Jeez, I know Hollywood ran out of ideas a zillion years ago, but who greenlit the idea to remake "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" again? What is this, the gazillionth remake?
The trailer is on YouTube, and you can see it below. While the movie may very well be quite watchable — Nicole Kidman is good, as is Daniel Craig — they start the trailer off with some Bad Astronomy right away.
There are several things wrong with that opening clip. First, it shows the Shuttle too far from Earth– no matter what, it can’t get more than about 300 or so miles above the surface. The Earth fills the sky in the real Shuttle’s view, but in that clip you can see the Earth is much farther away.
Also, in real life the Shuttle doesn’t fire its thrusters while it’s aimed at the Earth. That’s silly! To de-orbit, it actually points the back end of the Orbiter into the direction it’s moving, so that it slows down, dropping its height.
Given the premise of the movie, maybe the astronauts had already been taken over by pod people and so did all that on purpose to help spread their spores or seeds or pollen or whatever. Who knows? But I’ve learned not to chalk up to plot what can be attributed to a writer’s ignorance. We’ll see when the movie comes out.
Assuming I see it. It’s unlikely I’ll go to the theater to watch it, but instead I’ll wait for it to go to DVD. Movies have been getting pretty bad again (Pirates III was truly and miserably awful) and I don’t feel like throwing $30 away for the family to go see it in the theater when $5 will get me the DVD. I’m patient. I can wait to see bad movies at home.
Tip o’ the pod to Apolloisgo for the news on this.
June 10th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Agreed. All the old “Bad” movie (Plan 9, Bodysnachers etc.) should be left as they are. Don’t try to salvage them with a remake!
One non-astro thing though, I think that’s Nicole Kidman, not Nicole Goodman
June 10th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Actually, the Leonard Nimoy remake of Body Snatchers wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be… considering with the appearance of Kevin McCarthy making it a kind of ’sequel’.
Now, there was a third movie… which totally sucked.
J/P=?
June 10th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
FWIW, this would be the second remake, the original from 1956, the remake with Leonard Nimoy in 1978 and now this one with Nicole Kidman. I, too, am not looking forward to seeing this. I’ll wait for DVD just like you. Netflix rocks.
Bad science aside, I’m getting a tad miffed at all the remakes coming out. Sequels aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but when they take them too far, it becomes pretty bad. Witness Star Trek V or Superman V. (Star Trek, in particular, has been over-hyped for me. After 40 years of watching it, I’m saturated.)
June 10th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
A few of the test audience members posted reviews online – not a single positive one among them.
It’s too bad, because the director – Oliver Hirschbiegel – did Downfall and Das Experiment. If Downfall was an American film, it would have swept the 2004 Oscars.
AICN posted two of the reviews…
(Spoiler warning of course)
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32660
June 10th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Rowsdower: “FWIW, this would be the second remake, the original from 1956, the remake with Leonard Nimoy in 1978″
There was a remake in 1993 as well, called Body Snatchers.
June 10th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Nicole *Kidman*.
June 10th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
I actually liked the latest Pirates movie. In fact, I loved it. In fact, I consider it one of the best movies of the past 10 years.
I guess the key is I knew what to expect from it and the sort of movie it was trying to be, a “ride”, and I enjoyed the ride, the spectacle of it all.
June 10th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
The scene where Nicole Kidman (has her bust measurement increased since she appeared topless in Dead Calm?) and the child are in the car covered in body snatched people reminds me of something from the BBC in the ’70s.
The Harry Worth Show (a comedy) had an episode where he was trying to have a book published. A chapter of his book ends with his hero shackled to a wall in a dungeon. The door is locked and flood waters are pouring in through the small window high above his head and have reached up to his chin. The next chapter begins “With one mighty bound, he was free!”
I agree that, in general, Hollywood has run out of ideas but I think that Memento, with Guy Pearce & Carrie-Anne Moss, was an exception. Please correct me if it wasn’t made in Hollywood!
