In the post below, I was talking about sequels where so much time has passed. Winona Rider wants a Heathers2. These young actors bursting with talent made some roles iconic in the 80s and 90s. So if handled right, could we see sequels where we pick up 20 years later to see where these people got to? Christian Slater could bring back Happy Harry Hardon in Pump up the Volume and talk is already happening about a Ghostbusters sequel to pass the torch.
I got to thinking about some TV shows I used to love. So I took a whack at writing some nutshell concepts for sequels I wouldn’t mind seeing.
Doogie Howser M.D. The story of a teenage prodigy who at the ripe age of 15 has graduated medical school and is a practicing doctor in a hospital. He struggles with teenage problems just like any other kid and works hard to prove himself to his peers who are decades older than him.
The new show? NPH can reprise his role as the teenage doctor who is all grown up. Have him a lead at a major hospital or a dean at a medical school. Use the same displaced career title and have him deal with being a single guy (maybe with a kid) who is trying to have a personal life while running a major organization. Awkward comedy ensues when he tries to tell girls he meets that he is the Dean of Medicine or the Surgeon General.
Doogie would always end every episode journalling the events that shape his young life on a computer. Barney does the same at the end of one episode of How I met your Mother. Neil Patrick Harris could still nail the role.
21 Jump Street A group of young cops whose youthful appearances enabled them to work undercover in both high schools and sometimes colleges to catch young criminals. Known more commonly as Narcs in my day. This show launched Johnny Depp’s career and many speculate that his exit from the show was its demise.
The new show? An up to date cop show told like CSI or Bones. It can revolve around drug crimes and social issues that affect the youth of today. A young vibrant crowd of cops who can pass as highschool students could have them moving from school to school solving crimes. Doubtful Johnny Depp would return, but he could be talked into a cameo. Peter DeLuise or Richard Grieco could reprise their roles but as the head of the task force. They could be the “old guys” who used to be undercover agents dispensing advice while the younger ambitious cops act like they are out of touch but learn from their wisdom.
Max Headroom Max Headroom is cyberpunk story told 20 Minutes in the Future where, the world has become dominated by network-television. In this world, Network 23 has a highly-rated news program with a roving reporter named Edison Carter. But Carter gets caught in an experiment to create a computer-generated personality, and “Max Headroom” is born. Alongside this computer version of himself that only exists in the TV network, Edison and his pals investigate crimes.
The new show? Considering Max Headroom actually predicted the internet (The TV Networks are all joined, and TVs are everywhere offering a combined database of entertainment, news and research accessable anywhere) it wouldn’t be hard to update the concept to have this 80s computerized person in the machine revived and now roaming free on the internet. Matt Frewer could reprise the role as a reporter as he doesn’t look like he aged a day and is currently enjoying the supporting cast role on SciFi’s Eureka. The show was short lived in two 7 episode seasons, but it is scary how it predicted the future in many of its episodes. This would be an easy translation to a new generation.
Quantum Leap A scientist creates a time machine that would allow you to “leap” to another point in time in your own life in your own body. But before he could perfect it, he ends up testing it on himself and “leaps” into other people, sometimes brushing with or being figures of predominate history. For some reason, he has to figure out how he messed up history and will leap once he sets everything right again. With help from the holigram of Sam and the probability calculating computer Ziggy, Sam is attempting to leap in hopes of finding his way back into his own body.
The new show? The series was cancelled without proper resolution. The final episode was written as a cliffhanger but a new season was not granted, so Sam is still jumping. Part of the charm of the first series was that Sam would leap into historical events. Sometimes the story would be unrelated but you find out that Sam or someone near him is involved in a moment of note. Originally Sam would only jump into bodies that existed within his own lifespan, but as he gets older and is still leaping his normal timeline has progressed. Have him presumed “lost” when the Quantum Project can no longer track him, and 20 years later they get a blip on a dusty quantum radar, find out where he went and resume trying to get him home. Besides, after Enterprise was cancelled I am sure Scott Bakula would be up for it!
Kevin McKidd’s Journeyman was the closest we got to this sort of sci-fi drama and I am disappointed to see that show end. The show can be updated with new brushes with history that took place in the show’s absence and still dip into history before for fun too.
Danger Will Robinson! But remember that though every sequel has potential, very few make it. I had high hopes for the new Knight Rider series and good God does it pain me to have to admit that steaming pile of feces has shat upon my optimism. They just missed SO BAD on that show.
So what shows or movies do you think would make a GOOD transition into a sequel on TV or film?
