Pop Culture Oneshot Scenarios
- Thread starter The Director
- Start date
My first timeline for Alternate History Forum, please go easy on me.
We aren’t starting this ATL in 1982 – the year of Momo’s death. This ATL starts in 1973 where two Teoi Animation-made tech-based magical girls make their first appearance.: the android knows as Cutie Honey and the cyborg know as Limit-Chan. Cutie Honey gets better ratings in the ATL then she did in OTL – and get to last for 40 episodes. Meaning Limit-Chan gets even more terrible of a rating in the ATL then she did in OTL – so Teoi high-ups orders the team behind Limit-Chan to kill Limit-Chan. After Limit-Chan's death episode aired, Teoi becomes laughing stock – and will be voiding magic girls for a least almost two full decades. Lucky, Teoi still their other works including their Kamen Rider and Super Sentai business which follow their regular path as in OOTL.
Now the history of the world follows the usual OOTL path in 1982 – when Ashii Productions decide to create Minky Momo with help from Angel Music Inc. and Poppy. Angel Music Inc. Like OOTL, Poppy was in charge of toys while Angel Music Inc. was in charge of the music. Like OOTL, “Magical Princess Minky Momo” was a hit with the audience – and the music albums made by Angel Music Inc. was a hit – flying off record stores selves across Japan – meanwhile, like OOTL, Poppy’s toys were made terrible and much of Poppy's Minky Momo stays on the toy selves across Japan – and like OOTL with deciding to get out what they thought was a sinking ship. Angel Music Inc. who has been doing hot – up their backing of the series and reveals that they were part of a huge Australian company named Angel Media Inc. who had the biggest piece of the Australian toy market – making the American toy companies green with envy. The market guy for Angel Music Inc. knows that Ashii Production was smarting from Poppy’s insulting leaving – and had researched magic girls learning about Teoi’s “laughing stocks” from the death of Limit-Chan back in the 1970s before even starting up on "Minky Momo".. Magic girls series had pop up in Japan – and people, animals, and plants have been killed – but not a magic girl since Teoi’s Limit-Chan was killed in 1970s. One of the Ashii Productions writers remarked, “We will be more of a laughing stock then Teoi if we killed Momo.” The market guy for Angel Music Inc. answer that question with another, “What if Momo was not Momo?” One of the animation, “A decoy Momo! Not a bad idea!”
So, they come up with Ino, the Princess of Nightmares and that the fact, she was awakened up before anyone – and awaken and lure Minky Momo to a distant area of Ferisima and turn herself into a perfect copy of Minky Momo before the King of Ferisima was waking and found out that Ferisima had been disconnected from Earth – and sent Ino’s “Minky Momo” to Earth with Sinobook, Mocha, and Piplru.
Eposide #1-Eposide #45 of the anime same as OTTL.
Episode #46 is similar to OTTL, expect that we heard Momo stated, “Why are you acting like I’m dead?” to her Ferisima parents.
Episode #47 has Momo explains to her Ferisima parents that Ino awoke her up, lure her into a distant part of Ferisima and turn her to stone only to once Ino is dead to the universe. King and Queen remarked that Ino did a good job of faking Momo to successfully fool them. Ferisima’s computer explains with Ino’s death by toy truck and rebirth as normal human – it freed the real Momo from Ino’s stone statue spell.
Episode #48 deals with both the recent problems that had effected both the Gourment Pop and the Minty Stick. The Gourment Pop’s problem is easy as King uses his magic to bring it back and refill it with dream fuel. As for the Minty Stick, the Ferisima computer must use four of the 11 jewels that Ino’s Minky Momo restored to create a new magic stick for the real Momo. Momo picks the first two and the last two jewels for use to create the Dream Stick. Momo returns to Earth – and arrives – her magic effect the veterinarian family – changing the human baby's name to Ino.
From Episode #49 onwards, the real Minky Momo starts to finished what Ino’s Minky Momo starting – the business of getting Ferisima down – and is successful in getting all of the jewels of the Crown restored – but they is a problem, Ferisima isn’t moving back to Earth. Minky Momo wonders what up – and finds a Time Vortex – leading her back into the pace, where she faced an evil shadow. Minky Momo turns herself into a Sliver Age-Style Superman-style superhero to throw Ferisima to Mars after defeating the evil shadow. Just as soon as her Ferisima’s parents learn this, Ferisima crashlands on Mars – and the final jewel appears in the Dream Crown transforming Mars into Ferisima.
The last episode has King and Queen of Ferisima visiting the veterinarian couple – and explaining what on Earth has just happened. They are also joined by the Lady of Nightmares, Ino’s real mother – who reveals that the evil shadow was Ino’s negative side.
Things go on as OTL until 1985, Harmony Gold was in a bad place. Not having any success in getting “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross” from the Japanese studio and the recent staff raid done on it by Haim Saban like Haim did OTTL – didn’t help Harmony Gold’s issues. Though hearing that Ashii Productions was selling the rights to dub “Minky Momo” to any studio that wants to. Harmony Gold attacked like a shark that found a bunch of dying bodies in the ocean – and come with rights to dub “Minky Momo” for English speaking audience. Harmony Gold quickly got everyone the page – and dub the series – with Momo becoming Gigi and Ino become Faye – a reference to Morgan Le Fay from the myths of King Arthur.
By the time, they are done finish dubbing all of the episodes, it’s November 1986 – and certain network named Nickelodeon wants to use it for their network. In December 1986, one of the “Special Delivery” that month is “Gigi and the Fountain of Youth” – and it’s got good ratings for Nickelodeon to greenlight to air the series.
In January of 1987, “The Magic World of Gigi” found it’s placed at 7:30 PM before Nickelodeon switches to “Nick At Nite”. The ratings are good – and Nickelodeon asks for another anime. Harmony Gold is happy to do so, and using “Perfect Creamy, the Perfect Pop Star”, Harmony Gold’s dub of “Magical Angel Creamy Mami” – which make Nickelodeon happy as it’s placed 7:00 PM spot right before “The Magic World of Gigi” – starting in June of 1987.
The next series for Harmony Gold to dub is 1989’s reboot of 1969’s Toei Animation magic girl series, “Akko-Chan’s Got A Secret” – which Harmony Gold transformed into “Alice’s Magic Mirror” – which lands on Nickelodeon’s new preschooler block, Nick Jr., usually at 10:00 AM.
In the Summer of 1994, Teoi is selling the rights to “Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon”. Harmony Gold USA sees that DiC is working overtime – and realized that DiC thinks Teoi is selling a fully English-dubbed series for them. Harmony Gold talked and convinced DiC that Teoi just selling the raw Japanese anime. DiC and Harmony Gold team up – if Harmony Gold was right, DiC will use them to dub Sailor Moon, if Harmony Gold will help buy DiC rights to the series. Harmony Gold agreed. By late September of 1994, DiC calls Harmony Gold as they were right – and Harmony Gold was able to dub Sailor Moon – landing on Nickelodeon again in the summer of 1995 – this time at 8:00 PM – as Nick At Nite decided to start at 9:00 PM instead of 8:00 PM. Sailor Moon is a big hit – and Harmony Gold can get to end of “Sailor Moon S” before DiC gets scared of a new arrival from Japan, 4Kids’s dub of “Pocket Monsters” anime as “Pok[FONT=Liberation Serif, serif]è[/FONT]mon”.
For the rest of the 1990s and most of the early 2000s, Harmony Gold USA creates a book series based on the four series they have been dubbing: “Alice’s Magic Mirror”, “Perfect Creamy, the Perfect Pop Star”, “The Magic World of Gigi”, & “Sailor Moon”.
In the fall of 2009, Harmony Gold USA surprises everyone with “Pretty Knights”, a dub of both seasons of “Yes PreCure 5” for the streaming service known as Netflix as well as adding both the dub and the original version of all previous anime they had done.
To this day in this ITL, Harmony Gold USA is the dubber of “Pretty Cure” like Saban Studios is to “Super Sentai” to many fans of Japanese media.
“Saving Minky Momo”:
Ok. Everyone and their aunt’s cats in OOTL know about Minky Momo’s death by truck because of Poppy pulling their money for making the series – despite Minky Momo’s Japanese audience having a good rating for her 1980’s anime.
We aren’t starting this ATL in 1982 – the year of Momo’s death. This ATL starts in 1973 where two Teoi Animation-made tech-based magical girls make their first appearance.: the android knows as Cutie Honey and the cyborg know as Limit-Chan. Cutie Honey gets better ratings in the ATL then she did in OTL – and get to last for 40 episodes. Meaning Limit-Chan gets even more terrible of a rating in the ATL then she did in OTL – so Teoi high-ups orders the team behind Limit-Chan to kill Limit-Chan. After Limit-Chan's death episode aired, Teoi becomes laughing stock – and will be voiding magic girls for a least almost two full decades. Lucky, Teoi still their other works including their Kamen Rider and Super Sentai business which follow their regular path as in OOTL.
