Episode overview:
Start Wreck is an
episodic web comic, but is nonetheless made up of story arcs. For easy
location, here is a list of all episodes currently online (note: list
may not be totally up-to-date at any given time; please check for updates,
or just use the main page browsing buttons to find what you're looking
for).
Story
01: |
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Episode
001. The USS Eggsandfries begins its journey into the unknown!
This was an easy first episode that got me ready for the more
complicated art work that was to come. The shape of the ship was
traced from a picture I found on the 'net. |
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Episode
002. Captain Tim G. Burke adresses his crew. The first episode
to feature people. It turned out okay, although some of the drawing
is a little bit rough. The shadows are Photoshop effects. |
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Episode
003. Two Redshirts discuss the mission. This was an easy episode
that allowed me to further practice drawing people. It was fairly
quick to draw because of the duplicated backgrounds and characters
from frame to frame. |
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Episode
004. Lieutenant Ihearher notices a turbo-lift discrepancy.
Another easy repeating background episode. I actually rushed this
one a little in order to get the following episode done on time. |
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Episode
005. The captain checks everyone is doing their job. This
was the first episode to be set on the bridge of the ship. It
was very hard to draw, and the numerous new characters didn't
make it any easier. It really took ages. |
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Episode
006. Burke tries to impress a fellow officer. This episode
shows an improvement in drawing technique. The lines are sharper
and clearer, and the expressions are solid. The blurred face in
frame 1 is a photoshop effect. Definite improvement. |
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Episode
007. The crew are given their orders from head office. Simple
backgrounds used here, but the drawing is solid. Copied frame
4 from the previous episode. |
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Episode
008. Mr. Speck estimates the arrival time. This is the first
episode since the first that you can see the outside of the ship.
Such "reminder" shots are important with any cartoon,
because they help to give the reader some breathing space, and
some time to reflect. |
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Episode
009. Solo chats with Speck. Copied backgrounds made this fairly
easy, however Solo has a lot of detail on him compared to the
other mono-colour crew tunics. The torch gag is a lightsabre reference,
even though Han Solo never used one - it's artistic license. |
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Episode
010. The Eggsandfries is pulled over for speeding. Despite
being the tenth episode, not a lot happens here. It was the easiest
comic so far, but I think the joke hit the spot anyway. |
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Episode
011. Captain Burke tries to get out of getting a speeding
ticket. Again, repetitive backgrounds are a godsend for comic
artists! Emotion on Burke's face is achieved by manipulation of
the eyebrows and use of sweat beads. |
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Episode
012. Spotty describes where the food comes from. A bit of
a break from the main events in this episode, in order to introduce
the character Spotty. Working large scale made it very easy to
draw the characters in high-detail. I also think the joke was
played out very well. Worth noting: first use of thought balloon. |
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Episode
013. Spotty
and Bones discuss Checkout's obsessive behaviour. Simple copy-and-paste
job here. It's the best thing about digital artwork. |
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Episode
014. Captain Burke makes fun of Spotty's waist size. First
use of a Captain's Log screen to fill up a frame. The engine room
background is literally traced straight from a DVD episode. The
last two frames are simply enlarged versions, blurred to hide
the pixels. |
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Episode
015. Someone left the screen turned on for too long. Two new
bridge backgrounds drawn. The front view is my favourite, but
they'll all be useful later on. I love the joke in this episode,
and it's one of my favourite episodes so far. |
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Episode
016. Nobody is familiar with protocol. The detail in the first
frame understandably took a very long time. I pieced it together
from an isometric technical diagram that I found on the 'net.
