Super Sunday: The Farniconigon Administration

The Situation

When Farniconigon, former Space Army captain, retired from the service after the war against the Flartians, Farniconigon went into politics and wound up as the mayor of the Capital City of the Nexus Planet, which some citizens consider the most important city in the galactic neighbourhood.

The Characters

Numbo

Numbo came to the Nexus Planet to escape a bad scene back home, on a planet run by mobsters who Numbo had angered. When Numbo arrived, everyone apparently mistook them for someone else, and Numbo went along with it at first because it was convenient. When it became clear that they thought they were the new Deputy Mayor, Numbo had to double down for fear of being exposed and deported back to their dangerous homeworld. So now Numbo has to pick up how to be a Deputy Mayor without letting anyone catch on that they’re a fraud, all while being worried that the actual Deputy Mayor will show up.

Mememem

The Mayor’s press secretary, Mememem is a something of a joker. He grew up on the Nexus Planet and knows how to connect to the press like a pal and win their confidence. He absolutely cares more about being liked than doing his job well.

Dvuncan

Dvuncan was rescued by Farniconigon during the war, so he is very loyal to the mayor. Now serving as Farniconigon’s personal bodyguard, he is the only one who has suspected anything strange about Numbo, but Numbo keeps deflecting suspicion with elaborate lies.

Goirby X

The head of security at City Hall, Goirby X is convinced the place is haunted. Secretly spending every night prowling the halls looking for evidence of ghosts, Goirby never got around to looking into Numbo’s background and certainly has no reason to suspect anything now.

Raybles

A writer for the administration, Raybles gets to lounge around and think up ways to put Farnicongion’s policies into words that will sell them to the public. Unfortunately, Raybles is perhaps a bit too philisophical in his approach and keeps using metaphors about buckets that only a Blegbo really could appreciate. Mememem wants him fired.

Notes

Obviously this self-serving excuse to flesh out my Farniconigon character would not ever be picked up as a sitcom.

Super Sunday: Dr. Greenclothes and Friends

The Situation

The world’s most badass science explorer, Dr. Greenclothes, and his family go on weekly adventures to discover the nature of reality.

The Characters

Veronica Crimson

Veronica is the world’s foremost detective. Though she is as interested in solving the mysteries of reality as much as her husband is, she’s a lot more interested in dealing out justice. Because of her, many of the family’s more benign scientific experiments turn into fights against crime cartels or international supervillains. Sometimes this annoys Dr. Greenclothes, but Veronica always makes him see how good it feels to fight crime. As an unrelated side note, Veronica has an irrational fear of sepia-toned photos.

Martial Arts Debbie

Debbie is not yet as badass as her parents, but that is mostly because of her age. Occasionally people worry if it isn’t too dangerous to be dragging a child along on the family’s various quests, but nobody can deny their ability to protect the kid. Debbie does like her life, but sometimes wishes she could make some normal friends. After all, imagine how great it would be to have your friends constantly telling you how badass you are.

Bad Graphic Bob

Bob once conducted an experiment to prove the idea that the universe was just a computer simulation. Though the experiment backfired, and turned Bob into a pixelated person, it impressed Dr. Greenclothes, who took Bob on as an assistant. They have since become best friends and continue to experiment together. While his professional life is going well, he’s a bit of a loser socially.

Nuzbudar

Nuzbudar is a Dimension Goblin who works as a science dealer. It sells scientific equipment to the highest bidder, which means it could be on Dr. Greenclothes’s side, but it could also be against him. Anything for a sweet sweet buck.

Alabaster Wurstell Dogfights

Commander Alabaster Wurstell Dogfights is a military man who thinks that Dr. Greenclothes and his family have no right being as badass as they are. That level of badassery, Dogfights insists, should be reserved for the military. With that in mind, Wurstell frequently tries to sabotage the family’s experiments, or to have experiments of his own that tend to go badly.

Notes

This is another self-serving excuse to expand my characters, but it could maybe work as one of those animated shows that is as forcused on action as much as comedy.

Super Sunday: The Spookersons

The Situation

The classic sitcom staple of a family made up of spooky weirdos. As would be expected from me, this show is much darker than the usual.

The Characters

Mummy Spookerson

The woman now known as Mummy Spookerson was pregnant in the 1930s, when a demon-worshipping cult member murdered her and her husband. While her husband’s body was chopped up and used in an occult ritual, the woman was mummified and her remains left hidden in a crypt. Whatever sinister purpose the cult originally had for the remains body was forgotten when they were all slaughtered by the demons they summoned. Ten years ago, the mummified corpse woke up. Uncertain what to do with her mysteriously returned life, she just decided to get back to living. She took ownership of the mansion the cult once owned, gave birth to the twins she’d been carrying, and got a job working at a grocery store nearby, where she is now the night manager.

