Paramount Planning Movie Based on Penny Arcade New Kid Strip
- Thread starter Scott Bullock
- Start date
I like how you have to reference stuff that's over 2 decades old in order to claim this as unoriginal. I guess if it were up to you they'd be making the next Shrek, instead. Talk about being a cynic for the sake of being a cynic. Then again I don't know, maybe you're gunning for a job at Fox News and you're trying to keep in practice.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Gabe and Tycho said from the beginning that they wanted this story to be done.
from their blog [http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/10/29/]:
Science fiction is ever about stories and characters that exist in real life, but unlike real life; simply changing the setting to a landscape that does not exist in real life allows us to disengage emotions that might be associated with the real world concepts and allow the writers to craft our reactions to what they're writing and give us a more engaging storytelling experience.
As to the fact that Gabe and Tycho are not saying how much they're involved in this, that's probably a good thing. Hollywood is going to put this thing through the meat grinder, and it's better not to give people a false impression now. My suspicion is that they just said, ``Hey, Hollywood, here's an idea. Do it, and let me know when I pick up my check.''
And I'm cool with that. Here's what I said about it when it came out:
from their blog [http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/10/29/]:
And before that [http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/10/27/]:
They wanted this to be huge, and I think their idea was right. Not only is this the story about a kid who's transitioning to a new school, but about a kid whose dad is constantly moving, not allowing him ever to adjust and grow roots. This contrasts rather sharply with Galaxy High, about a two kids who go to a magnet school.
Science fiction is ever about stories and characters that exist in real life, but unlike real life; simply changing the setting to a landscape that does not exist in real life allows us to disengage emotions that might be associated with the real world concepts and allow the writers to craft our reactions to what they're writing and give us a more engaging storytelling experience.
As to the fact that Gabe and Tycho are not saying how much they're involved in this, that's probably a good thing. Hollywood is going to put this thing through the meat grinder, and it's better not to give people a false impression now. My suspicion is that they just said, ``Hey, Hollywood, here's an idea. Do it, and let me know when I pick up my check.''
And I'm cool with that. Here's what I said about it when it came out:
So, essentially, I know that it's going to be taken apart by Hollywood when they make it, and I voted for it for that reason.
Really? You cited one of Heinlein's fascist wet dreams? All the more reason for this to be done right. Or at least without as much fascism.The_root_of_all_evil said:
A comic from some children's magazine doesn't make for much better evidence than a 20-year-old TV show.comingrightforus said:
I went for it but they said they wanted someone who attacked other people's opinions instead of giving one of their own. Know anyone like that?WhiteTigerShiro said:
Aww, how cute. He's attacking a movie idea for being unoriginal, then using the most cliche "defense" on the internet. Well, I'm sorry, but there's very little opinion to be had about your statement. You claim that the idea is unoriginal, but your evidence is very weak. This isn't something ambiguous like music or a movie where you can claim that you like it despite popular opinion. This is you making a claim about something, and I'm saying your claim is erroneous at best. Present evidence of something from popular media within the past 5 years that comes even close to The New Kid, and no, your "Harry Potter in Space" doesn't cut it.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Present evidence of opinion? And within a very short time frame where there's only been around 50 Space based television series that even Wiki knows about?WhiteTigerShiro said:
More before that of course, Ds9, Voyager etc.
How about I give you a trope to play with?
RECYCLED...IN SPACE! [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitlekt6mtovm4vne]
k.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Let's try this. The story is about a kid who keeps being moved, over his objections, never having an opportunity to put down roots. I don't care if this happens in space or in in Anaheim. Who else has done this?
I'll give you Heroes had one member of an ensemble cast who did this, but she also had other reasons for moving, and the story did not go very deeply into that type of character study.
