THE WAY BACK HOME

THE WAY BACK HOME (translated from the original French title « ON RENTRE ! »)

GENRE:
Sci-fi, adventure, comedy.

I) PITCH :

Take a guess: What do two simple everyday children, a giant extraterrestrial insect and a Chinese astronaut got in common? Nothing, but they will all be part of the upcoming deep-space adventure “The way back home”.

Meet Jules and Julie, two 10 years-old siblings addicted to television shows and laying around, as they are sent to spend the summer holidays with their grandparents in the countryside. One night, while the kids are home alone, aliens land in to discover the region. As they won’t leave our beautiful planet empty-handed, the aliens choose to bring back with them a very special souvenir: The children.

Julie and Jules find themselves locked up in a kind of Zoo on another planet. There, visitors from all parts of the galaxy keep flowing to come see for the first time what a Human look like. While all hope seems lost the children manage to escape from their jail. With the help of a strange alien tramp and many more characters, they will cross the Milky Way with a single goal in sight: Reaching Earth to come back home.

Alas, the way is yet long and many dangers await the siblings. From clueless millennial children, Jules and Julie will become responsible self-reliant individuals through hardships and survival. They will also have to find ways to overpass the barrier of communication in a world where human languages are still unheard of, if not downright the ability to speak. This unwanted journey will change definitely the two children, making them stronger both physically and emotionally.

Want to know more? Check out the characters list and the 20 episodes that will be posted below.
Let the adventure begin.


INDEX:

I) PITCH:
II) CHARACTERS
III) ALIEN SPECIES
IV) THE JANTEL FAMILY
V) SETTINGS
VI) QUERY LETTER
VII) EPISODES LIST
VIII) EPISODES IDEAS
XI) EPISODES OUTLINES


II) CHARACTERS:

OUR MAIN CHARACTERS: JULES AND JULIE
Jules and Julie are ten-year-olds kids, like others. Both were born in Lyon in 2002, where they still live with their parents. This story will take them to Château-l'étoile, a village in southwestern France where their grandparents live, as well as their family close and distant. It is a bit like their home away from home, considering the time they have been able to spend there since they were toddlers.
Yet all this little world collapses around them, the parents are on the verge of divorce, the Jantel family is waiting for an umpteenth bankruptcy to undo itself, and despite their apparent carelessness, the children are well aware of this.
If only they could be far from all of that ...
Apart from the color of their clothes and their names, Jules and Julie each have a distinct character, but neither are they negatives of each other. They are shabby, with the faults of their time, but not asocial either. Contrary to what their description might suggest, they are not the kind of children who are kept apart from the rest of the class, just those who blend in.
They are average middle-class children with ordinary problems.
Jules and Julie are above all complementary to each other. Facing the challenges that await them they will be able to rescue each other and count on one another.
As most spoilt children, Jules and Julie can be petty, whiny, jaded and will need a good pair of slaps, figuratively or in proper sense, to learn humility.

JULES JANTEL
As many boys his age, Jules is passionate about science, adventure and all kinds of discoveries. His most cherished dream would be to become a renowned explorer, but for now he has explored nothing more than his couch. Where he can spend whole days watching documentaries.
Make no mistake, Jules is not a "geek" character. No calculator in hand or thick glasses so. He is an ordinary child, more dreamer than he would like to admit.
Jules sees himself as a serious and reasonable person. "Serious" is also his favorite expression. He likes to imitate adults and looks for their company thinking that will make him more mature. Which gives him a scornful and authoritarian attitude of which he is not always aware.
More than anything, Jules hates being treated like a child and throw tantrums if nobody notices him. Which makes him look even more childish. A vicious circle then.
A fair reward since Jules himself does not pay attention to others. He is a selfish boy who don’t take the advice from others and never listens to what is said to him. He is irresponsible because he cannot understand people.
Despite his puny look, Jules loves sports, as long it is on TV. As for the rest, moving a single finger is out of the question. He is afraid when he feels vulnerable or facing a dead end, he believes in luck and bad luck. He hides himself to watch cartoons or to eat sweets for fear of looking ridiculous.
His knowledge of things is theoretical, which is normal since he learnt everything from books without rubbing into life.
He wishes above all to be respected but will only get respect by learning the sense of responsibilities.
In the immediate future Jules wants only one thing: Growing up as fast as possible to leave his family. The upcoming adventure will fulfill his desires beyond all expectations.

JULIE JANTEL
Julie also is an ordinary child. Like girls her age, she likes to spend good time with her friends, gossip and follow the trend.
She has no ideas for her future, however. All of this is far for now, better to enjoy her childhood without thinking of tomorrow.
Julie likes to be a child and that's the problem, she doesn’t want to grow up. The adult world scares her, she can’t stand reality, so she shelter in magic novels, stories and fashions. Better dream not to see: Such is her strategy.
She is not blind so far, she knows that her parents may divorce, she knows she may not see her grandparents, her family, or the Jantel estate again. Which hurts her since she likes all of that. It is precisely to escape this observation that Julie flees the real world. Behind her smiles she is deeply depressed.
Julie sees herself as a nice and friendly person, or at least she would like to be. She pretends to worry about others and to take interest in them out of fear that she will be found selfish (but deep down she is as unsociable as her brother). This character she makes up doesn’t fool anyone around her. As a result, Julie looks above all as a hypocrite and her tendency to manipulate people does not makes things better for her image.
Julie is as lazy as her brother. She spends as much time in front of the TV except that in addition she stuff herself with junk food. Which makes her rather chubby, probably another cause for her depression. And what better way to compensate than to eat even more ...Better not to notice her weight to prevent any drama.
Julie is afraid to become alone one day, to not be loved or to be trash-talked behind her back. She believes in ghosts. Since she was a toddler, she is convinced of having channeled her ancestors in Château-l'étoile. Maybe she is right.
Above all, Julie seeks love in the broadest sense. She wants to be loved and happy at all costs. But just as there is no respect without responsibility, she will learn that there is no love without being earnest, nor happiness without misfortunes.
Meanwhile, Julie dreams of a different life in a world other than hers. Another wish fulfilled by the adventure that she and her brother will live.

OTHER CHARACTERS:

BUG
The unpronounceable name of this 2meters-high alien will remain a mystery for most of the series. Other characters always refer to him as “Bug” because of his insect-like appearance, and since he does not know what an insect is in the first place he has no problem with that.
Bug was on a stop to fix once again his flying dumpster of a spaceship when he came across Jules and Julie for the first time. He was as much afraid as them to see these “limbed worms”, as he like to call them, since they were the first creatures of this kind he ever met.
Bug left his own home long ago, he crossed most of the galaxy going from one fast money job to another. Mercenary, poacher and bounty hunter are among his common occupations, but most of the time he simply wanders aimlessly from one planet to another as a bum would do.
The time spent with the kids enabled him to learn slowly human words and language, making dialogue with other characters more and more easy for him. However, his speech is broken and a strong accent remains which makes him difficult to be understood.
“You, do not take that riffle!” becomes “Oo no tak h-shl!” when said in Bug’s voice.
His endless days spent in company of Jules, Julie and Wang has also convinced him of one thing: That Humans are crazy.
There are many reasons for which Humans are crazy. The first one is that they lie, which for Bug means that they are being wrong on purpose. Where can the interest be, except perhaps to make things more confused than they already are?
The second is that Humans are one of the most myopic species of the Milky Way in terms of responsibility. They spend everything in one night and wonder why they are poor the next day, they go to sleep in case of danger and don’t understand why they are attacked. They forget a promise under the pretext that it was made a long time ago. In fact, in the eyes of many inhabitants of the cosmos Humans live from day to day, which means that they can’t be trusted. Bug is one of those and at first glance everything seemed to confirm what he suspected. At least until Jules and Julie try to prove him wrong.

WANG LI-YU
Wang was a Taikonaut in mission around Earth for his country when he got abducted by aliens. His disappearance has been kept as a state secret by the Chinese authorities. Hopefully Wang is not aware of this fact because he spent 10 years in the mines of a faraway planet as a slave. All this time being worked to exhaustion has made him into a strong hardened man and left him with unpleasant memories. Because of this he prefers not thinking too much about the past, and rather focus on things to come. His past life will therefore remain a complete mystery.
Wang built his way to Taikonautship through perseverance, vast knowledge and high mental capacities. He knows how to speak English (French in the original version) without much noticeable accent yet with the same kind of grammar mistakes any other Chinese speaker would make.
It is not clear whether Wang had children, back in China, or not. What is clear, though, is that trough the time spent in this journey paternal instincts start growing in him towards Jules and Julie. Consciously or not, he will become their unofficial tutor and will try to protect their life at any given occasion.
Spoiler: Wang dies in the middle of the series. Other characters will mourn him over the length of 2 episodes

III) ALIEN SPECIES:

THE BLUE-BLUE-BLUES:
This wild alien species unable to speak was once leading a great empire stretching through most of the known galaxy. This is why they can still be found in small communities across almost all planets.
Some of them take profit of this impressing network to take control of power places in their home-planet, others instead try to stay as stealth as possible and to interfere the least with their environment to avoid danger.
Being devoid of any sound making organ, they communicate with light signals thank to seven lanterns they have over their body. The Blue-blue-blues are not evil, neither good, but they have a single goal in mind: The survival of their species, no matter which consequences must be faced in that purpose.

THE SAYAPI:
This species of apparently peaceful farmers is endowed with speech (voice) and even speaks a language very close to that of humans. This, of course, is only an impression, the language of the Sayapi actually has multiple sounds inaudible to human ears.
Long ago the Sayapi have unlocked the secrets of silence, from that day on they honor it constantly by the name of "Yaman". Adults and children are the same size and it is difficult to distinguish their age by eyesight only. Most of them wear distinctive signs to make it knowable.
Their writing is made up of concentric circles overlaping each other. It is difficult to know how far the Sayapi people extend but at first glance they seem to need only their own planet.

THE OMEE'A:
Although they have decided to settle on the seabed, the Omee'a are not sea creatures, they have an apnea limit and a rather low tolerance to sea salt as humans or other animals living on the land. In reality the Omee'a were terrestrial creatures back in the days when their home had not yet become an ocean planet. As a result they had to adapt themselves to cope with the loss of their empire under the waves. They have therefore quickly became expert in navigation and learned to colonize the ocean floor with apparently rudimentary means.
The Omee'a also developed all kinds of techniques and teachings to suit marine life, relying more on their bodies than on instruments. They are masters in the art of apnea and live in the hope of becoming one day fully aquatic creatures. Their language has mostly vowels. It is soft to hear but terribly hard to pronounce for foreigners, or Oate'a in that language.
These are generally happy-go-lucky, simple and honest people but regarding their spatial neighbors their opinions range from disdain to rivalry. Seeing humans is still new to them, but they will eventually end like many other species in their eyes, among the rank of creatures that exist only to be laughed at.

