History Quotes / CashCowFranchise

->''"If your game isn't ''Metal Gear'' or ''Franchise/SilentHill'' or soccer-related, you're absolutely'' '''fucked''' ''if you decide to publish through Konami."''
-->--'''Creator/JimSterling''', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynl4sIFazmM#t=609 "Konami is Konami"]]

->''"Marvel might sell 100,000 issues of [[CrisisCrossover a big-time book]], but the law of diminishing returns kicks in as they [[RedSkiesCrossover load up on books that tie into that big event]]. Marvel and {{DC}} are so obsessed with making sure that they sell more and more to a smaller and smaller audience that they don’t realize that many people are not only skipping those events, they’re giving up on ALL superhero comics that the companies sell. We’ve all heard stories about how kids love comics, and that’s true, but they’re not buying superhero comics in the magnitude that they once did. And older fans aren’t going to live forever, [[ComicBookTime even if the characters they love do]]!"''

->''"As a purveyor of words and a crafter of fiction, I find nothing more reprehensible than the fact that we as creators are given tools that allows us to craft such wonderful stories, and yet so often those powers are corrupted in the name of making a dollar or exploiting a fanatical fan base. A fan base that, don't get me wrong, I love. A fan base so dedicated that [[{{Fanboy}} they follow the character past rationality]]...I know many people in their forties and fifties who are older than me that still don't get that you don't have to support a thing or believe it perfect just because you committed to it when you were five.\\\
This, if anything, is [[InkStainAdaptation the legacy]] of ''Smallville'' for me."''

->''"''Film/MuppetsMostWanted'' was, at one time, entitled ''Muppets...Again'', which would have been both entirely appropriate and a bad marketing hook. It suggests -- accurately -- that all you have do at this point is give people [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Muppets again]], and they will come. Of course I will, and of course I was entertained...mostly (hell, I'd even go see ''[[Creator/TylerPerry Tyler Perry's Madea Meets the Muppets]]'', if only to keep myself guessing which of the gang ends up coming to Jesus -- Beaker, obviously)."''

->''"Despite requests from producers for more time to make [[Film/TheForceUnleashed the next Star Wars movie]], you know, good, Disney is gonna rush this fucker into production [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants regardless of whether or not there's an actual script to be had.]] Please note that Creator/GeorgeLucas had all the time in the world to write the prequel trilogy and still did a terrible job with it, and now here comes Disney ready to plow ahead, even though old fans desperately need a quality sequel to restore their faith in the franchise. I'm all for working under duress--it often ends up forcing artists do better work--but ask Creator/DanielCraig if going into the filming of ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' without a working script was a good idea. That time you use to prepare on the front end reaps massive rewards when you get to the end result, but Disney clearly doesn't give a shit. You may as well prepare yourself now for a ''Star Wars'' sequel that looks nice and is passably entertaining and ends up being [[SoOkayItsAverage utterly forgettable.]]"''

->''"Since Angelina Jolie made Disney enough money to buy a small planet with that live-action mess ''{{Film/Maleficent}}'', and Disney is a greedy whore who can never have enough money, they’re making a live-action version of ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast'', which will no doubt gross $19 billion, because ''Beauty and the Beast''-obsessed dummies like me who get the hardcore feels for that movie and will go see it 27 times...Creator/EmmaWatson as Belle is all well and good, but I want to know who else has been cast in this future mess. I’m no casting director, but it’s pretty obvious who should play the rest of the characters from ''Beauty and the Beast''. [[Series/KeepingUpWithTheKardashians Khloe Kardashian]] ''IS'' the Beast. [[Creator/JonHamm The Hammaconda]] ''IS'' Gaston. {{Music/Rihanna}} ''IS'' that slutty feather duster and [[Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio Leo DiCaprio]] ''IS'' the horny feather duster-humping Lumière. Music/JustinBieber ''IS'' Mrs. Potts’ annoying teacup son Chip who we all hope “accidentally” gets put in a box marked FREE and thrown on the curb (seriously, Chip is [[TheScrappy THE WORST]]).\\\

->'''Matt''': A lot of this boils down to the movie really feeling like a rush job. It isn’t just that the movie came out less than a full year after the first one, it also had tons of [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants last-minute changes]], like the removal of the actual secret touted in the title...The only set that really wows is the abandoned subway station, and it feels like it’s only good because [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIII they were planning to reuse it.]]\\

->''"The problem with the first two movies in this reboot series is that they seem to have been primarily a business decision by Creator/JJAbrams to take over a big budget tentpole franchise, thus raising his profile (and salary). And it seems to have worked; he just landed his dream job of directing the next ''Franchise/StarWars'' film. Congrats to J.J.! Here’s hoping that the studio replaces him with someone who actually gets ''Star Trek'', and is interested in doing something more than reimagining moments from the franchise’s glory days. Ah, who am I kidding? Get ready for [[TheUsualAdversaries the Borg]] to show up in the next one."''
-->-- '''''Website/TheAgonyBooth''''' on ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness''

->''"Unfortunately, ''Voyager'' is not interested in exploring the limits of what ''Star Trek'' can be. It’s not [[WestCoastTeam the younger sibling]] in the same way that ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' was, and so it lacks the freedom to push the boundaries. ''Voyager'' is a show that seems to have the fate of [[{{UPN}} an entire network]] leaning on it. That means the network wants a safe bet. It wants something that has worked before. It wants a redux of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'', essentially.\\\
All of which is fine, but it wastes one fascinating premise. When Q through the ''Enterprise'' into the Delta Quadrant in 'Q Who?', he teased that it was 'wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross, but it’s not for the timid.' It contained something utterly unlike anything the franchise had ever seen before. Now, it all seems far too familiar, home to familiar clichés and stock set-ups. As we’ll see, even the Borg themselves have [[VillainDecay become far too familiar]]."''

->''"As a purveyor of words and a crafter of fiction, I find nothing more reprehensible than the fact that we as creators are given tools that allows us to craft such wonderful stories, and yet so often those powers are corrupted in the name of making a dollar or exploiting a fanatical fan base. A fan base that, don't get me wrong, I love. A fan base so dedicated that [[{{Fanboy}} they follow the character past rationality.]]\\\
It's why I'm no longer a fan, in the traditional sense, of Superman these days. ''Star Wars'' and Superman slowly broke me of an irrational dedication to something, because irrational dedication leads to exploitation. It's something I should have realized already as an outspoken critic of organized groupthink...Maybe that's part of growing older, but then again, I know many people in their forties and fifties who are older than me that still don't get that you don't have to support a thing or believe it perfect just because you committed to it when you were five.\\\

->''"Ok, first is this idea that ''Smallville'' is a "machine" that "everyone" wants to keep "rolling" -- which is how Miller put it in ''[his]'' interview with ''TV Guide''. To the surprise of nobody around here, [[CriticalDissonance I don't count myself among the everyone]], and in this case it's precisely because the remark -- as casual or rhetorical as it might be -- simply underscores one of the main criticisms I've levied against the property...I continue to find the Superman in ''Smallville'' to be less a symbol of truth and justice and more [[InNameOnly a symbol of a symbol]] (because nor is ''Smallville'' canon) of Superman. The stories aren't about truth and justice, they're set ''inside'' Superman the symbol, the trademark, the ''brand''. We are meant to feel truth and justice through association with the brand, not through the characterization and dramatization of truth and justice here and now. In this whatever year of our industrialization, I'm sure my feelings on this matter put me squarely in the minority, but seeing the writer comment on his own story as a "[[FreudianSlip machine]]" really just cements the impression in my mind."''

