Skallagrim's ramblings

— Change the backstory just a bit so that the thirteenth colony is not actually identified as Earth, and only described in such terms that make it a reasonable assumption that it might be earth. — Keep out most of the mystical/supernatural stuff in general. Never make it clear whether we're dealing with hallucinations, divine visions, or (in some cases) the effect of ancient tech that cannot be distinguished from magic. — Beyond those general changes, basically scrap everything after S03E10 ("The Passage"), because that's when the truly jumbled shit started taking over the entire series. — A lot of the non-supernatural stuff from season 3.5 and season 4 can stay in, but let's not have Apollo change his career to 'lawyer' all of a sudden. All the supernatural mumbo-jumbo has to go. — The "final five" Cylon models shouldn't be people on the Colonial fleet, but should appear as another faction of Cylons who have different goals to the on...

— Firefly could've easily had two or three full 26-episode seasons, if Fox hadn't fucked the series over so completely. I wish to note that I like the series as it is (flaws and all), and that a longer run could also have tarnished it. I don't really need a longer series. But assuming it's actually good... sure, let's go for it. — The way I see it, they could've introduced an ethnically Chinese main character in the second half of the first season, and a few more Asian recurring characters. A fun twist would've been to show that a lot of the Core is ethnically East Asian, and that it's the periphery that's so predominantly white. (To prevent the possible negative implication that East Asians are oppressors and whites are the oppressed, just introduce an Asian politician as a sympathetic and reform-minded Core Worlds statesman, and a typical Old White Guy as the leader of the corrupt government faction.) — Increasingly show the draw-backs of the f...

— To start with, the colouring of the film needed to be less drab. The colours should be more vivid, and the tones should be warmer. — Overall, the film would benefit from a lot of little trims all over the place, to quicken the pacing a bit. — Conversely, some version of the deleted scene with Superman visiting the remnants of Krypton should be included as the start of the film. — Arnold Vosloo is cast as Lex Luthor, instead of Kevin Spacey. (I've always thought Vosloo would be the ideal live-action Lex Luthor.) — On that note, Kate Bosworth doesn't get cast as Lois. She was cast at Spacey's recommendation, which is not a factor here. Supposedly, Keri Russell was in the running for the part. She'd probably be a better choice. — The ridiculous plot where Lex Luthor gets wealthy again by stealing an old lady's inheritance gets ditched. Instead, the backstory is that Lex got paroled because he offered a lot of his inventions to the government and the public ...

— Theoden isn't portrayed as wrong/short-sighted about retreating to Helm's Deep. Rather than a foolish act against Aragorn's advice, it is portrayed as the strategically wise decision it is in the books, and Aragorn fully supports it. — Faramir isn't portrayed as being tempted by the ring in the same was as his brother. He is meant to be Boromir's thematic counterpart, and he should retain his attitude towards the ring from the books: "If I saw this thing lying by the side of the road, I would not pick it up." — Aragorn isn't portrayed as being unwilling to take the throne. As in the books, he has no interest in power over others, but knows very well that it is his duty to take the throne. He is not afraid of it, and dedicated to his ordained task. — The Dwarves in general, and Gimli in particular, should be less "jokey". — No Elves at Helm's Deep. — The Dúnedain and their history get brought back into the story. — Frodo does...

— Either make Snape a lot less of a cruel bully, give him a far more legitimate reason to hate James and his little gang, and make his betrayal of the Potters more of an unintended act... or keep him as he is and remove all the undeserved sympathy that he ultimately gets in the narrative. (Seriously, I can write essays on how much Snape sucks.) — Remove the terrible notion of Dumbledore having been a magical proto-fascist. Just make it explicit in the books that he's gay and was in love with Grindelwald, and that this blinded him to how evil the guy actually was. Instead of having actually been a fascist type for a bit, the source of his shame is that he realised the truth too late, and when he finally did confront Grindelwald, his sister got killed during the fight. — On that note, also remove the implication that Dumbledore knew perfectly well that Harry had to die, and was basically leading the boy like a lamb to slaughter. Dumbledore is supposed to be the paragon of virtue,...

George R. R. Martin's series sure is impressive, but it's also gotten extremely convoluted. The author allowed the story to "grow in the telling". One gets the impression that it's grown a bit out of control, and that a more selectivist approach early on could have resulted in a more neatly-confined, tightly-plotted saga. My advice would be (or rather, would have been , at the time): — Strip all the supernatural stuff away. No Wall, no Others, no Faceless Men, no warging, no 'greenseeing', no Children of the Forest (except in old stories that may or may not be true), no fire god magic (to revive the dead etc.) and certainly no dragons (that are alive in the present). — This allows you to significantly tidy up the mess of plot-lines. The least fitting characters, in my opinion, are actually the one tied to the great big supernatural arc: Jon and Daenerys. I think both of them are superfluous and weaken the stronger elements of the story. Since we've...

