliath defeat both Demona and Macbeth. Make your final move after they've fought each other, but before Macbeth has a chance to end their lives. At that point they will be weakened enough for the Sisters to put a sleep spell on them. Then bring them to me. Where? Macbeth's home on this island.

[Optional, if you have space: The sisters exit. Archmage+ asks the Archmage if he'd like to watch the action. Archmage says yes. Archmage+ says: "Somehow I knew that."]

Archmage+ uses Gate and both disappear.

[Optional, if you have space:
11. Invisible Archmages watch a replay of the final scenes from the end of City of Stone, Part Four. The ones where the Weird Sisters help Goliath talk Macbeth out of killing Demona. Put them both to sleep. Tell Goliath that they will take responsibility for them and vanish with them. The Archmages depart as well.]

12. Macbeth's mansion. The Archmages appear as do the Sisters with Macbeth and Demona. The latter two are sound asleep. The Archmage+ whispers to the sleeping warriors. He "suggests" that they work together to steal the Grimorum, the Gate and the Eye from Goliath. The Sisters provide the clock tower location, and suggest that they steal Coldstone as well. That way the theft of the talismans won't be detected immediately. Demona and Macbeth leave together to carry out this plan, completely fogged about how it came to them or why they are working together. [By the margin of both paragraphs 12 & 13, I wrote: "Weapons".]

Archmage asks about Coldstone. Weird Sisters say he is another warrior that might be of use to them. Archmage+ shakes his head. Coldstone wasn't part of the plan, so he can't be now. If his presence aids in the theft of the talismans, fine. But he must be separated from Demona and Macbeth, before the next stage of the plan can be set in motion. They will meet again at the watery door to Avalon.

[Optional:
13. Invisible Archmages watch Demona and Macbeth steal the Eye, the Grimorum and the Gate from the secret hiding place in the clocktower from "High Noon".]

14. The Archmages reappear above misty water. Archmage+ says: "Boat". And a boat magically appears beneath them. They float down to it. While they wait for the sisters, Archmage demands to know the plan. Archmage+ finally fills him in: "Soon the sisters will bring you the talismans. The ultimate magical power that you've always dreamed of. [In the margin, I wrote: "Base".] But once you get that power, what will you do with it?" Archmage is baffled. He hadn't thought that far ahead. He mutters something about conquering Scotland. Archmage+ suggests conquering the world, but warns that it will not be easy. The modern world is a place of science not sorcery. Magic is potent, but so are modern weapons. The Archmage will need a safe place to launch his attacks from. That haven is Avalon. The only problem is Avalon is occupied. Fortunately, Oberon and his children have abandoned it. But there are a few humans and gargoyles living there. Our first job is to kill them. The Archmage is very pleased with his counterpart's plan.

The Sisters join them on the raft, along with entranced Demona, entranced Macbeth and the three talismans. The sisters warn the Archmages that the Gate and the Eye are not a problem, but the Grimorum is a book of human sorcery. It cannot enter Avalon. Archmage+ is unconcerned: "Give him the Eye." Seline gives the Archmage the Eye of Odin. The Archmage puts it on. The Archmage+ explains that the Eye grants power and insight. It makes the wearer a more powerful version of himself. It usually takes weeks to transform an individual, but the Archmage+ has the ability to speed things up. "Change," he says. And the Archmage begins to metamorphose -- painfully -- into another Archmage+.

When the metamorphosis is complete, the 1st Archmage+ tells the 2nd Archmage+ that he now has the power of the world's greatest and, frankly, most evil sorcerer. But he lacks the knowledge. The exhausted 2nd Archmage+ gets the message. He asks Phoebe to give him the Grimorum. He uses his new-found power to swallow it hole. The 1st Archmage+ is very pleased. Now he is one with the magic, and there's no need to worry about bringing the Grimorum to Avalon. Even Luna is impressed. She hands the 2nd Archmage+ the Phoenix Gate, completing his power. 1st Archmage+: Shall we proceed?

[Note: I circled paragraphs 15, 16 and the first paragraph of 17 and wrote: "One Beat" in the margin and "But show it to us." By 15, I also wrote "Base".]

15. The 1st Archmage+ materializes in the palace of Oberon, in front of Katharine, Tom, the Magus. He tells them to "Make your peace, for at sundown, you die." He uses the gate to disappear again.

16. He reappears in the Grotto, joining the 2nd Archmage+, the Sisters, Demona and Macbeth. One of them spots Angela and Gabriel watching them and sneaking away. Demona asks if she should stop them. No, says the 1st Archmage+, they'll be back.

17. Sure enough, Tom the Guardian leads the gargoyles against the villains. It's a disaster. Many gargoyles are wounded. None of them can fight on a level with either Macbeth or Demona. Let alone the futuristic weapons that they bring. The Weird Sisters avoid direct interference, but still manage to use their magic to ensnare their opponents in their environment. And the Archmage+ is everywhere, popping in and out, using the Gate, vanishing. Using magic. He's devastating. (During the fight, play the two Archmage+s so that Tom might say something like "It was like he could be in two places at once." As opposed to Tom realizing that there are two of them.)

Tom is forced to sound retreat.

[I marked the rest of seventeen and 18 and wrote "combine" in the margin.]

Demona and Macbeth want to pursue and finish them off. But the 1st Archmage+ is supremely confident. Why bother? If we wait until Dawn, the gargoyles will all be stone. Only the Guardian, the Princess and the Magus will be left to defend the palace. It's so much easier to sit back and enjoy the cool breeze for a few more hours. [In the margin, I wrote: "Waiting for Goliath. Important. Vengeance. He wants Goliath.]

Luna asks: "What about the sleeping King?" The 2nd Archmage+ is surprised. He had heard the legends of the sleeping king, but didn't know that they were true. Seline assures him the King is on the island, asleep. Phoebe warns that the King's power was once very great. 1st Archmage+: "Then when once we've taken the island, we'll just make sure he never wakes up."

18. Time cut to a few hours later.
1st Archmage+ says to 2nd Archmage+: "Shouldn't you be going?"
2nd Archmage+: "I suppose I should." 1st Archmage+: "You know what to do?" 2nd Archmage+: "Of course. I watched you do it." So the 2nd Archmage+ raises his Phoenix Gate and says the Phoenix Gate spell, disappearing into the past. Obviously, this is an exact repeat of Beat 4, and finally leaves us with only one Archmage+ for the rest of the story. Archmage+ makes some comment about how the other one was getting on his nerves.

19. AND Finally, we return to the present and resume from beat 3 with our heroes in the palace. Tom picks up his story where he left off. After, there disastrous mass attack on the Grotto, they all realized they were in deep shit. Sunrise was only six hours away. They thought about hiding the gargoyles, but realized there was no place on the island where the Weird Sisters couldn't find them. They had to get help. Tom ventured out by skiff to the real world. As he had done once every century. The skiff landed at Wyvern, and Tom was shocked to see that the castle was missing. He went to a local village, where he was told that the castle had been moved to the top of a skyscraper in a place called NEW York. Tom picks up on the word "skyscraper". Is it possible that the castle has risen above the clouds? One villager's seen it in New York. It's definitely above some of the clouds. (You can show this village scene in flashback if you have space or time.) Tom returns to his skiff, returns to Avalon, and launches off again, praying that Avalon will send him to this NEW York. (Hinting that he doesn't have a lot of control.)

Sure enough he found New York and Goliath and brought him and his friends back. But the mission took two days in the real world. That's two hours here on Avalon. There's only four hours left until sunrise.

Tom apologizes to Goliath. He's tried to train the gargoyles to be warriors, but he's self-taught himself. Plus Avalon always seemed so peaceful, etc. Protective instinct must never have developed. Maybe if Goliath led the next attack... But Goliath is sure Tom did his best. Sometimes a direct attack isn't the answer. Sometimes stealth is required. If we can steal the Gate and the Eye back from the Archmage, we may have a chance. Goliath will need someone who knows the island. Gabriel and Angela both volunteer. Fine. Goliath asks the Magus to come as well. His magic might prove useful. The Magus cannot meet Goliath's gaze. He hesitates. Finally, he says that without the Grimorum he has no magic and would be a liability to Goliath. Elisa wants to come, but Goliath asks her to stay behind. If this mission fails, Tom and the others will need her expertise on dealing with Demona and Macbeth. Goliath, Angela and Gabriel depart. After they go, Elisa turns to the Magus and asks: Tell me about the sleeping King.

20. They sneak into the grotto and for a beat it looks like they might succeed in their mission. But no. They are caught. Woops. [In the margin, I wrote: "Arch+ sees them coming."]

END PART TWO

START PART THREE
21. Looks like curtains for our three heroes. Goliath even resorts to making an appeal to Demona and Macbeth. Can't they see they're being used. Does it suit Macbeth's sense of honor to wait 'til dawn to slaughter innocent gargoyles. Demona hates humans, but why would she help the Archmage hurt her own children. It doesn't make sense to Demona and Macbeth. They start to come out of the spell. But the Archmage+ is just amused by Goliath's pleas. With one word: "Obey", Demona and Macbeth are again his to command. Fortunately, rescue comes from another quarter. Bronx and Tribeca. To some extent, the rescue only succeeds because the Archmage+ is complacently amused. He likes watching the little mice run the maze. In a few hours it'll be all over anyway.

22. Goliath and Co. return to the palace. The mission was a failure.

[Note: the following paragraph was crossed out.]
But not a complete failure, says Angela. In the confusion, she got away with the Phoenix Gate. Angela wants to use it to go back in time and stop the Archmage+ before he arrives. Can't be done, explains Goliath. History cannot be changed. He's learned that lesson, painfully. Can they escape to the future? They'd be abandoning Avalon. The situation they arrived in might be even worse. Better to make their stand now. Well could they use it flee the island? This time Gabriel says no. This is his home, the only one he's ever known. He will protect it, not abandon it! Goliath is impressed. The gargoyle way is strong in Gabriel. But Angela's disappointed. Stealing the gate didn't help very much. Goliath assures her, that it helped a lot. They've taken away the Archmage's mobility. And gained some for themselves. The Gate doesn't have to be used for time travel. It can be used just to move instantly from place to place. But how will that help? Goliath isn't sure yet.

Hey, where's Elisa and the Magus?

23. Elisa and the Magus journey to the "Hollow Hill" where sleeps the sleeping King. (It's Merlin who sleeps in the Crystal Cave. At least by my research.) Maybe they have some time to talk. Elisa has noticed that Tom and Katharine are close. The Magus tells her that as the boy Tom became a man, he and the Princess fell in love. (Again, if you have the room and/or the inclination, you can show this in flashback.) Now they are husband and wife. They raised the gargoyles as their own children. Elisa wonders where the Magus fits in. I don't, he says. But his feelings for Katharine are also obvious to Elisa. How could he stand to stay and watch them grow closer? He had to stay. He had done an unforgivable thing when he cast his spell upon the gargoyles. He owed it to Goliath to tend the eggs. His pain is not important.

24. They arrive at the Hollow Hill. They see the sleeping King. He lies on a bed, surrounded by arms and gold and jewels. They move to wake him, but are intercepted by two hollow suits of armor. Elisa empties her revolver into one, but it's pretty useless. Suddenly the Magus casts a rhyming spell. (Rhyming in English, not Latin.) The armor is defeated, though it leaves the Magus drained. Elisa is shocked. She thought the Magus had lost his magic. He had. Centuries ago when he lost the Grimorum. But the island is full of magic. It is everywhere: in the wind, in the water, in the trees and certainly in this hollow hill. His training makes him sensitive to it, but summoning it without study is very hard. It's an unpredictable and often unsuccessful endeavor. He cannot be counted on.

Elisa approaches the sleeping King. For the very first time in this three parter, we hear someone speak his name. Elisa: "Arthur Pendragon. King Arthur. You are needed." And King Arthur awakens. It's that easy.

Suddenly Goliath and Angela appear via the Phoenix Gate. [The phrase 'via the Phoenix Gate' was crossed out.] What did Elisa think she was doing? Elisa realized that Demona and Macbeth are two of the greatest warriors of all time. It's a hard truth, but even Goliath has never actually bested either of them. The best he ever did was foil their plans or fight them to a draw. They needed someone better. They needed the best warrior who ever lived. Arthur clears his throat. Would someone please tell him what's going on? Angela's excited. In a minute, she says, and using the Gate, teleports them all away. ["and using the Gate, teleports them all away." was crossed out.]

[From this point out, stuff in {} is crossed out material.]

25. Back at the Grotto, The Archmage+ {has only just discovered that the gate is missing. He} is furious, and his demeanor does not improve when the Sisters wryly blame his own hybris and complacency. Fine, he says. Then we will attack now.