->''"The whole reason ''{{ComicBook/Watchmen}}'' has a unique place in superhero history is that it’s an actual, honest-to-gosh novel, with a purpose, and a beginning, middle, and end. The reason there aren’t more books like ''Watchmen'' is because DC and Marvel don’t understand the difference between making something like that and creating [=IP=] that can be spun off into continuing franchises. They don’t really understand that there’s a difference in the results when art is created for personal expression, and when it’s created for [[MerchandiseDriven t-shirt sales]]. Recycling is just as good as creating. Better, really, because then you don’t have bitches like this Creator/AlanMoore character with some personal connection to the work [[DoingItForTheArt muddying up the issue]]. When people make sausages at a factory, they don’t get worked up over what sort of sandwiches those sausages are eventually used on. Better if the artists they employ understand their place as cog polishers, rather than thinking they’re clock makers. The fact that [[Creator/DanDidio [Dan] DiDio]] has referred to ''Watchmen'' [[ComicBook/BeforeWatchmen prequels]] as being their attempt at being bold and creative shows that he [[YouKeepUsingThatWord doesn’t really have much of a concept]] of what creativity actually is. Creativity typically involves creation."''

->''"One advantage that pro wrestling will always have over [[UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts MMA]] or boxing is that, due to its scripted nature, its big fights usually deliver, and always at least attempt to do so. There’s no way to know whether a {{UFC}} main event won’t end in mere seconds, but when you order wrestling, you know that the show has been engineered specifically to give you your money’s worth.\\
Somehow, though, someone in {{WWE}} thought it would be prudent to throw out the one thing it could always lord over UFC, putting this deliberate stinker on not just any pay-per-view, but the supposed biggest and best pay-per-view of the year, [[{{Anticlimax}} the culmination of a year’s worth of storylines]]. Whoever responsible was clearly taking a page out of [[Creator/CharlieSheen Charlie 'I’ve already got your money, dude' Sheen’s]] playbook, except at least the unhinged actor didn’t beg his disgruntled audience to see his next one-man show that he promised would totally be worth it, honest!"''
-->-- '''''{{Website/Wrestlecrap}}''''', [[http://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/18-seconds/ "Sheamus Vs. Daniel Bryan - How long should this world title last? LOL, I'll pretend you said 18 seconds"]]

->''"In this new world that video games inhabit and helped to build, people are unimportant. The talented artists and artisans who make the games don't matter half as much as the brands: the titles, the licenses, the intellectual properties, the copyrighted fictional entities featured in the product. Quick, without looking it up, name the guy who directed ''VideoGame/BioShock1''. Name one of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''[='s=] level designers. Name ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV''[='s=] character artist. Chances are, you're not able to do it -- even though you certainly do recognize ''[=BioShock=]'', ''Super Mario Galaxy'', and ''Street Fighter IV''. Video game consumers are most attuned to [=IPs=]. And as you can tell from today's mainstream gaming landscape -- saturated with [[{{Sequelitis}} sequels]], [[VideoGameRemake remakes]], and "[[VideoGame/CapcomVsWhatever Brand X Vs. Brand Y]]" titles -- the publishers conduct their business with this fact foremost in their minds. [[GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld The staff is disposable]]. The brands are not."''

->''"It would be foolish to miss the parallel between [[Creator/HideoKojima Kojima's]] nanomachine-crazy dystopia and his personal opinions on the direction of the series, in my opinion...Sequels are being hyped up and pumped out without any real inspiration, while developers are being bought up and merged by profit-driven conglomerates. 'War has become routine', much like how game-creation has become routine, you could say. I wouldn't be surprised if the [[PrivateMilitaryContractors PMCs]] and their 'Outer Heaven' parent company serve as a reflection of companies like Creator/ElectronicArts, with their reputation for buying up the competition and then producing soulless installments. Where's the heart?"''

->''"This is the company that seems to forget it publishes its own games. ''Blades of Time'' was not an especially good game--but it was ''[[SoOkayItsAverage alright]]'', and it had Tak Fujii workin' on it. You'd think it be worth ''some'' promotion, right? It serves, however, as another fine example of how incompetent {{Creator/Konami}} truly is: This game's launch date was announced a week before launch. The game was unavailable in most stores in the U.S. until a week ''after'' launch, and Konami issued a press release announcing the game's availability three days after the game came out. Producer Tak Fujii, while in the states, [[InvisibleAdvertising couldn't even find a copy of his own game in the store]], and called it a "big shame" on him as a producer. THAT'S HOW MUCH KONAMI CARES! ...If your game isn't ''Metal Gear'' or ''Franchise/SilentHill'' or soccer-related, you're absolutely'' '''fucked''' ''if you decide to publish through Konami."''

->'''Jay:''' You know what's weird? The [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014 Michael Bay Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie]] comes out this year, and they don't even have so much as a poster yet.\\
'''Mike:''' You know [[CriticProof when they don't screen movies for critics?]] They're gonna stop showing ''trailers'' for movies. "The Ninja Turtle movie's out '''NOW!'''"\\
'''Jay:''' "Just go see it!" What if they just stop making ''movies''? And they just have posters, and [[BreadAndCircuses everyone pays to get into the theater, and plays on their phone for an hour and half?]] And then you have credits roll....and that's how people know to leave the theater.\\

->''"The manipulation began long before the release of the game. There were already ''Metal Gear'' fans who would have bought it and loved it based on the name alone. It's a bit difficult to remember that this game might've been the most anticipated product of its time: Sony was distributing VHS tapes with trailers. People were buying ''Zone of the Enders'' by the thousands just for a 20-minute demo. It was a massive step-up in terms of fidelity than what we'd seen before... The hype was massive, and throughout it all, they never once showed us what ninety percent of the game was going to look like. They never hinted that Raiden was going to be a thing -- he [[CoversAlwaysLie isn't even on the back of the box]] -- but for all intents and purposes, he's the main character of the game. But even ''after'' the game's launch, you'd be forgiven for not knowing that. After all, the first hour is a carefully-constructed [[TechDemoGame tech demo]] designed to [[NeverTrustATrailer completely pander to fans]]."''

->''"As Marvel began to grow into a bigger and bigger concern, [[Creator/StanLee (Stan) Lee]] seemed to find most of his time taken up in the day to day editorial decisions implicit in such a large enterprise, and less and less time available for the actual writing...But, through Lee’s genius for publicity, the Marvel Machine had gathered a certain momentum. Each successive cover boasted that this issue was destined to be 'The Greatest Super Heroic Slugfest in the Mighty Marvel Age of Comics!' And, like [[ViewersAreMorons the ninnies we were]], believed it. After all, [[HonestJohnsDealership when had Stan ever lied to us?]]\\\
No matter that the issue in question featured [[StrictlyFormula the same old mindless fight scenes]] that we’d been through a hundred times before. No matter that the characters had degenerated into [[{{Flanderization}} shallow parodies]] of their former selves. We sent for our MMMS membership kits and erected fiery crosses in the gardens of people suspected of reading {{DC comics}} or [[BrandX Brand Ecch]] as our fearless leader suggested we to refer to his distinguished competition.\\\

->''"The audience is still watching ''Voyager''. The ratings are down, but the ratings are down across television, in every category, on every network, and every program. As long as the studio believes that the franchise can make money, and that there is an audience there, they will continue to produce it... It talks a good game. It talks about how it’s about deep social problems, and how it’s about sociological issues, and that it’s very relevant. It’s about exploration, and it’s about the unknown, and all these [[{{Glurge}} cute catch phrases]], but scratch the surface of that and there is really not much underneath it all."''

