#lavagirl | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jacscorner · 3 months

Text

The Reboot of Sharkboy & Lavagirl

So, who here remembers The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl?

...Yeah, I figured there'd be a lot of people. This movie came on almost every other week on Disney Channel some moons ago.

I loved the movie as a kid. While it hasn't aged the best, it still holds a very special place in my cold heart. One thing always lingered in the back of my mind: why isn't this a cartoon? Biased on my half, but I feel animation is better for trying to show an alien world, completely unlike anything we have on Earth. Because live action movies like this, as impressive as they may, will always be limited by budget and the effects of today - or, in this case, yesteryear. And if they're bad, they can really ruin the immersion. SB&LG are no different from this; as impressive as they were for the time, it was purely for the innate spectacle and not necessarily because they were good.

But, this movie still has a place in my heart, so let's push those critical thoughts aside. Cause i really wanna get into my thoughts on a Sharkboy and Lavagirl reboot.

SB & LG Designs

Since these are supposed to be characters dreamed up by a kid, I intentionally made their designs simplified. Cause while I can draw their suits NOW, I certainly couldn't when I was a kid watching that movie. Which, like, I hate how superheroes when made in live action have the most over the top and complicated uniforms to draw. It's such a high bar for fanart and it makes them un-fun to draw. If Japanese shows can make cool heroes that are manageable to draw, then so should we in the west!

For Sharkboy, I gave a wet suit and some clothes on top, to sort of give a pulp-y feel to his suit. I also gave him a pair of oxygen tanks; since Sharkboy apparently can't breathe underwater, but hold his breath for a long time, I thought it'd make sense for him to have something for those deep DEEP dives, or maybe he could give them to someone drowning who'd need it more.

Meanwhile, I wanted Lavagirl to look more like a classic superhero in terms of design. I do regret a little bit not making her suit more pink and instead red, but I don't hate it. I never like it when elemental heroes have suits that's just their element slapped onto them. Makes me feel it's just their body, and that's a strange school of thought to have.

How The Reboot Would Work

I'd imagine this show would be the 22-24 minute format. The show would begin with a segment of Max in the real world. We'd have a short scene that shows Max in live action and something, good or bad, happen to him. Then, the camera would fall onto Max's dream journal, with the book flipping open and pages furling. We then transition to Planet Drool, with the episode title flashing on screen and the cartoon segment takes over.

I think this would better show the distinction between the real world, Max's world, and the dream world - specifically, Planet Drool. Since Max is basically the God of this world, his emotional state and feelings effect Planet Drool. When he's sad, it's cloud and gloomy. When happy, the birds are singing and flowers are blooming.

Naturally, the various friends and allies Sharkboy & Lavagirl run into on Planet Drool are inspired by the people Max meets. Bullies and jerks in the real world play the role of villains on Planet Drool and their punishments in the real world and comeuppance in the dream world correlate. On the reverse, Max's friends are allies for Sharkboy & Lavagirl, and brief flashes of Max maintaining or straining their friendship will reflect on SB & LG and their relationships.

For example: an episode could start with Max in bed; he's got a Summer Cold and is sick. His mother brought him a bowl of sick and told him to stay in bed and rest, and to remember to take his medicine. She then leaves the room as Max just lies down in bed.

And then the dream journal flips open and the pages furl and we zoom in on Planet Zoom and it's a frozen wasteland. Blizzards are blowing, the waters are freezing. Even Lavagirl is shivering as she sits on the beach, waiting for Sharkboy, who breaks out of the ice. It's too cold for even his shark friends to come out and they think they need to do something to warm the planet before another ice age hits them.

Probably needs a few drafts, but you get the point.

Sharkboy - Deep Sea Mystery

Sharkboy, real name Finn Mako (cause this is Sharkboy and Lavagirl, subtlety does not exist) was found in a small cave along the coast of Sharktooth Bay. He was found at around age 5 by Dr. Marlon Mako; clearly human, but obviously mutated, with shark-like teeth, sharpened claws, pointed ears, and superhuman senses - not to mention that he saw the boy talking to the Sharks that inhabited the cave. Dr. Mako adopted the boy and built his lab in that cave, where he studies marine life and also builds various technologies for the benefits of Planet Drool. Sharkboy grew up with his new adopted father, never too far from his shark friends. Dr. Mako still doesn't fully understand why Sharkboy mutated like this and is searching for the origin of his odd superhuman abilities and where he came from. Sharkboy does not care; he's happy to have his father, and his Shark Friends.

