User blog:Ttowen/Potential to Develop

Okay, so I have been reading a lot of comments, both on and off site, that have dealt with whether or not certain characters have any development potential. I have seen excuses from writers that speak of the same topic; attempting to reason their overuse and abuse of "The Big Four: Duncan, Gwen, Courtney, and Heather" by saying that other characters: Noah, Staci, Zeke, B, Dawn, Trent, Tyler, Eva, Katie, Sadie, and other contestants have no possible storyline or potential to develop. This is a blog to call them out on that horrifically lazy excuse; they are writers, it is their job to come up with story. My reasoning is as follows:

1. The writers are notorious for making up story lines as an excuse to bring tired characters and plot lines into another season. Heather is someone who seemed to have used up all of her story in Island and Action; yet, as an excuse to throw her back into play, they took the next logical step in her story and made her into an anti-hero; one who could be gunning for the main antagonist. Gwen and Trent seemed to have used up their purpose in Island before they took a well-intentioned, and respectable step, of breaking them up; sure the way they did it was lackluster...but it was a bold and optimal move to make. There is no excuse as to why they can't bring other characters who's story lines were "finished" such as Tyler, DJ, Harold, LeShawna, Beth, Justin, Trent, Brick, Sam, and Geoff. Granted, a few of these characters will need to be rewritten to fix the derailments they faced in previous season: DJ, LeShawna, Trent, and Sam in specific, but that really shouldn't be that much of a problem since it's...you know; their job.

2. They keep giving bullcrap explanations for why they refuse to bring back two of the most respectable underdogs in TD's history: Dakota and Zeke. For months we have heard them try to reason their lack of reversion or development as: She's too mutated or his DNA is far too scrambled. Once again, it is their job to come up with different ways to bring a character back into play; again with Heather and Gwen. The word "can't" should not exist in a writer's creative dictionary. We have seen Scott and Alejandro return after a single year after having suffered grievous injuries; injuries that, in real life, would have left the two with severe muscle and tissue damage, frayed and non-existent nerve endings in their arms, and of course a likely life-long paralysis on both accounts. There is no excuse for them not bringing back Ezekiel; there have been cases of feral humans being reverted and re-integrated through intensive therapy; especially when he and his fanbase have done nothing to deserve the treatment that they have been given. Dakota is one of the few characters to have benefited from Revenge; developing before her derailment occured...why is it that she is left to her fate? They are doing the exact opposite of their jobs here.

3. Finally we get to the characters who are criminally underused; with no explanation as to why. As of right now Eva, Katie, and Sadie are the only characters from the original cast to remain "one-season wonders". Why is it that three girls of the original cast, all three of whom have cosmic-levels of development potential, are so mistreated? There are characters who managed to get into two seasons who are still criminally underused when compared to the treatment Duncan, Courtney, Gwen, and Heather have received; characters like: Noah, Trent, Tyler, Cody, Ezekiel, Geoff, and Justin who really deserve a chance to shine once more. Revenge cast members Dawn, B, Staci, Brick, Dakota, and Anne Maria are in the same boat as the original one-season wonders; while Jo, Sam, Scott, and yes even lightning, fall in the same category of the two-seasoners. The writers need to prioritize in order to give these guys their chance to shine in the spotlight.

4. It is really sad to say...but the thing we must realize about the writers and why they do what they do is that they simply do not care. They don't care about taking the next logical step in storytelling if it does not involve their favorites. They don't care about taking a look at why certain development failed in a previous season; instead they just resort to undoing said development and reverting the character to being a joke: like they did with Owen and LeShawna between Action to World Tour. Even characters who have positive development somehow wind up in this category as well...Harold, DJ, and Lindsay all had positive Action development, only to return to World Tour as jokes because the writers decided that they were no longer worthy of respect after developing. At the end of the day, writers really are only caring about their favorite, or pet characters. No one know why they refuse to take heed of what fans tell them; instead letting their arrogance take hold.

5. Finally we reach the conclusion of what appears to now be an essay outline. Us fans are a significant part of the problem. As fans we need to realize how much control we really do have over the show. We are the one thing keeping Total Drama up and running and only we can fix it. We need to stop accepting the bullcrap excuses and blatant lies they tell us regarding the show and its characters. We need to call them on what they have done and not let up until they finally admit their mistakes! We are the most powerful asset the show has, we are the ones who grew up watching it; Total Drama means a lot to me, I used it as one of my escapes during some trying times in my life, and I will not sit idly by and watch it die. I don't want to see Total Drama go off the air before it reaches its true potential, and neither do any of you. This is our last chance to save the show friends, they got our message concerning All-Stars, and I fear that they are taking it the wrong way. We can't let them think that simply cancelling the show is the way to go here. We need to stand up for ourselves as a fanbase!