->''"Ok, first is this idea that ''Smallville'' is a "machine" that "everyone" wants to keep "rolling" -- which is how Miller put it in ''[his]'' interview with ''TV Guide''. To the surprise of nobody around here, [[CriticalDissonance I don't count myself among the everyone]], and in this case it's precisely because the remark -- as casual or rhetorical as it might be -- simply underscores one of the main criticisms I've levied against the property...I continue to find the Superman in ''Smallville'' to be less a symbol of truth and justice and more a symbol of a symbol (because nor is ''Smallville'' canon) of Superman. The stories aren't about truth and justice, they're set ''inside'' Superman the symbol, the trademark, the ''brand''. We are meant to feel truth and justice through association with the brand, not through the characterization and dramatization of truth and justice here and now. In this whatever year of our industrialization, I'm sure my feelings on this matter put me squarely in the minority, but seeing the writer comment on his own story as a "[[FreudianSlip machine]]" really just cements the impression in my mind."''

->''Well, part of the rub is that it isn't actually '''his''' cow to slaughter, even if he wanted to. It's [=WotC=]'s cow (as is the Forgotten Realms), and it keeps their pockets filled... they just redistribute some of it Salvatore's way for performing regular "cow maintenance." And, nothing can go on in their farm without their written, in triplicate, consent.\\\
In essence, it doesn't matter how far [[Literature/TheElminsterSeries Greenwood]], [[Literature/TheDarkElfTrilogy Salvatore]], or [[Literature/CounselorsAndKings Cunningham]] may want to take a character, because [=WotC=]'s always going to hold the rope and decide which pasture the cow feeds from. An author can say, "how about the '[[KilledOffForReal character death]]' pasture," but they can easily be countermanded with, "no, the grass at 'looked bad but it was OnlyAFleshWound' looks a little greener today, go over there."''
-->-- A fan [[http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6440&whichpage=8#128496 on Candlekeep forums]], immediately followed by agreeing nod from a TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms author.

->''"''{{Film/Titanic}} 3D'': 3D so real you can actually feel Creator/JamesCameron stealing money from your pocket."''

->''"Did I give it a few passes on storytelling, characterization and consistency, just because it was about my favourite literary creation ever? Absolutely. But that's almost fair because we're always more forgiving of the ones we love. Was season four a little too [[GottaCatchEmAll MacGuffiney?]] Sure, but then it's superhero fiction, which relies to greater or lesser degrees on coincidence and random quests from time to time. No matter what anyone said, I loved it.\\\
And then came season five. And the [[FollowTheLeader vampire episode]]. And the heavy handed [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor light switching]] of Lex's moral compass. And the acceleration of Lana's descent into mind numbing, amoral turpitude while the writers were telling us that really, really, she was [[JerkSue the best thing ever]]. And Clark increasingly using [[TechnicalPacifist "accidental" lethal force]] to take bad guys off the board. By the end of season six, I was done. I wrote a blog entry about how much I was done with the show and why. But, sure enough, season 7 came and there I was watching ''Smallville''. It took awhile to figure out why, but what it came down to was the fact that it was still a Superman show, and I love Superman. "''
-->--'''[[http://www.supermanhomepage.com/tv/tv.php?topic=reviews/smallville9-ep16 Julian Finn]]'''

->''"Marvel might sell 100,000 issues of [[CrisisCrossover a big-time book]], but the law of diminishing returns kicks in as they [[RedSkiesCrossover load up on books that tie into that big event]]. Marvel and {{DC}} are so obsessed with making sure that they sell more and more to a smaller and smaller audience that they don’t realize that many people are not only skipping those events, they’re giving up on ALL superhero comics that the companies sell. We’ve all heard stories about how kids love comics, and that’s true, but they’re not buying superhero comics in the magnitude that they once did. And older fans aren’t going to live forever, [[ComicBookTime even if the characters they love do]]!"''
-->-- '''Greg Burgas''', "[[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2010/03/22/how-kurt-busiek-unwittingly-ruined-marvel-and-dc-superhero-comics/ How Kurt Busiek (unwittingly) ruined Marvel and DC superhero comics!]]"

->''"The whole reason ''{{ComicBook/Watchmen}}'' has a unique place in superhero history is that it’s an actual, honest-to-gosh novel, with a purpose, and a beginning, middle, and end. The reason there aren’t more books like ''Watchmen'' is because DC and Marvel don’t understand the difference between making something like that and creating [=IP=] that can be spun off into continuing franchises. They don’t really understand that there’s a difference in the results when art is created for personal expression, and when it’s created for [[MerchandiseDriven t-shirt sales]]. Recycling is just as good as creating. Better, really, because then you don’t have bitches like this Creator/AlanMoore character with some personal connection to the work [[DoingItForTheArt muddying up the issue]]. When people make sausages at a factory, they don’t get worked up over what sort of sandwiches those sausages are eventually used on. Better if the artists they employ understand their place as cog polishers, rather than thinking they’re clock makers. The fact that [[Creator/DanDidio [Dan] DiDio]] has referred to ''Watchmen'' [[ComicBook/BeforeWatchmen prequels]] as being their attempt at being bold and creative shows that he [[YouKeepUsingThatWord doesn’t really have much of a concept]] of what creativity actually is. Creativity typically involves creation."''
-->-- '''[[http://www.rickworley.com/2012/06/18/dan-didio-douchebags-of-comics/ Rick Worley]]'''

->''This industry's "in flux"\\

And chasin' [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld Chinese bucks!]]''

->Sometimes I think the ideal games industry for these people would be one without any players at all--where they can just shake a jarful of coins in front of a row of applauding monkeys and then go home with all the bananas.

->Despite requests from producers for more time to make [[Film/TheForceUnleashed the next Star Wars movie]], you know, good, Disney is gonna rush this fucker into production [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants regardless of whether or not there's an actual script to be had.]] Please note that Creator/GeorgeLucas had all the time in the world to write the prequel trilogy and still did a terrible job with it, and now here comes Disney ready to plow ahead, even though old fans desperately need a quality sequel to restore their faith in the franchise. I'm all for working under duress--it often ends up forcing artists do better work--but ask Creator/DanielCraig if going into the filming of ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' without a working script was a good idea. That time you use to prepare on the front end reaps massive rewards when you get to the end result, but Disney clearly doesn't give a shit. You may as well prepare yourself now for a ''Star Wars'' sequel that looks nice and is passably entertaining and ends up being [[SoOkayItsAverage utterly forgettable.]]

