Web Video / Fanscription

"This…is FanScription."

Fanscription is a Channel Awesome show, created by Walter Banasiak and Rob Walker of The Nostalgia Critic fame. It's essentially a Fix Fic show, taking movies that they care about but feel have problems, and making them better. Then they have a post-episode sit and talk, discussing behind the scenes. It's a monthly show, and they alternate the episodes.

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Tropes Include:

• Adaptational Badass: Downplayed in "What if Finn Was The Main Character In The Star Wars Sequels?". As an ex-Stormtrooper who can hold his own in a fight in the Star Wars movies, Finn gains an extra level in this video by being both a Stormtrooper and a Jedi.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Combined with Canon Character All Along, Chip Schreck in "What If Tim Burton Directed Batman & Robin" is revealed to actually be that universe's incarnation of Blight, who has otherwise only made appearances thus far in media where Terry McGinnis took on the Batman mantle.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: One change made in "What If Harvey Dent Was In Batman Returns?" is making the Penguin more sympathetic. This is done by changing his implied serial child killings during his time as a circus freak to him robbing rich peoples' homes. He only resorts to child murder after a severe mental break caused by the rejection of wealthy donors to his political campaign, which he views as a betrayal — and even then, he only targets those peoples' children, rather than indiscriminately lashing out at every family in Gotham.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • "What If Anna Was The Villain in Frozen?" imagines a version of Frozen where Anna, a hero in the original movie, becomes the villain.
  • In "What if Tiana Wasn't Turned Into a Frog?" Charlotte's father, Big Daddy LeBeouf, is depicted as a greedy Upper-Class Twit who screwed over The Shadow Man on a deal. His trying to pressure his daughter into a loveless marriage, coupled with trying to sabotage Tiana's business, makes him part of a Big Bad Ensemble. He gets Dragged Off to Hell alongside The Shadow Man in the climax.
• Adaptational Origin Connection: In Spider-Man 4 Felicia Hardy's father was Adrian Toomes' partner, and the former's murder at the latter's hands is what drove her to becoming Black Cat.
• Adaptation Personality Change: In "What if Lola was Funny in Space Jam?", Doug changes Lola's personality so she's more similar (but not identical) to the version of her from The Looney Tunes Show.
• Anti-Villain: Several of the re-interpretations of the Live-Action Batman villains come across as this, such as the Penguin trying to fit into normal society but getting rejected by his donors and betrayed by his brother, Two-Face having an actual character arc in their version of Returns and Forever, or the Riddler trying to find romance only to find that his lover is also his partner's ex-wife and figuring out the riddle of who Batman is at the worst possible moment.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Luke Skywalker ends up becoming one of the Mortis Gods of the Force after the final battle in the World Between Worlds in What If Finn Was The Main Character of the Star Wars Sequels.
• Back for the Dead: What if Christian Bale was in Batman v Superman shows Alfred and John Blake dying in Superman's fight with Zod in Man of Steel. This is what prompts Batman's turn to viciousness in the film proper and also turns him into something of a Death Seeker.
• The Bad Guy Wins:
  • The entire premise of "What If Jafar Had Won?". Jafar finds the Genie's lamp first and uses it to become the Sultan of Agrabah.
  • "What If Ariel Was A Siren?" has the Big Bad getting everything they wanted and more by amplifying Ariel's voice and making her a siren rather than taking it, resulting in her being able to manipulate Triton into attacking the human kingdom, destroying it and conquering Alantica in the process.
• Big "NO!": Anakin and Ahsoka as a missile strike on Padme's ship is ordered by Palpatine in "What If Ahsoka Was In Revenge of the Sith".
  • Bron also says one as he's frozen solid by Elsa in the climax of "What If Anna Was the Villain of Frozen II".
• Bittersweet Ending: Spider-Man 5 ends with Peter defeating The Lizard and the Spider-Clone, and starting a relationship with Gwen. Unfortuantely Miles Warren gets away scott free (with even Peter completely unaware of his involvement), Curt's mind has fully succumbed to the Lizard persona, leaving him to take the fall for Warren's misdeeds, and Spider-Man is still wanted by the police for his clone's crimes, and then on top of that, he finds a clone of MJ at his doorstep.
  • "What If Ahsoka Was In Revenge of the Sith" ends with Anakin brought back to the light, but he ends up tortured and killed by Palpatine, right after being forced to witness Padme's cruiser get shot down by Clone Troopers, also meaning Luke and Leia may never get a chance to personally know their father. Luke, Leia and Obi-Wan survive, but Obi-Wan is left emotionally broken by the circumstances, leaving for parts unknown as he feels he failed Qui-Gon, Padme and Anakin, and the Republic (requesting for Ahsoka not to search for him); and Leia is poised to be raised as a servant of the Galactic Empire, to Palpatine's satisfaction.
