Surrendering
The fake TV show meme. First I got a bit carried away, but now I hope I've reduced it enough. I got tagged by jjpor with "former comic-book-style supervillain now living as part of a witness protection programme..." Crossposted at isurrendered .
So here is Morgen
Morgen was a TV show that followed the life of Benjamin Morgen/Adam Warner/Kaa:
One time a promising young psychology student Adam Warner wanted to use his ability off mind control and limited telepathy to help people. On college he befriended Nicolas Geynor a young man gifted with super strength and near invulnerability. Geynor's impulsiveness and naivety combined with his enthusiasm made him the archetypical candidate for becoming a superhero but it also got both of them into a lot of trouble. After a terrible incident which forced Adam to attack someone telepathically - effectively mind-melding with the attacker - Adam became more aggressive and egoistic resulting in the birth of “Kaa” his super villain alter ego. For a while Geynor in his secret identity as “The Punch” battled Kaa not knowing it was his friend Adam. The final falling out is only hinted at during the first season but it's indicated that Adam valued Nicolas too much to wipe his mind preferring to be his enemy to keeping him as a friend under false pretence.
In the years that followed Kaa and The Punch had many confrontations until Kaa was finally arrested (probably with the help of Nicolas). Adam managed to get around a life long prison sentence by helping the police to arrest “Deadshot” a super-villain crime boss and testifying against him.
In the present Adam lives under the identity of Benjamin Morgen a high school art teacher.
A typical episode of Morgen consisted of two parallel plot lines - in the tradition of Highlander or Forever Knight there are Flashbacks interwoven with the current plot telling a story about the title character's past sometimes with relevance to the main plot sometimes just giving the audience a few more insights into Ben Morgen's character.
The main plot dealt with very different stories every week covering high school life, social problems, romance and the occasional (super) crime plot that Ben Morgen encountered. For a main protagonist of a TV show Morgen stayed relatively passive getting involved rather than involving himself actively. He usually used his natural charm and psychological training to overcome problems - yet to the nature of his powers it is never possible to determine if he used them or not.
At the end of the 13 episode run Morgen's cover was blown, the FBI had reached the conclusion that he did use his power (which broke the terms of their deal) and Nicolas Geynor finally found him.
The last scene of the series shows Geynor and Morgen waking up in bed together as a new day breaks ending the enthusiastic fan debate if the two men were more than just friends.
Although Morgen never was intended to run for more than the original 13 episodes fan uproar is huge to bring bach "Morgen" either as a prequel showing more of Kaa and The Punch's history or as a spin-off showing Adam Warner's life in yet another identity on the run from the FBI.
CAST
Benjamin Morgen/Adam Warner/Kaa(Peter Wingfield):
Morgen is a very complex character. While the young Adam is mostly portrayed as a well meaning person and his supervillain persona is the direct result of a traumatic experience, it is hinted that he always had a darker side and the mind-meld with a notorious criminal only resulted in Adam shedding any pretence. Ben Morgen seems to be a dedicated teacher, who loves his job and cares for his students but he says on more than one occasion that he hates being Ben Morgen, hates living a lie. The only non-ambiguous thing about him is his affection towards Nick Geynor.
Amelia Berry (Holly Robinson):
Morgen's single mother neighbour. Despite quite a few rough turns in her life Amelia managed to keep hold of her generally cheery nature. First she appears to be nothing more than a love interest for Morgen. Her interest in him is pretty obvious in the pilot where her behaviour tends towards the intrusive and he even seems to encourage her flirting during early episodes (“You're one of those 'the glass is half full' types. That might not be very clever but I find it quite endearing.”). In 'Dark Secrets' (1.07) we learn some things about her past, when circumstances bring Amelia to confide in Ben. In this conversation she also tells him that she knows that he isn't interested in her romantically (“Ever since the bicycle trip I knew it was hopeless. But it doesn't matter - You're a good neighbour and an even better friend. My life isn't over just because you won't sleep with me.”) cementing her place as a strong female character and a fan favourite.
Emma Hardy (Robia Lamorte):
Emma rules her class room with an iron fist. She's got a sharp tongue and a sense of humour that tends towards the cynical but she believes in the fundamental good will in her fellow men and is always ready to give everybody a second chance. Her political views are moderately left but during her college years she tended towards a more extreme view. Although she's happily married we never see her husband on screen. Her verbal duels with Thomas Sheckley in the teacher's lounge usually began and ended commercial breaks implying that they sparred throughout the whole break.