->The implication is that our stories no longer need us. That they can get by perfectly well without us. We are extraneous even to our own cultural objects, which have taken on lives of their own. Tellingly, the other major sci-fi film in this period is ''Film/IronMan2'', the point at which Marvel's movie division really revved up its seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of churning films out of preexisting properties. Film threatens [[ItCanThink to become a nearly self-sustaining medium]], imbued with enough depth and concepts to simply retread existing ground over and over again. Narrative without people. Having [[DeathOfTheAuthor killed the author]], we've now killed the audience.

->''Film/MuppetsMostWanted'' was, at one time, entitled ''Muppets...Again'', which would have been both entirely appropriate and a bad marketing hook. It suggests -- accurately -- that all you have do at this point is give people [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Muppets again]], and they will come. Of course I will, and of course I was entertained...mostly (hell, I'd even go see ''[[Creator/TylerPerry Tyler Perry's Madea Meets the Muppets]]'', if only to keep myself guessing which of the gang ends up coming to Jesus -- Beaker, obviously).

->Since Angelina Jolie made Disney enough money to buy a small planet with that live-action mess ''{{Film/Maleficent}}'', and Disney is a greedy whore who can never have enough money, they’re making a live-action version of ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast'', which will no doubt gross $19 billion, because ''Beauty and the Beast''-obsessed dummies like me who get the hardcore feels for that movie and will go see it 27 times...Creator/EmmaWatson as Belle is all well and good, but I want to know who else has been cast in this future mess. I’m no casting director, but it’s pretty obvious who should play the rest of the characters from ''Beauty and the Beast''. [[Series/KeepingUpWithTheKardashians Khloe Kardashian]] ''IS'' the Beast. [[Creator/JonHamm The Hammaconda]] ''IS'' Gaston. {{Music/Rihanna}} ''IS'' that slutty feather duster and [[Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio Leo DiCaprio]] ''IS'' the horny feather duster-humping Lumière. Music/JustinBieber ''IS'' Mrs. Potts’ annoying teacup son Chip who we all hope “accidentally” gets put in a box marked FREE and thrown on the curb (seriously, Chip is [[TheScrappy THE WORST]]).\\\
And it goes without saying that Creator/AngelaLansbury better be cast as Mrs. Potts, or so help me god, [[PokeThePoodle I will only see this movie 26 times.]]

->The story of the ''Highlander'' franchise is a tale of rich people gravely miscalculating how far people will follow a stagnant storyline. The {{cyberpunk}}-''Highlander'' didn't work, and the ''Highlander'' cartoon series was so terrible any existing copies should be buried in the deserts of New Mexico along with all the old copies of ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraterrestrial'' for the Atari. But the live-action ''Highlander'' TV show somehow managed to collect a modest fanbase, and so once again, the studio smelled money and cranked out a fourth movie called ''Endgame''. It turns out [[DarthWiki/SoBadItsHorrible it wasn't money they were smelling.]]

->The problem with the first two movies in this reboot series is that they seem to have been primarily a business decision by Creator/JJAbrams to take over a big budget tentpole franchise, thus raising his profile (and salary). And it seems to have worked; he just landed his dream job of directing the next ''Franchise/StarWars'' film. Congrats to J.J.! Here’s hoping that the studio replaces him with someone who actually gets ''Star Trek'', and is interested in doing something more than reimagining moments from the franchise’s glory days. Ah, who am I kidding? Get ready for [[TheUsualAdversaries the Borg]] to show up in the next one.

->As movies with budgets you could dive into like [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales Scrooge McDuck]] follow their trend of venturing no further than the preamble, ''Star Trek Into Darkness'' was certainly a thing that I saw; a thing of no consequence.

->Unfortunately, ''Voyager'' is not interested in exploring the limits of what ''Star Trek'' can be. It’s not [[WestCoastTeam the younger sibling]] in the same way that ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' was, and so it lacks the freedom to push the boundaries. ''Voyager'' is a show that seems to have the fate of [[{{UPN}} an entire network]] leaning on it. That means the network wants a safe bet. It wants something that has worked before. It wants a redux of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'', essentially.\\\
All of which is fine, but it wastes one fascinating premise. When Q through the ''Enterprise'' into the Delta Quadrant in 'Q Who?', he teased that it was 'wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross, but it’s not for the timid.' It contained something utterly unlike anything the franchise had ever seen before. Now, it all seems far too familiar, home to familiar clichés and stock set-ups. As we’ll see, even the Borg themselves have [[VillainDecay become far too familiar]].

->As a purveyor of words and a crafter of fiction, I find nothing more reprehensible than the fact that we as creators are given tools that allows us to craft such wonderful stories, and yet so often those powers are corrupted in the name of making a dollar or exploiting a fanatical fan base. A fan base that, don't get me wrong, I love. A fan base so dedicated that [[{{Fanboy}} they follow the character past rationality.]]\\\

This, if anything, is [[InkStainAdaptation the legacy]] of ''Smallville'' for me.

->Did I give it a few passes on storytelling, characterization and consistency, just because it was about my favourite literary creation ever? Absolutely. But that's almost fair because we're always more forgiving of the ones we love. Was season four a little too [[GottaCatchEmAll MacGuffiney?]] Sure, but then it's superhero fiction, which relies to greater or lesser degrees on coincidence and random quests from time to time. No matter what anyone said, I loved it.\\\
And then came season five. And the [[FollowTheLeader vampire episode]]. And the heavy handed [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor light switching]] of Lex's moral compass. And the acceleration of Lana's descent into mind numbing, amoral turpitude while the writers were telling us that really, really, she was [[JerkSue the best thing ever]]. And Clark increasingly using [[TechnicalPacifist "accidental" lethal force]] to take bad guys off the board. By the end of season six, I was done. I wrote a blog entry about how much I was done with the show and why. But, sure enough, season 7 came and there I was watching ''Smallville''. It took awhile to figure out why, but what it came down to was the fact that it was still a Superman show, and I love Superman.

->One advantage that pro wrestling will always have over [[UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts MMA]] or boxing is that, due to its scripted nature, its big fights usually deliver, and always at least attempt to do so. There’s no way to know whether a {{UFC}} main event won’t end in mere seconds, but when you order wrestling, you know that the show has been engineered specifically to give you your money’s worth.\\
Somehow, though, someone in {{WWE}} thought it would be prudent to throw out the one thing it could always lord over UFC, putting this deliberate stinker on not just any pay-per-view, but the supposed biggest and best pay-per-view of the year, [[{{Anticlimax}} the culmination of a year’s worth of storylines]]. Whoever responsible was clearly taking a page out of [[Creator/CharlieSheen Charlie 'I’ve already got your money, dude' Sheen’s]] playbook, except at least the unhinged actor didn’t beg his disgruntled audience to see his next one-man show that he promised would totally be worth it, honest!

->In this new world that video games inhabit and helped to build, people are unimportant. The talented artists and artisans who make the games don't matter half as much as the brands: the titles, the licenses, the intellectual properties, the copyrighted fictional entities featured in the product. Quick, without looking it up, name the guy who directed ''VideoGame/BioShock1''. Name one of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''[='s=] level designers. Name ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV''[='s=] character artist. Chances are, you're not able to do it -- even though you certainly do recognize ''[=BioShock=]'', ''Super Mario Galaxy'', and ''Street Fighter IV''. Video game consumers are most attuned to [=IPs=]. And as you can tell from today's mainstream gaming landscape -- saturated with [[{{Sequelitis}} sequels]], [[VideoGameRemake remakes]], and "[[VideoGame/CapcomVsWhatever Brand X Vs. Brand Y]]" titles -- the publishers conduct their business with this fact foremost in their minds. [[GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld The staff is disposable]]. The brands are not.

