Battlefield Bad Company: Why It Should Make It To The Screen

Battlefield: Bad Company is a 2008 video game that was part of the very successful "Battlefield"

franchise. Battlefield's franchise can be summed up as a slightest less Michael Bay-ish, less ridiculously patriotic version of Call of Duty. That is about the size of it, it's a First-person shooter, bang bang, shoot shoot, westerners fighting [insert foreign nationality here] What set Bad Company apart from its sibling games was that threw in comedy into the mix, along with the fudamental action film characteristics. The game followed a rag-tag team of military screw ups who wind up on a quest for gold and accidently starting their own little war with one of the most elite mercenary armies in the world. In the past Bad Company was up for a TV adaption with a 2012 release however it never made it too development, here was the premise for that show

"The story will follow the squad of Bravo One Charlie who have exited the military life and entered the private sector. They will quickly realise that their commanding officer had used them to further the ends of a shadow unit within the government and now wants them dead in order to cover his tracks"

Now that is a generic war story, it missed Bad Company's charm, the humour, the fact these guys were idiots, bunched together into a battallion of connon fodder. They story they had derived from was Bad Company's inferior sequel that took itself far too seriously. With live-action adaptions of video games they tend to take the concept and develop a new story around so it's not a carbon copy, which is understandable but seeing the game came out in 2008, which is hundreds of years ago in the video game industry, as well as the game being largely over looked, its original plot could be used with a few changes to keep it fresh.

First lets look at the cast...

Casting

The principle cast wouldn't need to be that large, after all there are only 4 main characters, with only 2 others playing an important role in the story. There is the leader, Redford, the tough no nonsense black member of the team and only member who isn't a screw up. Sweetwater, the cowardly nerd. Haggard, the hillbilly type with an obsession with explosives, and Preston (your character in the game) the overall average "every-man" who ended up in Bad Company after one dumb mistake. While this does seems like a cliched grouping you'd expect in a high school teen movie, however I like to look at it like a satire on TV and films stereotypical pairings to follow for the audience to related to at least one character.

Now, seeing this would be a TV series, I'ved picked mainly TV actors as picking a bunch of hollywood megastars would be unrealistic

Preston Marlow: Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number Four, Magic Mike)

Sergeant Samuel "Red" Redford: Don Cheadle (House of Lies, Hotel Rwanda)

George Gordon Haggard: Danny McBride (Pineapple Express, Eastbound & Down)

Terrence Sweetwater:Samme Levine (Freaks & Geeks, Inglourious Basterds)

Zavimir Serdar: Ken Davitian (Get Smart, Borat)

The Legionnaire: William Fichtner

The Plot

Now the plot of the game is heavily derived from the 1999 movie "Three Kings," which follows three soldiers during the end of the first Gulf War trying to find Saddam's gold and them effectively going AWOL. Though where the two plots differ is in Three Kings the soldiers find themselves helping a village escape across the border in a heartwarming turn of events, in Bad Company the gang are out for themselves throughout their quest. Now while Bad Company could be made into a film, but would have to skip over much of the plot. the initial TV adaption was planned to be a one hour special, which would of ended in disaster. Bad Company's plot would work best as a mini-series, with each episode covering the events of each mission, more of less. The missions are full of menial tasks which could easily be trimmed off there are the essential points that would be needed. I feel the series have to play out much like the HBO series "Generation Kill," about the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The series is full of action however much of it is about them talking, idol chat to pass the time, and there is plenty of conversation between Sweetwater and Haggard that could easily be used for it.

Their random conversations could expand for great comedy

And that is why I think there should be a Bad Company television mini-series

What To Expect Being A City Person In A Small Town (Thanks To TV Shows And Movies)

Writers who were born or raised in a city or urbanised areas tend to have a general view on what towns and villages are like, the type that fall under the umbrella concept of "small-town America." Regardless of country, they all seem to have certain characteristics and features, or so we are told. In stories about small, close towns, one thing they like to have is a out-of-fish character, centeral or protagonist. These characters are always people from the big city, places like New York and San Francisco, who move for some reason or another and have to adjust to the shocking difference in surroundings. Thnks to TV shows and films we have a somewhat jaded idea of what small communities are like. Now some of these preconceptions are true in somecases, being an urban person (not like how some racists describe black people) and having spent time in a small rural town many times

And so, after going through different fish out-of-water stories of city to town moves, here is a list of things you can expect about rural life as a City-dweller, thanks to movies and TV.

