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 Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 10:23 pm
Ok as to the chopping wood thing, I was using that as an example on how he might have gotten some of the muscle on his body. He might have been a musician at heart but you also have to remember he was also a mason and an architect. Now with Masonry you HAVE to have a strong hand, strong arms and a strong back because you are working with stone, you are carving it, mixing mortar and carting it to the area where the stones are being laid. Its like construction work hun. And to climb the scafolding to get to the high areas of what you're working on you gotta have strong legs and arms like a rock climber I know, I 've tried to climb scafolding, its hard and I would liken it to doing a rock wall. (But then again i'm out of shape sweatdrop ) And you know being thin dosent mean that he cant have gotten some muscle on him. I know some VERY thin men and they dont have an ounce of fat on them but they are very strong and their bodies are cut because of the lack of body fat. I never said it was cause Erik was anorexic (even though he expressed a dislike for food and saw it only as a means of survival. Having no nose would make his sense of taste a bit muted so its understandable.) I know that he's rail thin. But being rail thin as I've said dosent mean that he's got atrophied muscles. Yes, he ran away from his mom's at around age 9 (yes I kno I'm going by kay's version but its the one with the best time line) and he got away from the freak show at about age 11 or 12. After that he survived by picking pockets and performing. He performed and traveled with the Russian circus on his OWN terms (which are the best kind) Until the Daroga found him. At that time he was around 18 or 19. He left persia when he was 20ish and came back to france. While he was working as an assassin for the Shah and was the entertainment for the little sultana. Which acctually on retrospect on the Leroux book she was "the Little Sultana" which denotes she was probably a child. A wicked spoiled child that had been jaded towards death. But a child none the lest. Quote: "Have I really committed murders?" he asked, putting on his most amiable air. "Wretched man!" I cried. "Have you forgotten the rosy hours of Mazenderan?" "Yes," he replied, in a sadder tone, "I prefer to forget them. I used to make the little sultana laugh, though!" And as to him being out of character. Remember this. He. is. YOUNG. He hasnt had the time to mature his thinking to the hardened phantom who demands the respect or fear of those aroundhim that we all are familliar with. Oh and as to the saying, I'm not saying peeps gotta be NICE i'm just asking that peeps be polite and not immediatly go " YOU SUCK!" to him. (You wouldnt want someone doing that to any attempts at anything you do now would you?) Oh and what kind of Character do you think he should be in? The Leroux Erik was so scared to touch a woman that when Christine kissed him he seriously thought she was going to die because she touched him. He was astounded that she didnt drop dead. The ALW version used his voice, knew that it was seductive but still didnt go for the prize when during MOTN he had Christine all hot and bothered he could have gone for it and gotten some but he had to show her that damn puppet.
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 9:39 am
Ok today's the day! Ask your questions for the Creator of the Trap door maker. He'll be here later on today and he'll answer any questions that you might have.
Here I'll even start.
Hey Pete. What inspired you to write TDM in the first place?
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 10:26 am
Hi everybody. First of all, thanks for all the comments, good AND bad, about the book. Any discussion & feedback is a good thing.
Also, I'd like to address the "tanned & buff" Erik thing. I never envisioned him tan or buff. In my mind, he'll always be pale, pasty, and parchmenty (is that a word?), even though he's in a sunny area of the world. He looks tan/dark on the book's cover because he's popping out of a door into a pitch-black room. he's also lit from below by what's presumably torch, oil lamp, and candle light (used during his palace work), which explains why he's dark-looking. Imagine taking a photo in a dark place without a flash.
i never pictured him buff. He's just lanky like many people were back then. Twinkies & Pringles were pretty scarce back then smile
He looks much more gangly in the interior pages.
Now, on to Adani's ?:
My inspiration for TDM is simple: Leroux's POTO is my favorite book, and I was always intrigued by the often-overlooked Persia backstory. I always wished that there was more-elaborate material about this element of the story, so I took a crack at it. From the Persian's/Daroga's narrative, Erik sounded like somewhat of a pleasant guy to be around at times (ie. "He gave me many laughs..."). Despite his "issues," Erik almost always had a polite demeanour. The Persian wouldn't have wanted to help an @-hole escape the Shah's death-order.
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 2:06 pm
I have heard concerns that Erik seems out of character. To me he seemed like a very insecure man from the GL book. But what are you doing with his personality? Is he going to be the stubborn strongwilled man we everyone is mostly familliar with (blame that on Susan Kay and ALW) or is he going to be the self loathing indevidual that he came acrossed as (at least to me he did) from the GL book?
(A man who thinks that if he so much as TOUCHES a woman that it'll kill her has some serious self esteem issues. )
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 7:04 pm
Heh, yeah, sometimes people who make the pictures advertising the book or whatever have no idea what they're doing. My mom's an author and she has complained that they were going to put a completely inane picture on the cover of her book before she just managed to talk them out of it.
