NOTE: This page has been completely superseded by a NEW SITE in the /films section, which offers more content and images! Check it out! I leave this page here for historical purposes, as well as for people who wish to find out about the film Life After Y2K. UPDATE: Both movies are now available for free download! Check the new Artifact page for details; to download Life After Y2K, just click here. (92.8M, Windows Media)

"William Matheson's 'The Artifact'"

To make "The Artifact" and this page seem more complete, I have now added Calum MacLeod's masterpiece, "Life After Y2K", to the mix. The download links for both "The Artifact" and "Y2K" are below.

Film and Video Club Photo, from left to right: Heather Sawers (Producer/Meghan, Life After Y2K), Ashlee Staratt (Molly, The Artifact; Art Director, Life After Y2K), William Matheson (Writer/Producer/Craig, The Artifact; Director/Josh, Life After Y2K), Shannon Quillan (Comm Officer, The Artifact; Actress, The Silent Treatment), Brooke Barnard (Leader, The Artifact; Director, The Silent Treatment), Blair Doyle (Writer/Producer/Actor, The Silent Treatment), Alex Percy (Camera, The Silent Treatment), Pat Savage (Executive Producer, Life After Y2K; Executive Producer, The Silent Treatment; Mild annoyance, The Artifact), Joe Chisholm (Theadore, The Artifact; Keith, Life After Y2K), Matt Gardiner (??, The Silent Treatment), Nancy Higgins (Nola, The Artifact; Sound, Life After Y2K).

Film Fest photo, from left to right: [Rear] Eddie Chesal, Michael Fox (Director/Camera/Executive Producer, The Artifact), Steve Yorke [Centre] Brian Momborquette, Matt Langille (Michael, The Artifact; Matthew, Life After Y2K), Kristi Langille (Amy/Director's Girlfriend, The Artifact) [Front] Charlotte Jewer (Meghan, The Artifact), Jonathan Bathurst, Donna Safatli (Herself, The Artifact), Ryan Cox.

What you should know, if you attempt to brave my newest script: It's set in the year 2010, or about nine to eleven years after the CPA Revolution and the first four parts of Sages of Time. The school is actually under a threat of closure and merging with Sackville High since there are so few students in attendance now. (I don't know whether it's because of the events in Life After Y2K, or the events of the unwritten parts of Sages of Time, I haven't decided yet. It can't be both.) Fall River was destroyed by a nuclear accident (actually, it was destroyed by the fallout from the explosion of CPA² in Sages of Time, but of course that never happened so it's really hard to judge things like that from any perspective) and is now referred to as the Fall Badlands. Bedford Junior High (the 'shithole' you always hear me refer to in real life) is in a building called the Sydney Stephen Building. Some of you went there. I can't think of anything else to prepare you, so jump in and hang on.

But you need not understand any of that to enjoy this script (or the film, for that matter). The story doesn't actually have anything to do with the other stories I mentioned, they just happen to take place in the same continuum. And there are no real names (except for the people who were supposed to play themselves), or real people (ditto) either.

For a brief moment, I'd like to talk about the filming of Calum MacLeod's "Life After Y2K". When I was re-typing the script on the evening of October 4th, 2000, the funny memories just came rushing back. Filming "Y2K" was a ton of fun. I remember the fun times in the editing room with Mike and Hurst. Remembering Jeff and Heather in the band room with their duet... now that was funny. There's a scene with me 'dancing' to Culture Club's 'Karma Chameleon' which has to be seen to be believed. And if you liked Joe Chisholm in "Artifact", he's even better in "Y2K" ("Surrrre... they could keep *three* janitors, but they couldn't get ONE Geography teacher..."). Our process is not done justice in written form. If you can see "Life After Y2K" along with other greats such as Chris Spencer's "Computer Concepts presents The Joy of PC Computing", you'll laugh your ass off!

(Go to the new Artifact page for updated Artifact downloads.)

Download / View artscr.htm (112K, HTML) Simply click on the link to view with any web browser. Netscape or iCab will do nicely. This solves the word-wrap issue.

Download / View artifact.txt (106K, plain-text) You really need to view this in something with word-wrap capability, so Netscape alone won't cut it. Right-click on the link and select Save Link As... or Save As..., then head for WordPad, or better yet, EditPad.

Download / View artcred.txt (2.53K, plain-text) - View the official credits for "William Matheson's 'The Artifact.'" Netscape will suffice.

Life After Y2K:
Download Life After Y2K.wmv (92.8M, Windows Media - 7:00) - (This is a new edit from December 2007, and should be taken to be the definitive version.) Right-click on the link to save the video to your computer. [You can also watch it on YouTube.]

Download lifeaftery2k.mpe (120,880K, MPEG - 11:51) - (This is the original edit from May 2000.) Right-click on the link to save the video to your computer.

Download / View lifey2k.html (5.53K, HTML) Simply click on the link to view with any web browser. Netscape or iCab will do nicely.

You can also visit Michael Fox's "Artifact" Page. However, I wouldn't recommend going there until after you've read the script or seen the film because it gives away things you really shouldn't know going into my story.

I would like to take this opportunity to deeply and sincerely thank those who came out to the premiere on June 6th. (Wow, that was very nearly a month ago!) You were a great crowd, and more than I expected. Thank you.

Quick "Universe of William Matheson's Stories" reference:

Cheery:
2000 - Sages of Time Part Five
2001 and far onwards - Sages of Time Parts Six through Fifteen

Dismal:
1998 - The CPA Revolution Parts One and Two
1999 - Sages of Time Parts One through Four
2000 - Life After Y2K (not my story, it was written by Calum MacLeod)
2010 - William Matheson's "The Artifact"

I don't understand it. Neither should you.

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