How would YOU have done it?

I like most your idea's. They're all quite clever. Having MM as his teacher would be awesome. And I'm sure he'd make a better teacher then Braniac.

 

Buffy:

In Seasons 1-3 things would be basically the same except for a few small changes.

Season 1:
-I'd have it as a full season, with the rest of the season after the Master gets out devoted to stopping him, mostly because I would have liked to see some Master action.

Season 2:
-Introduce Acathla earlier.

-Introduce the idea of Angelus wanting to destroy the world earlier.

Season 3:
-Make the Master's plot less vague.

-Fix the damn snake.

-Give a reason for Angel being back from Hell.

-In the end, the Mayor is only killable as a giant snake because of a spell Willow does that makes his Ascension incomplete. This will allow for Willow's magical growth to continue.

Now, here's where the big changes begin.


Season 4:
-Ok, my main problem with this season is the lack of plot for Xander, as well as the lack of emotional connection to the Initiative. What I would do is make Xander part of the Initiative. Xander had always shown signs of being prejudiced against demons, and this, plus his relationship with Anya, would show him getting over his prejudices. He would basically have a smilar arc to Riley, with him learning that the world is not so black and white.

-I would also make Adam less boring and more integral to the plot, because as it was he felt sort of tacked on, albeit extremely cool.

Season 5:
-A big problem I have with this season is that the characters, whose minds have been altered into it, have a much more emotional connection with Dawn than the viewers could ever understand, and to us the memory alteration almost feels like a mind rape. There are a few things I would go with to fix this.

-One, you could have Dawn as a very minor character for the first 4 seasons(but make her likeable) so that the conflicts this season are understandable and don't seperate us from the characters.

-Or two, have the characters freed from the mind change halfway through the season, but still choosing to accept Dawn as a person in spite of it, rather than being forced into it.

-Xander's arc this season would be helping Anya atone for her work as a Vengeance Demon, perhaps driven by her turn in the Body, and since I always felt she had shown too little remorse for those actions.

Season 6 and 7:
-I have some serious problems with these two. I think that 6 and 7 should be combined into one.

-To me, in season 6, there needed to be a bigger metaphor for yourself being the enemy. Having the First in the guise of Buffy would have perfectly fulfilled this.

-Giles should have a bigger reason for leaving than just Buffy's lack of growth. Perhaps he goes out and finds a ritual that will lock the First away again.

-The Trio would fulfill a sort of Caleb role, doing the rituals necessary for bringing forth the First. The First would be given this opportunity by the wrinkle in reality caused by bringing back Buffy.

-Spike and Buffy would still get together, and Spike would go get his soul halfway through, after being coaxed to leave town by First Buffy.

-I'd also have the First taunt Anya with images of her victims over the years, and part of her and Xander's arc this season being her coming to full terms with what she had done as a Vengeance Demon. Perhaps, after the changes to his arc I made in seasons 4 and 5, Xander was actually mature enough to be ready for marriage and it is Anya who calls it off after being taunted by the First.

-Willow would still deal with the concept of being overly reliant on magic, but it would be toned down and instead of her going dark, the ultimate pay off would be her using her powers to perform the ritual Giles finds to seal the First away again.

-In the final battle, ANYA DOESN'T DIE. She and Xander decide to move past their problems and get back together. This is very important. The point of the season is that life sucks and we are our worst enemies, but ultimately we move on from it. In the end, when the First is locked away again, it is a metaphor for defeating the challenges life hands you, ultimately rising above them and becoming stronger as people.

-Spike would still sacrifice himself, but he'd end up locked away with the First after staying behind to hold them back, or perhaps caught in the spell that seals them away again. He still gets his moment with Buffy, and he still comes back a season later on Angel.

 

Someone once mentioned something about the lack of follow-up on his ability to feel the world, and nature, or whatever it was. Perhaps if Maggie Walsh had stayed in the picture it would have been better.

Also, I don't know if I'd even have Riley in the show at all. He's not exactly a fan favourite, and overall he would add little to the show. I actually don't mind Riley, but I think that, especially with the changes I've made, he hurts the overall narrative more than he helps it.

