The Expedition

Jay Vincent

Michael Kramer

Daniel Pemberton

***The Expedition*** is a film directed, produced, written, and edited by BogleBlocks Pictures. It is the first installment in the The Anthology Film Series as well as his secondary project for 2020. Following *Stranger Things,* BogleBlocks Pictures wanted to create a series that would focus around more original based ideas, so he came up with The Anthology and The Expedition being the first installment as a result. Filming took place from early August to early September 2020, and the filmed aired on September 11, 2020. An alternate ending was released on June 11, 2021. Upon release it gained mostly positive reviews and became the fifth most popular video on his channel.

The film sees Mike Monroe, the leader of an Expedition team of eight people travel out to an uncharted Puerto Rican island that rose from the water, along with two scientists from the Civil Research Center. However, they soon realize they are underprepared for what is on the island, and must survive the rest of their time there, working together.

Although the film's success was great, BogleBlocks Pictures decided to not make a sequel, as it would ruin the good ending it had as well as nullify the name of the film. Instead, he opted to make a series of original, non-connecting movies called The Anthology.

## Plot

The film opens in 1994 with the expedition team, consisting of Mike, Tyreek, Joan, Doug, Rufus, Donna, Samantha, and Luke along with two scientists Pepitone and Rashid, investigating a crater on a small, uninhabited, Puerto Rican island that arose from the ocean in the past weeks. After investigating, the team settles down for the night as Pepitone tells the group the story of the Night Slasher, a serial killer among the Puerto Rican legends. A relationship is made between Donna and Doug. That night Pepitone is killed by an unseen figure, which causes the group to panic the following morning. The group figures that it was the Night Slasher, and Mike suggests that half the team would find a way off the island via river and the other half would call for help via radio. The river plan goes awry, as the boat is washed away and Luke shatters the bone in his hand. Donna uses a helicopter to intercept a signal from a nearby radio tower and transfer it to the radio in the Mobile Lab. As it storms one of blades on the helicopter is broken, causing Donna to be killed in a crash. Doug is left enraged and depressed, punching Mike unconscious.

Mike tries to converse with Doug, but Doug, who seemingly blames Mike for Donna's death, brushes him off and heads off to kill the Night Slasher on his own. Mike sends Rufus off with his truck to find Doug, who took Rufus' shotgun as well. A machete is found missing, which is revealed Samantha took it, and Rashid tracks her down by the river. Samantha, depressed from her sister's death and a killer on the island, prepares to commit suicide, but Rashid ultimately convinces her not to do it, sparking a new friendship. The rest of the group prepares to commit surgery on Luke, who developed compartment syndrome in his hand, and is forced to be amputated. The group amputates his hand, sending Luke unconscious for the next few hours. Rufus finds Doug, who have a conversation about why Doug is hunting down the Night Slasher, ending in Doug shooting the Night Slasher in the leg, who was behind Rufus. The Night Slasher flees, causing Doug and Rufus to chase after him in the truck. The truck is driven into a water hole, where it sinks. Doug and Rufus follow the Night Slasher deeper into the island, where they discover a sinkhole. While investigating the sinkhole, the Night Slasher is killed by a demonic-looking alien who emerged from the sinkhole. The alien scares off Rufus and Doug back to camp. The following morning, Mike, Tyreek, Luke, Rufus, and Doug look for the alien in the sinkhole, where Mike learns the alien's backstory through a vision. The group learns that the alien's name is O'Nall/The Omega and the island has been home to him for centuries. They learn the island sinks and rises every 560 years. The group goes back to camp, shortly after they are attacked by The Omega. The group survives the encounter, but Joan goes missing in the fight, causing Mike to leave out the option to let The Omega live.

