Steven Savage

So last week we asked what 80's cartoon properties were good ideas for adaptions/remakes/revivals that would also be profitable  Here's what we got!

• 7.7% – Blackstar
• 7.7% – Bravestar
• 0% – Centurions
• 0% – Gobots
• 15.4% – C.O.P.S.
• 7.7% – Dino-Riders
• 7.7% – Dinosaucers
• 0% – Drak Pack
• 15.4% – Galaxy High
• 0% – Herculoids
• 0% – Hero High
• 0% – Inhumanoids
• 15.4% – Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
• 69.2% – Jem
• 15.4% – M.A.S.K.
• 0% – Saber Rider and the Star Sherrifs
• 30.8% – She-Ra: Princess of Power
• 15.4% – Silverhawks

Quite a roundup!  Jem was truly in the lead (perhaps truly outrageously in the lead), followed distantly by She-Ra, and the a collection of others.

Our comments were also fascinating:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visionaries:_Knights_of_the_Magical_Light The original Visionaries could not be labeled as a commercial success, but I think it was one of the highest quality 80's cartoons. It was a Hasbro property and they seem to be on a roll with remakes recently (though we can't say much about the quality of those). Visionaries fits with the trend of fantasy properties coming out (though in film I read an article that anything outside HP and LOTR hasn't been all that successful). All the different monsters and things one could collect also has a sort of Pokemon feel to it but with a more mature spin and less overwhelming amount. Like I said the original wasn't successful (my brother and I loved it though!) and despite fitting current trends there's no evidence that a remake could be successful, but I still think in terms of story and setting it's one of the highest quality options out there.
• She's truly outrageous.
• Not Gobots. It's now used as the preschooler division for Transformers, as Hasbro bought Tonka years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobots#Transformers
• I picked COPS because, of the few I recognize, it had an ensemble cast with cool powers. A North American sentai team, of sorts. Shows about superhero teams will never go out of style.
• With the success of things like Scott Pilgrim, a venture like Jem–in the right hands–might play well.
• I'm surprised there hasn't been a Jem revival yet, really. The potential for drama with light moments could catch on, plus give a young singer wider exposure. She-Ra… He-Man's darker series. He-Man had a brief revival last decade. And, if HBO can do the remake…
• Jem is probably going to get remade anyway – I have suspicions. Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors was surprisingly mature for the time and has some fun worldbuilding. Silverhawks will be an easy followup to Thundercats. BraveStarr has potential if you took a steampunk twist. Galaxy High has potential for teen/Potterseque comedy. MASK just has awesome vehicles.

A few thoughts on this:

• Jem pretty much seems to be the thing to remake – and I keep hearing rumors of some kind of revival.  It'd be easy, the show's style would mesh well with the neo-anime look popular today, the original series had it's own unique flair, and the musical-adventurer genre is well-beloved yet we haven't seen much of it.  The idea that Scott Pilgrim blazes a trail for it is intriguing – a "Jem" with a bit of a crazy-Pilgrim level of weirdness might be intriguing.
• She-Ra seems a pretty logical choice, and could play well in a time that's more used to powerful female animated heroes.
• The idea of C.O.P.S. as Sentai is also interesting, and might work well with the modern trend to spin off every crime/forensic drama possible.

So it sounds like if we FTPers had our way, Jem would be back with a vengeance (and probably with Andrea Romano and Lauren Faust involved), and a bit more wink-and-nod references atop it all.

– Steven Savage