...In no particular order

• Everything is a culture shock, it will all seem strangely backwards compared your old life.
• The Mayor is the person who is the richest/owns the most land/whose family has been part of the community for hundreds of years
• There is one main street in the town, three at the very most, where all shops are on
• There will be a butcher, a baker, a doctor's surgery, a general store, a green grocers, a bar, a diner or milkshake bar, a restaurant, a take-out establishment (e.g. pizza, chinese, indian) an arcade or something for the kids, hair dresser/salon, a Post Office
• Either all or most stores will start with the owner's names and then the store's purpose (e.g. Joe's Diner, McDonald Butchers, Jefferson Bakery)
• Also in the town, but not on the main street, there is car salesman, 
• If you have a degree in something, people will ridicule and judge you because they presume that you think you are better than them.
• Unless you are a doctor, in which case everyone thinks highly of you. And if you are single you are instantly the most eligible bachelor
• Because you have a degree, regardless of what it is in, people will say 'you're a smart guy' who doesn't need any help and who can 'figure it out' whenever you have a problem (e.g. Car trouble, plumbing)
• You will very quickly make an enemy after arrival. For males it is commonly the scariest person in town or one of the most influential members of the community. For females it is usually the wife of the mayor/most influential member of the community. applies for teenagers also, however it is usually the captain of the football team or school tough guy/bully. In all cases, it is unintentional and due to a misunderstanding or bad first impression
• Despite friendly atmosphere there is tension between pillars of the community. Chances of you getting roped into picking a side may vary.
• When you arrive you won't really know anyone but you will get to meet the whole community at a town festival or pie contest. Particularly if have come to the small town to be a new pillar of the community, i.e. new sheriff or town doctor.
• There's lots of town celebrations
• Depending on your reputation back in the city or what your job is, you will the talking point of the town.
• There is one elementary school and one middle/high school in the town
• There will be someone, younger than you to some degree, who is obsessed with the big city life and thinks you are the coolest person they know.
• When you first arrive into town, with a suitcase that's as big as you or with 5-6 bags, and wonder into the bar to ask for direction, everyone will turn to stare at you and the man playing the piano will stop. It will be mandatory for you to order a drink for everything to go back to normal.
• The town highschool will have an American football team with one player who could get a college scholarship and could go pro. Overbearing father optional.
• Church and town meetings are a big deal
• If you move to the small town with children between 13-19, they will initially hate it and you by proxy.
• You will hate the town at first and urgently want to leave, however you will end up staying for some cliched reason
• In varying cases, the mayor is evil
  
• There is no mobile phone reception
• The police are very relaxed and don't do their jobs properly.
• There will be a stereotypical Native-American resident who will give you advice and guidance when you need it, applies only to certain regions in America
• There will be someone who firmly believes that the country is better than the city, with lines about how folks in the town will always help each other out.
• Electricity is seemingly somewhat of a luxury and any time you wish you use it you have to crank up the generator. Note, this only applies when you move to the town by yourself.
• Everyone chops firewood themselves
• Rodents are twice a big than the ones in the city
• The bus that takes you to the town drops you off miles from the actual town so you have to walk the rest of the way, during your walk you will hitch a ride into town. whoever it is that gives you a lift will likely be you bestfriend for the duration of your time in the town
• The bus times are also spaced out and you would have to wait a week for the next bus out.
• Soon into your arrival you will fall in love with someone, unfortunately this person will be in a relationship and the odds their partner already hates you, even before they know you have feelings for their partner, are very high.
• Once you finally create a good enough reputation in the town you will eventually do something to make people hate you. You will then do something spectacular and above the call of duty that will redeem yourself
• You will learn who you really during your time there and it always turns out you are a fundamentally good person

So there you go, just a few things that we are led to believe life is like in the country when you're a city guy or gal. There are dozens of other things but these are just some of the basic all-rounders.

Now I'm not saying only doctors get sent to rural towns, however it is a recurring premise

UPDATE:

• When you move in your neighbours will bring over pies and other such food based welcoming gifts (Pot-roast likely)
• It is quiet in the mornings. Too quiet
• The air is also suspiciously clean and fresh
• Being a single dad makes you incredibly rare and you will be set up with almost every woman in town. The idea of you being caring male whose had to endure the hard life of raising a child is the most attractive quality for them 
• You can walk to wherever it is you need to go
• People leave their doors unlocked and don't understand and concern themselves with the same risks that city-dweller would frequently have to contend with
• Woman will always gossip (resulting in everyone knowing who you are 5 minutes into you arriving) and will gossip about who is the biggest gossip
• Are you a teenager who wants to drink, smoke illegally or make out with someone in secret, Under the bleachers at the school's sports field is the go-to spot
• However, if you are just planning on drinking a few beers you stole from your dad, go to you're friend's basement which is for some reason been turned into a recreational room instead a damp storage space.
• If the town is small enough, a bicycle is likely the most common mode of transport, other than walking
• If you're a teenage girl and you don't dress like a stereotypical girl people will assume you're a lesbian
• In the first few days you all eat take-out in the empty living room, using a box as a table
• Every morning, people stand in their front gardens with a hose and water the plants.
• People will invite you over for dinner, you say no but they'll insist....and insist, until you cave and agree to dinner.
• Your neighbours will ask you questions, just to simply to get know you, and suddenly jump into really intrusive and personal questions.
• You have to host a barbecue, otherwise you still get exiled from the community
• The men in the community will take great pride in their barbecue
• That guy you meant early into arriving will be super annoying but will quickly become a love interest
• There are tons of cul-de-sacs
• The PTA is taken very seriously

If They Got A Movie: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty is the famous first-person shooter video game franchise will 11 main titles, featuring 3 trilogies, with more presumably on the way.COD is sort of the 'apple' of the video game industry, releasing a product each year, however it is only a slightly different variation of the last with a new but not ground breaking feature. The games are basically modern versions of 80's action movies. Full of guns, explosions, men being menly men, fighting foreigners who are a threat to America and most of all freedom.

