James B Brandt

Based on the feature film CARROT.

 

Pitch: “A werewolf story with a twist.”

 

Genra: Fantasy / Comedy / Sci-Fi

 

Tagline: You may think she is a werewolf... but she's really a puppy caught up in an inter-dimensional war... and she never even had her honeymoon.

 

Logline: When an Irish Setter is bit by a werewolf and turns into a beautiful woman, life seems to become quite complicated - and quite funny. But when it turns out that the werewolf is not a werewolf but something more sinister, complications turn to danger and suddenly the humor has a sharp edge.

 

The Pilot Episode Background

In the movie CARROT we were introduced to a happy-go-lucky Irish Setter who was bitten by a "werewolf" while protecting her master from attack. As Carrot begins to learn that being human means more than the privilege of eating at the table, she manages to foil a plot to ship her and her human girl Susan off so a wicked stepmother could control the family. By using a combination of doggie clever and human female wiles, she wins the heart of her master as a human and saves the family from sure disaster by the simple expediency of showing up at the wedding as a human and marrying her master.

 

Of course, the crazy Chinese babysitter has convinced her that there is a potion that will allow her to stay human forever.While we left the movie with the feeling that everything was going to end happily ever after, we open the series with a startling revelation: Carrot was not bitten by a typical werewolf. In fact, it was not exactly a werewolf at all but a creature from another dimension.

 

Suddenly, Carrie - the human side of Carrot - has become the focus for an inter-dimensional war and the powers of evil would very much like to get their hands on her - and the special magic that was created by creating a weredog instead of a werehuman.

 

While the series still retains the humor of the movie - the antics of an Irish Setter and the confusion of a dog suddenly human - the series is sustained by a deeper struggle that tugs on a broader range of emotions. It also allows for a more complex storyline, introduction of new and fantastic characters, and episodes that can explode in creativity well beyond the constraints that are imposed with a more traditional mythical base.

 

30-minute Pilot Synopsis

CARROT was a typical Irish Setter – happy, silly, and not very bright… until she was bitten by a werewolf. Then, under the light of the full moon, life became much more complicated. In the process of saving her human girl (SUSAN) from the clutches of an evil potential-stepmother (ELAINE), Carrot stumbles through a Cinderella night as a human (CARRIE), capturing the heart of her girl’s father (PAUL). There is a marriage and every one lives happily ever after.Well, until they get home from the wedding, anyway.

 

At the house, they find Susan’s mystic Chinese babysitter (CHI LAN) surrounded by a squad of TWINKLES from Amabisillaopalicious – more commonly called Elsewhere – who have been attracted by the release of magic from Carrot’s transformation into Carrie. It seems that the concoction that Chi Lan was developing to keep Carrie from turning back into Carrot won’t work. She will not be allowed to retain her Human form because the werewolf that changed her was not made on Earth. It is actually a weredoogle created by Evil Doogles to spread Doogle magic on the Earth-side of a portal that the Doogles opened as a preliminary to invading Earth.The Doogles have been sending creatures from Elsewhere into Earth to pave the way for their invasion.

 

But Elsewhere is not their planet – just one of many they have conquered – and there is a strong resistance from the many magical species on Elsewhere. The Twinkles have snuck through the portal to try and keep the Doogles from expanding their control. Now they must bring in Humans to assist in stopping the Doogles from subjecting the Amabisillaopalicious resistance.

 

Carrot/Carrie is given a choice: she can try to live as normal a life as possible – part human and part dog – or work helping the Twinkles and their allies prevent the evil Doogles from widening the portal between the Human world and Doogle Empire by joining the fight to win control of the portal. With portal control, the Doogles could easily overwhelm humanity and the subjected Doogle worlds would fall farther than ever from liberation.In this largely unseen war, the Doogles created a human-side ally: Malcolm, a weredoogle.

 

Malcolm is charged with creating more of his kind, allowing a greater flow of magic between the worlds. His first attempt was Paul, resulting in the transformation of Carrot into Carrie. Malcolm is a great disappointment to the Doogles and a bit of a blundering figure in the series – more comic than horrific.The Doogles continue to slip magical creatures into the human world to do damage and open the portal wider – hoping, eventually, to push the portal wide enough to allow an army of CRUNCHERS, THUNDER DRAGONS, STINGERS and other LARGE MONSTERS to pour into the Human side.

 

For the time being, only smaller Doogles can cross the portal, but if the larger ones enter they can defeat the Twinkles coalition, leaving the Humans with no magical allies and the desperate creatures of Elsewhere without hope.Carrot, however, as a dog bitten by a weredoogle, is an anomaly in magic that gives her strange and unexpected powers.

 

The Doogle decide to find and eliminate Carrie.

On the side of good are the Twinkles, RUNNERS, BIG EYES (when they are not playing pranks), SLIDERS, and other creatures that want to return Liberty and Justice to Elsewhere and the other conquered worlds, promote good over evil, light over dark. These creatures sometimes slip through the portal to assist the Humans against the schemes hatched by the Doogles to eliminate Carrot.

 

The Twinkles also have a little magic to share, giving Carrie the ability to control her transformations and Carrot the ability to talk like a people.Paul, Susan, Carrie, and Chi Lan agree to fight the Doogle and their creatures - for surely they will be there to cause problems for the family in any case - hiding is not an option.

 

There really is no choice: since Chi Lan’s Chinese medicine will not work on the Doogle-created weredog, Carrie can either suffer through as a dog most of the month and change into a Human only during the full moon, or she can become a force for Truth, Justice, and Liberty. It really is no choice. Paul and Carrie are in love but Paul and Carrot… well, that is not in the cards.

 

There is not much time to discuss or mull over the options. Before Twinkles are done explaining, the little gathering is attacked by a pack of Whist Hounds and it is only Carrie’s newly granted ability to switch between a beautiful Irish maid and a long-legged Irish Setter that saves the day… well, the night. Carrot, Chi Lan, and Paul manage to hold off the Whist Hounds until Paul's father arrives - a proctologist with a concealed carry permit.Suddenly outflanked and out gunned, the Hounds make a hasty retreat - grabbing Susan on the way.

 

The Twinkles give Carrie the power to change to a dog at will. She will need that and the help of all her new friends to track and rescue Susan. Though frightened, Carrot takes on the challenge of being the Earth’s savior and Hero of the Twinkles.

 

See CARROT the movie.