Suggestions for audio play plots

[Malte279]

As I suggested in the original thread there is perhaps the possibility to use a translated script of the audio plays which so far appeared only in Germany as a basis for the project. I am aware that this may be an unpopular suggestion as many of us have fanfiction and would certainly like those to be turned into an audio play. Still I think that a translation of those audio plays might be a more realistic approach before we try to create a longer and more complex story. In practicing with these plays we might also gain valuable experience for possible later projects.
While often the plots sound kind of lame and could be summarized in very few sentences the makers of those plays did a very good job in making up realistic dialogues and elaborating the story.
There are six of those audio plays each of which is about 25 minutes long. I will try to give a very short summary of each:

The Great Adventure
Frustrated with their parents' overprotective attitude Littlefoot and the others set out to climb the highest mountain at the edge of the Great Valley. They suspect it to be the highest point in the world and Littlefoot believes that there is probably a way to the mysterious beyond. During their ascend Cera almost falls into a deep abbys and at a "bubbling source" Ducky is the one to get in trouble (being trapped in a bubble the way Cera was in LBT 6). When at last they reach the summit their gazing over the landscape is interrupted by the growling of an approaching sharptooth. Only by squeezing through some very narrow crevices (which later makes them realize that there are occasional advantages in still being little) they manage to escape and return to the Great Valley.
(Requires speakers for the Gang and Littlefoot's Grandparents)

Cera in Peril
The Gang's plan to to spend the night among the tall trees is shattered by their parents' prohibiting them from doing so. Angrily Cera decides to do it anyway and runs off "forcing" all of the others to follow her (among other through a thorny shrub). Not paying attention to where she is going Cera ends up running right into a patch of sinking sand. The others try to save her (with a vine which tears, with a branch that breaks, and by building a "chain" which doesn't work out either as Ducky doesn't manage to keep hold of Cera's horn). There is a lot of funny dialogue (e.g. Cera's reaction upon overhearing Littlefoot whisper to Petrie that he should distract Cera so she won't be to afraid), but it really looks like Cera is lost, when in the very last moment Littlefoot's grandpa comes to the rescue.
(Requires speakers for the Gang and Littlefoot's Grandpa)

A strange egg
While trying to build a "secret hideout" of rocks and stuff the Gang finds an egg. They decide to hatch it. During the night they all dream what might be in the egg. Petrie's dream (which in the end turns out to come true) has a "baby Petrie" in the egg. Littlefoot's dream puts a flower with arms and legs into the egg and one that is not just able to walk but also to bite. The flower proves to be quite dangerous, especially to Ducky, but in the end it turns out that the flower is aggressive out of solitude which is cured when at last they find a patch of identical flowers.
Ducky's dream has the egg filled with a carterpillar (or several which might have crawled away already) and she finds the remaining egg shell to be quite a comfortable "Ducky cave".
Spike is mentioned to sound like he didn't dream anything or if it "certainly had to do with eating".
Cera's story is cut short to a line saying that she dreamed an entirely new and unknown dinosaur (and thus an interesting playmate) is in the egg.
As mentioned above the next day reveals that Petrie's dream hit the mark.
(Requires the main characters and some sounds for that flower and the baby Petrie)

The mysterious cave
While playing (chasing butterflys) the gang looses track in the Great Valley and end up in a somewhat creepy forest. Trying to find the way back home they stumble across a cave which increases their uneasiness especially when they hear a strange voice. The voice (after very cautious exploring) turns out to belong to a dinosaur who from the description seems to be a Plesiosaurus. He turns out to be friendly though and helps them to return to their home in the Great Valley which had been the Plesiosauruses destination as there is supposed to be a "wonderful waterhole" in the Great Valley.
(Requires the gang and that Plesiosaurus)

The other two plays are titled "Together we can do it" and "Far too much skywater". I will write summaries of those later if there is any general interest in working with these plays at all.

[Explorer]

Its best we try something that was already done than trying immediatly something possibly difficult. You said these were already existing plots, right? (sorry for repeting what you said just to show I agree with it... <_< )

For plot, I guess the best idea(s) would be the Great Adventure and the Mysterious Cave.

[Vaan360]

i think its a great ideia to start from here, we can gain some some experience here as voice actting, and we will probably find the 5 persons that will represent the gang in the original ideia.

[lbt/cty_lover]

I believe that the best idea would be to do something similar to what happened in the first movie.

Here is an idea from me.

The gang is living happily in the Great Valley, and all of a sudden, the trees become sick. Not only do the trees become sick, but the water becomes tainted. Soon, the valley becomes mostly inhospitable. Realizing that there is no way that anyone could live in the valley anymore, the herds in the valley decide to leave their once beautiful home once and for all. They leave the Great Valley, only to be attacked by a group of sharpteeth. In the midst of the attack, Cera's father becomes grievously wounded. He tells Tria to take care of Cera and Tricia, in a somewhat emotional death scene that vaguely resembles the one in the first movie. On top of that, the rest of the parents are separated from their children. The only hope for anyone to survive is to make it to another sanctuary before the sharpteeth attack again. Both groups encounter other herds saying that there was another valley a little ways off, but the path would be treacherous. Each herd encounters obstacle after obstacle, but their work pays off, and they arrive at this beautiful valley. The children arrive first, and then the parents arrive shortly after, just as the kids were wishing for their parents.