26. Back at the palace, Arthur's just heard the gist of the situation. He's not thrilled. This isn't what he was supposed to be awakened for. He doesn't have Excalibur. He doesn't have his knights or Merlin... But he looks around the room and sees the faces of those who need him. He will do what he can. Gabriel enters. They're out of time. The villains approach. Arthur will lead Tom, Elisa and Gabriel against Macbeth and Demona. Goliath and Angela will {use the Gate to} face off against the Archmage. Katharine, Bronx and Tribeca (and whatever other healthy N.D. Gargoyles we've shown) will stay with the wounded gargoyles and do their best to protect them. But who will take on the Three Weird Sisters. I will, says the Magus.

27. The battle. O.K. This is going to be a big one. You want to have space for it, cause it's the fight we've been building towards for THIRTY-SIX EPISODES, so we've got to make it worthwhile. (Also we have tons and tons of epiloguing in this one, so we need the audience to feel like they want a good long rest after the mega-battle is done.) You'll do a lot of intercutting between the various fronts. But for clarity here, I'll take them one at a time. (Also feel free to adjust or expand on any of the details... I'm just trying to give a big picture overview.)

ARTHUR, ELISA, GABRIEL, GUARDIAN vs. MACBETH & DEMONA
The Archmage+ has sent his two warriors as an advance force to soften up the enemy. Macbeth is impressed by this new warrior. He asks his name, and when he hears that it's Arthur, we can see that he's momentarily shaken by it. He's an Arthur-buff. A great admirer. Well. He's always wanted to test himself against the best. For his part, Arthur's quick to figure out that when either Macbeth or Demona are hurt, both feel the pain. He instructs his troops to use that to their advantage. Demona realizes that she must put some distance between herself and Macbeth. She'll still feel his pain, but not as severely. She gets past Arthur's force and into the castle. Arthur sends Gabe, Elisa and Tom in after her. He'll handle Macbeth.

ARTHUR VS. MACBETH
Macbeth is quickly deprived of his lightning gun. Both wind up using medieval weapons. It may even come down to hand to hand combat. Finally Arthur wins.

DEMONA vs. KATHARINE, BRONX, TRIBECA
Demona gets into the palace. She is confronted by Bronx and Tribeca, but they don't stop her. She finds her way to Katharine and the wounded gargoyles. We need to see by this time that Demona's bloodlust is so high, that there's no chance of talking her down again. The spell on her has worked her into such a froth that she can't see that what she's doing is against her own interests. She's a brainwashed assassin. Katharine is ready to die for her charges, and it looks like she might have to.

DEMONA vs. GABRIEL, GUARDIAN, ELISA
They arrive just in time, Gabriel and Guardian save Katharine temporarily. But they're no real match for Demona either. She's about to kill them all, when Elisa says wouldn't you rather have me. And there it is. Someone Demona hates so much, that no spell is more powerful. She leaps at Elisa, giving the others time to regroup. Ultimately, Demona is taken down by sheer force of numbers. Maybe Elisa gives the takedown blow.

MAGUS vs. THE WEIRD SISTERS.
They can't believe this old, impotent man is challenging them again. Without his precious Grimorum, no less. But he rises to the occasion. It's a sorcerers battle, so have a lot of fun with it. And the Magus wins by trapping them. Probably in some kind of iron or some kind of chain. (But here's a thought, that only just occurred to me. Should the Magus give his life in this fight, i.e. be mortally wounded during it. Maybe drained beyond any hope of recovery? He would be the one real casualty of the battle. Goliath would of course forgive him on his death bed as the old man passed away, finally at peace, maybe with Katharine's kiss on his lips. I know we planned on sending him off with Arthur, but I can't help wondering if we didn't make this fight to easy on our heroes. Isn't it necessary for them to lose something truly precious, i.e. the life of a friend? I have very mixed feelings, cause I like the character a lot. I could probably be swayed either way. Before you go to script on part three, talk this over with both me and Adrienne [Bello, our S&P executive].)

GOLIATH, ANGELA vs. ARCHMAGE+
Goliath attacks directly. And is really being trounced. The Archmage+ has not forgotten how Goliath defeated him back in "Long Way to Morning". He's really punishing Goliath. But that was part of the plan. Angela uses the gate to {bop in, and} throw the overconfident Archmage+ off balance. {She and} Goliath {toss the gate back and forth between them. They vanish and reappear.} The Archmage+'s magic still is formidable, but the tactic is infuriating him, which makes him sloppy. Finally, Goliath manages to grab the Eye and wrench it off the Archmage+. (Note: As in Eye of the Beholder, this should be damn painful for Goliath.) The Archmage+ immediately metamorphoses back into the old Archmage. But he's not through yet. He's still got all the power of the Grimorum inside him. But without the Eye to contain that power, he has a problem. You see you're not supposed to bring human magic onto Avalon. The Grimorum is burning him up from the inside out. Nothing gory, but he is destroyed in magical flames. It is over.

28. Epilogue time. Goliath realizes that the Eye and the Gate were not meant for mortals to use. He swears never to use either of them again. (He'll break this promise later, but it at least explains why he doesn't immediately use the Gate to take him, Elisa and Bronx back to Manhattan). He and Angela gladly walk back to the palace.

29. It is now only ten minutes until sunrise. Decisions must be made. They ask Goliath if it is safe for the Gargoyles out in the real world. Unfortunately, no. Not really. They invite him to bring the other gargoyles back to Avalon. No. That won't work either. Some of them must continue to live in the real world. Learn to live with humans. It will take time, but if they don't try, the outside world will never be safe for gargoyles again. Given that Goliath is willing to take any gargoyle who wants to leave. From here, you can pretty much pick up back on your outline: BEAT XXXX. (Though obviously if we kill the Magus, Arthur's leaving alone.)

30. Pretty much your Beat XXXXI. Arthur (and the Magus?) leave first. Also we have to deal with Macbeth and Demona. They can still be unconscious. The trapped Weird Sisters are forced to free Demona and Macbeth from the spell. They tell our heroes that neither warrior will remember anything that happened to them since the spell was first cast in City of Stone, Part Four. Somehow, we have to rationalize sending them off unconscious on a skiff of their own. Good luck. Finally our 4 travelers leave for Manhattan, poling out into the misty water. But Tom knows from experience that "Avalon does not take you where you want to go. Avalon takes you where you need to be."

That's it. Call me with any problems or questions, and in any case let's talk about the Magus.

ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES Bible: 11th Chunk.

SERIES ARCS
We've got quite a few.
1) Markus is going to fast-track through the ranks. In episode #1, he's recruited. Starting with episode two, he'll spend about a third of the season (@ seven episodes) working in Inquiry as an Investigator. At some point he'll get in trouble. He'll get busted off Inquiry and will spend an episode as a lowly Prison Guard in Surplus. He'll foil a prison break and be rewarded by being put in Command of a Research Cell: the lone layman assigned to making sure the scientists stay focused. That'll last for two or three shows. Then he'll be drafted to join Delivery for another seven or so episodes, before he rebels against the Alliance for about three shows. Then in our 22nd episode, he'll rejoin the devastated Alliance, help them struggle out of the ashes in time to save the day. He'll end the season by being named the organization's third Night Officer.

2) Who is Siobhan Barrow? She's not your typical nineteen year old girl. We'll learn that in our pilot. She's an alien of the Sidhe race. Eventually we'll discover that she's not your typical nineteen year old Sidhe. She's the daughter of the Bhan Sidhe. We'll wonder where her loyalties lie. And just when we're sure we know, we'll turn the tables by having her kill Markus (or attempt to, anyway). And then when we're sure we know why she did that, we'll twist things 180° and make her even more sympathetic than she was before.

3) Markus and Siobhan are going to fall in love. They meet in our pilot as adversaries, but they quickly make a connection. It's a connection that both of them are going to deny for a time, but ultimately they'll admit their feelings for one another, just in time for Siobhan to betray the Alliance and attempt to kill Markus. Markus'll be hating Siobhan for a few episodes, until he learns why she did what she did. At that point, he'll join her against the Alliance, until the final episode, when they'll both be there -- a strong couple, the stronger for what they've been through both separately and together -- to pick up the pieces and rebuild a new and better Alliance.

4) The Agenda is picking up speed, and it's operating on multiple fronts. It's forming new partnerships. Startling partnerships. It's infiltrating the Alliance itself. One of our characters we'll be replaced by a Vampyr. One will turn out to be a Lycanth. One will betray everything the Alliance stands for. Etc. Early episodes that seem to be one-shots will be revealed in hindsight to have actually been part of the overall Agenda.

5) The Skray will be revealed slowly, and the Alliance will learn the startling truth that since the Skray control the oceans, they already control 3/4 of the planet. Eventually, the Skray will join the Agenda.

6) Have the Nosferatu discovered the secret of faster than light space travel? Is there an armada on the way?

7) We'll learn the answers behind some long-held Alliance mysteries. What happened to Joseph's father? What happened to Artie's uncle and brother? Who killed Alex's parents? What turned Will's wife against the Alliance?

8) We'll explore the dramatic ramifications of the Alliance's fascistic Mission Statement. When does an organization become too much of a good thing?

9) Over time, we'll probably get to know a surprising number of characters in depth. We'll watch them change. We'll see them reveal where they stand.

10) Ultimately, we're going to find out that the same individuals who are pulling the strings on the Agenda's string-pullers, are also the Puppet-Masters behind the Alliance itself. These uber-villains are the true menace that Markus and Siobhan will ultimately be fighting against.

11) And etc.

SOME SPRINGBOARDS
1. The Pilot - Skip Tracer Markus is sent after Bail Jumping Siobhan, who's being pursued by Sidhe Warriors and by the Alliance. Both Markus and Siobhan acquit themselves impressively and are recruited.

2. Markus is partnered with Tri and sent to Japan on his first Inquiry mission. People are vanishing amid reports of werewolves. The menace turns out to be a Lycanth Pack, abducting humans to work as slaves on other worlds. Delivery's called in to battle the Pack.

3. In Paris, Tri and Markus investigate reports that stone statues are coming to life. It's the noble Vinae, here to recover their honored dead. Can the misunderstanding be worked out before the populace learns these "monsters" exist?

4. In Venice, Markus and Tri are on the trail of a shape-shifter. Meanwhile, Alex and Clea go undercover inside a cult that claims to grant immortality to its members. The two cases converge, and the Alliance finds itself caught in the middle of a minor war between the Vampyru and the Nosferatu.

5. Closer to home, Markus investigates crop circles in Iowa. This leads him into an investigation of the original Roswell Incident. Through flashback, we get the whole story -- focusing on the tragic love story between Captain Will Hawking and reporter Trish Ainsley. The kicker to all this is that none of it's true. And Markus is finally introduced to Artie's boss: Night Officer William T. Hawking.

6. On a routine sea-monster mission in Sydney, Tri spots Artie's missing twin Apollo. The Skray are finally revealed, and it turns out Apollo's working with them. Delivery is sent underwater to take down the Skray. Ten-Samsons and company are able to deal with the immediate threat, but are overwhelmed when they attempt to delve further into the Skray's underwater territory. A strategic retreat is called, and Research is assigned the task of figuring out how to deal with the long-term threat posed by these amphibious aliens.

7. A Rogue Chasta-Yeti has been spotted in British Columbia. Convinced that this is the animal that killed both his parents, Alex drags his sister Gisela up to Canada to track the monster down. Complications ensue as the Chasta is under the protection of the local Sidhe Clan. In addition, Markus isn't sure that Alex has the correct Chasta in his sights. Clea, Tuk and Siobhan all get involved. Everyone's taking sides, but will mercy win out or will Alex start a full scale war?

8. Reports of Flying Saucers bring Tri and Markus to Berlin, where they're immediately ambushed and captured. This is our first solid Agenda episode, but it also serves to reveal (in flashback) the true history of the Cadre, the Alliance and the Roswell Conspiracies.

9. Markus is having a hard time recovering emotionally from his experience in the previous episode. He goes AWOL, obsessed with tracking down the one perp who ever skipped his trace when he was working for Dom. Using Alliance resources in a very public way, he comes very close to single-handedly revealing the Alliance to the world. Dom and Siobhan are able to talk him down off his emotional ledge. He returns to the Bunker, where he gets busted down out of Inquiry and into Surplus. He's a prison guard.

10. Research is conducting experiments on captured Skray inside the Surplus Prison. A dangerous and multi-racial group of inmates take advantage of the situation and attempt to bust out. The only guy who stands in their way is neophyte prison guard, Tony Markus. He succeeds. Patricia wants to promote him. Artie wants him back. But Hawking has finally taken notice of Markus. He assigns him... to Research?

11. Hawking isn't happy with how Research has been operating since Michael Tyler died. Tyler was a scientist, but he was also a pragmatist. Cabral and company seem to allow the pursuit of knowledge to get in the way of the Alliance's best interests. Markus is put in charge of Alpha Cell in order to make sure that the next time the brain-trust is sent into the field, they keep their eyes on the prize. This puts Markus in the unenviable position of being under the authority of Research Section Chief Cabral, while simultaneously being the good doctor's boss while on Alpha's next mission to prevent a radioactive Pharaoh from poisoning Peru.

