Duke stood at the edge of his pool at the Owlwood Estate.
He swung his arms back and forth, while wearing a black cotton t-shirt and swim trunks.
It was finally January 1977 and his New Year's resolutions were in the air.
Duke had made a few, most to do with movies and Paramount, but two were clearly personal.
One was to get fit again and exercise every day, and the second to spend more time with Bradley.
He dropped into a push-up position and lowered himself slowly.
He shifted his body over one arm while keeping it straight, bending only the opposite arm to lower his chest to the floor.
He transitioned into diamond push-ups and then into clapping push ups.
He didnt have access to a bar for pull-ups or Dips, so he was just doing a basic chest routine for now.
The sound of small footsteps running broke his concentration.
Bradley waddled onto his side in tiny red swim trunks and watch him with wide eyes.
Bradley crouched to lay on the ground and rolled onto his stomach to try a push-up.
Pressed his palms against the concrete yet his tiny arms couldn't lift his torso.
Duke smiled and lifted the baby up as he lowered himself into the shallow end.
The water reached his waist, his right leg ached only a little, specially when compared when he first arrived at this time period.
The fracture limited his mobility on land, so running was limited. But water therapy was gentle on his knee.
He lifted his right leg underwater, slowly working on it while holding Bradley on his arms.
A quiet cough drew his attention as he was on the pool.
Jeffrey Katzenberg walked in and sat in a lounge chair.
Duke set Bradley down on a towel. Grabbed a bottle of water and nodded for Katzenberg to begin.
Katzenberg opened his folder. "MadHouse Studio in Tokyo is running smoothly, but some companies in Japan want to acquire us or speak about cooperation.0" Katzenberg reported.
Outsourcing to Japanese studios was a new strategy that Duke had come up to benefit DC Characters.
It bypassed expensive domestic labor. It also secured higher quality animation than American TV budgets usually allowed.
"Japanese artists are efficient and Blue Beetle was a success across the young demographic."
Blue Beetle, Ted Kork was currently their heavy hitter in Animation, with several characters from the DC universe appearing every once in a while, like Wildcat, Jon Stewart, Cyborg, Bumblebee, Speedy.
And villains like Lady Shiva, Silverback, Black Beetle, The Reach aliens, Carapax, his sister, etc.
Duke nodded, taking a long drink of water.
The DC Comics division was thriving in terms of status, but moneywise, they were still the lowest profitable division.
The real money was in adapting those characters for television and film, selling toys or making them Theme Park atractions.
"The live-action Superman film is moving forward," Katzenberg said, flipping pages.
Superhero costumes in earlier decades looked cheap in thin spandex.
But Paramount's wardrobe department had redesigned the suit to be form-fitting and more muscular without a cheap feeling.
Katzenberg shared more good news. "The network ordered a new season of Wonder Woman with Lynda returning. Ratings are strong among girls and her costume has been popular for Halloween."
The conversation shifted to animated TV.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold is slated for August 1977 on CBS," Katzenberg said.
"We also have Green Lantern: The Animated Series locked for October 1977, also on CBS."
This show was a more creative risk. Instead of crime-fighting, it would explore the cosmic side of the DC Universe drawing on the lore of the intergalactic Green Lantern Corps.
'In this world, Green Lantern wont be as disrespected as in my past life.' By that he meant Hal Jordan, and John Stewart. He had no interest in Guy Gardner.
Duke grabbed a dry towel and wiped the sweat and pool water from his torso. His only interest in DC was on Long Term IP development.
Marvel in his past life, was involved on Toys, theme parks, videogames, apparel, films, TV shows, collectibles, etc.
Meanwhile DC was... the loser one. He still remembered in his past life against all advice, pre-ordering Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League, thinking that it would be a standalone game.
No, it was a live action slop shooter, that was more focused on charging players for breathing rather than having an interesting gameplay.
As he dried off, Duke reaffirmed his commitment to daily training, most of his fellow Hollywood executives were overweight. The industry was very demanding for a person's time.
'A sluggish body led to a sluggish mind.'
Katzenberg closed the animation folder. "I received an interesting phone call yesterday. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, has been trying to reach your office."
Star Trek occupied a strange space in 1970s pop culture.
The original series had been canceled and the animated continuation series had also been cancelled.
Yet the franchise had a dedicated fan base that was actively keeping it alive through conventions and letter-writing campaigns that Duke had been the target of several times.
"Roddenberry is... he's been developing concepts for a feature film. He wants to meet to discuss financing and distribution."
Duke paused, letting the towel hang around his neck.
In his past life, Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released in 1979, so if following that timeline then they should be approving it this year.
In reality, Duke could not care less about Star Trek, in his past life he was a guy that loved entertaiment but never touched Star Trek.
Duke did remembered one movie, The Wrath of Khan that he had caught late night on TV, good movie.
"Arrange the meeting with Roddenberry," Duke instructed. "I want to hear his pitch in person."
He was sort of intrigued by the property's potential.
And well, the space genre was about to explode in popularity.
Katzenberg nodded and stood up from the lounge chair. "I'll make the arrangements today,"
Duke gathered his towel and water bottle.
And stared as Bradley was playing with a wood boat near the shallow steps.
___
Several hours later, Duke arrived at the Paramount lot and went straight to the post-production building.
Duke entered the editing room where Gary Kurtz, the producer of Star Wars, sat slumped in a chair.
He'd been working tirelessly since principal photography wrapped in May 1976.
Kurtz looked exhausted with dark circles under his eyes.
Assembling a science fiction film in the 1970s was a slow, manual process.
Every effects shot had to be composited by hand on optical printers.
"Let me see what you have, Gary," Duke said as he pulled up a chair next to the flatbed.
Kurtz offered a weary smile.
He threaded a reel of workprint film into the console and Duke leaned in to review the Trench Run sequence.
The view over the Death Star was unlike anything attempted in cinematic history.
The miniature model work was coming together beautifully. As always, Practical Effects were amazing.
He had always been a firm believer that Practical effects were for the most part better than CGI cause of human creativity.
Kurtz paused the film and wapped to a different reel.
Where the lightsaber duel between Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kennobi was taking shape.
The audio mix was rough, but the synthesized hum of the weapons added a new layer to the combat.
He still remembered as a kid fighting with tree branches with friends while making the 'vvumm' sounds that Lightsabers were known for.
Playing around adn having lunch table convos over the force, powerscaling characters, talking videogames. Stories have a weird way of making the weirdest people come together
Duke offered a few pacing notes but he was largely satisfied with the progress.
But after watching the effects, only one question layed on his mind, 'Could i do Gladiator in this era?'