To start off I’m not an English teacher by any stretch, but I went through it and found some minor errors that would include spacing of words to punctuation. I also created some sentences that I thought sound better or a little bit more professional. But theres one thing to make sure of and that is to indent the paragraphs. As you read through the revised version you may like some of the changes you may not heck you might not like any of them, but all I’m trying to do is help because I love Balto, and would hate to see it disappear. I did for sure sign the petition.
I highlighted the corrections, and here’s the key to it.
Red=Grammatical errors that have been fixed or the replacement of a word or words.
Blue=The removal of a word or words.
Green=A suggestion, or another option.
For best results make sure to compare the two versions side by side. The changes were made by Microsoft Word, and myself and if you have any questions or anything you could post a reply which I will check every day, or email me a
[email protected] which I also check every day.
I am the webmaster of the site Balto Source, which has become in less than 2 years, the most popular Balto website for the fans. The site has currently over
3,000 unique visitors
a day; it has very active chats and forums, and more.
Since the site began it has never stopped growing.
Contrary to what you may believe,
there area big number of Balto fans in the world. The Balto community has grown
over time, and is now very strong. We thought that it was time to express ourselves. For this reason, we
started a web petition, which
has received over
1,000 signatures.
We have the feeling that Balto was and still is a franchise that has a big potential, but never had the occasion of expressing it. Let us explain
it to you:
When the original film was released, it
wasn't a box office success. But what are the real reasons for this? In fact,
Balto fans feel there are two main reasons. The first one is that the film got a very low budget for marketing. Compared to other films of its kind (even films produced by the same Amblimation Studios, such as Land Before Time or An American Tail), it received a low amount of advertisement. We are not sure why this happened, but we know the consequences.
The second reason,
which is the worst that could happen to any traditionally animated film: the release of Toy Story at the same time, which overshadowed (is it the right word?
Yes) entirely the release of Balto in theaters.
(Other option: which overshadowed the release of Balto in theaters entirely) And we all know how much Toy Story changed the face of animation…
Since that time, the situation never got
any better for Balto. The good
thing was that you made a Direct-To-Video sequel, which (according to a quote from the associate producer of this project) exceeded your sales expectations. This is probably the reason that pushed you to make…a second DTV sequel. These sequels were pretty well received by the fans, even with the obvious and understandable decrease of quality when compared to the original film.
The problem has never been that Balto wasn’t really liked by people (as you may think), but rather that still so few people know about it. Have you ever heard someone saying that he hates the first Balto? I never have.
(Other option: Have you ever heard someone say “I hated Balto”, because I never have.) This is a heartwarming and powerful film that everyone is bound to like, young and old
a like. There was no reason it should have become
so overlooked.
We believe that
there is still time to increase the popularity of this franchise. But for now, we find that there were very few efforts given in that
direction. Most animated franchises (from your studio or from others) become popular because
we hear about
a particular franchise very regularly. What did Balto get since its release? Two low-budget sequels, and that’s all. We understand
if you couldn’t get a high budget for making these sequels, but
what we don’t understand why there was absolutely nothing released with them. How can a normal citizen hear about Balto, in these conditions? Why not releasing merchandising products with the films, such as a CD for the
soundtracks? This would have surely increased the opinion and the sales of the films, as well as very much satisfied the fans. I know you’re making films and that you’ve got to get in touch with other companies to make these products, but I’m sure that giving them a better image of this franchise could make a huge difference.
(Other option: We know that you just create the films, and do not create CD soundtracks, but by giving the soundtrack creator a better idea could make all the difference.)
So, there has never been any Balto merchandising product
for sale, since the release of the original film (and who knows how many people ask me where to buy Balto
plushies, and I’m just never able to give them a positive answer.) More recently, you didn’t release any “special edition”
DVD for the original film, to mark the 10 year anniversary (which was last December 22), which
makes the Balto Community feel that you didn’t even remember about it. You could have, for example, released a pack with
all three films. For now, no pack has been made for the Balto DVDs in the USA, so the fans have to buy them all full price, which is obviously a barrier for someone who would want to discover
them. I know that the majority of people
don’t even know what Balto is. In fact, I myself never heard of this name, before I saw it on the
French TV two years
ago, and very regularly, I know people that discovered Balto recently, either by watching it “by accident”, or just by
visiting my site.
One last
thing: on the web, we found information on Balto 3
recently. We got a trailer and screenshots of the film only one month before the film was released in
Europe. Why not make press releases on the web for announcing the sequels? I would think this doesn’t cost anything, and
would get more people anticipating its release.
Don’t get the wrong
opinion: we are not angry, but more disappointed, and we are slowly losing hope that this franchise
may not become as well known as it should have been.