The group goes back to the Mobile Lab and helicopter crash site, to make a custom built flamethrower from Rufus' shotgun and parts from the Mobile Lab, after discovering The Omega's weakness is fire. The group comes to conclusion that The Omega is the one who killed Pepitone and Donna. Mike radios the Coast Guard for help. The Omega attacks the team, almost drowning Doug, but is subdued soon after. The Omega explains that he is able to move the tectonic plates, causing an earthquake to sink the island. Mike threatens The Omega, who in turn causes a short earthquake who sends everyone down into a trench. Rufus quickly fires a grappling hook which everyone hangs onto. With Mike at the top of the chain, Doug cuts it, sending everyone but Mike to the bottom of the trench. Mike climbs back up. Tyreek reprimands Doug for his behavior, explaining all the good Mike has done and how he saved everyone many times. Doug considers his actions towards Mike, while Rashid finds a way out of the trench. Mike and The Omega have a heart-to-heart where they learn about each other's pasts, making The Omega respect Mike, but having Mike still wanting to kill him. The two have a one-on-one fight, ending in Tyreek saving Mike, but having himself slammed and impaled on open sword. The Omega flees while Mike chases after him. The rest of the group lifts Tyreek off the sword, with Rashid staying behind to patch him up, while the rest assist Mike in the final fight against The Omega. Mike, Doug, Rufus, Luke, and Samantha fight off The Omega, and the flamethrower is broken in chaos. The team finally defeats The Omega, but he starts to sink the whole island. Rufus sacrifices himself by staying behind and buying the rest of the team enough time to get off the island. The group runs toward a cave outside the sinking range and take refuge. The island sinks with an explosion caused by the tectonic plates due to all the force, killing The Omega and Rufus for good. The group reflects on the events that ensued, resulting in Doug and Mike finally making amends. The Coast Guard arrives to escort the team off the island, ending the film.

## Characters

* Michael "Mike" Monroe, the film's main protagonist, who is the leader of the expedition team. He was going to get married to Joan, but due to unknown reasons, they called it off. Mike is shown to be a physically and mentally strong person who is shown to put his team first many times and will stop at nothing to kill The Omega. Mike survives the events on the island.
* Tyreek, the film's deuteragonist, who is the second-in-command of the expedition team and Mike's best friend, being friends since high school. Tyreek usually acts as the voice of reason but takes charge when no one else knows what to do. He is severely wounded by The Omega near the end of the film, but survives the events on the island.
* Joan, the film's tritagonist, who studied in the medical field and used to be a nurse before joining the expedition team. She was going to get married to Mike, but due to unknown reasons, they called it off. She was planning to be married to another person before the expedition, much to Mike's disappointment. She helps nurse Luke back to help after his amputation. She goes missing out of thin air after The Omega's ambush on the campsite.
* Doug, a member of the expedition team and an arguable antihero/antagonist, who is major friends with Rufus. He gets into a romantic relationship with Donna, who ultimately dies in a helicopter crash, sending Doug in a furious depression, blaming Mike for her death. Doug causes numerous obstacles for the group throughout the film, who forgives Mike at the end of the film. Doug survives the events on the island.
* Rufus, the mechanic and a member of the expedition team. He acts as the muscle of the group and is major friends with Doug. He often asks Doug to question his decisions during his depression in order to not let himself get killed. He owns and uses a shotgun throughout the film which is later turned into a flamethrower. He dies trying to prevent The Omega sinking the island.
* Samantha, a member of the expedition team and Donna's sister. She joins up with her sister to try and catch a signal from a radio tower nearby, and witnesses her sister's death. She falls into depression because of her sister's death and out of hopelessness of their situation. She makes a friendship with Rashid, probably out of similar grief. Samantha survives the events on the island.
* Donna, a member of the expedition team and Samantha's sister, as well as the team's helicopter pilot. At first she is skeptical of Pepitone's story of the Night Slasher. She offers to fly the helicopter to catch a signal from a nearby radio tower. She is killed in a helicopter crash due to a broken propeller blade caused by The Omega.
* Luke, the newest member of the expedition team. He is often trying to get to know the other members of the team, as well as offering to go on missions. He develops compartment syndrome in his hand after a river accident and is forced to have it cut off. Nevertheless, he adapts to having one hand and survives the events on the island.
* Rashid, an ecologist that works for the Civil Research Center. She is partners with Pepitone and is distraught after his death. She slowly develops a friendship with Samantha, probably out of similar grief. She survives the events on the island.
* Pepitone, an archaeologist that works for the Civil Research Center. He is partners with Rashid and knows the legend of the Night Slasher. He is the first member of the team killed by The Omega.
* O'Nall (The Omega or simply The Alien), is the main antagonist of the film. He a being from another planet from outside our star system. His whole planet was destroyed and his family was killed. He spent the next 560 years on an island that rises and sinks. He is rivals with Mike. He kills Pepitone, Donna, Alejandro, Rufus, and himself.
* Alejandro Rivera (The Night Slasher), is the false main antagonist of the film. He is believed to be a serial killer who stalks the Puerto Rican islands, but is just someone who lives secluded on an island. He is rivals with Doug. He is killed by The Omega.
* Houskataet, a Native American chief of the Makkapitew tribe from the 15th century, who was the first to encounter The Omega on Earth. He shows The Omega the way to the island and was somewhat an ally with him.

