User blog:Boyariffic/All-Stars Recast

Total Drama All-Stars is generally agreed upon by the fanbase as the worst season of the series, and I ride proudly aboard that fandom's bandwagon. My main problem with the season is it's choice in casting and character portrayals, and I think that just a bit of renditions would have made the season all the more bearable.

Here are my opinions on which TDAS characters are good and which are bad, and the kinds of contestants from the first two generations, that I would choose to replace them with.

Problems With Official Cast

 * Lindsay: Completely worthless to the story. I get that she's the first person voted off, and it's never easy to give the first-one-offers much of a storyline, but at least with most of those contestants, they leave behind a "legacy" of some sort. For instance, Ezekiel went feral and Geoff & Bridgette became Aftermath hosts. Lindsay had none of that and any random character from the series could have taken her place and it would have all been just the same. Add to that, she was completely Flanderized, going from air-headed dumb blonde, down to braindead bimbo, who fails to comprehend the difference between "pushing" and "pulling".
 * Lightning: Actually, not that bad. Lightning was perfectly in-character, plot relevant, and downright hilarious. One of the few good characters of the season. The only thing I would change, if I had to change anything, would be his amount of time on the island. Then again, if the rest of the storylines were actually interesting, I'd probably be perfectly fine with his early sendoff, since about two episodes was really all that was needed to tell that story.
 * Jo: Again, great character, who I can say nothing but good things about. I like how Brick was absent from the season, allowing for Jo to begin a new conflict with somebody else, broadening her list of interactions. I would have preferred this conflict would've been with someone not from TDROTI, not that Lightning was a bad choice, that is. Jo battling with Tyler or Eva, for example, would be just a bit more interesting than her and Lightning, but again, a story I could still live without.
 * Sam: Pointless character, and awful casting choice. There's no argument that Sam does not qualify as an "All-Star", as he was a useless nobody in the fourth season, and an equally useless nobody in this season.
 * Heather: Can't complain about her being cast for the season, given that she is kind of an idol of the Total Drama series. All-Stars without Heather as a villain, would be like All-Stars without Owen as a hero ... oh, wait. Of course, she had to be in this season, yet, given how much she's done in the past, there's not much new she could bring to the table, albeit getting together with Alejandro. One disadvantage that Heather had in this season, is that at this point in the show, it's virtually impossible for her to create an alliance with anybody, given how she's so infamous for her lies and betrayals.
 * Sierra: All of her character development from TDWT was completely undone. Also, if they were gunna make her go back to her Cody-obsessed phase, then why the heck did they get rid of Cody?
 * Duncan: Liked his "But I'm Not a Good Guy" running gag, and it's contrast to Gwen's, "But I'm Not a Villain" thing. I thought it was dumb that they both broke up in the end. Gwen and Duncan being together is exactly where the love triangle should have ended, but I guess it didn't.
 * Cameron: Perfectly fine. Don't care.
 * Alejandro: It would have been funny if he stayed in the robot suit for longer than one episode. Perhaps, mid-season Alejandro would have finally broken out and in the same episode he was freed, he got Heather voted off. The rest of the season would have played out for him, the way it did. Then, he and Heather would have become a couple in that exclusive clip. Seriously though, that robot suit running gag, had potential!
 * Courtney: Annoying as always. Don't care.
 * Gwen: I guess her story was fine, except for her relationship with Duncan ending.
 * Scott: Okay character.
 * Zoey: Pointless. Unbelievable how one of the finalists managed to be so generic and forgettable, that even she could be replaced with anyone. I do not care about her relationship with Mike, and it already ended off perfectly after the ROTI. This season did not make or break anything, leaving the story completely unaffected, and therefore, making everything she went through, WORTHLESS!
 * Mike: Solid character with a solid storyline. I know people are expecting me to complain about the "reset button", but to be frank, I didn't mind it. Perhaps a different plot device could have been done in order to resolve the multiple personality storyline. For example, since Mike got so in touch with his alternate personas, instead of having to erase them, he could have kept them, only now that he knew them better and they were all on the same page, he was in full control over them, and whenever any of them came into play, they'd be helping instead of hindering. Other than that, he was completely fine.

