Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

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Davies
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Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

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* George Lucas wound up making a Flash Gordon film that released in 1977, starring William Katt as Flash, Carrie Fisher as Dale, Topol as Dr. Zarkov, and Peter Cushing as Ming. The plot was more or less identical to our world's Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All. It was a flop, though now regarded as a cult classic, and a wonderful advertisement for LucasFilm's visual effects division, which eventually spawned Pixar in much the same way it did here. Unfortunately, Flash's failure led to the scrapping of plans for a film about an adventuring archaeologist in the 1930s.

* There's no Highlander but instead the franchise is called Paladin, about the adventures of the legendary knight Roland who discovers his immortality upon his apparent death during the Battle of Roncevaux. Other than that, the story elements are utterly the same. (Adrien Paul played Astolf in the TV series.)

* There was an adaptation of William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy in '99 and the early 2000s that's regarded as some of the all-time greats in film adaptations.

* Super Mario Bros was released as an animated motion picture instead and it became a critical and financial darling.

* The Lord of the Rings was given a live action film adaptation in two movies in 1980 and 1982. They weren't very successful or critically acclaimed, though a few words of praise were given for Sharon Tate's performance as Galadriel, her first film appearance since her 1977 divorce. The Jackson films were made, but the devoted fandom of the original hurt their financial success. There was no Hobbit trilogy.

* Cutthroat Island was a huge success, spawning several sequels of generally diminishing quality.

* Lost in Space reunited the entire original cast for a series of four movies made between 1979 and 1989; more were planned, but Guy Williams' death led to the end of the series.

* The Terminator was rejected by the studios for its pessimism, somewhat derailing the careers of James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The latter recovered after Commando, a thinly disguised biopic of a leading JSOT operator. The former, not so much.

* The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries ran from 1977-1982. Both sets of characters would later guest star on episodes of ...

* The Tom Swift and Linda Craig Mystery Hour was a success, rather than a flop, and inspired a series that ran from 1984-1989.

* G.I. Joe does still exist, and Larry Hama even wrote a comic book of that title ... but it's about the original 12 inch figures, which never suffered from a post-Vietnam backlash or had to compete with Star Wars action figures.

* Twilight 2000 doesn't exist -- it seemed implausible, even by 1984, that there was going to be a third world war between the Americans and Soviets.

* Shadowrun, rather than taking place in a future Earth that experienced a magical Awakening, takes place in a fantasy world that experienced extremely swift scientific, industrial, & information revolutions.

* The Dobie Gillis stories were never written; instead, there was a 1954 movie adapting the Archie Andrews comic book, followed by a 1959 to 1963 television series entitled Life With Archie, starring Dwayne Hickman as the title character and Bob Denver as Jughead. The 1977 television movie Archie Andrews, Where Are You?, reuniting the series' original cast, was a hit, spawning a sequel series that ran until 1982. 2004 saw a remake of the first film, which has since spawned an entire cinematic universe of romantic comedies (and a few melodramas) inspired by the various characters of Archie Comics ...

* Neither Sherlock nor Elementary exist; however, the Sherlock Holmes series of films starring Robert Downey Jr. (five films as of 2020) are set in the modern day. They co-star Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson, a veteran of Syria, with appearances by Richard Ridings as Mycroft.

* 1967 saw the premiere of The Shadow Strikes, starring Adam West as Lamont Cranston and Yvonne Craig as Margo Lane, updating the classic radio adventure into the then-modern day. It was hugely popular, though viewed as corny in retrospect, but regaining popularity in recent years.

* Basilea has featured as a character in two films, made in 1975 and 2005, portrayed respectively by Pam Grier and Halle Berry. She doesn't like either of them, but she does like the money they raised for shelters for the victims of domestic violence. Generally, most films about real world superheroes are about as true-to-life as The Sound of Music was to the lives of Maria and George Trapp.

