Pitch Bible - Children's TV series

EP1: THREE?LEGS,?TWO HEADS?& ONE?BIG LIE!

CURRENTLY IN AUDIO AND COMIC BOOK FORMAT?(PITCHING FOR AN ANIMATED SERIES)

Quick Synopsis

During a three-legged race at school, arch enemies Poppy and Kevin are teleported aboard a pirate spaceship. Mistaken for a rare two-headed creature, now they'll have to lie together... whilst tied together.

Mentored by the creator/writer?Bob The Builder/Thundercats, Chris Trengrove.

Industry Reviews

Ben boyer?–?Sky comedy commissioner?"Very fun - a little Pratchett, a little Adams, a little Lemony Snicket, but totally its own thing - well done. (I mean all of those references, by the way... spiritual cousins - your story is?totally?original!)”

BAFTA Rocliffe?“The extract shows the writer take on a high-concept idea to create a funny, dynamic sci-fi comedy. This is a well written entry which shows a writer with a?clear vision and a strong sense of humour”.

Phil Parker (Consultant, Wallace and Gromit)?“The production value and approach?are great”.

Chris Trengrove?“The voices are nice, and the SFX are excellent”.Noel Fielding for?kids. It’s terrific.

Marc Blake (Sitcom consultant and Author)?“Love it! Great production value. Poppy’s a strong character. Fab.”

Synopsis

This galactic adventure begins when space pirates Antares and Nash attempt to catch the rarest creatures in the Universe in order to gain access to The Marmalade Nebula - a place where all your dreams come true.

Meanwhile on Earth, rebel Poppy can’t believe her bad luck when her head teacher?insists she is accompanied everywhere by school nerd Kevin in an attempt to improve her grades and attitude.

Antares and Nash believe their first “successful” capture to be the lesser-spotted ‘Prime-?Dill’ (a two-headed, three-legged creature), which in fact turns out to be the aforementioned Poppy and Kevin, competing in a three-legged race at school.

Fraudster Nash, who unbeknownst to Antares is only out for his own gain, helps Poppy and Kevin to lie about being a rare creature to help him get to the Marmalade Nebula quicker. In doing so, he saves them from a deadly plunge into the depths of space.

The luckless duo soon bite off more than they can chew when they attempt to capture an extraordinarily angry space dragon, who turns the tables on the hunters and chases the ship and its unlikely crew as they stumble from one disaster to the next.

The quest for the other 51 rare creatures they need to enter The Marmalade Nebula continues through space, on planets and shipwrecks across galaxies. To track, find and capture each creature, Poppy and Kevin must go against all of their basic instincts and work together, using Poppy’s wit and bravery and Kevin’s book smart intelligence, along with his ability to run fast. They learn that sitting at a desk isn’t the only way to revise for?your exams.

After a lot of near misses, a few escaped creatures and a space customs hold up, they finally reach the Marmalade Nebula Zoo. And what do they find? That they already had everything they were looking for aboard the ship the whole time; the fortune of friends, power, bravery and intelligence.. and now they can go home.

Poppy uses all of her new found knowledge and passes her exams and Kevin who?struggled with creative writing, hands in Poppy’s report book which gets him his A*.

Format

Each episode will be introduced by KEVIN’S log which is his daily report on Poppy as?requested back on Earth by the head teacher. This is a recap of the previous events, which will be followed by a vlog recorded by Poppy in response.

Each episode will follow the story of the space pirates trying to find and capture the 52 rare creatures, in the hope of trading them into the zoo to gain access to the Marmalade Nebula.

Poppy and Kevin have to pretend to be a Prime-Dill to avoid being chucked back into space; whilst Lucky has to consistently prove his worth to be on the ship after Antares takes an immediate dislike to him.

They try, and more than often fail, but always take the life lessons learnt along the way.?Their collection of rare creatures grows... but often, thanks to Nash, they aren’t the?actual rare ones from the list.

?A modern comedy sci-fi twist on The Wizard of Oz. Each character has their own drive to go to The Marmalade Nebula; whether it be power, fortune or just to go home, like Kevin.

Similar shows

Futurama - Red Dwarf - Pokemon - The Wizard of Oz - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The Animals of Farthing Wood - Guardians of the Galaxy

The Ethos

The ethos?of the series is to show how people are different and that’s OK. People learn?differently, look differently, act differently but we all have good, bad and mostly funny?moments in us, and that’s what makes us unique.

The benefit to the audience is to learn with the characters along their journey. Poppy will unknowingly be studying for her exams by knuckling down aboard the ship.

Kevin is writing ‘Poppy’s report book’ which will ultimately help him pass his creative?writing exam and give him the ability to use his imagination.

Surrounded by these new earthlings, Antares will learn about humanity and belonging.

Nash will discover the value of friendship is much greater than the value of wealth.. and Lucky will become more independent; like a cat!

Character Breakdowns

Character Name: POPPY (12 years old)

Always playing up to the teachers, Poppy is stuck at the bottom of the class... not that she would ever show she cares.

Poppy struggles to fit in and find a connection with her peers; consequently, her only friend is her hopelessly enthusiastic pet poodle Lucky. She might not have all the answers in the textbook, but Poppy is space smart, and her tenacity and courage often?save the ship and it’s crew from whichever black-hole they’ve flown (or reversed) into.

She is happy to play along with Nash’s game as?long as it keeps them safe and away?from Antares, who she hasn’t quite figured out yet. Poppy needs to stop trying to outsmart her teachers and realise she can’t reach the centre of the Universe until she accepts she’s not it!

