So... What Next

[ffutures]

Trying to think of the next Dianaverse title.

Basically, it needs to be in the form of

[famous (preferably dead) person] (The / of / etc.) [something] [something] (optional [something])

And sound like the title of a well-known TV series or film, preferably one that shows a shaky grasp of historical accuracy.

E.g.

Diana: Warrior Princess
Elvis: The Legendary Tours

The examples I had in the original game that I don't think I'll be using for one reason or another:

Parton: Lust For Glory - (Military setting) - alive

Richard of Sherwood - (Nixon as Robin Hood) - boring

Toni the Vampire Slayer - (Toni Blair etc.) - alive, boring.

Gandhi's Angels - (detective series) - still a possibility, but detective games are difficult to write.

So - any suggestions?

[small print] Sorry, but for legal reasons I need to say up front that I'm not paying anything for suggestions - the best you can expect is a free copy of the PDF if I write the thing and a credit somewhere in the introduction [/small print]

Comments

[ggreig]

Che Guevara: American Guerilla in the Phillipines

Che and his valiant allies (such as the brave General Asterix de Gaulle) are fighting back against the threat of Red General Macarthy, who has vowed that he will return. Events such as the Cuban cigar crisis (cigar-shaped alien technology flown from area 51 by Che's oil-tycoon ally, Fidel Castrol, attempt to poison Macarthy's water supply) keep the tension high.

[ggreig]

Other characters could include The King of Siam, who rules from the Forbidden City of Katmandu, and his evil twin Chairman Miaow. Groucho Marx (less than original, but it's an old favourite), John Lenin (though I suspect some variation on that must have been used already), and "Uncle Giuseppe" Stalin, head of the Mafia.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I can't say that this quite works for me, but you're certainly getting the idea. John Lenin is one of Elvis's sidekicks in "Elvis: The Legendary Tours", the other is 'Senator' Joe McCartney.

[adrian-middle.livejournal.com]

I think you'll start struggling with iconic dead characters you haven't already used. The biggies are probably Marilyn and JFK, who really need to go together.

Something along the lines of Team America: World Police might work, addressing superheroes but also plugging the supermarionation roleplaying void. I'm thinking "Jimmy Dean and the Stormcats": A cross between Grease and Thurderbirds. But watch out, their mechanic is called Rock.

Or maybe you could take your Hunter S Thompson idea and blend it seamlessly into something focused on Jim Morrison, thrown in with something Russ Meyeresque around the California porn industry. It might make it harder to pin a name at the centre (Lono in the Realm of the Lizard King, maybe?). Personally I'd just call it Mondo Gonzo.

Either that or you could do something Star Warsy based around Margaret Thatcher as the evil Empress of a clone army (maybe she could be using clone voters) - great opportunity to bring in Raelians, GM technology and the Blackjackets - leather-clad Norman Tebbit lookalikes patrolling the streets in the wake of political revolution. Very Spitting Image...

Handbag Wars: The Thatcher Strikes Back? Revenge of the Thatcher? Return of the Thatcher? Of course, she's not dead.

[w00hoo.livejournal.com]

I was definitely thinking from the 'dead icon' starting point. I'm guessing, while it hasn't been said, that it has to be globally recognisable (or failing that something Americans may recognise).

I think a big chunk of the problem is there aren't enough iconic dead people that I can think of (most that I come up with aren't dead yet!)and the ones I do are already taken, or aren't sufficiently global.

so,

Winston Churchill
Andy Warhol
Stalin
Kruschev
JFK (as mentioned)
Marilyn Monroe (as mentioned)
Charles de Gaulle
Schulz
Charlie Chaplin
Buster Keaton
Stan Laurel
Oliver Hardy
Harry Houdini
Babe Ruth
Henry Ford
John Ford
Ernest Hemmingway
Orson Welles
Marlon Brando
Randolph Hearst
Nat King Cole
Louis Armstrong
Bing Crosby
Bob Hope
Frank Sinatra

Hmm, OK, a fair number there. Then of course there's the fact that there aren't that many long 'global' TV show names to mangle,

From that list-
Brando the Vampire Slayer
or for that matter
Bing the Vampire Slayer
might both have potential I guess...

[adrian-middle.livejournal.com]

Dare Marcus go for "Jesus the Vampire Slayer?" Sort of a disciples-as-ratpack come to Earth to remove the temptations that prevent manking ascending on Judgement Day? Sort of John Carpenter's Vampires meets Dogma. I guess if you made him appear in Mexico (thus dragging in Dusk 'til Dawn/el Mariachi/Chupacabra) you can argue Jesus is a pretty common name and the similarity is entirely coincidental.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Someone already made the film - Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311361/)

[sharikkamur.livejournal.com]

Darth Tebbit... the mind boggles...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

There was a Kim Newman parody of Bulldog Drummond in the old Temps shared world anthology which had evil trade union anarchists led by the mutant "Scraggle" (Scargill) plotting to destroy London. I see no problems with Darth Tebbit.