12. And etc.

FORMAT / STYLE / TONE
We're writing hour-long teleplays here. Single cohesive stories -- that just happen to have a huge cliffhanger dead in the middle which allows the hour to be broken up into two tidy halves.

Tentatively, the plan is to open the first half hour with a teaser before the Main Titles. The Titles will be followed by three acts, each ending with a cliffhanger (the third one a doozy).

Part Two will open with a recap of Part One before the Main Titles. Then the Titles will be followed by Act Four, another cliff-hanger, Act Five, a last cliffhanger and then finally Act Six, which will include whatever Tag is required without an additional commercial break. All pretty straight forward.

The Point of View character is obviously Markus. He enters the Alliance knowing nothing about aliens or conspiracies. We'll learn the ropes with him. This is not to say that he has to appear in every scene, but Markus does define our basic angle on almost any given episode.

The structure of a typical Alliance mission begins with an Inquiry investigation. Research is brought in to solve some specific problem. And then as things inevitably hemorrhage out of control, Delivery is brought in for a big battle to clean up the mess.

Toward the beginning of the season, when Markus is still in Inquiry, we'll focus more on the mystery and investigation. What's going on? What is this creature? How do we stop it? Etc. We'll watch Delivery from a distance, or we'll see it through Siobhan.

Naturally, as more and more secrets get revealed, and as Markus moves up through the ranks, later episodes will spend less time on Inquiry and more time on the other sections, especially Delivery. Things'll be grimmer by that time, and the action will be more intense anyway.

This isn't a horror series. And we're not doing the ultra-violence thang. But it should be scary. We're going for suspense and intrigue: a what's-lurking-behind-that-door main course, with a side of who-can-you-trust.

Play the fear. But also play the romance between Markus and Siobhan. The real heart and caring between all our various characters. Many of them are related, which should provide great fodder. Many of them have tragic histories and/or things they need to overcome. Use Gisela's spirituality, Alex's smiling cynicism, etc. Use humor as counterpoint. Don't hunt down the joke, but don't shy away from it either. And do NOT be afraid of using SILENCE. It's a very powerful tool. (By the way, I apologize in advance if all this seems way too obvious. I figure it doesn't hurt to remind ourselves of the basics on occasion.)

Everyone should rent "THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE". That's the model for our series. We're gonna put it through our own sci-fi/monster/toy-company prism, but underneath it all is a tale of intrigue -- a long-simmering pot about to boil over in a devastating way. That's ROSWELL. That's our show.

Chapter XXXIV: "Avalon, Part One"

There's no memo, outline or script for this one on my computer, so we'll head right into my ramble on...

"AVALON, PART ONE"
DIRECTOR: Dennis Woodyard.
WRITER: Lydia Marano.
STORY EDITOR: Brynne Chandler Reaves.

THE RECAP

...is all over the place. So much was coming together in this three-parter. The Weird Sisters, the eggs, the Archmage, Tom, Princess Katharine, the Magus, Macbeth, Demona. This was our most ambitious story yet. Which given episodes like "The Mirror" or "Vows" and multi-parters like "Awakening" and "City of Stone" was saying something.

Of course "Avalon" was never designed to be the cohesive single story movie that "City of Stone" was. It was designed as a tryptych. Part one would bring our heroes up to date. Part two would bring our villains up to date. Part three would pit them against each other.

"Avalon I" also represented the first episode in our fourth tier. The three-parter was what we called a 'tentpole'. We knew we couldn't air it until all the Tier 3 episodes had aired. And we knew we couldn't air any other Tier 4 episodes until this three-parter had aired. Despite the fact that "The Price" aired out of order, generally our Tentpole/Tier system worked very well. Out of 66 episodes that I worked on only two: "The Price" and "Kingdom" aired out of order, hopefully with minimal damage to the continuity.

THE TITLE

The title was one of mine. But initially I wasn't sure that we were going to call the island Avalon. Now, it's mind-boggling to me, but I actually had my assistant Monique Beatty (who's now a producer in her own right) research Brigadoon to find out if that name was created only for the musical, or if it was something pulled from legends. I was thinking of Avalon, but looking for something from a Scotish tradition as opposed to British. Fortunately, Brigadoon was created for the musical. So we were 'stuck' with Avalon. Which made including King Arthur a natural.

Many series don't reveal that an episode is going to be a multi-parter until you get to the 'To Be Continued' line at the closer. "Avalon, Part One" could have just been titled "Avalon". The conventional wisdom is that people are reluctant to commit the time to a multi-parter in advance. That it is better to hook them on the story before revealing that they HAVE to come back to see the end. I always felt that was cheating. What is your reaction to seeing "Part One" attached to a title?

OPENING

Another cool shot of our gargs waking up. Always nice to reiterate that at the start of our bigger stories.

Bronx gets left behind. Of course, this often happens. It was one of the things that the World Tour would set about correcting in a BIG way. But we made his getting left behind a bit more obvious here. Usually, he just doesn't go. This time they won't take him and he's sad. We were laying pipe.

My 5-year-old son Benny asked where Hudson and the Trio were going. I had to think about it. "On Patrol, I guess."

OLD FRIENDS

Then the GUARDIAN shows up. I love his cool, Goliath-inspired armor. My 7-year-old daughter Erin immediately demanded to know who he was. I wouldn't tell her. (I'm so mean.) Did any of you guess?

Of course he immediately encounters BRENDAN & MARGOT. (What would one of our multi-parters be without him?)

Then comes the three gang-bangers from "AWAKENING, PART THREE". As usual, Keith David does the voice for one of them -- making it distinctive from both Goliath and MORGAN, who's about to come in and speak. The problem is we got a touch confused. In Awakening, Keith voices the bald white guy. Here he does the same voice, but it's assigned to the black guy. Hard to say which is wrong, except by virtue of which came first. It annoys me though.

Morgan's fun in this. I really like him. No one but Simon DelMonte will get this, and I don't know if he even reads these rambles, but Morgan kind of reminds me of Jeff Goslin, a character that Cary Bates and I created in Captain Atom.

Anyway, I like how Morgan talks Guardian down. And I like how the sword is much heavier than he thought it was going to be. His cop buddies tease him, but he maintains his sense of wonder and goodness when talking about the Guardian to Elisa.

That's kind of a cool scene. First off he describes Guardian's armor: "Real armor. King Arthur stuff." Anyone think this was a clue to what was coming in the next episode? Even with the Avalon title? Then he tells her the guy's looking for Gargoyles. Elisa of course discourages her fellow officers from taking Garg reports seriously. Everyone who's seen one must be a nut-case. These guys should form 'a club'. Then she finds out that this Guardian was asking for Goliath by name. BOOM.

BELVEDERE CASTLE

Site of our last encounter with Demona and Macbeth. Another clue.

Once Elisa got a look at the Guardian's armor, she must have thought -- yeah, there's a Goliath connection here all right.

Goliath shows with Bronx, who gets to come along and come along and come along for once. Bronx always seemed underutilized to us. We knew we couldn't bring the whole clan along. (Too many characters and no poignancy.) But Bronx was an easy addition. Of course, Bronx is also useful as a kind of living personality test. If Bronx likes you, it's a damn good sign. Bronx likes Tom. Does he remember him? What scents do you figure the Guardian carried back from Avalon. Anyway, Bronx engenders immediate trust in the Guardian for Goliath.

I love this scene. Guardian gives everyone so little time to catch up. He talks about the Archmage, reveals that he's Tom and talks about 'the eggs' being in danger. *That was a fun idea. Keep you guys thinking in terms of eggs for twenty minutes and reveal that it's just a pet name for the Avalon Clan.*

Benny asked: "What kind of Eggs?"
Erin: "Gargoyle Eggs."
Benny: "I didn't know Gargoyles hatch out of eggs." [Well, keep in mind it's been a year since he saw the first thirty episodes. And he's too young to remember the first time he saw the ones we're watching now.]

Then there's the skiff. Elisa: "Where'd that boat come from? ... To where? The other side of the lake? ... Wait for me!"

This all sounds fishy to her. Nothing makes sense. I wanted to get a clear shot in there of the pond in Central Park so that you could see objectively that it doesn't go anywhere. But I never quite managed that. I wanted you guys to be confused. Or at any rate to have a million questions. But like Elisa, no matter how suspicious, I figured you'd want to go along for the ride.

FLASHBACK

Mary, Katharine, the Magus and young Tom are all reintroduced. It's very clear that the first three have all learned their lesson from Awakening. They've all really become better people. Tom, of course, didn't need to learn that lesson. But he does learn to be a hero. He officially becomes the Guardian. It begins, I believe, as just a nice gesture on the part of the Princess. Later, of course, it'll become the truth. Then there's the long journey. I like the montage there. Hardship. We never had the time to show enough of the hardship of tenth century life.

Our gang heads into Edinburgh. Constantine's followers are all over the place. They all seem to look like Disney storyboard artists for some reason. ;)

VOICES

There's some stellar voice work in this ep. Morgan Shepard as King Kenneth II. Sheena Easton making her Garg Premiere as Finella. Ian Buchanan as Constantine. (I've already mentioned Keith's versatility.)

But as usual, real props must be handed out to Jeff Bennnett and Kath Soucie.

Jeff plays Brooklyn, the Magus and Maol Chalvim. (No Bruno or Owen or Vinnie in this ep, I'm afraid.)

Kath plays Katharine, Mary and all three Weird Sisters.

They're amazing.

SOAP OPERA

Benny saw Finella and said: "That's one of the witches."

A year ago, Tom was his favorite character. Now Tom barely registered. And he really is fascinated with the Weird Sisters. Anyway, I corrected him, but I was glad that they were appearing later.

Ian Buchanan, once of General Hospital, is playing a cad here. We have to very quickly set up a lot of politics, sexual and otherwise. This story was as historical as we could make it based on the available research, the fact that we had to fit in a few fictional characters and eggs, and screen time compression.

Believe it or not, we also had another character originally that we cut early on because it was just getting too damn complicated. Katharine and Maol Chalvim's cousin: the future King Kenneth III. The father of Bodhe. Yep. That Bodhe. The father of Gruoch.

Kenneth III winds up being made High King of Scotland after Constantine is killed. To get a sense of their relationship, at least as I see it, you might want to check out "Once upon a time there were three brothers..."

(Or to give you a hint, ten years after the events depicted here, King Kenneth III would be murdered by Maol Chalvim's operatives during a civil war. Maol Chalvim was also known as Malcolm Forranach, the Destroyer. We used the Maol Chalvim version of his name so as not to confuse him with Katharine's father Prince Malcolm. Just as in City of Stone we emphasized Malcolm Canmore's Canmore name for the same reason.)

Anyway, Maol Chalvim seems intense but right on the money here. He's even kind of heroic when he and the Magus bring Tom back to Katharine's apartment, and he begs Katharine to go. Kind of heroic. He still leaves her. We were trying very hard to balance out his minor role here with his future roll as the grandfather of and major influence on Duncan. (Of course, he's also Macbeth's grandfather, as well.)

After Katharine tells Maol to go, there's a weird cut of him just standing there smiling. We needed some kind of transition before he took off running, and I guess that was the best we could do. But it's still awkward as hell.

THE MURDER

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We establish early on that Katharine doesn't think much of Constantine. You wouldn't know it from Awakening, but obvioulsy she's learned to be a decent judge of character.

Kenneth isn't quite so sharp. Everyone can see that he's a fool for Finella. And he doesn't recognize Constantine's threat (despite the fact that Constantine's father was a bitter enemy and) despite the fact that his son flat out tells him to beware. My thinking was that the crown had kept bouncing back and forth between different branches of the royal family. Kenneth had hoped that by taking Constantine in, instead of banishing him, he'd be able to be a positive influence on the boy. A nice idea perhaps, but maybe Kenneth was too innattentive to pull it off. And Maol probably was too covetous to really be a brother to young Con.

Anyway, Constantine tricks Finella and kills the king. We hear Finella sobbing, just to prove that she was neither in on it nor that she would approve of it. (Though one wonders what her reaction would have been down the road if Constantine hadn't spurned her in favor of Katharine. Would she have adjusted to the crime? Or did Constantine become an unredeemable villain in her eyes immediately? I hate to say it, but I tend to think it's the former. Actually, I don't hate to say it. She's more interesting to write that way.)

Erin asked: "He killed King Arthur? Why?"

That's a tough question. So first I had to explain that it was King Kenneth, not King Arthur. Then my wife Beth helped out by explaining that Constantine wanted to be king.

We come back from the act and we see that Constantine was ready for the takeover. The Banners are immediately changed in a scene clearly inspired by the Ian McKellan (spelling?) movie version of Shakespeare's Richard III. (A version I heartily recommend, by the way.)

We also continue to set up the Magus' own tragedy. He loves Katharine. Has loved her since before Awakening. That feeling is shown to deepen here when she is once again in danger. And when Constantine tries to coerce her into marrying him. (The astute Mary and Tom have to hold him back.) Here, we sense that maybe Katharine might some day return that love. That's what I wanted you all to think anyway. Did you?

