Futile Fantasy Trilogy
THE LEGEND
"SOME KNIGHTS WERE BORN FOR LOVE, SOME WERE BORN TO UNITE THE PEOPLES AND OTHERS WERE BORN TO FIGHT FOR THE COMMON GOOD.
IN THE KINGDOM OF GUEVINA, A YOUNG MAN NAMED LEFIAT WAS NO EXCEPTION.
HE WAS BORN TOO."
FOR SEVERAL LONG MONTHS IN THE YEAR 2001, THE ABOVE PARAGRAPH WAS ALL THAT EXISTED OF FUTILE FANTASY CREATIONS . WE'D JOKED FOR QUITE SOME TIME ABOUT THE OUTLANDISH AND FRANKLY IDIOTIC CHARACTERS IN RPG'S AND FANTASY STORIES AND SPOOFING THEM SOON BECAME IRRESISTIBLE. IN JANUARY 2001, THE WRITING GOT UNDERWAY. THE CHARACTERS WERE CHOSEN AND THE BASIC STORY PLAN WAS PUT INTO WRITING. UNFORTUNATELY, AFTER A COMPUTER RELATED HICK UP, THE FIRST FOUR PAGES OF THE INITIAL DRAFT WERE LOST. ALL THAT REMAINED WAS THE ABOVE SPEECH AND THE BASIC IDEA. DEFLATED BY THE LOSS, FUTILE FANTASY CREATIONS WAS PUT ON THE BACK BURNER.
AFTER THIS PERIOD OF LETHARGY, SUMMER 2001 ARRIVED AND BROUGHT WITH IT A REVOLUTION. HAVING SPENT MANY HOURS LAUGHING ABOUT POTENTIAL FANTASY SCENARIOS, IT SEEMED ONLY NATURAL TO PUT THEM INTO WRITING. THE ABOVE PHRASE WAS DUSTED DOWN AND SET UPON THE PAGE ONCE MORE. THE CHARACTERS WERE TWEAKED AND THE STORYLINE ENHANCED. NOW THERE WAS NOTHING LEFT TO DO BUT WRITE. AND WRITE WE DID.
AFTER TWO SOLID WEEKS OF RELENTLESS TYPING, THE FIRST FULL DRAFT OF "FUTILE FANTASY ONE: THE LEGEND OF LEFIAT" WAS COMPLETE. UPON READING THE 96 PAGES BACK FOR THE FIRST TIME AND CORRECTING THE MANY GRAMMATICAL ERRORS, WE WERE STUNNED. WE'D WRITTEN THE STORY WE ALWAYS WANTED TO WRITE. FUTILE FANTASY CREATIONS HAD ARRIVED.
FUTILE FANTASY ONE PROVED SOMETHING TO OURSELVES. OUR STRENGTH WAS THE ABILITY TO SPOOF A SUBJECT WELL. VERY OFTEN A SPOOF CONSISTS OF NOTHING BUT CHILDISH SLAPSTICK OR PATHETIC SEXUAL INNUENDO, A VERY EASY THING TO WRITE THAT HAS NO APPEAL TO INTELLIGENT READERS. A GOOD SPOOF OR A GREAT SPOOF MUST CONTAIN THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF DRAMA, HEARTACHE AND ANGUISH TO MAKE THE COMEDY STAND OUT. THIS IS OUR ART.
BY THE TIME AUTUMN 2001 ARRIVED, FUTILE FANTASY HAD BECOME A TRILOGY. THE SECOND PART "FUTILE FANTASY TWO: THE TALE OF TIFAERIS" TOOK ANOTHER TWO WEEKS AND WEIGHED IN AT 92 PAGES. BY NOW WE'D FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR WORLD AND FUTILE FANTASY THREE: THE QUEST FOR ZANNE, ANOTHER 94 PAGES, SOON FOLLOWED. THREE SEPARATE STORIES WRAPPED IN ONE ANOTHER TO CREATE A CONTINUOUS TRILOGY. WE WERE SO DELIGHTED WITH THE OUTCOME OF THE TRILOGY WE EVEN PAINTED A MURAL OF THE FINAL BATTLE SCENE ON THE WALL.
HAVING ALLOWED OURSELVES TO ENJOY THE SUCCESS OF THE TRILOGY, WINTER 2001 BROUGHT FORTH A PROBLEM. WE HAD AN EXCEPTIONAL IDEA FOR A FOURTH PART. WITH LITTLE DEBATE, WE SHRUGGED AND DECIDED IT WOULD BE FITTING FOR A SPOOF TRILOGY TO HAVE FOUR PARTS AND BEFORE THE YEAR WAS OUT FUTILE FANTASY FOUR: THE CURSE OF AURORA WAS COMPLETE.
