Midnight Man

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About

Based in Hamburg, Germany, Midnight Man works at the design department of an airplane industry supplier. His nickname is taken from a Flash & the Pan song and linked with the time when he took the final step into active Rangerphilia and registered at the Acorn Cafe—on March 1, 2006, at midnight (Central European Time); for now, he prefers keeping his real name mostly secret.

He is also a Ranger Wiki contributor.

Ranger Code

RRC+ R- P--@ TH(A+;I;X;Hu!;Mu;My+;R!;P;Su) ME--- Ix! CR>+ Cc++d+g+++m+z+f++t+fc+nrc- Ec+d@g++m-f@ D-> M++ Zm+ GH+ L Ge(61%) Pc++d-@o(Rat Capone)--- SSs(1>2)d(12)

Fan Fiction

The works are listed in chronological order of their release.

The Joyride

The Joyride was written and posted to test the author's capabilities of writing fan fiction, to find out the public's reactions, and to gain some first experiences. Save some contributions to spontaneous round robins at the Cafe, it is still his only written work in script format.

First released: Midnight Man's first released piece of fan fiction was completely written on March 13, 2006, and released at the Acorn Cafe in the evening (CET) of the same day. Starting out nameless, this extremely short story was given the title The Joyride about two months later on May 7.

Title references: The title simply describes what the story is about.

Part of series: The Joyride is independent of any series or Rangerverse.

Length: 146 words.

Rating: All ages

Synopsis

The story is a spoof on a German radio commercial. After some improvements on the Ranger Mobile, Gadget invites her friends to a joyride. The latter, however, come up with excuses why not to enter the vehicle which they don't really trust.

Important Characters

Canonical

Chip

Dale

Gadget Hackwrench

Monterey Jack

Zipper

Devices

The Ranger Mobile

External Links

The Joyride at the Acorn Cafe

Midnight At The Café

Following the example of some other Rangerphiles, Midnight Man wrote a self-introducing fanfic for the Acorn Cafe. After a first draft which was written on March 5, 2006, but discarded soon after, the work on the longest non-round robin self-introduction so far started around the middle of the month.

First released: The five chapters were released at the Acorn Cafe independently on May 19, 21, 26, 30, and April 1.

Title reference: The title refers to both the main character and the time he arrives at the Acorn Cafe.

Part of series: Midnight At The Cafe opens Midnight Man's Rangerverse, but it's regarded as one of his self-insertion supplements.

Length: 9,812 words (the whole work), 9,778 words (the story text only); five chapters

Rating: All ages

Synopsis

While Midnight Man has joined the fandom at midnight CET, his self-insertion character, Midnight, steps into the famous Acorn Cafe for the first time at midnight local time. He meets a handful of Rangerphiles that night who invite him to come back the next day to have breakfast. Besides, after they have found out that he is a musician, they ask him to bring his instruments and play.

So he does—the next morning, he is back at the Cafe, bringing his instruments—a set of synthesizers—and not only meeting even more Rangerphiles, but also the Rescue Rangers themselves plus Foxglove and Tammy. But Gadget's reaction on meeting him for the first time makes some problems concerning the future occur, and it is his duty to get things right.

Important Characters

Canonical

Chip

Dale

Gadget Hackwrench

Monterey Jack

Zipper

Foxglove

Tammy

Inserted Rangerphile Characters

Midnight

Supercheese

AndY

Scifly

Mr. Spumoni

Campisi

Gwendolyn Katsche

Dr. Indy

Regrin

RangerReady23

External Links

The story at the Acorn Cafe:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Too Huge To Be True

The idea of crossing Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers over with TaleSpin is almost as old as the oldest online CDRR fan fiction. But due to the differences between the two universes—not only the periods of time—no CDRR/TaleSpin crossover has ever been entirely written, let alone published, until 2006 when Midnight Man used a trick to combine these two universes—he made everything happen in a dream.

This story's working process started on April 1, just a few hours after the last chapter of Midnight At The Café had been released, and the last chapter was finished immediately before it was posted at the Acorn Cafe the night between May 20 and 21.

Something furthermore interesting about Too Huge To Be True is that Kevin Sharbaugh stated during the publishing process that he had more than just an idea concerning such a crossover, it was actually a story concept, and he even foresaw Geegaw Hackwrench appearing in the story.

First released: April 25 to May 21. The story was posted one chapter a day; days with no chapter were followed by days with two chapters. Only the last chapter was delayed a few hours.

Title reference: Huge refers to the aircraft engineer Howard Huge, his giant seaplane called The Marabou which plays a great role in the story, and the dimensions of the story itself which the author considers rather long for a crossover of that degree; To Be True means that almost the whole plot is a dream.

Part of series: Too Huge To Be True is the first regular story in Midnight Man's Rangerverse.

Length: 37,025 words (the whole work), 36,869 words (only the story text plus preface); 26 chapters and a preface

Rating: All ages

Synopsis

The Rescue Rangers have taken an afternoon off and spent it watching an 8-hour TaleSpin marathon. This doesn't lack consequences: That night, Gadget dreams herself and the other Rangers to Cape Suzette into the world of TaleSpin. This is where the problems start: The Rangers, about as tall as everyone else in this world, find out that they'll need money to get along. The Higher for Hire crew is in urgent need of help on a delivery for the preparations of a ball which Baloo and Rebecca will attend the same evening. And the crazy aircraft engineer Howard Huge has to retrieve the Marabou, the biggest bird he has ever designed, which has ditched in a desert on its second flight some years ago, and which has been so secret that nobody really believes in its existence.

