Love's Lasers' Lost

**Love's Lasers' Lost** is a special episode of Shield of Tomorrow. Due to certain members of the Shield of Tomorrow crew being away (\*cough\* Eric Campbell \*cough\*), Sax Carr leads the cast and writers in a special one-shot. They play "Lasers and Feelings" in the spirit of the immortal classic, Galaxy Quest.

## Plot Synopsis

The cast of a cancelled sci-fi show are kidnapped by a group of aliens and shanghaied into reprising their roles in a real interstellar war.

## Cast

* Sax Carr as the Game Master
* Aliza Pearl as Quincy Maddox/Vilexa Voluptua
* Amy Dallen as Rebecca Morgan/Ke'frtchehel ("KF")
* Bonnie Gordon as Mabel De Bloom/X Pla'in
* Hector Navarro as Horatio Andrews (Andesola)/Private Sanchez
* Nick Gilman as Chip Hardunk/Vard Salvo
* Rick Budd as Dirk Fray/Captain David Goldstein
* Sam de Leve as Robbie Carantara/Laskos

## Characters

### **Horatio Andrews** as **Private Sanchez**

Upon moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the film business, Horatio Andesola anglicised his surname to Andrews because Hollywood wouldn't hire Latino actors. Nevertheless, when cast as Private Sanchez in *Defenders of the Future* he was asked to perform with a thick east-LA accent. Horatio spoke up as he felt the show's producers were under-serving his character, noting that Private Sanchez did not have a first name, and making the character into a stereotype.

Originally, Horatio's character was supposed to be killed in Act 3 of the episode by a monster wearing a glove of some kind. After he spoke up about the treatment of himself as a Latino actor, his character was re-written to die in the first act of the episode. After beaming down to the planet, Private Sanchez stubbed his toe on a rock, which subsequently got infected and killed him.

After leaving the show, Horatio used his experience and platform to try to make some positive change in the industry.

Horatio had some interesting relationships with the actors on set. He was quite insulted by Mabel De Bloom when she repeatedly referred to him as being "exotic". He became good friends with Dirk, and was the best man at his wedding to Chip.

### **Robbie Carantara** as **Laskos**

Despite acquiring their role on *Defenders of the Future* as Laskos because they were the only person willing to shave their head, Robbie Cantara has fond memories of their time on the show. After the show concluded, Robbie was not very successful in continuing their acting career, and has since found meaningful employment as a pre-school teacher. This change in their life has brought them great fulfilment.

### **Mabel De Bloom** as **X Pla'in**

As a traditionally trained English actor, Mabel De Bloom got her start treading the boards in London. She was a huge star overseas before her role on *Defenders of the Future*, which was meant to be her big Hollywood break. She was brought on to the show by the producers who wanted to make the show deeper by using theatrically trained actors.

Taking up the role of communications officer X Pla'in (pronounced ecks-plaa-een, though colloquially referred to 'Explain' on set) jump-started Mabel's Hollywood career. X Pla'in was also the subject of some comic relief. Her standing gag was that whenever whe would notify the captain she would dramatically swivel in her chair. However, the set pieces were so cheap that it would constantly fall apart.

When Mabel tried to return to her theatre roots she found great difficulty in making the transition. She found that she was stuck in the sci-fi limbo of being considered a sham of an actor for appearing on the show, which clearly she is not as she is "fabulous, dear". As a result, Mabel felt a little bitter about her time on the show and sometimes regrets taking up the opportunity.

Whilst on the show, Mabel had an affair with Chip. The coupling did not last because Mabel did not find him very deep - "all muscles, no brain". Instead, Mabel found herself infatuated with Horatio Andrews, whom she found "very exotic". The pairing never eventuated as Horatio found her description of him quite insulting.

### **Dirk Fray** as **Captain David Goldstein**

Dirk Fray started out as one of the writers on *Defenders of the Future*. He was asked to read some dialogue with the other actors, and he was so impressive he was cast as Captain David Goldstein of the USS Missouri. This was the only acting role Dirk had ever been and ever would be in.

During the show, the fans constantly wanted Dirk's character David Goldstein to get together with Chip's character Vard Hardunk. This never eventuated in the show, but did lead to a marriage between the two actors. Sadly though, the marriage did not last.

After the show, Dirk stayed friends with Horatio.

### **Chip Hardunk** as **Vard Salvo**

Chip came out to Los Angeles from his small mid-western town after graduating high school. He attempted to make it in Hollywood based solely on his good looks.He acted in a couple of soap operas before landing the role of First Officer Vard Salvo in *Defenders of the Future*.

His role in the cult sci-fi classic launched Chip's career. Following the end of the show he started acting in action movies. He had an interesting career arc: he was big for a while, being an A-list action star. More recently his career has been declining, with most of his current acting work coming in low-budget tele-movies and Direct-To-DVD releases.

Chip was briefly married to his co-star, Dirk Fray. The marriage was at the behest of Chip's publicist who thought it would be good for publicity. The marriage later dissolved and each have gone their own ways.

#### Known Filmography

* Bloodsplasher 2 (arguable the finest of the Bloodsplasher movies that Chip starred in)
* Bloodsplasher 7
* License to Face-Punch
* I Kill With Punches
* Butt Kickerer

### **Quincy Maddox** as **Vilexa Voluptua**

Quincy was a young and impressionable actor when she landed the part of Vilexa Voluptua on *Defenders of the Future*. This was her first acting role after completing her schooling at Julliard, and she found the experience cool but a little jarring. Her role as Voluptua required her to wear a very tight and rather revealing leather outfit.

Following the end of the show, Quincy wanted to try her hand at some more serious roles. However, she found that she had been typecast and could only land roles in romantic comedies. She desperately wanted to be an action star like Scarlett Johansson, but she encountered a lot of trouble breaking out of romcom identity. Eventually she decided to stop doing romcoms, leaving her with only her fans and the money from doing autograph signings.

### **Rebecca Morgan** as **Ke’frtchehel**

Growing up in the theatre, Rebecca was a theatrical actor and dancer. She would often remind Mabel that they came from the "legitimate stage", a point that drove Mabel crazy.

Rebecca was about to receive her first feature role when she was cast as K'frtchehel in *Defenders of the Future*. Having to choose between the two roles, Rebecca took on the TV role as the token alien on the ship. After the show ended, Rebecca found it hard to pick up further theatre work. However, she found herself cast in the show *Protectors of Soon* - a stage parody of *Defenders of the Future*. Having travelled with the show from Los Angeles to off-off-off-Broadway, Rebecca has been entertaining people for the last nine years in her role.

## Ships

* USS Missouri
* Turnt Alliance Star Dreadnaught

## Locations

* Earth
* Lanzing Alliance space station

## Notes and Trivia

* Eric Campbell was at Burning Man during this episode, and as such Sax Carr stepped in to GM this one-shot.
* Lasers & Feelings is a quick-play role-playing game, based on the songs of The Doubleclicks.
* The *Lanzing Alliance* is a reference to Jackson Lanzing, the GM of the Project Alpha show VAST.
* The *Turnt Continuum* are a reference to the phrase "Stay Turnt", commonly used by Talks Machina host Brian Wayne Foster .