Hello everyone!  Here is the latest episode of Strangetown Conspiracy. Sorry for the very long hiatus, but I can only seem to write in the dead of night, so because it never gets fully dark during the Summer months here, I couldn't get into the figurative zone, or the correct mindset to write. However, now that the sun is in the Southern Hemisphere once more, and the nights are longer and darker, look to see more episodes in the near future.  Hope you enjoy this one.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSZvbX_XLb8

Summary:Still recovering from both the assault and Johnny's murder, Ophelia is plagued in the hospital by strange nightmares involving the enigmatic Nervous Subject and his uncanny resemblance to the grim reaper; Captain Vincent describes the events aboard the mothership, and fears for the lives of his crew as well as Ripp Grunt; General Buzz still agonises over his decision to put the safety of SimNation above that of his own son Ripp, and his relationship with Pascal, who seems determined to save Ripp at all costs.

I would like to thank Swordsmasterguy, who lent his voice and inspiration for this episode. I think he makes a fine Captain Vincent. Thanks also to my friends Tim, Malla, Sasuke, Fan and Simer, your inspiration makes these films possible.

Very good chapter!  I loved the closeness between the characters, the brotherly love Tank now expresses toward Ripp, and Ophelia beginning Tank's makeover.  Who would have thought Tank would agree to a bumhugger, imagine that!

I enjoyed the self talk in General Buzz Grunt's head as well.  Good show!  Keep up the good work.

Hi folks, sorry for the long wait, but here is the latest episode of Strangetown Conspiracy.



Synopsis: Colony Drone 47, although benevolent toward his captives, expresses outright hatred toward one in particular; his biological brother, Lt. Frantisek Shiroyama. In an act proving that Ripp is truly a father's son, he boldly defends the lieutenant, without fully considering the consequences of his actions.
Oh yes, how to say Hanaiakamalama,the name of Lt. Shiroyama's dad? Say each syllable Hah-nah-ee-ah-kah-mah-la-ma. I thought it a very fitting name for a Hawaiian astronomer, as the name means "Adopted Child of the Moon." My Hawaiian friends also told me that it is the name of the Southern Cross also, a constellation that Hawaiian and Polynesian navigators used to travel about islands in the South Pacific.

And now, here are some replies.



Jolly good, I can't wait to see your take on Chip.  It's fun to see how the same character can be interpretted with similarities and differences.

As far as clinging to your versions of Johnny and Ripp, by all means do so!  I think if we all had the same takes on the characters, it would put the readers/audience to sleep.  This way, it keeps them interested. I enjoy seeing the various interpretations, so long as they are portrayed believably (seeing Buzz as a romantic guy with three lovers who plays base and sings "Is you Is, or is you ain't my baybeh" would be an example of something that is not belivable unless the author/moviemaker were going for comedy or an episode of Believe it or Not).   Your versions of the character, whilst different from mine are all believable.  So keep up the good work!



Thank very much for the feedback!  Good job you could understand the accent, as I tried turning it down drastically. Yes, this show is a bit sad, but fear not, it will have a happy ending.



Hope you enjoy it!

Incredible editing!  Too awesome for words to adequately describe, so again, I shall say WOW!!  Good show!  Keep up the good work! I didn't even know I liked this song before!

Thank you very much, Katt, Steelguy, Sadie and Kattan, I'm so glad you enjoyed my first attempt at writing a comedy.

Here is the next episode of Strangetown Conspiracy.

Synopsis: Not even General Buzz Grunt can keep his composure at the prospect of sentencing his own son to death, but Pascal attempts to comfort him, and perhaps persuade him to choose his son over his sense of duty.

In doing so, Buzz's mind wanders through the mental shelves of thirty years as he questions his own decision.

Note: This special episode is narrated by me, and was done as a challenge between myself and a few other movie makers, for we wondered how the character General Buzz Grunt would sound coming from different cultural backgrounds. This then is Glaswegian General Grunt, and before any of you remark on how weak my accent is, let me just say that I've been making every effort to tone it down so most people can understand me. My wife laughed at me for many hours whilst filming this, as she said that my viewers would be saying "come again?" "what did he say?" So I've tried not to roll my tongue and use the hard-edged vowels I ordinarily employ, but hope I've preserved the cadence of my normal manner of speaking.