THE RAIDERS:
Always hidden behind their spacesuits, this alien species are the poachers of the cosmos. Relics, organs, animals, documents, rare minerals nothing escapes them to supply the most demanding markets. Our corner of the Milky Way has almost no secrets for them. Stealth is their motto on the terrain, they always try to leave the least possible amount of evidences behind them when leaving.
Their activities are illegal for most aliens, it must be said that the boundary between people and goods is very difficult to define in the infinity of the universe.
In the likeness of Phoenicians, the Raiders opened most trade routes and their travel maps are a closely guarded secret whose only copies available to the public are kept in the Great Library of Planets. And yet, from all of these only three copies have been translated.
Not even Humans are strangers to them. They have already flown over Earth several times, observing the light of our cities, movements of our vehicles or shape of our fields. They are the ones who abducted Jules and Julie during one summer night in Château-l’étoile, and so many others before them.
Despite all these light-years traveled through and all their knowledge of spacefaring Raiders do actually know very little about the Galaxy. Their worldview is like that of sailors, going from one harbor to another without seeing anything else than the shored of the encountered country. Since the Raiders only stay very quickly on the planets they visit and in the utmost discretion they never established any contact with the natives. They are unaware of their languages, their life, their stories, they ignore what animals populate their planets, what climates are there, not even what they are made of. Hence this disdainful impression that the universe is the same everywhere.
As sailors they also are superstitious. Space is for them a mystery concealed behind layers of unknown giving birth to legends, often with a hint of truth at the core.
Because of their distance Raiders themselves are a mystery to most other species. Masked robbers coming out of nowhere of whom nobody knows anything does not bode nothing good. As no one took the time to meet them their name is also unknown. Generally they are designated as "Raiders" or "Visitors" and have a fearsome reputation. A deserved reputation however, as they often engage in abductions. Raiders abduct people as a scientist would take a mouse to his laboratory, as a boat would take dolphins for a SeaWorld park, as a child would take snails to bring them home. And this with all that it implies, as it was the case in 1978 on the Billings dam in Brazil.

THE FLOGS:
These aliens are the first seen (without spacesuit) by Jules and Julie, during their captivity at the zoo. Because they look like both amphibians and flies, Jules and Julie call them "Flogs" want of knowing their real names.
Because they are seen seldom in one or two episodes, the audience will know only little about the Flogs. Impossible for example whether they are peaceful or warlike species. All he knows is that the Flogs reached a sufficient level of technology to build cities and travel in (nearby) space. They also have an audible language and a writing system made of circles, much alike that of the Sayapi.
They move in small leaps, such as frogs, and eat with a (flexible) trunk, like flies. They are smaller in size than humans but equal them and even exceed them in strength as in thought.
An adult Flog in a stable position measures the size of a human child. Suffice to say that their meetings with Jules and Julie will be face-to-face.

IV) THE JANTEL FAMILY:

MARCEL JANTEL:
Last heir of the family vineyard, Marcel Jantel is the grandfather of Jules and Julie and a Castelstellois born and raised. Born in Château-l’étoile he lived the mechanization of agriculture and the change of lifestyle that ensued in the village. The number of employees has been reduced by half and more than once his farm was on the verge of bankruptcy. Today no one is there to retrieve it. His eldest son moved to Lyons to open his own business and none of his other children did seem interested in the case. Neither his grandchildren.
Lack of successors, Marcel dreads seeing the family relic bought at his death by all kinds of businessmen. A death that seems increasingly close.

JEANINE JANTEL:
Wife of Marcel, Jeanine Jantel met her husband very early, a time when long-term relationships were the norm. She has never left since that day and the two are rarely quarreled during their long life.
As her husband, Jeanine went through the last century, with the advantages and consequences involved. The farm is what kept the Jantel clan united, with its abandonment the list tightens increasingly (at family reunions). It is she who fought and is still fighting the last years of her life to keep the family together. But as with Marcel, this weight become increasing tiring with age.

CLAUDE JANTEL (JULES, JULIE):
Claude Jantel is the son of Marcel and the father of the two main characters. Like his brothers, Claude grew affected by the decline of the family farm. Himself being worked by the idea of leaving the village. His wedding with Estelle, his future wife, was the perfect opportunity. He was immediately gone to live with her in Lyon there to open a trade and made her two beautiful children.
Unlike their parents, the couple Claude was not as stable. Today, Ms. Jantel and he are at the edge of divorce, and children feel it all too well behind their carefree facade.

COLIN JANTEL:
Brother of Claude and son of Marcel Jantel, Colin is the uncle of the two protagonists. Unlike his brother, Colin Jantel rarely left his native village and still lives in the area to date. It is assumed a single and fundamentally individualistic. It all started in the first bankruptcy of the Jantel farm. Colin jumped at the chance to get rid of this burden when entering the local police. He spent more than 10 years, for want of better, which earned him yet today some knowledge of the region behind the scene.
Following that, he chained the jobs and women before settling on his own for good. Today, Colin takes care of his bistro in the suburbs (surrounding) of Carcassonne. At the gates of 40 years, he never had a wife or children and does not intend to have.
Because his own family life is empty, Colin Jantel closely following everything related to his siblings. Under his solitary outside, he is always ready to lend a hand when it comes to family.
Jantel Colin grew up in the shadow of his older brother Claude. He always saw him as his model and, somehow, it's still the case. The disappearance of Jules and Julie awake in him paternity instincts kept aslept for too long that will push him to search for the two children.

ADRIEN JANTEL (LUC, LUCIE, LUCAS):
Adrien Jantel is the big brother of Claude. Unlike many of his brothers and sisters, the love life of Adrien is without problems. It cannot be said the same of his professional life. He preferred to leave the farm in the hands of his father to sell his own agronomist services to companies. In the 80s he engaged in all kinds of stock market maneuvers that earned him a certain financial ease, for a decade or two. It was during this golden era that he met his wife and had three children: Luc, Lucie and the youngest Lucas.
The 2008 crisis has not spared Adrien. Today he lives on credit and tries to hide somehow this fact, waiting to find an outlet to work. Fortunately, children are not aware of this, even if they begin to suspect something.

ANTOINE JANTEL (MATHIEU):
Last brother of Claude, the married life of Antoine Jantel and his wife is unhindered. His love of savings and well-run money allowed him to help Marcel to save the farm from bankruptcy more than once. He also is the only one of his siblings who still works there.
At home the calculation is the same: One child, it is less spending. The idea was good economically but in itself it is a disaster. Their son Mathieu became shy and withdrawn, from time to time he deigns to speak to Jules and Julie because within oneself he sees in them the siblings he never had. Otherwise, video games are Mathieu’s only friends.

AURELIE JANTEL (ANNA, ANTHONY):
Sister of Claude, Aurélie Jantel is the youngest of the cradle. Because of this she always was the last wheel of the coach, Aurélie often lived apart. Left to herself from childhood to adulthood, she became very free but not consistent enough. She changes her ideas as tastes or even husbands. This is why she is now divorced, after throwing her last suitor, raising her two children: Anna and Anthony. Their names also are one of Aurélie fads. They come from what used to be her favorite TV show for a while.
Aurélie is often absent at home. Her children, like other divorced kids, have been made jaded, asocial and spoiled by the constant back and forth between both parents houses.
When they see them, Jules and Julie are afraid to end in the same case one day themselves.

V) SETTINGS:

CHÂTEAU-L'ETOILE
The village of Château-l’étoile, in the Aude department was once known by the name of Castel-la-Stelle (or Castel-Estrel) before taking its current name in the Revolution.
It is accessed entering the country of Audese Corbières through the RN13. Very afar from neighboring communities, it is gently nestled in a piece of lush virgin Garrigue, itself surrounded by fertile vineyards. Two hills flank it the west and the south, one of which is topped by the castle giving the village its name. A venerable shapeless ruin, relic from the Albigensian Crusade, of which only a tower and some walls remain.
The village is not dead yet. It has its share of young people and children, the secret being that they usually do not stay there all day.
The temperature hovers around 30° Celsius in summer and between 20-15 ° the clearest of the year. Summers here are always synonymous with cicadas singing endlessly.
The Jantel farm is further away from the village, lost in the bush beside the road leading there.
A train station connects the village to the rest of the country each time the TER stops by, which stops there yet rarely (to continue).

THE JANTEL DOMAIN
The Jantel vineyard was built be foremost with a privacy concern. A small stone farmhouse, few acres of green vine clinging to the sides of the hills, a small dirt road leading to the main road. Some hedges some grids as a fence. This is the picture of what Marcel affectionately calls "the farm." All nestled in a valley of bushes and thorns, as if lost in the Southern wilderness.
Further, some sheds and hangars to develop the homegrown Jantel brew: The "Château-l’étoile", a red Alaric with a strongly earthy taste. Beyond this is the actual farm. Vineyards and olive trees are planted there, alongside some fig trees that recently adorn the whole.
A garden nestled between the house and the garrigue, a canopy as a garage, a small iron gate and that's it.
The bulk of the Jantel family life takes place in the house itself. Small but charming to see, at least from the outside. Even though it looks old from outside (probably XVII), the interior has suffered the ravages of modernization. Another awkward idea from Adrien Jantel. The result: Two huge sliding windows on the rear façade, overlooking the garden. White and smooth soulless walls. Ikea also went through there. Fortunately some period furniture, inheritance of the Jantel, survived the massacre. As the porcelain cabinet of grandma Jantel.
The ground floor is tiled with red brick. The first floor inlaid in wooden planks. The ceilings in French style, supported by painted beams (to continue).


VI) QUERY LETTER:

"On rentre!" (The way back home) is not a title that I chose at random. First of all it is short, simple, easy to remember and provides two words to understand the whole purpose of the series.
It also summarizes the key theme of this cartoon, that is to say the relation to home and travel.

