Mary Lou Turbine Pilot Description Page

Written and created by John Patrick Funk.

*Mary Lou Turbine has taken to the stars with her partner and friend Jack who is an ex-military privateer. Their adventures have taken them through parts of space known to very few humans. During an important shipment, Jack becomes abducted and Mary Lou is forced to continue alone. With only the support of Jack's small robot J-65, Mary Lou faces the perils of deep space when a bounty is put on her. She makes it her mission to find Jack and recover him alive with the support of her newest partner and 3 foot tall friend J-65: the maintenance droid that always seems to be in the middle of some kind of mischief. This story installment begins as they venture out into the Alien Xyrene sector aboard a Galactic West commercial transport only to discover a deeper layer to their dilemma! Will Mary Lou rescue Jack and share her heart's deepest secret? Only time will tell if love does conquer all...

The Quest for the Dark Planet universe has been in development since 1992. It originally started as a short story and turned into an epic space adventure. This story takes place amidst a background of interstellar imbalance in an uncharted sector of an ancient Alien region. You are immersed in this social commentary with inspired characters set in a dynamic universe full of adventure and intrigue. At it's heart, "the Quest for the Dark Planet" is an exploration of the human condition: our Desires, our Truth and our Adventurous spirit. Directly influenced by late 70's, 80's & 90's movies such as "Star Wars", "Alien", "Blade Runner" & "The Fifth Element" etc, this original show is being made with miniature sets, spaceship models (a classic Science Fiction technology) all combined with 3D Computer graphics and modern editing techniques in creating a fresh look never seen before. I am literally combining the look of the "ThunderBirds" with the scale of 12" action figures and the classic visual design of Star Wars. This is a fun and exciting story all about entertaining a youthful audience with meaningful dialog, action sequences and cool visuals. All being produced in Austin Texas at my CozmicFunk Studio house!

*The Mary Lou Turbine character is inspired by my Mother Shirley Smith who passed away October 6th 1996. The following year I made arrangements to have her cremated ashes sent into oribt. (visit Shirley Smith's celestis orbit Launch memorial page) My mom was a classical Violinist and did Modelling when she was a young lady, her youthful life directly created the foundation for Mary Lou as she is also a beautiful and talented young woman.

Since I can remember, my young mind was being shaped by space exploration. One of my earliest life-changing memories was watching the first Lunar Landing live on TV with my mom. Just as my mom now orbits the Earth from above, Mary Lou voyages into Outer Space to find her true love. This film is dedicated to my mom Shirley as she would have been proud of me pursuing my dreams to write and create my visions of art & music. After all, she gave birth to me so I owe her my life and my dream! JPF

Track Shirley Smith as she orbits the earth on the CELESTIS 02/TAURUS R/B satellite in real time.

Austin American Statesman 1998 Article transcription about John and his mother's ashes being sent into orbit.

Austinite John P. Funk holds some of his mother's ashes in a necklace he sometimes wear around his neck. Funk paid $4,500 to have a quarter ounce of the ashes orbit the earth as his own personal funeral ceremony for his mother who was an avid science fiction fan.

Austin woman to receive space-age funeral service

Author: DICK STANLEY AA-S Date: February 5, 1998 Publication: Austin American-Statesman

When his mother, Shirley Smith, died of cancer in San Francisco in the fall of 1996, John Funk of Austin couldn't make it to her funeral. So Funk is doing the next best thing -- sending some of the cremated remains of the 62-year-old Texas woman who ``really loved science fiction'' into orbit around the Earth.

``It's like my funeral ceremony for her,'' said Funk, a freelance computer graphics designer. A quarter-ounce of Smith's ashes will be launched Monday aboard rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Celestis, a Houston Company, arranges the $4,500 memorials in lipstick-sized capsules via Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va. Celestis performed the same service last April for Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry and 1960's LSD Icon Timothy Leary. Smith's capsule, with 29 others, will be aboard a rocket delivering a Navy navigation satellite and two commercial communications satellites into space.

Celestis officials say the memorial capsules will stay in orbit between 18 months ands 10 years before falling back into the atmosphere and vaporizing like shooting stars. "My sisters have scattered her ashes at places that are important to them," Funk said. "it's been my dream since I was a kid to go into space. This way part of my bloodline will orbit the planet."

The Quest for the Dark Planet: One Man's Journey to make his Art-Space Film inspired by his Mother Orbiting the Planet!

John P. Funk's quest started on July 20th 1969, yes this was the historical day of the Applo 11 landing on the moon! John remembers this day vividly as he was home with his family on a hot summer day in El Paso Texas, His mother Shirley at his side while he gazed at the television with black & white images of a man standing on the moon: another planet in outer space!

John grew up a space and fantasy fan, seeing Star Wars on opening weekend 1976 was another big influence on this young mans creative imagination. "I was so overwhelmed seeing Star Wars, the adventure was like really being there, what a experience!" In 1992 John started writing his short space story called "the Dark Planet". John started his model making craze again that year with scratch built spaceships and then a cityscape like the one in Blade Runner: he had a vision of making a movie but was still learning about the process. This was 3 years before he bought a computer and started learning 3D. In 1996, John's mother became ill from terminal brain cancer and her life ended that year on October 6th. John was there visiting her in San Fransisco just days before she passed. He was working at a simulation company in Austin Texas designing a 3D database for the new Hong Kong airport and was working on a serious milestone, he was not able to go back just days after for her funeral. John never got proper closure with his mother's death...The next year John was at the San Antonio World con sci-fi convention and ran into a company called Celestis. He made a deal to have his mother's cremated ashes sent up into orbit and as they say, the rest is history...

One year later, John landed his 2nd dream job at Austin game company: Digital Anvil Microsoft, designing 3D Spaceships and stations and planets on the Space adventure game "Freelancer"! This was a huge 4+ year project for John as he became Art lead for all the 3D space artwork. It was another dream come true for his career merging art, imagination & space. Now John is making his "Quest for the Dark Planet" artistic film with the lead character Mary Lou Turbine inspired by his late mother Shirley Smith and the short film is dedication to her as she Orbits planet earth from above. This is a first for Human History: one man making his life quest for space through his Indie Art film as his mother orbits the planet. John is making this monumental short film mostly by himself, it is his process of mastering the skills, techniques and trades of digital film making with a "old meets new" approach.

As this story is dedicated to his mother, there is so much emotion and content in there about life and the struggle for love and happiness! This is John's legacy and dream to honor his mother and to create art in away that is so unique, only John himself could make it. JPF April, 2009

john@cozmicfunk.com