Screening the Screens

I'd like to see Aech's backstory- it was mentioned in the book that she (a) grew up in Atlanta then (b) created a white male avatar due to the marked difference in how she was treated and then (c) was kicked out by her mom after she revealed that she was lesbian. All we got in the RP1 movie was that she got her nickname from her dad.  

You know the play depicted in the play/movie Noises Off ?  I don't think it's been fully written- there's only one act that I know of that's been written out! It wouldn't be that much of a chore to find the Noises Off script, write out Act I of the play they're trying to perform (Nothing On) and try to piece together an Act II, where the conflict is resolved.   Now the question is who should be part of the premiere cast...  

One of the soundstage scenes in the film involved rehearsing a dance number titled "No Dames"- the sailors were shipping off in the morning for an eight month tour of naval duty and wouldn't see another dame for that length of time. Why not base a movie around this song? 

Hestia is seen briefly in Lightning Thief as a girl of about eight or nine. But when she's given an extended scene in Last Olympian- book (and season) five- she's still eight.  My idea is for: (a) whoever is cast as Hestia to be eight, and (b) film Hestia's season five scene(s) during season one filming, but have people standing in for Percy and Nico. And when season five rolls around, have a stand-in for Hestia so Percy and Nico can film their half of the scene.   

This post will revolve around release dates for each season, starting with the finale of season five ( Last Olympian ) 1. The difference in release dates between the Last Olympian finale and Lost Hero premiere should be exactly six months 2. Lost Hero and Son of Neptune should film concurrently, and there should be a one-day gap between the  Lost Hero finale and the Son of Neptune premiere (like the 14th and 15th of a certain month) 3. The Son of Neptune finale and Mark of Athena premiere should be released as a two-parter, with the MofA premiere airing immediately after the SofN finale 4. There should be a release gap of exactly one week between the Mark of Athena finale and the House of Hades premiere   5. And there should be a release gap of between three and five days between the House of Hades finale and the Blood of Olympus premiere This would be a more realistic timeline in terms of time as portrayed in the books.  

Quidditch through the Ages Documentary- who would I pick? Writer- Steve Kloves Producer- David Heyman Narrators- Daniel Radcliffe and Bonnie Wright Harry Potter the Series- each book = one season; each chapter = one episode- who would I pick? Writer- Steve Kloves Producer- David Heyman Casting Directors- The original Harry Potter cast And I'd have JK Rowling take a step back from helping with both projects 

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) and Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) should both be narrators- this would be a nod to the fact that (a) Harry was widely known as Gryffindor's best Seeker and (b) Ginny played professional Quidditch after graduating from Hogwarts.  Steve Kloves- who scripted seven of eight movies in the series- should write the script. The script should include narrator references to Harry and Ginny's Quidditch experience.  David Heyman- who produced all eight Harry Potter films- should produce this work. This would be his eleventh Wizarding World producer credit after the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films. 

Fair warning- this is all essentially a giant spoiler for those of you that haven't read all ten books.  LOOK AWAY NOW SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER You have been warned. Okay. *Geographic casting- Richmond, Virginia for Annabeth; NYC, New York for Percy; Phoenix, Arizona for Clarisse, etc. *A one-take rule for all scenes- you don't get do-overs on your lines in real life   1. The raft that Percy and Annabeth ride to Circe's Island in Sea of Monsters should be the same raft that picks Leo up from Calypso's island in House of Hades . 2. For the scene in Lightning Thief where Luke uses his switchblade to scrape some mud off the sole of his sandal, he should open two blades- he should open and close a bronze blade before opening and using a steel blade. This would foreshadow both his eventual use of the Backbiter sword (half Celestial bronze and half tempered steel) and his full switch to the side of Kronos (i.e. turning his back on the Celestial bronze side and using t...

