The Flying Squirrels dossier

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Synopsis

concept

first episodes

storyline overview

art and techniques

characters

graphic Bible

index


Five friends enter into the depths of Dragon

City in search of a mysterious chest that

grants all wishes. They will confront the

forces of the most powerful group on

the planet and avoid the dangers of the

underworld in order to succeed where

their parents failed.

They are descendants of ancient lineages of

pirates, they have been trained and they are

not afraid.

They areThe Flying Squirrels!

the synopsis


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Flying Squirrels is an adventures and

mystery series, with touches of humour.

The story takes place in a near future,

in the mega-metropolis of Dragon City,

a city older than Rome that conceals

thousand-year-old secrets and the

subterranean worlds on which it was

built. The planet is monitored by the

powerful Builder Corp, financial elite

that wants to control Dragon City.

Within this setting, four adolescent

friends must find the last magical

element beyond Builder Corp’s reach:

A Chest that grants all wishes. To do

this, they join forces with the intrepid

Sara Monk, who will help them in their

adventures.

The main purpose of the series is to

recover the passion for adventure,

whilst narrating the passage from

the CONCEPT

adolescence to adulthood. On a

symbolic level, Builder Corp (or

Upperworld) represents adult control,

while the city’s subterranean worlds

and The Cave of Hell (or Underworld)

relate to the more basic emotions

of childhood. In this vertical outline,

the protagonists are in the middle,

confronting both adult control and

their own emotions, in the process of

adolescent growth. The Sacred Chest

that grants all wishes illustrates the

idea that growing does not mean we have

to stop dreaming, but instead means

learning to accept the consequences of

our decisions. Even when the decision is

to not make a decision, we are making

a choice and therefore we must face

the consequences.


Pilot episodeMassimo Giangrandi turns up in the antique shop of the elders in 54 street after many years. The three elders deal the tarots, but cannot answer Massimo’s questions. As he leaves, Sara Monk is spying on him. Sara goes to Lou’s Café, which is already almost empty. She connects her laptop and prepares for “Operation Worm”. Night falls and the school appears peaceful. Suddenly, Joseph Drake deftly crosses the park that surrounds the High School. Pep Morgan disconnects the security cameras and Joseph manages to slip into the High School via a ventilation shaft. Once inside, a huge wolf appears in the High School corridor. Joseph manages to escape with Pep’s help, who shoots two tranquilizer darts at the wolf. John Ferro, in the sewer tunnels under the High School, manages to deactivate the energy box that powers the alarms. The three, remote-controlled by Sara, enter the top floor after breaking through the security barriers. Sara can see everything that the boys see through the special glasses they are wearing. That is how she guides them to the Information Centre, an area protected by a 6-digit code. Sara manages to decipher the code so the boys can enter. The place looks like Massimo’s private museum. There are photos and cuttings from old newspapers, and an old map of Dragon City. The map reveals caverns, passageways, ruins and all sorts of mythological animals beneath the City. On it is drawn “The Cave of Hell”, a place that the boys have heard spoken of as an urban myth. But the Wolf wakes up and surprises them. The boys manage to shut it in the Information Centre. Nevertheless, due to an

oversight, the alarms reactivate and the boys have to quickly escape from the High School via

the sewer system. A small camera

that is still working sends the image of the boys to a Builder Corp satellite. The next day, Massimo finds Vladimir shut in the Information Centre. Joseph is called to Massimo’s office. There, the principal introduces him to Pierre Corso, a student that has come from abroad and specifically requested to be in the same class as Joseph. Pierre and Joseph greet each other as if they don’t know each other. Before leaving the office, Massimo warns Joseph that, although he cannot prove it, he knows that the Flying Squirrels are behind the previous night’s break-in. Once outside the school, Pierre and Joseph embrace after years of not seeing each other. Pierre tells Joseph that he is here to find out what happened to his father. The elders of 54 street deal the tarots once more and discover that the game has recommenced. The city is awakening.

