People I might have inspired
Roland
Michel Tremblay
RM Tremblay, 44E The Grove, Isleworth, Middlesex,
Tel +44 (0)20 8847 5586
www.themarginal.com rm@themarginal.com
Summary
Comments
about my work from Producers, Directors & Writers
What I may
have inspired in French
Denys Arcand, The Barbarian Invasions
Anne Hébert, Un Habit de Lumière
What I may
have inspired in English
Muse,
Black Holes and Revelations, Hullabaloo Soundtrack
Déjà Vu (Terry Rossio, Denzel Washington)
Laws of Attraction (Julianne Moore, Pierre Brosnan)
Doctor Who 2007, Russell T. Davies
Brothers and Sisters (Calista Flockhart,
Sally Field)
Sci-Fi
Reports – mainly Parallel Universes
E=mc2 The world’s
Most Famous Equation
Black
Hole High (Strange Days at Blake Holsey High)
When
I was a kid and my parents obliged me to learn to play piano, even though I
only had a few lessons in all, I asked my mother how can there be so many songs
in this world that sounded all so different when there are only 7 notes in a
musical scale? Her answer was that seven notes was enough to bring us almost an
infinite amount of combinations, and that was what was so great about music,
that seven notes were all you needed even to remain original after hundreds of
years and countless musicians out there writing and creating original scores.
I
always wanted to be a musician, play music, compose songs. I believe it may be
one of my hidden talents, but as I dropped out of piano lessons as soon as I
could, I will never know. At this time, I don’t seem to be able to compose
original songs, even though I have written a lot of poetry. You see,
originality does not come easily to people, many of the new bands of my
generation drew a lot of inspiration from bands like The Beatles, the Rolling
Stones, Led Zeppelin, Kraftwerk, all these bands I cannot stand, and yet, I
love what they inspired, like Oasis, Blur, Depeche Mode, and so on.
A
great artist is one who can inspire others, and these great artists do not have
to be as successful as The Beatles to inspire others, often commercially, they
can be the greatest failures of all. And yet, it is perhaps more important to
be an inspiration to others than be at the top of the charts for a few month or
years, and never inspire anyone.
One
of the great dangers though in this kind of thinking, is that you can easily
forget coincidences, and apparently, they do happen a lot. We are all watching
and listening the same crap worldwide, and the consequent ideas that could germ
into the mind of many artists, are often the same. Contrary to what most people
think, we are not at all so different from each other, and with billions of
people on this planet, we’re bound to have similar ideas. I accept that, I
understand that, however, sometimes it seems to go beyond the coincidences,
when there are too many of them for them to remain coincidences.
The
big problem with telling people that you might have inspired some great artists
out there, is that the idea simply seems laughable. How could you, when you are
nothing yourself? How could they have even heard of you, found your website on one
rainy day, read something of you, ran with it, and then came up with a
blockbuster
Beyond
the laughable, there is also the look I may get for having an inflated Ego,
that my pretence no longer has any limit, that I may feel too self-important.
Let’s face it, if I were to die tomorrow, no one would even have heard of me,
no one would even care except my family and a few friends. I bet I lost a few
contracts because I spoke too much, that I felt I might have inspired
something, when the odds seem way too improbable. And yet…
So I
would have to say, if you feel you have inspired someone else, or even that
someone might have stolen your ideas, you might as well just shut up, because
no one will ever believe you, they will even begin to hate you for even
suggesting the idea. Suing? Don’t even think of it, as far as we know, not many
people won in court suing someone who perhaps may have stolen your ideas.
So what do you do then? Do you hide all
your ideas forever in your drawers to prevent such things from happening? Do
you get your friends and potential partners in crime to sign contracts before
they could even have a look at your latest film idea or novel? Or do you put
everything online like I always did, even your published work?
Well, if anyone ever got inspired from your
work, then you should be pleased, because it does tell something about you,
about your creativity. Contrary to what people may think, inspiration does not
run high anywhere in the entertainment business. Someone could easily feel that
everything has already been done, and in a way, everything has been done. To
come up with an original idea instead of just the classic love story, or
telling the same story on a different theme, is what characterised the
entertainment industry. When someone original comes into the market, everyone
draws some new inspiration, it is like a bit of fresh air, because it is rare
that such a thing happens. Ordinarily these inspired new people go very far, as
long as others can recognise it and give them a chance, which so far has not
been my case. Even so, I feel I have inspired others and I’m proud of it,
because this is what people with new and fresh ideas should do, inspire others,
just like the Beatles and Leonard Cohen might have inspired generations of
artists.
So, knowing that it is highly detrimental
to myself if I state that I may have inspired some great minds out there, why I
am writing this text now and put it online on my website? Because now the fact
that people copied my ideas, or even the simple recycling of my ideas, prevents
me from putting my ideas forward. I had to abandon some ideas I had because
others, perhaps by coincidence, came up with similar ideas, or they got
inspiration from my website. And now I face people telling me that there is
nothing original in my ideas, I just got my ideas from this film or this
television series.
That would not be knowing me at all,
because if something has already been done, there is no way I would go ahead
and spend time and energy to work on such a project. Since then, it would no
longer be original. Which is why I now feel the need to write down what and who
I feel I might have inspired over the years, to defend this whole body of work
which for me, never got me anywhere. I still keep thinking that one day someone
will contact me, recognise my potential, and then I will be able to contribute
more directly to the entertainment business. And let’s face it, if I am not
just delusional here, then I must have some potential. And if you feel that I
am simply delusional, then so be it, at least I will tell here that despite
these similar ideas out there, I thought of it completely independently from
them, and I certainly do not lack originality. That is what this page is really
all about.
So how do I suppose these people might have
heard of me when I am clearly so unknown? Well, I was one of the first persons
to have a personal website when the whole thing started. As far as I can
remember, since 1995 my websites have been up and running, and after working
very hard at putting everything I had ever written online, I spent even more
time promoting these websites. My websites for a few years were so popular,
that often any search on any word on any search engine, would get my website
right at the top. Every single person I knew found my websites and contacted
me, because by then it seemed that only myself had so many books online. Search
engines then were not as clever as today, if you were to do a search on any
word, what would come up first would be how many times that word appeared on a
website and how many other websites had a link to your website. That’s all. I
had entire books online, most commercial companies out there had simple
databases on their website, a list of their products, no one had any real
content. I also had hundreds of other websites with links to mine, I made sure
of it. In those days you couldn’t miss my website, even though today you would
certainly miss it, search engines have become cleverer, more greedy and
commercial, and it has been years since I have submitted my pages to all the search
engines, using such software as AddWeb and SubmitWolf, which at the time
certainly helped me a great deal to appear everywhere.
The second main argument as to how I could
have attracted attention might be because my website is defined as an inspiration
hub for writers or people in search of original ideas. Working as a science and
technical consultant on a few television series and films, I have written all
these reports, clearly stating that they were to help writers with ideas and
sci-fi. That might have attracted some attention.
Finally, one last argument, for many months
I did send emails to every single link or email address I could find on the
Internet to let the whole planet know that I had great ideas on my website,
hundreds of emails, I must have reached a few people, they must have visited my
website, they could have gathered some inspiration from it.
I am saying all this just to show you how I
might not be so unknown, compared with what you might have thought despite my
limited experience in the film and television industry, despite being mostly
known as a French speaking author with merely six books published in French in
Paris. So before thinking that my head is over inflated or that it is a
laughable matter, I will give you the chance to read what I have written, and
what others seem to have perhaps draw inspiration from. You can compare it
yourself and tell me what you think. I am quite prepared to believe it is all
but a coincidence, there is no doubt about it, but as I say, sometimes it goes
beyond the coincidence. And the following entries are what I feel go beyond the
coincidence, I have many more doubts about many films and series, but then, it
could be a coincidence, even if sometimes it seems to cross the line. I won’t
mention them here, because then you will obviously feel it is just a
coincidence and that I am dreaming, that I am just hoping I might have inspired
stuff which has gone very far and became massively successful.
One last thing before I start. What follows
is in no way an attack, a demand that I should be recognised as the author of
this idea or whatever. It is not a request for money or the prelude to a law
suit. On the contrary. If I have inspired so many people as I feel I might
have, I am pleased with it, and I agree that, overall, it was just inspiration,
not blatant stealing of my ideas. And if people can draw inspiration from me, I
can only cheer and encourage them, just like others before me have inspired
hundred others. It is an honour for me, and so I encourage it.
I just hope eventually that these people
will contact me and draw from the source for more great ideas and originality.
I believe I have proven myself beyond the call of duty, because nothing I have
ever written was motivated by money or a contract, it was all done as a pure
need for me to write something original.
Sometimes it is just a title or a few lines
I have written which could have inspired a whole film, television series or a
musical album. This is what is so great, and again, I feel honoured by this.
This is, of course, unless you feel I am simply delusional and that my Ego has
grown to the size of a small planet. In which case, read my books and watch
these other pieces from others, and judge for yourself. Do not simply assume
that I see things that are simply not there, I’m the only one who has a
complete picture of everything I have written on this planet, how could I
expect anyone else to have read it all and made these links? It would be nearly
impossible unless you were one of my hardest fan, and of those I have only a
few that I am aware of. I’m hoping I may have more that I am unaware of.
