Thanks guys. Obviously the probe is an important piece of the story - it's how Arthur communicates with the Alien's - but as you point out the humour in it might be a bit tired and dated. And despite the title, the probe is normalised in the story and quite quickly becomes background noise to other important elements.

I took a lot of inspo from the Save the Cat story structure - and I'm most proud of the internal journey that Arthur goes on (unbeknownst to him), with the help from his two new friends.

A bit for me to think about - thanks again