I was relaxin' on Endless one day when I saw Reggie dropping in holding some sort of cardboard cut out of something.
"Hey, watcha got there Reg?" I asked her.
"This, Tristan, is the legendary S.S Dracula!" Reggie told me. "When I was a kid a I did this awesome show with my brother Dustin called 'Space Draculas'! We were vampires travelling the distant cosmos! Dustin was the fearless Captain Dracula and I was his faithful sidekick Commander Commando!"
"I'm not gonna lie. I'd watch that." I replied.
"I know! It was so cool. It was supposed to go on for 5 episodes but I forgot to make the last one." Reggie explained. Naturally, I jumped in at the opportunity to help my friend with some crazy project.
"Say no more, Reg. I will personally help with episode." I said putting on my shades and slicking back my hair. "And I say you have the pick the right scenery, Endless is like a blank canvas waiting to be painted." Reggie giggled at my joke.
"Thanks, Tristan. Now help me bury this thing."
Moments later Reggie and I were burying the carboard ship in the magical sands of the island.
"You're gonna love Space Draculas." Reggie explained to Brown Roger and me. "Me and Dustin used to play all the time. You would make a sick alien." Brown Roger blushed.
"So what kind of production are we making here?" I asked. "Comedy? Drama? Action? Romance? Horror?"
"Nothing too fancy Tristan." Reggie answered. "Just an awesome space adventure with vampires."
"So Sci-Fi horror adventure?" I replied. "Odd combination, but then again Hollywood makes lots of crazy things. Mostly reboots of old shows."
As soon as we finished burying, It didn't take long for the magic of the island starts to work on the S.S Dracula. It rose up from the ground and was a big as an actual ship. Reggie and I looked on in amazement.
"THE S.S. DRACULA IS BACK BABY!" She shouted excitedly. The door of the ship opened and flight of stairs came down. "Let's go check it out!" She said as she grabbed Brown Roger and ran inside. I causally followed in and was amazed to see cool it looked on the inside like a spaceship you see on one of those space adventure shows.
"Reg, this is amazing!" I said.
"I know, right?" She replied. She then jumped down to where helm. "This is better than I imagined! Now I can finally finish the Space Dracula saga! I don't need Dustin!"
"Yeah! Anyone cooler can play the Captain!"
Those words of mine gave Reggie an idea.
"Hey, Tristan! Maybe you can play Captain Dracula!"
My eyes widened. "You really think I can be Captain Dracula?"
"Heck yeah! You're the just the type of person Captain Dracula is!"
"Thanks Reggie, but I don't know." I rubbed the back of my neck. "I was hoping I'd be a music star."
"You can be both! A famous musician and an actor!"
I smiled. "Wow, I never thought of it like that. Okay! I'll do it!"
"Awesome! Now all we need is a crew."
And on cue, we heard indistinct chattering coming from outside. We looked out to see Todd, Esther, Jake, and an random assortment of islanders.
"Guys, what is that thing?" Todd asked.
"How would you like to be movie stars?" I asked them.
Moments later, the cast members were inside the ship as Reggie discussed the show.
"And then in part 4 Commander Commando..." She corrected something in one of her drawings. "Man I just can't draw today."
"It's probaly because you hold your pencil with a deathclaw, dude." Todd replied.
"Guys, just focus!" She began to tell the next scene over to us all as we listened. "After Dracula saves Commander Commando from the alien attack. But like as neturals. I'm all like 'Oh my gosh thank you for saving me!' and Captain Dracula is like 'We have to return to Saturn's Crust to save the vampire race!'" She gave a light laugh as she went on saying "I mean it's funnier when Dustin does it. But hey, that's the gist of it. Any questions?"
Tater Tot raised her hand. "I have one. What's a vampire."
I facepalmed. "I get feeling that this is going to be a long production..."
"Uh, well a Vampire is a dude who basically sucks out blood and... he's not alive but somehow he is, through some kind of black magic. And if you get bitten you become one like them and suck blood too. Uh yeah." Reggie explained.
"Let's move on to casting. We're gonna need some vampires and aliens." I said pointing to Tater Tot and a stringy-like character. "Tater Tot, you'll be the vampire. And uh... I'm sorry who are you?" I asked the string creature.
"Sarah."
"Really?" I asked. "Well, okay Sarah. You'll be the alien."
"I'm gonna sniff your blood." Tater Tot says to Sarah.
"Uh I don't think I have any blood I think I'm made of yarn."
"Do I have blood?! HOW DO WE FIND OUT!?" Colin panicked.
"I got it!" Jake replied holding a sword but then I took it away from him.
"No, Jake."
"Yeah, all you guys have to worry about is having fun. Okay?" Reggie said.
The cast all exchange looks of confusion.
Soon everyone was in place. I was at the front of the helm wearing a red cape and plastic fangs. And then everyone else was in the front working the controls. Jake was holding a clapper board like the ones you see on one of those behind the scenes specials.
