Introduction[]
Arthur juggles in the living room. His family, including Grandma Thora, sit on the couch and applaud, except for D.W. who frowns.
Pal: (barks)
Arthur: Thank you, thank you. Isn't it great to be appreciated? But a lot of big achievements didn't get a round of applause when people first found out about them. Like Galileo.
A fantasy shows Galileo (Arthur) showing a heliocentric model of the universe to a lord (D.W.) who is flanked by two guards (the Tibbles).
Arthur (narrator): His revolutionary ideas got him into a lot of trouble.
Arthur: The sun does not revolve around the Earth, rather the Earth revolves around the sun.
D.W.: Ha! That's ridiculous. Everyone knows that everything revolves around me. Take him away.
Arthur: (gasps)
The Tibbles chase Arthur out of the room.
The fantasy ends.
Arthur: Even the composer Ludwig van Beethoven wasn't a huge success right away. One teacher thought he was a hopeless case.
Beethoven (Arthur) puts sheet music on a piano and plays the first notes of the 5th Symphony.
D.W.: Stop! Stop! Stop! It's terrible. You should quit now! Take up another instrument! Something easy, like the harmonica. Better yet, don't be a musician. Maybe you could become a worm picker. Oh, and there are no refunds for this lesson! Pay at the front desk!
The fantasy ends.
Arthur: And there are other famous people who had tough starts, like...
D.W. gives him a piece of cardboard with five stars; half of one is colored.
D.W.: Here. I'm giving you half a star for the opening of this show. One star is usually the lowest you can get, but I made an exception.
Arthur: You're wrong! This opening was great, but the show will be even better. I promise.
D.W. moves the camera so it focuses on her face.
D.W.: Oh, just start it already.
She points a remote control at the camera and the screen goes blank.
Title Card: Slot Machine: Sue Ellen[]
Neil Gaiman gives a reading in a book store. He reads from “Instructions”.
Neil Gaiman: “What you seek will be found. Trust ghosts. Trust those that you have helped to help you in their turn. Trust dreams. Trust your heart and trust your story.”
Sue Ellen sits in the audience with her dad and takes notes.
After the reading, Neil Gaiman sits at a table and signs books. Catherine is first in line.
Sue Ellen: He writes novels and comics and movies and poetry. Is there anything that Neil Gaiman doesn't write?
Neil Gaiman: I've never written a cookbook. Mm. Might be fun to try.
Sue Ellen: Oh. (nervous chuckle) Sorry.
She steps up to the table holding her journal.
Neil Gaiman: Not to worry. What's your name?
Sue Ellen: Sue Ellen.
Neil Gaiman: Are you a writer, Sue Ellen?
He signs Sue Ellen's copy of "Instructions".
Sue Ellen: Um, well, kind of. I keep a journal and there are some stories in there. But I really like drawing and doodling too, so I don't know what that makes me.
Neil Gaiman: It makes you very creative. Ever try your hand at a graphic novel?
Sue Ellen: No. What's a graphic novel?
Neil Gaiman: It's a novel told with pictures, or a comic book with a longer story if you like. Here's one that was adapted from my book, “Coraline”. It might inspire you.
Sue Ellen: Thanks!
Mr. Armstrong opens his wallet.
Neil Gaiman: No, no, it's, it's on the house. When your graphic novel gets published, you can give me a free copy. Deal?
Sue Ellen: Deal.
***
That night, Sue Ellen reads “Coraline” under her blanket using a flashlight.
Sue Ellen: Freaky, but cool. She turns off the flashlight and turns on a lamp. Then she gets a blank notebook off a shelf, draws a picture of herself and writes: “Sue Ellen's graphic novel”. (yawns)
She turns off the lamp and goes to sleep.
***
Binky and Sue Ellen stand at Mr. Contabulous' falafel truck that is parked at the park. He holds a falafel and explains.
Mr. Contabulous: It is the roundness of the falafel, of the pita, of the planet - roundness is wholeness, wholeness is oneness. You understand, yes?
Binky: Er, yeah, sure. Could I have hot sauce with that?
Mr. Contabulous: No. White sauce is better for you. You have too much fire in blood.
He puts sauce on the falafel. Binky pays and has a taste.
Binky: Mmm! Perfect! Huh, maybe I do have too much fire in blood.
He walks away.
Sue Ellen: Hi, Mr. Contabulous. One with everything, please.