## Vehicles

Several vehicles are used by the expedition team as ways to move more easily across the island. All vehicles are destroyed or lost by the end of the film.

* Mike's All Terrain Truck
* The Helicopter
* The Mobile Lab
* The Motorboat

## Locations

There are several locations that the team travel through in order to complete their missions. All of these locations are on or around the island.

* The Campsite- The location where Mike and his team set up their camp and store their vehicles for the night. It is partially destroyed after The Omega's ambush.
* The Crater- The first location Mike and his team go to. It is a small piece of land by the water with a small crater formed caused by The Omega's crash landing.
* Inner Island- The Inner Island is the main and biggest part of the island. It is a dense jungle that surrounds a lot of other smaller locations.
* The River- The river is a body of water that Mike and his team travel on via motorboat in order to find an escape route. The biggest part of the river is seen in only one scene while a smaller part is seen in the Inner Island.
* The Grand Field- This location is a gargantuan field with a ton of open space. Doug and Rufus chase the Night Slasher through here.
* The Sinkhole- This location is a weird horizontal hole that The Omega emerges from. It houses graffiti art which is an external representation of The Omega's memories.
* The Trench- This location is a narrow and deep excavation in the ground that everyone on the expedition team except Mike fall into. There is a short trail next to it that leads to the upper part of the Inner Island.
* The Cave- This location is a cave that is on the outskirts of the island and is semi-connected to it. This is the final location in the film.

## Trivia

* All character figures and vehicles came from the LEGO City Jungle line of sets.
* During the opening scene of the film where it is introducing the characters, Joan's text says she is Mike's ex-girlfriend instead of ex-fiancée. This was a flaw, as in the original script, Joan was Mike's ex-girlfriend. BogleBlocks Pictures added that she was Mike's ex-fiancée to give it more depth.
* This is the first film BogleBlocks Pictures made that is shot 100% outdoors.
	+ This is also the first film that he used LEGO outdoors.
* It is believed that Joan left her nurse job to spend more time with Mike, because they were about to be married, and that is why she is part of the expedition team.
* Joan's fate will never be confirmed and will be left with an unknown status. Her status is up to the viewer to interpret. However she is most likely dead after the explosion and island sinkage.
* In order to move the vehicles, strands of fishing wire were tied to the fronts of the props. Some required more strands than others because they were bigger and harder to maneuver.
* Most of the film was shot in a creek behind BogleBlocks Pictures' house, except for one scene which was shot in another creek big enough to act as a river for one scene.
* The Civil Research Center funded the expedition as well as supplying the team with the Mobile Lab.
* There was a post-credit scene planned that would have the team being sent to prison for the murders of Pepitone, Donna, Joan, and Rufus. However this scene never made it into the final cut because BogleBlocks Pictures thought this would be too much of a "bummer" ending.
	+ The footage was uploaded later in June 2021, labeled an alternate ending.
* The Expedition was filmed three times. Originally, The Expedition would take place during the winter, and not the summer like the final film. BogleBlocks Pictures shot the first scene in 2018, and it snowed every day later in the week. Soon he gave up on the project. In 2019, BogleBlocks Pictures decided the film would take place in the summer and shot the first four scenes and went on a hiatus of not filming after that. In 2020, BogleBlocks Pictures decided to finally finish the film and fully planned it out in the spring, before shooting all of it in the summer.
* Before filming was cancelled in 2018 and 2019, the entire film was going to be shot in BogleBlocks Pictures backyard. He decided to expand it to the creek behind his house to have it more authentic. In the end, his backyard was used only for the filming location for the campsite.