EarthBound: the Animated Series

Series Metadata

Creator:
Series Begun:
2023-02-24
Series Updated:
2023-05-09
Description:

The cult classic RPG is brought to life in a rich, dramatic new series! A normal American Eaglelandian boy's life is turned upside down when he learns he is one of only four children who can save the world from impending annihilation. Written as scripts for an animated series, this retelling infuses the original game's quirky humor with episodic stories that take time to endear us to each character.

This series was started on Starmen.net in 2018 as an excuse to practice writing. All of Part One is released on there now, but I'll be slowly uploading the series here as well.

Notes:

How to read script format
This series is written in script format! Scripts are weird, and if you don’t know what’s going on it can be a bit intimidating to start reading right away. Here’s a handy little guide that should help. Here's a tiny example scene, which we'll break down and explain:

INT. NESS'S HOUSE - DAY <-- Heading

NESS walks in through the front door, tossing it shut behind them. NESS'S MOM turns and smiles from the dining room.
KING, the old dog, slowly gets up to greet him. Ness bends down and scratches behind his ears.<-- Action

NESS
(mumbling)
Hi Mom, hi King. <--Dialogue

There's three main elements to this: the heading, action, and dialogue. The heading is used to quickly tell you where we are. INT. for interior, EXT. for exterior. They briefly describe the location, then the time of day or time relative to previous scene. The action of a script is always written in present tense. I think it's because ideally everything you read is happening around the same pace you read it at. The dialogue is about as intuitive. Name of a character in all caps, then their line. You can also add little things for specificity, like: (O.S.) for off-screen, (V.O.) for voiceover, and (CONT'D) is to continue the previous line. You can also add quick directions, like (whispering), (mumbling), or my favorite: (mouth full).

I've always played pretty fast and loose with the conventions, since I'm not writing for any production companies. I only use conventions when they help me tell the story I want to tell.

Stats:
Words:
12,571
Works:
5
Complete:
No

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