A few weeks back, I posted a feature called The Lost TLW Factoids, which included bits and fragments of things that you guys never knew about your favorite Counter-Strike:Source machinima. We received lots of great feedback and some awesome questions. I didn’t quite get to some of those questions this time, but I do plan on it. I just thought these tidbits were a little juicier.
Here are some more lost TLW factoids.
- The clusterf*** of Episode 12. A little known fact about Episode 12 of Season 1- it was re-written no less than 3 times during filming. One of the earliest concepts of the episode actually included Ahmad assuming leadership of the Terrorists, because let’s get real, why would he let Cortez stay as the leader? This presented some funny ideas (like him making Cortez do the chores introduced in Ep 2), but ultimately we decided that we needed to get to the Ochos Muertos, because we had taken too long to bring them to the forefront. The original draft also didn’t involve the Domination Man, but we eventually included him just because we thought it would be cool. Which lead to other problems…
- The Domination Man’s Early Demise. Sometimes red herrings are cool. Other times they are not. Like when they distract you from the real plot and confuse the audience. While introducing the Domination Man to save Cortez in Episode 12, we ran into an unfortunate problem- most everyone that saw the episode thought that the Domination Man was in fact Mendoza. From a storytelling standpoint, this makes perfect sense. Leeroy is talking about Mendoza, Cortez’s brother, and then the very next scene, the Domination Man is heard while we see the logo of the Ocho Muertos, and then he saves Cortez. Suddenly, we were worried that Episode 13 wasn’t going to make any sense and that people were just going to assume for the rest of the season that DM and Mendoza were one in the same. So… we wrote a quick scene where Mendoza kills him. Boom, end of confusion.
- Leeroy’s Death. This was one that I regretted cutting from the story badly, but we just couldn’t make it work without it being stupidly confusing. Instead of getting kicked off the show by the Producer, Leeroy was going to be killed after the second challenge of Season 2, in either a crazy awesome explosion of his lair, or a shootout with Cortez. The death would send Westheimer spiraling into depression, and Ellis on the run at a slightly earlier time than he eventually did in the series proper. The twist? Leeroy had merely faked his death and went to study the death room. Cortez was in on it, too. We decided it was easier just to have him kicked off, because we thought that a fake death would lessen the impact of Ahmad’s sacrifice when it happened. Also, before we had fully fleshed out Leeroy’s arc for Season 2, it was going to be the Domination Man that appeared half dead on the house’s doorstep, spilling the Producer and Player’s secrets. Ever wonder why we didn’t show him getting shot?
- Darth Westy. When we did the initial brainstorming for the end of Season 2 and story for Season 3, we had 2-3 ideas that we toyed around with but ultimately scrapped. I’ll save the others for a later date, but one of them involved the house exploding with Westheimer trapped inside. The rest of the cast has fled, assuming him dead. Right before the credits roll, a half dead and burned Westy is found by the Producer, who kneels down and whispers, “Do not worry, Westheimer. We are going to fix you.” You can only guess who the main villain of Season 3 was going to be in that scenario.
Got any more questions that you’re curious about? Send them in, and let us know your thoughts on these new revelations. Also, we’ve got a new episode of Web Zeroes out tomorrow, so be sure to stop by.
I want to know what the basic premise of the “movie” was going to be.
i lold @ darth westy. Im trying to get all TLW episodes on disk so i could watch them from TV. Just dont have discs right now =S
I love these lost TLW Factoids.! They are so funny and awesome!
Keep ’em coming!
This is great stuff to read, some of the things you have revealed really let my imagination run free with alternate storylines great stuff.
Amazing 3 rewrites while filming and the episode was still badass lol Darth Westy i think if that were true Westy wouldnt be a very threatening villain but it would sure bring hilarity
Good stuff here, but what happened to that Russian company. When Ahmad returned, also, Leeroy said that it glitched the death room, that meant that it was active when Ahmad died. But since he and Asher died simotaniously, wouldn’t he also be trapped in the Death Room like Ahmad? Wouldn’t he also have returned? Kind of a missing puzzle piece you got there, unless I am wrong and you have mentioned something about it.
I’d like to know some things.
What happened to the comrades and Adam Sizzler?
What about “the chip in Ahmad’s head”?
And in one episode Asher said to the producer inLeeroy’s computer shack:
The dawn has come, the wolf is wating” or some shit liek that.
I got a few questions.
Does time in the Death Room parallel ‘real’ time?
Where exactly is the Death Room?
Who voiced player?(lol)
Who came up with player’s lines?
Really great ideas, and great way to handle the domination man. Too bad we didn’t get to see “darth-westy” in a dark helmet. I really miss TLW.
The “Darth Westy” idea was dropped? Aww, that would’ve been great, along with the Ahmad-being-the-leader-idea.
Plus a bit of questions:
If the Producer had the force shield thing, then would he have survived the Death Room explosion? (looks like a Season 3/TLW Movie bridge to me)
Who voiced Leeroy’s computer? (voice actor was LOLtastic)
How and when did the chip inside Ahmad’s head get planted?
Yeah, I was wondering about what the other people commented, what was the thing about “The Producer has many ways of getting what he wants … including a chip in your head to see your imaginary friend.” 😮
Might be like a little bit late with this, but i’ve been living without internets :O
I was actually wondering, since now your big ‘secret project’ is out in the open and TLW is a closed book, at what point in the season did you rewrite the finale to close the story as opposed to creating a bridge to the Movie (and Season 3 before that) – because I remember you guys saying you had a 3-season plan in mind… Anyway, perhaps it’d be best to not focus on that last bit coz people are gna be all ‘damn it why not!’
So yeah, when did you do the rewrite is my basic question actually..
Also, just out of curiosity, did you guys hide any easter eggs in TLW? If so, were there a lot or just a few.. i don’t think i ever picked up on them if they were there. I’ve noticed a few in WZ obviously.. if you can call it that. With the Sizzler on the TV and Ray’s ringtone lol
It is a little late to be asking these questions but..
what kind of terrorism/ counter terrorism did everyone (except Cortez and Westheimer) do before the show.
What happened with Westheimer’s “everyone I take under my wing goes wrong” and his past experiences with Hax. Those were awsome plots waiting to happen.
Doesn’t look like you’ll answer these questions, but Ill post them just incase someone can.
1.@Endplanets-Read the character bio on Westy and Cortez, it should help
2.Question-Ok. What was Mendoza going say before Westy had shot him?
3.Was the Domination man supposed to die? I remember Mendoza asking the producer about his death. Who was this guy anyway? The storyline expresses his character vaguely, Im still confused, does he work for Mendoza? Mr Wolf? He is also a bot like Player? You should do a Bio on him, unless there is not enough info or it would spoil season 3 or the movie (if there is going to be one).
Thanks!
In the last episode of season 2 (at 07:10) Player uses radio command (Negative!) in the Death Room. Was that a mistake or you did it on purpose? Or Player learned that, too? (: