A Conversation with Benita Story, Co-Writer on Johnny Saturn, by Scott Story
Most of you know it by now, but Benita Story is an integral part of the team that creates Johnny Saturn. She is also my wife. What follows is a casual conversation about what she does, and her views on it.
Scott: Benita, how did your role as a co-writer on “Johnny Saturn” come about?
Benita: I’m not really sure, actually. I think we just started tossing ideas around about a story we’d like to tell, and one thing lead to another. I remember a lot of “What if…” and “What about…” and “That’s a great idea, but what if we did…” It’s like the story of twin boys – what one doesn’t think of, the other will. That’s us!
Scott: Well before you assumed the co-writer’s mantle, you were making up characters for the series. Would you tell us about that?
Benita: Ahhh… Dr. Synn. Well, you had this temporary name for the villain of the Johnny Saturn story, Dr. Synn. I liked it and it immediately conjured up the character pretty much as he ended up being. First, though, I knew what he looked like. I remembered a line from the movie “Addam’s Family Values.” They were at a school function (Halloween?) where the kids were supposed to be in costume. The teacher looked at Wednesday, who was not in costume, and asked, “And what are you supposed to be?” Wednesday deadpanned, “I’m a homocidal maniac. We look like everyone else.” That’s why Dr. Synn is dressed like a businessman in a white linen suite, fedora and walking stick. I wanted him to be able to walk down the street in any city and no one pay much attention to him. I wanted him to be proper and polite, even to the point of leaving a tip in a café that he blows up theminute he’s out of it.
And then, there are Tara and Mollie. You had drawn a picture of a blond girl with cupie-hair in your sketchbook. She just spoke to me and said, I am Tara, the grand-daughter of Karl Wissenschaft. But, the further I delved into her character, the more conflict I felt in her for all her perfect exterior. It was then I realized she was a robot based on the successful experiments Dr. Wissenschaft had done on a homeless girl. Also, I realized he had done more than based her physical aspects on this girl, but had gone so far as to download the memories and personality of this girl into Tara. But who was this homeless girl? Mollie. She came to me whole and complete as she is. A mutilated survivor of Dr. Wissenschaft’s life’s work. The Yin to Tara’s Yang. And that’s all I can say, because I don’t want to give away some important plot elements.
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