One
other thing, I have to say that I barely read any books, I watch only a few
movies and television series a year, and yet, I have come across many things I
feel I may have inspired. God knows what else and who else I might have
inspired. So you are welcome to contact me and let me know if you feel that my
ideas sound way too much like that new series out there, trying to prove to me
that I lack imagination. Then I can see if perhaps they might have drawn
inspiration from me instead, or if it is perhaps just a coincidence. I’m not
afraid of admitting when it could still be a coincidence or when it goes
beyond. I will tell it as I feel it may be.
Wayback
Machine
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.themarginal.com
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.lemarginal.com
If you wish to check when my ideas went
online, and also, I cannot think of a better proof as a copyright, follow the
links for the WayBack machine from the Internet Archive, a recording of every
single website on the planet as they looked like in time. For my websites, it
started in 2000 and 2001, though it has been online since at least 1995. That’s
fine, all my film script ideas came after the year 2000.
Producers, Directors
& Writers
(Contact details for reference available on request.)
Austen Tayler, Executive Director of Talent & Development,
FTV/Maverick Films (US)
I found
you through a search engine and you seem to be the most web-friendly writer
with fantastic ideas!!! I love your mind and think that we would be a good fit.
You seem so amazing to me! When searching around for a writer for my treatment,
I was captured by your elegant, sophisticated writing style. Most writers are
not as entertaining with their words as you are.
(…) I
have no words to properly express how absolutely flawlessly fantastic (I KNOW,
grammatically incorrect) you are! You have blown me away!!! I love the 4
different points of view taped with the interviewer’s simple camera, I love the
superimposing, I love the layer's which belong to each twisted character
and I love the twist at the end! I LOVE IT ALL! It is truly amazing!!! YOU are
sooooooo talented!
(…) I
CANNOT tell you how impressed I am by you... most writers struggle with another
concept writer’s ideas, you are picking EVERYTHING up like the 2 of you are on
the same path. I have struggled with our freelance writers over so many issues and
they just never "get it". Something kept telling me to reach
outside the box. I sure am glad I followed the voice in my head! I look forward
to getting you signed on to our production company as our star staff writer. It
may not seem like much to you, but honestly Roland Michel, you make
communicating an idea so so so easy. Nice to work with someone who is brighter
than bright and CLEVER!
(…) I
LOVE IT!!! Leave it the way it is!!! THANK YOU for all of your hard work and
devotion to the project. It's GREAT!!! THANK YOU!!! I love ALL of your
questions, they're all really good ones! I love your intense style of writing,
you made it come to life!!!
Austen
Tayler, Executive Director of Talent & Development, Maverick Entertainment,
Inc., Four Brothers Productions, FTV, http://www.maverick.com
Bruce Kalish, Director, Writer and Producer (US)
(On the
Jubilee week-end, while I had 4 days off work, I wrote 8 episode synopses for
the series Black Hole High. The Executive Producer of the series Bruce Kalish
was so impressed he wrote back:)
Roland,
you are so prolific, you put everyone I know to shame... I think as our working
relationship continues I will give you some movie ideas I have been mottling
over and let you run with them if you want. Or if you have ideas I'd be glad to
listen to them and give you some input. In this first order I will not be able
to get you a script, however, if we get the pickup for the back half of the
season, hopefully by the end of this year, I will get you scripts, I can
promise that. Sorry I can't do more for you now with all the help you given...
other then get you paid for the research you're doing for me and seeing if I
can get you a technical advisor credit. Thanks so much for responding with the
speed and more importantly the intelligence that you communicate with the
writers. Thanks for your notes they are extremely helpful, I was inspired by
your hard work and finished off the piece. Thanks again for coming into my
life!
Credits: Black Hole High, The Famous Jett
Jackson (including the Movie), The Fall Guy, Incredible Hulk and Eight is
Enough
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0435888/
David Garber (II), Director, Writer and Producer (US)
Thanks so
much, Roland. You are really something, and that's good. I can't believe you
got into all of this so quickly. I owe a great debt to you in your scientific
analysis and input. Together we'll make this show shine! Once again, it's a
great pleasure working with you. Believe me, I already let Bruce know how much
I appreciated your notes. I know he's always talking about you and your
extensive research. He's a very big fan of yours already.
I went
over your notes and found them perfect. You have some great suggestions. This
episode is going to be great! You sure are working hard. That's terrific. You
can tell you really love what you're doing.
(…) I
speak to Bruce a few times a day and always emphasize how much help you are. I
just wanted to tell you that the materials that you emailed me are most
helpful. Evidently, from what Bruce tells me, it's been received quite well by
the network and production company. Everyone's beyond pleased.
Credits: Black Hole High, Jett Jackson, Saved by
the
Lorianne Overton (Tibbets), Professional Screenwriter (US)
Your
forth solution to the time loop conundrum is nothing short of genius. That's
exactly the type of information I needed. Thank you so much for taking the
time to think this through, and so thoroughly at that.
Credits: Black Hole High, The Zack Files, 18
Wheels of Justice, V.I.P.
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0862543/
Taylor Grant, Professional Screenwriter (US)
Good
evening, Roland. Thank you so much for your prompt response. It's already clear that you have a very keen
eye as your questions were concise and well thought out. It's obvious to me
that I've connected with the right man! Thanks a million!
(…) Holy
COW, Roland! You weren't kidding around, were you? This is AMAZING! OK... give
me some time to sift through all of this information and cohesively reply. I
can't thank you enough for your diligence and professionalism.
(…) First
of all, believe me when I say that you've already gone beyond the call of
duty. Please don't do any more research
or I'm going to start feeling guilty. I have to say that you've been a TREMENDOUS
help on this and have really assisted me with getting my head around some
ideas. I feel really good about your ideas, you really came through on the
whole Zero-Point Energy idea. You've been a tremendous asset.
Credits: Prometheus Rising (film in development), Beetlejuice
(Animation), Little Rosie, Monster Farm, Bad Dog, Beetleborgs,
Kevin MacDonald, Director and Producer (
(Kevin
MacDonald was also impressed with me but as most of our communications were in
person at his house, we did not exchange that many e-mails. You will have to
contact him and I am sure he will tell you similar things as above. In person
he was very appreciative of my hard work. He did say one thing in his e-mails
though:)
Thanks a
lot for all your help - and especially for the large folder/printout that you
sent which is most useful.
Credits: The
Last King of
http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm0531817
My full CV: HTML - DOC - PDF - LIT
What
I may have inspired in French
Author: Michel Houelebecq
Oeuvre: Atomised (Les Particules Élémentaires/The Elementary Particles)
What
did I write that could have inspired this: Les
Éléments Urbains (1994) (Urban Elements), L’Éclectisme (1996) (The Eclecticisme
I)
How
likely did I inspire this: It could still be a
coincidence, but I strongly doubt it.
One
of the most important French authors of recent years must be Michel
Houellebecq. There was a time when in the whole world, French Literature was
all there was, it was before
It is a bit like Celine Dion when you are
yourself a French-Canadian. You still hate her music and everything she may
represent, and yet, you can only feel a deep nationalistic sense of pride, that
one of your contemporaries from your nation, could have been so far reaching.
It becomes a great inspiration from you, because then have the proof that
yourself can also go very far if what you do warrants the attention. Nothing
will stop you, no prejudice like: dear me, that’s Canadian stuff, or
French-Canadian stuff, it must be terrible, let’s just overlook it altogether,
because nothing great ever came out of there anyway. And sometimes, when it
comes to the
First I have to admit that I haven’t read
any book from any contemporary French writers, never, not even one, except
Amélie Nothomb, because one day after a conference in Cannes, I saw her book in
the bookstore at the airport and it had won a book prize. I would not have read
that book of Michel Houellebecq if my colleague from work in Central London had
not given me his copy, as he felt this was the best book he had ever read for a
long time, Atomised, by Michel Houellebecq. Also, I was curious of course, when
an author collects so many awards, there must be something about it, a reason
for this, I might learn something from reading it and perhaps I too will be
winning awards in a few years.
The book was called Atomised, and there was
a half naked girl on the cover. Shit, I would never have bought that by myself,
I’m gay for god’s sake. And what about this title, Atomised, what the fuck does
it mean in the first place? It didn’t inspire me at all. And yet that book had
won every single book prize in
The
Characters
The hero or anti-hero is called Michel: I
am called Roland Michel. The main character is gay: I am gay, Michel
Houellebecq is not, what possessed him to write about a gay man, something he
most certainly knows about unless he read my books, is a good argument he might
have read me. The other most important character is called Bruno, which was the
name of my long time boyfriend, a relation that went on for five years, the
greatest inspiration I ever had for most of my early books.
The
Title
This is the most convincing argument that I
could have inspired that book, because Michel Houellebecq, I found, draw most
of his inspiration from my book called Les Éléments Urbains (Urban Elements),
and it is clearly stated in the Preface that what I am talking about, is more
on the Physics side, the Elementary Particles, and I do mention that a lot in
the book, as a way to comprehend reality in terms of a world made out of atoms.
