Jim Manning (former IPS President, Taylor Museum of the Rockies) has been selected as author for the show we currently have in development..."Mystery of the Missing Seasons". An initial treatment was graciously reviewed and commented on by Christine Shupla, Jane Hastings, Tom Hocking, and Sharon Parker. The following is the show treatment as of 12-15-98. Jim has since written the script, and our AstroFX graphics team has produced the slide materials and optional video animation. 
We are shipping this program now and plan to show it at all possible conferences in 1999.
This program is designed for grades 3-5 and for family viewing, and has met the approval of a four member review committee. Excellent for classroom use or as preshows, audiences will find the program to be exciting and entertaining while filled with understandable scientific information.
Although Bowen Technovation has provided video production for many custom show contracts, "Mystery of the Missing Seasons" marks the first Bowen showkit with optional video and computer animation sequences on Laserdisc, SVHS, DVD, and our new AstroFX disk video servers. Sequences specifically designed for this program. And the optional video media collection will also include video and animation sequences for our other AstroNotes programs. A complete AstroNotes video library!
And... Bowen Technovation can provide your soundtrack on CD, ADAT, or DAT! And in surround sound!
Info as of August 2, 1999
Running Time: 25 minutes
Number of Slides: Version 1 (no pans) 87; Version 2 five 3-panel pans plus 78 slides
Number of Video Sequences: 10
Number of Optional All-Skys available: 1 Script Author: Jim Manning
Script Consultants: Christine Shupla, Dr. George Reed, Jane Hastings, Dave DeRemer
Music Score by: Jeff Bowen
Original Art by: Ed Pritz, Sean Jackson of Bowen Technovation/AstroFX
Tape formats available: Cassette, 15 IPS 1/4 2-tr, DAT, ADAT, CD.
Minimum Needs: Star projector, Slide projector(s)
Also Recommended: 1-Dissolve pair, Zoom projector, Slew Projector, Rotator, Strobe
Also Recommended: Video projection system for optional video sequences on Laserdisc, SVHS, DVD
CD, DAT or ADAT soundtrack formats included.
Additional backup or narration less soundtrack. $15 for CD, DAT or ADAT soundtrack formats.
The following is posted on our site for evaluation by those considering purchase of our show kits. Copyright and Publishing Rights are owned by Bowen Technovation, 1998. Do not use or copy without compensation to Bowen Technovation.
CHARACTERS
Angelo - a young boy (ethnic name could imply Hispanic or African-American) of an age range appropriate for target audience (3rd-6th grade). Average sort of kid with whom other kids may identify. Has an astronomy assignment relating to the seasons, but hasn't quite put the concepts all together in his mind.
Mom - Angelo's mother, heard at beginning and end to help provide context and setting.
Aliens - a pair of funny-sounding, somewhat wacky alien beings from another planet (without seasons) who populate Angelo's dream. Their quest to find out why Earth has seasons and their planet doesn't drives the story.
SETTING
A spring or fall evening at a generalized mid-latitude in a residential neighborhood. (A spring version will be described; a fall option could be created with appropriate dialog/visual adaptation.)
AUDIOVISUAL CONFIGURATION
Assumes a basic carousel projector capability--screens (dissolve pair at least) aimed mid-dome, at least some on horizon (dissolve pair at least) for some level of panorama effect--plus basic video and some special effect capabilities such as lighting effects/ zoom/slew capability. The planetarium projector will be used as well. (AV options will be included in more detail in the draft script.)
STYLE
The style of the show will be lively and quirky, with lots of sound effects and repartee to lighten the methodical presentation of concepts needed to arrive at the cause of Earth's seasons.
STORY OUTLINE
I.The Assignment
a.Angelo Goes Out. a.Setting is a clear spring night in Angelo's back yard. Houses, trees, fence (pan) suggest setting. Leo is high south.
b.Sound of back door opening. Mom asks Angelo where he's going. He's got an assignment from school" to go out and look for seasonal constellations. Mom tells him to put on his jacket and not to stay out too late. Door slams shut.
c.Once outside, Angelo starts looking with the help of star charts. (We see (pan) images of Angelo's back as we look over his shoulder at the simple flashlight illuminated star charts he holds up.) The first shows the Big Dipper (which he turns to the correct orientation for the season, with the Pointers pointing to the North Star at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper; Angelo (and the audience) find these in the north. Next he holds up, in succession, four simple charts showing the patterns of four prominent seasonal patterns: Orion, Pegasus, Leo, and Scorpius, looking four which pattern he can see in the south. He (and ideally, the audience) finds the pattern of Leo in the sky--Leo is the springtime constellation out of the four.
d.That done, the next part of his assignment is to come up with an idea for why we can see Leo in the spring evening sky, but not in the fall evening sky. He wonders why the sky changes, and what it has to do with the seasons, and exactly why we have seasons anyway. He consults his reference; we look over his shoulder to see him holding up a comic book which he starts to read . He quickly grows drowsy, lies down, and falls asleep on the grass.
