 |
Your Future Nostalgia. Today. | ||
| www.asmzine.com / www.alteredstatesmag.com | |||
| July 25, 2008 |
|
 |
Interview by Philip N. Zeman, Editor-in-Chief Part 3: Past Projects and the 80's TV ResurgencePart 3 of our interview deals with some of Bob's former projects, including "Transformers: Beast Wars" and the original "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe". We also delve into the resurgence of the He-Man, Transformers, and other TV properties from the 1980's that have new cartoons airing today. Philip N. Zeman: Let's move on to some of your other projects. Perhaps it would be helpful to give our readers some basics. While there are online references listing all the projects with which you've been involved, let's get your viewpoint. If someone were to ask you "What are you known for?" or "What have you done that I would recognize?", what projects would you say? Bob Forward: Probably "Beast Wars," "X-Men Evolution," and "He-Man." Phil: Now, let's put a twist on that question. What projects would you say best represent the variety of shows you've touched and/or are the ones you are most proud of? In other words, what would you like to be known for? BF: "Beast Wars," "Roswell Conspiracies," "Legend of Zelda" and The Owl. Phil: The Owl? That's certainly an obscure reference. Can you give us some brief background on that? BF: It was a novel I wrote at the age of 23. Hard-boiled detective fiction. You can sometimes find used ones on eBay. The publishers went out of business years ago, and it took me two years and a certain amount of money to get the rights back to my own book. Phil: Looking over the IMDB (Internet Movie DataBase) entry for The Owl, I notice that the directing credits are attributed to "Alan Smithee". That's not usually a sign of a project people want to make known; it means that someone doesn't want his or her name associated with the project. So if that's true, why would you want people to know you were involved with The Owl? BF: The book was fairly decent, in my opinion. They wouldn't let me write the script, and in fact the director Tom Holland pissed me off by making me fetch coffee. So it is with some bitter pleasure that I inform you that Tom Holland also wrote the script, and the TV movie was a piece of crap. This may not have been entirely his fault, however. I have no idea what kind of interference he received from outside. However, the novel has been optioned again, this time by Revolution Studios, so I have hopes. Of course, they're still not letting me write the script. But then, they usually don't let Michael Crichton write the scripts from his novels either, and he directed Andromeda Strain. So I figure it's just the Hollywood way. Phil: Most of our readers are probably most familiar with your work as Co-Story Editor/Writer on "Transformers: Beast Wars". At BotCon 2002, the annual Transformers convention, you seem surprised that you were asked back as a guest. Why was that surprising? BF: I know that half the thrill is trying to wrangle what's about to happen from the people who might know -- and "Beast Wars" was over. I had moved on, and was surprised (and genuinely touched) that people still cared about the show. Phil: I recently rewatched the pilot episode of "Beast Wars" on DVD, and I was amazed at how good it was; the story, the characters, the nuances still held up after 6+ years. I'm not the only one to feel this way. What do think of such a lasting work? BF: The funny thing is, even at the time Larry and I knew it was going to be cool. And no one else did. We were like excited kids with a big secret, because we were helping do all this cool stuff and no one was giving us too much trouble. We knew it couldn't last, but it was fun while it did. Phil: Many people feel that "Beast Wars" was the pinnacle of Transformers cartoons -- it surpassed the original Generation 1 cartoon and nothing since has come close. How do you view "Beast Wars" and what would you say to people who think that? BF: To paraphase Newton, "Beast Wars" was only great because it stood on the shoulders of the Autobots and Decepticons. Being able to draw upon their history gave it a depth it otherwise would not have had. But the charcters were fun too -- being able to have animal-based forms helped give a definition to a character that would otherwise have had to be invented from whole cloth. Phil: How difficult or easy do you find it to write cartoons or other shows to appeal to a variety of audiences. Take "Beast Wars", for example. Sure, on the surface it was a show for kids, designed to sell toys. Yet, when