Disney with a meaningful presence in gaming on their own is certainly not something that comes up often enough over here.
Pop Culture Timelines Go-To Thread
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Didn't acclaim already have more debts than Worth? All of old iguana was death, shadow man was run to the ground,only Turok remained and Disney got it anyway
Well you could circumvent that by having Disney buy Acclaim before They become overridden With Debt like I don't know 1999?
Then they're not selling, acclaim was weird,it was a solid company yet they overheated and misfired all by themselves in 2000 onward. Regardless 1999 is the year to acclaim to turn themselves around
Acclaim Entertainment - Wikipedia
Basically, here's how it goes:
- Turner buys MGM in 2005 and gets Sony to drop their deal AND give them the distribution rights to Turner subsidiary Castle Rock's Seinfeld (which Sony had previously been distributing and IOTL still does), on the condition that Turner would support exclusively Blu-Ray over HD-DVD (getting a non-Columbia studio on Blu-Ray's side was the main reason Sony partially bought MGM IOTL). New Line, as a result, essentially becomes the Tristar to MGM's Columbia.
- The pre-MCU superhero movie craze in full swing (with the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films at Sony, the X-Men and Fantastic Four film series at Fox, and Batman Begins at WB) and Turner NOT being tied to DC-owning Warner Bros., New Line makes a deal with Marvel to distribute their movies, particularly for the first Iron Man film (a version of which WAS being worked on with New Line before the rights reverted back to Marvel), beating out a bid from Paramount. The movie is so successful, and Ted sees so much potential in the Marvel characters as a big franchise, that Turner ultimately buys Marvel instead of Disney.
- Without the Marvel acquisition, Disney doesn't have enough clout to buy Star Wars and Lucasfilm in 2012, which instead goes to Fox. While the Pirates of the Carribean movies are still successful at the box office (if getting increasingly rotten reviews), Disney is otherwise unable to break out of being considered a "kiddy" company. The one-two-three punch of Mars Needs Moms, John Carter, and The Lone Ranger (not to mention prior darling Pixar losing steam critically and financially) that Disney and Warner Bros. decide to merge by the end of 2013- ironically when Frozen comes out and could have saved the independent Disney, or at least bought them some time.
- Without the Turner merger, the smaller TimeWarner and Disney are much better fits that complement each other nicely.
- Disney has a full network (ABC), theme parks, basic cable channels, and a stable animation department, but lacks notable grown-up franchises, a strong action franchise outside of Pirates, and premium cable offerings.
- TimeWarner has half a network (one half of the CW, which is co-owned with CBS, who also owns a full network), well-known movie and TV franchises for adults, a strong and timeless boys' action franchise in DC, and the most premium in premium cabe with HBO, but lacks current family and animation successes, theme parks, and basic cable channels (save Comedy Central, who they initially had a stake in, and buy out in 2003 instead of other initial co-owner Viacom)
- The only clashing-ish assets would be their networks (a combined one and a half, which is the same as CBS, the "half" even being the same channel) and the major classic cartoon characters (and no way they'd pass up the opportunity to cross Mickey Mouse with the Looney Tunes)
- After the merger, the combined company goes to Turner (which at this point has become their arch-nemesis) for a deal. Turner has something they want, and they have something that Turner wants. Warner-Disney sells Turner the Fox Kids/Saban-owned Marvel shows Disney had owned, in exchange for the pre-1948 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.
Either way, they're going to combine.
Not only would getting The Wizard of Oz on Blu-Ray be a major selling point, but Ted finally owns all of MGM for more than a few months.
Just one question: What happens to United Artists if New Line is their second studio? Does UA outright fold into MGM?
There's another bonus to Turner buying Marvel instead of Disney: It could give action cartoons a real purpose on Cartoon Network.
I think the timing of this merger is actually well-crafted. Disney can say Frozen would be the beginning of a new era, and WB can take the credit for its success. Granted, I wouldn't want the latter to happen, but it likely would.
Well, I guess this makes sense. Also, since the combined Disney-Warner also owns Comedy Central now, this means that some of Touchstone's programming can air reruns alongside South Park and the revived Futurama. Heck, I can see a brand-new Saturday Morning block on The CW after this merger.
