Realizing that I would soon be out of work, I decided to develop a script and hopefully produce a cartoon with the characters during the lay-off. I started writing the script, which just kept on getting longer and longer. It finally ended up being timed out at 20 minutes long.
I drew up the storyboard and location designs and then did the formal character designs. The story was in 5 sections; Section A was the introduction to Homes and Whatsit at Homes' apartment. Section B introduced Professor Morethanartie and his massive sidekick, Dobie as they steal the crown jewels from the royal yaught. Homes arrives later to interview the crew of the ship and finds a clue that Morethanartie had left for him on purpose. In Section C Homes and Whatsit speak with Inspector Lastrawed down at Scotland Yard. In Section D, Homes explains (through a flashback) that while he was in medical school working on his final project, Morethanartie, his jealous classmate sabotaged his work by transferring the brain of a chicken into his project. Morethanartie was caught and subsiquently expelled in disgrace. Morethanartie turned to a life of crime and has been obsessed with the humiliation and destruction of Homes. Homes feels that he is ultimately responsible and must face Morethanartie alone. In Section E Homes goes to Morethanarties abandoned warehouse hideout. He is captured by Morethanartie who straps Homes to an operating table and proceeds to hook Homes up to his brain transferral device with the diabolical idea of switching Homes' brain with a chickens. The tension mounts and just as Morethanartie is about to throw the switch, in burst Lastrawed and Whatsit. Morethanartie throws the switch but the transfer backfires and actually switches his brain with the chickens. Lastrawed cuffs the chicken and leads both him and the clucking Morethanartie off to jail.
Here are a few odds and ends from the production.