The aim of this mail is also to assure you that there are a lot of fans that are enjoying the films and looking forward to more. When you make the films, I believe you may not be really realizing there is such a large audience – especially when it comes to overlooked franchises like Balto.
So, we
started and signed this petition, to show
you how much we
love Balto, and how much we would like new projects to come for this franchise.
If for some reasons, you run out of ideas for making new sequels for Balto, just take a look at all the fan fictions the fans are writings…There are so many good stories that could be made into films.
What do we expect? We don’t ask for
much: only that you take account of the Balto franchise, when you will think of ideas for new projects.
What we would like above all is to get an answer from you. So please…Answer us. Tell us about the orientation you want to give to this franchise, if you have something in mind. Tell us we have something to look forward to…Because, for the moment, we have the feeling that Land before time or Curious George gets everything (DTV sequels, TV series, merchandises…)
How are people supposed to remember Balto if you don’t do anything related to it? Don’t let this franchise die like this, you know that it deserves better. I hope you will consider our position, and that the information I give you about the Balto fandom will interest you. We are behind you and we hope the best for the future of Balto!
Now, I will stop and let all the fans express themselves, through the pages of the petition that follows.
In any case, thank you very much for taking the time to read this! And thank you for making the Balto films!
Yours sincerely,
The Balto fans, and steetboris
NB :
- The petition is located here :
http://www.petitiononline.com/balto001/petition.html
- Balto Source, the main site for the Balto fans, is located here :
http://baltosource.timduru.org/balto.html
- If you wish to answer us, you can either reply by mail to the expeditor, or send an email to me :
o
[email protected] . I will be sure to give the message to all the fans.
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Advices from the Balto fans if you’re to make a new sequel
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This is a part where I thought I could give you some advices to make future Balto films the best possible. If you decide to make a new Balto film, it would be a good thing to give this page to the team who will work on it (especially the script writer!)
The Balto fans are mainly wolves and dogs fans. So, you should give focus on the characters that are wolves or dogs - or both The others should be left as secondary characters, and the comical side shouldn’t come only from the non-wolves or dogs characters! So, please, do not give so much screen time to Muk & Luk, and Stella. I can safely assure you that no one would regret them if they would disappear from the films… Although, we like seeing the humans from Nome, and getting to see more Rosy and his parents would be a good thing.
If I had to give you the two main ideas for scenarios we would want to see, it would
include:
• Everything concerning Balto’s past. This could be achieved through a “prequel” to the first film, or by using “memories” scenes.
• Steele’s return, as well as the trio of dogs from the original film (Star, Nikki, Kaltag).
(Oher option: The return of Steel and the original films dog trio of Star, Nikki, and Kaltag) What happened to Steele after the end of Balto 1? None of the three films answer this question.
And here’s a list of the things that gives a good idea of what the fans are
expecting:
- The White Wolf scene in the first Balto is the most fascinating, and considered by most fans to be the best scene of the film. We would love that you take it as an example…
- We want to know more about Balto’s past and his heritage. The most recurrent question (and it really comes very often) is about whether the white wolf is Aniu or not. And if not, is he male or female, or something else?
- The fans want Kodi & Dusty to get in love…
- We all love traditional animation; so, making Balto in 3D would be a really bad idea! Keep traditional animation, even if it means low budget and choppy animations! We want to see beautiful paintings for the backgrounds, not cheap 3D!
- As for the music, keep on with the orchestral
music: this is what works the best for Balto, and we liked the soundtracks made by Adam Berry in the sequels.
- I know you really want to include songs in these DTV films, but the original Balto hadn’t any and it was enough good like this. If you really must include songs, make them fit the story, and do not make the main characters sing! It is better if the singer is a background voice.
- We want to know better the siblings of Aleu and Kodi, at least their names.
- Since the original Balto was a true story, try to make believable stories. Do not go too much in the magic side (such has what has been done in Balto 2 Wolf Quest), it has not been appreciated by all the fans.
- A poll about the age of the visitors gave that the average age of the visitors is 15. Which, I believe, is higher than the current market aim you have for Balto. Land Before Time is not
Balto; I know for sure that the public is older (but as much hungry for new things). If I say this, this is for considering aspects that could interest an older audience, because I know everyone would like to
have extras on the DVDs, such as audio commentaries, artworks, behind-the-scenes, deleted scenes…
- Remember to make a film for all the family, not only for the children as has been done for the Land before time sequels… So, make a story with some hard topics – this does not mean adding explicit blood or sex, it should stay G rated. But making the characters suffer or die is possible and would bring powerful stories. This is difficult to express it,
but: give place for the emotions, more than humor. It is really important with the Balto franchise.
(Might be better off with a bulleted list instead)
P.S. I love you site.
The others should be left as secondary characters, and the comical side shouldn’t come only from the non-wolves or dogs characters! So, please, do not give so much screen time to Muk & Luk and Stella…