Now the history of the world follows the usual OOTL path in 1982 – when Ashii Productions decide to create Minky Momo with help from Angel Music Inc. and Poppy. Angel Music Inc. Like OOTL, Poppy was in charge of toys while Angel Music Inc. was in charge of the music. Like OOTL, “Magical Princess Minky Momo” was a hit with the audience – and the music albums made by Angel Music Inc. was a hit – flying off record stores selves across Japan – meanwhile, like OOTL, Poppy’s toys were made terrible and much of Poppy's Minky Momo stays on the toy selves across Japan – and like OOTL with deciding to get out what they thought was a sinking ship. Angel Music Inc. who has been doing hot – up their backing of the series and reveals that they were part of a huge Australian company named Angel Media Inc. who had the biggest piece of the Australian toy market – making the American toy companies green with envy. The market guy for Angel Music Inc. knows that Ashii Production was smarting from Poppy’s insulting leaving – and had researched magic girls learning about Teoi’s “laughing stocks” from the death of Limit-Chan back in the 1970s before even starting up on "Minky Momo".. Magic girls series had pop up in Japan – and people, animals, and plants have been killed – but not a magic girl since Teoi’s Limit-Chan was killed in 1970s. One of the Ashii Productions writers remarked, “We will be more of a laughing stock then Teoi if we killed Momo.” The market guy for Angel Music Inc. answer that question with another, “What if Momo was not Momo?” One of the animation, “A decoy Momo! Not a bad idea!”
So, they come up with Ino, the Princess of Nightmares and that the fact, she was awakened up before anyone – and awaken and lure Minky Momo to a distant area of Ferisima and turn herself into a perfect copy of Minky Momo before the King of Ferisima was waking and found out that Ferisima had been disconnected from Earth – and sent Ino’s “Minky Momo” to Earth with Sinobook, Mocha, and Piplru.
Eposide #1-Eposide #45 of the anime same as OTTL.
Episode #46 is similar to OTTL, expect that we heard Momo stated, “Why are you acting like I’m dead?” to her Ferisima parents.
Episode #47 has Momo explains to her Ferisima parents that Ino awoke her up, lure her into a distant part of Ferisima and turn her to stone only to once Ino is dead to the universe. King and Queen remarked that Ino did a good job of faking Momo to successfully fool them. Ferisima’s computer explains with Ino’s death by toy truck and rebirth as normal human – it freed the real Momo from Ino’s stone statue spell.
Episode #48 deals with both the recent problems that had effected both the Gourment Pop and the Minty Stick. The Gourment Pop’s problem is easy as King uses his magic to bring it back and refill it with dream fuel. As for the Minty Stick, the Ferisima computer must use four of the 11 jewels that Ino’s Minky Momo restored to create a new magic stick for the real Momo. Momo picks the first two and the last two jewels for use to create the Dream Stick. Momo returns to Earth – and arrives – her magic effect the veterinarian family – changing the human baby's name to Ino.
From Episode #49 onwards, the real Minky Momo starts to finished what Ino’s Minky Momo starting – the business of getting Ferisima down – and is successful in getting all of the jewels of the Crown restored – but they is a problem, Ferisima isn’t moving back to Earth. Minky Momo wonders what up – and finds a Time Vortex – leading her back into the pace, where she faced an evil shadow. Minky Momo turns herself into a Sliver Age-Style Superman-style superhero to throw Ferisima to Mars after defeating the evil shadow. Just as soon as her Ferisima’s parents learn this, Ferisima crashlands on Mars – and the final jewel appears in the Dream Crown transforming Mars into Ferisima.
The last episode has King and Queen of Ferisima visiting the veterinarian couple – and explaining what on Earth has just happened. They are also joined by the Lady of Nightmares, Ino’s real mother – who reveals that the evil shadow was Ino’s negative side.
Things go on as OTL until 1985, Harmony Gold was in a bad place. Not having any success in getting “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross” from the Japanese studio and the recent staff raid done on it by Haim Saban like Haim did OTTL – didn’t help Harmony Gold’s issues. Though hearing that Ashii Productions was selling the rights to dub “Minky Momo” to any studio that wants to. Harmony Gold attacked like a shark that found a bunch of dying bodies in the ocean – and come with rights to dub “Minky Momo” for English speaking audience. Harmony Gold quickly got everyone the page – and dub the series – with Momo becoming Gigi and Ino become Faye – a reference to Morgan Le Fay from the myths of King Arthur.
By the time, they are done finish dubbing all of the episodes, it’s November 1986 – and certain network named Nickelodeon wants to use it for their network. In December 1986, one of the “Special Delivery” that month is “Gigi and the Fountain of Youth” – and it’s got good ratings for Nickelodeon to greenlight to air the series.
In January of 1987, “The Magic World of Gigi” found it’s placed at 7:30 PM before Nickelodeon switches to “Nick At Nite”. The ratings are good – and Nickelodeon asks for another anime. Harmony Gold is happy to do so, and using “Perfect Creamy, the Perfect Pop Star”, Harmony Gold’s dub of “Magical Angel Creamy Mami” – which make Nickelodeon happy as it’s placed 7:00 PM spot right before “The Magic World of Gigi” – starting in June of 1987.
The next series for Harmony Gold to dub is 1989’s reboot of 1969’s Toei Animation magic girl series, “Akko-Chan’s Got A Secret” – which Harmony Gold transformed into “Alice’s Magic Mirror” – which lands on Nickelodeon’s new preschooler block, Nick Jr., usually at 10:00 AM.
In the Summer of 1994, Teoi is selling the rights to “Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon”. Harmony Gold USA sees that DiC is working overtime – and realized that DiC thinks Teoi is selling a fully English-dubbed series for them. Harmony Gold talked and convinced DiC that Teoi just selling the raw Japanese anime. DiC and Harmony Gold team up – if Harmony Gold was right, DiC will use them to dub Sailor Moon, if Harmony Gold will help buy DiC rights to the series. Harmony Gold agreed. By late September of 1994, DiC calls Harmony Gold as they were right – and Harmony Gold was able to dub Sailor Moon – landing on Nickelodeon again in the summer of 1995 – this time at 8:00 PM – as Nick At Nite decided to start at 9:00 PM instead of 8:00 PM. Sailor Moon is a big hit – and Harmony Gold can get to end of “Sailor Moon S” before DiC gets scared of a new arrival from Japan, 4Kids’s dub of “Pocket Monsters” anime as “Pok[FONT=Liberation Serif, serif]è[/FONT]mon”.
For the rest of the 1990s and most of the early 2000s, Harmony Gold USA creates a book series based on the four series they have been dubbing: “Alice’s Magic Mirror”, “Perfect Creamy, the Perfect Pop Star”, “The Magic World of Gigi”, & “Sailor Moon”.
In the fall of 2009, Harmony Gold USA surprises everyone with “Pretty Knights”, a dub of both seasons of “Yes PreCure 5” for the streaming service known as Netflix as well as adding both the dub and the original version of all previous anime they had done.
To this day in this ITL, Harmony Gold USA is the dubber of “Pretty Cure” like Saban Studios is to “Super Sentai” to many fans of Japanese media.
The Pennsy After Saunders
In 1959, the Pennsylvania Railroad appointed Stuart T. Saunders, formerly of its subsidiary Norfolk & Western, as the CEO of the faltering railroad company. Once America's largest railroad network, the PRR of the 1960s was could best be described as a high school sports has-been who still needed to give up his frat-boy diet. In this analogy, the diet was the sheer number of branch and secondary lines that the PRR operated, which were beginning to be financial burdens. Naturally, one of Saunder's first jobs was launching an official investigation into the network. Looking at which secondary and branch lines were the most or least profitable, and cutting then accordingly. The final result of this "Saunders Report" would lead to the axe being dropped on the numerous rail lines that are featured in this program.
The general layout of each episodes starts with detailing the basics of the railroad in its heyday. Often including details like the communities it served and the type of goods and passengers it served. Following this is the aftermath of the PRR abandoning said line up until the present, with many lines often becoming tourist lines, shortlines, rail trails, or even the mainlines of other railroads. In the case of a line becoming a rail trail, we are frequently treated to a ride on a golf cart that is used to shoot video of the line. In the process, giving the impression that you're on a train speeding along it.
OOC: Special thanks to @WaterproofPotatoes for inspiring the analogy I used.
In 1959, the Pennsylvania Railroad appointed Stuart T. Saunders, formerly of its subsidiary Norfolk & Western, as the CEO of the faltering railroad company. Once America's largest railroad network, the PRR of the 1960s was could best be described as a high school sports has-been who still needed to give up his frat-boy diet. In this analogy, the diet was the sheer number of branch and secondary lines that the PRR operated, which were beginning to be financial burdens. Naturally, one of Saunder's first jobs was launching an official investigation into the network. Looking at which secondary and branch lines were the most or least profitable, and cutting then accordingly. The final result of this "Saunders Report" would lead to the axe being dropped on the numerous rail lines that are featured in this program.
