TBF, Mags, you have been doing a lot of the heavylifting for the quest, so this will be in good hands.
To be clear to everyone, this is just me burning out on imagination of the quest, since my muse has been hitting me over the head a lot with so many different ideas that I just can't find myself too interested in this.
I'll still hang out here, though, since this still does have a sepcial place in my heart.
I'd like to thank you all for making this a wonderful experience while it lasted.
I'd also like to thank @Magoose, @Fluffy_serpent, and @Martin Noctis for doing so much to help prepare and write this quest. I couldn't have done it without you all.
This is an incredibly low effort pitch, mostly because I couldn't actually find much info about the film online and I hadn't seen it either, nor could I be asked to track it down and watch it, although I did watch an old animated Barbie movie for references, but I came across this art that was made to look like old anime and I had to do it for the memes, and so I shat this thing out. On a more serious note, I found a couple of these kinds of "retro art style" pieces of fanart that I really liked and I'll be using for some pitches that I'll be making. And yes, those will be real pitches with actual effort put into them. Later tonight, I'll put out a real pitch with some more serious updates about the stuff I'm working on. Without further ado, it's time to bring about the Kenvolution baby!
Animated Movie Pitch Barbie
GENRE: Comedy SUBGENRE: Fantasy FORMAT: Animated Movie
SET UP: Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.
Barbie: Played by: Chris Anthony Landsdowne
Ken: Played by: Michael Benyaer
Tabletop Roleplaying Game: My Little Pony: The Great War
Source of Pic Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Rulership, Kriegspiel/War Games Sub-Genre: MLP: FIM Alternate Universe, Equestria at War Format: Tabletop Wargame Bio:
Generals! The Princesses call for your help to defeat the villainous forces of the Changelings as their leader along with their elite forces attempted a coup during the wedding of Shining Armour and Princess Cadance! Work your way up through the ranks during the battles that you and your units are deployed within..wait, what do you mean some of you are on the Changeling's side?
MLP: The Great War is a Tabletop Wargame that explores a new system of units and mechanics that are different to other Wargames practised whether in Public or in Military Academies. For the first iteration of The Great War, the Equestrian and Changeling armies are most focused, with a side of mercenary Griffonia forces from different nations in the continent of Griffonia.
Genre: Fantasy, Friendship, Tragedy Sub-Genre: MLP: Friendship is Magic Format: Full-Length Animated Movie Bio:
Two Pegasi Sisters, with dreams to one day end the Cycle of Hatred between the three tribes of Ponykind. The duo goes through a journey, from their earliest moments as fillies, living with parents who are speciesist against other races but still do love them dearly, being lost as the village was the first victim of Discord's chaos – to being found by Starswirl the Bearded who took them into his care, to eventually defeating Discord with the Elements of Harmony and uniting the Tribes under one Princessdom: Equestria, the threats they face, and eventually, each other.
The movie focuses on not just building enough World Building, but to focus on the characters – the priority on Luna and Celestia's chemistry as sisters. The journey and impactful moments and events that would eventually lead to the Royal Sisters that are well known in the Friendship is Magic TV Series.
There is an epilogue to the movie, which happens at the end of it. After an eventful "Final Battle" of the film, after mounting tension after another, with the battle ending in Nightmare Moon's Banishment and Celestia's breakdown..A peaceful transition with calm music as the passage: "A Thousand Years Later..", to the scene when Celestia hears of Luna's recovery (Takes place after EP 2 of S1), rushing towards the Canterlot Palace Clinical Room after practically abandoning Day Court, and finally, they would reunite as fully conscious sisters again.
Main Characters:
Luna: She is the younger sister of Celestia. She is a pegasus (later turned alicorn) with a great sense of adventure, and holds characteristics close to her heart that later qualifies her as a wielder of half of the elements later in the story. Over the course of the Rulership years, she grows to have a mounting resentment towards the sun and her sister that, finally, eclipses into Nightmare Moon. She recovers in the epilogue in the movie and reunified with her sister.
Celestia: She is the older sister of Luna. She is a pegasus (later turned alicorn) with a deep worry for her sister, and holds characteristics that later allows her to be qualified to be wielder of the other half of the Elements of Harmony in the movie. She grows as a character and grows to enjoy her little ponies' praises as a "we did something right!" type of response. It disintegrated when Nightmare Moon rises, and she is shown to regret banishing her sister, and would sing her a lullaby one last time (for a thousand years).
Genre: Fantasy, Friendship, Comedy, Music Sub-Genre: MLP: Friendship is Magic Format: 2D, Plush Toys, 3D, Puppets, etc. Bio:
Twilight's School of Friendship is an educational show that teaches the values of friendship and other subjects that fit within the general theme of the episode. Cozy Glow, escaping the stone punishment through an elaborative plan that no one notices she was missing until the Crystal Empire's guards arrived for their time to patrol (A Week). Cozy remains as the show's Main Antagonist with attempts to make sure the lessons learned backfires and with the end goal to break down the Young 6 and shut down the School of Friendship FOREVER! – however her schemes would be foiled at the end of the episode, whether that be by her clumsiness/herself or the protagonists.
In this case, the Educational Aspect is Plot A, with Cozy Glow's attempts being Plot B.
The show also contains scenes where the characters are not in their 2D forms, with some skits done through Plush Toys, 3D animation, Puppets, etc. As long as they fit within the episode, they will be done, overall the show is experimentative in its format and episode-based story lines that makes the lesson and story (Plot A/B) engaging and focused towards the watchers having a great time.
Genre: Fantasy, Friendship, Action, Tragedy, Philosophical, Light and Dark Sub-Genre: Change, Music Format: Full-Length Animated Film Bio:
This movie is the epilogue to the finale of the Friendship is Magic TV Series, where the viewers would be forced to ask and think of the question: "Can Everything Stay the Same?" This movie is Twilight-centric, as she goes through her final Hero's Journey – one of an immortal leader that hopes to one day reunite with her lost friends. Time hits hard on the Equestrian Princess, with friends she made along the way disappearing not due to some plot or scheme by new and old villains, but because their time simply comes to pass. Not to mention new social climates, villains of old and new, arriving to make a mess of things and complicate matters as her usual answers would begin to be ignored of "new solutions".
The movie shows Twilight one last Friendship Question: "Can a Pony move forwards, when everything and everyone she loved dearly belonged in the past." and how she deals with the query over the course of the film. Her suffering caused Equestria to suffer, where in her moments of anguish, she neglects the Kingdom she was given. By the end of the film, Twilight finally regains her strength to keep forward – avoiding a near-abdication crisis, and try to do her duty as Princess until she is no longer needed..unfortunately, the damage is already set in stone, and no matter how much she tries to fix things, the Kingdoms becomes divided.
The movie also makes a point to make it clear to Twilight: "She did not make a World that brought friendship and gave almost everypony a second chance to redeem themselves, but a legion of followers that obeys her every move and order..not truly friendship", it is something her old student Cozy Glow realised before her and explains her idea of weaponizing friendship for her deeds. (This viewpoint is also seen by others in Equestria, which explains the change of ideas/opinion in order to "regain independence". Even one of her friends pointed that out and left in anger, dubbing "The Princess forgot what friendship is".)
The final battle, of which Opaline – a new alicorn that dreams to end the suffering of as the social climate worsen amongst the tribes and creatures – and her band of fellow dreamers went against Twilight and her defenders. Ends with Twilight willingly subcomming to her fate, with an internal monologue and back flashes as she thinks of her journey as a unicorn all the way as an Alicorn.
This final character Arc of Twilight, of how it affects not only her, but of Equestria, would be the stage/background of the next series: Generation 2 (5 OTL).
N/A:
FIM: The Last is inspired slightly by the Arthurian Myths, with the Last Battle becoming the Equestrian version of the Battle of Camlann. This Twilight is based on the OTL Season 9 and Gen 5 iterations, and in this one changed to build up the backstory lore of Gen 2 (OTL Gen 5), with Twilight meeting the consequences of her fandom-dubbed "Out of Character Moments" (This'll be pointed out in the show ITTL as "Twilight Stress to the next level", with her attempts to alleviate it being blocked because something bad or important is happening). Over all, a proper ending to Ruler Twilight - Not to mention Opaline as a dreamer to restore the Equestria of Old, of Friendship and the likes.
TSSoF is inspired by LazyTown and Phineas and Ferb, developed to be more unique to the show than just a random copy. Cozy Glow escaped punishment and is repeatedly trying to put a stop to the Young 6 and to shut down the School of Friendship FOREVER!
Celestia and Luna is created as a backstory piece of the two royal sisters, and their chemistry together and the likes over the years.
So right now I'm thinking of doing an omake of Ginger getting pregnant with kittens, and I wanted to know questers thoughts for taking such a bold action considering we've discussed this but it never went anywhere before.
So right now I'm thinking of doing an omake of Ginger getting pregnant with kittens, and I wanted to know questers thoughts for taking such a bold action considering we've discussed this but it never went anywhere before.
Go for it. The sheer number of adorable shenanigans that small children and kitten can get into is amazing.
From a purely genetic point of view, having a breed of cat that is movie usable as demonstrated by Ginger in Airplane! unlocks a whole lot of movies that would otherwise need massive amounts of CGI.
Besides consider the fun questions that Bruce would have to think hard and fast about how he wants to answer such as "Daddy why is Ginger getting Fat?"
Alright, we know that Hannah-Barbera wants to try something new, something bigger, and something that is a bit more serious/mature than what they're doing right now. Of course, I personally don't think that means that it should be something aimed at adults like what we're doing with DreamWorks and Sunrise at the moment. But more like a show that does not insult the intelligence of a show, or tries to make something so bland that in the end you end up just looking at it for the pretty pictures.
Enter Atomic Betty.
It's a perfect show for Hannah-Barbera to make their big debut on their new cartoons in my opinion, it has all the tropes and trademarks needed to make it a show for children, while also making it innovative, serious, teaching good lessons, while also making sure that it's entertaining and not something that parents or Congress will push at us for trying to show it to their children. There's many fun and colorful villains, allies, and situations that just jump from the screen right at you. Not to mention that it goes perfectly with what we're trying to make for our children to enjoy as well. I can see all three of them liking it.
Thus, I give you:
Animated Show Pitch: Atomic Betty
GENRE: Action/Adventure/Comedy
SUBGENRE: Science Fiction/Magical Girl/Fantasy
FORMAT: Animated TV Show
Set Up: Betty Barrett is a typical girl who enjoys school, daydreaming about living in outer space, sci-fi movies, and singing in her musical band. Unknown to all of her friends and family, however, she is also a member of the Galactic Guardians, an elite team dedicated to interstellar crime-fighting and law enforcement. As "Atomic Betty", assisted by her two allies, the alien pilot Sparky and a robot named X-5, she confronts the evil overlord Maximus I.Q. and his servant Minimus, as well as other intergalactic supervillains, criminals, terrorists, and gangsters. Despite being rather unassuming on Earth, Atomic Betty is a superstar throughout the galaxy and even has a crowd of people who consider her their role model.
Animation: Hannah-Barbera Studios Series Director: Larry Houston Writer: Mark Edward Edens Proposed Length: 4 Seasons
Betty Barrett/Atomic Betty: On Earth, to most of her friends and family, she is a typical 12-year-old girl who enjoys visiting her grandmother, daydreaming about living in outer space, singing in her band, goofing off, and hanging out with her friends. She is not afraid to speak her mind, either, and dislikes any form of bullying, snobbery, and injustice. However, when there is trouble in deep space, she captains her own star-cruiser as Atomic Betty, a famously powerful and beautiful female Galactic Guardian and defender of the cosmos. In space, she investigates crimes and fights evil.
Played By: B. J. Ward Alternate: Stephanie Louise Vallance
Sparky: He is Betty's alien lieutenant and pilot, with a large nose, green skin, and blue hair. Although he is sometimes reckless, and often more interested in eating, surfing, or girls than the mission he is on, he is nevertheless very loyal to Betty and endeavors to do his best at all times. Also, despite his immaturity that he expresses in his quarreling with a fellow crew member, X-5, he is shown throughout the early series to be a very skilled pilot and combatant.
Played By: Robin Williams Alternate: Casey Kasem
X-5: He is the third member of Betty's crew, a roughly rectangular, yellow, hovering robot. He tends to spout too much information at inopportune times and takes things exceptionally seriously, which usually grates on Sparky's nerves. The two of them have a grudgingly respectful working relationship. Though it is implied that he is an outdated robot model, newer model robots have tended to be less reliable. He also invents new gadgets that are used by Betty on her missions.
Played By: Dan Gilvezan Alternate: Walker Edmiston
Admiral DeGill: He is the commanding officer of the Galactic Guardians and Betty's immediate superior, assigning her to her missions. He resembles an orange goldfish with a crew cut of white hair and a muscular physique. He's often seen holding and using a Corncob pipe (which blows bubbles). DeGill radiates professionalism and takes his role as a commander very seriously, but has nevertheless managed to strike a balance between his duties and his recreational pursuits.
Played By: Adrian Truss Alternate: George DiCenzo
Beatrixo Barrett: She is the wife of Dr. Barrett, the mother of Tanya Barrett, the mother-in-law of Mr. Barrett, and the grandmother of Betty and Kyle. A lively older woman with a love of clog dancing and numerous other talents, she lives on her farm in the countryside just outside Moose Jaw Heights. However, she was also one of the first Galactic Guardians, and, in her younger years, looked like an adult version of Betty. She only comes out of retirement occasionally if Betty is in serious need of help.
Played By: Marlene Aragon
Dr. Jimmy Barrett: He is the husband of Beatrixo Barrett, the father of Tanya Barrett, the father-in-law of Mr. Barrett, and the grandfather of Betty and Kyle. He was a scientist who was studying the musicality of space rocks. He was lost years earlier while trying to discover sounds on a distant planet, but was found on The No-L 9, a collection of singing planets. Betty manages to find him, but not before protecting the planets from Maximus.
Played By: Sydney L. Miller
Quincy Barrett: He is the husband of Tanya Barrett, the father of Betty Barrett, the son-in-law of Dr. and Beatrixo Barrett, and the uncle of Kyle. He is a slightly absent-minded, stereotypical 1950's salesman who is usually busy with whatever new gadget he is trying to sell, but he is a devoted father when he's around. He sometimes spends time with Betty on father-daughter day weekends.
Played By: William Shatner
Tanya Barrett: She is the wife of Mr. Barrett, the mother of Betty Barrett, the daughter of Dr. and Beatrixo Barrett, and the aunt of Kyle. She is a homemaker and a stay-at-home mom who is largely oblivious to Betty's adventures, as she spends most of her day fussing over her cat, Purrsy. With a pouf blonde ponytail and tacky animal-print clothes, she dresses like a stereotypical hairdresser, but her actual skills at hair-styling are best left unseen.
