Synopsis: Rene's round-headed assassin (Mr. Roblen) fatally shoots my long-nosed henchman and laughs. "Dead Man's Marsh" plays in the background.
Steven's Commentary: Rene initially distrusted me with the programming because he thought I would sabotage the end-product. When I finally completed the original storyboarding, I played a prank by showing him a fake version where the long-nosed henchman fired eyebeams and discolored the assassin's head. After Rene objected, I whipped out the real version.
Synopsis: A ninja dons his hood and meditates at a tree until night obscures his body. Armed with only a dagger, he infiltrates Mr. Roblen's stronghold and systematically eliminates each guard. After shooting Roblen dead with the hallway guard's sidearm, the ninja wires a plastique explosive and explodes Roblen's office sky-high.
Steven's Commentary: My favorite scene occurs in the final Roblen sequence when the ninja shoots the phone out of Roblen's hand. While other animation scenes flickered or "melted" despite my best memory conservative techniques, that particular animation came out suprisingly excellent.
Synopsis: Mr. Roblen's son watches as a newscaster reports Roblen's suspicious death. When the newscaster mentions the police commissioner's decoration ceremony, Roblen's son targets the commissioner's visage and blows a hole in it.
Steven's Commentary: I tried to break new ground with this final installment by incorporating random algorithims like the newscaster's moving mouth and a flying arrow that zipped past random colors in random spots. I planned a big climax where the ninja attempted to thwart Roblen's son's henchmen from assassinating the commissioner. Instead, the movie ended up unfinished when mounting schoolwork and the "Stick Man" project consumed all my time.
Someday, I'll convert these movies into an PC Apple ][ emulator. But for the most part, that ominous prologue concludes the year-spanning Assassination trilogy.
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