Oh! That is wicked good! ~rave!
--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Martin Baxter <truthseeker...@...> wrote: > > > And I'll personally bank two seasons of "Clone Wars" as written by Hammer and > Publick. > > "If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody > hell hired the director?" -- Charles L Grant > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik > > > > > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com; sincere1...@...; cinque3...@...; ggs...@... > From: tdli...@... > Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:53:44 -0700 > Subject: [scifinoir2] TV Shows We Wish Would Swap Writing Staffs > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > TV > Shows We Wish Would Swap Writing Staffs > > By Charlie Jane > Anders, 5:07 > PM > > > > We don't just love television for the special effects or crackerjack acting, > but for the writing. That's where our heroes get their cool lines and defining > moments. And sometimes we wonder: what'd happen if our fave shows swapped > writing staffs? > > > That's right it's just like wife swappers, except it's writer > swappers! So put the keys to the writers' room in a bowl, and let's get > swinging... > > > Lost and Supernatural > > In some ways these shows are opposites, even though they have so much in > common they both have long, pull-your-hair-out plots and complex > characters who stray to the dark side regularly. > > > But Supernatural keeps it lean and mean you pretty much > just have the Winchester brothers, and one to four supporting castmembers at > any given time. And Supernatural's big mysteries are relatively few, > and relatively straightforward: What did the yellow-eyed demon want with baby > Sam? What does Ruby want with grown-up Sam? Why did the angels pull Dean out > of > Hell? And we get answers to those questions on a regular basis. What's complex > on Supernatural is the tangled theology of the Angel/Demon war. And > few relationships on television are as barbed and complex as the troubled love > between the two brothers. > > > Lost, meanwhile, thrives on complexity there are easily two > dozen characters you're supposed to be keeping track of at any given moment, > and oftentimes, they all seem to be equally important. The show's creators > have > already told viewers not to expect answers to all the show's mysteries > You have to piece things together on your own, or just accept that some things > are not knowable. Meanwhile, the show gives us characters whose family > relationships are mostly dismal (except Hurley's, oddly) and whose > relationships with each other are frequently defined somewhat > straightforwardly > by rivalry, love triangles, or unrequited love. > > > So we'd love to see the writers change places for a bit the Supernatural > writers could bring a bit of immediacy to Lost's slow-boiling > storylines, and also show us a bit more of how all these people stuck on an > island together have become each other's family, and have grown to love each > other even as they piss each other off. > > > And the Lost writers could give us a world of spirits and monsters > that's foggier, and weirder, than Supernatural has ever quite given > us. Imagine Supernatural with more weird clues, and more of a sense > that there's a massive chess game going on in which the Winchester brothers > are > just pawns. It could be quite a ride. > > > Dollhouse and Torchwood > > These two shows both unkinked our brains, in different ways, last month. We > finally got to see Dollhouse's unaired season finale, in which some > brilliant new adaptations to the Dollhouse's business model end up destroying > civilizaton itself. And Torchwood served up the shocking, twisted > "Children Of Earth" miniseries, in which we find out just how > valuable our children really are and just how dark Captain Jack is > prepared to get. > > > These shows both operate in murky waters, with heroes who have huge dark > sides and make difficult (and frequently wrong) choices. They're the dark side > of escapism, showing how becoming part of a secret world of amazing tech and > cool fantasies can be dreadful as well as wonderful. But Dollhouse is > a good deal nastier than Torchwood, giving us a for-profit venture > that is bent on making people's dreams come true but only at the > expense of its "employees"' personhood. Torchwood, > meanwhile, is about people who actually do try to save the world but > often as not, they make things worse. > > > > > > So what would happen if Russell T. Davies and his gang started writing > Dollhouse, > and Joss and friends moved to Cardiff? > > > Well, for starters, Dollhouse would get a lot sexier. The > relationship between Boyd and Whiskey/Claire Saunders would probably heat up > quite a bit. (And the already-homoerotic tension between ex-cop Boyd Langton > and ex-FBI agent Paul Ballard would become way more intense.) But more than > that, the assignments would get a lot freakier Just imagine what