Are there things that can be done with it aside from being on the planet? Yes. But really, why? Khan's dead. We know how he got there. We know what he did. Do we need to see it, too? His character is over with. Is it really that interesting to see him rule the Earth? Really? We get pointless stories about a dead character set back in a time that Star Trek canon but not Star Trek, and some actors who will NOT be the late Ricardo Montalban. Ricardo WAS Khan.
Great drama is definitely possible in depicting a small group of people, or even one lone person, stranded in a deserted region. There are plenty of examples in fiction. Kor
So was Benedict Cumberbatch. And so will a new actor, if this rumor turns out to be true. Frankly, I'd love to see Cumberbatch return in the role. I enjoyed his performance, which was never the problem with that movie. To put it simply, the characters transcend the actors. Shatner was Kirk, but now Pine is too, whether you like it, accept it, or not. There was a time when nobody thought anyone but Connery could be Bond. When nobody but William Hartnell could be The Doctor, when nobody but George Reeves could be Superman. Nobody but Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau could be The Odd Couple. Then we got Roger Moore, Tom Baker, Christopher Reeve, Tony Randall, and Jack Klugman, who each excelled and in many ways exceeded and were even more beloved than their predecessors in those roles.
Yep, "To Reign in Hell" (referencing Milton) is THE obvious title for any story involved Khan's exile on Ceti Alpha V, so I'm not surprised we both went for it. True story: I originally wanted to call that book THE EUGENICS WARS, Volume 3, but my editor convinced me that TO REIGN IN HELL was only possible title for the book, and he was right.
Ah, no -- Ricardo was Kahn. The other guy was an insult. Screw Pine. Other people can play same characters, but there's always one that stands out or is simply not replaceable. But this begins with a false premise, that characters need to be re-cast. This is only because of J.J. Reboot-rams. and because of a potential Khan pre-quell.
Gotta disagree there. Montalban was fantastic to be sure, but no actor is irreplaceable. There's always room for a new interpretation of a classic character.
Amen. And Basil Rathbone WAS Sherlock Holmes for a generation. And Bela Lugosi was practically synonymous with Dracula. And Roddy McDowall was Caesar in the PLANET OF THE APES movies. But you know what? New actors made the parts their own, just as actors have done since the days of the Greeks at least. "Wait! They've cast somebody new as Oedipus? That's disgrace! There's only one Oedipus and that's the guy who played him the first time!' No actor "owns" a role forever.
Exactly. And you can't have a woman play Juliet or Lady Macbeth without showing blatant disrespect to the intent of the original author. We need stay true to Shakespeare's Vision (TM)!
Not always, the CGI "lead" in Planet of the Apes pales in comparison to Roddy McDowall's performance.