If you would like to hear what American North-Eastern Buzz Grunt sounds like, be sure to watch Swordsmasterguy's movie here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DGGaShXQuA...

If all goes well, you may soon hear the Norwegian and American South Central versions as well, so as much as some of you may wish to laugh at my accent, exercise some restraint (if commenting in the comments section of the movie), as doing so could potentially scare other directors off of the challenge. In private mail though, feel free to knock my accent into the next street!

If you still can't understand me, say so in your comments, and I will post the text.

Very good chapter!  I loved how you portray Peter, he's such an understanding father.  Better than certain human fathers, I daresay!  I know in the USA, military families tend to have better health care coverage than the civilians, so it's likely that the co-payment won't be that daunting for Generall Buzz Grunt.  In fact, I have a friend who lives in the USA, and when I remarked that military families in the USA seem to be larger than their civilian counterparts (i.e. many of the families near the base had 3-5 children each, whilst the civilian families tended to have only one or two children each), my buddy said "why not?  the Government pays for the labour and delivery."   Good job Ripp didn't go to a military hospital, as I heard nothing but bad things about them from my American friends. In fact, there is a military hospital in Hawaii known as "Tripler Hospital" but my friend and his mates all called it "Crippler Hospital" because you come out of the hospital is worse condition than when you went in!



I wonder if Strangetown is an allusion to Roswell, New Mexico?  I only drove through that area, so I have no idea how they speak.  I don't think Americans are as obsessive as us Brits though, because I remember in the Harry Potter fandom, the British members would harp on the Americans for the Dursleys driving on the freeway, saying "gotten," and eating cookies.  I've yet to hear the Americans say "oh, but Buzz Grunt wouldn't say that/or eat that/do that."

Anyway, great update!  Good show! Jolly good!

As another person who simply adores Strangetown, I can hardly wait to watch this series!  It looks very interesting thus far!

I shall begin posting any updates or other special films at the end of the threads, as Steelguy said, many people look for updates at the end, not the beginning of threads, silly me, eh?  Hope you enjoy this!

What a beautifully rendered chapter!  You nearly had me in tears, I guess that's you simply returning the favour, eh?  One would think we both have invested heavily in the facial tissue industry.

I love how you've shown that in striking Lyla, Buzz remembers his mother Missy Grunt with similar injuries. It is rather odd that Lyla would leave without her sons, isn't it?  I could never deduce why that might be, unless Buzz threw Lyla out of the house, and threatened to kill her if she took any of the children with her, as most battered wives would not dare leave their children in the hands of an abuser unless greater harm was threatened to them.  I wonder if Lyla heard of another military wife who ran from her husband with the kids, and the husband found them and killed them all or something?

I love how Jenny and Peter behave toward Tank, that is exactly what he needs at the moment.   And who would have thought?  Tank a talented poet?  Brilliant!

Oh yes, by all means read "The Great Santini!"  I have started to read it again, and see the Grunts even more clearly in those characters. You'll notice that Bull's eldest son Ben has both traits of Ripp and Tank.  It's almost as though EAxis split Ben in two and came up with Ripp and Tank, as Ben is very emotional and suffers badly from Bull's abuses(like Ripp), but at the same time, he tries his hardest to please his father, even going so far as beating other people because it pleases Bull that he does so (this might be why young Buzz Grunt beat up Loki, Pascal, Vidcund, and Lazlo).  If you can't find the book, watch the movie, it's great!

Keep up the good work!  I'm releasing another movie today.  Watch for it in my thread!

WOW!  You write very fast!  So short was the interval between the last chapter and this one, that I did not realize that you had finished it when you did!  I only wish I could make movies even half that fast!

Great great chapter!  It's funny how similar we think, as our Ripps, Tanks and General Buzz Grunts, share much of their personalities, and  faults.  I really love how you've added the self talk bit, which gives us even greater insight into their minds.  The self talk was an excellent sequence!

