Renegades Reconstructed! The Original Concept for 365 Infantry
The Wasteland World That Never Was...
This is going to be something very, very different. I’ve hinted at it once or twice in this series of articles, but now’s the time to set it loose on the world.
Instead of another rundown of the influences and inspirations behind the series, I am about reconstruct a half-decade old project. The original production bible is long since lost to time, and though I shall recall select scenes with great clarity, not a page of script remains. This may be the only proper record of the original ideas and seed from which the series has sprung. It’s not perfect, it’s not pretty, and I dare say, some of it is more unhinged than the final product. But nonetheless, I believe it is worth sharing.
Ladies and gentleman, the original idea behind 365 Infantry…
Renegade Riders (2017)
Overview
“It is the distant future, in a world populated by wolves. A world now claimed by M.A.D. Claimed so ruthlessly and so completely, that even the British Isles are glassed into desert. Not a true Saharan sea of sand, but to the point of wiping out most of the natural greenery of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
“Chaos has broken out, and in the end, a million warring factions rule these wastelands, and countless others around the world. Through it all, some band together to attempt civilization’s reassembling. There’s a focus on scientific research and technology, taking some of these pre-atomic fruits of innovation, and making them work in a baking hot world.
“After getting far enough along, some of the developments in prewar artificial intelligence also piques interest, and the concept comes back in a small, but useful way: the enhancement of automobiles. As time went on, these A.I. developed to the point of sociability and endeared themselves to their masters.
“Mostly. Some rebelled for other masters as they saw fit.
“In due time, a city does emerge on the horizon, where London once stood. Governed by oligarchy, and ruled with iron fists, this new sophisticated society does bring some prosperity, but often at the cost of individual freedom. And while most smaller factions are too busy squabbling with each other to care, a group of revolutionaries want to seize control of this and liberate those trapped within its walls.
“As one would suspect, a proper war breaks out, and soon these two opposing entities fight tooth-and-nail for power over this one and only bastion of civilization, with rogue agents of chaos often eating away at both sides’ gains.”
As you can see, a lot of the core concepts did remain, but the location (which was a bonkers decision on my part, I’ll cop to that) and the use of artificial intelligence differed drastically, the latter being a byproduct of a childhood half-spent watching Knight Rider on home video and my constant experimenting with sentient/living cars that would be ultimately lead to Golden Cloud in Alan Firedale: Desert Delinquent.
Now, this next part is going to get very, VERY fuzzy because I could not tell you names or breeds if I was paid to, and God I wish I could. These are all wolves and in this version, the Resistance used automobiles in near-exclusivity. That’s the canvas upon which I shall paint.
Story & Characters
Renegade Riders told the story of a desert-based research scientist who, after some coaxing from her lover, ultimately joins the resistance upon learning of a shortage of personnel. She quickly realizes how in over her head she is the moment she finally has to kill someone in the heat of battle.
At first, she’s revolted (in a direct nod to Charles Bronson upchucking in the tub after his first kill in 1974’s Death Wish), but soon grows a taste for it that, if she isn’t careful, may consume her. Also of note is the childlike personality developed by her pickup truck’s A.I. that amplifies some of this tumult on a psychological level.
I remember her husband being rather cool and calm, and driving a similarly chilled 70s muscle car. I remember the General in this version being pretty much the same as Knox, albeit more visibly amicable, and the driver of a Baja-styled VW Beetle that took on a gruff-and-grizzled attitude. This car was also used on runs by soldiers. I also remember his wife dying as well, and the Bug was his last remembrance of her.
There was also this couple: I think they were Scottish, and their backstory involved fleeing The City upon making contact with a rebellious Camaro, and joining the Force thereafter. I also remember them being irrepressibly horny, which was probably both hormones talking and me playing that Gomez-Mortica romantic bravado for laughs. I think the guy was involved in security and the chick in teaching hand-to-hand combat, and both tried to be supportive and welcoming to the lead character as she adjusted to life on Base.
Other than that, I remember scenes. Lots and lots of scenes.
Snapshots
When Renegade Riders was set to be a screenplay, I vividly remember setting the opening credits to “Hiroshima Mon Amour” by Alcatrazz, and the sequence opening in this dark, sleek parking garage where the lead’s husband saunters up to his muscle car, hops in, turns her on, and slams a tape into her deck, directly from the General. Music plays, credits roll, scene ends with him pulling up to their house.
