Universal Peacekeeper

Janice Bircher

***Universal Peacekeeper*** is the eighth animated in the True Skies/Skylighter Animated Features Canon and the second animated classic of True Skies Golden Era. The story is based on Edith Nesbit's The Magic City. But the film was generally influenced from a variety of stories. The stories like Nicolló Machiavelli's The Mandrake and The Prince, The Tempest by William Shakespeare and Seven-Day Magic by Edward Eager. The story heavily focuses on a war refugee named Horace Helton from the war torn nation of Ariosto rather than the original main characters from The Magic City story

## Plot

Set in the year of 1912, located in the fictional city state of Faremore, on the continent of Atlas. Faremore is a republic surrounded by the Kingdom of Broskford to the north and the Most Serene Republic of Padovia to the south. In the film's prologue, a young boy Horace Helton is rescued by Pip Pion and his sister Lucille using Peter Graham's flying contraption. The narrator, voiced by Patti LuPone starts off the film with a lonely ten year old boy Horace Helton sitting in the bedroom of his foster parents' manor, after his neglectful, pompous, arrogant and selfish foster parents sent their twelve year biological son Brutus to war as a child soldier. He is eventually rescued by the Pions and Grahams using Peter Graham's recently invented aero plane to fly Horace out of the war ravaged country of Ariosto. The next morning, the Grahams and Pions landed at the Mystic Cottage; located in the Labernum Plains. The two families and Horace are transported to The Stead by carriage, where they complete chores there at The Stead by de-gnoming the farmhouse and the garden.

The next day, Horace Helton is accidentally transported to the Spiny Seawitch Dark Arts Shoppe via the chimney from drinking the Transportation Potion. He hides behind the steel door, only to see Lord Governor Sebastian Rotts and his son Lucius Rotts handing over The Book of The Seven Great Deeds to Hades Toadstool to sell the book to avoid embarrassment to the King of Broskford. Meanwhile at the Chamber of Darkness, located underneath the Forbidden Temple on the Forbidden Isle. Archduke Iago II visits Caliban, informing him that the cursed book titled "Manifesto of Demagoguery" is in possession of Sebastian Rotts who recently traded The Book of The Seven Great Deeds at the Spiny Seawitch.

Annoyed by the inauguration of his long time adversary, Noah Vaz as president of the city state of Faremore. He plots to wage war on the Most Serene Republic of Padovia, as an act of revenge for his banishment. He feeds on of the Archduke's guards Nankat to Superboa the anthropomorphic Basilisk and kills Guardsman Nuestrin after he mindlessly glares at him through his mirror. To avoid further repercussions of the Archduke's guards and Caliban's minions. They sing along in a musical number as they pray to Caliban as a god of malice. Back at the Spiny Seawitch, Horace Helton retrieves the Book of The Seven Great Deeds and uses it as a guide to allow his exit from the Spiny Seawitch. He is ambushed by imps and his task is to throw them in cages and transport them out of the shop and hand them over to Mr. Perrin. He is visited by Peri the Parrot who warns Horace of a looming war between Broskford and its former ally Belka with Padovia. Horace reads a pigeon post sent from Stevonnie the Protectress; informing Horace that the reason that Lord Governor Rotts sent the book to the Spiny Seawitch was because, he was holding a hidden agenda. And that she sent the Pione and Grahams to Ariosto to rescue Horace because he is needed to stop Caliban from unleashing a horrific monster on the populace of Faremore so as to use as a weapon of war. Horace feeds a treat to Prose the Pidgeon and she sends the ladder down to fetch Lucille. Meanwhil, Perinthe Parrot knocks over the cages, sending owls flying across the store. The remaining owls broke free from their cages in the process, destroying the store and sending Hades to fleeing the Spiny Seawitch. Horace watches as she lifts the cage of imps up to the attic and transfer the imps over to Mr. Perrin to send back to Faremore via train leaving Wealty, the capital city of Padovia.