I'm so glad General Buzz Grunt is to receive treatment for his violent behaviours, as so many military men in real life beat their wives and children, only to have the same thing happen in the subquent generation and the one after that.  I always thought EAxis modelled General Buzz Grunt somewhat after the character Lt. Col. Wilbur "Bull" Meecham, from the novel "The Great Santini,"  for both men are strikingly similar; outstanding at their duties in the military, but have many shortcomings as fathers.  Bull's children are actually afraid of him. There is even a sequence where the character had a Jewish friend, which strikes me as rather similar to the conflict Ripp's befriending an alien(he and Johnny get on very well when the game begins), whilst his brother and father begin the game as enemies with  Johnny and Pollination Technician #9.  If you ever get the chance, read "The Great Santini" or at least watch the movie, as it can lend some great inspiration for depicting the Grunts.  I suspect the Grunts are really the Meechams at times!  Hmm, I think I'll read that book one more time, and substitute "General Buzz Grunt" every time "Lt. Col. Wilbur "Bull" Meecham" has a scene.  The sad thing about this, is that Lt. Col. "Bull" Meecham is really based on the author's real life father, who was every bit as heroic in wars as well as abusive to his family. The author still says he has nightmares about his treatment at the hands of his father even to this very day.

Excellent work!  I usually don't like romance, but adore the relationship between Ripp and Johnny.  Keep it the good writing!

Thank you so much for the kind words.  I'm enjoying your series immensely as well!  So have you got free time installed yet?  I do, but I'm still playing with the hacks for the game, so I might just try the Animation boxes and Fourth Wall hack.

Hope you enjoy the next chapter, I've just released it.

Brilliant Chapter!  Positively Brilliant without nary enough superlatives in the world to describe it!  Good show! You've got the characters spot on as I imagine them, even Ripp's unfortunate tendency to say the very things that ought not be.  Even telling his dad to go finger himself, I was shaking in me boots with that one for him.  Good job Buzz didn't kill him!  It's odd how beating the boy seems to be the all too common reaction upon learning that he is gay.  I've known a few gay friends in my lifetime(one Samoan, two Britons) and all were severely beaten by male relatives upon being outed.

I love how you've characterised the Smiths, oh I speak too hastily, I like how you've characterised everyone in the series thus far!

You've done a splendid job photoshopping it as well.  I can hardly wait to see the next part!

How on Earth do I use these guys for movies?  Well, thanks to Echo and other great modders within the community, I've learned to extract animations  with SIM PE, and make objects to place in the game to easily call upon those animations.  Combining two or three of the animations in short succession makes for interesting effects, but sometimes not.  I'd love to share these objects, but they crash even my game, and I sometimes can only film one or two takes of one or more scenes  before the game explodes in a BFBVFS!  I guess I'm more of a HACK than a true hacker at this time.  I'm working on custom animations as well, but those are even less stable, as some look horrible in game.

One of my reviewers said that taking pictures of SIMs sometimes makes him want to pull all of his hair out, and I told him that's why bowling ball polish is a good investment, as SIMS storytellers and filmakers will likely be bald in the near future.  

Ripp has a way to making people want to hug him, or at least treat him kindly(i.e. the aliens are cruel to the HMS Wright captives, but go out of their way to try and make Ripp comfortable).  Yes, I shall release the deleted scenes soon, the problem is, I had so much leftover from this episode, I'll have trouble selecting which ones to use for the closing credits.

That was AWESOME and rocked the free world!  You seem to get better and better with each vid you do!  Good SHOW!

You can't find the file borking the ability of a sim walking to another lot, eh?  Well I have the same problem,  and still haven't found it after six months of searching.

Anyway, I am nearly bereft of words at that Jack-In-A-Box paper. It was just so beautiful, and summarised the plight that is Ripp Grunt's perfectly!  You're quite the talented writer, I must say!

I love how not only Ripp, but Tank also bolted from their father to go with the Smiths!  Good on them, and good on you for writing it!

Ha hah!  I loved the part where their romantic interactions are witnessed by Dirk and Lilith, and Tank stood up for his brother.  Good on him yet again!  

I love this story!  Keep up the great work!