As a measure of the development of this concept I realized that it was primarily a personal story. In fact my parents were working for foreign affairs, they took me in several countries with them and my siblings. In the trade it is often said that people have seven lives. What is true for the employees is also for their children. Growing up in over a dozen different countries, I had to change friends, home, habits and even language every time. In a sense it is as if I had lived several times. Because of that my sense of identity is still quite unclear. Faced with these changing borders and faces only one thing remained clear: Family, in the genealogical sense of the word.
The essence of "The way back home", In relation to most adventure stories is that Jules and Julie do not choose to leave. This is not the famous "hero's journey" but rather a back home story, such as "The Odyssey" or "The wizard of Oz".
In a sense it is also a story of divorce, another significant part of my childhood. The difference here is that children are not separated from their families in terms of time but space. Contrary to the past, one can return to a place, it is only a matter of time. In other words going back home for these children not only means returning to their home, but also finding back their family united as when they left.
"The way back home" therefore deals with a triple return: Back on Earth, back home, back to one's family. The focus in this film is also a matter of returning to the roots. They are embodied here by the grandparents of Jantel family, settled in the home village of the family since decades and centuries.

The relation to language will be another key theme, and even crucial.
"The way back home" is not one of those science fiction stories where the characters have access to automatic translators or worse, where the aliens speak French. Here Jules and Julie must toil to learn the language of their hosts and adapt to their customs if they hope to be understood. Most aliens do not speak French, much of them do not even emit sounds to "talk".
It is in a fairly similar situation that a child living in a foreign country find himself. When his vocabulary is limited to "hello", "goodbye", "thank you" and a few basic words. The dialogues around him become aimless music, words sounds. The slightest gesture, the slightest daily demand becomes a test solved with big gestures and facial expressions.
Because one is deprived of speech and of understanding one feels quickly falls back to animal row. The adult still has a chance, he can speak English and even lost he retains a certain dignity. The child abroad when alone is at best a curiosity, something to show. Learning a language becomes for him a first step toward maturity.
It is a lesson in modesty, I think that deserves to be shared. Talking about languages ​​to children not only show them the world. It also help them discovering who their neighbors are and, most importantly, who they are themselves.

Children as an audience, are future adults who hate being taken for idiots. "The way back home" will not only be a show that speaks to them but looks like them. Jules and Julie Jantel ape adults in hope of being treated the same as them. They find themselves confronted to real responsibilities: Deserving their freedom, finding something to eat, finding shelter, staying true to their friends, always being on guard to not die, being reliable, knowing how to orientate themselves.
This is a teen before the hour, throwing the two children away from any comfort to make them grow. Physically also: Jules and Julie begin their journey as a wimp and an obese. The adventure will teach them that what they thought to be their personality traits were only defects. Through the work and hardship they will become stronger, more capable. On their return to Earth they are already a Man and a Woman, before even reaching puberty.

Frankly I think the public will first be deeply shocked. Imagine the minor front of his TV. Children like him, behaving like him, in a world like his. Abducted from their homes, deprived of their parents, without any mark, unable to call for help nor going back.
His worst nightmare actually. Oh yes he will be afraid.
But eventually he will want to know how the two characters will get out at each impasse, what problems await them. Because deep down he will think every time "How I would do in their place?".
The more the Jantel siblings will react like normal children rather than as cartoon characters, the more the public will want to live through them. Because thousands of schoolchildren will say to themselves "If it works for them it will also work for me."
"The way back home" becomes more than just entertainment: For a generation of divorced children, isolated, spending more time in front of their screen than with their parents it is a second tutor giving the taste of efforts and desire to get by.
Concretely this means that Jules and Julie will sometimes be selfish, capricious, sneaky, jaded as true brats are. To make them better change later in the story, when they become heroes, but not entirely.

With "The way back home" Space finds back its "last frontier" dimension. No explanations given by any extra character here neither some encyclopedia or guide. No kind of exposure. The two children are alone facing the unknown. Their books are made useless, nothing they have learned on Earth can serve them and even all the adults around them seem as they lost as they are. The Galaxy is too vast to be classified.
The viewer finds himself immersed in the same spirit as that of Conquistadors discovering America six centuries ago. Behind every wood, every hill, every rock hides a danger or at least a surprise waiting to happen. The map is empty, you must draw it yourself. He finds himself giving names to everything crossed in order to avoid losing his path. Sometimes the scenario will chew this work, the rest of the time it will be up to fans coming up with nicknames themselves.

What good leave Earth to find it elsewhere. The aliens of "The way back home" will not be a parody of human society. Science fiction is a genre that all too often tend to show space sailors, neon colored fast-food and three-headed cowboys in a futuristic or exotic setting. In other words, to do again in space universes that could already work here. It's quite a shame because it is the only genre finally giving the opportunity to have something new under the sun.
Of course, making a model of society or biology back from scratch would almost be unfeasible. One will probably notice similarities with some civilizations or some earthly creatures. What is certain is that aliens in this series have a way to work of their own. Their characterization comes from their adaptation or maladjustment to the environment in which they live, in the organic sense. A "terrestrial" species living under the sea, for example, will have to invent ways to breathe artificially. Most creatures will be treated in first degree.
The environment will not be the only criterion for characterizing aliens. Many will be reminding of animals such as insects, molluscs or amphibians. In short: pests which are not particularly seen as endearing by most people, when not as repulsive. Their facial expression stays neutral most of the time, regardless of the side with which they stand.
Faced with beings from another world, without any sympathy bond, whose emotions can not be guessed, the viewer feels a sense of discomfort and above all suspicion. Even when the relations are good Jules, Julie and Wang are unable to know when their new neighbors will raise the hand or devour them on the spot. For them and for the viewer vigilance is required at every moment. The closest example I could think of to portray that impression is  Ghibli studio's movie "Spirited Away".
There again, the desired goal is a is a feeling of progression into unknown territory, which is proper to Adventures stories , in the REAL sense of that word. The mere gest of greeting a passerby may be as well be a chance for relieve as to sign one's own death warrant. No way to know until you try.
Imagine Hernan Cortes in Mexico in 1519 facing the Totonacs. Hundred issues trot in his head gripped by panic: "Who are these people whose face, tongue or morals have never been seen or heard by anyone so far? Are they even human? Must I meet them? if Yes how?". It is by crossing that first step to establish an alliance that the conquest of the Americas as we know it began.
Or imagine again a man lost in a foreign country. His car broke down, he has to walk to the nearest village to seek help. In the village no one speaks his native language: How will he explain his problem? By drawing? By the mime? By imitating the sound of a car? This is the whole challenge that Jules and Julie Jantel will have to face during their adventure.
Being abroad means above all being a foreigner yourself. And the two children will understand that they have to watch out for everything they do if they want to avoid trouble.

"The way back home" remains faithful to a cornerstone of science fiction cliches: Each planet has its own biome and its own kind, at first sight. It is of course a facility solution, for writing purposes but also for the viewer. Remembering better each episode if each one corresponds to a different planet and setting.

This is a family-oriented cartoon dealing with serious things like violence, hunger or disease without seeking that humor or that gratuitous provocation proper to "adults" programs like "South Park" or "Les Lascars". The public is still primarily children, although an older fringe could take taste. In the end, "The way back home" stays quite close to the spirit of old Franco-Belgian comics like "Alix", "Gilles Jourdan" or "Blake and Mortimer". Often down to Earth but never vulgar, at least not for free.
It is also a staging and a graphic style bordering more towards live action cinema than cartoon in the American sense of the word. In other words: Expressions remain as simple as possible (to continue).


VII) EPISODES LIST:

EPISODE 1: Disappeared in the night [original title: Les disparus de l'Aude]

Two 10 years-old siblings, Jules and Julie, are sent to spend holidays at their grandparent’s house in the countryside. Unfortunately one of the grandparents has an accident and must be taken to the hospital while the children await them alone at home for the whole night. That very night while they are alone in the house they get abducted by aliens. The kids are then taken to another planet at the other side of the milky way, where they are locked in a kind of zoo for the greatest amazement of visitors. They later manage to escape from the zoo and leave this planet thanks to some alien space tramp (he looks like an insect, so the kids name him Bug) they met, with the hope of getting back to Earth as soon as possible.

EPISODE 2: Road to the stars [La route des étoiles]

The kids manage to communicate with Bug (who does not speak human) thanks to hand signs. Their spaceship is chased by troops sent by the zoo owners, trying to get the kids back. Meanwhile on Earth a man is wrongfully thought guilty of Jules and Julie’s disappearance by the police. By the end of the episode, after the spaceship succesfully escapes ennemy troops, Bug and the children learnt a few words from each other language.

EPISODE 3: A traitor’s kiss [Le baiser du traître]

Bug try to sell the two humans on the black market of his homeplanet, in order to make some cash. All his belongings get stolen by a kind of plant-alien, who is vulnerable to CO2. The kids manage to neutralize him thanks to their breath. As an act of gratitude, Bug ask the kids to pardon him, and he make them promise that he will help them going back to Earth. But in order to do so he will need help from his relatives.

EPISODE 4: Fields of light [Les champs de lumiere]

Our three characters are on the way to Bug’s birth village when their spaceship run out of fuel. They then roam along deserted roads, in the magnificent landscape of fluorescent prairies glowing in an eternal night. An asteroid falls far away in the distance, the characters realize that they have been lucky for if they landed safely they would have been squashed by the meteor. The next morning, fire from the impact start spreading through the fields, they must take hide themselves in the spaceship wreck as soon as possible to escape the flames. Some strangers join them on the way. After the fire is over the strangers help main characters to fix the spaceship as sign of gratitude.

EPISODE 5: Family picture [Portrait de famille]
Bug is back in his family. He introduce them to Jules and Julie, who are saw with amazement as they are the only humans ever seen in that part of the universe. Bug has learned some words of human language, which allow him to act as an interpret. Unfortunately no one here knows what is Earth, neither where to find it. However the older of relatives teaches them that a huge library exists somewhere, where all planets of the galaxy are kept on record. The three main characters thank them, then they go back on their quest.

EPISODE 6: Solar storm [Tempête solaire]

Bug’s spaceship is ready to work again, he take-off with the kids on the way to another planet. There he will hope to meet old friends of him, who will help him to know more about the library he is searching for. Unfortunately, the three main characters get attacked and seized by slave traders on their way.

