This article, Holiday for the Heroes, was created by Mr. Garrison.
| Holiday for the Heroes | |
| Series: | Time Fractures |
| Series Number: | 1.8 |
| Main Characters | Drauss Cratus |
| Enemy: | Giant Insects and Giant Crabs |
| Setting: | Brimhaven, Fifth Age year 184 |
| Writer: | Mr. Garrison |
| Previous Story: | A Master Ally |
| Following Story: | Castle Revenants |
"Holiday for the Heroes" is the 8th episode of the 1st season of Time Fractures.
The episode is the first to be written by Mr. Garrison, and features a number of dangerous insects and crustaceans rampaging through an anomaly to Brimhaven — and wreck havoc with the locals.
Plot[]
The episode begins in Brimhaven where a local pirate stumbles out of the local bar, drunk and unaware of his surroundings. As he stumbles along the sandy beach a strange glow, that of an anomaly appears. The man looks bewildered, and chucks the bottle in his hand at it, but as he does so a large orange pincer points out and grabs the bottle in mid-air and snaps it with its claws. The man tries to turn back and leave but the claw extends through the anomaly further — grabbing the man by the throat...
CUT TO title sequence.
We then find ourselves in the Gielinor Defender Group Base in Port Sarim, where Cratus is relaxing back in his chair, about to get some well earn rest when -
"Cratey! Guess what!" Drauss exclaims as he bursts into the room.
"What is it? You're too happy for it to be an anomaly, so let Cratus think, Asgarnia has cut its taxes for the rebuilding of Rimmington after that uproar we had last year?" Cratus asks.
"No, no, no, we're going on holiday!"
"And leaving all this work behind?"
"Well you're hardly working, don't think I didn't see you relaxing in that chair. And the holiday is work-related, so there."
"Cratus should've known, so, what is it?"
"I'll start with a positive point, we're going to sunny Brimhaven."
"And the negative?"
"We're dealing with poisonous and armed beasts."
Cratus' face drops upon hearing this, but Drauss is still grinning at the irony of the situation.
"Well, clearly no rest for the wicked," Cratus notes, slightly irritated, "when do we depart?"
"As soon as La'ab gets back from their work up at Edgeville, they're still tidying up after that damned river troll showed up," Drauss replied.
"So today Cratus presumes?"
"Oh yes."
"Well then, we'd better get packing."
We cut to Karamja and observe the tropical paradise from above. Smoke shoots out of the volcano, frightening off a flock of birds, and we zoom into Brimhaven, and then into the Brimhaven Agility Arena.
We hear a strange noise, like a flash of something above the Arena's entrance. It attracts the attention of Pirate Jackie the Fruit who looks upwards in the direction of it.
"Now what be's that up there?" she wonders to herself, stepping outside.
She wanders out and looks at the roof, where an anomaly has flared into existence. She puts her hand over her eyebrows to try and shield her eyes from the blinding light.
"What powerful magic is this then?" she asks herself, "I think I'll keep myself indoors."
Jackie heads back in the Arena's entrance and firmly closes the door, and then tiptoes quietly across the room where wood shavings are appearing on the floor, as if something is cutting through the wooden roof.
"What on Gielinor is this here?" she asks herself as she looks upwards.
Where there is a tiny hole in the roof now, she sees light being fractured through, the same blinding light of the anomaly. It points down to the floor brightly, like a powerful glowing beam. Jackie continues to observe it closely, curious and nervous at the same time.
SLASH! A large green pointed leg appears and slashes through the roof creating a bigger gap.
"Saradomin save me!" Jackie shrieks as she heads for the door.
BANG! A plank of wood from the roof collapses downwards obstructing the door. Jackie, her face pale with fear, backs against the wall in fear as a second spindly leg appears and cuts a large hole in the roof.
Jackie winces and then closes her eyes as the wood falls through leaving a large hole, and then — nothing.
"Thank goodness-"
A terrifying face appears through the hole as a large green spider shows its hideous face, fangs clattering away and drooling a repulsive venom. Its large black eyes open and close, all out of sequence, each staring directly at Jackie who screams!
