Martin Dunkly (Blue)

Martin in "One Man's Rubbish"

**Martin Dunkly** was the version of Martin from the Blue World. He was the most vicious and self-motivated of all the Martins and eventually became Betti's henchman.

## Biography

Like his counterparts from the Red, Silver and Yellow Worlds, he was a pompous, obnoxious bully who delighted in belittling other people and making their lives miserable.

He took an instant dislike to Ben and was disappointed to learn that he would not be hanged for jaywalking.

While not in school, he helped his mother Olive run her estate agent branch. He was thrilled when it appeared that the Raddics' house would be demolished to make way for a new development as Stefan was unable to pay back the $10,000 that he owed Mrs. Dunkly. However, Ben provided Stefan with a sketch by the famous artist Jean-Paul Lafayatte from the Red World, where it was practically worthless, and the house was saved, to Martin's great disappointment.

Martin took Veronica's stave from Francis Zapmeister, who found it after Ben borrowed and subsequently lost it. Believing it to be an experimental weapon, Martin accidentally activated it and burned holes through several library books in the process. He later broke a window in his mother's office while experimenting with the stave. Melinda blackmailed him into returning the stave by threatening to tell Mrs. Dunkly everything. Fearful of what his mother would do to him, Martin reluctantly returned it. He went along with Melinda and Katherine's story that a man had broken into the office and smashed the window when questioned by Sgt. Garcia.

Like Mrs. Dunkly, Martin was confused and disappointed when Stefan's art show proved be an overwhelming success and he sold all of his paintings at high prices. With her tacit approval, he took the paintings and left them out in the rain during a storm, ruining them in the process. As Stefan had seen the Dunklys' car stop outside the house when he was on the phone, Katherine realised who was responsible. This was one of a series of incidents across the Parallax that inspired the gang to exact revenge on the Martins. They each lured one of the Martins to a hut in the Green World where the four of them came face to face. All four Martins were terrified at meeting their counterparts. They were subsequently told that it was all done with mirrors but they all had their suspicions that something else was going on.

Several weeks later, Martin observed Stefan disappearing through the portal between the rocks and became suspicious. He followed him through to the Red World, where he immediately met his counterpart. The two Martins compared stories and realised that Ben and Katherine had tricked them when they led the two of them and their counterparts to the Green World. Realising the possibilities for alibis, the Martin of the Blue World disguised himself as his counterpart so that no one would be able to tell them apart. The two Martins then went to the Johnson house and demanded an explanation.

Annoyed that the gang refused to tell them anything, the Martins attempted to blackmail them into letting them join by threatening to reveal the existence of the Parallax to everyone in both of their worlds. However, Ben and Katherine pointed out that no one would believe them while Melinda reminded her Martin that his claims would probably get him locked up in their world. Tiffany sided with the two Martins and she decided to join their gang. After it became clear to the Martins that she knew very little about how the Parallax worked, they abandoned her. The Blue World Martin criticised his counterpart for his choice of girlfriend. When he learned that the Werrinup of the Red World did not have the same rules and by-laws as his own, he wanted to rob a bank.

Tiffany became concerned that the two Martins were lost in the Parallax and tried to explain the situation to Constable Garcia. While trying to avoid being seen together, the Martins ran into the Francis of the Red World, who sheepishly asked the Blue World Martin to return home and not cause any trouble. The Martins bullied and blackmailed Francis into giving them the fast food that he had just bought by threatening to tell Garcia everything that they knew about the Parallax. The Martin of the Red World then told Francis that he had to empty a nearby bin all over his head in front of Garcia and warned him that they would be watching. Francis realised that he had no other choice if he wanted to protect his friends and the secret of the Parallax. The Red World Martin told his counterpart that revenge was sweet. However, Garcia had misunderstood Tiffany's claims about there being two of him and believed that there was a new criminal gang called the Martins operating in Werrinup.

After his counterpart was ordered home by his mother because of his alleged gang involvement, Martin was approached by Betti. She sought information about Katherine in exchange for a guided tour through the Parallax. Before telling her anything, he wanted cash in advance and demanded to be shown other worlds first. Martin was unimpressed by the Yellow and Orange Worlds but saw an opportunity for profit in the Silver World. Having realised that he could sell the mobile phones, cameras and camcorders dumped outside of the Silver World Werrinup for a huge profit in his own, he told Betti where Katherine lived. Martin filled three plastic bags full of devices from the Silver World and placed them in a wheelbarrow. However, while he was distracted by Tiffany, Francis Zapmeister took the bags, which he intended to trade for various items in the Yellow World. Martin was furious when he returned to find them gone.

