Oh yes, that wonderfully short-lived hokey tv show from yesteryear.
Well, i figure that with a twist or two it might make an awesome game.
Dystopian future maybe?
Human/animal DNA splices to give humies animal characteristics in order to fight/engage in crime!
My guy is going to have chameleon skin, shark teeth and slug mucus.
Any other settings you can imagine for this?
So you're going to cross Manimal with Dark Angel?
Quote from: talysman;664552So you're going to cross Manimal with Dark Angel?
(http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/manimal-logo.jpg)
(http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTMxNjA2Mzk3Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMjY4Njk5._V1_SY317_CR11,0,214,317_.jpg)
You could actually ditch the dystopia, and go for the other spectrum - animals spliced with heavy human DNA, to turn them into full on animal - human crimefighters.
Quote from: Rincewind1;664555You could actually ditch the dystopia, and go for the other spectrum - animals spliced with heavy human DNA, to turn them into full on animal - human crimefighters.
I quite like the idea of a Shelley's Frankenstein kind of thing as well. Science run amok! Man with mandibles seen in Berkeley Square!
Kind of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen/Rippers (the Savage Worlds wotsit) thingy.
Quote from: One Horse Town;664556I quite like the idea of a Shelley's Frankenstein kind of thing as well. Science run amok! Man with mandibles seen in Berkeley Square!
Kind of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen/Rippers (the Savage Worlds wotsit) thingy.
Would Doctor Moreau make an appearance, then? ;). I quite like the idea as well - puts a nice spin on the superhero genre.
As said - I think you can go both with cyberpunk/dystopian approach here (insane experiments, government mad scientists splicing people to combat corporation's spliced people), as well as "4 colours" supers - with actual animals being given superpowers. I'd also say that "steampunk" or general Victorian/Early 20s setting works as well - as per Island of Doctor Moreau.
I watched this show as a kid! Later, I realized how hilarious it is that when he changes in to a falcon, it's his hands that become the talons claws. Presumably this means he's flapping with his legs. That's not shown. :)
Quote from: Bill;664553(http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/manimal-logo.jpg)
Loved that show.
All I really remember is that I thought the snake transformation looked really cool... and being disappointed it never seemed to show up again.
Quote from: Benoist;664560Loved that show.
Me too!
Does NBC know about this?
And can you recreate Misfits of Science this way?
I had a similar idea once, but it was more a place like "Batman Beyond" in terms of city, and the last natural born animals (not in born captivity or cloned) were in a zoo, and they chose the heroes to embody their spirit--giving them the ability to do crazy martial arts and shift into animal-hybrid forms.
I want to play Automan
Don't set it in the future...
Set it in the early 80's.
Use a pulp or very-low-powered supers system and have the players create "TV heroes" in the mold of the Six Million Dollar Man, Manimal, Michael Knight, Gemini Man, the Man from Atlantis, etc.
Quote from: Benoist;664560Loved that show.
I didn't like it all that much. I think I only saw one episode, the one where he invented badger-style kung fu.
On the other hand, I kind of liked Dark Angel, which is almost exactly what the OP suggests. Although most of the gene-spliced animals -- including Jessica Alba -- look entirely human. Also, they aren't shape-shifters, like Manimal.
Manimal lives!
According to Wikipedia...
In September 2012, it was reported that Sony Pictures Animation is developing a live-action/CGI film based on Manimal. The series' creator and producer, Glen A. Larson, is once again attached as a pro*ducer.
Quote from: Spinachcat;664693Manimal lives!
According to Wikipedia...
In September 2012, it was reported that Sony Pictures Animation is developing a live-action/CGI film based on Manimal. The series' creator and producer, Glen A. Larson, is once again attached as a pro*ducer.
Ha! Awesome sauce.
Quote from: talysman;664642On the other hand, I kind of liked Dark Angel, which is almost exactly what the OP suggests. Although most of the gene-spliced animals -- including Jessica Alba -- look entirely human. Also, they aren't shape-shifters, like Manimal.
This is a very important point, here.
Manimal is not a hybrid, but a full shapeshifter, and Dark Angel may officcially be genespliced animals, but i saw several episisodes, and not even once i saw one that did not look fully human.
So what is Op really going for?
Is Furry and Scaly really so taboo that one cannot mention it without getting into some stereotype that is either too silly or too savage?
Animal - Vegetable - Mineral.
Grafts - Serums - Procedures.
Rock-belly graft.
Birch-sap serum.
Reed throat procedure.
Spinneret procedure.
Quote from: Spinachcat;664693Manimal lives!
According to Wikipedia...
In September 2012, it was reported that Sony Pictures Animation is developing a live-action/CGI film based on Manimal. The series' creator and producer, Glen A. Larson, is once again attached as a pro*ducer.