 

Lost

Season 1

-Introduce the concept of the Others much earlier.
-The "Red Scare" mentality should happen earlier on and be a bigger plot, leading up to Ethan's reveal.
-More clearly defined structure of society on both the beach and in the caves, which would contrast each other. The caves would be more of a huggy-feely fair utopia with the beach as an ultra-capitalistic "every man for himself" type scenario.
-More clearly defined Islanders.
-More Rose
-More interactions between characters, more attempts to find out what the monster is and where they are

Season 2:

-The promised Locke vs. Jack scenario would play out much more prominently, with people taking real sides
-The Tailies would serve as a major contrast to the well-defined governments on the other side. The Tailies would basically be living in anarchy, and it would be Sawyer, Michael and Jin's promise of a better life on the other side that would drive a small portion of the Tailies to go back with Michael, Sawyer and Jin.
-Shannon's death would fulfill a major plot purpose. Perhaps causing major dislike of the Tailies and maybe pushing Sayid into Locke's camp.
-A major point of the season would be the question of whether or not to go back for the rest of the Tailies. Jack's group would want to get them, but Locke's group would A) consider the Tailies utter savages because of what happened to Shannon and B) Fear that side of the island because of a map found in the caves indicating that it is the Dark Place or something
-Ultimately, since Locke is the one in control of the hatch and the guns, Jack and Sawyer steal the guns TOGETHER and lead an excursion back to the other side
-They find that the beach is on fire, and most of the Tailies are dead, killed or kidnapped by the Others. One of the survivors explains WHY the Tailies were attacked. A little boy, Walt, had stumbled onto their beach and the Others had come to get him back. Michael blames himself.
-Jack's side faces major repercussions for stealing the guns and leading the excursion.

More later.

 

So do I, but I didn't like what all of it did to her character. Maybe we'd still have a major incident involving Willow going dark, it just wouldn't be the season ender and it would be for a different motive than Tara dying, since I'd like Tara to live.

 

I've always wanted to do a SPIDER-Man series set in the sixties and using Peter Parker, and his transition from nerd to superhero, as a sort of metaphor for the world's transition during the sixties. Might have been interesting.

 

I think that you'd have to be careful, because doing a show about Superman and downplaying the superhero aspect too much could result in the audience feeling ripped off. But I like the overall feel of it.

 

I wonder though if that would be what a wider audience would look for in a Superman show.

While it may be the best choice for the characters and by far the most interesting one, most people would probably be too stupid to get it and think "Why isn't Superman doin' somethin' cool?"

 

Q, I really like your ideas for Smallville. I wish the show had taken a different approach than it has. As it stands, there's too much filler and not enough focus on the path to becoming Superman.

My revamp is for the short-lived Birds of Prey series...

First off, it would have been set solely in the modern continuity. The show was flawed from the start because it made too much of an amalgamation between Earth-1 and Earth-2. The lineup would have been Oracle, Huntress (Helena Bertinelli) and the REAL Black Canary (not that nonsensical version they offered us). The show would have dealt with the neophyte stages of their partnership and how the three strong personalities learned to work together and be a collective force.

Secondly, Batman would not have fled the city. This is the goddamn Batman! He's not going to run out on his city and watch from afar, regardless of what happens. The show wouldn't rely on constant appearances by the Dark Knight, but he would have an occasional reference (and maybe even an appearance). Birds of Prey leaned too much on Batman without having him actually factor into the story; Let the show stand on its own feet. The crux of the early episodes would have dealt with gaining insight on the three leads and then moved on to their interaction as they help make Gotham safe.

I liked the way they portrayed Barbara and a good deal of how her origin was handled. I'd keep The Killing Joke reference and would have it serve as an anchor to give the show some good ol' Gotham grittiness (reflective of how dangerous this line of work is). However, the Joker wouldn't have known she was Batgirl, it just raises too many questions. Instead (and like in the books), he would have simply struck out at her to get at Commissioner Gordon. Some attention would be given to the dynamic between the two Gordons; one is the head of the GCPD, the other is part of Gotham's self-appointed police force. Barbara is Batman's former protégé, who is still dealing with making contributions to crime-fighting, but in an all new way. Not much change there.

Huntress is the daughter of a Mafioso, struggling to balance her insatiable desire for revenge with walking the path of the hero. There is underlying tension with the character as she is frustrated by not being able to use deadly force against those who she feel warrant it. There would even be a story arc (inspired by the comics) where Huntress is on assignment, investigating the mob when she learns the truth of her parentage. That in itself is very compelling. The Huntress wants to gain the respect of her teammates, while still maintaining her independence. Under no circumstances is Helena a metahuman, nor is she the patient of Dr. Harleen Quinzel. Those characterizations never really resonated with me.

