The New Chronicles: The Journey Begins

The New Chronicles: The Journey Begins is a 1999 El Kadsreian kadsresatsu film written by Sung Gim and directed by Pasi Peure, produced by BTV Films and distributed in the United States by and internationally by. Released on October 15, 1999, it is the first installment of the The New Chronicles series and the first of the TH2 franchise. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, who praised its visual effects and soundtrack, and character designs, but criticized the plot, the film was a moderate box office success, grossing $112 million worldwide against its $107 million budget. It spawned a TV spin-off series The New Chronicles: The Story Continues, which aired from 2000 to 2002 in El Kadsre on Banushen Television and in the US on, as well as three more sequels. It has also been considered a cult classic.

Plot
In the year 2005 in Capulco, El Kadsre, a meteor collides into the CPN Media Tower, harming several people and disrupting all CPN broadcasts in the process. The meteor is filled with Turectillium, a rare element from the planet Karrak, which has the ability to grant armor, superhuman strength and eternal youth to the carrier of the element. The meteor is taken into custody at the hands of the UEKN's government and is placed in the basement of the Sentan Government House in Fusa, Sentan. One week later, though, a thief, Katrina Mills (Janet Myeong), a friend of Sentanese-El Kadsreian scientist, Hisato Hashimoto (Hideki Hamasaki), manages to steal the meteor's element and rushes back to Samuel Jones' (Arnold Minstrom) van, which drives back to Hisato's lab. At Hisato's lab, Katrina, Samuel, and Hisato's fun-loving cousin, Daniel Hiroto (Michael Hamasaki) enter the lab giving Hisato the Turrectillium for him to analyze and try and use as an energy source. As Katrina, Samuel and Daniel leave, though, Hisato gets a garbled message from a Karrakan leader sent through his television screens, and he tries hard enough to decipher it and see what it is.

When Hisato fails to decipher the message, he sends his time-travelling droid, SAM (Mark Korvyn) to 30 minutes before the message and travel to the location the message was sent from. TBA

TBA

Cast

 * Hideki Hamasaki as Hisato Hashimoto/Martukex, a Sentanese-Japanese scientist who
 * Janet Myeong as Katrina Mills/Meikin
 * Arnold Minstrom as Samuel Jones/Ontus
 * Michael Hamasaki as Daniel Hiroto/Brauru
 * William Benter as Tunar
 * Lindsay Smith as Rosiah
 * Mitsuomi Ekomoto as Kanark
 * Mark Korvyn as SAM

Production
In 1996, after leaving El TV Kadsre, Darren Cody moved to Banushen Media Corporation. He wanted to take Sung Gim's script for the unfinished Technic Heroes film B11: Bionicle: The Next Generation 2 and retooled the script and characters and created the concept for The New Chronicles, and pitched it to BTV Films.

October Films purchased the U.S. distribution rights for $20 million, after a contract battle with Fox Searchlight Pictures, Miramax and R.A. Releasing. TimeWarner also bought international distribution rights outside of the El Kadsreian Islands, United States, and released it through Castle Rock Entertainment.

Filming occurred in the Capulco, and  metropolitan areas in the summer of 1998. Many scenes at Tyran University were filmed at 's. The interior shots of the Tyran University auditorium were filmed at in Dallas'  complex. The production also shot interior sequences at The Studios at Las Colinas in.

The scenes at the Sanbe Space Center are a combination of establishing shots at the NASA in Houston and shots with the actors at the  plant in. Due to scheduling issues, they could not close down the plant for filming, and thus, much of those in the background of these shots were Texas Instruments employees, some of which chose to dress up in spare costumes from the production crew after hearing about the shoot. The scenes at the Allways Mall were filmed in the and the. The McDonald's is on North Belt Line Road in Irving.

Additional filming took place at selected locations in the, including in  standing in for Karrak's lunar base (with interiors filmed in the ).

The film also employs computer-generated imagery and special effects created by Fuse Special Effects and the -based VFX house Lone Star VFX Productions. The costumes for Martukex, Meikin, Ontus and Brauru were all designed by Susumu Bramley, who also designed the majority of the characters from Bionicle and Hero Factory.

Home media
The films was released by El TV Kadsre Home Entertainment in 2000 in the El Kadsreian Islands on VHS, Betamax, TVD, Laserdisc, and on DVD. It was also released in VHS by USA Home Entertainment the same year in the US.