28 Day Bubblegum Crisis Challenge, Day 14: Which Episode(s) Would Be the Best to Adapt into a Movie?

Happy Valentine's Day, LOVAHS! I know, I know, I don't celebrate the holiday because I think it's a little silly, but to those that do, enjoy your chocolates and roses!

Anyway, I'm spending the weekend in Nashville to see my sister off to South Korea (click over to her website, 52 Weeks of Wordage, to wish her the best of luck!), but that's doesn't mean that I'm still not doing my BGC challenge posts. Obviously. Just look at that title.

Ahem. 

Even though I feel that Bubblegum Crisis would be very difficult to translate well into a movie, especially an American one, there are a few that I feel might do the series justice - given, of course, that they didn't whitewash the cast, and of course they would, because this is Hollywood we're talking about. "Tinsel City" would probably be a good introduction with a rather bittersweet ending, and "Moonlight Rambler" paired with "Red Eyes" has relationship drama in it that would ground the more action-oriented sequences. However, I think the best option would be "Scoop Chase," the final episode produced that delightfully centers around the least likely person imaginable, Nene Romanova.

Via Download OST

Throughout most of the series, Nene has sort of been a bystander: valuable for her technical expertise but pretty worthless when it comes to fighting. "Scoop Chase" actually presents her as an essential part of the team, however, and Mackie isn't totally useless, either! I'm not going to do a synopsis or anything, so if you'd like to read up on it, go visit JHedge*, which actually has synopses of every episode. It's not really that well-written, but it will give you the basics so you can follow along. OR you can go watch the episode on Hulu!

What makes this such a strong candidate for a movie adaptation is that it has a very simple plot and ends quite happily, with the arrest of the bad guy, Dr. Miriam, who I'll get to in a second, and the Knight Sabers gaining an ally in Lisa Vanette, the niece of Chief Todo who had originally wanted to expose the group after Priss destroys her camera. Also, the physically weakest characters - Nene, Mackie, and Lisa - are the ones who truly save the day, which definitely gives it an air of an Everyman sort of situation that so many movie goers crave.

I think what makes Genom such a difficult villain to fight is that it's a corporation that spans worldwide, and like I said on Day 12, having an entity like that being the main obstacle for our heroes is akin to fighting a war on terror or on drugs. At what point do you stop fighting? When can you tell that you've won? When Sylia described the Knight Sabers as being a system of checks and balances for Genom, I realized that this was a much deeper show than I had initially thought. Sylia knows that Genom does good in the world, but for every positive thing they add, greed and a lack of concern for consequences from scientific process will endanger their ability to improve the world in which it exists. Additionally, it gives the Knight Sabers a more succinct purpose: keep Genom accountable. That being said, though, switching to the crazed Dr. Miriam as the antagonist was a smart move. He provides a personification for the chaotic evil side of Genom, the aspect of the company from which the Knight Sabers are sworn to protect the city.

"Scoop Chase" is one of those one-shot episodes that I mentioned before, too, that I felt might have been expounded upon had the series been able to conclude properly. However, it does not necessarily need the rest of the series to have people completely understand it. With some basic retooling, this episode would be a great action flick that might even rival classics like Die Hard and Lethal Weapon.

< Day 13: Favorite Boomer   Day 15: Favorite Fight Scene >

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* I'm not sure why I didn't already link to this website, anyway. Summaries aren't really my favorite.