Let's be real: DS9 is already the best thing Trek ever did, and it's never going to be that good again. Nevertheless, even great things have their imperfections. Here are some ways DS9 could have been even better: — Remove the whole part where Sisko is an Emissary of the Prophets. Keep the Prophets much more vague and much less involved in the plot. The Bajorans believe they are supernatural, Starfleet theorises they are extradimensional beings who inhabit the wormhole, and no conclusion is ever reached. Sisko has a vision of them in the first episode, but this happens while he's in distress inside the wormhole. Was it all in his head? We're never told. But apart from being a factor in Bajoran religion (and religious politics), they don't really play a role again. Some events may occur that could be ascribed to the Prophets, but again: we're never given any proof. — On that note: definitely no Pah-wraiths, nor demonic possessions by them. That whole plot-lin...

— The film opens with Luke on Dagobah, completing his own light-sabre. This indicates he's been there for a while, training, with Yoda teaching him how to be a Jedi. Then Yoda dies, just as in the actual film. It's made explicit that Yoda feels that he is being called to become one with the Force, and that it is now time for a new generation to assume its place of responsibility in the galaxy. He tells Luke that he has nothing left to teach him (rather than Luke "needing no more teaching"), and implies that the wise never stop learning. Now it is his time to learn of a greater mystery. Luke, his training now complete, departs from Dagobah. — The film then shows us the Imperials preparing for a committee of the Grand Moffs with Vader and the Emperor. The Rebels have become more bold since the destruction of the Death Star, and it is time to set in motion a final campaign to wipe the Rebellion away completely. The Emperor is willing to allocate all means necessary to ...

— Instead of having the Kobayashi Maru test be the reason Kirk gets in trouble, present it as the original reason Spock considers him a risk to Starfleet. Don't have Spock be the test's creator; just have him be the one who places a formal complaint against Kirk's cheating. Kirk is cleared (as in the original timeline), but this creates animosity between him and Spock. — After this, fast-forward at least a year, with Kirk serving as a junior officer on the newly-commissioned Enterprise, under Captain Pike, with Spock as First Officer. When the attack on Vulcan comes, the Enterprise is delayed, Kirk freaks out and points out that it's a trap... and is proven right. The Enterprise takes major hits, killing several officers, and then when Pike is summoned by Nero, he makes Spock acting Captain and Kirk acting First Officer. This last choice is now far more realistic, since Kirk has been actively serving for at least a year (instead of being an academy student on discipli...

This is the game that's widely regarded as having killed the classic adventure genre. I can think of some ways that might have been prevented: 1. Make it earlier. It was released just after adventure games full into a popularity dip, a full six years after its highly acclaimed predecessor. Get started pronto, and release the third part in 1998 instead of 2001. (You can't prevent the dip, really, but the way GKIII ended up is considered to have "driven the nail in the coffin" of the genre...) 2. Also, make it 2D in some form. The two previous parts were known for a creative style. Try something new, sure, but don't jump on the "3D is the future!" bandwagon. 3D, especially relatively early 3D, is ill-suited to plot-driven adventures. Using high-quality 2D art can much more effectively create a beautiful, stylish backdrop for the story. 3. For the love of Pete, no insane make-a-fake-moustache-from-cat-hair puzzle! It is widely seen as the worst puzzle...

1) It's fine to adapt and re-mix, but tell us a story that decently introduces us to the characters and makes us love them. The general plot is actually fine, but the film really needs to be less cluttered, so you have a ittle more time to introduce your audience to this wild, mad universe. 2) On that note, stay faithful to the existing characterisations. Don't do things that make our heroes less sympathetic. 3) Ease back on the "special effects EVERYWHERE!" attitude. Yes, we get it, this world is dazzling and strange. That's fine. But you're not under obligation to add superfluous CGI stuff to every single shot. This is a lesson everyone ought to have learned from the Star Wars prequels. 4) You need better casting. Dane DeHaan is a fine actor, but doesn't fit the character of Valérian. Cara Delevigne vaguely fits the looks for Laureline (but would need her hair dyed red), yet she's not a very good actress. If you want star power, and actors who...