Horace gets a glimpse of Wealty, visits three shops and a pub along the way. Meanwhile at the joke shop Horace meets an 17 year old Atlantican teenager named Saskia Thunderbridge “Suzanne Thunderveldt”. Saskia gives Horace a quilt his late father made. And then he visits a bookshop and he accidentally drops Book of the Seven Great Deeds. Sebastian Rotts gives Horace a cold glare, noticing the book was taken from the shop. Sebastian warns Horace “*to use the book well or face a dire doom*”. As Sebastian and his son, the Pions and the Grahams to a train station. Saskia arrives to inform Horace and Pip that they have missed the train. Rosanne Bea, Saskia Thunderbridge Pip Pion and Horace Helton leave Wealty by flying on a Pegasus to Faremore.

The Pegasus lands into the Imp Colony in the southern Quagmire Forest where they are ambushed by imps and gytrashes. They four individuals make a daring escape from a man-eating tree. The tree gets caught into a stray snare trap; the duo finally enter into Faremore after a long walk, they travel to Mr Perrin’s hut where they spend the night. The next morning, they leave the hut for a flying lesson. Only to be caught by Guardsman Heiss to meet Judge Ferdinand for questioning. Ferdinand then takes the four to the highest Dormitory Apartment in Somnolentia, Faremore. Horace takes his last flying lesson and earns the highest grade: a “distinction”. Allowing Horace Helton to become a scutifer to be the next day.

On the second night, Horace and Saskia collect the Goblin’s Guide from the National Library. Guardsman Sykes finds the duo sneaking from the library. Saskia pulls a hair clipper out of her hair, ties a string to it and throws it at the chandelier. Allowing the duo to swing to the other side to avoid leg locker charms, next, Saskia faceplants herself to the floor. Sykes attempts the leglocker the duo, only to get attacked by flying books, allowing them to escape.

## Characters

* **Horace Helton —** Christopher Scraggs • A political dissident and asylum seeker who fled his war ravaged native country of Ariosto for Faremore, only to embark a seven day quest to prevent a war between three countries and becoming a Scutifer for President Noah Vaz on his 12th birthday.
* **Pip Pion —** Melvin Eames • The best friend and colleague of Noah Vaz and a founding member of the Dragon’s Guild: the secret team of guardians and scavengers who embark on a quest to protect
* Sean Pion
* **Lucille Pion —** Betsy Crott •
* **Helen Graham —** Helene Picard •
* **Peter Graham —** Bernie Cartwright •
* La Toiã **Tainara Tubarão aka Saskia Buckleveldt —** Maria Da Cunha • **A swashbuckling, tomboyish, teenaged pirate who lost her parents to a preventable disease. She is the leader of the Hunt Club and the co founder of the Dragon’s Guild. She is descended of Zulu descent and she was born in Brazil in 1893. She named herself after Broeckner Buckleveldt who defeated the Colonial High Inquisitor by ramming a gunpoweder rigged burning ship against his ship. She is also Horace Helton’s friend and she helps Horace, Pip, Lucille, Homer the Sloth and Stefaní the Protectress. Her personality is inspired by Julie d’Aubigny.**
* **Genevieve Staudt —** Lisa Jakub • A ghost who guards the Haunted Latrine, she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend Caliban Schlectnact. She supports the Dragon’s Guild’s efforts to finally destroy the Order of the Basilisk. She was trained by Stefaní as a Universal Peacekeeper, her murder fueled an uprising in Faremore that led to that country’s independence in 1765.
* **Madam Mezzanine —** Catherine O'Hara •
* **Mr. Perrin —** Robbie Coltrane •
* **Theophilus Topaz —** Billy Pilgrim •
* **Homer the Sloth —** Richard Kind • Homer is an anthropomorphic ground sloth, who is worshipped as a god. He is Horace Helton’s mentor and custodian.
* **Stefaní the Protectress —** Ally Sheedy • An immortal witch who fought in the Atlantican Revolution and the last known member of a Atlanteam peacekeeping organization known as Universal Peacekeepers. She lost many members of her organization to purges by dark magicians who ruled as monarchs throughout the continent.
* **Argyle the Potioneer —** Timothy Carlton •
* **President Noah Vaz —** Robert Reed •
* **Judge Ferdinand—** George C. Scott •
* Lord **Caliban Shlectnact—** Jeremy Irons • A evil sorcerer who was deformed as a result of dark arts, the film's main antagonist. He lives in the Chamber of Darkness underneath The Forbidden Temple located underneath the Forbidden Isle. He is known to control Superboa, since he is the most powerful warlock ever encountered. He is only the second most powerful sorcerer after Noah Vaz. Caliban is the descendent of Tius Superbus and the last living descendent of Tius Superbus as well as his true heir.
* **Lord** **Governor Sebastian Rotts — Ian MacDiarmid** • The film's secondary antagonist, he is the scheming, conniving, greedy and warmongering Lord Governor of the Bruxlian parish of Potiton (Pottytown by Prime Minister Orsino Locks). He is a wealthy patriarch of the Rotts family; he first appears alongside with his son at the Spiny Seawitch Dark Arts Shoppe in Wealty with shopowner Hades Toadstool who takes the Book of The Seven Days of Great Deeds.
* **Archduke Iago II of Belka —** Miguel Ferrer •
* **Armgardt the Phoenix —** Jeannie Elias •
* **Tius Quarter —** Roger Abbott
* **Mabel Kswizc —** Ruby Myrtle
* **Lucius Rotts —** Noam Zilberman •
* **Guardsman Pratt —** Leopold Sykes •
* **Guardsman O’Higgens —** Christopher Sabat •
* **Guardsman Weatherspoon —** James Rebhorn •
* **Guardsman Graves —** Ba’Sheer Benedict
* **Guardsman Grobbs —** Doug Jones
* **Superboa —** Christoher Lee •
* **Maximus the Dog —** Nathan Cui
* **Brenda the Dog —** Wendy Crewson
* **Moribund the Spider King —** Thurl Ravenscroft •
* **Victor The Gargoyle Leader —** MC Hammer •
* **Gorbychew the Imp Leader —** Dolph Lundgren •
* **Narrator —** Patti LuPone
* **Broeckner Buckleveldt‘s Ghost** — Kevin Kline • A ghost of a famed Atlantican revolutionary war hero and one of the Founders of Federation who signed the Atlantic Federation Treaty, which granted Atlantica’s independence from the Britannican Empire. He was a war veteran who served as the Colonial High Inquisitor‘s final Captain of the Guard. In the back story, he fought to protect Stefani the Protectress from Colonial High Inquisitor and Britannican Royal Minister of Justice: Lord Claudius Superbus Milo of Huffleshire.
* **Tius Superbus —** Tony Jay• Tius is the true builder of the Chamber of Darkness, the first king of Polistarchia and the author of the Four Books as well as an autobiograph. He built the Chamber as well of the Temple of the Great Serpent. He is the founder of the Order of the Basilisk. The organization that adheres to the ideals of darkness, the opposite of the Universal Peacekeepers which adhere to light. He allowed himself to be eaten by Superboa in order to give him a voice.
* **Christine Emersole —** The White Queen’s Ghost •

