[ WP ] Rescript Sylvester Stallone 's Rocky series as a space opera using the characters as archetypes for the different alien species .

“ Ah… Ummm… ” he said, and cleared his throat. Pat was not used to stumbling over his words, but he was also not used to standing in front of one of the most powerful people in Hollywood. Pat momentarily forgot his pitch. 
 
 “ Go on. ” 
 
 “ Well… The movie starts on the tails of a victory. Following a lengthy inter-system space war where our protagonist species, the Balboans, have bested the main fleet of their enemies, the Apollonians, impacting the race's space-faring capabilities and forcing them into a treaty... ” He thought he was off to a good start. Pat was used to giving pitches to the smaller fly-by-night companies that produced much of the straight-to-DVD swill put out these days. He had even pitched an idea to execs at the Sy-Fy channel once. They had never returned his calls afterwards… No one had ever returned his calls. 
 
 “ With Victory cinched, the remaining Balboan ships head towards their home system, to bask in the glow of their victory. However during the journey there are many mild skirmishes with multiple smaller races, until they reach their home planet. There is much fanfare and the fleet is regarded as heroes. ” He thought back on the phone call he got 3 weeks ago to set up this meeting. He thought his agent was pranking him. Apparently, even though Sy-Fy did not bite on any of his ideas, someone at the station passed Pat ’ s name to someone at Universal, who passed his name on to someone else… He did not know the entire chain, but the grapevine ended in the offices of the head executive of Fox. 
 
 “ A time of peace is expected, until the Clubberlangians show up in war cruisers and systematically bomb the planet in a hit and run type maneuver, destroying a few major cities and leaving the race in shambles. The Clubberlangians having taken some losses, although not many, regroup at the edge of the system and prepares for another attack. ” He was in his stride now, completely comfortable with the situation. He became more animated as he unfolded his story. 
 
 “ The ambassador of the Apollonians, tells our species of this new enemy which they are familiar with. It is a violent warlike species which has been conquering systems for some time. The Apollonians and the Balboans expand their treaty into an alliance and the 2 species begin planning to destroy this violent race known as the Clubberlangians. They combine the remains of both their main fleets then head towards the edge of the system where the Clubberlangian fleet has completed repairs and waits. An epic space battle commences as the amalgamated armada confronts the Clubberlangians, out maneuvering and flanking them eventually not only destroying the fleet, but guaranteeing freedom for the previously conquered systems. ” Pat began using hand motions to simulate ships in the battle as he tried to visually express the action he was describing in the climax of his proposed movie. 
 
 “ The film ends on the high of victory with the Balboan and Apollonian leaders coming together to celebrate their newfound alliance as well as the coming era of peace. ” He took a breath and met the gaze of the head exec. 
 
 “ That sounds an awful lot like the plot of Rocky 3, ” said the man as he adjusted his tie slightly. 
 
 “ That ’ s the beauty of it… the plots all there for us to reuse, ” he retorted. “ Hollywood does it all the time. We could keep it vague. Actually, I think we could end the flick on a cliffhanger as another fleet from a far off red dwarf system, the Dragonians, show up and destroy the Apollonian home-world. Then branch that into a sequel where the Balboans defeat the Dragonians in their own star system! ” 
 
 “ That sounds like- “, the exec started before being cut off. 
 
 “ Maybe shoot 2 prequels documenting the long Balboan-Apollonian War! Then after all that, a film where the Balboan's robot servants rise up and the Balboans will have to defeat the Machines in an outer-space version of a street fight. ” His eyes shone with a maniacal light as his mind blazed new ideas straight to his mouth. 
 
 “ C'mon, do we really want to bring Rocky 5 into this? ” the exec asked. 
 
 “ After defeating the Machines the Balboans swear off computers forever and a few millennia passes and we are segued into the'world' of Dune! ” He breathed deeply as though he had just ran a race. Pat was dumbfounded that they allowed him to go through his entire pitch. 
 
 “ The story of Rocky as the backstory of Dune? ” the exec asked. 
 
 “ Tell me that does n't sound Amazing. ” Pat said. 
 
 “ You came here to pitch a 5 movie `` Rocky reimagined ” space opera, twist segued into a completely different franchise? And not just any franchise, one of the most critically acclaimed literary sci-fi franchises in the world? You are literally tying Rocky into Dune. ” The exec ’ s gaze locked tightly on him. 
 
 “ Well… yeah. ” He replied. 
 
 “ Kid, ” the exec started, “ That's some Oscar winning script-writing right there! We may even have a Screenwriters Guild award or 2 with this! When can you get us a script? ” 
 
 Pat reached into his leather satchel and pulled out a stack of papers. “ Funny that you ask. ” He said. 

