In the wake of the final episode of ‘How I Met Your Mother’, my friend of many, many years, Otter Disaster, remarked on the Twitter (you really should follow the Major Spoilers crew, we are delightful) that I should be happy that Ted Mosby dumped Victoria, otherwise she might have ended up dead at the end of the series. (Also: Spoilers.) Still, though, as much as I hate to admit it, the Otter has a point: I am glad that Victoria didn’t end up with Ted, just as much as I’m glad that Nightwing and Starfire didn’t actually go through with their wedding, as was the original plan back in the 1990s, because having *that* relationship retconned would have really hurt… It’s a reminder of the old adage that it’s best to be careful what you wish for, like the story of the monkey’s paw that… ate… people? Or something? Truth be told, I kind of skimmed it in sophomore English, but it still leads us into today’s hypothetical query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) remembers the rumors that Marvel was in talks to license DC’s characters in the late 1970s, leaving you with the prospect of Jim Shooter’s ‘Batman’, asking: What missed opportunities in pop culture are you most glad never came through?
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The American-made “Star Blazers” movie that would have converted the sunken U.S.S. Arizona into a spaceship. I have fond memories of the “Star Blazers” translation from childhood and the original “Yamato” stuff from my teenage years when I tracked down some of the original stuff. Thematically, I understand why the creators chose the Yamato as the ship in that case. However, I just don’t think the web was ready for the cracking-in-half it would have received from the outrage some of the more volatile members of the American-Interwebs would have subjected us to in every forum and comments section available.
I haven’t seen the last season of Arrested Developement, so this may not hold true anymore. But I’ve gotta say George-Micheal/Maeby. There’s definitely moments where you put your lot in for them, but it’s better in the long run that they weren’t a thing. Actually Micheal/Marta is similar to that.
I’d have to say that I’m glad we never had the restaurant wars that were predicted in “demolition man” After the movie correctly predicted Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming the govenator, I became concerned that soon after only taco hell would soon exist.
But don’t we already almost have that sort of thing anyway with those split restaurants where it is both restaurants as one store where you can order from both menus in the same order like KFC/Taco Bell, Pizza Hut/Taco Bell, A&W/Long John Silvers, etc. (Not to be confused with shared locations where both places share a building but are entirely independent of each other)?
There is a long list of “I’m glad they didn’t make a sequel” that could fit here.
In terms of plot elements though, I’m glad for the *LACK* of reveal at the end of V for Vendetta. You get a picture of V and a lot of hints, but no clear answer, and I think that makes the ending all the more rich. Ending it with an “Oh it’s Evey’s father” would have cheapened the whole thing.
I’m glad Disney never went ahead with their plans to convert Power Rangers to an animated series with original Rangers independent from Super Sentai. However, my sole reason for this is because if they had, there wouldn’t be easy access to getting some of the Super Sentai toys that are re-released for Power Rangers without having to pay high import store costs.
http://powerrangers.wikia.com/wiki/Disney#Animated_Series_Plans
I’m also REALLY glad that several comic book movies and series never made it to see the light of day, including such things as the Tim Burton Superman, the Nicholas Cage Superman, the Justice League series that would have been on CBS and, to a lesser degree, the Roger Corman Fantastic Four.
I’m glad the U.S. live action Akira movie hasn’t come about yet. Akira has already been done as an animated film, and given the budget they were talking about – only a fraction of the cost of the animated film – and the actors, not an asian or teen among them – and the fact that they would have tried to condense a nearly four hour epic into an hour and twenty minute film, the whole idea is a recipe for disaster.
After that, I’m glad that Del Toro did not end up making the Hobbit films. Although I like Del Toro films, his sensibilities are different from those of Peter Jackson. To be blunt, his expressed ideas of making Smaug look like a flying battle-axe instead of a traditional dragon gave me pause, and all jokes about Del Toro elves ending up with eyeballs on their hands aside, one of two things would have happened – either we would have gotten good films that would not have meshed with the LOTR films, or Peter Jackson would have had to ride herd on Mr. Del Toro so hard that the end results would not have been happy either way.
Different strokes for different folks! My problem with the Jackson take on Hobbit is exactly why you like it! I feel like he’s trying to make them mesh together way too much. Stylistically The Hobbit book is much different than the LOTR books, even though they are set in the same universe. Rather than a real adaptation of The Hobbit book, we are much closer to having a set of LOTR “prequels” — something the book wasn’t trying to do.
Interestingly, Del Toro’s almost fairy tale take on things to me would seem to fit the book’s style better than Jackson’s high fantasy style. High Fantasy fits perfectly for the LOTR books, but not really The Hobbit…
That said, I definitely see the financial incentive for linking them so much…