Talk-To-Me Elmo

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For years I thought it would be fun to embed a smart assistant like Siri or Alexa into a plush toy like Teddy Ruxpin so a child can converse endlessly with a character they enjoy. However I was not comfortable with all the electronics that would be inside the plush toy, or the upkeep that would be needed (like charging the battery or cleaning the plush toy).

I feel it would be best if all of the electronics were completely separated from the plush toy, and placed in a walkie-talkie that the child can interact with. The plush toy would be holding a walkie-talkie too, but it would have no electronics, it is just a prop. The battery, speaker, microphone — everything needed to engage with a smart assistant is in the main walkie-talkie.

As for the smart assistant, I’m not sure if Siri or Alexa can be given the helium treatment to sound like Elmo, or if the character’s voice actor would need to record new dialogue, but either way the voice is a very important feature for this toy, it is the main selling point after all.

Ideally a child can have entire conversations with Elmo, play games, or even be quizzed for an educational aspect. The sky’s the limit with smart assistants, although this one would need parental controls obviously.

Elevator Pitches

Hunger Games video game, Star Trek Frontier TV Show, Mega Man metroidvania 2020 dave delisle davesgeekyideas

An elevator pitch is where you try to sell an idea in as short a time as possible, and I will attempt to do that here for some shows and video games I would like to see.

  1. Hunger Games video game. Battle Royale games are all the rage these days, but with platforms like Twitch and YouTube Gaming, audiences could now get involved. Viewers could help players with items and weapons, or vote on ways to make their lives miserable. Should be fun.
  2. Mega Man Metroidvania video game. Having recently played Hollow Knight, a large world littered with powerful bosses would make for a compelling Mega Man experience. When Mega Man is killed, he would be immediately cloned and have the option of visiting his prior death location to reclaim weapons and items, much like a similar system in Hollow Knight.
  3. Star Trek Frontier TV show. The USS Frontier is a massive mobile shipyard, capable of building a fleet of ships on demand. Its new mission: to travel to the very edge of the universe. This is possible thanks to a breakthrough wormhole drive that can propel the ship hundreds of thousands of light years in a matter of seconds. The mission should take several years. So why use a mobile shipyard? It constructs a series of “transport relays” that will help everyone get back home in a matter of months; it’s a one-way journey for the ship, but the crew will teleport home in the end. So what will they find at the edge of the universe?
  4. He-Man animated TV show. I pitched this elsewhere as an animated comedy: all the characters of Eternia now use pro wrestling to solve their disputes, a sport they glimpsed on Earth (not knowing it was scripted a la Galaxy Quest). It would parody the WWE, but also poke fun at MOTU. Nearly all of the characters are heavily invested in every match and feud.
  5. Scooby-Doo WHEN Are You? animated TV show. The gang is mistakenly dubbed the “greatest detectives of all time”, so they are gifted a time machine from an advanced alien race. The aliens hope that the gang can solve all of the great mysteries that were lost to the passage of time. Unfortunately, the gang believe the aliens to be people wearing disguises, so they start mashing buttons on the time machine (thinking it to be another hoax). Scooby-Doo and his pals then embark on a series of adventures throughout time, because they don’t know how to use the alien time machine. It’s sort of like Quantum Leap in a way, they just want to get back home. They also keep meddling with the timeline. I didn’t say every pitch was good!

I have a few more pitches kicking around in my head, but they don’t involve a popular intellectual property so they may not interest you! But I am thinking of writing them in short story form. Maybe someday.

Star Trek Streaming Remote

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There are a few Star Trek remotes you can buy for your TV, but if it were up to me I’d make one inspired by the Cricket Phaser from TNG. On the show the characters wield and point the thing like a TV remote, plus it is very small and has a good button layout. Would be ideal for a Roku or Fire TV setup.

TV Show Pitch: Obi-Wan Kenobi

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There has been a lot of hoopla this past week regarding the delay of the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV show. The rumor for the delay: the show’s premise was too similar to The Mandalorian, with the title character protecting a young Luke Skywalker throughout the series.

Not sure how valid that rumor is, but it is far from what I’ve been imagining these past few months, which I will share with you now: seeing as the Mandalorian is a Western, I honestly thought Obi-Wan was going to be a Detective Show (be it Noir or Hardboiled).

Hear me out! The most interesting part of Attack of the Clones was Obi-Wan being a detective, chasing down clues and unraveling a mystery. Not saying he’d pursue that line of work full-time, but living near both Mos Eisley and Jabba’s Palace, it would be easy to become embroiled in a sinister plot full of criminals and intrigue.

Planet Express Electric Scooter

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This Futurama-themed electric scooter reminds me of Pee-Wee Herman’s bicycle, a testament to all that is colorful, retro, and zany. It screams fun to me, but I can see this being hideous to many other people.