The general layout of each episodes starts with detailing the basics of the railroad in its heyday. Often including details like the communities it served and the type of goods and passengers it served. Following this is the aftermath of the PRR abandoning said line up until the present, with many lines often becoming tourist lines, shortlines, rail trails, or even the mainlines of other railroads. In the case of a line becoming a rail trail, we are frequently treated to a ride on a golf cart that is used to shoot video of the line. In the process, giving the impression that you're on a train speeding along it.
OOC: Special thanks to @WaterproofPotatoes for inspiring the analogy I used.
Disney Unearthed
Created as an exclusive series for the Disney+ streaming service, this series details all sorts of lost media related to Disney's vast entertainment empire. Even including lost media from studios that are associated with, but not directly owned by Disney like Studio Ghibli, Nintendo, and Fox. Examples of some of the content featured includes songs, deleted scenes, concept and storyboards in the case of animated projects.
Some notable examples of the content detailed in this series includes:
- Bill Peet's original treatment for the Jungle Book, which depicted Mowgili as a slightly more vindictive character in the final act, before the decision was made to replace with the subplot about the hunter Buldeo leading to his final confrontation with Shere Kahn.
- The original sung-through version of Don Bluth's 1974 animated classic Kate Crackernuts, which had most of its music both in this draft and the final film composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber.Notably, this version has Anne's head become that of a sheep, instead of being transformed into the bizarre abomination in the final film.
- Concept art by George Lucas for the original Star Wars trilogy, including the abandoned idea of Luke and Leia being twins.
- Aborted development for a Miss Bianca film that eventually became one of the Disney Channel's first original hit TV series.
- Early plans by Don Bluth and Andrew Lloyd Webber to adapt the first two Railway Series books (Three Railway Engines and Thomas the Tank Engine), and its evolution into the stage play Starlight Express after Britt Allcroft beat them to the punch.
- Howard Ashman's original treatment for the 1991 animated classic Aladdin, before the characters of the Princess and Abbi were fused to create the character of Princess Jasmine.
- Development for a film about the life of Pocahontas, which evolved into the 1996 film The White Doe after director Richard Rich started adding in elements of the Virginia Dare story and the ballet Swan Lake.
Created as an exclusive series for the Disney+ streaming service, this series details all sorts of lost media related to Disney's vast entertainment empire. Even including lost media from studios that are associated with, but not directly owned by Disney like Studio Ghibli, Nintendo, and Fox. Examples of some of the content featured includes songs, deleted scenes, concept and storyboards in the case of animated projects.
Some notable examples of the content detailed in this series includes:
- Bill Peet's original treatment for the Jungle Book, which depicted Mowgili as a slightly more vindictive character in the final act, before the decision was made to replace with the subplot about the hunter Buldeo leading to his final confrontation with Shere Kahn.
- The original sung-through version of Don Bluth's 1974 animated classic Kate Crackernuts, which had most of its music both in this draft and the final film composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber.Notably, this version has Anne's head become that of a sheep, instead of being transformed into the bizarre abomination in the final film.
- Concept art by George Lucas for the original Star Wars trilogy, including the abandoned idea of Luke and Leia being twins.
- Aborted development for a Miss Bianca film that eventually became one of the Disney Channel's first original hit TV series.
- Early plans by Don Bluth and Andrew Lloyd Webber to adapt the first two Railway Series books (Three Railway Engines and Thomas the Tank Engine), and its evolution into the stage play Starlight Express after Britt Allcroft beat them to the punch.
- Howard Ashman's original treatment for the 1991 animated classic Aladdin, before the characters of the Princess and Abbi were fused to create the character of Princess Jasmine.
- Development for a film about the life of Pocahontas, which evolved into the 1996 film The White Doe after director Richard Rich started adding in elements of the Virginia Dare story and the ballet Swan Lake.
Atelier Aviation Addendum:
WWE SmackDown! Rated RKO Roster
This is a roster list of all WWE superstars, legends, managers, and NPCs for WWE SmackDown! Rated RKO released in October 26, 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and February 15th, 2007 for the PlayStation 3, which fans called this SmackDown! game "The Soul Calibur III of Wrestling Games" due to the enormous tons of content featured in and the biggest roster game ever in the WWE game after SmackDown! I Walk Alone at the time until WWE SmackDown! Traitorous Betrayal.WWE SmackDown! Rated RKO Roster
RAW
- 2 Cold Scorpio
- Alex Wright
- Austin Aires
- Big Show
- Billy Gunn
- Billy Kidman
- Bubba Ray Dudley
- Bull Buchanan
- Carlito
- Chavo Guerrero
- Charlie Haas
- Chris Jericho
- Chris Masters
- Christopher Daniels
- Chuck Palumbo
- Chyna
- Danny Basham
- David Flair
- DDP
- D-Von Dudley
- Edge
- Essa Rios
- Eugene
- Gangrel
- Gene Snitsky
- Goldberg
- Hernandez
- Hollywood Hulk Hogan
- Homicide
- James Storm
- Jamie Noble
- Jerry Lynn
- John Cena
- JTG
- Justin Credible
- Juventud Guerrera
- Kane
- Kenny Dysktra
- Kenzo Suzuki
- Kevin Nash
- Kurt Angle
- Lance Cade
- Lance Storm
- Masato Tanaka
- Mark Jindrak
- Mick Foley
- MVP
- Owen Hart
- Perry Saturn
- Rene Dupree
- Ric Flair
- Rico Constantino
- Road Dogg
- Rob Van Dam
- Robert Conway
- Rodney Mack
- Samoa Joe
- Scott Steiner
- Sean O'Haire
- Shad Gaspard
- Shawn Daivari
- Shawn Michaels
- Shelton Benjamin
- Simon Dean
- Sting
- Stone Cold Steve Austin
- Sylvain Grenier
- Tajiri
- Terry Funk
- Test
- The Franchise
- Tommy Dreamer
- Trevor Murdoch
- Triple H
- Tyson Tomko
- Umaga
- Val Venis
- Vampiro
- Viscera
- X-Pac
- A-Train
- AJ Styles
- Al Snow
- Alex Shelley
- Batista
- Blue Meanie
- Bobby Lashley
- Booker T
- Brian Kendrick
- Brock Lesnar
- Chris Benoit
- Chris Kanyon
- Chris Nowinski
- Chris Sabin
- Christian
- CM Punk
- Crash Holly
- Daniel Puder
- Dean Malenko
- D'lo Brown
- Doug Basham
- Eddie Guerrero
- Faarooq
- Finlay
- Frankie Kazarian
- Funaki
- Goldust
- Grandmaster Sexay
- Hardcore Holly
- Headbanger Mosh
- Headbanger Thrasher
- Heidenreich
- The Hurricane
- Jay Lethal
- JBL
- Jeff Hardy
- Jim Duggan
- Jimmy Wang Yang
- Joey Mercury
- Johnny Nitro
- Ken Kennedy
- Ken Shamrock
- Kid Kash
- La Parka
- Luther Reigns
- Mark Henry
- Matt Hardy
- Marcus Cor Von
- Maven
- Mike Awesome
- Muhammed Hassan
- Nathan Jones
- Nova
- Nunzio
- Orlando Jordan
- Paul Burchill
- Paul London
- Psicosis
- Randy Orton
- Raven
- Rey Mysterio
- Rikishi
- Rhyno
- Rosey
- Sabu
- Sandman
- Scotty 2 Hotty
- Shannon Moore
- Shawn Stasiak
- Spike Dudley
- Steven Richards
- Super Crazy
- Taka Michinoku
- The Boogeyman
- The Great Khali
- The Rock
- The Undertaker
- Ultimo Dragon
- Vito
- William Regal
- Amber Gallows (RAW)
- Amy Weber (SmackDown!)
- Ashley (RAW)
- Asya (SmackDown!)
- Candice Michelle (RAW)
- Christa Dudley (SmackDown!)
- Christy Hemme (RAW)
- Cristal Marshall (SmackDown!)
- Daffney (RAW)
- Dawn Marie (SmackDown!)
- Debra (RAW)
- Francine (RAW)
- Gail Kim (RAW)
- Hamada (SmackDown!)
- Ivory (SmackDown!)
- Jacqueline (RAW)
- Jazz (SmackDown!)
- Jillian Hall (SmackDown!)
- Joy Giovanni (RAW)
- The Kat (RAW)
- Kelly Kelly (SmackDown!)
- Lita (RAW)
- Major Gunns (RAW)
- Maria (SmackDown!)
- Melina (SmackDown!)
- Michelle McCool (SmackDown!)
- Mickie James (RAW)
- Miss Jackie (RAW)
- Molly Holly (RAW)
- Nidia (SmackDown!)
- Rianna (SmackDown!)
- Sable (SmackDown!) (Manager of Brock Lesnar)
- Sharmell (SmackDown!)
