The Big Picture: The Boot, Part Two

[TheSchaef]

Gargoyles. EFF. YES.

Babylon 5: if there's one thing in that series that needs a reboot, it's the college-student-art-project CGI for all the exterior space shots and ships/stations. It looked painful against the juggernaut that was Star Trek, which just happened to have its own remote-outpost-at-the-nexus-of-galactic-conflict series on at the same time.

The Simpsons was already rebooted. It was called Futurama. It surpassed the various qualities of its predecessor in every way. It got canned. And now it's canned again.

 

[Strain42]

Can I just say that I'm very surprised that both The Critic and Freakazoid were absent from this list?

The Critic would be a HUGE success in this day and age. More movie spoofs going into the new territory like the marvel universe, twilight, hunger games (c'mon, Jay Sherman was MADE to make jokes about something called the Hunger Games)

Admittedly it would be hard since two of the main cast members have sadly passed away, but Tress McNeille could fill in for Doris (she has in The Simpsons) and for Duke...hmm...I'm not sure who could replace Charles Napier.

And in regards to The Simpsons, I'm not sure if I would want to see a REBOOT, but I do know that Matt Groening wanted there to be a spin-off called Tales of Springfield that allowed for grander exploration of the town and characters without necessarily having to connect them to the titular characters.

I guess basically like the episode 22 Short Films about Springfield, but a bit less all over the map.

I wouldn't mind seeing something like that.

 

[JoJo]

Hm, I disagree about Harry Potter, each book or movie is designed to stand alone to a point, especially the first four. Yes, many subplots aren't relevant to the ultimate goal of defeating Voldemort but honestly, was it ever even about that? I think the series is more about following Harry as he grows up and learns about the Wizarding world, allowing the reader to explore the world Rowling created at the same time. I would think some sort of sequel or spinoff series would be more likely and in the spirit of the original rather than a cut-down reboot.

 

[Azurian]

"The Wolfman's got nards!!" But yeah I would love to see a Gargoyles reboot and I always knew there was something different about Lexington but I just thought he was a kid not gay.

 

[MB202]

5.) Monster Squad! I heard about that thought Cinemassacre's Monster Madness! Seems like a quaint movie. And yeah, James Rolfe did explain how the movie tries to be kid-friendly, but at the same time, not really (shows a vampire girl getting impaled and Dracula calling a little girl a *****). Yeah...

4.) Reboot Harry Potter? I dunno, something about that doesn't feel right... and I'm not coming at this like I thought the story was perfect and doesn't need revision, I just don't think it needs to be rebooted this soon, it just doesn't seem like a good time... Although really, I dunno if I can honestly sit through ALL the Lord of the Rings movies, but if it's just talking about the movies here, yeah, there's a TON of stuff you can cut out... Like that dumbass "burning of The Burrow" scene from The Half-Blood Prince.

3.) Fuck yeah, Gargoyles! I REALLY want Disney to reboot it, bring it back, now's the time!

2.) Babylon 5 is something I've heard about, but never knew about... So yeah, a re-introduction would be nice.

1.) The immediate clip of Smithers waving his arms while Mr. Burns slowly puts his feather pen back in the ink was PERFECT after the reveal! A Simpsons reboot... Not sure how that would go down, honestly... But given that the show runs on negative continuity anyway, a reboot could actually work!

 

[PunkRex]

Gargoyles was made for teenagers? When i was a teenager cartoons weren't my main past time =/

Speak for yourself!

OT: My only childhood gripe is my longing for a Samurai Jack ending, although I would let out a happy woot if the Gummi Bears or Gargolyes got another shot.


Theres an idea for an ep Bob, i'd love to see what shows you think deserve an ending.

 

[vid87]

*Hears choice for Gargoyles*

Hell yeah!

*Learns Lexington was supposed to be gay on a show that dealt with major themes like gun violence, racism, and cultural roots with both maturity and drama while balancing with solid acting and action, thinks about original writers and show-runners doing any kind of show at all today with that rare mix of skill and ballsiness*

F*CK YEAH!!!

 

[AdmiralCheez]

Babylon 5 could benefit from just having an upgrade of their CGI. The other show aspects, the writing, costuming, and acting, still hold up in my opinion. But the CGI? The starship battles, the establishing shots, the scenery? They unfortunately didn't age that well. A few years ago, when someone I knew was watching it for the first time, said they thought the show was intercut with scenes from an early PS2 game.

Well, I suppose you could reboot the entire series from scratch, and give it the ol' BSG treatment. The fifth season did seem to suffer from the whole "Wait, we actually weren't cancelled?" thing.

 

[Jman1236]

I was half-expecting Sonic satam to make the list but everyone and there dog has said they wanted a satam reboot since 95. A simpsons reboot.....eh I'm split on that one. While it would get people to watch it again it would also mean throwing out over 20 years of backstory but that could be a good thing for some characters.

 

[delroland]

I agree with most of your choices, MB, but I don't think a reboot of Harry Potter would do well, simply because everyone would constantly compare the reboot to the original. And there hasn't been enough time since the last film for audiences to develop a desire to go through it all again.