EPISODE 7: By pure luck [Tiré au sort]

Main characters are taken apart on the slave market. Jules and Julie are sold to a rich landowner (let's call him the Master) who show them off to his guests as curiosities of some sort, in his huge mansion. The master has a passion for gambling games, he progressively become more friendly with the kids as he spend time practising his play with them. One day Jules and Julie offer him a bet: If they win they will be allowed to go free again, but if they loose they will be sent away to work like regular slaves. The master accepts the gamble. The kids win the game, they are free and the Master will have to help them setting Bug free.

EPISODE 8: The tree-sunned hell [L'enfer des trois Soleils]

The master and the children are escorted by a mercenary army, recruited thanks to his money. They find back Bug in the bottom of a mine where he got sentenced to forced labor. They manage to trigger a massive rebellion among slaves, Bug escapes. They also help a Chinese astronaut (let's call him Wang) to escape, who was abducted in space 20 years ago. Jules, Julie, Bug and Wang thank the Master for his help, they tell him goodbye then leave the planet.

EPISODE 9: Out of sight [Perdus de vue]

On Earth, the police has set free the man who got wrongfully charged of kidnapping in episode 2, the children’s disappearance then become an unresolved mystery. Meanwhile, Jules, Julie, Bug and Wang are spacefaring since monthes on the way to the great library of planets. Once again the spaceship runs out of fuel. They make and emergency landing on the nearest planet, hoping to find help. The ship is crashed, almost ruined, but everyone on board is living and safe. The four characters will have to spend time repairing it. They feel as if they were spied on by someone or something.

EPISODE 10: Night again [Plus longue la nuit]

Night never ends on that planet, the sky is starless and soon fog starts appearing. In other words: Complete darkness. The characters feel lost, they try to make contact through their telecommunication equipment, without a single answer. One night, while everyone is sleeping, a huge wild beast enter the wreckage searching for food, it attacks the characters. Bug and Wang try to shoot it down but they get badly hurt and their weapon is thrown away from them. Bug shouts Jules to bring him the weapon but he get caught by the beast doing so. While he is about to be eaten, Jules shoots everywhere with the weapon, out of fear. He manages to kill by accident in the way. All other characters cheer at Jules for his act, he proudly keeps a claw from the dead beast as a trophy. The characters realize that the beast is actually edible (with a strong crayfish taste). They make a nice barbecue out of these kilos of flesh around their fire camp.

EPISODE 11: Sluggish fever [La fièvre molle]

Julie turns ill because of some fruits she found and ate. The next day her condition has worsened, she must stay in bed. Bug tell to other characters that she caught an illness that makes the body and bones progressively more flabby. If untreated, the illness could end up killing her from the moment her vital organs become crushed by her own bodymass. Bug knows how to make a cure for this illness but there is few time left. Bug, Jules and Wang leave the wreckage in search of ingredients for the cure, while Julie awaits them laying alone in the wreckage. A tribe of local aliens (who look like stereotypical primitive people) enters the wreckage, they start taking with them all kinds of objects they come across. Julie is afraid, she tries to hide but she is too sick to move. The aliens notice her, they take her along with everything else they took and they leave the place. When Jules, Wang and Bug come back they notice Julie is missing. They immediately go in search for her her, tying themselves one to another to avoid getting lost in the mist.
Meanwhile Julie is at the tribe’s village. Her condition is so bad they had to keep her inside a cocoon to avoid her death.
Jules Wang and bug walk for two days in the jungle. They come across one of the tribe aliens and take him as an hostage. The hostage leads them to his village. Bug threatens the tribe to kill his hostage if they don’t let them get close to Julie, the tribe let him go. He gives the cure to Julie.

EPISODE 12: One of us [Elle est des nôtres]

Jules, Bug and Wang want to bring back Julie with them but the aliens object. They say that since she has been into the cocoon, it made her “reborn” as a member of their own species, and therefore she must remain in the tribe whether she likes it or not. They also taught her their language made of light signals while she was unconscious thanks to learning-drugs, which now allows her to act as an interpret between the tribe and the main characters. Her new native name is red-orange-red, as a mark left on her body can attest.
If they wish to set Julie free, the three characters must pass beforehand a series of tests and feats which will prove them to be as brave as the tribe members. Bug, Jules and Wang accomplish all the tasks required, with much difficulty, and win. Julie is now free to go; the characters are given a fuel supply as a reward. Julie learns the true name of this alien species: The Blue-blue-blues. She also learn that they have “brothers” in almost any planet and that she could get help from these at any moment by simply showing her mark. The four main characters say goodbye to the tribe, they repair the spaceship and leave this planet to continue their quest.

EPISODE 13: Vegaburn [Coup de Véga]

This more comedy-oriented episode is entirely set in Bug’s spaceship. The journey is very long, Jules, Julie and Wang already start feeling the effect caused by sun deprivation on their bodies. When the spaceship get close to an enormous star (which is identified as Vega) the three Humans decide to have a nice vegabath moment in front of the main window. With cold cocktails, swimsuits and even an improvised swimming pool they made by filling half the room with water. Bug does not understand any of what is going but he decides to join them anyway.
The session is interrupted when characters notice that space pirates are coming. They manage to keep the pirates at bay, thanks to weapons, and defeat them before they even reach the spaceship.
By the end of the episodes all of the three Humans are badly vegaburned (which is to say sunburned), perhaps a bit less harshly for Wang. Bug does understand even less of what is happening, the only thing he know for sure is that Humans are crazy.

EPISODE 14: Water and more water [Que d'eau, que d'eau]

The spaceship lands on the first planet it comes across in a little town called Katsayaman (Yaman’s valley) for a stopover. Unfortunately, a downpour of rain impeaches vehicles from take-off. Jules, Wang, Julie and Bug choose to stay a while in the town, waiting for the rain to stop before they realize that the rain simply never stops. Villagers tell the characters that that the time given by hospitality laws is now over and if they want to stay among them longer they will have to work in the fields, as anyone else.
From then on Jules, Julie, Bug and Wang spends their days in the fields working from morning to evening with their hands to grow a kind of cereal known as a’mtukari. During their stay the characters will also learn a bit more about the great library of planets.

EPISODE 15: Voices in the valley [Des voix dans la vallée]

Days have passed and the sky is still not clear, the main characters find themselves working once again in the fields to grow a’mtukari crops. Every day and many times a day, strange chants are heard regularly in full volume throughout the whole valley (as if spoken with a megaphone) in honor for a so-called “Yaman”. However, each time the characters try to ask who is “Yaman”, they get only complete silence. They also take the time to discover customs of the village, among which the art of drinking katatski, a powerful calming hot drink.
The food that they found disgusting as first, tastes now each time better for them as they spend time and sweat to make it grow. Meanwhile, Bug put in practise his knowledge of local scripture to uncover any document that could help them finding the great library of planets.

EPISODE 16: A silent night [La nuit du silence]

In this more horror-oriented episode the village seems to be getting ready for a party. Decoration, paintings, lights and sculptures are made everywhere in the valley. Yet when the main characters try to know what is happening nobody wants to answer. Even worse, nobody seems to be speaking anymore at all, leaving the whole town in an utter silence, troubled only by the endless chantings to “Yaman”. When Jules, Julie and Wang discover vehicle wreckages behind the village they start suspecting that something creepy and wicked is going around. The fact that Bug is nowhere to be seen this day only worsens this impression.
The next day at sunset, some eery looking villagers come to see the main characters and ask them to follow them with a gesture. Jules, Julie and Wang follow a long procession walking slowly over a narrow mountainside trail, while they deseperately seek Bug with their eyes. Once again, everyone is perfectly quiet there. The procession marches on in the night, holding lights in their hands, to the sound of drums. The three humans keep getting each time more scared, they start thinking of a plan to escape, before it is too late.
Suddenly the procession stops at a mountaintop and all villagers start singing in choir the same chant we heard in loud speakers all day in the last episodes. Jules, Julie and Wang are shaking with fear when the village chief finally tell them the Truth. They were celebrating the last day of “Urtayaman” (the feast of silence), which is why they weren’t allowed to speak that day. This is also the time when we finally learn what “Yaman” is: Silence, him who was here before us and will be here after us.
A banquet is organised to celebrate the event, the humans are delighted with relief when they see Bug coming back alive and well. Bug tell them he went away from the village in order to find fuel for the spaceship. When Jules, Julie and and Wang tell the villagers why they were afraid the story entertains everyone else with fun.

EPISODE 17: The lucky ones [Les porte-bonheurs]

Rain won’t stop yet and main characters must still remain a while in Katsayaman. One day while they are in the village’s public house people are playing a gambling game at a table. Jules is interested and want to know what is that game. One of the players offer him to sit nearby him and watch the game. When this player starts winning he thinks that Jules brought him luck, and so he ask him to stay watching until the game ends. Another player wants to do the same so he offers Julie to join him too. Turn after turn a superstition starts growing and soon the two children get solicited each time a gamble is played.
Soon enough, random villagers beg Jules and Julie to join them not only for gambling but also all for kinds of risky businesses, and each times more often. Things start getting way less funny from the day a villager wins his own bet after having touched Julie’s head, because he starts suspecting this action is lucky too.
What was mildly bothering to endure becomes frankly annoying because each time the children get their nose out they spend the day getting their head rubbed by all kind of strangers. In the village they are now known as “Uktamnit”, which means “Lucky charms”. Another day, when a random villager  rubs for the umpteenth time the children’s head a cluster of dead hair get stucked in his palm. What was already annoying to go through now becomes a living nightmare because everyone now tries to get his own piece of hair. Jules and Julie lock themselves inside their host’s house, who is the last villager they trust. Or so he was until they realize he has been collecting their fallen hair on the pillows and all over the house.
Enough is enough, Jules ask Wang to help him cutting his hair short then he goes in the village and proceed to give everyone his own straw of hair. Jules is hoping this gesture will help everyone realize that neither him nor his sister bring luck. And effectively, from that day they have no more problems, yet each villager continues to keep his own part of hair preciously at home as he would do with a relic.

EPISODE 18: Swarm curtains [Un Rideau d’essaims]

Rain has finally stopped and the planet’s sun is out shining. Jules, Julie, Bug and Wang notice the time has now come to go. They start getting ready for departure when a swarm of flying parasites invades the village and starts ruining the crops. Everyone is mobilized in order to hunt them, even the main characters. Bug and Wang have their own efficient method to get rid of these pests but the children get badly sting. The flying pests are now all dead or away.
The main characters are ready to go once again when the village chief ask them to be baptized in the name of Yaman before they leave. The characters first accept because they think that is the least of things after all that the villagers have done to help them, until they realize the ceremony will last several days. Since rain could be back at any moment they simply can’t take that risk. So what they do is pretend that the stings have made them deeply ill and that they could be contagious.
The local laws are very clear for that matter of things: Exile. The children, Bug and Wang are not only authorized to leave the planet immediately but also supported. They are given free supplies of food in that goal. The main characters say goodbye to villagers then leave the planet to continue their quest.

