Was thinking today how odd it is that the entire Marvel film/tv universe was more-or-less kickstarted by Iron Man - a decidedly C-list character who was so obscure that Marvel - when desperate for cash and filling for chapter 11 practically couldn't give the movie rights away, leading to the marvel cinematic universe as we know it.
I've been watching Legends of Tomorrow (the CW tv series, that's basically a DC comics series) and thinking how odd it was that the entire CW tv series was more-or-less kickstarted from the Green Arrow who, presumably, DC couldn't get arrested in a film, leading to his tv success.
So, just wondering, let's play an imaginary game.
For 2000AD the big characters are off the board, you can't have Dredd, Strontium Dog, or indeed anything that has had multi year success in 2000ad - you can have weird one offs, series that were done in one.
What do you pick for your starting from nothing 2000ad universe ... does a Wolfie Smith tv series lead, somehow inevitably to Strontium Dog (via about half a dozen other characters?)
Do you start with Banzai Battallion (stripped of its Dredd world trappings) to get to a Robohunter movie?
What do you start with and how do you get to a Dredd film/tv? (please explain your thinking... :P)
-pj
Oh fun.
Tyranny Rex - she's about the same level as Iron Man and Green Arrow right. Nice out there crime caper. End of the first Season we get introduced to Indigo Prime, Second season dimension hoping ago-go and before you know it the last scene of season 2 sees Tyranny and say Danny land in a crazy future city only to have a gun pointed at them by a behelmeted future cop....
... though maybe that's end Season 3 maybe we take them to Flesh in Season 2 so we can create a link to Satanus for like Season 5 or whatever.
Bonjo animated series in the style of Bananaman leads into Gerry Anderson-style Nemesis the Warlock puppet show, followed by stop-motion/live action Flesh series in the style of The Valley of Gwangi. After that, it's straight into the $10M-an-episode live action/CG Judge Dredd TV series.
you could start with Invasion with a secondary series that works around life in Volgan occupied UK, follow that into Savage for season 2/3 then bring in the war robots which could lead to a series about the Volgan war on Mars/ABC Warriors and a Ro-Buster's spin off series.
Start with OUTLAW... oh, hang on a minute...
A Department K cartoon - you get an episodic format built-in because of the random dimension-hopping, and can insert any other strip into that on your way to an eventual return to Mega-City One. You even get to play with alternate dimension versions of Earth - maybe they only think they've found their way home!
Mr. Amperduke is relocated to the Hoop, so that you can spin into Halo Jones. She hears at some point that Rodice has moved to Mega-City One...
The MACH 1 trilogy of films ends with John Probe being killed protecting the aliens who are on Earth looking for Skizz, who got separated from an alien delegation here to secretly ally with a politician. Then Origins and a shedload of Dredds.
Big Dave boots out the aliens with the gay gun, but they come back with their bigger mates, and Maniac 5 is sent to deal with them. Tony Blair kills himself in desperation but is alive again soon, as he was in Maniac 5, and is given injections to turn him into BLAIR 1. Then, er, his plane crashes but the pilot survives with the flight computer grafted to his arm.
Sorry, I'll stop now.
Some elevator pitches for Netflix tv shows to get the MCU (Mega City Universe) rolling:
Al's Baby - "Pregnant Tony Soprano. Bada bing, bada boom!"
PJ Maybe - "Dexter Howser, M.D."
Cadet Dredd - "The Inbestigators with mild violence!"
The Helltrekkers - "Star Trek in the Wild West" (geddit?)
All of these would lead inexorably to:
Dredd 2
Fargo: The First Dredd
Dredd 3
Death: The Dark Judge
Armageddon: The Nuclear Winter
Justice Department: Civil War
Hershey: Far From Home
As for a Noam Chimpsky sitcom; am I the only one who hears the Seinfeld bass guitar riff whenever I imagine this?
To get the USA on board I'd go for the all conquering Harlem Heroes. They do like their winning teams. Take your sporting hero and put in Inferno and we obviously know where Giant's blood line leads.
