The deal with the Blue Lion

Note to Justin Marks:

Dude, congrats on getting the deal to write Voltron. I have to admit, I have no idea what those other movies are that you wrote, but I hear Saved! was pretty sweet, and the uniforms sure like might nice.

So here's the deal. You can probably get some 18-30s out on opening weekend to see the live-action Voltron when it hits theatres next year (or whenever) - but the overall booty will depend in large part on how you guys deal with the sacred cartoon. It's my generation (X-Yers) that grew up with the lions, and you please us, you'll hit $200 million easy.

A few suggestions:

Don't bone Sven out of the ride in the first movie. The Bruce Lee-esque second-in-command BMF was the coolest guy on the show for the first six episodes. No doubt Voltron will be the big payoff at the end, so stay true to the original story and let the man have his day in the first film.

If you want to have him all messed up in the second movie, by all means, go right ahead. It makes perfect sense that her story would be the centerpiece of the second film, blah blah blah.

I stopped watching, as did the bulk of my friends, after she got in the lion anyway. Not sure if you've bothered watching any of the cartoon, but Sven shows back up again later in the series to actually move the story along. He gets Lotor, and later gets back in the Blue Lion. You watch that episode and one could argue he must go back to work as a full member of the Voltron force.

Not for nothing, but the rest of the crew look like a bunch of tools. Yes, his accent left a bit to be desired, but he looked sweet, and that's all you care about when your nine. Why do you think Snake Eyes ended up as the king of GI Joe in the comics or at the stores when the cartoon always focused on Duke or the next toy of the week?

I've never understood the pro-Allura crowd. Yeah, she was hot, but even the original Japanese series realized they made a mistake killing off Shirogane Takashi- that's why they brought his brother back later in the series- and why the folks at WEP just had Sven taken to some hospital planet. Didn't seem like every episode Allura is the one screwing things up for the rest of the crew? Blue Lion goes from having the best pilot to the worst overnight.

Sven rocked. Give him his due and send him off the hospital planet-XK319 in Voltron 2:Electric Boogaloo.

If you need any proof, just watch how Transformers is going to tank at the box office in 2007. They messed with Megatron. Big mistake. So he's a big gun? Big whoop-dee-doo! He's the greatest villain of the '80s, for fraksake!

Speaking of which-

All time villains?

1. Megatron (the big gun could level a city!)

2. Darth Vader (let's just try to forget anything that happened after 1983)

3. Cobra Commander- screamed like a little girl

4. The Joker - Personally I was glad to see Jason Todd go. The kid was a weinie.

5. Hannibal Lecter - He did eat Ray Liota's brain, after all.

And pilots of the Blue Lion

1. Sven

2. Yeah, pretty much just Sven.