Info
This section is what Justin likes to call the 'gab' section, where he just sits and gabs about where most of the inspirations for the show came from, and why it's a radio play in the first place, and what not. If you like this kind of behind-the-scenes commentary stuff, then grab a cup of joe and have a seat, if you don't already have one, and use the nifty navigation toolbar below to jump to a certain section.
Origins
The first inkling of the name Star Child comes from way back in my junior year of high school. I had just watched an absolutely horrid week of Dragonball Z (a friend had challenged me, knowing I hated the show, to watch it for a week and see how long I could stand it), and after that it was a fair miracle that my imagination wasn't trying to fight the left and right halves of my brain just becuase their power levels were stronger and they had glowing golden locks. Anyway, I suddenly realized that, in my teenage "I have the world by the balls" egotism voice, that I could write a better show than DBZ. I made a comment about this to said friend, who asked me "Well, why don't you?"
So, I did. That weekend I sat down and, for fun, outlined three seasons of an animated series called Star Child. The Star Children were near-mythological beings, known for their compassion and faith throughout the universe (are we seeing any ties to Voltron yet?). The story focused on one of them, named Lamont, as he went about his trial by fire from boyhood to adulthood: saving an entire world from the enslavement of a cyborg master and his two 'children.' Incidentally, his daughter was named Sandra, and one of the resistance fighters, who would later be revealed as Lamont's long-lost brother, was named Joshua (he was also a swordsman, but carried one of those blades bigger than the actual person like all of the characters in .hack//sign).
I had no intention of turning it into anything else...after all, I had wanted to be a screenwriter, but I was told that my dream was too lofty, and that I should settle for something more practical. With all of my teenage egotism I fought it, until I could fight no more, and decided to attend a technical school two months after my high school graduation and become a Computer Systems Specalist. Mind you, I was fairly into computers at the time, but I still questioned this career move.
Through trial and error and the midsts of family health issues and personal issues, I struggled for a year until I found a job in my field: computer operations at Joseph A. Bank Clothiers in Hampstead, MD. I worked with them for ten months until a job closer to home came my way. I took a chance on it and got the job, and I now perform operations for PeoplesBank, A Codorus Valley Financial Company, in York, PA. During the tenure at Jos. A. Bank, I fell back onto my original Star Child idea, and wondered if I couldn't turn it into something more. What came from this was the desire to write a book out of it, but not the way that it was...it was too outlandish, too far from 'normal' to be marketable.
The whole thing was screaming for a rehaul, but I couldn't seem to find any inspiration anywhere that was triggering the creative dynamite in my brain. After more time spent working and wondering, a friend (Matt Wolf, this one's for you!) got me involved in an Anime show called Yu Yu Hakusho. Not agreeing with the way Funimation was releasing the series (112 episodes in all, 4 and 3 episodes to a disc, minimal extras, hit-or-miss video quality, and bad packaging for twenty bucks a pop? I don't think so!), I broke an Anime Commandment (broke the whole tablet too, but I swear it was an accident) and bought the Hong Kong DVD release of Yu Yu Hakusho, consisting of 12 DVDs with all of the episodes in Japanese lingo with 'broken English' subtitles. Half the fun was trying to figure out what the guys were really saying, since I think the translators made up their own grammar for it!
All kididng aside, when I was finished watching YYH, it became my favorite Anime series of all time, and it got my creative juices flowing. I've always enjoyed stories about people being given second chances at life, much like in the classic film Heaven Can Wait, and I've always loved the story of Moses depicted in the book of Exodus, mostly due to the fact that God used someone who no one thought would be anyone, and I don't think Moses quite believed that he could do the job at first either. These two things combined formed the core of the version of Star Child that you listen to, with Lamont being hit by a bus, being reborn as a Star Child, and protecting Lucy from Serge and his crew getting their greedy paws on the Heart of God.