It's the first episode to give a proper dimensional sense to the
bridge. |
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Episode
017. Aliens are just people with beards. I drew a Klingfilm
ship based on a design for a Klingon Bird of Prey, but then I
'cloaked' it so you can't see it. It's not wasted, though, as
it will return again! Frame 3 is a copy from episode 6 - sneaky,
huh?! |
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Episode
018. Anyone with a beard is evil. In the classic Mirror Universe,
the evil twins must have beards. That's the idea, anyway. The
Klingfilm was tricky to draw as its armour is very detailed. The
design is a cross between old and new Klingons. |
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Episode
019. The alert status is changed. Second use of the Captain's
Log. The log itself was drawn from scratch, but the drawing of
the ship was traced from a DVD episode and then transformed for
the third and fourth frames. |
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Episode
020. The captain selects the away team. This is a completely
ripped off joke/reference from both Family Guy and South Park
combined. The poor redshirt is so gonna get it. |
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Episode
021. The crew arrive on the 'planet'. It was nice to draw
some outdoor scenery for a change. The transporter beam effect
was created using the airbrush tool on a dissolve setting, and
then applying a glow effect. The crew were then faded out behind
it. |
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Episode
022. The away team are ill-equipped for their mission. A lot
of the planet looks the same, no matter where you put characters
onto it; so it's easy to copy and morph the same background to
use over and over. Captain Burke's ears are unintentionally too
far down, because I gave him a bigger forehead than normal. |
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Episode
023. Burke looks for Checkout who is only doing his job. This
could have been done in one frame, but I like to stick to my format,
so I dragged the joke out for 4 frames instead. The drawing is
nice and bold here. The background characters from frame 2 are
re-used from episode 21. |
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Episode
024. The Klingfilms approach the landing party's position.
This is the largest scale I've ever drawn the characters' faces
at. A lot of the stuff behind other faces I didn't colour in,
to save time. The fading effect is done in photoshop again. |
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Episode
025. A valued member of the crew is killed in the line of
duty. The copied frames made this quick and easy to draw, and
the use of exaggerated shadows in frame 3 was fun to play with. |
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Episode
026. A massive battle ensues. All my time was spent on the
first frame, obviously. The explosion in the background wasn't
drawn; it's actualy a photograph of an explosion that I cropped
and pasted into the frame. |
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Episode
027. A valued member of the crew is killed in the line of
duty. Getting the action looking right in frame 3 was tricky,
but the result is spot-on. The weapon used in based on the Bat'leth
from the modern Star Trek series, although only loosely - it was
drawn from memory. |
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Episode
028. The real culprit is revealed. The big green monster,
with its tentacles and teeth, is perhaps the most generic creature
ever devised. I could have called it "the Blob" or something.
Had to make room in advance for lots of text in frame one - never
fun to attempt! |
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Episode
029. Captain Burke tackles a dangerous situation by making
a funny. Good artwork, good joke. Hey, sometimes you're just on
a roll. The Hothnotch creature is 'bigged-up' from the previous
episode (as is the Lobnar alien, actually). |
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Episode
030. Spotty is away from his station at a critical moment.
This Trouble with Tribbles parody episode could work equally well
as a stand-alone as it can as part of the plot. Lots of varied
drawing here made it quite tricky to finish. |
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Episode
031. Solo wishes he was somewhere else. Star Wars references
abound! What's great about frame 1 is that it looks hideously
complicated, but I'd already drawn it in episode 16! And frame
4 was just a repeat of episode 6 (again). Not so clever, eh?! |
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Episode
032. Some outside help lends a helping hand. Yes, this is
my hand making a cameo appearance. An easy episode to draw, as
much of it is copied again. The Bird of Prey from episode 17 finally
gets seen properly. |
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Episode
033. The Lobnars make a deadly error. I won't go into the
details of how frame 1 was done - it just took patience. As for
the rest: these interior shots (of the colosseum) are easy at
the moment. They get more complicated... |
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Episode
034. The redshirt had a family. Another Captain's Log! The
trickiest part was frame 4, but it was a lot of fun to do too. |
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Episode
035. Ensign Kenny gives it his best shot. Quick and easy drawing
here. Classic comic fodder. |
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Episode
036. Bones battles for his - err - life. Frames 3 and 4 were
immensely difficult. Creating the illusion of a crowd is simple
in theory (lots of little splotches) but takes so much time in
practice. |
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Episode
037. Burke congratulates Bones on his fight. Skeletons are
harder to draw than clothed humans, so I won't be doing much more
of it. The shadows here are simply Photoshop layer effects. |
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Episode
038. Speck pleads for a little compassion and reason from
their captors. Virtually no new drawing went into this episode
at all. It's a collection of conveniently arranged pre-drawn shots
from other episodes. Now that's pretty clever! |
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Episode
039. The two crews form a truce. My drawing pad broke during
this episode, so frames 3 and 4 had to be finished using just
the mouse, which was very tricky. I used a quicker shading technique
(using grouped layers) which sped things along. |
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Episode
040. The crew are sentenced to death. This episode marks the
last time I ever use that balcony background, I promise! Drawing
the detailed crowd scene took a bit of time, but the rest of this
was fairly straight forward. |
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Episode
041. Ensign Kenny discovers a shocking truth! I actually made
myself laugh with this one, even if the joke is tremendously cheesy!
