The Adventures of Bill & John

"The Adventures of Bill & John" is a series of machinima videos produced using the "" fighter simulation game.

The series has earned a number of awards and nominations, most notably Episode 2 "The Danger Attacks at Dawn" which won four awards at the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences' 2006 Machinima Festival, including the award for Best Picture.

The episodes are short comedic films featuring two United States Air Force pilots called Bill and John. Despite the fact that Bill and John appear to fly in the U.S. Air Force, almost all dialog in the films is in French.

The videos parody a number of popular motion pictures, in particular "Top Gun" and various Stanley Kubrick films such as "Dr. Strangelove", "The Shining", and "".

There are also a few similarities to the French language comic book series "Les Aventures de Tanguy et Laverdure" by Jean-Michel Charlier. For example, Episode 1 bears an almost identical title to the Tanguy et Laverdure adventure "Danger dans le Ciel" published in 1963. [The comic books have apparently never been translated into English; see [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Aventures_de_Tanguy_et_Laverdure Tanguy et Laverdure at French Wikipedia] for further information.]

Episodes

Episode 1: Danger in the Sky

:Original title: "Danger dedans le Ciel":Running time: 4' 57"

This episode was originally created for a video contest hosted by the [http://www.checksix-fr.com/ Check-Six] fr icon Web site, a contest which "Danger in the Sky" won. In addition it received 4 Nominations at the 2005 Machinima Film Festival.

"Danger in the Sky" introduces Bill and John who pilot F-15 Eagle aircraft. In a sequence reminiscent of the film "Dr. Strangelove" they perform an aerial refueling from a KC-10 Extender piloted by their colleague Major Tom.

At the end of the episode, John reveals that he is from the town of Plougastel in Brittany.

Episode 1 1/2: Teaser Episode 2

:Running time: 1' 30"

This episode is a teaser trailer for Episode 2, however it features neither Bill nor John. Instead the episode focuses on Major Tom, and is used for character and plot development.

Episode 2: The Danger Attacks at Dawn

:Running time: 12' 25"

"The Danger Attacks at Dawn" won awards for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Independent Machinima and received five other nominations at the 2006 Machinima Film Festival.

The episode starts with Bill and John about to embark on their first training flights after they were grounded due to Bill's antics in episode 1. They must now fly A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, a fact which John finds extremely disagreeable.

References

Notes

External links

* [http://www.billetjohn.com/index_en.html Bill & John official home page]