Troubled Production: Difference between revisions

As mentioned, a lot of the examples here tend to be famous for their quality, good or bad.

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* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. [[Creator Breakdown]] and severe depression on behalf of [[Hideaki Anno]], Gainax's shifty accounting practices ending in their CEO being arrested for tax fraud, sponsors pulling out in droves once the show dove off the deep end... Yeah, it's amazing that they even ''managed'' to finish that show, even with all the budget-saving [[Limited Animation]] at the end. Do we have another candidate for the ''Apocalypse Now'' of anime?

* ''[[Code Geass]]'' for its first season. Reportedly, [[Sunrise]] was wary of trusting a full series to director/co-creator Goro Taniguchi, thanks to his reputation for perfectionism and his other quirks, so he was only handed 25 episodes to begin with. The staff often had to piggyback off of other parts of the studio that were working at the same time (for example, the ''Geass'' staff didn't even have their own photocopier) and the writers were only three or four episodes ahead of the broadcast, about half the "buffer" that most series have. When the series became a runaway success, things went much better, but fans tend to blame the series' being split in half for the perceived drop in quality in the second half.

* For a long time, ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima (Manga)|Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' looked like a happy subversion. Ken Akamatsu wanted to do a shounen-action series from the start, but [[Executive Meddling|his producers]] wanted a [[Harem Genre|harem show]] like his extremely popular ''[[Love Hina (Manga)|Love Hina]]'' series. Akamatsu ''faked'' a harem series, using the first two volumes to lay down characterization, then slowly segue into the fighter series he wanted from the start. This resulted in an extremely intelligent and popular series known for its [[Amazon Brigade]] and ridiculously badass ten-year old protagonist. However, some three hundred chapters later, the executives tried to take the rights to the series away from him. He responded by ending the series abruptly, with a carefully crafted final chapter that managed use the [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue]] to [[Torch the Franchise And Run|make sure no one else could use his series]]. It remains to be seen if there will be any more releases filling in the unanswered questions.

 

* David Herbert apparently attracts this kind of production with all his works except [http://www.livingwithinsanity.com/index/ Living With Insanity]. [http://www.tnemrot.com/ Tnemrot] was supposed to be a print comic and was written in late 2008, going through seven artists before Tatiana Lepikhina joined and is now a webcomic. [http://www.indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3429 Gemini Storm] was also written at the same time, came out in March 2010 and the second issue is still expected to take another month or two before being released. He has also mentioned other projects that haven't gone anywhere due to artists dropping out or simply disappearing.

* [[The Clone Saga]].

 

 

* ''[[Jaws (Film)|Jaws]]''. Richard Dreyfuss basically summed it up as follows: "We started the film without a script, without a cast and without a shark." The full model mechanical shark sank to the bottom of the ocean on its first day, forcing a team of divers to retrieve it, and all three models frequently malfunctioned due to exposure to salt water. Add to that the occasionally soaked cameras, ruined takes because unwanted sailboats drifted into frame, and that one time the ship began sinking with the actors aboard. While these disasters did force [[Steven Spielberg]] to be creative and contributed to the film's success (famously, he only [[Nothing Is Scarier|hinted at the shark's presence]] for most of the film), ''Jaws'' still wound up $5 million over budget (that was a lot back in 1974) and behind schedule - what was initially meant to be a 55-day shoot ended up at 159 days. Spielberg even thought he would never work again because of how screwed the thing was!

* And the other daddy of [[Summer Blockbuster|Summer Blockbusters]], the original ''[[Star Wars]]'' (AKA: "Episode IV: [[A New Hope]]"). They had the bad luck of starting filming in the Tunisian desert just as it rained. The props and equipment had their obligatory malfunctions and breakdowns. The crew didn't really care about or understand the movie. Lucas clashed with cinematographer Gilbert Taylor and the movie ended up so badly behind schedule the crew had to split into three units and meet deadlines or else face shutdown. Post-production fared little better despite a delayed release date, as Lucas had to call in two editors (including his then-wife, Marcia Lucas) to salvage the movie after his first cut was a complete disaster and ILM was forced to complete a year's work in six months. And did we mention how ILM initially spent half their budget on four shots that turned out to be completely worthless? When the studio asked for a teaser trailer, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkKYwc8kn20 this] was basically slammed together from the footage available at the time.

 

 

* ''[[Power Rangers]]'': Particularly in the movies.

