The Movie Planet and the Popcorn Dog - Spaceship 343 - A Bedtime Story

Martin (0:04)

Hello, friends from across the nation and around the world. I'm Martin, and you are listening to Dad's Bedtime Stories.

And this time, we'll be headed back into the Spaceship Universe. Because that's what I feel like doing, and I got some cool suggestions for it. Specifically, this one.

River (0:27)

Hello, my name is River. I'm from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. And I would like a story for the Spaceship Series, where you could go to a planet that's like filled with like movie things, and you find a popcorn dog.

So, and the popcorn dog becomes your best friend. And you have a blast. Thanks.

Martin (0:58)

River, that is an excellent idea. And somehow, when it got into my mind, the story making machine, and I was storyboarding it, I decided it was kind of like a broken down movie theater planet, with abandoned things and food and all that sort of stuff, including a popcorn dog, of course, because that seemed key to your message. Now, if you like the podcast, please don't forget to rate us and review us wherever it is you're listening. Share it with a friend. Join us on Patreon, where you can get ad-free episodes and any bonus content I work on. And I work on some different things sometimes. Right now, I'm obsessed with making graphic novel versions of some of my favorite series. I'm almost done with the first Cards of Power, but, well, making sure the pictures are consistent is harder than I thought it was. And, more exciting than that, I teased to a lot of you that I had been working on a Wizardcraft game, and last night I decided to post it on Patreon, or the link to it, along with the password, to try it out. And I'll be updating it in the next couple of weeks as we go. But yeah, you can be a Wizard with golems and special powers and mining and crafting and running a little village all in kind of a retro adventure. But it's honestly pretty cool. I don't know. I had a lot of fun making it, and I'm having a lot of fun playing it. And if you want to test it out too, you can do that if you're a Patreon member, and then send me feedback. I appreciate that. Maybe one day I will package it and sell it on different platforms or something. But I don't know at this point, because I've never... Actually, I've not never made a game before. I have actually made games before, but this is the first one of this size and extent that I've made. Anyways enough about that. Time to get on with our story after a possible word from a possible sponsor.

Get as comfy as you can in that bed, close your eyes and imagine yourself doing what the kid in the story does.

You find yourself relaxing on spaceship, sitting on your favorite couch, looking out through the enormous front window, with all the little stars stretching across the galaxy. Changer, your shape-shifting dog, is curled up at your feet in his favorite form, a fluffy little earth puppy.

His paws seem to be twitching a little bit, as if he's dreaming. You wonder what he's dreaming about. Chasing squirrels or something?

Incoming Transmission Oh, this looks very interesting, Spaceship says. A colorful advertisement appears across the front screen. Welcome to Movie Planet. A cheerful voice begins speaking. Do you love movies? Do you love adventures? Then come visit the greatest movie experience in the entire galaxy. The screen shows an enormous planet covered in theaters and roller coasters and restaurants and gigantic movie screens. Experience your favorite movies in spectacular 2D, incredible 3D, or step right inside the action with our amazing 4D immersion adventures. The advertisement shows a family walking into a movie screen and suddenly finding themselves standing beside a friendly dinosaur.

Another family flies through space alongside a superhero. And another group rides a pirate ship across a stormy ocean. Wow, this looks amazing, you say? It certainly does, Spaceship replies. Apparently, they can recreate almost any movie ever made. Would you like to visit? Absolutely, I would. Changer wakes up at the sound of your excitement and gives a cheerful bark. Looks like Changer wants to come too.

You settle back in your seat as Spaceship changes direction and jumps to Super Hyperdrive. Next stop, The Movies.

Moments later, you emerge from your faster-than-light travel beside a huge purple and blue planet. It looks magnificent from here, but as you get closer, something starts to feel wrong. Hmm, Spaceship says. This is strange. You lean forward. What is? The advertisement showed a very busy planet, thousands of visitors, bright lights, enormous celebrations. But my scanners are only detecting a few life signs. Some artificial, some biological. Sort of. You wonder what the means by sort of biological. You approach the surface. Below you, enormous movie theaters rise above sprawling entertainment parks. Giant advertisements still flash across rooftops though some of them are flickering. And everywhere you look, things seem to be going a little crazy.