Modern Sequel Thoughts

[KoopaBro64]

If there were to be a direct sequel to Super Mario Bros. today, what do you think it'd be like? What would be changed? Would you go with a more CGI looking style, or the same animatronic style of the original?

[SethRex]

I think a CGI/Anamatronic look might work out for a direct sequel. Sadly there'd have to be some recastings, I'd imagine cause who knows if Bob or John would return to the roles of Mario and Luigi. Let alone Samantha Mathis for Daisy.

[Redstar]

I wouldn't want much changed, though I understand certain aspects of the world would have to be updated. There'd have to be cellphones and computers, for instance, which are the two things that really date the first movie (the payphone and devo machine console/display).

While digital effects have advanced to the point where they could do some really cool things with dimension-hopping and fantastical technology I would prefer the creatures to remain practical. They could bring back MEL, Rob Burman, Dave Nelson and the makeup teams of Jeff Goodwin and Vincent Guastini to keep the work consistent with the original.

There'd definitely have to be some recasting, though a lot of the secondary cast and non-lead principles could probably be convinced to return. Also, Samantha Mathis isn't really doing much lately.

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

I wouldn't want much changed, though I understand certain aspects of the world would have to be updated. There'd have to be cellphones and computers, for instance, which are the two things that really date the first movie (the payphone and devo machine console/display).

Loopholes:

1) Wasn't Daisy a college student or something? Maybe she couldn't afford a cell phone... this economy, you know? ;P Or she just didn't bring it to the dig with her.

2) Alternate dimension!

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

[Redstar]

2) Alternate dimension!

You know what... I really like this idea. It just fits.

[Prime Evil]

I'd really like to see a prequel, so that we can find out stuff like who the original king was*, how Koopa came into power, how the Devo gadgets were built and what it involved, etc. Most importantly, it needs to address the question of how the evolved dinosaurs came to emulate humans. Did one or two dinos make it through or something? It sounds like the beginning of a really bad piece of fanfic, I know, but it's one of any number of interpretations.

It makes me wish the movie had a better director, someone who encouraged the actors to "lay the pipe" for their characters (pardon the pun).

(*Was he a good man? Was he a tyrant? Questions like that come to mind.)

[Guest]

I'd really like to see a prequel, so that we can find out stuff like who the original king was*, how Koopa came into power, how the Devo gadgets were built and what it involved, etc. Most importantly, it needs to address the question of how the evolved dinosaurs came to emulate humans. Did one or two dinos make it through or something? It sounds like the beginning of a really bad piece of fanfic, I know, but it's one of any number of interpretations.

It makes me wish the movie had a better director, someone who encouraged the actors to "lay the pipe" for their characters (pardon the pun).

(*Was he a good man? Was he a tyrant? Questions like that come to mind.)

Then it wouldnt have "Super Mario Bros" in the title because a prequel would lack them.

[Redstar]

I'd really like to see a prequel, so that we can find out stuff like who the original king was*, how Koopa came into power, how the Devo gadgets were built and what it involved, etc. Most importantly, it needs to address the question of how the evolved dinosaurs came to emulate humans. Did one or two dinos make it through or something? It sounds like the beginning of a really bad piece of fanfic, I know, but it's one of any number of interpretations.

Then it wouldnt have "Super Mario Bros" in the title because a prequel would lack them.

Film-prequels are usually saved for the third installment, which Super Mario Bros. unfortunately never reached. However, I don't feel a prequel would have been the best decision for the franchise. The film itself was an attempt at a prequel in that it showed Mario & Luigi become the Super Mario Bros.

Instead, what I would have liked to see is the sequel develop a new story that's the direct consequence of the events of the first film. Because of this, we'd necessarily have to depict flashbacks or references to Koopa's reign before the arrival of Mario and Luigi and the reign of The King/Portal-Keeper society. The relationship between Koopa, The King and Daisy's mother would lead to a lot of very interesting flashback scenes that would directly result in the story of the first film and threat of the second.

[Serum]

If I were doing a modern sequel today, which I'm currently writing a treatment outline for in another thread-- I would do it in the style of "Watchmen," in that I'd set it in 1993 and make it a sort of sci-fi period piece. I'd try to use mostly traditional effects, as I'm violently opposed to the overuse of CGI, but I would use CGI to create the "soup-colored smog sky" they had in mind for the daylight hours of the original movie-- CGI is good for little things like that.

As for casting... I'd have Kevin James as Mario and Sean William Scott as Luigi, Emma Stone as Daisy and Willem Dafoe as King Koopa (if we were doing a "Koopa's back" thing). If we were doing a story with Wario, I'd cast pudgy actor William Forsythe as Wario and I'd cast Mojo Nixon once again as Toad, explaining his aging as a "result of re-evolving him." But yeah, I'd do it old school.

