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Day 15 Assignments
Reply to post your assignments.
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4 Replies
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Title:
Book => Hot Nights and Cold Wars: None of the Above 2
Adapted for TV => None of the Above, season 1.5, episodes 1 and 2.
Logline: When China constructs a land bridge to invade Taiwan, it brings the world to the brink of war.
INT – PEOC – DAY
Deep underground the White House is a small war zone. Shot up medical equipment and splattered IV bags. A broken katana penetrates one of the two damaged Andraste powered armors.
Secret Service agents and Army Generals try to debrief President MJ and Secretary of Defense Fernando Rivera after the attacks on the White House. Death toll: 8 conspirators in powered armor killed 112 people. One conspirator abandoned their Andraste and escaped on foot. It was Zelda. She will try to kill MJ again.
General reveals that a malfunction didn’t destroy the drone. The kill switch destroyed it. They discovered this kill switch can disable drones, missiles, helicopters, and much of America’s arsenal. The American military is now vulnerable and needs to minimize deployments.
MJ pretends to be surprised. It must be Renquist. Where has he escaped to? Renquist is the only one with the connections and she saw him destroy the drone with a small device when she tried to kill him. Her drone strike wasn’t legal, so she can’t share her info.
INT – WHITE HOUSE PARTY – DAY
News reporter Corella approaches MJ. MJ tries to intimidate her, but Corella tells her she is working for someone scarier than MJ. Corella writes the tail numbers of the plane MJ shot down. What does she know? MJ offers to meet.
Indian leader wants to move up war games against China. That gives less time to find the kill switch, but can’t say no, or Indian leader might wonder why. Why is India openly defying China? We find out that the nephew of the Indian leader was one of the soldiers killed in the latest China border clash.
INT – OVAL OFFICE – NIGHT
Corella arrives wearing data glasses. Is Corella going to record this meeting?
MJ gets up to object, but Corella hands her the data glasses. Corella is a front for someone else. Who could it be?
MJ puts on Corella’s data glasses over her own so she can record the conversation too. It’s Renquist, the man behind the assassination attempt on None, the man wanted for treason, her hated foe, the one she’s been looking for.
Renquist knows she blew up the plane and blamed it on terrorists. He’s the one that manipulated her into doing it. He can blackmail her.
Renquist explains why he made the kill switch. It was to disable American weapons that fell into the wrong hands. It wasn’t treason. Renquist is a patriot.
Renquist’s plan was to help Kombinat take over Russia with American weapons he could disable at any time. When MJ stopped his plan, the only bargaining chip he had for his life was to give Kombinat the kill switch.
In return for dropping the treason charges, Renquist will help her get the kill switch back. MJ will have to come in person and the attack on Kombinat has to be on the same day as the war games.
The stakes are too high if the kill switch stays in Russian hands. MJ has to think about it.
Renquist sends target and meeting coordinates. It’s deep in Russian territory in the arctic. The plan got more dangerous.
Corella leaves without the data glasses.
MJ sends Fernando the recording.
INT – OVAL OFFICE – NIGHT
MJ and Fernando discuss the deal. It’s probably a trap, but it’s their only lead. Their interests are aligned, so she might be able to trust Renquist temporarily. They hate the deal but see no alternative. A president in powered armor personally leading a special ops mission deep in Russian territory is insane. Talk about plausible deniability!
To avoid leaving evidence behind the mission will use Russian-made Andraste knockoffs for powered armor and Russian guns and ammo. Only MJ will use a real Andraste.
Fernando will lead the U.S. military during the war games, while MJ invades Russia.
They call Renquist back on Corella’s data glasses and make the deal.
INT – U.S. SUBMARINE – DAY
The submarine breaks through the ice in a weak spot near the meeting spot.
MJ calls Fernando on her data glasses. He shares satellite imagery on the Kombinat base. It isn’t lightly defended at all. There are over a hundred powered armors. It looks like a trap! Renquist lied to them.
She asks Fernando to look for an ambush near the meeting site. Renquist only has three henchmen with him, all four of them in Andrastes with oversized snowshoes. Even with powered armor, four people is not enough for an ambush. What’s going on?
Fernando shifts back to the Kombinat base. Planes are loading powered armors for takeoffs. They just needed to wait. It’s not a trap after all.
SEALs deploy from the main submarine and another mini-sub. They test whether the ice can carry enough weight with snowshoes. Once verified, MJ puts on an Andraste and exists the sub.
EXT – ICE – DAY
Renquist and his mercenaries join forces with MJ and her SEALS. They plod towards the base. They take off snowshoes when they reach land.
The Americans overcome the outside defenses and continue inside the Kombinat base.