• Breather Episode: The Snyder Infinity War was far jokier than other episodes, and Rob admitted concern even though he thought it was really funny.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: When mentioning the iconic "Let It Go" from Frozen, Heather begins to break out into song...
  Walter: Heather...HEATHER! They know the song.
  Heather: (sharply) Fine!
• Call-Back: During the Batman Forever rewrite, Edward explains that the overall message of the Knights and Knaves riddle is that in order to find the truth, you need a liar present. When he finds Grace and realizes she lied about her name, he also finds Bruce Wayne and begins connecting the dots and as such, calls back to what he said.
• Close to Home: Part of the reason why Rob loves The Lion King (1994) so much is that a grandparent he was close to died recently, so that’s why the movie got to him.
• Collateral Angst: Walter changes Rocky IV because he feels Apollo’s death served no greater narrative purpose than giving Rocky motivation.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Often applied when bringing new characters into live-action movies. It occasionally happens with animated movies as well, such as in the video about the hypothetical sequel to Monsters, Inc., which fancasts Aunt Cass as the adult Boo and Franny Robinson as the antagonistic digital Influencer character.
• Composite Character: In "What If Harley Quinn Was In Batman 89?", Rob combines Harley with Alicia. Her Harleen Quinzel identity being a corrupt psychiatrist who works with organized crime is also reminiscent of Post-Crisis Hugo Strange.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: In What If A Live Action Super Mario Bros. (1993) 2 Happened? King Wart differs noticeably from the previous film's King Koopa. Koopa was more of an expressive and comedic villain while Wart is depicted as much more frightening and soft-spoken villain. Koopa ruled over a grungy Cyberpunk setting whereas King Wart's domain is more of a general fantasy setting. Lastly, Koopa was a white man in a black suit while King Wart is a black man in a white suit.
• Crossover Relatives: The entire premise of "What If Tarzan was Elsa and Anna's Brother?" revolves around this, taking the joke/fan-favorite theory of Tarzan's parents being Agnarr and Iduna and developing it into a third installment to the previous two Frozen episodes.
• Dark Fic: A lot of the retellings can be a lot darker than the originals, like Rob has Luke die in Return of the Jedi, Walter has Scar raising Simba in The Lion King (1994), Doug’s version of Mary Poppins Returns has far more grief details or even Rob's version of Frozen in which Anna becomes the villain.
  • "What If Ariel was a Siren?" takes the cake as the darkest one yet. Between Ursula actually winning and several onscreen deaths in both land and sea (including a graphic depiction of Eric's father being Eaten alive by the giant Ursula), it makes the original Hans Christian Andersen story look like Sofia the First in comparison.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • The title for "What if Luke Skywalker died in Return of the Jedi" (obviously), but the Fanscription also has it so that Mon Mothma would take Luke's place if no one liked the idea of Luke dying.
  • In their take of Batman Forever, the Riddler blows himself up to try and take Batman and Robin down with him.
  • The Spider-Man 3 episode sees Mary Jane suffer from this in the climax, borrowing heavily from Gwen Stacy's own death in the comics as Peter tries, and ultimately fails, to save her after she's dropped from a bridge by Harry.
  • Kristoff doesn't survive the events of "What If Anna was the Villain in Frozen 2?"
  • "What If Rufio Didn't Die in Hook?" answers the eponymous question by having Hook stab Peter instead.
• Distanced from Current Events: In-universe. On the Infinity War Fanscription podcast, Walter said he stopped doing the Snyder character for a while because personal tragedy in the director’s life, and only came back after the “Batman should kill people” rant.
• Downer Beginning: The opening to "What If Rufio Didn't Die In Hook?" starts with Peter Pan dying in Rufio's place, Jack stuck behind in Neverland under the tutelage of Smee while Maggie returns to Earth, and Hook laughing triumphantly as he goads Rufio to fight him. Though it's technically a Downer Ending given how it's the end to the first of two movies in this hypothetical story.
• Downer Ending:
  • "What if Venom Wasn't in Spider-Man 3" ends with Mary Jane, Harry, and an untold number of New Yorkers dead, with a grief and guilt-stricken Peter being left to pick up the pieces.
  • "What If Ariel Was A Siren?" ends with Ursula taking over Alantica (and setting her sights on other kingdoms), the human kingdom being destroyed with its king devoured and its prince left for dead in Ursula's lair, and ending with Ariel, still cursed to remain a siren, going to Arendelle where she begins enthralling more people.
• Elseworld: The Disney rewrites are explicitly called Disney Elseworlds, as their aim isn't to fix the stories but rather present a different telling of the story.
