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It's been a while since I've done one of these, but, well, here's another.
So, the 80s have been strip-mined for material for a while. Remakes, reboots, reinterpretations. The latest (as I start this), is the release of the first look at the new Thundercats cartoon.
It doesn't look too bad, actually, based purely on look. Anime-esque, of course, which is not my favorite style, but I can live with it. But this is not about that.
The Thundercats peeks are what got me thinking along the "What I'd Do With..." lines. What would I do, if I could take an abandoned property from the 80s and remake it for the modern age.
The hard part would be choosing one that's not already been done, but surprisingly, I do have a choice, one that would have been in my top 3 even if I didn't limit myself in that way.
Dungeons and Dragons.
As usual, this is partly planned, partly extemporaneous thoughts, so sometimes I'll state an idea and then decide against it later, or come up with something on the fly and then get really excited about it. I should also not that I specifically decided NOT to try to rewatch the series in preparation for writing this. Last time I rewatched this it didn't live up to how awesome it was in my memories (production values and animations and stuff mainly), and I didn't want to suffer that again. Also, it would take a lot more time than I was willing to invest. So, although I did research, it was mostly reading up on fan sites, wikipedia entries, and such. Consequently, some of what I say might not be strictly speaking, correct. If I was doing it for real, I'd probably immerse myself much more in the original series, but for the purposes of this, my faulty memories and internet research are good enough.
As I see it, we have three basic approaches, and I'll deal with each in its own section:
1) The Reboot
This one, we do basically what Thundercats looks to be doing... taking the general premise and characters, but updating it and making a few changes.
So, the changes: ( Read more... )
So, that's option one. Option two is...
2) Dungeons & Dragons: The Next Generation
(maybe we could call it Advanced Dungeons & Dragons!)
This one's pretty self-explanatory. The original series all happened, and at some point, they came home, grew up, and (some of them, at least), had kids. When their kids are teenagers, they find a portal to the Realm, and begin having their own adventures. Presumably we'd have Hank and Sheila's kids, maybe one kid of Diana and Eric, and a couple who are just unrelated. I imagine Hank and Sheila's kids being the nucleus of the show, which allows us to bring their parents in later.
So, the details:( Read more... )
You know, I'm actually loving this setup. If I wasn't creating it, I'd totally watch it. Well, I suppose that's not saying much because if I didn't like it I'd hardly be doing it, but, still. Obviously the main characters need to be fleshed out more, but in terms of general concept, I like. Even if we did have Rusty the Team Pet.
But, since many things come in threes, there's still a third option to if I had a chance to make a modern Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. This one is more pet-projectish. It's:
3) The Throw-it-all-out-but-the-title-and-a-concept-or-two
And probably won't even keep the title.
But let's strip down the Dungeons & Dragons (cartoon) concept to it's most basic level, IMHO: It's about a bunch of modern teens travelling through a fantasy universe.
If that and that alone was the directive for creating a show, I wouldn't reboot Dungeons and Dragons, or make a sequel (well, maybe I would, I'd probably have trouble deciding, honestly... but let's say for whatever reason the other options are off the table). I would look to my all-time favorite campaign setting, one built around magic portals and the idea that somebody from ANYWHERE could wind up there.
That's Planescape. For those who don't know, it was an AD&D 2nd edition campaign setting, based around Planar Travel. ( Read more... )
Anyway, it would focus on a group of kids on Earth who open up one of the only portals to Sigil. I'm thinking we have some of the characters have a family history... their parents came from the outer planes and settled on Earth because it was one of the safest places, there are only a handful of portals there, and the keys are very rare. More details behind the cut.
( Read more... )
So, there it is. 3 Dungeons & Dragons style shows for the modern age. Which would I choose, given the choice? I think.... it's between the Next Generation, and the Planescape-style one, because I could make it more mine. I'd probably choose Next Generation to WATCH, and Planescape if I was going to create one.
But I wouldn't turn up my nose at watching or producing any of the three options. So, if you run a network and happen to have the license to produce such a show... please, hire me and give me a show-runner position! Or steal my ideas and give me something good to watch.
And if you don't, just comment, if you feel so inclined.
(As usual, the WIDW tag contains all the prior installments of What I'd Do With...).