- Stacy Keibler (RAW)
- Sumie Sakai (RAW)
- Svetlana Malenko (SmackDown!)
- Terri Runnels (RAW)
- Tori (RAW)
- Torrie Wilson (SmackDown!)
- Traci Brooks (RAW)
- Trinity (RAW)
- Trish Stratus (RAW)
- Velvet Sky (SmackDown!)
- Vickie Guerrero (SmackDown!)
- Victoria (SmackDown!)
- Andre The Giant
- Arn Anderson
- Bam Bam Bigelow
- Big Boss Man
- Bret Hart
- British Bulldog
- Bruno Sammartino
- Brutus Beefcake
- Cactus Jack
- Cutie Suzuki (Legend)
- Demolition Ax
- Demolition Smash
- Diesel
- Dude Love
- Dusty Rhodes
- George "The Animal" Steele"
- Greg Valentine
- Hillbilly Jim
- Hogan 80's
- I.R.S.
- Iron Shiek
- Jake "The Snake" Roberts
- Jerry "The King" Lawler (legend)
- Jim Neidhart
- Jimmy Hart
- Jimmy Snuka
- Kamala
- Kerry Von Erich
- Kevin Von Erich
- Lex Luger
- Macho Man Randy Savage
- Madusa
- Mr. McMahon
- Mr. Perfect
- Nicholai Volkoff
- Rick Rude
- Road Warrior Animal
- Road Warrior Hawk
- Roddy Piper
- Scott Hall
- Sgt. Slaughter
- Shane McMahon
- Stephanie McMahon
- Steve Blackman
- Tatanka
- Tazz (legend)
- Ted DiBiase
- The Godfather
- The Honky Tonk Man
- The Ultimate Warrior
- Jerry Lawler
- Jim Ross
- Michael Cole
- Tazz
- Cutie Suzuki (SmackDown! GM)
- Earl Hebner (RAW Referee)
- Eric Bischoff (RAW GM)
- Howard Finkel (WrestleMania Announcer)
- Jonathan Coachman (Trainer)
- Lilian Garcia (RAW Announcer)
- Mike Chioda (SmackDown! Referee)
- Paul Bearer (Manager)
- Paul Heyman (Manager)
- Tony Chimel (SmackDown! Announcer)
Last edited:
Designated Survivor: 1963
Designated Survivor: 1963 is an Alternate History Conspiracy Fiction, and Thriller TV series, it is a spin-off of the famous series of its namesake, Designated Survivor. It tells an alternate history where not just Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, however he, most of his cabinet, Congress, the Supreme Court, and anyone else in the Presidential Succession were killed in a terrorist bomb attack on the Capitol during the State of the Union, leaving the designated survivor, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to become President Of the United States of America, just because Kennedy made a favor for him to “rest” for a bit while remaining under safe state security and still listen to the State of the Union. While Robert McNamara figures out how to be President, another story was birthed by the ashes of the attack. FBI agent James P. Hosty uncovers who really plotted the attack, was it the Soviets? His superiors? Or even the Mob? The clock is ticking, this attack was just the beginning for both of the characters.
Designated Survivor: 1963 is an Alternate History Conspiracy Fiction, and Thriller TV series, it is a spin-off of the famous series of its namesake, Designated Survivor. It tells an alternate history where not just Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, however he, most of his cabinet, Congress, the Supreme Court, and anyone else in the Presidential Succession were killed in a terrorist bomb attack on the Capitol during the State of the Union, leaving the designated survivor, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to become President Of the United States of America, just because Kennedy made a favor for him to “rest” for a bit while remaining under safe state security and still listen to the State of the Union. While Robert McNamara figures out how to be President, another story was birthed by the ashes of the attack. FBI agent James P. Hosty uncovers who really plotted the attack, was it the Soviets? His superiors? Or even the Mob? The clock is ticking, this attack was just the beginning for both of the characters.
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JCVD
Banned
Watchmen (1994 film)
Watchmen is a 1994 superhero film directed by James Cameron and produced by Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver, based on the comic book of the same name by Alan Moore.
The idea for Watchmen adaptation had been circulating since 1986 by 20th Century Fox, on the waiting for Gordon and Silver to get green-lighted. In 1991, the studio threatened to the producers about putting the film into turnaround if they couldn’t get a producible script for the end of the fiscal year.
But due to a series of events in the American society which started in 1991 (Starting with public protests around the United States generated by the death of the N.W.A. member Andre Romelle Young at the hands of police officers, and the corruption on the LAPD to justify and cover this), a wave of pessimism and rage hit on the film industry, approving films focused on corruption and injustice. Between those approved projects, there was Watchmen.
Despite having generated controversy on its days for its interpretation of the Police Departments and the “American Dream”, Watchmen was well received by critics, audiences, and fanatics. It was also a financial success, earning over $760 million in box office around the world. Also, it was the first film with a budget of over $100 million. The film, along with Batman (1989), influenced modern marketing and development for the Superhero film genre, even when the production confronted all kinds of difficulties.
Plot
[I won’t write it. You practically know how the comic goes. It practically the same, but some things are cut, and isn’t the 2009 script that is a failure to me.]
Cast
[I won’t write it. You practically know how the comic goes. It practically the same, but some things are cut, and isn’t the 2009 script that is a failure to me.]
Cast
- Laurie Jupiter / Silk Spectre II: Andie MacDowell
- Jon Osterman / Doctor Manhattan: Neil Flynn
- Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias: Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Walter Kovacs / Rorschach: Mark Hamill
- Edward Blake / The Comedian: Ron Perlman
- Daniel Dreiberg / Nite Owl II: John Candy
- Sally Jupiter / Silk Spectre: Tilda Swinton
- Hollis Mason / Nite Owl: Leslie Nielsen
- Edgar Jacobi / Moloch The Mystic: Peter Falk
- Bernard: Menahem Golan
- Janey Slater: Geena Davis
Production:
Writing
Writing
The pre-production of this film had started in 1986, with the search for a screenwriter to adapt the comic. Screenwriters like William Goldman, Phil Anden Robinson, Andrew Bergman, and Jeb Stuart were some of the writers chosen by the producers, but who rejected work on the project due to the impossibility to adapt everything on a full-length film. At a point, the producers tried to contact Alan Moore to negotiate about writing a script of his own hands, but he rejected it.
In 1988, the screenwriter Sam Hamm was assigned to write the first draft of the script. Little few was known of this draft till its online release, but the draft was quickly rejected by the producers, at the point of being called “stillborn” for Lawrence Gordon.
In 1991, with 20th Century Fox interested in making a Watchmen adaptation, the producers chose a new screenwriter to made a new draft on the script, being John Shirley (Veteran TV Writer) the chosen writer this time.
The final result wasn’t well-received by Silver and Gordon due to the size of 241 pages, which adapted shot-to-shot each scene of the comic, but they found enough good to be created. In November 1991, the screenwriter Michael France was assigned to make a re-write of the script. The final drift made by Michael France was sent on December 27, 1991. In interviews, France revealed that one of the things he had to fix was the interpretation of the characters who, in his own words were portrayed as “Real superheroes, at the same level of Captain America.”, reducing this factor and making them human; another thing he had commented later was that Shirley “Understood that the Comedian and Rorschach are good on the story, the heroes. But they aren’t.”
Casting
At Fox's insistence, Gordon and Silver had to cast renowned actors for publicity and marketing. The first one chosen by Gordon and Silver was the action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had worked on productions like “Commando” or “Predator”, but originally he was cast to be Dr. Manhattan. He didn’t find Dr. Manhattan a character who he could connect, but he presented interest for Adrian Veidt. After some negotiations, he took the role of Adrian Veidt. Arnold hired a stage teacher and studied all the visual references of emperors, even using the acting of Louis Calhern and Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar.
The Comedian was chosen later. Originally, the character was going to be for Bruce Willis, but he wasn’t able to participate due to schedule issues (Being busy as the main character of the new John McTiernan’s film: Last Action Hero), so a new actor had to be found. Among the actors thought for the role, it was John Travolta. Finally, the role was offered to Ron Perlman, who accepted. Ron Perlman had to spend 3 hours to get his make-up applied.
Silk Spectre II went through a different female actress. Originally offered to Geena Davis, she couldn’t finally take the role due to an injury on her back which made it impossible to train. The role was offered to Andie MacDowell, who accepted in exchange of give another role to Geena Davis (Taking the role of Janey Slater, the first girlfriend of Dr. Manhanttan). For months, Andie MacDowell trained to get a more thick and muscular physique.
Nite Owl II was, at this time, one of the most controversial choices in the film industry. The actor chosen for the role was the comedian and comedy actor John Candy, who agreed to participate in this role after taking interest in more serious roles after he participated in JFK. The public reaction at the moment to reveal the actor was negative, not seeing the comedian as the owl-themed hero. John Candy also had to lose 100 pounds for the role.
