BALTO IV: THE TALE OF ALAKU

Introduction

Written by Marvelous Glow

All characters from Balto (1995), Balto II: Wolf Quest (2002), and Balto III: Wings of Change (2004) are owned by Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser, and Universal Animation. Any other character in my reboot trilogy is created by me (Aga, Sukam, Wren Grey, Quoketa, Miqa, Sage, Zaqueun, Shaun, etcetera). I don't own the franchise. Trust me, the auburn-white wolf still has Taku's name, because I liked that name, so I thought I might do my partial take on Aaronmcloud's character.

Dedicated to Aaronmcloud (AKA Phalynx)

PLEASE BE WARNED: This introduction is pretty long. Reader discretion is advised.

Greetings. This is Marvelous Glow, and I'm very happy to explain that I have finally come up with a new Balto trilogy that should've been a new trilogy unlike any other, beginning with the first installment, Balto IV: The Tale of Alaku.

Prior to my new trilogy, there have been all three Balto movies that were released between 1995 and 2004 thanks to Universal and its defunct animation companies, Amblimation and Universal Cartoon Studios.

The series marked its beginning in 1995 with Universal and Amblimation's final feature film and also the first chapter in the series, Balto. The remarkable true tale of a hero that inspired a nation and made him a legend. Based on a story of a real canine hero, a sled dog who doesn't know where he belongs came upon a diphtheria tragedy that forced him to find his noble spirit and restore hope to a small town in Alaska known as Nome.

Directed by Simon Wells (whose directing credits include An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, The Prince of Egypt, The Time Machine (the 2002 adaptation) and the infamous Mars Needs Moms), the first movie gained mixed reviews with most critics and fans giving huge praises to everything they knew and love in the film, and with the success of its home video sales leads to two "so-bad-it's-good" direct-to-video sequels produced by Universal Animation Studios (formerly Universal Cartoon Studios until 2006) with main overseas animation production commissioned by Taiwanese studio Wang Film Productions.

Balto II: Wolf Quest continues where the original movie left off and introduced us to new characters and new terrain unlike anything we'd seen in life, including Balto's headstrong daughter, Aleu. When she discovered her own wolf heritage, her father must understand that she must follow her heart into a new destiny in its entirety, by following the path, coming face to face with a renegade wolf pack leader Niju, and fulfilling her destiny with a little help of her father.

Balto III: Wings of Change has no deniability with a new journey that takes our hero to new heights. When a bush plane pilot named Duke claims that he can deliver the mail faster than the sled dog team, Balto and his friends, even his son Kodi, knew that they were up to the challenge. But challenges are cut short after victory when Duke ended up in a terrible situation that got him stuck in the middle of the forest, and Balto must gather the last of his own wits to save him, and doing so can lead to bigger and better achievements he wished for.

I have been quite a fan of all three movies myself nowadays, but nothing can beat the sting of defeat than the time in 2020 when I have my interest in one of my favorite Balto character pairings, and that includes Aleu (the daughter of Balto and Jenna) and Taku (the auburn white wolf in the clan of wolves).

To be more honest, I grew on this pairing for years since the days of COVID-19. But just before this happened, I assumed that all three Balto movies are enough and that we didn't need a fourth Balto movie all because of the crappy aspects depicted in Balto II and III which is possibly why the series actually ended that way. But right now, I was wrong. It was the franchise that needed more additional stories, and it did with only three in between, all thanks to the pre-sung talents of myself. I had an idea of adding three more stories to close the franchise. The only thing I would accomplish for the Balto stories is by writing these extraordinary fan-fictions or sections to complete each story. Even when I got other things to accomplish in real life, well that's okay, because everything I know can be a big promise that will be kept.

From the beginning, I started it out with Balto IV: Tales of Courage, but it was actually a working title, so some changes had to occur over time and had to be renamed today as Balto IV: The Tale of Alaku.