EPISODE 19: No maps, no names [Sans noms ni carte]

Once again our four characters find themselves on board of Bug’s spaceship, crossing space in search for the Great library of planets. Except this time they have a precise road given to them by the chief of Katsayaman.
The journey is longer than ever. One day Bug hurts himself while repairing the motors. Since Wang has been an astronaut back on Earth, Bugs decides to teach him how to pilot the spaceship so that he could take his place whenever needed. The art of spacefaring is therefore explained in detail to the audience, as Wang is learning how to master it and not without trouble.
Meanwhile, on Earth, a police inspector is trying to learn more about Jules and Julie’s mysterious disappearance.

EPISODE 20: Castaways in A’a-aha [Les naufragés d'A'a-aha]

Jules, Julie, Bug and Wang are finally close to reach the goal given to them by the village chief, which leads to an Ocean planet. When the characters realize the goal is leading straight into the sea it is too late. The spaceship sinks and the characters manage to escape before they could drown. While their spaceship is now engulfed by the Ocean they find themselves floating adrift until they get to the nearest island. The island is unhabited and full of venomous species so our four characters have to spend the time on the beach, wondering if they will see home again.
On the morning, a small boat manned by local aliens meets them after having followed the smoke of their firecamp. Bug, Wang and the children jump on board the boat. The boat sails for two days until it stops over a reef in the middle of the Ocean. What the four protagonists find there, beneath their feet, is an underwater village.
Fortunately enough someone in the village understands Bug’s language, which enables him to act up as an interpret. When the protagonists ask if there is a way to find their spaceship, refloat it and repair it they learn the following answer. Yes, such thing is possible. But it will take time and until then they will have to stay a while.

EPISODE 21: The ocean planet [La planète océan]

Children, Bug and Wang are in an underwater town, called A'a-aha, located atop a corral reef. Their ship crashed and lies at the bottom of some abyss. Once again using local help has its price. To pay for their hospitality Jules and Julie are assigned to handicrafts, hunting and gathering. In exchange the native will train them for snorkeling down the abysses.
The gravity is weaker on this planet, swimming or diving is much easier but the danger is much greater because of what's under there. Marine animals of all kinds, huge, fast, aggressive, whose hunger is unsatiable.
Life on the reef is rather sweet but it is not a holiday either. On the good side there is the pleasure of swimming without constraints between corals in a sea as warm as a bath. The tenderness of the meat fished, as elastic as that of the ray or the monkfish. Sun rays piercing through the surface of the sea.
On the wrong side there are the many daily dangers. The danger of a crack in the fragile underwater shelters. The danger of these gigantic tides caused by the devastating force of Ka'ea, the satellite. The danger of a temperature change that would drive away the game overnight. Unpredictable and above all uncontrollable dangers.
There are also those endless hours spent making round trips in a pool with artificial current or staying to hold one's breath under the watchful eye of a coach.
The Omee'a (the local species) never needed any underwater vehicles to become the masters of depths. Their entire society is built on a network of diving bells, air tanks and pipes which made them into apnea experts. And, if they hope to see their ship one day, our dear Oate'a (foreigners) will have to put in. After several weeks of training, Jules, Julie, Wang and Bug are more or less ready. Their descent down the abyss can begin. They will be accompanied by a guide from the village, going by the name of Ipe (shell).
The characters say goodbye to the village. They embark on a sort of cable car plunge from the top of the reef to the ocean floor. Fortunately the water is fine on this planet, the Sun (or rather the main star) still pierces at this depth but the view is already much more difficult. He also colder, slightly but just enough not to want to hang around.
The characters are very careful not to leave the air bells path. Any second too long or any meter away could mean death. The nearest village is still far away, they have to stay sleeping in one of the bells. No windows, no way to know how much time has elapsed. The characters are struggling to move due to hunger, luckily the village is not far away. Po'enoe algae fields are already appearing in the horizon.
With the help of Ipe, characters manage to explain the reasons for their passage to the villagers.

VIII) EPISODES IDEAS(TEMPORARY):

EPISODE 22: Down the abyss
EPISODE 23: Farewell to Ka'ea
EPISODE 24: The yellow star trail
EPISODE 25: Investigation in the Corbière range
EPISODE 26: Sirius skies
EPISODE 27: Meet the Jantot
EPISODE 28: The waterless island
EPISODE 29: Fire mountains
EPISODE 30: A shout towards the stars
EPISODE 31: The siege
EPISODE 32: Bloodfull night
EPISODE 33: The chase
EPISODE 34: Road to the great library
EPISODE 35: Memories from the South
EPISODE 36: Crossing the void
EPISODE 37: Markless
EPISODE 38: The last stop
EPISODE 39: So close from the goal
EPISODE 40: Justice is done
EPISODE 41: Roofs of the three continents
EPISODE 42: The front
EPISODE 43: The Great Library
EPISODE 44: The secret of the Kataare
EPISODE 45: Gone into dust
EPISODE 46: End of the spaceship
EPISODE 47: Black Sun
EPISODE 48: At the gates of night
EPISODE 49: The planet of fear
EPISODE 50: Teleported
EPISODE 51: As keys in a pocket
EPISODE 52: Spotted hand in the bag
EPISODE 53: Uktamnit from the yellow star
EPISODE 54: The hunt for black triangle
WARNING! EPISODES BEYOND THIS POINT CANNOT BE DISCLAIMED FOR SPOILER REASONS

And those are all the ideas I got for the moment, maybe you will help me finding new ones.

IX) EPISODES OUTLIINES:

OUTLINE ( "BEAT SHEET" ACCORDING TO BLAKE SNYDER)
EPISODE 1: DISAPPEARED IN THE NIGHT (LES DISPARUS DE L'AUDE lit. the missing persons from the Aude)

