SPARCs:Kibbitzing005

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OK, here's the kibbitzing page for the discussion in the SPA board room. I really like the disputes we've seen so far between the SPARTAns! Now, my general thinking in this scene is that this is going to be one where we move the season-long arc, such as it is, along. Or, if you like, this is a scene in the B story, rather than the Livewire vs. Gunslinger A story. What is Livewire's role in SPARCs? What is the proper relationship between SPARTA and SPARCs? Who's in charge here? All that kind of stuff. -- James Holloway 15:46, 24 January 2006 (PST)

OK, so: here's what we know about the outcome of this scene:

- Joe gets booted out of the team, or at least his currently kind of absent status is confirmed. - Milka gets returned to the mental institution - AND: whether ot not the SPARCs remain active has nothing to do with their actions.

Here's my current thought on the situation.

I think that Exemplar has determined that the SPARCs program is going to be a success whatever the individual members have to say about it. And they're going to be successes the right way, which is to say following the guidance and leadership of the SPARTAns. And Livewire is by God going to be their successful leader.

That means that the team members who are bad influences on Joel have got to go. Joe quit by himself after the incident at the mall, right? Well, who are we to stop him. And Frost needs to be hospitalized for her own good. I wonder if Exemplar relalizes that Frost has feelings for Joel?

Now here are the things I'm not certain about:

- am I making Exemplar too much of an obvious shitheel? I'm trying to paint him as an overprotective parent rather than out-and-out domineering type.

I think he's just enough of an ass. He's doing these terrible things, but I think they're all well within the range of what we can rehabilitate later. I can imagine a scene where he explains, and where the audience buys his explanation, and sees him in a new light. As long as we don't pass the point-of-no-return where that is no longer possible I think we're in good shape. TonyLB 18:27, 3 February 2006 (PST)

- how do we make Frost's kicking-out not seem abrupt?

Comments! --James Holloway 16:14, 3 February 2006 (PST)

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[Miss fermoy ]I suppose they could do a psych evaluation of Milka, stating its just routine, then when he realises that a, she's still a bit nuts, and b, has feelings for Joel decides its best that she is hospitalised "until she feels better"

The other possibility for a non-abrupt carting off to the asylum is simply that we accept "Yes, this is now destined to happen," and leave it for another scene to have it actually happen (as Danny points out further down this page). For instance, any scene where Milka is in the same room with Exemplar she has the possibility of freaking out in a disturbing and obviously not-well way. It'd be really cool if Exemplar had a little "one on one talk" with Milka, and had to end up carting her off. There's a great way to build trust in the team ... even if he's completely and totally right that she belongs in an institution. TonyLB 18:27, 3 February 2006 (PST)

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Well, the only SPARCs left uninvolved are Sarah and my character, so the SPARTA might try to enlist them in taking care of the dirty work -- either nicely "Help us help your friends", or nasty "Help us or you're gone too" or Machiavellianly "Help get rid of the troublemaker and we'll know you're ready to be a leader". I personally like the Machiavellian approach for Amy, because it gives me a chance to firm up her mean-girl credibility, and it sets up a nice dynamic for next episode, when Amy realizes that she screwed over a friend just to clear the way for Joel.

I'm not immediately sure whether Sarah would come down on the "Let's do it for the team!" side or the "Screw you, I don't betray my friends" side. Or, rather, I'm sure that Sarah would fall on the "Screw you" side and Vigil would fall on the "Go team!" side, and I'm not at all sure which one would get dominance. TonyLB 18:27, 3 February 2006 (PST)

But do we need to both decide and wrap up everything in one scene? It seems to me that we could resolve this scene with the big dogs deciding what to do and some of how to do it, and leave the scene where Frost gets hospitalized for later in the episode.

I'm not sure which would be better, to have the SPARTAns have a grownup tell Joe he's out, or have Exemplar delegate it to Livewire, so that even his moment of triumph over Joe is served to him on a platter from his doting dad. (By the way, I think Exemplar is a shitheel -- he's the superhero version of every sports dad you see screaming at the coach for not putting his kid in enough.)

One other thought: whenever the bosses want to do something really crappy, they usually do it as part of a "Quality Initiative" or some such. So maybe these changes could be billed as a team makeover -- new costumes! New gadgets! Promises of new exciting things in the future, like going to Tokyo to cross-train with Tokyo's favorite Teen-team, the All-New MegaTokyo Superstars! Inevitably, the really good stuff will never materialize and the new uniforms will suck, but Diane's performance report for the year will look much better.

--Danny can't remember the widget for signing his name

It's a series of tildes. Three for your name, four for your name and the time, five for just the time.

I quite like the idea of the sugarcoating approach. The SPARCs get pulled for a redesign, with training and evaluation until the relaunch. Joe gets officially dropped from the team at this point (there could be a temporary replacement who Exemplar thinks will work better with Joel - which, of course, would only achieve the opposite) while Frost can fall foul of the psych interviews later this episode.

Maybe the psych evaluations could mostly be the team talking about each other, rather than themselves?

Training alongside the MegaTokyo kids would (a) be a fun scene and (b) show up the tensions and problems in the SPARCs even more strongly.

Joe needs something to do while he's off the team. I think he could do with a family scene where he tells his parents how it's been going - showing that he really does have a supportive home life, unlike the rest of these kids.

BlackSheep 03:22, 4 February 2006 (PST)