People around the world are at first dissatisfied about why there won't be a Balto IV temporarily or for real. However, you might imagine that Balto IV will depict anything surprising or unnecessary in turn; whether it was the return of Aleu, the revenge of Steele, or a prequel before the original movie, whatever you call it. That idea of a fourth Balto adventure of any different plot will do eventually either a lot better or a lot worse. Actually, right now, I've seen much worse before and it would turn out to be Balto IV: Northern Howl. Just take a look at the description on the Idea Wiki website:

Balto IV: Northern Howl is an upcoming hand-drawn animated musical film, and the 4th movie of the Balto series. Unlike the previous movies which were produced and distributed by Universal Studios, the 4th film is to be produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures after Disney announced the acquisition of the franchise. The movie is scheduled to be released in 2025, in time for the 100th anniversary of the 1925 serum run to Nome.

PLOT

It's been almost two years since Balto had saved Nome from the diphtheria outbreak, and things are really looking up. Balto and Kodi have become nation-wide famous sled-dogs (with the rest of their team: Nikki, Kaltag, Star, Dusty, Kirby, and Ralph). Balto has now found a home with Jenna and Rosy, and Rosy has gained something amazing: the ability to talk with animals. Aleu has returned, after her wolf pack was reunited with Nava and had found a new home very close to Nome, and she has also become friends with a young boy.

However, everyone soon discovers that Niju has returned with his henchmen Yak, Sumac, and Nuk, and are now working for Balto and Jenna's arch-nemesis, Steele. The evil malamute is out for revenge against the heroic wolfdog, and will stop at nothing until he has achieved his one goal in mind: Killing Balto and everyone he cares about (of course along with anyone who stands in his way), and taking Jenna for himself. Even if it means wiping out the entire town's population.

Balto IV: Northern Howl? UGH! NO! More like Nightmare Cry! I don't like that! Anybody knows that Balto is made by Universal, NOT Disney. This has got to be the worst idea anyone can come up with, no offense to Idea Wiki. My upcoming new trilogy is much better.

Only that I found out actually that it was one of BaltoKirigaya's ideas he made. What a relief. I thought it was someone else that made this topic added to Idea Wiki. If it was, then I'd be depressed from then on. My apologies to him.

Once my story, Balto IV: The Tale of Alaku, is completed, we may never know when it will be translated to the screen one by one, from the beginning to the end. Hopefully, the same thing will go on with V and then VI (a prequel which would then mark the film series' goodbye installment). I knew that it was for the best.

Right beginning with the fourth installment: Balto IV: The Tale of Alaku, a story of love, compassion, heroism and ancientism which would somehow focus on Aleu and Taku and their togetherness with each other, their residence in one of the Alaskan islands with a clan of wolves, their confrontation with Zaqueun and Shaun, and their own seeking to new sights that would take them far around the island that you've never seen or heard before. As a marvelous similarity to Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories, Balto IV: The Tale of Alaku would depict something much more than just a half-breed stuck between two worlds, but also the true meaning of friendship, honor, love, courage, and respect for all life in between.

The fifth installment: Balto V: The Children of the Heart, an anthology of short stories featuring Balto's children each in their grown-up life, and in most of these short stories, they depict the romantic antics of these canine couples as followed: Kodi and Dusty, Kiona and Ralph, Saba and Daniel, Dingo and Kuraga, and Yukon and Sisson.

And finally, the sixth installment which is made to close the series: Balto VI: The Beginning (again, it's still a prequel to the original Balto movie). As told in the plot, this would focus on two brothers (Taras and Clive) and their dog, a gold-colored Siberian husky named Mintaq, discovering a new kind of terrain when they finally traveled to Nome Alaska as their new home, but when Mintaq ran away to the wilds because he heard a call of distress that came from far away, he knew that the white wolf named Aniu wishes to befriend him for her courtship.

These three new Balto adventures in my reboot trilogy are each filled with wonderful new characters to be met, important lessons to be taught, and sparkling wonders to be delighted time and time again. But, unlike the first three that are suitable for the whole family, the remaining three were recommended for people of a mature age (as well as adults who have a case of nostalgia) because of parts tending to arouse, delight and frighten them at the same time, which acts as a result from having true adult-themed non-educational humor.

Not to mention that they might also contain some definitive Deus Ex Machina moments, like for example in Balto IV, Shaun the mountain lion antagonist fell off a cliff trying to reach himself back up on ground, and woke up still feeling alive, getting his own life saved by the ghost of Nava who also met him. Who said that a big cat can't have nine lives? I'm not sure.

