The Big Picture: The Boot, Part One

[emeraldrafael]

Besides, I dont know if it really needs one since there's nothing exceptionally remarkable about it as a sitcom that hasnt been/isnt being done now.

I disagree. There was a lot of interesting things in Dinosaurs you can't do with a family of human characters. Mostly due the the fact that 'they where dinosaurs and still killing and eating each other in this otherwise seemingly stone-age-modern world. Also you can't really do episodes about things like this:

-vid snip-

in regular sitcoms with human families.

So three small time based puns. Something you could easily do setting a human family in the same time period. because all you really have there is:
A mandatory age for death (something that can be done using a human family and i'm sure has been done [in fact was the entire plot of a movie])
A plot about a species going extinct as a cover to have a deep family bonding moment (in other words, bart simpson taking care of two lizards that eat birds that should be killed)
and
A final "oh no we're all fucked because we didnt respect the environment (which i'll also add isnt exactly a light hearted episode in any means)" which is basically a series ender (something roseanne did with dan dying, something married with children did with kelly being married to a mobster (which also emcompasses the above point), and really any series that knows its not being picked up again that makes an actual series finale (i'm sure futurama and the simpsons will both have big huge emotional final episodes). Hell if you want to use that just to match tone (even if it wasnt a sitcom) Captain planet did that on a routine episode basis, and the mood of that show was comedic teaching (though again i admit its not a sitcom.

I just donts ee a reason why it needs to be brought back, when it would just be labeled to kids television and likey changed so much that:
A) it wouldnt last
B) if it does it will be ina way fans who wanted it back would hate

and doesnt really offer anything other sitcoms do in their ways other than "OH man, its a modern family doing stuff modern families do, BUT THEYRE DINOSAURS! how HILARIOUS is that! Look at all the "funny" dinosaur jokes we can make!" which is fine if thats what you want, just keep watching the old episodes.

 

[xPixelatedx]

snip

I would hardly call 'the world ending' or 'killing old people when they reach a certain age' typical sitcom stuff, movies maybe, but not sitcoms, no. It would be really hard for them to do anything like that because the entire biases of sitcoms is they are usually more down the earth; they aren't meant to have that kind of scope. The fact that it was a sitcom about dinosaurs already crossed the line most don't.

I just donts ee a reason why it needs to be brought back, when it would just be labeled to kids television and likey changed so much that:
A) it wouldnt last
B) if it does it will be ina way fans who wanted it back would hate

A sitcom about dinosaurs doesn't neccisairly have to be picked up by the same or another child-friendly network. Under the best circumstances someone could pick it up with the intent of making something interesting, not just pandering for money. Yeah it would probably be animated CGI crap (regardless of who picked it up) but they might be able to go in interesting directions with it what were previously bared off. It might also benefit from being animated. Even as a kid I could tell the original show was suffering from needing too high a budget to do things. Limited sets, VERY limited puppet selection. Many smaller, crappy puppets always trying to be sneaked in to give the illusion of variety, etc. If it was animated in some way, they would be free to do whatever they wanted and for less money.

 

[emeraldrafael]

snip

I would hardly call 'the world ending' or 'killing old people when they reach a certain age' typical sitcom stuff, movies maybe, but not sitcoms, no. It would be really hard for them to do anything like that because the entire biases of sitcoms is they are usually more down the earth; they aren't meant to have that kind of scope. The fact that it was a sitcom about dinosaurs already crossed the line most don't.

I just donts ee a reason why it needs to be brought back, when it would just be labeled to kids television and likey changed so much that:
A) it wouldnt last
B) if it does it will be ina way fans who wanted it back would hate

A sitcom about dinosaurs doesn't neccisairly have to be picked up by the same or another child-friendly network. Under the best circumstances someone could pick it up with the intent of making something interesting, not just pandering for money. Yeah it would probably be animated CGI crap (regardless of who picked it up) but they might be able to go in interesting directions with it what were previously bared off. It might also benefit from being animated. Even as a kid I could tell the original show was suffering from needing too high a budget to do things. Limited sets, VERY limited puppet selection. Many smaller, crappy puppets always trying to be sneaked in to give the illusion of variety, etc. If it was animated in some way, they would be free to do whatever they wanted and for less money.

The overall point is its a standard sitcom. the uniqueness came from puppetry and jim henson, other than that, its all rather standard quo. for it "not being as grounded" as other series, it hit all the same points other sitcoms do (in the form of "special episodes"). There's nothing remarkable about it (compared to the other great sitcoms or at least the memorable ones), and honestly its not even a very good one when compared. I recently watched all the episodes again and i realized the only thing that made it any better to me than a show like roseanne or mama's family is that it was just dinosuars instead of people which isnt enough to carry a show long through. It was a show of its time and I dont think it would carry well now without being mediocre. People remember its ending and hold it up high because "holy shit they just said the planet died and the little baby doesnt realize its fucked". Just like people remember the different strokes episode about rape in a bike shop, people remember the punky brewster episode about her having a nightmare, people remember roseanne for :SPOILER: dan dying in the end and that perfect image of life just being a fantasy, people remember the fresh prince episode where he dies and visits a cemetery, people remember the The jeffersons for the two episodes about suicide. you're picking out setting pieces of it and saying look, look what they did, isnt that cool and innovating and groundbreaking! and ignoring it was just setting. Shows in the modern age setting have huge episodes dealing with their time periods with just as much impact while throughout the series touching on all the hot topic issues of the time. You can say it missed its potential due to budget costs, but really what potential is there. its standard sitcom at its core and likely wouldnt ahve gone on past 4 seasons without jumping the Megalodon (if not sooner).

