AN: Hey, guys, DarkShockBro here. Here's the prologue to my new Total Drama story: Total Drama Isle. It will set up the framing device for this story, because I feel like this device will add to the general content of my work. Hope you enjoy it!
(The initial blackness the reader sees slowly fades away, and the reader can see a relaxed looking man with brown eyes looking directly at him or her with a brown mantel and fireplace behind him. This man has glasses, messy brown hair, a blue T-shirt, blue shorts, and dirty white sneakers. He is sitting on a fairly old wooden rocking chair, and has a tall brown book sitting in his lap. He is quite tall, and appears to be in his 20s. After looking at the reader for a few seconds, he clears his throat and begins to speak.)
Ah, good morning, dear reader. Would you like me to tell you a story? Yes? Very well then. It would be nice to have an audience for this tale of mine. But first, some background.
On March 25, 1925, the Scotsman John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of televised silhouette images in motion, at Selfridge's Department Store in London. This, essentially, was the world's very first television. Since that fateful day, the entertainment industry has only blossomed into something both amazing and terrifying.
Many countries tested the possibilities of this wondrous new invention after the initial 1925 demonstration, and after fifteen to twenty years of backroom testing and public conventions, the television was ready to be sold as a widespread product. For the United States, their NTSC standards regarding television were passed in 1941, and by 1950, 6 million Americans owned their very own electronic box.
From the 50s to the 60s, television was simple. Few channels, few programs made it virtually impossible for children to be exposed to something particularly vile, and it allowed the typical American family to unwind for the day by watching either news or old sitcoms.
As television made its shift from black and white to color around the 70s, companies were able to film shows with greater ease, and could even broaden their scope of entertainment with the recent breakthrough of animation. Even still, besides a greater focus on cartoons for the children, television was still simple, yet very effective.
However, around the 90s, one particular genre of television began to gain an astonishing level of popularity: reality television. In this genre, people participated in competitions or other sort of real life experiences without editing or needing to play a certain character for a certain show, and the confessionals, where people spoke their honest opinions regarding what was happening to them and others, took the place of typical narrators. As a result, the focus is put less on story and more on personal drama and insecurities. This genre got a massive boost in popularity after MTV started a series known as The Real World, a show still being aired today.
But the powerhouse of reality TV had its first episode air on May 31st, 2000. That powerhouse was simply known as Survivor. After 28 full seasons, it is still airing as strong as it ever was in the past for its novel concept and competitive nature. Naturally, such a popular show would be ripe for parodies and imitators, and one of the most popular of these parodies started production in 2006.
This Canadian parody in development was simply known as Camp TV, and it aired on Canadian television on July 8th, 2007 under the name of Total Drama Island. It told the story of a jokingly sadistic guy named Chris McLean hosting a Survivor-esque reality TV show, but there were two primary differences between the two shows. One, the show was animated as opposed to the traditional live-action reality TV format. Two, all of the show's contestants were teenagers. As such, the show could greatly appeal to a tween audience, especially considering each teen is based on a typical stereotype associated with adolescence.
And, in this first season, all of this blended together to create a show that resonated with audiences due to its novel concept of a novel concept, solid characterization, tons of wacky antics, tactful karma, and its ability to never portray any character in a completely negative light. But as the series progressed, things began to change… and not for the better either.
In the second season, Total Drama Action, we were introduced to the growing problem of Love Triangles. Such horrible three-pronged figures were used to break up a fan favorite couple by giving the male OCD, and the female a lack of common sense. But couples could break apart in other ways on this show. For instance, a blond party dude and a blonde surfer were eliminated first during this season, and spent the rest of their time hosting an After Party show, clear filler episodes that did almost nothing to further the plot. Even worse, the main antagonist for the first half of the show was boring and ineffectual, while the antagonist for the second half of the show was irritable, bossy, and hopelessly flanderized from her Total Drama Island portrayal.
But all of that was nothing compared to the problems of the third season, Total Drama World Tour. The first problem came in the form of two new contestants: Alejandro and Sierra.