• Fanboy: The subjects of the episodes tend to be franchises both Rob and Walter grew up with and adore, which makes sense as it’s a Fix Fic show and you want to fix stuff you care about.
• Fan Disservice: In a discussed example, Rob and Walter talk about Slave Leia, and even though they and Jim are "guy's guys", thought it was more weird and gross than fetish fuel.
• First-World Problems: Knowing full well how… passionate Star Wars fans can be, Walter and Rob point out on the “What If Luke Died In Return Of The Jedi” podcast that it's just fun media and don't yell at each other about it.
• Fix Fic: The premise of Fanscription involves fixing up films that had problems in them, especially restructuring Ghostbusters 2 and The Haunted Mansion so as to be more palatable.
• For Want Of A Nail: Several of these stories hinge off of a single aspect either being present or not being present. Case in point, "What If Ariel Was A Siren?"'s major point boils down to the nail being Ursula choosing to instead amplify Ariel's voice to be that of a siren's rather than take it outright, resulting in her capturing Eric, using the blood of both him and Ariel to create an army of mermen to destroy the Kingdom, and take over Alantica in the process.
• Franchise Original Sin: In-universe. A bit with his own bias because he’s firmly believing the 2016 reboot is just So Okay, It's Average, but Rob tries to point out with GB 2 that the guys who think it’s “SJW worst thing ever trash” are missing the point, and it’s just a symptom of Hollywood trying too hard to make everything post first movie accessible to kids.
• Give Geeks a Chance: In Ghostbusters 2, Rob’s annoyed that they changed Janine’s character to super dorky to match her with Lewis.
• Good Counterpart: L.A.M.E (League of Angsty Magnificent Epicness) are this to Syndrome and Screenslaver. The heroes of L.A.M.E are genuine good Badass Normals who took heroism when they actually believed the Supers have gone rogue. By the end of the film, they formed a camaraderie with their super-powered rivals, especially Jack Jack.
• Good Is Bad And Bad Is Good: Used in a very specific way in Super Mario Bros 2. Wart's minions treat good, wholesome food as poison, and rotting garbage as good, wholesome food, as evidenced by Wario and Waluigi chowing down on rotten Super Mushrooms to become their giant versions. Mario and Peach combine Peach's vegetable garden (a takeoff of the game's use of turnips as Edible Ammunition) and Bowser's de-evolution guns into a potent chemical weapon.
• Heel–Face Turn: Walter Peck in the Ghostbusters 2 episode, after a phone call from his mother. He explains that 1. She felt he was being petty to the heroes, 2. He trusts his mother with his life, and 3. His mother has been dead for 14 years.
• Hope Springs Eternal: As much as Doug and Rob have nostalgia for the 80s, he talks in the Mary Poppins Returns fanscription that the 80s liked to crush hope, and he prefers media that takes you to dark places, but brings you back up again.
• I Choose to Stay:
  • Matthew in the hypothetical sequel to Hook, realizing he's a better fit for the Lost Boys and that his parents aren't coming back.
  • Luigi in Super Mario Bros. 2 stays in the Mushroom Kingdom with Daisy.
• Ironic Echo: In What if The Joker was in The Dark Knight Rises Part 2, Bruce encounters a fear gas hallucination of Rachel Dawes claiming he killed her. Bruce insists he didn't kill her, but "Rachel" rebuts "You just didn't have to save me, did you?"
• It's Been Done: They’re adamant about not doing the Star Wars prequels, as they wouldn’t know where to start for one, and for another you can find plenty of videos on fixing them. They eventually do the prequels, but its more in the context of What If? Qui-Gon Jin survived, but Obi-Wan did not.
• Jump Scare: The reveal of Ariel's siren form in "What If Ariel was a Siren?" is depicted like this.
• Karmic Death: Smee meets his end this way as he pleaded to Jack to spare him. As soon as he asks for some time to explain, he hears the familiar ticking of Tick Tock and as he falls into the ocean, he is devoured.
• Kill the Parent, Raise the Child: This is the premise of the episode "What if Scar Raised Simba?", which has Scar raising Simba to mold in his image after killing Mufasa.
• Knights and Knaves: Discussed in their take on Batman Forever, in which Edward talks with Grace about how he got that riddle when he was a kid. He even explains the answer and how the beauty of the riddle is that in order to find the truth, you need a liar present. However, Edward also explains how this also became his Start of Darkness:
  Edward: That wasn't the problem. Problem was it got me thinking. Everyone in this maze was lost but me. They were all flying around me like a bat out of hell. But I didn't care about leaving, because if out there with my father was supposed to be Heaven... then maybe I'd prefer it in Hell.
  Grace: That's a dark thought.