The first two frames are where all the work went in this episode;
the repetition in the latter two made them easier. Uh, if anyone
asks where the guns came from... pass! |
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Episode
042. The Hothnotch is defeated. That creature could only ever
die through unconventional means! This is the last episode set
in the colosseum interior; thankfully that frees me from the tedium
of drawing any more massive crowds. |
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Episode
043. The crew set off to search for the planet's power source.
The outdoors stuff was good to draw again as it's quite basic.
This is the first proper drawing of a communicator as well, for
whatever it's worth. |
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Episode
044. The ship prepares for full power. This is clearly a joke
ripped off from The Simpsons, but it's still funny. Ship interiors
were already drawn for this episode. |
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Episode
045. The Klingfilms give us what we really want. This was
a change of scene episode that I felt I should fit in somewhere.
It was fun to draw a new interior, especially a made-up Klingfilm
ship interior. |
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Episode
046. The away team finds the main energy source of the planet
Negraak III. I had a lot of fun with the shadows in the third
frame, whereas the fourth frame took a long time to draw, but
it was all pretty interesting. |
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Episode
047. The Motherbrain speaks. Most of this was straightforward
to draw as the brain had already been done. The hardest part was
getting the size of Speck to look right whilst still fitting him
into the frame properly. |
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Episode
048. Speck reads the Motherbrain's thoughts. Although simple
to draw, I put a lot of thought into the writing of this episode
to ensure it remained tight, yet funny and indicative of contemporary
internet culture. |
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Episode
049. Checkout prepares the explosives. This episode is kept
simple for a reason: I needed all the time I could get to finish
the 50th episode. Still, it's reasonably amusing in a simple sort
of way. |
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Episode
050. It looks a bit flash for a reason - I made it in Flash.
A simple drawing couldn't do the last episode of the story justice
so an animation was the only option. The drawing tools were harder
to work with, but the end result turned out beautifully, even
if it did take about 5 times longer than normal. |
Story
02: |
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Episode
051. Bones finds his Sick Bay in less than qualified hands.
I admit it, I got this joke from a seaside post card! I just couldn't
resist! It makes for as good a story opener as any, I guess. As
far as the artwork goes, the corridors of the ship are very boring. |
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Episode
052. Bones leaves the nurse to her rambling. I included so
much text here that I had to shrink it down. Not that any of it
is important; it's just to suggest a state of rambling on and
on and on as some people like to do. Bones' departure is just
the start of this adventure... |
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Episode
053. Bones infiltrates the bridge. Yay, gore! I'm leaving
a sense of mystery over what's going on with Bones for the time
being. All will be revealed in full eventually. It's nice to get
back to drawing the interior of the bridge after all the desert
landscapes. |
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Episode
054. The ship is diverted. Ooh, the plot thickens. What's
wrong with Bones?! More stock footage backgrounds used here; only
the fourth frame was new. |
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Episode
055. Technical problems ensue. No sci-fi spoof comic would