Mr. Contabulous: Is true. We are all one with everything.
Sue Ellen: No, I meant...
Mr. Contabulous goes on talking as he makes the falafel.
Mr. Contabulous: But everyone is different also. There is pita people, there is pizza people. Pita people, round like pita. Pizza people, very pointy, always must make point.
Sue Ellen: Hmm, round people and pointy people.
She takes notes.
Mr. Contabulous: This I call falafelosophy. You understand?
Sue Ellen: Not really, but I like it.
Her imagination shows a white screen with pink circles and yellow triangles. All have faces on them.
Sue Ellen (narrator): What if there was a world filled with only circles and triangles?
A triangle bumps into a circle.
Circle: Ow!
Triangle: (laughs)
The fantasy ends. Sue Ellen sits on a bench writing in her book. The falafel lies beside her.
Sue Ellen: And then... Oh, this is silly!
Inner Neil: I was quite enjoying it, actually.
She looks around and sees a small Neil Gaiman lying in her falafel.
Sue Ellen: Neil Gaiman?? What are you doing in my falafel?
Inner Neil: Oh, I'm not Neil Gaiman. I mean, well... I am. But I'm your Neil Gaiman. I'm your Inner Neil, as it were.
Sue Ellen: I still don't get it.
Inner Neil: Well, this is a fantasy. Here, this will help. Cue special effects! The jingle that normally announces fantasies plays and the picture becomes blurry for a moment. There, much clearer. Don't judge your story, you've just started it.
Sue Ellen: I know, but circles and triangles? Who's gonna like that?
Inner Neil: You never know. You can't assume your audience are all squares. Haha. Okay, scrap that joke. Bit before your time. Anyway, trust your heart. Trust your story.
The fantasy ends. The Inner Neil is gone.
Sue Ellen: Okay, I'll give it a shot. Mrs. Wood is now sitting next to Sue Ellen. She gives her an odd look. Sue Ellen takes her book and leaves while biting into her falafel. Mmm! Delicious!
***
Pink circles bounce around in front of a white background.
Sue Ellen (narrator): Once upon a place, there was a happy time when happy circles spun endlessly and beginninglessly, and there was no circle more circular than the Great Contabulous!
A large purple circle appears.
Great Contabulous: Falafelosophy!
Circles: Oooh...
Sue Ellen (narrator): Nearby, the triangles gathered to argue their points.
Triangles: Point! Point, point, point, point, point, point...
Sue Ellen (narrator): They were so consumed with their arguing, that they had never noticed their circular neighbors, until Triangulops dropped in.
A big triangle with a moustache appears.
Triangulops: Point them!
Sue Ellen (narrator): The triangles finally found something they could all agree on - circles didn't have any points, they just circulated, and that really annoyed the triangles.
Triangles: Point, point, point.
Sue Ellen (narrator): The circles and the triangles didn't know it yet, but soon they would be engaged in great battle - the battle of the shapes.
***
Francine, Muffy and Brain are reading the story in the school playground.
Francine: I don't get it.
Sue Ellen: Well, it's just the first chapter. See, I wanted my graphic novel to be really simple...
Francine: Graphic novel? What's that? A novel with graphs?
Muffy: It doesn't sound very marketable.
Brain: A graphic novel is a narrative work where the story is largely conveyed to the reader with pictures.
Muffy: It still doesn't sound very marketable.
Francine: But who are the circles? Am I a circle?
Sue Ellen: Actually, you're more of a triangle. Now, Buster, he's a circle.
Francine: That is so untrue! I'm very circular. How could you think I'm a triangle?
Brain: For the record, I refuse to be categorized by a geometric shape.
Muffy gives Sue Ellen the book back.
Muffy: I'm sorry, but we can't publish this.
Sue Ellen: I didn't ask you to publish it, I just asked you to read it.
She walks off.
Francine: Do you think I'm a triangle?
Muffy: Oh please, you're the pointiest person I know.
Francine looks annoyed.
***
Sue Ellen sit in the Sugar Bowl with her book and thinks. Her Inner Neil stands beside her smoothie glass wearing a diving suit and goggles.
Inner Neil: Ahem! I hate to disturb you, but your smoothie is getting warm. You don't want to be stuck with a warm smoothie. It's like drinking fruity bath water.
Sue Ellen: I'm not thirsty.