I think the problem with Hollywood is that they rely too much on special effects. For example, the original The Matrix was pretty good; the sequel was crap – all effects, no story; and I didn’t even bother watching the third.
June 10th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Well, I guess you could say the altitude thing might be an issue of perspective and zooming. The thrusters are… well… maybe they aren’t firing but it;s some sort of plasma on the back of the shuttle?
okay.. that doesn’t work either. I mean… the bad astronomy in this isn’t nearly as bad as I’ve seen elsewhere.
What I notice: I think the whole thing with the shuttle breaking up on rentry being the case is in poor taste. not super-offensive or really really upsetting, just in poor taste. This ain’t like making a joke about the titanic or even the hindenburg… this happened just a couple years ago.
It’s just something that I think is a bit lousy to make part of a fictional movie like that…
June 10th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Heh – a very minor, pedantic observation: have you noticed how the trend these days is to add dramatic camera shake when a flying vehicle ‘passes by the camera’? That shuttle does it in the first few frames. Phil, you’d know for sure, but I’m guessing if the supposed camera was floating in space it wouldn’t shudder like that. Maybe if it were affixed to a large platform?
Anyway sorry for driving you all crazy coz that’s all you’re gonna notice in films from now on.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
I this this movie has taken on a new subtext: Scientology in Hollywood. No wonder Kidman was all for it.
Re Tom Cruise: “That’s not my husband anymore!”
Tom Cruise: “Joooooiiinnnn Ussssssss….”
My perceptics are tingling in anticipation of this film.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
I’m pretty sure the shuttle breaking up wasn’t supposed to be a “joke” there. It was just supposed to be an event. I really don’t think it’s in poor taste at all. What else were they supposed to do, use a rocket engine?
June 11th, 2007 at 12:02 am
That’s Nicole “I’m a dancer!” Kidman.
June 11th, 2007 at 4:22 am
Which remake was Donald Sutherland in?
June 11th, 2007 at 4:44 am
Did you notice the worm logo on the backs of the clean suits? NASA’s back to the meatball, and has been for a while. (Frankly, I’m glad to see it.)
June 11th, 2007 at 5:49 am
The Studio ruined the original “Invasion on the Body-Snatchers†by insisting on an happy ending. The ending where Doctor Miles Bennell was vindicated by an accident scattering pods was an “Deus Ex Machinaâ€. The Director Miles Bennell and the Producer Walter Wanger hated what the studies made them do.
The definitive “Invasion of the Body-Snatchers†is the 1978 one. It is really a sequel — not a remake. It has Kevin McCarthy playing Doctor Miles Bennell. He screams “¡You’re next!â€. Not only does none believe him, but the PodPeople kill him. In that movie, the PodPeople win. The scream in the 1978 movie is an inhuman scream based on a pigscream.
In conclusion, after the perfection of the 1978 which repaired the damage the studio did to the original, I see no need for remakes. The 1978 is the definitive “Invasion of the Body-Snatchersâ€.
June 11th, 2007 at 5:52 am
I thought the third Piarates was the best of the bunch , I think I’m alone on that one.
Another Body snatchers leaves me skeptical though.
June 11th, 2007 at 5:58 am
“Invasion” will keep getting remade whenever a sufficiently moneyed producer feels like America is being overrun by zealotry / creeping fascism / enforced mental conformity / etc. It was always an allegory… which is the number one reason I won’t go.
I get enough of a drumbeat of politics in my news and daily life. I don’t need to pay Hollywood for more of it.
‘Course, that does mean I don’t go to many movies these days.
June 11th, 2007 at 6:21 am
Ya think that’s bad? Well have you see the trailer for the movie Stardust that’s comin out? There’s some bad astronomy in that one too. Meteorites arent made of chicks!
June 11th, 2007 at 6:23 am
The choreographed dancing skeletons ruined the first Pirates movie for me. (Hate hate hate)^n that part. It makes me ill just thinking about it.