Several days later, the Martin of the Red World was annoyed that he had missed the opportunity to look like a hero when Francis saved the Melinda of their world from drowning after she fell off her bodyboard. Having been goaded by his Blue World counterpart, the other Martin ran down to the beach and attempted to steal the limelight by suggesting the formation of a Surf Club with himself as President and Melinda as Secretary. When Melinda pointed out that Francis should be President as he had saved her, the Red World Martin argued that he was the best choice. The shy Francis admitted that he wasn't that fussed. Melinda then got the idea from Una that a triathlon consisting of running, cycling and paddleboarding should be held to determine who should be President. The Martin of the Red World was reluctant as he knew that Francis was much fitter than him but went along with the idea in order to save face. The Blue World Martin suggested that they cheat by taking turns in the competition. Tiffany realised what the two Martins had planned and threatened to tell everyone, citing a desire to protect their morals. The Martin of the Red World backed down and decided to do it all by himself, to his counterpart's annoyance and confusion. Francis eventually won and was declared President of the Surf Club. Delighted by his own counterpart's victory, Francis Zapmeister taunted the losers by telling them that it would take more than two measly Martins to beat one Francis.

Martin travelled to the Green World in order to recruit his counterpart from that world into the Martin spy network organised by Betti. He was given a blue baseball cap to distinguish him from the others. Martin was suspicious of his Green World counterpart's claim to have never heard of Ben and Katherine since he was aware that both of them had been to the Green World as he had once seen them there himself. He deemed him a total wuss and accused him of withholding information. After seeing the Parallax symbol on a book in Betti's house in Circe Island in the Silver World, Martin believed that he had discovered a portal but instead found that it was simply an ordinary wall. However, the Martin of the Red World realised that the book was where Betti hid her stave. The two Martins began fighting over it and accidentally activated it. In an unguarded moment, the Blue World Martin revealed his plan to strike a deal with Betti in exchange for information about Ben and Katherine's location. He believed that he could figure it out based on the fact that he knew that they had been in the Green World comparatively recently. When Betti returned, he and his Red World counterpart laid the blame for activating the stave on the Martin of the Green World. Using the threat of blandishing, he intimidated his Green World counterpart into revealing that Ben and Katherine were hiding in Otto's old hut in the Green World. In exchange, Martin wanted a stave. However, Betti refused to give him one, warning him that he was displaying aberrant behaviour and that she may have to blandish him if it continued.

Some time later, Betti approached Martin and his mother on the pretence of wanting to buy a house in their Werrinup. Given Betti's threat to blandish him, Martin was extremely reluctant to go with her. However, Mrs. Dunkly forced him, threatening to ground him for a year if he failed to sell Betti anything. Betti brought Martin to the Purple World and, giving him a stave, ordered him to guard the portal by the forked tree in case that Ben and Katherine came through it. She explained to Martin that she needed someone who was cold and ruthless, qualities which were lacking in the remaining inhabitants of the completely blandished Purple World.

Unbeknownst to Betti and Martin, Ben and Katherine had succeeded in tracking Veronica down to the Purple World and the Francis of the Red World had arrived to bring her home. As Betti was guarding the other portal, it initially appeared that Veronica and Francis would not be able to escape to the Red World after all. However, Ben and Katherine had managed to enter the Purple World surreptiously through a one-way only side door. Furthermore, Otto and Spy Kid (who had switched sides) were present, albeit in disguise as clowns. The six of them, wearing clown costumes provided by Otto, managed to distract Martin and get his stave, allowing them to enter the portal to the Red World. Betti was furious at Martin's failure, though he claimed that he couldn't have done anything to stop the escape in the circumstances.

Shortly afterwards, Betti invited Katherine to meet her in the Orange World in the hope of persuading her niece to join her crusade to blandish the Parallax. She tried to compel Martin to drink a glass of blandished water to test her theory that Katherine would side with her and Martin would consequently be the aberrant. However, he refused to do so. Betti's latest scheme gave Ben the idea of hiding the portals in the Orange World in order to trap her there forever. First, he and Francis removed the stones marking one portal. While Ben and Katherine distracted Betti by getting her to chase them, Francis, Melinda, Otto, Una and Due moved her tent, which she had erected over the other portal. Martin observed them doing so and told Betti but it was too late. He was also unable to remember where the tent had originally been located. Ben was delighted that his plan had succeeded but Katherine remembered that they had left Martin behind and insisted that they return for him. Although he was reluctant, Ben acquiesced to his sister's wishes. After rescuing Martin, they made him swear that he would never use the Parallax again and threatened to return him to the Orange World if he ever did so.

## Appearances

* "One Big Happy Family"
* "A Rare Find"
* "The Artful Dodger"
* "One Man's Rubbish"
* "Artes Veritas"
* "The Martin Crimes"
* "Decoy"
* "Sand Witch"
* "My Favourite Martin"
* "Cheats Never Prosper"
* "Martinmania"
* "Clownin' Around"
* "It Ain't Over"

## Behind the Scenes

All versions of Martin were played by Kazimir Sas.