Thomas Sheckley (Nickolas Grace)
The older English teacher has stayed young at heart. He gets very enthusiastic about his interests mainly literature in all its forms and music. He has given up on some of the students but will do a lot for the ones that show interest in his subject and the will to work. He's also a bachelor by choice and often criticizes other people's obsession with relationships (“A lot of people have to have someone else around, because they can't stand themselves. Well I like myself and the rest of the world can go to hell if they don't like it.”)
Edwin Dojewski (Robert Pugh)
The principal of Midtown High is a career man. He neither likes students nor teachers very much and is disliked very strongly in return. The portrayal of his family life show him as a sad, weak, lonely man who takes it out on his inferiors at work. Although he's one of the least sympathetic characters of the cast his death in the last episode is a rather tragic event and leaves the bitter after taste of missed opportunities.
Akako Shiro (Rosalind Shao)
Agent Shiro of the FBI is Morgen's official contact. She's a hardcore Republican, who thinks he should have never gotten that deal and tries to catch him on a slip up. She always plays by the rules and would never falsify evidence to get him although she hates his guts. She despises the Punch almost as much as him since she sees vigilante antics as a threat to the safety of the general public. She calls him on the use of his powers several times throughout the series but only can prove it in the last episode. Before she can arrest him personally she's run over by a car, while she rescues a man by pushing him out of the way. It is not clear whether she survived the accident or not.
Nicolas Geynor/The Punch (Kavan Smith):
Strong, nearly invulnerable and idealistic - combined with his good looks and all American image The Punch is the poster boy for the American superhero community. The point is, that it's more than just an image, Nicolas Geynor believes in the American dream, he believes that all men are born equal and he believes that the weak deserve protection. He works as a fireman, he volunteers in a soup kitchen and he only puts on his cape when lives are in danger and he doesn't see another way. As a young man he searched out the excitement, but after his arch-nemesis Kaa was arrested he preferred to leave the fight against crime to the authorities. He doesn't avoid the responsibility that comes with his power but he doesn't enjoy it the way he once used to. He does what he does because he is convinced that it is right to do so, which means he's neither accessible to bribes nor blackmail. He only has one weakness - when confronted with the choice between love and doing what's right, next time he might choose love.
Deadshot/Vincente Marosso (Dean Stockwell):
Marosso was born into a Mafia family. His supernatural sight and hand-eye coordination were a great asset on his rise to power. He first encountered Adam Warner and Nicolas Geynor when the two young students stumbled upon one of his illegal operation. He would have let them be killed but Adam 'convinced' him otherwise. He has strong mental barriers and Warner had to meld with him to break his resistance. During the following years Marosso had to fight ambitious young competition in Kaa and simultaneously stay ahead of the young upstart hero The Punch. He was finally captured and put away but he still can pull a lot of strings out of his prison cell and he plans to get his revenge on the prosecutions main witness.
Maria Smith/Sting (Bianca Lawson):
Sting was the Punch's young sidekick. Her abilities include agility and superhuman reflexes. Where the Punch doesn't mind getting hurt, she simply doesn't. Other than her mentor she works directly for the government as a full time superhero. She helped bringing Kaa in and although she has access to the witness protection paperwork she never helped Nicolas on his search, feeling that Warner wasn't good for her friend.
Egghead (David Hewlett):
Kaa's old henchmen whose photographic memory and encyclopaedic knowledge enable him to build up his own crime regime. He wants to kill Kaa to prove that he is superior to his old boss.
QUOTES:
young Nicolas (after he has seen Adam's powers in action for the first time): “I'll just call you Ben from now on.”
young Adam: “Ben?”
young Nicolas (makes the appropriate gesture): “These are not the droids you are looking for.”
young Adam: “I screwed up.”
young Nicolas:” Yeah. But you know... there's always another day to get it right. There's always a 'tomorrow'.”
young Adam (raises his glass): “To 'tomorrow'.”
Kaa: “Your optimism - your naivety one day they'll be the death of you.”
The Punch: “Maybe but it's better than being dead inside already.”
Nicolas: “I always believed in you. I knew you were strong enough to overcome Deadshot's influence.”
Adam (laughs harshly): “I never WAS under his influence. I saw things in his mind, it opened my eyes - but he never had any influence on me. Everything I did was MY doing.”
Nicolas: “I still believe in you.”
Adam: “And one day that'll be the death of you.”
Nicolas: "I know why you chose Kaa."
Adam: "Well it's not that hard to figure out. I bring people to do my biding and I eat small children - at least if you ask the yellow press."
Nicolas:"I was more thinking about "Kaa the wise", the teacher."
Adam (pauses obviously touched): "You read the BOOK?!"
Nicolas: “I like your new name.”
Ben (rolling his eyes): “Figures.”
So here is Morgen
Morgen was a TV show that followed the life of Benjamin Morgen/Adam Warner/Kaa:
One time a promising young psychology student Adam Warner wanted to use his ability off mind control and limited telepathy to help people. On college he befriended Nicolas Geynor a young man gifted with super strength and near invulnerability. Geynor's impulsiveness and naivety combined with his enthusiasm made him the archetypical candidate for becoming a superhero but it also got both of them into a lot of trouble. After a terrible incident which forced Adam to attack someone telepathically - effectively mind-melding with the attacker - Adam became more aggressive and egoistic resulting in the birth of “Kaa” his super villain alter ego. For a while Geynor in his secret identity as “The Punch” battled Kaa not knowing it was his friend Adam. The final falling out is only hinted at during the first season but it's indicated that Adam valued Nicolas too much to wipe his mind preferring to be his enemy to keeping him as a friend under false pretence.
In the years that followed Kaa and The Punch had many confrontations until Kaa was finally arrested (probably with the help of Nicolas). Adam managed to get around a life long prison sentence by helping the police to arrest “Deadshot” a super-villain crime boss and testifying against him.
In the present Adam lives under the identity of Benjamin Morgen a high school art teacher.
A typical episode of Morgen consisted of two parallel plot lines - in the tradition of Highlander or Forever Knight there are Flashbacks interwoven with the current plot telling a story about the title character's past sometimes with relevance to the main plot sometimes just giving the audience a few more insights into Ben Morgen's character.
The main plot dealt with very different stories every week covering high school life, social problems, romance and the occasional (super) crime plot that Ben Morgen encountered. For a main protagonist of a TV show Morgen stayed relatively passive getting involved rather than involving himself actively. He usually used his natural charm and psychological training to overcome problems - yet to the nature of his powers it is never possible to determine if he used them or not.
At the end of the 13 episode run Morgen's cover was blown, the FBI had reached the conclusion that he did use his power (which broke the terms of their deal) and Nicolas Geynor finally found him.
The last scene of the series shows Geynor and Morgen waking up in bed together as a new day breaks ending the enthusiastic fan debate if the two men were more than just friends.
Although Morgen never was intended to run for more than the original 13 episodes fan uproar is huge to bring bach "Morgen" either as a prequel showing more of Kaa and The Punch's history or as a spin-off showing Adam Warner's life in yet another identity on the run from the FBI.
CAST
Benjamin Morgen/Adam Warner/Kaa(Peter Wingfield):
Morgen is a very complex character. While the young Adam is mostly portrayed as a well meaning person and his supervillain persona is the direct result of a traumatic experience, it is hinted that he always had a darker side and the mind-meld with a notorious criminal only resulted in Adam shedding any pretence. Ben Morgen seems to be a dedicated teacher, who loves his job and cares for his students but he says on more than one occasion that he hates being Ben Morgen, hates living a lie. The only non-ambiguous thing about him is his affection towards Nick Geynor.
Amelia Berry (Holly Robinson):
Morgen's single mother neighbour. Despite quite a few rough turns in her life Amelia managed to keep hold of her generally cheery nature. First she appears to be nothing more than a love interest for Morgen. Her interest in him is pretty obvious in the pilot where her behaviour tends towards the intrusive and he even seems to encourage her flirting during early episodes (“You're one of those 'the glass is half full' types. That might not be very clever but I find it quite endearing.”). In 'Dark Secrets' (1.07) we learn some things about her past, when circumstances bring Amelia to confide in Ben. In this conversation she also tells him that she knows that he isn't interested in her romantically (“Ever since the bicycle trip I knew it was hopeless. But it doesn't matter - You're a good neighbour and an even better friend. My life isn't over just because you won't sleep with me.”) cementing her place as a strong female character and a fan favourite.
Emma Hardy (Robia Lamorte):
Emma rules her class room with an iron fist. She's got a sharp tongue and a sense of humour that tends towards the cynical but she believes in the fundamental good will in her fellow men and is always ready to give everybody a second chance. Her political views are moderately left but during her college years she tended towards a more extreme view. Although she's happily married we never see her husband on screen. Her verbal duels with Thomas Sheckley in the teacher's lounge usually began and ended commercial breaks implying that they sparred throughout the whole break.