The Hunger Games A collection of letters from Prim to Katniss following along with the events of the Hunger Games and Catching Fire books  The Marvel Cinematic Universe A Cheap Trick and a Cheesy One-Liner: The Official Biography of Tony Stark Just a Kid from Brooklyn: The Official Biography of Tony Stark  The Realest Man you'll Ever Meet: The Official Biography of Nick Fury  Harry Potter A Quidditch through the Ages documentary An actual Hogwarts, A History book  A series exploring Lily Luna (Harry and Ginny's youngest) Potter's Hogwarts years An animated series talking about the Weasley family via Ginny's journal entries A series covering the Hogwarts years of James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin An animated series looking at the Golden Trio's Hogwarts years from Malfoy's POV  A docuseries about the other global wizarding schools- Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, Ilvermony, etc.  A Magical Creatures docuseries talking about hippogriffs, t...

There should be an animated docu-series or just a documentary featuring Colette from the 2007 film Ratatouille- how did she go from being one chef of several at one of several restaurants in Paris to being featured on a magazine cover in a flashback to Riley's toddler years in Inside Out in 2015? In terms of animated TV shows, the Moana series should start with a brief history of their home island while Zootopia+ should start out by showing how the world went from Finding Nemo/Dory and the Secret Life of Pets series to a completely animalistic society. The material is there if the writers want to use it.  Sing 2 has a fantastic opportunity in terms of showing where New Moon Theater is geographically in terms of an animated movie history timeline after Zootopia's mention of map coordinates placed it at modern-day Los Angeles.  Qualms about recasting Harry, Ron and Hermione aside, I think there needs to be a remaking of the Harry Potter books with each book one season and each c...

In Star Wars news, December of next year will see both season three of The Mandalorian in addition to the Book of Boba Fett. It's been confirmed that these are two separate shows, as Pedro Pascal will be returning as Mando.  In MCU news, WandaVision will debut on the 15th of next month as part of a three-story arc continuing with Spider-Man 3 and ending with the Doctor Strange sequel. Speaking of Spider-Man 3, it will most likely be a live-action Into the Spiderverse with the previous movie iterations of Spider-Man as well as multiple villains all slated to appear.  Also in the MCU, the upcoming She-Hulk series will feature Mark Ruffalo's Hulk in addition to Tim Roth's Abomination, making his first appearance since Incredible Hulk back in 2008. The last we saw of the Abomination/Emil Blonsky, he was being arrested after rampaging Harlem.  

Cereal: Lucky Chomps as opposed to Lucky Charms Shopping: Mousy's as opposed to Macy's Cell Phones: MuzzleTime, not FaceTime What does this mean? *Animals recognized certain aspects of human culture and adapted them to fit their needs over time.  Again, the source material is there for Zootopia+ if the writers want to take advantage of it. 

Where exactly is this taking place?  I'd like to see some sign that the New Moon Theater is co-existing with Zootopia.  In Zootopia, there were spoken map coordinates that place Zootopia somewhere near Los Angeles, which means that Bunnyburrow might also be in modern-day California. In my mind, I'd place the New Moon Theater on the east coast of the United States. As with the animated timeline I previously blogged about wanting to see in Zootopia+, the source material is there if the Sing 2 writers want to add it into the movie. 

Biographies from the point of view of different characters- some might have interesting titles, some might not.  1. Thaddeus Ross How did he go from being a general in Incredible Hulk (2008) to being the Secretary of State in Captain America: Civil War (2016)?  2. Nick Fury (The Realest Man you'll Ever Meet) 3. Steve Rogers (Just a Kid from Brooklyn) 4. Tony Stark (A Cheap Trick and a Cheesy One-Liner) Tony Stark is biography material in and of himself- built his first circuit board at age four, built his first engine at age nine, MIT at age sixteen, inherited Stark Industries at 21- the list goes on 

Long story short, it would be one book per season and one chapter per episode. The biggest argument people would have against it would be that it would recast the characters, and my suggestion would be to have the original HP actors intimately involved with casting to help somewhat assuage concerns. Reason 1: A lot of good book moments were left out of the films. Harry's more snarky side, Harry and Ginny's relationship, "there's no need to call me 'sir', professor"; characters like Justin Creevey and Demelza Robins, Percy reconciling with his family, Voldemort's backstory, etc. Reason 2: Voldemort's death was better in the books. In the Deathly Hallows book, Voldemort just keels over backwards. His movie death is a lot grander than he deserved. Reason 3: Some movie moments were just unnecessary. Like in the Half-Blood Prince: Ginny didn't need to tie Harry's shoelace and the Death Eaters didn't need to set the Burrow on fire.      

That's the direction things are trending. 1. WandaVision- first episode January 15th- will lead into both Spider-Man 3 and the Doctor Strange sequel 2. Spider-Man 3 will reportedly feature characters from previous iterations of the webslinger- both the spider-men and the villains- although this is yet to be officially confirmed.  This could lead to a live-action Into the Spider-Verse scenario, which I find super cool. 

What if...  Age of Ultron: Vision hadn't been born?   Ant-Man: Scott hadn't originally stolen the suit? Ant-Man 2: Scott hadn't had the vision of Hope's old closet?  Black Panther: T'Challa hadn't spared M'Baku? Captain America: Steve hadn't fallen on the dummy grenade? Captain Marvel: Carol had let Maria fly with Dr. Larson? Civil War: The video of Tony's parent's deaths hadn't been shown?   Doctor Strange: Stephen's hands had been repaired successfully? Endgame: Ant-Man hadn't left the quantum realm?  Far from Home: Peter had kept the E.D.I.T.H. glasses?  Guardians: Peter's mom had survived? Guardians vol. 2: Ego didn't reveal that he killed Peter's mom?  Homecoming: Tony hadn't taken Peter's suit?   Incredible Hulk: Banner had let Samuel Sterns synthesize his collected blood samples? Iron Man: Tony had made the Jericho while in captivity?    Iron Man 2: Tony had turned over the suit? Iron Man 3: Tony hadn't ...

Zac Efron as Fone Bone- Fone is one of the "narrators" of the nine-book series and Zac has been a lead actor already in several films Sam Rockwell as Phoney Bone- I see Phoney very much as a Justin Hammer type Adam Sandler as Smiley Bone- Smiley has the class clown/village idiot type about him and Sandler has been the lead role in tons of comedy films- he'd bring the right presence to the role Emma Watson as Thorn- Thorn, like Fone, is one of the "narrators" throughout the series and Emma has been a lead actor in films like the Harry Potter franchise, Beauty and the Beast, The Circle, Noah, etc.  Maggie Smith as Gran'ma Ben- I see Gran'ma Ben very much as a Professor McGonagall type- both very grandmotherly but also "don't mess with me". Plus it's a Harry Potter reunion with Watson Dwayne Johnson as Lucius Down- I believe Lucius is a "secondary narrator" throughout the series and Dwayne has tons of acting credits already- plus...

1. Emma as a Media Immersion substitute teacher Snake- the MI teacher- was her homeroom teacher for a while. 2. Manny talking to a Female Empowerment class- more specifically telling them "don't change how you look just for a guy". A TNG episode focused on Manny doing just that. 3. Paige acting as Fantine in a Les Mis revival. Remember the TNG episode when she wanted to get noticed by a talent agent? 4. Liberty talking with the girls' floor hockey team. There was a TNG episode that focused on her struggles managing the team. 5. The girls' field hockey team talking about "we beat Bardell" and "we're facing Earl Grey this weekend". Bardell is known to TNG fans as the school of Paige's rapist and Earl Grey was featured in an early TNG episode.  6. JT's memorial announcing that he's a legacy graduate- he'll be on each graduating class list. No explanation needed. 7. And Jimmy making the Canadian national wheelchair basketball te...

On the Marvel side: No Iron Man- Tony Stark sacrificed himself in Endgame. No Captain America- Steve Rogers returned from the past at the end of Endgame as an elderly man. No Black Widow- Romanoff sacrificed herself in Endgame.  There's still Ant-Man, the Wasp, the Guardians, Thor and Spider-Man, however.  There's also Professor Hulk. The DC side, if we just go by the movies, has Shazam, Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and the Flash.  So it would still be cool, it would just be missing a bunch of characters.   