PROLOGUE
90’s-2000’s decade, NEAR SPACE in the Earth orbit. China has finally embarked on the space race. The SHENZHOU ORBITER floats majestically above Earth. The taikonaut WANG LI-YU went out to perform outdoor repairs. Only two things keep him connected to the Earth: his safety wire and radio contact with the GROUND BASE OF BEIJING. Otherwise, Wang is ALONE in the vastness of the void and he senses that all too well.
While he is busy repairing one of the panels of the orbiter, a shadow gradually HIDES WANG IN THE DARK. Contact with Beijing blurs, managers of the base understand nothing but they try keeping their blood cold and reconnecting with the orbiter.
Wang is also disturbed by these intermissions, during his repair. Turning around he discovers a petrifying sight behind him. A huge flying BLACK TRIANGLE (covered with little lights), at least 50 to 100 times larger than the orbiter, hangs around as if to watch him. Probably a UFO.
The taikonaut is paralyzed with terror. He tries in vain to recall the base. On Beijing screens only "snow" and white noise and replace his calls.
A “door” opens in the UFO, as a reaction to Wang’s gesture. The taikonaut finds himself sucked into this black triangle, like by an INVISIBLE AND INAUDIBLE WIND. He desperately tries to get closer to his orbiter but the safety wire BREAKS APART.
In a last scream, Wang is drawn into the UFO. The "door" is closed, the UFO slowly moves away. Its lights go out, it DISAPEARS INTO THE DARKNESS.
The control center is in total confusion. Suddenly signal returns. Officials of the base then realize that the Shenzhou orbiter is empty. Wang is NOWHERE IN SIGHT, they are trying to call him again without success.
THREE GENERALS of the Chinese airforce in uniform enter the base. They make the base members understand the following, clearly and distinctly:
"Gentlemen, from now and for your own good NONE OF WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN EVER HAPPENED."
OPENING CREDITS
OPENING IMAGE
Wide shot of a southwestern French countryside, at the foot of the Corbières mounts (sunset, visible star?). A lane of railroad hands toward the horizon. absolute silence. Train alarm sound. A REGIONAL EXPRESS TRAIN (TER) wearing the colors of the Languedoc-Roussillon region enters the field of view. It ADVANCES MOVING AWAY TOWARDS THE HORIZON. Its pace seems slow because of very low sound effects covered by the breeze. It looks more LIKE A SHIP LOST AT SEA. Quick Cut. Tracking shot of a window of the TER. Two children sit in a four seats compartment, unaccompanied. A phone rings imitating the main theme of the series.
SET-UP
A little girl answers the phone, her name is JULIE JANTEL. She and her brother JULES JANTEL both are 10 YEARS OLD, they were sent by their families to spend the summer holidays with their grandparents. Julie spends her time calling one friend after another while Jules reads next to her, a man sleeps sitting in front of them. Both children are rather grumpy kind, the slightest bump is pretext for a quarrel, you understand that THIS TRIP TO THE COUNTRYSIDE DO NOT ENCHANT THEM. The TER approaches the station, the luggages are in a height locker that is difficult to reach. The two children ask their neighbor again and again to take down their luggages but he does not wake up. Since they can not agree they decide to draw lots. Jules gets the wrong pick so he must do it, reluctantly. The brothers and sisters are now standing in the hallway. The TER stops in a small countryside station: Château-l'étoile. Grandparents are waiting on the platform, their reunion are made in joy. The family rides aboard their car away from the village, on a country road, to reach their house. An old ruined castle stands out above the hills next to the house.
Jules and Julie begin to settle in their room, again they start arguing and even come to hands. This time it is about who will sleep in the bed near the window. The voice of the grandfather interompt their fight, his wife feels really ill, he must bring her to the hospital and stay with her. The children will have to STAY ALONE that night, waiting as much time as will be needed. The Jantot grandparents leave immediately.
Night has fallen, Jules and Julie are lying on the couch watching TV waiting for the return of their grandfather for dinner. It is already late and Julie is hungry, too bad, she decides not to wait and goes to the kitchen to make something to eat. Lazy as always, she takes the first can of food she finds and cooks it in the microwave. It must be said that she and brother don't know how to cook, NEITHER HOW TO DO ANYTHING ELSE. The result is as expected, a cartoon-like explosion shaking the house.
Julie eats dispointedly her burnt canned peas beside besides her brother watching TV. Now it's dark and it's time to go to bed. Jules and Julie are starting again to argue over who gets the bed of all desires. Once again they are interrupted. This time it is a power failure that plunges them into the dark. A BLUISH GLOW comes from the nearest window.
THEME
(Home, travel, unknown, autonomy, responsibility, family and resourcefulness) Provisory
CATALYST
Jules and Julie are out in the garden of their house. A strong blue light emerges from the hills behind the castle ruins in the distance. After a while the light stops dead. The power immediately comes back in Jantel family's house, as if nothing had happened.
CURIOSITY has removed any desire to sleep for the two children, and even their argument is no longer relevant. They get dressed and go as fast as possible in the wild maquis to see more closely what happened. When they get at the foot of the castle over the hill, they see light below. A much smaller blue light, but still the same.
Jules and Julie crouch forward, as discreetly as possible, hiding behind bushes to get closer. They discover SPACESUIT-WEARING ALIENS busy rummaging around with strange tools. Suddenly the two children get seen. They must return as soon as possible at home.
Jules and Julie run down the hill. Once at home, they lock the doors, turn off all the lights, and hide under a table. Sitten on the ground, huddled against each other, they wait silently in the greatest anguish. Fifteen minutes passed and no one has yet come in the house. Jules and Julie are reassured. They come out from under the table and tell to themselves they must have had any kind of illusion. They watch TV again. Time passes, slowly. Jules is thirsty, he gets up to go get a drink. Through the window he notices A GROUP OF ALIENS GOING DOWN THE HILL TO COME CLOSER TO THEIR HOUSE. He warns discreetly his sister. The children turn off again the lights then go hide in their room, upstairs.
A moment later the garden door opens slowly and aliens enter the house. By searching every corner they finally get to the childrens room. Jules and Julie were hiding under their blankets. They are immediately CARRIED AWAY FROM HOME by the aliens, to a spaceship hidden in the maquis.
The two children yell for help, to no avail. They find themselves locked in a dark room of the ship. With nothing more on them than their clothes and backpacks. Meanwhile other aliens are quick to erase all traces of their presence in the house.
THE SHIP TAKES OFF TO LEAVE EARTH, CARRYING JULES AND JULIE FAR AWAY IN SPACE. In the village their disappearance becomes a mystery.
Jules and Julie wake up in a large white room full of familiar furniture. Food appears on a table. Without having dined, they are starving. While they rush on their meal a gaping hole appears on one of the walls. Hundreds of strange faces watch them from the other side. The hole seems protected by an invisible wall. You now understand that they are locked in a kind of EXTRATERRESTRIAL ZOO on another planet, light years away from Earth.
DEBATE
Jules and Julie are wondering if they WILL SEE EARTH AGAIN ONE DAY or if they will stay in that jail all their lives. They remember their first visit to a Zoo back on earth and many other memories with nostalgia, as if they were already dead. THEY WANT TO GO HOME.
BREAKING INTO TWO
In a nearby cage arrives at a HUGE BEAST FLEE AWAY because of a mistake by one of the Zoo guards. Panicked crowds run in the corridors of the zoo. In his anger the monster breaks several cages, including that of Jules and Julie. Both children realize that THEY ARE NOW FREE. They take their belongings and leave the premises as soon as possible hiding among the crowd.
Jules and Julie are finally out, they find themselves lost in a kind of big alien city. They understand that they are wanted by authorities and therefore go hiding into the nearest kind of shelter they find to wait until thing turn better.
THE PROMISE OF THE PREMISE
The two children spend their first night out. They try to save their food carried in the backback to keep aside and use their empty bottles as a pillow to sleep. The night is hot but Julie still has trouble sleeping comfortably. Jules gives his polo shirt for her to use as a blanket. Anyway, he is neither cold nor has any desire to sleep that night. DANGER IS EVERYWHERE and Jules feels it all too well. He spent the night crouched nervously behind a rock at the entrance of the shelter, to keep watch. The slightest suspicious noise makes him react or jump, he extinguishes the campfire several times and keep absolute silence. His watch does not reassure him, 12 hours have already passed and it's still night, you must remember this is no longer Earth. Meanwhile Julie sleeps the sleep of the just.
When the day finally rises Julie is in good shape, with some aches and some dark rings around the eyes of course, but in good shape. On the other side Jules looks dead tired. His movements are slow and clumsy, the features of his face are tired. You keep wondering how he manages to stand, but he is still tense. The siblings are taking stock of their situation and immediately leave to TRY FINDING SOMETHING TO EAT in town.
MIDPOINT
The loot is lean but Jules and Julie found a much better reward for their little excursion. A SPACECRAFT indentical to the one that brought them here is stopped on the tarmac of a spaceport, waiting to take off. Children guess the spacecraft will HEAD TO EARTH. They return to their shelter empty-handed but with a heart full of hope. On the way they imagine together all sorts of plans to infiltrate the ship the next day. Meanwhile night begins to fall and they must go back to sleep.
BAD GUY CLOSE IN
Crossing the town Jules and Julie noticed that PATROLS ARE SEARCHING THE ENTIRE CITY, as if they were pursuing a fugitive. They are almost spot twice, fortunately Julie is there to help her brother hiding while he is half asleep. They manage returning to their shelter in time. When they finally get there, the children realize that animal-like creatures are roaming in their hideout. Jules and Julie SCARE AWAY the animals.
Once again, the children prepare to sleep around their firecamp. They spend part of the night eating what's left of their backpack lunch and discussing all they could do once on Earth. Jules goes a moment to keep watch at the entrance but this time he manages to fall asleep next to his sister.
ALL IS LOST
Jules and Julie finally wake up, bad news awaits them. Patrols have FOUND THEIR HIDEOUT, they are surrounding them. The "animals" that Jules and Julie scared away the day before were actually regular citizens, who went to warn the authorities.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
The two children are immediately captured. They are fettered by the patrol to be TAKEN BACK TO THE ZOO. Along the way they look behind them a moment and see the spaceship take off on the horizon. They say their last hope is over and let themselves be taken to the Zoo, resigned. It's just as if they were close to tears. On the way hundreds of strangers watch them pass as if they were exotic animals. You understand that Jules and Julie have become quite famous throughout the city. They feel even more humiliated.
BREAK INTO THREE
Its seems like Jules and Julie are not the only ones chased by patrols. ANOTHER CHARACTER seems to have trouble with the local authorities. His name is unknown, he looks like some kind of massive yellow INSECT, wrecking everything in its path with four arms. Because of his appearance the kids will call him "BUG" throughout the series.
Running through the streets of the city to escape his pursuers, the unknown character crosses the patrol leading Jules and Julie. Since the agents recognize him also he fights against them. The turmoil ensuing allows Jules and Julie to LEAVE THEIR CAPTORS. When the unknown character goes away they decide to follow him. In the distance we hear other patrols off to chase Jules, Julie and "Bug". Our three characters manage to reach Bug's own spacecraft, an old and wobbly piece of junk. The children ASK BUG TO TAKE THEM WITH HIM, the problem is that he does not speak French (neither any human language). They try to make him understand that they want to go back on Earth with hand gestures and mimics, without success. Meanwhile enemy patrols are dangerously close. When Bug realizes the danger he immediately opens the door of his ship. Jules and Julie take the opportunity to GO WITH HIM. The door closes and the "engine" begins to run.
FINALE
Enemies stand around the spacecraft, Jules, Julie and Bug are inside. Bug starts the take off procedure of his vehicle, meanwhile enemies are trying to force the door. The spacecraft is able to TAKE OFF ON TIME, they get through the atmosphere at high speed to leave this planet. A wide shot looking like that of the beginning shows the ship crossing slowly the sky over the alien city.
Bug's ship is now in space, he left the planet to move towards an unknown goal. The three characters are floating in zero-gravity. Jules and Julie go THANKS BUG FOR SAVING THEM, they are overjoyed. Bug looks more annoyed than anything else, he helps the two children to break free of their bonds and then returns to the cockpit.
FINAL IMAGE
Jules and Julie stand SIDE BY SIDE in front of a large window in Bug's spaceship. In front of them, no other landscape than the VASTNESS OF THE UNIVERSE. The episode ends with these lines:
-Are we coming back?...
-Don't worry...one day we will be back home
THE END

OUTLINE ("BEAT SHEET" ACCORDING TO BLAKE SNYDER)
EPISODE 2: ROAD TO THE STARS (LA ROUTE DES ETOILES)