We then observe the Agility Arena externally, and we see Drauss, Cratus and La'ab walking through the town's gate. We see Drauss' face drop as he sees the spider on the roof...
From a distance it appears as a Jungle Spider, but bigger and poisonous.
"Look at the size of it!" La'ab exclaims.
They then hear the screams of Jackie inside, so Drauss whips out a firecracker from his pocket and charges towards the Arena, throwing the firecracker at the beast — knocking it off of the roof and exploding behind the bar.
We cut to Jackie who observes the puddles of venom in the middle of the room, with the anomaly still glowing but fainter now through the hole in the roof.
Then the door begins to rattle, and Jackie turns to look, but the planks of wood are obstructing it. Then it is kicked open, and behind the wreckage stands Drauss.
"What's happened in here?" he asks, surprised.
"Thank you! Thank you! That thing was going to kill me!" Jackie exclaims as she dashes over to Drauss, hugging him.
"Calm down, you're a pirate, shouldn't you lot be able to fight back?"
"Everyone else has fled or disappeared! As soon as they found the corpse of that poor fella this morning they were scared out of their wits! Sailed on their boats quick as anything!"
Cratus and La'ab enter now, clearing away some of the wreckage.
"Who are you lot?" Jackie asks.
"Gielinor Defender Group," Drauss replies, as La'ab snaps a plank of wood in half with his hands.
"Well you're doing a fine job-"
"Careful!"
Jackie stops dead in her tracks as she stands next to the pool of venom.
"We don't know how strong that stuff is!" Drauss snaps.
"Let me examine it," La'ab says.
"Won't he get infected by it?" Jackie asks.
"His skin is impenetrable, not one drop will get through into his system unless he starts eating it, and I doubt he will," Drauss replies.
La'ab takes a vial from his pocket and begins to take a sample of the liquid. It is thoroughly concentrated, with solids visible within it.
"This isn't just liquid," La'ab states.
"Let Cratus take a look," Cratus says, observing the vial.
"There are things inside it, can you see it?"
"Yes, yes, Cratus can see. It would seem that the venom is formed from broken down solids, and these ones aren't dissolved properly."
La'ab then takes out a small device from his pocket, it is the size of a calculator but is chunkier than one. He fiddles with the buttons and points it at the vial, and a faint whirring can be heard as the device analyses the contents of the vial.
"What's that thingy?" Jackie asks.
"That 'thingy' is a matter scanner, it studies the formation of particles and, oh, nevermind Jackie, you'd never understand," Drauss says.
Jackie turns to Drauss and slaps him around the face.
"Do I look braindead to you? You Gielinor Defenders League or whatever you be's called might have saved my life, but you've no right to speak to me like that!" Jackie snaps angrily.
"Fine," Drauss replies as he rubs his sore face.
"Jackie, I hate to tell you this, but these tiny lumps in the vial are human remains," La'ab states.
"Shut up, you're joking right?" she replies nervously.
"No we're not. How did you say that corpse was found this morning?" Cratus asks.
"I didn't. It was absolutely butchered."
"Mutilated?"
"Yeah, I'd say so."
Cratus turns grimly to Drauss, who looks straight back at him with exactly the same expression. Jackie faces both of them, somewhat confused.
"What is it? What am I missing?" Jackie asks.
"These creatures are feeding on human flesh and turning the remains into their own deadly bite," Drauss says.
"You mean, that puddle, that used to be someone?"
"Exactly. And by the looks of it that spider bit off more than it could chew, that's why there's all this excess venom everywhere. Those creatures must be very hungry."
"Hungry for human flesh?"
"Now they've got a taste for it, they're not going to give up."
"Cratus takes it we're spending the night here then?" Cratus asks.
"Oh yes," Drauss replies.
We cut to an external view of Brimhaven, it is night now. The anomaly on the roof, it has almost faded now, and as we continue to observe it flashes out of existence.
Then an anomaly flashes up near the bar, glowing brightly.
