You mean franchise, period? The comics were out long before the 1987 cartoon.
A Hippie in the House of Mouse (Jim Henson at Disney, 1980)
- Thread starter Geekhis Khan
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I kind of wonder if Jim Henson would had any thoughts on the Macross portion of Robotech. "Force of Arms" was always a chilling episode to me because the Zentradi rain of death killed most of the Earth's population, rendering the RDF's victory a highly phyrric one.
Hopefully, Carl Macek has better luck with the Robotech movie TTL.
It should be interesting to note that Tokyo Movie Shinsha animated for Disney shows Ducktales and The Adventure of Winnie-the-Pooh OTL so they may have to have to bite the bullet and outsource. However, the animation quality of both those shows was actually much better than, let's say, the Toei-animated episodes of Transformers. Plus, there could be some benefits to working with TMS down the line. It would tickle me pink if Henson convinced Disney to distribute Akira through Fantasia.
And before I forget, I thought I would bring up Gargoyles creator, Greg Weisman. He's currently working to the editorial staff at DC Comics at this point ITTL but eventually went to work for Disney as a development executive after completing graduate school. Would it be far enough for the butterflies to do their work, or is it possible that he would work under Henson?
Actually, I meant the live-action film series from New Line Cinema before they became Nickelodeon characters.
Yeah. Hyperion sounds like the best bet if they even attempt to distribute Akira at all. For all we know, it could be a different company entirely that does this tough deed.
Might I suggest Hollywood Pictures, just to stick it to Disney and show how much anime is desired in the States to the Suits in charge?
Alrighty. I was taking a shot in the dark, but I do wonder just how much of an impact Disney/Hyperion or Hollywood Pictures would have on the film's gross. It made $1,000,000 for its limited US release in 1989. Would there be a wider release if either picked it up?
In the case of the TMNT (well, splinter in the compactor aside) the violence is generally campier and more commedic and doesn't go out of its way to "glorify war", or so I assume Henson would think. TMNT also arguably is based on a real IP (the comic) and the merch came later, rather than directly and shamelessly marketing the toys like GI Joe or He Man. Again, my assessment of the man and where he'd creatively interpret his values or not.
TMNT will come up.
On Robotech I think Henson would have recognized from the start that it was intended for mature audiences and not a vehicle to sell toys to 8 year olds.
Most of the OTL Disney animated TV shows were indeed done in Japan. In OTL Disney broke the Union in '82 and started outsourcing their animation like everyone else. Here the Union still has some leverage. But with the high costs of it all, something will have to chnge for TV animation to stay profitble.
Akira will come up. I'm still working through my thoughts on Weisman & Gargoyles.
If Weisman is currently working in DC Comics in this timeline, how about we see Gargoyles as a DC comic book instead of as a Disney cartoon? Why would I choose that change?
1: Gargoyles, the show, was clearly made to piggyback on the success of Batman: The Animated Series.
2: After the show ended, Weisman was responsible for The Spectacular Spider-Man and Young Justice, which the former is regarded as one of the best Spider-Man shows of all time, and the latter is based on a DC comic book.
3: If the Gargoyles series still gets made in the 90's, it would most likely be part of the DCAU, which would possibly add another great show to the universe's appeal to both casual and hardcore DC fans.
God, I hope not. Or if it is part of the DCAU, it's only part of the DCAU and never becomes part of the comics shared universe. Gargoyles was good because it allowed for character development, it was kept control of by its creator right the way through, and because they weren't afraid of shaking up the status quo. If it got added to DC...
I mean, as one example, Xanatos was a good villain because they kept his writing consistent. If he became 'A DC character', he'd inevitably suffer decay at the hands of whoever took the character on later.
Good point. Much as the cancellation sucked, the last thing Gargoyles needs is to be rebooted and/or recycled for the next three decades like TMNT was.
Well, I suggested that butterfly based on what Weisman was doing at this point in this timeline, combined with his OTL career as of this year.
With that said, how would you react if someone like, say, Frank Miller or Rob Liefeld were to handle the Manhattan Clan? Be honest.
Miller: Xanatos is the real hero, an Ayn Rand style Objectivist Ubermench saving the city from evil socialists.
Liefeld: The Gargoyles use guns. Big. Fucking. Guns. Demona manages to show off her prodigious chest and backside in every scene, often at the same time against all anatomical possibility. Puck constantly breaks the 4th wall.
Liefeld can't draw consistently to save his life, and Frank Miller just doesn't do supernatural at all. On the other hand, I wonder what would happen to them 8n the hands of, say, Kurt Busiek, Geoff Johns, Jeph Loeb, Chuck Dixon, or even Judd Winnick. Not to mention how the art direction would have gone with George Parez, Bill Sinkiewicz, Mark Weringo, Esad Ribic, Jim Lee, or Mike Deodato.
Yeah, I do agree with Kalvan. Maybe even get a relatively obscure writer from OTL that got at DC because of small, unknown butterflies that add up to it.
I am under the belief that I apparently want to watch the world burn. Or at least, the respect people have for Gargoyles.
I don't know about that. I would not mind seeing Goliath and Macbeth in Justice League Dark. What if Weisman took over Constantine ITTL and the Gargoyles made their appearance in a story arc. I like that. Then Constantine gets made as DCAU show. Yes please.
Nah. Like I say, a major strength for Gargoyles is that it didn’t have ‘eternal status quo’. Keep it away from DC, or that’ll be its fate...
Gargoyles was pretty much 90s animation at its finest - it shouldn't be Messed With.
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