Important Characters

Canonical (CDRR)

Chip

Dale

Gadget Hackwrench

Monterey Jack

Zipper

Lahwhinie – The correct spelling of her name is LaWahini, and the pronunciation is a tidbit different, too. Unfortunately, no-one except herself knows that or can tell the difference, so she is being called Lawhiney all the time.

Geegaw Hackwrench

Canonical (TaleSpin)

Baloo

Kit Cloudkicker

Rebecca Cunningham

Molly Cunningham

Wildcat

Louie

Don Karnage

The Air Pirates

Howard Huge

Original (CDRR)

Dawn van Zant

Original (TaleSpin)

Ol' Rufus

Darren

Devices

Canonical (CDRR)

The Screaming Eagle – This story shows Geegaw's plane equipped with pontoons and converted into a seaplane, yet still capable of landing on solid ground.

Canonical (TaleSpin)

The Sea Duck

The Iron Vulture

The CT-37 Pirate Fighters

Original (TaleSpin)

The Rangergull

The Marabou

External Links

Too Huge To Be True's first release at the Acorn Cafe, interrupted by readers' comments

Too Huge To Be True at Chip 'n' Dale Online without interruptions

(These links will probably both be replaced with the RRDatabase link once the Database is back online)

Midnight Man's Rangerverse

Characters

Midnight

(to be added...)

Dawn van Zant

Dawn appears in Too Huge To Be True only, and therefore, she is nothing but a creation of Gadget's subconsciousness. She is a young archaeologist striving for jobs in Cape Suzette. Fortunately, she is hired by Howard Huge to find the Marabou. She looks exactly like Gadget in a typical archaeologist's outfit, closely resembling the one the TaleSpin character Katy Dodd wears.

Devices

Rangergull

The Rangergull is a Conwing L-16 seaplane like Baloo's famous Sea Duck, but it lacks the countless nifty improvements, it even still has its old REV-1 engines. In fact, it hasn't been moved for years until the Rangers bought it for incredibly cheap. Although even Wildcat has pronounced it run down and damaged beyond repair, Gadget manages to get it running again and calls it the Rangergull for its white color. The plane serves the Rangers on several occasions throughout the story.

The Rangergull appears exclusively in Too Huge To Be True.

Marabou

Between the Spruce Moose and the Titanium Turkey, Howard Huge has conceived yet another oversized seaplane, even larger than his other two creations. The Marabou is a freight aircraft with two cargo decks which, due to the immense fuselage diameter, are big enough to carry a number of complete, ready-to-fly standard seaplanes such as the Conwing L-16 plus their cargo. The cockpit has seats for four pilots, and the twin-tailed behemoth is powered by a dozen 12-cylinder engines which are heavily modified former marine diesels made of aluminum to reduce their weight, running on gasoline and being aspirated by superchargers. Fitting its name, it is painted cherry red.

The Marabou project has been kept absolutely secret so that aviators are making fun of those who believe in it. This is why nobody has ever tried to retrieve it in the Great Uslandic Desert where it had to ditch on its second ever flight some years before. But now, Huge wants his plane back as he would be almost broke if there wasn't still a certain amount of cash hidden in that bird.

The Marabou appears exclusively in Too Huge To Be True.

Song Parodies

The works are listed in chronological order of their release. All first releases were at the Acorn Cafe.

My Head's In New York City

Just some random Rangerphile thoughts, kind of matching the original lyrics.

Parody of: My Head's In Mississippi by ZZ Top

First released: March 21, 2006

External link: Acorn Cafe

Still On Duty

A song for the Rangers and the Rangerphiles. Highly re-written, yet highly recognizable.

Parody of: The Heart Of Rock'n'Roll by Huey Lewis & the News

First released: April 13, 2006

External link: Acorn Cafe

Acorn Café

The Cafe needed a song of its own.

Parody of: Hard Rock Café by Carole King

First released: April 13, 2006

External link: Acorn Cafe

Tad Gave Chip And Dale To You

A hymn for two chipmunks, and an incentive for fans to be creative.

Parody of: God Gave Rock And Roll To You by KISS

First released: May 26, 2006

External link: Acorn Cafe

Lady Ranger

Dedicated to Gadget Hackwrench.

Parody of: Lady Writer by the Dire Straits

First released: May 26, 2006

External link: Acorn Cafe

Clarice

Clarice isn't even a character from the show, it was the Rangerphiles who put her into the world of the Rangers in several ways. Nevertheless, changing only a handful of words in the lyrics of this song (the second verse stayed entirely untouched) made it a kind of hymn for the rabid stalking Claricephiles.

Parody of: Marliese by Fischer-Z

First released: June 10, 2006

External link: Acorn Cafe

Monterey Jack Is Waiting

Monterey Jack deserved a song of his own. The idea came easy, and so did the chorus.

Parody of: Robert De Niro's Waiting by Bananarama

First released: June 17, 2006

External link: Acorn Cafe

Fat Cat Fever

If there's a villain about whom a song should be written, it's Fat Cat.

Parody of: Cat Scratch Fever by Ted Nugent

First released: June 29, 2006

External link: Acorn Cafe

Widget Hackwrench

Something unusual: This is a song about a fan fiction character.

Parody of: Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie

First released: July 11, 2006

External link: Acorn Cafe (Warning! This song parody is based on John Nowak's fan fiction Under the Bridge and contains spoilers.)