Played By: Jayne Eastwood
Maximus I.Q.: He is Atomic Betty's archenemy. The self-proclaimed Supreme Evil Overlord of the Galaxy, Maximus I.Q. has only one driving ambition — to rule the galaxy. A cat-like appearance and a somewhat regal bearing (even if he's the only one who believes so), however, like any other cat, he hates getting wet, to the point where it's enough to distract him from his schemes. He is also ill-tempered, self-important, overbearing, scheming, two-faced, abusive, selfish and thievish. His citadel contains various stolen items. He is a parody of Flash Gordon's adversary Ming the Merciless.
Played By: Colin Fox Alternate: James Avery
Minimus P.U.: He is a biogenetically engineered assistant for Maximus (P.U. is stated to stand for "Portable Underling"). Minimus can withstand "extremely high" levels of "verbal and physical abuse" from Maximus. Minimus's "swivel-head" feature allows him to switch between his two faces, one being a sycophant, the other a grumbler. Depending on Minimus' mood, his head will swivel around to display the appropriate face with a loud clicking sound; the other face, when not in use, has its eyes closed and is considered dormant. He, like Maximus, is also a liar due to having two faces. Though frequently abused, he remains the top underling of Maximus.
Played By: Len Carlson Alternate: Don Most
Atomic Roger: He is an evil Galactic Guardian, one of Betty's colleagues and occasionally her rival. Though he appears human, he seems to have little actual knowledge of everyday life on Earth. Though exceptionally wicked and vain, especially about his hair (actually a wig), he is nevertheless a highly competent Galactic Guardian. He is often assigned to deep space patrol, and secretly covets Betty's rank as the top Galactic Guardian due to the fame and recognition it brings. As such, he often goes around and brags to Betty's friends (both on and off Earth) that he is the hero, and the actual secret behind Betty's success and reputation.
Played By: Christopher Collins Alternate: Tony Pope
Atomic Dodger: He is Atomic Roger's evil twin brother, identical in every way except for Dodger's orange visor and five o'clock shadow. It is also mentioned that his hair is real compared to Atomic Roger's wig. He and his brother Rodger both wanted to be Galactic Guardians. Dodger attempted to exact revenge on the Galactic Guardians on his brother's behalf when Roger was dismissed from the Guardians, however, Roger's own actions in preventing it led to his being reinstated and now Atomic Dodger wants revenge on both Galactic Guardians and his brother.
Played By: Tony Pope Alternate: Christopher Collins
Auntie Matter: She is Betty's great-aunt and Beatrixo's little sister. The two have an extreme case of sibling rivalry and are always fighting. She has the ability to transform her body into a Black Hole and send all the things she sucks up into her body into deep space. According to her, this power comes from her father's side of the family and her older sister, Beatrixo, is more like their mother, who has no powers. She was imprisoned on a distant asteroid until she was accidentally freed; however, Betty and Beatrixo managed to team up and imprison her once again.
Played By: Linda Gary Alternate: Marlene Aragon
Bombshelle: She is a villainous fashion designer who used a special ray gun called the Beauty Bomber to "makeover" everything she considered ugly. These include turning a factory into a fashionable upside-down pyramid, turning a swimming pool into a pool of pink mud, shaving the hair of the hair beasts in the planet of Nexxus 9 (even though they need the hair to survive the cold and snow of their planet), beautifying the planet Crushton in which she describes it as an "orbiting eyesore", forcing everyone to wear mood suits, etc. She attempted to makeover the entire galaxy, but Betty managed to stop her and it was discovered she was really a short ugly alien inside of a fashionable robot suit as it is destroyed when Bombshelle is defeated.
Played By: Kathy Garver Alternate: Anne Lockhart
The Chameleon: He is an alien capable of taking the shape of any creature or object. He was a former top agent of Maximus, until being fired from Maximus' forces for an unexplained mishap. Since then the Chameleon has been trying to prove himself to be competently evil, doing anything he can to try and reclaim his former position.
Played By: Jack Angel Alternate: William Callaway
The Collector: He is an alien thief in safari gear who attempts to steal historic or rare treasures, all while filming his exploits as though he were starring in a documentary. Though constantly trying to look heroic for the camera, he has his sarcastic robotic assistant, Wrybot, do most of the dirty work. For his part, Wrybot is dissatisfied with his position with The Collector (being that the only reason he is with The Collector was that the Collector beat him in a game of Piraxian tic-tac-toe).
Played By: Roger C. Carmel Alternate: Jeffrey Doucette
Dr. Cerebral: He is a strange being, consisting of a giant brain with a face floating in a glass dome with mechanical legs and arms who yearns to control the universe and eliminate inefficient and unsanitary organic life forms in the process. The self-proclaimed greatest genius in the galaxy, he is always trying to devise ways to destroy other intelligent beings and prove himself the smartest.
Played By: Corey Burton Alternate: Jeff Altman
Enormo: Despite the name, Enormo is a diminutive alien whose frustration at being so small has boiled over into plots of revenge. Armed with a ray that shrinks anything it hits, he plans to make himself the largest and most powerful being in the galaxy. He is accompanied by a pet named Griffin, who, similar to the mythical beast, are half dog and half eagle.
Played By: Maurice LaMarche Alternate: Howard Morris
Greenbeard: He is the leader of a band of space pirates who seek out treasures left behind by their former owners or steal outright from starships unfortunate enough to cross their path. With a long coat, mechanical parrot, and a peg leg, he also upholds many old traditions of classic pirates, including walking the plank and keelhauling. He is a parody of Blackbeard.
Played By: Buster Jones Alternate: Rob Paulsen
Hopper the Chopper: He is a humanoid fish alien and a space cowboy who robs planets. He's tried to transport aquatic wild west sharks, and tried to hijack a chemical called Polydenum, which could make ordinary steel or any weapon indestructible, from a train and tied Tex DeGill (Admiral DeGill's brother) onto a train track, but Hopper was stopped and Tex was saved with the help of Lily-Rose (Tex's Daughter) who led Betty to a shortcut.
Played By: John Stocker Alternate: Townsend Coleman
Iciclia: She is a character reminiscent of the Witch Queen from Snow White; her trademark attacks are ice-based, using a scepter which fires a beam that freezes any target within its range. Queen of the ice planet Glacies, Iciclia is an icy, mean, cold-hearted, ugly old hag and was once dependent on montegoberries to keep her youth and beauty, but she seems to have eliminated this dependency somehow. She has a sidekick named Dingleberry, a large alien creature with a morning star for a left arm. She is at home only in climates as icy and cold as she is because if she were in a warm climate, she would melt.
Played By: Pat Carroll Alternate: Jennifer Darling
Infantor: He is an incredibly spoiled, foul-tempered, 1930's gangster-like evil alien infant who enjoys playing games with his enemies. He thinks the galaxy is his own personal box of toys and, accordingly, he wants and demands everything. He is usually accompanied by his "Termi-Nanny", a robotic henchman designed to look like a nanny. He is very intelligent for his seeming age and has tried many plans, such as extracting the multi-colored magma from the planets of Colorosia, the most vibrant galaxy in the entire universe, to make his own line of action figures. He also once sucked Betty and her crew into a virtual reality game to fight for their lives according to his rules and used mind-controlling chocolate chip cookies to form his own Brat Pack army.
Played By: Bob Holt Alternate: Hal Rayle
Kareena: She is a feline alien with blue hair, white fur with blue tiger stripes, and red eyes. She was a former student of Spindly Tam Kanushu at the same time that Betty was in training. However, Kareena was a snob who was lazy, idled her time away playing video games instead of focusing on her training, and cheated on all her tests by copying off Betty during a test. She refuses to acknowledge her behavior, insisting that Betty stole her position as a Galactic Guardian by charming her way into being Spindly Tam's favorite student. She is, nevertheless, an expert in robotics.
Played By: Diane Pershing Alternate: Erika Scheimer
Max Sr.: He is the father of Maximus. Like his son, he is a criminal, though more in the style of a gang as opposed to his son's super-villainy. It is implied that he was Maximus' predecessor in his evil empire before his son had inherited it. As such, while he has henchmen, he does not have a paramilitary force. Even though Maximus is a successful supervillain, his father still treats him like he is worthless and insults him at every turn; Maximus stated that growing up, his father constantly teased and taunted him. As such, Maximus often assists (though discreetly) in bringing his father to justice.
Played By: Alan Oppenheimer Alternate: Charles Michael Adler
M'Lord Orus: He is a smelly being who tried to pollute other planets by sending garbage. M'Lord Orus polluted Edenia which turned the Edenians into his mutant henchmen. He then escaped his rocket prison from "Planet Stinxx" (instead of polluting a planet, it endlessly orbited the galaxy) with help from a metal-eating fungus that had grown in his ship that he named Shermie the Germie, and was plotting revenge on the Galactic Guardians for arresting him. Later on, he and Shermie the Germie were both defeated by Sparky's homemade slug worm soup, which proved to be the thing that can dissolve the fungi.
Played By: Rodger Bumpass Alternate: Pat Fraley
Nuclea: She is a Cruella de Vil-esque female alien with wild Medusa-like hair that is fatally shocking to the touch. She is an energy-based being whose power (and size) increases as she consumes more energy and she has the power to conjure lightning blasts of various intensities and lengths. She continually uses new methods to secure large sources of energy to absorb. She is basically a human lightning bolt of energy, but that, of course, is not enough power for her.
Played By: Nancy Cartwright Alternate: Ellen Gerstell
Pandora: She is Paloma's evil twin sister and is one of the twin daughters of Golgotha and the demon, Pandora looks exactly like Paloma, but with purple hair, yellow eyes, and lighter skin, she wears a green cloak and body armor. Long ago, Pandora attempted a galactic takeover, but her evil plot was squashed by the Galactic Guardians after they were tipped off by Paloma. Since then, Pandora has sought to revive her father, imprisoned in a box under the guard of Spindly Tam Kanushu.
Played By: Tress MacNeille Alternate: Ginny McSwain
Pontifidora the Conquistadora: She is a former big-game hunter turned bounty hunter. She was Admiral DeGill's fiancée before turning to a life of crime. DeGill then turned her into the authorities before running off with a showgirl from the planet Vega. She has never forgiven DeGill for either act and is determined to have him stuffed and mounted on her wall. It is later revealed that she and DeGill have a son, Bill DeGill.
Played By: Kath Soucie Alternate: Susan Blu
Queen Penelobee: She is a clone of Penelope, created from a mix of alien bee and human DNA. After the death of their previous queen, the alien bee people of Droneopolis decided to choose a new queen from the "most evil female" in the cosmos; they had concluded that this person was Penelope. Penelope was abducted, but was later rescued by Betty and her crew; all the while, Penelope had thought the incident was only a dream. However, the bees of Droneoplis had managed to retain a strand of Penelope's hair. DNA was used from the hair, along with some of their own DNA to create a hybrid clone of Penelope as their new queen.
Played By: Mona Marshall Alternate: Janet Waldo
Milton Scrivener/The Scribe: He is a writer who got tired of publishers rejecting his works; Sparky was the only admirer of his works. According to X-5, his works are sub-standard, and therefore only interest species of low-level intelligence. After being tired of constant rejection, Scrivener finds a book with a magical quill pen, which allows him to capture any idea and store it within the book's pages. The book also acts as his personal transport, allowing him to fly, and also allows him to make real anything stored within its pages. With it, Scrivener plots to capture every writer in the galaxy and take their ideas as their own.
Played By: Peter Cullen Alternate: Don Messick
Shaka Booga: She is, apparently, a prehistoric witch doctor who tried to devolve civilians into cavemen using a magical powder. She attempted to drop her devolution powder into the planets tar pits, thereby causing the planet to devolve into a black hole, thereby sucking up the entire galaxy, and even turned Betty's bracelet primitive, however, she was beaten when Sparky tied her up with his yo-yo which, being already primitive, was not affected by the powder.
Played By: June Foray Alternate: Marilyn Schreffler
Noah Parker: He is Betty's best friend and love interest. Although not really a nerd, he's an honor-roll student who enjoys studying mathematics and writing, which makes him a target for Duncan and Penelope's bullying. Unlike Betty, he's not very athletic, and the only sport he seems to be any good at is baseball. He also has a strong crush on Betty, though she seems mostly oblivious to it, and he is generally jealous of whatever boy she's with.
Played By: Willie Aames
Regeena Peterson: She is the daughter of Principal Peterson, and, as far as he is concerned, she's a sweet, demure, respectable girl. But as soon as he turns his back, her real personality comes out, which is quite the opposite. Betty finds Reegena refreshing, and around Regeena she comes out of her shell. In fact, Betty becomes a bit of a project for Reegena; she is determined to make Betty get out and "do stuff!". She has a somewhat bulkier build than most of her classmates, but given her father's athletic interests and build it is quite likely that this is muscle as opposed to fat.
Played By: Bettina Bush
Penelope Lang: She is Betty's rival on Earth. She is an arrogant and self-obsessed queen bee, who thinks of herself as the most popular prima donna at her school. Penelope always tries to humiliate Betty in every way. She has a nasally squeaky voice. She is rich, spoiled, and often tries to use her wealth to undermine Betty's social standing, a plan that inevitably backfires. She is usually seen with two sidekicks named Megan and Sarah. She's used to getting her own way — even if it means stepping all over other people.
Played By: Janet Waldo
Megan: She is one of the two of Penelope's "minions" and the shortest of the trio, she's a chubby little girl with short puffy dirty blond hair & hazel eyes. She is usually seen hanging around her "leader" Penelope; along with her cohort Sarah, or just one of them or on her own. Although she and Sarah are friends with such a vain and mean rude snob like Penelope; snickering at all of her wicked jokes and sarcastic comments, they don't seem to be as bratty and as nasty as she is. Megan has even shown signs of being on Betty's side on occasion.
Played By: Patricia Harris
Chaz Lang: He is Penelope's older brother, who had returned from being away at private school. According to Penelope, he refused to attend anymore because he found the other kids too snobby. Chaz is athletic, really cool, and an amazing skateboarder, and appears to share a mutual crush with Betty, which makes Noah very jealous. Chaz and his sister don't really get along, as his down-to-earth demeanor makes him the black sheep of his otherwise snooty family.
Played By: Michael Bell
Duncan Paine: He is the Junior High's resident school bully, and likes Penelope. Duncan, like Penelope, often bosses people around and is not very well-liked for his bully image, though he is not really that descriptive in how he does it, but it usually comes to light as he is confronted with the evidence later on.
Played By: Frank Welker
Principal Chet Peterson: He is Betty's African-American school principal. Tough but fair, he takes his interest in hockey to the point of obsession. His office is decorated with tons of memorabilia and he even has a penalty box in his office where he puts kids who have misbehaved. He also likes to sprinkle his everyday speech with metaphors from hockey and other sports. His voice and style of dress are patterned after veteran hockey commentator Don Cherry.