Episode 02: The Iron Ball. In Lou’s café, Sara and the boys discuss everything they saw in Massimo’s office and especially the old map of Dragon City. Sara is not convinced that those caverns and caves beneath the city really exist, but Joseph is. But they know that if they manage to open the city, they will find something. The boys decide to show Pierre their “headquarters” and so they leave with him. Sara decides to visit the antique shop, in search of another clue. When she gets there, the elders welcome her with delight. Sara tells them she is a reporter preparing a report on the influential people of Dragon City. The elders laugh and shout out double entendres that Sara fails to understand. She does not know if the elders know

FIRST EPISODES


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more than they are letting on or if they are just utterly bonkers. Sara receives a message from John to meet them in the headquarters and says goodbye to the elders. The elders give her an old snow globe with a penguin inside. Sara puts it in her bag and leaves. Before leaving through the door, the elders warn her that she must open “the first door”. After this, they laugh hysterically and Sara leaves. In their headquarters, the boys are showing Pierre their urban trophies. When Sara arrives, she tells them about the elders and shows them the gift. Suddenly, a mechanism activates and the snow globe opens. The small penguin gives them the message that a door of the Cave of Hell will be activated on the top floor of the Great Tower that very day. To enter the door they must score the iron ball through the hoop at the top of the Great Tower. Without fully understanding, Sara and the boys set off towards the city centre. Meanwhile, two Builder Corp agents call Massimo from a point in the city and tell him that the door on the top floor of the Great Tower has started activating. It is time for action. Massimo sends Sumo and his team. The Flying Squirrels arrive at the foot of the Great Tower at the same time as Sumo Kabuto and his followers. They are all looking for the iron ball, until they discover that it is part of a sculpture at the foot of the Great Tower. The boys manage to get hold of it and start a race to the top, to try and score it in the giant hoop that forms the logo of the Great Tower. After a desperate race, John sends Pep flying towards the hoop with his superhuman force, to net the ball. Joseph and Pierre overtake Sumo and reach the top floor, where is an infinite number of doors. Sumo Kabuto does not give up and decides to open all the doors, one by one. This unleashes a chain reaction that locks the Tower. Suddenly, an enormous mechanism activates and the Tower starts sinking into the ground at full speed. The boys must leave the top floor to save their lives. At the last moment, they manage to flee the building, before it all sinks underground.

Now the Flying Squirrels are certain they are all chasing after an all-too powerful secret.

Episode 03: Journey to Orient Town Pierre hears that the leader of the Yakuzas might have information about his father. So the Flying Squirrels decide to enter the City’s dangerous Oriental district. This is a chaotic place, where the spirit of the ancient Orient appears to be stuck in time. They say that nobody leaves Orient Town alive, but the Flying Squirrels are afraid of nothing. There, while Joan fights in a Sumo contest, the others confront a group of cannibal Ninjas, in order to reach the organization’s leader. To everyone’s surprise, the head of the Yakuzas is a woman: Akane Ko. She is the princess of evil, belonging to a race of women that holds vital information, which is thousands of years old. Akane Ko decides to help the Flying Squirrels, but not without an ulterior motive. She tells them they will find answers about Pierre’s father in the city’s abandoned port. They must find a man that lives there, who calls himself Big Moses. In exchange for this information, Akane Ko warns them that one day, although this day may never arrive, she will require their services.

Episode 04: Surfing in the Underground World As the port’s abandoned shipyard area is totally inaccessible from the surface, the Flying Squirrels decide to enter it via the City’s underground sewers. There the Flying Squirrels discover a world inhabited by the Plumbers, beings that never go to the surface. They are rather dwarf-like, with very big eyes, as they have never seen the light of day. They have lived in the sewers since time immemorial, in a green-


Sacred Chest. To achieve this, they must train and pass tests. Thus, Moses becomes the Flying Squirrels’ mentor.

