"THE
STRANGE VOYAGES OF JULES VERNE"
A
PROPOSAL FOR A TELEVISION SERIES
BY
GAVIN SCOTT
Everyone knows Jules Verne as the eminent
nineteenth century French author who invented science fiction and wrote such
classics as "Around the World in 80 Days", "20,000 Leagues Under
the Sea" and "Journey to the Centre of the Earth".
But
until now the assumption has always been that these were simply works of fiction
dreamt up in Verne's book-lined study.
"The
Strange Voyages of Jules Verne", however, will reveal that as a young man
Jules Verne's life was much more adventurous than anyone has previously realised.
In
each of these television movies Jules himself will be the protagonist - together
with the American gambler Phileas Fogg (whom he later fictionalised as the
globe-trotting Englishman of "Around the World in 80 Days") and Fogg's
accident-prone, language-mangling manservant, Passepartout.
Each
movie will be the "true story" of one of Verne's sixty five novels -
what REALLY happened in "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", or
"The Mysterious Island" or "From the Earth to the Moon."
Jules
Verne himself - impetuous, enthusiastic, warm-hearted - will be the connecting
link: a kind of nineteenth century Indiana Jones who (together with Fogg and
Passepartout) finds himself involved in all the great adventures of his era -
from the American Civil War to the search for the source of the Nile.
Each
story will feature one of the wonderful machines Verne invented: Captain Nemo's
"Nautilus", Robur's bat-like flying ship or Ardan's giant
interplanetary gun - and reveal either how they changed the course of history or
how only Verne's ingenuity and heroism prevented them from doing so.
Verne's
voyages will bring him into contact with some of the great personalities of the
nineteenth century, real and fictional - like Mark Twain, Wyatt Earp, Thomas
Edison, Alexander Dumas, Napoleon III, Otto von Bismarck, H.G.Wells, and Arthur
Conan Doyle as he himself was discovering Sherlock Holmes.
"The Strange Voyages of Jules Verne" will be a colourful, unpredictable trip through the century during which our own era was born: and a fresh look at some of the most imaginative science fiction stories ever written.
"THE STRANGE VOYAGES OF JULES VERNE" STORY OUTLINES
1.
JULES VERNE AND THE RING OF FIRE.
We
meet Jules Verne as a struggling author living in an attic in Bohemian Paris.
When one of his fellow artists is murdered while translating an ancient text
Verne is driven to discover why - and finds himself the target of a mysterious
secret society known as the Ring of Fire.
As
the assassins hunt Verne along the fog-shrouded banks of the Seine only the
intervention of a top-hatted American gambler named Phileas Fogg saves him -
with the assistance of his manservant Passepartout. When the same assasins
murder the dealer from whom Fogg was about to buy a painting by the 17th century
artist Nicholas Poussin - Verne and the American join forces to find out what's
going on.
In
doing so they come up against the beautiful but deadly Duchess de Rochefouald
and her equally enchanting young niece Aurora - with whom Verne falls hopelessly
in love.
The
trail leads them south - in a balloon invented by Verne's friend Michael Nadar -
to the sun-baked village of Rennes Le Chateau, and a mystery dating back to
Solomon's Temple and the Fall of Rome.
Which
in turn is linked to a terrifying flying ship - and the outcome of the American
Civil War.
The
finale takes place as Verne, Fogg and Passepartout do battle with the Duchess
and the Ring of Fire conspirators high above the Atlantic - and Jules discovers
not only the answer to the mystery, but his own destiny as a writer.
2.
NEMO AND ME.
This
is the adventure during which Jules, Fogg and Passepartout meet the real-life
prototype of the character Verne made famous as Captain Nemo - and journey with
him and his captivating daughter Laura on the original of the submarine we know
today as "The Nautilus".
Nemo
is a Polish nobleman who has invented the machine to wreak revenge on the
Russian oppressors of his homeland -but when Laura is kidnapped by the agents of
Otto von Bismarck, Nemo finds himself being forced to build a fleet of the new
war machines to create an even worse tyranny by furthering the Prussian's dreams
of dominating Europe.
In
a gripping climax in a collapsing submarine on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean
Verne, Fogg, Passepartout and Laura have to work out how to prevent the
emergence of a form of warfare for which mankind is not yet ready.
3.
THE LAND IRONCLAD
Jules
Verne and Phileas Fogg, caught in a storm during the world's first
trans-Atlantic balloon crossing, land in the middle of beseiged city during the
American Civil War.
Jules
attempts to break the siege with the assistance of a young telegraph operator
named Thomas Edison. Together they build "The Land Ironclad" - a
primitive steam-driven tank -and against all the odds succeed in smashing
through the enemy lines and saving the city.
But now Jules, Fogg and Passepartout are pursued by
a Southern General implacably determined to obtain the tank for the Confederate
cause and turn the course of the war.
As
Verne flees westward in the Ironclad, deeper into the wilderness, he realises he
has created a monster too dangerous to remain in existence.
And
when they reach the Mississippi with their enemy close behind it seems the only
course is to destroy both themselves and their terrible invention by plunging
suicidally into the waters of the great river ...
4.