OPENING IMAGE
Space, like in NASA pictures, vast, dark, endless. No planets, no nebula to satisfy the view, only the dim light of a few white, blue, or orange stars. A piece of classical, resembling the Ukrainian song "Gandzia", can be heard. Each tinkling in the music is accompanied with a new shot. First an external view of Bug's ship lost in the sideral vacuum. Then an interior view, much closer, inside a grayish room of the ship. Jules and Julie are sleeping on the floor, curled up, head on their backpacks. An alarm clock ring, they wake up one after another with difficulty, refusing to leave their dreams. Please understand them, for a moment they thought they were at home, on Earth.
SET-UP
Music continues. Jules and Julie walk through the many rooms of the ship, allowing us to discover it along with them. They spend a moment in what appears to be a dining room, or at least a resting place, looking for anything eatable. Nothing is there to put in their mouths, at least at first. The two brothers continue on their way, half asleep, they seek to join the cockpit where Bug the alien is busy at the wheel.
The children looked surprised to see him, as if they realized that what they are experiencing is not a dream. They try to make him understand that they are hungry. Gurgling noises are heard, Julie looks at her stomach. Bug turns back to see the children.
Jules shows his open mouth with the finger. Bug looks closer. He puts in one his antennas. Jules is choking, Julie laughs, light shines from inside his neck. Bug get his antenna out. Jules coughs a little. Julie attracts his attention, she holds her belly and turns her hands over it. Bug looks puzzled. He grabs one of her fat rolls and raises her above the ground. This time it's Jules who laughs.
Jules has another idea. He begins to bite his arm, as if he wanted to eat.
 Bug look him for a moment, which makes Jules afraid. What will be Bug's reaction this time? None, he immediately turns to his commands and starts driving again. The children sit on the floor behind him, as if they were waiting for something. After a moment he gets out of the cockpit, Jules and Julie follow him.
The three characters stop in what appears to be the dining room. Bug gets three metal plates and a kind of thick paste from a height compartment. Bug holds the paste above a metal plate and begins to crush it in his hand like a lemon, the children watch him. A viscous liquid falls from the crushed paste, such as gelatin or chewing-gum. Bug puts the paste aside and begins to eat what fell on his plate.
Jules and Julie also take the paste, while Bug is eating, and take each a metal plate. They imitate the gesture of Bug to recover what remains inside, the paste is harder to squeeze than it looked at first sight. The two children start to eat, the taste is bad, very bitter. They often stop eating with an urge to vomit but the hunger outweighs the disgust and they manage to finish everything. Bug understands that the two children were starving, he gives them more paste from his stocks. When Jules and Julie have finished eating they pack what is left in their backpacks and go find Bug in the cockpit.
THEME
How to overcome the language barrier and how to get by?
CATALYST
While Jules and Julie keep themselves busy observing the flight instruments to avoid boredom they notice points approaching the ship on one of the sensors. An external view helps to understand that a fleet of enemy spaceships has been chasing our characters from the world of which they escaped.
DEBATE
Will Jules, Julie and Bug flee or face the enemy? What is the best solution?
BREAKING INTO TWO
Bug look angry, Jules and Julie do not understand why. He increases the speed.
There is a symbol on enemy vessels, the same that at the entrance of the Zoo and in the alien city.
Bug is in panic, he redoubles maneuvers. On the screen points move towards the ship increasingly. Jules and Julie are starting to understand that something is going wrong. Bug jumps out of the steering position, children follow him. He opens a new room in the ship which is filled with what appear to be weapons. He takes a weapon and give others to the children. The weapons are heavy, Jules and Julie have trouble wearing them. After that, Corny closes immediately the room and leads the children elsewhere.
THE PROMISE OF THE PREMISE
Bug and the siblings come close to a large window. They can see the enemy fleet in the distance. Jules and Julie recognize the Zoo simbol, they understand what awaits them. Bug brings them to a gun turret, he installs them inside then goes himself in another. Jules and Julie are sitting on the same big seat in the turret, they hold a kind of large machine gun in their hands. According to Bug it is called a "flk-ha" which the children pronounce as "Felka" or give the nickname "watering can" due to its shape. The weapon is difficult to handle, just to rotate it on its axis Jules and Julie must both push with all their strenght. Bug shown them a few basics before leaving so that the children understand how to do, but between learning and acting the gap is wide.
Bug has already started shooting at the enemy. The ship is on autopilot. Following a handling error Jules and Julie injure themselves, they start quarreling again as it often happens at home. Enemy fire misses their turret which brings the children back to order. They understand that the risk to die is real, their fight is no longer important, they do what they can to try shooting at the enemy ships. The task is hard, most shots of Jules and Julie miss their target or make some scratches. Meanwhile Bug does hit after hit, we understand that he has the experience of battles.
MIDPOINT
Despite of all the efforts of Bug and children the enemy is overnumbering and the situation drags on. The distance grows, will our heroes finally escape?
BAD GUY CLOSE IN
Bang! Enemy fire shakes the hull of the spaceship. Smoke slowly invades the cabin, speed reduces gradually until the spaceship stops completely. Bug and the siblings understand what to expect: a collision.
Fortunately there is still time before the enemies gets in. Bug must go outside to repair the damage, which worries him since he can count only on Jules and Julie to defend the ship. Alas, it is the last remaining opportunity. Bug puts on his spacesuit takes tools and goes off to patch a hole in the hull. During this time the children have a mission to shoot at anything that approaches from their turret.
Of course, the result is poor. Jules and Julie are doing everything they can to defend the spaceship but the enemies are increasingly close in a few moments it will be impact. The kids jump out of the turret, they must cross the entire ship to go warn Bug.
ALL IS LOST
Alas, arrived at the entrance of the ship Jules and Julie see with horror the door crack under their eyes. They do everything they can to try to block it but the door gives way and enemy troops enter the ship. After trying to defend themselves the two children flee as quickly as possible.
Looking behind him Jules realizes that the enemies succeed capturing his sister. To avoid being also caught he runs to hide into the first corner he can find, as if by reflex. Jules manages to sneak inside a food compartment and remains hidden in the hope that the enemy will not come. He is aguished both by the fear of being found, the uncertainty of what will happen next and above all the shame of having dropped his sister. Meanwhile Bug finished his repairs and is ready to attack.
From his hideout Jules hears a racket in the vessel, the battle rages on. After a moment there is silence. He stays hidden a few seconds then takes the risk of looking outside. The enemies are gone, Bug made them flee. A bitter victory because Julie has not returned.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
The danger is away, for now. Jules is gnawed by guilt, while his sister was taken he ran away to hide alone instead of defending her. Now who knows what will happen to her.
Bug guesses that Jules is missing his sister. He makes the ship turning and goes to search after her.
BREAKING INTO THREE
(Develop more)
Bug's ship manages to catch up with the one where Julie is retained. Bug is  about to rescue her. Jules hesitates between helping him or staying inside to wait. If he goes he runs the risk of being captured with his sister in case of failure. Yet he decides to accompany Bug, as if he tried to repair his fault.
Bug and Jules manage to enter inside the enemy ship and recover the cage in which Julie is enclosed (fight or infiltration?). They leave immediately and return to their own ship to sail away.
FINALE
The enemy fleet is out of reach now. While Jules and Bug are busy forcing the cage in which Julie is locked, to open it, the three character try to talking to know a little more about each other. Bug learns that the children are called Jules (which he pronounces as "Ool") and Julie ("Oo-lee"). The siblings also learn how Bug is called but his name is so complicated and unpronounceable that they prefer to keep calling him "Bug". Gradually they get to understand each other, in a way or another.
FINAL IMAGE
A few days have passed. The three characters are standing in the main hall of the ship, eating together. By hearing them talk we understand that Bug is already starting to understand a little French while Jules and Julie can also answer him with a few bits of his own language.
An exterior view of the vessel allows to perceive a new planet in the distance, toward which it is heading.
THE END

OUTLINE (“BEAT SHEET” ACCORDING TO BLAKE SNYDER)
EPISODE 3: A TRAITOR’S KISS (LE BAISER DU TRAÎTRE)

