“Time & Tied” PARTS 17 & 18
- Original Date Of Completion: APR 20, 2001
- What I Was Doing: Looking For Work
- Hard Date Change: Used to be Fri. Oct 5, 2001
- Other changes of note:
-Carrie’s internal monologuing before talking to Laurie was shorter.
-Added the bit about Corry not swinging to guys, to avoid giving a wrong first impression.
-The few sentences to end Part 17 were once removed along with the hard dates, but was put back in to maintain a cliffhanger of sorts.
-Mention of ‘tape’ switched to generic ‘recording’.
SONG LYRICS
Yes, I wrote that song that Corry sings. No, I didn’t have any music in mind. Or title, for that matter.
I DID have experience writing PARODY songs before this part was done, because I used to write for FASS at the University of Waterloo (stands for Faculty, Alumni, Staff and Students). This is a theatre group who, every year, write an entire musical, which rehearses in January, then is performed for 4 shows in February. The songs within are usually parodies of pop music, but occasionally featured original music too. I was part of this group from 1997-2002.
In fact, I was chief scriptwriter for 2001’s show… which for the first time makes me realize I was writing Episodes 1-4 while co-ordinating a lot of other writers, and how the HECK did I manage to pull off Episode 5 during the month of rehearsals? Huh. Anyway, point being I’d written song parodies; I think my first two were written in 1999, and performed at the show in 2000. A lot of it is hearing rhythms, using misheard lyrics to your advantage, and finding a good “rhyme dictionary” to assist.
I’m still doing parody lyric writing - for mathematics. I stumbled back into it when I was considering “transformation” music for my personified math characters. From 2011 to 2015, I’ve come up with nearly 30 completed parodies. Life is weird.
What follows is Corry’s song in full. It’s not QUITE as in the episode (in that repeating the Chorus in text seemed disingenuous), and I’ve included a bit (in italics) from a file I found from 2001, done as I was working on it. As to a title… maybe “Outta Time”? After all, “Don’t Stop Believin’” only name drops at the end.
OUTTA TIME
I once wished to travel through time To have such a power seemed really sublime But I never imagined the problems I’d face So now I’m lost in time and also in space.
CHORUS: I’m three days older than I was last night Wondering if I put wrong what once went right And I would hit rewind but time’s being unkind Destinies intertwined now I’m losing my mind!
I can speak of tomorrow but not yesterday For when history changes your past goes away I altered one thing that was causing me strife The tapestry tore changing everyone’s life
Maybe that’s fine, maybe it’s not, Who draws the line, who calls the shot?
While in progress: The forces at work I cannot understand And I’m not the only one brand/hand/band You’d better beware Time won’t always play fair **
Is there some higher power involved around here? I don’t know if they helped or are something to fear. I see now that these forces can’t be understood I’d return things to normal if only I could,
But the ramifications have damaged my brain It won’t be long now before I’ve gone insane.
CHORUS: I’m three days older than I was last night Wondering if I put wrong what once went right And I would hit rewind but time’s being unkind Destinies intertwined now I’m losing my mind…!
None of this should have happened, I know in my gut Yet our future is hist’ry, and I’ve lost what’s what. We must now beware, time is not playing fair, I would solve this crime it’s just I’m… outta time… outta time… outta time…
ABOUT PARTS 17 & 18
Spoilers (up to part 18) follow. Also, that song from above? IS foreshadowing.
Plot-wise: We’re looking at ‘sweeps week’. Everything came together here, all the characters (even Fisk, the science teacher), all the plots (kinda - Shady’s absent)… and that last part was (and will again be) the climax for Book 1. What you might call the mid-season December cliffhanger for a TV show these days. Granted, there’s a BIT more to it than what you saw from the dance floor (because time travel). Of course, whether the story works at this point MAY hinge on how much you bought into the Veniti twins.
Character-wise, we met the twins. They were first name dropped by Clarke way back in Part 8, and there’s been a couple veiled references since then. If Julie is presently Carrie’s nemesis, Corry is the thorn in Julie’s side. Hopefully you got the sense that the two of them have a history. But Book 1 is still Carrie’s story, so we won’t be expanding on the Corry/Julie dynamic quite yet. Assuming you care… my God, I hope you care a little? I have a number of terrible people in the cast who likely deserve what they get. Thank goodness for Chartreuse and Laurie, providing balance.
I do love rereading Chartreuse’s parts. She makes me smile. And I have all the feels for Laurie, I made her the most innocent person in this den of lies and secrets - then had her betrayed (indirectly) by the protagonist. Laurie didn’t even get to dance with Clarke! I am such a jerk. A possible saving grace is that because you didn’t get to see Laurie until now, you might not empathize as much with her yet - and hence not want to throttle Carrie?
Or maybe you do empathize. I don’t know. Scott’s commenting, and John occasionally tweets at me… that’s it. Fortunately, I also retained Scott Delahunt’s original commentary from 2001, including: “[Laurie] doesn’t seem to be the type who would cheat. She just wouldn’t know how.” and “Julie is about to go over the deep end.” Accurate enough, so I’ll assume I’m still doing okay. ^_^
Episode 9 was originally called “Dance Dance Revolution”, the same name as the popular video stepping game at the time I wrote this. I kept that name for part 18, using “Observer Effect” for part 17. That term refers to the idea that one can change an event merely through observing it - which sort of describes Chartreuse and her efforts. Plus Carrie and Corry were doing self observation. Up next, the school dance! Again. Kinda. It’s also the episode with the most revisions since 2001.
Coming This Friday: Dance Dance Redux
(I might go back to Wattpad, but it seems unlikely.)