Deady Spookerson

Mummy’s husband was dissected and most of body parts ended up who knows where. His skull, however, sat safely in the cult’s mansion. When Mummy’s woke up, some mystical energies present in the mansion allowed the husband’s spirit to animate the skull. The couple was reunited, and now Deady is a stay-at-home father of the twins. Still, even ten years later, he has trouble corporealizing, so he’s a bit clumsy.

Sally Spookerson

Sally is fascinated by the supernatural, so it is good luck for her that she’s growing up in a cultist mansion with a library of books on occult rituals and artifacts. She’s has trouble behaving in school, and frequently tries to use mystical short cuts to make her life easier, which only gets her into more trouble.

Billy Spookerson

Billy is nerdier than his sister, so he prefers to make his occult dabblings more scientific in nature. He wants to discover things that aren’t in the books in the library. New things. And he wants to be famous for it. He’s got a big ego, and is trying very hard to live up to it.

Uncle Hunchback

Uncle is not actually the uncle of the Spookerson family, he’s a cousin, some times removed or whatever, who happens to actually be named Uncle. He was lonely when he was the only surviving member of his family, so when the Spookerson family popped up again, he was happy to join them. He now dotes on the twins and helps them with their various rituals and experiments.

Ken Curtis

Mr. Curtis lives next to the Spookersons’ mansion, and he is a paranormal investigator. He makes internet videos in which he hunts for ghosts and monsters. He has no idea that there is anything strange about the Spookersons. He thinks Mummy is a burn victim, and has been too embarrassed to ever bring up her late husband. And he thinks all children are strange monsters, so he takes no especial notice of the twins. As far as he can tell, they’re just a normal family. This infuriates the demon once worshipped by the cult, because it is constantly sending messages to Mr. Curtis, trying to get him to kill Mummy so it can be freed from the otherworldly prison where it is trapped. Mr. Curtis is just completely oblivious to the demonic messages.

Notes

As a child, I enjoyed the Addams Family (both the movies and the original show), but I have not seen any version of the Munsters. Still, I doubt that that show had the in-depth exploration of the supernatural I’d be trying for here.

Super Sunday: Quarantine Station 347

The Situation

Various things of great galactic importance keep happening to the small crew of a quarantine station in the Epabrian Galactic Empire.

The Characters

Calvin Brooks

Calvin always wanted to be the captain of an Epabrian Starship. After decades of hard work, he is now in command of the Quarantine Station #347, a job which is not at all equal to the rank of captain. It’s closer to sergeant, but without the respect of those below him. The station’s purpose is to quarantine the ships and the crews of those passing into Epabrian space, which does get Calvin close to those with real political power, and he can’t quite stop himself from trying to manipulate things in ways that he think will raise his esteem, but which always seem fail.

Kelly Durnwell

Second in command on the station is Kelly Durnwell, who joined the Epabrian military for the medical plan and is happy to not be doing anything harder than she is. Her one and only goal is to get through her career to the retirement age without anything going wrong, so she always gets a little nervous about Calvin’s plans, but he can easily manipulate her with bonuses and vacation time.

Viderin Nont

The Epabrian Empire is a human civilization, but they have citizens from other species in there as well. Viderin is Owds Person, a refugee from a planet ruled by a despot. Viderin has customs that are different from humanity’s, and she doesn’t correctly understand human customs, and therefore she’s the stations resident Wacky Foreigner.

Zhick Naya

Zhick, unlike Viderin, is indeed a human. There is a planet in the Epabrian Empire in which humans have evolved blue skin. Zhick got assigned to the 347 after he pissed off his captain on the Starship where he was first assigned. He joined up to get away from a bad relationship and has no loyalty to the Empire. He’s correctly noted that the rest of the crew is more than enough to keep things running smoothly, so he shovels whatever work he is assigned onto Viderin and spends his time pulling cons on passers-through.

Roberick XB

Roberick XB is the kind of representative of foreign powers that often pass through the quarantine station. The head of a Robot Shipping Lines vessel, Roberick comes through 347 every month or two and is a source of gossip (usually lies), and of smuggled goods (cheap and sometime stolen).

Notes

The Epabrian Empire was first seen in a little comic I did called Starship Renewal and I felt like it was time to go back to that well.

One of the big influences here is Red Dwarf, obviously, but there are many other sci-fi sitcoms that have not lasted as long. This would be one of those.

Super Sunday: City Bird In The Wilderness

The Situation

An albino pigeon, sick of the city life, goes to the wilderness to try to find a better way. And it sucks and he makes a mess of it every time.

The Characters

City Bird

City Bird is the only recurring character on this show. He’s a boorish jerk who just wants everything to go his way with no personal effort. So, having moved out of the city (both because he was getting sick of that life, and because he’d burned a lot of bridges with the pigeons there) he is now trying out “simpler” life in the woods. One week he’ll try living with some raccoons, the week after he mooches off some moose, and so on. He’d also have to learn to avoid predators, with only his city wits to get him through.

Notes

I feel like this is a terrible idea that could still somehow produce a show that would amuse me.

Let’s say the wilderness City Bird is wandering is the same one that the Horribloid is in. Why not?