Chandryk Ulysses Walrus is a human being in the far future, in a place far from Earth. He is insane and borderline sociopathic whilst lacking his full memory. He is cowardly and he is not always very intelligent, which makes him a flawed character. I could have done the same thing with Bob Sausage, human entrepreneur, and set things on Earth. It’d have been easier.
As a film maker I want a challenge and I have no excuses for the show I make. It’s a monstrosity which I film to look as close to a show from yesteryear as possible. I use flat static shots rather than motion camera, as I’d rather have a show that looks like it’s from the 80s. Then what I have to do is look at the world I am creating. I have to do this through sound and image.
Musically, I am a composer with over 150 films and short films under my belt, but I hate writing music for my own stuff. Having found a music site, I came across a weird shamanistic composer called Dan Pound and I started writing to his music, which I wanted to use in a film. Eventually I tried it with Chan Walrus and found it really worked. So I used it for my series instead. Dan Pound is a lovely guy and I recommend his music to anyone who wants a sound unlike anything they’ve ever heard.
Graphically my guy is Michael Hazelwood. Like me, he is pretty crazy, and he does my spaceship designs. He did a great job of the battle for my pilot and is currently having to redesign a few things for the series. He is creating some brilliant stuff and I love what he’s done so far. He’s helped make my series look like a high tech 80’s show which is really where I want to be.
My other artist is Sair Feather, who has done a few of my graphical backgrounds such as the Traitormass compound. She has been a long time friend and contributor to my awful projects and I love her dearly. She knows exactly the kind of sci fi madness I’m trying to create because like me she is a geek, we are a rare species, and should be conserved.
With these people building the universe and look of the series, and me constructing the awful sets out of cheap bits and bobs and other doodads, it comes to the cast who make the show what it is,
I play Chan Walrus, the antihero of the series, a man who is on the run from the government for reasons unbeknownst to the audience, but beknownst to me. Chan is pretty much the opposite of me for the most part, which is probably why he is so likeable, as I’ve got all the charisma of an out of date haggis.
My great friend Rikki Lovett, who used to be Rikki Hammond plays Christopher T. Mandrake. Mandrake is a reflection of Rikki, long suffering, putting up with my insatiable urge to make films no one wants to watch, and he has been in almost every project I have worked on, whether he wants to be in it or not. He is one of my best friends from school, and probably the only one I still have regular contact with,
Will Grantham plays the arch enemy of Chan Walrus, or he is supposed to but he is currently on the run from me until I manage to track him down with my army of goons and ‘persuade’ him to work for pizza. Will is incredibly short in stature and temper, being a Taurus, so I will have to arm them well. He is the creator of the Absorbaloff, a creature in Doctor Who and probably resents me because I now look like it in real life. This might be the reason he isn’t working with me at the moment.
The other new cast member to join me is Chris Gibbs. Chris is one of the few people I think that understands me. Not only is he a great friend, he is a greater human being and a greaterer father now too. He understands the stresses and horribleness of creating as he too is a creative, making music unlike anything any human has ever achieved.
Together we struggle to make the impossible. A silly sci fi comedy show. It’s filmed on sets less than 2 by 2 meters, which I usually set on fire, sometimes with my poor cast in them. I haven’t set my staff on fire yet, but one day I will manage it! Funnily enough it’s not too hard to build a passable sci fi set,. I use big panels I bought a few years back and draped tube lights over them. Only problem is that the tubes are inevitably dying out meaning soon I must get more.
Overall, the series is hard to make. I’m not good at organising people. I also get very stressed as I have lighting, sound, and all the other stuff to sort out. Science fiction is a nightmare to make, but to be honest I like the challenge. If I can do it, anyone can. I find scrap lying around on the pavement and I see bits and bobs in skips and I beg people to take their trash so I can use it. It’s hard, complicated and embarrassing to make the stuff I make. But I’m so glad I get to work with the amazing people who make my show what it is.
Just your average space adventurer turned blogger. Prematurely balding. Egad, no! Forsooth!
