Brief

After accidentally taking a portal to Earth, a sophisticated creature from a nearby planet befriends two young boys for fun, food, and zany adventures.

What We Liked

The story is well rounded, well developed, and well- plotted. The characters are engaging and complex, and there is a lot of franchise potential overall. While this iteration of the story can and does standalone, it also offers a cliffhanger of a conclusion that entices readers to stay engaged over multiple books and an endless amount of zany, family friendly adventures.

Film: The material has franchise potential, which is a big draw. But it's also compelling enough to sustain a feature format. It's inherently funny and imaginative, with an elevated storyline that may appeal to a large target market. The structure is also solid, which allows the storyline to flow naturally and the conflict to unravel relatively smoothly.

TV: With a definitive starting point but an open ended conclusion, a story like this would fit the half hour television format quite nicely. It's family friendly and thus suitable for network or streaming, and it has enough franchise potential to sustain multiple seasons and storylines. In terms of content, the plot line is approachable. The characters are all compelling, and the potential for continuation and expansion makes the material worth a look.

Key points:
Franchise potential.
Wide appeal.
Elevated storyline.
Potential for international appeal.
Solid story structure.

Synopsis

NATHAN (6) scrambles to find his beloved plush toy, Dr. S. His mother informs him that Dr. S is in the washing machine, and Nathan faces his fear of the dark basement to find him. Nathan’s brother, SAM (10), assures Nathan that Dr. S is just fine.

That evening, Nathan notices that Dr. S is still not back from the laundry room. He asks Sam to accompany him once again into the dark basement. There, they remove a slightly damp Dr. S from the dryer. They are surprised to find that Dr. S begins to move and talk.

Dr. S tells the boys that they are his Homo Stuffians, and that he lives on planet Vinydia. Nathan’s father calls the boys for bedtime, and they take Dr. S upstairs. They promise to keep Dr. S to themselves for the night and talk more the next day.

In the morning, Nathan finds Dr. S pacing in his bedroom. He instructs Nathan and Sam to carry all their plush toys to the living room and lines them up against the wall. He tells the boys that the stuffed animals are all his friends on the neighboring planet of Vinydia. According to Dr. S, humans on Vinydia are stuffed animals on earth and vice versa. Dr. S theorizes that the dryer acted as a portal between the two planets.

Dr. S and the boys begin trying to find other similarities between their two planets. The boys learn that Vinydia relies on diamonds for energy. But diamonds are rare on Vinydia and becoming rarer.

The boys make waffles with chocolate and maple syrup. Dr. S cleans his plate, unused to the tastes and textures of earth food. Nathan puts Dr. S in his coat pocket while they ride bikes to the park. They see a large dog, whose owner allows them to pet it. The dog, Vera, senses that something is off with Dr. S and begins to growl. While her owner tries to console her, Dr. S notices her diamond ring. He sneaks out of Nathan’s pocket and begins rummaging through her purse in hopes of finding more diamonds. The boys don’t notice that Dr. S is missing until they get back to their bikes, at which point chaos has already ensued. Vera is trying to attack Dr. S, and Dr. S shoots her with a bottle of baby powder. The dog and the stuffed animal roll down a hill and crash into some nearby trees. Nathan and Sam hurry to find Dr. S before anybody can see him and then scold him for doing something so stupid.

Dr. S awakens on a Monday morning and realizes that he has the house to himself. His first order of business is trying to recreate a chocolate waffle. In the kitchen, he struggles with reaching the cabinets and the freezer. He latches onto the fan and catapults himself towards the waffles. He eats all the chocolate in the house and settles down quite pleased with himself. He finds all the stuffed animals upstairs and begins giving the makeovers. On his best friend, a bear named WHITE NINJA, he adds a large clown nose. Dr. S looks out the living room window and sees Vera on a walk. He antagonizes the dog, and it slams into the living room window. With nothing else to do, Dr. S tries to meditate while he waits for the boys to get home from school.