 

[TheSchaef]

Gummi Bears would be a good candidate; it basically kicked off the "Disney Afternoon" I grew up with. Thing is, aside from their relationship with ABC, Disney has, not just a channel, but a STABLE of channels to air all kinds of material. And right now, if there's an awesome cartoon you want to watch, you can either catch it on Disney XD (Ultimate Spider-Man, Max Steel, Slug Terra, Motor City, Tron Uprising, Kick Buttowski, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes), or wait for it to float over to Netflix. Even if they found room for a Gummi Bears reboot in all that, it would never see the light of network TV.

In a similar vein, the strength of Dinosaurs is in the nostalgia factor. A modern reboot would lack the personality that the animatronics brought to the original show. This is also why people still love the Muppets, even though Avatar did everything with computers that The Dark Crystal tried to accomplish 30 years ago.

If Terminator was going to survive apart from Arnold, it would have done it with Sarah Connor Chronicles, featuring Summer Glau and Garrett Dillahunt among a talented cast. Killer time-traveling robots from the future was cool but it was sold on Arnold and it dies with Arnold's youth. This BTW was the same failing of MiB: it sold on star power, and as much as Will Smith is one of the most bankable names in Hollywood, people still love the Tommy Lee Jones. Whole movies rise and fall on the presence of Tommy Lee Jones, not only MiB but also The Fugitive, Space Cowboys, Batman Forever (remember, Batman is always about the villains he fights), Man of the House, Blown Away... U.S. Marshals would never have been made without the success of Jones' character from The Fugitive. And you all know you smiled and said "HEEYYY!" when he appeared in Captain America, or Lincoln, or NBK or the Client. This is the double-edged sword of star power, like making a Tom Cruise movie without selling it as a Tom Cruise movie (see also: Oblivion). Both franchises are effectively dead for a generation. And anyway, SHIELD should be everything Bob wished MiB was, because if there's one thing Whedon can do, it's an ensemble piece. Added bonus: they get the one guy everyone wanted to be in all the upcoming Marvel movies: Clark Gregg.

It's not to say this isn't a good list, just unlikely.

 

[TheSchaef]

1 - Voltron. Seriously. It's 2013. What the f***. Where is this? I haven't heard "And I'll form the head" in YEARS. That's a crime against humanity.

They rebooted Voltron. It went about as well as the Thundercats reboot.

 

[angel85]

Your brief mention of the MIB Cartoon was actually the first time I ever saw anybody acknowledge it since it was on TV. I loved that cartoon but it seems like everbody forgot about it.

 

[LazyAza]

Reboots are always so hit n miss you never know what will be good or bad. I could name a tonne of old or new shows I'd love to see return in some form. I reckon a new Gargoyles would do tremendously well now if modernized with some talented people working on it.

 

[Drejer43]

Heh, I used to watch gummi bears when I was younger. Would totally watch it, if it got rebooted.

EDIT:

Can't believe this hasn't been posted yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJmWyZlW2sE
You're welcome.

Thank you

 

[Finalplayerryu]

Darkwing Duck, Men in Black (with the tv series) and Dinosaurs do feel completed for me. For Dinosaurs i have to say that Guilty Pleasure is too much, it was and actually still is great show, well written, well executed. I dont feel like this show could benefit from todays common techniques aka CGI as it would take away from the core that held it all together: its charm.

As for Gummi Bears, i sure as hell would have loved more information about everything, i wholesome can agree that it would benefit from a reboot.

 

[Lightknight]

Gummy Bears! Thanks! You've finally answered a question that occasionally floats to the top of my head every few years about what the heck the show was.

 

[PrototypeC]

Whenever someone on the Escapist says that they have free reign for their series, I don't believe them. If it's a top ten, why not just screw the arbitrary 5-minute limit and do a ten-minute episode? Is it just easier that way for Bob?

I just suspect that there are a certain number of shadowy rules all Escapist content must follow; one of those rules being that you cannot talk about the rules.

 

[jayman52]

I would expect Howard will make a cameo appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy. Additionally don't be surprised if he shows up in the currently running TMNT comicbook.

Since the Ninja Turtles are now owned by Nickelodeon, I can't imagine that we are going to see any cross over between them and any Disney owned properties.

Read before you post, sir. The Ninja Turtles COMIC BOOK is in no way owned by Nickelodeon.

 

[Dan W]

I would expect Howard will make a cameo appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy. Additionally don't be surprised if he shows up in the currently running TMNT comicbook.

Since the Ninja Turtles are now owned by Nickelodeon, I can't imagine that we are going to see any cross over between them and any Disney owned properties.

Read before you post, sir. The Ninja Turtles COMIC BOOK is in no way owned by Nickelodeon.

I suppose it could come down to a matter of semantics, but as I understand it, as it is described on wikipedia and how Peter Laird described it on his blog back in 2009 is that Nickelodeon/Viacom now owns the TMNT property. Part of the sale was the granting of a license to Laird to continue to publish a limited number of comics per year if he wishes to. Viacom still owns the comics rights though. This is why they are the ones licensing IDW to produce new comics and reprint the old Mirage issues. Pick up one of the reprints of the Mirage comics that IDW has been publishing. Viacom is listed as the copyright holder and Mirage Publishing isn't mentioned anywhere.

 

[MattValtezzy95]

So just gonna leave this here with the whole Terminator reboot idea. (ya know and there gonna have Arnold back as a T-100)
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/emilia-clarke-cast-as-sarah-connor-in-terminator-reboot/