->Probably the best metaphor for ''VideoGame/MegaMan4'' is the last moment Dr. Wily is seen after [[ISurrenderSuckers bowing for forgiveness]]. The mad doctor arches his eyebrows as he swiftly escapes through a hidden swivel door right next to him, before the fortress self-destructs. It's obvious that he will be seen again and again much like a [[JokerImmunity punch-clock Saturday morning villain]] as the series began turning into a safe and by-the-numbers, annually shipped franchise machine. A good formula yes, but still same ol', same ol' and losing its novel luster fast.

->It would be foolish to miss the parallel between [[Creator/HideoKojima Kojima's]] nanomachine-crazy dystopia and his personal opinions on the direction of the series, in my opinion...Sequels are being hyped up and pumped out without any real inspiration, while developers are being bought up and merged by profit-driven conglomerates. 'War has become routine', much like how game-creation has become routine, you could say. I wouldn't be surprised if the [[PrivateMilitaryContractors PMCs]] and their 'Outer Heaven' parent company serve as a reflection of companies like Creator/ElectronicArts, with their reputation for buying up the competition and then producing soulless installments. Where's the heart?

->Marvel might sell 100,000 issues of [[CrisisCrossover a big-time book]], but the law of diminishing returns kicks in as they [[RedSkiesCrossover load up on books that tie into that big event]]. Marvel and {{DC}} are so obsessed with making sure that they sell more and more to a smaller and smaller audience that they don’t realize that many people are not only skipping those events, they’re giving up on ALL superhero comics that the companies sell. We’ve all heard stories about how kids love comics, and that’s true, but they’re not buying superhero comics in the magnitude that they once did. And older fans aren’t going to live forever, [[ComicBookTime even if the characters they love do]]!

->The whole reason ''{{ComicBook/Watchmen}}'' has a unique place in superhero history is that it’s an actual, honest-to-gosh novel, with a purpose, and a beginning, middle, and end. The reason there aren’t more books like ''Watchmen'' is because DC and Marvel don’t understand the difference between making something like that and creating [=IP=] that can be spun off into continuing franchises. They don’t really understand that there’s a difference in the results when art is created for personal expression, and when it’s created for [[MerchandiseDriven t-shirt sales]]. Recycling is just as good as creating. Better, really, because then you don’t have bitches like this Creator/AlanMoore character with some personal connection to the work [[DoingItForTheArt muddying up the issue]]. When people make sausages at a factory, they don’t get worked up over what sort of sandwiches those sausages are eventually used on. Better if the artists they employ understand their place as cog polishers, rather than thinking they’re clock makers. The fact that [[Creator/DanDidio [Dan] DiDio]] has referred to ''Watchmen'' [[ComicBook/BeforeWatchmen prequels]] as being their attempt at being bold and creative shows that he [[YouKeepUsingThatWord doesn’t really have much of a concept]] of what creativity actually is. Creativity typically involves creation.

->''{{Film/Titanic}} 3D'': 3D so real you can actually feel Creator/JamesCameron stealing money from your pocket.

->VideoGame/JustDance: Greatest Hits'', or as it should be called, ''Just Dance: [[LargeHam GIMME ALL YO MONEH!]]

->The Hollywood machine facing a writer's strike?\\\
Thank ''God'' they settled before ''Revenge of the Fallen'' made over $800 million without a script, because if so, screenwriter contracts would require them to carry around studio executives on their backs.

->The manipulation began long before the release of the game. There were already ''Metal Gear'' fans who would have bought it and loved it based on the name alone. It's a bit difficult to remember that this game might've been the most anticipated product of its time: Sony was distributing VHS tapes with trailers. People were buying ''Zone of the Enders'' by the thousands just for a 20-minute demo. It was a massive step-up in terms of fidelity than what we'd seen before... The hype was massive, and throughout it all, they never once showed us what ninety percent of the game was going to look like. They never hinted that Raiden was going to be a thing -- he [[CoversAlwaysLie isn't even on the back of the box]] -- but for all intents and purposes, he's the main character of the game. But even ''after'' the game's launch, you'd be forgiven for not knowing that. After all, the first hour is a carefully-constructed [[TechDemoGame tech demo]] designed to [[NeverTrustATrailer completely pander to fans]].

->'''Kirk''': CaptainsLog, Stardate 6051. Had trouble sleeping last night, my hiatal hernia is acting up. [[GrumpyOldMan The ship is drafty and damp. I complain, but nobody listens.]]\\

->As Marvel began to grow into a bigger and bigger concern, [[Creator/StanLee (Stan) Lee]] seemed to find most of his time taken up in the day to day editorial decisions implicit in such a large enterprise, and less and less time available for the actual writing...But, through Lee’s genius for publicity, the Marvel Machine had gathered a certain momentum. Each successive cover boasted that this issue was destined to be 'The Greatest Super Heroic Slugfest in the Mighty Marvel Age of Comics!' And, like [[ViewersAreMorons the ninnies we were]], believed it. After all, [[HonestJohnsDealership when had Stan ever lied to us?]]\\\

We were wild-eyed fanatics to rival the loopiest [[IndianaJones thugee cultist]] or member of the Manson family. We were True Believers.

->The audience is still watching ''Voyager''. The ratings are down, but the ratings are down across television, in every category, on every network, and every program. As long as the studio believes that the franchise can make money, and that there is an audience there, they will continue to produce it... It talks a good game. It talks about how it’s about deep social problems, and how it’s about sociological issues, and that it’s very relevant. It’s about exploration, and it’s about the unknown, and all these [[{{Glurge}} cute catch phrases]], but scratch the surface of that and there is really not much underneath it all.

->I've mentioned before that the first movie I ever saw in theatres was ''{{Film/Superman}}: The Movie''. And I believe I've confessed to you guys that I wore a red cape in public, pretty much constantly, up until just before junior high. But it goes deeper than that. I glued myself to the TV as a kid anytime there was anything Superman related on...To this day I still watch ''Superman: The Movie'' and ''Film/SupermanII'' (now [[DirectorsCut the Donner cut]]) every year on my birthday. I love Superman in the same way that my daughter loves Music/JustinBieber; I don't care what anybody else thinks about him, he's a rockstar to me.\\\
And that's how I came to ''Smallville''; a diehard Superman fan. And I think that's why, even though I enjoy the show on a surface level, I've never truly become a ''Smallville'' fan. There are [[InNameOnly too many differences]] between the ''Smallville'' version of Clark Kent and the idea I've formed in my head of who this character really is.\\\
When you are truly a fan of something, you are blind to its faults. It's like being in a relationship; when things are great you're oblivious to the tiny little flaws and when things are bad you look for deeper meaning and [[NostalgiaFilter cling to your memories of the good times]] to strengthen your faith that things will get good again. ''Smallville'' understands this and so they've gotten really, really great at [[PanderingToTheBase exploiting that emotional response]] in the ''Superman'' fans who have become ''Smallville'' viewers.
-->--'''[[http://www.supermanhomepage.com/tv/tv.php?topic=reviews/smallville9-ep22 Julian Finn]]'''

