Media Essays: Ratchet & Clank on TV

Written by The Wandering Fox

Freddy: Wow, look at that! He’s gonna talk about something else that isn’t Sonic or Doctor Who!

Teddy: It’s always nice to do that, and hey he’s in a bit of a nostalgic mood for it after playing Rift Apart.

That is indeed true, my boys! Having played Rift Apart after all these years (I only got the PS5 just this Christmas) I’ve felt my love for Ratchet and Clank come to life again! But yes, I the Wandering Fox actually love Ratchet and Clank. Thank Erin for getting me into it, I’ve been invested in the series ever since, with my first game being A Crack in Time and soon after I played Tools of Destruction, All 4 One, Into the Nexus and bought the comic. I did research on the first games and it’s interesting to see how it went from its beginnings from a jerkass Ratchet with humour at the forefront to a more empathetic and kinder Ratchet with emotional storytelling. But of course, around this point we got a big moment which impacted not only video game movies in general but it also directly affected the Sly Cooper movie. That being the Ratchet and Clank movie.

Oh boy…I had a lot of hope for this movie, I thought it’d be the film that finally ended the long tough challenge of adapting video games into movies. But sadly we got an incredibly disjointed, chaotic, fast paced movie that did Clank and Chairman Drek a disservice, wasted actors like Sylvester Stallone, John Goodman, and Rosario Dawson, Ratchet was retooled into being a nice guy from the start and lost his character arc, and teased a sequel which will never be made. It’s a shame since the animation looked good and they kept James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye, Jim Ward and Armin Shimerman as their characters. But this movie was so bad that the Sly Cooper movie was cancelled (for the better imo), and it wouldn’t be until 2020 that the video game movies would finally start to come in with a stronger life with Sonic leading the way for Mario and Minecraft to follow. Would they try Ratchet and Clank again? Maybe not as their movie is still fresh in everybody’s minds and they’d want to give it a while before trying again.

But even then I think a movie isn’t enough to do the franchise justice. I think it’d work better as a TV series thanks to the huge amount of characters, lore and planets to explore that it’d work far better in that regard. But how exactly can it work? Well, I’ve got my square hat on so join me, the Wandering Fox, as I look at how Ratchet and Clank can work as a TV adaptation.

Firstly, why?

Just as I said above, a TVseries would do it more justice in regards to exploring its characters, lore and tonal balance. Unlike the movie which was a big unbalanced mess, a tv series can focus more on character arcs, giving us time to explore other planets and diving into the villain’s plans. That and each season can focus on key games as a season of their own. Imagine each episode as being about half an hour long, they have either sixteen to twenty episodes, you have the first episode be about how Ratchet and Clank meet each other for the first time, you have Qwark’s first appearance which can gradually reveal his darker side in following episodes, then you have the last few episodes be the big finale. You can see what I’m saying. That and you can devote a few minutes to a good bit of action for Ratchet and Clank before you get to the story again.

Format

The TV series would, like I said, follow a game to adapt a season, so for example:

Ratchet and Clank: Season 1

Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando: Season 2

Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal: Season 3

Now, I will say this isn’t going to work for all of the games like Deadlocked and Quest for Booty, but with a TV series can merge some elements of those games into those seasons. For example, you can merge Deadlocked into Season 3 as a side arc in which Nefarious helps Gleeman Vox in kidnapping the heroes as part of his plans for the Bioblitorator. Then there’s Quest for Booty which can serve as either the epilogue to Tools of Destruction or the prologue to A Crack in Time. The comic book can be adapted with All 4 One in seeing Ratchet trying to move on from Azimuth’s death and how Ratchet is becoming a wiser figure, while Rift Apart can serve as the big finale to the series with Ratchet and Rivet finally finding the Lombaxes.

So it goes like this:

Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction: Season 4

Quest for Booty: epilogue ⬆️ or prologue ⬇️.

Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time: Season 5.

Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One: Season 6 while also adapting the comic.

Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus: Season 7.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart: Season 8.

