Candidates for Animation
Jeff Harris, September, 2004
Now that Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Weldon's popular teen franchise, has been rescued from development purgatory, a destination not far from the hellmouth, and The Ultimates, Marvel's antihero version of The Avengers, will be made into an OVA next year, perhaps it's time to examine some action/adventure properties I feel should be animated.
There are several popular properties that could easily translate into animation, and for some unfortunate reason, they have been ignored. Yes, some of the choices I have made have been animated, but they rarely resembled the original source material. Unfortunately, many entertainment executives would rather acquire untested concepts and foreign properties that would be localized so badly. Also, many in this country still consider animation as a "kids-only" medium, despite the in-roads made by the family-friendly-yet-edgy offerings from studios like Pixar and PDI Dreamworks and the increasingly popular teen/young adult-skewing Adult Swim lineup on Cartoon Network.
For the next two months, I'm making a pitch to animation houses to consider properties that nobody would consider in a million years, or at least reconsider after previous attempts didn't faithfully capture the spirit of the original source. The following properties are worth considering for the animation medium. I'm not affiliated with any of the creators of these properties. My purpose is to make a strong case for each of these properties for animation. Animation is probably the best storytelling medium and could actually bring stories without breaking the bank on special effects and exotic shooting locations.
Hopefully, I'll convince you that they're worth animating too.
The First Three:
The Savage Dragon
The Legend of Zelda
Harry Potter
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