As for 2 and 3, well, Johnny Depp is fun, and I love watching movies, so I enjoyed them for what they were – loud, cheesy explodaramas.
June 11th, 2007 at 6:30 am
Wow, this looks terrible. And usually the trailers show the best bits of the movie…
June 11th, 2007 at 6:47 am
Agreed. All the old “Bad†movie (Plan 9, Bodysnachers etc.) should be left as they are. Don’t try to salvage them with a remake!
Are you kidding? The two first Bodysnachers were good movies. Especially the Nimoy version.
June 11th, 2007 at 6:50 am
Maybe they had the camera a great distance away, and zoomed up on the shuttle and the Earth. That would make the Earth seem smaller.
I know, I know, I’m making excuses.
June 11th, 2007 at 6:53 am
NASA apparently hasn’t given up completely with the NASA “worm” logo. I went to the Johnson Space Center last month for the first time, and the gift shop had plenty of shirts and stuff with it.
June 11th, 2007 at 7:26 am
I noticed an additional bit of BA: the doomed shuttlewas firing its three main engines–without being attached to the external tank! Once in orbit, after the ET is jetttisoned, the shuttle can only use its Orbital Maneuvering Units (OMU’s) for major changes to its trajectory.
(In a side note: BA if you havent read David Brin’s short story “Tank Farm Dynamo,” may I recommend it? The details seem a bit implausible, but the basic idea is this: it costs next to nothing to bring the shuttle’s external tanks into orbit along with the shuttle. Why not put that structure (and it’s residual contents) to good use? You naturally would not want that kind of tonnage floating around in orbit without a use for it–space junk being a problem already–but there sure ought to be a way to make a sturdy, hollow structure with a litttle bit of fuel and oxidizer included (nearly gratis) useful in orbit.)
June 11th, 2007 at 7:30 am
*Pirates
June 11th, 2007 at 7:53 am
Douglas McDonald, Donald Southerland was in the 1978 version. Interestingly, he was also in the movie version of Robert Heinlein’s, The Puppet Masters, which I thought you were referencing. Yes, the movie cites Heinlein’s name, mostly because there is a series of dreadful horror movies about animated marionettes with the same name. The Puppet Masters and Invasion of the Body Snatchers are very similar. Both involve some alien life form taking over and controlling humans.
The Puppet Masters was written in 1951.
The novel The Body Snatchers (source for the movie) was written in 1954 (in serialized form).
June 11th, 2007 at 8:23 am
Arg! While editing the entry, I changed some wording, going from “the movie is good” to “the movie is watchable” and somehow edited her name in the process. My ability to insert typos is amazing to me. Fixed.
June 11th, 2007 at 8:26 am
The Faculty kinda sorts used a body snatchers theme, only with parasites. (So I guess that makes it more like The Hidden. The first one, not the terrible and unnecessary sequel which should be forgotten.)
Anyway, suffice to say that the idea of aliens taking over will crop up again and again. My hope is that it can be done in fresh ways each time.
(By the way, I liked The Faculty… it was more sci-fi than horror, but originally seemed to me to be billed as horror. Interesting to note that the aliens in there were helping humanity in a way; by making everyone alike, they eliminated struggle and confrontation. But was it worth giving up our individuality? Neat that such a film would touch on a deeper issue like that, though perhaps not everyone caught it. Oh, well.)
June 11th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Variations on a theme – there is also John Carpenter’s “They Live”, which had several interesting moments. (It was more about hypnotizing – brainwashing than replacing people.)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/
June 11th, 2007 at 8:54 am
I would, but unfortunately, I haven’t forgiven Nicole Kidman for “Bewitched” yet. We’ll see if I’m still angry when this comes out. (I suspect I will be.)
June 11th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Hey, is that Metro Center?
June 11th, 2007 at 9:24 am
The Faculty reminded me more of John Carpenter’s The Thing than it reminded me of The Hidden.
