Max Steel N-Tek Adventures, 2011
In late 2010, as the eighth Max Steel movie script was being written for me to storyboard, Mattel produced a new series of short CG adventures (90 seconds each) to promote the toy line in South America. The series was called N-Tek Battles (later softened to N-Tek Adventures) and 15 of them were written. These would be released on DVD or by other means, and made use of new toys being planned for release in 2011.
The next movie would do the same, but with a single 45-minute story it wouldn’t have quite as much variety as several mini-adventures that didn’t follow a single continuity.
They were always fun to work on, since the goal was to throw in as much action as possible in a very limited time frame, which was an exercise in efficient and effective storytelling. Each storyboard took about half a day to draw, after which I received revision notes and delivered a final version.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a final video output for any of these, so my only recourse was to go fishing on Youtube. Thanks to a loyal South American fan base, every one of them was preserved, though the video quality (from the pre-HD world) leaves something to be desired, and they are dubbed in Spanish.
Therefore, to aid the English-speaking viewer, I’m providing the original scripts as they were delivered to me and sweetening the pot with design references. Since this series was part of the “Max Steel movie 8″ project, the production numbers all started with 8.
See all 15 of the N-Tek Adventures shorts on Youtube (in Spanish) here
802 Winged Fury
806 Sand Blaster
808 Running Hot
810 City on Fire
813 Sunken Treasure
814 Independence Day
815 Flushed Out
BONUS
Enthusiastic members of the South American fan community have asked if I could post any of the earlier Max Steel movies I was not a part of. I can, but I only have one of them; Dark Rival, the fourth movie released in 2007. When I signed on to storyboard the fifth movie (Bio Crisis, 2008) I was given a copy of it for reference. And here it is in three parts for your viewing pleasure.
Off topic, some other shows I’m looking forward to hearing you talk about is The Batman (2004) and Big Top Scooby Doo. Do you have anything from those?
Thanks for asking. I worked on one episode of The Batman and did not enjoy it, so I didn’t save any of the materials. I only worked on two Scooby productions, and I’ve already covered those.
Yeah, but I saw on IMDb that you also worked on the direct to dvd movie, Big Top Scooby Doo, under Ben Jones.
It says so in the credits too. Is it wrong, or…?
Yes, it’s wrong. That’s why I have my own TIMDb page here on this site.
Then… why were you credited on the film? Was it a Mystery Incorporated related thing?
I have no idea. I certainly don’t remember working on it. If I did, it has completely dropped out of my head. I’d have to watch it to see if it trips a memory. And I have about 100 things I’d rather do.