be complete without a Microsoft joke. Note: actual errors screens
were used in the making of this episode! |
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Episode
056. The bridge crew discuss rituals. Using the strength of
the futuristic medium is great, and what better way to do it than
misconstrue current cultural practices in a humorous manner? The
drawing was a lot of easy copy-n-pasting. |
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Episode
057. The final member of the away team is chosen. I don't
often get to draw background characters, never mind give them
names, so this made a nice change. Simple backgrounds and cutting
and pasting made this straightforward. |
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Episode
058. The away team beam down to the planet. Another planet
means a new type of scenery to draw. I had fun with the lighting
effects, using a semi-transparent black layer to simulate the
darkness, and then erasing parts of that layer around the objects
that would be giving off light (the moon, the beams). |
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Episode
059. A valued member of the crew is killed in the line of
duty. Kenny didn't last long, which isn't surprising. This is
one planet that has its comedy timing down to a T. |
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Episode
060. Bones returns home. Nice and easy one to draw, this.
As for the script: I had to come up with a plausible explanation
for how such a structure could have gone undetected - good enough,
yeah? |
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Episode
061. A cliché is broken! Oh, how I would have loved
to stretch the story over several episodes of manic mansion mishaps...
no, wait, I wouldn't. This is funnier, sorry! |
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Episode
062. Professor Frank N. Styne prepares to explain all. Not
only did I break the fourth wall here, but also the fifth, sixth
and seventh. Lucky thing mansions have lots more walls, eh? The
interior lighting was created much like the darkness outside:
a semi-opaque coloured layer over the top. |
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Episode
063. The obligatory flashback scene. I strongly considered
doing this episode in black and white (excluding the last frame).
I think it would have looked nice, but it was a last minute consideration,
I didn't really have the time to mess around with the colours,
and... colours look pretty. |
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Episode
064. A family is reunited. Star Wars jokes are such an easy
target. Mostly easy drawing in this one. The background image
is some actual old wallpaper. |
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Episode
065. Frank reveals his true intentions. Back outside, this
episode made for some more varied art work. From here on, it's
only going to get harder! |
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Episode
066. Kenny advises a plan of attack. Oh, hey, Kenny is back.
I mean, he's always been there. Yes. They never did extreme things
in Star Trek, like blowing up the moon to stop full a full moon.
I like that comics can do this sort of thing, without it breaking
the budget. |
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Episode
067. The army rises. Well, they weren't going to stop them
yet, were they? Too big a build up. The final frame looked good
until I had to cover most of it with speech bubbles. |
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Episode
068. The army prepares to attack. I love hordes, when you
have lots and lots and lots of identical things spanning into
the distance. The skeleton army was actually really easy to create,
since I only drew one skeleton and let Photoshop do the rest.
HORDES! |
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Episode
069. A valued member of the crew is killed in the line of
duty. Look, it doesn't get old until I say it gets old, okay?
