Debaser

Revision as of 21:16, 22 January 2026 by JLCJLC (talk | contribs) (Added sections for artwork, connections to other stories, and behind the scenes. Added cover image with caption.)

Debaser is a Duty Calls, short story originally released on April 2, 2019.

It features screenwriter Allan Smithee having a pitch meeting at Doug'N Dunuts regarding his screenplay idea titled Prosecutors Will Be Violated. The second half explores Allan's creative process as he links together concepts of a wiki called The Cyclo, universal customer tracking system The Database, and Google-style search interface The Engine.

The story ends on a meta note suggesting Allan is authoring the overarching jury duty frame story that is Duty Calls—or at least influencing it via Cyclo.

Cover Artwork

 
The ebook cover art features a parody of a mobile MediaWiki page.

Parodying a mobile Wiki page from The Cyclo as described in the story, the cover also links to the series, the author, and a disambiguation page for the Debaser title in acknowledgement of its prior use as a Pixies song. The link to JL Civi's name is colored red, mirroring the style of a Wikipedia page that does not exist.

Below the main content, a previous edit by user Handoff333 refers to lead character Allan Smithee's most famous screenplay and the number repeated throughout Duty Calls.

A footer at the bottom of the page depicts links to Database and Engine, which are other websites created by Allan Smithee over the course of the work.

-Allan Smithee wrote the films The Handoff discussed by Shawn Smith & Bobby Zhang in Fester and Not An Ordinary House remembered by HJ in Copper on Parchment

Behind the Scenes