Recurring villians

[greenguy]

The subject of recurring villians has been brought up. I think the comic will have to be careful in using this. While that does work in a standard super hero world, TGAH is not a standard super hero product and should stay grounded within the real world, and played straight.

Interestingly enough the series was intended to have one character return. Johnny Diamanti from The Hit Car was supposed to have returned in the 2nd season episode Dreams. The original script is has the Diamanti character, not Johnny Sanova. I'm guessing that its possible that Gianni Russo who played Diamanti was not available, and instead of recasting the role the production went with a different character.

Anyone have any thoughts about recurring bad guys in the world of TGAH?

[Videofox]

I wouldn't have a problem with recurring bad guys, so long as they were believable and fit into the GAH world. My own still-developing fan series (whether fanfilm or fanfic) will have several of them. A group like The American Nazi Party isn't going to vanish overnight, nor would I suspect the people in power behind Gabriel's Army would be put completely out of business just because one or two high-rankers are arrested. If the government corruption is as high up as we've seen in the original series (as in Nelson Corey's buying of a Vice-President and the Matthew Powers fiasco) then any investigations into these groups could be halted or stalled at any point. In fact, many of the public in our own world are calling for investigations into our own government, but they apparently are getting nowhere. (Not trying to start a political debate here, just using an example!) We have plenty of "villain groups" in our own world that rear their ugly heads from time to time so it's not impossible for GAH to run into similar organizations.

My advice: Just don't over-use them, and there would be time in between to develop good stories with them.

[mmderdekea]

I think there is a difference between political folks being corrupt and having one main guy and his organization use zany science to try to do "evil" and be regularly thwarted by Bill and Ralph, only to escape and be evil again. For one thing, one wonders how Ralph couldn't hologram on the Diabolical Mastermind or their main hideout and then him and Bill and an army of back-up could take them all down. But, we're all speaking without knowing the full details of what to really expect. I'm not against returning villains, but I'm very, very, leery. Open-minded but skeptical. I suppose mainly I'd hate a R.V. to get too much focus and get in the way of characterization development and other life details of Bill and Ralph and the suit.

Mona

[HoudiniDerek]

I think it makes a series lazy to some degree.

I have been watching the series CHUCK on NBC and the first season was great because they had a recurring splinter group, but it was not in every episode. The second season has gone to more of it being the same organization every week. I really don't like that because it seems to worsen the plots and ruin some of the character interactions.

I hope that the comic series does not do this. I would not mind them from time to time, but I would not want them the majority of the comics.

[MelMac]

I think as long as they keep them recurring - with some space in between their appearance - and not regulars, it could work. As greenguy said, I feel too it'll depend on how they're used.

Example, the Daleks in "Doctor Who" were very powerful monsters back in the first run of the series (1960s-1989). Care was done to make sure that people were guessing if they'd return, and some of those episodes are considered the best of either series. That said, in more recent years (2005 and onward), they've been used so much that their impact has been lessened.

Care will have to be taken to make sure that Gabriel's Army doesn't end up being just there to be there either, such as other monsters in "Doctor Who." It hurts their impact if they do that. So, I hope that for an atypical superhero show like "GAH," they'll use Gabriel's Army, but in the true recurring definition to keep their impact strong.

[Videofox]

Case in Point: "Star Trek Voyager" and the Bored.. I mean, Borg. The biggest, baddest, most powerful and unstoppable force of nature in the galaxy, reduced to not only a routine supervillain of the week, but also a blond supermodel sex object in a vain attempt to attract teenage male viewers.

Perfect example of why *not* to over-use a good villain group. ;D

[greenguy]

I agree about using the same villians sparingly. Thats what was cool about the original Fugitive. Lt. Gerard was not featured in every episode, but he was always there, be it by someone mentioning him or by some other means. He was a great off-screen threat that did not have to appear weekly. That's one of the things that sucked about the remake of the series back in 2000, Gerard was ALWAYS there almost catching Kimble.

[HoudiniDerek]

I think that it was helped to make the A-TEAM so well done too. The MPs were always a threat, but they were not in every episode.

[MortimerWest]

Ralph and Bill should only handle real word issues (within reason). The more real it is - the funnier. The concept was and is "what if this happened to an ordinary guy". That is why the show was shot on location rather than a studio - Location shooting works in getting the audience to believe in what is going on. Look at Dark Knight and Superman the Movie - GAH was great because it wasn't The Tick or The Flash, Lois and Clark - that used and reused the backlot over and over again. Keep it in the real wold as much as possible and avoid "Hydra" and any other baddies that are not needed. The human condition is the heart of the show.