Retro Look Good Enough for Another Sci Fi Remake

[xortex]

Star Trek is not supposed to be linked to any one era. It needs to always feel au courant so that it can continue to be extended with movies and TV series.

Forbidden Planet can be a nostalgia-fest because it isn't expected to be anything more than one movie. It's not a franchise.

Star Trek needs to be taken seriously by modern audiences to be continuously viable. Forbidden Planet can just be an ancient artifact and still make enough money for a single movie.

Also, we don't yet know if the retro look will get Forbidden Planet laughed off the screen. I think it should do okay, the "old-movie-look" gimmick has been used several times in movies, like that one with George Clooney and Cait Blanchett made to look like a Warner's Brothers' WWII era movie.

I hope he makes it a franchise.

 

[Therin of Andor]

if the retro look is good enough for Silver and Straczynski and Forbidden Planet, why not for Abrams and Star Trek?

Because the "Forbidden Planet" franchise is one movie (and a parody stage production sequel, "Return to the Forbidden Planet").

 

[Therin of Andor]

I think it would be cool if the Krell essentially became the Talosians.

Actuall, I've always like the idea that the Krell were "the Old Ones" mentioned by Ruk in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?". Very similar architecture.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Maybe this will be the changeling. just as DS9 'stole' Babylon 5, now JMS is out to 'steal' Star Trek. I hope he does

I hope he doesn't.

Babylon 5 was awful.

He shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Forbidden Planet.

It won't be Babylon five, it'll be a new Star Trek.

No, it won't.

Anyway, jms "stole" Trek once before. It was called "Babylon 5."

 

[xortex]

I hope he doesn't.

Babylon 5 was awful.

He shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Forbidden Planet.

It won't be Babylon five, it'll be a new Star Trek.

No, it won't.

Anyway, jms "stole" Trek once before. It was called "Babylon 5."

I think you got it backwards. JMS is a serious thinker not a tinkerer. He's a bigger brain than anyone from Star Trek. Maybe he can do Star Trek or Forbidden planet or whatever you wanna call it better.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

JMS is a serious thinker not a tinkerer. He's a bigger brain than anyone from Star Trek.

No.

Maybe he can do Star Trek or Forbidden planet or whatever you wanna call it better.

Sorry, no.

 

[M'Sharak]

'The Cage' is almost a remake of Forbidden Planet.

Maybe this will be the changeling. just as DS9 'stole' Babylon 5, now JMS is out to 'steal' Star Trek. I hope he does

I hope he doesn't.

Babylon 5 was awful.

He shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Forbidden Planet.

It won't be Babylon five, it'll be a new Star Trek.

No, it won't.

Anyway, jms "stole" Trek once before. It was called "Babylon 5."

I think you got it backwards.
...

I think that, since there's a moratorium on the recurring but unwinnable and invariably-ugly "B5/DS9 - who stole what from whom" argument in both the DS9 and the SF&F forums, it would be a good idea not to try to drag it over here where it's even less relevant than it is in those forums.

 

[Michael]

I think that, since there's a moratorium on the recurring but unwinnable and invariably-ugly "B5/DS9 - who stole what from whom" argument in both the DS9 and the SF&F forums, it would be a good idea not to try to drag it over here where it's even less relevant than it is in those forums.

Yeah, 'cause we all know who stole what.

Oh, and she says 'and others'; not 'Nanclus'. Goddammit.

 

[Red Ranger]

The only justification that the studio likely cares about is a healthy box office.

Bingo!

And, of course, my concerns are not their concerns.

But my concerns are Paramount to me, for whatever that's worth.

I'd say Abrams' concerns are more Paramount than yours! Couldn't resist. -- RR

 

[Lindley]

Anyway, jms "stole" Trek once before. It was called "Babylon 5."

I suppose in the sense that he was a big fan of TOS and wanted to make something he felt was a spiritual successor to it, that's true. He certainly got a lot of the TOS names involved (Ellison, Fontana, and Koenig come to mind immediately).

Of course, the end result turned out much different than anything Trek had done to that point, and really only had strong similarities in a few of the early episodes. Most of which are considered low points of the show.

