In college, I made an original short called Jesus In the Phantom Zone (which you can view right here). I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was animated…more that it was just a series of still images accompanied by voiceover and narration. Either way, I figured I was onto something as a means of being able to produce some of the stupid ideas I had in my head without needing a full crew of people to make a live action film.
With that thought, I began developing the concept for a series called NASCAR Samurai Priest Mystery Hour. The show would have been in the tradition of the Father Dowling Mysteries in that it was about a priest who solved mysteries, but it was SO MUCH MORE AS WELL.
Here’s the pitch: Trevor McRoy was a famous NASCAR driver…until he got into a big ole crash that managed to kill an innocent bystander with the debris. Disgraced, he left NASCAR and became a samurai to try and find some balance and discipline….until he got into a really bad samurai fight and accidentally killed a fellow samurai with a sword. Disgraced, he left the way of the samurai and became a priest, embracing his faith in a higher power.
But when the police discover the grisly murder of McRoy’s brother with a crime scene that prominently features evidence that could point to either the competitive racing world or the modern samurai world, they turn to the one man who might be able to help. For Father McRoy, it’s not just a standard murder…it’s his sordid past taking its toll on those he holds most dear.
That was episode one, anyway. Obviously (not obviously) it’s a comedy. I got so far as to write down some loose outlines, but it never moved beyond the concept phase, and I apparently never went so far as to type up any of the stuff I jotted down. I’m sure I’ll stumble across it one of these days. I did find this character design for Father McRoy, though…
As you can see, this was before I was better at digital artworking. I also found this still from the project, which I believe was intended to be at Father McRoy’s extremely modern church service. Naturally, they had a DJ. And that DJ was a robot. And that robot’s name was Funkytron. DUH.
And that’s how great ideas are born: combine a bunch of niche career fields into a crime story.