What they came up with was something... a bit different.
Out of the blue in the fall of that year, to the delight of many and the consternation of some, TV Tomodachi and Avalon 17 began airing the following trailer:
EXT. DAY - SUMMER - SKY(Establishing shot of a bright blue summer sky, about midmorning. Not a cloud
is visible.)
OLD RUSSIAN WOMAN (V.O)
They came in the summer.
(ME 109 comes into view, flying straight and level; her weapons gleam in the
sunlight and her uniform is at a level of immaculate cleanliness that even ZERO
couldn't find fault with. As we continue to pan, JU 88 and STUKA, in formation
with each other, come into view behind her, and behind them come the
entire fighting complement of the GYMNASIUM GERMANIA; FW 190, all of the
DORNIER and HEINKEL girls, the various lesserschmitts. If they appeared
onscreen before, here they are, in a massive flying wedge behind 109, who leads
the way.)
CHYRON - UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
(Smash cut to to the girls of the RODINA-MAT AVIATION TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL
being utterly routed; YAK-9 and all her sisters spin out of the sky. YAK-3
catches fire on the way down. YAK-2, relaxing inside a hanger, is caught
off-guard as STUKA tears the roof off and, grinning, drops a bomb directly on her.)
CHYRON - SUMMER, 1941
OLD RUSSIAN WOMAN (V.O)
They always do, these conquerors. They think they know us, know our weakness.
And do you know, they may be right.
(ME 109 and JU 88 take a victory pass over an advancing column of German armor.
Soldiers riding the tanks cheer and throw their caps into the air. Soviet
formations, badly torn up and constantly harried from above, retreat before
them.)
OLD RUSSIAN WOMAN (V.O)
You put your trust in machines, my son.
(The voice turns mocking.)
In your precious steel, yes? You cannot be more steely than the Germans,
boy. Their hearts and minds are filled with gears and cogs, endlessly whirring,
whirring, whirring.
EXT. DAY - AUTUMN - FOREST
(STUKA harries T-26 tanks through a thick forest of beautiful red-and-gold
leaves. She laughs and laughs, mocking them in filthy German. Still the Soviets
retreat.)
OLD RUSSIAN WOMAN (V.O)
(sternly)
You have forgotten what it means to be Russian.
EXT. DAY - WINTER - OUTSKIRTS OF MOSCOW
(German troops, some in greatcoats but most in lightweight uniforms, huddle
around campfires, their trucks parked to form windbreaks. A few gaze pensively
at the spires of the Kremlin in the distance. ME 109 warms herself at a barrel
fire on a nearby runway and looks at the cold grey sky.)
CHYRON - WINTER, 1942
OLD RUSSIAN WOMAN (V.O)
But ah... the winter comes, and you begin to remember, yes? When the branches
are bare, all the tree has left are its roots.
EXT. NIGHT - FOREST - WINTER
(A blood moon hangs heavily over a snow-covered forest of fir trees. We see a
strange, tiny house nestled amongst them, smoke coming from the chimney, lights
in its windows. Two miserable-looking Soviet soldiers, in full winter gear with
enormous greatcoats and even more enormous fur hats with hammer-and-sickle pins
on them, flank the door, standing guard.)
OLD RUSSIAN WOMAN (V.O)
And our roots run deep.
(The cottage suddenly shifts, dumping snow on both of the soldiers. They turn
and scowl at it; there is a brief glimpse of a pair of enormous chicken legs as
the house settles back into a slightly different position than it was in
before.)
INT. NIGHT - BABA YAGA'S HUT
(The hut is a nearly stereotypical witch's hut, with all manner of gewgaws and
herbs and strange, wonderful items of indeterminate function scattered about
seemingly aimlessly. A roaring fire underneath a cauldron is the only
illumination; there are two chairs pulled close to it. Sitting in one is the
OLD RUSSIAN WOMAN, now revealed to be BABA YAGA. She is a withered old crone of
a woman, wearing a tattered brown cloak with a hood that hides her spare frame.)
BABA YAGA
(not unkindly)
Tell mother what you need, son.
(The other chair is occupied by IOSIF VISSARIONOVICH STALIN, in his customary
simple uniform with cap; his greatcoat is draped across the back of the chair.
He is not happy to be here.)
STALIN
(licking his lips)
I need...
BABA YAGA
(eagerly?
Yes? Yes yes?
STALIN
(with forced humbleness)
I need a weapon, mother.
(More firmly.)
The rodina needs a weapon!
(BABA YAGA smiles kindly. Behind STALIN, cloaked in shadows, two eyes open,
glittering blue.)
BABA YAGA
I think I have just the thing.
EXT. NIGHT - GERMAN AIRSTRIP
BABA YAGA (V.O)
I do not deal in steel, comrade.
(ME 109 and JU 88, in their night-fighting gear, taxi into position and execute
a pair of precise take-offs. Their ground crews watch them go; they fly away
over a forest of evergreens and vanish into the starry sky.)
(Beneath them, a shadow on a broomstick drifts silently through the wood.)
BABA YAGA (V.O)
My girl has bones of wood, and wire.