DS9's arc eventually took it in a similar direction in some ways, but that's all ancient history at this point. Trying to figure what came from what is pretty much an exercise in futility.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Re:

Here's JMS reply to the news about the movie:
"That report is totally incorrect. It's not going to be retro, and
it's not going to be a continuation. When Altair 4 blows up, it blows
up. I have, however, found a way to honro the original movie without
in any way besmirching it in order to do this iteration. Once folks
find out what we're actually going to do, I think they'll be most
pleased. Forbidden Planet remains one of my favorite films of all
time, and I wouldn't even think about doing this project if I didn't
think there was a way to do it that would not in any way diminish the
original...which is why this is the the first development in years to
actually get to the script stage. Everybody involved is very excited
by the approach."
http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17738&topic=comics

So I guess the Retro Look IS NOT Good Enough for Another Sci Fi Remake!

 

[number6]

Anyway, jms "stole" Trek once before. It was called "Babylon 5."

I suppose in the sense that he was a big fan of TOS and wanted to make something he felt was a spiritual successor to it, that's true. He certainly got a lot of the TOS names involved (Ellison, Fontana, and Koenig come to mind immediately).

Of course, the end result turned out much different than anything Trek had done to that point, and really only had strong similarities in a few of the early episodes. Most of which are considered low points of the show.

And it wen't downhill from there. JMS' biggest mistake was in writing the entire show from season two onward by himself. He should have taken more stock in the writing talent he brought in in the first season and stayed the fuck out of the writers room. B5 sucked gnat's gonads.

 

[Lindley]

I won't argue that the show could have benefited from a more varied voice, but there's little question it improved after the first year in most ways. It did lose a bit of its atmosphere once it got all epic and stuff.

 

[number6]

I wouldn't have minded the "epic" stuff if it had been better written. The end of that whole Vorlon/Shadows arc was a bitter, bitter disappointment. It only got worse with the Rangers and the whole Crusade thing (JMS' Galactica 1980-imo)

Had it not been syndicated, B5 would have been cancelled after 6 episodes.

The show was shamelessly derivative and looked like it had a budget of $50, which JMS spent on burgers and fries instead of putting it toward a Creative Writing course from which he would surely have benefited.

 

[gastrof]

Re:

Here's JMS reply to the news about the movie:
"That report is totally incorrect. It's not going to be retro, and
it's not going to be a continuation. When Altair 4 blows up, it blows
up. I have, however, found a way to honro the original movie without
in any way besmirching it in order to do this iteration. Once folks
find out what we're actually going to do, I think they'll be most
pleased..."
http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17738&topic=comics

Hmmm...

A way to honor the original without "besmirching" it.

Maybe they'll use the original "Robbie" design for the robot, and not change it?

 

[Dick Whitman]

Re:

Hmmm...

A way to honor the original without "besmirching" it.

Maybe they'll use the original "Robbie" design for the robot, and not change it?

Lesilie Nielsen will play an elderly JJ ADams who travels back in time to met his younger self.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

B: Retro look, good movie.

I'm not sure that this is a viable option, commercially, on the scale that the studio wants this film to succeed. In the last few decades period films have sometimes been successful, though very very rarely have they been megahits ("Titanic" being the obvious exception) and "period sf" is doubly problematic IMAO.

It probably wouldn't be anybody's first choice, but it could be done.

Not that I'm suggesting that Star Trek XI should have been done that way, but I tire of the equally absurd insistence by many that it must have been updated.

In the end, it will come down to the tastes of individual viewers.

As long as there are enough identifiable elements to justify this movie being called "Star Trek" -- and the story is good -- I'll be satisfied.

If they stray too far from the identifiable elements (or if they ape those elements in name only), then it's just another sci-fi movie, and we know how those usually fare.

 

[ST-One]

Not that I'm suggesting that Star Trek XI should have been done that way, but I tire of the equally absurd insistence by many that it must have been updated.

In the end, it will come down to the tastes of individual viewers.

As long as there are enough identifiable elements to justify this movie being called "Star Trek" -- and the story is good -- I'll be satisfied.

If they stray too far from the identifiable elements (or if they ape those elements in name only), then it's just another sci-fi movie, and we know how those usually fare.

But the point is: it (the designs) HAD to be updated.
This is 2008 and not the 1960s anymore. No matter how often it is being said, it simply is not true that the TOS-design aesthetic is timeless.
And if Star Trek too you is defined by its set-design... well...

 

[MattJC]

No matter how often it is being said, it simply is not true that the TOS-design aesthetic is timeless.
.

Bullshit.

 

[StarTrek1701]

No matter how often it is being said, it simply is not true that the TOS-design aesthetic is timeless.
.

Bullshit.

Your attitude towards the movie? Yes, its bullshit.