Where Do You Get Your Ideas ?

[regalo]

Everyone has ideas for movies, be they good or bad. Some ideas are so awful that there's simply no place for them on the silver screen. That's why this thread was created, to dispose of those ideas, get them off your chest, and out there -- into the world. Lame is the key word here. It's now time to put those LAME ideas to rest ...

I propose a movie entitled "Hard Hat" in which several construction workers find something buried underground when they are digging the foundation of a building. They open a time-capsule that was buried there in Los Angeles and find the Stooge Stone, a rather large jewel that gives them comic abilities. They are possessed by the spirits of the three stooges and go around poking people in their eyes and slapping them silly. Eventually the "disease" spreads to whomever is touched and all of L.A. has gone insane, what with everyone saying Nyuck Nyuck Nyuck and poking eachother in the eyes and such. L.A. is quarantined by the military and nuked to get rid of the growing threat to mankind. The End.

[jjb3k]

Some of my worst movie ideas were my feeble attempts at fanfiction when I was much younger (I'm talking elementary and middle school here). They're far too embarassing to dwell on here, so I won't bring them up, but I can assure you - all would have been worthy of a MSTing.

I had a much more recent idea for a movie that I don't think would have worked. In the very distant future, Gadgetronic Institute janitor Zak Charger discovers that his boss, Dr. Fertig, is building a female android called the KTMA-3000 that would completely obliterate all of mankind. Zak is fired from his job for his discovery, and he teams up with his unwilling partner, table dancer Shaniqua Hart, to stop the professor before he unleashes his creation upon the masses.

As you can see, it features several allusions to MST3K. I should probably include a side plot in which Zak teams up with a couple of robots.

[regalo]

Actually, your idea is not so lame. MST meets Eve of Destruction? It could be quite funny and interesting. What's the title of your film, you didn't say?

[jjb3k]

regalo said:

Actually, your idea is not so lame. MST meets Eve of Destruction? It could be quite funny and interesting. What's the title of your film, you didn't say?

It's currently without a title. Formerly, it was called "Hydrous", but that's because originally, and for no real reason, the whole thing took place in a version of the future where the oceans had risen to the point where man had to live underwater. It didn't really advance the story, so I eliminated that aspect.

The primary reason I don't think it would work is because I can't really write science-fiction without having it turn into a parody, and that wasn't the direction I had planned on going in.

[regalo]

Simply because you write parody doesn't mean your writing is worthless. Look at Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which is Sci-fi Comedy and part Pilgrim's Progress, so to speak. Don't look down on your work simply because it is a parody, hold it up to the light and see if it has any true value. When it comes to writing, do what you do best. I think another guy who writes well is Terry Prachett (although I've never read any of his books and possibly have mispelled his name). The guys who wrote Red Dwarf wrote into their shows a lot of parody as well as meaningful commentary on life, the universe and everything else. But I go on and on, let me stop now, I think I've made my point.

[jjb3k]

regalo said:

Simply because you write parody doesn't mean your writing is worthless. Look at Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which is Sci-fi Comedy and part Pilgrim's Progress, so to speak. Don't look down on your work simply because it is a parody, hold it up to the light and see if it has any true value. When it comes to writing, do what you do best. I think another guy who writes well is Terry Prachett (although I've never read any of his books and possibly have mispelled his name). The guys who wrote Red Dwarf wrote into their shows a lot of parody as well as meaningful commentary on life, the universe and everything else. But I go on and on, let me stop now, I think I've made my point.

I know, I've done my share of parodies before and been darn proud of 'em. I love "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and other works like it. But I basically just abandoned the idea because I couldn't flesh it out into something that pleased me. Even if I did make it a parody, there were still areas of the story that didn't fit. Often, I look back at a work I've done and think to myself "Could this have appeared on MST3K if it had been a real movie?", and if the answer is "Yes", I'm usually not that proud of it.

It's no big deal to me anyway - I've written dozens of other stories that came out just the way I wanted them, and in some cases, even better.

[regalo]

Good luck on the writing. Parodies are a very tricky business.