-----

I wanted to make this somewhat of a replacement for the 14th movie in the series, but I wanted it to also be like the original.

[Explorer]

That's a great idea for a plot, but that would be somewhat long. We should start by something short, not too complex nor too simple, to gain some experience on it.
Nonetheless, its a great idea.

[Mumbling]

What explorer said.

[lbt/cty_lover]

This just gave me a spark of idea. Instead of one huge audio play that follows my script, just break it into parts of the plot. Like what the original Doctor Who episodes were like. There were groups of episodes revolving around a single plot.

[Explorer]

You mean like a... whats it called... a novel... you name it, right?
That would be a good idea. And a good thing for practice, too. Not too complex nor too long, the right properties...

Its a good idea.

[lbt/cty_lover]

I think that there should be a plot screening process.

Part One
The first part of the screening process is to submit a plot in this topic. The plot will be reviewed by a group of peers, and then passed by an examination board. If the plot passes the inspection, then the script for the plot can be written. If it fails the inspection, no script will be written until it is approved. The plot must be fairly detailed on what happens. Not as detailed as the script, but it must give a semi-detailed overview of what will happen in the play.

Part Two
The second part of the screening process is the script development stage. During this step, the script will be written and worked on until it the group that worked on said script think that the script is ready for inspection. Again, the script will go through an examination board, but the board will be much more rigorous than the first board. If the script passes, it will be put on the list of scripts to be made into an audio play. This will be reserved for the best of the best, though. If the script is rejected, then the script can be worked on again.

-----

I figured that since we aren't making movies, it won't be as hard to make these audio plays. Therefore, multiple audio plays could be made.

[Explorer]

So, you suggest the creation of many departments, from inspection to acceptation, right?

It would make things easier, actually.

The plot being rejected would sound like 25th April (National holyday).

[lbt/cty_lover]

That is true. We must appoint two inspection groups! One for a plot, and one for a script.

[Kor]

Doing a movie may be what most would like to do but that should be far off.  First we'd have to practice, then I'd suggest short scenes to get practice  with voice acting, using software, equipment ect.  Then when everyone seems ready move on to doing tv episode length stuff.  When eventually everyone feels ready to move to movies I like the idea of instead of a full movie at once doing it in shorter chunks, either like the old cliffhanger serials,  that had a certain number of chapters per story (and the classic dr who follows this) or doing it by scenes.  If you look at a tv episode or movie one can break it down into scenes, so maybe we can focus on doing scene by scene instead of a whole 25 minute episode and continue that into the movie, or break the movie into sections.  Maybe even an episode into sections or scenes too.  

For plot ideas we can use some present and past rp threads here that are pure lbt, though some may be unfinished it would give at least a good idea of the part of the story covered so far.  Maybe also some pure lbt fanfiction here, if it fits the movie length and not a 15 chapter serial like many of the serials of the 1940's and earlier serials were.  

One plot idea for an eventual movie, though the gang would not be in it, is to maybe the combined herds and the adventures they had maybe before or around the time they combined into a combined herd and the adventures they had in getting to the great valley.  We've only seen a retcon flashback seen in the 7th movie and not the rest of it.    Though the gang are not in it it could be an opportunity to voice not just the adult fc's but some others like Hpy and his cronies as well as Petrie and Ducky's families also.

[lbt/cty_lover]

That sounds good. While I was trying to write my plot, I was not only trying to make it like the original LBT movie, but trying to draw the central focus away from Littlefoot.

Some of the RPs could give inpiration to plots, but it would be best if poeple tried to make their own plots.

[Malte279]

I have translated about the first five minutes of the audio play "The Great Adventure" which I think would be an interesting play to try with (Cera in peril would be interesting too, but I think that one is tricky because of the many distressed sounding exchanges and some shrieks (not quite as easy to record those with others nearby as it would be to record a song )). We have of course not settled for anything yet, but this might give some idea of what a script for an audio play might look like. I translated it as closely as possible to the original audio play though some of the Ducky / Petrie talk may sound a bit untypical in which case I'm grateful for any suggestions to improve it. By the way, that scene with the caterpillar Harry could be cut (sparing us the need of one more speaker) in our version of the play unless we find it funny enough to keep it. As it doesn't really get on the story:

Backgroundsounds of nature (chirring of  crickets etc.)
Littlefoot: May I now go to play grandma?
Grandma: Sure you may Littlefoot, but promise not to go to far.
Grandpa: And when the bright circle touches the ground you must be back home with us.
Littlefoot (sighs and sounds a bit  frustrated): Grandpa, I’m no tiny little longneck anymore. I’m big and can look after myself.
Grandma: Perhaps so Littlefoot, but we are worrying about you if you go so far…
Littlefoot (interrupting): Gee, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike are with me all the time. What could possibly happen?
Grandpa: You could accidentally end up in the Mysterious Beyond.
Grandma: Or fall into a ravine.
Grandpa: Or…
Littlefoot (interrupting): No, we’ll look after ourselves. Don’t worry! See you!
(Littlefoot leaves Grandma and Grandpa sigh)
Grandma: These kids!