Inner Neil: Look, writing can't just be about pleasing other people. You've got a story to tell and you're the only one who can tell it.
He puts a snorkel in his mouth and dives into the smoothie.
Sue Ellen: I know, but I want them to like it.
Inner Neil: Of course you do, but sometimes it takes a while for people to appreciate something new. Don't give up.
The fantasy ends.
Sue Ellen: Thanks, Inner Neil!
She drinks her smoothie. Mrs. Wood at the next table gives her an odd look. Sue Ellen starts writing.
***
That night, Sue Ellen continues writing at her desk.
Sue Ellen: On a night with no moon, the triangles kidnapped the Great Contabulous.
In the story, the triangles carry the great Contabulous on their backs.
Triangles: Point! Point! Point! Point! Point! Point! Point! Point!
***
Sue Ellen continues writing in the school cafeteria. She has put a pizza slice upright on her tray.
Sue Ellen: Chapter six. Despite all the pointing done by the Triangulops, the Great Contabulous would still not deny his circularity.
In the story, the Great Contabulous rolls around in a cage that is placed on top of a pyramid.
Sue Ellen (narrator): The moon reminded him that much in the universe was round, and if triangles ever came together, they too could form a pie.
The moon starts looking like a pie chart.
The fantasy ends. Sue Ellen is writing lying on the carpet in her room.
***
In the story, triangles and circles charge at each other.
Sue Ellen (narrator): The battle was in full swing. The triangles charged at the circles. The circles bounced on the triangles.
The fantasy ends. Sue Ellen is writing in front of the Falafel truck.
Mr. Contabulous: Hey, Shakespeare, be in moment, not in book!
Sue Ellen: Oh, sorry. I was just finishing a chapter.
Neil Gaiman steps up behind her.
Neil Gaiman: Glad to see you're still writing.
Sue Ellen: You're very big today. Shouldn't you be in my falafel, or cereal, or something? (gasps) You're the real Neil.
Neil Gaiman: It depends on what you mean by "real". But, yes, according to my passport, I am almost definitely Neil Gaiman. How's the book coming?
Sue Ellen: Great! Actually, terrible. Do you have five minutes?
Mr. Contabulous hands Neil and Sue Ellen falafels.
Mr. Contabulous: Here, with extra hot sauce. Your blood is cold.
***
Sue Ellen and Neil Gaiman sit on a park bench.
Sue Ellen: Now I'm up to chapter eight, where it looks like the triangles have won the battle and I really like it, but no one else will understand it.
Neil Gaiman: I think it sounds great! Can I take a look at it?
Sue Ellen: Really? Would you? I'd love... Wait. Where is it?! (gasps) I left it at the falafel truck!
She runs back.
Neil Gaiman: You can't just abandon your falafel like that! He runs after her. Sue Ellen!
***
Sue Ellen is back at the truck.
Mr. Contabulous: I give book to your friends, rich one, bossy one and big head. Pizza people. They go that way! Sue Ellen runs of. Neil Gaiman follows. Go after her! She is great writer of falafelosophy! Wait! You need more fire. He puts more hot sauce on Neil's falafel. Go! Go!
***
Sue Ellen hides behind a bush at the park. Neil catches up with her.
Sue Ellen: I'm too late! They read it and they obviously think it's terrible.
Francine, Muffy and Brain are sitting at a table at the park's rest area.
Francine: You're completely wrong! The triangles are the ones who get things done in the world.
Brain: But they have a narrow “point” of view. See, that's the whole metaphor.
Muffy: I'm seeing a 3D movie. We need a good British actor for evil Triangulops.
Francine: He's not evil, he's misunderstood.
Neil Gaiman: Your friends don't think it's terrible. They may or may not understand it, but they certainly think it's interesting.
Sue Ellen is eating her falafel.
Sue Ellen: They do?
Neil nods.
Francine: You know what I want to know? What happens next?
Neil Gaiman: Ah! The three magic words that every writer always wants to hear. What happens next? I think you'll be giving me that free book some day.
***
In the story, circles and triangles mingle in harmony. Some circles carry triangles while other triangles form a ramp for the circles to roll over.
Sue Ellen (narrator): And the triangles learned that they needed circles to remind them of wholeness. And the circles learned that they needed triangles to remind them of pointiness, and they all lived happily ever before, which is the same as after, just in reverse.
The book ends with the words “The Beginning”, then it is closed.