Johnny Thunder and the Trail of Botnik

Johnny Thunder and the Trail of Botnik is a short Johnny Thunder film that was created for BRAWL 2020. It takes inspiration from the LEGO City Jungle Explorers and Adventurers Jungle sets, but is mostly based upon the puzzle book The Lost Temple by Anna Knight.

Johnny Thunder and the Trail of Botnik
Hero	Johnny Thunder
Villain	Henrie Theo
Format	Stop Motion Animation
Tagline	"Beware the Wrath of the Jungle."

Film Details

• Release Date: June 27, 2020
• Running Time: 8 min.
• MPAA Rating: PG
• Director: Andrew Bermudez
• Producer: Andrew Bermudez
• Writer: Andrew Bermudez

Plot Summary

"Stop it! Stop it! You're ruining everything!" -Theodore Taylor, Mustache Maniacs Film Co. is Coming to LEGO Dimensions! Spoiler warning! This section contains details that reveal crucial plot points. If you do not want to find out what happens, skip to the next section.

The film opens in the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula in 1940, where a pilot emerges from a plane that has just crashed. Investigating the wreckage of the cockpit, he finds his associate Alex Botnik, who is bleeding to death. Alex says that he cannot endure the curse of the jungle, then entrusts the pilot with his documents that he drafted in his search for the Golden Sun Disc and the magic flower Curus Miraculus, then slumps over dead. In the pouring rain, the pilot mourns Alex's death.

In 2020, shortly after the LEGO City Museum of Natural History has re-opened from its COVID-19 closure, Johnny and Pippin safely pay a visit to the museum's exhibits. During their visit, Dr. Kilroy rushes up with an amazing find. In a donation from Ellie Philips' family, he discovered Alex Botnik's map and writings, which he says could lead to the treasures. Johnny and Pippin are elated from the news and set out for the Yucatan with a team of three other explorers.

In the jungle, they arrive at the crash site, where explorers Gertrude Dainman and Charles Farr take the initiative to explore the wreckage. Charles becomes distracted by a shrine and, despite Johnny's warnings, tries to take a jewel that is situated there. Immediately, a monkey throws him into a river, where he is then chased by a crocodile and snagged in a spider web. Johnny frees him, and they travel on to the temple, unaware that a black jaguar is following them.

At the temple, they all head inside with the group splitting up. Gertrude, Charles, and Henrie Theo find an ancient garden of flowers, where Charles is about to pick what he thinks is the Curus Miraculus. Gertrude stops him, using a clue on the map to identify the real flower. They grab that one instead.

In the treasure room, Johnny grabs the Sun Disc just as the rest arrive. With both treasures acquired, Henrie Theo betrays everyone, stating that he's actually working for an art collector who wants the Sun Disc for his new casino. Just then, the black jaguar pounces on Henrie, mauling him to death. It jumps on Johnny, but he dodges the blow, dropping the Sun Disc. The jaguar inspects the Sun Disc, which causes Johnny to realize what the curse of the jungle is: the jungle is intrinsically tied to both the Sun Disc and the Curus Miraculus, and it will do anything it can to stop anyone from taking either item. Both the Sun Disc and the Curus Miraculus are reunited in the treasure room, and the room immediately fills with vegetation.

On their way out, Johnny thanks Gertrude for her help and Charles apologizes for not taking Johnny seriously. Just then, Pippin and Harry wonder why Lord Sinister and his henchmen aren't around.

In a jail cell in Nova Scotia, Billy complains about being stuck in jail for three years. Patrick makes a joke, and Lord Sinister responds with "Patrick, shut up."

Production History

Ever since the release of Johnny Thunder and the Wisdom of the Ancients, there were some internal regrets with how the film handled its material, namely the fact that the film used some elements of the Adventurers Amazon sub-theme, then exhausted them completely (such as killing off Gabarro, Senor Palomar, and Rudo Villaino), with no hope of ever touching upon the unused elements. While the film was ultimately re-released on March 27, 2019 to fix many of the film's technical problems, this issue still remained in the air. As such, some brain-storming sessions were put into place following the release of the LEGO City Jungle Explorers sets on how to use these unused elements, but they never went anywhere.