One more thing, there might be any character differences for Miqa and Quoketa. You see, the blue wolf had a male voice while the black one had a female voice in the actual Balto II sequel, but sometimes in my own image, the black wolf was a male while the blue wolf was a female. I guess I got mixed up with those characters either way. In order to make things canon, I followed what was done out from Wolf Quest so their appearances and voices would be accurate when my sequel was made into a feature film, or unless they have to stay true to canon in my Balto fanfiction. I don't want to upset Aaronmcloud's feelings or nothing, but some things change differently in my image. But if they're canon, I guess I have no choice but to leave them as someone intended to change them.

With a new trilogy of Balto adventures newly planned for future animated feature-length productions, you won't believe your eyes and ears on how anything can happen for the love of the franchise, and these surprising twists and turns would chart heroic courses. The animation production for my reboot trilogy? Each would eventually involve no animation company at all unlike the first three Balto movies, but rather as I predict, over more than 200 animators, artists and production staff members collaborating, old and new, which comes to as no point to where my trilogy would have marked traditional animation's definite comeback via digital purposes using Toon Boom software.

John Pomeroy, James Baxter and Dan Haskett are the main trio to handle the animation for the series' remaining three movies.

Other talents who would handle the animation for the reboot trilogy are: Darlie Brewster, Charles Bonifacio, Robin Budd, Maelene Naftzger, Erin Humiston, Davide Benvenuti, Noel Cleary, Manny Banados, Frank Nissen, Michael Badman, Tina Burke, AbsoluteDream (AKA Casper, the Undertale animations), Kayla Stith (the collaborator behind Sonic X Reanimated and All Dogs Reanimated), Jennifer Hager, Richard Baneham, Sabrina Cotugno (the short films Paraphernalia and Kagemono: The Shadow Folk), Mike Chavez, Mark Henn, Dawn Lau, John Power, Casey McDonald (Wonders of the Universe (TV series), Lloyd (TV series), and the short films The Prince's Test and Wings), Sandro Cleuzo, Ricardo Curtis, Andreas Wessel-Therhorn, Michael Wolf (the "Taarna" segment for Heavy Metal), Junko Aoyama, Minkyu Lee, Shigeto Tsuji, Toniko Pantoja, Sachio Nishiyama, Ron Husband, Tom Sito, Stephen Fitch, Scott Glynn, Andy Gaskill, Thomas E. Decker, Kristoff Serrand, Dave Spafford, and Adam Murphy alongside others.

Brad Lewis (who worked on producing several animated films including Ratatouille, Antz, Storks, and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, also co-director for Cars 2 and executive producer for The Lego Batman Movie) and Bonnie Arnold (who worked as associate producer of Dances with Wolves and The Adams Family, and producer of Tarzan, Over the Hedge, Toy Story, and the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy) are set to produce the sequel. Mark Osborne (director of the live-action sequences for The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and the 2015 stop-motion film The Little Prince, and co-director of Kung Fu Panda) will participate in directing the reboot trilogy, while Karey Kirkpatrick (screenplay writer for James and the Giant Peach, Chicken Run, The Rescuers Down Under, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Charlotte's Web (2006), Over the Hedge, and Smallfoot) will become co-executive producer along with Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser.

Adam Berry (composer of the Balto sequels Wolf Quest and Wings of Change, as well as TV shows such as Kim Possible, Hercules, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and The Sarah Silverman Program) will make his return to the franchise by writing and scoring his original music for the Balto reboot trilogy that includes bits of themes from the sequels written by him and mainly the original movie by the late Oscar nominee James Horner (composer for Legends of the Fall, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Titanic, An American Tail, The Land Before Time, and Braveheart), even his first-time collaboration with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra for the reboot trilogy, and his own music score would also spark influences from several legendary movie musicians such as Alex North (who did the music for films such as Cleopatra, Spartacus, Viva Zapata!, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and A Streetcar Named Desire), Maurice Jarre (who did music for Lawrence of Arabia, A Passage to India, and Doctor Zhivago), Jerry Goldsmith (who did the music for the Rambo trilogy, the original Planet of the Apes, several Star Trek movies, and The Secret of NIMH), John Barry (who did the music for numerous James Bond movies from 1963 to 1987, and the Oscar-winning Dances with Wolves and Out of Africa), and mainly Elmer Bernstein (who did the music for Ghostbusters, The Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, An American Werewolf in London, the 1985 Disney movie The Black Cauldron, and my personal favorite, the 1981 science-fiction cult favorite Heavy Metal).