And...I guess I was wrong about you, Adani. You do seem to have a great grasp on Erik's character from the Leroux novel. Nice points.
If you're still answering questions Mr. Bregman...I might ask, do you carry out the story in more of a Susan Kay (if you've read that book at all, anyway) style, or do you take the things Leroux mentioned in his novel and flesh out the details just fresh from your own imaginings of how things went?
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 10:01 pm
I'll try to answer both of the questions above in this post. The Erik in "Trap-Door Maker" is based on the GL version, which depicts him as being a quite polite, reserved, and proper guy. Even when he's doing things like extorting the opera managers, or threatening the Persian's life, he's always very polite and relatively friendly. This benign aspect of Erik's personality actually makes his rage in scenes like the GL "unmasking" that much more horrifying. His hissing, teeth-grinding, and emotional language are much more startling coming from a normally-polite guy. Basically, he's a smooth, intelligent guy, but only until he's crossed or has his buttons pushed. Then he's goes into emotional (and often physical) rage. The ALW Erik is a much more confident, romantic, and somewhat aggressive character than the GL version. Also, the GL & TDM Erik's dual nature is a little more apparent than the ALW version. GL Erik is a guy who has been bullied & shamed his entire life. Generally speaking, people who have a lifetime of shame & abuse often end up one of the following two demeanors being pretty dominant: very considerate or very aggressive. However the ones who end up as considerate can often become very aggressive at the drop of a hat, or when threatened. The TDM (and GL) Erik is always a little torn about where he fits in society. On the one hand, he's this guy who has been conditioned to hide from society because of his face. On the other hand, he's a genius who has the ability to impress anybody he meets with his gifts. This inner conflict can really give a guy a complex.
The Erik that the reader first meets in TDM is understandably much different than the Erik that will end the story. Imagine how devastating it would be for someone as shamed as Erik to finally become accepted and respected (ie. during his time as the Shah's architect), only to have to flee for his life when he no longer serves a purpose to the Shah. Nobody likes to feel used, and going through something like Erik did is sure to mess with his head.
Concerning the Susan Kay question: I'm really only using the Leroux version as reference, with a little of Lon Chaney's body language in the art. We all know the beginning of the story (Erik arrives in Persia) and the end (The Shah wants Erik killed because he "knew too much"). I'm just humbly trying to fill in the gaps. I'm ashamed to say that I've never read Susan Kay's book. I only recently learned about it from another Phantom fan, which prompted me to find out more about it. Once I found out that it was a prequel to POTO, I decided not to read it until TDM was completed, primarily to ensure that any similarities were just coincidental. However, the minute that I draw the last line of ink for TDM, I'm going to eagerly begin reading the Susan Kay book.
Thanks again for the questions. If there's anything else you all would like to know about TDM after this weekend, feel free to shoot an email to: trapdoorinfo@mac.com
The comics division of Treehouse Animation is pretty much a one-man operation, so anything sent to the address above goes right to me.
G'nite.
Pete
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 12:34 am
Well thank you there Peter. I am a bit sad that not many people posted questions. but I thank Alexis Of Shadow for her inquiries.
And to you Alexis, I know I came off as a bit ignorant about Erik at first. Yes. I will admit that. I had been stuck on the fact that he was this all wize and intelligent Uber genius. But it had occured to me a while ago that he was only human. And he was succeptable to psychological trauma and that he has already been exposed to such things and therefore he's REALLY insecure and just all around messed up.
I know that we all want to snuggle our poor unhappy Erik and make him feel loved and wanted. But sadly we cannot. But at least we can dream. You know, I think that he'd go a bit insane about how many women want him.... and even men @_@.
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 2:34 pm
*beats self for missing interview* Ah well. At least it looks like everything got cleared up. 3nodding
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:31 pm
Well just remember he did say that if you have any more questions or comments or whatever to just email him. He's a cool guy and really likes feed back so give him a ring....er....email. Yeah....you know what I mean. sweatdrop
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 6:43 pm
Indeed. I myself don't really have any concerns. I was merely concerned about the general acceptance of what seems like a nice idea.
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 7:58 pm
Adani Chinoumi I mean for crying out loud Sam Siciliano made a Sherlock Holmes book with Erik in it. It was a good one mind you. And the fact that Holmes himself said that Erik was ingenius with his traps just goes to show that Erik IS the all time uuber genius. 3nodding 4laugh It was an awesome book, wasn't it?
