Digging in the archives, part I

"The whole thing should have the same effect as seeing Cody XCobalt covered in mayonaise, and equally disgusting, and I've actually got better things to do, concidering that what it really is all about, is two different ways to die. - You could either laugh to death, or throw up without further notice."

- The impeccable logic of Zachary W. Barph, as it came to terms in early June 2004.

At some point and for some reason, I got to think of the original sketches and plot outlines for Methatron II that I made almost four years ago, and as I -differently from the event of summer 2006 when I almost tore down my entire apartment to find the old MII manuscripts- knew exactly where I've stored these documents, I of course had to bring them back into daylight and have a look, and I must say that was very interesting, as I had only a very slight recollection of exactly what, those old documents consisted of.

Opening up the large envelope containing all that stuff was somewhat like opening a treasure chest, and I wish there'd been more than those few drawings and notes, but obviously I didn't do more than that before getting straight on to writing the first manuscript, but now I'm going to show it all to you!

"Rings on the water.
You throw in a pebble and break the still surface to be curled in waves: you cannot prevent the expanding circles to stop, diminish and turn back to whence they came... ...but still they're moving. In all directions. Forwards as well as sideways and backwards, their radius become all-embracing just like time itself, which like the rings is circular in its own eternity."

The first thing I found was a photocopy of what was intended to be the first page of the first Methatron II episode, picturing the profile of a spiral galaxy, accompanied by a few modest text boxes with poorly printed text (this was made in my pre-scanner days, so I was dependent on the method of cut 'n' paste in its most literal sense!), and I was quite surprised about the quality of that picture. However, I wasn't quite sure of how I'd made it, but that mystery was quickly solved as I found the original as well, and it showed that I'd been using watercolours; splashing white "stars" on a black background, with a brush only.
Then it all came back to me. All the sudden I remembered the exact feeling of lying on the floor with my pencils, papers and coffee, dreaming up the new universe. I know that I'll never have the same feeling again, but the memory of it makes me happy, and of course, a tad nostalgic.

In the same folder as this page, was the first draft to the original...well not as much a synopsis as an opening to the story. Actually, there was an edited version as well, but I thought it would be more fun to publish the original print with all my "manual" scribblings, alternations and corrections. And look! I even noted the date of the day I wrote the text: June 7, 2004.

I was amazed on two points of which one was the philosophical approach to, and depth of, it all, and the other about how I even at the age of 24 hadn't let go of my stubborn habit of mixing English grammar into Swedish. What a downright disgrace! *laughs* For those of you who know Swedish, the text can be read if you click the image at the right here, and for those of you who don't, I might translate it later. I am not completely sure that I will, though, as I might decide to use parts of this text in a forthcoming album. We'll see what happens. Note the heading of the document: The choice of the Captain Podd-font obviously came to be permanent!

Well then... This ends the first trip down the Methatron II memory lane. Next time I will show you the crew and what they were originally like. Stay tuned!