Well, that’s it. The end of the world is here.
First Hollywood decided that it was time to remake "The Day the Earth Stood Still", one of the finest science fiction movies ever made.
Now they’re going in the exact opposite direction. Think about it for a sec. What could that possibly be?
Yes!
It’s time for a remake of The Bionic Woman.
Lindsey Wagner will not be in it. My bro-in-law will be unhappy, but probably not too unhappy, as the new semi-mechanical woman, Michelle Ryan, is easy on the eyes. But I can’t imagine, given the environment of TV today, where shows like Firefly and Futurama get canceled, that this will be anything more than an unending crap-o-rama. I’ll be thrilled if it’s good, but I’m not hopeful.
UPDATE: Well, hey! I know this sounds like worse news at first, but it looks like Fox will run a Terminator TV series. Yeah, I know, I know, but Summer Glau will be in it! She played River in Firefly, and is not only a good actress, but as a dancer she’s a good pick for the part. That link has a trailer, and who know? It might be good.
May 21st, 2007 at 3:45 pm
I feel your pain on “The Day The Earth Stood Still”. I didn’t see it until I was 18 years old (I’m 27 now) and I was absolutely floored at how good that little flick is. Just classic, but apparently not untouchable :/
May 21st, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Is that the Michelle Ryan from “East Enders”?
YOU AIN’T MY MUVVA!
May 21st, 2007 at 4:04 pm
To quote Radiohead…
“They say that cream can not help but always rise up to the top. Well, I hate to tell you. Sh*t floats.”
I see new reality shows popping up every five minutes like “Pirate bay” and the latest season of “Survivor” and half-assed “Star Search” ripoffs like “American Idol” and “America’s Got Talent,” all of which seem to have to enforce in the title that the show is produced in AMERICA, and we get craptacular remakes of classics like “The Day the Earth Stood Still” which are inevitable so bad that they ruin the originals.
And in this climate, Firefly and Enterprise die swift deaths in the midst of idiotic network decisions.
I hate the world.
May 21st, 2007 at 4:27 pm
I wonder what $6,000,000 would be from the 70s with inflation? I remember the bionic woman in particular an episode where she was going against a sinister computer I liked it then anyway. If Lindsay Wagner was recast (or maybe retread is a better word) on it that’s how much they’d have to pay for her cosmetic surgery!
The problem with the day the earth stood still is the Islamic suicidists would just want to blow the robot (and the earth) up. I guess the robot would have to threaten them with a Qu’ran flushing or maybe a cartoon.
May 21st, 2007 at 4:43 pm
When I first saw the name of this blog entry, I had though BA had fallen asleep on his keyboard.
Oh, and remakes suck.
May 21st, 2007 at 4:58 pm
C’mon, they might not suck.
Oh who am I kidding….
May 21st, 2007 at 5:44 pm
“The Day the Earth Stood Still” is indeed a classic and I doubt a remake could offer anything to improve the original. However, this is not the best classic sci-fi movie ever made. I think Forbidden Planet is the best and if I ever hear about them attempting a remake of THAT, I’ll check out permanently…no really, I’ll just have to take the long journey into the dark chasm. That would be a complete disaster. Then again, if Peter Jackson gave it a go maybe it would be ok…nope, not even then.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I note with trepidation that they’re also remaking The Prisoner as Number Six.
Mind you, the themes of The Prisoner are perfectly suited to our modern world, but damn. It’s going to be a shame if it sucks, but according to Wikipedia Christopher Nolan is attached and it’s being produced by Sky One, who did the current Galactica. So maybe there’s hope?
May 21st, 2007 at 10:00 pm
The new Battlestar Galactica is one “remake” that doesn’t suck. I was very apprehensive about it when I heard they were redoing it but have loved the result. Same goes with the new Doctor Who. Mind you, if I were a betting person chances are a sci-fi remake is highly likely to be dodgy.
May 21st, 2007 at 10:40 pm
>>> one of the finest science fiction movies ever made.
Not really, no.
I’d like to do a remake where humanity sends Klaatu packing. A rocket assisted B-52 dives from a sub-orbital flight right into Gort, pretty much removing him from the picture. Nothing is invulnerable. We Earthers also filch the saucer’s stardrive tech, and send our own ships out to get a piece of that action.
Anyone here read Poul Anderson’s “The High Crusade”?
I’m just a Campbellian, I guess.
May 21st, 2007 at 11:00 pm
And then they cancel Jericho *sigh*
May 21st, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Come on, MOST TV is crap, and that includes Sci Fi. I’m just glad that I’m too busy to watch much, but these remakes and based-on-a-movie series sound dreadful enough to make me take up a hobby or read more rather than watch them if I did have the time! I mean, remake the Prisoner? How can you do that, does anybody REALLY know what it was about? As for watching something because an actor from a show you liked is in it, how often does that turn out well, unless you’re only watching for pure eyecandy? Does anyone know of any new series that are at least pretending to be original?
May 22nd, 2007 at 12:03 am
Ruth has a good point. There’s a lot of original stories that haven’t been told; life is too short for reruns.