Rorschach passed for all kinds of actors, due that it was more difficult to find the kind of actor that Gordon and Silver wanted for this role. During a casting session the Star Wars main actor, Mark Hamill, participated and his voice-work during the casting surprised to Gordon and Silver, offering the role just to Mark Hamill. He agreed, revealing later that he wanted to participate back again on full-length films, but just receiving offers to B-Productions movies.
Dr. Manhattan was, due to the reaction of the fanatics and audience, the biggest surprise. Originally, Gordon and Silver wanted the British actor Ralph Fiennes as the only superhero on the story, but he had other projects, such as “Schindler’s List” and “Quiz Show”. Another actor they tried to offer the role was Willem Dafoe, but he also had to reject due to a busy schedule in Europe. Finally, the producers decided to make an open casting to find an actor. In the end, the actor chosen was the (by then, unknown) American actor Neil Flynn.
For the supporting role of Moloch The Mystic, the role was accepted by Andreas Katsulas, but after find not satisfying his time on screen and salary, he resigned to participate as Fredick Sykes on The Fugitive. The role of Moloch was later accepted by the TV-Actor Peter Falk. Peter Falk had to spend 2-3 hours on make-up.
For the role of the original Silk Spectre, Sally Jupiter, the role was offered to Tilda Swinton, who accepted it. She had to spend 4 hours on Make-up to age her.
Filming
The production started in March 1993. The main locations are located in Canada, between the city of Hamilton and Ontario.
For the Vietnam scene, those were filmed in Sri Lanka, using some locations of the 1957 film “The Bridge over the Kwai River”. The bad weather in September of 1993 delayed for weeks the shooting, due to some terrible floodings, devastating the sets constructed on the location.
For the interiors, sets were built on Stage 15 of 20th Century Fox located in LA, California. There were built the inner of the Headquarters of Veidt Enterprises, the apartment of Moloch the Mystic, and the prison.
To recreate Mars, it was built sets on Pinewood Studios in England.
Finally, to recreate the riot scene, it was hired a hundred locals of New York City and even was able to close some street.
For the fight scenes, it was hired to the stunt coordinator Charlie Pincerni and several stuntmen to work as police officers, rioters, or prisoners. An anecdote commonly told by Ron Perlman about those scenes says that a day Pincerni couldn’t appear to prepare the fight between The Comedian and Hooded Justice. But to avoid some delay, the man behind the suit of Hooded Justice, the (by then, unknown) professional wrestler Nelson Frazier Jr. offered his help to realize the scene. The final scene, in words of James Cameron himself, ended “even better than the planned one.”
Before shooting, the original actor to interpreted Hollis Mason (The first Nite Owl), Paul Jabara, would pass away due to complications from AIDS. During shooting, the substitute would be chosen, falling the role on Leslie Nielsen.
The principal photography wrapped in October 1993.
Cutting Budget and Finding Help
By far, the most known problem during the shooting was a budget cut. From the original $100 million of budget, Fox cut $25 million which were moved to buy films, distribution, and other productions. But the reason gave for Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver and James Cameron on interviews and biographies were that, originally, the director and producers requested an increase of $10 million on the budget due to difficulties based on the construction of sets and the damage of some of those. That would be denied by the executives, who weren’t very happy due to some delays in the shooting which could affect the release date.
Overwhelmed to not being able to complete correctly the film, both director and producers started to contact different producers and studios to finance the $35 million needed for the production. During that search, James Cameron contacted his old mentor Roger Corman. He, while denying the help due to the risk, he offered another one who could finance the rest of the budget: The Israeli producer and director Menahem Golan.
After contact with the former owner of The Cannon Group, and send a copy of the script via fax, Golan contacted an hour and a half later to the director saying that he’ll agree to give the rest of the money to produce the film.
Once known for his way to produce lots of movies with a very limited budget, Golan commented that he decided to risk with this project because “He loved the story and the satire” and “He knew he had the days numbered on the United States, so I preferred close my time here with something big”. Reuniting days later the producers Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver, and the director James Cameron to the HQ of “21st Century Film Corporation”, they signed a contract where he’ll give the money needed in exchange of:
- A position as executive producer on the credits.
- A percentage of the Box Office.
- The promise of distribution for 4 future films.
- Stay on the set during the rest of the shooting.
- Have a vote at the moment of making choices.
During his time on the shooting, Menahem Golan was referred more as a “worker” than a “producer” in a friendly way, due that he was always helping to the Second Unit, Camera and Electrical Department, or even at the Script and Continuity Department. In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger “He was always the first one on set and the last one on leaving it”.
During the time that the team was shooting in Sri Lanka, the activity of Menahem Golan was reduced, and it was noticeable for the crew and cast the sadness on his face. The reason for this was revealed in Golan’s autobiography “From Israel to Oscar. The life of a filmmaker in love with the films”
“During the weeks they were shooting on Sri Lanka, I had more time to think and observe. I could observe how obsoleted was my way to make films. There was one time where I could make 200 films with the budget of Watchmen, but then I realized: That was the problem.
“There was a time, but as a kid, I grow up. I want something better for the next production. I always wanted it, but I and Globus limited ourselves thinking that we could make it with little money. But seeing how they were shooting an old war, made me ask ‘What if I had taken the choice to buy this story and make it ourselves? Would’ve been good?’ And sadly, I had to answer myself ‘No. Even with a million years’. Because I knew it, it was a fact: This movie was going to be something different, something big, and it would make money and history.
“Working on Israel made me understand how to work as a director, but observing the shooting, made me understand why I could never get a respected reputation. I didn’t want to leave the United States yet, so I decided to take the lesson I learned and apply it: Take a risk you know it’s going to end well. No tricks, no cuts on the budget, no savings. Or 100% or 0%.
“And that’s what I did after ending my time there. I decided to accomplish all the promises I had on a project by myself.”
Visual Effects
For the work of this film about digital effects, it was designed the company “Industrial Light & Magic” (ILM). The leader of the Digital Effects was Stan Winston, who had worked previously with Cameron, Silver, Gordon, and Golan on different productions.
For the digital effects of Dr. Manhattan, the film was shot twice: One with Neil Flynn on screen wearing a suit which had blue LEDs, saving the time to recreate the blue shine on the surface; and others without Neil Flynn on screen. Using those shots and with a hired model to design the character, they ended on a dead-end due to the limitations of the technology. James Cameron demanded a well-detailed character, almost looking natural; but Stan Winston and other animators, such as Mark Dippe and Steve Williams couldn’t afford that work for the release date.
That problem was unexpectedly fixed by Menahem Golan, who during a meeting with the main workers of the Digital Effects, James Cameron, Lawrence Gordon, and Joel Silver, presented a simple idea he improvised during the meeting: Eliminate details as older Dr. Manhattan gets in the movie. “He’s supposed to not be able to reconnect with humanity again. Why does he look like a human?”
That element accelerated the work at Digital Effects for Dr. Manhattan, using old Claymation characters as inspiration to get an Uncanny Valley/Alien look-alike on Dr. Manhattan.
Another use of the Digital Effects was used on the crystalline formation on Mars, where it was used a derivation of the software that was used on “The Abyss” to recreate the water just to recreate the deformation through a crystal. The formation was animated and supervised by director Wes Takahashi.
For the practical effects, James listened to a name for part of Menahem Golan. He reminds it “We had people like Lyle Conway working with us for the practical effects, but he talked to me about someone else who could take it to another level. I asked ‘Why do you think he could help us even more?’ and he answered me, with that heavy accent ‘Because he’s not lying when he says that his life is a special effect’”.
After hiring the animator, director, and special effects designer Mike Jittlov, Cameron asked to Jittlov to work on the design of the Owlship, and the Squid to before three weeks. After that date, Jittlov surprised everyone on the crew when he appeared with 3 functional Owlships models which worked with remote control, and an animatronic of the Squid of 1,81ft long (with tentacles, the size was 3,12ft long) which also worked with remote control. To create the Squid, Jittlov used the comic and real squids he bought at a Korean supermarket for the design.
Music
Several composers were considered to compose the score of the movie: Hans Zimmer, Jerry Goldsmith, Alan Silvestri, Joseph LoDuca, and Danny Elfman. Also, Cameron proposed Brad Fiedel (composer of the Terminator films) to compose the score. But finally, Gordon and Silver hired the Greek composer Vangelis.
The score was commercially released as Watchmen: The Movie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) CD and cassette tape, and contained twenty-five tracks with a runtime of 76 minutes. The score spent six weeks on the Billboard 200, reaching a peak of No. 81.
Release, Box Office, and Awards
Box Office
Box Office
Watchmen opened in 2,612 theaters in the United States on June 17, 1994, competing with Disney’s The Lion King, Mike Nichols’ Wolf, and Jan de Bont’s Speed. The film made $63,1 million in its opening weekend, breaking Jurassic Park’s record for the highest opening-weekend gross of all time (Surpassed years later by The Lost World: Jurassic Park’s $85,9 million). The film closed on November 17, 1994, with a final gross $581.26 million in North America and $183.51 million internationally, totaling $764,77 million, making it the highest-grossing film based on a comic book until 2002's Blade II. Watchmen was able to make a further $225 million in home video sales.
