Trivia - Chronicles of the Chronicler series

COTC1: The Fallen Order

The opening sequence features manuscripts written in the original Bionicle language. While some of these writings are just labels such as "Toa" "Turaga", etc, most of them are actually inside jokes that read "This space for rent", "Made in China", "Your text here", while others were titles of tracks from the Sherlock Holmes soundtrack. One particularly long entry reads "please pray for Bailey, she's my best friend". Bailey Freemire was originally cast to voice Hahli, and at the time of filming was actually in the hospital recovering from jaw surgery.

The smoke effects in the scenes in Ehrye's lair were achieved by clapping two chalkboard erasers together.

The voice Sam Shenberger uses for Jaller is actually a voice he had planned to use in CCP's failed "Hollywood Grail" project.

The music in the first two COTC films was original music from the movies "Bionicle: Mask of Light", "Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru-Nui", and "Bionicle 3: Web of Shadows".

Several voices in the series were based on voices of real actors. For example, Vakama was based on Alan Rickman, Whenua was based on Ray Winston, Matau was based on George Harrison, and Ehrye was based on Christian Bale (as Batman).

There were several deleted scenes in the first movie. The three most infamous ones were: 1) The Matoran travel through the city of Ko-Koro where they meet with Matoro and Turaga Nuju. Nuju predicts that a great struggle is coming and that the Makuta will return. 2) While traveling to Po-Wahi to find Onua, the Matoran find a canyon that they must cross using a zip-line. 3) In Ehrye's lair, Takua again faces the Munchox and slays it. None of these scenes were shot completely.

The first episode of COTC1 was released on YouTube in September 2010 with a note saying that the next episode would be released the following month. However, a series of unforeseen difficulties arose, (not the least of which was scheduling for Bailey Freemire to record Hahli's voice-over) and the entirety of the second film and one scene from the third film were shot before the second episode was finally released in April 2011.

The decision was made to drop Bailey Freemire from the series in favor of having her appear in "Sam's Comics: The Movie" (2011). Since production was ridiculously behind schedule, Sam Shenberger recorded Hahli's voice himself instead of casting someone else.

The scene with Takua and Hahli in the Hall of Records was shot after the fact to give Hahli more screen time.

Sam Shenberger recorded all of Hewkii's lines (and some of Takua's) with a cold.

The original plans for the film had the Onu-Matoro Taipu instead of Hahli.

The storyline for these films take place between the events of the 2003 and 2006 Bionicle storylines.

Turagas Vakama, Whenua, and Matau are still alive. Nuju, Nokama, and Onewa's deaths aren't mentioned at all. It is revealed that Nuju is still alive, but was for unknown reasons not present at the Turaga meeting.

The majority of the still frames in the first movie had to be edited before they could be used because the settings on the camera made them too dark.

The original Toa Takua that Lego released was white and gold. The model was modified for this film, replacing the gold with silver and iron. This was done to give the film a "Dark Knight" kind of feel. Sam Shenberger later admitted that this was a ironic choice, since Takua is the Toa of light.

One inconsistency throughout the series is that some names are pronounced differently, even within the same scenes by the same character who said them. Most noticable are Hahli (sometimes pronounced "Holly" and "Ha-Lee"), Jaller ("Joll-er" or "Jah-ler"), Hewkii ("Hoo-Key" or "Hue-Key")

When the film was shot, there was no intention of a sequel. After seeing how successful the first episode alone was when it was released in September 2010, COTC2 started production right away in November 2010.

Totals 832 still frame shots, 25 video shots, and 98 computer-created shots. 748 of the still shots needed lighting and color correction, with each one having to be corrected individually.

Initially, the voices of the characters were going to be modulated to sound more robotic, but eventually it was decided that this made them too difficult to understand.

  

The staff that Hahli carries is a silver sickle, which is one of the many tools used by Hahli in the original Bionicle video game, "Mata-Nui Online Game II: The Final Chronicle"

Hewkii is left-handed.

COTC2: Masks of Power

Because there was originally not meant to be a second film, Masks of Power was produced, written and shot more quickly than the first. Less time was spent on it, and as a result, the quality wasn't as good.

Turaga Vakama's death is parallel to Turaga Lhikan's death in "Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru-Nui."

Hewkii and Kongu weren't originally going to be included in the sequel, but since the other two members of the Inika (Nuparu and Matoro) were intended to be, they were written back in to complete the team.

Nuparu's voice was based on Gordon Ramsey's voice. Matoro was based on Paul Leiberstein's voice as Tobey Flenderson from "The Office".

The model for Toa Takua was upgraded from the original "Toa Nuva" model to the "Toa Metru" model. This was to give the model more flexibility.

The "Mackenzie Scream" (the scream made by Mackenzie Freemire in "Fun Things to do at a Bonfire") makes an appearance in this film when Hahli is attacked by Aft.