Trading the 90s Marvel cartoons for the 40s Looney Tunes. In my opinion, it makes Al Michaels for Oswald look one-sided.
After looking at this, I would give way to my inner child.
It becomes their "indie" label, like Focus Features to Universal.
Even if that purpose is promoting the films, but I digress.
IDK about Fox, but ITTL Sony and Universal have a good enough relationship with Turner that:
- More Hulk movies are made and distributed by Universal, albeit with MGM's name alongside.
- Marvel stays at the Universal parks, updating to the MCU style over time.
- After Spider-Man 3 kinda killed the Raimi trilogy, and since Amy Pascal used to work at Turner, the Andrew Garfield Amazing Spider-Man movies are developed between Marvel and Sony, made to lead in Phase Two of the MCU after The Avengers ends off Phase One.
Yep. The public sees it as quite ironic and lucky on WB's part.
And other WB shows. Don't be surprised to see Big Bang Theory on there...
Eh... Saturday morning cartoons still freaking die after this, so I doubt it.
Especially since they barely use Oswald.
No a chance he sell it off, he bought them because he like them and to fill content
Okay, that makes sense.
The same can be said for Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Returns.
That's a win for all of us, I figure.
Good.
I am not surprised.
A guy can dream.
If Universal barely used Oswald, and Disney barely uses Oswald, then it really DID take the public domain to revitalize him.
It was never the Characters or used it ,it was the message... Fuck over a rival.
- Disney buys Fox later, so that only buys time. (Unless you butterfly that away, too, somehow.)
It may be hard to say what effects, if any, this has on the Star Wars sequel trilogy, at least as it happened in our timeline. Is it just delayed*? Maybe it doesn't have the problem of inconsistent directorship like it did as one of its issues in our timeline? It probably isn't butterflied away, though; Kathleen Kennedy is already at Lucasfilm by this point.- (* Episode Ⅸ in particular would've benefitted greatly from not being as rushed through development as it was in our timeline; it needs different contents and likely gets a different subtitle as a result. If this timeline confines full-blown Palpatine resurrection to the Expanded Universe, that'd be nice. He could still show up as a shade bound to his throne in the second Death Star for a cameo appearance, though, maybe, including to satisfy Ian McDiarmid fans — I saw a YouTube video discussing this possibility in the run up to The Rise of Skywalker, but I can't remember where at the moment; sorry.)
- (Episode Ⅷ from our timeline's still divisive in some courts, and not entirely undeservedly so, but it's also less problematic.)
- As a potential additional alternative that comes to mind — though, admittedly, this may just be my preferences leaking through a bit —, what if:
- For Pirates of the Carribean, could any differences in that series compared to in our timeline crop up in this one? Perhaps it wouldn't be enough to keep it from degrading in quality the further you get away from The Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man's Chest, but it is a thought.
- Just butterfly Disney's bad live-action films away. Maybe they die at some point during development when it becomes apparent that they'd have issues like in our timeline. (Or Disney or someone else could make a good adaptation for content from the Barsoom books instead, and the same for The Lone Ranger. For the latter, especially, a film should really only get made if there's a good vision for it that will be well-received, not just because a studio has the rights to something.)
- Finding a way to give Disney a different repertoire of content for older audiences would still be interesting to see.
- It may not be in the cards for this timeline, but is there any way to avoid Pixar sequel bloat?
By this time there’s plenty of content he has. Although you are right in that he’d be unlikely to sell off his owned WB shorts… unless WB (and Disney when they buy it) has something just as valuable to give him in return. Something valuable like, a massive selection in their library with characters HE owns? Hint hint? I talked about Turner buying Marvel?
True.
I mean, Disney DID use him in Epic Mickey, but not much outside of that.
I think merging Disney with WB butterflies would automatically butterfly away the Disney-Fox merger.
And because it was Warren idea but it was more a symbol status
Unlike what internet Meme machine say, those show worth very little
Spider-Man 1994 and X-Men 1992 were massive hits, what are you on about
I wonder how different the Final Fantasy franchise could've been had Final Fantasy XIV shipped in a more finished and polished state on day one (basically something like A Realm Reborn).