However what Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was a standout in the series. Before this point the franchise was based in World War 2, in the American's hour of glory, but Modern Warfare did exactly as it said on the tin. It was based in the not too distant future of 2011, game was released in 2007, follow two seperate protagonists and moved away from cliched Nazi villians to the more recent cliche of Russians and Middle-Eastern people. The game followed Sergeant Paul Jackson of the US Marine Corp as he and his unit move through the unnamed middle-eastern country (Iraq) firing blindly and blowing up whatever was in their way. The second and more important protagonist in the game is Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish of the British Special Air Service. MacTavish and is his band of dark and morally questionable SAS soldier sneak their way across Russia. The overarching story of the story is the search for nuclear weapons, which spans across the globe and interweaves between the two protagonists.

Firstly, who plays who

The Cast

John MacTavish:

While in the 1st game you never see MacTavish's face you do however see him in the two sequels. A Scotsman and new recruit to Bravo team, he is relatively young. Hence why I have chosen Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones, Spooks: The Greater Good) My first pick would of been Ewan McGregor, how as he is in his forties he wouldn't of really worked. Having Harrington as one of the leads is particularly useful as he would be able to attract audience thanks to his role as Jon Snow in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

John Price

Captain John Price is the leader of the SAS Bravo team. One of the few characters that appear in the entire series, making him one of the most important characters. While the character is voiced by actor Billy Murray, for the screen I feel Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight, Leon: The Professional) would be best suited for the role

Gaz

Gaz is another member of the SAS team and Price's unofficial second in command. I believe British actor Toby Kebbell (RocknRolla, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) would play the role well

Nikolai

Nikolai is one of Price's alley in Russia who acts as a pilot for the team when required it. For this I picked Danish-American actor Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Ring, Eastern Promises)

Imran Zakhaev

Zakhaev is the main antagonist of the game. The Head of the Russian Ultranationalists who has controls of the nuclear missiles. Czech actor Karel Roden (Hellboy, Bourne Supremacy) is my choice

I've not cast the Americans because if the story was turned into a movie, would the Marines really feature in it?

The Story

Your standard action movie nowadays lasts between 2-3 hours. An awful lot of stuff happens in Modern Warfare, too much to fit into one film. So obviously certain things would have to be cut, one of which probably being Paul Jackson's story. Obviously there could be cuts to the Middle East for narrative but many of Jackson's mission could be left out

• Charlie Don't Surf
• The Bog
• War Pig
• Most of 'Shock and Awe'

The film could cut back and forth  Jackson to give perspective to what is going on, especially to the moment the nuke is detonated. This would be important to include as the nuke was one of defining moments in the entire trilogy.

The film would follow MacTavish and his team for most of the story, however would skip or shorten down mission for time

• F.N.G
• Hunted
• Death From Above
• All Ghillied Up
• Most of "One Shot, One Kill"
• Ultimatum

Hopefully after trimming these events off you could fit the story into a normal feature film.

What do you think? who would you want cast in what role?

How To Make An Animated Film

Animated films are a staple of the film industry in this day in age, having come into major prominence in the past decade. The most well know studios that make animated films are likely Disney and Pixar, now part of the Walt Disney Production family. For the sake of this piece I shall focus on the method of animation that Pixar practices, along with multiple other companies, CGI-animation.

Some of the main Western animation studios that deal in CGI are:

• Disney
• Pixar
• Dreamworks
• 20th Century Fox
• Paramount Pictures
• Blue Sky Studios

Combined, these studios have created over 50 films, not including the numerous animated films each studios has upcoming in the next 2-4 years as well as the many more they have planned for release in the next 5-7 years. Many of these films span the past 20 years, with varying storys and styles, however for the most part they seem to follow certain steps and rules when it comes to the film. And so, here are a few of the steps to take if you want to make a successful animated film.

1: Get normal actors or celebrities to voice characters

There is a whole industry full of professional voice actors skilled and trained to do a wide range of voices to convey various emotions and personalities. But why hire them when you could just hire normal actors whose faces people will recognise, despite it being an animated film, to talk in their normal voices. Sure a voice actor's pay would be a fraction of standard hollywood actors but hey, who needs rational thinking in this business. Hell you don't even need actors, you could get any celebrity to do voice-over work, get a pop-star to do a voice, they have no experience in acting but you're just having them say words.

This is all done for the sake of commercial success. If I were to say names such as John DiMaggio, Tom Kenny, Tara Strong or Frank Welker, how long would it take for you to google their names, only to find out they've done the voices of some of your favourity childhood characters (Tom Kenny, possibly best known as the voice of SpongeBob Squarepants and the Ice King from Adventure Time, is actually the man left hand side of the above image) Studios hire well known film and TV actors as theie names bring traction to the films, hence why their names are plastered over advertisements, with familiar faces it helps with promotion when it comes to press interviews or guest appearences on chat shows. People won't watch something if they don't know of the person.

It's a sad reality...

