The "alice pack" buckle that you're referring to was mentioned over at GB.net forums. It's a matter of trying to keep things more simple, I suppose. I would like to see it, too.
I was hoping for GB3 when I heard about it, "What happens when **** fills up?" Seemed like a good plot to me. There again, though, Danny had written into the script that the GBs went to some alternate universe thing--not a good idea and too far-fetched, one reason I didn't like GBII was them bringing Lady Liberty to life.
The plight of Dan to sell GB3 and Sony's refusal miffed him good enough that he moved off the Sony lot, and had even reported that he was retiring from movie making, but that's before Crossroads and a few others even.