If you could make any TV show...

[Eternal_Freedom]

You think maybe there's a happy medium here? I'm all for rounded, complex characters, but when the show becomes more about each character's flaws and insecurities and other underlying psychological issues than the actual plot then something has gone badly wrong. That's one of the things that left me feeling somewhat let down by the BSG remake; once the Cylons stopped being an immediate military threat the show's primary source of conflict was characters taking turns letting their personality problems inconvenience everyone else, and it started to get on my nerves.

This is what a better way of saying what I wanted to say. Character development has it's place, but I woudl prefer to see a BSG remake with charcter dynamics more like DS9 than the Ron Moore version. Character development has it's place, but a nice clear distinction that the bad guys are bad. I don't want to be feeling sympathetic for the interpersonal conflict of a race of beings who annihilated most of the human race, for instance.

Bad guys can be interesting characters, sure, but if their opening act is that dark, you shouldn't try and make them into good guys by writer's fiat.

Dumbass, Ron Moore ran DS9. And BSG doesn't need a remake anytime soon.

I know he did. And I would have much preferred if he had used the same style on BSG, rather than post-season 2 shitfest we got.

And no, BSG doesn't need another remake. But the whole point of this thread was to ask what you woudl make if you could.

[Thanas]

Moore did not run DS9. Ira Steven Behr did, Moore was a writer and additional producer.

[Zaune]

Fans are split on this. I personally found the humans to be a bigger threat than the Cylons because their greed and selfishness got the better of them. If you take the Cylons and Earth out of the mix, I think they'd eat each other alive.

That's what bothered me. It never got to the point where I was rooting for the Cylons (I went off to uni and didn't have cable just after the episode where they find Kobol), but I distinctly remember thinking, "Come on, people, do you not have more serious and immediate problems than this?" semi-regularly.

[Scrib]

You think maybe there's a happy medium here? I'm all for rounded, complex characters, but when the show becomes more about each character's flaws and insecurities and other underlying psychological issues than the actual plot then something has gone badly wrong. That's one of the things that left me feeling somewhat let down by the BSG remake; once the Cylons stopped being an immediate military threat the show's primary source of conflict was characters taking turns letting their personality problems inconvenience everyone else, and it started to get on my nerves.

This is what a better way of saying what I wanted to say. Character development has it's place, but I woudl prefer to see a BSG remake with charcter dynamics more like DS9 than the Ron Moore version. Character development has it's place, but a nice clear distinction that the bad guys are bad. I don't want to be feeling sympathetic for the interpersonal conflict of a race of beings who annihilated most of the human race, for instance.

Bad guys can be interesting characters, sure, but if their opening act is that dark, you shouldn't try and make them into good guys by writer's fiat.

And the problem is that it wasn't even needed at times. I mean, Moore made a standalone episode where they discover how to kill the Cylons, a weapon they obviously cannot use, just so he can let a character fuck it up because of their huge hang-up with biowarfare. I hate that sort of shit.It's unnecessary and is just yanking people's chain. It doesn't work, because every time I see the character I can only think:"This guy should be dead, no one would let this slide". (Same goes for Grace Park's good Cylon character.)

Also: to the bolded, we've had this discussion before but by the end even the good guys weren't good. You could easily argue that the mutineers were totally in the right. It's just that we're predisposed to take the view of the protagonists as the view of the writers.

[Flagg]

Moore did not run DS9. Ira Steven Behr did, Moore was a writer and additional producer.

God damnit. Being wrong so much sucks. This what I get for taking the word of the turds running Ain't it cool.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Ok, getting back on topic for a second...

If we are messing with full on Q powers in terms of picking not just WHAT to do, but WHO we can pick... Well...

I would like to bring together the Genus of:
Lauren Faust
Craig McCracken
And
Genndy Tartakovsky

Together, I would have the Titanic Trio of Talent recommissioned to make some GOOD modern cartoons!
Starting by pitching them the following idea...

