'Game Over': What video game characters do when they go off-duty
By Sid Lipsey
CNN Headline News
(CNN) -- It's a cold, hard fact: You can't play video games forever. Eventually your wrists will start to hurt.
Or you will run out of quarters.
Or you will have to put your game on "pause" to go to your job at "The Most Trusted Name in News."
Regrettably, we gamers sometimes have to put down our joysticks and rejoin the real world.
But do you ever wonder what video game characters do after we turn off our PlayStations? Do they have homes to go to? Spouses to snuggle with? Kids to stress over?
They sure do -- on TV at least.
"Game Over," UPN's new animated comedy series, chronicles the lives of Rip and Raquel Smashenburn -- a couple of video game heroes who really are just average working stiffs. Rip is a racecar driver and frequent crash victim (hence the last name). Raquel is a gun-toting government archaeologist (any resemblance to Lara Croft is purely intentional). With their two teenagers, the Smashenburns live in a virtual suburbia populated by ninja warriors and "first person shooters."
But don't let the unique concept fool you; at its heart, "Game Over" is a traditional family sitcom like "The Brady Bunch" -- except here, Mom cooks with a ray gun, the family car is armed with missiles and the family pet is not an absent dog named Tiger but a bitter ex-video game star named Turbo.
Turbo is the most biologically ambiguous TV character since Gonzo from "The Muppet Show," so he's a little hard to describe. Imagine Pac-Man after too many years of gorging on dots and dropping power pellets. Turbo drinks Jack Daniels, leers at women and isn't above committing the occasional felony. "As you see in 'E! True Hollywood Story' there's a dark side to fame," jokes "Game Over" executive producer David Goetsch. "That's true in video games as well."
Although "Game Over" features original characters, some well-known stars from the gaming world also drop by. Abe from "Abe's Odyssey" and Crash Bandicoot have made cameos. And a certain "tomb raiding" superstar will appear in a future episode.
Gamers will have fun speculating on other possible cameos. Maybe the Smashenburns could travel to Vice City during May sweeps. Or Duke Nukem could guest star as Billy's sadistic gym teacher. Or, in a topical "Very Special Episode," Raquel could testify before a congressional subcommittee on video game violence. For his part, Goetsch says he isn't seeking any particular star for a future "Game Over" walk-on. "But," he admits, "Mario would be pretty cool."
Mario would be the first to warn that video game characters don't always make a successful leap to other forms of entertainment (the "Super Mario Brothers" movie is a particularly gruesome example). But if all goes well, the spiffy "Game Over" may buck that trend -- and give gamers something else to do after they put down their joysticks.