Berry's music score for the reboot trilogy would often use both the KORG 01/W and YAMAHA DX7 synthesizers, as well as the Ondes Martenot in the same manner as the original Ghostbusters movie from 1984.

Voice acting is one of the important subjects for every animated movie. The main character voices have been selected for Balto IV: The Tale of Alaku.

Lacey Chabert (known for Party of Five, All My Children, and The Wild Thornberrys) would reprise her role as Aleu (Balto's daughter from Wolf Quest) for the sequel, and her character's persona would provide excellence in maturity and passion as she also took a level in kindness in the sequel, but still had her determination and leadership alike as she was one with a big heart.

Haley Joel Osment (Forrest Gump, The Sixth Sense, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, and the voice of Sora in the Kingdom Hearts video game franchise) would be chosen to voice the auburn-white wolf Taku (Aleu's new friend and mate).

Geoffrey Rush will be cast as the voice of the villain, Zaqueun, the devilish, sly and somehow cunning old wolf the mountain (also Nava's exact opposite). Rush had previously starred in many motion pictures such as Shine (a film which he won a 1997 Academy Award for best actor), alongside others that feature his performances, Shakespeare in Love, The King's Speech, and is best known for the role of Captain Barbossa in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise by Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. His previous animated voice roles are of Bunyip Bluegum in The Magic Pudding, Nigel the pelican in a Disney/Pixar film Finding Nemo, and Ezylryp in Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.

The evil mountain lion Shaun, Zaqueun's associate, will be voiced by Mike Pollock, and Pollock is famous for the voice of Dr. Eggman in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise since 2003.

Wren Grey, an extraordinary former companion to Nava and a communicator to all living things, will be voiced by respectively Beau Weaver, voiceover professional for trailers, animated shows and radio programming such as the vocal portrayals of Mr. Fantastic in the 1994 Fantastic Four animated series and the title character in the 1988 Ruby-Spears television series based on DC comics' Superman.

Sage, a reluctant middle-aged wolf that often serve as a comic relief, will be voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, voice actor for English dubs of Naruto, Code Geass, and Afro Samurai, and the voice of a teenage Ben Tennyson in Ben 10.

Colleen O'Shaugnessy will voice Quoketa, a black wolf who is also friends with Aleu, Taku and his siblings. O'Shaughnessy was a voice actress known for Sora Takenouchi in the English dub of the Digimon anime, Jazz Fenton in Danny Phantom, Wasp in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Ino Yamanaka in the English dubs of the Naruto anime, and mainly Miles "Tails" Prower in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise since 2014.

Tom Kenny, a voice actor and comedian known for SpongeBob SquarePants, Rocko's Modern Life, Adventure Time and The Powerpuff Girls, will respectively voice Miqa the blue wolf who was Quoketa's girlfriend and Noma the fearsome and sneaky lynx.

Peter MacNicol (known for DragonSlayer, Sophie's Choice, Ghostbusters II and Adams Family Values) will reprise once again for Balto IV as Muru, who is Aleu's spirit guide.

Justin Briner (best known for the voice roles in English versions of My Hero Academia) will provide the voice of Sheylac, while Stephanie Nadolny (the English voice of Son-Goku in the Dragon Ball anime series and of the child version of Goku's son, Son Gohan in Dragon Ball Z) voices Valaqa.

The list of all the actors who would voice the characters in Balto IV: The Tale of Alaku, along with Balto V: The Children of the Heart and Balto VI: The Beginning, would go on and on.

For the perspective settings of one of the Alaskan islands in Balto IV: The Tale of Alaku, photographers along with the artists visited to where they provided location scouting in both Canada and New Zealand. Some of the flora and fauna in New Zealand have to be replaced in order to meet Alaska-related customs initiated by artists for the movie itself. The original locations they drew for the island are also required.

Post-sound production for Balto IV: The Tale of Alaku and its last two movies would take place at the Skywalker Sound studio which is located at the Skywalker Ranch in Marin County California. The company is best known for a huge number of movies such as those from Indiana Jones, Titanic, Harry Potter, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Willow, Jurassic Park, and notably the Star Wars saga alongside thousands of others.