"Space Draculas! The Return of Saturn's Crust, The Final Chapter. Take 1! Aaaaannnnndddd... ACTION!" He clips the clapper and the scene began.
The camera zoomed in on me, a fan blowed my cape in the wind to make it more dramatic.
"Officer Colin, man the blood sensor!" I commanded as Colin was pushing buttons replying back "Aye captain!"
"Officer Todd, set the stake blasters to full spikeyness!" I called over to Todd who was smacking a button and typing on a pretend console he called back- "Stakes at max!"
"Commander Commando! Set a course to Saturn's Crust!"
"Yes, Captain!" Reggie said as she pressed a few buttons.
"Theronious! Activate warp generators!" I commanded to Esther who was playing Theronious. But she didn't move an inch and was completely nervous. "Uh, Esther? That's your cue."
"I...uh..." She was completely camera shy. "I didn't know that I was gonna have be on camera."
"Don't worry about it." I assured her. "Just pretend the camera isn't there."
Esther did her best to ignore it, but the camera floated closer to her making her more nervous.
"Uh..." She backed away from it only to fall down on the floor.
"We'll edit that into the blooper reel." I said.
"Alright, let's try it again!" Reggie said pointing to Brown Roger.
"Space Draculas! The Return of Saturn's Crust, The Final Chapter! Take two!" Jake snapped the clapper agian and the scene began again.
"Theronious! Activate warp generators!" I commanded to Esther again.
"I'm on it, C-Captain Dracula!" Esther pulled a fake lever and Jake added a hyperspace background into the windows and outside, two giant monsters were shaking the ship around for effect.
"We're approaching Saturn's Crust, Captain!" Reggie said to me and I reply with much gusto.
"Yes! Victory is close at hand!"
Things were going very well but out of the blue, Colin bursted out the doors wearing a pirate hat and wielding a cardboard sword.
"Surprise! It's me, Crusty Colin the pirate! I'm takin' over your ship!" He laughed. It was very unexpected but I assumed it was what the actors called Ad-libbing. You know, people making the story up without a line. And not following rules was my jam, so I rolled with it.
"You'll take this ship over my cold undead body, Rusty Colin!" I was handed a cardboard sword and fought with Colin. Reggie however wasn't very keen on this change in the script.
"Stop! Stop! No pirates!" She protested.
"But.. I wanna be a pirate..." Colin moped.
"Come on, Reggie. You can't hate on his creative vision." I defended.
"YEAH! I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO BE A PIRATE!" Shouted Doctor Champion.
"Guys no! There are only vampires or aliens! No pirates!"
"What about both?" Tater Tot suggested. "A vampire pirate."
"Yeah! A vam-pirate!" I agreed. Reggie only facepalmed at that idea.
The other cast members began talking on what they want to be.
"Hey, Tristan?" Jake chimed. "Can we move this along? The camera's getting restless again..." Said camera was seen chewing on his left arm.
"Not again!" I then ran to help my best friend.
Later, we started filming again.
"Take 3!"
We then got back to playing the previous scene again with me right next to Esther-
"Theronious! Activate warp generators!" I repeated my line.
"Yes Captain!"
"As for the rest of you, arm yourselves!" I told the characters playing vampires but they were seen wearing alien costumes.
"Actually we're gonna be aliens now." Beth said. She and her friends then proceded to make alien noises and it made me snicker a bit.
"No! we don't get boarded by aliens until the 2nd act." Reggie interrupted.
"Well, maybe they be in it earlier." I pitched to her.
"Tristan! I need you take this seriously! This is Space Draculas!" She told me. But I was starting to not like her negativity to all these creative ideas.
"Give me back my treasure!" Colin yelled trying to catch the little thief. It was then that Colin accidentally steps on my cape.
"Colin! That's Captain Dracula's cape!" Reggie tugged me at the opoosite side. But then, a tearing sond was heard. Reggie and I fell over and she was shocked to see that Captain Dracula's cape was ruined.
"Oh! Uh.. Sorry about the cape Reggie." I apologized. "But maybe we can work with this. Like... Oh! It can battle damaged! Maybe we can do a gritty future drama! I wander around a post-apocalytic earth, looking for the man who killed Commander Commando! What do you think?"
Reggie didn't take my idea pitch to well and groans. "Cut..." She simpily said leaving the room feeling upset.
"Uh, why don't we just take five..." I told our cast as me and my friends go after her.
We found Reggie sitting in a box outside the set pouting.
"Where you go Captain Dracula?" Todd asked playfully. "We can't take over Saturn's Crust without ya."
"It-it just doesn't feel right. No one's following the rules." Reggie replied.
"Since when do you care about rules?" Esther asked her.
"Es is right." I added. "The only reason we wanted to do Space Draculas is because we thought it would be fun. And everyone's having a blast!"
"But the script..." I sat down next to Reggie.
"Reggie, some movies don't follow a script. A story can about whatever you want it to be. It doesn't need to make sense or stick to the plot. As long as you're doing what you want."
