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Franchises that have been left fallow...

D

darkwing_duck1

Vice Admiral
What are some good media properties that could sustain mutil-media exposure that just haven't gotten the attention they need?

I'll name three:

Shadowrun - it's got elves, it's got magic, it's got cyborgs. It would be an action/adventure/fantasy smash if a major studio would put the money in to do it right.

D&D - the value is still there...at one time there was going to be a Drizzt-focused cable series, but it vanished into development hell. The key is to not make a "Dungeons and Dragons" movie, but to make a movie in one of the DnD UNIVERSES. The Forgotten Realms is every bit as rich and storied at Tolkien, and I could name a couple of the better books that would make great films.

The Morrow Project - post-Apocalypse at it's finest, only with a more hopeful message than the typical fare.

What say you?
 
Shadowrun is an example of a wasted property. Microsoft could have made a sweet MMO out of it. instead? they made a first person shooter.:rolleyes:
 
Dune. They could seriously make a sweet MMO out of that. It's already got all of the things to make a great MMO; planets, factions, alliances, politics. It would be one of the best franchises to make into an MMO, instead of forcing a franchise to MMO elements that don't fit the franchise.
 
I agree on Dune.

I would add Lost in Space. It was a kids' franchise, so let's ignore the PG-13 one and start fresh with some fun kid tales.
 
I gave up on AD&D for the superior system known as Runequest, that also has one of the best thought out fantasy worlds ever created. Fantasy Games Unlimited made a post apocalyptic game known as Aftermath which I found to be more playable than Morrow Project.
 
Davros said:
I gave up on AD&D for the superior system known as Runequest, that also has one of the best thought out fantasy worlds ever created.
Click to expand...

Speaking as someone who actually worked on that game, and as a friend of Greg Stafford who created the world of Glorantha that you refer to, I say thank you for the compliment. We spent a lot of time at Chaosium's original Albany, Ca HQ on that game and the world it was set in. It is nice to see it still fondly remembered now, decades later. Hard to believe it is over thirty years since it all started.
 
Count me in for Dune. A rich universe that's ripe for franchising, but it has unfortunately spawned very little--a movie, a couple miniseries, and a handful of video games.

My favorite D&D setting is Planescape and I would absolutely love a movie or TV series set there. Planescape: Torment was awesome. :techman:

Going for something a bit more obscure, I would enjoy movies or a TV show based on C. Dale Brittain's Yurt series. It's basically a fantasy version of Medieval Europe, with magic and monsters and such, and a good sense of humor. One of the more amusing notions is that Daimbert, the focal character and chief wizard of his kingdom, is a rather mediocre magic user. :lol: It would make a good show, and you could probably do it without a huge budget. And hey, there are 6 novels' worth of material to mine.
 
Davros said:
I gave up on AD&D for the superior system known as Runequest, that also has one of the best thought out fantasy worlds ever created. Fantasy Games Unlimited made a post apocalyptic game known as Aftermath which I found to be more playable than Morrow Project.
Click to expand...

That's a crit of the systems, which I'm not going to argue for or against.

Would you be interested in tv/movie projects based on the settings is the question I'm asking.

I suppose that if Shadowrun were to be developed today, it would almost have to be an anime project.

I'd almost be tempted to add Space: 1889 to the list, but maybe that's TOO specialized a property...
 
I love Firefly, but I heard from many olde skewl Traveller players that the scenario presented, small boat of colorful characters plying the spaceways trying to make a buck had been experienced by them long before.

I'm a more recent Traveller convert myself, saw it, heard of it, read the strip in the old pre Citadel White Dwarf...but only started playing in the last couple years.
 
The Western/steampunk/horror game Deadland has what would be a great setting for a TV show...but only on one of the premium channels. This thing would have to be gory, risque and a bit rude. Not Deadwood level rude, but certainly not polite...
 
What about Alien Nation?

It may never have been a franchise but the Willow property could be revived and tweaked. Was frankly surprised Lucas didn't jump on that during or after the LOTR movies.
 
Actually, Skiffy has something working on that front, talk of a new series taking place twenty years after the last one.
 
Visionaries. knights in a world of magic who can turn into animals and use spells to give them other super-powers, battling for control of their planet after the end of technology and the return of magic.

BEGGING for an MMO, a live-action film trilogy and a revived comic-book.
 
I'd love to see an update of two '70s Saturday morning seies by Filmation: Space Academy and Jason of Star Command. I'd set them about thirty years or so after the originals. Perhaps have some of the original actors from SA in the new series as instructors for a new group of students. Chris Gentry would now be the head of the Academy, as well as the commander of the Star Command part of the station. I think with the current state of sfx and a more mature and scientifically accurate approach to the stories you could have a potentially popular series.
 
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Would love to see an updated version of the series that has ties to the original. The amount of cool secret agent gadgets today would be sick, but it would also have to had two leads that could play well off each other. I could see a big spy-oriented, save-the-world video game developed off a modern (if not slightly futuristic) take of it.
 
The whole Lovecraft Cthulhu thing. I want a TV series of mind-bending eldricht horror! No, Desperate Housewives doesn't count. :p
 
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