Captain BloodAxe and the Space Vikings!!!
In a distant and strange future, MUSIC has become the ultimate weapon. Classical, Jazz, Punk, Metal, and of course ROCK
In this world, the people of Earth have taken to the stars! Utilizing a wonders faster than light device that creates a gravity and air bubble around the ship, Mankind has set out in true SpaceSHIPS. Great Star going Galleons that plow the etherial waves.

Among these travels, is a band of ROCK Vikings down on their run. Captain B'Hrian Bloodaxe. First Mate Olaf, and Man at arms Baleog! Together they capture a legendary Viking Boat of fabled Awesomness! The ship, unknown to them, has a great and hidden power! When faced with unparalleled danger, it can TRANSFORM into the great Viking Robo-Longship!

Armed with with this ship and their might ROCK Arsenal, B'Hrian and his viking crew set off into strange new advantages!


Basically, for those that don't get the references, I'd make a cartoon based off of THIS animated short
So yeah. .Epic silly levels!

[Flagg]

I'd love to see a live action Gundam series. I don't know how they could afford to do it though.

Also, PG-13 CGI animated Gargoyles remake. Hell get most of the same voice actors for it too. This idea literally gives me a mind-boner.

[Jub]

I wouldn't mind seeing something based on EE Knights Vampire Earth series. It could be nice to have a fairly pulpy post apocalyptic sci-fi show with a few neat magic elements, a pretty likable main character, and a story that's already fleshed out so you don't get plot points that go nowhere and pacing issues that some season by season shows run into.

[Flagg]

Oh, something set in the Mass Effect universe. Maybe the First Contact War.

[mr friendly guy]

Wheel of time assuming I can get the rights.

This will of course drag out over several seasons and I will shorten filler parts, book 7 springs to mind. Normally this isn't something that would work AFAIK in US shows (Game of thrones is the exception). However having a planned series for 50 to 80 episodes is not uncommon in some Chinese television series. Obviously I would plan how many episodes I need to tell the story coherently and then spread this out over seasons. Since I have almost whatever budget I need, I can make it and then decide how to split it into seasons, rather than make one season and hope I get approval for the next one.

[Raw Shark]

When I first heard about the TV show Survivor, all that I was told was, "16 volunteers on an island. Last one off gets a million bucks." This was before reality television had really taken off as a thing with its own tropes, so I didn't automatically think, "Sixteen complete assholes on an island doing scripted challenges with democratic elimination," I was thinking, "Sixteen of the baddest and/or most desperate motherfuckers in the world, willing to go balls-out to the bitter end in a steel cage match where the cage is 1000 miles of ocean in the grittiest, most awesome game show ever."

Naturally this would be done in international waters and some very extensive waivers will need to be signed by participants, but other than that and the base premise, safety will be a top priority. Not only would the island have a full modern pharmacy and operating theater staffed with doctors who have combat and/or ER experience, but at least one contestant will also be a doctor, one will be an Eagle Scout, etc. Receiving first aid from a contestant lets you stay on the show, but visiting the ER does not, so the contestant medics will be extremely in-demand as allies (teams are self-determined; back-stabbing allowed; one winner only). Everybody on the island gets a loaded flare gun that they can use to signal for medevac (or simple surrender) at any time. They can use it to shoot somebody in the face over the last coconut instead, but they only get one round and better hope that they're on-camera if they get disabled after using it.

Every square inch of the island that is practical would be wired for A/V, with redundancy around key areas such as fresh water supplies for multiple shot angles if there's a battle. To promote action and discourage turtling, there would be air-dropped goodies at random times and places, sent down with a flashing light on a little parachute and containing gifts like bottled water, a first aid kit, a freshly-roasted chicken, etc. Each episode would be edited for the most exciting 30 or 60 minutes from the whole week, but all footage from every angle would be posted on the show's website, so potential obsessive fans could see every last detail or just randomly click different times and places.

[FaxModem1]

So, you want to make the Hunger Games a real thing?

[Flagg]

So, you want to make the Hunger Games a real thing?

