It's an up beat tale about how one man tried to change the world.
This was the third time I had created this animation. Initially created in 1995, half way through high school and loving every minute it, using "NIHImage" - a scientific image analysis tool on a Macintoch LC 575. I discovered that I would create 4 frame loops and save them out as Quicktime files (I could also make cool explosion effects playing with the look up table). The limitations imposed by both the 4 frame limit and overall limitations of the tools I was using led to 'vintage' style animations. I embraced this.
The drawing was difficult - onion skinning was out of the question and my mouse skills needed work (I still can't draw properly). So, in the style of classic cartoons, I reused as much of my material as I could - created my animation and, once finally complete - at an astonishing 95 meg it took up 1/4 of the hard drive - it was stuck in the computer (with no means, at that point, of transferring it out).
For music I decided it should sound like a piano being belted out over the top of a black and white film - I found some "Rag Time" midis on some now long decease geocities page, and tried a few. Black and White Rag worked the best, and, to my surprise, almost synced up with the scenes and scenarios. I was delighted - I have since moved the files off the LC (via external hard drive) and still have my original copy.
In 1998 I sat using an IBM Think Pad and felt the need to recreate my animation - better. Ultimately I failed in bettering my original work - due in large part, again, to the tools at my disposal. I did the math before I started this time and planned my work out - I would need to create roughly 64 unique frames using some dodgy 'animation' tool I had found and the IMB Think Pad's TrackPoint™-style pointer. This left my finger numb and bruised and my work very shoddy - those 'nubs' have almost zero control over the pointer - very good for getting to the corners of the screen, not much good for anything else.
I don't still have that file
In 2001, I decided to see if my Wacom tablet could do anything cool in Flash. After a week of late nights it was ready, perhaps lacking some of the charm of the original, but I'm happy with it - and the new powers of the internet allowed me to find a better version of the original music. Enjoy