2: Have a "Fish out of water" plotline

This is a very popular feature to animated films. The Fish out of water premise refers primary to a character being out of their comfort zones or doing something completely contradictory to what they usually/are meant to do. I am yet to understand why this story structure is used so much, I have one theory. My theory is that it is meant to appeal to the everyman, telling them that you can succeed no matter what the surroundings, no matter what the hurdles, or something cliched like that

A list of animated films that follow this plotline:

• Skrek: The Monster must become the hero and save the princess
• Rio: Bird that grows up in Minnesota is sent to Rio De Janeiro
• Robots: Small town robot moves to the big city
• Madagascar: 4 zoo animals are reintroduced into the wild
• Over the Hedge: A selfish racoon enters a suburb and also learns the meaning of family
• Monsters vs Aliens: Monsters become to heroes
• Megamind: The Villain must become the Good Guy
• The Croods: Sheltered Cave-girl must venture into the jungle
• Turbo: A snail becomes lightening fast
• Cars: Famous racecar ends up in small town America
• Wall-E: Garbage disposal robot from a deserted earth travels into space
• Flushed Away: Posh upper-class rat gets lost in the sewers

The list goes on but as it shows there are two other trending plots within the framework of the Fish Out Of Water. The first is the idea of a redemption story, learning the meaning to good and saving the day. The second is the more interesting plot device, it follows the story much of early American literature is films, the pursuit of the American Dream. Coming from small, humble and quiet beginnings (Small town America) and adventuring into the World (the Big City) to discover who you are, find love and to make a name for yourself. In animated films this is more portrayed by having the character live a dull existence generally before being thrust new surroundings, no matter what they might be, for them to achieve their dream.

And Speaking of Fish

3: Have non-human main characters

Now there have been successful animated films that are about a bunch of human however it is seemingly more commonly to have the characters be made up of non-humans, or at least not have the main characters as humans.

• Shrek series: An Ogre and a talking Donkey
• Kung Fu Panda: A Panda, Tiger, Monkey, Viper, Mantis, Crane
• Cars: Nascar Racecar, Tow Truck, Carrera
• Toy Story series: A bunch of Toys
• Monster, inc/university: Monsters
• Ratatouille: A Rat
• Madagascar: Zebra, Lion, Giraffe, Hippopotamus, Penguins
• Sharks Tale: Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse, Shark
• Bee Movie: A Bee
• Monsters vs Aliens: A Giant, A blue blob, Fish-Ape, Human-Cockroach hyrid
• Megamind: Alien
• Turbo: Snail
• Ice Age series: Sloth, Mammoth, saber-tooth tiger
• Rango: A Chameleon
• Barnyard: a Cow
• Over The Hedge: A racoon, turtle, squirrel, skunk, porcupine, oppossum, 

Again the list goes on. The preference for non-human characters in CGI films is another regularity I struggle to understand. Some studies suggest that the more human animation becomes realistic the more we reject it. However there are many holes in these theories but lets not get into that now. With the audience's apparently love for animated animals instead of people you could theoretically have a commercially successful film if it was simply about a bunch of animals on a farm.

Just maybe not like this

So there you have it. 3 simple ways to help you understand what makes an animated film. Anything I missed out?

If Die Hard Got Rebooted

Hollywood currently has a running trend in rebooting things, from all genres and all decades, and reboots look to be dark, gritty and realistic.

Die hard is a quintessential action movie franchise. Classic bad guys (accents) gun fights, badass one liners and explosions (not Michael explosions but good looking chaos) Detective John McClane is a heavy drinking, chimney smoking, marriage failing, barefooted, gun carrying on a plane kind of a guy. A real man’s kind of man, a product of the 80’s film industry. In reality they would almost never reboot the series, just spit out sequels with an aging Bruce Willis with over-the-top Michael Bay style action and tamed language.

However, out of hypitheticals and pure bordom let's say they reboot the series, what would it look like? and who could/would they get?

Firstly there would obviously be some changes in the story. With reboots they like to try to keep closer to source material. Die is based on a book....or of. Steven E. de Souza and Jeb Stuart, who wrote the screenplay for Die Hard, took some major creative liberties with "Nothing Lasts Forever." Lets look at the changes made from the original story

• The main character is named Joe Leland, who is a retired NYPD detective
• It is his daughter, Stephanie GENNARO! who is at Christmas party
• The company she works for is Klaxon Oil Corporations, an American company
• Female "Terrorists"
• Anton Gruber instead of 'Hans'
• A far less happy ending

There are various others...

THE CAST

Now lets just clear this out of the way firstly, I am going to name who I think could play these iconic roles (if you disagree, feel free to suggest your own but try to be nice about it)

John McClane

Bruce Willis' iconic role. Filling the boots of the role that made Bruce Willis the action man we know today. Getting someone to be the John McClane we know and love would be impossible but one of the benefit to a reboot is that it's aim isn't to have carbon copies of past portaryals but to reinvent the character and as the book features themes such as guilt, alcoholism and the complexity of the human mind, you could bet they would make it into the reboot.

My personal choice would Jensen Ackles (Supernatural, Days of our lives) Now Jensen hasn't done an awful lot of film acting, he's primarily a TV actor but the same could be said for Bruce before he played the character. Ackles is best known for playing Dean Winchester in The CW's Supernatural and with the long running series coming to an end I think it would be a perfect time for him to break into films. Dean and John do have similar character attributes and seeing as Jensen Ackles has played the character for the past 9 years I think would be safe to say he has the character down.

But seriously, lets not kid ourselves. Hollywood would simply go after your usual Hollywood hunk or action star. Obviously yes Jensen Ackles is a good looking guy but what would set him apart is that he'd be a new face on the big screen for audience.

