Pop Culture Timelines Go-To Thread

Lavanya Six

Lavanya Six

Ogrebear said:
@Lavanya Six So a total Reboot of Doctor Who then, not even an attempt to tie it back into the old stuff?
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Yup. 100% reboot. That approach got proposed a few times during the 1990s, but Philip Segal (who largely led the efforts for an American-partnered revival) was a fan of the original series, and pushed for it to be a continuation of the original series. But a direct sequel/revival wasn't a given. Especially if you put people in charge who don't have any real nostalgia for the original material.

That the BBC would even partner with a minor network like The WB is my one unicorn in the garden, I'll freely admit. But my reasoning is that ITTL, the Doctor Who brand is a lot less healthy by the mid-2000s, and the BBC doesn't realize they're sitting on such a lucrative IP. If I ever actually write this as a proper timeline, I think I'd include backlash for the BBC selling its magic cow for beans.

I guess Kripke would at least bring some of the Monsters/Horror back to the show- possibly not reinvent the Daleks?
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I think the Daleks would appear, more or less in classic form. As for monsters/horror, it'd be heavy on those, to the point that the first season of Doctor Who ITTL would be shown after the watershed. (Season 2 would depend on the dice rolls.) Production values would be more akin to Smallville than the OTL revival. Especially with 22 episodes in a season verses 13, there'd be a lot of "historical" stories wallpapered with cheap vintage clothing.

I didn't mention the dice rolls! Inspired by various quests at the Spacebattles forum, and the "Separated at Birth" Draka TL here, I cooked up a "dice template" to help me figure out the production staff drama.

* Unless otherwise noted, all roles are 1d20.

SEASON [X] PRODUCTION QUALITY
Script quality:
+4 legacy material to riff off from
Direction:
+2 nuts & bolts WB/CW competency
Production:
+3 British cash
Music:
+2 classic rock
F/x:
+3 British cash


NATURAL 1s: For one turn, (-3) to the WB-BBC Relations roll
NATURAL 20s: For one turn, (+2) to the WB-BBC Relations roll

OVERALL PRODUCTION QUALITY = (Sum of "Production" rolls, divided by 5)
1-5: (-4) to critical reception and ratings rolls this turn
6-10: (-2) to critical reception and ratings rolls this turn
11-15: (+2) to critical reception and ratings rolls this turn
16-20: (+4) to critical reception and ratings rolls this turn


SEASON [X] ACTING
John Slattery's material:
John Slattery's performance:
+2 veteran actor

Leighton Meester's material:
Leighton Meester's performance:

Jensen Ackles's material:
Jensen Ackles's performance:

Alona Tal's material:
Alona Tal's performance:

"Material" refers to the quality of the scripts provided to the actor. This covers their arc(s) over the season, their character-centric spotlight episodes, and memorable scenes/dialogue. "Performance" refers to what the actor does with their material.


NATURAL 20:
* The actor gets an Emmy nomination. (Roll individual d20s for the five nominees)
* (+3) to final "Overall Acting" composite score.
NATURAL 1:
* The actor leaves the show or is fired. (DC for show to avoid backlash: 10)
* (-2) to final "Overall Acting" composite score.

COMPOSITE ACTING = (Sum of "Acting" rolls, divided by 4)
1-5: (-3) to critical reception and ratings rolls
6-10: (-1) to critical reception and ratings rolls
11-15: (+1) to critical reception and ratings rolls
16-20: (+3) to critical reception and ratings rolls


Season [X] ratings (America):
+1: it's science fiction
+1: "scary just got sexy" factor

Season [X] ratings (United Kingdom):
+1: "scary just got sexy" factor
+2: 'member Doctor Who? I 'member

Season [X] critical reception (America):
-1: it's science fiction
-1: it's on The WB / CW

Season [X] critical reception (United Kingdom):
-2: perception it should be a family program
-1: it's made by Americans!

WB-BBC Relations:
+1: thankfulness this project is finally getting off the air
-2: not family-friendly (Seasons 1-2; penalty reduced to -1 in Season 3 onwards)

NATURAL 1s: (-3) to all Production rolls next turn.
NATURAL 20s: (+3) to all Production rolls next turn.

