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Win Back the Crowd: Difference between revisions
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[[The End - or Is It?|The End... Or Is It?]]
Sometimes, the crowd can be won again! Even though the fanbase has revolted against a franchise and declared it "played out", the creator (or maybe even a new one) can actually make the franchise fresh and new and relevant (and profitable) again.
The creators realize that the franchise simply has to be adjusted for new changes in society. Or they remake it with new actors, who are *gasp* as good as the originals. Maybe they cut out the [[Narm|Narmtastic]] parts of the original. Or fix the visual effects. Or maybe the franchise just needed to rest for a little while. Whatever it is, the result is the same. The fangirls are [[Squee|squeeing]] again, folks are buying T-shirts again, and the [[Fanfic|Fan Fics]] are back.
It's magnificent (again).
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* At one point ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' and ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]'' were dwindling properties at [[Marvel Comics]] despite the fact that they were the company's flagship super-teams and in the case of the "FF", the oldest series. With not particularly stellar talent working on each book, [[The Dark Age of Comic Books]] seemed to be making idealistic super-hero teams irrelevant. After the mixed-reception ''Onslaught'' [[Crossover]], the two teams were thrown into an alternate reality, leading to the reviled [[Heroes Reborn]]. This ended up being setup for a little [[Status Quo Is God]], returning the titles back to their former glory with very popular creative teams.
* ''[[Spider-Man]]'' titles received a massive dip in popularity with the [[Clone Saga]] which saw the hero replaced by a clone, among other things. Since Spidey has always been a very popular character, it was a simple matter of killing off the clone and bringing the title back to its down-to-Earth roots. Whether or not the current Spider-titles can make it after [[One More Day]] remains to be seen.
** The transition from [[Brand New Day]] to Big Time was supposed to be this, but failed miserably due to plot twists that pissed off fans (Hobgoblin returns, but it's the much hated teenage Green Goblin under the mask, having decapitated the much loved Roderick Kingsley, JJJ's wife being senselessly killed off, the reviled Carlie/Peter Parker romance, and Mary Jane being brought back simply to shill Carlie as Peter's true love. Oh and Peter Parker helping torture Sandman with acid.
** Alternatively though, the spin-offs Venom (with Flash Thompson as the new heroic Venom) and the resurrection of Kaine/Kaine getting the Scarlet Spider identity) have been well received, as was Spider-Island, which resurrected Kaine, got rid of Carlie, and teased MJ and Peter FINALLY reconciling. But this was all for not: a reviled crossover with Mark Waid Daredevil (designed to steal Black Cat from the Spider-Man books so she can become Daredevil's new love interest), the launch of the rather blah Avenging Spider-Man (designed as a replacement for Marvel Team-Up), and the much loathed "The End of the Earth", wiped out any gains that Spider Island might have given the franchise.
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** ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture|Star Trek the Motion Picture]]'' left a lot of folks thinking ''Trek'' was only for the geek crowd and would never be a big franchise (like ''[[Star Wars]]''). ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'' proved otherwise.
** After the dismal showing of ''[[Star Trek V: The Final Frontier|Star Trek V the Final Frontier]]'' (which was, at the time, the lowest box-office earning entry of the franchise and a critical disappointment), Paramount Pictures made a point to bring back fan-favorite director Nicholas Meyer (who had helmed ''The Wrath of Khan'') to helm ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country|Star Trek VI the Undiscovered Country]]''.
** ''[[Star Trek: Nemesis]]'' was the worst-performing Trek film in more than 15 years, a critical and commercial bomb that broke the [[Star Trek Movie Curse]] in the worst way possible by being an awful even-numbered Trek film.<ref>Unless one counts the [[Affectionate Parody]] ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'' as [[Spiritual Licensee|an honorary Trek film]].</ref> The announcement that the franchise would be rebooted was met with much discontent from long-time fans... until it was announced that [[J.J. Abrams]] would be directing it (along with Michael Giacchino composing), and focused on an alternate-universe plot that would bring back the spirit of the original series. The resulting film was the highest-grossing ''Trek'' film of all time and a hit with both hardcore fans (apart from [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|a few holdouts]]) and general audiences.
* For many, the [[Cold Open]] in ''[[Casino Royale]]'' made James Bond seem cool again.
{{quote|'''Dryden''': How did he die?
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* The 2005 reboot of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' was a resounding triumph for the Britain's biggest sci-fi hero following the series' ignominious death back in 1989 and the failed pilot on Fox.
* The first post-SG-1 ''[[Stargate Verse]]'' movie ''[[The Ark of Truth]]'' was considered by some to be blah at best. However, it seems ''everyone'' loved ''[[Stargate: Continuum]]''.