you have an episode such as "Code of Hero" which can make grown men and women cry, or you have lines as "he must have bearings of chrome steel", you obviously are aiming for a more mature audience. BF: "Beast Wars" was one of the earliest attempts at such a series, but it set a precedent that we (myself and other writers from the show such as Greg Johnson) later carried on in series such as "Roswell Conspiracies," "X-Men: Evolution" and "Dan Dare." The struggle is usually to convince the executives that kids will actually like a show that isn't targeted exclusively at them, but instead encourages them to think and feel beyond the usual pablum. Phil: You also had the opportunity to write "Primeval Dawn" for the BotCon convention, both a comic story and an online "animation". How hard/easy was it to adapt your writing style and technique from normal animation or live action/CGI animation to the more static media of comics and Flash animation? BF: Harder than I expected. Every medium is an acquired skill. It gave me a new appreciation for Simon Furman, I can tell you that. Phil: While it hasn't yet appeared online, the second part of "Primeval Dawn" was shown at Wizard World Chicago, and without spoiling anything, I can say that that you obviously have more story ideas set in the "Beast Wars" era. How long do you envision writing stories based in the "Beast Wars" timeline, whether it is "Primeval Dawn" or other BotCon projects? BF: We're ending "Primeval Dawn" with the next installment, but I'm always interested in exploring new mediums. After "Agent 12" I can't help thinking how cool it would be to have a live-action war between giant Transformers toys staged at a Botcon convention, for instance. If we planned it right it wouldn't be that hard -- but I'd need a lot of toys donated so I could blow them up. :) Phil: You used to be a very visible presence on alt.toys.transformers for a good portion of "Beast Wars". Excluding writing projects such as "Primeval Dawn", have you been keeping up with the Transformers fandom (online or otherwise) and related mythos since those days? BF: I drift in and out. The problem is I'm not that interested in "Armada" although I'm sure it's a fine show. It just seems to be so aimed at kids that there's little for an adult to get excited about. But if a more dramatic TF series was to come along I'm sure I'd start paying more attention. Phil: You were also involved with the original He-Man cartoon, and in fact, so was your partner for "Beast Wars", Larry DiTillio. Larry is now involved with the new cartoon; have you had a chance to watch any episodes? If so, what is your opinion of it, as compared to the old cartoon and as a series by itself? BF: I won't knock the old cartoon -- I have many happy memories of the production. But we were working with a very restrictive stock system and it was quite frustrating at times. I have to say the new version is doing a better job. I'll be very interested to see how it develops. In fact, I'd love to work on it myself. Phil: As a tangent, we are starting to see relaunches of other mid-80's toylines -- Thundercats and Voltron have both been mentioned as receiving new comics and/or cartoons. Do you think it's a sign of cashing in on nostalgia, trying to introduce these once popular franchises to a whole new audience, an appeal to the original audiences, a mixture? BF: Partly. Mostly it's panic. Pre-established properties are easier to get funded, come with free audience recognition value, and in many cases the toy molds are still around. In a time when profits are thin, these factors are irresistable. But it doesn't always have to be a bad thing -- He-Man a case in point. Phil: What cartoon from the 80's would you like to see revived? Maybe there are already plans to resurrect it, maybe there aren't, but what would you like to see reintroduced to a new generation? BF: One word: Thunderbirds. Phil: What about a project you worked on? Any that you'd like to see reinvented (with or without you involved)? BF: "Biker Mice from Mars" -- done in CG. There's a rough example here: http://www.rowsby.com/personal_cg.html 1: Agent 12 | 2: Skyjammers | 3: Past Projects and the Resurgence | 4: Other Questions ASM would like to again thank Bob Forward for taking the time to answer our questions. For more information about "Agent 12", check out http://www.detonationfilms.com. For more information about "Skyjammers", head to http://www.skyjammers.tv. For more information about Bob Forward, you can view his official site at http://www.bobforward.com.
Copyright © 1999 - 2005 ASM Productions |