That being said, I do believe it is quite ripe for a prequel film series or a sequel television series, the first detailing Snape's teenage relationship with Harry's parents and Tom Riddle's coming of age, and the second being a "day in the life" type tv show detailing the daily experiences and hijinks of the new generation of Weasleys, Potters, Malfoys, etc. in a Hogwarts not overshadowed by He Who Should Not Be Named.

 

[MonkeyPunch]

God I bloody loved Gargoyles. Love to see a reboot of that.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

I get where you're coming from with the Harry Potter one. However, if they're going to do it they should leave it a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnngggg time yet. Like, at least long enough that there's been an entire generation of people who have entered adulthood without ever being touched by Harry Potter as a cultural icon.

When you say you can do a Star Wars/LotR marathon but not a Harry Potter marathon though, you're talking about 3 movies vs 8. Definitely not a fair comparison, even if you're talking about the LotR Director's Cut.

 

[Alar]

I wonder how Harry Potter would as a TV series... hell, even a cartoon? They'd be able to fully flesh them out the way they were meant to, throwing in ALL the details from the books (and possible some more if they got J.K. Rowling in on it), and it could probably get a decent run. I, for one, would actually be quite interested in something like that.

EDIT: I want to expand on this a little bit. If they did get Rowling in, they could add all sorts of things not in the movies or the books. What were the Weasleys doing in the summer when not in the book? What other things happened at school? Hagrid? Etc.?

I could see each book being maybe 10-12 episodes if they managed to work it right with enough content, otherwise less. Maybe 6-8. If MLP is any example of how huge a cartoon can be (and how good), then I think something with an established setting and fanbase would have a chance to do the same.

Plus, if I'm not getting my Magical World Encyclopedia, I want something else than that website she came up with.

 

[Ickabod]

Babylon 5, sign me up.

 

[WanderingFool]

And this week Bob mentions Gargoyles... God... I miss my childhood...

 

[Namehere]

As I understand it Gargoyles is a free property. You want a reboot you just have to make it. No one does and I don't think any can at this point own the rights. Not sure of the exact mumbojumbo of it all. With that said of course, getting a company to invest any money in a show that cold be PIRATED by other networks, isn't going to happen. I mean you make Gargoyles TNG ? ironic given its cast ? and popularize the franchise over two years, and then say ABC comes along and makes The Real Gargoyles which for whatever reason has broader appeal, suddenly you're shows going down the tubes and you've made ABC a fan base they never had to work for. Not happening. Fun if it did, just to see the networks battle it out it would be fun, but I doubt it will.

Babylon 5 was a great show in my opinion, hampered by limitations in CG. And I admit, I'd love to see a remastered version of the original, but I doubt a reboot would really be possible. The show's survival through out its run was a miracle, and it's successor didn't last more then half a season. A real shame to, I doubt many fans of Babylon 5 didn't like Crusades and some of my friends who weren't fond of the lack of action in Babylon 5 really embraced the new show. They canceled Crusades, as I understand it, because the studio behind it didn't feel it's characters were 'sexy enough'. They handed down the ultimatum, sex it up or call it quits... No more Crusades. I think a remastered B5 and a rebooted Crusades might work. You could use the one to sell the other even. Sort of a big lead up hype event.

Rebooting the Simpsons? Are you serious? What is that, the great race to beat out nostalgia? What about the A-Team. I never saw the new movie, but the old show was great fun! Bad acting, ridiculous dialogue and a lot of heart.

Catcha: ten four - surely a program of taste!

 

[ellers07]

Bob, I'm with you on a lot of things (I even agree with your review of Sucker Punch) but some of these are just not good ideas. I loved Monster Squad for its cool idea and its cheesiness. It just wouldn't be the same.

As for Harry Potter, I would happily watch them all with you! The "fill-in" movies as you call them are what gave the stories heart and helped endear the characters to us. You can't replicate that in a trilogy. The Harry Potter tv series some people have suggested is an interesting alternative though. I would check that out.

 

[BrotherRool]

The Harry Potter films were all pretty terrible. Full of inconsistencies and stuff that didn't make sense unless you read the books and changes that annoyed the people that did

 

[walsfeo]

The two that made the most sense were B5 and Gargoyles, I'd watch those. If they coupled a B5 relaunch B5 with a Mass Effect style video game following a Ranger taking the Cmndr Shep role it could be explosively successful. Not to mention other cool property

It's too early to reboot Simpsons, or rather Simpsons is too recently successful, to reboot. To be a real worthwhile reboot there needs to be some kind of space. That space can be time, or even a disconnect from approval. I know a lot of people who don't watch Simpsons anymore but the problem isn't that they are disappointed, it's just that they don't see the relevance. Give it a year or two off to fade, or have the series go horribly wrong, and then give it a try. Even then though, I'd put rebooting a low-continuity cartoon into a different category from rebooting something with an ongoing narrative arc.


I'd love to see some of the standards get the reboot - Firefly, Farscape, Stargate SGU, but I'd also like to to see Tales of the Gold Monkey The Herculoids, Thundar the Barbarian, and some of the old Lance cartoons like Woody Woodpecker.

 

[Jodan]

B5 is by far my favorite but maybe not a reboot sure the acting was kinda off at times and some of the episodes were bunk but the story and the writing were superb. all it needs is a cg update maybe bring it up to the level that the lost tales was at.