Constantine takes his crown. Originally we wanted to stage this with the Stone of Destiny as we did with Macbeth. But again, I think we just had too many sets.

Michaelmas. I just like that word.

Constantine is fairly astute himself: "You have 36 very good reasons to obey." We kept reiterating the number of eggs for what was coming later.

THE ESCAPE

The Magus disguises broken pots as eggs and vice-versa. But it always seemed to me that the kitchen staff at Edinburgh sure broke a lot of pots. I mean a LOT!

I like the lines: "Taking the wee bairns for a walk?" and "I don't think I like Gargoyle eggs." Very menacing.

Princess K burns her wedding dress. She feels she cannot leave because C will follow her to "the ends of the Earth." So the Magus responds: "Then I will take you beyond them." Again. Very romantic moment between them.

Finella joins the troop. The WOMAN SCORNED. She's really fun now. Dangerous. I always laugh when Constantine drinks the brew and collapses so abruptly.

Erin: "The Weird Sisters". My kids are just fascinated with this trio. I wonder if they still will be by the end of this three-parter or if like many fans, they will be disappointed?

They get turned into owls. But the Magus worries about giving up the source of his power. K doesn't care about that.

And Finella and Mary agree to take the book. I love these two. I think they'd make a totally kick-ass team. I doubt it would be commercial enough, but I'd love to do a spin-off show just with these two women. At any rate, there was the plan to include them as recurring characters in TimeDancer.

Tom has to leave his mother and his childhood behind. Now his role as the Guardian is a way for Katharine to make him accept the loss. It is the start of their relationship, though neither knows it. I watch this now, and I can't help thinking of the Anakin & Padma relationship and where that's destined to go.

AVALON

Back to the present. We see the impressive shores of Avalon. Very cool painting.

Bronx reacts. Guardian: "He's found the eggs..." And the music swells and two gargs and a garg beast appear on the cliff.

Now is that a cliff-hanger or what? What was your reaction?

Erin and Benny wanted "to see ther rest!" I told them they'd have to wait a week and we got a lot of protesting. Just what I was hoping for.

Anyway, that's my ramble. Where's yours?

ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES Bible: 10th Chunk.

THE ENEMY

The Politics of Space Travel
1. The first thing you need to know is this: in our version of the universe, Warp Drive Doesn't Exist. No wormholes, no stargates, no faster than light travel at all. The Speed of Light seems to be a brick wall. Want to travel from Earth to Alpha Centauri (@ 4.3 light-years away)? The best you could possibly do is to borrow a Lycanth Huntership, the fastest fuel-recycler on this side of the galaxy. And, it'll still take you five years to get from here to there.

Communication is only slightly faster. There's no "sub-space". No short-cuts. Information can be transmitted at the Speed of Light, but no faster. So if all you want to do is send a message to Alpha Centauri, they'll receive the call a mere 4.3 years after you've placed it. Of course, they're response is gonna take another 4.3 years, but what can you do?

The Galaxy, of course, is vast. So if an extraterrestrial race wants to come to our world, it's gonna take them some time. Now some alien species have a relatively long life span. If necessary, these voyagers have the option of sitting through the long, long boring trip. Others are left with only two choices: Sleep-Ships and City-Ships (or a combination of both).

A Sleep-Ship puts its occupant in cryo-stasis for the bulk of the journey. Computers and automatons run the ship, waking the sleepers upon arrival or in case of emergency. Sleep-Ships are used when the individual traveler is important. Of course, Sleep-Ships have certain disadvantages. To begin with, you're counting on machines to make crucial and complex decisions while you sleep. Also, you never know what you're going to find when you arrive, let alone what the situation might be like when you get back. Say you want to visit a planet two hundred light years away. You board a Sleep-Ship and go into stasis. You wake up, refreshed, two hundred and twenty five years later. No problem. It only seems like a few minutes to you. You take a two week vacation on the alien world and then reboard your Sleep-Ship for the return voyage. Two hundred and twenty-five years later, you're back on the old homeworld. Problem is, a lot can change in 450 years. Everyone you knew is almost certainly dead. Potentially, the entire planet might be dead.

By contrast, a City-Ship creates an environment where a community can live, thrive and evolve during the long journey. Crew members will mate, procreate, age and eventually die. Their offspring will mate, procreate, age and eventually die. And so on. The idea isn't for any individual to arrive at the destination, but for an entire society to arrive. Adaptation is built into the process. Plus the culture is brought along for the ride. There's less of a need to return to the old world. City-Ships tend to be favored for colonization.

Often, City-Ships have cryo-stasis capabilities. Individuals are placed in cryo-stasis at the beginning of a voyage and awakened periodically to make sure that the City-Ship's society hasn't gotten too far off track. This also sounds like a better idea in theory then it winds up being in practice. Inevitably, there tends to be some conflict (sometimes violent conflict) between the sleeping population and the descendants of the original crew. Call it a generational gap.

2. The second thing you need to know about the universe is that habitable planets are not a dime a dozen. The reason Earth is a destination resort for all these alien species is because it's a relatively primitive, unspoiled and/or exploitable location that is capable of sustaining life as we know it. And because there aren't a lot of better alternatives out there.

ALIEN RACES
Again, the universe is vast. Our Milky Way Galaxy is pretty dang immense all by itself. Somewhere out there, there must be hundreds, perhaps thousands, of habitable planets each filled with one or more sentient alien species. But forget about that, because they're just too darn far away for us to worry about.

We're not going to meet 100 different alien species. In the 22 hours of programming we're planning, we won't even meet 22 separate species. That doesn't mean we won't be introducing a new species here and there. But when we do, it's a momentous event. In our first few episodes -- as we introduce all the various concepts -- it might seem like we're doing alien-of-the-week. But it'll soon be clear that's not the case. We're NOT doing alien-of-the-week.

Our series is basically a THRILLER. Sure we have scary monsters, great action, humor, romance and lots of neato gear. But the intrigue, the machinations, is going to be what sets us apart from our many competitors.

THE SIDHE
The Sidhe were the first extraterrestrials to arrive on our world and stay. They landed in a single City-Ship in the year 527 B.C. Sidhe have a life span of approximately two hundred years. Do the math, and you'll realize that there isn't a Sidhe living on the planet who wasn't born here. They believe that Earth is their home. They believe that certainly they have as much of a right to be here as native humans. Their homeworld, if it still exists at all, is a distant memory.

The Sidhe did not come here to conquer our planet, but to carve out a life for themselves on our frontier world. They were always happy to coexist with humans, in the same way they'd coexist with a bear, rabbit or honeybee. But times have changed.

The Sidhe are a race more of energy than of matter. Through concentration and training, they are capable of coalescing their energy into a more solid human form. They can pass as either Tall Women or Short Men. (Sidhe society is matriarchal. Women are Sidhe Warriors. Men, who are objectively the weaker sex physically, are not treated as equals.)

Today, the Sidhe live among humans (mostly in the British Isles, France and Canada), but secretly maintain their tight-knit clans. Each clan is ruled by a Matriarch known as the Barrow Sidhe, and each Barrow reports to the Bhan Sidhe. The current Bhan Sidhe is Siobhan's mother RAEBHAN, (pronounced rah-VAWN) daughter of Moerbhan, daughter of Obraebhan, daughter of Maebhan, etc.

The Sidhe currently have a treaty with the Alliance that places strict limits on their Expansion. Travel is restricted. New clans may not be initiated. Human forms must always be worn in public. Despite the harshness of the terms, today's Alliance generally considers the Sidhe to be a tough, but honorable race. Occasionally, an individual Warrior might create some problems, but in general the Sidhe keep to themselves and cause little trouble.

THE NOSFERATU
The Nosferatu departed NOSFERATCH, their over-populated home planet, in search of new worlds to conquer. They traveled in a Giant City-Ship called THE VAMPYRCH. A percentage of The Vampyrch's crew were put in cryo-stasis. The rest were left awake to handle whatever crisis might arise.

Nosferatu have a life span of approximately 100 years. But the Voyage of The Vampyrch was a long one. It seemed like there was always a new solar system just around the corner that was bound to have a promising planet or two. But no. Nothing. For centuries and centuries... Nothing. Aboard The Vampyrch, new Nosferatu were born and old ones died. Meanwhile the rest slept in stasis. The centuries slid by.... And nothing.

Then finally, they found Earth. The sleeping Nosferatu were brought out of stasis in the year 744 A.D. But they found that they no longer had much in common with their descendants aboard The Vampyrch.

Today's Nosferatu are the descendants of the Nosferatu brought out of stasis upon arrival on our world. They are tall creatures that move upright on snake-like tails instead of legs. They have long necks and long arms, with long tapered hands and long tapered fingers. They look like nothing so much as human cobras, complete with a cobra's hood. Passing for human is possible, but difficult. The tail must be hidden under robes or long capes. The hood must be decorated to look like a piece of clothing as opposed to an organic body part. And even then it had better be dark, if you don't want the average human to scream.

Of course, the average human would have reason to scream. Nosferatu feed on blood, and they are bent on the conquest of our world. Really, the only thing that has stopped them is their limited numbers. Nosferatu have a life span of approximately 100 years, and they are hardly a prolific race. Nosferatu are asexual and reproduce asexually in a process that has more in common with cloning then anything we would call conception.

In addition, the Nosferatu have no desire to repeat the mistakes of The Vampyrch. So even today, here on this world, they take turns going into and out of cryo-stasis, so that they never again lose track of their mission of conquest. It is therefore possible to have a seven hundred year old Nosferatu standing next to a seventy year old Nosferatu. In either case, guessing their ages would be extremely difficult, as Nosferatu shed their skin periodically, remaining perpetually youthful in appearance, no matter how old they are internally.

The Nosferatu are always led by the oldest Nosferat currently not in stasis. The leader of the moment is eighty-three year old SAVET, born a good couple thousand years ago on Nosferatch. His second-in-command is his twenty year old son SAVETRE, who looks almost exactly like his father.

The Alliance is aware of the Nosferatu, and consider them to be the greatest alien menace on the planet. At the first clue to Nosferatu whereabouts or activity, the Alliance will mobilize to crush their primary opponent. Most of the Nosferatu currently live in Eurasia, but they have secret embassies all over the world.

THE VAMPYRU
Over the centuries that The Vampyrch was traveling the galaxy, the inhabitants who were not in cryo-stasis adapted. They learned to control the shedding of their skin, in order to alter their appearance. By the time The Vampyrch landed on Earth, these new generation Nosferatu had little in common with the ancient cousins that were brought out of cryo-stasis. Conquest was no longer a priority. After centuries cooped up in a ship, the planet Earth seemed to offer a cornucopia of delights. The newly awakened old-style Nosferatu tried to get the new crowd back in line, but they refused. Taking the name Vampyru, this new race dedicated itself to it's own pursuit of choice: Pleasure.

The Vampyru are heavy-duty hedonists. They still drink blood to sustain their lives and because, hey, it's a laugh. But they've developed a palate for food and drink as well. They are a very sensuous and sensual race. They still reproduce asexually, but by shedding their skin, a Vampyr can easily blend into human society. It helps that the race has evolved a pair of legs, but any individual Vampyr can also be male or female, old or young, black or white -- and then start over again the next day. With a bit of study and practice, they can even pose as a specific human and attempt to take that person's place.

Vampyru and Nosferatu: there's no love lost between these cousins. The Nosferatu regard the Vampyru as frivolous traitors and have vowed to someday make them toe the line. For their part, the Vampyru like the status quo. Traditionally, they've maintained an active interest in thwarting the conquest schemes of the Nosferatu.

None of this means that the Alliance and the Vampyru are buddies.

The Vampyru think of Earth as their own personal playground. Naive humans peacefully go about their business in a blissful state of ignorance. The Vampyru can pick and choose their victims, practically on demand. Playground, nothing: it's a candy store.

The Alliance is NOT o.k. with that. The problem is that the very nature of the Vampyru make it nearly impossible to track them down. They have no leader. No society. They've simply scattered to the four corners of the world to follow their individual appetites.

Both the Nosferatu and the Vampyru secrete a drug in their saliva which can temporarily enslave a once-bitten human.

THE LYCANTH
Frankly, the Lycanth are just all over the place. They come; they go. They come back again; they go away again. The first Lycanth on Earth probably pre-date the Sidhe. But they didn't stay. Not as a group. Trouble with the Lycanth is that they have short life spans. They mature quickly; a four year old Lycanth is fully grown. But they're slowing down by age ten. A twenty year old Lycanth is a rarity. You can see their dilemma. It's hard to set long-term policy when one's life tends toward the short term.

Thus by definition, the Lycanth (males and females) live life in the fast lane. They build fast and efficient Sleep-Ships, and they travel a lot, usually in packs. They hunt. They breed -- prolifically. They fight among themselves for power. They make war against their enemies. They are a highly aggressive species. Life is short, so they make it one big adventure.

