After I finished the last article talking about how to bring the Justice League together in a big screen fashion like Marvel did with the Avengers, I thought about the scenario and came up with another way to do the same thing, but without having to worry about a gigantic budget or worrying about the large scale scope of a multi-year project.  Although my previous suggestion was only a 2 year (maybe 3) project, I think that something can be done differently to do the same thing but with a unique twist.

DC has always been fairly decent at making TV shows.  Now, some of you will point out that Smallville was the only DC show that they’ve done and that they haven’t really done anything else worthy of note.  Wrong.  They did the Flash, hop in the way back machine and go to the late 80s/early 90s for that “gem.”  That isn’t what I’m talking about, though.  DC and Warner Brothers are basically the same thing at this point (much like Disney and Marvel, though that separation seems like a deeper one).  Marvel has done really well with live action movies, DC has done well with their multitude of animated series.  Batman (all of the series), Justice League, and now Green Lantern… the characters can be done on TV, and all I’m saying is try doing a live action version.

Enter Smallville.  Smallville was a 10 year journey for a young Clark Kent from small town farm boy to full fledged superhero.  While network TV is a tedious way to build up a single character, why does a show have to concentrate on just one?  Smallville for the whole Justice League?

Using my core six members from before, you can build a full 20 episode season around the idea that you’ll get 4 or 5 episodes per character per season.  For those keeping count, that means a couple of the main players don’t get featured at all in season one.  I’d suggest leaving Superman off of season one… and maybe hold off on the Batman for season one, too.

The series, which I’ll just call “Justice,” starts out on Themyscira and builds up Wonder Woman… using her proper, or very, very close to her proper origin.  Give the writers 4 episodes to build up the beginnings of Wonder Woman and leave what happens next at a cliffhanger… episode 5 then progresses to tell the Atlantean story of Aquaman.  When the last of the four episode arc complete Aquaman’s origin, then leave his tale at a cliffhanger.  See a pattern?  That’s where the pattern ends, really.  Green Lantern’s origin is told in a massive 7 episode arc (because there is SO MUCH GOING ON in his origin, you really need a big platform), tying into John Stewart and Guy Gardner as well as dealing with Hal Jordan… don’t muck about with the origin, just stick to the basics.  Don’t do Parallax.  Don’t do Sinestro.  Try to keep it simple.  You can even tie GL into the Flash, as in he is the buddy of Barry Allen, who becomes the Flash to finish out the first season… yeah, that’s right, four of the six, and you have 4 cliffhangers for 4 different characters.  Season 2?  That goes a bit differently.

FLASHBACK!  Yes, start out with a single flashback episode that tells us about Kal El’s arrival on Earth.  Give us a story that has the Kents keeping him safe just long enough to get us through the episode.  Episode 2 shoots through to Gotham where we are privy to Bruce Wayne’s origin… not him going straight to Batman, but more the Nolan version of building up his skills before donning the mask.  Episode 3 returns us to the familiar as we see Wonder Woman go through the next phase of her story, which lasts 3 episodes and ends her up in New York (not in peril).  Green Lantern joins us in New York in a similar fashion after 2 episodes.  Flash gets a single episode moving to New York chasing a mystery villain.  Aquaman will get 3 episodes to define why he leaves the water to come to New York.  We’re 11 episodes into season 2 and that gives us enough time for two big origins: Batman then Superman.  Batman’s origin is given 5 episodes, taking him from skill building into the suit… and into a business meeting in New York.  Cut to Superman, told in 3 episodes, brought to the modern day and moving into New York for a news story.  That gives us a single episode of 6 perspectives from 6 different characters coming together to face a common foe.  Would I use Darkseid as this common foe?  I wouldn’t, but there isn’t a good reason he couldn’t be.  Leave the season at a cliffhanger giving the reason for all 6 to come together.

