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Throwing Away the Cookie Cutter for TV
I recently listened to a podcast of the director's comments for an episode of Battlestar Galactica, Episode 109, Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down (not a typo, the Galactica XO is Col. Tigh). The director, Ronald Moore, was very enthusiastic about having the show on Sci-Fi because it allowed him to do a lot of things he couldn’t on regular networks. However, he also bemoaned the constraints of episodic television which he couldn’t escape even on The Sci-Fi Channel, such as the time limit, having to have 'hooks' for the teasers for future episodes, etc. Perhaps someday shows like Battlestar Galactica can be released on the Internet and free the writers and directors from having to cut out important material or fill extraneous fluff to fit the time slot.
In what other shows or movies have such artificial constraints reared their ugly heads (e.g., time or money constraints on the project) and what do you wish the show or movie had done differently?
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Star Wars on the Low Budget by PowerPointSamurai :: NR7 :: Show
Some other examples I was thinking of when I heard that comment in the podcast was when George Lucas talked about how Star Wars was almost a complete disaster. The studio pulled the plug, but George was tipped off about it in advance of the meeting, so he frantically shot the remainder of the film knowing he was dead broke. I guess the shots he got were mostly pretty bad. I can't remember exactly how they got the funding turned back on, but Star Wars was almost never made, or at least it would've been pretty shoddy in that form.
Likewise, although Peter Jackson didn't have much of a funding problem, he did run into a number of time constraints with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and rushed through some things to get the movie out on his deadline. I wonder what he would've done differently if he still had the sense of urgency, but didn't have to compromise on his vision for the film due to a set-in-stone schedule.
Time and money constraints aside, there were nuances with the way Lord of the Rings was done that I was concerned about, although I absolutely loved the movies. One of these issues was the way Theoden, the King of Rohan was portrayed. In the books, he was brave and steadfast in the face of a hopeless situation, whereas in the movie I think they made him look a bit like a leader taking his people out on a last chance for glory. There were other things too, but for now I hope this kickstarts some discussion.