It's seriously just a more detailed and therefore more disturbing variation of what Borgholio (I think kind of jokingly, well I hope jokingly ) suggested. But I repeat that a dramedy/satire of that type of thing could work pretty well. But everyone has to be a rotten individual in some way for it to work. You'd literally have to be unable to really sympathize with any of them. That's not to say you couldn't pity or empathize with a few.

[Tiriol]

Baldur's Gate would be an awesome series (the games, not the godawful books) if given the proper budget (and NOT the makers of Dragonlance: the movie at the helm).

I'd really like to see the last book in Finnish Hovimäki series translated into mini-series. The Civil War told from a more neutral/less leftist point of view than Täällä Pohjantähden Alla and how people used to living in a manor and being nobility would adapt when Finland becomes a republic and when in 1930s the Soviets start to threaten Finland.

[Borgholio]

more disturbing variation of what Borgholio (I think kind of jokingly, well I hope jokingly )

Well...MOSTLY joking. I loved The Running Man, but the whole murder-death-kill thing is a tad overboard if it were to be translated to RL. I would just like to see the "contestants" squirm.

[Flagg]

more disturbing variation of what Borgholio (I think kind of jokingly, well I hope jokingly )

Well...MOSTLY joking. I loved The Running Man, but the whole murder-death-kill thing is a tad overboard if it were to be translated to RL. I would just like to see the "contestants" squirm.

In my better dreams I see the heads of major banks and corrupt corporations on gilded crosses lining Wall Street. Well, not really. I'm fucked up but not THAT fucked up. Still, I get what you're putting down. It would have to be totally voluntary and more like that stupid show Wipeout.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Even though most of my knowledge of it comes from masterarminas' fanfics, I would like to see a live-action Battletech series. It's a big universe with a whole load of interesting stories to tell.

Also, some small collection of specials to finish off SG-1/SG-A/SG-U would be nice to see. Basically, let them make Revelation or Extinction or whatever the proposed films were called. But get the best writers I can find to make them great.

[Lagmonster]

Nobody will know what this is, but I want a five-season show based on the Alan Dean Foster trilogy The Damned.

In brief: the universe is populated by civilized alien species, who face assimilation from a new hostile species, but are so Future Demolition Man engineered against violence that they can't stomach the brutality of war. They find Humans, a semi-developed species who has no problems with war and is so good at it that we happily butcher our own.

The 'peaceful' alien civs blatantly use humanity's aggression to win the war; much of the dialogue consists of overt racism between species towards us humans, and them dealing with the problem of integrating the violent, nasty, crude humans into a peaceful galactic society that finds all violence offensive, (even going so far as to admit that they don't want us around because we're frightening) after having specifically encouraged us to go out and savage the shit out of the other guys for them.

There's themes of "what do we do with the violent among us", "what do we do with our killing machines once the war is done", and "dealing with technologically superior military allies who claim to want the best for a native population, but are actually massive racists who just use them to accomplish their short-term goals, and massively fuck the native people up in so doing". Hint hint America hint.

I won't suggest that it was the best sci-fi Foster ever wrote or the best out there, but I love the idea of looking at the flaws of a so-called 'perfect, peaceful post-scarcity society', at the same time as examining humanity's flaws from the perspective of a tranquil multi-species alien civilization who opened a can of worms at a time of desperation, and can't figure out how to integrate their violent new 'friends' and would prefer we all just quietly go away.

[The Vortex Empire]

Oh, something set in the Mass Effect universe. Maybe the First Contact War.

Man, there's a bunch of stuff you could do in the ME universe. C-Sec cop show, Band of Brothers style show about a squad of Krogan in the Rachni War, some sort of show following a Spectre, pretty much anything.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Hey Lag, I LOVE the concept for the sic if idea, sounds like it was an interesting book series.

My only beef with it however is it feeds into the often played out roll of "only humans can save the universe" that is common in both sci if and fantasy.
If it was being done as a tv show, I might recommend putting it in humanities future, and having earth as one of the "peaceful" super advanced races, and then make some other earth like primitive race being the ones used to win the war through their aggression.