Cut to the wife’s research station, she leaves in her truck, has some cute banter with her ride, and then BOOM, surprised to see the hubby home.
There were two versions of a dinner scene that came next: an earlier one where the General of the Force made a personal call to their house, and joined the couple for dinner. And a second later one where it was the husband’s parents. Both involved the husband telling a story about a supply run where he led a team of four, and personally drove the General’s Bug, and made it back by the skin of their teeth.
After this came a tasteful lovemaking scene where, in their most vulnerable state, they simply lay everything out. How things have really been going, the state of the resistance, how hard it’s been being apart, and ultimately, she is convinced to go to Base and even is assured they can room with one another.
From there it’s all very hazy. The Base in Renegade Riders doesn’t have the lived-in charm of the one-story school in 365. I remember it being a much sleeker outfit, very metallic, with the mood set by that scene in the parking garage at the beginning. And aside from the previously mentioned upchuck scene, the only other great memory I have was of the fateful kill itself. No real context per say, just the fact she had to make the choice to kill a soldier or not by running him down, and in the end, she had to bowl right over him, killing him instantly.
Remains of the Day
The only other details worth recounting are what made it to 365, plus some odds and ends. The big one of which was the title changes.
To my horror, I discovered that Renegade Riders was not only the name of several novels, but one of the English titles for the 1967 spaghetti western Payment in Blood. Out of crippling fear of being “unoriginal,” I rechristened the project as Frontline Rides…for all of four seconds until I realized the front half of that shared a name with tick medicine, and I risked the whole thing sounding like a branded comedy. It was around that time the whole project hit a wall and I simply put it down to pursue other ideas until those fateful days in August 2021 where the whole series reared its head.
Now for what specifically made it to the current iteration:
CARGUNS - From the word go, the idea of high-speed hot rods throttling their enemies with powerful guns operated by a button beneath the gas pedal was there in the bible. I remember it clear as goddamn day. It was just a kickass concept. I don’t remember if they fired lasers, or actual lead though. Regardless, that was one of the definitive sticking points throughout all of production. Never forgot that.
HOVERTANKS - Though they weren’t the core designs devised by myself and Moritz Kubald, the idea of The City using hovertanks was also there from the start. They were pure, Gerry Anderson hardware, mostly because I dreamed of the days I could see miniatures built (and blown up!) based on these craft. I also remember frequenting the website of modelmaker David Sisson regularly, which helped inform my general idea for the hovertanks.
THE BORDER WALL - Yes friends, oddly enough, Haven’s titanium chain-link fence was there in the beginning. I had written a short story with the Scottish couple where (after they get done screwing because why not), we see the guy rendezvous with their ‘67 Camaro, the two take a moment to get to know each other, he picks up his gal and their things, swings the throttle down and blows through the chain-link border. Written just to scratch out the backstory, but there you have it. I also storyboarded something around that time too with a hound blowing through the chain-link fence in his Dodge Charger. Perhaps Roger Steele’s debut?
With all that having been said, I’ve got one last anecdote worth noting: I could probably trace back the origins of the series even further.
This is thanks to a novelette called “From the Core to the Brink” about two people (yes, real human beings!) falling in love in this giant dome-capped dystopia. The man is an inner-city hacker tending to an AI-enhanced car and the woman a mechanic tending to an AI-enhanced motorcycle on the outskirts of the city, by the very wall of the dome itself. Told in alternating journal entries, from this dual epistolary sprung many projects who took one thematic element or another and ran. An automotive cyberpunk experiment that certainly lingered with me even though I moved on from it in short order. It’s not very good, but then again, I wrote it in high school while I was still learning.
However, as far as we’re concerned here today, THIS is where it all began. Renegade Riders, in a juvenile tornado of classic rock, classic cars, and strange dystopian fiction planted the seed that would yield one hell of an oak. It adhered to the core tenants and the holy trinity of drawing on Blade Runner, Mad Max, and Heavy Metal, and I hope has been at least a fascinating trip down a once-lost Memory Lane.
Besides, though the world has changed, maybe her story is still worth telling…