Hans Gruber

Played by British actor Alan Rickman, Hans Gruber is the leader of the criminals, posing as terrorists, who plan to steal $640 million in Bear Bonds, only to be foiled by McClane. With Rickman's smooth British accent it would be in my professional opinion that you would need another British actor to take the role of the German genius.

I narrowed it down to two of possibly the most popular British actors at the moment, Tom Hiddleston and Benedict Cumberbatch. Both highly successful British actors who have shown to be able to do straight faced and dry characters. Cumberbatch with Sherlock Holmes and Hiddleston with his Loki in the Marvel film universe.

Alternatively you could get Austrian/German actor Christoph Waltz to play the role, who was my third choice

Al Powell

Now in the simpliest description, Al is a large black police Sergeant who John McClane ropes into his perdicament and quickly befriends. If you were wanting to cast a similar actor for the role you may run into one odd obstacle. In the original Al Powell was played by Reginald VelJohnson, now think of large black actors today, the list isn't awfully long. Sure he could be a large white Sergeant (a much longer mental) or just not big but they added dimensions to the character.

In my mind I'd cast Craig Robinson. Yes, he's a comedy actor but I feel a lot of the rapport between John and Al is rather humorous. I'd also like to see Robinson's serious acting when the film discusses Al's Refusal to fire his gun.

Holly Gennaro McClane

While in the book it is his daughter held hostage it would only really work if John was older, they would also want to keep Holly as the damsel in distress character for romantic purposes. Played by Bonnie Bedelia originally.

I would want Alison Pill to play Holly. Probably an unsual choice to some however it is because of Hollywood's need to just cast overly attractive females to bring in a male audience (It's Die Hard, a majority of the audience would be guys anyway) Using the phrase unconventionally attractive probably would be wrong of me when stating my choice of Alison Pill but it is one of the reasons, along with the fact I was a big fan of her in HBO's "The Newsroom."

Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi

Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi is the head executive of the Nakatomi Corporation who is killed in the first act of the film after refusing to cooperate with Gruber. Obviously in a reboot he wouldn't need to be Japanese, seeing how it is an American company in the books, he and the company could be from country but for the sack of this piece lets just stick with Japan.

My choice is Ken Watanabe

Harry Ellis and Richard Thornbury

Two sleaze balls. Ellis is a cokehead executive at Nakatomi and Thornbury a local report who does anything he can to exploit the situation to his gain. Both are arrogant, which lands one being punched in the face and the other with a bullet wound.

For these roles two actors came to mind, both could play either role. Bill Hader and Will Forte, best known for their work on Saturday Night Live. Along with the sleazy characteristics of Thornbury and Ellis there is a bit of room for some comedy elements

When it comes to the rest of the cast I haven't given it much thought, most other characters don't feature too much. Deputy Chief Robinson, the Johnsons from the FBI, Grubers Men, Argyle, these roles could be played many low key actors

So what do you think. Obviously Hollywood would never make this kind of film. A Die Hard reboot would a wreck and hopefully Hollywood are aware of that. They'd hold off until at least Bruce Willis had been dead for a few years, to ensure he doesn't come looking for retribution. Who would you want in the roles? and who do you think could direct it?

How I Met Your Mother: Why People Got Annoyed

Now we all know “How I met your mother,” which ran from 2005 to March of this year. The CBS sitcom follows Ted Mosby as he tells his children about how he met their mother. (The show title kind of gives it away) Ted tells of his adventures with his 4 best friends Marshall, Lily, Robin and Barney. For the audience this story of how he met Tracy McConnell, his future wife and mother of his children, lasted 9 years for the audience. Throughout the series there were multiple women Ted goes out with and for us; we just had to keep guessing if “this one” was the mother.

How I met your mother was a great show, as evident with the fact it lasted just short of the 10 year mark. For each generation there is a sitcom that is thee show that we relate to the most and find comfort in. The 90’s had Friends, the 80’s had Cheers, in the 70’s it was M.A.S.H (obviously not as relatable as the others but it summed the decade) and the 60’s had Happy days.

Now I found that the show was this generation’s Friends, in my opinion. While both shows had many laughs, they also approached some very serious issues. For friends, sexuality was a recurring theme as in the 1990’s it was becoming more accepted and embraced. HIMYM (I’ll be using this abbreviation to save from repeating the title) had themes such as love, death, family and the future, particularly following your dream but also having to face reality 

• Ted wanted to be an architect but went to be a professor
•  Marshall wanted to save the world through environmental law but ended up in corporate law various times but finally achieves his dream and also gets progress in his quest of doing good by becoming a supreme court Judge
•  Lily wanted to be an artist, settled as a kindergarten teacher and later an art consultant
•  Robin dreamt of being a famous journalist but spent most of the series in low level journalism jobs but eventually achieves your dream working at the World Wide News
•  Barney doesn’t go on the same journey as the others. In terms of employment Barney’s job is vague and well playing. In much of the series he remains the same but his development is more in lifestyle than a the job

While we love the series many of us have been disappointed and angered by the ending. Now the series ended with a two part episode “Last Forever.” The finale showed us the first meeting of Ted and Tracy as well as the 25 years between them meeting and 2030 when future Ted begins the story.