1-5: (-1) to all Production rolls next turn.
6-10: (+0) to all Production rolls next turn.
11-15: (+1) to all Production rolls next turn.
16-20: (+2) to all Production rolls next turn.


BLACK SWAN ROLL (d100)
(1): A fatal on-set accident veils the show in controversy. (-4 to all rolls next Turn)
(2-99): n/a
(100): The Queen sends an understated fan letter. (+4 to all rolls next Turn)

In my test run for the system, Alona Tal got canned after two seasons.
 

NoName

Here's another Disney one: what if, instead of Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, and the like, Disney had brought back the Sherman Brothers to do songs for the Disney Renaissance?
 

Ry Guy

Banned
In God Emperor Truex’s INDYCAR Timeline we just finished Marlboro Weekend at Michigan consisting of the Marlboro Challenge and the Marlboro 500. Also, some HUGE silly season was announced before and during the Weekend, including one that changes this TL forever.
 

NoName

So, I've been thinking about the TL where Frank Wells isn't killed and Jeffrey Katzenberg stays at Disney. Here's what I've come up with:
  • The Disney Renaissance will last longer, and Michael Eisner won't become as corrupt as he did IOTL. That means Disney will probably have a better relationship with Pixar, and maybe Toy Story 2 will be butterflied (since the reason that film exists is because Eisner demanded a Toy Story sequel). And in that case, maybe the company won't churn out as many direct-to-video cheapquels as they did IOTL.
  • Since Dreamworks was a big part of the death toll for 2D animated films IOTL, maybe 2D animation will last longer ITTL, with CG animation being relegated to mainly Pixar until some other studio gets the courage to try it.
  • Steven Spielberg stays at Amblimation, which releases Cats in 1997 and Shrek in 1999 (the latter will be 2D-animated and different from OTL's version).
  • I have two different ideas for Don Bluth. Maybe he stays at Fox Animation and directs Ice Age as a hand-drawn film as was originally planned (especially since part of the reason that was reworked into a CG film IOTL was Shrek's influence). Or after Titan AE flops, he joins Amblimation and reunites with Spielberg.
Any other suggestions?
 
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TheDetailer

TheDetailer

I have been wondering about this for a little while: Could there be a way where social media websites like MySpace and Friendster still exist and are still prominent into the 2010s?
 

connorCD

TheDetailer said:
I have been wondering about this for a little while: Could there be a way where social media websites like MySpace and Friendster still exist and are still prominent into the 2010s?
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Friendster is fairly easy. Just have them accept Google's acquisition. Myspace kinda depends on what happens with Facebook, though so I'm not absolutrly certain regarding that.
 

Nivek

Ryan Kelman said:
Wanna guess what that silly season announcement is @Nivek ?
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Just posting the idea, maybe unlike this forum, i don't consider dr who a holy cow(for me...i watched the revival/2006 version..never liked it at all, watched on english with subs on a regional channel..Luther was miles ahead of who) so what is no Dr Who at all?
 

Ry Guy

Banned
Nivek said:
Just posting the idea, maybe unlike this forum, i don't consider dr who a holy cow(for me...i watched the revival/2006 version..never liked it at all, watched on english with subs on a regional channel..Luther was miles ahead of who) so what is no Dr Who at all?
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Uh this is for that NASCAR Timeline I just mentioned @Nivek .
 
Razor Ryu Ramirez

Razor Ryu Ramirez

Was thinking about a scenario where the Resident Evil franchise begins as it did in OTL, but the Paul W. Anderson movies aren't made and instead a joint American-Japanese production called Resident Evil: The Animated Series takes its place, debuting on the fledgling cable channel FX in Summer 2000. The show has a distinct violent 80's-90's anime OVA style and generating a lot of controversy for its TV-MA rating and graphic content, but it becomes a smash hit and gains acclaim despite its animated format.

Unlike the schlocky sci-fi action of Anderson's films, this animated series is like George A. Romero meets The Shield and the first three seasons roughly correspond to the first three games, with some intentional canon discrepancies (but not to the severity of the RE movies in OTL) and this would have a major impact on the development and cultural perceptions of television, animation, and video games.

Oh, and Capcom buys out White Wolf in 1996 after Mark Rein-Hagen is ousted from the company and sells all his shares to the gaming company. This is the initial point of divergence.
 
