Charybdis: Official Discussion

[Nathan Butler]

New from Rebel Squadrons . . . it's Charybdis, a new multi-episode audio drama series.

Official discussion . . . here.

http://www.starwarsfanworks.com/charybdis.html

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Nice "Last Starfighter" opening :-) It's so great to see the genre continuosuly growing.

[AlexG]

A-HA! So THAT'S what it's from! I've only ever heard the track we used, and that's because it was included in this game mod for Star Trek armada. I've been trying to find the source for literally five years, and I had no luck. Who knew all you had to do was gather some friends together and make an audio drama and then use a track in it for people to ID the tune? If you get some song or a clip of a song in the next episode with odd lyrics from a commercial or a 1960s movie or something, you will know why.

Seriously, though, I find that very awesome. I search fruitlessly for five years and you get it within ten hours. It's true what they say, this IS a small world. Anyway, Thrawn, hope you enjoyed the show. Although... well, nothing personal but I am not sure I want you studying my artwork too closely... it'll tell you how to destroy my home planet or something. Oh well.

If you have any criticism or anything, the team and I would love to hear them... we can only improve from them, after all. So, if you did like it, my question to you becomes, "What would we need to do for you to LOVE it?"

Thanks!

[Nathan Butler]

Alex: Can you email me (nathan@starwarsfanworks.com) to get me your email address and let me know how many chapters you're intending for Charybdis?

[Zarm R'keeg]

For constructive criticism:
Well, the audio quality deffinetly needed some work- some thing were hard to hear, the audio of the different voices was not especially consistent sounding to each other, and (though this is a matter of artistic preference rather than hard fact- I.E. It may just be me) the music and several sound effects seemed to be mixed too low. And the dogfight could have used a good deal more audio- it didn't sound like the ship was being chased or hammered, but barely touched.

That said...

This is one of the cleverest, wittiest fan audio works I have ever heard. It was fairly well-acted, and EXTREMELY well-written. The banter was lots of fun, the holo-drama argument especially, and even though the plot was rather simple, it kept moving with generous doses of humor that didn't seem at all out of place. So while the mixing could stand a bit of improvement, I really enjoyed the episode, and my compliments to your writers!

[AlexG]

@Nathan: We're not sure how many episodes we're going to do. It's interesting, because this is new territory for the RS. We started as just a gaming group, and then we created a writing division, the Aurora Force. That has been wildly successful (more popular at times than the Jedi Knight series or the X-Wing series combined within our group). We're not sure if we'll be adapting some of those works (some of which have literally been in our archives for years) or just doing new stuff or what. So, unlike some dramas that have something planned out for each episode before they even begin, we plan to produce in the serial format similarly to the way we've been writing as a group for years. People will probably keep their same characters that they have already established, and let them play in this new format.
What this all boils down to is that we aren't sure how many episodes we'll do, or what the final scope of the project will be. We may do a few more or try to get to an hour to 90 minutes of content, or we may just keep producing them for years until we get tired. This is going to be something new and different, I imagine, because we aren't just coming together to do FADs. We've already come together and we're just now adding a new piece to our ever-expanding puzzle.

@Zarm: Interesting that you thought music and sound were too low in places. I thought they were still too high. I know of course that we have places in the firefights that are just terribly loud, and the narration bits at the beginning and the end clipped badly, but I still thought most things were drowning out the voices. I'll increase the music level a little more next time. Thanks for your input, and I will pass the compliments along to the other writers/actors

[AlexG]

I know this is a bit of a bump, but we've made a bit of a decision regarding episodes. It's nothing amazing by any stretch of the imagination, but we're going to take a cue from the Hitchhiker's series and divide our saga into 6-episode 'seasons'. So, the first episode you have already listened to is from Charybdis Phase 1, and it's Episode 1, Fit the First. Nathan, we're also going to decide on our titles for the next 5 episodes and get them to you for the 'upcoming dramas' section within a couple days. Everything still depends on popularity, freshness of ideas, and the like, but with each new phase you can be guaranteed that there will be 6 episodes. Then after each season we'll decide whether to renew or not. Basically it'll be done the same way most TV shows are.

Gracias!

[AlexG]

Ugh! I know this is now a TRIPLE post but I don't think an edit pushes this up to the top of the list, and I need people to read this. We're looking to cast a one-time part for this next episode. We need a member of the Remnant we can interrogate, a captain of a supply vessel. If you feel you're up to the job, send a 10 second audition to AlexG2490@aol.com. Auditioners should be able to portray a strong sense of dislike for their captors, but also to be somewhat nervous and out of sorts. Thanks, everyone!

[Zarm R'keeg]

I believe it is traditional to make a post when a new episode is released...

Good episode, guys! (And I'm not just saying that because of your brilliant guest-star! )

[AlexG]

Thanks! You did an awesome job and we'd love to have you back in future episodes.

Also, an announcement! We've now got a PODCAST! Point your catching software to http://charybdis.libsyn.com/rss to subscribe, and check for updates and other information on the blog page, http://charybdis.libsyn.com/! Thanks everyone!