Critical Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 95 reviews, with an average rating of 8.47/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "One of the best adaptations films of the 1990s, Watchmen is a manifesto where the audience learns about not put all your hope and life on the hands of superheroes, and how those who protect us can be the real villains." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 90 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "Perfectly Adapted". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
The story was commended by several critics. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "When you look at the world, at the characters of ‘Watchmen’, you look at a dirty and novelistic version of our society. There isn’t Superman who can save the day, just us. And that’s what ‘Watchmen’ teach us: We, with no kind of superpowers, can be even worse than a villain like The Joker or Lex Luthor.” Any attempt to describe how the movie works will risk the experience, making it sounds like propaganda or just a fantasy for the comic-book readers. Isn’t a comedy, neither a drama: It’s probably the best example of modern noir-film. The performance is a breathtaking exercise, where we see known faces melting and transforming on strangers who we get to know throughout the film."
Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote that the film "is not a happy adventure for the family who waits to see some weird group of heroes saving the day. The majority of characters are despicable, from fascists to crazy people; a story where we can see reflected our government, police officers, and even ourselves as monsters; a final which could easily fit on a chapter of the Bible of how apocalyptic it is… And it is probably one of the biggest jewels on the billboard. Manages the difficult feat of being a reminder of our society and possible future, but not fall on propaganda or manifesto. This isn’t a story about saving the day, but avoid making it worse."
The film did receive notable pans from several major reviewers. Anthony Lane of The New Yorker called the film "Cold, melancholic, and realistic as the air you breathe."
Awards
On the Academy Awards, competing against films like Forrest Gump, Ed Wood, Pulp Fiction, Little Women, The Shawshank Redemption, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bullets over Broadway, Legends of the Fall, Quiz Show, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and else, Watchmen obtained nominations the following nominations (Bold font for the award winnings):
- Best Visual Effects (Stan Winston, Mike Jittlov, Mark Dippe, Wes Takahashi, Steve Williams)
- Best Film Editing (Chris Lebenzon)
- Best Costume Design (Wendy Partridge)
- Best Makeup (John Caglione Jr., Michael Mills)
- Best Cinematography (Karl Walter Lindenlaub)
- Best Original Score (Vangelis)
- Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published (Michael France based on the comic book by Alan Moore)
- Best Supporting Actor (Arnold Schwarzenneger as Adrian Veidt / Mark Hamill as Rorschach)
- Best Director (James Cameron)
- Best Picture (Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver, Menahem Golan, James Cameron)
Home Release
Watchmen was released on VHS in March 1995 in two editions: One with the entire film separated on two VHS tapes; the other one came with the film on two VHS tapes and a third VHS tape with the 68-minutes documentary Swimming Against the Current: The Making of Watchmen.
A DVD edition was released in 2001, not including the documentary but adding a commentary track by Cameron, Schwarzenegger, Hamill, Candy, Flynn, Perlman, and MacDowell. A 2-DVD edition was released in 2004 as the “10th Anniversary Edition”, which included the documentary, the commentary track and adding more featurettes and documentaries about each aspect of the movie, a Music-Only Track, Image Galleries, and the Theatrical Trailers.
In 2014, a remastered edition would be released on a Blu-ray. This version included the same additional materials, but including an animated film adapting “Tales of the Black Freighter” on the additional materials.
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JCVD
Banned
Thanks. It is a mix between vultan's story and the story I tried to write, but I had to kill after lose all the progress on my old computer. So I decided close it on a One-Shot.
I still use the Squid for some reasons:
- For the movie, use Dr. Manhattan as the enemy doesn't work because he's an american "creation". A bigger excuse for the URSS to attack USA. The squid is an alien, an unknown enemy. It works
- It is on the 90s, the mind of those times was different.
- As myself, I also included the Squid to include Mike Jittlov, and give it a fictitious chance to get a name.
JCVD
Banned
(A little sequel of my first post. Maybe I start to increase this little universe I'm creating, but meanwhile I'm giving this to you. Not so big as the Watchmen's one, but I think it is a good one.)
Domu: A Child's Dream is a 1999 Japanese horror/fantasy film written and directed by Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro, based on the 1980 manga by Katsuhiro Otomo. The film stars Kumiko Hiramaru, Takeshi Kitano and Takahiro Tamura, and follows a series of suspicious deaths around a tower block apartments and how each one of them could be linked between themselves.
Production took around 6 weeks, with a postproduction of 5 months. Domu: A Child’s Dream was released on January 22, 1999, in Japan. During its release, Domu became a huge box office success in Japan, being acclaimed by critics. It gave a push to Guillermo Del Toro’s career internationally and revitalize Menahem Golan’s career in Japan, which he would use years later. It is commonly mistaken as part of the J-horror wave produced by the 1998 film Ringu, but Del Toro had been working on realizing this film since 1996.
During the production of Watchmen (1994), Guillermo del Toro would meet the director James Cameron and producer Menahem Golan during a visit to the second project of Ron Perlman, Cronos (1993). Fascinated by the project, Menahem Golan proposed to Del Toro to produce a future project.
After discovering in early 1996 that Guillermo del Toro was negotiating with the Weinstein Brothers to direct an adaptation of Donald A. Wollheim’s short story “Mimic”, Menahem Golan stopped the young director.
“A day, while I was working on future projects, one of my employers told me that this huge artist, Guillermo del Toro, was trying to close a deal with the Weinstein Brothers. And I quickly got up from my desk and drove right to where Del Toro was located by then.
“I wasn’t accepting this. I don’t mean I wanted to forbid Mr. Del Toro to make movies with all kinds of producers. I have worked in the industry since the 60s, I have accepted I couldn’t get everyone to myself. I just wanted to avoid to him sign a deal with the devil.
“I can be stubborn, demanding, ambitious, miser… But if I got a bad reputation for years on Hollywood was because of MY FILMS. The Weinsteins are an open secret. Everybody knows why: Long fingers for the pretty actresses and a long slap for the new directors. If Del Toro signed, he wouldn’t get his movie: He would get a movie for THEM, for a bunch of dirty pigs who couldn’t get awards if they don’t pay for it before!”
After negotiating for hours, Menahem Golan offered the chance to direct any movie to Del Toro. He revealed some numbers of the Japanese Manga Domu that surprised the Israeli producer, who after reading it carefully, decided to buy the rights to produce and distribute the film. That would result harder to realize, taking almost 2 years to realize the bought.
“We were discussing the bought of the rights to produce a film, when the lawyer of the editorial and the author told us the price of 50.000.000 yens, like 400.000$. I was like “Christ! Who is the author? T.S. Eliot?” just to be answered, “He’s the director of the most expensive movie in Japan.”
“Looks like he had made a film called “Akira” in 1988, with the highest budget in the history of this country. The value of his work had increased with the years. But I’m someone who would fight to get anything I wanted.
And even then, they were putting me obstacles saying that I was a producer, not a distributor. That I needed to promise a minimal earning in the foreign countries. I ended that, saying “Fox will distribute the movie on theatres around the world. I will personally take care of it.”
Guillermo del Toro and the manga author Katsuhiro Otomo collaborated to work on the script after the Japanese author watched a private screening of Cronos, surprising to Otomo.
Observing the inflation of the yen concerning the dollar, Menahem Golan decided to approve a budget of $7.25 million, which was translated on ¥750 million, the biggest budget for a live-action film in Japan (Getting over Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service and its budget of ¥800 million).
The film was shot in Ueda, Nagano Prefecture. The entire production took six weeks, due that Del Toro wanted to be faithful to the manga as possible.
The fight scene between Etsuko and ‘Old Cho’ was realized on Cel Animation for the impossibility of the effect to destroy a building (Even if there was an abandoned tower block in the city which was used for the post-fight scene). The anime sequence was produced by Production I.G, and directed by Otomo himself with the supervision of Del Toro and Golan. The entire sequence took around a year to finish and was the first approach for Del Toro into the animation and the main inspiration on the following investment for Golan that would make him popular in Japan.
Domu: A Child’s Dream was released in Japan on January 22, 1999, where it was distributed by Toei Company. During its release in Japan, Ring became the highest-grossing film of the year. Domu was shown on all kind of festivals around the world: 2000 Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, Canada; 2000 Fantasporto Festival in Porto, Portugal; 2000 Sitges International Film Festival in Sitges, Spain; 2000 Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France; Chicago International Film Festival on Chicago, United States; Locarno International Film Festival on Locarno, Switzerland; Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film on Brussels, Belgium…
In Japan, the film earned a profit of ¥2.6 billion ($25.22 million) in 1999, making it the second-highest-grossing Japanese films of the year, behind Pokemon 2000.
It was reported that the most notable success internationally had been in Hong Kong and South Korea, where it remained the number 1 each weekend during the first half of the year, beating popular American blockbusters.