INT – KOMBINAT BASE – DAY
The skeleton crew is defeated. All that remains is a few at the very back. The leader of the last holdouts is Zelda. When Zelda sees Renquist she gets her troops to hold their fire.
Zelda acts like she expected Renquist to hand over MJ. Instead, Renquist tells her how Zelda’s partner was really killed. Ivashov, leader of Kombinat, wanted to frame MJ for the death of her partner, so Ivashov made sure he bled out. Posing as a police consultant, he tried to get None to turn on MJ. He wouldn’t, so the plan failed. Ivashov let Zelda’s partner die for nothing and blamed it on MJ to make Zelda try to kill her.
Zelda’s troops attack. Zelda and the Americans dispatch them quickly.
Zelda gives up the kill switch and swears to kill Ivashov. She’ll even work as a spy to bring down Kombinat. As an afterthought, Zelda mentions she may still kill MJ after Ivashov is dead.
Russian patrols coming. Their satellites must have detected the explosions.
A mad dash to leave.
EXT – ICE – DAY
To run faster, MJ carries the snowshoes instead of wearing them. The ice cracks. MJ falls underwater and gets trapped under ice.
<end of episode 1>
EXT – UNDERWATER – DAY
Dropping. Dropping. The mini-sub latches onto MJ.
Sonic booms as jets fly overhead. MJ remains undetectable under water.
Action sequence as MJ and the SEALs have to evade Russian subs trying to find them while contending with limits on how much air and how much pressure the powered armors can handle and limitations of the mini-sub in arctic conditions.
INT – SUBMARINE – DAY
Low on oxygen and with micro-fractures in her helmet, MJ gets aboard the main sub for the trip home.
Once out of harm’s way, MJ contacts Fernando. He tells MJ three ships have run aground during the exercises near Taiwan. There can’t be that many incompetent captains. Something is going on.
INT – SITUATION ROOM – DAY
Fernando and MJ decide to destroy the kill switch to make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands again.
Fernando sets the satellites to look for topography changes. A search shows the Chinese coastline has been expanded near Taiwan and some nearby mountains are lower. They figure out the Chinese are building a land bridge to invade Taiwan. The topology changes are why so many ships ran aground.
Meanwhile, an intelligence report comes in that says Kombinat took over Russia’s government while much of the military was off at the war games with their ally China. Russia is now a rogue superpower with enough nukes to destroy the world, led by the man behind the brazen attacks on the White House. MJ has no idea what he’ll do with that power. At least now they know why Kombinat left their base almost undefended.
MJ and Fernando sit in shocked silence at the implications of what they’ve just learned.
INT – SITUATION ROOM – DAY
MJ, Fernando, and several generals watch as American and allied ships prepare to blockade the land bridge. They have to stop the invasion of Taiwan to save a free democracy, but also because most advanced semiconductors are created in Taiwan. Without a free Taiwan, there will be a massive shortage of new cars and electronic gadgets.
News of the blockade highlights the land bridge and likely invasion of Taiwan. Within hours the prices of electronics triple worldwide.
Will the blockade start a war with China?
Satellites look for military targets. There are only civilians. They can’t fire on civilians or they become the bad guy. There’s no way to stop the land bridge.
The civilians ignore the blockade. They continue to spew dirt into the ocean. The ships have to retreat before they too run aground as the ground rises around them.
EXT – TAIWAN STRAIT – DAY
The land bridge extends two miles from Taiwan.
All the technology secrets of global companies are kept in Taiwan’s fabs where the chips are made. That technology can’t fall into Chinese hands.
Fleets of 20 nations take up defensive positions around Taiwan.
Container ships and cruise ships filled with refugees evacuate the island.
INT – U.N. General Assembly – DAY
Taiwanese president declares Taiwan will fire on any men from China who are within one mile of their border, including civilians.
EXT – TAIWAN STRAIT – DAY
The land bridge reaches one mile from Taiwan. The trucks drive off to cheering on the Taiwan side.
Another set of trucks arrives, filled with women. Construction continues.
INT – U.N. General Assembly – DAY
The Taiwanese president declares Taiwan will fire on anyone within 600 feet.
EXT – TAIWAN STRAIT – DAY
The land bridge reaches 600 feet from Taiwan.
Defenders prepare to fire.
The workers spray dirt as far as they can, then retreat.
A caravan of school buses approaches.
A sea of children in bathing suits march down the land bridge.
INT – SITUATION ROOM – DAY
MJ and Fernando stare at each other. “We can’t fire on children. Now what?”
<end of episode 2>
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This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by P.G. Sundling.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by P.G. Sundling.
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I’m going to rework episode 2. I will make the Taiwan land bridge a slow burn over season 1.5 and do cold war escalations instead. The focus of episode 2 will become a missile defense system that sets China to begin a nuclear arms race with the U.S.