Where they went wrong

Season 9 was an awkward one, having almost the entire season span across a single weekend. Now it’s not to say that nothing happened, the season was a pivotal one. It was the wedding of Barney and Robin, the woman Ted has had feelings for since season 1 and his best friend. (In Barney’s eyes) A lot was going on, with the wedding, Marshall and Lily moving to Italy and Ted secretly leaving for Chicago. It was clear they were building up to an emotional end, telling us how even the tightest of gangs can drift apart. While the season did feel stretched and our annoyance as we waited for Ted’s meeting of Tracy, it was a good one….up until the finale

The finale begins with a look back to the first season when they first meet Robin. Cut to the present and it’s the wedding reception and Ted leaves half through but has an emotional good. As he is leaving he sees Tracy at the train station, finally they are going to meet, nope. Cut to the next day and Ted isn’t in Chicago. He’s at MacLaren and talks about how we met Tracy.

• 2015: Ted is planning the wedding (should point out we still haven’t seen the meeting yet) and we find out Tracy is pregnant. Postpone the wedding
• May, 2016: they finally meet up again like the good old days and then we find out Barney and Robin got divorce after 3 years
• October, 2016: Halloween party reunion and Robin realises she should of gotten together with Ted
• 2018: Everyone except Robin meet up and Marshall announces he’s going to be a judge
• 2019: Robot wrestling. Robin is still absent and Barney announces he’s going to be a father, he doesn’t know the mothers name
• 2020: Ted see’s Robin after so many years apart. Cut to hospital waiting room where Barney officially a father. He holds his daughter and gets emotional. Ted renews his proposal. They get married and they see Robin again
• 2024: Tracy Mosby dies of an unspecified illness

Cut back to the present at the train station, Ted finally talks to Tracy and it is love at first sight. Finally back to 2030 where Ted finishes his story of how he met their mother. His children call him out on his story, saying their mother is barely in it and it is just a way for Ted to talk about how he loves Robin. They convince him to ask her out. We see future Robin with her many dogs and Ted shows up with a blue French horn.

THE END

Now let’s breakdown why this episode annoyed us

Firstly, with the divorce between Robin and Barney it basically makes their story arc from half way of season 8 (episode 12: The final page, part 2) along with season 9 void and pointless. I get that it is giving the realistic message that something it just doesn’t work out but still. Their divorce is so abrupt that it makes for a terrible pay off to their story.

Secondly, they spoil Barney as a character. For a lot of the show Barney remains much of the same while all the others develop. It is season 6 where Barney begins to blossom. He begins his journey with trying to find his father which shows some of Barney’s real emotions and how the abandonment has led to Barney being emotionally distance. By season 7 it become evident Barney is in love with Robin but cannot do anything because he wishes not to ruin her relationship with her boyfriend at the time Kevin. Come season 8 Barney flipped upside-down with his commitment to Robin as for years Barney stated he would never get married. Barney dedicates himself to Robin and stops his womanizing. Barney’s wish of settling down is a moving arc for him to have and it would round off his story arc well if they stopped there. However, once Robin and Barney are divorced that arc is tossed aside and Barney is then just a much older version of his season 1-5 self. He is again a serial womanizer, preying on younger women and even once he gets “girl 31” pregnant he thinks it is the end of times and never actually remembers her name. It is touching that Barney falls in love again when he meets his daughter.

Then there is the death of the mother. While I do think it was moving it was mainly irritating. Tracy McConnell only really becomes a character in the final season and even at that it is padded out so they Ted is the last to meet her and we barely see anything of them first falling in love. There is the train platform and their first date but then they skip forward to when they are clearly in a serious relationship. We get to see them throughout the years but they then skip a decade in time. Seeing briefly that she is dead, no explanation, just 30 seconds of her in hospital with Ted by her side. It’s extremely emotion with Future Ted narrating how he always loved her no matter what happened. We get to see them truly together for the extended finale but she’s not even there in the end being killed off just before the big climax.

Finally, what I possibly hated the most was the total copout that was Ted and Robin getting together. Ted and Robin were the Rachael and Ross and for years fans had speculated that Robin was the mother but the show creators frequently had Future Ted refer to her as Aunt Robin and with the discovery she was unable to have children there was no way she could be the mother. So with knowing it was never going to happen we all settled ourselves, coming to terms and eagerly anticipating the Mother to arrive so we could get closure, which came far too late. And finally we get the mother so everyone can live happily ever after but there is the divorce and Robin constantly thinking about how she should have gotten together with Ted, well too late lady you missed your chance. And then the mother dies and the show finishes with Ted getting together with Robin. That was possibly what grinded my gears the most. What that basically said “you know those 9 years you spent on this show waiting to meet the mother? Well forget that, he’s going to end up with his friend you kept rejecting him.”