Drauss, Cratus and La'ab are staying in the bar for the night, trying to stay awake, completely armed with firecrackers.
Across the room — Jackie is sitting with Cap'n Izzy No-Beard.
"Long day?" Izzy asks.
"Definitely. I feels cursed I tell you! But then again," Jackie begins.
"Then again what?"
"You've had worse. You had all that trouble with Wanda's death and then all this happening, I didn't know you be's friends with him. I can't believe that the ol' fate would draw you to find his body in that way this morn'; us pirates be heavily frowned upon even by the Gods!"
"Well at least I wasn't face-to-fangs with some ravenous beasty today! That's enough to scare you away from the tropics for life!"
"I keep's strong, to do my heritage proud. T'was not enough today for me to retire my pirate lineage."
"Tell Me Jacks, I never asked, who are them lot? The ones you said come from the Land of White Knights."
"I don't know, they won't tell me."
"All this be's happ'ning and we launch ourselves upon them with our full trust, I mean, why won't they tell us who they are."
We cut to Drauss on the other side of the room, he's been listening to the whole conversation.
"If we tell you who we are, your lives will be in danger," Drauss snaps.
"I'd say our lives are in as much danger as they could possibly be now!" Jackie replies.
"Alright then, you've pestered me about it all day, so fine, we'll tell you-"
"Drauss, Cratus hates to break up the chit-chat but we've got company!" Cratus interrupts.
"What is it?"
"Remember that anomaly activity we picked up earlier? Well something is coming through, actually, multiple things, the scanner's going crazy! There's a swarm!"
"A swarm of what?" Jackie asks.
"Bugs," Drauss replies grimly as he points his ear up at the air — and the buzz of insects can be heard.
The buzz gets louder and louder, we view Cratus' scanner, it's going crazy! The tiny red dots signifying life forms keep multiplying, showing tens upon hundreds of creatures.
"Drauss, shut the doors and windows NOW!" La'ab orders.
Drauss kicks the door shut he is standing next to while Jackie begins to shut the windows, one-by-one.
"What're you doing man? Give me a hand!" Jackie yells at Izzy who jumps into action, closing the windows.
Out of the window we see a swarm of mosquitoes, all heading straight for the bar. There's only one window left to shut, but Izzy is stunned and has not closed the window.
"Look at them," Izzy whispers, horrified.
"Close that window!" Drauss yells as he dashes over.
Izzy grabs the window and tries to force it shut with all his strength, but it is stuck on a latch.
"It's stuck!" Izzy states, and as the swarm advances he stands well out of the way as Drauss is faced by the oncoming attack.
"Arm yourselves!" Drauss orders as the large mosquitoes fly through the window like darts, and then use their sharp proboscises.
The mosquitoes are almost identical to a mosquito swarm, except each individual is half the size of a standard sword.
Drauss, Cratus, La'ab, Jackie and Izzy duck down on to the floor and get back to their feet, armed with planks and even bar glasses.
"The firecrackers should not be used in a confined space," Drauss notes, tossing them aside.
Uncharacteristically, the mosquitoes come to a standstill, and we view them as being separate individuals at an armlength apart. They stop in mid-air, and only the horrible sound of their paper-thin wings fluttering can be heard, which create a draught as they flap due to their size.
"What're they doing?" Cratus asks.
"I don't know-" Drauss is cut off.
The mosquitoes dive down immediately! It only takes a second before they're pointing straight at the group.
SLAM! Cratus smacks one dead with a careful hit by a plank of wood.
Izzy and Jackie fend off the creatures with their bar glasses which begin to shatter as they do so, showering the two of them with glass, cutting Izzy severely.
Drauss observes his plank of wood with a proboscis sticking out of it.
"I could make some money on the Exchange with this!" Drauss exclaims, his voice barely audible under the flutters of the creatures.
The creatures are slashed at time after time, but Cratus is knocked to the floor from a stool he is standing on by one who dives at him.
"Cratus hit!" Cratus exclaims as he falls over.
Jackie manages to duck underneath the swarm, and weaves through them in the direction of the window where they are all coming through.