* A number of TV shows may lose viewers (or indeed never really had many in the first place) when initially aired. But in reruns, they become many times more popular. The premier example is the original ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek the Original Series]]'' series; cancelled after three seasons in 1969 due to low ratings, it became the biggest sci-fi franchise aside from ''[[Star Wars]]'' after being syndicated around the world.
** ''[[The George Lopez Show]]'' is proving far more popular in reruns on Nickelodeon than it was during its initial run on ABC.
** As good as ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' was during its original run on CBS, it has become an almost universal cult hit in reruns, and is still watched to this day.
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== Music ==
* Though [[Unpleasable Fanbase|some parts of the fandom disagree]], [[Metallica]]'s ''Death Magnetic'' helped bring back quite a few fans after ''St. Anger'' with a return to their 80s sound.
* Dr. Dre's ''Chronic 2001'', which featured then-rising Aftermath artists like [[Eminem]] and Xzibit, also revived interest in his career after several years out of the limelight.
* ''[[Accept]]''. A lot of people had a lot of doubts with Mark Tornillo, replacement of Udo Dirkschneider. And then, they release ''Blood Of The Nations''. It turns out to be one of the best Metal albums of 2010.
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** ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'', to a lesser extent. Most people liked about half the game (with a [[Love It or Hate It|polarizing]] other half). It was enough for people to forgive Sega for ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]''.
* ''[[Mortal Kombat 9]]''. The series had fallen back into a [[Dork Age]] right after ''[[Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance|Deadly Alliance]]'' had so narrowly pulled it out of one. The 2011 game sees to it that your fond memories of the series aren't exclusive to just the 90s.
* While ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' didn't turn everyone away from the series, it did cause a serious [[Broken Base]] with many worried as to what the next game would bring. Cue ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'' which had a much more straightforward plot, solid gameplay that expanded on the ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'''s gameplay, new outdoor jungle environments (which hadn't really been done before in the series since the original 2D games), spectacular boss fights and [[Tear Jerker|an absolutely heartbreaking]] [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|yet incredibly effective ending.]] While debate still goes on as to the overall quality of ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' in relation to the rest of the series, ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'' is considered to be possibly the franchise's crowning achievement.
* After the huge success of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|Ocarina of Time]]'', between hands was a [[Tough Act to Follow]], which neither ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask|Majora's Mask]]'' nor ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Wind Waker]]'' managed to surpass (in fact, the former was for the most part overlooked, and the latter fractured significantly the fanbase). Then ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|Twilight Princess]]'' was released and, while [[Unpleasable Fanbase|not completely]], it managed to put the series back on spot in sales, critical acclaim, awards and nominations.
* ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'' struggled to win any fans from its conception - a [[Franchise Killer|fanbase already disillusioned]] by ''[[Deus Ex: Invisible War|Invisible War]]'' was less than thrilled when they discovered that the third game in the series would include [[Regenerating Health]] and [[Take Cover|cover-based combat]]. However, when a disgruntled ex-employee leaked the press demo, previously unenthusiastic [[Deus Ex]] fans were [[Better Than It Sounds|pleasantly surprised]] by what they found - so much so that even the notoriously pessimistic [[Image Boards|/v/]] was genuinely impressed and looked forward to the game's release with far more excitement than before.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' has proved to be an excellent show, especially after the years of [[Transformers Armada|spottily-dubbed]] [[Transformers Energon|Japanese-produced for american consumption]] [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise|(Or not)]] [[Transformers Cybertron|series]], attracting many old and even new fans.
* The seventh season of [[SpongeBob SquarePants]]. [[Big Bad|Plankton]] is more threatening than he was before the movie, using deadly weapons and slave labor, Mr. Krabs has a nice side, characters who plagued the past three seasons have been dropped, there's a bit more drama, the [[Nightmare Fuel|epic horrors]] of Whelk Attack and A Pal For Gary, Sandy may be getting back in the spotlight soon, genuinely good specials, The [[Dead Baby Comedy]] being handled better, the best [[SpongeBob]] game since Battle For Bikini Bottom, the brief [[Story Arc]], [[SpongeBob]] getting less stupid, Patrick becoming a loveable oaf again after a brief villainous stint, etc.
* It seems that ''[[Family Guy]]'' is taking this direction, since after the [[Seasonal Rot|much reviled Season 7]]: Peter's Jerkassery was toned down, Brian is no longer the [[Mary Sue]] [[Author Avatar]] everybody was sick of, Meg and Chris are getting more screentime, and the Meg bashing is much, much less blatant, [[Character Rerailment|Stewie starts to show glimpses of his old characterization]], the newer chapters have better storylines and less flashbacks and pop culture references (which, by the way, are more recent and easier to get than the obscure 70-80s references that nobody recognized), the [[Dead Baby Comedy]] is less prominent, etc...
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