How real can it be then? Most of my books are about philosophy of life and roll
around Theoretical Physics, even so, the title Atomised did not attract my
attention, Les Particules Élémentaires, as it is called in French immediately
did, I would have gone right for it if I had known it, because then I would have
felt I could have inspired that. It is a coincidence that I came across that
book at all. And yet, I clearly inspired it, and it was won on the biggest and
most successful book to come out of
Michel Houellebecq is no theoretical
physicist, I do not believe he was that interested in physics in the first
place to write about it, and yet the title of his book is clearly a reference
to theoretical physics, something that was quite pro-eminent on my website since
early 1995. He speaks about Max Planck Institute in
Why would Houellebecq decides suddenly to
talk about Physics, and why this title for a chapter which does not refer at
all to any sort of Kingdom? What Kingdom is he referring to? If I have inspired
the man, he really went for it, he read everything I wrote and he really felt
it deep, to the point of getting Physics at heart, and even the fact that I was
a lost French-Canadian soul lost in the United Kingdom, wondering what the fuck
I was doing there in the first place, even though since then I found myself
here, I feel more British than the Brits or the Queen herself.
The
Main Character’s Job
For the last decade I have been working in
conferences, my book Les Éléments Urbains was all about that, my life in
conferences in Europe, and my gay relationships across
Page
38
On
page 38, the name Michel is followed by Trembled, in French probably trembla,
which is very close to Tremblay. It does not seem usual or common to have the
name of a character followed by that word, but the fact that Michel Houellebecq
got inspiration from Albert Camus The Stranger for one of his novels, and that
he didn’t hide that fact, makes it likely that he would want me to know I was
the inspiration, and might have written Michel Trembled somewhere.
Now
I know you could believe it is just a coincidence, however a few lines below
Houellebecq tells us that Michel believed: “taken as a whole, nature was not
only savage, it was a repulsive cesspit. All in all, nature deserved to be
wiped out in a holocaust – a man’s mission on earth was probably to do just
that.” Now, I don’t want to freak you out, but I have stated a similar point of
view in many of my books, from the very beginning. And yet, what an extreme
thing to say about his main character. This is cynicism at its paroxysm, and in
the whole world of literature, there are not many authors who could be
qualified as that cynic, and I am one of them.
Page
76
On
that page Houellebecq talks about something called
Page
93
There
is a clear mention of a character on that page who is an Italian Anarchist. My
website is called The Marginal/L’Anarchiste Couronné. On the same page
we find the word marginal, my other website is called The Marginal/Le Marginal,
and it was online by the time Houellebecq wrote his book. On that same page,
which by the way starts a chapter, and so it is only half a page, it is stated
that Bruno (my ex-boyfriend), and right after, the music business. Something I
talked a lot about in my books, because Bruno was a musician trying to break the
music business (and never did).
Page
94
The name Brigitte (as a cousin), and her
dying grandmother are almost on the same line on that page, my grand-mother was
called Brigitte, I mentioned her death, and that page talks about the death of
the grandmother. Just before that page it is mentioned of a student coming to
study at the University in Paris, Paris IX, I talked a lot about me studying at
Paris IV, it was the subject of my most famous book Waiting for
All
of this is mentioned in my published novel Denfert-Rochereau and other
published book Waiting for Paris (L’Attente de Paris/Un Québécois à Paris (A
French-Canadian in Paris)), fully available for free on my website despite
being published (it is a right I kept in my publishing contracts, as I
preferred to be read than make a pitiful amount of money through publication in
the French markets).
Page
120
This
is around these pages that the conference company is started, out of a camping
area. The name Frédéric appears there, my sister is called Frédérique. It might
seems that names is a bit random, but now we have my name, the name of my first
boyfriend, the name of my grandmother and the name of my sister. Later on we
even get the family name of my mother. That in itself could be a coincidence
(not), but on the novel Houellebecq wrote which was inspired by The Stranger of
Albert Camus (Platform), he borrowed the same names that were in Camus’ novel
for his own novel. Names are obviously a way for Houellebecq to give us an idea
of where his inspiration was drawn from.
Conclusion
I
didn’t read beyond page 120, and the novel has 379 pages. I didn’t read any of
Houellebecq’s books either. I don’t know at this time if I could have inspired
anything else in his oeuvre. You have above just a few details that reminded me
of my own books that have been online from before Houellebecq’s novel was
published. After what I have written, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were still
in doubts about if I could have had any impact on that novel Atomised. But
there are a myriad more details I haven’t mention, I could write a whole
university thesis on the subject.
In
conclusion, I would have to admit that Houellebecq did not steal any of my
ideas, that his novel has nothing to do really with any of my books. He just
seemed to have read many of my books and retain from them details here and
there his characters, social status, main philosophies of life, and other
events happening to them. It does appear that my life and what I wrote about it
has been an inspiration rather than a work of fiction of mine. As such, there
no plagiarism, I have not written anything like the novel Atomised, even, I
would have a lot of trouble explaining to you what that book is truly about,
except that my life can be read here and there all the way through. I find it
fascinating that I may have inspired the greatest contemporary French author
the world has known since the 50’s.
Denys Arcand, The Barbarian Invasions
Author: Denys Arcand
Oeuvre: The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions Barbares)
What
did I write that could have inspired this: L’Éclectisme
(1996) (The Eclecticisme I), Waiting for Paris (L’Attente de Paris), Un
Québécois à Paris, Un Québécois à New York, Un Québécois à Londres (A
French-Canadian in Paris, New York and London Trilogy), and most of my journal.
How
likely did I inspire this: It could still be a
coincidence, but I strongly doubt it.
Denys
Arcand is the most celebrated author/film producer/director of Québec, the
French-Canadian province. He is in fact the first Canadian to have been
nominated for an Oscar in Hollywood for a Foreign Film called The Decline of
the American Empire (Le Déclin de l’Empire Américain), a film which is the
highest Canadian film in history and won many awards worldwide including the
Genies Awards in Canada and the Cannnes Film festival, something he repeated
three years later with Jesus of Montréal (Jésus de Montréal). Suffice, the man
is a genius.
In
2003, almost 20 years after The Decline of the American Empire, Arcand wrote
and directed The Barbarian Invasions, which once again won many awards
worldwide, especially in
Now,
been two years since I saw the film, so for the details that remind of my life,
I won’t be able to describe, but the film is filled with relevant information
about my own life. I will only go into the obvious below, what I remember
clearly.
How
Denys Arcand could have found out about me, is that I spoke at a conference at
the University of Tulsa in the State of Oklahoma a few years ago, where I
talked about my books and a few great French-Canadian authors, including Denys
Arcand and his famous actor brother Gabriel Arcand. This is how I feel he might
have found my website, because I put it all online, everything I wrote about
them.
The
Main Characters
A
father dying of cancer in Québec and his successful son working in
Well,
the son in London is quite unusual for a start, I believe to date in the whole
of entertainment history in Québec, I am the only French-Canadian who lived in
London for such an amount of time (since 1994) and who wrote about it at all.
Second
my dad got cancer and I wrote a lot about how sad it was that I was stuck in
The
son is rich, he works in finance of conferences, and his dad is proud of him
even though he doesn’t understand what his son does. I wrote about all that
myself, as at some point I made so much money in conferences, my salary was
higher than what my dad and my sister ever had, despite that they were both
Engineers. And my dad was proud of that, and he never did understand what it
meant to produce conferences, I used to joke that it sounded much more
glamorous than it really was, travelling all around
The
characters alone, despite not being gay, are hitting really close to home in my
case. And the gay main character in the film has been posted somewhere in
Movie
Themes
Some
critics have said that the movie was all about talk, without plots. You could
say the same thing of Michel Houellebecq’s novel Atomised, it is more about
ideas and philosophy than real plots. I’m afraid I might be partially to blame,
since most of my books are not fictional in nature, but are journals filled
with ideas and concepts and philosophy. The French websites anyway, since my
English ones are more about theoretical physics, philosophy and many fictional
ideas for films and television series.
The
Decline of the American Empire talked a lot about philosophy as well, but it
was very specific. The Barbarian Invasions comes back on this idealism of the
80’s, and can only come to the conclusion, just like my book The Eclecticism
does, that we have been through every single possible idea finishing with
“ism”, and now can only accept that we were all wrong and we are left only with
an eclectic set of ideas and ideals. Just like my book, at some point the
characters are mentioning all those words finishing with “ism”, like I do in my
book, and they do say the word Eclecticism in the film, if I remember
correctly.
Conclusion
Since
Eclecticism is central to the theme of this film, and that many of the
characteristics of the main characters mirror my own life and what I have
written in my books, I feel Denys Arcand has read my books and draw inspiration
from them.
Once
again, there is not plagiarism or blatant stealing, just a lot of similarities
with my life and my own philosophy on life. The idea that such a genius as
Denys Arcand could have been inspired by me, is certainly overwhelming for me,
I hope it is true and that I will find out one day.
Anne Hébert, Un Habit de Lumière
Anne Hébert is the most
celebrated author in Québec, she has won over a long career, just about every
single Book Prize there is in
I was quite surprised by the interest she
showed me, and I gave her my books to read, including the two I know she read,
(Verts et Vers les Champs (Towards the Green Fields, short stories), and
Underground (Waiting for Paris/A French-Canadian in
When I mentioned afterwards to someone that
her last book Un Habit de Lumière (A Suit of Light) had been inspired by our
talks and my books, that guy didn’t believe me, stating that I must be lying
because Anne Hébert died in the year 2000.
Un Habit de Lumière was the very last novel of
Anne Hébert, and though I have the book here, I have never read it (silly me).