The Lycanth are DNA-adapters. When a compatible DNA sample is introduced into an individual Lycanth's system, he or she can incorporate the new structure into his or her own matrix, allowing the Lycanth to morph from one biological structure to another or even to create combination forms from whatever DNA he or she has had access to. In simple terms, a Lycanth can look human one minute and then transform into a bear. Or a wolf. Or a large bat. Or a Yeti. Or a wolf-bat. Or a wolf-man. Or a bear-Lycanth. Or a Yeti-rabbit. Etc. Gender remains the same. So does mass, though volume can change within reason. Because mass remains constant, and because the average Lycanth is actually 25% larger than the average human, a Lycanth posing as a human is going to be denser than a true human. On the other hand, a Lycanth posing as a Yeti is going to be considerably lighter than average. Lycanth seem to be able to DNA-adapt any mammalian species. That includes humans, Yeti, gorillas, dolphins, etc. But it doesn't include the reptilian Nosferatu and Vampyru, nor does it include the Sidhe, who may have once been mammals, but have evolved beyond that into a complex hybrid of matter and energy. Lycanth transformations require some effort and are painful. A Lycanth is vulnerable during his or her transformation, but recovery time is swift.

Among their other lovely traits, the Lycanth are slavers. To the Lycanth, Earthlings look like profitable slaves. So even at their least organized, the Lycanth are constantly showing up, abducting humans, sticking them in cryo-sleep and taking off again. At least that's what they would be doing if the Alliance wasn't around to stop them.

THE QUA-YETI
The Qua-Yeti are a powerful but peaceful people. Once upon a time, on their homeworld, the white-furred Qua lived out their primitive existence in the high mountains. Then the Lycanth arrived. They took one look at the Yeti and realized they had hit a slave trader's jackpot. The Yeti had no knowledge of technology. They possessed phenomenal physical strength and they could survive, even thrive, in temperatures and conditions that few other races (or even machines) could endure. The Lycanth enslaved hundreds of Yeti and took them to other worlds. But some of these slaves were quick studies. Yearning for their freedom, the Yeti learned how to use the Lycanth's technology. They bided their time. Unlike their short-lived masters, Yeti's have been known to live for 1000 years. When the time was right, they rebelled, escaping the Lycanth in stolen Sleep-Ships. Unfortunately, the Yeti were too large to fit inside Lycanth stasis chambers. So they had to endure decades of space travel in lonely cramped isolation. Returning to their homeworld would have been hopeless: the Lycanth had completely overrun the place. So they chose another destination where the Lycanth were not in full control. In the year 1780, a small group of about forty Qua-Yeti landed on Earth. They made their way to the Himalayan Mountains. They're still there, for the most part, about a hundred of them now. Males, females, children. The Qua-Yeti have a treaty with the Alliance. They remain in hiding in the Himalayas, and the Alliance leaves them alone.

THE CHASTA-YETI
The Chasta come from the same planet as the Qua. Where the white-furred Qua lived in the high mountains and polar regions, the brown-furred Chasta lived in the low hills, forests and plains. Long before the Lycanth discovered the Qua, they had enslaved nearly the entire Chasta population. When the Qua rebelled, the Chasta rebelled with them, but they had already endured ten times the hardship of the Qua. The Chasta may have been peaceful once upon a time, but now they are a belligerent, even paranoid race. The Chasta also arrived on Earth in 1780. They hid in deep forests, on mountains and in jungles that were once nearly devoid of human life. Now humanity encroaches. The Chasta-Yeti also have a treaty with the Alliance, but the Alliance knows that the Chasta are less content than their Qua cousins.

THE SKRAY
The Skray are an amphibious alien race that have been here for ninety years. The Alliance has no idea that the Skray even exist. No idea that our oceans are filling with Skray fortresses and little Skray hatchlings. Surprise!

THE PHARAOH
The Pharaoh are travelers, historians. A peaceful race. They are also radioactive. And vaguely cadaverous in appearance. To protect the native races they visit, they wear containment suits that once upon a time inspired the ancient Egyptians and Peruvians to try their hand at mummification. The Alliance believes that the benevolent Pharaoh haven't been on Earth for a few centuries.

THE VINAE
The Vinae are a silicon-based lifeform. They look vaguely demonic, with stony visages, large bat-shaped wings, horns and haunches. When a Vinae dies, its body hardens. It can be difficult to tell the difference between a Vinae corpse and a stone gargoyle. The Alliance is therefore unaware that the nomadic Vinae have periodically visited our world.

THE GRAYMEN
The Graymen are the fictional aliens created by the Alliance as part of the Roswell Conspiracy. Or so we've been led to believe....

THE CADRE
In 1942, while the human world was in the midst of its most horrible war, four alien races entered into a devil's agreement to form a Cadre. These races were the Nosferatu, the Lycanth, the Chasta-Yeti and the Sidhe. Their plan was to use the chaos of World War II to take the planet and divide it amongst themselves.

Perhaps the plan was doomed from the start. Each race had a very different reason for participating in the Cadre. The Nosferatu saw it as their big chance to finally conquer the world. The Sidhe, disgusted with humanity's petty but devastating wars, simply wanted to set Earth's affairs in order. The Chasta-Yeti felt that the humans were inadvertently leaving them with no other alternative. Already, the ancient forests were vanishing, leaving the Chasta with nowhere to go. The Lycanth were just greedy for spoils, and spoiling for a fight.

Once Burdette discovered the Cadre's existence, it was relatively easy to sew dissension within its ranks. How hard could it be to convince the Sidhe that the Nosferatu wouldn't want to share power, when in fact the Nosferatu didn't want to share power? How hard could it be to convince the Chasta that the Lycanth were simply exploiting them in a new and different way, when the Chasta had centuries of experience suffering under Lycanth exploitation? How hard could it be to trick the Vampyru into undercutting the Cadre's plans, when the Vampyru already hated the Nosferatu and were determined not to let them take the planet? How hard could it be to draft the Qua-Yeti to talk some sense into the Chasta when both races faced similar challenges, but both races would clearly gain few tangible benefits under Nosferatu or Lycanth domination? How hard could it be to convince the Sidhe that being a part of the Cadre was a dishonor to their proud warrior traditions, when the Sidhe basically knew that already? How hard could it be?

O.K., it was a little hard. But it could have been a lot worse. In September, 1945, the Sidhe pulled out of the Cadre and agreed to stay neutral. The Chasta-Yeti joined with the Qua-Yeti, luring the Lycanth and Nosferatu to the Himalayas and a joint Yeti/Alliance ambush. The Lycanth HunterPack was all but wiped out. The Nosferatu, whose forces had been infiltrated by Vampyru impostors, were also decimated. They scurried back under their rocks with their tails between their legs. (Well, they don't have legs, but you get the idea.)

To top it off, the Battle of the Himalayas was immediately followed by a mini-war between the Vampyru and the Nosferatu that further thinned out the ranks of both races.

All in all, it was a stunning victory for the Alliance and (an ignorant) humanity.

It would take decades for the Nosferatu, Lycanth and even the Vampyru to build up their numbers again, let alone form any significant opposition to the Alliance.

The Sidhe, the Chasta-Yeti and the Qua-Yeti were all more or less coerced into signing one-sided treaties.

And the Alliance was sitting pretty.

Since then, operatives of the Alliance have faced numerous aliens. Numerous individual aliens. The occasional Pack of Lycanth Hunters. Every so often, an embassy full of Nosferatu. A Vampyru couple, a rogue Sidhe or a Chasta gone berserk. Not to imply that all these aliens aren't extremely dangerous, but let's be honest... The Alliance has had it easy.

Since 1945, they've never faced any organized alien opposition. By the time the year 2000 hits, the Alliance is going to be looking back on the twentieth century as the good old days. Because things are about to change. Things are about to get nasty.

THE AGENDA
It's taken decades to recover from the Cadre debacle. Soon the time will come to strike. The same mistakes will not be made again. It doesn't take a World War and an alien coup to take over the planet. All it takes is an AGENDA and a little bit of patience.

There's still a need to gather allies, but it's going to be easier this time. And one big reason it's going to be easier is the Alliance itself. The Sidhe and the Chasta don't like their treaties. And nobody likes the Alliance's policy of Containment. The Alliance itself has inadvertently created the greatest threat to humanity's existence: a rallying point, a common enemy to every alien on Earth. It's the Agenda vs. the Alliance in a fight to the finish. I'll say it again. Things are about to get nasty.

ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES BIBLE: 9th Chunk

THE MISSION
The Mission is pretty simple and based on this premise: Aliens are unwelcome trespassers on our planet, and 95% of them are up to no good.

The Alliance's Mission Statement reads as follows:

Contain any and all Extraterrestrial Expansion on our world.

DEFINITIONS
An "Extraterrestrial" is defined as any individual born of a non-terrestrial species. Individuals born on the planet Earth of one or more alien parents are still classified as Extraterrestrials.

"Expansion" can be defined as (a) new alien arrivals that expand the Extraterrestrial population on Earth; (b) covert alien activity that expands Extraterrestrial power or influence on Earth, or (c) overt alien activity that might reveal the true nature of the Extraterrestrial presence on Earth, thus inevitably increasing Extraterrestrial influence.

"Containment" is defined as (a) discouraging or preventing all alien arrivals; (b) encouraging alien departures; (c) monitoring all alien communication; (d) thwarting covert alien activity; (e) preventing the spread of Extraterrestrial power and influence; (f) crushing overt alien activity; (g) maintaining the secrecy of any true Extraterrestrial presence; (h) enforcing treaties with compliant Extraterrestrials; (i) forcing non-treaty aliens to leave our world, or (j) imprisoning any aliens who do not cooperate. Containment is to be carried out with extreme prejudice.

Surprisingly, there is very little conflict within the Alliance or TGA with regard to releasing the truth about aliens to the general public. There isn't really anyone who thinks that would be fun. Instead, the most controversial part of the Alliance's Mission Statement lies within the (a) definition of "Expansion". It is the single word "arrivals". Are there any circumstances under which a new alien -- or race of aliens -- could or should be welcomed to our world? And, more important, does the word "arrival" include only new-comers from other worlds... or does it also include new-born extraterrestrials born on this world? This one word represents the grey area of our series, and is particularly embodied by our alien leads, Siobhan, Tuk and (to a lesser extent) Aidan.

The Alliance has treaties with three alien races that have small populations on Earth: The Sidhe, the Qua-Yeti and the Chasta-Yeti. But these treaties are extremely one-sided -- in the Alliance's favor. The slightest breach on the part of any of our Extraterrestrial allies is an excuse for the Alliance to come down, and come down hard.

THE BUNKER
When you get to Roswell, head south past the river toward Mount Harvey. About ten miles before the mountain, you'll see a turn off for the Old Vasquez Ranch, currently owned by Sheriff Emeritus Jack McKay. Six miles further down the road is ThreeHawks Ranch, the property of retired Air Force Captain Will Hawking. McKay's is a cattle ranch. Hawking raises dairy goats, and does a good business in cheese. His place stretches from it's common border with the Vasquez Ranch, all the way to the northern slope of Mount Harvey. McKay's property is L-shaped and corners around 3Hawks to stop against the mountain's western slope.

Now go underground. Way underground. And welcome to the Bunker.

Fifty years ago, the entire Alliance fit under Vasquez. But times have changed. The Alliance and the Bunker have grown.

Acres. Vasquez and 3Hawks are both large spreads, and every inch of dirt now acts as cover to some portion of the Bunker. And Mount Harvey... well, it's hollow. Reinforced with steel. But hollow. Once again, welcome to the Bunker.

"Inquiry" is based under Vasquez. Take the TurboLift down from McKay's ranch house (or any of six other locations on Vasquez) and you'll find one hundred private quarters, forty offices and the "Assignment Desk". The Desk keeps track of every mysterious report, every flare up of alien activity and every Inquiry Agent. The desk is generally manned by Aidan Maguire, who considers it part of his job description. After all, how can he keep Hawking informed, if he doesn't know everything that's going on. Inquiry has its own "Motor Pool", plus SpeedRail Links to the other Sections and Centers.

"Management" and "Research" are both housed under 3Hawks. Again you have 100 living quarters, plus 100 small laboratories and five huge Research Chambers for the really dangerous experiments. There's one additional Research Chamber carved into the peak of Mount Harvey. This chamber includes a powerful radio telescope and super-computer, hooked to a network of orbiting satellites, designed to provide an early warning system for any new alien arrivals.

Beneath this Chamber, Harvey houses "Delivery". There are ten large apartments. An armory. An immense hangar. Training rooms. A Command Center and a War Room.

And finally, there's "Surplus". If any section of the Alliance has grown exponentially, it's the Alliance prison. Most of Mount Harvey is Surplus, and that includes Harvey's fifteen below ground stories. In addition, Surplus still maintains the Alliance's original Lock-Up on the lowest four levels of Vasquez. And it's still not enough. Surplus spills out into the sections of both Vasquez and 3Hawks that border Mt. Harvey. These newest sections are particularly problematic, because they were not originally designed to house prisoners. Lower security risks have been placed in these sections, but everyone knows it's a flaw in the system.

