Author Topic: Roger's Missed Opportunity  (Read 2981 times)

Malc

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Roger's Missed Opportunity
« on: April 20, 2008, 11:50:53 AM »
I know most of you are aware of my penchant for telling other people what to do, or how (after they've done it) it could have been done better. No thanks necessary.

I was reading through the re-visited article byJohn Peel on this site which introduced the Beau Peep characters, and there was one which I felt deserved his own strip. That character is Sopwith the camel.

There are some "experts" who pooh-pooh the idea of animal strips, as they feel animals don't work as conduits for humour*cough*Garfield*cough* but I disagree.

Yes, Sopwith is too big to inhabit a living room, at least a European style living room, but these things are easily negotiated. His world is the desert, the endless sea, the enigmatic vista of easy to draw sand. Look at BC, an incredibly successful strip which is set mainly in the Paleolithic period where, as everyone knows, Christian neanderthals co-existed with dinosaurs, and which contains very little in the way of interiors.  Indeed, the only "prop" is a rock, often with writing on it.

Of all the Beau Peep characters, there is no laconic, wisecracking Fonz-type figure, and Sopwith could be him.
Sopwith's secret agenda is that he believes camels to be vastly more intelligent than humans, yet continue being used as man's beast of burden, and he is constantly plotting a coup, a night raid during which all camels will rise up and slaughter the humans, taking over businesses and city infrastructures.

This highlights Sopwith's (indeed all camels) biggest failing. They don't know the actual size of the world. Theirs finishes at the next wadi.

There is a danger that a Sopwith strip could be seen by critics as a metaphor for the Arab struggle against their exploitation by the west, but so what, f*ck 'em.

The critics I mean, not the camels.

Offline Roger Kettle

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Re: Roger's Missed Opportunity
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2008, 06:33:47 PM »
When I first introduced Sopwith, I decided he would do nothing other than spit. No thoughts. Nothing but spit. It seemed like a nice response to Beau's rather wordy musings. The trouble with this, of course, is that it rather limited him as a character and it wasn't long before I eased him out of the strip. There are only so many times when you can show someone trying to get a camel to move and getting spat on in return. I could have---and probably SHOULD have---given Sopwith the power of thought but I didn't. I gave that power to the vultures---characters which I felt had much more scope.
Malc, your idea that Sopwith would simmer inwardly about the possibility of camels taking over the world is probably covered in a similar fashion by the established dreamer in the strip, The Nomad.
But you're right. Sopwith coulda been a contender...

Malc

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Re: Roger's Missed Opportunity
« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2008, 10:40:00 PM »
The Nomad admittedly does cover similar ground, as his aim is to capture the fort. There were also many references to beheadings, and his bloodlust (which is very funny, as mania often is) has had to be excised owing to today's political climate.

Sopwith could fill that gap with more cerebral musings, acceptable to an audience because his thoughts are coming from a camel. More a George Sanders figure than a Fonzie.
Don't forget, Sopwith now has his own strip, in my imaginings, with his own support characters, though Beau could "guest".

On a related tack, have you seen this? I think it's an unfortunate but inevitable by-product of the war against terror

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwOL4rB-go

Offline Roger Kettle

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Re: Roger's Missed Opportunity
« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2008, 05:32:20 PM »
What a strange clip, Malc---I really don't know what to make of it. The guy is obviously a talented ventriliquist and, as you say, I suppose this kind of act was inevitable but I can't decide if it's worthwhile satire (and there are some funny lines) or cheap exploitation of an easy target for American audiences. I guess it's somewhere in between.

Malc

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Re: Roger's Missed Opportunity
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2008, 04:27:51 AM »
I'm surprised it's taken this long for anti-terrorist satire to surface. One gets the impression that in the UK it would have done so years ago.

I'm afraid I'm one of those nutty conspiracy theorists. One of the first thoughts in my head when I saw the second plane hit the tower was "this is a movie, surely?"

I don't think the plane strikes were a figment of my imagination, but there is so much about that day that remains to be explained.

Still, we're a long way from the subject of Sopwith. Apart from the plane connection, that is.