2007 Overview
2007 would become a hallmark over for the United States with the admission of two new states into the union for the first time in decades. Washington DC would be admitted in as Douglass Commonwealth as the 51st state and the first city-state of the United States. This would be followed up over by Puerto Rico becoming the 52nd second state jsut a few months later. This would no doubt have an influence on upcoming elections, especially with Puerto Rico. After all, there would be 4 new Senators joining and even more members over into the House of Representatives along with some new governors. This would seem to further cement the legacy and plans over by President Clinton and his administration. After all, Vice President Al Gore has announced his candidacy over for presidency for the United Central Party and the hope was to continue on. However, the other parties were having their own growing candidates in their primary races. All the while, local elections and state elections were becoming increasingly diverse with the people running for office over for 2008 as the new system had time to settle and people becoming used to it. Beyond this, it was rather peaceful over in the United States with little to no major events going on, at last that would be of concern.
Internationally, things were also relatively calm. Various nations would be having their elections or preparing theirs. For some, it would like it'd be a continuation of the sort of centralist politics that have come to dominate the eras while others would be going a little bit more conservative. Of course, some elections would be getting more attention over than others. One major one would be the upcoming elections over in the State of Arabia. Many nations were curious to see what the former domain of the Sauds would do for their leaders. Heck, whether to be a republic or a constitutional monarchy was on the table here. Politically, the Neo-Baathists would be having a pretty good following, but many of the old guard of critics toward the House of Saud would be going to push themselves over into the election, such as Muhammad Saeed Tayeb. The political atmosphere was mainly on continuing the economic reforms that would see the oil money go to the people though there was also the mixed view of the culture. After all, the secular order put upon by the Neo-Baathists would be here to stay. After all, most of the violent reactionary elements would be crushed by the interim regime and the economic reforms given would help appease and pacify the populace to where many would go and accept the new status quo with only some complaints of the social change. Overall, eyes would be over on the Arab nation and its neighbors, especially as other parts of the world keep patching themselves together.
Regarding cinema, it'd be a bit more low-key.
Spider-Man 2 would come out early this year after various delays, contract negotiations, script rewrites and the like. The film would become quite a standout success, especially Alfred Molina's more sympathetic and nuanced portrayal of Doctor Octopus, which revived interest in the character and hope for some new directions. Action continued on with
The Bourne Ultimatum along with thrillers like
Ocean's Thirteen, No Country For Old Men, and
Zodiac. Bridge to Terebithia was a pretty impactful story over for the young folk to watch, especially with what it was based on. There was even a bit of fantasy over with
Stardust. However, comedies would also get some pretty impactful hits over with
Hot Fuzz, forming the second of a trilogy and the charming and comical coming of age story in
Superbad. Starring a power trio in Jonah Hill, Micheal Cera and Elliot Page, it focuses on the trials of growing up and becoming one of the hallmark films defining the Millenial Generation. Of prominent note would be this film would be the major introduction over to Elliot Page, a rising transmale actor, in which the film would serve as a big break for along with developing a bond with Cera and Hill on stage. As for other films,
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets proved to be a fun time while
Gone Baby Gone would prove to be quite successful and showing there was alot of promise in neo-noir, especially in adaptations. That said, one change to the novel was the setting being the 1980s; Ben Affleck, in his directorial debut, would note that in today's society, the downer ending would be extemely unlikely given the advancements of social reforms and welfare reforms in the past 20 years or so.
