The Human Eel

THE CHARACTERS

MAIN CHARACTERS

The Human Eel employs a bit larger cast of regular characters than we find in Nick Guy, Private Eye. There is also the dynamic of the relationships between each of these characters. And we have also have a desire to have these relationships grow and change in the course of the series.

DEAN BEAGLE/THE HUMAN EEL: The Human Eel has actually been around for a good many years. Back in 1976 I was playing in a band called Prophet. Somehow we got this idea to do a song about a super hero. I wrote a song called “The Human Eel,” and when we performed it we would many times have someone dressed in a green costume with a mask come on stage and run through the audience. It certainly would qualify as different.

All these years later, the song and the character have remained in my mind. Back in 2011 I produced a Nick Guy Adventure called Nick Guy & the Power of S.I.N. Affair which featured the Human Eel. I thought that went well, and began developing the character and his world.

I based many things about the Human Eel off of that other Super Hero, Superman. Like Superman, the Human Eel’s civilian occupation is that of a reporter; a mildmannered ace reporter 2 class. There is the nd female reporter, Lorna Lake; the Jimmy Olson character, Beanie Olson; and the editor, Milton Kadud.

Though unlike Superman, the Human Eel is not exactly the most competent Super Hero. He routinely finds himself bumbling his way along, and if and when he does catch a Super Villain, it’s usually by mistake and not design.

LORNA LAKE: Lorna Lake is to the Human Eel what Lois Lane is to Superman. She, like Lois Lane, is a reporter. In fact, she’s the Evening Star’s ace reporter 1st class. There is a bit of a romantic tension between her and Dean Beagle - well most of the tension comes from his infatuation with her and her non-infatuation with him.

This is actually one of the relationships we want to be careful with. Anytime there is this kind of romantic tension in a show it can be carried out for a long time (and some programs have done a great job at being creative and accomplishing this), but eventually the relationship must be resolved. And many times when this happens the show suffers.

We want to maintain this tension between Dean Beagle and Lorna Lake, but we intend to keep it low key, so we don’t box ourselves into a corner.

BEANIE OLSON: The character of Beanie goes back to my first show, Reality Check. Actually he goes back even further than that. When my children were younger I would read stories with them at bedtime. One of the books we read had a character named Beanie in it. I created a voice for Beanie (which is the voice Beanie Olson has). When I started writing and recording Reality Check, Beanie seemed like a good voice and a good character to use.

When I started work on the Human Eel, I wanted a Jimmy Olson-type character, and Beanie seemed like a good fit. It was at that time that Beanie acquired his last name.

Beanie is a Junior Ace-Photographer. He is actually pretty sharp. He’s the one who recognizes the similarities between Dean Beagle and the Human Eel, as well as the fact that the two of them are never in the same place at the same time.

He is also pretty straightforward with his comments, seldom finds fault and never joins in when the others laugh at the Human Eel’s shortcomings.

MILTON KADUD: Milton Kadud is the editor of the Evening Star, Megapolis City’s largest newspaper. His name will be familiar to Nick Guy listeners as the leader of every group and organization that Billy Orbach is a member of. I thought followers of Nick Guy would be interesting in seeing what Milton Kadud does when he’s not mentoring Junior Space Rangers or conducting the Saxophonic Junior Symphony Orchestra.

His name came on day when I was trying to come up with a name playing of the candy Milk Duds. Originally it was Milt Kadud, but, upon further reflection, Milton Kadud worked better.

Milton Kadud is so focused on editing the Evening Star that he neither notices nor cares about the Human Eel and who’s alter ego he is.

THE MAYOR: The Mayor of Megapolis City is a regular visitor to the 4th floor offices of the Evening Star. He’s a popular mayor who continues to get re-elected, except, of course, for the one time he wasn’t.

For this character I used my Ronald Reagan voice. I wanted to project a kindly image. I always felt that Ronald Reagan’s manner and style elicited confidence - a trust that everything was going to be alright. I don’t know if our Mayor of Megapolis City projects that image at all, but you can’t have everything.

THE EVENING STAR: Although the Evening Star isn’t a character, it is an important part of the Human Eel Series.

MEGAPOLIS CITY: Megapolis City is the setting for the Human Eel, and it is populated by some very interesting people.

Street scenes where people voice what they are thinking. Certainly come across as easily swayed. This actually represents an incredibly accelerated example of what can happen to a culture once it moves from Scripture to embrace the thoughts and philosophies of man. Example - How the Grimm Stole Easter. By eroding, over several decades, the doctrine of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, people begin to doubt it actually happened. Take away the Resurrection and Christianity becomes nothing more than a moral code. The hope and the power of the Gospel rests in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The affect this loss of assurance of the Resurrection had on the citizens of Megapolis City is what happens to any culture, only at a slower, and because of that more dangerous, pace.

RECURRING CHARACTERS

JOHNNY THE NEWSBOY: This character, like Beanie Olson, was one that I originated in my show Reality Check. He’s an energetic person who appears on the scene usually to announce some drastic development taking place in Megapolis City. His entrances are usually busy.

OFFICER O’REILLY: Most of the time, when I do a police office, it’s Officer O’Reilly. He’s the one who arrests the villains that the Human Eel inadvertently catches.

SCUMBAG: One of the lines in the original Human Eel song (written all those years ago) mentions Scumbag doing his worst. The line is highlighted by a fiendish (at least comically fiendish) laugh. With this in mind, it wouldn’t be proper to have a Human Eel series without him. My son Thomas has provided the voice (and the laugh) of Scumbag.

SHORT-TERM CHARACTERS

The Human Eel Series features plot lines that carry from one episode into another. Certain characters will appear and reappear as the series progresses.

PHILPI FOSDICK: He is the assistant to the Mayor of Megapolis City. Besides being clumsy, he is obsessed with playing the role of Zippy the Wonder Monkey in Megapolis City’s annual Easter Parade. The voice is one I have used throughout all of my radio series. It’s reminiscent of Marvin the Martian from the Warner Brothers cartoons.

BIANCA TRUIT: In an attempt to spice up the romantic tension between Dean Beagle and Lorna Lake, we introduced Bianca Truit the replacement for Philpi Fosdick as the Mayor’s assistant. She is impressed with Dean Beagle, and thinks his quirky little stories that appear somewhere in the middle of the Evening Star are wonderful. There’s no accounting for taste.

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