Twinkle Twinkle by Bill Sarre (Reef Dreamer) - Short, Comedy - Deep in space, the relationship between a geeky astronaut and his loyal computer, is sorely tested by the most deadly of foes - a power cut.  Producer Note; One Actor, One location. - pdf, format

Hey Bill,

This was an enjoyable little read you have here. Real quick and cleanly written.

Some of the joke were a little on the nose but several of them made me laugh too, so good job buddy.

Shawn.....><

Bill,

An entertaining read with solid writing. A little hit and miss on the one liners for me, but that’s subjective.

I like the twist in the computer being the one dependent on the human for company -- though I’d say the build-up to Petal’s ‘reboot’ felt a little too quick to develop the bond between these two. Perhaps a time lapse or other device to build on that could give Petal’s desperation at the end a bit more weight.

p.3. (Like a reluctant teenager) -- perhaps just ‘reluctant’ would be simpler.

The Martians/laundry line and Petal's closing line worked for me.

Nicely done.

Happy new year.

Steve.

Hey Shawn, Steve

Thanks for the read. Sorry I hadn't chimed in sooner, currently away with the kids with limited wifi.

As you can imagine it was an MP script. I wasn't going to post this but then thought, why not, it's just a bit of fun. Seemed to divide readers for some reason, either loved it or hated it, but that's comedy for you.

Have a good new year.

Hey Bill,

Always happy to check out your work and this one had it's moments but I have to admit that a lot of the one-liners fell flat with me.

That doesn't mean much though in the long run, how does the old saying go "Comedy is subjective" so others will love this.

I like the whole stuck in a pod scenario and think that Petal and Jim played off well against one another. Jim very much reminded me of Lister from Red Dwarf with the whole "getting chucked of the ship" for an irritable bowel. Maybe that was an influence here?

I can't think of a way to improve this unless you changed genre and went down the loneliness in space route and man having to connect with a machine or vice versa.

It's well-written and read very fast which is always nice - no complaints in that department from me.

Nice one.

Happy New Year.

Hey Bill,

This was a very neatly written short. As stated before me, some of the jokes didn't hit me as well as they might hit others, and I enjoyed the fact that it was Petal who sought acknowledgement from Jim as opposed to vice versa, which seems the obvious route upon reading the logline.

The only grammatical error that I could find was on page two, wherein "under estimate" is supposed to be one word.

Twinkle Twinkle was an easy read to get through, and I have little complaints considering that you seemed to have accomplished the light comedy you were going for. As is known, comedy is subjective, so while somebody might read this and be unable to respond from having drowned their keyboard in tears of laughter, none of the lines (save for possibly the one about increased laundry) particularly hit the mark for me. Again though, this was a greatly written piece that held my attention the entire time.

Hey Bill, I really liked this one.  The "humanness" of Petal wasn't really what I was expecting and it was a nice surprise.  Nicely written short little piece had me laugh once or twice.  Feel bad for that computer, ha.

Gage

Bill, I liked this.  It kind of reminded me of 'Moon' with the setting you laid out at the start but it soon became apparent that this was a bit less serious.

I thought some of the jokes were funny but I couldn't help thinking that the Petal, being a computer, would talk more unnatural.  I liked how it actually became quite sad at the end even when the humor remained.

A nice little story.

Hey Tendai, gage, Alffy, Steve

Thanks for checking this out.

I agree that with a little more time a few bits could be improved but I doubt I will revise it as it was just a simple little skit. Mind you, I seem to learn lessons every time I write and post, which just goes to remind me not to be slack - usually when it's too late!!

Cheers

Folks.

Hey Bill!

Great to see new pages from you.
And right around your birthday to boot!

LOL. Right off I dig the blanky and teddy.
Very Douglas Adams or Doctor Who of you.

Finished.
I like the overall back and forth.
The relationship does feel fairly Adamsesque.
I wasn't laughing through this.
But I certainly smiled through most of it.

I'd recommend reducing the gross out jokes.
Minimize the focus on the gag joke back and forthness of the piece.

Consider creating a "mini mission" for your characters.
THEN let those jokey quirks come out "under fire".
I think that philosophy will enhance your piece.

Hope this helps.
Keep writing and rewriting!

Regards,
E.D.

Hey Thanks Brett

I thought i would let this one drift off the portal as its just a bit of fun, nothing too serious, and then you pop it right back there!!

Thanks for the read.

It does have an Adam's feel to it - a quirky bunch drifting around space. I liked the idea of being able to use the computer as part buddy,  part butler, even part romantic interest - cant really get away with that in a normal character.

probably needs a few more pages to trun this into anything and to be honest i have different plans for 2013

cheers

A nice little tale you've got here, Bill.

I enjoyed it, some really subtle humour here.

One thing I'd like to mention is basically the talking heads. With two people, usually it isn't that bad. But here, it just doesn't feel natural to me. I just can't really imagine a computer screen with a camera on top, looking at a sleeping guy for 4 minutes. A little more action would benefit the script IMO.

Besides that, not bad.

Hi mo,

Hope you're keeping well. Nearly the month end for the movie poet comp, I think you entered, which always interesting to see what people made on that months effort.

Thanks for the read of twinkle, i almost missed it.

I agree that with once the bloke is asleep, the computer talking to the guy can't go on for too long. Maybe it's too much for some, but as written it is only just over two pages so maybe if filmed right it could work.

It's a funny thing comedy - no pun intended- but it really is a personal thing, some work, some dont, however, i like trying them as each time i write one I learn a bit more.

Cheers

This was a cute read, but I'm not sure where you were going with it, Reef.  If you were going anywhere at all.  I get the impression that you ended it when you ran out of jokes.

The premise is a good one and I laughed at some of the jokes (who doesn't laugh at I.B.S.?)  I think the script would work better, however, if Petal wasn't so human.  Make her more logical and less emotional.  She could be the perfect straight man.

Hope this helps.


Phil

Thanks Phil

As many may have guessed this was a movie poet entry. Theme - you have to have a power cut. I was trying to think of where this could be difficult and space seemed a good one.

Also five page limit so not much to play with.

At MP the reaction was polarised. 20% excellent but 27% fair (nearly bottom) so they liked or hated it.

I could have had petal as a little more computer like, but i thought it would be good  to have it start off all officious, like a butler, only to have the emotion pour out as the deadline approached.

I decided to post it here as

1] cheap and easy to film

2] whilst not my best, i feel that i learn each time exposed to feedback, so why not.

Thanks