II.The Mystery
1.The Aliens Arrive.
a.While Angelo sleeps, weird spacey music announces the arrival of the aliens as a flying saucer-type spaceship (with domed upper section) appears, approaches, and lands in the back yard (zoom/slew/video). Two googly-eyes aliens emerge and wake Angelo, announcing themselves and their mission. They come from a planet that has no seasons, but they heard that Earth does. They ask Angelo if he's seen their missing seasons. Angelo says he hasn't, and isn't sure how you could lose them; are they sure had some to begin with?
2.Angelo Gets Abducted.
a.The aliens think that's a smart question, so they figure he's an expert. They ask Angelo why Earth has seasons when they don't; Angelo hems and haws, not quite sure of the answer. The aliens decide that Angelo will help them to solve the mystery of their missing seasons--why Earth has them and they don't. They "zap" him inside their spaceship in a flash of light.
b.The spaceship interior has a hemispherical ceiling which functions as a big data screen (what a coincidence!). Lighting effects on the dome and console/button/indicator complexes around base (pan) tell the audience they're no longer outside in Angelo's backyard. The aliens explain that they will use their on-board computer and display screen to gather information to compare Earth to their own planet to see if they can solve the mystery of the missing seasons.
III.The Case
1.Comparing the Planets.
a.The aliens activate their hemispherical viewscreen, the on-board computer system humming and chattering (this calms down to avoid stepping on the plot, but surfaces periodically as new "data" is displayed) as it gathers data to illustrate the investigation
b.The trio starts by grossly comparing their two planets (slides or video): they are roughly similar in size (different in appearance to distinguish easily between the two); they spin or rotate in about the same amount of time, giving them similar lengths of days; they circle or revolve about their stars in similar orbits in similar amounts of time; their stars are similar yellowish suns. So--with so many similarities--why should one have seasons and the other not?
c.The four seasons on Earth are named and their base characteristics are briefly noted--temperature/weather differences, tree behavior (slides on the viewscreen).
2.Could It Be Distance?
a.Angelo, getting more comfortable with his companions, braves a suggestion. (The computer chatters a bit to illustrate Angelo's theory, with punctuating sounds; it does this throughout the investigation.) When his parents take him and his sister camping, sometimes they build a campfire at night when it's cold (pan slides to illustrate). If they sit near the fire, they're nice and warm, but if they move farther away, they get chilly. Could the seasons occur on Earth because it gets nearer and farther from the sun?
b.The trio investigates this idea (slides/video). First they look at the aliens' planet: its orbit is nearly a circle, and it never varies its distance very much from its star. Then they look at Earth--and the same thing is true! In fact, Earth is actually a little closer to the sun when it's winter for Angelo than when it's summer! (Note: he's a Northern Hemisphere dweller.) Yet one has seasons and the other doesn't So they decide it must not be distance from the sun that causes Earth's seasons; the seasons must be caused by something else. But what?
3.What Does the Sun Do?
a.The aliens ask a question: would they notice anything different if they sat on each others' planets and watched the days (and in the case of Earth, the seasons) pass? They decide it would be a good idea to try.
b.First the aliens set up a typical but speeded-up day on their planet--with alien (pan) setting, different-colored sky, and sun their crossing that sky. As their planet spins or rotates, the sun rises in the east (using the planetarium projector), crosses the sky (at medium, equinox-like height), and sets in the west. And all the days of the year are just like this one; nothing obvious changes. Is this the way it is on Earth?
c.Angelo gets excited and says no; he realizes that it's different on Earth. How? say the aliens. I'll show you, says Angelo. The computer chatters and Angelo shows them.
They set the sun for (equinox) noon on the day the aliens just ran, with a springtime (pan) Earth setting. Then they run quickly through time, seeing how the Earth sun's altitude changes during the year. Using a "constant noon" approach (running daily and annual motion at complementary rates to keep the sun on the meridian), the trio (and audience watch as the sun's noontime altitude gets higher as the scene changes to summer. 
They stop at the summer solstice to illustrate that the sun now rises north of east, travels high, and sets north of west (use pointer to trace, bring up all-sky pathway, or run a string of lights along the path behind the dome) ; it shines down more directly, is up longer, and it's hotter out, Then they continue, letting the sun's altitude sink as the scene changes to fall and then to winter, stopping at the winter solstice. They see that now (by same method as for summer) that the sun now rises south of east, travels low, and sets south of west; it shines on them more from the side than from above, is up a shorter time, and it's cold out. Then they continue, the sun's altitude begins to rise again, and spring returns. d.Well! This is very different from what happens on the aliens' planet, they all agree. This must be what causes the Earth seasons: the changing height of the sun during the year. When it's high, it's hot; when it's low, it's cold. And when it's in-between--well, the weather is in-between, too. But what causes this change in the position of the sun in the sky during the year?
