The Joint German-American production of Dash Hatfield, Warlord of Mars was one of the most popular Science Fiction series of the inter-war Period. Produced by the innovative film director Fritz Lang, the series benefited from Lang's rigorous directing and use of innovative camera and scenery techniques.
Malcolm the Merciless, the King of Mars, toys with the Earth with his vast array of nefarious devices to alleviate his boredom: With his already massive fleet and globe-spanning conquests, he fears no enemy, and has the tribes of Mars firmly under his control. Before long, the Earth is wracked with a series of massive and unexplained natural phenomena: Canada is plunged into an arctic winter in the middle of summer, Tornadoes ravage the American midwest, Britain is struck by terrible drought, Japan is rocked with massive earthquakes, and the Confederacy is subjected to monsoon rainfall that causes severe flooding.
(Lang was nominated for an Academy award for "Best Special effect" thanks to his modelling of a Dam Break in the Tennesee River Valley, which looked so realistic that Saul Goldman was forced to publicly announce that no such disaster had actually occurred.)
Amid the seemingly unexplained Natural disasters, Boston Red Sox Baseball star Devin "Dash" Hatfield and his agent Stella Evans encounter the eccentric scientist Dr. Hans Zeitlinger, who has determined that the disasters are being caused by extraterrestrial forces. He has constructed a Space rocket to investigate the matter up close. Before he can explain further, however, Boston is hit with a massive Tidal wave, forcing the three to use the rocket to escape, just managing to launch before the lab is inundated and destroyed.
(more of Lang's artistic camera work was seen in this moment, as use of the "Schufftan Process" allowed cameramen to insert actual people into the model sets via use of mirrors and camera angles.)
Out of control, the Rocket crashes on the surface of Mars, and Dr. Zeitlinger and Stella are captured by Malcolm's forces. Dash, who was flung clear during the crash, is found by Tawana Tarkasa, of the native "Orangeskin" tribe, a race of warriors and nomads who inhabit the lands between the major settlements.
Dash soon discovers that the strange conditions on Mars give him increased strength and agility, allowing him to run at inhuman speeds and leap vast distances or to great heights. This increases his value in the eyes of the Orangeskin leaders, who put him to fighting in their gladiatorial arenas. Tarkasa protests, seeing him more valuable as a warrior against Malcolm's forces, but is subsequently dumped into the pits with Dash, with whom he soon takes up a rapport as they fight alongside each other.
Meanwhile, Malcolm is charmed by Stella's beauty, and orders her prepared for his pleasure. Dr. Zeitlinger, meanwhile, is interrogated and brainwashed for his knowledge, and through this Malcolm first learns about Dash. Annoyed that one of the Earthlings was able to evade his forces, he sends his agents to search the planet for Dash.
Dash and Tarkasa soon win their freedom from the pits when they rally other imprisoned Orangeskins to overthrow their callous lords, the "Whitleys" who serve Malcolm as enforcers and slavedrivers. One of the Whitleys manages to report to Malcolm on the revolt, and Dash is discovered. Stella is overjoyed to learn he is alive. Meanwhile, Dr. Zeitlinger, who has faked his submission to the brainwashing, discovers the machine that is causing the natural disasters on Earth, but is unable to access the chamber where it is controlled.
Malcolm dispatches his forces to the Gladiator pits, but the troops are overwhelmed by the huge number of warriors and beasts who, as Dash has taught them, all fight together to earn their freedom. Under the punishing fists of Orangeskin gladiators, Great Red Apes, and the winged Falconmen, all led by Dash, Malcolm's forces are driven into retreat.
This revolt earns the attention of Veltrose, the bear-like leader of the Yarknova city-state, and one of the few powers that have resisted Malcolm's influence. He sends a representative to meet with Dash, and invites him to join forces with Yarknova to overthrow Malcolm's rule.
Stella, still resisting Malcolm's whiles and "charms" soon earns his ire, and he has her "Roboticized" by Trevor, the mad scientist. Zeitlinger overhears Trevor mumbling his secret hatred for Malcolm, who forces him to use his science to do terrible things, and convinces him to fake Stella's robotitization, giving Zeitlinger a control that will shut off her mental suppression at an opportune moment and hiding weapons in her mechanical exoskeleton.
Trevor allows Zeitlinger to use his communications array to contact Dash, who is informed of his and Stella's survival. Zeitlinger also informs Dash of the location of the machine causing the disasters, as well as the command phrase to release Stella from Malcom's control, but he is discovered by Malcolm's security forces before he can finish the communication and is killed. Dash knows the phrase exists, but doesn't know what it is.
Dash, burning with revenge, leads the armies of Yarknova and the freed Gladiators towards Malcolm's castle at the North Pole, recruiting more followers along the way. Malcolm is dismissive of the threat the "rabble" poses, and marshals his mighty fleet of war rockets to destroy them.