Than along with the other themes you listed, you could have an additional connection between humanity and the primitive alien race along the lines of " we used to be as brutal as them. In fact we used to be a lot worse! How can we use a race that is so similar to how we were?" Sort of thing

[Raw Shark]

So, you want to make the Hunger Games a real thing?

It's seriously just a more detailed and therefore more disturbing variation of what Borgholio (I think kind of jokingly, well I hope jokingly ) suggested. But I repeat that a dramedy/satire of that type of thing could work pretty well. But everyone has to be a rotten individual in some way for it to work. You'd literally have to be unable to really sympathize with any of them. That's not to say you couldn't pity or empathize with a few.

The Hunger Games comes with a lot of political baggage that this idea lacks. Also bear in mind that the contestants would all be volunteers, that murder, while permitted, is not the actual goal of the game, and that they can quit whenever they want. The lack of sympathy comes from them all being reality TV douchebags who're willing to do terrible things to each other for a shitload of money. Naturally, that part works better if the producers are careful to pick greedy, attention-hungry sociopaths instead of somebody who's doing it because their kid has leukemia or whatever, but they seem to do that aptly enough on the other reality shows, so there's no reason to think they couldn't pull it off here...

[InsaneTD]

They won't, a guy who has a kid with leukaemia, is the perfect person to throw in with the usual douchebags and such this show would draw. It adds a loveable character we all want to see win while adding drama. The producers would love that.

[Lagmonster]

Hey Lag, I LOVE the concept for the sic if idea, sounds like it was an interesting book series.

My only beef with it however is it feeds into the often played out roll of "only humans can save the universe" that is common in both sci if and fantasy.

I would adapt it from the novels. The thing I liked about the first novel was that the point of view was a pacifist musician who happened to make first contact, and his horrific disgust at how his species was being used as mercenaries, and how little people cared about being looked down upon by the civilized races, and how earnestly humans took to war once it became as simplified as "us vs. the ugly space things".

If it was being done as a tv show, I might recommend putting it in humanities future, and having earth as one of the "peaceful" super advanced races, and then make some other earth like primitive race being the ones used to win the war through their aggression.

Either way. The broader ideas of exploring what you DO with your Genetically Enhanced Ultra Mega Soldiers once there's no more badguy to fight is something I think not suitably explorder. The movie Soldier took a wild swing at it, but decided to go with the more depressing "there are ALWAYS badguys to murder, so the killing machines will always have purpose!".

Than along with the other themes you listed, you could have an additional connection between humanity and the primitive alien race along the lines of " we used to be as brutal as them. In fact we used to be a lot worse! How can we use a race that is so similar to how we were?" Sort of thing

On the fence; I would prefer that humans be portrayed in a way that we can relate to. Showing us as advanced and flawless (Star Trek) doesn't feel any more relatable than showing us heroic (everything else). And I wouldn't want to show us as slimy dirtbags (nBSG). I would want to meet in the middle; humans are seen as less a species than a class of citizen in the galactic community that people need or want but only at arms-distance; the poor, the undeveloped, the uneducated, the mercenary. It would be painfully easy in that setting to create analogues to modern wars and appeal to a modern audience.

[Flagg]

Oh, something set in the Mass Effect universe. Maybe the First Contact War.

Man, there's a bunch of stuff you could do in the ME universe. C-Sec cop show, Band of Brothers style show about a squad of Krogan in the Rachni War, some sort of show following a Spectre, pretty much anything.

Oh I know, it would just have to be something easily recognizable to both fans and non fans alike so unfortunately would have to focus on humans. If I had my way it would be balls out post-Shepherd with whatever ending Bioware chose as official, but I think prequels is what we'd get.

[Raw Shark]

I won't suggest that it was the best sci-fi Foster ever wrote or the best out there, but I love the idea of looking at the flaws of a so-called 'perfect, peaceful post-scarcity society', at the same time as examining humanity's flaws from the perspective of a tranquil multi-species alien civilization who opened a can of worms at a time of desperation, and can't figure out how to integrate their violent new 'friends' and would prefer we all just quietly go away.

I find your ADF-related ideas interesting and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.