"C'mon," Jackie groans at the tight window, but with a triumphant click it shuts!
"Thank Saradomin for that!" Izzy exclaims as the swarm dive at the window, only to be hit by the pane of glass.
Few in number, the swarm come to a standstill again, and everyone but La'ab gets to the floor.
"Get down lad, you'll be killed!" Izzy orders.
"He's fine," Drauss states, as he hurries to Cratus, tending to his injuries.
"Cratus is cut, but overall he is fine," Cratus states, showing his injured leg.
"Come on you blood-sucking pests! I'm waiting!" La'ab yells.
"He's insane, insane I tells you!" Izzy snaps.
"Free snack right here!"
And now we see the mosquitoes starting to twitch, their hideous bodies beginning to move and point directly downwards — facing La'ab. Izzy panics but is too worried to do anything to help La'ab, so ducks down under an overturned table, shielding his face in fear.
The mosquitoes then form into a v-shape and dive straight down towards La'ab, who keeps looking at them, not closing his eyes for one second.
As they make impact with La'ab they shatter their proboscises and exo-skeletons, then falling to the ground, all dead.
"What the Hell are you?" Izzy asks, looking straight at La'ab.
"Something special," La'ab replies, with a grin.
"There's loads of these bugs on the floor," Drauss grumbles, crushing one with his foot.
The exoskeleton is split open and a thin trickle of human blood trickles out.
"Nice, blood from a host of theirs Cratus takes it?" Cratus asks.
"There's more of them out there," Jackie notes.
Drauss heads to the window, raises his fist in an aggressive nature at the insects, but his view shifts to that of a glowing shape behind the swarm — he sees the anomaly.
"I have a plan," Drauss states, "but we all need to join in for it to work."
"What does it involve?" Izzy asks, getting to his feet and brushing a dead mosquito off of him.
"You see that glowing light over there?"
"That white thing? Yes, I see it."
"Well, we need to lure those things into it."
"No, no, no, I'm not going out there with those things on the loose."
"Well all of us are going out there to deal with those pests, we'd hate to leave you in here, especially when a large green spider could tear off this roof and turn you into its own venom."
Drauss produces the vial of venom as evidence, and then puts a deceased mosquito on a splintered table. He then pours some of the liquid on to the mosquito which quickly causes It to shrivel up and dissolve — leaving only a puddle of steaming venom.
Izzy winces as he watches the process.
"Fine, I'll come with you," Izzy moans.
"No time like the present," Drauss states as he prepares to open the door of the bar.
"You don't really trust him, do you Jacks?" Izzy asks.
"He's the man with the plan, and anything's better than dying in here — with a coward like you," Jackie replies coldly.
The group head towards the door, with Izzy being extremely careful to avoid the venom.
The group reluctantly exit the bar as we watch from an external point of view, and head in the direction of the anomaly.
The swarm stop in mid-air again, having given up on launching themselves into the bar's windows killing themselves, and then turn to face the group.
"We need to lure them to the anomaly," Drauss says through gritted teeth, "we have to time this perfectly."
They begin to trudge along the sandy coast in the direction of the anomaly which stands out clearly in the night air. A small breeze has picked up around the anomaly as well, and the mosquitoes are like husks — blowing in the breeze, only their wings flapping slightly. We fix upon this eerie view for several moments, and the protagonists are clearly unnerved by it.
Then the familiar twitching of the creatures begins, just as we saw happening earlier. The twitching turns into a buzzing sound, and then —
The creatures begin to dart down, immediately, like bullets!
"Run!" Drauss yells as the group trudge through the sand, not able to gain much speed.
We observe the group as they dash in front of the anomaly and dive down, at the last second, and the creatures become transfixed by the glowing light and shoot through it — and they're gone.
"That's the thing about mosquitoes, they're attracted to light," Drauss notes.
"What's that thing then," Jackie asks, gesturing pointing at the anomaly.
"Never mind."
"No, no, not never mind, me and Izzy here deserve some answers; proper answers."
"Fine then; that's a portal to another world, another time."
