A Descriptive Comic Screenplay for the Blind and Visually-Impaired.
"Newt and John" Comic - Episode 21 - "Jump the Shark" Created By Mike Hogue - March 17th / 2010 - Transcribed April 15th / 2010
Characters:
John - A red Ant with big glasses and a red bow-tie. John is a brainy Scientist and Inventor.
Newt - A green Newt with six orange spots on his back. Newt is John's sarcastic Roommate.
Setting: Blue Ocean with Clouds in the Sky - Open Water - Daytime
Panel 1 - John speeds across the screen in a small yellow speedboat, named "Olivia". He's looking back over his shoulder and yelling at Newt, telling him, "I don't want to hear any more complaints, Newt! We have to get this over with!" Newt is water-skiing behind the boat at the end of a long rope. Newt is standing on two water-skis, leaning back and wearing a dark brown leather jacket with a yellow foam life-preserver around his waist.
Panel 2 - John drives The speedboat into the foreground of the scene, as he begins to change direction, it is revealed he has a small video camera on a tripod behind him. It is positioned to film Newt as he follows behind on water-skis. John is looking back at Newt and yelling, After such a long break, no one believes we have any adventure left in us." adding, "Getting this stunt on video is sure to get world-wide attention!"
Panel 3 - "But why do I have to do it?" Yells Newt as he points at himself with his thumb.
Panel 4 - Looking down on John in the boat showing the interior, and controls on the dashboard. A powerful jet of white water is forced behind the engine. John turns sideways in his chair, to look at Newt directly and yells "Look, I built the boat... so I get to drive it!"
Panel 5 - In a long shot of the scene, John races the boat in the foreground, with the tow-rope leading in a straight line to Newt in the distance. He yells back to him "Now come on! We're approaching the ramp... so get ready to jump!"
Panel 6 - In the final scene, we're looking at John through the glass windshield, over the front end of the boat. He's got a big sarcastic smile on his face. Newt has launched off of the ramp and is flying in the air. He's looking less balanced, but is managing to hang on to the tow-rope. He doesn't look very confident he'll land safely... and doesn't like what he sees below. Directly below him is a ring of yellow floating buoys, supporting an underwater net designed to cage in a great white shark! The top fin of the shark is out of the water, and Newt knows he's in danger! Newt yells with panic in his voice, "But can't you just edit the shark in later?". John replies as though he knew he had that option all along and says "Yes.... Yes, I suppose I could have."
Have Newt and John really Jumped the Shark? Heck No!.. Episode # 21 is here at last!
Where has the time gone?! In my mind, the Newt and John series has never ended, but I know many of you have given up on the comic after the updates stopped. I have been writing more stories over the past year, and working on several comics off and on while working full time and enjoying life.... but either way, it's been over a year since the last episode of Newt and John!.
So I thought what better idea for this "Teaser" comic than to poke fun at the term Jump the Shark... which usually refers to when a series has hit a point where fans feel the characters or stories are nearing an end.
The Term "Jump the Shark" specifically refers to an episode of the TV series "Happy Days", when Fonzie has to prove he's cool to a bunch of hot-shot water-skiers, by making a jump over a shark on water-skis. Here's the original clip from YouTube:
I actually remember watching this episode as a kid, when it first aired on television! It was a strange story line, but they made sure Fonzie remained cool... and that's all that really mattered! To keep with the theme, I decided to show Newt wearing Fonzie's Leather Jacket and Yellow life preserver just like in the original episode of Happy Days!
John's speedboat, "Olivia"... was something I designed using Google "Sketchup" 3D software, but the final images are flash designs. I wanted to show many angles of the boat to keep the layout interesting. I like working this way for complex designs... You'll see more 3D vehicle and character designs in future updates.
You will also notice most updates in future comics, will have fewer actual comic panels. They will still be a full page, but much like this "Jump the Shark" comic, I'll be simplifying the layout. Previous episodes had 11-16 panels per page... which became too much artwork to create in my spare time each week. Which lead to less frequent updates. My hope is by simplifying the layout, and continuing some stories over several episodes, I'll be able to update more often. Subscribe to this website's RSS FEED for instant notification when each comic is online!
Thanks to my family, friends and fans of Newt and John for supporting my work on this series. If you've just discovered this comic, take some time to enjoy all the episodes in the ARCHIVE. Come back soon to see what else can happen, when Two Roommates take on the Universe!
All the best,
Mike Hogue - Commentary originally written on March 17 / 2010
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COOL NEWS! "Newt and John" were promoted on the official website for the "Comic Life" software I use to create the comic! The "Plasq" company is very enthusiastic about what I've produced with their product, and posted a 'blog' entry, and added Newt and John to their Comic Life "Gallery" on their main company website:
I just wanted to say a special thanks to Pierre Marcel of www.imageryfusion.com for arranging all of my artwork into this great interactive website! Get in touch with Pierre if you have a site of your own you'd like to improve!
And thanks to you for checking out my Comic, returning for new epsiodes ... and passing a link on to your friends!
- Mike
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