Web 2.0 Storytelling: A Way to Continue Your Favorite TV Shows and Movies

In searching for an example of Web 2.0 Storytelling to show those of you in our Writing for New Media Class I stumbled upon something called Dark Knight Adventures on an animation fan website called The World's Finest. For those of you who don't know The Dark Knight Adventures is online comic book created by a collaboration of Batman fans on the Internet that continues the story of the TV show Batman The Animated Series. When this show went off the air in favor of its creator Bruce Timm making a new show about a version of Batman in the future entitled Batman Beyond, I was extremely disappointed because there were a lot of questions that needed to be answered to fill in the gap between both series, which included the outcome of the love triangle between Batman, Nightwing and Batgirl. When I found the online comic Dark Knight Adventures I was extremely overjoyed because it was a device to fill in the blanks drawn in the same style as the animators on Batman The Animated Series making it feel like I was getting new episodes of the show I used to rush home and watch as a kid.


A comparison between the Dark Knight Adventures and the actual artwork created for Batman The Animated Series.

Due to the discovery of the Dark Knight Adventures I realized that the Web 2.0 Storytelling has a power unlike any other form of media. It has the ability to bring a movie that they stopped making sequels for or a television show that was canceled back from the dead. Then again these continuations created by Internet users like those of you in our Writing for New Media Class might feel like a letdown because it is not deemed official by the studio or that it is not backed by the show's creators but for many people it is enough to satisfy their craving to keep wanting more from their favorite stories. Besides, if you don't like the direction that a fan made continuation of a TV show or movie is going you can always create your own, that's the beauty part of the Internet.

Here's a fan created animated continuation of Batman The Animated Series using Lego figurines.

I mean ten or maybe fifteen years ago, when a TV show was canceled you could only tell what you thought might happen next to family members and friends but now thanks to the innovation Web 2.0 Storytelling you can share your predictions with everyone minus the threat of being sued by Production Companies. Based on this statement, if there is any of you in our New Media Class who want to see more of a TV show or a sequel to their favorite movies, I think you should go out there and use the tools of Web 2.0 like hyperlinks, embedding pictures and audio to create your own continuation stories. By the way if you have already created a continuation of a TV show or movie using Web 2.0 feel free to share it with me by commenting on this post.