4.The Earth Tilts!
a.The aliens decide they need to go back to a bigger view--of the planets in space. They look again at what their planets are doing.
b.First, they look at theirs (slides/video). It spins or rotates--that's what makes the sun seem to travel across the sky during the day as they watch from the ground; as their planet spins, it turns them toward and then away from their sun.
c.Then they add Earth (slides/video) beside it. It, too, spins or rotates. But look--there's a difference! The aliens' planet spins upright, but Earth is tipped over a little! Could this cause the changes in the sun's height and Earth's seasons?
5.The Seasonal Year
a.The aliens run their planet in its orbit around their sun for a quick year (slide series or video); the relationship to their sun never changes on their untilted world.
b.Then the aliens run Earth through its yearly paces (slide series or video), revealing that on one side of its orbit, the northern part (where Angelo lives) is tilted toward the sun, and on the other side of its orbit, the northern part ends up being tilted away.
c.Detail images (or video) show that when the northern part is tilted toward the sun, the sun appears high in the sky; it shines down more directly and is up longer, and warms that part of the Earth better. It gets hotter out. When the northern part is tilted away from the sun, the sun appears low in the sky, is up for less time, and it doesn't warm that part of the Earth so well; it gets colder out.
d.Eureka! That must be it!
IV.The Conclusions
1.The Earth's Tilt Causes the Seasons
a.Angelo and the aliens conclude that the reason Earth has seasons is because it's tilted. The part that's tilted toward the sun has the sun high in the sky and summertime; when that part is tilted away from the sun half a year later, the sun is low and winter comes. Spring and fall are the "in-between" times, as you head for one extreme or the other. (Reprised/reinforcing visuals.)
b.Therefore, the trio concludes, the reason why the alien planet's seasons are "missing" is because it's not tilted. The planet never changes its relationship to its sun, so the sun always at the same height in their sky, and it always warms the planet the same way all year round.
c.The aliens note that in fact, Earth has a bonus when it comes to seasons (reprising the tilt imagery): since the northern part and southern part are always tilted in opposite directions, they have opposite seasons at any particular time. When the northern half is tilted toward the sun and has summer, the southern half is tilted away and has winter; when the northern hemisphere in turn has winter, summer comes to the southern hemisphere. So Earth has two seasons going on in different places at the same time!
2.Why Seasonal Constellations?
a.Having helped the aliens solve their mystery, Angelo figures they owe him a little help solving his. He still wonders why the evening constellations also change with the seasons.
b.The aliens help him out by demonstrating that as the Earth circles the sun (and the seasons change), the sun shifts its place in the sky; the constellations Angelo can see in the evening are always those which lie on the other side of the sky from the sun. In the spring, he can see Leo. But six months later, in the fall, the sun is sitting in front of Leo; Leo is in the daytime sky and Angelo can't see it; in the fall, he can then see other constellations (like Pegasus) which the sun is hiding from view in the spring. (Planetarium instrument/supporting visuals.)
c.The alien display screen runs quickly through an Earth year, the pan scene changing from one season to the next (reprising the scenes from the constant noon demo) as the constellations parade across the sky and key seasonal patterns are pointed out in turn: Leo, Scorpius, Pegasus, Orion, back to Leo. (Planetarium instrument/supporting visuals.)
V.Look Homeward Aliens
1.Angelo Wakes Up
a.Their tasks accomplished, the aliens zap Angelo back out to his backyard, merrily bidding him farewell as they argue about in which Earth season to schedule their return trip. The alien saucer takes off and disappears into the night.
b.The back door creaks open and Mom calls out to Angelo, who rouses from his nap. Momentarily disoriented, he answers. Mom tells him it's time to come in before he catches a chill. As Angelo gets ready to go in, he reviews that main concepts he's sorted out in his mind: Earth's season's are caused by the planet's tilt, which makes the sun travel high in summer, heating things up, and low in winter, cooling things down; that he can see Leo in the evening now because the sun is in the other part of the sky, but as time passes, that will change. Finally, he thinks of the aliens; just a dream? Just then a shooting star cuts across the sky, with a distant alien cackle fading away.
c.Jaunty ending music for credits.
The above treatment is posted on our site for evaluation by those considering purchase of our show kits. Copyright and Publishing Rights are owned by Bowen Productions, INC. 1998. Do not use or copy without compensation to Bowen Productions, INC.
