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Several months ago, I sent some e-mails to Rick Siggelkow to ask him some questions about season three (you know how impatient I am! ) and I've finally got a couple of replies.

Number 1.

Dear Mark:

I can't tell you much more about our ideas for the third season except this: Cheseborough was going to be hiding out somewhere, then discovered by Lord Fear and Dirty Rat, who would start living with him briefly as they plotted how to get the others out of the Sixth Dimension. Rick and Kilobyte would also get out at some point -- Rick would have been part human, part animated. We were going to introduce another character named Candy Floss, who fired exploding lollipop arrows and wove webs of cotton candy to entrap her enemies. She would have been a cool character and I'm sorry she never saw the light of day.

I can see that you're a big fan and that you're given a lot of thought of the characters and story ideas, which is great to hear. I wish we had gone another season but such is the business of television, I'm afraid. Just keep after your broadcaster to run it and who knows, maybe they'll want more episodes someday.

Rick Siggelkow


Number 2.

Dear Mark:

Had the show continued we planned to bring Lady Illusion back out of the video game at some point. Scrambler and Buzzbeast were ideas for characters that never moved beyond the planning stage, but they were cool. And I have no idea who Bruce Bugstein was. Sounds like a mistake.

Unfortunately, although I created the show I don't own it. BBC Worldwide owns it. If you and other fans of Ace were to write to BBC and BBC Worldwide they might be persuaded to air the series again, otherwise I don't see it going to ITV.

I look forward to checking out your web site.

Regards,

Rick

Oh, and the Bruce Bungstein thing is some guy that is credited on the cast list for the programme at Tv.com.

I sense there will be a lot of controversy on this article. I'm heading for the hills why I still have the chance. *runs out of room, slams front door and hijacks mother's car*

Thanks so much for this, Rotgut. I suggest we do start emailing the broadcasters. *goes and looks*

Squee for Candy Floss, not so squee for more Chesebrough, the minions being in the 6D something I didn't expect as they generally fade back to their objects when blasted, triple quadruple squee (and yay that I was right ) about LI coming back from the 6D.

Or to shorten that Sarah: So much squee!

Thanks very much, Rotgut it was good of him to reply to you like this.

Hey... candy flossWAS gonna be included... we grasped possible future canon! *feels proud of us*

It's such a shame that we're never going to see more, though...

Fear and Rat living with Cheseborough... I can so see that. And I would have been interested how they planned to do a 'half human, half animated' Rick.

Yay for Candy Floss, bummer for Buzzbeast, I still suspect he was too violent...

Yeah maybe that had something to do with it along the way, though, that said, the doom wagon had a chainsaw weilding skeleton face on the front, so I don't think they judge.

What I don't understand was how they were gonna pull off Rick being half human, half animated. And in canon, how was he going to become half animated?

IMO, what they meant was that he's going to spend half his time in the 6D, half out . ..

Maybe Rick was supposed to have some little dimension hopping machine/program going.

The Doom Wagon doesn't necesarrily have to connect with flesh/binary/whatever. It just hacked a car. For Buzzbeast not to use all those loverly spikey bits to thier full extent would be sacrilidge IMO. But... also violent. Bleh.

Yes, plus, what the HECK would you morph that thing into?

Um... some carnival ride that should be illegal due to having sharp, dangerous pieces?

'Sigh' All my favourite shows get cancelled. I was right about Lady Illusion not being dead sweet.
Cheseborough and LF and the Rat living together, now that would have been funny.

Yes, that's such a relief. Though really, as I mentioned at some point, with every single other character returning from the datastream/6D at some point, it would hardly have been logical to consign her as dead for good. She may have some qualities marking her as more an Eponine than a Cosette, but I'm really glad the writers chose to make a 'Bad Woman' into a heroine and generally write her sympathetically.

Chesebrough/Fear slash anyone?

Heh... first 'the aliens are after my brain'... I'm not sure if Mr. C could handle it if they were after anything else.

DidsonotneedthosementalimagesDIDSONOTNEEDTHOSEMENTALIMAGES!!!!

