The story behind the story!
It was 1988 and we were working together on a big job. It was a "hurry up and wait" kind of job, so someone was always hanging about, ready to spring into action or go for lunch. Now, you must remember this was before the Internet. Computer games were non-existent and the only purpose of the departmental computers was word processing. Standing around gabbing was the only way to pass the time.
One day as we hung around, eyes glazing over, I suggested that we could write a communal story. If you were free and had nothing to do, you could sit down and add to it, however you see fit. We'd see were it would lead, just for fun. There were a few nods and, with that, I sat down and pecked out "Stop, Dave." "Don't call me Dave.", the beginnings of a space ship pilot's conversation with his "2001: A Space Odyssey" enamored ship's computer.
Well, everyone jumped on board enthusiastically, but it wasn't long before the story degenerated into a rudderless ramble. Interest quickly waned, leaving Patrick, myself and Ron Yoshida to continue picking away at it. Finally, with the kernel of an idea and some whacky characters, Patrick and I sat down to devise a plot. With that sketched out, we began to trim and mold the existing material and steer the story. We would come up with a scene, Patrick would take the lead, spewing out action and dialogue, then I would follow as clean-up, tidying the style, clarifying and adding details. We pressed on for several months, eventually calling it finished at around two-hundred pages, and printed out a couple of copies. Ever enthusiastic, with red pen in hand, I began to read it with revisions in mind...
Skip to summer 2006. The events of life had sent us hither and fro, and it had been years since anyone had given the "Epic", as we had called it, a thought. I was cleaning out the closet and found the binder with my red pen marks all over the first seventy-five pages or so. I began to read. I had a good chuckle now and again, and by the time I got to the end I thought, "this thing ain't half bad." One conscious decision, made so many years ago, was to save that old puppy on a floppy disk. The lesson for everyone is: Make a backup copy! Loading the story into my computer, I began by performing the corrections made with the red pen. Six or seven passes later, it is finally whittled down, rearranged and coddled into cohesion. And it is still a funny, wild ride that I think you'll enjoy.
Brad Rines, November 2006.