The first problem with doing a Big O story is that none of it makes any sense. So much of the setting is unexplained
(including quite a few plot events), that the first obstacle to creating a decent plot is figuring out what the heck's going on, and making some sense of
it all. You pretty much have to write your own background to get any semblance of sense out of it. So I did.
Well, the basic idea of it came from the last episode of the series, where the so-called 'Big Venus' appears, erases the city, and is convinced to
restart the series. The ending scene is identical to the beginning of the first episode, except that Dorothy and Angel are both already with Roger. You may
have noticed that memories of the past, when they are shown, tell a jumbled, incomprehensible mess of a story, what with Roger being established as part of the
Military Police, an associate of Gordon Rosewater long ago (while looking exactly the same), and killed in Big O while
the Bigs were destroying the city. The flashes of the past were seemingly designed not to fit together, in an effort to make the series more of a Mind Screw.
My basic premise was that everything shown about the past is true, and that the way that Paradigm City got from being a fairly normal place to a patchwork
target of giant robot invasions was the same way the series ended- imperfect resets. People didn't lose their memories forty years ago- they lost them
sometime in the near future, and then got reset back to forty years ago in a temporal loop. Every time the city looped, things played out differently. Every
flashback, no matter how incomprehensible or incompatible with the others, is true, but they don't all happen in the same
continuity.
My premise had four versions of the world:
The original: similar to our own world up until some ecological disaster happened. This disaster created a steadily
expanding desert on the North American continent. This is when the giant dome that covers all of Paradigm was constructed- the metaDome, as I call it (to
distinguish it from the smaller domes inside the city). The first metaDome went up over New York, built by the Paradigm corporation, which created the
concept. Two other cities got their metaDomes up in time- DC, and Orlando, Florida.
Eventually, the metaDomes stop being enough to protect the cities, and the edges of the land underneath start turning to desert as well. Paradigm starts
building smaller domes over parts of the city, and also funds ways to potentially reverse the damage and restore everything. Eventually, they fix the problem
with the metaDome, and shift funding to the restoration projects. Megadei are originally developed as part of this repair effort.
After a few more years, one of the restoration projects- Project Venus- reports a breakthrough. They've figured out how to create a machine that can
rewrite reality, to the point where it essentially makes its user a god- thinking that they can retcon the desert back to productive land, and solve every
problem they have in one move. Construction begins immediately.
The other two cities pick up on what Paradigm is doing, and decide they need to stop it. After a few years of war production, they launch an attack on
Paradigm, breaching its metaDome, overwhelming its Megadei, and laying waste to the city. Project Venus, which was technically complete (but untested) was
rushed into activation.
First Reset: Paradigm City was thrown backward in time 40 years, to Original Year 0 (when the land inside the metaDome
first started turning to desert). Almost all of the people from the final days of Paradigm were restored to the new city. Many were *changed*, in one way or
another, from personality alteration, to new social status, to different skills than before. All these changes were relatively minor, like an increase in
aptitude in a skill that the person wasn't good at before (no Memory fragments, but slow, slight shifts). The city itself was recreated from
'snapshots' of its (original) past, across the last 40 years. Venus Unit, the focal point of the change, survived as it was in Year 40. The metaDome
is in its Year 23-ish state: perfect condition, and self-sustaining. The mini-Domes are all complete, as they were when the project finished. City buildings
come from all eras- many exist outside the Mini-Domes, and all are in varied states of repair. Ecological damage is as it was when the metaDome was made
self-sustaining.
The sudden, massive change in Paradigm caused the people of the other cities to become suspicious and paranoid, even more so than in the original timeline.
They all began research into useful combat machines- in this timeline, the Megadeus invention *led* to the Dome replacements in the other cities, instead of
the other time around. Preparations took almost forty years, conforming loosely, despite the changes in order and urgency, to the original invasion plans.
Most of Paradigm spent those decades adjusting to the changes in the City, and living normal lives. Paradigm soon rediscovered Venus Unit, and set its best
and brightest on it, including most of the show's cast. The leader of this team had recovered some knowledge of Venus, and had a plan to manipulate the
future. He worked with Roger Smith and the rest of the team, convincing them to believe in his plan (the timeline we know). The project leader knew the
invasion would come, and planned to use his influence over the new Project Venus team to radically alter the timeline when it was next reset.
The second invasion took place in much the same way as the first, with the armies of foreign Bigs breaking through Paradigm's Domes and wreaking havoc.
