Production Notes

Chrono Trigger Unglued: Episode 11

Episode 11 is the “bridge” episode; the one where I stopped being the primary animator and moved onto simply managing script and dialogue. I started working with Clovis partway through the creation of the episode and the increase in production value can be easily seen. This was also the first episode in which anyone besides me had input on the creation of the episode, which can also be noticed. The amalgamation of my sense of humor and Clovis’ splice together here with little warning, which caused some schisms in the fan base. But more on that later.

The reasons for my seeking help on Episode 11 are twofold. Firstly, my real life was getting more and more hectic with college ending and the real world beginning. My free time was cut severely short and I could not find time to sit down and work on CTU like I used to. Secondly, while my animation and sprite work had been much improved from Episode 1 to Episode 10, other areas of knowledge stagnated. The technical aspects of Flash were still a foreign concept to me and certain techniques (including the ones I used to “curve” the sprites and achieve the distinct look I liked) were cumbersome and exponentially increased the file size to almost unworkable levels. It was fine for most of the episodes, but once I hit 10 and 11, I could no longer rely on convenient “map” images online for the backgrounds and had to take screenshots from my ROM (don’t worry, I own the game). These images were quite a bit large to deal with and converting them to the special style caused Flash (and my old laptop) to sputter to a halt and crash. Creating the movies became an exercise in futility and, mixed with the fact that I didn’t have much time to work on CTU, let alone improving my techniques, lead to frustration. And eventually killed my drive for animating the series.

However, I still loved CTU…I loved writing it and working with it, but I was too burnt out to continue animating it regularly. I didn’t want it to die and was looking for someone who could continue the series. When I remarked in my forum about the unsteady future, Clovis rose to the occasion and expressed his interest to continue the series. Ecstatically, I passed the torch over to him. And he did wonders with the script I had. I constantly gush on his animation work, but I wanted to make it known here too. He was also responsible for the multiple new additions to the series, including the new intros, the credits screen, outside references, extended animation sequences, voice acting, and many small things too numerous to mention.

I was pleased with how Episode 11 turned out, but there was mixed reactions from the Newgrounds fan base. Maybe it was the fact so many changes were introduced at once, but many people were put off by some of the additions Clovis implemented into CTU. They were claiming, essentially, that it wasn’t CTU anymore. Also, since our approach to humor is admittedly different in multiple areas, Clovis’ personal flares to the script were ill-received as well. Now, most of the script I had written myself and we both tried to explain that fact. I think this kind of thing is bound to happen anytime a new creative talent is added to a series, where fans tend to alienate the changes, but I don’t think people realized that without Clovis, it’s very possible CTU would have just stopped. Episode 11 was, unfortunately, like a car crash between his style and mine. But I think future episodes have become a more subtle mesh between our styles and the complaints that permeated this episode have more or less died down for future episodes, so I’m glad to say that it was the sudden change that people resented, not Clovis’ work. As far the as the episode goes, three things of note regarding my input. The first scene on the stairs (before the chase sequence) was my work. You’ll notice when Crono imagines what it would be like if he and Cat were to split up and try separate staircases, they switch positions in outside the fantasy sequence to match their positions at the end of the fantasy sequence. This was a silly goof-up on my part that I didn’t even notice. When Clovis brought it to my attention, I told him we should fix that, but he found it unintentionally funny, and we left it in.

On the subject of swearing, I get some comments from people who don’t like the sophomoric and juvenile affect profanity brings to my jokes (as if my jokes weren’t juvenile enough). I do like to argue that I use the swearing as a method of character development. Sure, that sounds hokey, but hear me out. The characters that swear do so in their own manner. You will notice that Chrono is the only character to drop the F-bomb. Not even Cat does that. Except for the guards in this episode, a dialogue addition by Clovis. I think it worked in this situation (again characterizing the guards through dialogue), but the F word will be reserved mostly for use by Chrono.

Also, I’d just like to make a note on Cat. I like Cat. He’s a funny tertiary character whose appearance can lead to some funny dialogue exchanges. But he’s best in small doses. A few lines here and there. Writing him as the primary character for Chrono to converse with proved this fact. Since he is mainly a one-dimensional character based around insulting Crono, his dialogue is very limited and it’s tough to advance the scene that way. Plus, I think his rude and mean-spirited comments can get old quickly and gave this episode kind of a mean edge to it that CTU normally doesn’t have. I still love writing for Cat and he is sure to show up in the future, but this will probably be one of his very few, if not his only, starring role.

Bonus Scene: I threw this one together after watching the Benny Hill sequence Clovis made. Taking all the “cameos” and putting them together in one sequence was actually a lot of fun to write. I had no idea it would spawn all the bonus scenes after it, nor the Survivor-esque parody it would become. I don’t think our fans expected to keep coming back to it over and over either. It was so wacky and unexpected, which fits the criteria for the bonus scene perfectly. As funny as the concept is, I do think it’s been drawn out a little far and I look forward to returning Chrono Trigger themed bonus scenes.