I flicked through it enough to understand that the main characters were about a
young gay man and his mother living somewhere in
I don’t know yet how much I inspired that
book, I know enough to believe I inspired it, and only once I found that book
did I finally understood why Anne Hébert was calling me all the time to meet
me, she was taking notes for her last novel before she died. I especially liked
the fact that she could have considered me like her son, as it is the
relationship we seem to have in her novel. Anne Hébert, as far as I know, never
married and has no children. I thought she was a lesbian, especially that she
was a good friend of another known French-Canadian author who is a lesbian,
however she told me she wasn’t, and her questions about the gay world sort of
confirmed to me that she was not gay. And yet she wrote a whole book on the
topic, at 85-86 years old.
What
I may have inspired in English
It
might not be impressive for you that in French I might have inspired the two
greatest in their own filed both in
In
English however, it is quite different, people have not read my life story and
got inspiration from it to create characters, I had almost nothing in English
up until a few years ago, though now this has changed slightly, I have plenty
of my life on there. Nothing from my own life seems to have inspired anyone
that I have come across.
This
is because my English website was mainly for many years just a whole bunch of
ideas for film scripts, television series and other entertainment ideas, with
obviously a few film scripts as well and some other novels and anarchic poetry.
So what I inspire in the English world, is concrete ideas for films and series.
And for a good reason, I called a whole section of my website: Sci-Fi Helper,
Inspiration for Authors. I could I cringe when they finally found inspiration
there, stealing many of my ideas, to the point that I can no longer pursue my
own ideas into books and other television series and films?
What
is also funny, is that nothing I have ever written in French is science fiction
oriented, but in English it is 100% science fiction. I don’t know if it is
because I am a big sci-fi fan that I seem to have inspired many sci-fi ideas
out there, and hence I more easily came across it, or if I might have inspired
much more than sci-fi.
But
before I get into films and series, I will mention something I never thought I
could inspire, a musical band, quite popular as well from the look of it. I was
never contacted by Muse, I wish I had been, though I can see I was contacted by
a popular German band who wanted me to help them with their lyrics, they were talking
a lot of science, I can’t remember their name now, I could find out by looking
at my emails. I ended never helping them in the end, it doesn’t mean they
didn’t draw inspiration from my websites, I have never listen to their
following albums after that.
Black Holes and Revelations, Hullabaloo Soundtrack
I
only became aware of Muse as a band one late night that I was searching the
Internet for my name and titles of my books, just to see what people are saying
about me out there. The search that came up with Muse was the title of my
Science Fiction novel (half finished I might add), called The Shrinking
Universe. That title is actually not that common an expression, if you do a
search in Google on that title, my website is bound to come up in the first ten
entries, something difficult to achieve in this day and age, because to appear
in the first ten entries beside doing a search directly on a name no one else
has, you almost need to be a big commercial company who has invested a lot in
Internet Marketing.
Well,
that search turn out an unofficial Muse forum called The Shrinking Universe. I
was so surprised by the coincidence, that I read everything I could on there to
see if there was any link with my novel, or my theoretical main theory incidentally
called The Shrinking Theory. I could not however find anything convincing, I
didn’t even know then that Muse had a song called the Shrinking Universe. It is
only weeks later that I found out about it, at that point I got all the Muse
records and studied it a bit more carefully. It turned out that one of the most
popular British band of all times, was very science fiction oriented, and not
only had a song called so unusually The Shrinking Universe, like my science
fiction novel, but their latest album was called Black Holes and Revelations,
with songs like Starlight and Supermassive Black Hole.
Now,
it could still be a coincidence, however, even though my website no longer
turns up at the top when you search on sci-fi terms like black holes, there was
a time not long ago that it did. And still to this day, a combination of those
words would eventually bring my website, because I do talk a lot about sci-fi
concepts and ideas. In itself, without the song called The Shrinking Universe,
I would have said it was a coincidence, they may or may not have read me.
Because nothing was that evident. But now I know from Wikipedia that the singer
is very much onto sci-fi, paranormal and conspiracy theories/politics, all of
which is really central to my English website.
There
was no blatant plagiarism in the case of muse, just basic inspiration for their
songs, which I have now become a huge fan of. I admit that it could still be a
coincidence, but something tells me it is not, not after a song like The
Shrinking Universe, considering that it was the title of my English sci-fi
novel on my website for many years (now the title is The Relative Universe,
however, even though it is not updated on my website, it has now reverted back
to the Shrinking Universe), and also considering that my main theoretical
physics idea is called The Shrinking Theory. I have listened to that song so
many times now, I have become convinced it was written for me and it is about
me, though I do admit that I may be stretching it a bit too far. Here is the
email I sent to a friend the first time I listened to the song, in my
excitement:
De : Roland Michel Tremblay [mailto:
Envoyé : 26 September 2006 00:32
À : xxx
Objet : latest in whom I feel I might have inspired
Hey!
I think I might have
inspired the latest album of Muse!
It may mean nothing to
you, but they are one of the biggest British bands at the moment, and are top
ten even in the
Their latest album is
called Black Holes and Revelations. And it is a great one at that, and a huge
success.
That alone suggests
that they may have found my website, but even better, to make certain of it,
the singer/songwriter is into paranormal, and hence, he must have found my
website.
“The band has made reference to a theme running through the album—the end
of the world, and reactions to that situation. This draws mainly from Bellamy’s
interest in conspiracy theories,
theology, science, futurism, computing and the supernatural.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse_band
The end of the world is a recurrent theme in my work. Supernatural as well.
Their latest album reflects my website. But hey, up until now it could only be
coincidence, right? I agree.
So here is what convinced me. They have a song called Shrinking Universe.
Now, if you remember, that is exactly the title of my sci-fi novel.
http://www.themarginal.com/universe.htm
(Now called the Relative Universe, but was called the Shrinking Universe for
a long time on my website, as it is now in the new version I am editing at the
moment (the reverting back to the old title was decided before I found out
about that song).
I’m quite ready to accept that the Shrinking Universe is still a
theoretical physics idea about the fact that the universe could shrink into a
big crunch following the Big Bang, and this is still all a coincidence, but
really, look at the lyrics, suicide, that is so me in all my work, it’s got to
be about me:
Shrinking Universe
Lyrics
Cast your eye tears on to me
And I'll show you what you really need
Give too much attention
And I'll reflect your imperfections
Can't you see it's over
Because you're the God of a shrinking universe
Purposeless survival
Now there's nothing left to die for
So don't struggle to recognize
Now the cruelly heart-felt suicide
Can't you see it's over
Because you're the God of a shrinking universe
Can't you see it's over
Because you're the God of a shrinking universe
De : Roland Michel Tremblay [mailto:
Envoyé : 27 September 2006 03:49
À : (xxx)
Objet : RE: Because you're the God of a shrinking universe
Hi,
“Because you're the God
of a shrinking universe”
---The irony of that
sentence was not lost on me. It made me smile. Could have been said to me, but
of course the double meaning is that God created a universe doomed to suicide
via the Big Crunch. And then, his creation had a time limit and his in effect a
bit purposeless. I feel the writing is nothing but genius. That song was not on
their latest album Black Holes and Revelations, and hence, they must have read
me, if they did, a while ago. At the time no doubt that my novel was called The
Shrinking Universe. And again after that to draw inspiration for Black Holes
and Revelations.
Dear Roland
I can see the influence you may have had on the band Muse, they may have found
you typing in Parallel Universe like I did.
---They have no song, as
far as my summary overview of their work goes, about parallel universe. But I
should check it out more carefully and read all their lyrics. As it turns out,
they could have found me in a lot of different ways. On the word Black Hole, my
website turns up quite early in search engines (it used to popup first in Google
for a long time, now not so well, but it does in other search engines.
Universe, relativity, wormholes, etc., as well. Heck, he could have found me
doing a search on paranormal, as he is interested in that too.
* * *
To be continued…
(Film
written by Terry Rossio, with actor Denzel Washington)
Déjà Vu is not a
new topic, I have to admit out right. I wrote a report about Groundhog Day,
time loops sort of things, enumerating all the episodes of many sci-fi series
where déjà vu was predominant. Star Trek, Stargate, X-Files, just to mention a
few. There is even a whole series called Tru Calling based on the idea. It
could be possible for me to have inspired Tru Calling, as it came after I put
everything online, but I doubt it very much, I couldn’t find anything within
the series which could connect to me or my ideas. There is however something a
bit disturbing about the film Déjà Vu by Terry Rossio, as it came right after I
myself wrote a short message on his own website, in a forum, where every single
member started to attack me without good reason. This was bullying on such a
scale, the whole discussion was deleted a few days later, but I kept copies of
it. Terry Rossio was involved in the discussions, and his big conclusion after
reviewing my website was to chuck the towel and abandon my ideas of ever
becoming a scriptwriter. I was stunned, because by then I had so many great
ideas and scripts on my website, with six published books already, with over 30
written books, it made no sense at all to tell someone to stop writing
altogether after that, simply because that someone never made a few millions
for a film script before.
It
would make more sense if he had spotted a good idea on my website, my Déjà Vu
treatment and script, told me to stop writing altogether, then delete any
mention of my existence from his website, and then sell his own film script
called Déjà Vu for an astonishing and never seen before whopping 5 million dollars.