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 8:16 pm
Adani Chinoumi Well thank you there Peter. I am a bit sad that not many people posted questions. but I thank Alexis Of Shadow for her inquiries. And to you Alexis, I know I came off as a bit ignorant about Erik at first. Yes. I will admit that. I had been stuck on the fact that he was this all wize and intelligent Uber genius. But it had occured to me a while ago that he was only human. And he was succeptable to psychological trauma and that he has already been exposed to such things and therefore he's REALLY insecure and just all around messed up. I know that we all want to snuggle our poor unhappy Erik and make him feel loved and wanted. But sadly we cannot. But at least we can dream. You know, I think that he'd go a bit insane about how many women want him.... and even men @_@. It's okay, I was a bit of a raving "OMG ITZ TEH ERIKZ0RZ" lunatic when I rediscovered the phandom. Honestly...(I hate to admit this) but I actually liked Gerik in the 2004 movie. And I thought he was all perfect and could do no wrong. But then I saw the Lon Chaney movie, read the book again and all that other fun stuff, and I saw the light. I realized how horrible Gerard Butler was as Erik and that there were, in fact, things that irritated me about Erik. (Enter Winslow, but that's an entirely different story). So I guess I was a bit of a hypocrite there myself (I can be that way sometimes) and y'know, from what he said, I maaay just give the comic book a shot. Last time I did not give a certain Phantom story a chance, always laughing at it and criticizing it and such...well, that was Phantom of the Paradise. And we all know how I feel about it now. So I think I will check out what the comic book has to offer. Worth a shot, I guess.
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 10:44 pm
Yeah, I am not really a big fan of Phantom of the Paradise. I watched it once and swore it as a waste of my money unless I wanted a really cheesy flick to MST3K.
I dont see what you see in Winslow but hey, if you like him then more power to you. :nod:
Personally I'm an Englund fan, his version of POTO was nice and bloody. I'm into gore and I think that RE has the sexiest eyes. Such a pretty liquid blue. *sigh*
But I digress.
I'm gonna be gettin a copy of TDM for my mom when it comes out. :nod: she's open to new stuff and she's a comic book fan. So I think it'll be a good xmas gift. If a bit belated.
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:09 pm
Heh, that's pretty amusing 'cause...well, I didn't much like RE!Erik myself. Okay, I love blood and gore (Kill Bill all the way!) but I just thought the 1989 PotO was okay/bad. I disliked RE!Erik almost as much as Gerik, since I thought he was too psychotic, bloodthirsty and generally insane (I do not like badasses). So I guess we'll just have to accept that we don't like the other's choice Phantom partner much.
I think a lot of people don't know what I see in Winslow. He and I seem to have nothing in common, except for the style of his Phantom costume thing (I dress in a punk/gothy way...and no I am not punk or goth.) But whatever. I like nerdy guys to an obsessive level, and that's that.
Aaand now I'm getting really off topic. Heh heh. Sorry.
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 1:20 pm
*girly squeal of glee* Ooh! This looks like it has a lot of potential for coolness. I'll definitely be buying once it comes out. And not to start up an old argument again, I really don't think we see enough of Erik in the previews for anyone to really determine if he's OOC or not. Especially since this is supposed to be 20-ish Leroux!Erik and there's very little indication as to what he would have acted like at that time in his life. (Hint: Not like sex god Kay!Erik) The outfit is a little weird, but then it is the middle east in the 19th century. Erik tends to dress to blend in with the crowd and that's probably what most people wore. I probably sound terribly sychopantic here but trapdoormaker, I totally agree with the abovementioned interpretation of Leroux!Erik. Oh, and Alexis... Since you know I just love to argue canon with you... Quote: It is part of his deformity that he is extremely thin, not just because he's anorexic. Where does it say that in any version? They just say that he's skeletally thin, not why. I've never heard of any type of physical deformity that makes you stay really skinny. I think you're crossing your mental image of Erik with the Erik in the book. Quote: And why the hell is he chopping wood? He's supposed to be a musician, not a logger for god's sake. You're complaining about us not relying on the facts, but nowhere does it ever say that Erik ever chopped wood. (snipped) Cannon Erik wouldn't be chopping wood. He just wouldn't. It doesn't say that he didn't chop wood either. He ran away from home at a young age and traveled on his own for a large part of his life. That would have been in the early-mid part of the 19th century, well before electricity became widely available. If you wanted food, heat, or not to get eaten by random wild animals while traveling the countryside you would need a fire. How does one make a fire? Wood. Can Erik make neatly chopped piles of wood fall out of the sky? Probably not. Therefore, he would have to at least occasionally chop wood to survive. And nothing in his character in Leroux gives one the impression that Erik would be afraid of a bit of necessary physical labor, so what makes you say he 'just wouldn't' chop wood? Why? Because it isn't glamorous? Methinks you're crossing interpretations again. We now return to your regularly scheduled thread. *ahem* (P.S. For my money, it's Charles Dance Erik that pwns all.)
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