Art-wise, this was no big deal. The horde of skeletons was already
drawn from the previous episode. |
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Episode
070. The crew run away!! Back inside the mansion means no
new backgrounds to draw! The change in lighting is apparent again,
from black to yellow. Frame 1 required the army to appear further
forward, which meant some copy-and-pasting of the front row, moving
them forward slightly. |
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Episode
071. The Captain realises the solution. I had an idea for
how to wrap up this story, but it relied on overlooking a plot
hole - so I poked fun at that very fact! I like the blur effect
in frame 3 as it gives an illusion of depth and makes it seem
more than just a drawing. |
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Episode
072. The remaining crew make it to the roof. I haven't really
done a lot of weird perspective shots, so frame 1 made a nice
change. When I wrote this episode, I had no idea that bar code
could actually hold alphabetical characters, which made it somewhat
funnier in my head. |
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Episode
073. The away team communicates with the Eggsandfries in orbit.
So Solo's torch-sabre was useful! Admitedly I rushed this
episode a little bit. The final frame is a stock shot and is not
centred properly; and the refractor in the first two frames is
missing some details around the rim. Oh well, you live and learn. |
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Episode
074. Speck and Spotty discuss the plan. This episode had lots
of rewrites before I finally settling on this one just before
I started drawing it. The problem is fitting something even remotely
funny into an essential plot explanation story without it sounding
tacked on. |
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Episode
075. Bones returns to the safety of the ship. The horde of
skeletons is easy to draw, so this episode required very little
work. I do enjoy drawing transporter effects; if only I could
think of a better sound effect. |
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Episode
076. The skeleton army is finally destroyed. This one took
some time. I achieved the dissolve effect by using the mask tool,
then applied a standard lens flare. The ship/planet scene was
the hardest to draw because the proportions are so massive to
get them accurate in such a small window. |
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Episode
077. Professor Frank N. Styne gets angry. This was mostly
stock footage, so to speak, so it was quick to make. Changing
from night to day colours was easy - I just removed the top dark
layer that was previously covering the picture. |
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Episode
078. The nutty professor meets his demise. Ah, classic misdirection.
(NB: Gamma radiation is what turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk.)
For what it's worth, I never had any intention to have a final
showdown scenario, so don't go thinking I wussed out at the last
minute! |
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Episode
079. Captain Burke gets off the hook. Admiral Crazydude makes
a return here, mainly 'cos I didn't want to draw another admiral.
The opening speech made for an easy way to wrap up the rest of
the story without showing them still on the planet, etc. |
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Episode
080. Captain Burke apologises to Bones. The final episode
of this second story comes to an end here. There's no way I was
going to animate another Flash version, though - sorry about that!
Having a 'gift shop' on the ship was a bit of artistic license. |
Story
03: |
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Episode
081. A new passenger arrives on board. Total fanboy treat,
this one: a DS9-alike station (I had fun making it out of bedposts)
and a brotherly Star Trek V reference, mixed with a blog emoticon
and a punny punchline. I start as I mean to go on; Story 03 is
gonna be a killer. |
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Episode
082. Smock is welcomed aboard the ship. I try to make some
of my jokes a bit more high brow sometimes; it makes a change
from Kenny-gets-killed-again stories. Art-wise, I drew the transporter
pad from a screenshot and enlarged the background for the close-up
(blurring hides the imperfections). |
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Episode
083. Kenny escorts Smock to the guest living quarters. Some
fiddly drawing here with the top-down shot of the room, and then
trying to make the corridor appear to move past them. I made up
the deck numbers; I have no idea where actual living quarters
would be. |
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Episode
084. Smock sneaks into the shuttle bay. I love silly visual
references and couldn't think of a better way to incorporate that
into a four-panel comic strip. I think it works well enough, though.
First proper drawing of a shuttlecraft here; I made up the registry
code ("XNF" = Eggs 'N Fries, yeah?). |
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Episode
085. The Eggsandfries fails to prevent Smock's escape. This
episode was reconstructed almost entirely from previous drawings.
I'm not very familiar with the old style shuttlecraft, so I sort
of made that up myself. The joke should be very familiar to anyone
who's seen a few episodes of Next Generation or Voyager. |
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Episode
086. The bridge scene becomes a parody. If you're not familiar
with phenomenon that is Zero Wing, just ignore this entirely.
If you are, you're probably sick of it, and should also ignore
me entirely. ;) |
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Episode
087. Burke briefs the bridge crew. There is some chronological
fudging going on here with regards to Kenny's recitation of previous
missions - but if you ignore the fact that the ship and crew were
brand new eighty-something episodes ago, it's all okay. |
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Episode
088. Burke and Kenny prepare to meet Smock. Little more than
filler, this one, and another potential Kenny death setup!
Some of the drawing is a bit rushed; the only part I like is the
ship in the first frame, which was a new drawing (previous episodes
have used the rear view). |
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Episode
089. The away team encounter a mysterious portal. For fans
of the original series, this parody portal should be recognisable.