So, the 80s have been strip-mined for material for a while. Remakes, reboots, reinterpretations. The latest (as I start this), is the release of the first look at the new Thundercats cartoon.
It doesn't look too bad, actually, based purely on look. Anime-esque, of course, which is not my favorite style, but I can live with it. But this is not about that.
The Thundercats peeks are what got me thinking along the "What I'd Do With..." lines. What would I do, if I could take an abandoned property from the 80s and remake it for the modern age.
The hard part would be choosing one that's not already been done, but surprisingly, I do have a choice, one that would have been in my top 3 even if I didn't limit myself in that way.
Dungeons and Dragons.
As usual, this is partly planned, partly extemporaneous thoughts, so sometimes I'll state an idea and then decide against it later, or come up with something on the fly and then get really excited about it. I should also not that I specifically decided NOT to try to rewatch the series in preparation for writing this. Last time I rewatched this it didn't live up to how awesome it was in my memories (production values and animations and stuff mainly), and I didn't want to suffer that again. Also, it would take a lot more time than I was willing to invest. So, although I did research, it was mostly reading up on fan sites, wikipedia entries, and such. Consequently, some of what I say might not be strictly speaking, correct. If I was doing it for real, I'd probably immerse myself much more in the original series, but for the purposes of this, my faulty memories and internet research are good enough.
As I see it, we have three basic approaches, and I'll deal with each in its own section:
1) The Reboot
This one, we do basically what Thundercats looks to be doing... taking the general premise and characters, but updating it and making a few changes.
So, the changes: ( Read more... )
So, that's option one. Option two is...
2) Dungeons & Dragons: The Next Generation
(maybe we could call it Advanced Dungeons & Dragons!)
This one's pretty self-explanatory. The original series all happened, and at some point, they came home, grew up, and (some of them, at least), had kids. When their kids are teenagers, they find a portal to the Realm, and begin having their own adventures. Presumably we'd have Hank and Sheila's kids, maybe one kid of Diana and Eric, and a couple who are just unrelated. I imagine Hank and Sheila's kids being the nucleus of the show, which allows us to bring their parents in later.
So, the details:( Read more... )
You know, I'm actually loving this setup. If I wasn't creating it, I'd totally watch it. Well, I suppose that's not saying much because if I didn't like it I'd hardly be doing it, but, still. Obviously the main characters need to be fleshed out more, but in terms of general concept, I like. Even if we did have Rusty the Team Pet.
But, since many things come in threes, there's still a third option to if I had a chance to make a modern Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. This one is more pet-projectish. It's:
3) The Throw-it-all-out-but-the-title-and-a-concept-or-two
And probably won't even keep the title.
But let's strip down the Dungeons & Dragons (cartoon) concept to it's most basic level, IMHO: It's about a bunch of modern teens travelling through a fantasy universe.
If that and that alone was the directive for creating a show, I wouldn't reboot Dungeons and Dragons, or make a sequel (well, maybe I would, I'd probably have trouble deciding, honestly... but let's say for whatever reason the other options are off the table). I would look to my all-time favorite campaign setting, one built around magic portals and the idea that somebody from ANYWHERE could wind up there.
That's Planescape. For those who don't know, it was an AD&D 2nd edition campaign setting, based around Planar Travel. ( Read more... )
Anyway, it would focus on a group of kids on Earth who open up one of the only portals to Sigil. I'm thinking we have some of the characters have a family history... their parents came from the outer planes and settled on Earth because it was one of the safest places, there are only a handful of portals there, and the keys are very rare. More details behind the cut.
( Read more... )
So, there it is. 3 Dungeons & Dragons style shows for the modern age. Which would I choose, given the choice? I think.... it's between the Next Generation, and the Planescape-style one, because I could make it more mine. I'd probably choose Next Generation to WATCH, and Planescape if I was going to create one.
But I wouldn't turn up my nose at watching or producing any of the three options. So, if you run a network and happen to have the license to produce such a show... please, hire me and give me a show-runner position! Or steal my ideas and give me something good to watch.
And if you don't, just comment, if you feel so inclined.
(As usual, the WIDW tag contains all the prior installments of What I'd Do With...).