Played By: Keith David
B-1: He's X-5's "uncle", an older model robot formerly in service with the Galactic Guardians; he is implied to be one of its founding members. He was discarded on the planet Crushton when he became obsolete. Since then he's led a robot militia against anyone who tries to profit from the planet's giant scrap pile at the cost of what little functionality the robots have.
The Betty Clones: They are three once-evil identical clones of Atomic Betty that were created by Maximus from genetic material in a piece of hair that he had sliced off with his laser sword during a duel. The clones look identical to Betty in every way, shape, and form, except for their eye colors, and are dressed in color-coded mockups of the Galactic Guardian uniform. In addition to Betty's DNA, they also have genetic material from being from Maximus' homeworld to augment their abilities, giving them unique superpowers the real Betty does not possess. Clone Betty 1 (the red clone) powers come from Optica, the Fire Witch, giving her the ability to fly and use pyrokinesis; The powers of Clone Betty 2 (the orange clone) come from Destructa, the Rock Princess, allowing her to morph into a larger form with rock-like skin and superhuman strength. Clone Betty 3 (the blue clone) gained the power of Roxanne, the Rubber Woman, giving her the power of stretching her body like rubber.
Chef Bernadette: She was apparently Maximus' personal chef. She resigned as Maximus' personal chef when she refused to make an omelet out of the last existing Piraxian rhino egg, despite Maximus' order. Afterwards, she went back to her old job as Maximus' personal chef after Maximus gave up on making an omelet out of a Piraxian rhino egg, and as a result, he ended up nearly eating Minimus instead.
Commander McSlim: McSlim is the director of the Galactic Guardians Training Corps and the Galactic Guardian Academy's most famous instructor.
Flavia: She is the robot protector of the princess from "Martian Makeover" who has similarities to X-5 with a pink bow on her antenna, a dress, human-like eyes, and lips unlike X-5's blue eyes as both robots are secretly in love with each other.
Empress Narcissitad: She is a spoiled member of alien royalty. She expects her orders to be carried out immediately and without question. She is allergic to robots much to her disgust. She appears to have softened up after becoming engaged. She has an uncanny resemblance to Princess Leia from Star Wars.
Paloma: She is one of the twin daughters of the villain Golgotha, the queen of the planet Sharbena, whose people can shapeshift into any living creature they desire. The people of the planet had lived in peace for centuries, due to no army being able to beat a race that could mimic them down to the last detail. She had unsuccessfully tried to convince her own people that their powers were divine and that the rightful place for Sharbenians was as rulers of the universe.
Purrsy: Short for Sir Purrsefus, he is the family's spoiled, surly, petty, jealous and conniving Siamese cat. Betty's mother lavishes him with affection and considers him a second child, though Betty and Purrsy rarely get along. He's also the only one in Betty's immediate family who's aware of her double life as a Galactic Guardian.
Robo-Betty: She is a robotic clone of Betty created by Sparky, who had assembled it from a mail-in kit. The robot is in reality a skeleton like a robot with a holographic coating that occasionally flashes back to the underneath. She was originally sent by Sparky to cover for Betty at Noah's birthday party when Betty herself was on an adventure.
Spindly Tam Kanushu: He is Betty's martial arts trainer and sensei. He was once kidnapped by Maximus to teach his Morbidian Blood Monks his Martial Arts knowledge, but instead, he secretly taught them to be dancers. He was once a part of Beatrixo's old team.
Zulia: She is Sparky's mother, a sweet, perfect mother figure to anyone she comes across. She's thoughtful, kind, and an incredible cook who will never let anyone leave her house hungry, but has a fiery temper and a vicious hit with kitchen utensils should anyone threaten her son. She is currently single under unknown circumstances but is looking for another boyfriend/husband. Much to Sparky's dismay, she has a bad habit of dating (male) criminals.
The X-Rays: They are a trio of ruffians, named Plutor, Bubba, and Furball who were wreaking havoc across the galaxy. These include drawing a picture of Admiral DeGill as a woman, stealing candy from babies, vandalizing billboards, stealing ships from Maximus' citadel (especially stealing a Starcruiser from the episode "Best (Mis) Laid Plans" that was already stolen by Maximus), etc.
Sarah: She is Penelope and Megan's friend. She has long black hair and wears a green sweater and glasses. She is also the nicest of the three. She is also friendly and playful.
Kyle: He is the grandson of Dr. Barrett and Beatrixo, the nephew of Tanya Barrett and Betty's dad, and Betty's cousin. He's self-centered, arrogant, bratty, and thinks that anything not to his liking is stupid. This usually means anything Betty or her friends like. He also has a talent for causing havoc that eventually gets him into trouble.
Dylan: He is one of Betty's classmates. Tall, athletic, and intelligent, he appealed to just about every girl in school but was interested in Betty because of her interest in science. This began a rivalry between Betty and Penelope over him, though Penelope soon lost interest when she found out he was a bit too geeky for her tastes. Betty has also lost interest in him when Chaz appears.
The Osborne Twins: Chip and Dalton Osborne are two of Betty's male friends, though they are rarely featured. They are both guitarists on Betty's band, and had, on one occasion, unknowingly become the basis of one of Maximus' evil schemes.
Mr. Parker: He is Noah's father and a brilliant inventor but is seen as a crackpot as he is convinced of the existence of aliens and obsessed with proving it. He is also quite suspicious of Betty because whenever something odd happens she usually seems to be involved.
Mrs. Dourly: She is, originally, a substitute teacher in Betty's art class and a scout leader but later on she is Betty's regular teacher.
Coach Sorenson: He is the school's slightly misogynistic physical education teacher and local hockey coach.
A.N.: I hope we can have this made for our new annual plan for Hannah-Barbera, and hopefully be ready for distribution by 82' or 83' at the latest. For the voice actors I've gone with a mixture of veterans and newcomers, as well as some who have worked with Hannah-Barbera in previous projects before. As for the direction, Larry Houston was the man who directed the X-Men Animated Series (which I still hope we can do), while Mark Edward Edens is the man who contributed the most episodes for said series. In fact, Mark has written many episodes for many different types of cartoon TV Shows. Frankly, I see this as the dream team we need for a project like this to flourish.
Alright, we know that Hannah-Barbera wants to try something new, something bigger, and something that is a bit more serious/mature than what they're doing right now. Of course, I personally don't think that means that it should be something aimed at adults like what we're doing with DreamWorks and Sunrise at the moment. But more like a show that does not insult the intelligence of a show, or tries to make something so bland that in the end you end up just looking at it for the pretty pictures.
Enter Atomic Betty.
It's a perfect show for Hannah-Barbera to make their big debut on their new cartoons in my opinion, it has all the tropes and trademarks needed to make it a show for children, while also making it innovative, serious, teaching good lessons, while also making sure that it's entertaining and not something that parents or Congress will push at us for trying to show it to their children. There's many fun and colorful villains, allies, and situations that just jump from the screen right at you. Not to mention that it goes perfectly with what we're trying to make for our children to enjoy as well. I can see all three of them liking it.
Thus, I give you:
Animated Show Pitch: Atomic Betty
GENRE: Action/Adventure/Comedy
SUBGENRE: Science Fiction/Magical Girl/Fantasy
FORMAT: Animated TV Show
Set Up: Betty Barrett is a typical girl who enjoys school, daydreaming about living in outer space, sci-fi movies, and singing in her musical band. Unknown to all of her friends and family, however, she is also a member of the Galactic Guardians, an elite team dedicated to interstellar crime-fighting and law enforcement. As "Atomic Betty", assisted by her two allies, the alien pilot Sparky and a robot named X-5, she confronts the evil overlord Maximus I.Q. and his servant Minimus, as well as other intergalactic supervillains, criminals, terrorists, and gangsters. Despite being rather unassuming on Earth, Atomic Betty is a superstar throughout the galaxy and even has a crowd of people who consider her their role model.
Animation: Hannah-Barbera Studios Series Director: Larry Houston Writer: Mark Edward Edens
Betty Barrett/Atomic Betty: On Earth, to most of her friends and family, she is a typical 12-year-old girl who enjoys visiting her grandmother, daydreaming about living in outer space, singing in her band, goofing off, and hanging out with her friends. She is not afraid to speak her mind, either, and dislikes any form of bullying, snobbery, and injustice. However, when there is trouble in deep space, she captains her own star-cruiser as Atomic Betty, a famously powerful and beautiful female Galactic Guardian and defender of the cosmos. In space, she investigates crimes and fights evil.
Played By: B. J. Ward Alternate: Stephanie Louise Vallance
Sparky: He is Betty's alien lieutenant and pilot, with a large nose, green skin, and blue hair. Although he is sometimes reckless, and often more interested in eating, surfing, or girls than the mission he is on, he is nevertheless very loyal to Betty and endeavors to do his best at all times. Also, despite his immaturity that he expresses in his quarreling with a fellow crew member, X-5, he is shown throughout the early series to be a very skilled pilot and combatant.
Played By: Robin Williams Alternate: Casey Kasem
X-5: He is the third member of Betty's crew, a roughly rectangular, yellow, hovering robot. He tends to spout too much information at inopportune times and takes things exceptionally seriously, which usually grates on Sparky's nerves. The two of them have a grudgingly respectful working relationship. Though it is implied that he is an outdated robot model, newer model robots have tended to be less reliable. He also invents new gadgets that are used by Betty on her missions.
Played By: Dan Gilvezan Alternate: Walker Edmiston
Admiral DeGill: He is the commanding officer of the Galactic Guardians and Betty's immediate superior, assigning her to her missions. He resembles an orange goldfish with a crew cut of white hair and a muscular physique. He's often seen holding and using a Corncob pipe (which blows bubbles). DeGill radiates professionalism and takes his role as a commander very seriously, but has nevertheless managed to strike a balance between his duties and his recreational pursuits.
Played By: Adrian Truss Alternate: George DiCenzo
Beatrixo Barrett: She is the wife of Dr. Barrett, the mother of Tanya Barrett, the mother-in-law of Mr. Barrett, and the grandmother of Betty and Kyle. A lively older woman with a love of clog dancing and numerous other talents, she lives on her farm in the countryside just outside Moose Jaw Heights. However, she was also one of the first Galactic Guardians, and, in her younger years, looked like an adult version of Betty. She only comes out of retirement occasionally if Betty is in serious need of help.
Played By: Marlene Aragon
Dr. Jimmy Barrett: He is the husband of Beatrixo Barrett, the father of Tanya Barrett, the father-in-law of Mr. Barrett, and the grandfather of Betty and Kyle. He was a scientist who was studying the musicality of space rocks. He was lost years earlier while trying to discover sounds on a distant planet, but was found on The No-L 9, a collection of singing planets. Betty manages to find him, but not before protecting the planets from Maximus.
Played By: Sydney L. Miller
Quincy Barrett: He is the husband of Tanya Barrett, the father of Betty Barrett, the son-in-law of Dr. and Beatrixo Barrett, and the uncle of Kyle. He is a slightly absent-minded, stereotypical 1950's salesman who is usually busy with whatever new gadget he is trying to sell, but he is a devoted father when he's around. He sometimes spends time with Betty on father-daughter day weekends.
Played By: William Shatner
Tanya Barrett: She is the wife of Mr. Barrett, the mother of Betty Barrett, the daughter of Dr. and Beatrixo Barrett, and the aunt of Kyle. She is a homemaker and a stay-at-home mom who is largely oblivious to Betty's adventures, as she spends most of her day fussing over her cat, Purrsy. With a pouf blonde ponytail and tacky animal-print clothes, she dresses like a stereotypical hairdresser, but her actual skills at hair-styling are best left unseen.
Played By: Jayne Eastwood
Maximus I.Q.: He is Atomic Betty's archenemy. The self-proclaimed Supreme Evil Overlord of the Galaxy, Maximus I.Q. has only one driving ambition — to rule the galaxy. A cat-like appearance and a somewhat regal bearing (even if he's the only one who believes so), however, like any other cat, he hates getting wet, to the point where it's enough to distract him from his schemes. He is also ill-tempered, self-important, overbearing, scheming, two-faced, abusive, selfish and thievish. His citadel contains various stolen items. He is a parody of Flash Gordon's adversary Ming the Merciless.
Played By: Colin Fox Alternate: James Avery
Minimus P.U.: He is a biogenetically engineered assistant for Maximus (P.U. is stated to stand for "Portable Underling"). Minimus can withstand "extremely high" levels of "verbal and physical abuse" from Maximus. Minimus's "swivel-head" feature allows him to switch between his two faces, one being a sycophant, the other a grumbler. Depending on Minimus' mood, his head will swivel around to display the appropriate face with a loud clicking sound; the other face, when not in use, has its eyes closed and is considered dormant. He, like Maximus, is also a liar due to having two faces. Though frequently abused, he remains the top underling of Maximus.
Played By: Len Carlson Alternate: Don Most
Atomic Roger: He is an evil Galactic Guardian, one of Betty's colleagues and occasionally her rival. Though he appears human, he seems to have little actual knowledge of everyday life on Earth. Though exceptionally wicked and vain, especially about his hair (actually a wig), he is nevertheless a highly competent Galactic Guardian. He is often assigned to deep space patrol, and secretly covets Betty's rank as the top Galactic Guardian due to the fame and recognition it brings. As such, he often goes around and brags to Betty's friends (both on and off Earth) that he is the hero, and the actual secret behind Betty's success and reputation.
Played By: Christopher Collins Alternate: Tony Pope
Atomic Dodger: He is Atomic Roger's evil twin brother, identical in every way except for Dodger's orange visor and five o'clock shadow. It is also mentioned that his hair is real compared to Atomic Roger's wig. He and his brother Rodger both wanted to be Galactic Guardians. Dodger attempted to exact revenge on the Galactic Guardians on his brother's behalf when Roger was dismissed from the Guardians, however, Roger's own actions in preventing it led to his being reinstated and now Atomic Dodger wants revenge on both Galactic Guardians and his brother.
Played By: Tony Pope Alternate: Christopher Collins
Auntie Matter: She is Betty's great-aunt and Beatrixo's little sister. The two have an extreme case of sibling rivalry and are always fighting. She has the ability to transform her body into a Black Hole and send all the things she sucks up into her body into deep space. According to her, this power comes from her father's side of the family and her older sister, Beatrixo, is more like their mother, who has no powers. She was imprisoned on a distant asteroid until she was accidentally freed; however, Betty and Beatrixo managed to team up and imprison her once again.