I paid close attention to the details here, following the original
source as accurately as I could. I'm very pleased with the look
of it, especially the glowing effect. |
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Episode
090. Smock explains the nature of the Guardian. Again, I'm
pleased with the artwork here; the first frame is almost entirely
traced from a DVD screenshot. The rest of the episode is black
and white photos that I found. Oh yes, things are going to get
interesting... |
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Episode
091. Checkout destroys the Guardian of Never. This one was
fun to draw, and the phaser in the last frame was researched properly
so that it looked good enough. I do like those old style phaser
pistols. Don't make 'em like they used to... |
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Episode
092. Speck scans the wreckage of the Guardian. This last episode
set on the ancient planet uses a couple of new backgrounds, but
nothing strenuous. First ever showing of the bulky over-the-shoulder
tricorder here. |
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Episode
093. Speck explains where Smock has disappeared to. Further
attempts to build recognisable characters here result in a technobabbling
Speck, a sarcastic Kenny and an idiotic Checkout. That works for
me. |
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Episode
094. Speck proposes a retrieval mission. I was worried about
drawing a whole room full of admirals, but I really enjoyed it
and it turned out perfectly. Using a smaller brush size always
helps with more detailed pictures. Speck's plan is, of course,
inspired by Star Trek IV: The One With the Whales. |
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Episode
095. Kenny and Checkout observe the Eggsandfries' return home.
I have to admit, I don't know anywhere on the original ship that
has such a large window. It's more of a TNG thing, but whatever.
The illusion of glass was made by creating a reflection of the
characters and lightly painting over the area. Fun stuff! |
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Episode
096. The Eggsandfries returns to Earth Space Dock. It made
a nice change to draw the Earth rather than an alien world, even
if it was just a small section of it. The space station is a direct
copy of the one from the Star Trek movies and Next Generation.
The joke is terrible - I'm sorry. |
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Episode
097. Speck explains the complex theory of the warp slingshot.
Not much to add here; the background was already drawn from a
previous episode and most of the character art is repeated. Had
some fun scribbling some vague formulaic symbols. |
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Episode
098. Solo pilots the ship through danger! Heh, I've been wanting
to do an 'asteroids on the viewscreen' gag for ages but could
never find the room for it. Here it is, at last! |
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Episode
099. The Eggsandfries leaves Earth for its adventure through
time. Originally I had planned to recite that section of the script
from Home Alone word-for-word, but when I realised it wouldn't
fit into the space constraints, I had to trim it down. One last
chance to draw the Earth here. Adventure awaits.... |
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Episode
100. It had to be done. Following the tradition, #100 is animated,
this time featuring sound and voices, lip-synched by hand (I've
never done that before). The sound, you may guess, is from somewhere
else, and the drawings were imported from Photoshop rather than
drawn with the (painful) Flash vector tools. |
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Episode
101. The crew find themselves in the past! The 'parallel dimension'
is our reality, which means filling in the blanks with whatever
photographic elements I can find. Everything else is drawn as
normal here. I particularly liked placing all the props from episode
100 on the floor of the bridge. |
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Episode
102. In orbit, the crew prepare to disembark. The drawing
was a bit lazy here; I've reused that corridor so many times,
I think I'm beginning to wear out the pixels. The shading on the
ship was cool to draw. The photographic element was scoured from
the web - I've never been to outer space myself. |
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Episode
103. The away team prepare their 21st century disguise. I
like this one - it's just so silly. I had some real fun designing
the costumes, which I did once for the final frame before finishing
frames 2 and 3. It's just quicker if I work on-the-fly like that.
More photos off t'internet. |
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Episode
104. Burke and Kenny discuss the crew. It always bothered
me how the majority of the crew is always human on Star Trek.
It's only budget cuts, of course, so it was fun to do this episode...
and the 'person-is-really-a-broom' theme is inspired by the funniest
TV show on Earth. |
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Episode
105. Three teams prepare to depart for Earth. Never have I
drawn so many characters in one episode - it took quite some time!
