Idea for a new Madeline series for it's 75th anniversary in 2014

K

kayta k

New member
Don't think I'm a lunatic, but I'd like to tell you my ideas.
First of all, Madeline is still the smallest and bravest of the girls, but now the other girls (besides Nicole, Danielle and Chloe) would have personalities as well, and serve as major supporting characters, like Miss Clavel, Pepito, Genevieve, and to a lesser degree, Lord Cucuface. My ideas for girls are as follows:
1) a tomboy girl who is always on Madeline's side no matter what (except when it comes to music. The girl likes rock n' roll and especially heavy metal, while Madeline likes Norah Jones, Dinah Washington, Dinah Krall, Frank Sinatra, and Maurice Chevalier (the latter because Madeline is French, of course)). This tomboy tries to be as brave as Madeline and would go on adventures with her. She's sorta inspired by Sam in Lord of the Rings.
2 and 3) A bully girl who always tries to ruin Madeline and get the other girls to like her so she can cause trouble around the neighborhood. She believes that Madeline is nothing more than a raving egomaniac! But she always fails thanks to the foolishness of her sidekick girl, and when Pepito and his friends get in the way to help Madeline and her friend move forward.
4) A supercool, yet cynical, sarcastic, paranoid conspiracy theorist girl who is wary of Lord Cucuface. She also has a talent for mimicing people's voices. She takes Nicole, Danielle and Chloe under her wing.
5) A mature but kind and benovelent girl who is a devoted follower of Miss Clavel as serves as a mini-Miss Clavel when Miss Clavel is not around.
6) A nerd/geek girl with allergies and asthma that the bully always makes fun of.
7 and 8) A petulant, Jewish girl who doesn't like to be disturbed when playing video games and her friend, an arrogant, conservative, athletic girl.
Also, I know that the original series follows the books, but some elements of the books haven't dated well, including the 1940's setting. So to appeal to kids now, it would be cool to have it take place in the present. But a system, while they let Madeline do whatever she wants, have forced the girls to take a backseat and act like goody-goodies while documentarians document Madeline's adventures (this is fictional of course, but in that universe it is real). Also, they make it look like it takes place in the 1940's when it's happening now. Basically, they're manipulating how Madeline lives her life to keep it like the Madeline books to commercialize it, and while Nicole, Danielle, and Chloe can say things, the other girls can't. Whenever they say something, they're forced to speak in squeaky, high-pitched French accent. I had this idea, the tomboy and Yvette (from Madeline and the Showoff) are dopplegangers, and the tomboy was switched with Yvette from Montreal when the tomboy tried to breach this whole system. Soon, after Yvette returned to Montreal, and the tomboy came back, the audience were led to believe that the tomboy was Yvette because no one told them about the switch.
Ultimately, this should appeal to more than just 2-6-year-olds, but also 7-12-year olds, even boys. I think the lessons of love, sharing and friendship could appeal to any child boy or girl, ages 2-6 or 7-12. Also, the chatterbox girl is for the adults, because I noticed that adults have been watching this with their children. It could have some satire remenescient of Rocky & Bullwinkle, which was for both kids and adults. The most important thing is that Madeline is basically the same as she was before, and so are Miss Clavel, Pepito (for the most part) and Genevieve. And Madeline is THE main character. The other characters would be just major supporting characters like Miss Clavel, Pepito, Genevieve, Nicole, Danielle and Chloe.
Oh, one more thing. In the 1998 Tristar Madeline movie, most of the other girls, while not fully developed, have personalities of their own (e.g. Vicki, the mean, arrogant one; Aggie, Madeline's sidekick; Lucinda, the girl who always says "Super;" Lolo, Vicki's friend, and Chantal, the doofus). So whaddya all think?
Also, could you tell me which one is Nona? I might want to see which one I'd like to give the personality to. Also, which episode did she appear in and what's she like?
 
Good idea, but, I guess it's too late. I already posted this in the General Animation Discussion, so whoever would like to respond should do it here.
 
I'd make a Timbox joke, but that might be a little too mean.

