Entry 5: In Which The Term "Reboot" Is Not Used To Describe The Show From Mainframe Entertainment
No,
readers, I speak of the more general term. The definition of "Reboot"
in my case is to take an established franchise or series or such, and
start again, from the beginning, this time taking a direction in tune
with the more popular aspects of that time period.
For a good
example of this, take a look at the series created by companies like DC
and Marvel. Every so often, as times and the ideas and morals change,
and as new writers and artists are hired, we see the stories of tried
and true characters like the Justice League and the X-Men come to a
decisive conclusion, only to resurface some time later, with a new Issue
#1, a new storyline, and old characters with new looks.
The
idea of restarting a story is not exclusive to just comics either. All
types of media, from TV shows and movies, to regular books, to video
game series, have at least one example where someone's decided to hit
the reset button and wipe the slate clean.
What I intend to do
here today is give a few examples of why this strategy shines, examples
where it fell flat, and a couple of times of my own where I've had to
hit the reset button on my work.
The Old Batman Movies to
The Dark Knight Saga
In
1989, Tim Burton had brought us a new Batman on the big screen. One
that was dark, edgy, powerful, and didn't have shark repellent. Ever
since then, Batman's been featured in numerous silver-screen movies over
the years; some emphasizing the grim and gritty (such as Batman
Returns) and some focus on the sillier and kid-friendly markets (Batman
Forever, and yes, Batman & Robin).
Then came Christopher
Nolan in 2005 with Batman Begins, which put Batman deep into the
grimdark, heavy-voiced, villain-driven storylines that people had then
come to expect from him in this age of comics. This continued with The
Dark Knight, which pit Batman against old enemies the Joker and
Two-Face, and finally The Dark Knight Rises, which served to fit as a
conclusion.
To me, the most notable differences between these two
sagas is their tone, the direction they took going forward, and how the
people behind the films made their decisions on their sequels.
As
the Original Batman films slowly became denser and wackier (culminating
in Batman & Robin), the Dark Knight Saga became progressively
darker the more the films went on, as Batman's past constantly came back
to haunt him, and how he had to get past that.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure to
Steel Ball Run
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a long-standing manga/anime series, worked on by one Hirohiko Araki ever since 1987.
Chronicling
a very long bloodline of warriors and their fight against all manner of
violent supernatural villains, the manga has a 20 year backlog of over a
hundred volumes and still counting!
The first six parts of the
story followed a different descendant of the original protagonist (or at
least someone really close to the descendant) at a different place and
period in time, from 18th century England, all the way to 21st century
America in the present day (well, up to 2011, anyway).
The reboot
part of the story came in the form of Steel Ball Run, whereupon the
universe the story was originally set in was literally reset, returning
the world as we knew it to the 18th century.
This new
universe featured new versions of certain characters and their abilities
and powers, but in a new light, taking the story of a bloodline
fighting evil monsters and minions and turning it into a
transcontinental race, (alongside the fighting evil monsters and
minions) with some very interesting conspiracies behind it...(the race, I
mean, not the story itself. The actual manga, I imagine has no
conspiracies behind it whatsoever...)
The new story has since
moved into 2012 in it's timeline with a new narrative, but, by now, the
point's already been made; the universe we once knew from the past had a
gallon of turpentine chucked over it, and had an upgraded can of paint
thrown back over it just as quickly.
Spyro the Dragon to
Skylanders
If
you invested time in the Sony Playstation consoles in the mid-1990s,
chances are you've heard of Spyro the Dragon. From that time, up to
2008, the character and the series had appeared through many
action-adventure platforming games, of varying quality, builiding a
universe with its own locations, heroes, enemies, and mythos.
Created
by Insomniac Games, the Spyro name was passed along to different
studios and systems as the years went on, and the series began to slip
slowly into decline...
Come 2011, though, Activision was handed
the rights, and what they did with Spyro's world was indeed, one of the
more polarizing examples in gaming, as of late...
Many
a child who's visited a toy or game store over the past three years has
heard of the Skylanders series of video games, which are driven solely
through separately sold real-life figurines. This series and the
strategy it employs has earned Activision millions of dollars in profit,
both from the games, and the toys.
Spyro himself, and a few
other elements from his series were fully absorbed into the Skylanders
universe, with a considerably different appearance (Many of Spyro's
original fans, myself included, are in agreement that the new
look...takes some getting used to).
Though
the Skylanders franchise was in fact built using Spyro's name as a
foundation, it has since found its own footing, and the characters in
that universe now share equal importance with the video game veteran.
(Provided of course, you can find his figure in stores...)
My Own WorkI've
drawn my fair share of characters and stories in my time, and I'd be
lying if I said I didn't have more than a few ideas wind up on the
cutting room floor. I do, however, have a tendency to bring my work back
into the light when I've put a bit more though and effort into the
subject.
Mostly, this comes in the form of a fresh update to something I've done once before, be it to my original characters...
Pictured: My original character, Raleno from 2011-2013
Or to my stories...
Pictured: VS. Universe Page 29 :"Original" and "Redone after Critique":
...Somedays, it seems all you need to make something look brand new is a new coat of paint.
Finally, I bring this blog to a close, with this simple point.
Whether
they're better or worse than the old stories is often a matter of
heated debate amongst fans. One thing that is certain though, is that
these kinds of characters have enough history and popularity to last
decades; more than enough time for the characters, worlds, and
storylines to change hands between creators.
~Jalen @Xero-J
Johnson
__________
You can follow me (and my random thoughts) on such things as...
deviantArt! (my main site)Twitter!Facebook!Pinterest!LinkedIn!Miiverse!
This
is where it all starts. Practically every day, I get a new idea in my
head, and at one point or another, I hold onto it long enough for me to
draw it out with pencil and whatever blank pieces of paper I can find.
Once it's drawn to where I believe it's...well, believable, everything
is put through the scanner, uploaded to the cloud, and stuffed onto my
computer.
This is where I add all the little bells and whistles the art needs to pop!