It's kinda funny that you should link TV Tropes given how much your posts remind me of an article that MovieBob wrote [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/moviebob/7190-Trope-a-Dope] a while back. So are these examples that you actually thought of at the top of your head, or are you just a trope monkey akin to the aliens in Bob's little story here?The_root_of_all_evil said:
Hey, give me something tangible to work with and I'll work with it. All you're doing is quoting TV Tropes to dismiss an interesting idea as "unoriginal" because you can very thinly compare it to completely unrelated stories. If you don't wanna be called a trope monkey, you probably shouldn't act like a trope monkey. I mean, honestly, you're comparing the idea of The New Kid to Smallville and Voyager? I mean, I'll grant that Voyager is at least the same general genre, but it's still a completely absurd comparison. Heck, the basic break-down of the plot doesn't even work. Your "Harry Potter in Space" was more apt.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Are you accusing me of ad hominem attacks?The_root_of_all_evil said:
Because if you dislike the other guy's debate tactics, there's always me, asking the same questions. You might have to stop arguing to the other guy to do that, though. I'm sure there's some sort of fancy Latin word for ``Arguing to the guy'' that might be apt here.
Let me rephrase my old (and still unanswered) argument: You can't just say that your toothpaste gets your laundry 25% whiter. You need to tell us 25% whiter than what. Similarly, please tell us what is recycled in space.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FishOutOfWatersuperluser said:
or more specifically
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TrappedInAnotherWorld
So, Ordinary High School Student [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent] Recycled in Space [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitlekt6mtovm4vne]
That's specifically from a trope PoV.
Looking at it from a casting POV, you have two long-running characters - which focuses on the main character getting kicked around all the time. By things he doesn't understand. Jim Henson could possibly get a season out of it, anyone else? It's dead in the water.
From a viewer POV, you have one character to converse with (Maybe two if there's some damn good writers), who are constantly confused until the rules change and then he's confused again. So like Lost with one character.
From Gabe/Tycho's PoV, Rainslicked Precipice in Space.
From Hollywood's view, a chance to re-use all of the Saved By the Bell scripts with a modicum of special effects.
So yeah, not gonna be good.
(If you're going to say "Well, you can't provide a specific example of when it's been done before", check what recycling means)
That's it? Seriously? So because Odysseus spent a bunch of time with Circe, no one can ever do a fish out of water plot anymore?The_root_of_all_evil said:
Dude's not trapped in another world, anymore than I'm trapped in the 21st century. His dad had to move to another planet. There are plenty of stories like that. Where this one is different is that he has to move frequently.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Well, he looks more middle school than anything.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Nope.The_root_of_all_evil said:
No and no. Unless you want to call the family vehicle transported.The_root_of_all_evil said:
OK, fair enough.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Negative, good sir.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Once again, that's a no.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Until Dad takes the family back to visit?The_root_of_all_evil said:
Oh. Still, I was close. I mean, you only have to invent a great threat, and presume that they'll be trying to defeat it.The_root_of_all_evil said:
No.The_root_of_all_evil said:
So you're left with ordinary middle school kid moves to a different planet. The rest of that trope is wrong-o.
You're telling me that because one story had a high school student as a protagonist, no other story can ever have one?The_root_of_all_evil said:
Somebody, please make the hurting stop.
I have a trope for you:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TropesAreTools
You're saying that because Jim Henson isn't involved, it's doomed? You are aware that Jim Henson is dead, right? And that all created works in the future will forever be horrible abortions of ideas, because the almighty Jim Henson can no longer create them? Or possibly Heinlein?The_root_of_all_evil said:
(Incidentally, I'd be very interested to see how the crossover between Henson and Heinlein works)
One character to converse with. This phrase confuses me. You're usually not supposed to talk back to the characters, and they usually don't talk back. If you mean one character that the kid can speak with, he's probably going to have quite a few that he bonds with.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Because we're fighting the fruit fucker? What?The_root_of_all_evil said:
Well, maybe.The_root_of_all_evil said:
What I'm saying is that the Fish Out Of Water is a cliche plot - pointing back to my original statement. Fish Out Of Water - In Space is the basis behind Red Dwarf, Farscape and many many other films. New Day At A New School has been used in most child protagonist stories. Addams Family Values does it. Simpsons does it. The singular difference is that it's in Space. And that's just re-using another cliche.superluser said:
But he can't. That's the real problem with Gabe's baby.
