Okay, here's my take on the sequel. Just a bunch of random ideas about it spewing forth through my fingers onto the keyboard. No, I haven't seen all the Disney sequels. I HAVE seen a rather disappointing overused plot device in them. A main character keeps some secret, either to harm another (others) in some way, or keeps it to try to keep another safe, and in BOTH cases, end up betraying trust that must be (and of course is) regained at the end.
But you know what? Our chances of finding that in this sequel are actually slim. Why? There are advantages to having a sequel created from three episodes of our once-to-be-but-still-loved series. Look at the better Disney TV series. Aladdin. Hercules. Tarzan. Gargoyles. Was that a huge theme in them? Of course not. How lame would that get after a while?
Let's look here. I loved Gargoyles, and, like Gargoyles, Team Atlantis, or stillborn series, was going to incorporate epic storytelling. (And I'm sorry, just because they were looking around the world and exploring myth trying to get home doesn't automatically make it a rip off. No more than Simba's Pride was a rip off of the original Aladdin movie. I mean, guy has secret as to who he really is/what he's doing there, falls in love with a princess, the prime antagonist reveals all, the princess is shocked at what comes about, guy returns to help set things right, then stays with the princess and will one day become ruler of the kingdom. Or that *gasp* The Lion King was a rip off of Bambi! Circle of Life, parent dies, main chracter falls in love despite protest at one point not to, fire in a climactic scene, main character becomes ruler of his natural realm, a legacy seen by the viewer as well... Yet they're different stories, not one as a rip-off of another. We gotta face it, there aren't really any new stories anymore. I as a fanfiction writer, as inexperienced as I am with writing [there's no way I'd make it as a writer], can say from personal experience that I take parts of other stories to try and make my own. If that's ripping off then I'm guilty as charged.) Anyway, the series has been compared to Gargoyles a LOT. I put a lot of faith in Gargoyles, and if Team Atlantis was to be of similar quality in both character development and storyline (unfortunately cut short when the series was axed before ever leaving the ground) then I plan to look at it for what it really is: three episodes from the series. Even Gargoyles got a movie that was the first five episodes of its series. Let us look upon it like that, then.
And if you're still not happy with the idea, that's perfectly A-okay. But I will say, would you preferred to have nothing, nothing at all? Let's just see what Disney had in mind. Then we can tear it to shreds all we want. ;")
Oh, and about the cover… (See Lisa's site.) Yes, besides the sad fact Kida looks a bit, um… scary, and yeah, Audrey would have been cool on the cover. This looks French but… Note what it says on the bottom. "Trois Aventures Surnarturelles." Now, Spanish has some similarities to French (what do you want, I'm not Milo), but if I infer this reasoning is correct, hey, it's true to advertising. "Three surreal/supernatural adventures." Reminds me of how Cree Summer had described it as like the X-files, as they went around the globe in search for the paranormal. (By the way, it also looks like that title is "The Enigmas of Atlantis," in this version.) Considering I have ads of the Doug Movie when it was going to be straight to video and it had a slight title change (from "Doug's First Movie") when they decided to go to movie theaters, the title "Milo's Return," may return to a title graveyard.
Sure, many of the Disney sequels have something to be desired (though don't most sequels?) but this is something else. This is three episodes made into a sequel, not something put out by their typical sequel staff. I look at this as something new and promising (though I suppose you could say they could mess it up in a whole new way…)
And if you're still not convinced, here's my suggestion. Watch the sequel to "Balto." Poor story that just feels like it *ends* and animation that would make your hair curl if you dislike the animation for Disney sequels. (Jerky animation at times, error in imagery, as in "How'd that character get over there?", animation artists not taking care to make sure things match, as in, zoom up on background characters without enlarging the foreground character… The list could go on.) So just be thankful. Believe me, I am.
I know, my view is optimistic, and if that offends anyone, I apologize. I would just like to think of what could have been and relate it to what we're getting. Frankly, when we learned that Atlantis was going to get a series and a sequel (before this whole mess) didn't we hope (or "pray, maybe…") that we'd get both? Well, we did. We're getting Team Atlantis, but not in the form we expected, and we're getting a sequel, just not in the form we expected. And truthfully, we can choose to ignore the sequel if we wish on an individual basis.
Besides, if you go into it thinking it will be trash, you may easily predispose yourself to that outlook to doom your own experience. I looked forward to and loved movies like "Atlantis" and "Treasure Planet," and was fearful they might butcher Jurassic Park 3 (I am a hunge fan of the first two). And guess what? I didn't care for JP3 much, so as far as I'm concerned, go into it open-minded. Don't expect it to be as good as the original of course, but I don't want to judge before I see it.
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