The OAR (Original Aspect Ratio) representation for the remaining Balto movies requires a 2.00:1 presentation in Australia and New Zealand (apparently retained for home video releases in its country as well as worldwide HBO MAX and Netflix releases), while in most other countries for direct-to-video purposes have it presented in a cropped pan-and-scan 1.66:1 presentation.

For the most possible distribution to the entire Balto reboot trilogy of mine when they're made as animated feature films in the future, the plan for the reboot trilogy to be sold for theatrical purposes would be of these in over 14 countries worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, with the exception of Finland, South Korea, South Africa and Slovakia by United International Pictures. While direct-to-video sellthroughs would be handled throughout the rest of the world with Universal Home Entertainment still retaining the U.S. and Canadian rights to the trilogy. The planned theatrical world premiere of Balto IV: The Tale of Alaku will be explained that it will take place in the Embassy Theater, a cinema in Wellington New Zealand that's well known for holding world premieres of two Middle Earth movie trilogies by renowned director Peter Jackson and are based on the works of the late and great J.R.R. Tolkien such as The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

With better production value and improving animation, there's no telling whatever can happen in a reboot trilogy like this one taken after the release of Balto III: Wings of Change, and the franchise will close with three remaining Balto stories that will be considered remarkable and better than ever. Much as I imagine, the animation style for the trilogy would fit exactly in the combined vein of and would take inspiration from Silver Age Disney films (Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, and The Jungle Book), the collected works of Don Bluth (The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, The Land Before Time, and All Dogs Go to Heaven), and classical Japanese Animation such as those from Osamu Tezuka (creator of Astro Boy and Jungle Emperor) and the early films created by Toei Animation (The Tale of the White Serpent, Magic Boy, Alakazam the Great, The Littlest Warrior, The Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor, The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon, Doggie March, and Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon).

Although the fandom of the Balto franchise still lingers on, the series would come to a close as I expect, because most of us were afraid that they will be overshadowed by the success of all 14 Land Before Time movies in order (some good and some bad), and in future, some people would want the movie series to be cancelled and cut-short after six movies because I will have to predict that they wanted no more Balto movies anymore due to the reception of Balto II and III. I know that things may sound quite sad about the movie series having closed out after Balto VI, but there's no turning back now, I have several other Balto fanfics that would be done for the works in future after the trilogy, some that contains mature content (e.g. A Series of Unfortunate Dreams), and some that are family friendly (e.g. Balto's Sister). Hopefully there will be some people who have pure talent will collaborate with me on these fanfics, except for my trilogy which I should continue to work on all by myself...or unless I write them alone. Hahaha.

Although some people never liked the idea of having more Balto sequels because of far too much crappy aspects depicted in Balto II and III, I only intend to do mine for art, also anything media-related, even if they were dedicated to the real Balto himself which the original movie from 1995 was loosely based on.

As with both Balto trilogies coming together, each story will be filled with extraordinary characters, majestic terrain, memorable wonders, timeless appeal to the young and old, heart-pounding suspense, undeniable adventures, and a variety of lessons taught to people in more than 30 countries.

To seek much culture, to believe in the meaning of loyalty, destination, teamwork, friendship and love, and through each and every one of these amazing adventures, these are all what we learn from the Balto franchise in a trilogy of my latest stories for all time.

In one of the famous words from renowned author and writer Rudyard Kipling (author of the First and Second Jungle Books), everyone learns how to "follow the dream, and always the dream, and only the dream", no matter what.

As being three passionate stories with memorable possibilities and endless appeal, their own legacies, including my new Balto reboot trilogy, through mind and talent still continue to be empowered in a new light, and the nostalgic interest within the franchise such as mine will continue to live on forever.

And now, sit back, relax, and get ready to enjoy...Balto IV: The Tale of Alaku!

"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." - Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) from Casablanca (1942)

In Memoriam...

Bob Hoskins (1942-2014)

Jack Angel (1930-2021)

Donald Sinden (1923-2014)

David Carradine (1936-2009)

Mary Kay Bergman (1961-1999)

Joe Alaskey (1952-2016)

Jan Rabson (1954-2022) (the guy whom I failed to cast him for the voice role of Sumac)

Carl Weathers (1948-2024)