science/fantasy panto

[Princess Ivy]

OH NO SHE DIDN'T!
sorry, feeling silly, we're that much closer to xmas and my kids want to see the panto (as always, got me thinking, which science fiction or fantasy story/book/film/graphic novel/television program would you like to see re-made in panto fashion?
first off i'd like to nominate startrek the original series, i think it could be enhanced (not saying for good or bad) by panto style audience participation. I can just see Mr Spock asking the audience whether or not he should use the vulcan neck pinch, or the klingons being booed and hissed at as they walked on stage

[zorcarepublic]

Nah, nah, nah. Doctor Who...

"You will be EXTERMINATED!"

"Oh no we won't!"

"Oh yes you will!"

[dwndrgn]

Can you explain what you mean by 'panto'? I've never heard of it.

[Adasunshine]

Wow, I've never even thought about Panto not being heard of, it's like a tradition over here, every Christmas we get Z list celebs to star in Pantomimes all over the country.

Dictionary definition of Pantomime is...

pantomime n 1 a humorous theatrical entertainment traditionally performed at Christmas 2 a mime artist 3 a theatrical performance in ancient Rome in which one masked actor played all the characters in mime.

We're talking about definition no. 1. Normally, the female leads are played by men, the male leads played by women (so Buttons in Cinderella would normally be a woman and The Ugly Sisters would be men but Cinders is played by a woman and Prince Charming by a man - it gets confusing).

A couple of links which may help you further are (the first one being most useful)...

http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Pantomime.htm

http://www.its-behind-you.com/

http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/Panto.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantomime

Sorry I couldn't be more clearer!

xx

[I, Brian]

A scifi panto?

Hm...hmmmmmmmmmmmm. We could try that. Maybe.

[chrispenycate]

You need the right selection of characters; your dame, your vilain, all the standard roles,or it doesn't work. And you can't have a story line that's too complicated; sketching out the script for "Dune on ice" and "Brave new world, the musical" I realised that basically a panto doesn't need more story line than a short - see how many words it takes to write the plot line for "Cinderella" or "Aladin"; most of the time is taken up with farce.
Many, if not most, of the great short stories in science fiction use the universe as the villain, an inconvenience for "it's behind you" War of the worlds, perhaps? How about the incredible shrinking man, some slight problems with the sets, I will admit. Science fiction lends itself much better to opera: you could do "The nine billion names of God" or "The invisible man" infact, "Frankenstein" would make a worthwhile opera, but lousy panto.
"A boy and his dog" in panto?

[dwndrgn]

That actually sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for explaining for this uncultured yankee...

If short uncomplicated plots are needed, wouldn't super hero stories work well?

[Culhwch]

All I know about pantos is that that's where Neighbours and Home and Away stars go to die....

As described above, the original Batman TV series wouldn't need a whole lot of adapting for a panto. It's certainly camp enough already. And Adam West would probably even be available.

[Brown Rat]

So a Harry Potter panto wouldn't work?

(Like dwndrgn, I'd never heard of this tradition. It sounds wonderful!)

[Rosemary]

Lord of The Rings or The Hobbits seem like an ideal choice to me, although rather like the seven dwarves in Snow White.
Saruman would be the evil one, while the Ents would be wonderful in a panto.

[Princess Ivy]

any science fiction would do it, the more serious the better to my mind. Take dune for example.
the harkonens would be boo-ed off stage. when paul and jessica are crossing the desert, there would of course be audience participation of 'look behind you'. jessica would of course be a dame (ie played by a man) and stilgar would be an old woman the benne gesserit would also get boo-ed. the plot would be simplified a bit, maybe only one wheel within
and harry potter is made for panto

[sanityassassin]

intresting concept a panto star wars would make an excellant panto. I can just see Darth Vader walking onto stage to a chorus of boos as for a script it doesn't matter how complex the story you would just need to take the main scenes and edit them down a little