I
have not seen the film yet, though I do have the DVD here since yesterday. The
story, from what I read, is nothing like mine, and so, there is simply no way I
could sue him. In this case, and in this case alone, I could have been tempted,
I tell you. As it turns out, I simply gave him a good title, and a good idea
for him to create his own independent story. And yet, somehow, it has destroyed
my film script altogether and now it could never be produced.
I have also finally understood something quite
important as a result of this. The time for little story without involving the
American army, the American President, the FBI, and huge explosions, is way
past and could never go anywhere. These are your essential ingredients to make
a big block buster film in
As
my own idea involved a poor and dying professor at
What
remains for me to do now, is to watch the film and report back if there is more
than just the title, the main idea and the link of my message on his forum to
prove that I have inspired that man. Something I will do soon.
Film
with Julianne Moore and Pierce Brosnan
Vaguely similar to my story the Marginals,
even in the simple plotline as you can see below.
The Marginals or
Predestination (Film)
Frederique Loren and Frederic Lorentz are
studying human behavior, statistical probabilities and real predictions of the
future and the behavior of their subjects. When they meet they realize that
they are a perfect match but don't dare admit to it in order to not be the
victim of this predestination. They wish to be free of making their own
decisions, of thinking the way they want, without becoming a casualty of their
own theories about life. This desire to be different and not be a statistic
brings them to the brink of war with each other and they become alienated with
their field of study. After acting like mad people, they finally resign to the
fact that they love each other and they marry.
Laws
of Attraction Description (from wikipedia)
High-powered divorce attorneys, Audrey Woods (
I
can see the similitude right there, if you can’t, then forget it. I suppose I
could watch the movie again, but I don’t feel like it. From what I remember I
could not identify anything in the film which could connect to me beyond what I
have already said to this point. Of course, it is always better when there is
more than one link, like another of my ideas in the film, or some reference to
anything I have done. In this case I couldn’t find anything, though both my
treatment and their film starts in some sort of reunion or meeting where the
main characters are at odds. Their beginning is reminiscent of mine, but no
plagiarism beyond the fact that I very well could have inspired that idea,
which I think is quite nice. Good film too, an original idea (obviously I would
say that). It could still be a coincidence, I have to admit it, but I wonder,
it is a strong coincidence.
From
this film I learnt something as well, here was my mistake: “Both of them are in a career related to studying the phenomena of
determinism and the prediction of human behavior, her for the Armed Forces and
him for the Financial and Industries Ministry of the government.” What a better
and simpler idea to make them both lawyers dealing with divorce, when their
goal is to avoid marriage and end up married.
This
idea of mine has been reproduced entirely on the website Rotten Tomatoes by
someone who found the idea quite interesting. Adding to this that I sent this
idea to hundreds of people in the industry, I guess it was not difficult for
someone out there to come across it.
Doctor Who 2007, Russell T. Davies
These
ideas of mine could have inspired Doctor Who 2007:
Utopia and Library from
the Future or Kill that President
Doctor
Who Episodes in question (the last three in the 2007 season):
"Utopia", "The Sound of Drums" and "Last of the Time Lords"
Very last episodes of Dr Who (2007), The
Sound of Drums where the American President gets killed by aliens coming from
Utopia. Utopia episode seems to have some resonance with my own Utopia story
where the last remaining humans are trying to reach Utopia, another strange
world. They meet at the end of the Universe in Dr. Who, and in my story it is a
bit like the end of times, or the last remaining humans, as the subtitle of my
story is the last post before utopia, just like it is for the last humans on
Earth trying to reach that utopia. I have found many more ideas in the last
episodes of Doctor that I may have inspired, but I would need to watch them
again to be more specific.
As to how I could have inspired Doctor Who,
I did send an email to the writer of the show Russell T. Davies inviting him to
read my website and draw inspiration from it, and so if he got inspiration from
it, he definitely had my blessing, as for being part of Doctor Who, I would
certainly give my right hand. Here is the email I sent to Russell T. Davies:
De :
Roland Michel Tremblay [mailto:rm@themarginal.com]
Envoyé : 21 May 2006 21:13
À : Russell T. Davies
Objet : Message to Mr. Russell T. Davies
Hi,
I do understand that this is not an email address to reach Mr. Russell
T. Davies, I just hope you can relay this message to him or tell me how I could
reach him.
Thanks
-----
Dear Mr. Davies,
Why am I writing to you?
Embarrassing, I know, since I know there must be dozens writing to you
right now. Still, on the off chance that you might read this and god knows
something great could happen as a consequence, I thought I could not miss that
chance. I wanted to contact you since the very first time I watched Queer as
Folk (which was my favourite series for a while), and then there was Doctor
Who, and again I did not do anything to contact you.
Well this is it. I am contacting you because we have a lot in common,
we’re gay with a great imagination, an inexhaustible source of ideas, and an
interest in the gay world and sci-fi. We both worked in television in sci-fi,
for children, even though for me it was for the NBC for the sci-fi series Black
Hole High (Strange Days at Blake Holsey High), but of course I don’t have a CV
as long as yours.
I could help you, I would love to help you, even though I know you don’t
need help. Still, I’m great to bounce ideas with and could write, I believe, in
the same style as you (with a lot of humour). And I can prove it, my website,
which is one to help sci-fi writers, might inspire you a few things. Please
feel free to draw inspiration from it:
http://www.themarginal.com/#script_ideas_television_films
Who am I?
I have watched every single episode of Doctor Who, I have them all on
DVD (140 DVDs or something). I also have just about every other sci-fi series
in existence and watched them many times over (over 1,000 DVDs or something). I
know everything that has been done in sci-fi (I also read a lot), and I know
what to do to make it better and to re-invent sci-fi. I am also into
theoretical physics, with plenty of new ideas to put back Einstein into
question and move us beyond actual science.
I am a writer with six books published in
Finally I have developed a website to help sci-fi writers, with many
reports about theoretical physics subjects, telling of many different ways to
achieve and explain things like parallel universes, invisibility, ghosts, time
travel, communication devices of the future, etc.:
Inspiration for Science Fiction Writers and Advisers
http://www.themarginal.com/#science_fiction_helper_reports
What am I looking for?
Would love to write for Doctor Who, whether books or on the series, but
I’m not limited to sci-fi. Otherwise, would love to bounce new and innovative
ideas for sci-fi series and other. Anything really. I feel I have great
potential, and I hope that my website can show that. Please contact me or keep
me in mind for the future.
You need one more good argument
to contact me? At the end of this special version of my CV (not available via
my website), I have comments from all the producers, directors and writers I
worked with, and it speaks for itself (I can give you their contact details if
you wish to contact them):
http://www.lemarginal.com/rm/tremblayrmcv.doc
What am I working on right now?
I am writing a sci-fi film script with another writer in
Please, see the light, contact me, and see how farther we could go
together!
Regards,
Permanent address: 44E The Grove, Isleworth,
Tel: 020 8847 5586
Right now until June/July: Oakwood,
Tel: +1 818 279 4925
Brothers and Sisters - My Brother the
President
Brothers and
Sisters (similar in title, in topic, certain ideas/characters)
It is unlikely that the page I wrote about My Brother the President could
have inspired Brother and Sisters, but somehow I find it bizarre that their
title resembles mine, that it is about politics and the Republicans and somehow
denouncing the actual administration questionable decisions, and there are also
similarities between the characters of the show and my twin brothers in my won
stories, jealousy between the successful ones and the failures in the family. Could
all be coincidences, and yet, I wonder.
Tonight
I am going to write an entry I will probably delete very soon, in order not too
attract too much attention and being sued by the very people who most probably
draw some inspiration from one of my ideas. The weirdest thing is that it was
just a page I have written, called My Brother The President, about a failure of
a man who had a highly successful brother as a President, a Republican, I think
you know who I mean, who was actually a moron, and yet, highly successful. And
now there is a series on all main channels worldwide about just that, though
they are taking their time to bring about the President, almost at the end of
the first series, and now the Gay brother will eventually come up I suppose in
the second series. The series is anyway called Brothers and Sisters. This is
too much coincidence for me having no part in this, especially considering the
strong gay element to the story.
I
can’t believe that I could have written a page one night that perhaps could
have inspired a whole television series, and anyway, I am quite aware that it
could be a coincidence, even up to the very similar title, and I know there is
no way I would win if I were to sue them, but that is not anyway how I feel, I
would never sue them. I am proud, I am pleased that somehow I could have
inspired such a great series. It is wonderful, it is sarcastic, it sort of
criticise the American President, without ever crossing the line, this is just
how I would have done it, how I saw it.
I am
now confused, I feel that somehow I am able to dictate the kind of series I
would actually like to watch, and bang, it comes my way with all the best
actors there are. Taken at a philosophic point of view, it is like being so
much in control of my life and what I want its content to be, that I am not
right there in Hollywood making it happen myself in the first place, perhaps
because of my lack of experience, I can at least influence this on a massive
scale. Which just confirms to me how much more in control of our own existence
we are. I believe it so much that if I truly wanted deep down to be right down
there in
I
don’t know. Perhaps I wouldn’t say no to be in
Film White Noise, about EVP. Could be a
coincidence, perhaps not. There isn’t much within the film which reminds me or
of what I wrote,
apart from the main idea of the film. Ultimately they could have got the idea
somewhere else.
