Before I start on these, I want to get my feet wet by writing my own fan comic*--just to see if I can do it.
But I expect in the next few years to work out the series bible on three ideas. The common themes to these stories:
1. No more kids and teenagers doing normal stuff. If I want to watch paint dry, I'll paint my apartment.
2. Action, adventure, suspense, drama, romance. Comedy mixed in.
3. A bit of 90s sophistication, a dash of 2K flair, and a whole lot of 80s madness(cool madness).
In sum: Ordinary people, extraordinary situations.
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Any story I do will involve kids outside the #1 plot concept. And now:
1. Set in outer space five hundred years into the future. It has the quasi-sophistication of Star Trek, but with more variety in aliens that cartoons will allow for. The main story involves a species returning to their ancient homeworld after five hundred years to retake it from a brutal empire that brought the world into turmoil. The twist here is that the ancient homeworld...is Earth.
The show stars two kid crewmembers: a human 10-year old who's always very serious(and more mature than her age suggests)--she never smiles, and a rogueish alien 16-year old from a planet with no rules. I don't know who'd voice the girl, but the teenager is definitely Rob Paulsen.
For you see, this involves starships, and a Starfleet-like organization. It should have an Avatar-like feel to it, with plot twists and character growth.
The character design has an anime flair to it, except that it will look a bit cartoony (particularly with the numerous aliens).
2. Set in present-day Charleston, South Carolina; it's about a team of three secret agents working tirelessly to foil the plots of a pair of megalomaniacal twins. The twist here is that the lead agent's a kid, the lady character's a Bionic Woman, and the trained Asian assassin's a silly, gentle giant wearing a bowler hat--at least, so it seems. One very kid-like(although brainy and British) kid(voiced by Ben Diskin, using his NUMBUH ONE voice), two competent adults.
The villains are also based in Charleston; the lead villain is pretty goofy(although sharp in a world-wise kind of way)--but succeeds in many of his objectives for three reasons: one: his twin sister, who's pretty smart(yet idealistic); two, his son(about the same age as the lead hero)--who acts as head of his board of advisers and warns of any swiss-cheese holes in his dad's schemes, and three....
...the blinkered stereotyping from the hero, who thinks that the lead villain is too stupid to be the mastermind of world domination schemes. He's rather stubborn, and when he has a set idea, he won't let it go.
The plot structure will be akin to Duck Tales, where there are 5-ep multi-parters and stand-alone eps; a sort of episodic continuity will persist. This will be a fairly short 65-ep series with a beginning, middle and end.
Character design has a strong Hartman influence, with bits of Schooley/McCorkle.
3. The third was inspired in part by Bratz: Genie Magic and Disney's Aladdin. Only here's the kicker: the jinn are the stars--along with two teenage girls; one from the US, and one from Japan.
Three female jinn come under the command of the two teen girls; the girls have to share the trio's power. In the early part of the series involves misadventures as each girl tries to outsmart the other out of the three jinn.
However, the tone changes as the main villain is revealed: a cruel, brutal and ancient god who enslaved all the jinn to his service thousands of years ago. While the god was defeated, he sealed the jinn to containers in a final act of spite--to create enmity between jinn/other supernatural beings (angels, youkai, kami, elves and what have ye) of the spiritual realm and mankind. The three jinn want to destroy this god once and for all, and liberate their embittered brothers and sisters.
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I'd also like to do a remake of the Impossibles; and I still have that old idea of idealized warrior country avatars battling it out--a history show turned into DBZ with shoujo aesthetics.
I have another history show involving a time-traveling genius girl and her hip older sister from the distant future, traveling into parts of American(and sometimes world) history.
Another old idea I'm still kicking around involves a cartoon starring a semi-modernized (they dress and speak in a modern fashion, but in character) William Shakespeare and Jane Austen; they host a show that features other writers. All of their works are episodes of shows; any poets become musicians. There are interviews that serve as primers to learn about the writers. Sometimes other historical figures appear.
Not to worry: the Bard's own numerous works get the star treatment--as he'll comment. Jane Austen gets to counter with her dry yet witty commentary.
I'll give the title for this one: Writers Block (with Will and Jane).
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* as to the fan comic: it's an homage to the 80s(and beyond), starring those two sets of form-changing robots: the G1 Transformers and the original, Machine Robo-based Tonka Gobots.
A huge metaseries of the cartoon crossover I would have loved to see, and--except that Hasbro played a bit of dirty pool, combined with the fact that Hanna Barbera really didn't know how to push the concept as well as Marvel/Sunbow--we might have been able to see it.
I anticipate having the first issue out on the web by the end of January 2009.
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My brain, it's always at work.