** [[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]] (as [[History of Power Rangers|Linkara]] [http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linkara/hopr/19701-mighty-morphin-season-one summed][http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linkara/hopr/20124-mighty-morphin-season-two up] [http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linkara/hopr/20603-mighty-morphin-three nicely]): season one hit its troubles when it turned out the series was ''popular'', forcing Saban to rewrite the original finale, "Doomsday", to keep going and had them approach Toei to make new Ranger-centric scenes. When season two came along, Saban opted to use mecha footage from ''[[Gosei Sentai Dairanger]]'' and had to mix it in with footage from the so-called "Zyu2" footage. When the Zyu2 footage ran out, they also retired the Green Ranger character and ended up changing him into the White Ranger. By this time, Austin St. John, Walter Jones, and Thuy Trang (Jason, Zack, and Trini) were let go because of contract disputes and were replaced midway. When the Dairanger footage ran out, they replaced ''that footage'' with mecha footage from ''[[Ninja Sentai Kakuranger]]''. It would be by that point that Saban threw their hands in the air and opted to change everyone to match the seasons.

 

 

* [[The Smashing Pumpkins (Music)|The Smashing Pumpkins]]' mainstream breakthrough ''Siamese Dream'' ended up as this. Billy Corgan moved the band from Chicago to Marietta, Georgia in an attempt to get Jimmy Chamberlin to stop abusing so many drugs (it failed), he came down with suicidal depression and writer's block, D'arcy Wretzky and James Iha broke up at the same time and by the end Billy wound up playing most of the guitar and bass just to get things done quicker. Eventually, the album was finished after four months and $250,000 over budget and became a massive success.

* [[My Bloody Valentine (Music)|My Bloody Valentine]]'s [[Magnum Opus]], ''Loveless''. You can probably get the whole lowdown on [[The Other Wiki]] or the band's own page, but just to recap: main vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Kevin Shields is perfectionist to the point of James-Cameron-ness, 19 recording studios were used, 16 engineers were credited (most of them just ended up bringing Shields tea; only Anjali Dutt and Alan Moulder actually ''engineered'' anything), Shields and vocalist/guitarist Bilinda Butcher didn't allow the engineers to actually ''listen'' to them while recording vocals, drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig couldn't take part due to illness and homelessness (his drumming was [[Sampling|sampled]], and he only played live on two tracks), they took two weeks to master the whole thing and it was almost all ruined when the computer they were using threw the entire album out of order and Shields had to piece it back together from memory. For years their label head Alan McGee claimed they spent 250.000 pounds and almost bankrupted Creation Records, a claim Shields always disputed as exaggerated - his most recent explanation was that only "a few thousand" were actually used to record while the rest was "money to live on". However, it is true that the production of ''Loveless'' ended up terrorizing Creation's staff and draining their finances, with the label's second-in-command Dick Green having a nervous breakdown and tearfully begging Shields to just get it over with already - one publicist even commented that Green's hair turned grey from all the stress.

 

 

* ''[[Spider-Man]]: Turn Off the Dark'', [[The Musical]] take on the comic book, had a [[wikipedia:Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark#History|hard time just getting to its preview period]] on Broadway...whereupon [[It Got Worse]] due to seemingly endless injuries to its performers, inspiring parodies on ''[[Conan (TV)|Conan]]'', snarky coverage by [[The Onion]] A.V. Club, and even an episode of ''[[Law and Order Criminal Intent]]''. With a $65 million budget, it will have to sell out for three years to break even. The preview period kept getting extended, and finally theater critics had enough and wrote/ran reviews of the February 7, 2011 performance (which, had it not been pushed back ''again'', was supposed to be the official opening date)... most of which were [http://www.avclub.com/articles/spiderman-turn-off-the-dark-terrible-or-make-it-st,51518/ scathing]. In response, the producers (finally!) panicked and brought in script doctors, along with having Bono and The Edge write new music. Director (and famous prima donna) Julie Taymor refused to go along with the changes and was either fired or quit. It finally opened on June 2011.

** In January 2012, the producers suggested that the show might periodically add new scenes and songs to encourage repeat customers. The cautionary tale of ''Turn Off the Dark'' continues to unfold.

 

 

* ''[[Daikatana (Video Game)|Daikatana]]'', as chronicled in [http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20000619155817/http://www.gamespot.com/features/btg-daikatana/index.html Knee Deep in a Dream]. First, Ion Storm had some internal warring because the ''Daikatana'' team felt the development of ''Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3'' was stealing resources and staff. Then, they tried to move from the old ''[[Quake (Video Game)|Quake]]'' engine to the ''[[Quake II (Video Game)|Quake II]]'' one, a process [[Porting Disaster|much more complicated and time-consuming]] than they thought. During the development of the game, the staff changed completely three times and the game ended up [[Vaporware|delayed]] so much that when it came out, it was already outdated. The resulting product ended up being a complete bust and pretty much [[Creator Killer|ended the fame and career]] of the then-fledging [[John Romero]].

