1. Robotech
Back in the 1980s, a man named Carl Macek wanted to bring a Japanese show called Super Dimension Fortress Macross to America. After a few failed attempts to sell the show on VHS, he and Harmony Gold, one of numerous corporations getting in on the animation boom at the time, decided to get Macross on syndicated TV. But the rules at the time forced Macek to combine Macross with two other shows, Super Dimension Calvary Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA, whose only similarities were alien invasions and giant transforming mechs. Despite having a production cycle of about 9 months and a large crew of writers, Robotech turned out to be a mostly coherent and well executed product for its time. Kids and teens liked the epic sci-fi storyline involving three separate alien invasions of Earth that didn't shy away from showing death, like other shows from that era, giving the show a large fanbase that still lives to this day. And while Macross has spawned its own franchise in Japan, there's little argument that Robotech is the more accessible version for western viewers, as its more military scifi presentation jives better with mass audience tastes than Macross's heavy focus on pop music, romance, and mysticism outside of the original Macross and one spinoff (Macross Plus). Rebooting Robotech is mostly a matter of practicality. The animation used in the source material is horribly dated, especially Macross (the first part of Robotech and a show that suffered budget problems in its initial release). In addition, a lot of the writing comes across as stilted and stiff, with a perpetual narration that leaves little to the imagination. And then there's the bizarre rights issues surrounding Macross,
which are best summarized here. The main obstacle to rebooting Robotech is Harmony Gold. Due to its investments in real estate, Harmony Gold doesn't really have an incentive to do anything with Robotech beyond re-releasing DVDs, licensing comics, and occasionally producing a new Robotech cartoon or game. And due to the rights issues, a live action movie is totally impractical, because of the international rights issues a death knell in an era when international revenue makes up a huge chunk of a film's profits. Unless Harmony Gold resolves the issues with Japan or someone buys the IP from them and settles the legal dispute, Robotech is trapped in limbo, unable to move forward or restart. And for the people who love Robotech and want to bring it back, that's one bitter pill to swallow.
Got any other suggestions for scifi franchises that should be rebooted? Feel free to drop them in the comments below.