Anyway, here's an idea I had a long time ago I've retitled "Dome Art." Basically, a new type of mind-scanning device is invented that allows visual images that come from the brain to be projected in a three-dimensional theater-in-the-round. An entire industry is created that utilizes artists who sit in chairs and allow their innermost thoughts to be viewed by an audience in a Domed Theater. One of the most imaginative artists is a guy we'll call Matt. Well, Matt is famous to the point of being the rock star of his art. People come from all around to see his shows. One day Matt disappears and a new mystery-artist comes on the scene who has many similarities with Matt's style of visual imagery but also has a much darker edge. But something else is happening in the theater, the images are becoming dangerously real to the audience. Every show becomes more and more dangerous until people actually start dying. For example a car flies out of the visual display and kills a woman! Things get even crazier and the device that displays the visuals has to be destroyed. Well, those who destroy the device find a human brain inside it. They determine that it's Matt's brain. He has allowed them to take his mind for the sake of art.

Well, maybe this idea is not so lame after all. What do you think, sirs?

[spacechief]

I have tons of ideas, but I just can't work them out. One of my favorites is what I call "18 Days". It's about a guy who has the ability to see how many days a person has to live by a number on their heads. He's figured this out and he's tried to save people but it never works and no matter what he does they always find a way of dying on the day their number reaches "0". So basically he gives up and goes through his life trying to be ignorant of it, but then his wife gives birth to a baby girl. When he sees her he is shocked to realize that the number "18" is on her forehead, meaning she has 18 days to live. Now he has to find a way to cheat death. Anyways I can't get beyond that and I'm stuck on a good ending. Also it looks like sort of a rip off of "Sixth Sense". Oh well, I enjoy thinking about it at least.

[regalo]

I could swear there actually exists a film just like the one you're describing, a twilight zone episode or something. Hmm. Can't recall exactly what it was. Oh well. Or perhaps I read a script long ago that was along these lines? Or some book? Anyway, cool idea.

This is the thread where ideas that can't be worked out should be posted. It's where old ideas go to die, so to speak. It's like an Elephant Graveyard. One can go through it and study the bones ...

[regalo]

What I propose now is a film called "Mild-Mannered Mailman." It's about a mailman (or course) who can see through the packaging of everything he delivers. One day he finds an explosive device and must find a way to get rid of it, so he dumps it in a small pond. The explosion kills all the fish and he is labelled as being a danger to himself and to others and loses his job. He decides to get back at the people who fired him and uses his see-through vision to get revenge. He does not do violent things. Instead he catches people in the act of adultery and calls their spouses, catches people stealing and calls the police, and does other such straightforward things. Ultimately, he gets a job with a secret agency that wants to use his talents, but things go wrong in that they want to use him to do evil. So he gets back at the agency as well. Finally, he does the only thing he can to hide from society -- become a blind man and beg for money on the streets.

[spacechief]

I just remembered a story I had when I was like 8 years old. It was called "The Day the Sun Hit the Earth" (title ripped off from "The Day the Earth Stood Still"). It was about how a piece of the sun somehow broke off from the sun (Don't tell me it's just a molten gas, it's rock solid and on fire ) and then came towards Earth. Anyways I had all sorts of cool scenes in mind with Niagra Falls being evaporated and stuff like that. I never really figured how we could stop the sun. I suppose we'd just all die. Yeah so anyways it's probably just as good as any other blockbuster coming out this summer. Especially if I could get people like Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry to star. Then it really wouldn't matter what it was about. Like anyone actually went to "Tomb Raider" for it's plot. Ha.

[regalo]

Okay, you made me recall a childhood idea I had about Manhattan flipping over. Don't ask why. Maybe it's due to a fault under the island. Whatever. It was called "The Last Adventure" and I do believe there actually exists a film of that title. But I had it first, dammit! Sorry about that. Anyway, several people actually figure-out a way of surviving this catastrophe. Don't ask why they just didn't swim or float away on makeshift rafts. Anyway, the warning that the Island is going to flip over goes out but nobody believes it. Those people I mentioned before build a square boat with a round hatch built-in to it and get inside. The island flips and the people in the boat are saved. I even went as far as to attempt to build the square boat in order to film this movie on 8mm silent film but the damn thing wouldn't stand up! My feeble attempts at carpentry ruined my enthusiasm for making the film. How the hell was I going to flip over an entire island? I was going to tilt the camera and have my friends behave as if they were falling or sliding sideways. hah! I actually thought of building the Island on a small-scale but my allowance was only about One Dollar a week! Damn you, mom!