Wow. He basically was the producer behind a lot of television in the 70s and 80s: original Battlestar Galactica, BJ and the Bear, Sheriff Lobo, Knight Rider, Buck Rodgers, and The Fall Guy. And knowing his output, I'm probably missing a lot, but those are the ones I know just off the top of my head.
Jesus, I'd blocked this show out of my memory...
Quote from: RPGPundit;665128Jesus, I'd blocked this show out of my memory...
What has been Seen, can not be Unseen.
Quote from: Bill;665212What has been Seen, can not be Unseen.
That, and the Man from Atlantis, though the latter was a much better series than Manimal.
Quote from: RPGPundit;665699That, and the Man from Atlantis, though the latter was a much better series than Manimal.
It's like they were afraid to call it "Aquaman"
How did I ever miss this......gem?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_from_Atlantis
Quote from: Bill;665772It's like they were afraid to call it "Aquaman"
How did I ever miss this......gem?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_from_Atlantis
It could have been really good --well, for a series from that era, anyway-- but since it tanked it freed up Patrick Duffy to be in Dallas.
The stillborn Aquaman series from the WB was surprisingly good, I thought, if you like that sort of thing.
Explicitly inhuman gene-hybrids show up in the second season of Dark Angel, btw.
Quote from: RPGPundit;665699That, and the Man from Atlantis, though the latter was a much better series than Manimal.
One book on bad TV shows had an entire chapter on "the curse of Manimal", which covered the '80s time period when some NBC exec got a bug up his butt about superhumans in somewhat prosaic adventures. Manimal. Man from Atlantis. The Powers of Matthew Star. Misfits of Science. For some reason, the letter "M" factored into this heavily.
There was an episode of the low-budget 90's syndicated super-hero show Nightman where Nightman teamed up with an old Manimal and Manimal's hot daughter, who had inherited his powers.
Objectively, it was crap, but it was sorta cool how it hinted at an entire larger "Universe" of TV semi-super-heroes.
Quote from: daniel_ream;665818Explicitly inhuman gene-hybrids show up in the second season of Dark Angel, btw.
Possible, i only managed to see a few episodes, but in the ones i saw, they only had explicitly inuman speed, senses and savagery ... and explicitly human looks, and then i gave up on looking at it.
There was a whole lot of talk about how inhuman those were ... but they still looked human indeed, to me ...
Did i perhaps see a different Dark Angel than you, even?
Quote from: One Horse Town;664547Oh yes, that wonderfully short-lived hokey tv show from yesteryear.
Well, i figure that with a twist or two it might make an awesome game.
Dystopian future maybe?
Human/animal DNA splices to give humies animal characteristics in order to fight/engage in crime!
My guy is going to have chameleon skin, shark teeth and slug mucus.
Any other settings you can imagine for this?
Twiddle some numbers, you could actually pull this off in CyberPunk 2020. There are all kinds of chrome and augments that mimic that sort of body mod, and the Lo Teks from
Johnny Mnemonic (the short story) sets the precedent for a booster gang that focusses on those kinds of alterations. Maybe throttle back on the humanity losses and it would work out pretty well.
Quote from: Catelf;665992Did i perhaps see a different Dark Angel than you, even?
No, you just saw the first season.
Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;665974There was an episode of the low-budget 90's syndicated super-hero show Nightman where Nightman teamed up with an old Manimal and Manimal's hot daughter, who had inherited his powers.
Objectively, it was crap, but it was sorta cool how it hinted at an entire larger "Universe" of TV semi-super-heroes.
I am fond of crossovers if they are well done.
One of my favorites was in the Justice Leage animated show, when the government was creating large numbers of cloned superheroes to counter the Justice Leage...just in case.
Many of the clones were suped up versions of the formely lame wonder twins from the old crappy Superfriends show.
I never expected to ever see the wondertwins used in a manner that was cool.
Quote from: Catelf;665992Possible, i only managed to see a few episodes, but in the ones i saw, they only had explicitly inuman speed, senses and savagery ... and explicitly human looks, and then i gave up on looking at it.
There was a whole lot of talk about how inhuman those were ... but they still looked human indeed, to me ...
Did i perhaps see a different Dark Angel than you, even?
Quote from: daniel_ream;666005No, you just saw the first season.
Yeah, first season, or at least most of the beginning of the first season, focused on the hybrids created by Project Manticore, which looked completely human. There was one recurring character with inhuman looks who, I think, was introduced at the end of the first season, but he was mostly second season. He ran a sanctuary for hybrids in general, almost all of which (except the Project Manticore batch) were inhuman-looking, because they were designed for specific jobs that were difficult for humans.
EDIT: Looking it up, the name of the dog-human hybrid was Joshua. Wikipedia doesn't mention him showing up in first season, so maybe he was only in second season. Jessica Alba's character is an X-5 series transgenic, which are the ones who look completely human.