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Ambrosius (was The Seirios Mission) by written by Darren Seeley (DarrenJamesSeeley) - Short, Sci Fi - A space travelling couple and their robot travel to a remote planet of sand where the long term rewards outweigh the risks - pdf format
Interesting use of syringes, well done. That it turned out to be a last supper was a gut-punch. Chrome's indifference works perfectly for the ending, which I should have seen coming but didn't. The foreshadowing was there, it was just subtle. It's rewarding, forcing us to re-evaluate what transpired.
The writing is decent but a little clunky. I would have liked a little more character out of this, to make us feel for them at the end. Making the sacrifice to give their kids a good life goes a long way, it just would have been good to know something more about these two.
For two people who know they're going to die, they're really focused on the job. No hesitation, no death row final pleasures, nothing. Maybe they've come to terms with it already but it did make me wonder.
I could see this getting made. It would be a good short film. Well done.
I really liked this one - interesting, bleak, and creative use of the criteria.
There are a number of typos that stopped me at times, otherwise the writing is good imo. Also, there's that needless empty page tacked on at the end.
I think Chrome could be introduced more clearly: At first you simply call him "a robot", then mention his chrome exterior (without making clear it's also his name) and later you call him "Chrome Robot", before ultimately sticking with "Chrome". Not too confusing, but I found it unnecessary
I wish the human characters (or even Diana) had something more to them, though, since they don't really get a lot of background or personality. I REALLY liked Chrome, though. He is interesting and even kinda scary without saying a thing.
It was OK, not really my thing. If there are marks for using the criteria you would win hands down, I think you used them all. You did know you only had to use three?
A few spelling and Grammar errors and you also say they find a skeleton then it's a body.
I didn't get why Chrome didn't respond or help them, maybe that's just me having a blonde moment.
I really like your visuals (Chrome's design, the meal syringes, the simulated snow shower, etc.). The world building aspects are on point.
I recommend conveying the purpose of their mission through less expositional dialogue. Alren sums up their mission in a very obvious fashion ("The load we get from this planet will be used for Renewable fuels for the next century"). Subtlety would be beneficial here. I also recommend creating more suspense as Alren and Bryanna try to collect materials before burning alive. It feels like they go outside, find Edvard's remains, then collapse. I want to be on the edge of my seat... wondering if they will make it back to the ship.
Easy read. Well imagined. Snow shower, creative use of syringes and well-described Chrome.
This would have been a great piece if both the characters have a bit of depth or background. Did they know in advance that they are going to die? Or they were unaware of their death and were hoping chrome to save them? Bit more information was needed to clear this.
- "Seirios" is an awkward sci-fi word that is too much like "serious." - And sorry to keep picking on dumb things, but "Chrome" is a web browser and that makes it an odd related-but-not-related choice for this script. - Adult woman fireman-carrying an adult man? Narrows the casting... - Love the snow shower. Great image. - Clunky exposition on 4. They're repeating info they both know. - They immediately found the dude? Is there a reason that they found themselves in the exact place he died? Big coincidence here. - A curiously un-dramatic way to present the first major obstacle to these characters. Chrome watches inside as they get into trouble. Is there a reason for this choice?
Thoughts:
- It's a fun story collapsing in on the big unanswered question: why? What did Chrome gain? Was this really the easiest way? Did our protags expect anything, and why did they walk into this if so? Without being able to at least guess at the answers to these questions, we don't really have stakes to relate to. - The pulp sci-fi aspects are well done with some really fun images and ideas.
I totally thought you misspelt serious in the title lol
Why would you want lasagna injected into your wrist?
Quoted Text
ALREN When the ship returns, we�ll be heroes. The load we get from this planet will be used for Renewable fuels for the next century.
BRYANNA Maybe more.
They are basically telling us this information, not each other (they both already know) - which is a sign of bad dialogue - you need to find a better way of getting this info across.
Alren and Bryanna didn't have much of a plan to combat the harsh environment of this planet - It didn't seem like anything went wrong (no malfunction, or becoming trapped) they just kind of stayed out there until they died... reminded of lemmings blindly walking off a cliff. More tension in their demise is needed - and a better explanation than them just being idiots.
Chrome's motivations - what's his deal? is he working for someone? for himself? has he become sentient? Why was he filming? I think this would have worked better if it was POV filmed footage from Chrome - he should also have killed them, to be honest - yeah he left them to die, but he should have had some hand in it.
Interesting Sci-fi but falls short - this is a good building block for something bigger and better though - just requires more thought.
Clunky writing (especially around the stalker Chrome robot) and unnatural sounding dialogue there entirely for the audiences benefit let this one down for me as I didn’t care for the characters nor understand their motivation. A creative idea though. I particularly liked the syringes.
I was completely lost at the end. Did Chrome murder them to steal the haul? Was Chrome a human hiding inside (as you mention it develops human features) or being operated by someone remotely? It just needs to be clearer where they are, why and what the outcome is at the end. And if you can get this across without resorting to telling us with the dialogue, it will be a wonderful short.
-Mark
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"The load we get from this planet will be used for Renewable fuels for the next century"
while some dialogue is awesome
"Keep going. We knew we were going to see this."
The ending is fine. Then the whole story felt unfocused yet. I think you already got the right vessel: astronauts searching for riches are betrayed, or say left alone for profits only, by their mission's commander and her spy robot on board… all that with a dune planet, snow shower - all of these are great characteristics.
The script unfortunately felt imprecise yet. There's no golden thread that guides us with clarity and focus, imo. You lost yourself into too many details I fear.
Still an ambitious and imaginative performance to work with.
Another science fiction script without any science. This spaceship has two AIs: the Robot and Diana, both of which are in control of the ship. How does this work? I can see where Chrome would be used to do the actual vacuuming on the planet, but the two dumb humans put themselves in harm’s way rather than the Robot.
The humans have to inject themselves every time they want a meal? These guys should be so full of holes there’s no way their blood can stay inside them.
The spaceship and space suits have no automatic temperature control? Every time they get hot, they have to tell Diana every time to turn on the cooling?
On page 1, a “window opens above them” so they can get a view of the nebula. I at first assumed this was a computer window, but now I’m not so sure.
On page 5, Chrome cranks open the hatch, letting sand and humidity into the cargo hold. What happened to the airlock? You know, to prevent the ship losing atmosphere whenever the crew goes outside?
The only redeeming feature in the story is when they let the dumb humans die. Instead of the silly story this is now, it could’ve become a true parody simply by having Chrome and Diana dissolve into a screaming match at the end as they fight over who’s in charge now.
Very creative with the use of the criteria, which is always a good thing. The story is well written and makes good use of formating. However, and it might just be me, I did not feel for the characters as much as I did in other scripts. Again, this also has some to do with interest but it is one of the most important things in a script. Getting readers to be interested in the characters. Other than that it is a very good script.