My first attempt with AI art thanks to WordPress. Not going to be a regular thing with me, since I do my own art, but I wanted to try it.
Let’s end the week on something fun as I head towards my annual break.
Nate Winchester over at Hunting Muses put forth the following thought piece:
So you find a magical lamp, and when the genie inside is revealed, turns out he is a massive nerd.
He then tells you he’ll grant any 3 wishes, but they are all speculative fiction related. You may choose one work to adapt, one work to remake, and one work to complete. Also since he loves this stuff as much as you do, he’ll make every effort to fulfill your wishes as you intend, so you don’t have to worry about any djinn shenanigans here.
Already that last one is suspect. Unless you’re Aladdin or a hunky astronaut, genies messing with you is their pastime. That’s considering the genie isn’t incompetent, like with the hunky astronaut or a teen boy in an animated spinoff very few people remember. Also we’re using magic to make sci-fi happen. Ask Linkara how well that went for him. But I’ll play your game, Nathaniel! By the way, you can see his responses here.
So, one sci-fi production, and any form of media is up for grabs, would I want to see adapted (and presumably to what), one that could use a remake (and we’re assuming the genie isn’t making 2020s Hollywood blunders), and what unfinished work would I like to see done. This isn’t my top pics, mind you. It’s the picks of a mind that didn’t sleep right last night trying to catch Friday Night Tights at the same time he’s writing this to make deadline. There might be some obscure ideas here. Still…here we go.
ADAPT: Mega Man
What’s that you say? There’s been numerous cartoons, comics, and there’s supposedly a upcoming live-action movie in production based on this video game franchise? True, but this is why I struggled with this one. The problem is I’m against a deadline and a tired brain. Plus so many choices I would have already been part of every form of media written, video, and audio.
Besides, the Archie comics are the closest thing we’ve had to actually adapting the games themselves, not simply making a series based on the franchise as a whole. Even then each game they did cover before going on their own were stuffed into four issues per arc. The only cartoon based on the original timeline was just an action show with the characters and concepts altered to allow for returning Robot Masters, unless you count the one where the characters somehow left the game to teach kids about Japanese culture. NT Warrior and Star Force were somewhat based on games while Fully Charged was the basis of a video game to my knowledge.
Imagine each episode was based on a different level of the game, with stories created that helps Mega Man evolve as a hero. When he reaches Wily at the end of the season he’s ready to face the challenges, maybe a two-part season finale. Season two would challenge everything he learned in the first one, finding an excuse to delete the weapons information so he has to collect the new powers. In comic form it would just be a different miniseries for each game. I think it would be really interesting to see what they could do with that.
Honorable mentions: Legend Of Zelda, Darkhawk (I have a plot but because it’s based on comic history Marvel Studios wouldn’t do it), Fury Of Firestorm, a few shows I could see updated from my youth, and this list
REMAKE: The Pumaman
Most of you probably only know this from Mystery Science Theater 3000, but I first saw it as a kid on one of those weekend afternoons, back when local channels weren’t all networks and infomercials. I liked his outfit, how the cape doubled as a pancho. Sure, it otherwise looked like it came off the shelf at Sears (remember Sears?) but I saw potential in this movie that my adult brain could easily do.
Refine his powers so instead of having him “fly like a moron” he leaps far, explain why aliens left behind a mask that controls peoples’ minds, rework or more include the cop friend who makes explosives (in England?) as comic relief or acknowledging how bizarre this all so our hero isn’t the only one (could work into the “ignoring the call to action” part of the hero’s journey), and a few ideas I have for the power loss and character arc and I see a potentially good movie.
The problem is so many modern remakes are reimaginings–or more like not-stalgia productions with a popular name slapped onto a script that barely matches the cliff notes summary–that both of these categories are hard for me. I don’t trust Hollywood to get this right so it would need a magic nerd genie to make it right. That’s why I don’t have an honorable mention. I’m worried someone will see this and screw it up.
COMPLETE: Exo-Squad
The problem with this category is that the people who made these shows aren’t the same people they were back then. Look at X-Men ’97. Even if you brought the same people back they’ve evolved as creators both in talent and tastes. You couldn’t make a continuation that is an actual completion. To play the game, however…
Exo Squad was a really good show that ended on a cliffhanger. Everyone was getting along. Phaeton was deposed and proper peace between humans and their former slaves was being formed. Exploring this could have been interesting, like a sci-fi take on the end of the Civil War if slavery had ended before the war. Even the pirates had become allies before it was all over, but the three groups would still have to learn to work together.
A new outside force, teased during the series, suddenly made their presence known, destroying the pirates’ base for the strange matter it was made from, a new threat that could have fully united everyone and made a proper series conclusion. The finale was good but it could have been really good. Sadly we will never get that finale.
Honorable mentions: Spider-Man Unlimited (Will Meugniot can’t catch a break), He-Man & The Masters Of The Universe 2003, Metal Guardian Faust, the original Battlestar Galactica, and the Ruby Spears version of Superman
The first version just asked for nerdy genie. I didn’t have time to make my own.
By the way, you can see Nate’s responses here. And tell him what you would risk the genie’s magic on. Then hope Hollywood isn’t paying attention until people who care about doing it right take over.
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