Once upon a time in the magical Land of Little Egg there lived a great King. The King was wealthy in both possessions and ideas. He had many visions, and a love for cartoons. He dreamt of making his own cartoons.

The King owned a Pink Castle, but it was empty. He filled it with the fastest computers of the day, and the biggest videotape machines in the land. Then he gathered the wisest computer Wizards and craftiest Artisans.

The Wizards and Artisans asked the King, "Why have you brought us here?"

The King told the Wizards and Artisans of his many ideas, and enlisted this Army's help to render them. The King asked the Wizards to apply their magic to make the computers spin animated cartoons. These cartoons would be more precious than gold for the King.

The Wizards worked hard, and before long, as though a stone had shattered the sun into a thousand faces, there were cartoon mice, frogs, fantastic creatures, 3 dimensional robots and ants walking within new worlds. The King was delighted to behold these wondrous new images. The King carefully locked up these cartoons in the vaults of the Pink Castle, because they were his own most precious treasures.

One morning the King woke up and thought, "My Wizards are now ready to make a really big production! I would very much like to make a great full length feature cartoon, as the Kings of the West have done. This will be seen in theatres and will bring me much gold and great fame."

And so the King called upon a Knight known as El Broad Ax who had once built a Mellow Submarine cartoon.

"Sir Broad Ax, I command you to spin a great cartoon for me. It will be greater than your Mellow Submarine. You will lead my Wizard Army on this quest to build a Raspberry Fields cartoon."

So, the mighty Broad Ax gathered up the King's Wizards and Artisans and told them, "We will enter Raspberry Fields, but we must obey the peculiar Laws of this New Land. The Four Quarrymen of The Mellow Submarine will be banished from Raspberry Fields. The old songs sung by the crickets and beetles shall not be heard within Raspberry Fields. Do not be afraid, for Raspberry Fields will still be a happy place, and the King's cartoon will bring great honour and much gold, enough for all of us and The Taxman too!"

The Wizards and Artisans had to then abandon all other Works, and embark with El Broad Ax into the King's Raspberry Fields. Upon entering Raspberry Fields, the King's Army came upon a Great Fog. There was much confusion within the camp.

The King put out a call across the land for the counsel of visiting Knights, Wizards, Conjurers, Scribes and Artisans. Many maps and manuscripts were drawn up in order to find a way to construct Raspberry Fields. Petty tyrants battled within the fog, blows falling wildly upon either friend or foe. Wizards and Artisans went mad, wandered off to escape the fog and were never seen again in the Land of Little Egg.

One day the Great Fog cleared. To his horror, the King saw that only a fat El Broad Ax and a few Pranksters were left of his once great Army. Much of the King's treasures were gone, Works forgotten, and they had still not built Raspberry Fields. The King retreated into Little Egg Forest while his sons went to war with the Sheriffs of Big Egg over the spoils of the once wondrous Pink Castle.
The Pink Castle receded into the mists of Little Egg Forest, rarely to be seen or heard of again. Many know not of its existence, yet a faint glimmer of it is sometimes seen in the eyes of the surviving Wizards and Artisans who lived through those magical times.

For further details about NYIT-CGL see Paul Heckbert's NYIT CGL web page and
Dr. Wayne Carlson of OSU, A Critical History of Computer Graphics and Animation

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