Friendships Between Characters?

[The Unknown Angel]

I've recently become re-interested in the Classic Captain Scarlet, as a result of watching Thunderbirds, and I've come up with a soft reboot of the 1960s Captain Scarlet series, transplanting the classic 1960s characters into a more modern world.

After thinking about it a bit more, I decided to just focus on the Spectrum Angels, and throw my own Angel in to make it a team of six Angels. The thing I've been wondering about is making a good way to tie my character (Real name Caroline Brun, temp. codename is Concerto Angel until I come up with a better one), to Rhapsody Angel, pre-Spectrum.

My current idea is that Caroline met Dianne Simms when she was at the Euro-Charter Airline Company, and Caroline took a temporary job switch from Air Terrainean to Euro-Charter from 2065 to 2066, before Dianne Simms "disappeared" (Joined Spectrum), in 2066. In those two years, they built up a rather strong friendship, and Dianne even taught her a few self-defense techniques. Caroline went back to Air Terrainean after Dianne went to Spectrum, and Caroline wasn't selected to join Spectrum until 2072.

This might be stretching it, but she also had a brush with Lady Penelope, having moved from Brighton (Her Birthplace) to Foxley Heath to get closer to London so it'd be easier to get to Heathrow, and did a few small chores for Lady P, obvious to the fact the Lady P was a Secret Agent for FAB, and later International Rescue.

Thoughts on this crazy chain of connections? Should I tone them down, or eliminate them altogether?

As to the "Ace Pliot" bit of Concerto, she's become a master of the crisis situation, having saved many an airliner from what would otherwise end up on the 9 O'Clock News, including quite a few Fireflash aircraft. I'll elaborate on her backstory a bit more later.

Edit: Lots of minor fixes because I typed too fast.

[Clya Brown]

Well, she's your character - and your character can by definition do anything you want her to be able to do Having said that - and this is just my own opinion - I'd try to avoid creating a character who is too spectacularly talented, because such a character tends to get viewed by readers as an idealised interpretation of the author (a so-called "Mary Sue").

If the character really is an idealised interpretation of the author, then I'd suggest that it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to throw in a few interesting personality traits for good measure - and not necessarily virtuous ones, because the series already has a full compliment of heroes and heroines whose capabilities have already been established, and who therefore can't be seen to be falling flat on their faces too often - because they're probably going to have to be the ones who end up saving the day if the story's to be credible. An ordinary person is in contrast much more interesting to write for than an out-and-out hero or heroine, because the reader can identify with him/her more easily.

Just for the record, I find it extraordinarily difficult writing for Scarlet (by definition the hero), because I find him very one-dimensional - and I can't change that, because if I did, it wouldn't be him any more. The Angels provide more promising material for character development because the televised series reveals far less about them - so whenever I've written verbal exchanges between Scarlet and an Angel, the Angel usually ends up running rings round him. I feel Captain Blue is a far more interesting character - at least potentially - but he's not a particularly subtle individual: as the loyal friend, he'll always do whatever's right - and interesting stories get written when characters don't always get it right.

Speaking for myself, I'd want to try to re-use characters who are already known to devotees of the original TV series, but about whom relatively little is known - and who therefore have personalities that can potentially be expanded upon to fill them out as characters in their own right. Linda Nolan from "Crater 101" might be a possibility, or maybe Andre Verdain from "Model Spy" (who incidentally would probably have some glamorous undercover operatives who would be easy enough to create). Or I'd borrow characters from other Gerry Anderson series on the assumption that almost every Scarlet fan will already be familiar with them anyway. Lady Penelope is such an obvious candidate for that role that its easy to forget she originally had nothing to do with Scarlet other than in a biography related to Rhapsody Angel that I think first appeared in the "Lady Penelope" comic when the series first aired. Establishing a connection with Her Ladyship would provide you with any amount of incidental background material that could be woven into whatever situations you might want to describe. Lady P. was a truly inspired creation, being an amalgam of a sophisticated female super-spy and a quintessential damsel-in-distress - and I'm sure that's the reason she's remembered with such fondness to this day: she was simultaneously both empowered and vulnerable. When I was at school (long time ago) all the girls wanted to be her, and all the boys wanted to rescue her.

Good luck with your character, however you perceive her - just make her interesting

[The Unknown Angel]

Thank you for the comments. Yes, I'm a guy, but I really do love the Action Women of the Gerry Anderson world, both Lady P and the Spectrum Angels, because they're both such neat role models for women, and I like that.

