First, thank you for the correct spelling.
Second, Zak is a game with a beginning and an ending, with no room for sequels. Any sequel would be a different story, e.g.:
Anyway, I’d like an official sequel! 
Oh yeah, I meant to clarify that if you do it in a tongue in cheek enough way it could very well work.
I think I´d most of all like to have a game that encourages critical thinking in children and “not to believe the hype”. But that may be a different thing alltogether.
However I think you can compare Zak best to Ghostbusters.
They both worked best because there was somebody involved who does indeed believe in all those things.
With Ghostbusters, Dan Akroyd DOES indeed strongly believe in ghosts while Harold Ramis didn´t. And It was the combination of those that made it all work.
(and I like the fact that as opposed to, say The Exorcist, the menace from beyond is battled with science instead of the bible, but that just as an aside).
With Zak you had David Spangler (no releation to Egon Spengler!) who served as a consultant, but the decision to eventually use those things in a comedic/parody way was probably the greatest idea since Stanley Kubrick had the idea to make a cold war comedy film. It made for a better game and sure, maybe this could work with some of the newer topics as well!
Nah, that´d be boring. Not the exact same thing again!
Like that one time they marched against the evil force that occupied the white house? 
That´s actually not a bad idea! Afterall I´m guessing most players didn´t manage to send both of them home eventually. 
It just takes a looooot of time. Try it, it’s well worth the time!
I wasn´t even talking about just that. It´s that you have to think ahead to make this even possible before hitting the final game finishing levers back in egypt.
You got to buy some extra coins at the monolith near the hostel because if don´t have them you can´t buy any new ones at the broken one near the martian pyramid, meaning you can´t even go back to the bus if you don´t know that, and how can you the first time playing?
So my guess is whoever sent them to earth on their first playthrough did it earlier than they´re supposed to, making the game unwinnable. I know for a fact that´s why @PiecesOfKate stopped playing the game.
By using savegames. 
That is, while I played the game through twice to see both sets of graphics (C64 and the VGA or whatever release), you don’t have to do the full thing just for that.
I did that too — again though, savegame. 
FM Towns
That´s nice you could do it that way now. The problem is that the C64 didn´t have that many slots back then so you had to do more overwriting than now.
At least I think that was the case with Zak, I definitly know what was an issue with the C64 version of Maniac Mansion where you had only one save slot (which made reaching the multiply endings that much more complicated, too)
Yeah, Zak as a story doesn’t really need a sequel that much and it’s not like he (the character) had much personality anyway, just like the kids in MM. They are mostly a vessel for the player. We could have some other tabloid journalist (maybe a girl) working on a story and it wouldn’t loose anything. I would just loved if David worked on something like that and having a semi-famous name would help with sales a bit, but that’s all really.
We used more than one save disk. But you are right: Most players have used only one - and just one slot.
Well, we didn´t!
So yeah, save slots weren´t exactly a luxury on the early games. Which could make the dead ends even more frustrating.
Well at least Bernard was a bit more memorable. Which made it a more safe bet to have him in the sequel (where are the people demanding a Maniac Mansion 2a* btw?)
*Which, well maybe you could consider Thimbleweed Park. But I hated what they did with the MM characters in that game…and that again strenghtens my stance that I don´t wanna anymore sequels to anything. 
Here:
and here?
Ah, but they all seem to call them Edison, which is an invention of Day Of The Tentacle (or the TV show?) so that doesn´t count! 
Which was awful when you ran out of money. I remember day were a few friends came over to play Zak once more. We started a fresh game and after about 6 hours exactly that happend - no more money. I had saved just before. Damn. But younger me an my friends were different, we just started from scratch again. Today I would probably ditch the game.
Bernard is memorable because of his character in DOTT, for sure, but from MM? I don’t know. They didn’t really speak much, or maybe I just don’t remember any cult lines from him. It’s been a while. The only kid I really noticed in MM when playing for the first time, was Razor, because she was punk.
He´s the one with the most extra lines, the most distinct personality and most special actions (like being the only one to “make a scene” in the opening) so all that makes him memorable. I remember him standing out to me as a character before DOTT was even out.
Syd and Razor are great but basically a pallette swap (they have extra lines but they are exactly the same for each). I guess one of the most punk things about both of them is how much they enjoy killing the hamster
Exactly, I was simply motivated to do better. Once understood the shortest travel path, and how to make money, I felt myself realized .
That and the fact that Bernard was/is used in every walkthrough…
That is true! And the reason for that is simple. His route is the “easy” one because having him on the team eliminates at least two dead ends you neither have to intercept the package nor steam open the envelope to win like with the others. Plus with his abilty to repair the phone you can win the game without ever having a kid caught and put into the dungeon. (also possible with Jeff however) 
So having him is more failsave and foolproof than the others.
But yeah in pre internet days you hardly found solutions for Michael and Wendy and especially the latter is more interesting because with her you can get the Talkshow ending.
Actually we let Dave get caught by Edna and then only used Bernard for everything else. The third person was only used to open the door to the basement and to distract Edna.
They talked a lot about their new push to work with other developers in getting their IP’s out there in ways those devs are uniquely capable and dreaming to do as a way of explaining the recent collaboration with Rare to bring Pirates of the Caribbean into Sea of Thieves. But also in some of these interviews I have seen questions raised about the potential of Monkey Island being brought to SoT, as well, and to be honest, it sounds pretty potentially hopeful. Especially when you considered the MASSIVE Monkey Island tribute in the lates PotC SoT Tall Tale adventure. I really think that is the future of the franchise. I think we’re going to get a Tall Tale in SoT that crosses over with Monkey Island characters in the same way the PotC one did, and honestly I’m here for it. Perfect way to potentially close out the series with a final chapter, or perhaps continue it further through SoT updates, especially since now Monkey Island has a way to continue without overstepping the 5-game contract the Voodoo Lady said she had with LucasArts since it’s in a different game 
So yeah I don’t see MI3a happening, and frankly I don’t really need it to.
So this is it, huh? When the music hit I must admit I felt something. That would’ve been cool to experience while playing. The whole thing is devoid of humor, but it’s an easter egg after all so it’s forgivable. Props to the devs. Would I like a new MI in this form? Nah. If Ron did it I would play it, of course, but some other guys as an add on to a multiplayer game. I don’t see much point.