As for the shuttle bay: I must commend the efforts of CBS Digital
for recreating the interior with modern CGI. Without their recent
work, I'd have had very little reference to draw this one. |
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Episode
106. The captain's team fly towards Europe. Photographic material
for this episode was limited, so I had to restrict what I could
show or write. As the youngest of the main characters, I figured
Checkout should be the one to get excited over visiting monuments
and such. |
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Episode
107. Speck educates the away team during their decent. I wanted
a transition phase from space to ground, and the only way I could
think to fit that into the comic was to have some funny references
on the way down. Finding the right photographs for this episode
was quite tricky. |
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Episode
108. The shuttlecraft lands stealthily. The 'small craft landing
on Earth' idea is another of Star Trek IV's influences. I took
the idea of a cloaked vessel and made a more primitive disguise
for the shuttle! Interestingly, this episode marks the start of
using my own photographs. The featured park is conveniently local. |
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Episode
109. Spotty uses a tracking device to find Smock. This one
is a visual gag more than anything, and just helps to set the
scene before they move on. There's not much more to say; the characters'
shadows on real grass was the only challenge here. The next episodes
feature more intricacy. |
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Episode
110. Burke tells the away team what to do. This episode features
the first proper interaction between photographic elements and
art. To show the bush in front of Burke, I drew around each leaf
individually with the pen tool, then layered it over the top. |
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Episode
111. Checkout and Kenny attempt to contact the authorities.
Merging the drawn shadows of the characters with the real shadows
on the pavement was a challenge, as was getting the look of Checkout
in the booth just right - however, the end result is really effective
with some good lighting effects. |
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Episode
112. Spotty tries to get some information. Not much more than
a couple of puns here ('teller', 'pin'). The hardest part was
not the drawing, but finding an actual free cashpoint to photograph
from two angles. I ended up photoshopping one onto a blank wall. |
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Episode
113. Burke subtly requests some information from a policeman.
None of these photographs were mine. I should probably thank whatever
kind souls of Flickr.com took them. That's pretty lazy of me,
actually; it wouldn't have been too far to go to snap some good
ones myself! |
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Episode
114. The crew consider moving on. This is a very, very silly
joke but I'm not at all sorry I resorted to it. Sometimes you've
just got to be a little bit silly, you know? Visual humour has
its place. |
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Episode
115. The shuttle gets clamped. I had some plans to show what
the other teams were up to, but I decided it was impractical.
Instead, I mocked the state of parking vehicles anywhere in London.
Curse those wardens! |
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Episode
116. Burke learns that Smock has been tracked down. This is
about as far as showing the other parts of the world as I got.
I had the idea of Smock being up to all sorts of mischief around
the world, but led it all back to another tea joke. Sorry. |
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Episode
117. A history lesson, courtesy of Speck. As the characters
learn about what might be going on, it was time to invent a bit
of history, closely based on the real Star Trek history (Cookman
= Cochrane, etc.). More drawing was involved here, but it was
fun to do, especially the montage. Say, he looks familiar... |
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Episode
118. Smock's target is identified, while Solo is reminded
of a movie. Yes, I went there. The most important figure in the
history of space exploration is none other than... me! Well, who
else could it be? I had fun making the initial cartoon version
of myself and then ageing it. |
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Episode
119. The crew wait for a bus. Relatively little drawing here,
the episode relying instead on the dialogue. I like to think of
it as a commentary on the state of today's public services...
rather than a knob joke. |
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Episode
120. The crew explore town. Obtaining photographic material
for this episode was a relatively painless procedure; there aren't
that many people around at half past eight in the morning. I wanted
to do a 'non-automatic doors' gag for a while, but could never
seem to fit it in. Well, here it is. Meh. |
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Episode
121. Kenny asks around the pub. Continuity splice! The pub
depicted in the previous episode is not the same one as this interior.