So... has anybody here heard of a obscure Canadian-French cartoon made for kids known as Bali?
en.wikipedia.org
Well, I have a few ideas for a ATL where Bali gets brought over to Japan and is a hit in that region, that's more of a one-shot TL than a full-on one. I already shared them in a Discord server owned by a friend of mine last night, and I was thinking of either sharing my ideas in a conversation, or here, with some minor adjustments, but ultimately I decided to share them here, and since this is a public thread, I think it could help with getting my ideas more widely recognised. Anyways, here we go!
Bali (TV series) - Wikipedia
Well, I have a few ideas for a ATL where Bali gets brought over to Japan and is a hit in that region, that's more of a one-shot TL than a full-on one. I already shared them in a Discord server owned by a friend of mine last night, and I was thinking of either sharing my ideas in a conversation, or here, with some minor adjustments, but ultimately I decided to share them here, and since this is a public thread, I think it could help with getting my ideas more widely recognised. Anyways, here we go!
- Around 2006, PlanetNemo Animation gives the Japanese distribution and merchandising rights of Bali to both Sony Music Entertainment Japan and Sony Creative Products, with the two companies both seeing interest in the show and the main character's "kawaii" appeal.
- Somewhere between 2006-07, TV Tokyo, desperately looking for something to fill in the empty void that Pingu left, with his show already having been moved to rival channel NHK back in 2004, sees Bali as a perfect replacement for their noisy claymation penguin that they already lost just about two or three years ago, and so gets the broadcast rights to air it on their network, with Animax, as well as Kids' Station, two Japanese Sony-owned channels, getting the cable and satellite rights to the show.
- In 2007, Bali begins airing its Japanese dub on TV Tokyo, filling the slot left by Pingu a few years ago, as well as replacing another pre-occupied show in its place, and immediately becomes a hit with both kids and adults alike, owing to the main character's cuteness, with Japan's whole "kawaisa" culture involving child-like innocence and funny animals making matters better, as well as good promotion both before and after the premiere, with DVDs of the show, as well as toys, plushies and other kinds of merchandise showing up on store shelves not too long afterwards.
- As a result of Bali's success in Japan (far outdoing the success that he had in Poland IOTL), in 2010, PlanetNemo decides to collaborate with Japanese animation studio Madhouse, as well as entertainment and media company Aniplex, both under the ownership of the Sony Group (with Madhouse being partially owned by the Japanese branch of Sony Pictures Entertainment) to revive Bali for another 26-episode season (52 if you count the segments), with PlanetNemo being more hands-on with the production of the second season than say, Craig McCracken was with Powerpuff Girls Z, with PlanetNemo providing reference sheets and images for the production staff to work with, as well as some new character designs and episode ideas, therefore butterflying away the failed collaborative attempt by TFO, SRC, and Disney Channel France IOTL that happened around the same time.
- The 2nd season of Bali then commences broadcast on its original home, TV Tokyo, in 2012, lasting until around 2013. As a result of PlanetNemo being involved, this new run of the show maintains the original art style of the 1st season and tries its best to stay true to it, however with Madhouse and Aniplex producing the 2nd season, the animation is a bit more choppier and stiff due to time and budget restrictions (as is a common practice with Japanese animation), the characters and the backgrounds look a bit more detailed and refined, the expressions are more varied and zany, and in general, a more anime-ish and Japanese-like feel than the original run, but still managing to feel like a continuation of the old series (basically, think of something like Stitch! or Pingu in the City), without going full anime style to the point where it feels like a reboot or a new show entirely. Also, to meet up with modern standards, the episode are made at a HD 1080p resolution in a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, resulting in sharper and less blurry video quality than the 1st season.
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How would no Second Red Scare and thus no Hollywood blacklist (or greatly reduced compared to OTL) affect Hollywood from the late 40s and onward? Let’s say for a POD J. Edgar Hoover either dies or is fired/forced into retirement in 1946.