Episode 06: Mr. Tic-Tac The Flying Squirrels must pass the first test that Moses sets them. They must help the Plumbers, who live in the sewers and are constantly threatened by a terrible crocodile known as Mr. Tic-tac. When Mr. Tic-tac gets angry, he is so terrifying he could swallow anything. He lives in the pipes and forces the Plumbers to work for him in exchange for not devouring them. When the Flying Squirrels meet Mr. Tic-tac face to face, they are amused at first be-cause of his height. But, when he unleashes his fury, he devours three Plumbers in one mouthful, just to show them how fearsome he is. The battle ends when Mr. Tic-Tac tries to swallow Joan. Unfortu nately Joan is so big, he gets stuck in his esophagus. Strangely enough, he discovers a strange watch in Mr. Tic-Tac’s stomach. When they return to Moses, he tells them they have found a watch that was lost many years ago. Apparently, past events can be seen on the watch.

Episode 07: Journey to the Past With the help of the watch and their guide Moses, the Flying Squirrels discover the relationship that unites Massimo Giangrandi with Francis Corso, Pierre’s father. Using the watch, the Flying Squir rels observe images of the past, where the young Giangrandi and Corso are team mates, aspiring to reach the Cave of Hell. But all their plans are thwarted at the end, and Francis escapes with the Sacred Chest.

colored underground city, and want nothing to do with the inhabitants above the ground. And so they make it difficult for the Flying Squirrels to find their way to the shipyards. However, Pep decides to enter the sewers’ annual surfing competition, because the circuit ends in the port’s shipyards. And so the Flying Squirrels compete against the Plumbers, surfing on a wave of sewage waste. Finally, they not only manage to win the competition, but also manage to escape from the sewers and reach the shipyards.

Episode 05: Big Moses The Flying Squirrels reach the area of the abandoned shipyards in search of Big Moses. It is not easy for them to find him, as the shipyards are immense and, as they advance, they sense someone is watching them. Suddenly, they fall into an ambush and are caught by two enormous Amazonian-type women: these are Left and Right. The Flying Squirrels try to fight against them, but the women are extremely agile and master several fighting techniques, thus overpowering them. As the two women are about to throw the Flying Squirrels into the sea, Big Moses appears. He is a black man with white hair and the air of a guru. When Big Moses hears Pierre Corso’s name, he orders his bodyguards, Left and Right, to release the Flying Squirrels. Once in his hide-out, Moses explains to the boys that no one knows where Pierre’s father is, but the only way of ascertaining this

is to compete in the Cave of Hell and reach the

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At the same time, Massimo Giangrandi, the head of the mafia, also acts as the high school principal as a cover for his dirty business. Massimo is also after the Sacred Chest. Sara Monk has personal reasons for closely following Massimo’s steps: her father, the detective Monk, is obsessed with catching him.

The boys discover that, 15 years ago, Massimo was one of the team of pirates that tried to open the Sacred Chest, along with Francis Corso. But Francis fled with the Chest to keep it out of the hands of the ambitious Massimo.

In their ongoing search for the Sacred Chest and helped by various other characters, the boys become embroiled in all sorts of adventures. They must overcome dangerous tests and enter deeper and deeper into the underground world of Dragon City, always pursued by Builder Corp and by Sumo Kabuto, Massimo’s protégé.

Finally they manage to reach the Cave of Hell. Besides overcoming the numerous obstacles, Pierre must confront his father. Once they obtain the Sacred Chest, they realize they must assume the consequences for any wish they make, which in many cases will destroy the wish. The boys learn that to grow up is to learn to live with the weight of your own decisions. That is how John, like Atlas, takes responsibility for opening the Chest.