HAVING TIED THE FIRST THREE PARTS INTO A NEAT BUNDLE AND FOUND THE PERFECT FINALE, HOWEVER, ONE OF THE WRITERS FOUND THE FOURTH PART AN INSULT TO THE OTHER THREE. AS A RESULT, PART FOUR WAS CAST ASIDE, A HARD COPY ON PAPER THE ONLY EVIDENCE OF IT'S EXISTENCE.
AS 2001 BECAME 2002, THE KASIRA PROJECT WAS BORN AND THE FUTILE FANTASY TRILOGY WAS CONSIGNED TO THE FILE MARKED "COMPLETE".
IN 2004, HAVING FAILED TO IMPRESS THE BBC DRAMA DEPARTMENT WITH OUR FANTASY COMEDY "THE SECT", WE DECIDED TO SUBMIT SOMETHING ELSE. THIS TIME, TO THE RIGHT DEPARTMENT. WE DECIDED TO BREAK FUTILE FANTASY PART ONE INTO SIX EPISODES AND SUBMIT IT AS A SERIES. THIS MEANT ADDING PARTS TO MAKE THE EPISODES BEGIN AND END IN EXCITING WAYS. WE ALSO ADDED FIGHTS AND IMPROVED THE NARRATIVES. ONCE WE'D APPLIED THE SAME TECHNIQUE TO ALL THE PARTS, THEY ALL GREW ENORMOUSLY IN SIZE. PART ONE PRACTICALLY DOUBLED. WE NOW HAD THREE LONGER, IMPROVED VERSIONS OF THE STORIES WE LOVED.
IN LATE 2005, WHILE CREATING CHARACTER PICTURES FOR OUR FIRST WEBSITE, THE FUTILE FANTASY TRILOGY ONCE AGAIN BECAME THE MAIN TOPIC OF CONVERSATION. IT WAS DURING THIS TIME THAT WE DUSTED DOWN THE HARD COPY OF PART FOUR AND READ IT BACK. IT WAS A REVELATION. IDEA'S CAME FROM ALL ANGLES AND SUDDENLY THE CHARACTERS CAME TO LIFE IN OUR MINDS ONCE AGAIN. IT WAS AT THIS POINT THAT WE TOOK THE DECISION TO RE-WRITE PART FOUR AND WORK ON A FIFTH. AS SOON AS WE WROTE THE STORY PLAN FOR PART FIVE, WE KNEW THE FUTILE FANTASY TRILOGY WAS BACK. EVEN READING BACK THE PLAN MADE US LAUGH.
UNFORTUNATELY, AND WE OUGHT TO BE ASHAMED HERE...THE TASK OF TYPING UP THE 100 OR SO PAGES OF PART FOUR WAS SO DAUNTING IT TOOK US UNTIL SPRING 2007 TO GET ROUND TO IT. EVEN WORSE, WHEN IT WAS COMPLETE, WE READ IT BACK AND REALISED IT WAS ACTUALLY PRETTY POOR. IT TOOK ANOTHER TWO WEEKS OF REWRITING IT TO BRING IT UP TO STANDARD. THANKFULLY, NOBODY WILL EVER SEE THAT FIRST DRAFT. AS SUMMER ARRIVED WE HAD FOUR PARTS ON THE SHELF AND A FIFTH IN PRODUCTION.
UPON COMPLETION OF PART FIVE, WE WERE OVERJOYED. THE FIRST NEW FUTILE FANTASY TRILOGY STORY FOR ALMOST SIX YEARS AND IT WAS SIMPLY OUTSTANDING. THE CHARACTERS WERE STILL FRESH AND THE STORY WAS EXCELLENT.
ONLY ONE THING REMAINED NOW. THE FIVE STORIES HAD ALL FEATURED A MAIN CHARACTER'S PERSONAL TALE AND ONLY ONE CHARACTER REMAINED TO BE FOCUSSED ON. PART SIX WAS PLANNED AND EXECUTED. ONCE AGAIN, WE WERE DELIGHTED WITH IT. PART SIX WRAPPED EVERY LOOSE END AND MOULDED THE SIX TALES INTO ONE WITH ITS IMMENSE ENDING. NOVEMBER 2007 WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR MARKING THE END OF AN ERA IN OUR CREATIONS. THE SIX PARTS TIED UP IN A WONDERFUL PACKAGE OF WHICH WE'RE IMMENSELY PROUD.
THE FUTURE MAY SEE A SPIN-OFF, THIS IS SOMETHING WE REFUSE TO RULE OUT. THERE WILL BE NO FUTILE FANTASY SEVEN.