Brande conceives the basic idea of the Legion and along with his personal assistant,
Luornu Durgo of Cargg, a world where the people have the natural ability to split themselves
into three separate beings (she's paid triple-time, I hope), begins the work of lobbying
the UP leaders to implement his plan.
Here's where I depart, somewhat, from the current series. I won't discuss what has been
done, just what I would do for this series.
The three thugs reveal nothing under interrogation, not even their own names.Not only
do they have no memory of attacking Brande, they have no memory of who they are, or where
they're from. They have been forcibly mind-wiped and programmed to attack Brande by the
almost legendary underworld kingpin named Vidar, also known as "Universo", thanks
to some colorful reporter, because of Vidar is rumored to have eyes and ears everywhere.
Brande's Stargates have seriously hampered Vidar's trade in contraband. By funneling most
trade through the relatively narrow gates, inspection and interdiction is now possible,
where, before no one could track or intercept a ship in warp space. Warp ships are becoming
few and far-between, not to mention vastly expensive to operate.
For all these reasons, Vidar is determined to destroy Brande and cripple the previous
toothless United Planets. Vidar will usually remain in the background, taking a kind of
"Lex Luthor" role, opposite the Legion, sending his mind-controlled cronies to harass
them, and try to eliminate Brande. Vidar uses a mystical gem to control the minds of others,
he wears it as a monocle. The gem also renders him invisible to telepathy.
In the opening episode, we have the three heroes saving R.J.Brande, and Brande's inspiration
to create a group of young people, like the three who saved his life, to set an example of
unity and co-operation for the bickering and sometimes, bigoted, members of the United Planets.
We also meet the first legion recruits, Luornu Durgo, Brande's personal assistant, Tinya Wazzo,
the daughter of the Bgztlian ambassador, who can move through solid objects like a phantom, and,
just to have a non-human in the bunch, I thought we'd throw in Reep Daggle of Durla, where all
the people can shape-shift into any form they choose.
This would form the core of the team, and around them we would assemble the other members,
as they come in. I thought it would be nice to start with a small core group and then bring in
others in subsequent stories. In the first year, these would include, Querl Dox, the super-genius
from Colu, Jo Nah of Rimbor, whose super-human powers are varied, and can only be used
one-at-a-time. The legion would meet the heroes of Xanthu, principally, Thom Kallor-Star Boy ,
and a few others. A second year would bring in most of the characters who currently star in the
series, bringing the team up to the strength that intimidates so many villains and readers, alike.
The focus of the series would be on the characters, more than anything, with the occasional
story being dedicated to individual Legionnaires' adventures and back-story. Each episode
would open with a classic feature of the Legion comics, the Roll Call. This would give the audience,
especially those who are just discovering the Legion for the first time, a "score card"
to keep up with all these characters. The large cast is always cited as an obstacle to new
readers of the Legion comics, not that that's any reason they should avoid the books. I don't see
any way to keep the Legion true to it's source material, and cut the membership down, so I think
the Roll Call is a good way to educate the audience, without being forced to recap everyone's
name in each episode. I have faith in the audience being able to discern the difference between
the various heroes, villains and supporting characters, but I would like to keep the complex,
universe-spanning stories few and far-between, simply because too many of them diminishes the
sense of awe associated with such huge events.
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