Network to the Rescue: Difference between revisions

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* Producer Joel Silver backed the making of ''[[The Matrix]]'' even though cyber-movies like ''[[Johnny Mnemonic]]'' and ''[[Strange Days]]'' had both failed miserably. Also, no one had even heard of the Wachowski brothers, nor did anyone think that [[Keanu Reeves]], [[Laurence Fishburne]], and Carrie Moss had any kind of "star-power". Oh well, luckily for us, Joel Silver saw it differently...

* A case where the [[Power of Friendship]] overlaps with this trope: When [[Robert Downey, Jr.]] was constantly in and out of drug-related rehab, producers were unable to find insurance on him, and thus he wasn't cast in movies anymore. [[Mel Gibson]], a personal friend of Downey since ''[[Air America]]'', personally paid the insurance on him when he starred in his movie, ''[[The Singing Detective]]''. Downey's performance in that movie ignited the huge comeback that climaxed with ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]'', ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'', and his surprise Oscar nomination for ''[[Tropic Thunder]]''.

* Even though the [[Star Trek (film)|2009 reboot]] of ''[[Star Trek]]'' was a success, remember that at the time Paramount went ahead with it, the ''Trek'' franchise was in a rut; at the time the new movie was announced, ''[[Star Trek: Nemesis]]'' flopped badly at the box-office, and ''[[Star Trek: ~~Enterprise|Star Trek~~ Enterprise]]'' had just been cancelled due to poor ratings.

* Even though the [[Star Trek (film)|2009 reboot]] of ''[[Star Trek]]'' was a success, remember that at the time Paramount went ahead with it, the ''Trek'' franchise was in a rut; at the time the new movie was announced, ''[[Star Trek: Nemesis]]'' flopped badly at the box-office, and ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' had just been cancelled due to poor ratings.

** Similarly ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country|Star Trek VI the Undiscovered Country]]'' was living in the shadow of the flop of The Final Frontier and the new restricted budget literally made the film impossible to make until a new head came in at Paramount, who knew director Nick Meyer personally and agreed to provide as much money as it would take so that the film could be made.

** Paramount has a considerable track record as a Studio To The Rescue. Consider the case of ''[[Forrest Gump]]'' above. Or, more famously, ''[[The Godfather]]''. Back in 1970, gangster movies were action flicks like the James Cagney version of ''[[Public Enemy]]'', not slow character dramas with lots of talking. And you certainly didn't make one with a completely unknown (and eccentric) director, a washed-up star, and a ton of people no one even heard of. Paramount did it; and the rest is history.

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* When networks either turned it down or imposed stupid limits on ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', the studio decided to make it syndicated, ''and'' renew it despite a poor first season. The studio gave the producers of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' almost complete freedom to deconstruct a gigantic franchise.

* Although ''[[Castle]]'' started off slow, and it would've been easy for ABC to cancel it, the network stuck with it, and has even renewed it for a third season. In the process the seem to have broken the Fillion Curse.

* Disney acquired the rights to ''[[Power Rangers]]'' as part of a larger buyout, and while they continued the show they never really knew what to do with it. It eventually got to the point where they stopped airing reruns, scheduled the show in a routinely-preempted [[Friday Night Death Slot|Death Slot]], and gave up on new episodes in favor of [[~~Re Cut~~]] old ones. Then Saban, the original owner of the franchise, came in and bought the rights back specifically on the grounds that Disney was wasting its potential.

* Disney acquired the rights to ''[[Power Rangers]]'' as part of a larger buyout, and while they continued the show they never really knew what to do with it. It eventually got to the point where they stopped airing reruns, scheduled the show in a routinely-preempted [[Friday Night Death Slot|Death Slot]], and gave up on new episodes in favor of [[Recut]] old ones. Then Saban, the original owner of the franchise, came in and bought the rights back specifically on the grounds that Disney was wasting its potential.

** Which it was. This is actually a case of this going incredibly well. Since the move to Nickelodeon, ratings for the show have more than tripled. In fact, ''Samurai,'' which airs at noon on Saturday, has actually outperformed the prime-time schedules for both Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel.

* When ''[[Glee]]'' was initially picked up, no one thought it would work simply because there had been so many other musical shows that had failed miserably, but FOX had total faith in it. The show is a ratings giant and had been nominated for ''19 EMMYS''. Look who's laughing now!

