Note:Some of the questions posed to Larry are references to the summary of the second season he outlined in a Starlog Interview - The Shape of Wars to Come.All questions to Larry in BOLD.
What projects did you work on after Captain Power?
LOTS... Right after Captain Power, I think my next job was on The Hitchhiker.That got me a Cable Ace Award Nomination for "Best writing - Dramatic Series" for my script entitled "Hootch". Oddly enough Joe was also nominated for this award the very same year for his adaption of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". We went to the awards show together and BOTH lost (to an episode of "Molly Dodd")!!! After Hitchhiker I freelanced on the syndicated cartoon show "Conan the Adventurer" (for which I wrote 7 scripts), then went over to Babylon 5 for two years, until Joe decided he should write the whole show. I never left the show, I was fired. After that I did two episodes of "Hypernauts", then hocked around for awhile until Beast Wars came along and I have been story editing and writing that for the last 3 years.
What did you work on before Captain Power?
Many cartoon shows. He Man, She-ra, Galaxy High School, The Real Ghostbusters, et. al. Also did Murder She Wrote, Swamp Thing and They came from Outer Space in Live Action. In all I have about 130 credits.[Larry's credits under the IMDB clearly do not do him justice!-BL]
How old are you?
I was 50 this february...
How many years have you been in TV/Animation?
Since about 1982.
What are you currently involved in [if anything other than 'Beast Wars']
Trying to get on Xena and Young Hercules and maybe creating a prime-time animated SF series for adults (if the deal is made).
What is Eden II's dark secret?
HMMMM... I don't quite recall all of it, but Eden II was to be revealed as a community which had escaped Dread's holocaust and had lots of technological power. The kicker was - Eden II had no intention of facing Dread. They felt safe and saw no reason to fight what they considered a futile battle. Much of Season 2 was conflict between the Captain and some representatives of Eden II as Power tried to get them to join the fight.
Who or what was Morganna II and how did she feature in the grand scheme of things?
Morgana II was an android, a representation of Dread's wife Morgana. Unlike the other robotic foes Morgana II looked like a human being but was a very powerful and cunning robotic adversary. Steve Gerber wrote the script which introduced her and though it required some toning down, it did have the first cyber-sex scene ever presented (between Dread and Morganna II)...
Were there plans to re-surrect Pilot? If so, how?
NOPE. Pilot was quite dead and was meant to remain so... Jessica Steen wanted out of the show because she was afraid of being typecast as a "science fiction" actress. So Joe decided to get some drama out of that and killed her. Neither he nor I ever planned to resurrect her.
Did the writers ever develop any storylines to explain how Power met the individual members of the team?
NOPE. Though it would have been a logical thing to do and had the show continued, we probably would have done such episodes.
How was the Soaron defection going to play out? Was he actually going to defect and if so, how?
I know we talked about Soaron defecting, but we were already having trouble with the CGI characters, so I don't recall us going ahead with that.
Could you elaborate a little more on the situation with the CGI?
Yes. CGI was in its infancy then and CP used a Canadian outfit that promised they could really make viable characters out of Soaron and Blastaar. But as the season progressed it became painfully apparent that this outfit was NOT able to deliver what they said they could. Once we realized this, we began to cut back on these characters...
Were Pilot and Jon in love or was it a one sided brotherly figure type thing? We never really know I think from the final episode Retribution - your thoughts?
No question, they really were in love. The sad part was they never really accepted or declared their feelings for each other until it was way too late. Brother and sister? NO...
Were there any plans to give Ranger a Power Suit?
YES... Absolutely...
Christy Marx's 5-parter The Archers has a decidedly non-tech tilt to it, focusing on the inhabitants of a forest in Canada - why was this? And was the scene shift to Canada purposeful?
[T]he whole idea of The Archers and indeed, one of the themes of second season was that the Captain and his band were more than just technological soldiers, they could be formidable even without the heady tech they used in 1st season. It was a way of upping the stakes. And yes moving toward Canada was intentional. We had a very tight arc second season.
I think 'Judgment' does rank as one of the all time favourites of many of the fans [after Gemini and Counting] - partly because it is such a strong Pilot episode partly because it *finally* talks about Pilot's past. Pilot's past drives people nuts..it really does :)
Well I always thought we should bring up her past because it was full of dramatic gold. So I did...
Any particularly funny anecdotes you remember about working on set with the actors? What was it like working with Jessica Steen?
Well the set was in Toronto,Canada and I was in Los Angeles, so I never really got up there much. In fact only once, as season 1 was ending and season 2 was being readied. It was a helluva good set and lots of fun to hang around. I interviewed each actor as to what they would like to see their characters doing in season 2 and it was terrific. Even got to smoke a big old cigar with Sven. Jessica was a sweet woman, very nice, but by the time we met she was already on the way out of the show, so there was no reason for me to include her in the interviews. I don't recall anything exceptionally funny, outside of Peter MacNeill complaining that if he had to say "My butt's sore" one more time he would go mad. And Sven's terror when we told him we were planning on adding a new female member of the team who would develop a bit of an agressive crush on Tank. He said "Women terrify me. I love them, but they terrify me"...
Any particular good memories you have about working on the show? Funny moments/ sad moments/ personal moments you can recall?
Overall it was a great experience. It was my first serious live action job and I thought I did some pretty good work on it (particularly "Shattered" and "Judgment"). The actors and production team were great to work with and I think we did a nice job. Of course the saddest part was writing/editing 18 scripts for season 2 which then suddenly blew up when Mattel pulled out. I think the fans would have really loved those episodes.
If you had the chance to do it all again, if tomorrow CP got funding for a second season, is there anything you would change about it, format wise, plot wise?
Truth is I have talked to Gary Goddard about reviving Power and he is all for it, but is having trouble getting anyone to finance it. If I had to do it again, I'd change the name to just "Soldiers of the Future", so it sounded less like a kid show and in fact make it more of an adult SF series. Of course most of the actors are too old to reprise the parts (outside of the Captain and Scout)...
© Copyright Bernice Low, The Power Base.