As I've explained before, for the audience to have any sort of interaction with the secondary characters, they need to be set up (usually in the first 10 minutes of the film) - if you're then jumping him from school to school, you're going to have to come up with a myriad of setups for each school - and that will kill the film.
You COULD do it as episodic adventures, but you'd still run the risk of the secondaries fading into nothingness.
[/quote]
Negative, good sir.[/quote]
But he has to. That has to be the story question.
What Gabe's done here, which Scott Bullock points out is
So it HAS to be a Coming of Age story - In SPACE!
Because without that, there's no story. There's no story at the moment. Simply a motivation for the protagonist. That's mainly the problem. Without a way for the child to deal with the threat (Even if it's his own confidence) then there's no story at all.
Nope, I'm saying that it's a very well worn safe road for an adaption. Something that Disney have done again and again and again.
In fact, most of Disney stories are "Fish Out Of Water" - In Wonderland/Feudal Japan/Space (WALL-E)...
I'm saying that Henson is the only person (or his production team) that have shown a consistent way of making non-humans that are understandable.
The main protagonist often serves as a Viewer point character. We see things through his eyes and understand them through how he understands them. The only potential for that is the child - which means we'll be seeing everything from his POV only.
No, because Precipice really got to Gabe/Tycho. It was cancelled due to being far more work than they originally intentioned with a lot of their stuff being re-written. It was also pretty damn boring - though pretty.
I'll put money on it.
The reason this got so many people ooh-ing was that it strikes a chord because it's a story that's been told many many many times. Simply putting it in a different area only changes the background, not the overall story.
Like Transformers etc. the film has taken a very simple story - pasted on the different background - and will sell it on it's "new angle". Even Pixar have done this.
The problem is - Gabe's strip only includes the "In Space" angle. Everything else is as cliche as it comes.
You could equally write it as
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Goes_to_College (Space being "Adult with kids")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_University (Space being...Space)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers_%28film%29 (School being Military School)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_the_future (Space being "The Past")
Hell, even the Watchmen have gone back to school
(Yeah, I just included this because it's hilarious)
In fact, I'll put a bet down of a free cinema ticket to see it if the following aren't included.
A Love Affair that goes Disastrously Wrong.
Learning a Valuable Lesson that Different doesn't mean Bad.
First person he runs into becomes his best friend, or sends him on a wild goose chase.
A Bully who hates his sort, but learns to get on with him.
You want to take me up on the bet?
Experimental test pilot accidentally gets sucked into a parallel universe and kid keeps getting shuffled to new schools are exactly the same story? Man in suspended animation gsurvuves an accident and is set to a distant galaxy? Same thing, too?The_root_of_all_evil said:
Really?
Remember authors, since Thomas Hughes published a book about that in 1857, no one can ever write about it again.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Right. The character, however, has had different experiences in the past rather than what you see on the screen. This sort of experience can have very serious effects on you. How serious?The_root_of_all_evil said:
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-98-6-980.pdf
Yes, it can kill you a decade after you leave school. This kid is going to have some problems that an ordinary kid who has only moved once or twice will not have.
The movie will likely focus on only one of these moves, but the emotional baggage will still be there.
Has to be a story about kids finding the legend of Curly's Gold? Why? Can't it be a story about a kid trying to fit in and find his place in the universe?The_root_of_all_evil said:
Do yourself a favor. Next time you're at the Best Buy, look at the other film sections out there. There are whole shelves devoted to films that aren't action films.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Okay. This is being done by Paramount. Who also did Zodiac, The Truman Show, A Civil Action, and Saving Private Ryan. All of which are also terrible films, because they are all very similar fish out of water stories, I suppose.The_root_of_all_evil said:
What evidence do you have that there will be any non-humans in this?The_root_of_all_evil said:
Ah. Again, the story will probably focus on only one move. The character, again, will be the shortened lifespan kid who differs greatly from the kid who doesn't move frequently.The_root_of_all_evil said:
Yes! I'll bet you two tickets to see this film that it won't contain any of the following:The_root_of_all_evil said:
If it does, I'll purchase both tickets and give you one, otherwise, you'll purchase both and give me one.The_root_of_all_evil said: