Stationery Voyagers

Stationery Voyagers is a canceled satirical serial space opera television series once in development by Dozerfleet Productions.

A team of diplomatic recon-oriented anthropomorphic writing utensils seek to prevent widespread imperialism in their star system, only to find themselves accidental heroes destined to battle an even bigger scheme by an ancient evil which threatens the eternal damnation of their entire universe. It was first envisioned in 2000, underwent numerous revisions before finally being canceled on December 20th of 2017.

Synopsis
See also: List of Stationery Voyagers episodes

The Voyagers' universe is a satirical alternate universe, emphasizing Christian apologetics in the Lewisian tradition while it simultaneously analyzes and critiques a variety of other topics. These topics range from metaphysics to the teachings of Immanuel Kant and Gottfried Leibniz to political theories to the American culture war and then some.

It often uses substitution names for its components' real-world counterparts, such as "Antia" for America and "Braldon" for Britain, etc. Other references remain more obscure. Piecing together elements of American pop culture, Biblical doctrine, and fabricating its own comic book-style mythology, the story is designed to read like a comic book and an action thriller.

One pre-series event crucial in the history of the Inktacto system is the war between Drizad and Markerterion, along with a few other events which make the Voyagers' mission inevitable.

It is through the war, however, that the manipulative and greedy General Bluque rises to the position of power that he does; and is able to control Alhox as the puppet emperor of Markerterion. The rest of the series revolves around how the Voyagers were chosen for their mission of diplomacy, the launching of their campaigns, the various characters they interact with, and the divine plan interweaving itself into their every circumstance.

Season One: Vocations
Season One explains who the Voyagers are, where they came from, who the Xyliens are, the nature of their ship, and deals with what happens shortly after their maiden voyage to the planet Neothode. The season is broken into multiple plot arcs, largely centered around the four most relevant worlds to the season.

This includes the disintegration of the Voyagers' lives and the calling to their mission leading to their recruitment. Also mentioned are Neone's struggles to escape from slavery, Alhox's quest to end interplanetary piracy and stop Astrabolo, the fall of the Goldsen family and their Bubblespeck Gum Factory, General Bluque's shady relationship with a mysterious Bedouin figure, Mitchell Lomken and Eliot Brownside's escape from political assassins, and the defeat of a psychotic mass murderer going by the moniker of "Cybomec".

Season Two: Repercussions
Season Two takes place right after the events of Cybomec's raid on the Rilage Space Center. Neone discovers that she is actually descended from the royal Shinroff family of Neomlot, and decides to protect the family she never knew from a vicious evil wizard named Intimidator Irendus. The Voyagers negotiate Liquidon's freedom from a Nabijab city jail successfully, and he joins the team&mdash;along with all his secrets. Meanwhile, the Xylien Society ups the ante on its war with the YPL terrorist front la-Qualda, and its drug storehouses inside of Bubblespeck and Sprucethirst. With Nonpriel's continued intervention continually undermining them, the Voyagers nevertheless embark on their Whixtitian Campaign. They get sidetracked when the nation of Verinthia needs their help to stop Astrabolo's minions from unleashing a viral genocide through Buliod's disease. Along the way, they rescue the Metallic Voyagers from the Muellex and allow them to safely travel back to Port Metaball for debriefing. All their efforts begin to grow legally complicated, as prosecutor Spike Inkfong ups his vendetta against the Xylien Society and on his plans to have the Voyager program permanently shut down.

Season Three: Surfaces
Season Three documents what happens to the Voyagers while they are on Mantith, where they spend the majority of their final campaign. They get an apartment, become the target of political and social activist persecution, are continually harassed by enemies both extra-terrestrial and supernatural, become human for a time, and then witness the dramatic turn of events that allows them to accomplish their goal in spite everything they could imagine going wrong doing so. Erasaxo reveals that Ribando was mechanized against his will, and Ribando is revived in a fully-opaque version of the Cybomec body to assist the Voyagers in overcoming the Wizard Lamdock. Rhodney falls in love with an RMM spy named Melanie Horquetza, and Liquidon grows closer and closer to the Martius sisters. The Voyagers also learn of scriptural events that happened on Mantith&trade; and discover that other Stationeries had visited before their arrival.

Season Four: Reconciliations
In Season Four, the consequences of Stationeries revealing themselves to an unprepared modern society begin to take their toll on human and Stationery alike. Liquidon's powers increase and his control over them wanes. He grows fearful of killing his friends by accident. At the same time, Liquidon falls completely in love with the Mosquatlon Cindy Martius. However, Cindy reveals that she may have to sacrifice herself for Liquidon to complete his mission. The Mystery Wanderer finally reveals the truth of his identity and agenda; and the Drismabons launch a full-scale invasion of Mantith as part of an ancient quest for revenge. Nations give up their differences for a time so they can battle this common foe.

Post-series
The stage is set for Stationery Voyagers: Caloric Attitudes, where the Voyagers gain a new leader in the form of Caloride to defeat Grefundle the Collector and imprison in a mini-muellex their great foe Astrabolo. After 60-years of imprisonment, Astrabolo is rediscovered by Humbidial. Astrabolo immediately resumes leadership of the Yehtzig Pirate League, quickly helping it corrupt to the last the PTG. He forms the Grapharino Universal Government (GUG); and in his thirst to rule the universe, he decides to have the legendary Hornet-Knob Cannon rebuilt. Pieces to the blueprints are missing. In order to stop him from finding the blueprints, the Liberty Effort on the still-free Markerterion creates a new team of Stationery Voyagers to frustrate Astrabolo's efforts. The Final Hope Voyagers and their adventures become the subject of a one-seasoned short series: Stationery Voyagers: Final Hope.

