Regular listeners to the podcast may know that I’m not the biggest video-gamer on the MSP roster, but I have a pretty solid (if somewhat shallower) base in the subject. F’rinstance, I remember back when the “Naked Lara Croft” mod was a buzzword among media watchdogs and geeky horndogs alike, even though she was about as curvy as Jed Clampett’s whittlin’. Still, seeing the new realistic Lara imagery (firmly ensconced in the proverbial Uncanny Valley) is somehow LESS enticing than the old pointy wire frame protuberances of yore. Of course, I also like the old Battlestar Galactica, robot dog and all, and had no problem with Superman’s trunks. (The red helped to set off that enormous field of aquamarine.) It’s hard not to turn into a hipster/curmudgeon sometimes, especially when you’re trying not to be all contrarian about the changes in the Big Two comics universes.
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always,”misquoted”) knows that time marches on, but still thinks that the old-school pastel push-button Enterprise (no bloody A, B, C or D) is super cool, asking: Given one free pass, what one thing would you revert to an older version, and which version would you choose?
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Easy. Bring back the original ‘Anakin Skywalker’ to the final scene of Return of the Jedi. (along with the other revisionist junk that Lucas forced on us)
I’d like to see G.I. Joe go back to the Devil’s Due, which itself was a continuation of the Marvel Comics. I just never have gotten into IDW’s run much.
Blue Yonder, are you reading Larry Hama’s amazing continuation of the Marvel run, “Real American Hero”? It’s not the main IDW G.I. JOE series, but it blows the pants off of anything else, and it’s written by the man himself!
I do need to check out that Larry Hama series. I’ve heard it’s pretty cool.
A few years back they changed how combat in magic: the gathering worked to make it more approachable (also to shake off a few barnacles). However, in my opinion, it made the game less strategic. I would revert it back to the way it was circa Lorywn block.
Wild Wild West. Remove Will Smith and all the willsmithisms and replace him with Robert Conrad. And while we’re at it, replace the other guy with Ross Martin. I like Will Smith in most things, but dang! Don’t be puttin’ hipster jive dude in mah Wil’ Wil’ West!
Apparently, Will Smith, in retrospect, dislikes the part he played in Wild Wild West. I really think he could have been fine, if they had really dialed the humor down and gone for more action. And a better script.
Also if they wrote as Artemas Gordon as, well, himself and not some generic jerkass inventor like we got. (Artie was one of my childhood heroes.)
Bring back the original programming concept to the Sci Fi, sorry SyFy, channel.
While they still have some original Sci Fi TV series on, most of their schedule is dominated by reality programming. I know there are some Face Off fans out there and someone must be watching Ghost Hunters, but its not me. I keep thinking some of our favorite canceled network series could have survived on SyFy, if genre TV wasn’t restricted to just one or two nights per week on their schedule.
Agreed! Heck, let’s go back to an even earlier era, where they ran awesome sci-fi movies along with their own shows, rather than truly awful dreck they produced, like Ice Twisters.
Face Off makes sense to me on the channel since it deals with a behind-the-scenes aspect of fantasy/sci-fi tv and movies, but things like Ghost Hunters, Collection Intervention, Deals from the Darkside and the other reality shows just seem off to me on the channel. Interesting enough series, just not really something I want to see on a channel that I expect sci-fi and fantasy from.
Wonder Woman.
I’d go back to where she was at the end of Gail Simone’s run and move on from there. Because nothing good has happened with the character since issue 600.
Odyssey. Flashpoint. Brian Azzarello. Geoff Johns. David E. Kelly. Now this new show Alan Heinberg wants to make. Plus Grant Morrison periodically threatening us with his pet Wonder Woman story he wants to do.
For the past two and half years, being a Wonder Woman fan has been an ongoing, soul-crushing, endurance test.
Ditto.
@AllenBT: I second the motion.
Ohh, I’ve got it. Transformers. If I had to pick just one thing, I’d take everything Transformers back to Dreamwave’s series, start again where they left off, and base everything on their work. They did an amazing job, and while IDW has had good moments from time to time, nothing has ever matched that old series. If we could undo the Michael Bay movies, that would be an even bigger plus….
While I really want to say I’d un-cancel Star Wars Galaxies and roll it back to pre-NGE and pre-CU (back to when you could mix and match “classes”), I don’t think it is what I’d actually do.
Most likely I’d try to revive the “Digimon Tamers” universe and completely ignore the fact that it crossed over with other Digimon timelines in Digimon Xross Wars. I liked the idea that it took place in a world like ours where Digimon was just a TV show and games and that the Digimon evolved from an old Tamogatchi-like Digimon A.I. to become “real”.
Or I’d return to the Dreamwave Transformers setting where all different versions of Transformers all existed in a shared multiverse. It wouldn’t even need to wipe out IDW’s stuff.
Megaman X – Back to X5 and make the gameplay more like that.
Castlevania – Whatever stops making the 3D ones. Ecclasia was great, I want more.
Sonic – Sonic 3. Somehow the physics of the 2D games has been lost and the 3D games are just awful to me.
Right now Matthew is rolling his eyes that I failed to answer the question of what ONE thing, but I was just establishing my pattern to prepare for my actual answer. Plus, he thinks a cannoli is a cookie.
2D platforming games with huge boss battles.
I miss when the History Channel showed programs about actual history. Enough with this reality show and Ancient Aliens crap.
Oh yes, it used to be that if I wanted something on in the background while painting or playing video games the History Channel was my go-to channel. But I just plain don’t like the reality shows and can’t figure out what they have to do with history. The Ancient Aliens stuff almost fits, it’s pure Hokum, but at least it presents itself as sort-of history, but it doesn’t really qualify as history.
Han shooting first.
Final Fantasy games, back when they had actual gameplay and not just padding for (admittedly well-animated) cutscenes. I think the slide started around FF8, but after FF13, where you preprogram fight roles & watch the game play it for you so you can get to the next part of the oh-so-dazzling story, I had a hard time remembering why I loved this franchise. Dusting off FF4 through FF7 was a good reminder that once, they actually wanted to make games you played instead of baffling movies.
Also, ditto to Derek Viger on the sad decline of History Channel, which has become the “Aliens Secretly Built Everything! Now Watch Some Rednecks” Channel.
I miss turn based strategy/adventure games. Or games that you can pause while setting up your next move. I’ll take a Fallout 1 or 2 or X-com UFO Defense over any FPS any day. I also admit to being old, slow, and over-analytical. Now that new computers don’t even come with any sort of disk drive, I pray that my ancient laptop will last forever in case I want to fire up Baldur’s Gate again…
So do I! Somehow, devs got it in their head that real-time strategy or First person shooter was the only thing we like.
Hate to admit it, but I’m still a huge fan of Temple of Elemental Evil. Kind of wish someone would crank out some new content for that engine. The GOG.com version runs fine on modern computers.
I remember when Bravo showed operas…
But seriously, wise grey temple vet Hal Jordan is my answer to 75% of the MSQOTDs.
Oh yeah, an point n’click adventure games. The comic books of video games. Great storytelling and puzzle structure on a budget. One or two creator/designers, a clear vision. Don’t sweat the graphics.
Klingons. Original series, communist Russia analog, conniving, spying, lying, non-bumpy headed Klingons.
I liked Michael Dorn as Worf, but he wasn’t a Klingon.