Antarctica

Click here for PDF download of background and teleplay for Episode 01: "The New World"  

Background:

The year is 2075, and global warming has devastated planet earth to the point where Antarctica has become the only remaining habitable continent. America no longer exists. A new civilization is in the process of being settled, yet many of the same problems that plagued the old world have are plaguing the new one in a more extreme manner.

   The main cause of the global warming catastrophe has been the weakening of the earth's magnetic field, which is now letting in lethal levels of radiation that has fried the continents up north. The earth's human population has dwindled to 100 million, most of whom are still stuck in the most southern regions of the old world. But a privileged few have staked their claim in Antarctica and are in the process of settling the last continent into a permanent home while those remaining up north are trying desperately to get there.

   Two competing governments have been established in Antarctica: one by the former Western nations ("The New United European Union of Antarctic America"), and the other by the Russians ("New Russia", which has reverted back to its communist Soviet ways). The series focuses on the Western side and its very corrupt and unstable government, which is controlled mostly by the ruthless organized crime boss Peter Romano Sr. and his brother Billy. The Romanos are attempting to build a new paradise, but their efforts are being hindered by the slow progress of a group of scientists on the Romano payroll who are attempting to build a magnetic field retractor that will prevent Antarctica from frying like the rest of the world has. Peter Romano Sr. is willing to build his new paradise at any cost, including the practice of enslaving the "savages", the small minority of humans who were able to adapt to the harsh conditions up north and still live there (although in a rapidly mutating form, and most of whom are of Caucasian descent).

   Others, however, are vying for control. A group of anarchists called "The Last World Collective" believe that government rule destroyed the old world, and they do not want it to destroy this one as well. They too, however, are a corrupt organization, as is the Catholic Church, which has struggled to establish itself but is enlisting the help of the Romanos to survive.

   The Port of Russkaya is the "Ellis Island" of Antarctica, where refugees from up north are admitted and then assigned to labor camps. Most at the camps will spend the rest of their lives there, but being there is still preferable to trying to survive up north and is a step closer to the possibility of being admitted to Fossil Bluff, which is the largest city in Antarctica and the most civilized place to live.

Treatment of Episode 01: "The New World"

The pilot episode opens with one of the wealthiest couples in the world, Jerry and Laura Edwards, looking to purchase a house in a place known as "Ernest Bluff", an area of the coast believed to be haunted because of all the shipwrecks that have occurred there over the past two centuries. Unbeknownst to them, however, while they are looking at the house, the body of government official Henry Mathers is wedged in the rocky shore below.

   Meanwhile, a team of scientists led by Dr. Angela Fredericks is working on a magnetic field retractor that they now realize will not be finished on schedule because what is left of the magnetic field is drifting further away at an accelerating rate. This is a precarious position for the scientists because they are on the payroll of organized crime leader Peter Romano Sr., who needs the retractor finished in order to begin construction of his new "paradise" at the Fitchner development site. Romano also needs a road built in order for construction to begin, and government officials Michael Orlovsky and Julius Weathers are doing everything they can to see that this is done for fear of winding up like their colleague Henry Mathers.

   The anarchist group "The Last World Collective", which is run by Phil Edwards (who is the son of the wealthy homebuyers Jerry and Laura Edwards) and Donna Shackleton (a descendant of Ernest Shackleton), are welcoming in two new recruits who were smuggled in. The new recruits, Evan and Rita, are actually undercover agents trying to infiltrate the anarchist group, but they are unaware that the anarchists are secretly backed by Peter Romano Jr., who works for his father.

   Father Curt Johnson is the head of the Catholic Church in Antarctica, but his congregation is very small and is limited only to a few dozen parishioners. He realizes that the Church will not be able to survive without the help of the Romano brothers. This fact is not lost on his most loyal follower Sally Waters, a 130 year old woman who is somewhat insane and is willing to seek out the help of the Romanos and also take down the anarchists by studying terrorist techniques from her personal copy of The Anarchist's Cookbook. Father Curt also has a personal demon, having many years earlier in the old world molested a teenage boy named Gregory O'Connor, who has just arrived in Antarctica under the guise of being a chaplain at the labor camps but is driven by his obsession of exacting revenge on Father Curt. When Father Curt receives a threatening message email from O'Connor, he goes to Billy Romano's house and asks Billy if he could get him a gun.

   At the Port of Russkaya, where refugees from the now uninhabitable continents up north are admitted and assigned to labor camps, there is talk of expansion since there is almost no more room for new arrivals. Joe Roberts, the Chief Director, is also on the payroll of Peter Romano Sr. and is faced with the prospect of having to start turning people away who have managed to survive the deadly voyage from up north. Roberts also supplies women from the labor camps to Peter Romano Sr., all of whom hope that submitting to Romano will help get them out of the labor camps and settled into the normalcy of Fossil Bluff.

   Dan Henson is the Chief of the Department of Law and Security, and he is concerned that government official Henry Mathers has been missing for the last couple of days. Meanwhile, police officer Chad Silver is illegally harboring his brother Don in his small apartment. Since Don is an illegal refugee, Chad does not want him to leave the apartment. After being cooped up in the apartment for a couple of weeks, however, Don becomes stir crazy and finds a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red that Chad had stashed away. Don drinks half the bottle and drunkenly wanders outside and winds up at a dive tavern where all the fishermen hang out. Chad has to retrieve him from the bar there with the knowledge that Don has now been exposed, which means that he could lose his job and also be deported up north.

   The anarchists Phil and Donna invite the new recruits Evan and Rita over for dinner. Donna and Phil tell them that they will be taken to the training grounds at a remote training site well outside of town, which makes Evan and Rita very nervous. After getting drunk and high, two other anarchists, Cody and Lesh, take Evan and Rita to the training grounds, where they beat and tie up Evan and Rita, who think their cover has been blown but don't realize that this is the first of the training exercises.

   The scientists Dr. Walker and Dr. Li meet privately to discuss the sanity of their supervisor, Dr. Angela Fredericks. Dr. Walker is under the impression that Dr. Fredericks, who is very conservative and religious, may be sabotaging their efforts to get the retractor finished because of her conflicting religious view that the apocalypse should not be interfered with. Dr. Li is skeptical but agrees to keep an eye on her, but Dr. Walker is already formulating a plan in his mind to take out Dr. Li and become the chief scientist himself.

   The last scene of the episode takes place with Jerry and Laura Edwards admiring the home they have just purchased at Ernest Bluff. They talk about how things are getting better and how this is going to be the place where they will spend the rest of their lives, and that they may even find happiness in this hellish world they are living in. The episode ends with the unseen body of Henry Mathers wedged down in the rocks of the shore.

Click here for PDF download of background and teleplay for Episode 01: "The New World"