I’m focusing on catching up on my Binge Worthy TV class (13 assignments behind) since no one else has finished this assignment yet. When someone does, I’ll have the rework done in a day or two.
Note: I’m not including some non-thriller storylines in this analysis, like None of the Above’s recovery from his assassination attempt and his brain implant, which evolves into a sentient AI.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by P.G. Sundling.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by P.G. Sundling.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by
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This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by
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Version 2. Instead of making the Taiwan land bridge quickly extend, I decided to make it a longer thread throughout the half-season and shift focus to the overall cold war 2.0 instead.
Title:
Book => Hot Nights and Cold Wars: None of the Above 2
Adapted for TV => None of the Above, season 1.5, episodes 1 and 2.
Logline: When China constructs a land bridge to invade Taiwan, it brings the world to the brink of war.
INT – PEOC – DAY
Deep underground the White House is a small war zone. Shot up medical equipment and splattered IV bags. A broken katana penetrates one of the two damaged Andraste powered armors.
Secret Service agents and Army Generals try to debrief President MJ and Secretary of Defense Fernando Rivera after the attacks on the White House. Death toll: 8 conspirators in powered armor killed 112 people. One conspirator abandoned their Andraste and escaped on foot. It was Zelda. She will try to kill MJ again.
General reveals that a malfunction didn’t destroy the drone. The kill switch destroyed it. They discovered this kill switch can disable drones, missiles, helicopters, and much of America’s arsenal. The American military is now vulnerable and needs to minimize deployments.
MJ pretends to be surprised. It must be Renquist. Where has he escaped to? Renquist is the only one with the connections and she saw him destroy the drone with a small device when she tried to kill him. Her drone strike wasn’t legal, so she can’t share her info.
INT – WHITE HOUSE PARTY – DAY
News reporter Corella approaches MJ. MJ tries to intimidate her, but Corella tells her she is working for someone scarier than MJ. Corella writes the tail numbers of the plane MJ shot down. What does she know? MJ offers to meet.
Indian leader wants to move up war games against China. That gives less time to find the kill switch, but can’t say no, or Indian leader might wonder why. Why is India openly defying China? We find out that the nephew of the Indian leader was one of the soldiers killed in the latest China border clash.
INT – OVAL OFFICE – NIGHT
Corella arrives wearing data glasses. Is Corella going to record this meeting?
MJ gets up to object, but Corella hands her the data glasses. Corella is a front for someone else. Who could it be?
MJ puts on Corella’s data glasses over her own so she can record the conversation too. It’s Renquist, the man behind the assassination attempt on None, the man wanted for treason, her hated foe, the one she’s been looking for.
Renquist knows she blew up the plane and blamed it on terrorists. He’s the one that manipulated her into doing it. He can blackmail her.
Renquist explains why he made the kill switch. It was to disable American weapons that fell into the wrong hands. It wasn’t treason. Renquist is a patriot.
Renquist’s plan was to help Kombinat take over Russia with American weapons he could disable at any time. When MJ stopped his plan, the only bargaining chip he had for his life was to give Kombinat the kill switch.
In return for dropping the treason charges, Renquist will help her get the kill switch back. MJ will have to come in person and the attack on Kombinat has to be on the same day as the war games.
The stakes are too high if the kill switch stays in Russian hands. MJ has to think about it.
Renquist sends target and meeting coordinates. It’s deep in Russian territory in the arctic. The plan got more dangerous.
Corella leaves without the data glasses.
MJ sends Fernando the recording.
INT – OVAL OFFICE – NIGHT
MJ and Fernando discuss the deal. It’s probably a trap, but it’s their only lead. Their interests are aligned, so she might be able to trust Renquist temporarily. They hate the deal but see no alternative. A president in powered armor personally leading a special ops mission deep in Russian territory is insane. Talk about plausible deniability!
To avoid leaving evidence behind the mission will use Russian-made Andraste knockoffs for powered armor and Russian guns and ammo. Only MJ will use a real Andraste.
Fernando will lead the U.S. military during the war games, while MJ invades Russia.
They call Renquist back on Corella’s data glasses and make the deal.
INT – U.S. SUBMARINE – DAY
The submarine breaks through the ice in a weak spot near the meeting spot.
MJ calls Fernando on her data glasses. He shares satellite imagery on the Kombinat base. It isn’t lightly defended at all. There are over a hundred powered armors. It looks like a trap! Renquist lied to them.
She asks Fernando to look for an ambush near the meeting site. Renquist only has three henchmen with him, all four of them in Andrastes with oversized snowshoes. Even with powered armor, four people is not enough for an ambush. What’s going on?
Fernando shifts back to the Kombinat base. Planes are loading powered armors for takeoffs. They just needed to wait. It’s not a trap after all.
