Friday, September 11

Dream Cast: Magic School Bus

Magic School Bus was a series of books focused on science and became a cartoon in the mid-90s, Ms. Fizz was voiced by Lily Tomlin and she was the teacher who took her class on a magic school bus that defied science to show science. I thought of casting kids but kids grow up too fast and if you guys see this years later, it wouldn't make sense. So I decided to cast young adults in a sequel movie, they are little older and Ms. Fizz tracks them down to teach them one last lesson before they graduate for High School and she retires.

Vanessa Beyer/Ms. Frizz
Vaness Beyer (Saturday Night Live) has the right amount of energy and comedy timing to portray the eclectic Ms. Frizz. Her pet chameleon Liz can always be played by CGI and it's a non-speaking character. The bus also does not speak.


Dorothy Ann
She was the one that always said "According to my research." Dove Cameron from Descendants and that twin show on Disney Channel. 

 Carlos
He was always making bad puns. Tyler Alaverez of Every Witch Way. Fans have paired together Dorothy Ann and Carlos, I'd pair them together, where Carlos is more fun-loving and Dorothy Ann is stricter.

Keesha
Keesha was smart and came up with solutions. Riele Downs from Henry Danger.

Phoebe
She was new to their school and always said, "At my old school." Willa Fitzgerald of MTV's Scream has that sweet aproachable-ness. 

Ralphie
The dense jock. I'd go with Adam Devine as a retained (held back) Ralphie, who was a chubby kid who grew up to be a jock. Adam Devine is best known for Workaholics and Modern Family. He also voices Pizza Steve in Uncle Grandpa on Cartoon Network.


 Arnold
He was the scary cat who always wanted to leave. Robert Capron (Rowley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid) was a ginger and chubby but he's now older and slimmer, with glasses, he can draw sympathy as Arnold. 


Tim
He had zero personality on the show, in my dream movie he would be the level-headed one, the voice of reason. I'd pick Tyrel Jackson Williams from Disney XD's Labrats. 


Wanda
She was the pushy one. She would leap before thinking. Arden Cho plays the shy and nervous but kickass Kira on Teen Wolf.


Janet
Arnold's trouble-making cousin. Ariel Winter (Modern Family's Alex) will be 18 next year but could still pass a teenager. This role would be different that intelligent and snarky Alex as Janet, I imagine more as a tougher troublemaker, maybe even a sexy one. 

Monday, September 7

Dream Casting: Captain N: The Game Master


Captain N was a 1989-1991 animated series that incorporated elements from Nintendo games. It starred a teenager named Kevin who gets sucked into Videoland to aid Princess Lana (exclusively for the series), Simon Belmont of Castlevania and other games, Megaman of the Megaman games, Kid Icarus (Pit from the Kid Icarus games), and semi-anthropomorphic Gameboy. They fight against Mother Brain of Metroid, Eggplant Wizard (villain of Kid Icarus), King Hippo (villain of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!) and Dr. Willy (Megaman villain). If they did this again, the characters might change as the most popular Nintendo characters these days are (besides Mario) Link (from Zelda), Pokemon, Donkey Kong, Sonic, Metroid, Kirby, etc. Well for old times sake, I'll 'dreamcast' the originals and a few others. I wouldn't add Pokemon because it is such a huge world, I wouldn't use Link and Zelda because Nintendo has said they don't want a Zelda movie since Link is supposed to be the gamers. I couldn't have Gameboy or even a DS because a DS couldn't have that sort of personality a Gameboy had in the cartoon. 



Captain N
I had a crush on the actor who played the live-action Kevin in the beginning, he just shot that one scene and was uncredited so never seen him again. In reality, a gamer like him would not be a football jock with a letterman jacket but a nerdy guy. These days there are cute nerds or adorkable guys. Zachary Gordon from Diary of a Wimpy Kid is now 17 and I think he'd do a great job, he's handsome but accessible. Instead of a Nintendo gun, he could have the Wii U controller.



Princess Lana
Lana was passive as a princess back in the late 80's but occasionally kicked a little butt. I don't like those princesses that kick butt, over sexualized but have no personality either. So I would want an equal to Captain N, a fighter, flawed but with personality and not helpless. I guess I'd go with Bella Thorne (Shake It Up, Scream Queens) but I'm sure in a few years, she'll be as forgotten as Miranda Cosgrove.


Simon Belmont
Simon was portrayed as stuck up and selfish in the cartoon, maybe he can be more of a silent warrior. In his last game, he had red hair and was a brute while in the cartoon, he was portrayed as an adventurer. I would like to see Taylor Kitsch who played John Carter, everyone gave him a bum rap but I think he'd do a good job.


Kid Icarus
He was portrayed as a plucky guy in the cartoon and small. Pit in the current games is portrayed much bigger. I would change him to be female but I am sure purists wouldn't like that. This one I couldn't come up with an actor.

 Megaman
He was portrayed as small and a kid in the cartoon, in the games and his own series, he is much taller and a little older. In this incarnation, I would see it as an aggressor and competitor to Captain N, a nick on his shoulder, a sort of teenage plucky guy. That's why I'd pick Josh Hutcherson (Hunger Games). He is cute, short, and a great actor, plus I wouldn't want him to be CGI or motion capture but be in the same suit.


Samus Aran
I was not going to use Samus of Metroid but I was going to use Donkey Kong but I realized we had too many males and not enough females. I would want Samus to have her own movie but maybe this could launch her into her own movie like Avengers has. Rita Volk would be a good choice, she plays Amy on Faking It on MTV. Samus appeared in a Captain N comic and he had a crush on her, I would like to see a love triangle between Samus, Kevin and Lana.


Kirby
This character would be CGI. I would add him as the 'cute' character. He was popular in the 90's and popular again. I would see him as a silent character.


Mother Brain
The main villain of Metroid and main villain of Captain N, she would obviously be CGI, a great voice would've been Joan Rivers but who would also be good is the voice of Ursula from the Little Mermaid.. Pat Caroll.


Eggplant Wizard
Kid Icarus' villain, he was a slapstick sidekick in the cartoon. I decided not to use King Hippo as the game Mike Tyson's Punch Out is pretty much forgotten. He of course would be CGI. Michael Donovan did his voice in the original and still does voices for stuff like Ninjago and Lego Star Wars so I don't see why he couldn't do it again.


King Dedede
Villain of Kirby, sometimes collaborates with him but I can him taking King Hippo's place as Eggplant Wizard's sidekick. He of course would be CGI. I would like to see Matthew Moy (Han from 2 Broke Girls) as his voice.


Dr. Willy
Megaman's villain, he can be the evil scientist sidekick of Mother Brain. I don't know why but I would picture super handsome John Slattery from Mad Men.