In Mexico, the film sold 86,728 tickets, equivalent to the estimated gross revenue of approximately MEX$4.770.040 (US$572.404’8).
The film made an estimated worldwide gross revenue of approximately $14,551,688, making a gross profit of ¥4.100.471.000 ($40 million, around)
Domu: A Child’s Dream was released to home video in the United States by 20th Century Fox with an English dub realized in Canada, and English subtitles on April 10, 2001. It quickly became the most sold DVD in April.
On its 20th anniversary, 20th Century Fox distributed a Blu-ray version of Domu on August 13, 2019. The transfer features a 4K resolution restoration, scanned from the original camera negative. The Blu-ray included a 90 minutes making-of, deleted scenes, a commentary track with Del Toro and Otomo talking about both manga and film, and the theatrical trailer.
Domu: A Child's Dream (1999 film)
Domu: A Child's Dream is a 1999 Japanese horror/fantasy film written and directed by Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro, based on the 1980 manga by Katsuhiro Otomo. The film stars Kumiko Hiramaru, Takeshi Kitano and Takahiro Tamura, and follows a series of suspicious deaths around a tower block apartments and how each one of them could be linked between themselves.
Production took around 6 weeks, with a postproduction of 5 months. Domu: A Child’s Dream was released on January 22, 1999, in Japan. During its release, Domu became a huge box office success in Japan, being acclaimed by critics. It gave a push to Guillermo Del Toro’s career internationally and revitalize Menahem Golan’s career in Japan, which he would use years later. It is commonly mistaken as part of the J-horror wave produced by the 1998 film Ringu, but Del Toro had been working on realizing this film since 1996.
Plot
[Look at the Domu’s page on Wikipedia. It can sound weird, but it can be a nice lecture.]
Cast
Chojiro Uchida ‘Old Cho’: Takahiro Tamura
Etsuko: Kumiko Hiramaru
Inspector Yamagawa: Shinichi Chiba
Inspector Okamura: Takeshi Kitano
Inspector Takayama: Susumu Terajima
Tsutomu Sasaki: Taro Yamamoto.
Yoshio Fujiwara ‘Little Yo’: Shinya Hashimoto
Yoshikawa: Riki Takeuchi
Hiroshi Yoshikawa: Ryota Koyama
Mrs. Tezuka: Hiroko Yakushimaru
Production
Development
[Look at the Domu’s page on Wikipedia. It can sound weird, but it can be a nice lecture.]
Cast
Chojiro Uchida ‘Old Cho’: Takahiro Tamura
Etsuko: Kumiko Hiramaru
Inspector Yamagawa: Shinichi Chiba
Inspector Okamura: Takeshi Kitano
Inspector Takayama: Susumu Terajima
Tsutomu Sasaki: Taro Yamamoto.
Yoshio Fujiwara ‘Little Yo’: Shinya Hashimoto
Yoshikawa: Riki Takeuchi
Hiroshi Yoshikawa: Ryota Koyama
Mrs. Tezuka: Hiroko Yakushimaru
Production
Development
During the production of Watchmen (1994), Guillermo del Toro would meet the director James Cameron and producer Menahem Golan during a visit to the second project of Ron Perlman, Cronos (1993). Fascinated by the project, Menahem Golan proposed to Del Toro to produce a future project.
After discovering in early 1996 that Guillermo del Toro was negotiating with the Weinstein Brothers to direct an adaptation of Donald A. Wollheim’s short story “Mimic”, Menahem Golan stopped the young director.
“A day, while I was working on future projects, one of my employers told me that this huge artist, Guillermo del Toro, was trying to close a deal with the Weinstein Brothers. And I quickly got up from my desk and drove right to where Del Toro was located by then.
“I wasn’t accepting this. I don’t mean I wanted to forbid Mr. Del Toro to make movies with all kinds of producers. I have worked in the industry since the 60s, I have accepted I couldn’t get everyone to myself. I just wanted to avoid to him sign a deal with the devil.
“I can be stubborn, demanding, ambitious, miser… But if I got a bad reputation for years on Hollywood was because of MY FILMS. The Weinsteins are an open secret. Everybody knows why: Long fingers for the pretty actresses and a long slap for the new directors. If Del Toro signed, he wouldn’t get his movie: He would get a movie for THEM, for a bunch of dirty pigs who couldn’t get awards if they don’t pay for it before!”
After negotiating for hours, Menahem Golan offered the chance to direct any movie to Del Toro. He revealed some numbers of the Japanese Manga Domu that surprised the Israeli producer, who after reading it carefully, decided to buy the rights to produce and distribute the film. That would result harder to realize, taking almost 2 years to realize the bought.
“We were discussing the bought of the rights to produce a film, when the lawyer of the editorial and the author told us the price of 50.000.000 yens, like 400.000$. I was like “Christ! Who is the author? T.S. Eliot?” just to be answered, “He’s the director of the most expensive movie in Japan.”
“Looks like he had made a film called “Akira” in 1988, with the highest budget in the history of this country. The value of his work had increased with the years. But I’m someone who would fight to get anything I wanted.
And even then, they were putting me obstacles saying that I was a producer, not a distributor. That I needed to promise a minimal earning in the foreign countries. I ended that, saying “Fox will distribute the movie on theatres around the world. I will personally take care of it.”
Guillermo del Toro and the manga author Katsuhiro Otomo collaborated to work on the script after the Japanese author watched a private screening of Cronos, surprising to Otomo.
Observing the inflation of the yen concerning the dollar, Menahem Golan decided to approve a budget of $7.25 million, which was translated on ¥750 million, the biggest budget for a live-action film in Japan (Getting over Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service and its budget of ¥800 million).
The film was shot in Ueda, Nagano Prefecture. The entire production took six weeks, due that Del Toro wanted to be faithful to the manga as possible.
The fight scene between Etsuko and ‘Old Cho’ was realized on Cel Animation for the impossibility of the effect to destroy a building (Even if there was an abandoned tower block in the city which was used for the post-fight scene). The anime sequence was produced by Production I.G, and directed by Otomo himself with the supervision of Del Toro and Golan. The entire sequence took around a year to finish and was the first approach for Del Toro into the animation and the main inspiration on the following investment for Golan that would make him popular in Japan.
Release
Domu: A Child’s Dream was released in Japan on January 22, 1999, where it was distributed by Toei Company. During its release in Japan, Ring became the highest-grossing film of the year. Domu was shown on all kind of festivals around the world: 2000 Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, Canada; 2000 Fantasporto Festival in Porto, Portugal; 2000 Sitges International Film Festival in Sitges, Spain; 2000 Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France; Chicago International Film Festival on Chicago, United States; Locarno International Film Festival on Locarno, Switzerland; Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film on Brussels, Belgium…
Box Office
In Japan, the film earned a profit of ¥2.6 billion ($25.22 million) in 1999, making it the second-highest-grossing Japanese films of the year, behind Pokemon 2000.
It was reported that the most notable success internationally had been in Hong Kong and South Korea, where it remained the number 1 each weekend during the first half of the year, beating popular American blockbusters.
In Mexico, the film sold 86,728 tickets, equivalent to the estimated gross revenue of approximately MEX$4.770.040 (US$572.404’8).
The film made an estimated worldwide gross revenue of approximately $14,551,688, making a gross profit of ¥4.100.471.000 ($40 million, around)
Accolades
- 2000 Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film: Best Screenplay; Pegasus Audience Award.
- 2000 Cannes Film Festival: Best Screenplay
- 2000 Sitges Film Festival: Best Director, Best Actress
- 2000 Fantasporto: Best Film, Best Special Effects
- 2000 Fantasia Film Festival: Best Asian Film
- 2000 Edition of Awards of the Japanese Academy: Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Popularity Award for Most Popular Film, and Popularity Award for Most Popular Performer to Kumiko Hiramaru as Etsuko.
Home Media
Domu: A Child’s Dream was released to home video in the United States by 20th Century Fox with an English dub realized in Canada, and English subtitles on April 10, 2001. It quickly became the most sold DVD in April.
On its 20th anniversary, 20th Century Fox distributed a Blu-ray version of Domu on August 13, 2019. The transfer features a 4K resolution restoration, scanned from the original camera negative. The Blu-ray included a 90 minutes making-of, deleted scenes, a commentary track with Del Toro and Otomo talking about both manga and film, and the theatrical trailer.
Transcript for Lost Media Case Files: BlameItOnJorge (Part 2)
Playable Demo for Super Mario Seven
Early on in its development, the classic Nintendo GameCube title Super Mario TeamUp was actually known as Super Mario Seven. This was because there would have been a total of seven playable characters in the game - with Wario and Waluigi being the sixth and seventh playable characters respectively. Unfortunately, the two were dropped fairly early on, leaving the game with only five playable characters; Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, and Prince Cream - Peach's brother who was introduced in Super Mario Ultra 2.