STORY LINE

In a near future, Dragon City is a metropolis so large and old that it has been built time and again on its own ruins. The city is threatened by the Builder Corp financial elite that uses advanced technology to monitor and control everything that goes on there. The last magical element beyond its reach is the Sacred Chest: a hundred-year old chest that grants the wishes of whoever opens it. Every 15 years, the subterranean worlds of Dragon City set in motion and, like a sort of clock mechanism, the city awakens. Fantastic elements and characters that live under the city turn into death traps that guard the passage to The Cave of Hell, a cavern close to the centre of the Earth where the final battle for the Sacred Chest is fought. Builder Corp is after this trophy. However, to open the Sacred Chest you must have pirate blood running through your veins. Therefore, the elite needs pirates and privateers if it hopes to obtain the Sacred Chest.

At the ground level of Dragon City, Joseph Drake, Pep Morgan and John Ferro are three high school students living a life that seems far-removed from this mystery, on a backdrop of total normality. But with the arrival of Pierre Corso, a new student from overseas, things change. Pierre wants to solve a mystery that has tormented him all his life: the disappearance of his father 15 years ago. With the help of Sara Monk, a tenaciously intelligent and very beautiful student, the four boys discover that the disappearance of Francis Corso is tied to the mystery of the Cave of Hell and the Sacred Chest.


PLOTS

The main plot that guides the story line of the whole series revolves around the adventures that the Flying Squirrels experience in order to reach the Cave of Hell and obtain the Sacred Chest. Our protagonists are opposed by the omnipresent Builder Corp, as well as Massimo Giangrandi and Sumo Kabuto.

To this group objective must be added the personal motivations of each protagonist, which guide the successive plots. For Pierre, discovering the Cave of Hell is a way of finding out what happened to his father. For Joseph, it presents the possibility of obtaining glory and being the best. The story of Francis Corso is fundamental due to the emotional component, especially if we consider that Pierre has lived all his life with the stigma of being the son of a traitor. Although Francis does not appear in the story until the last episode, his presence is palpable throughout the whole series.

The problematic relationship of Sara Monk and her father, the detective Monk, forms another sub-plot that adds complexity to both characters. The detective is obsessed with catching Massimo, what leads him to be an absent father. This draws Sara into trying to uncover Massimo’s murky business, to win her father’s approval.

Also in the past lies the explanation as to why Francis Corso fled with the Sacred Chest. Francis, Massimo, Moses and Nagai Kabuto, Sumo’s father, were the team of pirates that tried to get hold of the Chest 15 years ago. They were a team like the Flying Squirrels, but one of the death traps of the Cave of Hell killed Nagai Kabuto. Francis knew that Massimo was extremely ambitious and was aware of the danger of

the Chest falling into his hands. Yet he did not feel his character was strong enough to bear the weight involved in opening the Chest. And that is why he decided to flee with it. His intention was to do good, even when this meant betraying his team. Massimo, torn apart by the death of his friend Nagai, and full of anger over Francis’ betrayal, has waited many years to come face to face with Francis again and exact his revenge. Moses on the other hand, has retired and lives in the abandoned shipyards of the port.

There are also romantic sub-plots in the new generation. Both Pierre and Joseph find Sara attractive. But she is too mature for them. The plot becomes more complex when Sara sets her sights on Sumo Kabuto, the Flying Squirrels’ personal enemy.

Sumo Kabuto also has personal reasons for pitting himself against the Flying Squirrels. On the one hand, he wants to get his hands on the Sacred Chest. On the other, he wants to take revenge on Francis Corso for having fled with the wish that the Chest grants, instead of using it at the time to bring his father back to life. This thirst for revenge has been stoked by Massimo throughout all these years.

And finally, there is the symbolic plot that transposes the rivalry between Francis and Massimo onto the new generation. Pierre occupies his father’s place, while Joseph, with his more ambitious side, could end up doomed just like Massimo. It will be in the hands of the boys to succeed where their parents failed so miserably.