* Most of the fictional superheroes on our timeline don't exist as fictional characters here. The exception are the Young Gods created by Jack Kirby during the early 70s, which introduced the Guardian, a costumed version of his Officer Harper comic strip from the early 40s, along with characters who'd be familiar to anyone who knows about the Fourth World, all interacting with Archie Andrews instead of Jimmy Olsen.
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Voltron64
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Re: Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

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Davies wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 2:10 am * The Dobie Gillis stories were never written; instead, there was a 1954 movie adapting the Archie Andrews comic book, followed by a 1959 to 1963 television series entitled Life With Archie, starring Dwayne Hickman as the title character and Bob Denver as Jughead. The 1977 television movie Archie Andrews, Where Are You?, reuniting the series' original cast, was a hit, spawning a sequel series that ran until 1982. 2004 saw a remake of the first film, which has since spawned an entire cinematic universe of romantic comedies (and a few melodramas) inspired by the various characters of Archie Comics ...

* Most of the fictional superheroes on our timeline don't exist as fictional characters here. The exception are the Young Gods created by Jack Kirby during the early 70s, which introduced the Guardian, a costumed version of his Officer Harper comic strip from the early 40s, along with characters who'd be familiar to anyone who knows about the Fourth World, all interacting with Archie Andrews instead of Jimmy Olsen.
The latest reboot of Archie in particular features heavy focus on the Young Gods and other related creations of Kirby.
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Re: Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

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Voltron64 wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 2:25 am
The latest reboot of Archie in particular features heavy focus on the Young Gods and other related creations of Kirby.
Actually, no. The Young Gods featured in a TV series that spun out of one of the Archie films, but it wasn't very popular and hasn't been referenced by any of the other movies. Yet.
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Re: Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

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* With the Americans winning the Vietnam War here in '71 and both Koreas oppressively ruled by Gan In Geun, Vietnam in A World Less Magical sort of fills many of the same socioeconomic, geopolitical and pop cultural roles South Korea does in our world. Basically, instead of K-Pop, it's V-Pop.

;)
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Re: Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

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Voltron64 wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 2:45 am * With the Americans winning the Vietnam War here in '71 and both Koreas ruled by Gan In Geun, Vietnam in A World Less Magical sort of fills many of the same socioeconomic, geopolitical and pop cultural roles South Korea does in our world. Basically, instead of K-Pop, it's V-Pop.

;)
... I like it!
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Re: Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

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* My Hero Academia exists as a franchise, but its backstory is more tied to real world 'theories' that superpowers are becoming more common, with the idea that it takes place about two hundred years in the future when they're the majority of the populace. (Those familiar with the secret histories aren't as quick to dismiss this notion as those who aren't.)

* Babylon 5 aired for 4 seasons on CBS -- there are disputed stories about the fifth planned season, which was never filmed due to a total breakdown of relations between J. Michael Straczynski and CBS Productions.

* Because we can't always have nice things ... in 1982, Douglas Adams became collateral damage of the Pythonian Insurgency. Life, the Universe and Everything was never finished, its sequels never even started.
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Re: Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