Smaller entry games like Full Frontal Assault, Size Matters or Going Mobile won’t be adapted as they don’t contribute much to the characters of Ratchet and Clank or the lore. However, while the adaptations are to be made more faithfully to the games, some liberties can be taken in trying to help the adaptations stand on their own, like how I’ve merged certain games together in a single story with another game. But for that we now come to.

Story

The whole idea of the TV series is that it allows us to explore further than the movie did, like letting Clank have his character done right and let him have the equal bulk of the story as Ratchet. That and the TV series can at least clean up some continuity errors as some perceive it as, like for example how Clank was a Zoni the whole time despite his origins as a robot who was deliberately made as “defective” to stop Chairman Drek. The series would help clean that up by having Orvus send Clank’s “soul” to the robot factory and told his “mother” that he will stop Drek if she didn’t fully complete him. Orvus would at first been seen in Season 1 as a shadowy figure who whispers to the “mother” and we see Clank’s Zoni “soul” being sent into his robot body. That way you have a bit of both worlds. Same as well with hinting about the Lombaxes, in Season 1 Ratchet laments how he was found on Grim’s doorstep with only his wrench with Grim seeing a ship leaving. Season 1 has Ratchet learn a bit more of how he’s a rare species and not many like him exist. This will be helpful to his character as you can still start Ratchet as a jerk but it’s more toned back, he’s more bitter and hurt that he was “abandoned” and that he’s not really Grim’s son, he wants to go up into space to find his family and have it out with them, as well as being a hero to prove he’s worth it and they were idiots to leave him. This helps him and Clank go through their own story together as Clank realises why Ratchet is so grumpy and Ratchet realises his recklessness has nearly costed somebody their life, therefore he starts to mellow out and finally processes it with Clank, who confesses he himself is confused to why he was rendered “defective” and thinks if perhaps he was born wrong.

You will have noticed I’ve kept Grim from the movie, mostly because it’s nice Ratchet had somebody looking out for him, and there are bits of the movie I like with seeing Dr Nefarious as an organic before he became a robot. Were that incorporated into the series and crafted well, like have Grim be the wise and caring adoptive father who feels gutted at the struggles his son has gone through, and show Dr Nefarious in a flashback based around Qwark like how he and Dr Nefarious had their battle and how Dr Nefarious fell into a energy beam, which is how he became a robot. This will also give Qwark a good side arc as he comes around to redeeming himself once you to the comic and All 4 One adaptation.

The tv style of storytelling can also be helpful in fleshing out more characters like Talwyn and Angela, like Talwyn could appear in the background of the first season with her dad and both her and him start noticing Ratchet before approaching him and Angela in the second series. Introducing Talwyn earlier and delving more in her character will help make her chemistry with Ratchet more fleshed out while exploring where Max and Angela went and how Angela met Rivet. That way you’re at least giving more to the characters in the series as well as really making Cronk and Zephyr’s characters that impactful that you feel gutted upon their deaths. It’s thanks to Talwyn and Max that Ratchet learns the Lombaxes are nearly extinct and it gives him an idea that his family didn’t “abandon” him but made sure he was left somewhere safe. It helps ease off more of the angst that he still retains at the end of season one and does some side work with Max and Talwyn in researching on the Lombaxes. Though Ratchet is eager to meet the Lombaxes, learning of their legacy, Azimuth’s descent into darkness, and the impact he and Clank have had on those around has Ratchet thinking that maybe it’s best to leave things be. Gradually the series shifts from light hearted fun with character focussed on Ratchet, Clank and Qwark to becoming a darker and wider universe both Ratchet and Clank grow up in. It reaches its dark point come season three with the heroes being abducted and killed, Qwark’s redemption, Ace Hardlight’s fall from grace and Dr Nefarious’s plans to reshape all life in the universe.