How they could have ended it

Now I’ll say this, all these endings are pretty farfetched and probably would have been more frustrating than the actual ending. And yes, I am just ripping of other endings

•    Barney doesn’t exist and is a manifestation of Ted’s mind to guide him, Fight Club style
• The whole gang, and all the women he dated, are a manifestation of Ted’s mind
• Once Ted finishes the story the camera zooms out to show the house is in a snow globe being held by an autistic Barney and the rest of the gang are just people who work in the home he is in
• After years of not seeing Barney dies and at the funeral they meet his daughter who is all grow up. It turns out Barney was an excellent father
• Tracy still ends up in hospital but it is due to her heart, she is able to get a transplant which saves her life. As it turns out it was Robins. Who loved him and would always want him to be happy
• They’re in Purgatory
• It ends with Tracy waking up in the middle of the night. It was all just a dream of her where she met her dream man
• Marshall sits Daisy and Marvin down and starts to tell them how he met their mother. They sigh and groan but Marshall says “don’t worry, I’ll keep it short.” Cut to black, the end

To conclude, the ending seemed rushed, cramming such a long passage of time into 45 minutes. In a way I’ll the show, like I said, it was the sitcom of our generation and now that it’s over, what do we have? Big Bang Theory, Mike & Molly, Two and a half men and the Exes. Finally I’ll say this; my favourite part of the whole finale was the very end, the credits. With the season 1 shots and the freeze frames with the names. Truly classic ending. I'd happy just rewatch it just for that clip

Would you of preferred one of those other endings? How did you find the finale? Like it? Hate it?

Why the Big Bang Theory shouldn't have 10 seasons

So it was recently released that CBS has renewed the Chuck Lorre show “Big Bang Theory” but what is the most surprising part of it all is that it has been renewed for three more seasons. Not 1, not 2 but 3 season, meaning that CBS is taking a gamble and putting all their eggs into the basket of the show still having good ratings (or whatever other kind of metaphor works here) So the show will have 10 seasons and run up through to 2017, meaning that I will have gone through all major stages of the education system with this show still on.  

Now anyone who knows me knows I hate the Big Bang Theory, I think it is mediocre and poorly written. I’ve never been a fan of Chuck Lorre in general. But even putting my dislike for the show aside, it shouldn’t be getting 10 seasons, Chuck Lorre’s “Two and a Half Men” also shouldn’t have gone over 10 seasons, but I’ll get to that later. There are few Sitcoms that should be allowed to make it 10 seasons. Those types are either family based or shows with what I call the “Friends Structure.” Making it to 10 isn’t even a good thing in reality, by 10 the show will have run out of good ideas; it started running out of ideas by season 5, and will have jumped the shark.

The reason why sitcoms based around families work and are able to last for so long is that as time passes new plotlines develop, allowing them to continue. The kids in the family grow up and start to go through puberty, that’s at least 5 storylines alone. There’s the breaking voice, hair on your genitals, wet dreams, boy/girl problems. Look at any long-running sitcom that has kids in them, when the actors hit puberty, it became part of the plot.

The other sitcom format is what I call the “Friends Structure,” it is a structure that has been employed years before Friends but I doubt you’d get the meaning if I said the “Happy Days Structure.” The Friends structure, in its barest form is basically where it is just a group of friends, each unique and separate from one another and bring something different to the table. Obviously there are things that connect the characters; otherwise they wouldn’t be friends, they share hobbies, jobs, homes, genetic makeup. The characters are different from one another for two reasons

(1) By having a vast array of characteristic it makes it easier for the audience to relate as they’ll connect to something

(2) With a group of very different characters there multiple situations that each character can get into, meaning there are inventive plotlines to last years.

As the structure suggests, Friends is a classic modern example of this. First, let us look at the 6 principle cast members. Joey the dim-witted ladies’ man, Chandler the sarcastic self-loather with a rough past, Ross the geek with a bad luck streak in terms of marriage, Monica the control freak who has an interesting love life, Rachel the shallow ex-rich girl who spends the first half of series growing and finding herself (in a sense) and then there is Phoebe the wild child. I’ve never understood how they even became friends with Phoebe in the first place; after all she is rather dangerous and perhaps a bit insane. So with this somewhat ragtag group of friends there are various comical situations they can get into. And one of the things that made Friends so moving is that they also had some very serious and moving plotlines. Here are just some:

·        Divorce (a lot of it)

·        Dying alone

·        Relationships

·        Jobs and financial stability defining class

·        Same-sex couples

·        Sexuality/gender

·        Infertility

·        Adoption

·        Missing parents

·        Beauty and attractiveness being defined by society (Monica and her weight)

·        Child custody

·        Pregnancy

·        Death

·        Alcoholism

·        Employment (Unemployment, being in a job you hate and following your dream)

And I’m skimming over the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Friends addressed a lot of serious issues throughout its running and add those to the just straight comedy situations of being an average 20 something New Yorker and you have stories that lasted them a decade, with the odd clip show thrown in every now and again.

The Show

Now before I get started, let me just vent all my problems with the show before I critically look at the show from an unbiased perspective.

Now my beef is with Chuck Lorre and his writing team, I have nothing against any of the actors; they are just doing their job. I dislike all of Lorre’s shows and considering he is currently overseeing 3 separate shows (Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Mike & Molly) tells you they don’t spend awfully long on the jokes.

It is said Lorre made nerds cool, which is bullshit. He made what he thinks nerds are like ‘cool.’ I may sound like a grumpy nerd elitist but, we really aren’t like that. Yes there are people like those in the show and they are the people the media likes to focus on because they are funny. The rest of us have other, more important parts of our lives to worry. Sure, we might sit around discussing pop culture or argue who would win in a fight Superman or Thor but that is only when we have free time, which we don’t really have because most of us have jobs or lectures to go it. Yes, we wear t-shirts with superhero logos on them but we do have only clothes and since nerds are cool now tons of people wear them to seem nerdy and cool.