Locations within the Bunker are designated by first listing the Center, then the Level (in positive or negative numbers), followed by a slash mark, the pod letter and room number. For example, Markus' living quarters are Vasquez-6/C2. The office he shares with Tri is Vasquez-3/A7. Hawking lives in the ThreeHawks Ranch house, officially known as 3HawksØ. Siobhan's living quarters are at Harvey+8/A4. (Frankly, I don't know if this is going to matter, but I thought I'd stick it in anyway. Might help us to maintain consistency down the line.)

GEAR
The Alliance has recruited some of the most brilliant minds on the planet to join "Research". And guys like Tib are always coming up with new stuff. In addition, the Alliance isn't shy about confiscating and exploiting alien technology. All in all, the operatives have a lot at their disposal.

Only one problem. The Alliance is a secret. And so is its on-going effort to control the invading aliens. Most everything has to be able to pass for something else. Which gives us the opportunity for transforming vehicles, hidden weapons and more. Motorcycles that transform and fly. Trucks that become Tanks. Etc. "Delivery" does have a couple of heavily armored all-terrain monstrosities that cannot pass, but they are only used in cases of extreme emergency.

The most common weapon (standard issue for every Inquiry or Research Cell Agent) is "The Torch". The multi-purpose Torch appears to be an ordinary black metal flashlight. But with the flick of a hidden switch, it can telescope out into a (light but sturdy) metal short staff for hand-to-hand combat. One end of the staff holds an electrical charge that can be used as a taser. The other end, fires off a plasma burst that can blow a sizable hole through a brick wall. The Torch is also a communications device and has a built-in homing beacon for tracking wayward agents (or at least for tracking wayward Torches). It's also a working flashlight, and makes a passable doorstop.

Of course, Harris can't be bothered with anything quite so polite. He's into big guns. Magno-Axes. Pulse grenades that can take out a battalion of baddies. Demolition stuff. Scary looking ordinance. Since he's part of Delivery's crisis response team, he doesn't have to be as careful about laying low. If it weren't a last resort emergency, he wouldn't be there in the first place. Plus he doesn't have to clean up after himself, so he isn't shy about doing some real damage with some really impressive toys.

ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES BIBLE: 8th Chunk

SUPPORTING CAST

THE QUICK
AIDAN MAGUIRE
Like Siobhan, Aidan is Sidhe. But that's where the resemblance ends. The Sidhe are a matriarchal race. And that's no accident. Females of the species are incredibly powerful. Males are not. Aidan is 4'11", which is average height for his race and gender. When Aidan takes his Sidhe form, there's no great release of energy. No Banshee wail or bolts of lightning. He can float and he can pass through solid objects, but that can be a handicap, as he can't physically touch or move anything.

Aidan was born in Scotland in 1930. When he was fourteen years old he met Warren Burdette and told him of the existence of the Cadre. When the Alliance was formed, the young Aidan became Burdette's aide-de-camp. He now performs the exact same function for Hawking. In theory, Aidan is 69 years old, but his race is extremely long-lived. Except for his white hair, he hardly looks a day over twenty.

JOHN GERALD MCKAY
Jack McKay is Hawking's peer and best friend. Like Hawking, he's a veteran of WWII and numerous alien conflicts. He's seventy-seven years old. A good old boy from Texas. Once upon a time, he was a star athlete at his high school, but these days he doesn't look much like an action hero. He's about 5'10", has quite a spread around his gut and a distinct lack of hair on top of his head. But he's still sharp as a tack. He's theoretically retired from the Alliance, but his "homespun advice" is usually dead on the money. Both Hawking and Artie Kateras count on him for strategy and feedback. Like Hawking, McKay is a consummate actor, though he only ever plays one part: the common sense Sheriff Emeritus. An Andy Taylor for the conspiracy set.

TRISH AINSLEY
Now 73 years old, Trish Ainsley was once a key operative of the Alliance. That changed when she got pregnant with Patricia and left the organization so that her daughter could have a normal life. She had originally hoped that Hawking would leave as well, and she was tremendously disappointed when he chose to stay in Roswell. Years later, she was equally devastated when her daughter enlisted too -- though it was Trish that presented Patricia with the choice in the first place. Trish loves her daughter. And deep-down, she still loves her husband as much as she ever did. But something else has changed. For reasons that aren't yet entirely clear, Trish seems to have soured on the Alliance completely. She knows something that we don't.

FRANK DOMINIC
Markus' cousin Dom is 42 years old. He's a big man -- bigger than Markus -- who's put on a bit of a spare tire, but still looks like he could hold his own in a brawl. These days Dom describes himself as a small businessman, who spends his days sitting behind the only desk at Dominic Bail Bonds in Los Angeles. But Dom was once the best skip tracer in the business, and he taught his younger cousin Tony everything he knows. When things at the Alliance get too weird, Dom is the guy Markus turns to for cool-headed advice. When nothing is as it seems, and nobody can be trusted, Dom is always gonna be Dom.

THE DEAD
WARREN BURDETTE
Died in his sleep in 1982 at the age of 83. Burdette founded the Alliance and was it's first Night Officer, a position he held until the day he died. He was a tough, smart man and a hero to Aidan Maguire, Will Hawking and many others. He's still missed.

SEGUNDO VASQUEZ
Dr. Vasquez was a brilliant theoretical physicist and one of the original agents of the Alliance. A chain-smoker, he died of lung cancer in 1961 at the age of 50.

MICHAEL TYLER
Another charter operative, Dr. Tyler was killed in early 1999 in the line of duty. He was 84 years old, had led Alpha Cell since 1945, and had run the entire "Research" Section since 1964. Despite Tyler's advanced age, Hawking felt that Alpha never worked better than when Michael was teamed with Miguel Cabral and Michel Thibideaux. "The Mikes" worked in perfect synch until the day Tyler was killed.

ERICH DIENER
Erich Diener of West Berlin was recruited to join the Alliance when West Germany joined TGA in 1955. At the time he was 25 years old. While an "Inquiry" agent, he met and fell in love with "Surplus" worker Maria Vasquez. They were married in 1970 and had two children, Alex and Gisela. Erich was killed on a mission in 1980. He was 50 years old. His daughter was only five.

MARIA VASQUEZ DIENER
Maria Vasquez was the daughter of Segundo Vasquez. She joined "Surplus" section in 1957 when she was 18 years old. Her father died when she was 22. She married Erich Diener in 1970. She was 31 years old. Alex was born in 1971, Gisela in 1975. Erich was killed in 1980. Maria was killed during a prison break in 1989. She was 50 years old, the same age her father and her husband were at the time of their deaths.

REIKO TAKASHI
Reiko Takashi of Nagasaki, Japan, joined "Inquiry" in 1996, when Hawking finally convinced TGA to allow him to recruit individuals into the Alliance without regard for their citizenship. For almost three years, Reiko was Tri Chung's partner. She was as open and warm as he was taciturn and closed off. They fell in love. Although the Alliance encourages "office romance," no one thought it would be a good idea for "Inquiry" partners to marry. Reiko applied for a transfer to "Delivery". But before her request could be acted on, she and Michael Tyler were killed during a mission. Tri was there, but couldn't save her. It was early in 1999. Reiko was 32 years old.

M.I.A.
JOSEPH TEN-SAMSONS SENIOR
Joseph Ten-Samsons Senior was one of the original operatives of the Alliance. He led "Delivery" for years, just as his son does now. In 1980, he disappeared while on a mission in Ireland. He was 55 years old. He hasn't been seen since, but if he's alive today he'd be 74 years old.

NIKO KATERAS
Artie's uncle Niko joined the Alliance in 1972 when he was 21 years old. He was an "Inquiry" Senior Agent for years. He and his nephew Apollo disappeared in 1997. They were not on duty at the time. Niko was 46 then, and he'd be 48 now.

APOLLO KATERAS
Artie's twin brother Apollo was recruited with her by their uncle Niko in 1983. They were 22. Both of them entered "Inquiry" together. Artemis excelled. Apollo did not. He transferred to "Surplus." Apollo and his uncle Niko disappeared without a trace in 1997. They were not on duty at the time. Apollo was 36 then, and he'd be 38 now.

Roswell Conspiracies Bible: 7th Chunk

Here's the 7th Chunk from the darn long Roswell Conspiracies Bible:

THE ALLIANCE - TODAY.
[NOTE: This is a snapshot, taken (more or less) at the beginning of our second episode. What follows represents each character's job assignment at that time. Over the course of our series, we can expect a lot of shifting. Markus, in particular, will fast-track through the ranks, until in our final episode, he'll become the Alliance's third and final "Night Officer". For the purpose of our character's ages, I'm assuming that "today's date" is September, 1999. ]

"MANAGEMENT"
NIGHT OFFICER - WILLIAM T. HAWKING
Since the Alliance was formally inaugurated in February, 1945, it has only ever had two Night Officers. The first was the late "General" Warren Burdette. The second was and is Will Hawking, who's been with the Alliance from the beginning. Hawking is tall (over six feet), thin and fit. He's seventy-seven years old, way past the age of retirement. He claims he'd be happy to step down -- if anyone ever got up the nerve to suggest it out loud. He's British, but he's posed as an American for so long that he's no longer sure which of his accents is real, which affected. He's a veteran of World War II and an additional few hundred alien conflicts. Once upon a time, he was Burdette's right-hand man. There isn't any job in the Alliance (save for some of the hard science positions) that Hawking hasn't personally tackled and excelled at. Today, he cuts a lean, hard figure. With his gray crewcut, he resembles nothing so much as a steel beam -- in both appearance and temperament. He does, however, have a grim sense of humor, or at least an appreciation of irony. He's also a consummate actor. At the drop of a hat, he can appear to be a tired old man, a paranoid or an eccentric, a showman or a recluse... or all of the above at the exact same time.

The Alliance is a lean organization. Hawking has a small command staff working under him, but he largely counts on his four SECTION CHIEFS to keep "Management" informed and the Alliance running smoothly.

"INQUIRY"
SECTION CHIEF - ARTEMIS KATERAS
Artie Kateras is a thirty-eight year old woman with light brown hair. Born in Greece, she and her twin brother Apollo were recruited into the Alliance by their uncle Niko when they were in their early twenties. Artie is very down to Earth and had no trouble fitting into what was then the largely male world of the Alliance. She rose quickly through the ranks. When Jack McKay retired, he hand-picked Artie to take his place as Section Chief of "Inquiry". Today, it is very much HER section, remade in her image. "Inquiry" is an Alliance euphemism for the multiple investigative units that seek out any sign of alien activity throughout the world. Artie rarely goes out in the field herself, but she chooses and pairs her agents carefully. She knows how to listen to them, and she knows how to drive them to get the information the Alliance needs.

"Inquiry" is the largest of the Alliance's four Sections. Artie currently has thirty-five investigative units working under her command. That's seventy agents. (Don't panic. We'll focus on two units. Four agents.)

UNIT #7
SENIOR AGENT - TRI CHUNG
Tri is Chinese-Vietnamese. He was born in Vietnam but when Saigon fell, he had to flee by boat as a child. He wound up in San Francisco. The Alliance recruited him out of the F.B.I. when he was in his late twenties. Today, he's thirty-six years old. A suit and tie type. He's about 5'7" and in excellent physical condition. He's smart, fast and experienced. Like his new partner Markus, he's not too talkative, which is probably how both men manage to get along. Tri's former partner was REIKO TAKASHI. Tri was in love with her. She's dead now.

SECOND AGENT - TONY MARKUS
Markus is young, but hard. As taciturn as his partner. He's big on observation. Big on determination. He's also a fast study. He knows he can learn a lot from Chung, whom he quietly respects. Markus is 25 years old and approximately six feet tall. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California.

UNIT #27
SENIOR AGENT - ALEX DIENER
Alex is a third generation operative of the Alliance, joyously following in the footsteps of his grandfather, mother and father. Alex lived above the Bunker on the Vasquez Ranch until he was eighteen, when he was officially recruited into the family business. Alex is German on his father's side. Mexican-American on his mother's. At heart, he is a rogue and a pirate: life has to get pretty grim for Alex to take it seriously. He's very good-looking with brown skin, jet black hair and the devil's own smile. He's about 5'10". Because Alex's grandfather, father and mother each died at the age of 50, twenty-eight year old Alex is convinced that he's currently invulnerable. He's equally convinced that he's destined to die in 2021, the year he himself turns fifty.

SECOND AGENT - CLEA BALEWA
Clea is Nigerian. She's a pretty and petite 5'4" with very short hair. She dresses chic, though not sexy. She's warm, open, funny. Simply a joy to be around. She's also smart (heck, everyone in the Alliance is smart), highly-trained and dangerous when necessary. She's 23 years old and has been an operative of the Alliance (and Alex's partner) for a year.