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Transition from the 2D illustrations into the 3D series The technology planned for the series is CGI, from construction and development of

the characters and 3D backgrounds (Autodesk Maya); to post-production techniques

and Motion Graphics (Adobe AfterEffects) with some traditional animation and comic

techniques. All this will be integrated, to achieve a final result that will be very

close to the aesthetics of contemporary western comics. All the colour details,

lighting, textures are designed to create a credible “moving comic” universe, which will

provide great freedom in terms of shots and frames, always maintaining the classical

cinematographic narrative concept (which is also found in the aforementioned comics)

where the story is more important than being spectacular, or the technique used. The

aesthetic goal of the use of color and texturing techniques typical 2D on the figures

and backgrounds modeled in three dimensions, is to avoid the typical style of 3D

textures that are often flat and hard.

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From the narrative point of view, the transition from 3D to 2D/illustration is a tool used to punctuate moments in the story, to highlight actions or remark turning points in the narrative facts. For example, transitions to short flashbacks or situations where the action seems to get "paused", the step from 3D over 2D serves to intensify the moment and give it visual significance that accompanies the script. This “comic-like” integration will not be used more than a few seconds per episode, and only in case the story justified it, since the series is basically in 3D.

Narrative use of the 2D illustration in the 3D series.

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Narrative use of 2D illustrations into 3D series. From the narrative point of view, the transition from 3D to 2D/illustration is

a tool used to punctuate moments in the story, to highlight actions or remark

turning points in the narrative facts. For example, transitions to short flashbacks

or situations where the action seems to get “paused”, the step from 3D over 2D

serves to intensify the moment and give it visual significance that accompanies the

script. This “comic-like” integration will not be used more than a few times per

episode, and only in case the story justified it, since the series is basically in 3D.


Real world vs. Fantastic world.

The series “The Flying Squirrels” is a story about adventures and mysteries. It takes place in a real world and a fantastic world. These two worlds are not separated, they are one world, but the introduction of the imaginary world in the real world (and vice versa) will be performed gradually. The story starts in an ordinary environment (the school) and in steps the audience is entering the fantastic worlds (The underworld, the Cave of Hell, etc). The way the real world works and rules are well known by everyone. Although, the logic of the fantastic world shall be introduced in a progressive way to let the audience understand the codes of narrative facts that rule these worlds. In the same way, the transition of the characters from regular teenagers to heroes has also to be performed in a gradual way.

That is why the tests they have to pass are more complex every time, and the dangers they have to face

are bigger with the running of the episodes.

This progressivity, give us the chance

of constructing a unique universe that will reach a point where the fantastic elements are integrated into the real world (and real elements into the fantastic worlds) without the need to explain it logically and separate one from the other.

Real World

There are two main settings in the real world: the school and the town. In school everything works (at least seemingly) like in every other school we know. There is the autho-rity, represented by Massimo Giangrandi, and there are other characters that belong to that environment as well. Even though, all the narrative tone suggests a lot of elements that are above the reality (the school’s director is a gangster, the younger students are mys-teriously disappearing, the girls seems to be almighty and to have secret information). The town is the setting of the show. Many citizens are criminals. In this urban atmosphere the Flying Squirrels are perfecting their skills in basketball,


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skateboarding and grafitti, always with the intention to earn the recognitions of the olders. This urban underworld, always inside the limits of a realistic register, is out of the limits of the average teenager. This setting prepares the audience for the following step: the fantastic world.

Fantastic world.