Thomas Sheckley (Nickolas Grace)
The older English teacher has stayed young at heart. He gets very enthusiastic about his interests mainly literature in all its forms and music. He has given up on some of the students but will do a lot for the ones that show interest in his subject and the will to work. He's also a bachelor by choice and often criticizes other people's obsession with relationships (“A lot of people have to have someone else around, because they can't stand themselves. Well I like myself and the rest of the world can go to hell if they don't like it.”)
Edwin Dojewski (Robert Pugh)
The principal of Midtown High is a career man. He neither likes students nor teachers very much and is disliked very strongly in return. The portrayal of his family life show him as a sad, weak, lonely man who takes it out on his inferiors at work. Although he's one of the least sympathetic characters of the cast his death in the last episode is a rather tragic event and leaves the bitter after taste of missed opportunities.
Akako Shiro (Rosalind Shao)
Agent Shiro of the FBI is Morgen's official contact. She's a hardcore Republican, who thinks he should have never gotten that deal and tries to catch him on a slip up. She always plays by the rules and would never falsify evidence to get him although she hates his guts. She despises the Punch almost as much as him since she sees vigilante antics as a threat to the safety of the general public. She calls him on the use of his powers several times throughout the series but only can prove it in the last episode. Before she can arrest him personally she's run over by a car, while she rescues a man by pushing him out of the way. It is not clear whether she survived the accident or not.
Nicolas Geynor/The Punch (Kavan Smith):
Strong, nearly invulnerable and idealistic - combined with his good looks and all American image The Punch is the poster boy for the American superhero community. The point is, that it's more than just an image, Nicolas Geynor believes in the American dream, he believes that all men are born equal and he believes that the weak deserve protection. He works as a fireman, he volunteers in a soup kitchen and he only puts on his cape when lives are in danger and he doesn't see another way. As a young man he searched out the excitement, but after his arch-nemesis Kaa was arrested he preferred to leave the fight against crime to the authorities. He doesn't avoid the responsibility that comes with his power but he doesn't enjoy it the way he once used to. He does what he does because he is convinced that it is right to do so, which means he's neither accessible to bribes nor blackmail. He only has one weakness - when confronted with the choice between love and doing what's right, next time he might choose love.
Deadshot/Vincente Marosso (Dean Stockwell):
Marosso was born into a Mafia family. His supernatural sight and hand-eye coordination were a great asset on his rise to power. He first encountered Adam Warner and Nicolas Geynor when the two young students stumbled upon one of his illegal operation. He would have let them be killed but Adam 'convinced' him otherwise. He has strong mental barriers and Warner had to meld with him to break his resistance. During the following years Marosso had to fight ambitious young competition in Kaa and simultaneously stay ahead of the young upstart hero The Punch. He was finally captured and put away but he still can pull a lot of strings out of his prison cell and he plans to get his revenge on the prosecutions main witness.
Maria Smith/Sting (Bianca Lawson):
Sting was the Punch's young sidekick. Her abilities include agility and superhuman reflexes. Where the Punch doesn't mind getting hurt, she simply doesn't. Other than her mentor she works directly for the government as a full time superhero. She helped bringing Kaa in and although she has access to the witness protection paperwork she never helped Nicolas on his search, feeling that Warner wasn't good for her friend.
Egghead (David Hewlett):
Kaa's old henchmen whose photographic memory and encyclopaedic knowledge enable him to build up his own crime regime. He wants to kill Kaa to prove that he is superior to his old boss.
QUOTES:
young Nicolas (after he has seen Adam's powers in action for the first time): “I'll just call you Ben from now on.”
young Adam: “Ben?”
young Nicolas (makes the appropriate gesture): “These are not the droids you are looking for.”
young Adam: “I screwed up.”
young Nicolas:” Yeah. But you know... there's always another day to get it right. There's always a 'tomorrow'.”
young Adam (raises his glass): “To 'tomorrow'.”
Kaa: “Your optimism - your naivety one day they'll be the death of you.”
The Punch: “Maybe but it's better than being dead inside already.”
Nicolas: “I always believed in you. I knew you were strong enough to overcome Deadshot's influence.”
Adam (laughs harshly): “I never WAS under his influence. I saw things in his mind, it opened my eyes - but he never had any influence on me. Everything I did was MY doing.”
Nicolas: “I still believe in you.”
Adam: “And one day that'll be the death of you.”
Nicolas: "I know why you chose Kaa."
Adam: "Well it's not that hard to figure out. I bring people to do my biding and I eat small children - at least if you ask the yellow press."
Nicolas:"I was more thinking about "Kaa the wise", the teacher."
Adam (pauses obviously touched): "You read the BOOK?!"
Nicolas: “I like your new name.”
Ben (rolling his eyes): “Figures.”