For those of you who don’t know, Max Apogee and Angela fled the dimension together and we know that Rivet encountered Angela in her dimension so it can be mentioned Angela was the only other Lombax Rivet encountered but didn’t hear from her after they escaped prison, leaving her to believe she died. Ratchet and Clank coming into Rivet’s dimension has them be joined by Talwyn, Qwark, Skid with them finding Max and Angela who had been on Savali working on their own Dimensionator to find the Lombaxes. It gives Talwyn the chances to reconcile with her father over him leaving her and Angela can reunite with Ratchet and Rivet, that and with Rift Apart ending with Ratchet finally going to meet the Lombaxes it gives you a good heroic team up that pays off well for these characters.

Clank will have his own story in how he wonders what he’s to do now that Chairman Drek is defeated, he feels that he’s served his purpose but Ratchet says he’s got a chance to live happily. Clank does start to have strange dreams of the Zoni and is confused as he’s sure no other robot would dream like that. Though he’s a hero Clank does start to get jaded with the fame he’s got and does think of maybe seeking a quieter life but wasn’t sure on how Ratchet would feel, but after being away from him for so long and seeing Azimuth’s death impacting him a lot, Clank couldn’t leave Ratchet and stuck with him, seeing the Lombax has become incredibly uncertain of his place now only motivates Clank in wanting to see his friend be happy. Clank passes his wisdom he shared with Ratchet onto Rivet, making her see it’s better to be more hopeful and compassionate than be lonely and distrusting to others while also being a comforting brother bot to Kit.

Talwyn would share her father’s enthusiasm in archaeology but is a bit distant from him as she grows up, mostly worried his work is consuming him greatly, and she didn’t give much thought to the Lombaxes until meeting Ratchet and Clank, hearing out Ratchet’s uncertainty of wether he was abandoned or not makes feel a lot more empathetic towards him and the Lombaxes. While she does feel angry her dad fled with Angela she doesn’t hold anything against Ratchet and believes her dad must’ve had a reason to go, though the deaths of Cronk and Zephyr did impact her greatly that she started to wonder if her dad would ever come back, though Ratchet being there helped ease her. Upon reuniting with him, Talwyn lets out how she feels to Max who crumbles in tears and hugs his daughter, being really sorry for not showing his love as well as he thought. With the Lombaxes finally found, Talwyn can rebuild her relationship with her dad as well as being committed to Ratchet.

Dr Nefarious did go through a phase in which he was thinking of maybe turning over a new leaf before he went back to being evil. I think while he would want to at least he glorified as a hero he wouldn’t like to share that with Qwark or Ratchet, hence he goes back to villainy to eliminate them and be the master of his own universe, but after helping defeat Emperor Nefarious and seeing Lawrence has had a baby he slips away for a little.

The stories would need to really balance out its humour something the movie struggled greatly. Yes, Ratchet and Clank does have out of nowhere humour but even in the games those come in at the right moment. The series can balance that out with moments of humour that feel it’s been earned but not taking away from the story.

Who Would Be Best To Handle It?

The last thing on this topic is that who would be backing it? I don’t think Netflix are the right guys to go to as most of their animated shows don’t last beyond a second or third season. Disney wouldn’t be interested unless they really wanted it as well as trying to get in on the video game adaptation that’s going on, but even then a lot of people would not trust Disney with something like Ratchet and Clank. Amazon would maybe be better suited as they’re a lot more easy-going on animation and would give enough money to the studio to do it. Of course, it just depends on who’s writing it because all the money out there won’t fix a bad script. They’d have to be careful. Obviously don’t let the guys behind Mega Man or Sonic Prime do it, you’d know then they’d screw it up.

That’s it. Hope you all liked reading this, it was something different.

Freddy: I reckon Ratchet and Clank will get another shot at a film again, somebody is bound to be desperate enough to try it.

Teddy: Sly Cooper could’ve worked as a TV series, but that never got about even after it was being sent around as a tv idea.

Freddy: Oh as soon as Sonic and Mario come back to the cinemas as well as Minecraft and Fortnite you know Insomniac will try to get Ratchet and Clank back out there. Still, it depends on who’s writing it.

To those out there who have read this and you’re thinking of using my ideas, I’d rather you come to me first. But still, hope you liked it.

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