The fantastic world is, at the beginning, separated from the real world to emphasize the contrast between both and highlight the fact that the main characters have to go through their own routine world (school/ town) to enter into the universe of adventures which takes them towards the action. However, with running of the episodes, the Fantastic world will get integrated into the Real world (elements of one world appear in the other world, without seeming strange for the audience). The idea is that there is not a physical gate between both worlds, but fantastic

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elements which are completly integrated in the logic of the series. In this way, the sewer in the city (Real world) is populated with radioactive zombies that

live in a nuclear waste beach drain setting (Fantastic World). The China Town of the city (Real world) is an impregnable place, where the ancient oriental culture seems to be frozen on time, and where the Chinese Mafia is cloning Cannibal ninjas to gain the control of the Cave of Hell (Fantastic world). The old port of the City (Real world) has a secret section where pirates still live hidden between rotten galleons and garbage, protecting the treasures of the imperial time and awaiting eagerly the return of the Cave of Hell (Imaginary world). The school porter and right hand of Massimo (Real world) is a werewolf (Fantastic world) and the audience will witness the transformation in a later episode.

Opening credits.

The idea is to introduce the fantastic plot (The Cave of Hell and the Sacred Chest) in the opening credits of every episode. In this way, right from the beginning the audience will be aware that there is a fantastic world. And the audience will get hints about the final aim of the main characters (to reach the Sacred Chest).


characters

SARA MONK

She is a high school friend of the Flying Squirrels, although she is much more mature than them. She is intelligent and calculating. She remains calm when the boys’ emotions get the better of them. She has a natural beauty, which lies especially in her mysterious and distant attitude. She has a good command of technology and great powers of deduction. She is the brains behind the Flying Squirrels’ adventures. She always gets her hands on the latest technological devices, which she “borrows”

from the office of her father, Detective Monk. Sara’s main aim is to uncover the dirty business of

Massimo Giangrandi .

Being so efficient and brainy, Sara runs the risk of

being too cool and never showing her emotions.

Sara’s family history is complicated: her mother died when she was very young. Since then, she has lived with her father, detective Monk, the chief of police. Detective Monk is obsessed with catching Massimo, which is why he stopped paying attention to his daughter a long time ago. To win her father’s approval, Sara wants to discover Massimo’s secrets no matter what.


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JOSEPH DRAKE

Like Dumas’ D’ Artagnan, Joseph is the group leader and the sacrificed hero. He is the quixotic type that, no matter how injured he is, always returns for more. His main aim is to always reach seemingly unattainable goals and to be the best. He is enthusiastic and is always seeking to exceed himself. He is protective and always looks after his friends. He is brave, valiant and very sure of himself, although a little proud. One of his greatest fears is to fail and let himself and others down. Being so competitive, he also runs the risk of becoming extremely ambitious. As well as being a skilful basketball player, he is very

g o o d at skateboarding and parkour.

Joseph’s history is special, because he was an orphan from birth. Although his parents

do not appear throughout the story, he is a descendant of pirates. He was adopted by Francis Corso when he was a boy and spent his childhood with Pierre as if they were brothers. However, when Francis escaped with the Sacred Chest and Pierre was taken abroad, Joseph had to grow up in boarding schools and care homes.


PIERRE CORSO

Pierre is the tormented hero, in the style of Aramis of the Three Musketeers. He has attitude and is too cool to be true. He is elegant, refined and gentlemanly in his manners, being the descendent of a family of renowned corsairs. He is analytical and reserved, and his thoughts always have a deeper meaning than those of the rest of the team. His main aim is to find out what happened to his father. He bears the burden

of being “the son of a traitor”, dragging

this with him throughout the story. His greatest fear is to not arrive

at the truth. Due to his personality, he runs the risk of falling into impractical theorising and into inaction due to over-analysis. He is extremely skilful at roller-skating and nobody can beat him at fencing.

Pierre is also a maternal orphan. As a child he was raised by his father, but when they had to flee and Francis disappeared, he was forced to grow up with private teachers and governesses outside of Dragon City. Now he has returned and will not rest until he has uncovered the mystery.