GET THEM OUT! GET THEM OUT! *hammers on own and Scarab's head with mallet*

Ow! My bwain hurts!

See, H? Now look what you did. You permenantly, mentally scarred me and Gut!

That saiud I was amused by Sarah's les miserables reference, partly because I'm not mad about the show in general it just feels a little tacky...

oh no no no, my eyes are burning, get these mental images out of my head before it turns me into Random Virus's evil side 24/7.

Ick, that is just wrong. Very, very wrong.

U r just narrow minded!!!one!!

'Sides, "Honey, I'm home" is a canon line.

Uh, I didn't object to the line, I just objected to the whole idea of Cheseborough and Lord Fear. And I'm not the only one so 'giggles' see how mature I am

I know. Am attempting to joke about squicky!Fear pairings.

I still theorise that the man is Not Straight, y'know. High voice, musical skills, evil and deliberately placing self outside social norms, and of course the Bad Old Homophobic Cliche of the effeminate villain.

Not, of course, that Chesbrough/Duff are actually the Villainous Consort type. Not pretty enough.

See, now how come I got blamed for mental scarring when Sarah brought it up?

Because!

Yeah, and we know who TO

NEW E_MAIL REPLY! The e-mail is mine, but the stuff in capitals is Mr. Siggelkow's reply. God bless that man



Dear Mr. Siggelkow

We haven't spoken for several months and it is nice to speak with you again. The others members of the messageboard we thrilled when I gave them the info you told me about Season 3. It's a shame though it was cancelled. I have a couple more questions about Season 3 and the whole franchise overall. DEAR MARK, MY APOLOGIES FOR NOT GETTING BACK TO YOU SOONER. I AM IN CALGARY, CANADA, PRODUCING A NEW SERIES ABOUT EVOLVED DINOSAURS CALLED "DINOSAPIEN" THAT IS SCHEDULED TO AIR IN THE UK ON THE BBC IN MAY. I HOPE YOU GET TO SEE IT AND THAT YOU LIKE IT AS MUCH AS YOU LIKED ACE LIGHTNING.


1. Did you ever come up with any theories on how Random obtained his metal parts and evil programme? WE THOUGHT IT WAS BECAUSE HE'D BEEN DAMAGED IN AN EARLIER BATTLE, WHICH ALSO MESSED UP HIS PROGRAM.
2. Were there any characters other than Scrambler and Buzzbeast that did not make it past the drawing board? YES, THERE WAS A GREAT CHARACTER NAMED CANDY FLOSS WHO FIRED ARROWS WITH EXPLODING LOLLY POPS AT THE TIPS AND HAD COTTON CANDY WEBS TO TRAP ACE AND THE OTHER HEROES.
3. Were there any episodes/storylines that were scrapped that could be worth noting? WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUN TO HAVE MR. CHESEBOROUGH HIDING OUT AND BEING FOUND BY LORD FEAR AND THE RAT, AND WE WERE ALSO THINKING OF WAYS TO BRING BACK THE OTHER CHARACTERS. WE WERE ALSO GOING TO DEVELOP THE IDEA OF RICK BEING TRAPPED INSIDE THE GAME AND WHAT KIND OF PROBLEMS HE COULD CREATE FOR MARK AND CHUCK, ETC.
4. What did Lady Illusion morph into at the carnival if she was destroyed (like Pigface becoming a bin or Anvil becoming a strength machine)? THAT'S A REALLY GOOD QUESTION. WE THOUGHT SHE WENT BACK INSIDE THE GAME AND THAT ACE WOULD HAVE TO FOLLOW HER BACK INTO THE GAME TO RESCUE HER, AND MAYBE IN THE PROCESS RELEASE THE OTHERS WHO WERE TRAPPED THERE.
5. It says on the video game credits that you directed it. Why were the characters voiced by different people and why didn't Sparx have role in the PS2 game? THE POWERS TO BE DIDN'T FEEL THAT SPARX WAS POPULAR ENOUGH -- I THINK THEY WERE WRONG.
6. Did you have any other designs for the characters? If so, I was wondering if I could see them? I'M AFRAID THAT I CAN'T SEND THEM OUT -- THEY ARE THE PROPERTY OF BBC WORLDWIDE.
7. Where was the show filmed? IN TORONTO.
8. It says in the yearbook you originally planned the characters to be from a comic book, but how would they appear in our world. I don't think having it struck by a lightning bolt would be very good, as it would be set alight! Did you plan any ideas for the comic book storyline. NO. I DROPPED THE COMIC BOOK IDEA ONCE I GOT HOOKED ON VIDEO GAMES AND REALIZED THEY WERE THE NEW COMIC BOOKS OF TODAY -- AND THE CHARACTERS TRANSLATED MUCH BETTER TO THE SCREEN AS CIG ANIMATION.
9. Where did you use any other superheroes or supervillains for inspiration for the characters (e.g. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Fantastic 4, the Hulk, etc.)? SPIDER-MAN HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY FAVORITE SUPER HERO, AND I DID GO BACK AND READ ALL THE EARLY ISSUES -- WHICH I THINK WERE THE BEST STORIES WHEN PETER WAS STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL. I HAVE ALWAYS LIKED THE IDEA OF COLLIDING WORLDS -- LIKE PETER PARKER HAD TO DEAL WITH AND LIKE OUR HEROES IN ACE HAD TO DEAL WITH.
10. Final question: If the BBC didn't have enough money from the merchandise to continue the series, isn't it generally their fault as they did not make any merchandise for the second series, so they ran out on their own fault. I'm just saying my opinion. THANK YOU FOR NOTING THIS. ANOTHER BIG PART OF THE PROBLEM WAS THAT THEY HAD PROJECTED TOO MUCH INCOME AGAINST THE SERIES BASED ON MERCHANDISE, AND THERE WAS NO WAY THAT A NEW SERIES (NO MATTER HOW GOOD OR POPULAR) COULD HAVE MADE THAT MUCH MONEY IN SUCH A SHORT TIME. IT IS A SHAME.