Season 3 would be their first combined battle and would then be about how the group functions as a unit against others… sure, it isn’t a big screen deal but it is a way to create the team.  If you wanted to skip the cliffhanger ending in season 3, use that break for a 3 hour movie of the Justice League, which leads into season 3… then, you can have a sequel between every season until the series is cut.  Don’t limit yourself to just the primary 6, either.  Bring Martian Manhunter in sometime during season 3.  Cyborg should also make an appearance.  Green Arrow could pop in, maybe even the others I mentioned last time.  Hell, Justice League 3 (between seasons 4 and 5) could be a completely different team than the originals.  That would do something Marvel hasn’t…

It’s a way to keep things focused and concentrate on many facets in one setting rather than trying to coordinate several movie franchises into a single direction.

Thoughts?

I’m trying to catch up this week, so much jammed into such a short period of time.  There is a Lime Flavored Podcast ready to be posted and I’ve got a bunch of stuff from Bob to edit together in order to get that working in the podcast form, too.

I’ve gotten zilch written since my Project Garnet priorities were adjusted and I’ve been given a bunch of work related tasks to do every night this week… so, hang in there… stuff is coming.

In one of the most competitive sports, a legend has returned and has once again shown his complete dominance over the competition.  DJ Allen returned to competitive paper tossing in the 2012 World Paper Tossing Championships and walked away with a thirteenth World Championship.  Finally, a ring for each finger… and two for each thumb and an extra finger.

But this isn’t as spectacular without the background behind the epic win.  The journey really started in the early 60s, long before DJ ever stepped into the competition… or was even born!  Here is the tale.

Back in the “Golden Age” of paper tossing, the most dominant player of the 50s was Dick Dangle.  Dangle had started competing in paper tossing in the early 40s and finally won his first championship in the 1948 World Paper Tossing Championships.  No one had won more than two championships before Dangle and certainly no one had won back to back championships.  Dangle broke that record by winning the 1949 World Championship as hard fought as he’d won the first one.  That brought paper tossing into the limelight and made it one of the most competitive sports in the United States, and by the mid-50s, the world.

“I can remember when winning a championship other than paper tossing didn’t mean much,” remembered “Bull” Bill Schitt, the 1953 Slinky Walking World Champion.  ”I won mine when I was 14 but it really didn’t even register.  There were too many people interested in paper tossing.”

“Bull was a great brother and wanted me to follow in his footsteps,” recalled Jack Schitt, brother to Bill Schitt.  ”I just wanted to play paper tossing when I was old enough.”  Jack won the 1965 World Paper Tossing Championship and was forced to retire after a a career ending paper cut.  ”I rose to the top, won my championship, and I was on top of the world.”

Dick Dangle became the face of paper tossing when he added 1952, 1955, 1957, 1958, and 1960 World Paper Tossing Championships to his list of accomplishments.  With seven World Championships, Dick Dangle was an inspiration to multiple generations of paper tossing hopefuls.  One of the people he inspired was William Fold, Bill to his friends.

Bill Fold started world class paper tossing in 1958 by making the top 100 list of best players in the world.  When he beat 15 other former world champions, including Jack Schitt and Dick Dangle, in the 1961 Super-Invitational Paper Tossing Cup competition, Bill became an overnight sensation and was featured in Paper Tossing Today, the leading magazine for the sport.

Competing head to head in World Championships, Bill and Dick formed a friendship that lasted until Dick’s death in 1968.  Dick won the 1963 World Championship, his final, as Bill was building his own legacy.  Bill Fold won the World Championship of paper tossing in 1962, 1964, 1966, 1967, and 1970.  He was the fastest rising star in the sport everyone wanted to compete in.  Bill Fold was so good at paper tossing, people used to say “Bill Fold: Where the Money’s At.”

Unlike his idol, Bill did something that his idol couldn’t do: win three straight championships.  Breaking the repeat barrier with 1972, 1973, and 1974 World Championship wins put Bill in a class of his own.  He became the most famous paper tosser ever to play the game.  When the “1975 Mishap” occurred, many thought Bill’s career was over but it was only a stutter step in his path to greatness.