Sci-Fi Reports – mainly Parallel Universes
Last episodes of Stargate SG-1 (more about parallel
universes using the stargate, and Zero Point Energy module)
E=mc2 The world’s Most Famous
Equation
I was instrumental in developing that two hour film
which presents a brochette of the best British actors. It was on Channel 4 in
Here is quite a website I built for that film
containing all my reports. I was asked to put it offline at the time, from
fears that someone might steal our material, but now I don’t see what harm it
could cause. You can buy a copy of the film from the production company I had a
contract with as a Development Producer, and I sure believe that what you will
see next will prove to you how great a Development Producer I can be:
http://www.darlowsmithson.com/catalogue.htm
Portal to everything
I did for this film:
http://www.themarginal.com/emc2.htm
I probably did more and wrote more, however this is
the website I did at that time, up until I was asked to put it offline.
SouthBeach was a television series in the
This is the original film script that I have written
which could have been SouthBeach. To be honest, I was so limited with the
original material given to me, I’m not sure the film would have done any better
than the series. However, this is so far off the television series, it could
easily be modified to be a film in its own right. For a start, I wouldn’t mind
moving it to
Here are the
two other film scripts and one synopsis I have written for that production
company. I haven’t put them on my website because I wasn’t sure of were I stood
about copyrights. If you are interested in those scripts, like for SouthBeach,
please let me know and I will put you in contact with the production company:
Corporate
GIA (synopsis) DOC – PDF - LIT
Groundhog Day – Time Loop report
I may be responsible for a resurgence of Groundhog
Day types of films and television series lately with my report on the subject,
though the idea was not new and almost every single big sci-fi series had an
episode about it. So, I perhaps didn’t inspire anyone in that case.
Sheila MacLeod, well known Scottish Author
Good friend of mine, wrote many books which won many
book awards, including the New York Times Book of the Year Award for the Art of
Starvation. She says she has written
many books from our friendship over the years, but she refuses to let me read
her books. Since they are still unpublished at this time, I don’t not know how
much I may have inspired her.
(Strange Days at Blake Holsey High)
Television series on NBC
My life has inspired this television series, and I
developed a lot of the characters personalities and some episode ideas. No time
to develop further at this time, but below you will read an email I sent to a
fan site followed by the initial brainstorm I sent them. You will see that a
lot of it has ended up being in the series.
I was not credited for my work on Black Hole High,
but I was paid and I have the proof here that I worked on that series. They
have not kept all my ideas, but a lot of them they did, and I am pleased about
it. You can see at the beginning in the intro of each episode that Josie has a
T-shirt with the word Anarchist written on it, that’s me, my website is called
The Marginal, my most popular published book is a book called The
Anarchist (poetry), and Josie is very much as I described her in my brainstorm,
she’s based on me, like most other character profiles. (I hope I won’t get shot
for stating this! But the series is dead now, and I wanted to tell someone for
quite a while, because I am proud of the work I did on Strange Days at Blake
Holsey High.)
Bruce Kalish, Director, Writer and Producer (US)
(On the
Jubilee week-end, while I had 4 days off work, I wrote 8 episode synopses for
the series Black Hole High. The Executive Producer of the series Bruce Kalish
was so impressed he wrote back:)
Roland,
you are so prolific, you put everyone I know to shame... I think as our working
relationship continues I will give you some movie ideas I have been mottling
over and let you run with them if you want. Or if you have ideas I'd be glad to
listen to them and give you some input. In this first order I will not be able
to get you a script, however, if we get the pickup for the back half of the
season, hopefully by the end of this year, I will get you scripts, I can
promise that. Sorry I can't do more for you now with all the help you given...
other then get you paid for the research you're doing for me and seeing if I
can get you a technical advisor credit. Thanks so much for responding with the
speed and more importantly the intelligence that you communicate with the
writers. Thanks for your notes they are extremely helpful, I was inspired by
your hard work and finished off the piece. Thanks again for coming into my
life!
Credits: Black Hole High, The Famous Jett
Jackson (including the Movie), The Fall Guy, Incredible Hulk and Eight is
Enough
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0435888/
Here
are those 8 episode synopses:
(Actually, at this late hour I can only
find seven… where is the eighth? When I find it I will add it here. These
synopses might not have been picked up per say, they however influenced and
inspired many of the episodes of Black Hole High:)
Parallel Universe DOC
- PDF
- LIT
Lady Queensbury DOC
- PDF
- LIT
Mixed Universes DOC
- PDF
- LIT
My email to a fan
website:
De : Roland Michel Tremblay [mailto:
Envoyé : 20 July 2006 23:29
À : X
Objet : Black Hole High
Dear X,
I have read your fan website with
interest. I live in
Lucas vs.
They are best friends, but they are nothing
alike. One completes the other. Lucas is the intelligent idealistic guy and
I think
Please read here on my website some
of the reports I wrote about the science and possible solutions to problems the
characters had to encounter. I had to take out any mention to Black Hole High
to put these reports online at the time, however it is clear that it is about
the show. It shows the possible situations we considered. Please read it and
let me know what you think:
http://www.themarginal.com/#science_fiction_helper_reports
From
my CV, what I did on the show (note that I have not been credited for working on the show, so my name
does not appear anywhere, and I don’t mind that):
Brewster (Black Hole High) Productions
inc.
(April
2002 to October 2002)
Technical
Adviser/Science Consultant/Writer (working mainly from
We had 7 months to
write and research 13 episodes of a children’s television programme that is now
being broadcast all over
Many of my reports can
be read online: http://www.themarginal.com/index.htm#science_fiction_helper_reports
http://kids.discovery.com/fansites/bhhigh/bhhigh.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Days_at_Blake_Holsey_High
Regards,
Roland
Michel Tremblay
Black Hole High
Brainstorm Session
Distribution
List: the executive producers and
writers on the show
Please note that everything that follows is
just for brainstorm sessions and inspiration, nothing is fixed in the story.
You will find many contradictions and that is healthy. Please modify, delete
and update with your own notes and circulate. Don't be afraid to invent new psychological,
social and physical traits to the characters instead of building on what has
already been defined here or in the episodes already written. You can also
create new sections or topics to be defined by you and others. Feel free to
reorganize everything. Change the color and highlight everything you modify/add
so we can easily identify it.
I intend this file to be alive, in
progress, being modified and added to all the time by everyone. It could be the
basis for any new episode. Every time you modify it please save it adding one
number to it (for example bhhbrainstorms34.doc if it was called
bhhbrainstorms33.doc) and then send it around to the distribution list. Feel
free to add new names to the distribution list.
(The only new thing in this is the first
entry, a description of Prof Z which will inspire me my third episode idea. I
intend to link this with the study of the sky with the telescope somehow. I
think all the writers should be given this file after you modify it to your
liking. Please delete this paragraph after reading it.)
44E The Grove, Isleworth, Middlesex,
Tel: +44 (0)20 8847 5586
rm@themarginal.com www.themarginal.com
Prof Z
Prof Z did not come from nowhere, he is an
inventor and used to work at the lab with Mr. Pearson. He was a bright student
then and a bad employee, he did not get along too well with Mr. Pearson. But he
is a genius and without him the machine would have never been a reality. His
quarters are in the basement and lead to lots of tunnels under the school that
reach the lab. The kids will discover his little room of inventions and be
fascinated by this hidden side of Prof Z. He used to be working down there
without anyone knowing until the science teacher disappeared and then he was
asked by Mr. Pearson and the Principal to take over the science class. He
always liked to be left alone to work on his projects and inventions but today
he enjoys teaching the smart kids, he is learning to get out of his cavern. In
his lab we will see a lot of fascinating things with boards filled with
equations and calculations.
Josie the Genius and the Feminist
The big Josie… for some reason I imagine
her as a fatty or at the very least tall and acting like a boy, I can already
see her defending the weak Lucas against bullies (I knew a Josie at the
University of Ottawa and she was fat and a lesbian). Josie will need to prove
that she is The Genius and I think it would be a nice touch if she was a
feminist defending the right of girls. Of course, I would not have her talk
politics or starting a rebellion, but she could often have comments about how
girls are better and more intelligent than boys (which of course is true!).
How can she prove that she is a genius? We
could start in class, the teacher could be asking a whole bunch of questions
and the only one to answer or holding her arm in the air could be Josie. Vaughn
could have a try and make mistake after mistake, humiliating himself, and Josie
would have the right answer all the time. She could even correct the teacher
once or twice. That should establish her reputation. The teacher should be
annoyed and send her to the principal.
Principal Durst vs. Josie
I think Josie should always get into
trouble and end up in the principal office all the time. Like three times in a
row. Each time the speech of the principal would change and Josie will attack
her more and more. About her lies, about what is going on with Mr Pearson, etc.
The principal should threaten Josie of kicking her out of the school, witch
should pleased Josie no end in a funny way. We should see her smile suddenly
appearing, and she could play the game that she is horrified by the prospect of
being kicked out.
When the principal realizes that Josie
wants to be kicked out, she will promise her that she will die in this school,
she will never be kicked out no matter what she does, but she will have to be
punished. And we could see Josie having to clean the toilets and finally get
helped by her friends Lucas, Marshall and Corrine. We could have Corrine
arguing that she should not be helped, that she deserves it. Ultimately she will
help her.