Nor are they even remotely taken at the same time or anywhere
near. Thanks to Mr. Allen for the poses. |
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Episode
122. The crew finally meet Zachary Cookman. In order to get
full-frame shots, these photographs had to be taken on the other
side of the road. Many thanks to the wonderful and patient Miss
Parker for the steady hand employed in these shots. Sadly lacking
are my acting skills. |
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Episode
123. Cookman recaps the story so far. A swift introduction
to the character and the perfect chance to recap on my convoluted
and very weird storyline... just in case anyone was lost. Still
with us at the back?! Good, good! Moving on, then! |
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Episode
124. The crew suggest leaving immediately. One of the challenges
of mixing drawn characters with real people is getting the sizes
right. The proportions are totally different (cartoons have bigger
heads) so it's tough to get them to not look like giants. Cutting
and layering in Photoshop helps the overall illusion here. |
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Episode
125. The crew get into Cookman's car and Checkout makes himself
at home. The illusion of characters within the car is quite solid
and I'm pleased at least one of the frames looks decent. Unfortunately
the last frames don't look so good as the photos came out poorly
defined due to the lighting conditions. |
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Episode
126. Cookman is taken to a safe location. More fun with mixing
photographic imagery wtih drawings here. I've started to give
the drawn characters a slight blue tint as it better matches the
naturally blue-ish colour of the photographs. My first and only
hand-written captain's log occupies the first frame. |
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Episode
127. The crew prepare to beam up to the ship. Inevitably,
the red shirt (or pink shirt, in this case) has to cop it. I thought
it was funny to have everything instinctively turn around to face
him at the same time. Decent blending of drawn characters here;
just little things like adding the shadows make a difference. |
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Episode
128. The Eggsandfries is in safe hands. I hadn't considered
who would still remain onboard during this adventure! Back to
drawn environments now, as it will remain for the rest of the
story. It's a bit weird getting back into the normal procedure
after all those photo backgrounds. |
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Episode
129. The transporter chief beams up 'Kenny'. I like this episode,
even though it's not a funny one. Misdirection, camera tricks
and a surprise cliff-hanger! Annoyingly, I stuffed up a bit of
background continuity (the door position and which pad was being
used), but it still fun to do all the perspective stuff and blurring. |
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Episode
130. Cookman requests a uniform. It's a fair bit easier to
do the photo stuff when the background is being put in afterwards.
Oh, I thought the idea of mocking my own drawing/writing skills
in an episode featuring me was too good an opportunity to pass
up, so there you go. |
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Episode
131. Smock reveals himself at last. Not much to add here,
but it's interesting to point out that, due to these photos being
taken so long apart, I'm not actually wearing the same clothes
I started in. They're close enough, though. Who's gonna know,
eh? Continuity, schmontinuity. |
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Episode
132. Cookman is captured... or is he? This episode required
a level of interaction unseen up to now. The challenge was getting
me in line with the drawing of Smock, when I'm much taller, without
it looking like I'm tiny... and then merging the next pictures
with shadows and masking and stuff. Fun, though. |
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Episode
133. Smock starts to explain his motives. I didn't want to
expalin the entire situation in one episode, as it would be too
much to take in. The big reveal needs its own space, and that's
coming right up. In the meantime, there's plenty of time to slag
off Checkout for being stupid... again. |
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Episode
134. Smock reveals his true identity. It seems Burke had simply
assumed that Smock was from a certain side of the family... presumably
because he'd seen Star Trek V and gone along with the same idea!
If you already realised (or didn't care), I guess this is a bit
wasted on you. More explanations to follow. |
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Episode
135. Speck explains the family history a bit better. Considering
this was supposed to be a story centered around Speck, he's not
had much direct involvement. So, here's his mother. Well, he did
say she had a beard, remember? |
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Episode
136. The story is explained in full. I know I've made a convoluted
mess of this story, so these are the basics laid out in full.
Obviously, Checkout still doesn't understand, but I don't blame
him. On another note, I was getting a bit bored with drawing the
same group of characters over and over. Moving on, then... |
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Episode
137. Speck contacts his mother. I felt I needed to draw the
story to an end with more of Speck and his mother, so I came up
with this little filler. I had to work around the setup that they
were in a parallel dimension with a quick explanation. The fuzzy
image was a neat effect. |
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Episode
138. The Eggsandfries' special guest doesn't want to leave.
Well, with a 'holo-chamber' on board, would you? The first frame
was originally going to be a blank log screen, but I thought one
last look at the big 'E' was appropriate before the story came
to an end. The last frame was... interest to make. |
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Episode
139. Cookman finds a suitable job aboard the ship. So, there
you have it. My character's not going anywhere, and his talents
are being exploited to their fullest! Some simply drawing going
on with the captain's box-like table, but... meh. |
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Episode
140. The Eggsandfries goes back to the future! That's it,
the third Start Wreck story is over, and ends with an homage to
my favourite non-Star Trek film. This was fun to do; hopefully
it's fun to read as well. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures. |
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