"Why don't we take a look through it?"
"We don't know what's on the other side, it could be anything," La'ab interrupts.
"What do you care? You're like a rock crab!" Izzy exclaims, staring at him cautiously.
"Drauss, however much Cratus hates to say it, going through it may be our only option. These creatures are coming and coming, and we need to see what we're dealing with," Cratus states.
"Easy Cratus, they're from a future, these bugs, from some chaotic sixth or seventh age, when Karamja becomes infested by giant creatures."
"Well we don't know for sure, so Cratus believes we need to fully understand what is going on, we need to analyse the time zone as well as the creatures."
"Well how stable is it?"
La'ab pulls out a small device from his pocket, fiddles with it, then points it at the anomaly.
"The reading says the anomaly is relatively stable," La'ab says.
"What if we're attacked by these things on the other side of it?" Izzy asks.
"Drauss, I know why you're not taking us two pirates through," Jackie interrupts.
Drauss doesn't reply, he knows that she knows why.
"You don't trust regular folk like me and Izzy here, we're just regular idiot pirates to someone like you. Believe me, I can cope, and I ain't going to go blabbering on about beasts from the future and such to any old nobody coming in the Arena for a go on the monkey bars now am I?" Jackie asks.
"You've seen plenty already, I'll give you that," Drauss states.
"Then let us look!"
"I don't want to see what's through there! Don't be putting words in my mouth!" Izzy exclaims.
"You don't have to come No-Beard, but I fancy a bit of adventure; us pirates these days have forgotten the meaning of 'adventure'," Jackie replies.
"Fine, but this is a one-off, and if anything happens, on your own heads be it," Drauss says.
And they step into the glow which begins to envelope them — and they're gone.
A large landscape — Karamja, but it's like the Khazari Jungle at Musa Point! Clearly not the 5th Age, and we pan around, gaining a good view of it.
We dart down into the trees until we come face-to-face with a glowing anomaly, and out of it come Drauss, Cratus, La'ab, Jackie and Izzy.
"Certainly dense," La'ab notes.
"I was right, this is the future," Drauss says as he gains his bearings, "it's got that Karamja feel to it though, and the ground here is quite high so I'd say...this must be Musa Point!"
Cratus hurries ahead, and as we follow him through the undergrowth, the top of the volcano comes into view minus the entrance to the entrance to Karamja Dungeon, and there are no imps, only monkeys swinging through the trees, and a few lone mosquitoes.
"This is the volcano," Cratus says, "lava's cleared away."
"Well, I had noticed that we weren't up to our knees in lava thanks," Drauss replies.
"Drauss, remember you said this was the future?" Jackie asks.
"Yes," he replies.
"Well then what's all this?"
Below, we see Musa Point being constructed out of wood, very basic buildings standing. Palm trees are being cleared away, and a make-shift pier is clearly visible, with people scurrying about on it carrying raw materials.
"Well, maybe it's a reconstruction project," Drauss states, trying to assert himself.
"I think they'll be the judge of that," Jackie states, hurrying down to one of the builders.
An overweight, middle-aged man carrying a saw and hammer is building what is in the place of the bar. He has a darkening complexion, partially sunburned. He drops a pile of what look like oak planks on the floor and goes to collect some more.
Jackie hurries over to him, standing in his way.
"Out of the way," the builder grunts.
"So this be's a new settlement?" Jackie asks.
"Well of course, me and my team were sent by the Asgarnian Monarchy themselves, to expand the Kingdom!"
"Right, and nothing has been built here before?"
"You've had one too many bottles of that Magical Mind Bang thing haven't you? You really think anyone else has been here before?"
"Thank you, I just needed to be knowing."
Jackie hurries off.
"Hold on, wait up missy! Sounds like a pirate to me! They're trouble! And who the heck did she get here?" the builder asks himself.
Cut to Jackie who is journeying back up the volcano, we can just about glimpse the builder at the foot of it.
"I'd say this is the Fourth Age," Jackie says.
"You mean, our homes were once being trampled over by monsters?" Izzy asks, unnerved.