Corinne vs. Josie
I think they should never really like each
other even though we could have real proofs at times that they actually like
each other. I think that most of the time you never really like the person you
are sharing your room with and your whole life becomes how to live with it and
accept it. So they should ultimately like one another, but could never really
admit it and they should act consequently. Tensions between each other. Corinne
should get jealous because Lucas and Marshall see her as a genius when, before,
she was the genius. Corinne's IQ is 172, Lucas think that Josie's IQ must go
over 200. That annoys Corinne no end. As well, she is highly frustrated because
everything Josie says or suggests, always sound like a great idea, but not hers
anymore. They are no longer listening to her.
Corinne vs. Lucas
Corinne should be secretly in love with
Lucas, and Lucas should be completely blind to it. They should have both always
been first in class, big competition between who will have 100% in the next
maths exam, and they should have always studied together. The thing his,
Corinne needs to study a lot but Lucas never really had to study. Things come
so easy for him, he can sit down at 3 am the night before the exam and get 100%.
Corinne needs to work a lot harder to reach the same result and she should
always be at the teacher office to get the next problem explained to her. Lucas
never did, but he always come to her to find out the problems he cannot solved.
She will get annoyed with that. Corinne and Lucas should have always been very
close and Josie will be threatening that relationship. Corinne will have
admiration for Lucas, and that will annoy Josie no end. She will think it is
not deserved, that Lucas is just a big dreamer without logic.
Lucas
Lucas should be the philosopher of the
group and he should never really have fit in. He should always bring back
citations of Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. Josie will be much more Descartes
(Cartesian, logical, like Pascal). Lucas will have a bunch of theories that
could revolutionize physics as we know it (like we can go faster than the speed
of light) and will greatly need Josie to fill the holes in his ideas. Therefore
Lucas will admire Josie completely. They should argue about the stupidest ideas
until they run out of things to say and fall asleep out of exhaustion. They
should have a secret place in the school where they could meet at night to
discuss philosophy. Corinne will sort of suspect that and find out. She will no
longer speak to them until something brings them back together. Of course, the
wildest gossips will go around about Lucas and Josie's meetings in the dark
secret place.
Lucas should be living a permanent
existential crisis and find comfort in philosophy. I think he should be openly
suicidal in a funny way, even though there will be real deep moments. He should
be helped by Corinne who would love to understand him better, to be part of his
closed universe. He should be the one becoming invisible, living between two
times like a ghost, and see the philosophical side of it. Lucas should be
bullied in school, he must be seen as a nerd and a computer wizard with
Corinne.
Lucas should be much more sensible to weird
phenomena, and things should be happening that he sees and the person is with
will not see. So it will annoy him that sometimes only him saw something and he
will waste time trying to convince the others.
Lucas vs.
They are best friends, but they are nothing
alike. One completes the other. Lucas is the intelligent idealistic guy and
I think that kids today are not stupid,
they are very much clued up. I think they are dealing with suicide, drugs and
deep psychological problems. The show would benefit greatly in content if we
were to talk about these subjects in a very nice manner (without the details)
rather than having this Happy-Go-Lucky universe. If drugs are not mentioned, at
the very least it should be suggested in the dark past of
Lucas should be his greatest confident and
probably his sort of psychoanalyst trying to understand what is really the
secret of
I think
Principal Durst
Principal Durst was a good person at heart.
She suffered a lot from all her colleagues (especially males) in the days when
she was just a teacher. They were always laughing at her, considering her not
too intelligent and they tried to get her fired. One day she was very down and
thought of leaving, she woke up and thought she would fight back. She would
show them what she was made of, that she too could be an iron lady. She devised
a plan to get the respect of the old principal, the administration office and
especially Mr. Pearson. She became a good friend of them and when the time came
and the old principal had to leave, she was the logical choice. She managed to
be nice to everyone involved with the choosing process and with the help of Mr.
Pearson she made it, she became principal of the
Principal Durst vs. Mr. Pearson
Principal Durst is a woman who never had
any lover and she cannot date a teacher because in her eyes she is in a
position of power. The only acceptable person for her is Mr. Pearson. Mr.
Pearson knows that Principal Durst is interested in him and will use this to
his own advantage in order to get what he wants from her. Unfortunately for the
principal, Mr. Pearson is in love with his lost wife that he wishes to get back
somehow. And though Ms. Durst looks like she wants to help him to get back his
wife, she secretly despises that idea that she will often reject as ridiculous.
According to her Mr. Pearson should get on with his normal life and look at
other people who cares for him today, like his son Vaughn and the school's
staff (her). This is why and how Mr. Pearson was able to get Ms. Durst on his
side.
Mr. Pearson
Mr. Pearson was some sort of genius in his
old days, he had a vision that gave him the chance to experiment with some sort
of time machine. He had a vision and he built it. It went wrong and he lost his
wife in the process. Now he starts noticing that different times are
co-existing and he gets the idea that he could somehow get back his wife before
she dies (or disappears). Either his wife has been thrown into a different
time, like thousands of years ago, or perhaps she died during the experiment or
died of something else somewhere else. If she is in the past, he will want the
kids to experiment with the machine in order to see if they can make it work so
eventually he could find where in time his wife is. If his wife died, it will
be a question of going back in time before she dies in order to get her back to
the present or prevent her death.
He tried a lot of different things to get
his wife back and he never succeeded. Understanding that the kids are quite
bright with the help of Prof Z, he is willing to let them try again and again
without really telling them. Today Mr. Pearson is building stratagems and plans
to get that help, he kind of lost it a little even though he is still very
intelligent. I don't think he should be that crazy demented man with a big
laugh, he should still appear as normal.
He gives a lot of attention to the kids
because he is afraid they know too much already, but he also gives them a lot
of information indirectly because he needs them to help him find his wife.
Mr. Pearson vs. Vaughn
In order to reach the kids and lay down
certain paths to follow to the children, Mr. Pearson needs an insider, his son
Vaughn. He already has Principal Durst on his side, so he can already
manipulate them very well. Mr. Pearson should be sometimes the person creating
a problem or a situation that gets sort of delivered by his son Vaughn. Of
course the children will always benefit from the great resourcefulness of
Vaughn who is helped by his dad. There should be tunnels and caves under the
science lab, with rooms with equipments remaining from the times when the lab
was working at full capacity. Perhaps there should be a tunnel from the school
to the lab in which certain episodes could take place.
Vaughn is not a happy kid as he lost his
mom and is unsure about the love of his father. He blames his dad for this and
always wants to know how and when they will get her back. He will get to
understand that his last chance is the science club since all else failed. He
could confide this to the others and perhaps they could be aware and helpful,
try to get her back (of course they should never succeed). At the very least
they could see her in the past, try to save her but fail. That will be the big
psychological problem of Vaughn, the lost of his mom even though he knows there
might be a way to get her back, so he keeps some hope and dreams about it.
Eventually, despite being a spy for his father, he will become more and more on
the side of the science club against his dad, even though he will never stop
from reporting everything, like a good boy. He could eventually do something
against his dad and will be punished for this. Then he would get back to normal
in his relationship with his dad (for the need of the show).
Vaughn vs. Principal Durst
Principal Durst should gets reports from
Vaughn as well about what is happening within the science club, but Vaughn will
be much less responsive to her, he will lack respect and he will play against
her many times. He will not like her too much because he knows she is
interested in his dad and he does not want her as his new mom. He says that
they will get back his real mom somehow one day.
Analysis of Ally McBeal and Frasier
The whole success of Frasier and Ally
McBeal was due to one particular thing happening over and over again. First of
all it was a very formal environment. The court, the judges and the lawyers for
McBeal, and the high class family, good manners and importance of the projected
image in Frasier. All of this makes funnier the lies, the things we cannot
admit, that cause us to lie even more in order to cover our first lie. And
always we lose face completely. Then ultimately the truth time comes up and the
story resolves itself.
How I
transpose this to Black Hole High
I believe we can have a lot of fun with the
Principal, Mr Pearson and his son Vaughn, if they are very formal or solemn and
very high class. Often the funny side comes from people who cares a lot about
their image and suddenly find themselves in very bad situations that compromise
their image, formalism or solemnity. But we have to be careful to not become
grotesque or clownesque, like for example Cruella in 102 Dalmatians. It should
not become a circus.
Examples of this: the principal could have
a bunch of habits that are very important to her and the kids could displace
her things, or prevent those habits from happening. She could loose face in
front of other teachers or even worse, in front of the whole school. Same for
Vaughn, he could be very proud of one of his experiment, and it could turn sour
because our science group would have played with his experiment as a revenge on
him for something he might have done. (I am assuming that on top of the science
club, there will be normal chemistry, physics, mathematics and philosophy
classes.
Surveillance
I think the principal should hire Vaughn as
a spy, to keep an eye on our friends. And we should see the principal and
Vaughn in very compromising situations, like in the rooms of the students, or
looking in their things. Or suddenly they are around them trying to listen, and
perhaps the kids could find some microphones in their room and use this to
their advantage, for a joke, in order to compromise the principal (echoes of
Richard Nixon surveillance at the White House).
The most
I think the school should be heavily
haunted, people should hear things at night, see people walking by that
suddenly disappear. Animals suddenly flapping in the dark. Everyone should have
their own little story to tell. Of course, we will come to understand that this
is because many different times are co-existing in the same space, but until we
know that for sure, ghosts frightening students could be a nice little touch to
the show. Everybody likes ghost stories and suspense, especially if you can
discuss it in the science club and explain the phenomena scientifically.
