Analysis of Franchise Zombies

Introduction:

As the name implies, a franchise zombie is a franchise that should have been dead and dusted. It should have been forgotten and lost to time, remembered by the older people, and people who stumbled on the records of it online somehow. But instead, it continues to move and live even though it has no reason to.

This can happen in any genre of storytelling. Video games, books, TV shows, films, animation, nothing is safe from this phenomenon.

In this article today, I will dig deeper into franchise zombies. Through examples of various genres, I will try to find an explanation of why these zombies occur, and why I consider them so harmful for the creative industries. I will also take a look at how they manifest in different parts of the world as well.

How does a franchise become a zombie?

A franchise is not a zombie just because it is a franchise. It takes years to turn it into one. Much like any other entertainment-related work, a franchise starts with a small step. Maybe a book would become popular, leading to more books, and eventually film / TV deals, and spinoff series. Maybe one video game would become popular, leading to sequels, and eventual spinoffs. Or perhaps an animated show becomes popular, leading to more seasons and films, eventually leading to spinoffs and merchandising.

In all the cases I have pointed out above, one thread is common. They all become popular. This is a key point, because popularity leads to audience attention, and audience attention leads to money. And therein lies the reason for a franchise to become a zombie.

The moment a franchise becomes a money-making cash cow, it will continue far beyond its popularity. It will be milked to its limits, and then milked some more until it has nothing to give. So much so that the audience who loved and adored this piece of entertainment at first, starts to loathe it with the same intensity as they used to love it. But this is a cash cow. It cannot be killed. So, it is continued for years on end.

And that is how a zombie franchise is created, my friends.

Traits of a franchise zombie:

I like to think my readers are smart. So, I am certain that by reading the above section, you have gotten an idea of what exactly is a franchise zombie. Nevertheless, I am going to point out certain traits that I have observed in various franchise zombies.

The most obvious one is the overstretching of the story. The author or the makers of the show want to end the story at a certain point, but they are forced to continue it far beyond what they ever thought of it. This always has a bad effect on the plot. The later seasons of a show, or the final few novels in the series always feel dragged out, uninteresting, and boring. This might even result in an entirely new team of writers being brought up to continue the show, as the old one may not be willing to go along with the idea of continuing any longer. This rarely happens in a book series. It is difficult to replace one author with another, but it has happened. But it is rarer compared to a TV show.

The second one is the concept of the universe. This is a new one, and it can be done in multiple ways. One of them deserves its observation, so I will talk about it next. If you call something a universe, then you can just say all sorts of loosely connected stories, or even the ones with no connection are part of this franchise, for they all share the same universe. However, this can be confusing and quickly get chaotic. The audience is not going to like this. The best prospect in such a setup is a chance of crossover, but those are very difficult to pull off.

The third, and perhaps it is also very obvious, is a reboot. In theory, the idea of reboot sounds great. You have this old show done twenty or even thirty years ago that you want to bring to a modern audience with updated visuals and better music. Not only can you reach the new and young audience with this approach, but you can also capitalize on the nostalgia of the older audience.

In the case of a video game, this also makes sense. A game that was released years ago for a particular platform has been discontinued, you can reboot that game entirely, bringing in new players and trying out some interesting new ideas. You can improve the graphics, and you can potentially also expand the story if you like.

But in reality, the reboots never live up to these expectations. These are pure cash grabs, playing on the nostalgia feelings of the adults, and mostly fail with the younger audience. The story is modified, and the original spirit and creative vision are lost entirely. Furthermore, the original person or the team of people who came up with these ideas get nothing in return, which is just extra salt of bitterness on top of ruining a once beloved franchise.

Note: a rerelease is a very different thing. A rereleased game is largely unmodified. The only change is to make the game run on a new platform and adjust the graphics and music of the game to take advantage of the new and more powerful platform. That is why I have not talked about it here.

These are the three traits to look out for in any franchise zombies. Now, let’s get to the examples!

overstretched story:

Due to my watching anime, most of my examples are from Japan. There can be many reasons for why that happens over there, but one of them is the weekly Shonen Jump magazine. As the name implies, a mangaka has to write and draw a chapter of his story weekly, without a break and without missing the deadline. This gives very little time for the author to develop the plot, and what they want to do after they have reached a certain point. And if a particular manga becomes a hit, so much so that it even gets its anime, then the problem becomes even more severe. Even when the author wants to end the story, they won’t be allowed to. Toriyama wanting to end Dragon Ball after the Frieza saga is a very well-known example of this.