Still waiting for The Hidden to come out on DVD, also Highway to Hell is missed.
June 11th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Oh yeah, The Hidden II could be used instead of capital punishment.
June 11th, 2007 at 10:43 am
To echo Jeff Fite’s comments, we’ve had more than 26 years of real-life shuttle missions to work with, yet Hollywood still isists on showing the shuttle’s main engines firing without an external tank and the payload bay doors closed throughout the mission.
June 11th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Slightly off topic but does anyone remember the reference to “Torchwood”? It is a Sci-fi series related in some way to “Dr Who”, and I seem to recall it being discussed, maybe even in this very blog.
The series is being advertised to start this month here in Australia. I cannot recall if there is BadAstronomy in it, or maybe it is a good example of Science or otherwise.
Ivan.
June 11th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Do you get Dr Who and Torchwood in the US? If you do, make sure you watch it! (Especially Dr Who).
June 11th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Do you get Dr Who and Torchwood in the US? If you do, make sure you watch it! (Especially Dr Who).
SciFi Channel is (0r will be) running Dr. Who, but no word on Torchwood. Check scifi.com and their ‘wire’ for updates. I know season 3 is coming some time soon.
(I have DVD’d the series, along with CBS’s NUMB3RS from my ReplayTV)
J/P=?
June 11th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Re: Doctor Who season 3. Be sure to watch “Blink”, shown in the UK last weekend. It was a masterful piece of creepy storytelling, even though it was a Doctor-lite episode.
June 11th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
[...] Astronomy dismantles a trailer for The Invasion. Oh Hollywood, will you ever [...]
June 11th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
Yeah, “blink” was one of the best episodes I’ve ever seen.
June 11th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
We discussed Torchwood on BAUT; look for it in the Small Medium at Large section. I thought it had promise (the lead actress is very, very good) but the stories are really awful, especially toward the end. I’ll be interested to see what they do with it this season, but I’m not hopeful.
June 11th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Hey, is that Metro Center?
Either that or it’s L’Enfant Plaza. I also caught 14th street where it passes through Federal Triangle and Union Station.
June 11th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
“Torchwood” is an anagram of “Doctor Who”, and was used as an arc reference during David Tennant’s first season. It also became a spinoff series of its own on BBC, linked rather tenouously to Dr Who.
And yes, “Blink” is about the spookiest, creepiest shiver-fest I’ve seen in a long time. Gives me goosebumps every time I walk past a statue now, I keep looking over my shoulder…. Mrs. Sarge was hanging on my arm the whole time (definitely a bonus).
To the other Whovians, do you prefer Rose, or Martha? (And David or Christopher?)
June 11th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
It’s really a shame that no one in Hollywood, like say, everyone and their grandmother, happens to have scripts with original ideas just lying about.
Yikes!!! Make it stop! Make it stop! I still haven’t recovered from the ‘78 disaster. Sorry, DEFINITIVE disaster. “Don’t touch it! You don’t know where it’s been!” from the hysterical Ms. Cartwright. And, the Nimoy hugging scene…I’ll never be clean again!!!
I love the Don Siegel flick. Still the best! LEAVE THE CLASSICS ALONE!!!
But, worst is to come! Fox is threatening a remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” to which I must reply with outstretched pointing finger of doom…”HAHHHHHHH!!!!”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970416/
Thank goodness for Joss Whedon and Firefly/Serenity!!! Derivitive still, but in such an original way, like a patch work quilt of sci-fi, western, super-heroes and pop culture. That and the new Battlestar…I call it OXYGEN!!!
Peace, Brother! Are you not of the body?
Excuse me, but I’ve got to go weep bitterly for a few hours! Thanks for the news! Sheesh!