I have several websites about Ace Lightning I reccommend:

http://au.geocities.com/amuletofzoar/ - we consider this the unofficial homepage for Ace now.

http://geocities.com/thethundertower - Another good website.

http://www.fanfiction.net/l/1865/3/0/1/1/0/0/0/0/0/1/ - Ace Lightning's category of Fanfiction.net I have heard you've been there before. I have a work-in-progress Season 3 on there.

http://s10.invisionfree.com/Ace_Lightning - The Ace Lightning messageboard. It recently had a upgrade.

I hope to hear from you soon Mr. Siggelkow and good luck with that new show of yours that it talks about on imdb.com.

Mark

That. Is. So. Incredibly. Cool.

*iz jellus that she didn't get a reply when she tried it. Probably because she used the phrase "Madonna/Whore" duology and got caught by the spam filters*

Thanks so much for posting this. It'd be great if Sigglekow could join this board; the series is over, so it'd even be okay for him to read fanfic.

I'd have liked to know more about the world of the Sixth Dimension, maybe whether LI has a first name, and congratulate him that I think she's a pretty revolutionary character for a kids' show--experienced "distressing damsel" who rescues the virgin hero. Or whether Ace, Sparx and Random are the only Lightning Knights out there. Or how Fear became a skeleton in the first place (if that even made it into the backstory). Or the ages Sparx and LI were so reticent about revealing in the guidebook.

It's really thrilling he's been replying to you.

I suggest you try again, Sarah. He's a nice guy but he is making a new tv show so he probably is a bit busy. Just be patient and you should get a reply, I did - three times.

His e-mail address is RSiggelkow@aol.com

Oh, I know. I just think I got caught by the spam filters. And maybe it'd be a bit bothersome if all of us emailed him at once--I know he's a very, very busy man.

Yeah, and religion/politics of the 6D would be cool to know about. Right wing Knights? Libertarian!Fear? Does he have some sort of policy ideas re:taking over the world? Are they evils as some sort of reactionary political cause? Have they (and LI) done anything awful like mass murder or killing kittens?

*shuts self up*

Well I could always send another e-mail with your questions and opinions to him and see what he says?