(ME 109 and JU 88 return from their patrol and land at the airstrip; 109 nearly
skids out of control as her landing gear skitters off a crater that was not
previously there. They gaze around in horror; JU 88 especially is openly
appalled. The airstrip is a blasted ruin, the tarmac pitted and holed, the
hangar a burnt shell, fuel drums and trucks and everything explodable being
thoroughly exploded. Fires still burn in places.)
(The figure on the broom watches from the treeline, and drifts silently into
the air and departs the way she came.)
BABA YAGA (V.O)
She has good sharp eyes...
EXT. NIGHT - RUSSIAN STEPPE
(Aerial shot, extremely high and wide; German encampments lie spread across the
steppe, their fires little pinpricks in the night.)
BABA YAGA (V.O)
... and a fiery heart.
(Silently, explosions bloom across many of them. An indistinct biplane shape
flits across the camera, too quick to really see clearly; the engine has an
unearthly hum to it.)
INT. DAY - GERMAN BRIEFING ROOM
BABA YAGA (V.O)
Ah, but her mind... that's the beauty of it, you see...
(ME 109 and FW 190 examine a map filled with little red flame markers, each
representing an attack. JU 88 approaches and adds another one; ME 109's fists
clench briefly. In the corner, playing with a knife, STUKA watches the
interplay and laughs contemptuously.)
BABA YAGA (V.O)
Her mind is full of cold purpose. You've felt it, haven't you comrade? To rule
this country, and not be ruled by it... you're always cold.
(Fade to black.)
SUPERIMPOSED - TV TOMODACHI IS PROUD TO PRESENT
(The Fly Girls logo appears.)
SUPER - A FLY GIRLS SPECIAL EVENT
(Ripple dissolve.)
CHYRON - STARRING
(ME 109 holds her arms straight out to her sides while her ground crew outfits
her with her night-fighting equipment and ordnance. She stares at the nearby
forest. Branches shake gently in the breeze.)
(Her eyes narrow angrily.)
CHYRON - ME 109
(Hands clasped behind her back, ILYUSHA stands in a dark, nearly empty mess
hall, studying a faded map with old Imperial Russian markings on it that hangs
forlornly by the window. YAK-9 harangues her; ILYUSHA doesn't really pay
attention.)
(A door opens behind them, throwing a square of harsh light on the wall.
Silhouetted sharply in it is a small female shape holding an oversized broom
nearly twice as tall as she is. There's a suggestion of braids. YAK-9 visibly
pales and flinches away.)
(Facing away, unseen by both of them... ILYUSHA smiles.)
CHYRON - ILYUSHA
(Running desperately through a dark wood under a sickle moon, STUKA is pursued
by unseen, mocking laughter and the tinkle of bells. Her uniform is an utter
shambles and she's lost one of her machine guns. She pushes through some
undergrowth and a branch whips back and cuts her cheek.)
(Snarling, STUKA turns and lights up the forest with her remaining weapon,
firing wildly into the night. Her own shots blind her. She screams and fires
until the weapon goes empty, click-click-click.)
(A shadow obscures the moon. There is a noise behind STUKA, off-camera. She
whirls around.)
(Her eyes go wide. Her weapon drops from nerveless fingers.)
CHYRON - STUKA
INT. NIGHT - BABA YAGA'S HUT
(The small girl seen previously in silhouette steps into the firelight,
approaching STALIN and BABA YAGA. She is a tiny, frail-looking thing who
doesn't look more than about nine or ten, dressed in a peasant girl's dress;
white smock over roughspun, with much red-and-blue thread embroidering it. A
similarly-colored headscarf sits atop a head of pale blonde hair that falls
into two tight, short braids which frame her face.)
(She tightly holds a large broomstick, much taller than she is.)
(The girl meets STALIN's eyes directly. STALIN is not sure he is comfortable
with whatever he sees there.)
CHYRON - AND INTRODUCING
BABA YAGA
(cackling)
And, well, perhaps just a bit of steel, yes? Where it counts.
CHYRON - POLIKARPOVA PO-2
(Cut to black.)
STALIN (O.S)
Whom do you serve, child?
POLIKARPOVA (O.S)
(firmly, but high and piping)
I serve the rodina, Comrade Chairman!
SUPER - FLY GIRLS: YORU NO MAJOU
(Subtitle in Standard.)
THE NIGHT WITCH
STALIN (O.S)
(chuckling sinisterly)
She'll do, mother.
SUPERIMPOSED - A TV TOMODACHI SPECIAL
MAGIC IS COMING
HOLIDAYS 2410
Polikarpova is an odd duck; part magical girl, part Fly Girl. The writers are on the record as saying that there were already fifty-plus hours of conventional Fly Girls materiel, and they wanted to stretch their legs a little. A weird war story was just the way to do that.
Despite the controversy surrounding the titular character (she is a figure of disdain among purists) The Night Witch preformed strongly across all demos and capitalized strongly on the fact that magical girl shows were entering yet another resurgence at the time. Rumors abound that there will be some sort of mini-series in a similar vein in 2412.