Warning: This chapter only contains rambling. Story starts in the next chapter.
Transformers is owned by Hasbro.
Starlight Express is composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and written (mostly) by Richard Stilgoe.
I only own my sick and twisted imagination.
I got the idea for this little piece of horror from listening to Starlight Express on the bus going to... somewhere. I listened to 'AC/DC' and thought that it fitted Starscream nearly perfect. On my way back from... where ever, I continued listening and thought that a transformer edition of Starlight Express might actually work. I then abandoned the idea until a bit over a week ago, when I started writing.
I have no delusions about being the only one on the interwebs who might have had this idea, but I am not aware of anything actually being put online, so if anyone thinks that I have stolen their ideas or their castings, I can only say that we must have very similar minds. I have not intended to steal anything from anybody.
Therefore I would like to thank:
wiki/Starlight_Express_the_Musical_Wiki
In my attempt to make as much of a conclusive edition as I could, I used this wikia as a guide for where to put songs, that usually aren't in a production together. I also found the lyrics to some of the lesser known/deleted songs here. It also has some good character descriptions if you're interested.
SpnDean at rpgsgalore (who might never read this) for putting up the lyrics for pieces, that I haven't been able to find anywhere else.
Midnight Train Crossing for writing the most extensive synopsis I've been able to find. I've never seen Starlight Express, so this synopsis helped me a lot.
And last, but not least, to my best friend, StarscreamsKaffe, who's been overbearing with me during the writing process, who's helped me with the casting, and who introduced me to the transformer franchise. In the spirit of some fan fiction writers: I luv u, gurl!1 (j/k)
As I've written above, I've tried to include ALL of the songs written for Starlight Express. This means that there are songs, that normally wouldn't appear together and also more than one edition of one song (He Whistled at Me). I've tried to edit it, so it isn't too redundant so please bear over with me if things are said more than once. I have combined different editions of the songs several times. This will be noted. For the few lyrics I've edited, I've tried to make it sing-able. If you wish to sing along, you'll have to draw out the first syllable of some names (Starscream and Bee) or ad an extra note (Optimus). I have not been able to find the music for all the numbers, so some might be more difficult to sing. To make it fluent I've also chosen to move some songs so they appear either earlier or later than they normally would. I've also chosen to give each song a chapter, so you can find a specific song easier, if you want to.
Act 1:
Chapter 2: Overture
Chapter 3: Entry of the National Trains
Chapter 4: Rolling Stock
Chapter 5: Engine of Love
Chapter 6: Taunting Bee
Chapter 7: Call Me 'Bee'
Chapter 8: Bee, You Can't be Serious
Chapter 9: A Lotta Locomotion
Chapter 10: He'll Whistle at Me (This has an IMO very different feel than the later version)
Chapter 11: Freight
Chapter 12: AC/DC
Chapter 13: Pumping Iron
Chapter 14: Coda of Freight
Chapter 15: Crazy
Chapter 16: Hitching and Switching
Chapter 17: He Whistled at Me
Chapter 18: Race: Heat One
Chapter 19: That was Unfair
Chapter 20: There's Me
Chapter 21: Wasp, You've been Honored
Chapter 22: Make Up my Heart
Chapter 23: Optimus' Blues
Chapter 24: Ratchet, the Sleeping Car
Chapter 25: Starlight Express Introduction
Chapter 26: Race: Heat Two
Chapter 27: Mech, Mech, Mech
Chapter 28: Race: Heat Three
Chapter 29: Laughing Stock
Chapter 30: Starlight Express
Act 2:
Chapter 31:The Rap
Chapter 32: Wasp Gasp
Chapter 33: U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D.