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* George Lucas wound up making a Flash Gordon film that released in 1977, starring William Katt as Flash, Carrie Fisher as Dale, Topol as Dr. Zarkov, and Peter Cushing as Ming. The plot was more or less identical to our world's Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All. It was a flop, though now regarded as a cult classic, and a wonderful advertisement for LucasFilm's visual effects division, which eventually spawned Pixar in much the same way it did here. Unfortunately, Flash's failure led to the scrapping of plans for a film about an adventuring archaeologist in the 1930s.
NOOOOOO! Why in the name of merciful Odin would you get rid of Indiana Jones for?! You heartless monster you....
* There's no Highlander but instead the franchise is called Paladin, about the adventures of the legendary knight Roland who discovers his immortality upon his apparent death during the Battle of Roncevaux. Other than that, the story elements are utterly the same. (Adrien Paul played Astolf in the TV series.)
This one hurts less than the above, as at Christopher Lambert & Sean Connery got to play in something just as good(unlike poor, poor Harrison Ford)....
* There was an adaptation of William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy in '99 and the early 2000s that's regarded as some of the all-time greats in film adaptations.
I never read this book series, is it any good?
* Super Mario Bros was released as an animated motion picture instead and it became a critical and financial darling.
This is a MUCH better idea imo! As much as i liked Bob Hoskins & John Leguizamo together(they played off each other rather well), this was MADE to be animated instead....
* The Lord of the Rings was given a live action film adaptation in two movies in 1980 and 1982. They weren't very successful or critically acclaimed, though a few words of praise were given for Sharon Tate's performance as Galadriel, her first film appearance since her 1977 divorce. The Jackson films were made, but the devoted fandom of the original hurt their financial success. There was no Hobbit trilogy.
This one's perfectly understandable, as the earlier years Wouldn'tve been kind to this Franchise...
* Cutthroat Island was a huge success, spawning several sequels of generally diminishing quality.
.....What's Cutthroat Island?
* Lost in Space reunited the entire original cast for a series of four movies made between 1979 and 1989; more were planned, but Guy Williams' death led to the end of the series.
I would've been ALL over this series, as i was a huge Guy William mark growing up....
* The Terminator was rejected by the studios for its pessimism, somewhat derailing the careers of James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The latter recovered after Commando, a thinly disguised biopic of a leading JSOT operator. The former, not so much.
Sad about Cameron, but it's nice that Conan still got work. Arnold still made Conan, right?....
* The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries ran from 1977-1982. Both sets of characters would later guest star on episodes of ...

* The Tom Swift and Linda Craig Mystery Hour was a success, rather than a flop, and inspired a series that ran from 1984-1989.
Wierdly enough, i'm acually a fan of all these book/tv series so thanks Davies for trying to educate the Children of your Universe....
* G.I. Joe does still exist, and Larry Hama even wrote a comic book of that title ... but it's about the original 12 inch figures, which never suffered from a post-Vietnam backlash or had to compete with Star Wars action figures.
Was always curious to how my favorite toy franchise growing up would've done if Vietnam & Star Wars hadn't practically killed it ....
* Twilight 2000 doesn't exist -- it seemed implausible, even by 1984, that there was going to be a third world war between the Americans and Soviets.
That book only succeeded due to Fearmongering, so good riddance to bad rubbish. Unfortunately, this also means Red Dawn doesn't get made but Omlets and Eggs...
* Shadowrun, rather than taking place in a future Earth that experienced a magical Awakening, takes place in a fantasy world that experienced extremely swift scientific, industrial, & information revolutions.
Still would've been the same slog to get through, mechanics-wise....
* The Dobie Gillis stories were never written; instead, there was a 1954 movie adapting the Archie Andrews comic book, followed by a 1959 to 1963 television series entitled Life With Archie, starring Dwayne Hickman as the title character and Bob Denver as Jughead. The 1977 television movie Archie Andrews, Where Are You?, reuniting the series' original cast, was a hit, spawning a sequel series that ran until 1982. 2004 saw a remake of the first film, which has since spawned an entire cinematic universe of romantic comedies (and a few melodramas) inspired by the various characters of Archie Comics ...
Ahhh, good old-fashioned Archie love! i honestly liked their version of The Shield(and their whole Impact line in general)....
* Neither Sherlock nor Elementary exist; however, the Sherlock Holmes series of films starring Robert Downey Jr. (five films as of 2020) are set in the modern day. They co-star Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson, a veteran of Syria, with appearances by Richard Ridings as Mycroft.
Are they straight from Book Adaptations or Original pieces?...
* 1967 saw the premiere of The Shadow Strikes, starring Adam West as Lamont Cranston and Yvonne Craig as Margo Lane, updating the classic radio adventure into the then-modern day. It was hugely popular, though viewed as corny in retrospect, but regaining popularity in recent years.
you can't keep m'boi Adam West down in ANY universe! He was The Grey Ghost in B:TAS, now he's The Shadow here...
* Basilea has featured as a character in two films, made in 1975 and 2005, portrayed respectively by Pam Grier and Halle Berry. She doesn't like either of them, but she does like the money they raised for shelters for the victims of domestic violence. Generally, most films about real world superheroes are about as true-to-life as The Sound of Music was to the lives of Maria and George Trapp.
That's just the way ALL Hollywood biopic's go. Straight to the musical's..... :P
* Most of the fictional superheroes on our timeline don't exist as fictional characters here. The exception are the Young Gods created by Jack Kirby during the early 70s, which introduced the Guardian, a costumed version of his Officer Harper comic strip from the early 40s, along with characters who'd be familiar to anyone who knows about the Fourth World, all interacting with Archie Andrews instead of Jimmy Olsen.
I'd acually be curious to see how this would pan out...
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Re: Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