NEMO OF THE MISSISSIPPI
In
a sequel to "The Land Ironclad" Jules and his friends escape from the
Mississippi mud, are swept downriver on a raft with a runaway slave and rescued
from a lynching party by a Mississippi gambling boat piloted by a would be
author named Mark Twain.
But
when the ship is captured by the Confederate navy only one thing can save them:
the hitherto unrecorded intervention of a submarine in the Mississippi campaign.
A
submarine belonging to Verne's old friend, Captain Nemo
5.
JULES VERNE - GUNFIGHTER
Verne's
adventures in the West continue as he and Fogg leave the Civil War and head for
the frontier in search of lost Aztec treasure - only to find themselves hunted
down by a renegade cavalry unit determined to get the loot for themselves.
A
situation which prompts Verne and Fogg to build the world's first robot
gunfighter: and sets the stage for the strangest shoot-out the Old West ever
saw.
6.
FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON
Jules
Verne, Phileas Fogg and Passepartout are travelling by train across the Ural
mountains in Russia when they're ambushed by Cossacks, draged out of their
carriage, bundled them onto horses and forced to gallop off into the snowy
wastes.
They're
taken to the country estates of Count Vladimir Kulkov, a reactionary
aristocratic inventor who, determined to stop Tsar Alexander's reforms, has
developed a giant gun with which he intends to bombard Moscow.
Where
did such a bizarre idea arise? As he surveys the Count's plans, Jules
understands all too clearly. He himself concieved of the giant gun and gave all
the specifications for it in his novel "From the Earth to the Moon" -
never dreaming that anyone would have the resources to actually implement his
plan.
But
the Count (well provided with serfs to use as slave labour and vast estates in
which to create the monstrous artillery piece) has done just that. And having
hit certain problems just as news came through of Verne's journey across Russia,
decided to insist that he helps him.
His
lever: the fate of his serfs. If Verne doesn't assist in the perfection of the
giant gun the count will drive them off the land and send them out into Russia
as homeless wanderers.
But
if Verne DOES help him, reform in Russia will grind to a halt and the entire
nation will remain mired in the middle ages.
With
the assistance of the Count's beautiful cousin Natasha, Verne and Fogg succeed
in protecting the Count's serfs AND saving Moscow by a scheme of unrivalled
ingenuity.
A
scheme which allows Jules to put his theories of space-travel to the test: with
the reactionary aristocrat as the first, unwitting astronaut ...
7.
THE TIME MACHINE - PART ONE.
Verne,
now well established as an author, meets the struggling young H.G. Wells and
inspires him to create the Time Machine which until then has just been a dream
in Wells' mind. The machine takes Verne, Wells and Phileas Fogg back to Jules'
own days as a struggling Parisian playwrite when one of the few people who
believed in him was Alexander Dumas.
Together
Dumas, Wells and Verne's team time-jump back into the 17th century, where Dumas
finds the inspiration for his classic novel "The Three Musketeers" -
and they're threatened with destruction by none other than Cardinal Richelieu
himself.
8.
THE TIME MACHINE - PART TWO.
Verne
and his friends, Wells, Dumas and the Three Musketeers attempt to return to the
nineteenth century - and overshoot. When the machine finally stops they find
themselves in a French chateau shortly before the D Day landings.
A
French chateau occupied by the Germans ...
In
extricating themselves from this predicament Verne and his friends unwittingly
play a crucial role in ensuring the the Allied Invasion of Europe succeeds.
9.
JOURNEY TO THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD.
Phileas
Fogg has persuaded Jules Verne to accompany him in an attempt to win a wager
that he'll become the first man to reach the South Pole.
But
halfway through the journey they're caught in a massive Antarctic storm, and as
the blizzard rages around them it looks as if there's no chance they'll escape
alive.
Until Passepartout falls down a crevasse
and in rescuing him they discover a series of bizarre tunnels under the ice.
Tunnels which have clearly been cut by some object capable of generating immense
heat. Tunnels which lead them to the Pole itself.
Beneath
which, in an environment reminiscent of the interior of Nemo's
"Nautilus", they find Jean Jacques Robur - one of France's most
brilliant scientists.
Robur
has discovered - without fully understanding it - the fissile property of
uranium, and used it to BURN his way to the centre of the Southern continent.
Now
he intends to employ this same technology to melt the entire ice-cap and create
a great new domain for France.
In
vain do Verne and Fogg try to persuade him of the catastrophic consequences of
such an experiment - of the possibility not just of massive flooding around the
world as sea-levels rise- but that the earth might begin to wobble so violently
on its axis that it begins to disintegrate.
But
Robur is determined to go ahead with his scheme - and only a desperate battle
beneath the ice can save the planet.
10.
VOYAGE TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH.
Verne
and Fogg are examining newly discovered cave paintings by pre-historic man in
caves in southern France when they come across a clue which leads them to
believe our ancestors explored much deeper beneath the surface of the planet
than anyone had previously realised.
Mounting
an expedition, they set off into a labyrinth of tunnels leading, it seems,
directly to the centre of the earth.
And
discover, in the course of their journey, what REALLY happened to Neanderthal
man ...