Played By: Linda Gary Alternate: Marlene Aragon
Bombshelle: She is a villainous fashion designer who used a special ray gun called the Beauty Bomber to "makeover" everything she considered ugly. These include turning a factory into a fashionable upside-down pyramid, turning a swimming pool into a pool of pink mud, shaving the hair of the hair beasts in the planet of Nexxus 9 (even though they need the hair to survive the cold and snow of their planet), beautifying the planet Crushton in which she describes it as an "orbiting eyesore", forcing everyone to wear mood suits, etc. She attempted to makeover the entire galaxy, but Betty managed to stop her and it was discovered she was really a short ugly alien inside of a fashionable robot suit as it is destroyed when Bombshelle is defeated.
Played By: Kathy Garver Alternate: Anne Lockhart
The Chameleon: He is an alien capable of taking the shape of any creature or object. He was a former top agent of Maximus, until being fired from Maximus' forces for an unexplained mishap. Since then the Chameleon has been trying to prove himself to be competently evil, doing anything he can to try and reclaim his former position.
Played By: Jack Angel Alternate: William Callaway
The Collector: He is an alien thief in safari gear who attempts to steal historic or rare treasures, all while filming his exploits as though he were starring in a documentary. Though constantly trying to look heroic for the camera, he has his sarcastic robotic assistant, Wrybot, do most of the dirty work. For his part, Wrybot is dissatisfied with his position with The Collector (being that the only reason he is with The Collector was that the Collector beat him in a game of Piraxian tic-tac-toe).
Played By: Roger C. Carmel Alternate: Jeffrey Doucette
Dr. Cerebral: He is a strange being, consisting of a giant brain with a face floating in a glass dome with mechanical legs and arms who yearns to control the universe and eliminate inefficient and unsanitary organic life forms in the process. The self-proclaimed greatest genius in the galaxy, he is always trying to devise ways to destroy other intelligent beings and prove himself the smartest.
Played By: Corey Burton Alternate: Jeff Altman
Enormo: Despite the name, Enormo is a diminutive alien whose frustration at being so small has boiled over into plots of revenge. Armed with a ray that shrinks anything it hits, he plans to make himself the largest and most powerful being in the galaxy. He is accompanied by a pet named Griffin, who, similar to the mythical beast, are half dog and half eagle.
Played By: Maurice LaMarche Alternate: Howard Morris
Greenbeard: He is the leader of a band of space pirates who seek out treasures left behind by their former owners or steal outright from starships unfortunate enough to cross their path. With a long coat, mechanical parrot, and a peg leg, he also upholds many old traditions of classic pirates, including walking the plank and keelhauling. He is a parody of Blackbeard.
Played By: Buster Jones Alternate: Rob Paulsen
Hopper the Chopper: He is a humanoid fish alien and a space cowboy who robs planets. He's tried to transport aquatic wild west sharks, and tried to hijack a chemical called Polydenum, which could make ordinary steel or any weapon indestructible, from a train and tied Tex DeGill (Admiral DeGill's brother) onto a train track, but Hopper was stopped and Tex was saved with the help of Lily-Rose (Tex's Daughter) who led Betty to a shortcut.
Played By: John Stocker Alternate: Townsend Coleman
Iciclia: She is a character reminiscent of the Witch Queen from Snow White; her trademark attacks are ice-based, using a scepter which fires a beam that freezes any target within its range. Queen of the ice planet Glacies, Iciclia is an icy, mean, cold-hearted, ugly old hag and was once dependent on montegoberries to keep her youth and beauty, but she seems to have eliminated this dependency somehow. She has a sidekick named Dingleberry, a large alien creature with a morning star for a left arm. She is at home only in climates as icy and cold as she is because if she were in a warm climate, she would melt.
Played By: Pat Carroll Alternate: Jennifer Darling
Infantor: He is an incredibly spoiled, foul-tempered, 1930's gangster-like evil alien infant who enjoys playing games with his enemies. He thinks the galaxy is his own personal box of toys and, accordingly, he wants and demands everything. He is usually accompanied by his "Termi-Nanny", a robotic henchman designed to look like a nanny. He is very intelligent for his seeming age and has tried many plans, such as extracting the multi-colored magma from the planets of Colorosia, the most vibrant galaxy in the entire universe, to make his own line of action figures. He also once sucked Betty and her crew into a virtual reality game to fight for their lives according to his rules and used mind-controlling chocolate chip cookies to form his own Brat Pack army.
Played By: Bob Holt Alternate: Hal Rayle
Kareena: She is a feline alien with blue hair, white fur with blue tiger stripes, and red eyes. She was a former student of Spindly Tam Kanushu at the same time that Betty was in training. However, Kareena was a snob who was lazy, idled her time away playing video games instead of focusing on her training, and cheated on all her tests by copying off Betty during a test. She refuses to acknowledge her behavior, insisting that Betty stole her position as a Galactic Guardian by charming her way into being Spindly Tam's favorite student. She is, nevertheless, an expert in robotics.
Played By: Diane Pershing Alternate: Erika Scheimer
Max Sr.: He is the father of Maximus. Like his son, he is a criminal, though more in the style of a gang as opposed to his son's super-villainy. It is implied that he was Maximus' predecessor in his evil empire before his son had inherited it. As such, while he has henchmen, he does not have a paramilitary force. Even though Maximus is a successful supervillain, his father still treats him like he is worthless and insults him at every turn; Maximus stated that growing up, his father constantly teased and taunted him. As such, Maximus often assists (though discreetly) in bringing his father to justice.
Played By: Alan Oppenheimer Alternate: Charles Michael Adler
M'Lord Orus: He is a smelly being who tried to pollute other planets by sending garbage. M'Lord Orus polluted Edenia which turned the Edenians into his mutant henchmen. He then escaped his rocket prison from "Planet Stinxx" (instead of polluting a planet, it endlessly orbited the galaxy) with help from a metal-eating fungus that had grown in his ship that he named Shermie the Germie, and was plotting revenge on the Galactic Guardians for arresting him. Later on, he and Shermie the Germie were both defeated by Sparky's homemade slug worm soup, which proved to be the thing that can dissolve the fungi.
Played By: Rodger Bumpass Alternate: Pat Fraley
Nuclea: She is a Cruella de Vil-esque female alien with wild Medusa-like hair that is fatally shocking to the touch. She is an energy-based being whose power (and size) increases as she consumes more energy and she has the power to conjure lightning blasts of various intensities and lengths. She continually uses new methods to secure large sources of energy to absorb. She is basically a human lightning bolt of energy, but that, of course, is not enough power for her.
Played By: Nancy Cartwright Alternate: Ellen Gerstell
Pandora: She is Paloma's evil twin sister and is one of the twin daughters of Golgotha and the demon, Pandora looks exactly like Paloma, but with purple hair, yellow eyes, and lighter skin, she wears a green cloak and body armor. Long ago, Pandora attempted a galactic takeover, but her evil plot was squashed by the Galactic Guardians after they were tipped off by Paloma. Since then, Pandora has sought to revive her father, imprisoned in a box under the guard of Spindly Tam Kanushu.
Played By: Tress MacNeille Alternate: Ginny McSwain
Pontifidora the Conquistadora: She is a former big-game hunter turned bounty hunter. She was Admiral DeGill's fiancée before turning to a life of crime. DeGill then turned her into the authorities before running off with a showgirl from the planet Vega. She has never forgiven DeGill for either act and is determined to have him stuffed and mounted on her wall. It is later revealed that she and DeGill have a son, Bill DeGill.
Played By: Kath Soucie Alternate: Susan Blu
Queen Penelobee: She is a clone of Penelope, created from a mix of alien bee and human DNA. After the death of their previous queen, the alien bee people of Droneopolis decided to choose a new queen from the "most evil female" in the cosmos; they had concluded that this person was Penelope. Penelope was abducted, but was later rescued by Betty and her crew; all the while, Penelope had thought the incident was only a dream. However, the bees of Droneoplis had managed to retain a strand of Penelope's hair. DNA was used from the hair, along with some of their own DNA to create a hybrid clone of Penelope as their new queen.
Played By: Mona Marshall Alternate: Janet Waldo
Milton Scrivener/The Scribe: He is a writer who got tired of publishers rejecting his works; Sparky was the only admirer of his works. According to X-5, his works are sub-standard, and therefore only interest species of low-level intelligence. After being tired of constant rejection, Scrivener finds a book with a magical quill pen, which allows him to capture any idea and store it within the book's pages. The book also acts as his personal transport, allowing him to fly, and also allows him to make real anything stored within its pages. With it, Scrivener plots to capture every writer in the galaxy and take their ideas as their own.
Played By: Peter Cullen Alternate: Don Messick
Shaka Booga: She is, apparently, a prehistoric witch doctor who tried to devolve civilians into cavemen using a magical powder. She attempted to drop her devolution powder into the planets tar pits, thereby causing the planet to devolve into a black hole, thereby sucking up the entire galaxy, and even turned Betty's bracelet primitive, however, she was beaten when Sparky tied her up with his yo-yo which, being already primitive, was not affected by the powder.
Played By: June Foray Alternate: Marilyn Schreffler
Noah Parker: He is Betty's best friend and love interest. Although not really a nerd, he's an honor-roll student who enjoys studying mathematics and writing, which makes him a target for Duncan and Penelope's bullying. Unlike Betty, he's not very athletic, and the only sport he seems to be any good at is baseball. He also has a strong crush on Betty, though she seems mostly oblivious to it, and he is generally jealous of whatever boy she's with.
Played By: Willie Aames
Regeena Peterson: She is the daughter of Principal Peterson, and, as far as he is concerned, she's a sweet, demure, respectable girl. But as soon as he turns his back, her real personality comes out, which is quite the opposite. Betty finds Reegena refreshing, and around Regeena she comes out of her shell. In fact, Betty becomes a bit of a project for Reegena; she is determined to make Betty get out and "do stuff!". She has a somewhat bulkier build than most of her classmates, but given her father's athletic interests and build it is quite likely that this is muscle as opposed to fat.
Played By: Bettina Bush
Penelope Lang: She is Betty's rival on Earth. She is an arrogant and self-obsessed queen bee, who thinks of herself as the most popular prima donna at her school. Penelope always tries to humiliate Betty in every way. She has a nasally squeaky voice. She is rich, spoiled, and often tries to use her wealth to undermine Betty's social standing, a plan that inevitably backfires. She is usually seen with two sidekicks named Megan and Sarah. She's used to getting her own way — even if it means stepping all over other people.
Played By: Janet Waldo
Megan: She is one of the two of Penelope's "minions" and the shortest of the trio, she's a chubby little girl with short puffy dirty blond hair & hazel eyes. She is usually seen hanging around her "leader" Penelope; along with her cohort Sarah, or just one of them or on her own. Although she and Sarah are friends with such a vain and mean rude snob like Penelope; snickering at all of her wicked jokes and sarcastic comments, they don't seem to be as bratty and as nasty as she is. Megan has even shown signs of being on Betty's side on occasion.
Played By: Patricia Harris
Chaz Lang: He is Penelope's older brother, who had returned from being away at private school. According to Penelope, he refused to attend anymore because he found the other kids too snobby. Chaz is athletic, really cool, and an amazing skateboarder, and appears to share a mutual crush with Betty, which makes Noah very jealous. Chaz and his sister don't really get along, as his down-to-earth demeanor makes him the black sheep of his otherwise snooty family.
Played By: Michael Bell
Duncan Paine: He is the Junior High's resident school bully, and likes Penelope. Duncan, like Penelope, often bosses people around and is not very well-liked for his bully image, though he is not really that descriptive in how he does it, but it usually comes to light as he is confronted with the evidence later on.
Played By: Frank Welker
Principal Chet Peterson: He is Betty's African-American school principal. Tough but fair, he takes his interest in hockey to the point of obsession. His office is decorated with tons of memorabilia and he even has a penalty box in his office where he puts kids who have misbehaved. He also likes to sprinkle his everyday speech with metaphors from hockey and other sports. His voice and style of dress are patterned after veteran hockey commentator Don Cherry.
Played By: Keith David
B-1: He's X-5's "uncle", an older model robot formerly in service with the Galactic Guardians; he is implied to be one of its founding members. He was discarded on the planet Crushton when he became obsolete. Since then he's led a robot militia against anyone who tries to profit from the planet's giant scrap pile at the cost of what little functionality the robots have.
The Betty Clones: They are three once-evil identical clones of Atomic Betty that were created by Maximus from genetic material in a piece of hair that he had sliced off with his laser sword during a duel. The clones look identical to Betty in every way, shape, and form, except for their eye colors, and are dressed in color-coded mockups of the Galactic Guardian uniform. In addition to Betty's DNA, they also have genetic material from being from Maximus' homeworld to augment their abilities, giving them unique superpowers the real Betty does not possess. Clone Betty 1 (the red clone) powers come from Optica, the Fire Witch, giving her the ability to fly and use pyrokinesis; The powers of Clone Betty 2 (the orange clone) come from Destructa, the Rock Princess, allowing her to morph into a larger form with rock-like skin and superhuman strength. Clone Betty 3 (the blue clone) gained the power of Roxanne, the Rubber Woman, giving her the power of stretching her body like rubber.
Chef Bernadette: She was apparently Maximus' personal chef. She resigned as Maximus' personal chef when she refused to make an omelet out of the last existing Piraxian rhino egg, despite Maximus' order. Afterwards, she went back to her old job as Maximus' personal chef after Maximus gave up on making an omelet out of a Piraxian rhino egg, and as a result, he ended up nearly eating Minimus instead.
Commander McSlim: McSlim is the director of the Galactic Guardians Training Corps and the Galactic Guardian Academy's most famous instructor.
Flavia: She is the robot protector of the princess from "Martian Makeover" who has similarities to X-5 with a pink bow on her antenna, a dress, human-like eyes, and lips unlike X-5's blue eyes as both robots are secretly in love with each other.
Empress Narcissitad: She is a spoiled member of alien royalty. She expects her orders to be carried out immediately and without question. She is allergic to robots much to her disgust. She appears to have softened up after becoming engaged. She has an uncanny resemblance to Princess Leia from Star Wars.
Paloma: She is one of the twin daughters of the villain Golgotha, the queen of the planet Sharbena, whose people can shapeshift into any living creature they desire. The people of the planet had lived in peace for centuries, due to no army being able to beat a race that could mimic them down to the last detail. She had unsuccessfully tried to convince her own people that their powers were divine and that the rightful place for Sharbenians was as rulers of the universe.
Purrsy: Short for Sir Purrsefus, he is the family's spoiled, surly, petty, jealous and conniving Siamese cat. Betty's mother lavishes him with affection and considers him a second child, though Betty and Purrsy rarely get along. He's also the only one in Betty's immediate family who's aware of her double life as a Galactic Guardian.