I always assumed to understand the Prisoner you had to be English. (My best guess it is an abstract of totalitarianism.)
May 22nd, 2007 at 12:32 am
While the new War of the Worlds was pretty good I can’t see any good in a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. I first saw it when I was nine and as Josh said, it floored me. It probably started my intereset in sci-fi but also in astronomy and space exploration. Don’t touch this classic, please don’t!
May 22nd, 2007 at 1:27 am
Hollywood’s running out of ideas. Pretty soon they’ll be doing remakes of all classic films, sci-fi or otherwise.
May 22nd, 2007 at 4:00 am
To be honest, I don’t think it’s that Hollywood is out of ideas, rather the American public at large is just so much cattle- easily herded this way or that. Take the general apathy in the electoral cycles as just one example. American Idols get more votes than the President- kinda shows where the ‘common man’ places his priority, doesn’t it.
May 22nd, 2007 at 4:07 am
Troy,
1975’s six million dollars would be 23,694,611 in 2006 cash (http://www.westegg.com/inflation/).
I am looking forward to the TV shows and I hope they do well. Many of my other favs have been canceled (Firefly, Drive, etc.) so something has to stick sometime! BSG, Heroes, Doctor Who and a few others give me hope, though.
The movie remake is another matter. Those rarely end up well-done or well-received, something Hollywood may figure out some day (but I doubt it).
May 22nd, 2007 at 4:13 am
Come on, MOST TV is crap, and that includes Sci Fi. I’m just glad that I’m too busy to watch much,
I’m with you on this one. I watch less than an hour of TV a month on average. At some point in the early 80’s I realized that TV was crap, sold my TV and never looked back. I doubt I could name 10 shows from the last 10 years. I’ve never even watched a whole episode of Seinfeld.
I own a TV now, but it’s used almost exclusively for watching movies on DVD.
May 22nd, 2007 at 5:54 am
From what I’ve heard, the new Bionic Women doesn’t look that bad. It is a darker version of the original like Battlestar Galactica is darker than the original, buit it isn’t supposed to be as dark as BG.
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:13 am
Hark what sound is it that I purchance to hear
Gadzooks it is that of the base of a barrel being scraped.
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:32 am
given the environment of TV today, where shows like Firefly and Futurama get canceled
Don’t forget Farscape! What is it about sci-fi shows beginning with the letter F?
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:55 am
The end of the world? Come on now; I’ve seen the long preview on YouTube, and it looks pretty awesome. Time will tell, obviously, but there was nothing in that ~4 minute clip that does anything other than make me anticipate watching it.
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:45 am
pssst- there are more futurama episodes in the works, they are going straight to DVD (wikipedia)
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:27 am
Jericho might have had a decent premise, but the execution was terrible. Most of it was little more than soap opera (with bad scripts and acting). Now if you want an example of a post-apocalyptic TV show done right, then look no further than Showtime’s Jeremiah. (Another one canceled before its time.)
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:44 am
I saw The Day The Earth Stood Still last year, for the first time, and was overwhelmed with how great it was!
My favourite part: “I’m impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without out it.”
Words to live for. Sigh…
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:39 am
Don’t put any hope in a Science Fiction show lasting on fox. Firefly - Gone, Drive - Gone. If Summer is going to be on fox again she might want to have a chat with Nathan Fillon about how safe it is as a career move.
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:49 am
Well, there was that Forbidden Planet TV series that ran for a few years in the ’60s and was then revived in the ’80s. I’m pretty sure they made a few movies based off of it, too.
May 22nd, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Katee Sackhoff - Battlestar Galactica’s Starbuck - will have a recurring role as a baddie on the series.
We haven’t come a long way, baby:
Jamie is now a hot bartender, with a rebellious younger deaf sister she is responsible for, and the doctor boyfriend. I guess the ‘independent tennis pro’ doesn’t go over as well with the Maxim crowd?
Nice photo of Katee though:
http://www.nbc.com/Fall_Preview/Bionic_Woman/photos.shtml?img=2#photos_sec
May 22nd, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Katee Sackhoff’s in it? Well hell, now I have to give it a shot. She’s my favorite actress on Battlestar Galactica, and with the good actors on that show that’s saying something.
May 23rd, 2007 at 3:16 am
And then they cancel Jericho *sigh*
Actually, they are considering doing a ‘wrap up’ of the series
SciFi Wire
J/P=?
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:38 am
My favorites are currently Star Gate 1, Atlantis, Heros, Battlestar Galactica, and Bones. Old favs: Firefly, Farscape, Star Trek Next Gen.,
SG1 is wrapping up, Atlantis MAY be able to continue the tradition. Heros is a tv version of a comic book(the tv version of Crow , with MArk Decoscos, was quite good as well). It’s really obvious Hollywierd is in a declining creative flux. At least the comics are still doing well.
Gary 7
May 25th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Come on, MOST TV is crap
Interesting in a thread on SF that no one quoted Sturgeon’s Law”
90% of SF is crap, but then 90% of everything is crap
Though, remembering some more obscure SF on TV, I thing there’s a mathematical increase in 90% and 90%….
J/P=?