‘‘It’s not about whether they are real or not. It’s the perception of what they might represent that is dangerous. And in this instance, knowledge is power, and lack of knowledge is impotence.’’

- John Blake, Section Head of ND15.

 ‘d3lf's Prodigal Son - stage of development’


d3lf's Prodigal Son is currently in pre-production for simultaneous release as both a webcomic and a series of web-broadcasts. [ updates ]

 ‘evolution of a script’
The development of d3lf's Prodigal Son started in 2001, with the treatment for a short drama series, tentatively entitled 'FlipSide'. This was to be a 45 minute regular program, dealing with a first contact scenario, all seen entirely from a single first person perspective, rather than from a regular storytelling perspective, which is edited from several viewpoints. The 45 minute program was to be followed by a short 10 minute program, showing the same episode, but told entirely from the aliens' perspective, often confused and unable to communicate. There was to be no dialogue in the section, but was used to demonstrate that the same scenario can be viewed and recollected differently from the participants involved. At no time, is any one fully informed of all events. Even the audience, having seen both programs, is left unclear as to the real events, although they are more aware of the difficulties of third-hand reporting and inaccuracies.
The problem with this approach, was the storyline didnt translate well into a script for the second program, without narration. It works well as a comic, with direction, or on paper, but without a narrator, it was difficult to convey. Adding a narrator negated the whole point, as you were then reliant on the narrator as a third person to explain 'their version' of what was happening. The concept was parked as a treatment.

 ‘prodigal son’
The ideas explored in Flipside were then applied to a further treatment, this time to be tried initially as a comicbook. The perspective was to be entirely from a group of misfit intelligence analysts who were thrown together in a new unit, as political pawns, with unclear direction and training, whilst the real manuovering was done behind the scenes. The unit has to first cope with the poor management and office politics before they realise the bigger picture of what may come. At this point, they suddenly realise that the implications of failing at their task may affect global politics, society and even threatens man's understanding of its own identity.
Within this overly darker storyline are human stories of love, betrayal, failure, heroism and blind loyalty. Everyday issues such as racism, nationalism, religion, and preconception are suddenly spun on their head and dealt with from perspectives you may not have considered. Parallels are drawn in all contemporary areas of debate by keeping the audience off-balance, information deprived and hopefully, open minded. [ discuss ]

 ‘discussion forum’
Please visit regularly to keep up to date with progress on the comic's release date, or pre-production work on the web-broadcast (to be streamed as mpeg4, or downloadable as DRM-protected mpeg4). If you'd like to discuss any of the issues raised by d3lf's Prodigal Son, input on future script ideas/storyline threads, or post your own character sketches or concept art, please visit the Prodigal Son development forum at [ d3lf.net forums ].