* Similar issues came up as some of the reasons behind ''[[Duke Nukem Forever (Video Game)|Duke Nukem Forever]]'''s infamous development, and instead of ruining a single man's career, the issues demolished DNF's development staff. The fourteen-year development hell that ensued was due to switching engines, 3D Realms founder George Broussard publicly insulting DNF's publisher, tons of changes beyond engine switches that would necessitate restarting the entire project, and more. DNF is truly spectacular, in that its production was so troubled that the staff ''had nothing worth publicly showing aside from a couple of screenshots''. In the end, Gearbox Software took over production, and suddenly revealed the game ''[[Saved From Development Hell|would]]'' come out. Gearbox took the code and levels that 3D Realms had "finished" -- which were largely conceptual and unrelated -- and, in one year, completed the project that 3D Realms couldn't in fourteen.

 

 

* The Year 2 and 3 [[That Guy With the Glasses]] anniversary [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover|Massive Multiplayer Crossovers]] (hopefully Year 4 can be just as awesome without using this trope!):

** ''[[Kickassia]]''. Almost everyone involved was injured somehow, the worst being cameraman Rob Walker getting a nasty leg injury on the first day, but he was still quite a [[Determinator]] as he kept cramming himself into tight places and waiting until filming was over to seek any medical attention. Also, [[Lord Kat]] twisted both his ankles, which forced his role to be severely reduced, and the extremely tight four day filming schedule meant that the climax had to be significantly trimmed down, with scenes like [[Noah Antwiler|Spoony]] revealing himself to still be Insano never being filmed.

 

 

* The 90's [[Incredible Hulk (Comic Book)|Incredible Hulk]] [[Animated Adaptation]] is this [http://marvel.toonzone.net/hulk/interviews/sebast/ according to the original producer.]

* [[Disney]] and [[Pixar]] have had several of these:

 

 

 

* A 2011 commercial for the Citi card is told from the perspective of a makeup artist working on a film. This trope seems to be in play if the lead's cell phone going off, rain delay, and demand for a bigger explosion are any indication.

{{quote| ''I thought we'd be on location for three days. It's been three weeks.''}}

 

 

* ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'' parodies this phenomenon, with specific jabs at ''[[Apocalypse Now]]''.

* A fictional example can be found in [[Werner Herzog (Creator)|Werner Herzog]]'s ''Incident at Loch Ness''. To give any details would be ruining it.

 

 

* "Coppola's Dracula" by [[Kim Newman]], which is basically ''Hearts Of Darkness … [[Recycled in Space|In]] "[[Anno Dracula]]" [[Recycled in Space|Transylvania!]]''

* Patrick Quentin's ''Puzzle for players'' consists entirely of this. At one point, the desperate Broadway producer explicitly [[Lampshade Hanging|writes down a list]] of "13 reasons why [[Meaningful Name|''Troubled Waters'']] cannot possibly see the light of day".

 

 

* ''[[Slings and Arrows]]'' has one of these every year. {{spoiler|The first two turn out well; the third one ends with the lead actor dying and everyone else involved in the production being fired}}.

* Part one of the ''[[Young Indiana Jones (TV)|Young Indiana Jones]]'' movie ''The Hollywood Follies'' revolves around Indy engaging in a battle of wits with [[Real Life]] primadonna director Erich von Stroheim over ''Foolish Wives''.

 

 

* ''[[The Producers]]'', when they weren't troubling their own production, were overjoyed with the 'bad luck' that struck it, until the worst disaster: audiences loved "[[Springtime for Hitler]]".

* The play being performed in ''[[Curtains]]!'' is one big screwed-up mess, thanks to a lot of back-stage drama, an entire number being badly-choreographed, the lead actress giving a terrible performance, and a whole lot of murders happening. Fortunately, the detective investigating said murders is a [[Promoted Fanboy]] who puts just as much time into improving the quality of the play.

 

 

* The [[Stylistic Suck|crappy]] student film ''[[Marble Hornets (Web Video)|Marble Hornets]]'' was called off due to "unworkable conditions," with the director getting increasingly hysterical and paranoid. Later analysis would reveal that in this case, "unworkable conditions" means "driven to near-insanity by the constant presence of a [[Uncanny Valley|creepy]] [[Humanoid Abomination|guy]] [[The Blank|with no face]]."

 

 

* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' while filming the Radioactive Man movie.

* The ''[[Animaniacs (Animation)|Animaniacs]]'' episode "Hearts of Twilight", yet another ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' spoof.