Sharkboy mostly has all the same abilities he had in the original movie; enhanced physical capabilities, underwater adaptability - for the most part, shark-like teeth, and a super capable swimmer. Sharkboy is also super smart and supplies the team with the various tech and gadgets they use throughout the show - all usually shark themed, cause of course they are. Of course, just because he's smart doesn't mean he's passive or a thinker. His first solution is still primarily to smash it - he's a cocky hothead. It was his father's idea for him to carry that oxygen tank in case of emergencies and if not for the fact he loves his dad and doesn't want him to worry, he'd never bring it with him.

And just like in the movie, Sharkboy can be overstimulated and go into a frenzy where he's stronger, faster, but more feral and less cognitive. This can be good AND bad since he's rarely in control of himself. Sharkboy also has a strong distaste for most human food - whether he can or can't eat it, I don't know, but but he at the very least won't eat most sweets willingly.

Lavagirl - Princess of Heat

Lavagirl, real name Pyrrha Redsword is the daughter of the Lava Lord, Ignis Redsword. Lavagirl hails from the largest volcano on Planet Drool, found at the equator of the planet: Mt. Habanero. We'll get into it later, but yes, Lavagirl is the youngest daughter of this Lave Lord, who controls the thermal heating of Planet Drool. A sheltered princess most her life, Lavagirl grew up listening to stories of Planet Drool's heroes. But that many of them were gone now, apparently having been lost after a 'Great War' - which, in the real world, would be Max losing his grandfather, who would be introduced into the story and would have been the one helping him build Tobor (wink wink).

Inspired by these stories, Lavagirl would make her own suit and decide to become a superhero and would leave her volcano home in search of adventure. She's eager to be a superhero and tries to do things 'by the book' and try to do her best to help people. She holds the majority of the team's emotional intelligence, being more socially capable than Sharkboy - though sometimes, a bit too formal. And at times, maybe a little too naive, as her eagerness to help and her lack of experience with people leads to her being taken advantage of.

Like Sharkboy, Lavagirl's powers are the same as they were in the movie. She can manipulate lava and magma, spew it from her hands, and her hair can light up in flames. She can also melt into lava and reform at will. These are all natural abilities of the inhabitants of her volcano home; in this reboot, Lavagirl knows exactly what she is: a Geofolk, or Geoperson. They all can live in extreme heat and have naturally hot to the touch bodies, as well as hair that can light up with fire as a tie to her emotions. They can eat lava rocks, but they can also eat normal food without issue. Lavagirl has older siblings in this reboot; two older sisters and an older brother, though they're not important right now...

Planet Drool

Planet Drool is a reflection of Earth through the warped and twisted lens of a child - one who has a love of superheroes, robots, and escapes to his fantasies while his planets are having marriage problems and he has to deal with homework, bullies, and the world being big and scary. The two planets, Drool and Earth, have no relation to each other outside of Max; SB & LG do not know of Max's existence, though Max is referenced in a religious sense, as a 'Dreamer'; someone with the power to make thoughts into matter, who can create anything, but also destroy it in an instant. Anyone on Earth can be a Dreamer - in fact, maybe we'll explore the 'Dreams' of others, as they may influence Planet Drool.

For now, though, let's focus.

The natural world of Planet Drool is ruled by a respective Elemental Lord - a King, Queen, or something. Lavagirl's father is the Lava Lord and control's the planet's natural heating. The Ice Princess - yes, she is in this reboot - controls the cooling of the planet and is acting in palce of her missing father, the Ice King. Mr. Electric is the (former) planetary electrician, so on and so forth.

Planet Drool once had lots of heroes acting as its guardian, but after The Great War, many of them had either perished or retired. One of them, the Mighty Tobor, is left as a rusting giant robot in the Dream Graveyard, where all of Max's discarded dreams end up - in context of Planet Drool, it's a massive junkyard of broken machines or magical artifacts that don't work. There, Tobor lies, still technically functional, but seemingly beyond repair, a relic of the Era of Heroes that protected Planet Drool and acts as SB & LG's mentor.

As a planet made up of the dreams of a kid, Planet Drool has various locations that don't make sense. The Land of Milk & Cookies, where deserts are made to appease giants, swamps where the sun never seem to shine and is home to frog-like dragons, desert landscapes where the sand is like water and you need to sail it by ship; the planet's landscape is in constant flux. It twists and turns at the discretion of the planet's Dreamer (AKA, Max and his slowly growing collection of friends). The most important thing about Planet Drool is that it's a mismatch of different ideas that might not really work or go together, but that's kind of the point. Cause it's a dream and dreams don't always make sense.

#JAC Art #JAC Text #Fanfic Bible #The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl #Sharkboy #Lavagirl #Sharkboy and Lavagirl #Planet Drool

13 notes · View notes