Then there is the referencing that is woeful. They’ll be midway through a scene and something happens or someone says something and then someone else says something that makes a very, very vague reference to a comic, TV show, film or game.

They enter a competition of some kind and are beat by bunch of children so someone says “Now we know how the storm troopers felt after the battle on Endor” *Cue laughter*

Now to the best of my knowledge that hasn’t happened in the show, yet, I just made that joke up on the spot and it could fits right into the show, the jokes are that easy. They make a joke with a reference and then nothing after it, you might have Penny enquire about the reference and they try to explain and it makes no sense to her *Cue more laughter* The humour is very one level, with jokes being made and nothing coming of it later in the show. Sitcoms that get it right are shows from the UK. For example, shows written by Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan will have a small joke made at the beginning of an episode that then slowly gets referenced to throughout the show, slowly building up the big punch line in the end.

Then there is the fact these nerds are meant to be super smart. Three of them have a Ph.D. and one with a Master, which they mock him for despite the fact a Masters is pretty hard work to achieve in its own right, and they can’t seem to do simple everyday tasks, which is ridiculous. Not knowing the rules to a sport is understandable because you might just not follow it but genius or not, the tasks they struggle with are one they all will have had to learn how to do early in their life. The other problem with them being geniuses and have a Ph.D. is in how they spend their time. They spend most of their time hanging out in the comic book store or hanging out/bickering in Sheldon and Lenard’s apartment, playing video games or watching films. That’s what we, the general population, do (obviously maybe change the comic book store to somewhere else) In reality geniuses spend a lot of their time writing papers, trying to solve some big questions of life or advance mankind. Hanging out and doing nothing is something the normal nerd does.

Ok, I think I got it all out, now I’ll try to explain why the show shouldn’t be getting 10 seasons.

Firstly, the fact the characters are basically the same, with just small variations, is the first problem.

• There is Lenard Hofstadter, who is meant to be the main character, is the ‘normal’ one. Lenard is a super smart experimental physicist. Lenard spends much of the first 2 seasons trying to get Penny and eventually gets together with her by season 5.
• Sheldon Cooper, the oddball. While many just find his weirdo behaviour hilarious he is really just showing signs of either autism or Asperger but still people laugh away. With an IQ of 187 Sheldon is the Super Dooper smart theoretical physicist who studies string theory and quantum mechanics.
• Rajesh Ramayan Koothrappali, the ethnic one who cannot talk to women for the first 6 seasons of the series unless he drinks alcohol. He works as a particle astrophysicist is super rich. 
• Howard Wolowitz, the dummy of the group because he is an engineer, despite he is the only one who has contributed to the real world. Howard the Jewish one and I mean the JEWISH one. Howard is a major stereotype of the Jewish people, if he was an accountant he basically would have been the whole package.
• Penny, the Blonde one with boobs.

With the exception of penny, the principle cast are all the same character type but with small differences pretty much all based on clichés and stereotypes. Even Penny is just one big cliché, an actress from the mid-west who moves to LA for her big break but ends up working as a waitress, stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The nerds are similar and they work together, meaning they spend around 12 hours together in total. This means that they all get into similar situations, either together or one at a time, resulting with them having to recycle storylines.

The premise of the show is, at its core, about a Lenard trying to get the hot girl next door, Penny. In the first few seasons there is the obvious on again-off again romance with them and they finally get together long-term in the fifth season, so basically the premise is mute and they can end the show but no, we then must watch the pursuit of love for Howard and the initially forced relationship on Sheldon. Howard gets together with Bernadette, a waitress/microbiology researcher, who he later marries. Sheldon enters a relationship with Amy Fowler, a neurobiologist. And Rajesh remains singles, having a brief relationship in season 6. So most of this occurs by season, pretty much everyone gets their girl, curtains close, thee end, right? Nope. Season 6 and onwards becomes basically about a bunch of couples trying to do couple things, a premise already taken by CBS’ Rules of Engagement. The series has been becoming stale over the years and could have easily ended by season 5, With Howard marrying Bernadette and going into space to the International Space Station. Season 5 ends with everyone watching Howard’s ship launching on TV, during this penny and Lenard hold hands in comfort, along with Amy and Sheldon doing the same. Finishing the show here would have worked, with everyone embracing each other. It certainly means the show wouldn’t have over stayed its welcome.

And if the network demanding another season Lorre could have done something no one would have expected. At the end of season 5, as Howard’s ship launches there is a freak malfunction and the ship explodes, Challenger style. Then by season 6 it’s been a year isn’t Howard’s death, however everyone is still coming to terms with it. Perhaps Penny has landed a decent role on TV and is together with Lenard. Amy and Sheldon are in the alternative relationship they are in the actual show. And Rajesh is close with Bernadette, perhaps together romantically or spend the season building towards them getting together and you end the Show at that. Yes it would be a shock to the system and sometimes that really works for a show, it would be a landmark episode, people would talk about it. Sure people would get mad but that happens. Shows that have had this kind of episode are:

•  How I met you mother (Season 6, episode 13)
• Scrubs (Season 3, episode 14)

To conclude, the Big Bang Theory should not get to go to 10 seasons and should have probably ended 2 seasons ago. There are only a few shows that should be able to make it to season 10, at the most. And finally, the Big Bang Theory is a poor show, but I digress

What do you think about this news? Are you a fan of the show?