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== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[Dungeons ~~and~~ Dragons]]'' was the only real option for roleplayers for years. With the guiding hands of [[Gary Gygax]] and [[Dave Arneson]], the granddaddy of all [[RPG]]s inspired ''[[Final Fantasy]]'', and gave rise to popular novels featuring characters such as [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Drizz't Do'urden]]. However, the good times weren't meant to last - things started falling apart after Gygax sold the company to [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Lorraine Williams]], who proceeded to milk the franchise dry by oversaturating the market with new settings (such as ''[[Spelljammer]]'', which has become a [[Cult Classic]]), and launched disastrous [[Follow the Leader|rip-offs]] of their biggest competitor, ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]''. Eventually, this and her terrible attitude towards fans, where she would have TSR [[Kick the Dog|sue fans for ''even talking about D&D on dedicated forums'']] caught up with the company, killing TSR. Suddenly, the makers of MTG, [[Wizards of the Coast]], decided to rescue D&D by buying it out. Why? Not only would it give Wizards something to fall back on if ''Magic'' ever stopped selling, but Peter Adkison [[Big Name Fan|was a big fan of D&D]], and wanted to ensure its survival. More of the story can be found [http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/539/539628p1.html here]. It's perfect for bringing up around [[Fan Dumb|grognards]] who are complaining about how Wizards is ruining D&D through 4E.

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' was the only real option for roleplayers for years. With the guiding hands of [[Gary Gygax]] and [[Dave Arneson]], the granddaddy of all [[RPG]]s inspired ''[[Final Fantasy]]'', and gave rise to popular novels featuring characters such as [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Drizz't Do'urden]]. However, the good times weren't meant to last - things started falling apart after Gygax sold the company to [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Lorraine Williams]], who proceeded to milk the franchise dry by oversaturating the market with new settings (such as ''[[Spelljammer]]'', which has become a [[Cult Classic]]), and launched disastrous [[Follow the Leader|rip-offs]] of their biggest competitor, ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]''. Eventually, this and her terrible attitude towards fans, where she would have TSR [[Kick the Dog|sue fans for ''even talking about D&D on dedicated forums'']] caught up with the company, killing TSR. Suddenly, the makers of MTG, [[Wizards of the Coast]], decided to rescue D&D by buying it out. Why? Not only would it give Wizards something to fall back on if ''Magic'' ever stopped selling, but Peter Adkison [[Big Name Fan|was a big fan of D&D]], and wanted to ensure its survival. More of the story can be found [http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/539/539628p1.html here]. It's perfect for bringing up around [[Fan Dumb|grognards]] who are complaining about how Wizards is ruining D&D through 4E.

== Video Games ==

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* Was anyone expecting ''[[Capcom vs. Whatever|Tatsunoko vs. Capcom]]'' to be published internationally, as [[Public Medium Ignorance|most people don't know what a Tatsunoko is?]] Capcom USA went the extra mile and dealt with the crazy licensing issues involved in getting characters from [[Tatsunoko Production]].

* ''[[Red Dead Revolver]]'' was originally being developed by Capcom but was dropped. Rockstar Games bought the game in 2002 and completed it while giving it a [[Spaghetti Western]] feel. It did well enough to warrant the sequel, ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]''.

* ''[[Sakura Taisen]]'', being largely a [[Dating Sim]] series, has long been labeled a holy grail of localization, with plenty of hardcore fans in the West who knew there was little reason anyone should give the games a chance. Enter [[Nippon Ichi|NIS America]], who in April 2010 decided to give the US the fifth game in the series. Which was originally released in 2005. On the [[PlayStation 2]], a system that has been long since succeeded by the [[~~PlayStation~~ 3]]. And they even went through the trouble of having it ported to the Wii, a much more relevant system in this generation when it comes to games with such graphic quality.

* ''[[Sakura Taisen]]'', being largely a [[Dating Sim]] series, has long been labeled a holy grail of localization, with plenty of hardcore fans in the West who knew there was little reason anyone should give the games a chance. Enter [[Nippon Ichi|NIS America]], who in April 2010 decided to give the US the fifth game in the series. Which was originally released in 2005. On the [[PlayStation 2]], a system that has been long since succeeded by the [[Play Station 3]]. And they even went through the trouble of having it ported to the Wii, a much more relevant system in this generation when it comes to games with such graphic quality.

* [[Atlus]], and recently [[Nippon Ichi|NIS America]] are really the patron saints of this, at least in the RPG world. So many great, niche games which [[No Export for You|you would never expect to come to the States]] do so because of these companies.

** The same goes for [[XSEED Games|XSEED]]. Their announcement of localizing the [[Ys]] games made them heroes in the eyes of the Ys fandom (and the fact that they did a great job with the localization definitely doesn't hurt).

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