sort > of missions Russell T. Davies' gnarled, twisted brain would come up with for > the mindwiped "dolls" who can be anyone or anything. And if you think > the Dollhouse is morally grey and disturbing now, wait until RTD wrote a few > scripts. And what could RTD would do with Adelle DeWitt, the sly, wicked, > frosty madam of the Dollhouse's empty-headed bordello? > > > As for Torchwood sure, "Children Of Earth" was > one of the best pieces of television we've seen in recent years. But just > imagine Torchwood done in the style of Angel or Buffy, > with more weird humor, more out-and-out struggle against the forces of evil, > and more identity crisis for our heroes. Torchwood could use some more > memorable villains, like the Mayor of Sunnydale or Glory. And Captain Jack > needs > to have a few episodes of spouting Whedonesque dialogue as he sluts around > Cardiff and hits on every adult sentient being he meets. And even though > Torchwood > took a major leap into darkness this last time around, the show could always > go > darker and dirtier especially now that the Hub and the team have both > been wrecked. We can just see the story of Torchwood crawling out of the ashes > and trying to figure out their role now, as told by Joss Whedon and co.? Where > do they go from here? > > > House and Fringe > > Two shows about unconventional teams who deal with weird science stuff > even as the most brilliant, curmudgeonly member of the team skirts the > edge of insanity. Can't you just imagine J.J. Abrams and the rest of the > Fringe > team getting their claws into House's drug-addled, dysfunctional life, while > the House gang goes full-throttle on Walter and the Fringe Division? > > > Of course, House has been on the air longer and has had more time > to delve into the neuroses and relationships of its main characters. But also, > one major difference between the shows is that House has romance and sexual > intrigue there's Foreteen, of course, plus the ongoing will-they, > won't-they with House and Cuddy. > > > > > > What the Fringe writers could bring to House: more weird > science, and less weird psychology in the most recent season, we've > spent more more time figuring out the mysteries of House's mind than we have > tackling medical mysteries, like weird parasites or insect-bites in unlikely > spots that cause mysterious paralysis. Sure, House has been on for > longer and we've been delving into the character more deeply, but the Fringe > writers could pump up the show's weirdness levels satisfyingly. > > > Meanwhile, Fringe could use the opposite we could use a lot > more speculation about the psychology of its characters. Sure, we get hints > about the weird experiments that characters like Olivia underwent as kids. But > that's not psychology, it's plot development. Fringe could stand to delve a > bit > more into what makes its characters tick. > > > And think about it this is the right time for the two shows to swap > writing staffs, too House is going into a mental institution (where we > first met Walter Bishop) and Walter is going to become a lot more independent > and autonomous, letting him become more like House. > > > True Blood and > Heroes > > What would happen if these two soap operas traded off writing staffs? > Bringing Alan Ball and his gang to the perennially conflicted mutants might do > them the world of good and maybe Heroes' writers would get > their groove back if they got to write for Lafayette, Eric and the rest. > > > It's weird to think that both Heroes and True Blood are > soap operas, but they kind of are the main difference is, True > Blood is a lot stickier (both in the sense that people obsess a lot more > about True Blood's characters, and in the sense that there are weird > fluids everywhere), while Heroes often has much higher stakes and more > of a comic-book, action-adventure feel. > > > > > > So it's easy to think of ways that the True Blood team could > revitalize Heroes. As Lauren points out, "Sylar would actually > eat brains." The weird murder-flirtation between Sylar and Claire would > get a lot deeper, and all of the show's relationships would suddenly be much > more gothic and byzantine. > > > The dark, secret world of the Company, with its endless family drama going > back decades, would gain a whole new layer of murkiness and detail, much like > all the stuff we're learning about vampire society on True Blood. We'd > get a lot more fun, quirky world-building moments on Heroes. And can > you picture Alan Ball writing HRG, the tormented-but-suave-but-dorky family > man? He would suddenly have a lot more layers. And he'd be naked. > > > But the much-maligned Heroes team could also bring some fun to True > Blood. One of the things Heroes does really well is come up with > out-of-left-field superpowers and then imagine how they would really work, and > how they'd affect your life, in reality. If the Heroes writers ran True Blood, > Jason would probably get powers similar