This would honestly be incredible in Guardians 3- picture, for instance, them meeting up with Rey's great-great-great-great... granddaughter or grandson. However, even if this doesn't happen, there's always fanfic. 

1. What if Peter Parker's identity hadn't been revealed? In the after-credits scene of Spider-Man: Far from Home, Spider-Man's identity is revealed to the world as teenager Peter Parker, which will almost certainly have ramifications for Spider-Man 3. But what if the video hadn't been released?   2. What if Talos isn't impersonating Nick Fury? Another tidbit from Far from Home, where Nick Fury is revealed to be on a Skrull spaceship- ostensibly for the duration of the movie. But what if he'd actually been among the action? In other words, is it important that he's on the Skrull spaceship and not on Earth? 3. What if Carol had let Maria go with Dr. Lawson? In the Captain Marvel film, Maria Rambo fills Carol Danvers in on her backstory- the day she was captured by the Kree, she had been flying an experimental aircraft. Both Maria and Carol had been at the hangar and Maria had been willing to go with Dr. Lawson but Carol said she'd go. But what if Maria had...

In the 2007 film Ratatouille, Colette is one cook of several at Gusteau's, one of several dozen restaurants in Paris. But in a flashback to Riley's toddler years in the 2015 film Inside Out, she's seen on a magazine cover in Riley's old house in Minnesota. How did she go from one cook of hundreds in Paris to being on the cover of a magazine in Minnesota in just eight years? What would a documentary about this entail? What would the timeline be? 

How did Zootopia come to be?  I don't mean in terms of writing and animation. I mean in terms of the animated movie timeline. We start with the Land before Time series and the Ice Age franchise, which establishes that talking animals have been around since the dinosaurs and have coexisted with humans for a long time as well. Later on, we see Finding Nemo and then Finding Dory and then the Secret Life of Pets series, which sees the human world from the animal point of view.  My question is, how did we go from "talking animals living with humans" to "a completely animalistic society"- and a highly organized and developed one at that? How did we go from Lucky Charms to Lucky Chomps, and from Macy's to Mousy's, and from FaceTime to MuzzleTime? An in-depth look at each region of Zootopia We did get a slight look at each region in the police training scene and in other sections of the film- tundra (Mr. Big), desert, jungle (Otterton), etc. But why not go more ...

My opinion on this is to do more with the book material and less off of the new Fantastic Beasts series (more on that in another post). I have a bunch of ideas on this regard. 1. A series about the Marauders. I'd look forward to this more than another Fantastic Beasts film. How did they meet? How quickly did they gel? Was it rocky early on like Harry, Ron and Hermione or was it instantaneous? I'd like it to start either on the Hogwarts Express first day or on the train platform (see the Deathly Hallows book). 2. Harry Potter the Series. There might be some opposition in terms of recasting the characters but there's a lot left in the books that the movies left out- Harry and Ginny's relationship, for instance, and Harry's more snarky side. 3. A series about wizarding neighborhoods like Ottery St. Catchpole and Godric's Hollow.  4. Quidditch through the Ages adapted to the screen.  This would be phenomenal if someone started working on it- write it as a series of ...

I'm so excited about the upcoming Bone animated adaptation coming to Netflix. So excited, in fact, to start speculating about potential cast members. This is who I'd pick to voice the various characters- if you agree (or don't, also fine), let me know why. Fone Bone: Zac Efron  Phoney Bone: Sam Rockwell (I see Phoney as being a very Justin Hammer type) Smiley Bone: Adam Sandler (comedy movie lead of legends) Thorn: Emma Watson  Gran'ma Ben: Maggie Smith (McGonagall, I think, is both grandmotherly and "stay on my good side")  Great Red Dragon: Michael Gambon (the dragon is very Dumbledore-type, I think)  The Two Rat Creatures: Keegan-Michael Key and Michael Peele (can you imagine the hilarity that would come out of a recording session with these two? this would be hilarious to watch) Lucius Down: Dwayne Johnson (they're both built the same) Jonathan Oaks: Tom Holland (both are the youngest of the crew but both are very dependable)