->The manipulation began long before the release of the game. There were already ''Metal Gear'' fans who would have bought it and loved it based on the name alone. It's a bit difficult to remember that this game might've been the most anticipated product of its time: Sony was distributing VHS tapes with trailers. People were buying ''Zone of the Enders'' by the thousands just for a 20-minute demo. It was a massive step-up in terms of fidelity than what we'd seen before... The hype was massive, and throughout it all, they never once showed us what ninety percent of the game was going to look like. They never hinted that Raiden was going to be a thing -- he [[CoversAlwaysLie isn't even on the back of the box]] -- but for all intents and purposes, he's the main character of the game. But even ''after'' the game's launch, you'd be forgiven for not knowing that. After all, the first hour is a carefully-constructed [[TechDemoGame tech demo]] designed to [[PanderingToTheBase completely pander to fans]].

->I'm not gonna get into this cycle with every two-bit comic book movie that Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}} shits out in a carefully planned 28-stage campaign. You will not hook me with [[Film/AntMan a teaser for a teaser for a featurette for a DVD extra for a trailer for a teaser]], Marvel. You hear me? YOU CAN GO TO HELL. And I'm not watching any goddamn PARODY gifs of any of this shit, either.\\\
Unless you got a ''ComicBook/SilverSurfer'' movie coming soon. [[HypocrisyNod I'll eat that shit right up.]]
-->--'''[[http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/they-have-teasers-for-teasers-for-goddamn-trailers-now-1677137747 Drew Magary]]''', "They Have Teasers For Trailers Now"

->As movies with budgets you could dive into like [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales Scrooge McDuck]] follow their trend of venturing no further than the preamble, ''Star Trek Into Darkness'' was certainly [[SoOkayItsAverage a thing that I saw]]; a thing of no consequence.

[[folder:music]]

[[folder:western animation]]
->'''Kirk''': CaptainsLog, Stardate 6051. Had trouble sleeping last night, my hiatal hernia is acting up. [[GrumpyOldMan The ship is drafty and damp. I complain, but nobody listens.]]\\
'''Announcer:''' ''StarTrek XII: So Very, Very Tired''.
-->--''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web video]]
->''{{Film/Titanic}} 3D'': 3D so real you can actually feel Creator/JamesCameron stealing money from your pocket.
-->-- '''''WebVideo/HonestTrailers''''', ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6mMvBeEPT4&list=SP86F4D497FD3CACCE Titanic]]''

->VideoGame/JustDance: Greatest Hits'', or as it should be called, ''Just Dance: [[LargeHam GIMME ALL YO MONEH!]]
-->-- '''''WebVideo/WiiViewer'''''

->'''SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}}''': If we can find him, we can end this.\\
'''Franchise/SpiderMan''': Wait, why do we ''want'' to end this again?\\
'''Deadpool''': Yeah you're right! This franchise could pay off the national debt!
-->-- ''[[ImAMarvelAndImADC Marvel/DC]]'' ''[[Film/HarryPotter Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'' parody.

->'''Jay:''' You know what's weird? The [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014 Michael Bay Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie]] comes out this year, and they don't even have so much as a poster yet.\\
'''Mike:''' You know [[CriticProof when they don't screen movies for critics?]] They're gonna stop showing ''trailers'' for movies. "The Ninja Turtle movie's out '''NOW!'''"\\
'''Jay:''' "Just go see it!" What if they just stop making ''movies''? And they just have posters, and [[BreadAndCircuses everyone pays to get into the theater, and plays on their phone for an hour and half?]] And then you have credits roll....and that's how people know to leave the theater.\\
'''Mike:''' Hollywood accountants ''love'' this idea.
-->--''[[WebVideo/HalfInTheBag Half in the Bag]]'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWm5AwOP7Gk on]] the Summer 2014 movie season

->The Hollywood machine facing a writer's strike?\\\
Thank ''God'' they settled before ''Revenge of the Fallen'' made over $800 million without a script, because if so, screenwriter contracts would require them to carry around studio executives on their backs.
-->--'''{{Website/SFDebris}}''' on ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen''

->The manipulation began long before the release of the game. There were already ''Metal Gear'' fans who would have bought it and loved it based on the name alone. It's a bit difficult to remember that this game might've been the most anticipated product of its time: Sony was distributing VHS tapes with trailers. People were buying ''Zone of the Enders'' by the thousands just for a 20-minute demo. It was a massive step-up in terms of fidelity than what we'd seen before... The hype was massive, and throughout it all, they never once showed us what ninety percent of the game was going to look like. They never hinted that Raiden was going to be a thing -- he [[CoversAlwaysLie isn't even on the back of the box]] -- but for all intents and purposes, he's the main character of the game. But even ''after'' the game's launch, you'd be forgiven for not knowing that. After all, the first hour is a carefully-constructed [[TechDemoGame tech demo]] designed to [[PanderingToTheBase completely pander to fans]].
-->-- '''George Weidman''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-2YuPGYabw&feature=youtu.be on]] ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:real life]]
->As Marvel began to grow into a bigger and bigger concern, [[Creator/StanLee (Stan) Lee]] seemed to find most of his time taken up in the day to day editorial decisions implicit in such a large enterprise, and less and less time available for the actual writing...But, through Lee’s genius for publicity, the Marvel Machine had gathered a certain momentum. Each successive cover boasted that this issue was destined to be 'The Greatest Super Heroic Slugfest in the Mighty Marvel Age of Comics!' And, like [[ViewersAreMorons the ninnies we were]], believed it. After all, [[HonestJohnsDealership when had Stan ever lied to us?]]\\\
No matter that the issue in question featured [[StrictlyFormula the same old mindless fight scenes]] that we’d been through a hundred times before. No matter that the characters had degenerated into [[{{Flanderization}} shallow parodies]] of their former selves. We sent for our MMMS membership kits and erected fiery crosses in the gardens of people suspected of reading {{DC comics}} or [[BrandX Brand Ecch]] as our fearless leader suggested we to refer to his distinguished competition.\\\
We were wild-eyed fanatics to rival the loopiest [[IndianaJones thugee cultist]] or member of the Manson family. We were True Believers.
-->--'''Creator/AlanMoore''' on losing his innocence

->The audience is still watching ''Voyager''. The ratings are down, but the ratings are down across television, in every category, on every network, and every program. As long as the studio believes that the franchise can make money, and that there is an audience there, they will continue to produce it... It talks a good game. It talks about how it’s about deep social problems, and how it’s about sociological issues, and that it’s very relevant. It’s about exploration, and it’s about the unknown, and all these [[{{Glurge}} cute catch phrases]], but scratch the surface of that and there is really not much underneath it all.
-->--'''Ronald D. Moore''' [[http://www.lcarscom.net/rdm1000118.htm on]] ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''

-->--'''''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''''', "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie"

[[folder:fiction]]
->''{{Film/Titanic}} 3D'': 3D so real you can actually feel Creator/JamesCameron stealing money from your pocket.
-->-- '''''WebVideo/HonestTrailers''''', ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6mMvBeEPT4&list=SP86F4D497FD3CACCE Titanic]]''

->VideoGame/JustDance: Greatest Hits'', or as it should be called, ''Just Dance: [[LargeHam GIMME ALL YO MONEH!]]
-->-- WiiViewer

->'''SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}}''': If we can find him, we can end this.\\
'''Franchise/SpiderMan''': Wait, why do we ''want'' to end this again?\\
'''Deadpool''': Yeah you're right! This franchise could pay off the national debt!
-->-- ''[[ImAMarvelAndImADC Marvel/DC]]'' ''[[Film/HarryPotter Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'' parody.