  Edward: Or maybe it's a dark world... But it taught me something: Always have the answer. So come Heaven or Hell, at least it's your choice.
• Lighter and Softer: The Pixar Elseworlds, in contrast to the Disney Elseworlds, are often just movies told in the same style as the movie they're based off.
  • The rewrite to Incredibles 2 instead focuses on slightly older versions of the Parr kids going through life in comedic manners (such as Violet trying to break up with her boyfriend and failing hilariously or Jack-Jack joining a team of costumed vigilantes that have no super powers), a Screenslaver whose secret identity is not a twist, and overall a tone that would mirror the original Incredibles. The only dark thing about it is Screenslaver's ultimate plan and how he dies, but compared to what the original had, more or less the same in tone.
  • The hypothetical sequel to Monsters, Inc. is more about what becomes of Boo when she grows up and drifts apart from Sully. A lot of light hearted humor with the overall villain plot being more similar to the original film than darker. It becomes even more of a point when the host for the Fanscription says that he wanted the film to have the feeling of Pete Docter's later works for the sequel. Much like the Incredibles 2 Fanscription, the only dark thing is the villain's endgame plan.
• No Antagonist: Doug takes the evil bank subplot out of his version of Mary Poppins Returns, as the original film didn’t have straight bad guys, just people who thought they were doing good, and that was important to him.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: Several of the Fanscriptions end on this despite taking rather dark turns. Huge examples being Mary Poppins Returns ending with Michael and Annabelle getting into show business after they lost the house, Peter Parker meeting with Gwen Stacy in the Raimi version of the Spider-Man films after the death of Mary Jane, and a literal example of Elsa's warm smile bringing about a ray of sunshine after she was forced to defeat her sister.
• Related in the Adaptation:
  • In their retelling of The Dark Knight Rises, Bane is the son of Ra's al Ghul and Talia's brother.
  • In their version of Batman Returns, the Penguin is revealed to be Max Shreck's long-lost brother.
  • In their retelling of The Dark Knight, Harley Quinn was revealed to be Harvey Dent's fiance.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation: In "What If Hades Raised Hercules?", Persephone is the daughter of both Demeter and Hades, who are apparently divorced and share custody of her.
  • In "What If Finn Was the Main Character in the Star Wars Sequels?", Rey is Ben Solo's sister and thus the daughter of Han and Leia.
• Sequel Hook:
  • The ending of their version of Batman Forever has Catwoman take the fall for the Ice Princess's murder while making it clear she only did it to make things interesting for both her and Bruce. And the Adventure Continues with one of the hosts bringing up that their version of Batman & Robin is in the cards.
  • Spider-Man 4 ends with Miles Warren moving into Peter's old apartment.
  • Option II in Super Mario Bros 2 is to have Daniella and King Toadstool come out of a Warp Pipe.
  • "What If Ariel was a Siren?" ends with Ariel arriving in Arendelle and enchanting the local ice harvesters with her siren song.
  • Spider-Man 5 ends with Peter answering his door to find MJ.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • As mentioned by their respective titles, Apollo Creed and Rufio survive their fates in their respective Fanscriptions.
  • By contrast to the Riddler, Two-Face is saved by a combined effort of Batman, Robin, and Grace in their version of Batman Forever.
  • General Hux survives to the end of "What If Finn Was the Main Character in the Star Wars Sequels?", in contrast to getting shot in the back in Star Wars The Riseof Skywalker, instead being taken into custody by the Resistance following the final battle In addition, General Leia Organa also survives to the end of the same episode.
• Special Guest: Dante Basco reprising the role of Rufio in "What If Rufio Didn't Die in Hook?".
• Take That!: In the Rocky 5 Fanscription podcast, Rob joins the people who dislike CinemaSins, using them as shorthand for needless nitpicking.
• Title Drop: How their version of Batman Forever is named: it's on the newspaper that Bruce reads detailing how Batman is exonerated of his accused killing of the Ice Princess thanks to Catwoman taking the fall for him.
• Values Dissonance: In-universe. While they’re both frustrated with how little Ernie Hudson is used in the Ghostbusters movies, Rob who grew up with the first one gives it a pass but younger Walter isn’t so sure.
• Villain Team-Up: In a hypothetical sequel to Monsters, Inc., Johnny Worthington teams up with Randall as part of a plan to have monsters go back to the good ol' days of scaring humans.
• Vocal Minority: Rob and Walter joke in-universe that Rob does the franchises where fandoms rip into each other (Star Wars, Ghostbusters etc) and Walter’s fandoms are much more chill.
• Weirdness Magnet: In the Ghostbusters 2 episode, Ray and Egon speculate that the events of the first movie turned Dana into this.