Big Venus manifested, and performed the same operations as before: neutralize invaders, dematerialize the City, and rebuild it (in the faulty way the original
reset used). As it did this, the leader of Project Venus, Gordon Rosewater, went before it, appealing to her to carry out the changes he had described, and
written in his book. She heard him, and forced Big Venus to change Paradigm as it rebuilt.
Second Reset (the series): History altered to make Gordon old, a former CEO of Paradigm, and a tomato farmer (putting
him in a place where he can play his part, and watch, unencumbered, to make sure his plans succeed). The city reset as usual, but, this time, the memories of
every person in the world (not just in Paradigm) were repressed by Venus. See the changes from First Reset, but far more pronounced (people spontaneously gain
new skills, 'remember' blueprints, changed in mind and status). Similar to these changes were a series of skills, recollections, blueprints, and other
mentality fragments, the 'Memories' (note capital) of the series, which Gordon had implanted into the minds of his proteges (each for a purpose- these
are the Memories that prove useful, like Beck's tech skills). Alex Rosewater, Gordon's son, became CEO. Three Bigs, one of each model, were preserved
in the city, as part of Gordon's plan. Each of the Venus team, groomed by Gordon for a specific role (tomato flashbacks are metaphors for this process-
hypnosis and Venus combined), became key players in the new order, including Roger Smith, Timothy Wayneright, Michael Seebach, and Angel.
Gordon's plan was a way to gradually shift events away from the activation of Venus Unit, and allow history to finally resume its normal course. His
'tomatoes', people who he groomed/retconned into fitting specific roles, would settle into various roles, changing according to their environments.
They would each undergo a series of tests, working against each other and Megadei created/relocated for the task. At the appropriate time, Gordon would lead
Angel, the 'Dominus of Big Venus', bact to Venus Unit. The remaining tomato(es) would then have a chance to change the cycle. Once they managed to
convince Big Venus to not do anything, to destroy itself, or to do something else that would break the cycle, reality could finally continue normally.
The Bigs, three Megadei (one of each city's model) of surpassing power, were added to Paradigm of the Second Reset as part of this plan. The use of a Big
brings out the essential qualities of its pilot. It also requires balance, a coming to terms with both the essential independence of human beings, and the
degree to which humans must both serve and rely upon others. Only partnership can allow a tomato to master a Big: those who give themselves up will be
consumed, while those who attempt to dominate their chariots will be destroyed.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
(including quite a few plot events), that the first obstacle to creating a decent plot is figuring out what the heck's going on, and making some sense of
it all. You pretty much have to write your own background to get any semblance of sense out of it. So I did.
Well, the basic idea of it came from the last episode of the series, where the so-called 'Big Venus' appears, erases the city, and is convinced to
restart the series. The ending scene is identical to the beginning of the first episode, except that Dorothy and Angel are both already with Roger. You may
have noticed that memories of the past, when they are shown, tell a jumbled, incomprehensible mess of a story, what with Roger being established as part of the
Military Police, an associate of Gordon Rosewater long ago (while looking exactly the same), and killed in Big O while
the Bigs were destroying the city. The flashes of the past were seemingly designed not to fit together, in an effort to make the series more of a Mind Screw.
My basic premise was that everything shown about the past is true, and that the way that Paradigm City got from being a fairly normal place to a patchwork
target of giant robot invasions was the same way the series ended- imperfect resets. People didn't lose their memories forty years ago- they lost them
sometime in the near future, and then got reset back to forty years ago in a temporal loop. Every time the city looped, things played out differently. Every
flashback, no matter how incomprehensible or incompatible with the others, is true, but they don't all happen in the same
continuity.
My premise had four versions of the world:
The original: similar to our own world up until some ecological disaster happened. This disaster created a steadily
expanding desert on the North American continent. This is when the giant dome that covers all of Paradigm was constructed- the metaDome, as I call it (to
distinguish it from the smaller domes inside the city). The first metaDome went up over New York, built by the Paradigm corporation, which created the
concept. Two other cities got their metaDomes up in time- DC, and Orlando, Florida.
Eventually, the metaDomes stop being enough to protect the cities, and the edges of the land underneath start turning to desert as well. Paradigm starts
building smaller domes over parts of the city, and also funds ways to potentially reverse the damage and restore everything. Eventually, they fix the problem
with the metaDome, and shift funding to the restoration projects. Megadei are originally developed as part of this repair effort.
After a few more years, one of the restoration projects- Project Venus- reports a breakthrough. They've figured out how to create a machine that can
rewrite reality, to the point where it essentially makes its user a god- thinking that they can retcon the desert back to productive land, and solve every
problem they have in one move. Construction begins immediately.