I think the best example of an overstretched story in anime is Naruto. It started pretty differently, where power scaling didn’t matter much, and battles could be won with your wits instead of pure brute force. But when it became popular, it is likely Kishimoto didn’t have much time to develop new plot points, or what he wanted to do with such a large cast of characters. Ever since the end of the original Naruto manga, Naruto has existed in this weird place where people either hate or are somewhat neutral to the new manga about the son of the main character. The opinions of the younger fans may differ, but given that I am an uncool old man, they don’t tend to hang out with me and don’t share their thoughts with me. So, I cannot tell you what they think exactly.

Another example is the one that goes back some hundred or so years back in the past at the time of this writing. And that is, of course, Sherlock Holmes. Much like Akira Toriyama, the author was forced to continue the story due to the popularity of it. Sherlock Holmes is also the series that started the whole phenomenon of fandom. Today it is a zombie in its own right.

Universe:

There are no better examples of universes in franchise zombies than the two comic book ones, the DC Universe and Marvel Universe. Both of them have multiple storylines running together, crossovers do happen frequently, and the heroes even form large groups to fight the large groups of villains.

In the last decade and a half or so, Marvel has dominated the superhero genre, and thus their universe is the best known currently outside of America. But that magic over the audience is now over, and they are struggling just like everyone else to attract the audience who would not only buy the movie tickets and the comics but also the merchandise related to their favorite superheroes.

The universe has one great problem. So many things are happening at any given time that the potential consumer would get overwhelmed. This would lead to them not even bothering to give this a chance because it requires a lot of assumed and previously known knowledge to enjoy the series. This also causes fatigue in the audience, because there is just no end to the story. New things keep popping up again and again, and after a while, the excitement starts to die down. That is the biggest flaw of the universe. But of course, if your franchise or multiple franchises are already making massive money, then this apathy doesn’t matter. By the time you realize that the audience is not like this anymore, it is too late. The entire structure collapses, and everything which was once great turns into ruin.

Of course, we are not even talking about the tendency to turn everything into a universe. That is a whole new problem that deserves its article someday.

Reboot:

In my limited sphere, I feel the best example of a reboot is the Mortal Kombat series of video games. It started in 1992, and it is still going on to this day. The first reboot happened in 2011 after Midway was purchased by Warner, and a new studio was created named NetherRealm Studios. The game managed to revive the enthusiasm for the franchise, after the lackluster decade of the 2000s.

It has all the hallmarks of a reboot I mentioned in my explainer section. The story was changed a little bit, and it was made clearer. The old music was remastered for the first game, and it brought up the experiences of the first three Mortal Kombat games of the 90s to the consoles and the computers of that time.

But things started to go downhill for the series soon after. It was not evident during the 2015 game titled Mortal Kombat X, but the warning signs were there. They tried to bring some new characters, and players did not like them. I do think that the story of the game was fine.

But the real problem started in the next game, titled Mortal Kombat 11. This one not only replaced the voice of Sonia Blade, an iconic character from the franchise but started another reboot. There were also more changes to the character traits and personalities, which were not that well-received among the older players. Once again, not sure what the younger players think about it. You see, I am too busy screaming at the clouds to talk to them.

At this rate, the game franchise is truly a zombie. There is no end in sight, and it will keep reviving itself in every decade with a reboot.

There are other examples of reboots gone badly as well, such as Powerpuff Girls 2016, or the Ben Ten reboot. I swear, the latter is universally hated. I have not come across anyone who likes that one, not even as a casual watch.

Different countries, different cultures, different zombies:

The franchise zombie does not appear in the same way everywhere. For example, in the US, reboots and universe are the norm. I am not arguing that they do not appear in Japan. You can also find Nasuverse there, and some anime also get rebooted later on. But the phenomenon is not that strong there… Yet.