Since then, however, several people claimed to have seen a playable demo of the game where Wario and Waluigi were featured. The first such claim to this was made by an anonymous Reddit user who claimed to have played as Waluigi in said demo when it was displayed at a Retravision store in Western Australia. He went on to specifically remember Waluigi having the ability to reach high places with a spin-jump, whereas the demo also described Wario as having a charge attack. However, no further evidence has arisen since for this demo's existence, and Yoshiaki Koizumi has stated that Wario and Waluigi were deleted before work on coding the game actually began.
Gregg Berger's Voice in the Pilot for Lupin III: The Western Series
According to voice director Andrea Romano, Gregg Berger had auditioned to voice Lupin III in LIII:TWS' pilot episode. However, they felt his voice was too "goofy", and instead Billy West was cast in the role. If the audio of Berger's performance still exists, it's probably hidden away in the vaults at either TMS or Warner Bros.
More will come eventually.
Playable Demo for Super Mario Seven
Early on in its development, the classic Nintendo GameCube title Super Mario TeamUp was actually known as Super Mario Seven. This was because there would have been a total of seven playable characters in the game - with Wario and Waluigi being the sixth and seventh playable characters respectively. Unfortunately, the two were dropped fairly early on, leaving the game with only five playable characters; Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, and Prince Cream - Peach's brother who was introduced in Super Mario Ultra 2.
Since then, however, several people claimed to have seen a playable demo of the game where Wario and Waluigi were featured. The first such claim to this was made by an anonymous Reddit user who claimed to have played as Waluigi in said demo when it was displayed at a Retravision store in Western Australia. He went on to specifically remember Waluigi having the ability to reach high places with a spin-jump, whereas the demo also described Wario as having a charge attack. However, no further evidence has arisen since for this demo's existence, and Yoshiaki Koizumi has stated that Wario and Waluigi were deleted before work on coding the game actually began.
Gregg Berger's Voice in the Pilot for Lupin III: The Western Series
According to voice director Andrea Romano, Gregg Berger had auditioned to voice Lupin III in LIII:TWS' pilot episode. However, they felt his voice was too "goofy", and instead Billy West was cast in the role. If the audio of Berger's performance still exists, it's probably hidden away in the vaults at either TMS or Warner Bros.
More will come eventually.
Atelier Aviation Addendum:
List of NASCAR video games
NASCAR, the most popular motorsport in the United States, has worked with video game developers to design several video games. In 2004, 2K Sports received an exclusive license to produce NASCAR games, eliminating EA and Hasbro Interactive as competitors with the Papyrus and Visual Concepts as their development team until 2019 after 2K lost the licence following disastrous launch of NASCAR 2K20*. In 2019, Dusenberry Martin Racing announced that they will take over the NASCAR license and begin developing new games in 2020, as well as releasing a Visual Concepts-developed update game for the 2020 season.List of NASCAR video games
- NASCAR 98 (1997) (Saturn, PS1, PC)
- NASCAR 99 (1998) (N64, PS1)
- NASCAR Racing 1999 Edition (PC)
- NASCAR Revolution (1999) (PC)
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Racing (1999) (PC)
- NASCAR Racing 3 (1999) (PC)
- NASCAR 2000 (1999) (PC, DC, PSX, N64, GBC)
- NASCAR Legends (2000) (PC)
- NASCAR Rumble (2000) (PS1)
- NASCAR 2001 (2000) (PS2)
- NASCAR Heat (2000) (PSX, PC, GBC)
- NASCAR Racing 4 (2001) (PC)
- NASCAR Thunder 2002 (2001) (PS2, PSX, Chocobo)
- NASCAR Heat 2002 (2001) (PS2, Xbox, Chocobo)
- NASCAR Racing 2002 Season (2002) (PC, Mac)
- NASCAR Thunder 2003 (2002) (PC, PS2, Xbox, Chocobo, GC)
- NASCAR Dirt To Daytona (PS2, GC, Chocobo)
- NASCAR Racing 2003 Season (2003) (PC)
- NASCAR Thunder 2004 (2003) (PS2, Chocobo)
- NASCAR 2K5 (2004) (PS2, Chocobo)
- NASCAR 2K6 (2005) (PS2, Chocobo)
- NASCAR 2K7 (2006) (PS2, Chocobo)
- NASCAR 2K8 (2007) (PS2, PS3, Chocobo II)
- NASCAR 2K9 (2008) (PS2, PS3, Chocobo II)
- NASCAR 2K10 (2009) (PS3, Chocobo II)
- NASCAR 2K11 (2010) (PS3, Chocobo II)
- NASCAR 2K12 (2011) (PS3, Chocobo II)
- NASCAR 2K13 (2012) (PS3, Chocobo II)
- NASCAR 2K14 (2013) (PS3, Chocobo II)
- NASCAR 2K15 (2014) (PC, PS3, PS4, Chocobo II, Chocobo III)
- NASCAR 2K16 (2015) (PC, PS3, PS4, Chocobo II, Chocobo III)
- NASCAR 2K17 (2016) (PC, PS3, PS4, Chocobo II, Chocobo III)
- NASCAR 2K18 (2017) (PC, PS4, Chocobo III)
- NASCAR 2K19 (2018) (PC, PS4, Chocobo III)
- NASCAR 2K20 (2019) (PC, PS4, Chocobo III)
- NASCAR Racing 2020 Season (PC, PS4, PS5, Chocobo III, Chocobo IV)
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Atelier Aviation Addendum:
Wrestlemania 23
WrestleMania 23 was the 23rd annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on April 1 to April 2, 2007, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The event was the first WrestleMania at Ford Field and the second to take place in the Detroit metropolitan area (following WrestleMania III, which was held at the Pontiac Silverdome, in Pontiac, Michigan).
Night 1:
Samoa Joe def. Chris Jericho
Trish Stratus def. Gail Kim to retain the WWE Woman's championship
AJ Styles (c) def. Triple H to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship
The Undertaker def. Kurt Angle
Chris Benoit def. Ken Shamrock to retain the WWE European Championship
Sting def. Kevin Nash
Bobby Lashley (with Donald Trump) defeated Umaga (with Armando Alejandro Estrada and Mr. McMahon)
John Cena def. Shawn Michaels for the the WWE Championship
Night 2:
Mr. Kennedy defeated CM Punk, Edge, Christopher Daniels, Christian, Chavo Guerrero, King Booker (with Queen Sharmell) and Randy Orton
Motor City Machine Guns def. The Dudley Boyz and the Hardy Boyz for the Tag Team champion
Owen Hart def. Scott Steiner
Eddie Guerrero def. MVP to retain the WWE United States Champion
Brock Lesnar def. Batista for the for the World Heavyweight Championship
Hamada def. Torrie Wilson, Victoria, Melina and Rianna for the WWE Diva's Champion
The ECW Originals (Rob Van Dam, Sabu, The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer) def. The New Breed (Elijah Burke, Kevin Thorn, Marcus Cor Von and Matt Striker)
The Rock def. Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Goldberg
Wrestlemania 23
WrestleMania 23 was the 23rd annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on April 1 to April 2, 2007, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The event was the first WrestleMania at Ford Field and the second to take place in the Detroit metropolitan area (following WrestleMania III, which was held at the Pontiac Silverdome, in Pontiac, Michigan).
Night 1:
Samoa Joe def. Chris Jericho
Trish Stratus def. Gail Kim to retain the WWE Woman's championship
AJ Styles (c) def. Triple H to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship
The Undertaker def. Kurt Angle
Chris Benoit def. Ken Shamrock to retain the WWE European Championship
Sting def. Kevin Nash
Bobby Lashley (with Donald Trump) defeated Umaga (with Armando Alejandro Estrada and Mr. McMahon)
John Cena def. Shawn Michaels for the the WWE Championship
Night 2:
Mr. Kennedy defeated CM Punk, Edge, Christopher Daniels, Christian, Chavo Guerrero, King Booker (with Queen Sharmell) and Randy Orton
Motor City Machine Guns def. The Dudley Boyz and the Hardy Boyz for the Tag Team champion
Owen Hart def. Scott Steiner
Eddie Guerrero def. MVP to retain the WWE United States Champion
Brock Lesnar def. Batista for the for the World Heavyweight Championship
Hamada def. Torrie Wilson, Victoria, Melina and Rianna for the WWE Diva's Champion
The ECW Originals (Rob Van Dam, Sabu, The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer) def. The New Breed (Elijah Burke, Kevin Thorn, Marcus Cor Von and Matt Striker)
The Rock def. Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Goldberg
So recently, I heard someone at uni talk about how the Bush era was a "Nouveau 1950s." I also saw on TV Tropes that "genetic engineering is the new nuke," so this gave me an idea relating to Fallout. Basically, what if Fallout was a tl where the Bush era culture never ended rather than the 1950s red scare era never ended? Add to that replacing Nuclear War with a world-ending pandemic (one that may or may not involve zombies), what would be some creative analogies?