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MacynSnow wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 4:02 am
* George Lucas wound up making a Flash Gordon film that released in 1977, starring William Katt as Flash, Carrie Fisher as Dale, Topol as Dr. Zarkov, and Peter Cushing as Ming. The plot was more or less identical to our world's Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All. It was a flop, though now regarded as a cult classic, and a wonderful advertisement for LucasFilm's visual effects division, which eventually spawned Pixar in much the same way it did here. Unfortunately, Flash's failure led to the scrapping of plans for a film about an adventuring archaeologist in the 1930s.
NOOOOOO! Why in the name of merciful Odin would you get rid of Indiana Jones for?! You heartless monster you....
Well, mostly, because the heirs of the very real Dr. Henry Jones (an English archeologist who vaguely looked like Sean Connery) would likely have been annoyed that their ancestor was being portrayed as a macho American.
MacynSnow wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 4:02 am
* Cutthroat Island was a huge success, spawning several sequels of generally diminishing quality.
.....What's Cutthroat Island?
Pirate movie starring Geena Davis that had the misfortune of coming out years before Pirates of the Caribbean.
MacynSnow wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 4:02 am
* Neither Sherlock nor Elementary exist; however, the Sherlock Holmes series of films starring Robert Downey Jr. (five films as of 2020) are set in the modern day. They co-star Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson, a veteran of Syria, with appearances by Richard Ridings as Mycroft.
Are they straight from Book Adaptations or Original pieces?...
Little from column A, little from column B. The fourth movie basically blows up a story not unlike Elementary's take on Hound into a full-length film.
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Trivia of a World Less Magical

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Q: "What was Paragon's birth name on Anacreon?"

A: (from Jora) "He didn't have one. Children of the scientist class weren't given names by their parents until they reached the age of ... um, I think about thirteen or so, in your terms. By the time he met his mother's metz -- sorry, her 'ghost' -- he was older than that, and she chose to accept the name that the Youngs gave him."

Q: "Does Darkwing have any living relatives?"

A: (from Martha Paddington): "Yes." (further questions in this line result in a Very Hard Stare.)

Q: "Does Basilea have a boyfriend?"

A: (from Basilea): "No, I do not, at the moment. Over my life, I've had several meaningful relationships, both with outsiders and fellow Hesperans, but none of them have lasted more than a decade or so. And despite what a certain pair of movies would have you believe, I don't tend to fall in love at first sight."

Q: "Are there any super-pets?"

A: (from Blakestone): "Prydwen owns a dog that she rescued from one of Gisburne's labs who's pretty clearly stronger, faster and smarter than a normal Labrador Retriever. She named him Cafall. That's the only one who comes to mind, other than the Little Tramp, who doesn't belong to anyone and so isn't a pet, as such. No, I don't own a cat. Stereotype much?"

Q: "Is anyone else going to join the Powerhouse?"

A: (from Polymorph): "... how is this trivial? Never mind. If El Dorado follows through on his plan to take a sabbatical, we're probably going to offer his seat to the True Believer, and some of next year's graduating class of the Academy are under consideration. Other than that, IIIII think we ought to keep this to ourselves, thanks."

Q: "What does Ananke do, besides deciding who rules Daath?"