"For goodness sake, you call yourself a pirate?!" Drauss asks angrily.
"Yes, actually, I do."
"You're not a man, you're weak, if you were in the old militaries you'd be rounded up with all the other cowards and death blasted!"
"I'll bet I be's more of a man than you, relying on your precious firecrackers and technology, when was the last time you held a sword in your hand?"
"And when was the last time you used yours?"
"I've fought off hundreds of intruders in my time, barehanded on some of the occasions!"
"I've fought off Souls of the Damned|armies of the undead and served in the Court of a King!"
"Cratus hates to intrude, but look!" Cratus exclaims.
The water at the foot of the volcano is rippling, and then it begins to split apart as a large, orange shape emerges; a large crab.
The anomaly is flickering, becoming visibly weaker every second, and unfortunately the crab is heading in the direction of it.
"We have to get back! I'm no expert but that there thing looks like 'tis going to be closing up!" Jackie exclaims.
"I think you're right there," La'ab notes, and he makes his way in the direction of the creature.
"La'ab you idiot!" Drauss calls.
"I'm luring it away!"
As La'ab approaches the crab, it turns to face him, clicks its pincers a few times and then stops dead; looking at him.
SLAM! The beast flicks him away into a nearby tree. A coconut falls on to his head and La'ab is knocked unconscious in a comical fashion.
"Cratus suggests we help La'ab!" Cratus exclaims.
"Quit being so bloody obvious!" Drauss snaps back.
Jackie and Izzy are left standing at the top of the volcano, concerned and unsure of what to do.
Izzy looks at Drauss' rucksack which he has left — a firecracker is clearly sticking out.
"I can do this!" Izzy exclaims, grabbing the firecracker.
"What in the name of Saradomin are you doing?" Jackie screeches.
Too late, Izzy throws the firecracker as far as he can, causing it to land in the space that would eventually be occupied by Brimhaven and explode — frightening the crab through the anomaly as well.
"They always said Brimhaven had weird flat ground," Izzy notes, realizing what he had done — setting up Brimhaven's existence.
"You idiot!" Jackie says, hitting Izzy in the face, knocking him down the hill.
Drauss and Cratus heave La'ab in the direction of the anomaly, and gesture for Jackie and Izzy to do the same.
We cut to present day Brimhaven, and the crab leaps through the anomaly as a blast of smoke follows from the explosion.
The crab surveys its surroundings, a small coastal town, it recognizes the place as where it first arrived.
A flock of seagulls take off above it, and as they screech the crab becomes confused by all the separate noises, and builds up with rage. Making its way sideways at a furious pace across the town, it begins smashing through the wall to the Agility Arena entrance.
Bricks and mortar are flung past us, and smoke fills the surroundings as dust is released. The crab is very angry, and cannot determine what is and is not alive.
Then Drauss, Cratus, La'ab, Jackie and Izzy enter.
"Stay back, in fact, run!" Drauss exclaims.
The group hurry away, but Izzy turns to look back.
"You can't destroy the town!" he calls.
But Drauss isn't listening.
"You there! The big orange one!" Drauss yells.
The crab turns to face him, clearly confused.
"You know what you need to do?" Drauss asks, "RUN!"
Drauss dashes after the others, causing the crab to begin to pursue him. As Drauss clears the town gates he throws the firecrackers over his shoulder and dives to the floor as a deafening explosion rings out!
"You stupid big oath!" Izzy calls, his voice almost silenced by the sound of collapsing wood and rubble.
The landscape is unveiled as being ruined, nothing has remained.
"Izzy, you know what you need to do?" Drauss asks.
"What?" he replies.
"Shut it!"
Izzy suddenly closes his mouth, shocked.
"Well, now I have no excuse but to have a more adventuring life, this old town is heap of rubble now. Are you coming too Izzy? We can set sail for somewhere exciting! Like Oo'glog, or even the sphinx in the Desert!" Jackie exclaims excitedly.
All eyes are now on Izzy, and Jackie stares at him the most expectantly.
"No," Izzy replies.