"RESEARCH"
SECTION CHIEF - DR. MIGUEL CABRAL
Dr. Cabral is Portuguese. He's forty-two years old and specializes in theoretical physics. He's a bullish guy, short with very broad shoulders, dark hair and a mustache. He's the impatient type. Always scowling. And, of course, flat-out brilliant. He's been an operative of the Alliance for twelve years. He was a protégé of Dr. Michael Tyler's (the previous Section Chief) and considered the late scientist to be both his mentor and his best friend.

Cabral's "Research" Section -- a.k.a. the Alliance's scientific branch -- operates from a pool of some fifty experts, specialists and technicians all working in well-equipped labs inside the Bunker. A few of these scientists have received additional training so that they can function in the field as "Research Cells." There are four cells of three scientists each. Cabral gets antsy inside his lab, so when it's called for, he leads Alpha Cell himself.

ALPHA CELL
CELL LEADER/PHYSICS - DR. MIGUEL CABRAL
(See above.)

TECHNOLOGY - MICHEL THIBIDEAUX
Tib is French. Twenty-eight years old, from Paris. He's 5'9" with bleached-blond spiky hair. He's highly enthusiastic. And very good with his hands. Tib was personally recruited by Dr. Tyler in 1995 when France rejoined TGA. For four years, until Tyler was killed, Alpha Cell was known as "The Three Mikes" (Michael, Miguel and Michel). Despite their age differences, they were very tight.

BIOLOGY - DR. GISELA DIENER
Gisela is Alex Diener's younger sister. She's twenty-four years old. Blonde, tan, pretty. About 5'8". If Alex is the sinner, Gisela is the saint. Despite her medical and scientific background, Gisela has a distinct spiritual side. Alex can't understand it, but Gisela believes in little things like magic and mysticism, and big things like God and Destiny. Subsequently, she seems more fragile than she really is. Everyone's very protective of Gisela. Both of her parents were killed on Alliance missions. Her father Erich, when she was five years old; her mother Maria, when she was 14. She was basically adopted by the Alliance. They raised, trained and educated her. She joined "Research" after receiving her M.D. at age 19 and her Ph.D. at age 21. After three years in the "pool," Dr. Cabral chose her to replace Dr. Tyler as Alpha Cell's Biological expert.

"DELIVERY"
SECTION CHIEF - JOSEPH TEN-SAMSONS
Joe is another Alliance legacy. His father, Joseph Senior, worked in "Delivery" until the day he disappeared. Joe Jr. is a Navajo Indian, born fifty-two years ago in Roswell, New Mexico, exactly one month before the infamous "Roswell Crash." But don't let his age fool you, Joe is a very young 52. He's over six feet tall and solid as a New Mexico mountain. And there's very little erosion.

"Delivery" is the Alliance's combat unit. They're only sent out in case of an emergency -- to clean up a real mess. Anything short of a disaster can theoretically be handled by one of the other sections. Unfortunately, disasters aren't as uncommon as you might think. Joe always leads his team into battle himself. When that happens, he wears an exo-brace that enhances his natural movements. His strength, agility, etc. are all exponentially increased.

CODENAME: MILKMAN - YA-TUK
Ya-Tuk is an alien. A member of the peaceful, reclusive QUA-YETI race. Tuk wasn't born here, but he's lived on our world for over two hundred years. (That's almost half his life.) He sincerely wants to help preserve the planet Earth from all its various invaders and so joined the Alliance in August of 1945. He's extremely good-natured. Even a touch mischievous. He's also 8'7" and weighs 524 lbs. He's covered with snow white fur. Ya-Tuk cannot pass for human. So even when a disaster forces "Delivery" Section into the field, Joe still has to decide whether the disaster is big enough to warrant bringing the "Milkman" along. (Of course, it usually is.) Tuk possesses incredible strength, stamina and a complete imperviousness to the cold. He's also has an almost childlike fascination with technology, though his huge four-fingered hands don't exactly lend themselves to this pursuit. His quarters are highly air-conditioned. He's not at all fond of warm weather.

CODENAME: PAPER BOY - SIOBHAN BARROW
Siobhan (pronounced "sha-VAWN") is also an alien. She's a member of the SIDHE (pronounced "shee") race. In fact, her mother is the BHAN SIDHE (pronounced "bVawn SHEE"), Warrior Matriarch of the entire Earth Clan. Siobhan was born on Earth, (specifically in Ireland). Our planet is the only home she's ever known. She's nineteen years old, the youngest, least experienced operative in the entire Alliance. But what she lacks in experience, she makes up for in power. She can pass for human when she wants to: a pretty young woman, 5'10" tall with white-blonde hair and pale, pale blue eyes of (only) a slightly odd shape. But at anytime, she can transform, taking on her true Sidhe appearance with a devastating burst of energy that shreds her clothes and knocks out anyone standing within ten feet of her. When this happens, she becomes a creature less of matter than of energy. Her hair goes shock-white, with a slight blue tint. Her eyes crackle with power. An electric aura surrounds her body, allowing her to float a few feet off the ground or to fire off a bolt of lightning. She is ethereal, capable of passing through solid objects. And she can release the BANSHEE WAIL - a brief but violent burst of sonic energy that few can stand against. In fact, this is Siobhan's true form. Maintaining her human appearance requires some effort and discipline. When she loses consciousness (or even just her concentration), she always reverts to Sidhe.

And just to complicate things a bit more, Siobhan's loyalty isn't exactly at the 100% level. She's torn. Like Ya-Tuk, she wants to protect the planet Earth. But she's just not sure she wants to do that by betraying her own people. When you put all these things together, Siobhan is clearly the most dangerous creature our man Markus has ever encountered. Although the main reason for that is probably still related to the fact that he's falling in love with her.

CODENAME: POSTAL WORKER - CEDRIC HARRIS
Cedric is thirty-six years old. An African-American man from South Bend, Indiana. He's the WeaponsMaster of the group. You don't want to mess with Mr. Harris. He was recruited out of the Navy SEALs when he was only twenty, and he's a battle-hardened veteran of innumerable alien conflicts. He's also huge. Not Ya-Tuk huge, but the human equivalent. If Alex is a tight end, Markus a quarterback and Joe a fullback, then Harris is a linebacker (or two).

"SURPLUS"
SECTION CHIEF - PATRICIA AINSLEY-HAWKING
Patricia is twenty-seven years old. She's Hawking's daughter, but she was raised in England for most of her life by Hawking's estranged wife Trish Ainsley. Against her mother's wishes, Patricia joined the Alliance the moment she turned 21. She requested an assignment to "Surplus" -- considered the least appealing duty in the Bunker -- and quickly rose to the position of Section Chief. Still, her relationship with her father is uneasy at best. The Alliance has made nepotism into something akin to an art-form, but no one can complain about Patricia's performance as Section Chief. She's made sure of that. She believes that distancing herself from her father is a professional necessity, though deep down it's also a personal cop-out. Patricia is a tall red-head, but she's not exactly hot-blooded. She'd almost have to have ice in her veins to run "Surplus," the euphemism for the Alliance's alien prison. Patricia runs that prison with cold efficiency.

Chapter XXXIII: "The Price"

Ramble, ramble, ramble...

The other night my family and I sat down to watch "The Price"...

Director: Dennis Woodyard.
Writer & Story Editor: Michael Reaves
Based on Comic Book Material by Lee Nordling

RECAP
It seems like I was starting to learn my lesson about not giving too much away in the "Previously on Gargoyles" section. This one is really all about Hudson, and issues of old age and mortality. I think it tends to hint that maybe, just maybe, we were thinking of killing him off. Anyone else think that perhaps we might?

There's some really great, really good looking character work in this animation. Pretty stuff.

There's a great moment where Hudson banks off an office building. Very cool.

Also, I like it on those rare occasions when we do weather in New York. Snow here. Or rain. Usually, it's all left standard for the same reason Elisa usually wears the same clothes. It's cheaper.

As the story opens, we're again trying to set Hudson up for possible termination, at least in the minds of the audience. He says, "Not a bad life all things considered..." which is usually an invitation for something really horrible to happen.

TIER STUFF

This is the last episode of our third tier. I had always hoped it would air last, since what happens at the end to Owen's hand would make interchanging very difficult. But on the first go-round it was ready long before a couple of other eps in the tier. So it aired early. (Particularly before Owen's appearance in "The Cage".) I tried to correct that for later runs. Sometimes with success. Sometimes not.

Anyway, because I couldn't be sure it would air in the right order, you can see that we hedged our bets a bit. Goliath doesn't understand how Macbeth escaped the Weird Sisters. He's not referring to events in "High Noon" which he could not have known about and which I could not guarantee would air before "Price". He's referring to events in "City of Stone, Part IV".

*At the moment he brought them up, my daughter Erin just happened to be coloring a picture of the Sisters drawn by artist David Wong (I think that's his name) who was selling them in the Dealer's Room at the Gathering 2001 in L.A. Erin was very excited by the kismet of the moment.*

Did you guys register Mac's limited dialogue? It would be tough in the first fight by itself. He does have four lines. And GARGOYLES was never a show to go in for extensive quipping during battles. So four lines may have seemed like enough.

And did you register the "Magic Sparkly Powder" when it first hit Hudson?

This ep is fun because there are so many layers of deceit going on.

Note that at this early stage, Goliath doesn't intend to kill Macbeth. He aims for the Sky-sled's control panel and hits it. The fact that the sled goes down is an unfortunate and unavoidable result. And Goliath clearly feels at least a little guilty. Hudson doesn't mind though. He thinks Goliath's action was perfectly reasonable.

I don't suppose anyone thought Mac was really dead? I wasn't really even trying to trick you into that one. Between the immortality info that you (but not the Gargoyles) knew from City of Stone and the early timing of the death in the episode, I figured nobody would be fooled. And I didn't want anyone fooled. Because that wasn't what I wanted to fool you guys about. I didn't want you to figure out that Macbeth was a robot. So I intentionally did not show the body, on the assumption that most everyone knows that if you don't see the body, the victim probably isn't dead. That way when Mac came back, you'd all be thinking, "Hah, Immortal!" instead of "Hah, Robot!"

BTW, everyone always asks how Hudson can believe Mac is dead and then later acknowledge Mac & Demona's immortality to Xanatos. But Hudson was thinking of immortality in the sense of living on without aging, ala the Norse Gods. Not in the sense that Mac was somehow immune to all injury and death ala the Greek Gods. Clear?

Lucky for Xanatos that all the Gargs seem to have favorite poses. (Cheaper that way, don't you know.) Of course it also helps that since they all wake up and go to sleep at the same time, they rarely get a good look at each other's poses. Makes statue prep easier, huh?

Anyway, when Hudson didn't wake up, did everyone buy the magic powder/he's not waking up scenario? Had anyone seen Lee Nordling's Disney Digest comic story that inspired this gimmick. I've never met Lee, but he came up with the idea of replacing a sleeping garg with his statue. He used Goliath, not Hudson. But it was the same basic principle. I gave the idea to Michael (just that notion) and he ran with it to create this entirely different story? Did anyone see Lee's story and still not get it?

I can't remember why we wound up cutting Banquo & Fleance. Guess we were saving money or time at some stage. So Mac's mansion works on auto-pilot, I guess. Though those cannons still aren't too effective against gargs. And who else would attack?

Back to Brooklyn and Broadway guarding "Hudson". We wanted to keep the focus on Hudson, which is tough, since he's not moving. Brooklyn's worried about the reality of being able to find a cure. Again, we're expressing his leadership tendencies without confirming them since we couldn't guarantee that "Upgrade" would air first.

Then, finally at the end of the act, we reveal the real Hudson. My kids got very excited. Erin said: "The stone guy's not the real him." And Benny chimed in with: "That's the real one!" What were you thinking at this moment?

I even had the odd notion last night that we could have gone the direction of Hudson's "prison" being all in his mind. That the statue was him, and that he couldn't wake up until he escaped this mental/dream prison. Obviously, not the way we went. But it's a cool story idea. Anyone think THAT?

So then we come back from commercial and reveal Xanatos who claims he wants Hudson's skin. The line is said in such a way that we and Hudson are geared to think the worst. Which sets up the fun.

Hudson: "You'll have the devil's own time getting it."

Xanatos: "Gee, that wasn't as hard as you made it sound."

Ah, STONE skin. For the Cauldron of Life. I'm pretty sure the Cauldron was Michael's idea.

Everything has a price. Xanatos just doesn't get that yet.

But Hudson has X's number. They're exchanges throughout this episode are a lot of fun. Like a flip on the Goliath/Renard exchanges in "Outfoxed". But better done, frankly. Less preachy.

These exchanges may have been the inspiration for Hudson and Xanatos killing each other in "Future Tense". Owen's watching and subconsciously realizes that in some way, Hudson and Xanatos make better natural adversaries than Goliath and Xanatos. Maybe.