Dr. S emerges from his meditation back on Vinydia. White Ninja arrives at his door, and Dr. S is surprised to find that she’s wearing the costume he put her in on earth. He hurries to call the rest of his friends, but he discovers that their costumes didn’t stick. As he ponders the reason for this, the boys get home from school and find Dr. S’ mess in the kitchen. They help their parents clean it up before hurrying up to their bedroom. Dr. S is back, and they deduce that the portal between worlds is in both of their houses. Since White Ninja is Dr. S’ neighbor on Vinydia, they decide that that’s the reason that her costume was transported.

Dr. S sneaks downstairs in the middle of the night to research diamonds on the computer. He loses track of time, accidentally eats all the chocolate in the house, and in the nick of time, can cover Nathan’s dad in melted chocolate. The family believes that Dad has been sleepwalking, and the boys scold Dr. S for his trick. While the boys are at school, Dr. S does more research on diamonds. He deduces that the closest place to mine diamonds is in a state park in Arkansas. He tasks Nathan and Sam with convincing their parents to take a vacation.

Dr. S gets wind that Nathan’s mom made chocolate chip cookies for a school bake sale. He sneaks into a backpack and accompanies the boys to school. There, he finds himself bored. He leaves the backpack and finds himself in the science lab. He reconfigures a hairbrush into a zany invention, and then takes off for the art lab, where he creates a detailed portrait of his planet. The entire student body arrives to see the masterpiece, just as a teacher arrives with the hairbrush. Dr. S pushes Sam to explain to the class what the invention is, and we learn that it zaps fruit to taste like chocolate. The students are all overjoyed, and the principal even erects a poster in Sam’s honor. By the time the school days is over, the boys are exhausted. They devise a plan for Nathan to stay home sick the next day, to keep an eye on the rambunctious Dr. S.

Nathan fakes sick, and his father stays home with him. When it’s time for lunch, Nathan’s father makes chicken soup and croissants with chocolate spread. Dr. S begins to panic that the duo will eat all the croissants, and signals to Nathan. Nathan begins cleaning up lunch in hopes of distracting his father long enough to steal the extra croissants for Dr. S. Just before going upstairs, Nathan remembers Arkansas. He asks his father if they can take a family trip on the upcoming break. His father hands him a tablet and tells him to research the state, so they can decide as a family. Dr. S takes on the research while Nathan builds with blocks in his bedroom. Soon, Dr. S joins him and they pass the rest of the afternoon. When Nathan goes to take a nap, Dr. S decides that it’s the perfect time to meditate his way back to Vinydia.

Dr. S wakes up on Vinydia, tied to his chair. His friends demand to know why he’s been in a coma like state for so many days. He finds forgotten chocolate chips in his pocket and realizes that they’re enlarged on his home planet. He theorizes that if the chocolate chips are bigger on Vinydia, the diamonds will be bigger, too.

For show and tell, Nathan’s mom suggests that he bring in Dr. S. Nathan and Sam decide to sneak a tablet and headphones into the backpack to distract Dr. S. During class, Dr. S screams from the backpack, unaware how loud he’s speaking. The class looks for the strange voice. When it’s Nathan’s turn to present, he tells the class about Dr. S and his life on Vinydia. One of his classmates swears that he sees Dr. S move, but teacher chocks it up to a wild imagination. Back at home and safe, Nathan’s mother reveals that she washed the rest of the stuffed animals. Nathan, Sam, and Dr. S hurry to the basement to see all of Dr. S’ friends from Vinydia swirling in the portal. It seems that their trouble has just begun.

About The Author

Mario Cloutier lives in Oregon's Willamette Valley with the love of his life, his two amazing sons, and a cast of stuffed animals who come to life and cause mischief. The Doctor S book series was inspired by years of creating fun, playful, and sometimes crazy bedtime stories with his sons and their stuffed animals.