Black Canary knows who her mother is (and was) from the start. She would be proud of continuing that heritage. Canary would be portrayed as strong and confident, yet naive at times as she wouldn't have personally experienced true violence in her life like her teammates (I'm omitting The Longbow Hunters arc). She would be dealing with living up to her mother's legacy, as well as her breakup with Green Arrow. Both of these factors play a huge role in her decision to working with BoP. Additionally, she has a unique viewpoint as the only member with an actual superhuman ability. It's not even worth comparing her to the Dinah Lance as seen in the series. That incarnation pained me to no end.

The show would move from the all-too popular Villain of the Week theme and would be based on solving pieces of a puzzle. I'm not sure who would be the big villain pulling all the strings, but it would not be Harley Quinn (though I love the character). Black Mask could work given his ties to the underworld. The same goes for Maroni, Falcone or Thorne. This could also ease a transition to an appearance by Batman, as the plot revealed itself on a grand scale. There would still be some weekly baddies, but most of the action would be a along the lines of stopping drug rings, protection rackets and smuggling activities. Some of these arcs would span multiple weeks as everything would not be wrapped up in 60 minutes.

I envision the occasional appearance (or brief flashback) to Wildcat, Nightwing, and Green Arrow. Those three characters have great history with BoP members and offer strong opportunities to expand the characters. It would be fun to see Barbara's reaction once she gets the scoop on Nightwing's nocturnal activities with Huntress. Particularly, how that affects the relevant relationships. Eventually, I'd have Batman in the mix. I wouldn't want to overdo the cameos, as the show would be squarely focused on the three superheroines. Notable appearances should mean something other than fanboy eye candy. A good cameo not only helps a primary character fulfill her obvious function to fight crime, but also brings about internal revelations and personal development. In a perfect world, I'd like references to both, The Question and Catwoman. Concerning the latter, possibly a story dealing with her vandalizing and pilfering the holdings of varied nefarious corporations. Of course, she would have a hidden altruistic purpose behind it.

My concept for much of this assumes that the series would last for more than the 13 episodes it actually got. Hopefully, some of these changes would ensure that.

 

I also felt that even Angel got to big and soap-y towards the end of it's run, but that's a hard one to pinpoint specific things to change.

 

How did I know you'd feel that way?

 

I'm more talking about season four, but even so, season five suffered from a lack of direction and lack of long running plot. And a lot of it's standalone episodes are pretty terrible.

I'm also not a fan of A Hole in the World, which I felt was too anvil filled and cliche. But ah well.

 

Smallville:
-I would of made Lana find out about Clark's powers in season 2.

-I would of made Clark have the flying power in season 3,but make it where he is not good at it like on that t.v. show "The Greatest American Hero".

-I would of made Lionel Luthor switch bodies with Lex,and have it where Lex dies when he is in Lionel's body and have that be the reason why Lex Luthor is a villain because it was aways Lionel.And that would also be the reason why Clark and Lex stop being friends.

-I would of introduced more superman villains.(Make Lex create Metallo with his advance technology,and Bizarro from Clark's blood,and have other villains that just show up,like Zod.)

-I would of had Bruce Wayne in a whole season.

-I would of had a female Kryton character who is Clark's cousin.

-I would of made Chloe be played by a hotter actor.

-I would of had other heroes show up and stick around for more than one episode,like Aquaman,Flash,Green Lantern,Wonder Woman.

-I would make it where Clark actually has better fights with the meteor freaks.

-I would of made six meteor freaks decide to team up with each other and wreak havoc on others and where Clark has to fight all six at once.

-I would of made Johnathan die from Jorel's agreement of giving him powers like Clark's to bring Clark home,and when Jorel takes the power away afterwards,Johnathan dies from it a year later.

-I would have Clark not blame himself every episode for everything that has happened.

 

I like Illyria, but to me A Hole in the World was too full of really obvious stuff and blatant cliches that wouldn't have been out of place on a lesser show, but on Angel they really stood out.

I liked a lot of the stuff that season, but a lot of it was too blatently forgettable. (IE Conviction, Unleashed, Life of the Party, The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco, Harm's Way, Why We Fight) and some of it was just weird and thematically off (IE Time Bomb, The Girl in Question).

I liked most of the Spike-Angel stuff, and the last two episodes were Angel at it's best. I think part of my problem with the season is that I have some trouble buying into the concept of Angel and crew handling Wolfram and Hart. But oh well.