Pageturners: ROBOTEL - Robots from Kevin O'Neill you've never seen before
Robotel is a future hotel run by crazy, rude robots who despise humans. They are very much like Ro-Jaws, Hammerstein and Mek-quake. Kevin's art is perfect!
Welcome to Pageturners, a book I’m writing in which I share what I’ve learnt – and am still learning – about comic writing, film writing, novel writing and how new writers can sell their stories. I’ll publish a chapter or a section per week, available for free here on Iconoblast. And I welcome your feedback or questions, so do leave a comment below!
Missed the Pageturners intro? Read it here.
FAULTY ROBOTS
The announcement that Fawlty Towers is returning reminded me of this robot project by me Kevin O’Neill. It was entitled ROBOTEL and was inspired by Fawlty Towers (which we were huge fans of) and Ro-Busters.
I figured it was a good fit for Pageturners, because if you’re wondering how you should present an idea and how much detail to go into, here’s how Kevin O’Neill and I worked out and presented ROBOTEL.
It’s a ‘cousin’ of Ro-Busters, so it gives you a sense of how Ro-Busters was worked out.
Robotel is a future hotel run by crazy, rude robots who despise humans. They are very much like Ro-Jaws, Hammerstein and Mek-quake. Each adventure is self-contained and had a comedy science fiction theme. Anything can happen at Robotel.
I came up with the initial idea in July 1996 and – surprisingly for me – I still have my story notebook from that era in which I wrote down my plot ideas.
I see I’ve written a prompt that I must ‘Watch Fawlty Towers’ (again). And I’ve noted that the sign ‘Robotel’ outside has a line through the T and an H added so it reads: RoboHel.
I would’ve talked it over with Kevin – especially our favourite characters Pig Iron and Forge, who were in the tradition of Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein. And the huge Chef, who we would have developed into a kind of Mek-Quake. Extra robot characters were added by Kevin in July 2000. His suggestions for these extra robots – Tea-Bot, Fred X and Old Rage – I’ve incorporated below. He also designed the opening sequence, the lobby and the exteriors of Robotel.
I have copies of all his designs for Robotel. They were all initially in black and white, some going through several versions, and final versions of many are rendered in full colour.
I cannot, for the life of me, recall who originally was interested in Robotel and why we put so much work into the project. It must have been someone involved with animation because I wrote several episodes with that medium in mind.
Although it would work equally well as a comic.
Robotel is one of a chain of huge ‘Happy Mattress’ package-holiday hotels. It was inspired by a strange weekend I spent with a girlfriend in a real-life Robotel, one of the French ‘Mr Bed’ chain of hotels near Montpellier. Everything was automated and we didn’t meet another human being. The security number to enter our room was ‘666’. I kid you not. It was that kind of weekend. But I digress.
The Happy Mattress chain is going out of business: with the growth of teleportation and virtual reality, people are too lazy to go on package holiday vacations or travel to events anymore. Teleportation has made vehicles and motorways largely redundant.
But there are still a few hardy humans who brave the now deserted and broken highways, which are Mad Max-style territory and turn up at the vast and now decaying Robotel.
Instead of virtual reality, they want a taste of grim reality.
Bad luck for visitors, because our ‘Faulty Robots’ have secretly taken over Robotel.
Meet the Faulty Robots of ROBOTEL
Pig Iron - rude maintenance robot with a short attention span. When he's sick of listening to human guests’ complaints, he responds ‘Sorry. Your audio input is not being accepted. Please try later. Brrrrrr.’ Intensely private, his thought mail address is a closely guarded secret which only his friend Forge knows.
Jones the Manager - simulated human, a people-pleaser robot. Despite all the terrible disasters in the Robotel, he always looks on the bright side. We later discover that – through some quirk of Synchronicity – JONES is a Jonah and is attracting these disasters.
Forge - security robot. And close buddy of Pig Iron. Designed to deal with crime rather than hotel security, he was sent to the Robotel as the surrounding area became lawless. He’s had three months combat experience on ‘Hell’s Highway’ outside. This affects his manner to guests: ‘Are you feeling lucky? You wanna risk going for breakfast?’
The Chef - giant lethal robot. Multiple tentacles holding knives etc.
Maurice - the bellhop, like a robot red-arsed baboon. He invites humans to ‘Kiss my big end.’
Chamilla - simulated human, with chameleon abilities, she becomes the glamorous receptionist.
Old Rage – Old robot janitor who dates back to when Robotel was first opened. Addicted to the cigarettes he collects. Lives in a foul basement.
Fred-X – Mail robot. VR and teleportation have made him redundant. He has been whizzing around with the same Xmas presents, urgent documents and life-saving vaccine for a guest for the last ten years, before VR took over.
Tea-Bot - He goes from mild manner to psycho as he comes to the boil. Changes his accent to suit tea he is serving.
The (human) Kid - around eighteen years old, but very immature. A couch potato who loves VR but was left at Robotel when his parents ran away from him. He hates robots.
Mr Rose – the Owner of the Happy Mattress chain, he only appears in the first story.
So innovative! When Kevin started with Ro-Busters he was very influenced by Gerry Anderson who he knew fairly well from the SFX magazine he produced. It's a pity Gerry never hired Kevin, but his loss was comics' gain
Yes, I think Maurice is one of my favorites. It's great that comic fans recognise Kevin's unique talent, but I wish he was more widely recognised. I can't think of any other humorous robot designer who is in his league. And that goes for his many other talents - especially steam punk on Nemesis