OPENING IMAGE
Space, probably in the orbit of a new star system. A planet faces the vessel carrying Bug, Jules and Julie. The ship is heading on it, probably to land there.
SET-UP
Time has passed. Bug already utters some basic English (French in OV) with a strong accent, the children also make efforts to be understood. One of the first things they come to understand is that the descent will be brutal. In a few moments the artificial gravity related to the vessel’s motion will cease to enter in the approach phase.
After a few moments of total weightlessness it will be free fall, more or less tolerable depending on the gravity of the arrival planet.
Jules and Julie go prepare themselves, Bug remains at wheel. The ship begins its approach maneuver. The light of the star acting as Sun there is low, No way to know whether this is a starrise or a starset. In an area darkened by the night some lights of an unusual green shine, as bright streaks of algae in the sea.
THEME
CATALYST
The descent is as violent as expected, slow also, the atmosphere is deep. Succeeding to keep control of the ship appears to be a game of skill and constant attention.
Jules and Julie badly undergo this impression of endless fall, they vomit on several occasions. A vomit they would like to hide but that floats in front of them, as a taunt.
After a few seconds passed through a thick layer of clouds ground is finally revealed. A city, old and chaotic, lost in the middle of anything like a jewel in the night.
DEBATE
BREAKING INTO TWO
The ship is stabilized and finally lands on a track crowded with vehicles of all kinds. When Jules and Julie go out to leave the ship they first try being as discreet as possible so as not to be spotted by troops of the Zoo.
THE PROMISE OF THE PREMISE
But the enemies are nowhere to be seen and no one here seems to have heard of the children’s flight. Which also means that they do not know what a human is.
Jules and Julie raise some reactions from locals but nothing more. The unexpected is the rule in this city, the people therefore see any new arrival with indifference, even with a jaded look.
Bug ventures into ever more sordid and more isolated parts from the city. Jules and Julie are starting to have doubts about their host.
They get to the entrance of a tunnel. The three characters enter the tunnel as in a rabbit hole. At the end they emerge in a building filled with various objects and crowded with people like some kind of auction room.
MIDPOINT
Shelves crumbling with goods cover the walls. On closer inspection the children realize that they do not carry only objects; creatures of various sizes are also locked there, probably waiting to be sold. Precious stones and valuables are exchanged or stolen faster than elsewhere in this place.
BAD GUY CLOSE IN
As they progress Jules and Julie are realizing that Bug takes them to the platform used as retail space. The food he fed them this morning was not the same as usual. Jules and Julie first believed it was a gift but now they realize that this is a terrible weapon. A material preventing those who eat it to escape, all Bug has to do is brandishing a small “remote control” to retain the children, as with a leash. The children cannot get away from him as long as the meal will make its effect.
Jules and Julie also realize the intention of Bug towards them: Put them on the market. In a few moments they will again be captive in one of the many shelves of this stinking den.
ALL IS LOST
After a moment, a customer approaches Corny as to buy his goods. He looks tall and his appearance is hidden by his clothes. The customer benefit from a moment of inattention to steal all of Bug’s stuff and escape with his gang. Jules and Julie are part of his loot. Bug runs after him.
The thieves escape through the roof (with the complicity of the manager). Bug is too heavy to continue this way, he goes outside as fast as possible. When he sees his enemies on the horizon it is too late. Bug try finding them but the dark alleys of this city are a maze where one is easily lost.
Meanwhile Jules and Julie try to leave their abductor but he managed to take Bug’s “remote control”. This means they cannot get away from him.
Later, the thief and his henchmen enter a building that looks small seen from outside, but that is actually a kind of big warehouse.
Jules and Julie are thrown in a small cage. Around them the henchmen sit, as if to rest. They communicate with each other and everyone is busy in his business. Their boss is sitting apart from them. He removes a part of the costume which hid him. His body is dark-green, faceless, his shape slightly reminiscent of a flyeating plant. He lies before a floating lamp, as some kind of miniature star above a metal base. His behavior looks like that of someone warming himself before a fire.
All these characters seem to wait for someone or something. Jules and Julie understand that they are only here for a while. A fate awaits them, but which one?
To pass the time, and not to think about what is happening to them, Jules starts to flip his encyclopedia. He goes over the pages concerning, among others, respiration, climate, pollution, but nothing interests him (maybe he's not in the mood to read). Jules and Julie then recount to one another their memories of what they saw along the way, trying to find out where they are.
Exterior shot, Bug wanders through the streets of the city with an air of furious panic. He stupidly lost everything precious he had and is (probably) wondering what will he become now. Rather spend the rest of his life trying to find back his property than starting anew the work of several centuries!
He attacks all kinds of passers-by on his way resembling, farly of closely, his enemy. All indices are good to follow: footprints, scratches on the walls, fallen objects ... Bug follows all the hints he can find, good or bad. Gradually, and despite the detours, he gets closer to his goal.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
From their side, Jules and Julie also hope Bug, or someone else, will save them. There remains nothing else to do besides that, hope. Doubt is too strong. First because Bug probably does not know where they are, then because they wonder if he still can be trusted. On one hand he has already saved them twice, on the other hand he tried to sell them.
The arguing of the two children is interrupted by the arrival of a stranger in the lair. (His face is hidden by a visored helmet). He carries with him a bag of unknown tools. The stranger "speaks" a moment with the boss of thieves, pointing from time to time the cage where Jules and Julie are locked. Jules and Julie also follow closely what is happening around them.
After which the boss approaches the cage and gets the two children out, he catches one and the other by the neckband (of their clothes). He takes them to the back of the warehouse, in another room. The stranger follows them too.
The four characters walk through a narrow, crowded hallway. Jules and Julie try to free themselves along the way. A curtain is pushed, behind it: a large metal table. All around, bottles, jars and boxes are stored on the walls. Inside, organs and members of various shapes are kept as in formalin. Children begin to understand what will happen to them. And Bug is still not there.
What to do? Run away? Wait for the end? Scream? Before they can even find an answer Julie is taken and laid on the table. Behind the stranger takes tools from his bag, as if to prepare. Julie is not dumb, she understands what will happen to her, she tries to escape, but the boss holds her firmly by the wrists (on the table). The stranger downs the visor of his helmet, he holds a sort of dental drill and gets closer to children.
BREAKING INTO THREE
Julie screams out of fear, the boss stands over her to silence her, but he (suddenly) totters back, as if struck by something. The "remote control" falls from his hands. Jules jumps over the head of boss and begins to hit him as hard as his meager strength allow him shouting to let his sister go. Jules fists are small and weak, and yet the enemy is hurt. He zigzags around like a man about to throw up.
Jules then understands whom they are dealing with. The boss is not a man or an animal. He is a plant, and as all plants are he is sensitive to CO2. This very CO2 found in the breath of humans, whenever they breathe out.
Jules then blows air to the face of the boss, who collapses immediately. He pulls his sister's hand to help her stand up faster. The stranger ran away. The children take the remote fell to the ground and flee towards the nearest exit. The henchmen are after them, no time to recover their stuff in the cage.
Jules and Julie sneak through a window and end up in the street. They are free, for now. And then? The area is unknown. Where to turn? Left ? Right ? In front? Where to go anyways? Find Bug, who sold them? Return to the spaceship? And then what?
Jules and Julie are lost in every sense of the word, they argue on the way to follow, using one after another the remote to prevent the other from getting away. Meanwhile the enemies are already underway. The two children realize this, they agree on one thing to do: FLEE, as far as possible.
A chase begins in the narrow and steep streets of the sleeping city. Jules and Julie try to lose their enemies. They see the silhouette of Bug from the corner of a street. They try to warn him but the enemy does not leave time. They continue to run.
The children manage to get noticed by Bug. They make big gestures and shout to get his attention. Bug is far but he is already heading toward them.
The enemies get just behind the children without them realizing, and seize them. Julie manages to escape from the boss, breathing on him. Jules is less fortunate, enemies carry him away. Julie brandishes the "remote control" Jules is retained, enemies drop him on the shock. He falls to the ground and then gets away as soon.
FINALE
All these mishaps made the enemies loose field. Bug is already there to deal with them one by one.
When the fight is over, Bug is about to return to his ship, but Jules and Julie make him a sign to follow them. They take him to the warehouse. There, Bug finds back all the stuff that has been stolen away from him. The children take the opportunity to recover their backpacks left in the cage.
Bug walks menacingly towards the children. Jules and Julie are wondering what will happen to them next. To their surprise, Bug throws himself to the ground before them. In broken English (French in OV) he thanks them for helping him, apologizes for having sold them and asks what he can do to be forgiven.
Jules and Julie want only one thing: Come back to their planet, Earth.
Bug takes the vow to bring the children home and never betray them again.
FINAL IMAGE
Jules and Julie are back in Bug’s spaceship. Jules is off-screen, behind a door. The sounds allow understanding that he's in the bathroom. Julie points to the "remote control" towards the door. Jules yells that it's not funny. Julie and Bug laugh. Bug is at wheel again, he is taking the kids towards the next step: his own birthplace.
THE END

OUTLINE ("BEAT SHEET" According to Blake Snyder)
EPISODE 4: FIELDS OF LIGHT (LES CHAMPS DE LUMIERE)

OPENING IMAGE
Slight low-angle shot in a glowing grass prairie. Grass in the foreground. Background focus, a meteor crosses the sky.  Strong sound effect.
Inside the cockpit of the Esksh'l (Bug’s spaceship), Jules, Julie and Bug are watching the meteor crash far away from them.
SET-UP
The characters are heading towards Bug’s birthplace village. Jules and Julie are afraid of the impact they have just seen. Bug tells them that it's just the meteorite season and that they have nothing to fear.
Fragments spring from the point of impact, that cross the sky around like a firework. Children look at this as a show. Bug is distracted too.
Suddenly a meteorite debris pass through the cabin of the spaceship (causing damage). The ship loses altitude. The fuel tank is hit, the ship must do an emergency landing in the wilderness. Colision is violent but without much damage.
THEME
CATALYST
Jules, Julie and Bug are lost in the middle of the plains. They must wait for help relying only on themselves.
DEBATE
Will Jules, Julie and Bug await the arrival of rescue or will they seek for help themselves?
BREAKING INTO TWO
Jules, Julie and Bug improvise a camp inside their stranded ship. While the endless night is illuminated by the light of glowing fields, the characters tell each other some memories around a campfire. They learn, among other things, details about the journey that awaits them.
The cries of wild beasts fill the fields. The light of glowing grass pistils, blown away by the wind, illuminates the characters like a swarm of fireflies.
Time passes slowly. Hunting game is scarce. Characters cannot wait any longer, they decide to walk across the bush to reach the nearest road.
THE PROMISE OF THE PREMISE
Jules, Julie and Bug take some supplies with them and go for an excursion through the nature. The road is long, other smaller meteors pass through the sky from times to times.
Jules and Julie feel weakened. Weakened by exhaustion, by oxygen levels, by lack of sleep, by copper contamination. Yet the hope of coming back home one day keeps them joyful and lively. When they no longer have the strength to walk, Bug carries them on his shoulders.
Herds of unknown animals can be seen in the distance from times to times.
The three characters reach a deserted road. Believing themselves saved, they start camping on the roadside waiting for a vehicle to pass. Then, after two (Earth) days waiting hopelessly, they continue their walk towards the nearest village.
The star rises in the horizon, very slowly. The three characters are on the road, literally. As they walk, a heavy noise is slowly approaching behind them. A large vehicle looking like a bus stops at their height. Bug asks the driver to open. The driver agrees to help him but he and the children will have to get off at the first stop.
Jules, Julie and Bug go to sit in the back, with animals and goods. The "bus" leaves.
MIDPOINT
Passengers see Jules and Julie with a mixture of disgust and curiosity because they have never seen, nor heard of, Humans before. For them, the two children are "Eshtok'l": worms. Strange worms whose skull is covered with fine fur (hair) and whose body is wrapped in colored leaves (clothes).
From time to time some passengers leave their seats to point metal sticks towards the children. These sticks then reconstruct a hologram image (of the children), much like a souvenir photo.
Larvae mostly come to see Jules and Julie, as when Human children will see a mascot or a stray cat. Jules and Julie do not feel embarrassed by all the attention they get. They are way too happy to forget the hardships they went through and whole days of loneliness.
Jules remembers that he has a pack of playing cards in his backpack. Using hand signs, Jules and Julie teach a larva how to play Battle with them (the card game). Battle is a game whose rules are very basic, the language barrier is not a problem neither to understand each other nor to play.
Between two translation efforts for the children, Bug talks with his neighbors and learns news about what happened in his country during his long absence.
BAD GUY CLOSE IN
Down the road, smoke starts rise far away in front of the "bus". Smoke darkens gradually the sky. The driver seems to understand what is coming. A bushfire is approaching at full speed towards the "bus" in the direction of the wind.
The "bus" immediately makes a U-turn and drive into the direction of where he came from to get away from the flames. It is broad daylight.
ALL IS LOST
The fire spreads much faster than any fire on Earth. It gains ground and gets dangerously close to the "bus". Driving any longer is out of the question. Bug shows the driver the direction of his spaceship in order to take shelter inside. The "bus" leaves the road and drives across the wilderness.
When they reach the ship, passengers all get off, carrying the bare minimum with them. They run to take refuge in the wreck. Fire is only a few hundred meters away.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
Passengers are all grouped into Bug’s spaceship. Outside, clouds of smoke are starting to darken the air. Breathing becomes difficult.
The door of the entrance hall is blocked, because of power fault, Bug, the children and some passengers try to shut it. The air is so full of smoke that the slightest gesture becomes a real physical test, because of breathing difficulty. The characters are pushing on the entrance door at the top of their strengths. The first flames are already starting to enter through the gap.
BREAK INTO THREE
The door is finally closed with a noisy clatter. The characters block it immediately to prevent the fire from entering. Outside, fire surrounds the ship. Inside, the heat rises to over 40 ° C, walls are hot, the air is as dry and burning as that of a sauna. All the characters are on the verge of fainting.
Gradually the heat lowers, the air becomes light and breathable. The characters stand up one after the other. Danger is over, they decide to look outside. The door opens.
Outside, the fire has given way to a calcinated landscape. Not a single grass, tree or bush is standing anymore. The soil is covered with black ashes, only a small portion (sheltered from the wind) in the shadow of the spaceship has been preserved from the flames. Fortunately, the "bus" was parked there.
FINALE
To thank Bug for having saved him and his passengers, the driver decides not only to take our three characters to the last stop but also to take the ship for repair.
Passengers ride back in the 'bus' and the whole troop is ready to leave again.
FINAL IMAGE
Wide shot from sideways. Bug’s huge spaceship is towed by the "bus" along a long straight road.
THE END