Robo-Betty: She is a robotic clone of Betty created by Sparky, who had assembled it from a mail-in kit. The robot is in reality a skeleton like a robot with a holographic coating that occasionally flashes back to the underneath. She was originally sent by Sparky to cover for Betty at Noah's birthday party when Betty herself was on an adventure.
Spindly Tam Kanushu: He is Betty's martial arts trainer and sensei. He was once kidnapped by Maximus to teach his Morbidian Blood Monks his Martial Arts knowledge, but instead, he secretly taught them to be dancers. He was once a part of Beatrixo's old team.
Zulia: She is Sparky's mother, a sweet, perfect mother figure to anyone she comes across. She's thoughtful, kind, and an incredible cook who will never let anyone leave her house hungry, but has a fiery temper and a vicious hit with kitchen utensils should anyone threaten her son. She is currently single under unknown circumstances but is looking for another boyfriend/husband. Much to Sparky's dismay, she has a bad habit of dating (male) criminals.
The X-Rays: They are a trio of ruffians, named Plutor, Bubba, and Furball who were wreaking havoc across the galaxy. These include drawing a picture of Admiral DeGill as a woman, stealing candy from babies, vandalizing billboards, stealing ships from Maximus' citadel (especially stealing a Starcruiser from the episode "Best (Mis) Laid Plans" that was already stolen by Maximus), etc.
Sarah: She is Penelope and Megan's friend. She has long black hair and wears a green sweater and glasses. She is also the nicest of the three. She is also friendly and playful.
Kyle: He is the grandson of Dr. Barrett and Beatrixo, the nephew of Tanya Barrett and Betty's dad, and Betty's cousin. He's self-centered, arrogant, bratty, and thinks that anything not to his liking is stupid. This usually means anything Betty or her friends like. He also has a talent for causing havoc that eventually gets him into trouble.
Dylan: He is one of Betty's classmates. Tall, athletic, and intelligent, he appealed to just about every girl in school but was interested in Betty because of her interest in science. This began a rivalry between Betty and Penelope over him, though Penelope soon lost interest when she found out he was a bit too geeky for her tastes. Betty has also lost interest in him when Chaz appears.
The Osborne Twins: Chip and Dalton Osborne are two of Betty's male friends, though they are rarely featured. They are both guitarists on Betty's band, and had, on one occasion, unknowingly become the basis of one of Maximus' evil schemes.
Mr. Parker: He is Noah's father and a brilliant inventor but is seen as a crackpot as he is convinced of the existence of aliens and obsessed with proving it. He is also quite suspicious of Betty because whenever something odd happens she usually seems to be involved.
Mrs. Dourly: She is, originally, a substitute teacher in Betty's art class and a scout leader but later on she is Betty's regular teacher.
Coach Sorenson: He is the school's slightly misogynistic physical education teacher and local hockey coach.
A.N.: I hope we can have this made for our new annual plan for Hannah-Barbera, and hopefully be ready for distribution by 82' or 83' at the latest. For the voice actors I've gone with a mixture of veterans and newcomers, as well as some who have worked with Hannah-Barbera in previous projects before. As for the direction, Larry Houston was the man who directed the X-Men Animated Series (which I still hope we can do), while Mark Edward Edens is the man who contributed the most episodes for said series. In fact, Mark has written many episodes for many different types of cartoon TV Shows. Frankly, I see this as the dream team we need for a project like this to flourish.
won't lie hope we do this show~ I really quite loved it and just like another show by the name of Juniper Lee I thought it had more potential than it got.
This is another cartoon that I think Hannah-Barbera can do with their new freedom under us. Fillmore was a truly special show when I first saw it, it was just...something else! I mean, I had seen police dramas done before, but this was the first time I saw it put into parody within the context of school life. I loved how they took everything that would normally be seen as somewhat childish as really serious, I loved how Fillmore just handled himself and how Ingrid would just challenge him on occasions when she saw he was wrong. heck, I even loved how the Junior Commissioner acted whenever he was either confronting Fillmore or defending him. It was so fun.
And it feels so shitty that this show only had 26 episodes in 2 seasons. What the hell...
I think we can do better this time around. I'm seeing perhaps 4 seasons, make it till they go to High School or till they graduate, show the different cases and new problem arising within the ambit of school life. Not to mention that in a way it complements Atomic Betty, showing a somewhat more down to Earth cartoon about everyday life for children.
Thus, I give you:
Animated Show Pitch: Fillmore! GENRE: Action/Comedy/Adventure
SUBGENRE: Mystery/Crime/Parody
FORMAT: Animated TV Show
Set Up: Seventh grader Cornelius Fillmore, a juvenile delinquent with a record, was caught raiding the school's new chalk shipment. He was "arrested" and given a choice by the safety patrol officer who caught him: either help him solve another case or spend the rest of middle school in detention. Fillmore decided to help out and he eventually decided to join up with the safety patrol. The show is based around him and his partner Ingrid Third at X Middle School, which is located in the suburbs of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota. The show's format parodies that of hard-boiled police dramas. X's safety patrol is much more actively involved in student behavior than a typical school's safety patrol, and officers often seem to spend more time patrolling than normally attending class, although they can be seen attending at times.
Animation: Hannah-Barbera Studios Series Director: Bob Richardson Writer: Alan Burnett Proposed Length: 3 Seasons
Cornelius C. Fillmore: He is a seventh grader at X Middle School, and he is a member of the Safety Patrol. His middle name is never revealed in the series. Fillmore was a juvenile delinquent, his life changing when Safety Patrol member Wayne Liggit gave him a choice: spend the rest of middle school in detention or help him solve another case. Fillmore was recruited into the Safety Patrol as a result of his helping out. It is revealed he is an only child, has a pet dog, and a pet fish and is skilled at mini golf. He is known for going above and beyond the standards of other Safety Patrol officers. He almost never loses a target even if it means destroying school property, which he happens to do a lot, much to the dismay of Jr. Commissioner Vallejo. Before moving to X Middle School, he lived in Cleveland, Ohio.
Played By: Mark Hamill Alternate: Dan Woren
Ingrid Third: She is Fillmore's goth best friend and partner on the X Middle School Safety Patrol. Before her arrival at X Middle School, Ingrid was sent to a reform school in Nepal for an incident involving a stink bomb and a piñata. Ingrid, another former delinquent and a certified genius (she becomes the smartest kid in X Middle School) due to her photographic memory, arrives at X Middle School and partners with Fillmore after he helped her clear her name. Her father is a professor and she has an older sister named Ariella. Her mother is seen but never mentioned. It is revealed later on that she played Little League for two years.
Played By: Melendy Britt Alternate: Ginny McSwain
Horatio Vallejo: He is the junior commissioner of the Safety Patrol and Fillmore's immediate superior. Vallejo has had some rough experiences in the Safety Patrol as an officer: losing his friend and fellow safety patrol officer Malika to the Red Robins, a distorted girl scout troop after she went undercover and went bad leaving the force, and unintentionally betraying his partner and best friend, Frank Bishop, after he refused to speak out against his expulsion from the force, believing it would threaten his chances of becoming commissioner. Vallejo has issues with drinking too much cocoa, which is a kid-friendly version of issues with excessive caffeine or alcohol. Vallejo is often put at odds against Fillmore.
Played By: Robin Williams Alternate: Rene Auberjonois
Danny O'Farrell: He is the crime scene photographer for the Safety Patrol, though it is often joked that he should not be qualified to be a Safety Patroller by Vallejo. He has a tendency to get on other people's nerves and has some deep thoughts, overreacting, and weird ideas. O'Farrell serves as the comic relief on the show. He is also able to develop film with common household. His name, red hair and kilt (which he occasionally wears) characterize him as Scottish.
Played By: Peter Newman Alternate: Mark Taylor
Principal Dawn S. Folsom: She is the principal of X Middle School, though she acts like a District Attorney or a mayor figure in crime shows or is similar to M from the James Bond series. She represents the overstressed, image-conscious mayor archetype, where in every episode she threatens to turn the Safety Patrol office into something else (yoga studio, spa, etc.) if they are unable to solve the case. Tough on the outside with looks that can stop any student in their tracks, she runs her school with a strong presence – but she does it for pride and honor. She does have a kind heart on the inside and does much for her students and staff, sometimes anonymously.
Played By: Gerrianne Raphael
Vice Principal Raycliff: He is the school's vice principal and Folsom's assistant. Though he acts like a secretary in crime shows, he never really says much, but can be counted on to gush out school facts, figures and catchy metaphors at the drop of a hat. It is possible that he attended school with Folsom, according to an old school album.
Played By: Larry Kenney
Wayne Ligget: He is Fillmore's original Safety Patrol partner before he eventually moved away and was replaced by Ingrid when she came to X. He is best friends with Fillmore, and before Ingrid became Filmore's partner, Filmore refused to have any partners because he was still greatly affected by Wayne's departure. He has light brown hair.
Played By: Bruce O'Brian
Mr. Collingwood: He is one of the teachers at X Middle School.
Mrs. Cornwell: She is the algebra teacher at X Middle School and a student in 1956. She strongly believes in the school's honor code.
Librarian Lendrum: He is X Middle School's librarian.
Karen Tehama: She is the crime scene investigator on the Safety Patrol who has a keen interest in forensics.
Joseph Anza: He is the partner of Karen Tehama, known for his bodyguarding training.
Vern Natoma: He is Editor-in-chief of the school's newspaper.
Wade: He is another blonde X Middle School reporter.
A.N.: I think this show has a lot of promise around this time. Police Dramas from the 70's have just recently given way to new shows, so having a cartoon that, although it is a parody of said dramas, it still plays it straight with the tropes, and it's something that both kids and their parents can enjoy watching together. Hopefully, this is something that can also get the parents out of our backs by showing that we can tackle serious subjects without going into explicit territory.
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TV Show Pitch: My Little Pony: Pinkie Pie's Cooking and Baking Show
Genre: Fantasy, Friendship, Comedy, Music, Cooking/Baking Sub-Genre: MLP: Friendship is Magic Format: Cartoon + Live-Action (Something like: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) Bio:
Pinkie Pie's Cooking and Baking Show is an educational series about Pinkie and her human assistant making foods themed around the episode. As usual, Lyra (Who wants to be petted by the human) and Bon Bon (miffed that she wasn't invited) causes shenanigans in each episode with different schemes to get their end goals. There are surprise guests invited from both Human and Pony worlds to introduce their cooking (Of course it has to be edible and not slop). If anyone is curious, Discord is the camera man with Fluttershy being the executive producer.
Each episode has a specific theme, whether that be the Food Style, Cultural Food Exploration, fruits, roots, vegetables, nutrition, fancy food, etc. It also teaches different forms of setting up a table depending on the theme of the episode.
Genre: Fantasy, Friendship, Comedy, Books/Literature Sub-Genre: MLP: Friendship is Magic Format: Cartoon + Live-Action (Something like: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?), Presentation-esque, Half-Episodes Bio:
Twilight's Book Nook is a short episode series where Twilight would showcase a book to read with its summary, genres, etc. It serves to also promote works of literature from the works of classics up to the new authors vying to have their book published. The purpose is to introduce to the viewer of books they can read through the hook, line, and slinker tactics, however Twilight can impose both what she likes about it and criticisms about it. Overall, it's simply a series to introduce and promote literature.
Sub-Genre: Grand Strategy Games, Action/Adventure Games, etc.
Potential Director: Sid Meier
Bio:
Branched off from the Lucas Electrical Arts, which focuses on game consoles, by dissatisfied workers who wanted to create games of their own – many of which are inspired by the tabletop games and seeks to bring it into fruition to its full potential through video games. Quality gameplay and experimentative ideas are the focus with the idea of making games at their own pace and creating the video games with love and care – making them together as a family.
Sid Meier was brought out from Michigan, who was at the time making systems for cash registers, through his friend's connections to see like-minded people in the creation of a video game company to produce video games.
Civilization is a turn-based tile grand strategy game that allows the player to compete with other civilizations of History, led by their greatest and important leaders – starting (by default) at the beginning of History with its own research system. The only way to win is through Martial Victory, Scientific Victory, Cultural Victory, Religious Victory. This game also includes a secret feature that is unlocked once at least winning once as every starting leader in the roster – which is the ability to play as fictional civilizations like: "The Galactic Empire" - led by Palpatine.
There are special buildings, bonuses, and units for every civilization in the game, tiles that have terrain that affects the buildings built around it.
N/A: A respite from the MLP Posts, with the idea of creating a Sub-Division towards Video Games. (Fun Fact, Sid Meier becomes active in the Video Game Industry in 1982, while a year before he worked in developing cash register systems with a co-worker that together creates their company to make games.)
Working at Apple was not for the faint of heart- the hours could be brutal and the demands highly intellectually challenging. It had to be when when both the Steves- Jobs and Wozniak- demanded perfection and the cutting edge for consumer technologies in their Apple II. It was a challenge that Apple Employee Number 2, AKA Gavin O'Brian, enjoyed and relished. He was, much like his sister and younger brother, obsessed in topics that captured his interest, and that was technology and computers.
So, when Apple Employee Number #1, AKA Steve Wozniak AKA the Woz, arrived at Gavin's home in Cupertino and was let in by Sarah, the Woz wasn't surprised to find his friend surrounded by computer parts. The Woz, of course, couldn't help but observe what Gavin was working on...standard parts...two ST-506 hard drives and...
"Is that a digital camera?"
Gavin looked up from the hard drives he was daisy chaining and nodded his chin at his friend.
"Hey, Woz," he greeted.
"Hey, Gavin. What're you up to? Looks like you're daisy chaining hard drives and connecting the entire system to a digital camera."
Gavin nodded," Got it in one."
There was a pause as the unasked question lay in the air.
"I was down in LA last weekend- dinner with Bruce and playing with my nieces and nephews."
"Oh- How are they?"
"Oh, great! Thanks for asking. The twins are cute as buttons and Mary- well, you know Mary. Terrifyingly bright and still adorable with her Kermit doll...but anyway, George was there, too. And he was explaining to Mary what the camera he had in his hand was. Wally was regaling her about how cool it was compared to normal cameras- filmmakers' children. But, he said that they couldn't really extract the photos that were stored in the camera."
"But..." the Woz thought aloud,"...how can they be sure it's taking a picture if they can't verify it?"
"That's what I said! Anyways, that started a conversation. We've talked in the past, of course- but mostly as Bruce's brother and friend talking. But he knows his tech and he asked me for my thoughts. Even loaned out one of his prototypes to me and asked me if I had any ideas. And...I have a few." Gavin gestured at his rig.
"Huh. Sounds fun."
Gavin nodded. But, then frowned.
"Oh, why did you stop by, Woz."
"Oh, I just got a new car and wanted to show you it. But...this sounds much more fun. Can I join in?"
Gavin gestured at some parts.
"Of course! So...what I was thinking was..."
