Difference between revisions of "Matt Plotecher"

Revision as of 17:13, 21 October 2008

About

The Ranger fandom has probably hardly ever seen a Rangerphile showing as much creativity and proliferation in all its areas as Matthew Paul Plotecher. Born in Madison, Wisconsin, on June 7, 1974, he entered the active fandom in the mid-90s, long before the Acorn Cafe existed, so he was one of the fandom's pioneers. Today, Matt deals with about all kinds of media, and as far as the Ranger fandom goes, so he has done back then. His fame as both a fan fiction writer and a fan artist—and even more than all this—has not faded away a bit until today, and neither has his spirit. Although he has retired from the Ranger fandom, his influence can be found everywhere. He launched the Rescue Ranger Database, he was one of the two Rangerphiles behind R.O.A.R., he has both written or co-written a lot of famous standard MSTings of just as famous Ranger fanfics and invented the Ranger Science Theater 3000, the Plato Awards were entirely written by him, and his own fanfics are recommended to newbies in the fandom still today and will certainly always be.

The Rangerillion refers to him as one of the Founders of the Rangerdom and names him Matthew the Plotecher, Matthew of Plotecher, or Lord Plotecher, the Thinker.

Ranger Code

RRC++ R+ P+>++ TH(A+;Dr;Hu+;Mu;My+;R+;Su) ME++>! I+>++ CR++ Cc++d+m+z+n++f+F+(Cassandra)++ M++ Zm+ GH L Ge Pc++d-o--

Matt Plotecher, by the way, had a large influence on the Ranger Code itself.

Personal Trivia

Matt's last name is pronounced "Plo-teck-er."

Fan Fiction

The order and the subsections are taken over from Matt's website.

Mainstream

Bedbugs

Chariots of Fur

Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers – The Movie: Somemouse To Watch Over Me

There and Back...AGAIN?

Trite Fright Night

Chip Noir Dale's Rescue Rangers

Fly to the Light

Plots

Color Me Confused

Swarm

Wedding Bells Will Chime; Death Knells Shall Clang

My Dinner with Monty

Payback

Homefront

The Chip Noir Dale Universe

Ranger Science Theater 3000

Apart from the MSTings of Rescue Rangers fan fiction Matt wrote together with John Nowak, he also wrote a number of non-standard MSTings featuring the Rescue Rangers as the cast. Chip, Dale and Monterey Jack are the riffers while Gadget and Foxglove represent the Mads. Matt even drew a piece of fan art to accompany his RSTings.

Dial 'O' for Oddimals

NEED CASH? READ NOW!

The Return of Love's Labor Lost

When a Mantis Loves a Woman

Candidate Goof

Song Parodies

A Fly from Heaven

Matt: "A song for Zipper."

Parody of: Fly from Heaven by Toad the Wet Sprocket

First Released: 1997

External Link: StrangeUnlimited

C-N-D-R-R

Matt: "Just another fan anthem."

Parody of: S-E-X-X-Y by They Might Be Giants

First Released: 1997

External Link: StrangeUnlimited

Crash Into Trees

Matt: "Chip and Dale express their feelings for Gadget during a crash-landing."

Parody of: Crash Into Me by the Dave Matthews Band

First Released: 1997

External Link: StrangeUnlimited

Dale's Ode to Foxglove

Matt: "Dale gives a serenade to Foxy, as only Dale can."

Parody of: I Only Wanna Be With You by Hootie and the Blowfish

First Released: 1999

External Link: StrangeUnlimited

Golly! Golly! Golly!

Matt: "The jingle for Gadget's new store."

Parody of: Lolly, Lolly, Lolly from Schoolhouse Rocks

First Released: 1997

External Link: StrangeUnlimited

Mice In Black

Matt: "What if the Rangers returned in a new TV series?"

Parody of: Men In Black by Will Smith

First Released: 1998

External Link: StrangeUnlimited

No Plan

Matt: "Dale's view on how he runs his life."

Parody of: No Rain by Blind Melon

First Released: 1997

External Link: StrangeUnlimited

Rangers' Cast

Matt: "Something I wrote for the Rangers' 10th anniversary."

Parody of: Monster Rap by Elvira

First Released: 1999

External Link: StrangeUnlimited

Ranger Coffeehouse

Matt: "A tune for the Ranger's Coffeehouse, where characters of all the different fanfic universes can mingle and meet."

Parody of: Star Wars Cantina by "Weird Al" Yankovic; Copacabana by Barry Manilow

First Released: 1998

External Link: StrangeUnlimited

The Old Aircraft

Matt: "Not quite a 'funny' parody, as Gadget visits her old home."

Parody of: The Old Apartment by Barenaked Ladies

First Released: 1998

External Link: StrangeUnlimited

Theme from R.O.A.R.

