Research Mentor: Sharon Tran, Associate Professor, UMBC English
The Making of Paradox: The Animated Series
Research Overview
This presentation details the background and first season outline of Paradox, an original animated series. In an intergalactic age where faster than light travel is old news, Paradox follows a pair of USPS (United Space Postal Service) workers as they make their way along an indefinite route. Traveling planet to planet, the duo encounters alien allies and nebulous enemies. Each episode explores different planets decades after an intergalactic warring period that resulted in the unification of galactic factions. Cycles of oppression seem boundless as Paradox’s societal landscape mirrors our own reality. Science fiction offers imaginative perspectives on what fighting for freedom means and looks like. An important focus of the research for this project was studying iconic sci-fi pieces and analyzing how writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler dealt with the different stages of societal development and descent. Theories of modern physics such as relativity and quantum mechanics were researched in order to apply theory to the episodic structure and travel methods. These studies informed many themes that are presented in Paradox. The other aspect of research that was focused on is scriptwriting in order to master structure and complex storytelling.