The other two cities pick up on what Paradigm is doing, and decide they need to stop it. After a few years of war production, they launch an attack on
Paradigm, breaching its metaDome, overwhelming its Megadei, and laying waste to the city. Project Venus, which was technically complete (but untested) was
rushed into activation.
First Reset: Paradigm City was thrown backward in time 40 years, to Original Year 0 (when the land inside the metaDome
first started turning to desert). Almost all of the people from the final days of Paradigm were restored to the new city. Many were *changed*, in one way or
another, from personality alteration, to new social status, to different skills than before. All these changes were relatively minor, like an increase in
aptitude in a skill that the person wasn't good at before (no Memory fragments, but slow, slight shifts). The city itself was recreated from
'snapshots' of its (original) past, across the last 40 years. Venus Unit, the focal point of the change, survived as it was in Year 40. The metaDome
is in its Year 23-ish state: perfect condition, and self-sustaining. The mini-Domes are all complete, as they were when the project finished. City buildings
come from all eras- many exist outside the Mini-Domes, and all are in varied states of repair. Ecological damage is as it was when the metaDome was made
self-sustaining.
The sudden, massive change in Paradigm caused the people of the other cities to become suspicious and paranoid, even more so than in the original timeline.
They all began research into useful combat machines- in this timeline, the Megadeus invention *led* to the Dome replacements in the other cities, instead of
the other time around. Preparations took almost forty years, conforming loosely, despite the changes in order and urgency, to the original invasion plans.
Most of Paradigm spent those decades adjusting to the changes in the City, and living normal lives. Paradigm soon rediscovered Venus Unit, and set its best
and brightest on it, including most of the show's cast. The leader of this team had recovered some knowledge of Venus, and had a plan to manipulate the
future. He worked with Roger Smith and the rest of the team, convincing them to believe in his plan (the timeline we know). The project leader knew the
invasion would come, and planned to use his influence over the new Project Venus team to radically alter the timeline when it was next reset.
The second invasion took place in much the same way as the first, with the armies of foreign Bigs breaking through Paradigm's Domes and wreaking havoc.
Big Venus manifested, and performed the same operations as before: neutralize invaders, dematerialize the City, and rebuild it (in the faulty way the original
reset used). As it did this, the leader of Project Venus, Gordon Rosewater, went before it, appealing to her to carry out the changes he had described, and
written in his book. She heard him, and forced Big Venus to change Paradigm as it rebuilt.
Second Reset (the series): History altered to make Gordon old, a former CEO of Paradigm, and a tomato farmer (putting
him in a place where he can play his part, and watch, unencumbered, to make sure his plans succeed). The city reset as usual, but, this time, the memories of
every person in the world (not just in Paradigm) were repressed by Venus. See the changes from First Reset, but far more pronounced (people spontaneously gain
new skills, 'remember' blueprints, changed in mind and status). Similar to these changes were a series of skills, recollections, blueprints, and other
mentality fragments, the 'Memories' (note capital) of the series, which Gordon had implanted into the minds of his proteges (each for a purpose- these
are the Memories that prove useful, like Beck's tech skills). Alex Rosewater, Gordon's son, became CEO. Three Bigs, one of each model, were preserved
in the city, as part of Gordon's plan. Each of the Venus team, groomed by Gordon for a specific role (tomato flashbacks are metaphors for this process-
hypnosis and Venus combined), became key players in the new order, including Roger Smith, Timothy Wayneright, Michael Seebach, and Angel.
Gordon's plan was a way to gradually shift events away from the activation of Venus Unit, and allow history to finally resume its normal course. His
'tomatoes', people who he groomed/retconned into fitting specific roles, would settle into various roles, changing according to their environments.
They would each undergo a series of tests, working against each other and Megadei created/relocated for the task. At the appropriate time, Gordon would lead
Angel, the 'Dominus of Big Venus', bact to Venus Unit. The remaining tomato(es) would then have a chance to change the cycle. Once they managed to
convince Big Venus to not do anything, to destroy itself, or to do something else that would break the cycle, reality could finally continue normally.
The Bigs, three Megadei (one of each city's model) of surpassing power, were added to Paradigm of the Second Reset as part of this plan. The use of a Big
brings out the essential qualities of its pilot. It also requires balance, a coming to terms with both the essential independence of human beings, and the
degree to which humans must both serve and rely upon others. Only partnership can allow a tomato to master a Big: those who give themselves up will be
consumed, while those who attempt to dominate their chariots will be destroyed.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.