Many hours later...
The Woz and Gavin looked at the computer screen with bated breath. It had taken hours of careful construction, deconstruction when a part overheated, and then reconstruction...and programming. But, now, they thought they had it.
"You want to do the honors?" Gavin asked his friend.
And the Woz nodded before pressing Enter. And then they heard the sounds of a hard drive working....and working...and working.
Slowly, line by line, a picture began to form on the screen. From the bottom up, green felt was shown. Then red....and then...
"Is that Kermit the Frog?" Steve Wozniak asked.
"Yeah- huh. Mary must have gotten her hands on the camera and taken a picture."
"They let Mary handle a prototype?"
"Well, she is Mary."
"Huh. Well...at least we know that the camera actually is taking pictures."
"Yeah- but it took waaay to much work to get it to load a picture. They really need to work on compression algorithms. And... some sort of cable that would connect directly from the camera into a specialized hard drive."
"Hmmm..." the Woz said in thought.
"Hmmm..." Gavin also said in thought.
While Kermit the Frog stared from the computer screen.
Been thinking of making a snippet of Marvel Comics crossover one-shots, kinda in line with What-If, where people inQuest see a quick series of non-canon crossovers of some of our properties. The big one I'm thinking of is, while a ways off, Horizon: Zero Dawn and Transformers: Beast Wars, mostly because it's one of those things that makes way more sense than it should from both sides.
Another one is Scooby-Doo and Star Wars, because gorram it, I need me more Master Shaa-Gi!
But besides that, what other crossovers would you have liked to have seen?
TV Show Pitch: My Little Pony: Shorts are Friendship
Shorts are Friendship is a series of MLP shorts in which each episode has a different character (from Rarity to the CMCs, to Gilda to Discord and Fluttershy, etc.) than the previous as the "Protagonist" of that short. Where they go through slice-of-life moments, problems that need solutions, it basically functions like those old Mickey Mouse cartoons in the style but also canonicity to the MLP: FIM Lore. It works overall as an expansion set of shorts that is canon to the show, but more focused on their lives and the likes.
A Glee-esque show, where the point about it is having fun singing songs from the Karaoke set list. The voice actors (and guests) are free to sing any song that fits in the theme of the episode, with it having a minor plot that isn't central, but works as a background that fits well with each episode. Overall, it introduces songs from different nations, classics, new, etc to the viewers while having fun on-screen and behind the screen – a relaxation/fun activity.
Genre: Fantasy, Friendship, Comedy, Anime-inspired, Music (PG 13)
Sub-Genre: MLP: Friendship is Magic
Format: Full-Length Animated Film, Anime-esque
Bio:
Basically Celestia and Luna are planning to go for a re-election as the Princesses/Princedom elections come to the Crystalish-Equestrian Commonwealth. Every 5 Years, two Princes/Princesses are elected to rule the Commonwealth. Unfortunately for them, a silly plot brews as the former prince Discord seeks to restore his own rule of Chaos – permanently. Sunset Shimmer unknowingly enters this plot after her friends became a victim of Discord's Chaos Legions (Zealot Loyalists of Discord).
However, a long-time coming process has already started – one of which Princess Celestia warned her former student – of a New Era of a Rise of Magic. One of which Discord sees potential to allow him to have power that knows no bounds. Head Researcher Cinch is a co-conspirator of Discord, and has the job to uncover this unknown mystery and how to weaponize it for their cause. One of the underlings is a down-on-her-luck Twilight Sparkle, an Eagleton Reject, who saw the job as the only way she can afford money to pay back loans for her and her little brother – Spike –'s education.
The War of the Great Succession Notes: Continuing the theme of TTL Equestria Girls, Sunset has grown into a very confident character who's not afraid to speak out what she believes, and with great stubbornness. The attack on her friends however, the one that showed her friendship and learned it, became vengeful. She joins a war that is unknowingly larger than before, with the ability to use Magic again with its potency growing over the course of the movie. The rest of the Rainbooms, once finding out where she's gone, attempt to track her down to stop her from getting hurt for their sake. Sunset, by the end of the film, had a character change from wanting to seek revenge against the ones that hurt her friends, into someone that seeks to protect the people against the Chaos Energy-powered Discord. With this realisation and willingness to protect them, she unlocks her Alicorn state.
Twilight has to keep Sunset from sabotaging her work, for it can threaten her financial security, so she becomes a consistent enemy until Sunset manages to have her get a change of heart through talking, including a promise to help out her family from their financial problems the best she and the others can.
At the end of the film, Princess Celestia comes over from Equestria to finally meet her student again. A heartwarming reunion ensues, then a celebration/coronation as Sunset was voted (although tries to avoid it) as a Princess.
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Action, Adventure, Slice-of-Life (When it happens), Philosophical, etc.
Sub-Genre: MLP: Friendship is Magic AU
Format: Comics
Bio:
In the City of Maretonia, crime lurks in the shadows of the City – Ponies live in fear as the Changeling Queen rules it all under an Iron Fist. Even the governmental services within the City remain corrupt and turning a blind eye. All that was left of a just City is the mayor, who seeks to restore the City to its former glory and protector of the ponies of Maretonia. It was until new heroes showed up – The Power Ponies, that save the ponies of Maretonia against the forces of Villainy and Corruption. Over the course of the comics, the Power Ponies (and their Civilian alter-egos) go through different adventures, saving Ponies and the world, and defeating Villains that have different schemes, ulterior motives, etc. (Characterization would actually be explored as well, with internal conflicts sometimes occurring while trying to keep it out of the public eye.)
So, like I promised, here's a real pitch that I've been working on (heh "real"). In truth, I've had this on the back burner for months, only just recently getting around to finishing it. I remember when I first watched this film, I pretty quickly fell in love, and I actually owned a copy of the film that I'd rewatch a bunch of times, back when we actually still had physical media . Seriously, fuck streaming. Regardless, I loved this film and it was basically another Pacific Rim for me. I wished so badly that we'd get another film, but it never happened. Here though, we can do more with it. I'm doing this as a show pitch and overmind has expressed interest in making a live action movie pitch of Real Steel as well. I wanted to include more songs, but unfortunately, you can't add more than 5 videos. Some of those other songs included Fall Out Boy-Centuries, Eminem-'Till I Collapse, Tom Morello-The Midas Touch, and a couple of others. Interestingly enough, I found out that Danny Elfman did a bunch of music for the film? Weird, but cool to learn. I envisioned the road trip aspect of this as a show to be sort of like Ben 10, with a sort of "monster of the week" formula, just with robots, and each episode having them in different locations for different fights or things that they get up to. I also, of course, envisioned them having more fights than what is shown in the actual film. I was thinking something along the lines of 30ish episodes, since I don't envision a second season or anything and the final 2-3 episodes would be the Zeus fight. Apologies for how this part is a bit disjointed and not really saying much of anything, since I'm honestly a bit out of it mentally for the past week or so and I feel kind of blegh. Anyway, onto some other news. You know how I talked about finally getting Undertale out by the 7th of March? Yeah, not happening. The Watchmen omake is just taking me too long and it's more likely that I'll be releasing that omake and pitch on my birthday than the Undertale one. Don't worry though, as soon as I'm finished, that Undertale omake is my priority. As for the Watchmen omake, I'm about half way done and the only part that I need to finish is the Jeff Rovin POV, so it should hopefully not take too much longer, especially since I'm starting to feel a bit better. Although, my computer has been having problems lately, so who knows. As for my next pitch that I'll be putting out, it'll probably either be a Charlton Comics pitch, or something else that I've had on the backburner. Anyways, that's enough yapping from me. I'd like to thank @overmind for his help with finding voice actors, because I was genuinely struggling to find voice samples. Without further ado, enjoy!
Animated TV Show Pitch:
Real Steel Written by: Mavis Kingsley
Music by: Manowar and Danny Elfman
GENRE: Sci-Fi/Action/Sports SUBGENRE: Boxing/Road Trip FORMAT: Animated Television Show/Anime
SET UP: Based on the short story "Steel", written by Richard Matheson. In the year 2020, human boxers were replaced with androids. Washed-up former boxer Charlie Kenton, whose sport is now played by robots, continues to compete with his robot, Ambush. After losing a bet with money he didn't have, he must try to build and train a new robot, Atom, with his estranged son in the hopes of climbing out of his debt, reconnecting with his son, and hopefully, finding success with Atom.
In 2020, Human boxers were replaced with robots. Former boxer Charlie Kenton owns the robot Ambush, until it is destroyed in a fight against a bull belonging to promoter and carnival owner, Ricky. Having bet money he didn't have with Ricky that Ambush would win, Charlie bails before Ricky can collect.
After the fight, Charlie learns that his ex-girlfriend died and he must attend a hearing deciding the future of their son, Max, whom he had no contact with Charlie since his birth. Max's maternal aunt Debra and her husband Marvin want full custody. Charlie bargains to cede custody of Max for a large sum of money, and Marvin negotiates that Charlie retains custody of Max for three months while Marvin and Debra go on vacation. Settling into a gym owned by Bailey Tallet, the daughter of Charlie's former boxing coach, Charlie uses half of the money to acquire the once-famous World Robot Boxing robot Noisy Boy. He and Max take Noisy Boy to Crash Palace, an underworld boxing arena run by his friend Finn, where Noisy Boy is destroyed against another robot boxer, Midas. While scavenging for replacements in a junkyard, Max discovers Atom, an obsolete, dilapidated but mostly intact sparring robot designed to withstand severe damage, with a rare "shadow function" to mirror and memorize handler or opponent movements.
At Max's behest, Charlie pits Atom against another robot Metro, and is surprisingly victorious. Max integrates Noisy Boy's voice command hardware with Atom and convinces Charlie to assist in streamlining Atom's movements. This results in a series of victories, culminating in Charlie being offered a World Robot Boxing fight with Atom against the national champion robot Twin Cities. The fight starts with Atom on the attack, but Twin Cities easily takes the offensive. Charlie notices a hitch whenever Twin Cities throws a right punch, and he exploits this to win by knockout. Elated by their success, Max challenges the undefeated global champion robot Zeus. After the fight, Ricky and two henchmen attack Charlie for bailing earlier and rob him and Max of their winnings, prompting a defeated and dejected Charlie to return Max to Debra.
This upsets Max, and when Charlie tries to convince Max that it's better to live without him, Max reveals that all he wanted was for Charlie to fight for him and be there as a father. After Max leaves, Charlie returns to Tallet's Gym and talks with Bailey. Persuaded by Bailey, Charlie reconciles with Max and convinces Debra to allow Max to witness the fight with Zeus that Charlie has arranged.
Later on, when the fight begins, Zeus knocks Atom down with its first punch and dominates the first round, but Atom manages to survive the first round, stunning the audience. Ricky, who bet with Finn on Atom losing within the first round, tries to leave but is cornered by Finn and his fight bookmakers. As the fight continues, Atom lands multiple punches and withstands further attacks but makes no definitive progress. Late in the fourth round, Atom's voice-response controls are damaged, forcing Charlie to fight Zeus with Atom's shadow function. In the fifth and final round, Atom wards off Zeus long enough to deplete its power core, at which point Charlie directs Atom to begin its counterattack against depleted Zeus. With Zeus's programmers unable to compensate, the designer, Tak Mashido, intervenes and controls Zeus manually. Atom gives Zeus a beating, who barely avoids losing by knockout. Zeus wins by decision and remains undefeated, but Mashido's group is left humiliated by the near-loss and Zeus being critically damaged. Despite the match result, Atom is triumphantly labeled the "People's Champion" by the cheering crowd as Max and Charlie celebrate.
Charlie Kenton: A washed-up former boxer and chronic hustler, always doing what he can to try and make money through what he knows best, though he's had a lot of difficulty adjusting to a world that no longer has, and no longer respects human boxers. He is simply drifting through life with very little plan, desperately hanging on to whatever he can of his old days. He makes a deal with the husband of Max's aunt to sign over custody to them in exchange for a large sum of cash and being made to spend the summer with him. While initially caring very little for the boy, seeing him as a burden that he must unfortunately deal with as part of his arrangement, he grows to love and care for his son and become a better dad and a better man.
Played by: Dick Gautier
Max Kenton: Charlie's son with his estranged ex-girlfriend. After the death of his mother, the question of who would have custody over Max needed to be resolved. A deal was cut to give custody rights over to Max's aunt in exchange for a large payment to Charlie as well as Charlie keeping Max over the summer. Initially viewing his father with disdain and having a very low opinion of him, he grows to love and respect him. He is big into Japanese stuff and has learned the language to better engage with it. He is also a skilled dancer which, after being convinced by Charlie, he decides to incorporate into his matches. Despite his initial feelings towards his father, he is a lot more like him then he realizes.
Played by: Scott Menville
Bailey Tallet: A boxing gym owner and daughter of Charlie's former boxing coach. She has a very close relationship with Charlie, having once been in a romantic relationship. Although they are no longer in a relationship, there are still lingering romantic feelings, but her struggle to try and avoid needing to sell her father's gym, as well as Charlie's stubborn foolishness, strains their relationship. After an argument that leads to Charlie moving out of the gym for good, they keep in contact over the course of the summer through calls that manage to repair and rekindle their relationship.
Played by: Kath Soucie
Finn Dooley: A friend of Charlie's and the one runs the underground Bot boxing establishment, Crash Palace. He is incredibly well-connected and is the one that helps Charlie get Atom his first fight at The Zoo.
Played by: Kenneth Mars
Farra Lemkova: Tak Mashido's partner and is . Her and her father are the "team" behind Zeus, with her father providing the money and Farra actually doing all the work.
Played by: Morgan Lofting
Tak Mashido: A robot fighting inventor and designer of Zeus. Is considered one of the most important figures in the history of robot boxing and one of the greatest robot boxing designers to ever live. Was brought out of retirement by Farra Lemkova.
Played by: Soon Tek-Oh
Rick Bane: A negotiator and enemy of Charlie. After the incident with Ambush, he's been hunting Charlie down for the money he's owed.
Edit: Although, wouldnt it be a similar tone to Rocky film and being too close when Rocky 3 about to be released?
Still cool idea but just saying that people might not bite.
Though on the other hand, we certainly can use the premise of Real Steel and slowly crossover it with One Must Fall, where the shadow boxing function fight became an inspiration for other athletes to get back in shape before fighting it all out without the fear of injury.
Marvel General Manager Jim Galton was in a really strange place in life. The year prior, he had been pretty established in what he assumed would be the rest of his working life, being President of Marvel Entertainment and seeing the company through a new and glorious bronze age of comics where they purged the rot of the comics code and became bold and more experimental.
Unfortunately, Marvel was in a firm second place behind DC thanks to the incredible success of Batman and Superman, but at the very least the company was very financially stable in the midst of the the Great Recession thanks to the success of Star Wars and Conan along with Spider-Man really taking off to bold new heights.