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PEP MORGAN

Pep is the joker and libertine of the group. Dwarfish and red-haired, what he lacks in height he makes up for in self-esteem. He is completely streetwise and knows how to get what he wants one way or another. He believes that the end justifies the means and, just like a cat, he always lands on his feet. He is the coarsest of the group; he uses foul language and is very noisy. He has a clear tendency towards womanizing and is an expert in seducing girls. Nevertheless, his deep down aim is to find true love. Due to his hedonistic nature, he runs the risk of becoming superficial. His

greatest weakness is to not take anything seriously and above all to act selfishly by saving his own skin first. He is the fastest on a bicycle and a huge fan of video games.

Pep’s family life is quite independent. He comes from a family of the worst kind of pirates. His parents are very humble and have too many children to pay attention to them all. This has led Pep to spending a lot of time on the street since he was small, which has made him completely independent and he knows how to look after himself.


JOHN FERRO

John is the innocent one of the group. Like Porthos of the Three Musketeers, he is tall, sturdy and strong, but above all loyal. John is basically a good person, at peace with himself and in harmony with his friends and loved ones. That is why he has no other aim than t o be with his friends and protect them if necessary. He is genuine and avoids people who are two-faced. He is totally honest and finds it impossible to lie. He is often dragged into the adventures by his friends. Being a bit fat he is not very agile, but possesses the

strength of a thousand men. But John only uses it when necessary.

He is a computer enthusiast and has a great artistic sensibility that is

reflected in his graffiti.

He has the most stable family life. John’s parents have a bakery where he works in the mornings baking bread. He is an only child and grew up in an environment full of love and affection. His pirate blood comes from his mother’s side, who, although very small, also has extraordinary physical strength.


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MASSIMO GIANGRANDI

He is the arch enemy of the Flying Squirrels. Officially he is the high school principal, but really he is the head of organized crime in Dragon City. He is cold and calculating, and will use whoever is necessary to obtain what he wants. He is extremely ambitious, and a power-seeker. Yet his motivation is completely emotional: revenge. His main aim is to return to the Cave of Hell, confront Francis Corso and recover the Sacred Chest. To achieve this, he manipulates Sumo Kabuto and tries to hide information from the Flying Squirrels because he is aware of the threat they represent.

Massimo also descends from a family of pirates. He was part of a team together with Francis, Moses and Nagai Kabuto. He was an ambitious young man and had his opportunity to obtain the Sacred Chest, but Francis snatched it. Since then, he has passed to the dark side and reinforced his power in the criminal world to such an extent that he has accumulated large sums of money. He has contact with Builder Corp, although he does not belong to these elite.

FRANCIS CORSO

He is Pierre’s father. He also descends from a family of wealthy corsairs and possesses a great fortune. His disappearance is a mystery to everyone. Years ago he was a member of a team of pirates with Massimo, Moses and Nagai Kabuto. When they finally managed to reach the Cave of Hell, Francis realized that Massimo was too ambitious to open the Chest. Yet he did not feel his own character was strong enough to bear the responsibility that opening the Chest entailed. And that is why he decided to flee with it, without using it. Although he does not appear until the last episode of the series, his presence is latent throughout the story. Francis is actually the employee of the Elders of 54 Street. He has been living in the antique shop since he escaped with the Sacred Chest, but is always in the background, sweeping or arranging boxes. You never see his face. At a symbolic level, he is a character that remained trapped in the time, as he could not assume the consequences of using the Sacred Chest.


MÖSES

He is another member of Francis Corso’s old team. After Francis disappeared, Möses withdrew and no one has known of his whereabouts since then. He lives in an abandoned shipyard of Dragon City port. There, he is assisted by two Amazonians who are his henchmen: Left and Right. When the Flying Squirrels find out about his existence, they seek him out so he can tell them the truth about the past. Möses will become a sort of Guru for the boys, and Left and Right will become their allies in adventures.

SYD MONK

Syd Monk is Dragon City’s chief of police. He is a man of sound ideals. He is obsessed with justice. But the death of his wife made him hard and impenetrable. His fight against evil is personified in his obsession with catching Massimo. Because of this, he neglected his relationship with Sara. He represents the most dogmatic side of the law.