A: (from Ananke): "await the outcome vast with vast indifference" (goes back to reading a collected version of John Byrne's The Last Galactus Story)
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More Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

Post by Davies »

* After the success of Jaws, Steven Spielberg and Richard Dreyfuss reteamed for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. On this timeline, however, that was a flop -- too many people were familiar with the Martian raids for a film about friendly aliens to be successful. Between that and the critical failure of 1942, it's possible that even if Lucas' Flash Gordon had been more successful, the film about an adventuring archaeologist would have been scrapped. Spielberg's career recovered with the success of 1982's Night Skies, a horror film about a young American family, led by Harrison Ford's Hank Freeling, who are terrorized by what initially seems to be a friendly alien. It was a star-making role for Ford, spawning a pair of sequels and a eponymous television program (1996-2002) which starred David Duchovny as a grown-up version of the film's Elliot Freeling character.

(@MacynSnow: Happy?)
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Re: Trivia of a World Less Magical

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Davies wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 6:11 am That's the only one who comes to mind, other than the Little Tramp, who doesn't belong to anyone and so isn't a pet, as such.
I totally forget about your plans of a Littlest Hobo pastiche!

:lol:
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Re: More Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

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Davies wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:37 pm * After the success of Jaws, Steven Spielberg and Richard Dreyfuss reteamed for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. On this timeline, however, that was a flop -- too many people were familiar with the Martian raids for a film about friendly aliens to be successful. Between that and the critical failure of 1942, it's possible that even if Lucas' Flash Gordon had been more successful, the film about an adventuring archaeologist would have been scrapped. Spielberg's career recovered with the success of 1982's Night Skies, a horror film about a young American family, led by Harrison Ford's Hank Freeling, who are terrorized by what initially seems to be a friendly alien. It was a star-making role for Ford, spawning a pair of sequels and a eponymous television program (1996-2002) which starred David Duchovny as a grown-up version of the film's Elliot Freeling character.

(@MacynSnow: Happy?)
Yes, my Hero worship of Harrison Ford continues in your setting(this being a requirement for non-evil version's of myself. Evil version's of myself worship Snidely Whiplash)... :)
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Re: More Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

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Davies wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:37 pm * After the success of Jaws, Steven Spielberg and Richard Dreyfuss reteamed for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. On this timeline, however, that was a flop -- too many people were familiar with the Martian raids for a film about friendly aliens to be successful.
That sentiment has since partially faded thanks to things like the Aqueroddi assisting JSOT's assault on Mars, contact with the TSV Adventure and the Technate, treaties with the Ectotronians, and the accomplishments of Paragon.
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Re: Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

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* Besides the classic fable, the plotline of Disney's The Little Mermaid was also heavily inspired by the events surrounding the 1961 Atlantean Civil War.
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Re: More Pop Culture of A World Less Magical

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Voltron64 wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 3:47 pm
Davies wrote: Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:37 pm * After the success of Jaws, Steven Spielberg and Richard Dreyfuss reteamed for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. On this timeline, however, that was a flop -- too many people were familiar with the Martian raids for a film about friendly aliens to be successful.
That sentiment has since partially faded thanks to things like the Aqueroddi assisting JSOT's assault on Mars, contact with the TSV Adventure and the Technate, treaties with the Ectotronians, and the accomplishments of Paragon.
Partially, but not even close to completely (and there are people who insist that Paragon isn't really an alien.) What causes almost as much concern, in some quarters, is the fact that the "aliens are always hostile" memeplex is usually accompanied by a "artificial intelligence is always friendly" memeplex. There hasn't been a successful 'rampaging robot' storyline since the mid-70s, and filmmakers have reported constant pressure from company executives to include benevolent AIs in their stories -- as with Susan Foreman (played by Tea Leoni), Elliot Freeling's partner in the Night Skies series, who is eventually revealed to be an android sent from the future to aid humanity against its alien enemies. No one is quite sure why these attitudes are being encouraged as much as they are.
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