Character Name: KEVIN (12 years old)

Kevin, a straight-laced teachers pet, is obsessed with being top of the class?–?he simply must collect as many school badges as possible to showcase for all to see on his jacket. Kevin may be book-smart back on Earth, but his accidental space adventure has left him in the dark!

His complete lack of common sense renders him in the most unusual position of having?to follow Poppy’s lead; the complete opposite of how they were on Earth. Which is quite?apt, seeing as the ship is traveling backward.

Although Poppy brings the bravado and the Braun, Kevin still tries to bring the brains,?and knows if he wants is to get home he’s going to have to try and step out of his?comfort zone, into the twilight zone. He takes great pleasure in writing a daily log about?Poppy’s behavior, a task he was asked to complete by the headteacher, and one he?takes very seriously.

Character Name: NASH

Nash, driven by the desire to be mindlessly rich and have wings to fly, is a desperate fraudster who uses the children to help him continue to lie to Antares on his journey to the Marmalade Nebula. He may be miniature, but he is full of bravado, and believes himself to be cunning and smart?–?even when he is exposed as otherwise. Obsessed with gold and greed, he has no idea where the rare creatures are but will do all he can to fool an unsuspecting Antares that he has all of the answers. Nash gets his sales pitch?from his history as a failing tour guide; the ship used to host the odd space tourist in it’s?heyday, but now this former business-parrot finds himself on the brink of bankruptcy.

Character Name: ANTARES

Antares is a grey gangly alien who wants to get to the Marmalade Nebula to find his power after being outcast by his species for not having any. He gives the impression to the group of being wise and worldly and is aged 13,600 gat years which does sound a lot, but is only equal to 11.5 earth years.. something of great amusement to Poppy and Kevin when they find out. Antares likes to believe he is a cut above the rest, and entertains the idiocy of Nash as he thinks he can help him to collect the 52 rare creatures. His desperation to reach Marmalade often skews his vision and leaves him believing all sorts of nonsense set up by Nash and the gang for their own gain. What Antares needs to realise is his powers will only work when he begins helping others instead of himself.

Episodes

1. Episode Title: From a three-legged race to Outer Space!

Now onboard the pirate spaceship, Poppy and Kevin have to pretend to be a rare creature to avoid walking the plank into outer space! A desperate escape is attempted by Lucky, Poppy’s pet poodle, but that ends with Lucky accidentally dumping all the?biscuits and flicking on the spaceship hazard lights.

Unbeknownst to the crew, this becomes bait for an extremely rare space dragon, that’s?not only extremely large but also extremely hungry! Now the crew have bigger fish to fry, they all have to forget their own mission and work together to escape the jaws of the dragon!

2. Episode Title: From science facts to science fiction!

Still tied together, Poppy and Kevin are free to roam the ship as a rare creature and it isn't long until they discover that their destination is The Marmalade Nebula Zoo and that Nash was hired by Antares to find the 52 of the rarest creatures in the Universe.

It so happens that one of the 52 rare creatures lives on the next planet they are passing, Planet Square, (AKA Planet Kevin).

Poppy and Kevin are left to catch the creature, the rare slippery DREE BAT, and with trigger happy Poppy and bookworm Kevin, together they discover that this time it’s?science that can help.

3. Episode Title: From Maths to a Maze-in-space!

A pit-stop by the ship to collect H20 leaves the crew in deep water when they all get lost in a maze. Kevin was smart enough to leave breadcrumbs along the way but he wasn't intelligent enough to anticipate Lucky eating the trail. Thankfully, Kevin has his old textbooks with him, and together they use maths to solve the puzzle and escape the maze in the nick of time.

4. Episode Title: From Music with Mr Granit to an encore on a singing planet!

5. Episode Title: From ICT to Rebma-7 City!?

6. Episode Title: Stuck between a rock called home & place called space.

KEVINS LOG!

We have been in space for 3 days now, and I have yet to find any intelligent lifeforms,?and I’m including the crew! I am continuing to keep a daily report book on Poppy but at?this rate I will run out of paper.

This is now the third report book, my first book was eaten by LUCKY, yes that’s correct,?a dog ate my homework..?I never thought I’d have to say that. The second book ended?up in the bin after Poppy told me that it would teleport straight to the head teacher.

“Pretending”, as in LYING about being the two-headed creature is becoming more difficult

daily. Poppy said it would be best if I didn't open my mouth and so I tried my best but got into difficulty when we all had to eat dinner together, I was starving. Even eating had?it’s problems, only being able use one hand and Poppy the same, it was very difficult to?cut anything.

P.S. Yesterday we went to a singing planet; everyone sings instead of talks. Poppy sang a song and it was so bad I blacked out. By the time I had woken up they had carried us onto the ship and actually gave Poppy the rare creature just to stop singing.

POPPY’S VLOG

SO yesterday we went to a singing planet, I totally wowed the audience with my singing so much that they gave me the rare creature as a token of their appreciation! They carried us onto the ship out of respect, it was amazing. Kevin must have liked the song so much he went into a sort of dream state, I think he was in awe of me, and probably jealous too.

Kevin gets more annoying every day, especially when he gets an itch on his nose but?he’s using his hand to drive the ship...?urgh.

I continue my search for Kevin’s report book on me, when I find it I’m going to turn all the ‘and’s’ into ‘burps’ and every time he mentions my name, I’ll just write ‘Feet’.

Oh yeah, it actually turns out Nash’s winking has been a huge coincidence and he?actually had something in his eye the whole time.