Hudson: "Growing old terrifies you doesn't it?
Xanatos: "Nothing terrifies me, because nothing's beyond my ability to change." (Who else can lie and tell the truth in the same sentence with this much charm. I'm so proud of this boy.)
X: "What about you? Still wasting your nights in front of the television?" (An only semi-dated reference to both Hudson's origins as the comedic gargoyle Ralph and to the way we occasionally still relegated him to clock tower duty in order to have fewer characters to deal with.)

Note that Xanatos plans on giving Fox immortality as well. He knows he loves her at this point. Wouldn't leave her out.

He doesn't mention Owen though, and in general doesn't treat Owen with his usual respect. Goads him a bit. (Macbeth has already died for me once.) Or rather teases him. He probably figures that Owen can take it. But I think it gets to Owen a bit. Xanatos wasn't expecting Owen to test the Cauldron for him. Owen felt the need to prove something. As he says: "Service is its own reward."

Lots of people watched this episode and e-mailed me that X was a big jerk for treating Owen this way. Particularly at the end of the episode when Xanatos seems completely unfazed by Owen's stone hand. Of course in our minds, this was all a very subtle clue to Owen's true identity. Xanatos and Owen both know that this condition is only as permanent as the Puck chooses to make it.

"Over-sized chamber pot." Heh.

X loves them zingers. He nails Hudson with that "the hardest part was finding a replica for your sword."

I like Goliath's desperation in the scene with him and Elisa. "We need a sorceress. We need Demona. You are a detective."

She doesn't know how to find Demona though.

Meanwhile Mac's back, still using only those same four lines. Anyone catch on here? Or wonder why Mac was working for Xanatos again?

Broadway now knows the expression is "Sitting Ducks" not "Sitting Dorks" as he said it in "Enter Macbeth". A little inside joke.

Okay. Very little.

Erin sees Hudson pick up the stone skin and asks what it is.

Sunrise. At the end of Act Two, Elisa has an oddly timed slow reaction to events, that I wish we had found a way to trim a bit.

Benny was worried: "He's gonna break into pieces and never be alive again."

Erin was a bit more tv-savvy: "He's not going to break into pieces. Or this would be the last [episode]."

I didn't really think anyone would think we were actually going to kill BW here. I think the interest is to wonder over the commercial break exactly how the hell we're going to get out of this.

Beth asked: "How'd Elisa know to shoot at that box? Who came up with that? She clearly didn't like it."

Michael Reaves put in this bit about BW turning to stone in mid-air. And I cut it. That's right. Cut it. I thought that it was too big a deal to fit into this story or at any rate that we could never make the rescue convincing. But ultimately I put it right back in. Michael was right. We needed it here. Everyone worked very hard to make Elisa's save as real as possible. The carpet sign established in advance. The multiple shots it takes her just to hit the rope twice. And Brooklyn and Goliath's exchange:

Brook: "It's a miracle!"
Gol: "A miracle named Elisa."

We're acknowledging how unlikely this is and hoping you'll just share it with us.

I still don't know. It's fun. But I'm not sure we really pulled it off in a convincing way. What did you all think?

"Jalapeña, you're still alive!" Another tier risk. Since I couldn't be sure this would air after "Protection".

X: "Hudson, your bath is ready."

This is another cool exchange. The Price metaphor really comes through here.

The title, I think, was one of mine. Inspired by the Arthur Miller play and the Jim Starlin Graphic Novel of the same name.

Back at the Macbeth battle, here he is again. By this time, the robot thing may be more obvious. Same four lines. We still tried to preserve suspense. Since he's presumably working for Xanatos to distract the Gargs that may explain his behaviour. Anyone who thought he was the real Macbeth right until the moment G gutted him?

Elisa is out of bullets. At the time, I thought that made realistic sense. Always hated guns that seemed to have unlimited bullets. Now it just feels like she was dumb for not reloading.

But one other thing strikes me -- in today's environment, we probably wouldn't have been allowed to let Elisa use a realistic gun at all.

Boom. The Hudson statue is blown to bits. By this time you all knew it wasn't Hudson, but we were hoping that for a split second, the image itself would be shocking enough to make you forget. Just for a second.

I think it worked. Ben needed to reassure himself: "That's okay. It's not the real Hudson." I don't think he would have even bothered to say that, if for a split-second he hadn't thought it was.

Of course, Goliath, who had been on the verge of putting two and two together just before this attack, goes positively medieval on us. Before he aimed for Mac's sky-sled. Now he wants "Gargoyle Justice". He's trying to kill Macbeth. It's just lucky that (a) it was a robot and (b) we had a very understanding S&P executive.

I think the robot's death scene is pretty cool. We had John Rhys-Davies come in just to record five lines. The four that we reprinted over and over and one more 'winding-down' take on "You'll have to do better than that!" It's very cool. With the eye popping out and everything. Nice stuff.

One thing I remember discussing with Michael was the rescue of Hudson. Originally, I think he had Goliath and the boys figure it out and have them show up to get H. But I felt strongly that Hudson had to rescue himself. Prove to all concerned that his age was not the liability that X thought.

This is fun.

And I love that Hudson won't destroy the Cauldron.

Like Xanatos, we think that H is "just full of surprises." But it shouldn't be much of a surprise. I think that was right in character for Hudson.

And I love his parting shot: "What will be your legacy, Xanatos?"

Frakes and Asner were both just amazing in this episode.

X: "Let him go. He's earned it." Of course, that's right in character for X too. No revenge. No jumping up and down and whining.

And hey, now Owen's arm can live as long as the mountain stones.

"How literal-minded." I think that line was one of mine. Not sure. It would probably have helped if I had read those two drafts of the script I posted yesterday. But I didn't have time.

So there's my ramble. Where's yours?

ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES BIBLE: Chunks 5 & 6

Continuing the posting of pieces of the Bible for the version of THE ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES that I developed for BKN.

Here's the fifth chunk:

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO - June 14, 1947.
Nothing happened. Nothing at all. Every witness on every side of every version of every event was already working for the Alliance. Oh, today, you might be able to find some old civilian who swears he or she saw the crash from a distance. But that's just a tip off that they're telling tales. Nothing happened.

Vasquez did call the Sheriff to report the crash. And Vasquez, McKay and Ten-Samsons did convene in the desert. And McKay did radio Walker Air Force Base.

Air Force Captain Will Hawking was dispatched to the site of the incident -- with a full platoon of men. Alliance men.

On June 15, the news services did report that a U.F.O. had crashed near Roswell. Captain Hawking did confirm the story later that day.

June 16. General Burdette explained about the weather balloon. And the Vasquez Ranch was declared off-limits to all non-Alliance personnel. Heavy machinery was brought in. Underneath the ranch, construction began on the Bunker to end all Bunkers.

By July 7, the Alliance was able to remove every sign that work was proceeding underground.

On July 8, Trish Ainsley filed her U.F.O. story. The Alliance made sure it never got on the wire. It also made sure that copies of the story were circulated privately, but widely.

July 9. Captain Hawking resigns his commission. He disappears to supervise the completion of the Bunker.

July 16. Ainsley contacted Vasquez, McKay and Ten-Samsons, laying the groundwork for decades of obfuscation.

May, 1948. The Bunker was completed. The Alliance was up and running.

In between investigative assignments for the Alliance, Trish Ainsley continued to "pursue the Roswell story." The plan was clearly working. Most people either believed in weather balloons or casually and unconcernedly assumed that the U.S. government was covering up the existence of aliens on our planet. The few who actively pursued the latter course, were led down a garden path of false witnesses and manufactured evidence designed to lull them into believing that aliens are little grey men in flying saucers. Recent arrivals. Largely harmless. And nothing like the truth.

1949. T.G.A., The Global Alliance admits ten more nations: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway & Portugal. The Alliance began drawing the best and the brightest from all of TGA's member nations.

1952. Greece and Turkey join TGA. West Germany will join three years later.

March, 1955 - The Alliance used Tyler and Ainsley to seed the story of recovered alien bodies.

November, 1960. Segundo Vasquez, a chain-smoker, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Since he couldn't be cured, the Alliance decided to take advantage of this "unique opportunity" to add another layer to the lie.

January 4, 1961. With Alliance help, Joseph Ten-Samsons Senior faked his death. The story was spread that he died of cancer.

December 13, 1961, Segundo Vasquez did die of cancer.

1964. Dr. Tyler retired from the U.S. Army and then vanished off the face of the Earth. Actually, he became the Alliance's head scientist, and thus no longer had the time to lead a double life.

1965. France breaks with TGA for thirty years. They will rejoin the organization in 1995. Meanwhile, Spain will join in '82 and the newly reunited Germany will replace West Germany in 1990.

Meanwhile, back in July, 1971, after over two decades of being Burdette's right hand man, Hawking was ordered to resurface in order to rekindle the lie. Together, Hawking and Ainsley produced the Alliance-written fiction: THE ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES. They also fell in love and were secretly married.

February, 1972. Trish Ainsley discovered that she was pregnant. She chose to leave the Alliance in order to give her baby a normal life. Hawking elected not to join her.

May 1, 1972. The Alliance helped Trish Ainsley fake her death in a car accident. She returned to Great Britain to give birth and raise her child. Hawking went back underground as a full time Alliance operative.

June 14, 1972. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Roswell Crash, Alliance operatives McKay, Vasquez Diener and Kateras staged a press conference to keep the curious guessing.

August, 1980. Erich Diener -- an Alliance operative and the husband of Maria Vasquez Diener, a second generation Alliance operative --was killed in the line of duty. The story in above-ground Roswell was that he ran off and abandoned Maria and their two children.

June 1, 1982. 83 year old Warren Burdette passed away in his sleep. The story was put out that he died of cancer. Hawking was promoted to Night Officer.

June 14, 1982. Will Hawking resurfaced on the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Roswell crash. He and Jack McKay became very public spokesmen for both versions of the lie.

December 13, 1986. Hawking and the Alliance bought the ranch adjacent to the old Vasquez place in order to expand the Bunker even further.

March 18, 1989. Maria Vasquez Diener died in the line of duty. Again, cancer was blamed. Her son Alex, a third generation operative, was given his first taste of action and obfuscation.

In 1995, under Alliance supervision, the U.S. Air Force launched a new investigation into the Roswell Incident. The resulting report sounded so pat and phony that most people either believed it flat out or assumed that all the Roswell myths must be entirely true.

1996. Hawking convinces TGA to allow him to recruit individual operatives without regard to their citizenship or the membership status of their country of birth.

September, 1999. Roswell, New Mexico is both a serious tourist trap and a Mecca for true believers seeking (inaccurate) knowledge about extraterrestrials on this planet. Every Friday night, McKay and Hawking stage another debate about the Incident. They don't have to do it. They just enjoy it.

And now the 6th Chunk:

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO - September, 1999.
Tony Markus -- I bet you thought I forgot about him -- comes to town a half-step behind Siobhan Barrow. At this point, the only thing that's clear to Markus is that he's never had a case like this before.

Siobhan seems to have some kind of super-natural power --impressive super-natural power -- though not quite as impressive as that of the Tall Women pursuing her.

Likewise, the "Honeymooning Couple", though clearly not what they pretend to be, are also not what they seem to be either. Markus had thought they were Feds, but they've got some mighty strange methods, some even stranger weapons and the strangest possible friends.

Eventually, all is revealed. Siobhan is a member of an alien race, the SIDHE. She's on the run from her own people (the Tall Women) and is simultaneously trying to avoid being captured by ALEX DIENER & CLEA BALEWA (agents of the Alliance), who want to give her a life sentence simply because she exists. Markus just wants to get her back to L.A. so that cousin Dom doesn't have to pick up a fifty grand tab on her bail. Despite her power, Markus manages to reel her in and convince her to head west again with him. Together, they manage to stay a step ahead of both the Sidhe Warriors and the Alliance Agents. But all the good luck and skill in the world can't last forever.

Markus and Siobhan are cornered in the GRAND CANYON. The Sidhe attack, and it's the Alliance that comes to the rescue. But not Alex and Clea. The cavalry consists of JOSEPH TEN-SAMSONS JR., CEDRIC HARRIS and the alien YA-TUK. After an impressive battle, the Sidhe Warriors are captured. And Markus' life has been changed forever. There are aliens -- dangerous aliens -- loose on our world. He feels like his eyes are open for the first time. But he's not the only one. The Alliance has been very impressed with both Markus and Siobhan. They offer them each a job.

Markus, with his skills and experience, will become an investigator like Alex and Clea. Siobhan, with her raw power, will join Ten-Samsons' combat unit. Neither are sure they want what's being offered. Ultimately, Siobhan doesn't have many sunnier choices: (a) Life on the Run from her fellow Sidhe; (b) Life in an Alliance Prison, or (c) Life as an Alliance Operative. She chooses option (c).

As for Markus, it comes down to accepting the challenge. Hunting aliens. The ultimate skip chase. How can he resist? Well, once he's made sure that Dom hasn't been left in the lurch, the answer is: he can't. Thus Tony Markus and Siobhan Barrow become the two newest operatives of the Alliance.