Ship a Romantic Comedy Superdraft Poll

[Pariah]

All right! The submissions are in, and it's up to you, the viewers, to determine which of our half-dozen stories will be picked up by the networks/studios. Here are your choices Spoilered for length):

 

Title: We Gotta Get Out Of This Place... 

Location: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (Groundhog Day)

Alpha: Morticia Addams

Alpha: Vivian (The Young Ones)

Beta: Velma Dinkley (Scooby Doo)

Beta: Ted Crisp (Better Off Ted)

Neighbor: Phil Conners (Groundhog Day)

Neighbor/Option: Colonel Klink (Hogan's Heroes)

Neighbor/Option: Endora (Bewitched)

Option: Wake-up Song - "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place"

Option: Couples & Wacky Neighbours are staying as guests at the Overlook Hotel, (The Shining) at Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

 

Title: The Undertaker and Ms. Muster

Location: The original Disney castle 

Alpha: Undertaker (WWE, ca. 1997)

Alpha: Marilyn Munster

Beta: Dana Scully

Beta: Walter Skinner, FBI

Neighbor: Batman (Bruce Wayne)

Neighbor/Option: Dr. Doom

Neighbor/Option: Paul Bearer

Option: Wrestling match each chapter

 

Title: My Big Fat Greek Mythological Romantic Comedy

Location: The world of Greek Mythology, from Hades to Olympus

Alpha: Eros

Alpha: Psyche

Beta: Ares

Beta: Aphrodite

Neighbor: Hephaestus 

Neighbor/Option: Zeus

Neighbor/Option: Demeter 

Option: Delta couple: Hsades

Option: Delta couple: Persephone 

 

Title: Mr. Monk and the Zombies

Location: Bill Murray's Hollywood mansion (Zombieland)

Alpha: Carol (The Walking Dead)

Alpha: Adrian Monk

Beta: Barney Fife

Beta: Flo (Alice)

Neighbor: Exidor (Mork & Mindy)

Neighbor/Option: R (Warm Bodies)

Neighbor/Option: Peter Maldonado (American Vandal)

Option: Marci Maven

Option: Police Commissioner John Taggert (Beverly Hills Cop)

 

Title: Lemme Show You My Junk

Location: Sakaar, junk planet

Alpha: Bender (Futurama)

Alpha: Rosie (The Jetsons)

Beta: R2-D2 

Beta: Galaxina

Neighbor: Robby the Robot (Forbidden Planet)

Neighbor/Option: Christine (Christine)

Neighbor/Option: The Noo-Noo

Option: Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

Option: Johnny Cash's voice in a rendition of I've Been Everywhere, with altered lyrics

 

Title: Blind In One Eye

Location: Kubo's village

Alpha: Ben Ten

Alpha: May Parker (Spider-Girl)

Beta: Lana Lang (The Insect Queen)

Beta: Beast Boy

Neighbor: Ryu (Street Fighter)

Neighbor/Option: Shang Tsung (Mortl Kombat)

Neighbor/Option: Sheng Gong Wu (Xiaolin Showdown)

Option: The Moon Sisters

Option: Kubo's eye

 

Pick your THREE favorites. We'll shut this thing down sometime Sunday night.

 

Thanks to everyone who played! And remember, if you had half as much fun as I did, then I had twice as much fun as you did!

[Pariah]

[Cancer]

I've voted.  And I never vote for myself in these superdraft polls.

[Cancer]

To do a little lobbying for Lemme Show You My Junk here, though...

 

My "shipping" is framed as a running TV series, not as a novel or series of novels.  Way too many of the gags need the physical sight element and/or the auditory voice element (there are going to be many games played using voices among the robots, especially the transient guest stars; voice acting will be the dominant casting element).

 

What happens after the story establishes Bender and Rosie as a real couple is, of course, unclear; like just about all rom-coms there's no clear story after pair formation occurs.

 

I imagine we might be able to do some "moralistic" stories as well.  ("Moralistic" is a bad word here, since the goal would be to set viewers thinking in a reflective way, not to drive anvilicious points in my personal agenda.)  When all the parties involved are machines, it might be "safe" to explore certain issues since the standard gender types (even the "new" ones) and roles are explicitly inapplicable; that disconnection is already being drawn upon for comedy effect, of course.  After all, with machines the bipolarity of biological sexes doesn't have to hold at all, so you could have stable domestic partnership arrangements of arbitrarily many partners.  That in and of itself adds both comedy potential and the possibilities for pathos in family arrangements no human generally thinks about.  However, I think you could do some insightful exploration of abuse and violence issues en route to a breakup when you pre-empt the standard upfront loading of presuming "Male" = more likely to initiate violence ("violent") AND more likely to inflict lasting damage in violence ("stronger").  I think the series could probe at that stuff much like the brilliant old TV series Alien Nation probed at racism.  As a trivial case: if there is domestic violence, and the now-standard "If it's male, it's going to jail" rule for police intervention in a DV case is still the default ... what does it mean when both partners are robots?  What does it mean when (e.g.) there are seven partners in the relationship?

 

Having the bartender Robbie never indicate whether he's presently in a relationship, and even not ever suggesting or mentioning if he's "looking", will remain an anchoring constant.  "Female" patrons of the bar will never even flirt at him, to keep it as ambiguous as possible.

[csyphrett]

I voted also and someone wants me to expand on the Showdown/Kubo world at FFNet. I'm trying to think of ways now.

CES  

[death tribble]

I got a vote. That's all I care about.

[Pariah]

Any last votes?

[Cancer]

We need about three more for Lemme Show You My Junk!

[Lucius]

 

Opening shot: a skinny blond man in ancient Hellenic garb sits on the steps of a generic classical looking temple with a lyre in hand. The title scrolls up the screen as he begins to recite.

 

(title) MY BIG FAT GREEK MYTHOLOGICAL ROMANCES

 

(Chanting) "I call Erato, muse of those who make

Love notes, whether by quill or lyre;

And Polyhymnia whose songs divine

Praise the Olympians, Whom we must admire"

 

An off camera audience begins to pelt him vegetables, gnawed bones, apple cores, etc.

 

"For of the love lives of the Gods I wish to sing

More just than mortals, wiser and more fair;

Erato, Polyhymnia, spurn my pleas,

'Tis Thalia, Muse of Comedy, heeds my prayer!"

 

As the hail of refuse continues and heckling is heard, the poet raises his eyes and says "Alas! If mortals condemn me, I will trust at least the Gods are pleased!"

 

A bolt of lightning strikes. The now singed and blackened poet looks forlorn as the opening credits start to roll and then he is replaced by scenes cut from the upcoming episode.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary puts more distance between itself and Lucius Alexander, just in case there's more lightning bolts in store....

[Pariah]

All right, it's 2 days past the time I said I would close it, so I'm calling it. Our winner is....

 

We Gotta Get Out Of This Place... by Bazza! 

 

A big thanks to everybody who played. I realized this one came off pretty spur of the moment, but I think we had some really good ideas here. Well done, everyone!

[Bazza]

Thanks Pariah and those who voted. This is the second one I've won. Yippee. 

 

Who said romance is dead? 

 

 

[Bazza]

Watching Lost in Oz, and now I'm thinking I should have shipped Glinda with Gandalf. I have an inkling it would work out. 

[Pariah]

Like magic!

[Cancer]

Like Saruman and Malificent.

[Bazza]

Well i know now who I'm drafting next year!