## Sequels and Spinoffs

The success of Universal Peacekeeper led to the development of a franchise consisting of a 1994 theatrical sequel. As well as a 2003 theatrical sequel, video games, spin offs and other merchandise.

Additionally, characters from the film have made appearances in other Disney media such as Skylight Theater or the Toon Planet series of video games.

In 2017 , it was announced that a new tv series based on the film called The Magic City is to be made. It will center around Horace Helton and Lucille’s daughter Nora who leads a group of guardians to protect Faremore. It will be broadcast on Skylight Playhouse first with a television film in November 2018 before episodes are shown from January 2019. It features appearances from Horace Helton, Homer the Sloth, Quartz, Max the Dog, Moribund the Spider King, Stevonnienthe Protectress, Gorbychew the Imp Leader, Armgardt the Phoenix, Cara, and Theophilus Topaz.

## Trivia

* This is the last True Skies Animated film to be animated when Joshua Armgardt was still alive.
* The film’s theatrical release was delayed to December of 1991, due to the addition of eight minutes of animated footage to the coup sequences. Production took only a month to complete. However the additional sequences wasn’t scripted. The additional scenes took inspiration from the 1991 Alukosian Putsch which caused the late 1991-early 1992 Alukosian Genocide. The additional scenes were added after Armgardt’s death from AIDS.
* This film was dedicated to the memory of Joshua Armgardt. The next film Little Young Guardian was also dedicated to his memory.
* Andrew Slath pre-screened the film to Armgardt hours before Joshua Armgardt died of AIDS at the Montreal General Hospital. Howard Ashman, who worked on the songs for Beauty and the Beast also died of AIDS six months earlier.