Dash, however, was a crewman on a torpedo boat in the Great War, and knows the value of small hit-and-run tactics to destroy larger foes. He teaches similar tactics to the Falconmen, who attack in small, swarming groups and plant limpet mines on the War Rockets, destroying a number of them and allowing the main force to break through.
Within the Palace, Trevor, emboldened by Zeitlinger's execution, takes it upon himself to lead a counterattack from within, and, freeing a number of prisoners and changing the control signals on other roboticized victims, uses the weapons he hid on Stella to destroy the Castle's protective light shield. He uses a red smoke marker to highlight the location of the Disaster Machine, and Dash pilots a stolen war rocket right into the chamber, destroying the machine and sparing the Earth further destruction.
(this likewise was another moment of special effects brilliance, as the small-scale model rocket was blown up to look massive as it crashed into the chamber, and "Wire Line" techniques were used to make it look like Malcolm's workers and soldiers were being thrown through the air in explosions.)
Dash, augmented by his enhanced abilities, cuts a swath through the castle as the Yarknovians and the "United" army break through the outer walls, and eventually find Malcolm in his throne room. Trever lies dying at the base of this throne, while Stella stands next to Malcolm, her roboticized face impassive.
Malcolm taunts Dash, stating that a single warrior's physical might is no match for the power of an Empire. He has other fleets, and his army will be at the castle in a matter of hours. This rebellion is futile.
Dash replies that relying on others to come save you doesn't do you much good when the enemy is right at your front door, and with that Trevor, with his last breath, calls out the phrase to release Stella. Acting quickly, as she was still aware of what was happening, she uses a dagger hidden in her armor to stab Malcolm through the heart. With the death of their leader, Malcolm's forces quickly disintegrate and surrender. Dash and Stella are reunited, and join in as the castle erupts in celebration.
In the End, Veltrose is appointed the new leader of Mars, leading a Congress of representatives from the other cities and tribes. The Nomads are free to enter the cities and share and trade their goods, and are given a voice in Martian affairs for the first time.
With the death of both Trevor and Dr. Zeitlinger, Dash and Stella have no way to get back to Earth, but as Stella begins to discover her own enhanced abilities and some of Malcolm's fleets are unaccounted for, something tells Dash there's still plenty of good they can do here.
I wonder how the literature produced ITTL is gonna be different, and how authors ranging from Stephen King to Dr. Seuss are going to be affected.
I think TL 191 would have an Assassin's Creed type of game be made during the 2000s. However, there would be some major changes. Mainly the protagonists. As the CSA left the USA after rebelling/seceding, I think the games would treat the Templar Order as the good guy/protagonist organization as they favor order, something The United States of this world greatly favors. The Assassins from OTL's games would be tied towards rebellion and fighting the power. Instead, in 191 the games would be called something like The Order, or Templar's Creed and each game would have a member of the secret society go around fighting the good fight, blah blah blah.
As the Assassin Order of history is a bit more obscure, I think the antagonists to the Templars would go in two directions; the Illuminati or Anarchists. Illuminati as they favor control over order and justice (a more corrupt Templar if you will). Anarchists as, well, they threaten the status quo.
As the Assassin Order of history is a bit more obscure, I think the antagonists to the Templars would go in two directions; the Illuminati or Anarchists. Illuminati as they favor control over order and justice (a more corrupt Templar if you will). Anarchists as, well, they threaten the status quo.
i kinda doubt it--the Assassins are typically more about actual freedom and not the bastardized version of it that the Confederates IOTL and especially ITTL were all about, and if Assassin's Creed were to take place in TL-191 then they would probably be more closely aligned to the black socialists and the like instead of the Freedom Party and their ilk.
it's also worth noting that Assassin's Creed was originally made by a Quebecker branch of a French company, so that might give them a totally different perspective on TTL's events than what we're typically discussing for TTL's media
How about a TL-191 version of Robert Harris' Fatherland, presumably titled Dixieland ?
It would be set in an alternate universe where the Freedomite CSA won the war in North America, and now faces off in a Cold War against the German Empire.
It would be set in an alternate universe where the Freedomite CSA won the war in North America, and now faces off in a Cold War against the German Empire.
You might be interested in this:
TL-191 Fatherland by Zauberfloete21 on DeviantArt
www.deviantart.com
If you want a third option that no one talks about, why not a TL 191 version of In the Presence of Mine Enemies by Turtledove himself? I presume it would be about a group of Mix-race individuals hiding in Richmond perhaps?
Really? I'd like to see that, hell I'd like to read a "World War/TL=191" TL.
Nevermind, I found it! Huh, and I made it. Small world.
I usually don’t care much about the premise of the Worldwar/Colonization series, but AHH’s explanation as to how and why the world was divided up between the Race and Humanity was something that I always found fascinating.
Bummer, a lot of good stuff gets lost here but I didn't think threads were removed.
I wonder what the Kantai Collection aka Kancolle Fleet Girls and Azur Lane (or their analogs) would be like in the world of TL-191?