Running the Asylum: Difference between revisions

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*** While Abrams was admittedly a casual fan, his colleagues and screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are themselves admitted fanboys.

** [http://stardestroyer.net/Empire/Essays/BrainBugs.html This admittedly pro-Star Wars fan] illustrates a theory of how this might have happened to Star Trek canon.

*** And in case anyone still thinks "Asylum" is too strong a word, this article exposes a downright schizoid trend of growing [[Epileptic Trees|strange stuff]] out of initially innocuous details.

*** And in case anyone still thinks "Asylum" is too strong a word, this article exposes a downright schizoid trend of growing needless [[Epileptic Trees|strange stuff]] out of initially innocuous details.

*** There's also [http://www.stardestroyer.net/Nemesis/Pictorial-4.html this] mockery of the plot:

{{quote|'''DATA''': Shouldn't I go? Or a commando team? What's up with this [[This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself|"mano a mano", "I must face him alone"]] shit? You're not a Jedi Knight, you know.

'''PICARD''': I know. But this is what happens when you let fanboys write scripts. }}

** Even the original ''Star Trek'' had some of this. Although Roddenberry initially hired professional science fiction authors to write a lot of the early stories, several fan scripts were accepted and produced in the second and third seasons; among them "The Trouble with Tribbles", "The Empath" and "The Lights of Zetar". "Who Will Guide the Blind" by Judy Burns and "Remote Control" by Jacqueline Lichtenberg are well-known fan scripts which their authors would have submitted for a fourth season if there had been one.

* ''[[Power Rangers]]'' has fans, too. The tenth anniversary season, ''[[Power Rangers Wild Force]]'', promoted long-time fan Amit Bhaumik to head writer status. Reactions are split: the season itself is considered abysmal, but that had just as much to do with the cast and showrunner Jonathan Tzachor<ref>who is known for being a fanboy... of the ''[[Super Sentai]]'' source material, mandating that his ''Power Rangers'' seasons [[Shot for Shot Remake|skew as closely to the original Sentai programs as possible]]; a mentality that led to previous head writer Judd Lynn quitting at the end of ''[[Power Rangers Time Force]]''.</ref> as the writing staff or anything else. On the other hand, there are the two (completely original) [[Reunion Show|team-up specials]]. The traditional previous/current season cross is considered one of the best the franchise has to offer, as not only does it bring back a very popular cast, it also provides closure for the season's villains, manages to integrate the two teams almost seamlessly, and even provides some [[Ship Tease]]: not only could [[Action Girl|Jen]] and Wes have a happier ending than previously thought, but so could ''TF's'' [[Sixth Ranger|Eric]] and ''WF's'' Taylor. Meanwhile, the tenth anniversary special, despite being a banned topic on many message boards and ripping open plot hole upon plot hole, is still plenty entertaining, between the various [[Continuity Nod|continuity nods]] and well-choreographed fight scenes. Notably, it also features a reference to a fan hoax known as "Scorpion Rain," which Bhaumik helped perpetuate; he noted that he wrote "Forever Red" as if "Scorpion Rain" was in continuity. See the [[Fanon]] page for details.

* The whole ''[[Stargate]]'' franchise, sort of. Some of the people working on it apparently hung out on fan forums and possibly got a lot of ideas there. There were even episodes with alternate universes or time lines in order to throw in some popular relationships or events that don't fit into the normal storyline (most of the characters in SG-1 were in the air force and so could not have romantic relationships). Also fans pointing out mistakes caused things to get changed, such as the steps of the gate room in Atlantis, which displayed Ancient writing with some lines out of order and upside down. It turns out they had already been fixed, but were "fixed" again in response to forum threads and ended up having to be rearranged some more. Who knows if they ever got it right. But after the fans started figuring out how to read the alien text, the art people started hiding messages. This may be more like [[Pandering to the Base]], except that they were in direct contact with the fan community.

* Several episodes of the 6th season of ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' were actually written by a (critically acclaimed) fanfic writer who was approached by the creators of the show and asked to write a bunch of episodes.

== Professional Wrestling ==