[AndrewTheBeatnik]

I'd like to see some of the more well known characters Ex: Wario, Waluigi, Princess Peach, and updated more refined versions of the Goombas and other creatures. I did think that Yoshi looked great, as well as all of the Dino-Humans. With the advanced technology of today it would really be cool to see what could be done with even the same plot as the original for a remake. Great question. It really gets your imagination going with endless ideas and events that could make a sequel or remake great.

[Serum]

Rethinking it, I don't think I'd even include Wario in a sequel. He's kind of a ridiculous character, not as ridiculous as the utterly terrible and abominable Waluigi, but still, I don't think he has a place in the Mario movie canon.

[1upmushroom]

Rethinking it, I don't think I'd even include Wario in a sequel. He's kind of a ridiculous character, not as ridiculous as the utterly terrible and abominable Waluigi, but still, I don't think he has a place in the Mario movie canon.

Wario could work well actually, all they'd have to do really is remove his farting thing (which in hindsight wasn't that great of a feature anyway), make his greed less over the top, and play up his jerk personality.

[Serum]

Yeah, I guess, but there's still the fact that his name is a joke on the word "Mario" by turning the "M" upside down to make a "W." Maybe if they didn't call him by name it might work... I doubt it, though.

[1upmushroom]

How bout a different name with the same letter like "Wallace" or "Walter"?

[Serum]

How bout a different name with the same letter like "Wallace" or "Walter"?

Why give him a name at all? Why not just have him be an unnamed antagonist that doesn't speak or speaks very little like Boba Fett or something.

[1upmushroom]

Because that only works on a select few characters and Wario ain't one of them.

[Serum]

Why? it worked well for Boba Fett, I don't think they even said his name in the original movies and he has about three lines total between Empire and Jedi and yet people have been obsessing about him on message boards for decades.

[Redstar]

The subject of this topic is "modern" sequel thoughts and I just don't feel that Wario, regardless of his merit as a character, is an iconic enough member of the Super Mario mythos to really be involved in any film.

[Serum]

The subject of this topic is "modern" sequel thoughts and I just don't feel that Wario, regardless of his merit as a character, is an iconic enough member of the Super Mario mythos to really be involved in any film.

I rest my case.

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

...really? He's the villain of Super Mario Land 2, popular enough to get numerous spin-offs, is in every single Party, kart, sports, or other game...

I mean, it seems Nintendo thinks the same way, and that's why Bowser's always the villain, regardless of whether or not it makes sense to bring in anyone else.

Frankly, I'd want to see a true alternate universe Mario as Wario. That is, a Dinohattan resident who is basically their world's version of Mario. You could play with the design and make him an anti-Mario in every way, right down to the fact he's reptilian, rather than mammalian.

[Redstar]

But how many people outside of the gaming/Mario community really know who Wario is, let alone care? He's a widely used character, sure, but nowhere near as iconic as Mario's other villains Bowser and Wart.

I could see him used as a secondary villain, but not as a primary antagonist.

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

When you put it like that, we could play the game all day.

Who knows what a Thwomp or Wiggler are?

Heck, outside of gaming and Mario fans, I imagine a lot of people know Mario, some princess, and a fire-breathing dragon.

How is one even supposed to draw people in to the greater world of the series if no one wants to share anything but what they already know?

[Phlibbit]

But how many people outside of the gaming/Mario community really know who Wario is, let alone care? He's a widely used character, sure, but nowhere near as iconic as Mario's other villains Bowser and Wart.

I could see him used as a secondary villain, but not as a primary antagonist.

I'd wager a guess that at this point, many more gamers and non-gamers know who Wario is versus Wart. Sure, Wart may be iconic to us hardcore fans, but he's only been in one game and never mentioned again. I'd bet that more people know who Waluigi and Birdo are, if you want to be honest.

Wart is the kind of character that's great in principal but needs to be brought back in a fresh, inventive way--(here I go again)--much like what Nolan did with Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.

[Redstar]

I'd wager a guess that at this point, many more gamers and non-gamers know who Wario is versus Wart.

My perspective is that even non-gamers would know of Wart due to casually playing as kids during the NES/SNES era. They would thus remember Koopa and "that frog boss" from Super Mario Bros. 2, but unless they had a GameBoy probably wouldn't know about Wario.

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

Wart does have some prominence, thanks to Super Mario Advance, Super Mario All-Stars, Virtual Console, and Super Smash Bros. (isn't he a trophy?)

Wario... wow, he's in nearly everything that isn't a mainline game-- and arguably a more "accessible" character as a result.

The only truly odd one out would be Tatanga. He was the final boss of Super Mario Land with little said about him now or then, and only made one return appearance in the sequel-- something a lot of people probably missed, due to his different spacecraft.

[AndrewTheBeatnik]

I would be just fine with a blu-ray release, before a remake.