You could also throw in Mean Arena for more future sporting carnage.
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 18 January, 2021, 07:49:52 PM
To get the USA on board I'd go for the all conquering Harlem Heroes. They do like their winning teams. Take your sporting hero and put in Inferno and we obviously know where Giant's blood line leads.
You could also throw in Mean Arena for more future sporting carnage.
"All or Nothing: Harlem Heroes". Amazon need to commission this straightaway.
A violent future sports saga lends itself to an episodic format, right enough.
I'd start with a series about the courtship rituals and societal mores impacting the lives of young eligible law enforcement officers. Rakishly charming lawmen, Unjudicial liaisons, bastard children, bare knuckled fights between officers in their codpiece, uniform zips straining to contain heaving bosoms etc.
Call it JUDGERTON.
Old Stony Face can turn up in Season 2.
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 18 January, 2021, 09:28:39 PM
uniform zips straining to contain heaving bosoms etc.
Yeah, as if that'd ever arise (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=DEMARCO) from 2000 AD.
So for my imaginary pitch I reckon we start with PUSSYFOOT 5.
It has an ensemble cast of weirdos, the series can be a bit Doom Patrol-esque and is a cheap licence for a smaller channel with a maverick director and some character actors. Paranormal stuff seems to be en vogue at the moment and this can have a monster of the week format as the gang investigate paranormal threats whilst there's a hint of a bigger conspiracy. John Smith's cooler / weirder ideas are toned down for a tv audience.
The series gets a cult following, Devlin Waugh guest stars in an episode, becomes a a massive fan favourite and a twitter meme sensation. It's only a short step there to move to a Waugh series, which of course features some MC1 stuff but no Dredd, mainly Psi-esque stuff. Jack Point cameo.
A couple of long recurring plotlines across both series culminate in a massive crossover where the supernatural threat is tied into... The Sisters of Death! Waugh, the Pussyfoot 5 team and regular guest characters Judge Karyn, Shuggy Bear and Judge Rameses (whose bastard character schtick has become weirdly popular after the mummy Waugh episode) end up confronting the Dark Judges as they dimension port in, only to be aided at the last moment by Dredd himself in Karl Urbans triumphant return. Fanboys go wild!
How about a old style sports programe like Grandstand with Harlem Heroes/ Inferno, Mean Arena and other sports stories from other titles like Spinball & Roaring Wheels from Action
Had no idea it was coming, but maybe the new rebellion film will somehow kick off a Rebellionverse ... fate has done stranger things...
Reading the Dredd encyclopedia in this week's Meg*, I'm amazed The Family hasn't been pitched as a movie - it's got everything - super-powered Sicilian mobsters (to the trope cupboard!), all framed by a doomed Romeo & Juliet love story between hero cop and mob boss's daughter. It even ends vaguely enough to tease a sequel - is the Family finished or will Talia breed within the bloodline and raise a new generation of super-wiseguys?
Set it in a suitably memorable dystopian near future city and there's no end of Dredd stories that could be repurposed, or make the city weirder and do Night Zero/Beyond Zero.
*Scott Montgomery's summaries are very good - some stories that didn't impress at the time sound bloody brilliant!
Quote from: pauljholden on 17 January, 2021, 09:47:40 PM
Was thinking today how odd it is that the entire Marvel film/tv universe was more-or-less kickstarted by Iron Man - a decidedly C-list character who was so obscure that Marvel - when desperate for cash and filling for chapter 11 practically couldn't give the movie rights away, leading to the marvel cinematic universe as we know it.
I've been watching Legends of Tomorrow (the CW tv series, that's basically a DC comics series) and thinking how odd it was that the entire CW tv series was more-or-less kickstarted from the Green Arrow who, presumably, DC couldn't get arrested in a film, leading to his tv success.
Point of Nerd Order: Arrow was based on the breakout success of the Green Arrow character that appeared in Smallville, a show about Superman, DC's most recognizable character. The Green Arrow in Smallville was in turn heavily inspired by the lead character in Marvel's Iron Man movie.