Matt: "Theme for the R.O.A.R. effort."

Parody of: Right Now by Van Halen

First Released: 1998

External Link: StrangeUnlimited

Theme from the Nowakverse

Matt: "I was reading the MiSTing of "Under the Bridge" (see below) and ran across the short bit John had written for Part Three, and the tune stuck in my head until I wrote my own version."

Parody of: I'll Make A Man Out Of You from Disney's Mulan

First Released: 1999

External Link: StrangeUnlimited

Fan Art

General Illustrations

According to Matt, the General Illustrations are those pieces of artwork that don't fit into any other category. They show canonical characters as well as original characters created by several authors. A piece called Slumber Party, for example, has Gadget and the one-shot characters Tammy and Foxglove meet the comic character Melody, Matt's own Kan Sune, and John Nowak's Widget Hackwrench and play a game of Mouseopoly in night garb. Pictures inspired by songs can be found as well as movie and band parodies. Also, all of Matt's techniques have been used on these drawings:

• black/white outline, pencil/ink only
• black/white outline, digitally inked
• black/white, digitally inked with large black areas, sometimes including white outlines
• black/white outline, digitally colored
• grayscale pencil drawing, so detailed that even fur textures are shown
• colored "painting" style with no outlines

Character and Story Illustrations

Apart from a couple of one-shot characters, some of which have been rarely drawn such as Cassandra or Désirée D'Allure, the portraits in this section show original characters. Although Matt has created a lot of characters himself and of course drawn many of them, there are also drawings of characters created by other fanfic authors. John Nowak's Widget Hackwrench can be found here as well as Wescott Vance Atticas and Banto, both of which are Eddie Baird's creations. Canonical and original characters are also displayed in illustrations of several fanfics, again not limited to Matt's stories.

Covers That Never Were

The Covers That Never Were (C.T.N.W.) are a series of 50 drawings. As the title says, most of them are meant to be cover illustrations for Rescue Rangers adventures that have never been written. Not only do they show a degree of suspense going way beyond what is known from the TV show itself and often reaching a Chip Noir Dale-like level, the first 49 ones are also drawn in one Matt's trademark grayscale technique. Issue #50 is the only partially colored one.

The Heart Gallery

Drawn in digital black and white and rich of contrast as well as emotion, the ten drawings that make up the Heart Gallery display several couples, friendships, and unfulfilled loves, mostly of canonical characters, in sometimes very metaphorical ways. Chip & Gadget and Dale & Foxglove have been drawn multiple times each, but other drawings are dedicated to Zipper & Queenie, Monty & Désirée, An Tham Sun & Kan Sune, Chip & Marie Sunslope, and Chip's friendship with Dale.

The Hackwrench Swimsuit Accessory Issue

This particular section is Matt Plotecher's answer to the many drawings of mostly Gadget in skimpy, sometimes even revealing swimwear. He designed a line of swimwear and accessories specifically for a couple of canonical and original characters:

• Chip's Rapid Diving System Harness which allows him to dive quicker and deeper
• Dale's Baking Soda Gelcap Surfing System which creates surf wherever needed but not available
• Gadget's Sunblock and Tackle which provides her constantly with sunscreen
• Monty's 37-piece Buoyancy Suit which prevents the wearer from drowning or even going the least bit under water
• Zipper's Spined Suit which keeps predators away
• Widget's Floating Plunger Platform which shoots plungers to wherever and at whomever, and which can of course be operated with only one hand
• Trackball's Paddlewheelchair, a wheelchair for fun in the water
• Sparky's Full-Body Watertight Bathing Suit which insulates his electrically charged body entirely from the water

Awards

Plato Awards: Best Flat Image - Colored for The Kiss - Colored (coloring by Chip Lundsmark); Best Illustration - Solo for I’m Down the Hallway; Best Original Male Character for An Tham Sun from Fly to the Light; Best Use of a Preestablished Character -- Reoccurring for Professor Norton Nimnul in There and Back...AGAIN?; Best Script for Trite Fright Night; Best Author

2002 Golden Acorn Awards: Most Informative Website for The RRDatabase; Best Website Content for The RRDatabase; Best GIF Animation for Gadget Bop; Best Line Art for Zanzibar; Best MySTing for MiST-ed: The Dark Savior Saga (in collaboration with John Nowak); Best Mystery/Thriller for Payback (tie with Claw&Antler: Small Animals Unit by Rennod); Best All-Time Website for The RRDatabase

2006 Golden Acorn Awards: 2006 Natasha Kashefipour Lifetime Achievement Award

2007 Golden Gadget Awards: Best Foreign Writer

External Links

Matt's main website Strangeunlimited.com

The section of his website where he still keeps all his Ranger-related works