Then out of nowhere the company he was technically the head of was in a state of civil war between the artists and the parent company Cadence Industries. Lucasfilms had repeatedly attempted to buy out Marvel in the prior year but Cadence had refused because the company wanted to hold on to what they saw as a money printer. Wanting more freedom for the artists, Stan Lee and a number of other high profile Marvel employees rebelled and bought the company for a ridicuously overinflated price, and then turned around and sold themselves to Lucasfilms for the financial and creative support, being inspired by Star Wars and the overall production model and culture Lucasfilms had brought forth so Marvel could reach the same potential as DC.
Throughout the Marvel Civil War, Jim had been neutral. He himself was a corporate man through and through and didn't see the big fuss on why they needed to sell out to Lucasfilms. However, he was smart enough to see which way the wind was blowing and figured it was best to be on decent terms with the creatives, but didn't openly switch teams for fear of being fired on the spot and blacklisted in print media should the venture fail.
For his neutrality, Jim was rewarded with a downgrade of sorts. Stan Lee as the face of Marvel and having had a very strong relationship with Bruce O'Brian and George Lucas was made as President in rewards for leading the buyout, thus depriving Jim of his leadership. In return, he was made General Manager and was placed in charge of the logistics and finances of Marvel in production, advertising and coordination with Lucasfilms. In other words, he was the money man who actually ran the business while everyone else played with their toys and draw and wrote to their hearts content.
It was rather annoying that Stan got the credit for everything that happened with Marvel's success, and Jim would be even further overshadowed by transferred credit to Bruce O'Brian, not to mention Michael Eisner. Still, it was not as bad as it could have been. Jim technically had more power and authority than he did previously, though he had to contend with a hovering Jim Shooter who coveted his sandbox of heroes and in the authority structure was Jim's equal. He also got a very generous payraise that more than made up for the troubles of inflation, so having more zeroes in his bank account was certainly nice.
Jim was unsure if he was going to last at Marvel until he retired like he had planned, but he figured to give it a few more years at least, build up the resume as a successful high executive at Lucasfilms and then use that to secure whatever job he wanted should he chose to switch employment.
Still, just because he was the "General Manager" it did not mean that Jim was just going to have an empty footprint of Marvel. Such was the showcase of one St. Patrick's Day that would add a collection of real american heroes to the company.
It was a charity gala sponsored by the New York chapter of Project Lighthouse to raise support for the Cuban and Haitian migrants who arrived in Florida as part of Bruce O'Brian's latest charity craze. Jim had attended the event to show his support for his ultimate boss by proxy, a rather hard choice considering most of Marvel was getting wasted at the Jumping Whale, Marvel Comics' favorite drinking spot after their purchase by Lucasfilms. Then again, Jim was never much of a heavy drinker and it was good to show his support to Bruce and have a firm in with the Goose.
It was also a valuable place for networking as many of New York's business and political elite, mostly those within conservative circles did their attendance with a couple million being raised for the cause. Surprisingly, the place where Jim would have his best networking was not in the ballroom, but in the men's rooms.
Deep into the night when Jim had gone to relieve himself after too many drinks, he was standing tiredly at the stall letting it out when he was addressed by a voice to his left, "Hey, aren't you the guy from Marvel comics?"
Bewildered that someone had broken the sacred men's code of silence at the stalls, finding himself face to face with a curious bispectled brunette who was staring at him intently.
Jim stared at the intruder in bafflement, "Who's asking?" He asked in a slightly abrasive tone.
"Oh sorry for my manners, I'm Stephen Hassenfeld, I'm the CEO of Hasbro." The man greeted, then finishing his own duties and flushing the urinal. "I'd offer my hand but you know." He said awkwardly.
"Look, I don't like to be disturbed when I'm....taking care of my business." Jim said frankly.
"Oh I apologize for being so rude, but you are the Marvel guy right?" Stephen insisted.
Jim sighed, figuring he was either going to get rid of this guy or this was going somewhere, "Yes, I'm the 'Marvel guy'. I'm Jim Galton, Marvel's General Manager."
"So you own Marvel comics or..?" Stephen prodded.
"We're owned by Lucasfilms, co-owned by George Lucas and Bruce O'Brian as I'm sure you're aware of. Stan Lee is our President, I'm basically sort of the Vice President of the company." Jim explained, then flushing his own urinal and making way to the sink where Stephen followed.
"Oh, that's good enough I suppose. Listen, I want to make a business proposition to Marvel Comics, have you guys do a comic for one of our toy lines." Stephen began.
"You do know that Marvel as part of Lucasfilms now has its toys produced by Sunset Toy company right?" Jim questioned as he was washing his hands.
Stephen frowned at the reminder of the competition, one beaten them bloody with the Pacific Rim craze last year, "I'm well aware. But just because Sunset exists it doesn't mean we can't do a joint venture. Kenner is producing Star Wars toys and Gundam is co-owned by Bandai. Plus Bruce himself is playing for the other team as Batman with Columbia and DC Comics. If your boss can star in a DC film, then there's no reason you can't do a comic for Hasbro."
"That's a good point." Jim admitted. Many at Marvel were annoyed by how their boss was Batman thus making Marvel owned by Batman in an ultimate twist. However, whatever lingering negativity for Bruce wearing the cape was erased with his staunch support of Marvel creatively and financially along with Stan's enthusiasm in cooperating with Dreamworks on the "MCAU".
"Well there you go. No reason we can't be a team." Stephen affirmed.
"What kind of toy do you want us to do a comic of?" Jim asked.
"G.I Joe." Stephen answered, to which he was met with a look of confusion from Jim, "It's this military toy line we made in 1964, action dolls for boys to play with instead of Barbies. It was great in the 60's but then Nam killed the sales for military toys, so we had to rebrand to Adventure Team but that was a flop due to the oil shock. With Gundam and Star Wars showing Sci-Fi military sells like hot cakes and Romania and Reagan's election, we at Hasbro think that this is the perfect opportunity to revive the toy line."
"So what's the story with G.I Joe? What's it about?" Jim asked.
"Oh there is none." Stephen said, throwing Jim off, "It's just action dolls, the kid's meant to make up their own adventure and story. We have some design concepts but no story to go with it. We were hoping that Marvel could add well...character to the characters. You can make whatever kind of story you want so long as it's not obscene, just include the toys we make as characters."
Jim was hesitant, tie-in comics were very easy money for the short term due to the corporate investment as well as the readers drawn in by the simple premise, but as pure commercial products they didn't last long once the novelty wore off. The Star Wars comics proved to be the antithesis, but that was mainly due to their high quality and the overwhelming love that people had for Star Wars.
However, since the Hasbro CEO himself was offering heavy creative freedom to basically do whatever they wanted and Marvel no longer had the comics code authority to keep them neutered, perhaps there was a chance. "That's very generous of Hasbro. Why be so laissez-faire with your property, and why come to us in the first place, why a comic book?"
"Well we really want to go strong on the advertising in the future, and while Reagan is probably going to change things soon, the FCC isn't fond of cartoons being made to sell toys."
"But that's half of Dreamworks." Jim pointed out, to which Stephen shook his head,
"Gundam and Pacific Rim get away with it because they're "mature" shows not targeted towards children and Miraculous has the toys made after the show, not the other way around." The CEO clarified.
"Wait cartoons, you want to make a cartoon based off our comic?" Jim asked, to which Stephen nodded.
"That's the ultimate aim all along. It's clear that in today's markets toys will sell for shit if they don't got some sort of tv show or movie to back them up. So far people are making toys off of the properties, but what if we made shows to sell the toys? If I go to DC then I won't get any cartoon and at best they'll make some gritty war movie, but if I go with Marvel we can then build towards Dreamworks or Hanna-Barbera and they're the best cartoon people in Hollywood." Stephen stated.
While it was annoying that Jim and Marvel were basically being used as intermediaries to get to Dreamworks and Hanna-Barbera, once more showing Marvel's subservience as part of the Lucas Empire, he did have to respect the man's honesty and drive.
"And throughout all of this, you're fine with us and the Dreamworks or Hanna-Barbera people having free creative control over what kind of stories we write and tell?" Jim asked.
Stephen nodded, "Just involve the toys we make and don't make it heavily obscene and we'll be fine with it. We can even make some toys off of your original characters if they're popular enough. Speaking of, is there any possibility we can get Bruce O'Brian as one of the GI Joes?"
"That's not something I can promise or have control of. What makes you think Bruce would be interested in using his name and likeness for the project anyways?"
"Well he did create the O'Reilly Foundation and his vet father is a literal G.I Joe, not to mention he was Mr. Reagan last year. I thought this would be something Bruce would love."
Jim's mind then flashed back to a meeting he had with Shooter and one of the editors Larry Hama, where the latter was trying to pitch a military comic set in Marvel about Nick Fury's son leading a group of special forces soldiers called Fury Force, and how Nick Fury Jr. was modelled literally after Bruce O'Brian. "You know, I think there could be a way we could get this to work."
The two would then spend the rest of the night discussing in great detail of G.I Joe, the logistics of toy production and any hypothetical cartoons and comics. The next day, a slightly hung over Larry Hama would be called into Jim's office where his Fury Force would be given a second lease on life, this time as GI. Joe.
It was quite ironic that for how they were a gold mine that helped form a substantial part of both his personal wealth and the warchest for Lucasfilms, pushing the company to new heights that it couldn't even with the movies alone, that you never really gave much thought to the toy industry and Sunset toys.
Oh Sunset was a great company and shining beacon of Lucasfilms to be sure. They made really high quality products and helped propel the success of your films and shows through the love that kids experienced playing them and the many fond memories. You even saw it for yourself with how much fun Mary had playing with Miraculous figures or her playtimes with Wally where they were Jedi and Dragon. You also helped Mary build a gunpla of the RX-78-2 Gundam the other day because she thought it was something neat to do. Even Joe and Sarah seemed to be getting really invested in toys with the two being especially fond of Han Solo and Princess Leia toys respectively.
But at the end of the day, toys were sort of a neat complement to the films and shows that you were so passionate about. Sunset so far had only made toys for Lucasfilms properties and nothing original, and as much as you were aware of the value of toys you couldn't place much commitment to original toys when they just didn't spark the same fire as overseeing the creation of new Dreamworks anime or directing a film.
Such an attitude was a welcome relief to the toy industry who was reeling from the struggles of the 70s Oil Shocks and how that had messed up toy production due to plastic shortages. Just when they were finally getting back into the game, every Christmas season they had to contend with overwhelming demand for Hollywood toys that left original products as second choices on the wish lists with only the huge brands like Barbie, Legos, Hot Wheels or Thomas the tank enginebeing able to compete anywhere close. This lead to some big manuvering like Kenner making Star Trek toys, Mattel handling DC and Bandai investing heavily into anime toys and partnering with Japan's big film companies.
Then there was Hasbro, who in a rather odd fashion didn't want to make toys based off existing films and shows, they wanted to make shows and movies about their toys and use them to sell the products rather than the other way around. You first became aware of such efforts when Tomino brought to your attention that some new company named Sunbow had hired a few Dreamworks animators due to the lure of senior leadership in the new company, who then despite not having made a single show had contracts with Hasbro to produce several cartoons.
That was not the end as Hasbro had approached nearly every studio in town with offers for joint rights and cooperation to make movies and shows based off of their works. So far it was met with rejection as in spite of how financially New Hollywood had severely escalated things, the studios didn't want to dent their reputations with tacky 2 hour commercials. That being said, Sony and Fox were somewhat receptive for the moment and talks were underway for Sunbow shows to be placed on ABC.
So far Hasbro had been rather distant in regards to Lucasfilms due to the awkward elephant of Sunset's presence in the company. The only approach they had made was apparently to Talsorian of all people where they wanted make to make a tabletop for little girls about magical ponies? Huh? How was that going to work?
So far Mike had your blessing if he ever intended to go thorugh with that, mostly because you were very curious how the hell that was going to pan out but it was more of a medium-term project as even if Mike was super invested, he had his hands full with Star Wars TRPG and a Gundam RPG, not to mention the numerous Cyberpunk adventure and supplement books.
Then Hasbro would surprise you again when Stan told you that Marvel had been approached by Hasbro around St. Patrick's Day to make a comic about some sort of army toy. Again, something you didn't mind as part of the Marvel deal had been giving Marvel some heavy creative freedom and so long as it wasn't a comic for a direct Hollywood competitor like say Star Trek or Godzilla they could make whatever they wanted. However, Stan gave you a strong heads up that Hasbro wanted a really big franchise similar to Star Wars in scale and to be ready for a pitch of something involving Dreamworks.
Thus in Mid April, you found yourself in a conference room with Michael Eisner on the right, the two of you meeting with Hasbro CEO Stephen Hassenfeld and one of Marvel's editors, one Larry Hama. Both men had heavy nerves, Hassenfeld looking anxious to be in the metaphorical den of the enemy while Larry stared at you with the all too familiar eyes of a fanboy. Not that you could blame the Marvel Editor, as most employees at Lucasfilms and its many subsidiaries looked at you with the same degree of high reverence.
"So let me get this straight, you want Marvel to make a comic series to promote your toy line, GI Joe, and from that comic series you want Dreamworks to make a show about the comics, promoting both the comics and the toys by extension."
"That's pretty much the gist of it yeah." Stephen Hassenfeld said. So far the guy had been pretty amicable and you liked that he was a no-nonsense and simple man who got straight to the point rather than do the usual Corpo suit dance you've seen a million times in Hollywood. Still, this was a rather ambitious and bold pitch.
"You do realize that our upcoming cable channel, LucasTV will not have any commercials for any of our shows right? All we're gonna do to fill in the air time is some trailers and maybe a few shorts like Tom and Jerry. We're not gonna fill in the air time with GI Joe commercials if we go through with this, not like we were going to do so for Star Wars or Gundam as a reminder." Mike emphasizes.
"Oh that's perfectly fine. I can just spend money for commercials on the other networks and if the show is as good as your usual stuff, then I might not even need any commercials whatsoever since we'll have the toys flying off the shelves like Gundam and Pacific Rim. If anything, LucasTV hosting GI Joe would be far better than Paramount." Stephen said nonchalantly.
"Why come to us when you're using Sunbow as a proxy in animation? I don't like relying on third parties who will walk away when they feel we're no longer convenient." Mike said firmly, most likely referencing Toho.
