What projects have you worked on before writing for Captain Power?
Prior to Captain Power I had written for animated series, starting with the CBS series "Dungeons & Dragons." It was one of those scripts that got me the chance to pitch on "Captain Power."
How did the opportunity to write for CP come up?
I was on a local animation writers' BBS in Los Angeles, of which Joe Straczynski was also a member. We got to chatting about writing, and when he announced the "go" on CP, he was willing to look at produced scripts from others on the BBS. I sent him my "Citadel of Shadow" script from D&D, and got a shot at CP.
What projects are you working on at present?
I most recently worked on a computer game from Ripcord Games titled STRATOSPHERE which will be out in May 1998, wrote one of the third season REBOOT scripts for Mainframe, co-wrote an animated feature with Christy Marx coming out on video April 28th titled THE SECRET OF MULAN, and did some writing for an interactive audio project from General Magic in the San Francisco Bay area.
What projects would you like to work on?
I'm hoping to segue into hour-long tv dramas, such as "Profiler."
How long have you been in TV/Animation?
Sold my first script at the end of 1984.
How old are you?
Old enough to know better; young enough to keep freelancing anyway.
Any hobbies or personal interests?
I write short fiction for science fiction anthologies, and am a regular contributor with fiction to Titan Books "The Official B5 Magazine" from the U.K. I read a lot as well, everything from books on the Vietnam War to mysteries to romances to cereal boxes. Insatiable curiosity.
Can you tell me a little bit about the perceptions you had about the characters? and who was your favourite character?
Well, of course I had a crush on Jonathan Power. It was only natural.
Can you tell us a little bit about the Captain Power scripts you wrote?
My scripts were written for first season, before Power Base was blown up.
"The Rose of Yesterday" highlighted Tank as he and the others tried to
evacuate an area just ahead of Dread's forces, not long after the start of
the war. The one hold-out, the one that caused Tank to risk his life to
stay behind to get her out was an older woman, a librarian, who refused to
leave her books. After all, Dread, like Hitler, was destroying every book
he could get his hands on, wiping out all trace of human imagination and dreams.
"The Room" was written second, and planned to be near the end of first
season. Based on an outline by J. Michael Straczynski, it was primarily a
Jonathan Power story, as he goes undercover to trace the disappearances of
entire towns, and finds Dread's genocide plans. Well, according to Dread it
wasn't genocide. He was digitizing everyone so they could be restored
later. But as far as the victims were concerned, and Jonathan Power, it was
indeed genocide.
NOTE:Katherine Lawrence's scripts are available for sale. They cost $15 U.S. each, or $25 for both to North American destinations, $40 for both to overseas destinations. For more details,visit her website,
Katherine Lawrence: Writer.
What interested you about the Captain Power universe? What kind of stories would you have liked, if given the opportunity, to explore?
I wrote exactly what I wanted to, especially with "Rose." I'm a firm
believer in the importance of books to feed imagination, and our souls. I
pitched because it was my first shot at live-action and I've always loved
science fiction.
How did it feel to be working with writers like Larry DiTillio and JMS?
I didn't work with Larry on that series, just Joe. It was great. It was
his first live-action series as well, so the learning process was felt by
both sides. There was plenty of time for questions and working things out.
When the series was cut from 26 episodes to 22, he apologized for putting
both of mine in the "cut" group, and explained why in ways that didn't
damage my ego. Too much.
I've worked with Larry on BEAST WARS a couple of years ago, and he's a
sweetheart to work with. Opinionated, fun, with an incredible sense of what
works and what doesn't.