Previously
on Lost Productions: T.O.A.S.T.T, we learned the origin story of this
never-produced TV series, which was set to be filmed during the summer and the
2001/2002 school year at SIUC.
The
project was fully cast with two episodes written and the other ten outlined.
Locations were chosen, costumes designed, even a few sets designed, some props
had been bought, and a preliminary budget drawn up. There was even a read
through with the main cast (possibly without Michelle Chapman though, I can’t
remember if she could come to it or not since it was at the end of the
semester). It was all set and
ready to be filmed.
So
what happened?
Well,
during the read through, two of the actors started making fun of the scripts –
the plot, the dialogue, the characters, and the general idea of the show. I was very sensitive about my creative
work in those days (pre-medicated and unstable bi-polar days), so it not only
annoyed me during the read through, it actually really hurt my feelings. Reading through the first episode was
bad enough, but I knew that one had some problems. However, I was kinda proud of how the second episode turned
out and was really looking forward to filming it.
The
negative comments almost got worse during the second half of the read through
(in my BP mind at least, which had a very warped view of everything that
happened). By the time we were
done reading both episodes I was angry and fed up. I declared then and there that if the scripts were so bad
that there was no point in filming them and I just wouldn’t do the show. I don’t
really remember any of what was said, but I do remember feeling hurt, confused,
and really pissed off!
A
few days later, after I had calmed down, I began to realize that the guys were
right. The general idea for the series – criminals as time-travellers hired by
a secret government agency was not exactly cliché but had several major plot
holes. The plots seemed contrived and some of the dialogue was stilted,
although I still don’t think it was that bad (no worse than most of my scripts
at least). The characters were fun
and had a lot of potential, but, with the exception of Sage, they were fairly
obvious stock-character types. The
actors would have made a big difference in giving them dimensions, I think, but
they never got the chance.
The
real problem is that there were a lot of things that didn’t make sense. Why would the government hire criminals
to travel through time? That just seems like a really bad idea.
And
why was the time-travel necessary?
What was the point of the missions? They weren’t making any big changes
in big events, so what did the government gain from each mission? Those
questions were never answered in the script and never intended to be until the
last episode, because I didn’t really know the answer myself. Bad plan, Yibble,
bad plan.
Also
the technology involved with the super-computer and the time machine, etc. was
badly explained and clearly not researched at all. It made no sense. Actually
there was only a very minimal explanation of how things worked, and a lack of
explanation is just as bad as no explanation at all. And if what little you
explain is bad science and makes no sense than that’s just sad and jeer worthy.
I’m
not good at writing Science Fiction – I’m much better at writing magic stuff,
and TOASTT was way more science and not really any magic, so I pretty much
screwed myself from the beginning.
And
then there’s the name:
T.O.A.S.T.T.
The Organization of Assasination, Spying, and Time-Travelling.
Who
would take a secret spy agency seriously (or a TV show) with a title like
that? At the time I thought it was
funny. It’s not. It’s just stupid. I have no idea why I really liked the
acronym beyond the obvious fun you can have with titles like Burned TOAST and
Buttered TOAST, but bad puns are not worth the stigma of a terrible title. And
of course it has to have a double “T” at the end because of the Time-Travel
part of the organization name so it’s actually TOASTT – which looks even more
stupid!
So
I knew there were problems, and at some level I knew the guys were right in
their general assessment of the show, but there’s no way in hell I would have
admitted that to them at the time! Instead I focused on the logical problems as
the “real” reason I cancelled the show.
Almost
all of the modern scenes take place in an underground base. Lots of rooms with no windows and maybe some slightly futuristic looking hallways. Okay, I could
handle that. If I can assemble a
space ship out of random locations for Mind Games, then I could find places
that would work for an underground base. Not a big deal.
What
I couldn’t do was build the kind of set needed for the room with the
time-travelling machine – or build the machine itself. There was no space in the SPC-TV
station to put up a set that big and no room anywhere else where I could build
the set and leave it up for 6-9 months.
Also, my budget was very small and didn’t factor in the cost of building
that kind of set because I had no clue how to do it or how much the materials
would cost. My design wasn’t great either. I knew going into the project that the time-travel room
would be my biggest obstacle, but I didn’t want to admit defeat. However, anything I would have been
able to cobble together would have looked cheesy at best and horrific at worst,
so it was a good thing it didn’t happen. I will admit that played a big part in
sticking with my decision to cancel it, although I will be honest that I also
didn’t want to apologize (which I was not very incapable of back then) for
throwing a temper tantrum.
In
the end it became clear that the project was too big and expensive to do well
in the technical sense and both the concept and scripts needed major
overhauls.
It’s
been almost 14 years since began pre-production on TOASTT, and although I have
felt nostalgic towards it from time to time, I am very glad that I canceled the
show before we got into production.
I have no regrets about not filming it - especially since the show that
came after it was really wonderful in my opinion, and much better written.
The
Legacy of TOAST
Even
though TOASTT was never produced or had even one scene filmed, it has left a
lasting legacy (albeit an unknown one in most cases) in some of the productions
that came after it, most notably in The Gift Bearer, which is the show that I did instead of TOASTT. I still wanted to film a show involving time travel and
eventually came up with the idea for The Gift Bearer. Elements of TOASTT are evident throughout the show if you
know what to look for.
First
off, the government agency known as the Echelon was modeled a lot after the
organization in TOASTT, only it had been set up a long time ago as opposed to
TOASTT, which was just starting.