However, when BRAWL 2020 began on June 20, 2020, the announced theme was preservation. While reviving this concept was not the first idea that was put forward, it was thought about as other ideas, some silly, others serious, were put forward. These included colonialists threatening to wipe out a civilization, crooks trying to maintain the secret location of their hideout, two nations struggling to maintain a centuries-old treaty, and a block of ice containing a caveman thawing out.

However, one idea, a failed treasure hunt being finished by another, was ultimately pursued when the 2016 pitches were resurrected with some help from The Lost Temple, a puzzle book based on the 1999 Adventurers LEGO sets. The script was written in just under four hours.

The film was announced on June 21, 2020, with a projected release on June 28, 2020, after BRAWL 2020 had ended. Sets were built that same day, with filming being conducted over the following three days. To ensure that the film would be completed on time, editing began before filming had officially concluded.

With a slew of new characters, as well as several returning characters, haste was made in acquiring all of the needed voice recordings. Despite some scheduling concerns, all of the original actors were able to reprise their roles for the returning characters, while all of the new characters were filled quickly, though difficulty in finding an actor to play Henrie Theo resulted in Al Bermudez stepping into the role at the last minute.

With only three hours to spare before the deadline, the film was submitted online on June 27, 2020. Due to the success of completing the film in time, it was released later that same day after the deadline had passed, just one day ahead of schedule.

Audience Reception

To Be Expanded...

Characters

• Alex Botnik (Jo Co)
• Pilot (Jay Silver)
• Johnny Thunder (Daniel Bermudez)
• Pippin Reed Thunder (Lauren Adkins)
• Dr. Charles Kilroy (Andrew Bermudez)
• Harry Cane (Andrew Bermudez)
• Gertrude Dainman (Jummie)
• Charles Farr (Nick Douglas)
• Henrie Theo (Al Bermudez)
• William "Billy The Kid" Parker (Al Bermudez)
• Patrick Hooligans (Garrett Schelske)
• Lord Sam Sinister (Andrew Bermudez)

Locations

• LEGO City Museum
• Yucatan Jungle
• The Lost Temple

Credits

To Be Expanded...

Tropes

"Stop it! Stop it! You're ruining everything!" -Theodore Taylor, Mustache Maniacs Film Co. is Coming to LEGO Dimensions! Spoiler warning! This section contains details that reveal crucial plot points. If you do not want to find out what happens, skip to the next section.

Johnny Thunder and the Trail of Botnik contains examples of the following tropes.

• Adaptation Distillation: This film takes some basics from both The Lost Temple and the LEGO City animation Jungle Rumble and runs with its own story that loosely connects the two together. Also, many of the characters from The Lost Temple, as well as the robber pilot from Jungle Rumble, are completely absent.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In the puzzle book The Curse of the Mummy, Sir Charles Farr, as judged by his writings, is very even-headed, though he quite frankly never had much of a personality. Here, however, he not only loses his knighthood (he's not a "sir" here), but is also turned into an inexperienced, pretentious, and snide intern who nevertheless has to be saved by everyone else.
• Adapted Out: Since this film uses what was not used from the LEGO Adventurers Jungle sets in Johnny Thunder and the Wisdom of the Ancients, plenty of elements were excluded from this film. They are:
  • Gabarro, Senor Palomar, Rudo Villaino, and Achu are not present anywhere, as three of those four are dead at this point in the canonical timeline.
  • The river expedition boat, which was featured in the Urubamba River chase in the prior film.
  • The zeppelin, which had already been used in Johnny Thunder and the Gift of the Nile.
  • Harry Cane's plane and the trek through the jungle to the Lost Temple, which were chopped out for time.
  • The Amazon Ancient Ruins, again, was cut out for time. Also, that set was not on file at the time of production.
• Death by Adaptation: Alex Botnik, as heard in The Lost Temple, gives the Adventurers their mission via radio. Here, he dies decades before Johnny Thunder's birth.

To Be Expanded...

Trivia

• This film is the second-longest entry into BRAWL 2020. Only Of Blockheads Mobsters and Pharaohs is longer.

To Be Expanded...

External Links

• Official Web Page
• Film on YouTube
• Film on Bricksinmotion.com