Sets
Science Club Room
This show should be different than other
school shows because it is Science Fiction. Even though this will be in a
school, we should try to make it look more like if we were in space (I said
look like). A bit like the merging of the old English Harry Potter school with
a touch of sci-fi in it. Walls made of stones would be much better, and there
should be many computers and monitor screens. We need to feel like we are on a
ship, like in Star Trek, even though we are in a school (so perhaps we should
forget about the old stones style?). It should be very clean and look very
nice, a bit hi-tech.
We are in the almost number one school in
Scientific Laboratory
For the laboratory, I liked a specific
feeling that was used in a Star Trek Voyager episode. The one where the
holographic doctor is shipped into the Alpha quadrant and arrives on a
prototype Federation ship called Prometheus. The sick bay is very nicely done,
nice colors, with lights in the ceiling. This looks like the best they have
ever done. The episode is called: Message in a bottle, season 4, episode 14.
The Rest - Very Futuristic
As this is a science fiction series and
that usually we have certain expectations when it comes to sci-fi, I will have
everything look a bit futuristic. Like if we were in the future. This can be
easily justified by the fact that Mr. Pearson, who is rich beyond belief, will
never have less for the school that his son is attending. I would not go as far
as having the doors opening like in Star trek, but almost. We should find the
latest gadgets on the market and have them everywhere, like PDA or Pocket PCs
like the Compaq iPaq which is the nicest looking one. It can be used as a
mobile phone and a satellite Global Positioning System (GPS). This could be
used as some sort of tricorder to find out that we are displaced in time and
space. We should use e-books in class and e-book readers. They exist in the
market, but are not very popular yet. They ought to be. Perhaps we should have
computer desks for every student. I had that in certain of my classes at the
This show should give us a taste of the
future, even though it would only use things that exist today. I think the
school should be run by a main computer that could be used to control
everything. The most sophisticated security system that the kids can break into
and also the type of system "House of the Future" that permits you to
control everything with a mobile phone/PDA Pocket PC.
Casting
Just one word about the fact that perhaps
the cast should not look so perfect, or too beautiful, like models. Personality
should come first. We should not have the feeling that these people are out
from LA with a sun tan, and that they are the perfect kids on the block that
every parents want. They should all look intelligent, even the baddies. We
should not be too obvious with the Manichaeism, the baddies should not be
stupid or looking bad. Most often baddies are intelligent and they are not so
well identified. They don't have a tag over their heads saying: I am a baddy.
Intelligence should be required in order to discover who are the baddies and
how to fight them.
What I
like about those kids is that they appear intelligent and curious by nature,
they are not models, they don't look like your perfect kid that every parents
want, they don't have this attitude of "I am the best, listen to me and I
want to take over everything" and finally they appear dysfunctional. The
perfect definition of a kid in a sci-fi series. Please no dumb girls or fat
stupid guy, nobody likes them. Nobody should act like if they were kids, they
should act as they are. Ultimately they should not act at all, they should be
themselves. That is why the casting is very important.
Atmosphere of the show
I know it sounds a bit stupid to mention,
but the old English school atmosphere sounds good in this context, a bit like
Harry Potter. I understand we cannot have the cast starting to speak in a
British accent, but to have one British kid might be a good idea (
One model couple representing the perfect parents
I think that we need a couple that loves
each other and could potentially go out together without ever really admitting
it or doing anything about it. I think this should also be a complicity with
the kids and they should not interfere that much, even though they will suggest
it at times. So the couple can still continue to pretend that nothing is
happening whilst they are in love. That can be a lot of text in the season. And
it can be funny.
Now, who should they be? It cannot be the
old woman, because she exists in the present and she is old. And this pseudo
relationship should be happening in the present and the past. The new or old
science teacher with the principal? That is an idea, but that would mean
getting the principal much more involved in everything. She would need to be
able to go in different times too at some points.
What happens with the second science teacher?
One of the science teachers could be a
woman, and the other one a male. As I mentioned they could wonder about the
fate of the other when the old one comes back. They might not want to be
separated and they would have to find a solution about keeping him or her. Then
the principal could be a man instead of a woman. Though the dichotomy
man/woman, when it comes to Mr Pearson, seems more interesting than two men.
Old Civilization in the Past
It should be obvious that the experiment
worked before exploding and that they used it to go in the past. So later on in
the series we can get to know their secret dealings with a civilization that
existed before us, and we will discover that even though they lived before us,
they were much more futuristic than us. So in the lab we should see very
hi-tech equipment and perhaps the kids should find the equivalent of a Star
Trek Tricorder. That device could do many things and it will help them find the
portal in order to go back.
How they find their way back
The old woman should say that the big
magnets are creating a huge magnetic field that opens a hole in the fabric of
space. She was not that involved, but she knows that they must have gone
somewhere because they brought back impressive objects. They also observed
weird phenomena, like time appears to be running at different rates in certain
places of the lab.
Josie will then have a look at the device
and from what the old woman said, she will sort of understand that she can see
some areas where the gravity is stronger. The old teacher will deduct that time
might be running faster in those areas and that might be a way to find the
portal and go back to the future. Pushing buttons should indicate where to go
in order to go back.
What happens in the long term and
how to survive beyond season one
I think that even though a lot of things
can happen in the school, you will quickly run out of idea. The series really
should be revolving around the lab and the experiment. Therefore, after the
weird phenomena happening around the school in the first episodes, puzzling
most students and revealing the science behind the whole experiment, you will
need something more. That is why the kids should go back into the past and find
a way to control the machine. At the very least they could visit that old
civilization and discover this very futuristic society and sort of not believe
that there are no traces of their existence. We could then learn that if our
civilization would die today, nothing would guarantee that in thousands of
years another civilization would find traces of our own existence. Therefore it
is important to protect ourselves from asteroids that could potentially destroy
our planet (it could be the reason why they disappeared, and this could be the
conclusion that the scientists reached by learning more about them before the
machine exploded). We could have a nice little speech about the universe. How
Jupiter is so large that it attracts most of the asteroids that otherwise could
come and crash on Earth. It should also be known that a relatively small
asteroid could destroy a whole city like
Not only that, but the kids could finally
have their own time machine and go in different times, just by finding the
right portal. I would not do it every time, and perhaps only once or twice in
the first season (including the whole civilization).
What happens in the few subsequent episodes
-The invisibility is one, so we can talk
about ghosts and people trapped between two times, also between two realities
(dream and reality).
-Episode about the Déjà-Vu and what it
could be. So things happening in the future could have happened in the past and
by concentrating we can remember the future and change it (we would talk about
the fluctuation of the timeline) the past and the present are not what they
appear to be.
-The snow episode and the interpretation of
the experiment as being a nuclear explosion. An episode about the principal and
Mr. Pearson, the confrontation. We would also understand more about the fact
that different times are co-existing in the same place, and this is because of
the natural magnetic fields of the Earth being trapped in our No Man's Land
bubble. And obviously we could talk about what is a nuclear explosion,
radiation and the consequences of that.
-Episode about time rate being different in
certain areas. A plane could just freeze in the sky and the kids and the
population needs to deal with this. What would the principal do in front of
this astonishing proof that something is going on around here? So the kids will
learn that by applying more gravity or less gravity in the area of the plane,
they can change the rate at which the plane can go, and therefore unfreeze it
from the sky.
-The kids should regularly look at the sky
using a telescope. We need to review what is the universe, its scale and life
story. We should also get to know what stars, planets and galaxies are and
where we are in our own galaxy the Milky Way.
-There should be an episode about that.
They could be finding a way to travel in time by figuring out the speed at
which the solar system is going at right now, and the speed it was going at
during these different periods in history. They would figure that out by
looking at all the other solar systems and galaxies, the gravity that has been
exerted on our solar system, and the famous device from the old civilization
capable of calculating/processing these things.
-We could have an episode about another
weird device from the old futuristic civilization. And this device could be
used in some exploration of the very small, like the atomic world. We could
study Quantum Mechanics, but incorporate that into another story with a crisis
and a solution involving Quantum Mechanics. Give me more time and I will come
up with something.
-Table of the Elements. Find a situation, a
crisis that can only be solved by figuring out the interactions between certain
elements (chemical reactions) and applying them. We could learn that we are
made of Carbon, and computer intelligence from Silicon, and that ultimately
none is better than the other. It is a bit the story of Evolution, the Movie.
The Aliens are made of Nitrogen instead of carbon, therefore their poison,
instead of being Arsenic, it was Selenium. But we could do something like
Plutonium decaying and involve the story of Pierre and Marie Curie, discovering
radioactivity and dying from radiation poisoning. The weird situation in the
bubble would have, for example, transformed some normal matter into radioactive
matter. We will then see how we can take matter and transform it into something
else.
-We could write a story around exploring
things like Thunder and electrical storms. Also Fire Balls (have you ever heard
about this phenomenon? Fire Balls appearing out of nowhere and chasing people
before exploding into something. Very interesting and frightening.
-Other subjects related to science: Force
and Energy, Light, Sound (waves), electricity, electronics and
telecommunications.
Roland Michel Tremblay
www.themarginal.com rm@themarginal.com