to Sookies except, of course, > he would see the future. You might see a bit more of how the strange mixture > of > powers in Bon Temps actually messes with people's lives. Plus maybe the Heroes > writers could cut loose and write the kind of beyond-dysfunctional, messed-up > characters that they don't get to create that often. And it would be > fascinating to see Heroes deal with the added theme of religion that > crops up a lot in True Blood. > > > Breaking Bad and > Eureka > > These are both shows about science, and about the quirky people who make a > living off science. In AMC's critically acclaimed Breaking Bad, we > follow Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who's got a pregnant wife > and a son with cerebral palsy, and then he finds out he's got terminal lung > cancer. His insurance won't pay for the treatments, so he decides to start > making and selling methamphetamine to secure his family's future. Meanwhile, > in > Eureka, there's a whole town full of science geniuses who create > oddball projects for fun and profit, with often disastrous (but never > horrifying) results. > > > > > > So they're both about people using science to get ahead, but Breaking > Bad is about the dark, nasty side of science, while Eureka is > happy and easy-going. Everybody's rich, or at least comfortable, in Eureka, > while Walter White is barely getting by and needs to resort to drug-dealing to > save his family from ruin. (Walter's drug-dealer name is > "Heisenberg," and he uses mercury fulminate, an explosive, as a > weapon. He also uses his chemistry-teacher knowledge to quadruple his meth > production.) > > > So what would the writers of Eureka bring to Breaking Bad? > Probably a lot more science shout-outs. In addition to using Heisenberg as his > drug-dealer name, Walt would probably start finding himself experiencing > things > that are right out of classic science fiction movies. And the science would > get > a lot odder, with Walt possibly coming up with wild new additives to lace his > meth with meth that makes you start aging backwards? Maybe Walt would > come up with some zanier ways of dealing with the drug lords he runs up > against, like catching them in zero-gravity fields or something? > > > As for Eureka, the Breaking Bad writers might delve a little > bit more into the underside of the little town of geniuses. Exactly how does > their relationship with the Defense Dept. work? And what happens when some of > their more potent inventions really do fall into drastically wrong hands? > > > Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Venture Bros. > > These are two of the most vivid and fascinating animated shows on TV right > now so what would happen if you turned the Lucasfilm writers loose on > the Venture Bros., and let the Venture staff have a crack at the Clone > Wars? > > > The main difference between these shows, says Graeme, is that the Venture > Bros. writers are deeply bitter whereas the Clone Wars' writers are, > at their heart, very sincere. > > > > > > So maybe if the Venture Bros. writers got to take a turn writing > the Clone Wars, you'd immediately have more weird pop-culture humor. > But you'd also get more investigation into the bitterness that's just under > the > surface of the Star Wars universe the fact that Anakin is a > jerk who's destined to become the scourge of the galaxy. Plus the fact that > the > clone army is made up of helpless slaves. All of the characters in Clone > Wars would become a lot more neurotic, and the clones would become like > the Venture Bros.' henchmen. Inevitably, the show would start pointing to more > of the darkness in its premise, but also poking fun at it and it might > become like a better written version of Robot Chicken Star Wars along the way. > Plus, it would be fantastic to see what the Venture Bros. scribes > would do with Anakin. > > > Meanwhile, if the Clone Wars staff came over to Venture Bros., that > show would become much more of a straightforward action-adventure show > it might become a bit like Johnny Quest, even. But we'd also suddenly > see a lot more weird politics, and the show would start showing us different > factions scheming and intriguing against each other. There might be less > resolution in each episode which is saying something, considering how > little resolution Venture Bros. already gives us. And a revamped Venture > Bros. would start giving us morals at the end of each episode, like > "Remember, Brock, Sometimes violence ISN'T the answer." > > > Additional reporting by Graeme McMillan, Lauren Davis, Meredith Woerner > and Annalee Newitz. > > > > > Tracey de Morsella, Managing Producer > > The Green Economy Post > > http://greeneconomypost.com > > tra...@... > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Hotmail® is up to 70% faster. Now good news travels really fast. > http://windowslive.com/online/hotmail?ocid=PID23391::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HYGN_faster:082009 >
