For whatever reason today I've been thinking about a couple of things that had a lot of great ideas at the heart of them, and then completely blew the execution creating something that may be ok, but is far from the excellence that the idea is worth.
For example, Silent Hill 4. I'd argue that the basic idea behind the game, that of a man who wakes up one day to find himself trapped in his apartment until a mysterious hole appears in his bathroom, is the most original story germ that Silent Hill has had. It's a brilliant idea for any medium, and yet as you play the game you watch that terrific original idea just die under subpar execution and a second half that is not only a rerun, but one large escort mission.
Another example: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6. When you begin with a stage in which your lead character is dead there's a lot of stories that you can tell. However, rather than relish and explore the ramifications of the lead's death, they quickly bring her back and mire her in slapstick comedy and character assassinations. The team who killed Superman in the comics always said that the only reason they did it was to tell the story "World Without a Superman", and if you look back at that era those stories are much better than either the death or the resurrection. It's a shame that Whedon and Noxon couldn't figure out the same thing.
So I open the floor to everyone else. What things, in any medium, do you feel have the greatest wasted potential and why? Why really helps because not everyone is familiar with every work, and some people may disagree (I do know that there are people who love Buffy Season 6, for instance...)
For example, Silent Hill 4. I'd argue that the basic idea behind the game, that of a man who wakes up one day to find himself trapped in his apartment until a mysterious hole appears in his bathroom, is the most original story germ that Silent Hill has had. It's a brilliant idea for any medium, and yet as you play the game you watch that terrific original idea just die under subpar execution and a second half that is not only a rerun, but one large escort mission.
Another example: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6. When you begin with a stage in which your lead character is dead there's a lot of stories that you can tell. However, rather than relish and explore the ramifications of the lead's death, they quickly bring her back and mire her in slapstick comedy and character assassinations. The team who killed Superman in the comics always said that the only reason they did it was to tell the story "World Without a Superman", and if you look back at that era those stories are much better than either the death or the resurrection. It's a shame that Whedon and Noxon couldn't figure out the same thing.
So I open the floor to everyone else. What things, in any medium, do you feel have the greatest wasted potential and why? Why really helps because not everyone is familiar with every work, and some people may disagree (I do know that there are people who love Buffy Season 6, for instance...)
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