roseembolism (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
roseembolism) wrote2008-08-07 12:38 pm
roseembolism) wrote2008-08-07 12:38 pm
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Bring on the Grit and Darkness!
So with the success of the revamped Balltestar Galactica and Batman franchises, there's been a lot of discussion of what properties could be made "dark and gritty". That is, what silly old concepts could have all the camp and humor surgically removed, and made as grim and serious as possible?
These are my actually serious suggestions.
Buck Rogers:
You don't even need to change that much. Have Buck as a fish out of water, desperately trying to be useful as something other than a weapon, and facing the contempt of the city dwellers. And look at the setting: 300 years after the nuclear war, 99% of the world is still a wasteland, with barbarian tribes roaming through the wreckage. Why is that? Obviously because the last city is an insular robot-ruled dystopia, and sees no reason to do anything but use the wastelands as a threat for exile. You have a society that's decaying and collapsing in on itself, class ridden and resource poor, even as they have spacecraft. And meanwhile, the colonists who fled Earth 300 years ago are back, and they want revenge- maybe. At least they have some sort of plan for Earth. Then again, what's the real agenda of the robots? And why was Buck [U]really[/U] rocketed off to space in "NASA's last mission"?
Ark II:
So leaving aside the obvious love triangle (you know there has to be one that involves the hot chick taking off her top), consider the actual mission: going around, making peace and stopping water empires from forming, backed by some serious high-tech firepower. Their mission is more than simply helping people, it's obviously to scout out and secure resources so the hidden base can grow and expand without competition. There are most likely other ARK teams that aren't so friendly, combat units designed to be the mailed fist of the project against the kingdoms or barbarian hordes forming outside. And then there's Adam: most likely an experiment to uplift chimps to the point where they can be a useful slave race...but the head of that department may have other ideas, like replacing humanity with a more peaceful hominid. And then there's the mysterious group of scientists; obviously they knew the collapse was coming, and they kept hidden for what seems like decades, maybe even a century before seeing fit to do anything. What's their real agenda? And how does it connect to the collapse?
Gilligan's Island:
Oh wait, never mind. We've got that already; it's called Lost.
Next week I take on Bewitched, I Dream of Genie, Emergency! and the A Team.
These are my actually serious suggestions.
Buck Rogers:
You don't even need to change that much. Have Buck as a fish out of water, desperately trying to be useful as something other than a weapon, and facing the contempt of the city dwellers. And look at the setting: 300 years after the nuclear war, 99% of the world is still a wasteland, with barbarian tribes roaming through the wreckage. Why is that? Obviously because the last city is an insular robot-ruled dystopia, and sees no reason to do anything but use the wastelands as a threat for exile. You have a society that's decaying and collapsing in on itself, class ridden and resource poor, even as they have spacecraft. And meanwhile, the colonists who fled Earth 300 years ago are back, and they want revenge- maybe. At least they have some sort of plan for Earth. Then again, what's the real agenda of the robots? And why was Buck [U]really[/U] rocketed off to space in "NASA's last mission"?
Ark II:
So leaving aside the obvious love triangle (you know there has to be one that involves the hot chick taking off her top), consider the actual mission: going around, making peace and stopping water empires from forming, backed by some serious high-tech firepower. Their mission is more than simply helping people, it's obviously to scout out and secure resources so the hidden base can grow and expand without competition. There are most likely other ARK teams that aren't so friendly, combat units designed to be the mailed fist of the project against the kingdoms or barbarian hordes forming outside. And then there's Adam: most likely an experiment to uplift chimps to the point where they can be a useful slave race...but the head of that department may have other ideas, like replacing humanity with a more peaceful hominid. And then there's the mysterious group of scientists; obviously they knew the collapse was coming, and they kept hidden for what seems like decades, maybe even a century before seeing fit to do anything. What's their real agenda? And how does it connect to the collapse?
Gilligan's Island:
Oh wait, never mind. We've got that already; it's called Lost.
Next week I take on Bewitched, I Dream of Genie, Emergency! and the A Team.