SEALs deploy from the main submarine and another mini-sub. They test whether the ice can carry enough weight with snowshoes. Once verified, MJ puts on an Andraste and exists the sub.
EXT – ICE – DAY
Renquist and his mercenaries join forces with MJ and her SEALS. They plod towards the base. They take off snowshoes when they reach land.
The Americans overcome the outside defenses and continue inside the Kombinat base.
INT – KOMBINAT BASE – DAY
The skeleton crew is defeated. All that remains is a few at the very back. The leader of the last holdouts is Zelda. When Zelda sees Renquist she gets her troops to hold their fire.
Zelda acts like she expected Renquist to hand over MJ. Instead, Renquist tells her how Zelda’s partner was really killed. Ivashov, leader of Kombinat, wanted to frame MJ for the death of her partner, so Ivashov made sure he bled out. Posing as a police consultant, he tried to get None to turn on MJ. He wouldn’t, so the plan failed. Ivashov let Zelda’s partner die for nothing and blamed it on MJ to make Zelda try to kill her.
Zelda’s troops attack. Zelda and the Americans dispatch them quickly.
Zelda gives up the kill switch and swears to kill Ivashov. She’ll even work as a spy to bring down Kombinat. As an afterthought, Zelda mentions she may still kill MJ after Ivashov is dead.
Russian patrols coming. Their satellites must have detected the explosions.
A mad dash to leave.
EXT – ICE – DAY
To run faster, MJ carries the snowshoes instead of wearing them. The ice cracks. MJ falls underwater and gets trapped under ice.
<end of episode 1>
EXT – UNDERWATER – DAY
Dropping. Dropping. MJ falls into darkness.
The mini-sub latches onto MJ.
Sonic booms as jets fly overhead. MJ remains undetectable under water.
Action sequence as MJ and the SEALs have to evade Russian subs trying to find them while contending with limits on how much air and how much pressure the powered armors can handle and limitations of the mini-sub in arctic conditions.
INT – SUBMARINE – DAY
So cold. Low on oxygen and with micro-fractures in her helmet, MJ gets aboard the main sub for the trip home.
Once out of harm’s way, MJ contacts Fernando. He tells MJ three ships have run aground during the exercises near Taiwan. There can’t be that many incompetent captains. Something is going on.
INT – SITUATION ROOM – DAY
Fernando and MJ decide to destroy the kill switch to make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands again.
Fernando sets up satellites to look for topography changes where the ship ran aground.
An intelligence report comes in that says Kombinat took over Russia’s government while much of the military was off at the war games with their ally China. Russia is now a rogue superpower with enough nukes to destroy the world, led by the man behind the brazen attacks on the White House. MJ has no idea what he’ll do with that power. At least now they know why Kombinat left their base almost undefended.
MJ and Fernando sit in shocked silence at the implications of what they’ve just learned.
INT – PENTAGON – DAY
Fernando covers how America and Russia have thousands of missiles, but China only has hundreds. With new hypersonic missiles, their nukes are more dangerous than ever.
Fernando shows a presentation on Eagle Eye. A new missile defense system counters the latest hypersonic missiles, even those able to circle the entire globe and hit anywhere. In the demo, the President and generals watch. Satellites destroy an evading missile with beam weapons.
INT – SITUATION ROOM – DAY
The topology analysis is done. The Chinese coastline expanded near Taiwan and some nearby mountains dropped altitude. They figure out the Chinese are building a land bridge to invade Taiwan. The topology changes are why so many ships ran aground.
They have to stop the invasion of Taiwan to save a free democracy, but also because all the technology secrets of global companies are kept in Taiwan’s fabs where the chips are made. That technology can’t fall into Chinese hands. Without a free Taiwan, there will be a massive shortage of new cars and electronic gadgets for years.
INT – PENTAGON – DAY
Generals discuss countermeasures against a Taiwan invasion.
The meeting is interrupted. The existence of Eagle Eye leaked as breaking news.
INT – OVAL OFFICE – DAY
The President warns the world about the construction of a land bridge toward Taiwan. Accuses China of pushing for war.
INT – CHINESE EMBASSY – DAY
The Chinese ambassador responds. Taiwan is part of China and it’s an internal matter.
China didn’t join the arms race during the cold war. Its strategy was minimum deterrence, as there is no need to destroy the world more than once.
The construction of Eagle Eye destabilized the nuclear balance. There is no longer such a thing as minimum deterrence. The U.S. warmongers challenged China to join an arms race and China accepts.
INT – SITUATION ROOM – DAY
U.S. and Russia will no longer be the only ones with thousands of nuclear weapons.
<end of episode 2>
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Since no classmates are responding to connection requests and it’s been almost two months I’m going to mark this assignment done. I’m of course still willing to exchange feedback if the opportunity arises.
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