Possibly Better New Cast
For my new cast, the characters Lindsay, Sam, Sierra, and Zoey will be replaced by Beth, Owen, Dakota, and Dawn. Both teams will also have two additional members. For the heroes, these are Harold and Leshawna. And for the villains, Justin and Anne Maria (and later on, Ezekiel).


 * Ezekiel: Here's my idea, midway through Episode 1, the villains find Zeke, and find a way to de-feralize him. Once he's bad to his normal, Zekey self, Chris adds him to the villains team. Episode 1 is a non-elimination challenge, which the villains win. Episode 2 is an elimination challenge, which the villains lose, courtesy of their newest team mate. Because of this, guess who gets voted off first? As he gets eliminated, Scott comments in the confessional, "I had to vote off Ezekiel first. It's tradition." And as Ezekiel leaves the island, his final endeavor, is giving Chris and the rest of his team the middle finger.
 * Beth: (replacing Lindsay) Beth uses her friendship bracelets, to start a friendship alliance with Dawn and Cameron. When she gets voted off, Dawn and Cameron have to maintain their friendship trio, without her.
 * Justin: A few jokes about him seducing ROTI contestants come and go. People like Anne Maria, especially are like butter in his hands for a few challenges. However, Alejandro creates competition for him. Justin and Alejandro have a "hotness battle", which Justin loses in the episode, where he's voted off.
 * Owen: (replacing Sam) Needs to be in the season, due to him being a staple character of the series, and a guaranteed barrel of laughs for the first few episodes of the season. When he takes the Flush of Shame, the toilet gets clogged, and Chef needs to use a giant toilet plunger to help him go down.
 * Dakota: (replacing Sierra) Dakota will have somewhat recovered from her mutations at this point, now appearing like her normal self, but still having a few occasional side-effects every now and then. These side-effects range from random limbs protruding from her, such as claws, tentacles, and wings. She'll occasionally belch and fire breath will happen, and if she gets mad enough, she will Hulk out and go full on Dakotazoid. Her reasons for returning to the island is so she can collect some Toxic goop for her boyfriend, so she can make him into a mutant too. Unfortunately, since he doesn't qualify as an all star, she will be missing him the whole time she's on the island. As such, she starts missing him very much and her emotions get the best of her, causing her to go through the same thing Sierra did with Cody. In this case, it won't be character derailment, because it's Dakota, and she never outgrew her nutcase character. She'll collect the Toxic goop for Sam in "No One Eggspects the Spanish Opposition", which she'll later take home with her, when she gets voted off, and use it on Sam, making them live happily ever after.
 * Harold: He and Leshawna need to officially become a couple again. After three seasons of wooing attempts, this season is where it finally stops. Harold does something. I don't know what, to get Leshawna to love him again, and it works. Story arc over. The end. Finally, we can move on.
 * Leshawna: See Harold.
 * Anne Maria: She'll have some nice interactions with Justin, who she falls a little head over heels for, as well as being the victim of Ezekiel's love in the first two episodes and "Zeek and Ye Shall Find". She will be fully and openly responsible for getting Harold voted off, prompting a war between herself and Leshawna. The two bootylicious sassy girls will have a nice conflict for the remainder of the season.
 * Dawn: (replacing Zoey) Dawn is the kind of girl, who reads people's auras and gets deep into their emotions and internal feelings. This makes her the perfect character to help get into Mike's head and help him with his Mal issues. She and Cameron will work together to find out what's wrong with Mike, and she'll possibly be able to send an astral projection of herself inside of Mike's head, where she can help him on his journey through his mind. She and Mike will become the finalists and in her ending, she shares the million with Mike and the two of them grow closer as friends.

And there you have it. With just a bit of recasting, Total Drama All-Stars could have gone from being the worst season of the series, to possibly the most highly acclaimed and well-beloved. What do you guys think? Would you like All Stars better if it was like this? Is this crap that's sure to ruin what's already terrible? I'd love to hear your feedback, good or bad. Comment below, and thanks for reading. :)