Sumith Prasad
HBO’s comedy series ‘The Franchise’ centers on the making of the superhero film ‘Tecto: Eye of the Storm.’ The intergalactic saga set against a region with two suns follows the titular character, a jackhammer-wielding warrior whose superpowers include his ability to cause earthquakes. The production of the movie within the show gets affected when Pat Shannon, who heads the film’s banner, Maximum Studios, makes changes to its screenplay based on the developments in another project of the same “universe,” titled ‘Centurios 2: Continuum Begins.’ The premises of these movies and their making are unignorably rooted in reality despite not having exact real-life counterparts!
Tecto: Eye of the Storm is a Fictional Movie That Resembles the Thor Films
‘Tecto: Eye of the Storm’ is a fictional film conceived by creator Jon Brown. The screenwriter developed ‘The Franchise’ as a window into the production process behind a superhero film. Thus, he had to build the narrative around a particular movie, paving the way for the birth of ‘Tecto.’ With a protagonist who can control the earthquakes and display superhuman strength, he is an archetypal hero figure who resembles the Marvel character Thor the most. The similarity starts with their respective hammers. While Thor can control the weather, Tecto can manipulate the earthquakes. The setting of the fictional film is also similar to Asgard, where the ‘Thor’ sagas mainly take place.
‘Tecto: Eye of the Storm’ is headlined by Adam, who aspires to make his mark in Hollywood through his performance in the movie. That was exactly what Chris Hemsworth did after appearing in the 2011 movie ‘Thor.’ He led the project after appearing in an Australian soap opera, ‘Home and Away,’ and only three features. Another similarity is the villains. Peter, a renowned theater actor known for his Shakespearean portrayals, plays the antagonist in ‘Tecto.’ Similarly, Christopher Eccleston of ‘Thor: The Dark World’ and Jeff Goldblum of ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ are renowned for performing as William Shakespeare’s characters on stage.
Eccleston portrayed Hamlet and Macbeth, while Goldblum gave life to Eglamour in ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’ and Malvolio in ‘Twelfth Night.’ Cate Blanchett of ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ also has impressive experience on stage, having played Ophelia in ‘Hamlet,’ Miranda in ‘The Tempest,’ and Richard II/Lady Anne in ‘The War of the Roses.’
The Franchise Explores Creative Limitations Through Centurios 2: Continuum Begins
Like ‘Tecto: Eye of the Storm,’ ‘Centurios 2: Continuum Begins’ is also a fictional film. The movie’s significance lies in the changes Pat Shannon makes to the screenplay of ‘Tecto’ to accommodate the details in ‘Centurios 2: Continuum Begins,’ two films that share the same universe. Through these changes, the satirical comedy explores how projects of the same franchise affect the creation of each other, highly limiting the creative freedom of the respective directors of the same.
Sam Mendes, whose experiences as the director of two ‘James Bond’ films inspired the birth of the show, observed franchise films as “constantly evolving with no ending.” This evolving nature of the superhero projects is portrayed through the influence of ‘Centurios 2’ on ‘Tecto.’ “[It’s] this one long stream of consciousness about superheroes that goes down tributaries that involve TV shows now, spinoffs, and movies about movies. Even in the more recent Marvel efforts, [there are] movies that refer to themselves,” Mendes added to Screen Rant. ‘Centurios 2’ was created to explore this interconnected nature of franchise projects.
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