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ELDERS OF 54 STREET

They are three elders that own an antique shop on 54 street. They are bad-tempered and very adept merchants. They appear inoffensive and insignificant, but are actually vitally important characters. They represent memory. They are 300 years old and they have seen the Sacred Chest pass from one hand to another since distant times. They are always dealing tarots and revealing prophecies. They have employed Francis Corso in their antique shop throughout all these years, following the wise principle of “the best way of hiding something is to put it right in front of everyone”. On a symbolic level, they are like the three Greek Moirae that weave everyone’s destinies.

SUMO KABUTO

He is the same age as the Flying Squirrels and represents their double negative. He is strong and handsome and his aim is to avenge the death of his father, Nagai Kabuto. As he also descends from a family of pirates, Massimo has taken care of him all these years, because he knows that the only way to access the Sacred Chest is through him. Sumo tries to beat the Flying Squirrels in each test to be passed. He also tries to divide them, by seducing Sara Monk.


DRAGON CITY

It is the single biggest stage of the all series. The entire story takes place in the city. It is so named because it is crossed by a meandering river which refers to the shape of a dragon. It is a chaotic city full of canals, alleyways and narrow streets. The city operates vertically, therefore it has several levels. The zero level, sort of speaking, is where daily life unfolds, tied to more realistic features. But just as a Roman city, Dragon City is so ancient that under the zero level there are many other levels, where ruins

VLADIMIR

He is Massimo Giangrandi’s bodyguard. He is huge and never speaks, which makes him reckless. He is actually a werewolf from the subterranean world in the bowels of Dragon City. He is a character that lives at the city’s ground level, but reminds us that the fantastical elements are also present in the most everyday environments. He is always after the Flying Squirrels, who often have to work as a team in order to defeat him.

BUILDER CORP.

Although not a specific character as such, it has a fundamental importance. It represents control. This is an economic elite that dominates the world, a type of Big Brother. Yet, we never manage to see them. Their force lies in their total anonymity. They possess the technological and political capacity to control information. They are often represented by

visual elements such as security cameras, cars with polarized glass, and characters in

suit and tie whose faces are never seen. They are after the Sacred Chest, which is the last magical element to escape their control and the last possibility of changing the world for the best. But they know that only a pirate can open the Chest, which is why they need people like Massimo or Sumo Kabuto.

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and subterranean worlds are also part of the city coexisting in a context fantastic. There is not a real world and a fantasy world. Both are integrated and coexist. The elements of fantasy and realistic elements are interacting, forming the diegesis of the story.

CAVE OF HELL

It is a physical space, which is deep in Dragon City. This is an inaccessible cave and remains empty. Its name is because is so deep that some areas are overrun by lava, which makes it extremely hot and dangerous. Every 20 years, is the scenario where the possession of the Sacred Chest is played. In this space takes place the final competition for the award. The competition is no longer a game of streetball, but an epic final battle, full of traps and danger, where they play a lot more to the Sacred Chest. During this final battle is where it closed, in addition, the plotlines of the story of Pierre with his father, Massimo and Sarah Monk.

SACRED CHEST

It is the ultimate prize that everyone wants. Physically, it is a treasure chest as a pirate, but inside lurks something far more powerful and fantastic. The winner of the chest has the opportunity to fulfill every desire. Not just anyone can access the Chest, you must be someone who comes from a family lineage of pirates. The Sacred Chest is a double edged sword because although it seems the greatest reward, is also a highly difficult to assume responsibility. Similarly, in case of falling into the wrong hands, could be tragic for all mankind. In the last race 20 years ago, Pierre Corso betrayed his teammates, and escaped with the Sacred Chest to keep him from the hands of Massimo. However, nobody knows he never was able to use it, and he did not have enough internal fortitude required to withstand the weight of that responsibility.


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The Flying Squirrels dossier

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Transcript of The Flying Squirrels dossier