For animated cinema, there were plenty of successful hits over as well. Disney would surprise people with two animated films. The first would be the long-awaited
Atlantis III: Tides of Destiny. Taking place years after the events of the second film and the animated series, the group reunites with the end of the second World War, but also when Atlantis should go and reveal itself to the world. However, one man would propose even further that Atlantis showcase its power to the world. The head of the guard, a man named Meshkiangasher (or Meshki for short), he would attempt to persuade Kida and Milo into war, but when that fails, he would attempt a coup. He was armed not only with new tech, made from the remains of old tech of the second film, but also mercenaries from the surface, former WW2 soldiers. Said soldiers were gathered by none other than the guard's partner (and confirmed lover): Helga Sinclair from the first film. She reveals that she survived her incident and was taken by the guard out of sympathy, who nursed her back to health. After she healed, she went to the surface world, but the interwar years had jaded her and she returned to Meshki. He persuaded her to his side as he himself knew the troubles of the surface world (revealing he was the mythic Sumerian king of the same name). Despite this, the two antagonists are portrayed with sympathy and the confrontation ends with the two standing down, but Atlantis revealing itself over to the world. The film would be surprisingly rather intense for a Disney film, but it would still be lauded for managing to tackle serious matters well. It also managed to keep a couple songs in. One was an Atlantean song celeberating the world near the beginning of the film. The second was quite surprising; it would be Helga singing a portion of Wagner's
Götterdämmerung in Atlantean (with subtitles and musical cues allowing those who knew to realize it), symbolizng Helga's view of what Atlantis plans to do the world. The film would do quite well, along with having a trailer for an upcoming film... Disney's
Samak The Ayyar, an adaptation of the Persian myth of the same name.
However, the film was delayed due to the plots changing, which allowed for another Disney film to be completed over ahead of schedule:
Meet The Robinsons. The last Disney film that would be worked on by Jim Henson, the film was a loose adaptation of a book. The film was a glorious celeberation of an optimistic future and to keep moving forward while acknowledging the tragedies of the past with main character Lewis. It also was the importance of dealing with failure, emotions and the like, as seen with Lewis' best friend and reluctant lab rat in Goob. The film served as a whimsicial and creative work, with the extra Henson touch and a happy ending, including a last-minute seen of an adult Lewis and his family going to see Goob, now a professional and happy baseball player. And of course, Pixar would go ahead with a film of their own over with
Ratatouille, a story of a rat long to be a chef. Dreamworks would also keep move forward with their own projects and a similar theme would be seen over in
Shrek 3. The film tackles the idea of fatherhood and legacy; Shrek learns he's gonna be a father a bit after the death of Fiona's own father King Harold and having to deal with what lies ahead in his future. Meanwhile, Prince Charming meets a man who is none other than his own father, the legendary Jack (said to be the source of the various Jack tales). The film series continues in tackling the nuances of what happens after Happily Ever After and what it means. We learn the surprising tragic and complicated reason for Jack and Fairy Godmother's rather sad seperation (which made Godmother look more of a tragic villain, done in by her own folly) along with Jack trying to be a dad to Charming, all with the themes of rulership running parallel to parenthood. Ultimately, Fiona's mom Queen Lillan takes reign and plans to transition to a more democratic means while Charming decides to go with his father to find new purpose, parting amicably with Shrek and Fiona, all while Shrek and Fiona find inner peace to go and become parents. This also seemed to be Dreamworks' way of saying good bye to the
Shrek franchise, at least for now. Rumors circulated of a potential spin-off series involving Reynard the Fox. For now though, it was looking the studio would be heading to a new direction, especially with the confirmed plans for MetroCentury to acquire DreamWorks Animation due to their close ties and working together well. This would also provide more franchises and content over for MetroCentury going forward, including for MetroKids, which rumor has will be be rebranded soon. One sign of a potential new direction would be with DreamWorks' other animated film,
The Nomes or also called
Truckers, Diggers & Wings. The film would be an adaptation of
the Bromeliad Trilogy written by Terry Prachett. The film would be an adaptation of all three books into one film with the adaptation itself being hand-drawn animation led over by Don Bluth. The films meanwhile would have trailers for some new DreamWorks' films, that of
Kung Fu Panda and a sequel to
Madagascar.
As for television, a few prominent shows would be ending here.