And on that note he trudges away into the rubble as the anomaly flickers shut. Izzy is now on all-fours, seeming to be picking up the ruins with his bare hands.
"You never know Jackie, he might come round in the end," Drauss says.
"You don't know him, stubborn as Hell is he! He wouldn't even allow me to paint the walls of the Arena when I asked him!"
"Misery guts, well, he can stay in the dirt for all I care, he'll come crawling back in the end, they always do."
La'ab begins to regain consciousness.
"Nice to see you," Drauss says, looking down into La'ab's eyes.
"Coconut on the head," La'ab says, slightly concussed, speech slurred.
"Well, it looks like you're not as resilient as we first thought!"
Drauss pulls La'ab up to his feet. Then Drauss, Cratus, Jackie and La'ab begin to make their way in the direction of Musa Point, their voices now trailing off.
"I wonder if any of those creatures could possibly have survived until this here day," Jackie ponders.
"I doubt it, I mean, where would you fit one of those things now?" Drauss replies.
Suddenly, and eerily, we see the volcano itself beginning to move! The top half of it rises up to reveal — it is actually a large shell of a big brown beetle! The lava is also a swarm of fireflies which dissolve into the night sky as they disappear, an eerie spectacle, and nobody notices...
CUT TO end credits.
Characters[]
Production[]
Writing[]
"Holiday for the Heroes" was first written in January 2008, with the first draft of the script prepared in short-form.
In January 2009 — a year later, the second draft of the script was completed with an increased length and more complex plot. This time around it was also written in script format rather than the developed synopsis used on the first draft which lacked information for the production crew.
The ending of the episode was much disputed, with its negative conclusion to the episode's storyline of Jackie and Izzy's friendship being deemed to downbeat. It was, in the end, agreed that it was a satisfying conclusion as Jackie still managed to leave to travel the world, but without Izzy pulling her back and limiting her actions.
Influences[]
The RuneScape equivalents of this episode's enemies.
The episode was inspired mainly by the inhabitants of RuneScapes member city of Brimhaven on the tropical island of Karamja. It took these creatures and enhanced them so they were bigger and more dangerous, and were described as the powerful ancestors of creatures like Jungle Spiders and Mosquitoes who can be seen throughout the game.
Giant insects stemmed from various influences, and they have been in several works of fantasy and science fiction, and it's also notable that the creatures in the story are based on creatures described as being "giant" in game such as giant spiders.
The giant beetle and firefly swarm at the end of the episode is described as a "jop-draw moment" with what should include "very realistic special effects" so that it was believable that the volcano could actually be a living creature. The writer also commented that it was influenced by the fact that "Karamja Volcano just hasn't stopped that flow of lava for some time".
Filming[]
The Eden Project's tropical biome was used to recreate Fourth Age Karamja.
The jungle areas of the episode were partly shot in parts of the Eden Project in Cornwall, England which attracted much publicity as well as some criticism of the danger it posed to the vegetation inside. The "tropic biome" was used by the production team to recreate the setting of Fourth Age Karamja. A press release was given to explain the purpose of filming there, and to confirm to the general public that the building was in no danger.
- "The Eden Project have been fantastic letting us film there, and we want to confirm here and now that we are in no way going to pose a danger to the vegetation or the infrastructure, and all the creatures involved will be CGI, so there won't be any prosthetic beasts being hauled on to a delicate filming location, and anyway, if we did pose a threat [the Eden Project] wouldn't have let us film there, and we're letting them supervise all three days of filming. We also won't be leaving the designated pathways, we'll be editing them out in post-production using very careful FX."
- — Time Fractures production team
A set was used to recreate Brimhaven, as it would be needed anyway for the final shots where Brimhaven is destroyed in an explosion. The production team however did try to get permission to film in old towns and buildings across the United Kingdom, but it was soon realized that making a set for just one shot would be too expensive, and a model of a village would be unconvincing. Another factor was that a lot of the location budget for this episode had been spent on the Eden Project, and the location manager had to start working on finding locations to double up for other episodes.
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