Reggie thought for a moment. "I guess... I just thought that I can make it just like it was when I did it with Dustin."
"I know you do, but this is even better than what you did with Dustin." I told her. "Because we're doing what we want to do."
Reggie smiled. "You're right. Maybe the last entry can use a few plot twists. Let's keep this going."
"Yeah that's the spirit!" Esther replied.
But then we heard some noise coming from inside the main deck. We went in and see that the islanders were all over the place. Playing around with cardboard swords, props and musical insturments. Pretty Please and Tater Tot were fighting on top of the controls. Brown Roger and Rance was playing some sort of song.
"Dracula's fishermen are fighting and the lawer aliens are fighing the space food critics!~"
"Wow! It's like an anarchy musical!" Todd brightened.
"I'm glad you're seein' the bright side of this!" Jake replied saracastiacally while fighting off a crazed Doctor Champion.
"I wanna play with the clippy thing!" He shouted.
Then the islanders began to perform a rather odd musical number.
Rance:
Why do they fight the food critics!?
Beth:
Becuase they are giving them a bad review!
Rance:
Oh what will they doooo~?
Borbo:
We'll take them on a bus down town!
Colin:
And I will driving that bus!
Then, Dr Champion took a cardboard sword and pretended to get stabbed.
Beth:
Stop! He's been stabbed!
Dr. Champion:
OH NO! I'VE BEEN STABBED!
Dr Champion acted a bit too dramatic and fell back into the ship's control. Soon all of the colorful characters began to spiral out of control.
"Guys! Stop!" Reggie pleaded. But the islanders continue to bust up the ship.
"AH! The ship has been infected by space germs!" Sarah yelled throwing sticky balls all over the ship.
"Smash! Smash! Smashie! I will kill the germs!" Rance sung while smashing away the control panel with his keytar.
"Stop! This ship can't take it!" Reggie cried.
Everyone statred running around the ship with sticky ball on their faces destroying the set. I have literally never seen a disaster movie like this! The camera was biting on Jake's leg and he tried to pry it off. Colin ran through the door making a huge hole.
"OH MY GOSH, WHY WON'T YOU USE THE DOOR!?" Reggie yelled.
"I HAVE HEALED!" Dr. Champion yelled ripping the stearing wheel in half.
Soon enough the ammout of chaos was too much as the ship began to break down piece by peice and for some reason is also exploded.
Boom! That was the last sound we heard before the S.S Dracula collapses to the ground leaving nothing but cardboard remains. Luckily we all survived, we emerged from the rubble to find a huge mess.
"The S.S. Dracula!" Reggie replied as a look of horror filled her face. She couldn't believe the one thing from her childhood was gone.
"Colin started it!" Sarah pointed to Colin.
"It's true! I'm sorry! I don't know why I do these things!" He cried.
"We're sorry too, Reg." I said to her. "We've gotten a little out of control there. Mainly them." I referred to the islanders. "We just wanted to make your show more exciting..."
Reggie sighed. "It's not about the show..." She got up and confessed. "Space Draculas was a thing me and Dustin did all the time when we were kids. We used to have so much fun together. But now he barely talks to me..."
"On the bright side at least your brother still lives at home." Todd said on the positive note.
"And at least you have a brother..." I looked down, reminded of the fact that I am an only child.
"Yeah, but he never leaves his room." Reggie continued. "He didn't use to be this way, I didn't change why did he?" As she continued to be sad, Brown Roger grabbed her attention. She looks and saw that he had the Captain Dracula cape all patched up with tape.
"Aw.. Brown Roger you fixed captain dracula's cape!" She smiled. Brown Roger jumped in for a hug. "Thanks dude."
"Um Twelve can we play a different game now?" Beth asked shyly.
"Maybe make a less dangerous movie? Like a romantic comedy?" Jake groaned.
"Oh Yes! I will play the romantic part!" Dr. Champion posed dramatically.
"You guys go ahead." Reggie declined. "I'm a little tired. I'm just gonna head home." That said, she handed Brown Roger to Esther and headed to the portal.
"Okay, Reggie." I told her. "We'll show ya our movie later!" I said as we all saw her disappear back to the real world. I then turned to Todd and Esther.
"You know, I'm kinda digging the movie star biz. You guys really think I can be a real movie/music star?"
"Totally, dude." Todd answered. "But you're gonna need a bit more practice."
"Good point! And what better way than with another movie!" I replied. "Okay, so I'm thinking a horror drama about a couple trying to survive the zombie apocalypse." I told Todd and Esther as we walked away from the ship rubble.
And so ends another amazing day on Endless, and while we were having fun making movies. Reggie had her own little fun back home, spending some time with her brother. He can be cool sometimes... I can't help but wonder what it's like to have a sibling of my own to share my passions with. Someone who's just as cool and fun to hang out with as I am. Maybe someday I'll have that experience. But for now, I'm happy hanging out with my buds. And... scene.