The Sopranos would go out with a rather infamous ending of a sudden cut to black afte the tense events of the episode.
Stargate SG-1 would also end over after a decade of being on the air with other prominent shows ending being Reba, 7th Heaven, That's So Raven and Punk'd in terms of live action. For animation, Kim Possible ending would be the big news there. The show after all had become beloved for its efforts in treating romance as a serious subject within animated television along with Monique's impact as a samgen woman of color (which her voice actress Raven-Symone became a queer icon for and appreciate how many she would help.) As for new shows, one of the first big hit would be the period piece in
Mad Men. Period pieces were becoming increasingly common, with some joking it's the best way to get realistic drama nowadays. Other shows included
Chuck and
Burn Notice. As for animation, a few more shows appeared. Mainly on MetroKids, it would be
Skunk Fu and
Stormhawks while Disney would have an interesting new show with
Out Of Wally's Head. The show is a sequel to the made-for-tv film from the previous year in
Re-Animated. The premise was based on an idea of a
Who Framed Roger Rabbit-esque show, but with a young artist who can see and interact with cartoons. While initially considered for Cartoon Network, it would be picked up by Disney soon after they reacquired Oswald and decided to combine the concepts. Animation fan Wally Henderson faints while visiting an animation museum and realizes he can see cartoon characters such as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and now has to deal with this miracle. The show is considered a bit of a cult classic, with Wally serving as a straight man for his cartoony pals, while also exploring the exploits of cartoon physics against the real world. Cartoon Network meanwhile would have
Chowder, a zany cartoon show focused on a young apprentice chef, though would gain a bit of a following when a massive fan theory would speculate Chowder is samgen (due to his disinterest in bunny girl Panini). Nick meanwhile would go forward with
El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, following the titular character as he struggled on whether to be a hero or a villain with his powers while celeberating Mexican culture. The big surprise would be the announcement of
The Dresden Files animated series over on Adult Swim. While planned as a live action show, it would shift to animation as it would provide more freedom with lighting, mood and magical effects without being as big a hit on the budget.
Over for video games, the seventh generation of video game consoles has begun, with the Nintendo Wii, the Playstation 3 and the Microsoft-Atari Abox 360. The Nintendo Wii would become a surprise victor so far, as its approach to casual gaming and its' clever usage of motion control would capture the delight and attention of many people such as with
Wii Sports, Wii Play, Mario Party 8 or
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. Even with more traditional games, Nintendo's new controls here would work pretty well as seen with
Super Paper Mario, Mario Strikers Charged, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Krion Conquest II: Lost Magic , the Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night and
Super Mario Galaxy. Besides greater Mario games, Metroid would wrap up what looked to be a prominent trilogy while Krion Conquest II would go back to the first game and move former from there. And of course, some games really wouldn't be affected, such as Pokemon Stadium Wii. For the Playstation 3, there would be some new games such as
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and
Tekken 5. However, the PS2 would still have some games left for it that could be played on the PS3, most notably,
Persona 3 FES, which would take the SMT spin-off and evolve it into a franchise of it its own. The Abox 360 would stand out ove with
Halo 3, Mass Effect and
Guitar Hero 2. It would also share some games with Windows computers such as
Portal, Team Fortress 2 and the
Orange Box along with
Half-Life 2 Episode Two. As for computer games themselves, the standouts would be
Europa Universalis III, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Sam & Max Season One, Crysis, The Witcher and for MMOs, the first expansion pack to
World of Warcraft with
The Burning Crusade, which added a new race to each side (the draenai for the Alliance and the tauren for the Horde). Meanwhile the GamePal DS would be going strong with the North American releases of Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver. There would also be some new additions such as The Legend of Hyrule: The Phantom Hourglass and Donkey Kong Country DS along wth some new franchises such as
Etrian Odyssey an
The World Ends With You while the PSP would see a growing number of games over on it as well such as
Monster Hunter Freedom 2.