“In 1975,” Bill recalled in 1992, the year before his death, “I had to fart while I was preparing to through the winning shot.  I didn’t realize that it was more than a fart and I soiled myself, throwing off my balance and I missed the shot.  I was so embarrassed I’d missed the shot.”

The incident forced Bill into a self-imposed exile to reflect on his career.  When he knew he wanted to come back to the game, he returned to a training regiment in 1979 to get fit for competition again.  This was when 3 year old DJ Allen became captivated by paper tossing and would come to love the game for decades to come.

Success wasn’t immediate, but Bill Fold did finally win another championship in 1985, after taking on the best players out of the most diverse field ever to compete.  The game was finally world wide.  Bill had clawed his way back into the limelight with his ninth World Championship… but it would be the last time he won because the man who would come to shape the game was old enough to compete with the best of the best.

The 1986 World Paper Tossing Championships would be looked back as the dawning of a new era.  Defending World Champion, “Where the Money’s At” Bill Fold, would be the chosen favorite to repeat even when the fastest rising star in paper tossing, DJ Allen, was making his finals debut.  DJ Allen won his first championship against the defending champion, elevating his win to a height very few others had ever experienced.

“Bill was a legend,” said DJ Allen.  ”I could remember being in the audience for the 1985 World Championships shouting ‘Where the Money’s At!  Where the Money’s At!’  Bill Fold was like leather, he looked good and was tough as hell.”

DJ and Bill met 5 more times in the finals, only missing the 1990 finals as Bill lost in the semi-final round.  Each time, though, DJ Allen came out on top.  He won the 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991 World Championships, accomplishing the impossible and doing it against the legendary face of paper tossing five out of six times.  If he never threw another wadded piece of paper, DJ would be remembered as a legend in his own right.

“Bill retired from paper tossing in 1991, right after I beat him in the finals,” said DJ.  ”He was in the sport for 30 years, that was something no one else had done.”

Bill Fold watched DJ Allen go on to win the 1992 World Championship before a fatal handwriting accident would end his life.  DJ would contemplate retiring until the 1993 competition but he held off and the paper tossing world was better for it.

DJ Allen added 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 to his list of World Paper Tossing Championships to his streak, bringing his World Championship streak to an unheard of 12 straight.  Like Dick and Bill before him, DJ became the face of paper tossing and was officially named the “Greatest Player Ever” by Paper Times Weekly magazine.  There weren’t many who could disagree.

“After the 1997 tournament,” recalled DJ, “I looked around and realized that there wasn’t anyone in paper tossing I hadn’t beaten.  I’d tossed them all.  Something a champion thrives on in competition but my competition from 1994 to 1997 were paper thin… I decided to walk away.”

When DJ decided to announce he wouldn’t be returning for the 1998 World Championships made many protest.  One of his biggest fans, Harry Balzanya, famously refused to use paper of any kind the entire year… not even toilet paper.  After DJ failed to appear for the 1999 World Championships, people started to realize that perhaps the legend had finally retired.

No one from 1998 to 2011 won more than one World Paper Tossing Championship and none of them rose to become anything but a “ink spot” in the history of paper tossing.  While several “firsts” happened during that stretch (first female champion Fay Kname, youngest ever champion 10 year old Stu Pidhead, oldest ever champion 96 year old Phill McCreviss), no one really stood out as being the next big thing.  The glory of paper tossing was threatening to wane.

Until now.

Returning to the 2012 World Paper Tossing Championship with an unstoppable run through the competition, DJ Allen is once again the top paper tosser in the world.  Many are hailing this as the “Next Sheet of Paper in the Printer,” but DJ Allen wants to tone down everyone who thinks he’s back for good.

“I wanted to see if I could still dominate like I used to,” said DJ.  ”There’s a boy watching these competitions out there who will prove to be better than me… better than Bill Fold… better than Dick Dangle.  Hell, it might even end up being a girl.  It could even be a wheelchair bound sad-sack who throws like a girl named Ian.  One can never know.”