[[folder:creators]]
->As Marvel began to grow into a bigger and bigger concern, [[Creator/StanLee (Stan) Lee]] seemed to find most of his time taken up in the day to day editorial decisions implicit in such a large enterprise, and less and less time available for the actual writing...But, through Lee’s genius for publicity, the Marvel Machine had gathered a certain momentum. Each successive cover boasted that this issue was destined to be 'The Greatest Super Heroic Slugfest in the Mighty Marvel Age of Comics!' And, like [[ViewersAreMorons the ninnies we were]], believed it. After all, [[HonestJohnsDealership when had Stan ever lied to us?]]\\\
No matter that the issue in question featured [[StrictlyFormula the same old mindless fight scenes]] that we’d been through a hundred times before. No matter that the characters had degenerated into [[{{Flanderization}} shallow parodies]] of their former selves. We sent for our MMMS membership kits and erected fiery crosses in the gardens of people suspected of reading {{DC comics}} or [[BrandX Brand Ecch]] as our fearless leader suggested we to refer to his distinguished competition.\\\
We were wild-eyed fanatics to rival the loopiest [[IndianaJones thugee cultist]] or member of the Manson family. We were True Believers.
-->--'''Creator/AlanMoore''' on losing his innocence

->The audience is still watching ''Voyager''. The ratings are down, but the ratings are down across television, in every category, on every network, and every program. As long as the studio believes that the franchise can make money, and that there is an audience there, they will continue to produce it... It talks a good game. It talks about how it’s about deep social problems, and how it’s about sociological issues, and that it’s very relevant. It’s about exploration, and it’s about the unknown, and all these [[{{Glurge}} cute catch phrases]], but scratch the surface of that and there is really not much underneath it all.
-->--'''Ronald D. Moore''' [[http://www.lcarscom.net/rdm1000118.htm on]] ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''

[[folder:reviews]]
->I'm not gonna get into this cycle with every two-bit comic book movie that Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}} shits out in a carefully planned 28-stage campaign. You will not hook me with [[Film/AntMan a teaser for a teaser for a featurette for a DVD extra for a trailer for a teaser]], Marvel. You hear me? YOU CAN GO TO HELL. And I'm not watching any goddamn PARODY gifs of any of this shit, either.\\\
Unless you got a ''ComicBook/SilverSurfer'' movie coming soon. [[HypocrisyNod I'll eat that shit right up.]]
-->--'''[[http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/they-have-teasers-for-teasers-for-goddamn-trailers-now-1677137747 Drew Magary]]''', "They Have Teasers For Trailers Now"

->The implication is that our stories no longer need us. That they can get by perfectly well without us. We are extraneous even to our own cultural objects, which have taken on lives of their own. Tellingly, the other major sci-fi film in this period is ''Film/IronMan2'', the point at which Marvel's movie division really revved up its seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of churning films out of preexisting properties. Film threatens [[ItCanThink to become a nearly self-sustaining medium]], imbued with enough depth and concepts to simply retread existing ground over and over again. Narrative without people. Having [[DeathOfTheAuthor killed the author]], we've now killed the audience.
-->-- '''[[http://www.philipsandifer.com/2014/03/pop-between-realities-home-in-time-for.html Phil Sandifer]]''' on ''{{Film/Avatar}}''

->''Film/MuppetsMostWanted'' was, at one time, entitled ''Muppets...Again'', which would have been both entirely appropriate and a bad marketing hook. It suggests -- accurately -- that all you have do at this point is give people [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Muppets again]], and they will come. Of course I will, and of course I was entertained...mostly (hell, I'd even go see ''[[Creator/TylerPerry Tyler Perry's Madea Meets the Muppets]]'', if only to keep myself guessing which of the gang ends up coming to Jesus -- Beaker, obviously).
-->-- '''[[http://www.toplessrobot.com/2014/03/fanboy_flick_pick_muppets_most_wanted_is_good_but.php Luke Y. Thompson]]''', ''Blog/ToplessRobot''

->Since Angelina Jolie made Disney enough money to buy a small planet with that live-action mess ''{{Film/Maleficent}}'', and Disney is a greedy whore who can never have enough money, they’re making a live-action version of ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast'', which will no doubt gross $19 billion, because ''Beauty and the Beast''-obsessed dummies like me who get the hardcore feels for that movie and will go see it 27 times...Creator/EmmaWatson as Belle is all well and good, but I want to know who else has been cast in this future mess. I’m no casting director, but it’s pretty obvious who should play the rest of the characters from ''Beauty and the Beast''. [[Series/KeepingUpWithTheKardashians Khloe Kardashian]] ''IS'' the Beast. [[Creator/JonHamm The Hammaconda]] ''IS'' Gaston. {{Music/Rihanna}} ''IS'' that slutty feather duster and [[Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio Leo DiCaprio]] ''IS'' the horny feather duster-humping Lumière. Music/JustinBieber ''IS'' Mrs. Potts’ annoying teacup son Chip who we all hope “accidentally” gets put in a box marked FREE and thrown on the curb (seriously, Chip is [[TheScrappy THE WORST]]).\\\
And it goes without saying that Creator/AngelaLansbury better be cast as Mrs. Potts, or so help me god, [[PokeThePoodle I will only see this movie 26 times.]]
-->--'''''[[http://dlisted.com/2015/01/26/emma-watson-will-play-belle-in-disneys-live-action-beauty-and-the-beast-movie/ DListed]]'''''

->'''Matt''': A lot of this boils down to the movie really feeling like a rush job. It isn’t just that the movie came out less than a full year after the first one, it also had tons of [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants last-minute changes]], like the removal of the actual secret touted in the title...The only set that really wows is the abandoned subway station, and it feels like it’s only good because [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIII they were planning to reuse it.]]\\
'''Chris''': I wonder if they were planning to crank out one of these every year [[FranchiseZombie until the wheels fell off.]] It honestly wouldn’t surprise me.
-->--Chris Sims and Matt Wilson [[http://comicsalliance.com/comicsalliance-reviews-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-ii-2/ on]] ''[[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles TMNT II: The Stuff You Already Kind Of Knew About The Ooze]]''

->The story of the ''Highlander'' franchise is a tale of rich people gravely miscalculating how far people will follow a stagnant storyline. The {{cyberpunk}}-''Highlander'' didn't work, and the ''Highlander'' cartoon series was so terrible any existing copies should be buried in the deserts of New Mexico along with all the old copies of ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraterrestrial'' for the Atari. But the live-action ''Highlander'' TV show somehow managed to collect a modest fanbase, and so once again, the studio smelled money and cranked out a fourth movie called ''Endgame''. It turns out [[DarthWiki/SoBadItsHorrible it wasn't money they were smelling.]]
-->--'''[[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Noah Antwiler]]''' [[http://spoonyexperiment.com/highlander-series/ on]] ''{{Film/Highlander}}: Endgame''