Towards the end of the film, Jaller asks Takua “What would Turaga Vakama say?” This is a reference to one of Jaller’s first lines in the movie “Bionicle: Mask of Light” where Jaller catches Takua hopping across a lava river and asks him almost the same question

 

Totals 1010 still frame shots and 56 video shots. That’s 147 more still frames and 32 more video shots than TFO.

It was never explained why Turaga Nuju was not present at the Meeting of the Turaga in the previous film. In the original script for TFO, it stated in the opening narration that Nuju had died along with the other two Turaga, Nokama and Onewa. A later draft of TFO script had a sequence with Matoro and Nuju, which was partially filmed, then dropped. His inclusion in this script had greater importance at first, but his big scene was cut from the script shortly after filming began.

The original notes for the sequel read as follows: 1) Vakama dies. 2) Rahaga will play a part. 3) Jaller becomes a Toa. 4) Takua loses his power as a Toa, or maybe the Matoron lose faith in him and he abandons his powers. 5) Kraata pit scene. 6) Hahli will be more involved. Out of these six notes, only 1, 2, and 6 made it into the script.

COTC3: The Lost World

The title was originally “Inika”, but was changed to “The Lost World” after the first storyline was dropped and production had halted so Sam Shenberger could devote his full attention to “Sam’s Comics: The Movie”. It was later renamed “Time Paradox” for a few months, but after “Comics” wrapped and production for this film restarted, the project began again from scratch, this time once again under the title “The Lost World”.

Unlike COTC1, there was intended to be a third installment after COTC2 ended, but the intended sequel story was drastically different. Takua ended COTC2 with the line “I feel there will be a new batch of Toa coming along sometime soon”, which tied into the “Toa Inika” idea that involved Jaller, Hahli, Hewkii, Kongu, Nuparu, and Matoro becoming the Toa Inika and journeying to a distant island overrun by the evil Piraka (based on the 2006 Bionicle storyline). This idea ended up being dropped for budget reasons and the project was completely rewritten to have the Toa Nuva instead.

Production for this film began on February 11^th, 2011 (on the birthday of then-cast Hahli voice, Bailey Freemire). It continued until March 7^th 2011, when “Sam’s Comics: The Movie” was green lit. As a result, production for COTC3 was pushed back to September 2011. Later, “Sam’s Comics” ran over schedule and production was pushed back again to December 2011. It never resumed fully until April 2012, more than an entire year later.

Originally meant to be released episodically like the first two, but later it was decided to release it as a feature film.

 Only three of the Toa actually use their elemental powers: Tahu, Gali, and Kopaka. There was scripted a scene where Lewa was to use his, but it was too complicated to film so it was cut.

Each of the three Chronicles of the Chronicler series parts pertains to one of the three virtues of the Toa. Fallen Order: Duty, Masks of Power: Destiny, and Lost World: Unity.

Jaller says that Ahkmou is prisoner 9091. This is an inside joke to the Beatles song “One After 909”. This number combination had been previously used as a phone number in “Sam’s Comics: The Movie”. 9091 is also the number combination of Sam Shenberger’s professional YouTube channel.

Sam Shenberger originally thought of his best friend Ryan White for the part of Lewa. However, the script was not finished in time for him to do the voice over.

 Not counting Hahli’s epilogue narration, Jaller and Takua have the last two lines in all three installments. The last two lines of this film and the first film are exactly the same.

Several scenes were partially filmed during production in February – March 2011, including: The scene where Altair looks through the Telescope, The scene where Makuta first appears in the Kini-Nui, and Tahu and Jaller in Ta-Koro (Matoro was not there in the original shoot). All this footage was scrapped when production picked back up in December 2011. Only one scene that was shot in February 2011 was kept, as it was the only complete scene: The fight between Onua and Pohatu. A fragment of the original Makuta at Kini-Nui also appears briefly.

In 2013, several new sequences were filmed to complete the Director's Cut of the season. This version was edited into a feature film instead of the episodic release of the original edit. 

The 2013 Director's Cut brought the total still frame count 1825. The video count comes to 411.

COTC4: The Search for Life

This film was meant to be a spin-off of COTC, not an actual season of COTC. The initial story plans did not feature Takua or Tahu, and Jaller only played a minor role.

Sam Shenberger only wanted to do this movie because he was interested in doing a Hahli-centered story as a spin-off.

The only COTC season not to feature Hewkii or Kongu. Neither of them are even mentioned.

The new model used for Takua incorporates blue into his color scheme. This was done to have Takua closer resemble his original Matoran form.

In the Bionicle universe, fully blue characters are strictly female and all other colors are strictly male. While every blue character is female, this season introduces a white Ko-Matoran female (voiced by Shannon Asprooth).