The Echelon was a shadowy, secretive agency and not a lot is known about
it in regards to how it began or why the agents travel through time to complete
missions. However, the questions
of how and why aren’t as important in The Gift Bearer, simply because the base
is not the main setting and the audience isn’t following the agents as main
characters in the same way as they would have in TOASTT. For the first ten episodes the agency
doesn’t even have a name, and the audience doesn’t see the base until the very
end of episode 16. The Echelon is
in the background while TOASTT was in the forefront. 
In
the unfilmed, original season two of The Gift Bearer we met characters directly
taken from TOASTT during several scenes that take place in the Echelon base
during episode “14” (that’s the script number, in actuality it would have been
episode 28-30). A lot of the
agents in the base are directly taken from TOASTT including Dr. Indigo Green
(known as Dr. Terri Wilson in TOASTT), Tempest, Trent, and Sage. 
There are
numerous scenes with Sage and implications that she has a crush on Xavier, and
a strange sort of friendship with Camilla. There’s even at reference to an
agent named Sorcerer in one scene, although he never appears on screen.
Many
of the traits and part of the personalities of TOASTT characters were
incorporated (or influenced) into some of the main characters in The Gift
Bearer, although they obviously have completely different back stories.
Minerva
definitely ended up with a lot of Coyote’s traits including her genius with
computers and, most notably, her aversion to people. However, Minerva was a lot more fun and goofy, where as
Coyote was much more serious…and kind of grumpy. Morgan Thomas was originally
cast as Coyote and I ended up writing the part of Minerva for her.
Aspects
of both Sorcerer and Dr. Ross where channeled into the characters of Xavier and
Crumby. Both Sorcerer and Xavier are very talented guys who work for the
government, and have a serious brooding quality as well as a sarcastic sense of
humor. However, Sorcerer dislikes
the government and works with them reluctantly, whereas Xavier was raised from
birth as a government agent and it takes a long time for him to turn against
them. I originally envisioned Michael
DiVecchio playing Xavier since he was slated to play Sorcerer, but it didn’t
work out and Xavier was played (rather magnificently) by Russell Martin.
Dr.
Ross and Crumby both have a great sense of humor, and are like father figures
to the main characters. Both characters are brilliant scientists who created
the time machine that the government uses. However, Dr. Ross is a little goofy
and Crumby is a bit more sarcastic and serious. The biggest difference, of course, is that Dr. Ross is in
charge of the whole time-travel part of the project and the time-agents are
directly under his command. Crumby
doesn’t have that kind of power at all. He’s not in charge of anything at the
Echelon, at least not by the time the series starts, and has to obey their
orders like all the other agents. Sadly, Crumby does not have a bionic eye, a
robot arm, or a prosthetic leg like Dr. Ross did. Michael Meyer would have loved that, since he was cast as
both Dr. Ross and Crumby.
The
Gift Bearer is a much more complex and tightly written show that explores the
consequences of time-travel as well as the thrill of it. The characters have
much more substance and are more colorful and engaging. The general concept of the series is
better – instead of seeing the Echelon/TOASTT from the inside, we follow a trio
of sisters who travel through time with a gold ball and a magic statue (which
works better than a time machine, believe it or not).
Dialogue
and snippets from TOASTT was used in various scenes through The Gift Bearer. Even an entire episode got
recycled. The Gift Bearer episodes
5 and 6 – Roman Around and Mother Nature – where the governor of the local provence
is being driven mad by his sister who is poisoning him was the basic plot used
in the unfinished episode 4 of TOASTT – also titled Roman Around. Hey, it was a good title – worth using
twice.
Locations
I had scouted for TOAST were used in GB. The 18th Century fort used
in several episodes of The Gift Bearer was where I had intended to film episode
9 (All for Won) of TOASTT where they go back to 17th century France
in a Three Musketeers themed mission. That same fort – Fort De Chartres – had a
wonderful stone chapel that was used in episode 9 and 10 of GB and would have
been used in episode 6 (Bad Habits) of TOASTT.
Costumes
that I had designed for TOASTT were used in several episodes of The Gift
Bearer, where the designs for the Victorian fashions in Good Mourning (episode
2 of TOASTT) were used in Negotiations and The Spider and the Fly (episodes 7
& 8 of GB). 
One
of Delilah’s designs for Roman Around (episode 4 of TOASTT) ended up being the
design for Octavius’s Venus outfit in the other Roman Around (episode 5 of GB). The basic design of Sage's costume also served as inspiration for the costumes the three sisters wore.
The
monk’s robe Crumby wore in episode 9 and 10 of GB would have been worn by
Sorcerer in Episode 6 of TOASTT, and the full Regency outfits worn in episodes
19 and 20 of GB were originally designed for episode 7 (Miss Matched) of
TOASTT.
So
some of the best bits of TOASTT found their way into The Gift Bearer.
However,
there have been other productions that TOASTT influenced, including another
“lost” production called Anything but Angels which recycled two and a half of
the characters and the title of the first episode (which became the title of
the show). Anything but Angels had a major plot element that I really liked and
eventually recycled that into the 2012 production of C2. 
I
had a whole list of jokes and bits in a file for TOASTT that I liked and
although I still haven’t been able to use them all, pieces have appeared up in
other productions such as The Gift Bearer, Anything but Angels, C2, Twisted
Tales: Little Red, and Eidolon. I still have the file and there are a couple of
jokes/bits that I really want to find a way to work into another script at some
point, so its legacy lives on to this day.