Anyone near the Phoenixville, PA area can come and join us for Blobfest ‘07. It’s the 50th anniversary of The Blob. Yes, I’m into classics! Accept no substitutes.
http://www.thecolonialtheatre.com/html/Blobfest.html
June 11th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Inoculated Mind Says: “Maybe they had the camera a great distance away, and zoomed up on the shuttle and the Earth. That would make the Earth seem smaller. ”
Actually, that would make the Earth look bigger. To make it look smaller you need to use a wide angle lens and get closer to the Shuttle.
- Jack
June 11th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Thomas Siefert, The Hidden has been available on Region 1 dvd for years now… I’ve had my copy for two or three years, I think. Just FYI.
June 11th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
To CR: Now you tell me!
All that turned up on eBay was a region 0 from Korea that promised: “Your hands will be the first layed upon it!!” and “It would be one of great item for your collection.”
Found it on amazon and it is on it’s way.
June 12th, 2007 at 6:27 am
I just find it so sad that film makers just endlessly recycle old films when there are so many brilliant sci-fi novels that would make excellent movies. Now they’re releasing ‘I am Legend’ a remake of the ‘Omega Man’ from the seventies. If they wanted a new take on the ‘invasion’ scenerio they could film Greg Bear’s incredible novel ‘Blood Music’. Such an abysmal lack of genuine creativity, courage and imagination in the media is simply appalling.
June 12th, 2007 at 8:11 am
“Such an abysmal lack of genuine creativity, courage and imagination in the media is simply appalling.”
Hollywood is very up and down. There are a few really creative people working there, like Joss Whedon, etc. But those who must fund new movies are very conservative. They seem to be fixated on stories with a proven track record, thus we have remakes after remake after,,,
One S.F. story I’d really like to see made into a movie is Accelerondo. The basic premise of an approaching singularity in computer/biological intelligence is …well, not classic perhaps but an intriguing idea.
,Stogoe:”,,choreographed dancing skeletons ruined the first Pirates movie for me,,,”. Sounds like a Dead concert to me( tongue planted firmly in cheek),,,
For the record, Rise of the Silver Surfer starts Friday. Wonder how THAT will go,,,
GAry 7
June 12th, 2007 at 8:32 am
A Sci-Fi novel I would like to see made into a movie is: Redshift Rendezvous by John E. Stith (born in Boulder Colorado!). The story is set aboard an sphere shaped FTL spaceship, where the on-board speed of light is so slow, that on certain levels aboard you can actually outrun your own image.
Check out an excerpt here.
June 12th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Gary Mcleod Says: “Now they’re releasing ‘I am Legend’ a remake of the ‘Omega Man’ from the seventies.”
“Omega Man” was itself a remake of “The Last Man on Earth” with Vincent Price from the late ’50s.
- Jack
June 13th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I want to speak up in defense of screenwriters. It’s true that writers are often guilty of making scientific gaffes, but frequently it’s producers and network execs who inject stupidity into a perfectly good script. It’s rare for a high-budget feature to reach the screen without going through anywhere from six to thirty rewrites, many of them usually by somebody other than the original author. And the writer is almost always long gone by the time the script is actually produced, so he or she’s in no position to complain about inaccuracies like the size of the Earth or the fact that the shuttle’s engines are on. Writers can’t win — when a film is good it’s usually the director who gets the credit, but when stuff sucks the writer is often singled out for the blame. (In episodic television the writers exercize somewhat more control over the product, although the final script is generally a project by committee, so responsibility belongs to the staff as a whole rather than the individual who happens to receive the writing credit.)
June 13th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
C’mon Phil,
Bad Movies? Have you seen the trailer for Danny Boyle’s Sunshine? That looks completely accurate! [/snark]
June 13th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
“They’re coming!” Ha! This movie looks TERRIBLE, but I doubt there will actually be much astronomy in it. Of course, there will probably be the token scntist to explain everything to the pretty, but stupid blond main character.
June 16th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
The best thing about that trailer was the Sigur Ros music…they totally rock! I’m not a Nicole Kidman fan at all, nor am I a ‘body snatchers’ fan so this will not be seen by me.
However, do take the opportunity to check out Sigur Ros