So I'll just say this: Isn't it a little too early to be thinking about an animated series that wouldn't be released for another seven years?
 
My guess is that Yellow Submarine figures it will take that long to get this idea made, providing that he/she works the kinks out of it, actually manages to contact the Madeline people about it and they greenlight this project, that is.
 
I know, I like to come up with ideas ahead of time. I just want to see what people think of the ideas, nonwithstanding that it's too early.
 
Um, wasn't there one of these in here a couple of days ago?

Now, to actually be helpful (because I know how annoying it is when people aren't) - I don't have much experiance with Madeline, but it seems to me your basic character descriptions clash with your original intentions. You say that 'but now the other girls... would have personalities', yet all the 'personalities' seem little more than generic stereotyping. Anybody can say 'I'm going to include a nerd, a tomboy, etc.' but that doesn't really define who they are.
 
Yeah, I know. I'm not good at writing my ideas. But anyway, the purpose of each these characters is to make it appeal to more than just 2 to 6 year olds. I think that the lessons of love, sharing, and friendship can apply to 7 to 12 year olds as well.
Anyway, the tomboy is meant to be sort of a foil for Madeline, who, while braver that the other girls, is essentially a girl who likes Norah Jones, Dinah Washington, Dinah Krall, Frank Sinatra. The tomboy likes rock n' roll and heavy metal music, yet everywhere else, she's loyal to Madeline no matter what, since Madeline once saved her life.
The bully girl is meant as a recurring antagonist other than Lord Cucuface. She is trying to ruin Madeline and bring anarchy to Paris. Unfortunately, her foil is her dim-witted sidekick, who always foils her plots to ruin Madeline and her tomboy friend. The dim-witted sidekick, of course, is sort of Crabbe and Goyle from Harry Potter mixed together. Eventually, Pepito helps stop the bully with his rabble-rousing soccer friends.
As for the confidantes, the kind, benevolent mini-Miss Clavel serves as Madeline's confidante and mentor when Miss Clavel is not around. She fits Madeline's light, clever, good-hearted personality perfectly. As for the tomboy's confidante and mentor, the cynical, sarcastic conspiracy theorist is pessimistic about everything. She's cynical of Madeline, Miss Clavel, Lord Cucuface. She tries to warn the tomboy about Madeline, but the tomboy continues to be loyal to Madeline. Of course, the paranoid girl fits the tomboy's rebellious personality perfectly. She is sorta inspired by Hyde from That '70s Show, only without the cursing and adult content, since it's a kids show. Also, she takes Nicole, Danielle, and Chloe under her wing, and they desperately try to learn about the world culture from the paranoid girl. She warns them against all the bad fads, but especially Chloe doesn't listen. Those three will be sort of the comic relief with their bickering. Learning from the old series, I make out Nicole to be the more sensible one, Danielle the worrywart (kinda like C-3PO), and Chloe the reckless one.
Anyway, the other girls are meant to be a little bit more than extras. If you want names I've thought of names. The tomboy who looked like Yvette's name is Carol Jordan (and she happens to be American). The bully's name is Simone Jacques. Her dim-witted sidekick's name is Houdine Bouvier (that's a funny name I made up, for a dumb girl like her). I guess I'll assign the already-named girl Nona to the mature, kind, benevolent girl if she's the one with short, blonde hair shaped similar to Madeline's, and to put in some diversity, she could actually be Scottish, although she was forced to pretend to be French, to make their lives like the books. The paranoid conspiracy theorist girl could be Dolores "Rizzo" Rizzoletti, and she could be Italian-American who got abandoned by her parents at a boarding school in Paris (a cause of her bitterness). And the nerd/geek girl could be Alice LaRue (she's known by her last name). The petulant Jewish girl could be an American named Fern Kaminsky. The arrogant, conservative, athlete girl could be a Latin-American girl from Texas named Jane Westwood.

So whaddya think? Sorry if this seems a bit stereotypical. But that's what makes a good cartoon, right? I mean the Simpsons are full of stereotypes!
 
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