I've kinda got Caroline stuck in my head now, so I can't let her go. Though I have given her both positive (A drive to save as many people as possible, nice and kindly, rather soft-spoken, and very motivated), negative traits (Bookish, a certain degree of social awkwardness, a few odd habits, can be touchy about things close to her, not much for love or romance, and has a mischievous streak.), and one that can be spun either way. (Big time plane fan.)

Lady Penelope is such an obvious candidate for that role that its easy to forget she originally had nothing to do with Scarlet other than in a biography related to Rhapsody Angel that I think first appeared in the "Lady Penelope" comic when the series first aired. Establishing a connection with Her Ladyship would provide you with any amount of incidental background material that could be woven into whatever situations you might want to describe. Lady P. was a truly inspired creation, being an amalgam of a sophisticated female super-spy and a quintessential damsel-in-distress - and I'm sure that's the reason she's remembered with such fondness to this day: she was simultaneously both empowered and vulnerable. When I was at school (long time ago) all the girls wanted to be her, and all the boys wanted to rescue her.

This is one of the things I really want to play with while I'm working with Caroline Brun. She knows both Lady Penelope and Dianne Simms, but she doesn't know how they're connected. One Caroline joins Spectrum and starts talking to Dianne Simms again, she'll start discovering the connections between the two.

P.S. - I might need some help getting Caroline to sound right, because she's a English woman, and I'm an American.

[The Unknown Angel]

(Excuse the Double Post)

The other thing I've been wondering about is how to build up a strong relationship between Symphony, Concerto, and Rhapsody. Symphony and Rhapsody are my favorite angels, and they seem to have very friendly and receptive personalities, though those come across in different ways between the two of them.

The initially rather shy on Cloudbase Concerto would latch onto Rhapsody first, and I think that'd be the gateway to a strong friendship with Symphony.

[Skybase Girl]

Hi, Unknown Angel.

I’m first of all taking on board your idea of (soft rebooting) reworking the Captain Scarlet universe. Please forgive me if I’ve misunderstood. Nothing wrong with this, but it treads a very fine line where fan fiction is concerned. Most of us write about the GA universe that most speaks to us. Within that, we frequently use original characters as we see fit. Golden rule is that we never let them take over. Create what you want, but observe Canon absolutely.

It seems to me that in your ideas for Rhapsody and Concerto Angels, you’re mixing original and new Scarlet series. You’ve acknowledged original Rhapsody as Dianne and have called new Rhaps/Concerto as Caroline, which coincidentally is the name of New Captain Scarlet’s Rhapsody Angel. Not very original. I’m not sure if this is deliberate or not. Concerto seems to play a large part in your re-imagined view of the Captain Scarlet universe, although I don’t know if thats original or new versions.

I appreciate I don’t know a lot about your ideas for your fiction, going forward. It’s very easy to fall in love with your original characters; we’ve all done it! All I want to say is, be clear about who, what and where you’re writing about and try to stay true to your canon people. After all, you love them. That’s why you’re writing about them. Good luck, we hope to see the fruits of your labours soon! In the meantime, we’re all here to offer whatever help we can.

[The Unknown Angel]

Skybase Girl,

Sorry, that was not my intention, nor was it deliberate in any way. The fact that NCS Rhapsody is named Caroline had slipped my mind when I originally gave birth to Concerto Angel.

This soft reboot is based on the OCS universe, where Rhapsody Angel is Dianne Simms.

Caroline Brun is a new character unto herself, not intentionally inspired by or related to any NCS characters, does not replace any codename, and is a 6th Angel.

I do dearly hope it becomes more clear when I finally get everything together.

Thanks for your input so far though, it's much apricated. I will probably change her name to avoid confusion, and make changes with the interactions with the main characters.

P.S. - I'm having second/third thoughts about the whole project, even though I've put considerable work into it so far.

[Marion]

You can write what you like to please yourself, nobody has the right to stop you.
However, tying your own characters into the canon /fanon is a delicate job. I use a few recurring characters in my stories, mostly because I can't be bothered to make up new ones (!) but I try to keep them as secondary characters to the main canon ones. They may take centre stage when they're used to set up a scenario that the Anderson characters then diffuse. Hopefully, though, they are never the most important character in the story. After all, what brings us all together is a liking for the original broadcast shows (OCS and NCS), even though we can see (and occasionally laugh at or criticise) the characters and ethos of it.
Good luck with the story and whatever you do - ENJOY yourself.