In contrast, Japan has its zombies in the form of overstretched stories. Dragon Ball, Naruto, and One Piece are the ones known outside of Japan and are popular in the West. But there are others: Doraemon, going on since 1969. Kinnikuman, going on since 1979. Shin-Chan, going on since 1991. There might be others, but these are the ones that come to mind. Also, I do not think they are zombies yet, except Naruto. People still find enjoyment in these manga and anime, it is just the commitment to see it all is huge, and as a result, usually, people are not willing to watch them.

Certain brands or merchandising in Japan have its reboot format. The story is written from scratch, with new characters and settings, but the only thing common between the new anime and the previous one is the brand or the merchandizing they are trying to promote with the show. Beyblade is a great example of it. Pretty Cure is also an example of it. I haven’t watched the latter though. But it looks like that from the surface.

Due to their tendency to tell a linear story, and follow that story for a long period, Japan has low number of Zombies. Take the video game series Tekken for example. It has a record of the longest-running continuous plot. Also, the Japanese games are known to conclude their stories. Ninja Gaiden did it in three games, and BlazBlue also did it in four games. Spinoffs do indeed come afterward, but they leave the core of the franchise alone. These spinoffs do not make any changes to the core.

However, the Pokémon anime is a zombie. I have no arguments about it. But I’ll forgive this one, because at least it did not go into a reboot with every new game, and older characters do come up a lot.

I am not aware of any zombies in Chinese entertainment. Unless we’re discussing their web novels. they tend to end up in this state due to how long they end up running, and how overstretched and thin the plot becomes in the middle. But what else can you expect, when you have stories which are going on for almost 5000 chapters? Mind you, reaching such a high number of chapters is an exception. But still, they do touch a thousand marks, and by the end of it, everyone is tired. The readers, the author, and even the translators.

Consequences of zombie franchise:

Make no mistake. While it is fine to have a franchise that has become a billion-dollar one because of its popularity, the moment it becomes a zombie, it is a danger. Why? Because it is an infection in the whole creative ecosystem. The writers who could have created something new go on to work on this franchise, long after the original creator has stopped working on it due to losing interest or just not being in this world anymore. What you are doing at this point is writing fanfiction. Yes. That is right. You are writing fan fiction. The only difference is that you get paid to do this, and since there is a brand name attached to your work, it has the official seal of approval. That is the only reason it is not called a fanfiction.

Take Marvel Comics for example. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created the popular superheroes in the 1960s, and because of these superheroes, Marvel is known throughout the world. What they have done ever since? Why, coast on their work ever since!

Every time, they think a current iteration has run its course, they reboot the comics. They justify this by using the universe term. Nothing new or worthy of any kind has come out of Marvel ever since.

DC is the same way. Superman and Batman, both of these characters were created, and their comics were published in the 1930s. Countless iterations have come of them ever since, often reflecting the changes in the culture and society.

I know there might be other heroes in both of these comics. But I use their name because these names are almost universally known to everyone, and I felt that people would understand my examples better as a result.

Getting back to the point, it has stifled any creative venture in the American comics for years at this point. True, there was a period of prosperity for Marvel starting in the late 2000s. But as I said before, the magic has warned off, and the appeal is not the same as before. Expect this situation to not change any time soon.

In general, the West seems to be struggling with zombie problems in their creative industries. The only way to cure this problem is to start a purge. I do not believe we need to do anything by ourselves. It is happening naturally. I say let the current state of things continue, and maybe once this ten or twenty years of boring period passes, we might get some new things out of American creative industries worth watching.

As for Japan, I feel Dragon Ball is in most danger of becoming a zombie. Already it has too many continuities, with timelines, anime, manga, and games having their different canon. Now that Toriyama is no longer with us, I am not certain how well this giant franchise could be run in the future without fucking it up. It is also possible that future works in this franchise might end up getting rejected by the fans, as they do not have any input or blessings of Toriyama.

The bigger concern for Japan is to save itself from the problematic things in the West. Including the reboot, the universe problem, and even political agendas. Let’s see how well they handle it in the future.

If you are worried that the big entertainment is not able to fulfill your needs, then I suggest you switch to small independent creators. They are often starved of support and attention, and their work is of a very high quality as they do not compromise it because of money. That is the only way to survive in this bankrupt zombie-filled world.

How do you like this analysis? Tell me your thoughts in the comments. Check out my other blog here, and my web serial here. And I will see you in the next article.

-Tanish.