Another “what if Dark Age Looney Tunes had more character freedom”, this time happening in the DFE years. In this timeline, while their choice of what they could use as headlining characters in the shorts (NOT who could appear entirely, just who could technically be the star) was still limited, they had a wider palette to choose from. The “primary stars” included Bugs, Daffy, Sylvester, Tweety, Road Runner, Porky Pig, and Speedy Gonzales. At least one of these characters had to be included in the cartoon. The secondary character palette was wider, and also included Yosemite Sam, Elmer Fudd (though due to Arthur Q. Bryant’s death, this was rarely focused upon), Sylvester Jr., Foghorn Leghorn, the Tasmanian Devil, Wile E. Coyote, Petunia Pig, and the theatrical debut of Honey Bunny- though anyone with at least five theatrical cartoon appearances could also become a co-star. Once again, more oddball pairings are prioritized, and certain characters are only allowed to star if they were in one of these oddball pairings. Eventually, this would resort in six “subseries” of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies being formed:
- Bugs, Daffy, and Porky - A cross between the Bugs/Daffy pairing and the Daffy/Porky pairing. Sometimes used as a Three Stooges style trio, but they were more often used as a Trojan horse similar to how Bob Clampett used Porky in the early 40s- one of the characters (often Porky, sometimes Bugs, NEVER Daffy) would appear at the beginning and end of the short, then sort of fade out, letting either the Bugs/Daffy or Daffy/Porky pairings take the lead.
- Sylvester and Son - A continuation of the Sylvester and Sylvester Jr. cartoons, though always alongside ANOTHER character. This was another Trojan horse- while Jr. would not fade into the background like Porky or Bugs, his inclusion was otherwise an excuse to continue making Sylvester and Tweety shorts. Sometimes Speedy would be Sylvester’s adversary instead, though that was less common due to the next subseries.
- Speedy and Yosemite Sam - Inspired by Pancho’s Hideaway and its Yosemite Sam knockoff Pancho Vanilla, the real villainous cowboy would become Speedy’s new archnemesis.
- Road Runner - The shorts that were safe from the oddball pairing mandate. These are unfortunately identical to the Larriva Eleven, except there’s less of them (with other cartoons filling Format Films’ schedule, as well as the WB cartoon schedule as a whole)
- Honey Bunny - As a debuting character, she also exempt from the oddball pairing rule, as any pairing with her would be an oddball one. She would take on Bugs’ previous zanier personality.
- Other - This was an experimental subseries, with different character pairings outside the previous subseries. Several of these were based on existing though rare pairings, like Porky/Sylvester, Daffy/Foghorn, Daffy/Yosemite Sam, and Pepe confusing Sylvester for a lady skunk (previously played off as an ending gag in a Sylvester/Tweety cartoon). A few “regular” Bugs cartoons were made with some of his lesser known enemies, like Wile E. Coyote (in “Super Genius” persona), the Tasmanian Devil, the then-unnamed Marvin the Martian, and Witch Hazel (who had only had four cartoons prior to DFE, but was included in a short from one of the other subseries, passing her into the recurring character list). Other cartoons included new pairings. Some were thought out to be semi-fitting- such as Speedy Gonzales facing off against both cat and fellow foreigner in Penelope Pussycat in the cartoon Around the World in 8.0 Seconds, or him racing the Road Runner in The Wild Chase. Others are more confusing- the Daffy/Goofy Gophers vehicle Tease for Two still happens, as well as Daffy/Speedy pilot It’s Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House (though thankfully there aren’t any more Daffy/Speedy shorts). Some of these shorts focused on the characters love lives- Bugs/Honey, Porky/Petunia, and even Sylvester/Penelope. And of course there were Trojan horses, with a random character appearing at the beginning and end of an otherwise typical pairing- such as Bugs Bunny narrating a Twilight Zone parody with Daffy and Porky as the stars. These cartoons could also function as cheater clip shows (although if Mucho Locos is any indication, they’re ones with redone animation), such as Granny’s Fairy Tales, where Granny reads fairy tales that lead into clips of shorts like Beanstalk Bunny, Goldimouse and the Three Cats, and Three Little Bops. All in all, a very eclectic mix, and a change of pace from the usual grind.
A pretty good selection of improvements for the Dark Age of Looney Tunes!
I was particularly amused by the Road Runner being designated as a "primary star" (let's be honest, everyone knows who the actual main character of the Road Runner and Coyote shorts was).