Alejandro became the show's most prevalent antagonist to date, but some argued that he was a Villain Sue; a character who could conquer any obstacle that was put in his path. One could also argue that his constant wooing of female contestants was not only annoying, but also threw unnecessary obstacles in couples' paths. The blonde hosts of the After Party show were subject to a few of these obstacles, but they were far from the only ones. Ultimately, Alejandro's presence only seemed to make the already confusing love triangles even more nonsensical.
Sierra, on the other hand, was an obsessed mega-fan of Total Drama, and the only thing she 'loved' more than the show was a techno-geek who competed in the first two seasons. The creators attempted to make her antics humorous and wacky. But not everyone agrees on her level of humor. To some, she was an extremely creepy stalker with a crush who was not below partaking in some very immoral actions just to get more information on the show and on her crush. In addition, she was not below forcing her crush to partake in… somewhat compromising situations with her, and one can only be thankful the show did not allow her to go further.
But that was only the tip of the iceberg. The flanderized antagonist from Total Drama Action came back in full force, and she turned the love triangle between the OCD male and the female with a lack of common sense into a love square. So, naturally, this cubic catastrophe was milked for all the drama it was worth, and Alejandro's presence certainly did not make this any more pleasant to the viewer. Even worse, this square had an opportunity to break apart.
In the middle of the series, the other male was brought back into the show… in the place of a fan favorite, and this allowed the square to heat up and essentially dominate the show.
And let us not forget what they did to another fan favorite who got eliminated first in Total Drama Island. In this season, they brought him back as a stowaway, had him compete, and naturally, he got the first boot again. But instead of simply leaving him to the wayside, they decided… to turn him into a ravenous mutant who attacks everyone because he's a mutant. They eliminated his limited personality, and replaced it with that of a vicious attack dog.
But the very worst part of the season would have to be the ending. It was an ending that set horrible standards that the show never bothered to stray from, an ending that could ruin an entire season. It did so many things wrong… and pretty much nothing right.
First and foremost, it crippled the development of the main antagonist of the original Total Drama Island. She had been fighting for three seasons just to gain a hint of respect… and she got completely mistreated in both endings. In her ending, she got the million, but the briefcase with the money got stolen by the now mutant first boot. To add insult to injury, the mutant promptly fell into a volcano. However, in the ending where she doesn't win, she accidentally throws the other contestant's object into the volcano instead of hers, causing her to lose. And in both cases, she, along with the other campers, are forced to run away from an erupting volcano.
Second, it implied that someone in a full-body cast drowned in an attempt to run away from the approaching lava.
Third, and most importantly, it allowed Alejandro to join the mutant in the realm of dehumanized contestants. By this, I mean that in both endings, Alejandro was trampled by the running contestants during the eruption, and got severely burned as a result. In response, the growingly sadistic host put Alejandro in a robot suit, presumably for the rest of his life, for the sole purpose of getting him to sign a waiver eliminating responsibility from the show to take care of his injuries. And when the host told Alejandro that the million was destroyed, Alejandro screams in agony. And the host's response? 'Heh heh, spaz.'
From that moment on, it was clear that the show had decided that it was perfectly acceptable to disrespect their own characters and put them through the wringer just for drama and a few cheap laughs. And even the fans took notice of this as the sadistic host tormented contestants on a few shows that never got past the script stage. But they were posted online for people to see the true horrors of Total Drama and reality television in general.
What you are about to hear is another one of these scripts. It may seem like just another ordinary Total Drama competition where twenty teenaged contestants compete for the opportunity to win one million dollars. But it will soon devolve into something more than that. Something sinister. Something awful. Something depressing. It will truly show how far the sadistic host has fallen over the years, and how poisonous these types of shows can become.
I warn you, dear reader. This script is not for the faint of heart. But if you feel strong enough, I will let you read it. Have a seat, take a deep breath or two, and I will tell you this story.
This is the story of a depraved man named Chris McLean, and twenty of his latest victims. Will the twenty survive with their sanity in tact? Will some of them buckle under the pressure? Will some stand up to the challenge and stay strong through everything? Or, will they actually be able to stop this madman for good? All will be revealed as I turn the page to begin the first chapter of this hellish odyssey.
(He opens the brown book with his left hand, and after he reaches the page with text that looks like a backwards 'Chapter 1', he looks directly at the reader with a serious expression and bluntly states…)
This is Total Drama Isle.