->The Hollywood machine facing a writer's strike?\\

->Sometimes I think the ideal games industry for these people would be one without any players at all--where they can just shake a jarful of coins in front of a row of applauding monkeys and then go home with all the bananas.
-->-- '''''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation''''' on ''{{VideoGame/Titanfall}}''

->The manipulation began long before the release of the game. There were already ''Metal Gear'' fans who would have bought it and loved it based on the name alone. It's a bit difficult to remember that this game might've been the most anticipated product of its time: Sony was distributing VHS tapes with trailers. People were buying ''Zone of the Enders'' by the thousands just for a 20-minute demo. It was a massive step-up in terms of fidelity than what we'd seen before... The hype was massive, and throughout it all, they never once showed us what ninety percent of the game was going to look like. They never hinted that Raiden was going to be a thing -- he [[CoversAlwaysLie isn't even on the back of the box]] -- but for all intents and purposes, he's the main character of the game. But even ''after'' the game's launch, you'd be forgiven for not knowing that. After all, the first hour is a carefully-constructed [[TechDemoGame tech demo]] designed to [[PanderingToTheBase completely pander to fans]].
-->-- '''George Weidman''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-2YuPGYabw&feature=youtu.be on]] ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty''

-->-- '''Traditional [[{{Eagleland}} American]] proverb'''

-->--'''[[http://them0vieblog.com/2014/09/17/star-trek-voyager-caretaker-review/ Darren Mooney]]''' on ''StarTrekVoyager'', "Caretaker"

->Unfortunately, ''Voyager'' is not interested in exploring the limits of what ''Star Trek'' can be. It’s not [[WestCoastTeam the younger sibling]] in the same way that ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' was, and so it lacks the freedom to push the boundaries. ''Voyager'' is a show that seems to have the fate of [[{{UPN}} an entire network]] leaning on it. That means the network wants a safe bet. It wants something that has worked before. It wants a redux of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'', essentially.\\\

->Unfortunately, ''Voyager'' is not interested in exploring the limits of what ''Star Trek'' can be. It’s not [[WestCoastTeam the younger sibling]] in the same way that ''Series/DeepSpaceNine'' was, and so it lacks the freedom to push the boundaries. ''Voyager'' is a show that seems to have the fate of [[{{UPN}} an entire network]] leaning on it. That means the network wants a safe bet. It wants something that has worked before. It wants a redux of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'', essentially.\\\

->''"''VideoGame/JustDance: Greatest Hits'', or as it should be called, ''Just Dance: [[LargeHam GIMME ALL YO MONEH!]]''"''

It's why I'm no longer a fan, in the traditional sense, of Superman these days. ''Star Wars'' and Superman slowly broke me of an irrational dedication to something, because irrational dedication leads to exploitation. It's something I should have realized already as an outspoken critic of organized groupthink, but when it's fiction, I turned a blind eye.\\\
Mea culpa.\\\
It's why I can't write for the ''Superman Homepage'' any more....Maybe that's part of growing older, but then again, I know many people in their forties and fifties who are older than me that still don't get that you don't have to support a thing or believe it perfect just because you committed to it when you were five.\\\

->Since Angelina Jolie made Disney enough money to buy a small planet with that live-action mess ''{{Film/Maleficent}}'', and Disney is a greedy whore who can never have enough money, they’re making a live-action version of ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast'', which will no doubt gross $19 billion, because ''Beauty and the Beast''-obsessed dummies like me who get the hardcore feels for that movie and will go see it 27 times...Creator/EmmaWatson as Belle is all well and good, but I want to know who else has been cast in this future mess. I’m no casting director, but it’s pretty obvious who should play the rest of the characters from ''Beauty and the Beast''. Creator/KhloeKardashian ''IS'' the Beast. [[Creator/JonHamm The Hammaconda]] ''IS'' Gaston. {{Music/Rihanna}} ''IS'' that slutty feather duster and [[Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio Leo DiCaprio]] ''IS'' the horny feather duster-humping Lumière. Music/JustinBieber ''IS'' Mrs. Potts’ annoying teacup son Chip who we all hope “accidentally” gets put in a box marked FREE and thrown on the curb (seriously, Chip is [[TheScrappy THE WORST]]).\\\

->Since Angelina Jolie made Disney enough money to buy a small planet with that live-action mess ''{{Film/Maleficent}}'', and Disney is a greedy whore who can never have enough money, they’re making a live-action version of ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast, which will no doubt gross $19 billion, because ''Beauty and the Beast''-obsessed dummies like me who get the hardcore feels for that movie and will go see it 27 times...Creator/EmmaWatson as Belle is all well and good, but I want to know who else has been cast in this future mess. I’m no casting director, but it’s pretty obvious who should play the rest of the characters from ''Beauty and the Beast''. Creator/KhloeKardashian ''IS'' the Beast. [[Creator/JonHamm The Hammaconda]] ''IS'' Gaston. {{Music/Rihanna}} ''IS'' that slutty feather duster and [[Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio Leo DiCaprio]] ''IS'' the horny feather duster-humping Lumière. Music/JustinBieber ''IS'' Mrs. Potts’ annoying teacup son Chip who we all hope “accidentally” gets put in a box marked FREE and thrown on the curb (seriously, Chip is [[TheScrappy THE WORST]]).\\\

->Since Angelina Jolie made Disney enough money to buy a small planet with that live-action mess ''{{Film/Maleficent}}'', and Disney is a greedy whore who can never have enough money, they’re making a live-action version of ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast, which will no doubt gross $19 billion, because ''Beauty and the Beast''-obsessed dummies like me who get the hardcore feels for that movie and will go see it 27 times...Creator/EmmaWatson as Belle is all well and good, but I want to know who else has been cast in this future mess. I’m no casting director, but it’s pretty obvious who should play the rest of the characters from ''Beauty and the Beast''. Creator/KhloeKardashian IS the Beast. The Hammaconda IS Gaston. {{Music/Rihanna}} IS that slutty feather duster and [[Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio Leo DiCaprio]] IS the horny feather duster-humping Lumière. Music/JustinBieber IS Mrs. Potts’ annoying teacup son Chip who we all hope “accidentally” gets put in a box marked FREE and thrown on the curb (seriously, Chip is [[TheScrappy THE WORST]]).\\\

->''"If it ain't broke, '''don't fix it.'''"''

->''Film/PeeWeesBigAdventure'' is practically a religion to me, and there’s nothing I would like more than to let Paul Reubens take me to church. But Pee-wee is 30 years older now, and I’m not sure I want to see Pee-wee going on a cross-country adventure to find his lost Hoveround or trying to do the Tequila dance and breaking a hip. Aw, who am I kidding? I’ll be there on opening night.
-->--'''[[http://dlisted.com/2014/10/30/paul-reubens-confirms-that-another-pee-wee-herman-movie-is-definitely-happening/ Michael K.]]''', "Paul Reubens Confirms That Another Pee-wee Herman Movie Is Definitely Happening"