"Well to put it quite simply, you're the best in this town and I believe the only people who can bring G.I Joe to the small screen with substantial success. Sunbow will be our primary for most Hasbro toy products, but there are some toys that need special care and high quality when building an audience, and such is the case with G.I Joe. We've tried and failed spectacuarly over the past decade to make G.I Joe a mainstream success, but social factors and poor marketing have always killed it. I'm humble enough to say that if we keep G.I Joe internally then we'll just fumble the bag, which is why we need the Gundam and Pacific Rim guys to handle our adaptations, to create those great stories to build an audience of loyal fans to last a generation. Sure we have to share, but 50% of a lot is better than 100% of nothing." Stephen explained.
"When we started our partnership with Bandai for Gundam, they immediately offered us 70% of all merchandising profits." Mike said smugly, making Stephen's eyes bulge and nearly drop out of the chair at the info. Sure what Mike said was entirely true, but it was silent on how the merch was renegotiated to a clean 50-50 for Zeta Gundam and beyond.
"That's highway robbery! Bandai only offered that because the Yen is so overinflated, a dollar there can buy breakfast, lunch and dinner." Stephen complained.
"Alright, before we discuss profit sharing and whatever role Sunset might have, I want to know what kind of story we're working with. Lucasfilms sells toys, but we make stories first, not commercials." You affirmed.
Stephen then stood back and let Larry take center stage, who immediately walked over to you and shook your hand enthusiastically, "Hello Bruce, I'm Larry Hama, big fan. I've been editing the Conan comics so far and before that I worked on Wonder Woman with DC. I also had a small acting stint in the mid 70s and was on a MASH episode."
"Oh really! Which one, did we ever work together?" Sadly it seemed that nowadays the world kind of forgot your humble origins as Radar so it was always a treat whenever MASH came back into your life.
"Unfortunately I was on a season 6 episode. CBS did you too dirty by firing you after the strike, show was never as good since then, been running on too long." Larry complained.
"Can we get back to G.I Joe." Mike deadpanned.
"Right." Larry said with a blush, then moved to mess with the art boards he had brought in. "So, right now the comics at least are in production thanks to Jim, both Galton and Shooter's support and I've got most of the lore and basic story for the first couple of arcs worked out, now I'm working on the characters together with Hasbro. So far the biggest drawback from what I've seen of G.I Joe is that it's just a bunch of generic military toys. Fine stuff for a child to play with, but it doesn't get you invested beyond whatever your imagination can think of.
Last year I pitched Fury Force, which was basically a grounded and gritty special forces comic of Nick Fury's son leading a SHIELD spec ops team on covert missions across the world, deal with the Marvel threats that lurk in the shadows and can't be defeated with simple punches. Shooter didn't think it'd fit in well with the greater Marvel line, but Galton thought it could be a great basis for G.I Joe. So I used Fury Force as a foundation, and from there made G.I Joe into sort of the Avengers of the U.S military, basically superheroes with a uniform, which is what I personally believe most veterans are. And from there we have "G.I Joe: A Real American Hero".
Larry then presented you with what was admittedly a rather cool image of a bunch of soldiers, and some redhead in spandex charging into battle with a tank, the type of image that just screamed MURICA, evoking many of the war stories that your Dad shared when you were growing up. This honestly matched a lot of your daydreams when you were playing soldier, pretending to be like Joseph O'Brian.
"So G.I Joe is gonna be fighting against Communists or...?" You asked. As dedicated of an anti-Communist as you were for all their evil and the PRC trying to kill your family, you weren't an outright jingoist as some Democrats feared you to be. When the time called for America to defend democracy and liberty it needed to stand bravely sure, but the nation had to fight smart and not rush into every battle senselessly or else there'd be another Vietnam.
"Well I was hoping later down the line to introduce a Soviet version of GI Joe to act as recurring enemies for the Joes to fight, have some nice kickass issues in memory of Romania, but they're not going to be the main enemies. Mostly cause I know I don't want the story to be horribly dated if we for some reason make peace with the Communists like how Vietnam is our friends now." Larry mentioned, being a bit uncomfortable with the last fact. Indeed, Carter's reconciliation with Vietnam while admittedly a noble accomplishment, pissed off a lot of productions focusing Vietnam as they had to find some way to incorporate the future peace with their movie's themes and scripts.
"Instead we're going to have the Joes face off against a terrorist organization, since terrorism has been on the rise in the past decade and I have an unfortunate feeling it'll be relevant no matter the changing times. Meet Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world. Admittedly, I haven't invested too much work into them besides the basic concept but they're going to be the main enemy to G.I Joe."
Concept art was then passed around of Cobra, some faceless grunts wearing blue with a red Cobra emblem in the center of the chest, basically Stormtroopers on Earth. There was also intriguing art of some Fascist looking guy wearing a mask:
"That's Cobra Commander the well....commander of Cobra, the Darth Vader of Cobra if you will and the central villain of the story."
"So Cobra, are they like snake aliens trying to conquer the world?" Mike asked.
"What? No that's stupid." Larry refuted, although Stephen looked very intrigued at the idea. Basically it's sort of a stand-in for all terrorists as well as authoritarians of all stripes. I'm still workshopping the lore and backstories, but my idea at the moment if Authoritarian Anarchists if that makes sense, basically made up of men and women across the world who hate governments of all kinds and want a new world order with them on top with Cobra Commander promising absolute power and victory. Basically combine the brutality and military might of the Nazis with Communist Revolution and terrorist fearmongering and that's Cobra."
"Well I guess that's a nice clean enemy for the Joes to fight." You say. Really classic pure evil villainy like Zeon or the Empire that could act as the perfect stand-in for any vile ideology or conquering nation of the day and it wouldn't ruffle any feathers.
"I'm a bit hesitant about this point at going full scale for Cobra toy lines, but Empire and Zeon toys, not to mention the Kaiju have been rather popular so there's probably a market." Stephen chimed in.
"So back to G.I Joe, what makes them so special and why do they have to be the ones to fight Cobra?" You asked.
"Well, G.I Joe like I said is the Avengers of the military. I'm a Vietnam Vet so I want to make the comics as real to the military experience as I can, but at the same time it's a bit fantastical with the Joes being a very unorthodox special forces unit that doesn't adhere to most of the regular regs and organization, that way the audience can have some fun and it's not just another war story. They fight for freedom on land, sea and air and G.I Joe is full of specialists who each cover a different MOS so that way we can tell any type of story or fights we want."
"It's also great with the toys cause every kid can have their own favorite character to go on personal adventures with and with the diversity and numbers, it'll be great for sales." Stephen hyped, which made Mike very interested based on Star Wars and its merch history.
Larry then passed some concept art of some of the Joes, and considering that this was pitched a month ago, he had some impressive work already lined up. Most of the Joes looked kind of just generic grunts that didn't really grab your eye, but there were a few cool designs that really caught your eye. Hawk, Stalker, Scarlett and Snake Eyes in particular. Hawk was an uncanny resemblance to Dad and Scarlett had some cool Princess Leia vibes. Stalker kind of gave you the vibes of Stacker Pentecost in the field and Snake Eyes was very intriguing as some sort of ninja.
However, there was one character design in the bottom of the pile that really grabbed your attention.
"No way." You say in total shock."
Green Beret
Rank: Sargent E-5
Code Name: Goose
File Name: Riley O'Brian
Primary Military Specialty: Infantry
Secondary Military Specialty: Close Quarters Combat, Martial Arts, Linguistics, Direct Action Recon
Birthplace: New York City, NY
Prior to G.I Joe, Goose was a Irish brawler from Hell's Kitchen who was a rising star in the boxing world for his grit and unorthodox style of boxing which mixed martial arts that he learned from his cousin, making him a fighter of brains and brawn who overpowered and outsmarted his opponents to victory. Feeling unfilfilled both in the ring and academia through time spent in university, Goose enlisted to find a sense of purpose; discovering such through duty to his country and the brotherhood he gained with his comrades. Having one of the best records in basic, Goose breezed through Special Forces school and served with distinction as a Green Beret, being crucial in many counterrorist operations and rolling back the red menace.
"The scariest thing about Goose is that the man is a human sponge. Direct him to learn any skill and no matter the difficulty he'll give it his all and after a short period of training become a master with few peers. When he was on leave he fell into a rabbit hole obsession on medieval warfare and when he returned he became a master swordsman that can slice down any foe that comes at him, and that's when he decides not to use one of his dozen martial arts styles to obliterate Cobra units."
"I never knew I had a cousin named Riley." You say with a smirk, causing Larry to look really bashful, staring at the floor.
"Well you're a pretty cool guy Bruce and I did want Nick Fury Jr. to be modeled off of you. Still do if we ever introduce him into Marvel mainline. I'm also a proud card-carrying member of the O'Reilly Foundation since '75. I figured this was the least I could do to pay you back after all the good you did for us vets, fighting for us when everyone just wanted to abandon and forget us."
"You or no one else who served owe me anything, I just wanted to do what was right for the real heroes." You say humbly, making Larry look at you even more starstruck.
"All the more reason to make Goose. He's a badass of badasses and will be one of the main characters of G.I Kind of like Radar mixed with Captain America and Han Solo." Larry said.
"Is Hawk Goose's father?" You asked, to which Larry shook his head.
"No, Hawk and Goose have entirely separate histories, though admittedly I'm basing his looks off of your father, I got his permission as well."
"You met Dad?" You asked intrigued.
"Oh yeah, everyone at Marvel is a regular at the Jumping Whale, it's the best happy hour spot in the city. Pretty cool guy, and he is a literal G.I Joe so I figured why not."
You stared at the character card and sighed. It honestly wasn't the first and sure as hell wasn't gonna be the last time someone wanted to use your likeness. Hell, since Star Wars a good chunk of your mail was flooded by various requests for permission and the writers across Lucasfilms and beyond wanted to make a Bruce character, but this was probably the most literal fanservice. You didn't want to come across as a glory hog when you were just a fictional vet, but it does seem like this Goose could be a pretty cool character.
"Well, I guess it'll be a cool character. But I want G.I Joe to be an ensemble instead of just The Goose show and give plenty of love to the other characters, there are lots of heroes out there who deserve some love and this should honor all soldiers, not just one." You affirm.
"YES!" Stephen hollered, pumping his fist in victory. It was not too surprising considering that Han merch could go for hundreds of millions of dollars during the release years of Star Wars so Goose alone might make G.I Joe profitable.
A bit uneasy from the commercialism, you pressed on Larry Hama, "So what kind of story exactly are you going to tell with G.I Joe? Cause commercial comics can be fun but they're not good stories most of the time with poor long-term viability."
"Oh I agree sir, though thankfully Hasbro has been rather accomodating in allowing us creative freedom. Well, at the core it's going to be of course about G.I Joe against Cobra, though I also want to do arcs focused on other types of military situations. It's not like I want to glorify war itself, I want to honor our nation's troops and share their experiences and struggles, even if it's a bit stretched from reality. The battles itself aren't glorious, it's more focused on themes of civic duty, virtue, brotherhood, and the defense of freedom along with some introspection of patriotism and what it means to be a soldier. I really want to make something similar to Gundam, though at the end of the day G.I Joe is gonna kick Cobra's ass instead of understanding them. Think of Gundam and Pacific Rim in tone and storytelling but a lot more grounded." Larry said.
"Of course that's great for the comics, but when we get to the show or movie, I'm hoping something more for general audiences. Not that we have to dumb it down mind you, but if we got something like Star Wars in tone and story that'll be perfect for me." Stephen added.
Thus, the elephant in the room which had gone silent up til now of the Dreamworks show was brought back to the foreground.
"Alright, say we have a cartoon made with G.I Joe. What exactly do you want from us for it? Dreamworks has limited production slots and right now we're fully focused on Gundam, likely to make another series soon after." Mike said, quietly referencing Tomino's vision for Gundam ZZ.
"Well basically we want G.I Joe to have a rough release in line with the toys. Now, the toy line is going to come out next year before the fourth of July, but we'd like the show to come in the Fall of 1983 to garner interest for the comcis, build up hype for the Christmas season, and to be in line with the second batch of toys that will be released in '83. That will most likely include Goose because I want to test how G.I Joe does before you're one of its faces. Like with Marvel, we don't mind Dreamworks, or Hanna-Barbera if you want, writing whatever stories they want. Just feature the characters from the toy and comics along with the G.I Joe vehicles and make it kind of Star Wars atmosphere."
"That's not going to be a lot of time for the comics to produce enough source material to adapt like how we're working on Marvel anime for Spider-Man, X-Men and the others."
"Oh you can just write whatever kind of original stories you want with G.I Joe, I don't mind." Stephen said so non-chalantly.
You frowned at the casual attitude, the Hasbro CEO likely heavily overestimating the effort that went into making anime and assumed they could just be pumped out, disgregarding the care and craft that went into one of them.
"How many episodes do you want to be ordered?" Mike asked.
Stephen shrugged his shoulders, "50 like Gundam. Lots of different adventures with all the toys and characters getting their time to shine."
"FIFTY! You want us to produce an entire 50 episode series just like that, right when we're debuting our tv channel?!" Mike said in outrage, most definitely deserved as 50 entire episodes while doable for Dreamworks, was a serious investment for what was a commercial series.
"That's what you did with Gundam." Stephen countered.
"That's different, Tomino came to us with the entire series written down and dozens of scripts to work with. You want us to start on it before the comic is even published, that's madness. Not to mention a heavy investment of Dreamworks for a shared brand." Mike said.
Stephen looked very combative while Larry looked a bit crestfallen. You had to agree with Mike, it was way too much for Dreamworks to get invested in with only concepts and not to mention it would take up critical space on LucasTV while also giving Hanna-Barbera support. Not to mention all the other pitches in the woodworks which were fighting for some love.
Before things got heated, you remembered some of Sunrise's pitches and how the experimental mystery anime Astro Boy: Pluto was being formatted. "How about for the start at least, we make it as an OVA." You pitched in, offering a compromise.
Stephen and Larry looked at you in curiosity, "What's an OVA?"
"It stands for Original Video Animation. It's this concept in the Japanese anime industry of making a series intended for home video releases without prior tv or movie source material. It's also being used as a generic term for mini series. We make a G.I Joe mini series, though keep in mind we might have to do with a 84 release depending on the production cycle, and we have about 5-10 episodes on a single story, introduce the characters and lore to audiences. Then from there if there's high viewership and sales, we move forward with a full series like you want."
"That's....actually rather agreeable." Stephen conceeded, likely just happy that Dreamworks might make a G.I Joe story.
"Larry, I don't know how long you're staying in town, but if you're available for the next couple of days I can direct you to some of our creative minds at Dreamworks, see if anyone's interested in working on G.I Joe, help you with a pitch and episode structure." You offered, with Larry looking very pleased at the deal.
Considering this was likely going to feature lots of jets and fighters, you Noboru could be heavily invested, and who knows, maybe Mavis might like it and work her magic.
"Now back to the merchandising shared between Lucasfilms and Hasbro." Mike insisisted.
A/N: A formal pitch for the first G.I Joe series will be coming soon.