Cast
Main article: List of characters in Stationery Voyagers

The central cast consists of nine titular members of the Xylien Society's Voyager Program, as they perform acts of diplomatic recon while trying to avoid trouble with aggressive adversaries. Initially, the team has only six members, with Season Two introducing two additional ones and Season Three introducing the ninth.

A Pentel Click-It series PD-15 plays Pextel, the tragic and ill-fated Arnold Rubblindo reincarnated as a ship captain for the Voyagers' Bindaf 3000 spaceship. A pink American Crafts Ultimate Gel Pen plays Pextel's girlfriend Pinkella Goldsen, who loses her family when a factory worker commits a cruel act of betrayal. Papermate Write Bros.-series pens play Rhodney Antilles, Oceanoe Hendelbin, and Marlack Inkripe, childhood friends of Pextel's whose disappointments in life lead them to join the Voyager program. A white rubber eraser plays Erasaxo Herrick, the Bindaf 3000's official mechanic. Slowly learning about the crew's existence through prophecies and trace anecdotes are Mitchell Lomken and Eliot Brownside, Braldonian refugees living in Antia to flee persecution from enemies of the Lomken Estate. Aiding the Voyagers on missions while still on their homeworld are Skidders Garret Nobee and Katrina Mantalone.

Eventually, the Voyagers are joined by runaway sex slave Neone Delft, portrayed by a Pilot Spotlight Supreme Highlighter Marker. The second season sees the team recruiting to their side Liquidon Ethereteel. Portrayed by a 2001-era Gillette Liquid Paper Pen. Liquidon possesses the power of teleportation. Both Cybomecs, Consto and Ribando, are portrayed by BiC mechanical pencils.

Development
The series has been in development since before Dozerfleet existed. There were numerous early ideas for a series based on anthropomorphic stationery dating all the way back to 1993. The earliest Stationery Voyagers plot was formed in 2000. Since then, the idea has gone through numerous transformations. Several real-life stationery products from the years 1999-2001 were employed as members of the cast. These include the Pentel Click-It PD15 portraying Pextel and the Pilot Spotlight Supreme Highlighter for Neone.

The original first episode was completed on February 24th of 2009, with mechanical edits finished on March 29th that same year.

Conception
The series was initially thought up on 2000. Thoughts around it concerned portraying several of the theological and philosophical themes contained in a way that was both engaging and revolutionary. At the same time, this series was geared to fulfill the series creator's vision as of 1993, of a TV program that would put intellectual concepts within reach of the general population whilst simultaneously anthropomorphizing writing utensils, much as one might do when bored at school during free time. This was meant to be a radical experiment, as there was significantly little anthropomorphizing of stationery in American pop culture beforehand.

Writing and episode format
Episodes are written in chronological order, with the exception of certain minisodes that jump or skip ahead and flashback episodes such as "Predecessors" and "Several Millennia Prior." Episodes are written with a cold open in mind, and most of them pick up shortly after where their predecessors left off. An episode that ends on a major point of unresolved tension will usually have a "To be continued" notice at the end. The advantage to writing in this format is that it allows for build-up time of background events and characters, and ensures plenty of time to ensure internal consistency in spite usually having only one writer. The font scheme is to put most content in Segoe UI, while the title and headings are written in variations of Lucida Sans Typewriter.

Instead of chapters and chapter numbers, sections of an episode are broken down by scenery shifts. A shift in scenery is indicated as a scenery heading, which lists the names of the most prominent characters in a new scene followed by a subheading indicating their location. Under most circumstances, scenery headings are needed for nearly every single location shift. In an adaptation to television, some of these scenery headings would be unnecessary once a location is established.

Music
Main article: Stationery Voyagers theme song

The theme tune for the Stationery Voyagers has remained relatively unchanged since 2000. Several drafts were attempted for lyrics, and for a brief time in 2009, it was ruled there probably should not be any. Drafting on lyrics has already begun. The current theme song can be found at the link above.

Cancellation
The series was declared canceled on December 20th of 2017. This was documented, along with the reasons why, in a DeviantArt Journal post.

Mythology
Main article: Mythology of Stationery Voyagers

There are several elements of the series' mythology. Most of then revolve around the sci-fi events, but other bits occur around the prophecies and "phanto-mechanics" that make certain story elements possible. The nature of how occult power works is also considered part of the show's mythology. Many recurring themes of the series' mythology include the Drizo-Markerto War, Phantomitics, Muellexes, "Onion"-verses, Mikloche, the behaviors of angels and demons, the symbolism of chameleons representing evil, symbolic Bible references, and more.

The series also has its own vampire folklore, featuring Mosquatlons in their battle with canary-men called Aviatets.

Confusion with other works
The different tactics for anthropomorphism in Voyagers and in Last Act Studios' short film Pencil Town is due to the two programs' very different natures. In spite stark contrasts between the two, this has not stopped some fans from confusing them for one another.