It's true! The beginning of the A-story here went through several evolutions. The time and place got moved around a few times - from the Crown Colonies ca. Symphony 5 to England in the 2100s and then back to early FI in the same place (before the Crackdown). Originally, before Transfer Students from Beyond Time, it was intended to be the native Amy's introduction. A second version, which we toyed with after Transfer Students made the original plan unworkable, would have depicted her back in the 2100s, on one of the "bad" bounces, when she's been separated from Rory (may not even remember him, except in dreams and shadows) and is killing time waiting for she-knows-not-what. (In both cases, obviously, she'd have been a bit older than the version present in Transfer Students.)

The setup phase in both cases would've been broadly the same as the final story - G stuck in the back of beyond on his birthday, and an annoyed, slightly blotto friend dragooning someone else into helping her select a local kissogram to send in and liven up his evening. (In the version set in the 2100s it would've been Kei and Max Sterling rather than Emma and Geoff.) Following the "delivery", Amy would've taken pity on the stranded stranger, extracted a comical oath that he wouldn't get up to anything weird, and then taken him off to the only restaurant in greater Leadworth that's open after nine to get something to eat. A Chandler's Law fault would then occur and, well, neither version got far enough along in development for the precise shape of the ensuing hijinks to be formed.

As such, Marceline's dressed as a British police constable when she first appears in Night of the Kissogram! precisely because she's stepped into a plot that was originally devised with Amy in mind. We considered other costumes for her - I was leaning toward white tie, as a nod to Bela Lugosi's Dracula - but I ultimately decided that the WPC outfit was a) still funny and b) a nice callback to the original concept. (And that if Emma was looking at a "catalog"-style website with Geoff's reluctant but, let's face it, compulsively diligent input, it would almost inevitably have been either the policewoman or Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile.)

"What about this one?"

"'Marceline'. Hmm. I don't know."

"Her profile says she's a 'mischievous and fun-loving creature of darkness with a biting sense of humor'."

"Sold."

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
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