Narrator: Littlefoot set off to his friends Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike. Who were already waiting for him. He was a bit angry with his grandparents for they still seemed to put everything past him. All the time they were warning him not to go to far and to come back home before the bright circle touched the ground… no, this was really too much of a good thing. Littlefoot spotted his friends who were romping about in a pile of treestars.

(Sound of laughter and romping about of Petrie, Ducky, Cera, and Spike)
Littlefoot: Hey, there you are! Cooee, here I am!
Cera: What took you so long?
Ducky: Yes, we were waiting for you. Waiting we were! Yep, yep, yep.
Petrie (sounding frolicsome): Me no wait! Me played with treestars!
Spike sounds playful.
Littlefoot (sighs frustrated): I meant to be here a long time ago, but my grandparents had more warnings for me than there are treestars upon a tree! It’s terrible! I really want to have a really great adventure, for I’m big enough for his!
Cera: Oh yes, I’d just love to chase a Sharptooth! Just a bit.
Littlefoot (sounding dismissive): Oh, that’s for little kids! … Shall I tell you a secret?
Everyone else: Yes!
Spike sounds affirmative.
Littlefoot: I think I know a way that leads into the Mysterious Beyond.
Everyon: What?
Spike sounds suprised.
Littlefoot: Exactly! It is probably on the other side of the big stony mountain.
Petrie (sounding scared): We no may go there!
Ducky (sounding affirmative): We may not! No, no, no!
Cera (sounding defiantly): Pshaw! Who says we may not? (sounding boastful) I am Cera, a threehorn! And a threehorn won’t be barred by anyone!
Petrie (sounding self-conscious): And I am Petrie a err… a flyer! And Petrie scared of the Mysterious Beyond! You say something Ducky?
Ducky: I do not know! No, no, no! I really do not know, really do not! What do you think Spike?
Spike gives a rather unintelligable sound.
Littlefoot: You heard it! Spike is in favor of it! And besides you really don’t need to fear, for you are under the protection of a longneck!
Cera (making a dismissive sound): Well I think… hey look there! A small green stick crawling over the ground!
Petrie (giving a surprised sound): Me never see something like that! Funny is it!
Ducky (laughing): Look, it contracts and then becomes long and flat again again, long and flat!
Cera: Who are you?
Harry: I’m Harry, a caterpillar and if you step on me with your big feet I’ll pay you back!
Cera: What?
Harry: And if your hungry friend here means to eat me he is in for a nasty surprise!
Littlefoot: But Spike would never eat you, Harry.
Harry: Oh no? And why is he smacking all the time? Huh?
Littlefoot: Well, because he is hungry all the time. If Spike had it his way he would never do anything but eating and sleeping.
Harry: Exactly! That’s what he looks like! No thank you, I better take cover again!
…
Ducky (sounding a bit flabbergasted and disappointed): Now he is gone. Gone he is!
Petrie (still sounding quite amused): Funny animal that!
Cera: So what about our great real adventure? If we keep standing around here the bright circle will soon touch the ground and darknees will fall over the Valley.
Littlefoot: Right. Then we can’t have an adventure anymore; for one doesn’t see a thing. Alright then, follow me! On to a new adventure!
Cera and Ducky cheer in agreement.
Petrie: Well me no know…

[f-22 "raptor" ace]

How about making a fan fic into and audio play? You can make mine into one but i still need to edit the other chapters and write the final chapters.

[Malte279]

Thank you F-22, but if it comes to turning a fanfiction into a script I suppose it would be best if the authors themselves do this unless a reader of the fanfiction is very eager to do this. After all it is quite a lot of work to do that. Would you turn your fanfiction into a script?

[f-22 "raptor" ace]

Thank you F-22, but if it comes to turning a fanfiction into a script I suppose it would be best if the authors themselves do this unless a reader of the fanfiction is very eager to do this. After all it is quite a lot of work to do that. Would you turn your fanfiction into a script?

Yes I would. But since it's not completly done yet you can do another idea for now until I've completled my fanfic.

[Mumbling]

Heh.. Thanks to the translated version I finally know it was a caterpillar

I think the rest of the story is good too. We could do this for a try out, just to see if everything works.

[Kor]

Once folks are ready to tackle a 25? minute episode, before there will be practice and such I would assume, and picking who'll be in what part, and stuff like that.  Maybe adjusting since there are so many female parts and only 1 female, unless others can use software to do alter their voice to do those, as well as sounding like a kid, ect.   The German audio is a good start after that we can see where things go.  Another source, as I mentioned, is some of the pure rp threads of the past and present (and future ones that may be started) well as fan fiction, and making up our own story.  Though I do hope the future stuf,  remains as pure lbt as possible.

[Vaan360]

Well when its all set and ready to start the recording, the ones that are participating in the recording, should meet at msn or other program to get it over with.