The script was written over a period of three or four days, making it the shortest time spent on the script. Fallen Order was in the works for an entire week, Masks of Power for three weeks, and Lost World for over a year. The script for Fallen Order was 15 pages long, Masks of Power was 18, Lost World was 44, and Search for Life was 29.

Turaga Nuju had been in an unfinished deleted scene from the first season, and appeared on screen in season 2, but had no lines. He finally gets his big moment in this film.

Sam Shenberger cited Star Trek (2009) as an influence in this film, saying the concept of alternate reality verses what’s already known and loved was worth giving it (the COTC series) one last try.

Sarah Kusz voices Mal. She also did pick-up voice-overs for Bailey Freemire in Sam’s Comics: The Movie. Bailey Freemire was originally cast to voice Mal’s sister Hahli in The Fallen Order and Masks of Power before being dropped.

This is the only season that does not depict a main character as being left-handed. In the previous ones, Hewkii and Lewa were lefties.

Most models are “updated” with every new season, except for Jaller. He remained the same ever since COTC began.

The opening scene of episode 1 is almost exactly the same as a scene in “Sam’s Comics: The Movie”, even down to the same sound effects and music track. There are a few similarities between characters in "Search for Life" and "Comics".

Scenes in Le-Wahi were filmed in Powatowan, Indiana. Scenes at the Ga-Koro beach were shot in Michiana, Michigan. Both locations had previously been shot at Newaygo, Michigan during the previous seasons.

A scene with Jaller and Hahli engaging in a sparring match had to be cut due to filming difficulties regarding location shooting. A good portion of a fight scene between Tahu and the Vahkii also had to be trimmed down.

While filming at Michiana, Michigan, the wind was so strong one day of filming that the models would constantly be blown over by the wind.

The Vahkii are only seen in their four-legged positions. It was considered to have them attack Tahu in their two-legged position, but this was initially rejected because Sam Shenberger felt they too closely resembled the Rahkshi. It was going to be revisited anyway during the scene where they attack Tahu, but difficulties on location prevented it, so they only walk four-legged.

The sound effects made by the Vahkii are litterally R2-D2 sound effects distorted and played backwards.

In an original draft of the script, both Takua and Hahli were present at the Le-Koro incident. A later draft removed Hahli from the incident. The final draft removed the scene all together. It is implied that Jaller was in charge of the response team, and in the original drafts, Kongu and Nuparu were also present.

There is one reference to Takua being in the Le-Wahi incident accidentally left in the film: Matoro tells them to "return" to the incident site.

Shannon Asprooth initially recommended Sarah Kusz for the role of Gali in the previous season.

Early drafts had different characters instead of Mal, including Amaya (Hahli's friend/boss in "Mata-Nui Online Game II"), Macku (Hahli's friend/Kohlii teammate), and Marka (a ship maker). Macku was in early drafts of the Lost World script, and was even in two scenes before being cut from that season.

Episode 1 of this season is a first for two things: It is the first episode to be entirely video shots (no frame-by-frame animation) and is also the first episode in which Jaller is not featured.

This is the only season not to have a narrated opening prologue sequence. It is also the only season in which Takua remains in one form.

Originally slated for four episodes, ended up being five episodes.

There are easter eggs in every odd numbered episodes hidden in annotations.

The first season in which Takua and Jaller do not have the last two lines.

The time-warp is implied to start taking effect near the end of the 2003 Bionicle storyline. It allows for Takua to become a Toa, but not for Hahli to become his replacement Chronicler.

Ahkmou's Russian accent has one purposefully incorrect pronunciation. He pronounces "V" sounds like "W". This was actually done as an inside joke. Parts of the story were inspired by Star Trek, and in the original Star Trek series, Russian character Checkov (who is played by an American actor) makes the same mispronunciation.

Season 4 totals 1098 still frame shots and 230 videos, bringing the total of the whole series to 4,796 stills and 721 videos.

Plans were made for Chronicler's Company Pictures to make a fifth season of COTC, but unfortunately series creator Sam Shenberger's school schedule prevented it. The plot for the fifth season was titled "The Dark Queen" and featured Roodaka as the main villain. She was to come to Mata-Nui through a rfit created by the mask found in the fourth season and proceed to take over Mata-Nui "in place of Makuta". The six Toa were to be captured and Jaller would be brainwashed into being her slave. Takua (who would get forced back into the form of a Matoran) would be banished along with Hahli and the Turaga to "The Pit", Roodaka's former hell. Mal, Hewkii, and Kongu lead a raid on Roodaka's castle and manage to free them and the Toa, but in the final battle with Roodaka, Takua would sacrifice himself and kill both her and himself. This ending was picked to give an air of finality to the season. It was also considered to have Hahli die as well.