Tuesday, November 22, 2022

John Berry's Sixty-Five Story Ideas

Via John Berry, "So you're writing for a syndicated cartoon in the '80s/'90s. How do you tell sixty-five stories in one season without burning out? Follow this handy chart!"

1-5: Origin story. Make it a week-long event. Really pad it out. Can sell it later on VHS as The Movie.
6: Body swap
7: Everybody shrinks
8: Now they're giant!
9: Fall in love at first sight! Oh wait, turns out she's evil.
10: Uh-oh, someone has the hiccups
11: Parody "A Christmas Carol"
12: Parody "It's A Wonderful Life"
13: Do a standard adventure, but the hero's also dealing with a cold
14: Evil twin
15: Robot duplicate
16-20: Macguffin chase! Another week-long, VHS-friendly event.
21: Love interest returns. Maybe she's good now?
22: Explosive case of amnesia
23: Hero is brainwashed to be evil
24: Villain forced to act good
25: Hero and villain reluctantly team up against greater foe
26: Hero and villain glued/chained/otherwise stuck together and begrudgingly cooperate to gain their autonomy
27: Gain superspeed
28: Stuck in slow motion
29: Time travel to dinosaur times
30: Time travel to medieval times
31: Time travel to the distant future year of 2000
32: Almost halfway through. Time for a clip show!
33: Animal character(s) become human and/or vice-versa
34: Idiot comic relief character becomes a genius
35: We're in space now!
36: New love interest! They get together, yet she never shows up again
37: Sidekick is kidnapped
38: Hero is kidnapped (sidekick gets to shine)
39: Babysitting hijinks
40: The one episode that's unique to the show's premise and characters
41: Recap origin story in yet another clip show
42: Haunted house
43: Hero suddenly becomes elderly
44: Hero suddenly becomes six-to-eleven years old
45: Boys vs. girls
46: Unusually serious "drugs are bad" episode
47: Evil alien invasion
48: Benign alien visitors
49: Hero becomes blind. Magoo jokes aplenty. Ableism ages episode horribly
50: Major event that dramatically shakes up status quo. Turns out to be a dream
51: Villains team up
52: "Rashomon" homage
53: Henchman joins heroes for one time only
54: Random child rescues hero. The episode's all about him now
55: Invisibility potion
56: The Writer's Barely-Disguised Fetish
57: Can't eat favorite food
58: We have to save the environment, and so do you!
59: Stranded in the ocean
60: Stranded in the desert
61: Stranded in the snow
62: Stuck in an elevator
63: Clip show to set up two-part finale
64-65: Two-part finale

Dork Note: This list also represents many many of the TV series sci-fi story ideas/plotlines that need to retired and never be done again!

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