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Mark1878

Donor
Lavanya Six said:
Yup. 100% reboot. That approach got proposed a few times during the 1990s, but Philip Segal (who largely led the efforts for an American-partnered revival) was a fan of the original series, and pushed for it to be a continuation of the original series. But a direct sequel/revival wasn't a given. Especially if you put people in charge who don't have any real nostalgia for the original material.

That the BBC would even partner with a minor network like The WB is my one unicorn in the garden, I'll freely admit. But my reasoning is that ITTL, the Doctor Who brand is a lot less healthy by the mid-2000s, and the BBC doesn't realize they're sitting on such a lucrative IP. If I ever actually write this as a proper timeline, I think I'd include backlash for the BBC selling its magic cow for beans.



I think the Daleks would appear, more or less in classic form. As for monsters/horror, it'd be heavy on those, to the point that the first season of Doctor Who ITTL would be shown after the watershed. (Season 2 would depend on the dice rolls.) Production values would be more akin to Smallville than the OTL revival. Especially with 22 episodes in a season verses 13, there'd be a lot of "historical" stories wallpapered with cheap vintage clothing.
Click to expand...
I think a bigger unicorn is having it run after the watershed. Dr Who always was a childrens' program. The UK memory of it is that children ran behind the sofa to hide from the monsters. OK the US watershed is different from the UK one. US allows much more violence (see the US version of Tomorrow People) but the UK can do more normal relationships but still I think that would be a show stopper.

As for Daleks that might depend on Terry Nation - I think he owns the rights not the BBC.
 
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Electric Monk

Electric Monk

connorCD said:
One of which involves Turner keeping MGM/UA perpetually instead of selling back some of its assets back to Tracinda and keeping the rest.
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Not quite what you wanted but Ted Turner did take a run at CBS in 1985. It’s possible he succeeds. Also quite possible that General Electric buys CBS to ward off Turner, which perhaps pushes him to buy NBC?
 
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connorCD

Electric Monk said:
Not quite what you wanted but Ted Turner did take a run at CBS in 1985. It’s possible he succeeds. Also quite possible that General Electric buys CBS to ward off Turner, which perhaps pushes him to buy NBC?
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I was very much aware of that proposal. I'm unsure whether or not GE was interested in CBS as much as it was with NBC, but its interesting nonetheless. It would also be funny (even if implausible) if Viacom ends up acquiring CBS earlier than IOTL instead of acquiring Warner-Amex Television
 
Electric Monk

Electric Monk

connorCD said:
I was very much aware of that proposal. I'm unsure whether or not GE was interested in CBS as much as it was with NBC,

It would also be funny (even if implausible) if Viacom ends up acquiring CBS earlier than IOTL instead of acquiring Warner-Amex Television
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Ken Auletta in Three Blind Mice says they were (basically) a butterfly away from a deal. CBS never got back to GE because of some egos and what not.

Hah. Viacom did buy a CBS station in this time period, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility.
 
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ANARCHY_4_ALL

Razor Ryu Ramirez said:
Was thinking about a scenario where the Resident Evil franchise begins as it did in OTL, but the Paul W. Anderson movies aren't made and instead a joint American-Japanese production called Resident Evil: The Animated Series takes its place, debuting on the fledgling cable channel FX in Summer 2000. The show has a distinct violent 80's-90's anime OVA style and generating a lot of controversy for its TV-MA rating and graphic content, but it becomes a smash hit and gains acclaim despite its animated format.

Unlike the schlocky sci-fi action of Anderson's films, this animated series is like George A. Romero meets The Shield and the first three seasons roughly correspond to the first three games, with some intentional canon discrepancies (but not to the severity of the RE movies in OTL) and this would have a major impact on the development and cultural perceptions of television, animation, and video games.

Oh, and Capcom buys out White Wolf in 1996 after Mark Rein-Hagen is ousted from the company and all his shares to the gaming company. This is the initial point of divergence.
Click to expand...
Really digging this idea. If I recall a series of comic books came out around that time OTL. At least I remember reading them around then. They were very graphic and my friends and I had to be sneaky reading them as we were in middle school. 😆 But they could be helpful in figuring out the details of this animated series.
 
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