Chapter 34: Rolling Stock (reprise)
Chapter 35: Wide Smile, High Style
Chapter 36: Hymn to Victory
Chapter 37: Race: Heat Four - The Uphill Final
Chapter 38: I Was Robbed
Chapter 39: Right Place, Right Time
Chapter 40: I Am the Starlight
Chapter 41: Bumblebee and Bulkhead
Chapter 42: They Were Out to Get You (This was never really part of the show, but it gives a good look into Pearl's character)
Chapter 43: He Whistled at Me (reprise)
Chapter 44: Race: Heat Five - The Downhill Final
Chapter 45: I Do (Written by Alistair Lloyd Webber, Andrew Lloyd Webber's son )
Chapter 46: No Comeback
Chapter 47: One Rock 'N' Roll Too Many
Chapter 48: Next Time You Fall in Love (Written by Don Black)
Chapter 49: Only He
Chapter 50: Only You
Chapter 51: Light at the End of the Tunnel
Chapter 52: Post script - in which the transformers' reaction to their roles and the play are written.
And without further ado, let me introduce the characters:
(A): Transformers Animated, (P): Transformers Prime
Voiceovers:
Control: Me
The Starlight Express: Primus. Will be called 'Starlight Express'
Engines:
Rusty, the steam engine: Bumblebee (A)
Poppa, an older steam engine and Rusty's mentor: Optimus Prime (P)
Greaseball, the diesel engine: Knockout (P)
Electra, the electric engine: Starscream (P)
International engines:
Bobo, the French TGV (train à grand vitesse, high speed train): Blurr (A)
Espresso, the Italian train: Cliffjumper (P)
Weltschaft/Rhurgold, the German train: Dreadwing (P)
Turnov, the Russian train: Skyquake (P)
Hashamoto/Nintendo, the Japanese train: Prowl (A)
Milton Keynes/The Prince of Wales, the British train: Ironhide (A)
Coaches:
Pearl, the observation car: Wasp (A)
Dinah, the dining car: Breakdown (P)
Buffy, the snack car: Arcee (P)
Ashley, the smoking car: Smokescreen (P)
Belle, the sleeping car: Ratchet (A)
Greaseball's gang (These appear as a group, but they're generally not named)
Freight cars:
Rocky I, II, III, the box cars: Hothead, Icy and Random (A) They are each a separate character, collectively known as 'Blitzwing'
Flattop, the brick truck: Wheeljack (P)
Dustin, The Big Hopper/coal car: Bulkhead (P)
CB, the caboose/break car: Shockwave (A) He will also be known as CB, it would be too big of a job to keep finding rhymes for 'wave' or 'w'
Electra's components:
Krupp, Electra's armaments truck: Thundercracker, Starscream's egoistic clone (A)
Wrench, Electra's repair truck: Sunstorm, Starscream's "suck-up" clone (A)
Purse, Electra's money truck: Ramjet, Starscream's lying clone (A)
Volta, Electra's freezer truck: Skywarp, Starscream's cowardly clone (A)
Joule, Electra's dynamite truck: Slipstream, Starscream's female clone (A) [Extract from Starlight Express wikia: "She (Joule) is the sensual of Electra's components: she was seen pole dancing at the edge of the stage and after losing Heat 2, she spanked Weltschaft off the edge of the stage." Goodness me, perfect fit!]
I thought about giving the role as control to Sari (A), but I though that she wouldn't be deranged enough to sit and play out an entire musical with toys. I, however, would be.
I'm thinking that Primus would be so grateful to be cast as the Starlight Express, that he chose to amuse be by turning the rest of the characters into toy trains, so I could do as I wanted with them. *evil smile*
I picked Starscream from Prime since Electra is seen as futuristic, which Starscream (P) fits better, but I chose his clones from Animated, since I wanted them to have a wee bit more personality.
Breakdown is probably the most OOC of all, with Optimus Prime being a close second. I'm sure Breakdown would want to kill me for casting him as Dinah. More about this in the post-script.
I also though about giving Blitzwing a German accent, but he ended up sounding French, so I scrapped that idea.
Lastly I would like to say that English isn't my first language, and seeing that I haven't had English lessons for ages, there may be grammatical errors here and there (and probably an overuse of commas). I'd be happy if some of you would let me know about these, but if you do, then remember that some characters, especially Optimus Prime, Ratchet and Blitzwing speak with a pretty heavy dialect.
That said, please review and lets get this train-wreck rolling (no pun intended).