Should RDM reimagine Ruck Rogers or Knight Rider?
- Thread starter Lyon_Wonder
- Start date
It absolutely bewildered me that the Knight Rider remake could so completely miss the point of what made the original a hit. Handsome guy, talking supercar, fighting crime. Simple. The new version had about 17 characters too many and wrapped everything in layers of conspiracy and government spooks, oblivious of the fact that the basic premise was still just as goofy and comic-booky as it was in the Eighties. By the time the producers realised this and drastically retooled the show, of course, it was too late.
Hmm. Does that mean they actually did what I said with the remake? I never watched it.
Okay, I have my answer.
Okay, I have my answer.
Dusty Ayres
Commodore
No, it's not, since it was approved by the Dille Family Trust and you have to pay for it.
Moore has done a lot of stuff in different styles. His take on nuBSG was his response to that subject matter, in that time frame, coupled with his apparent desire to treat "futuristic" sf in a more realistic and contemporary manner.
IOW, it's a mistake to assume that his "Buck Rogers" would be as grindingly sad and harrowing as nuBSG was. Different property, different approach.
IOW, it's a mistake to assume that his "Buck Rogers" would be as grindingly sad and harrowing as nuBSG was. Different property, different approach.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
So? I could shoot a film, produce it, distribute it, and charge people to view it. That doesn't make me a professional nor is my film professional. Again, the distinction between the two is academic.
That the Dille family approved the production only means the production is now authorized by the copyright holders and doesn't have to fly under the radar the way all the Trek fan films have to.
Though perhaps "amateur" is the wrong word; at the very least it's an independent production, and more power to the Cawley Entertainment Company for securing the rights so they can at least (hopefully) turn a profit this time around.
Then again, these are the kinds of definitions that are being redifined in the age of multi-media distribution and this is all much ado about nothing. Good or bad, the good news is the thing is getting made.
Moore's approach to Touching Evil wasn't notably different from his BSG. It was hamfisted, melodramatic but still pompous (is this bleakly marvelous combination supposed to show his talent?) and chock full of silly, backward notions (about mental illness, a favorite of his.) And the same goes for Virtuality.
I haven't seen third season Roswell but I recall even TV Guide saying the series turned into absurdly convoluted soap.
In fact, the only thing that I can tell Moore has ever done that wasn't just a regurgitation of his old themes and tropes pasted onto someone else's work was Good Vs. Evil. (Or was it Good and Evil?) That was just plain awful. The man hasn't grown as a writer at all.
I haven't seen third season Roswell but I recall even TV Guide saying the series turned into absurdly convoluted soap.
In fact, the only thing that I can tell Moore has ever done that wasn't just a regurgitation of his old themes and tropes pasted onto someone else's work was Good Vs. Evil. (Or was it Good and Evil?) That was just plain awful. The man hasn't grown as a writer at all.
Given that Paul W.S Andersons next project is apparently a movie remake of Buck Rogers i have to vote a resounding yes to an RDM version.
I didn't like nuGalactica much, too much pointless grimdark but i'd vote for anyone remaking it if it stopped that moron Anderson turning it into another Mila Jovovich wank-fest. Yes Paul we know you think she is hot, and great you managed to get in her pants and marry her, but for the love of god stop ramming it down our throats dammit
...sorry, i'm just going to go have a lay down.
I didn't like nuGalactica much, too much pointless grimdark but i'd vote for anyone remaking it if it stopped that moron Anderson turning it into another Mila Jovovich wank-fest. Yes Paul we know you think she is hot, and great you managed to get in her pants and marry her, but for the love of god stop ramming it down our throats dammit
...sorry, i'm just going to go have a lay down.
I'd like to see more non-humanoid Cylons.
Planes, trains, automobiles...Ehh, I dunno. Buck Rogers was already re-done as Farscape. Knight Rider isn't worth a remake.
RDM should license the rights to the Red-Blue-Green Mars franchise. Even if he doesn't want to follow them religiously, that's fine. Any story about a Mars Colony in conflict with Earth would be highly welcome by me.
Kim Stanley Robinson? Ye gods, no. That dude couldn't come up with anything remotely resembling a non-whiny character if someone held a .44 Magnum to his head and dictated to him.
If I want to go to Mars, keep the stupid space hippies and take me to Barsoom or maybe Bradbury's Mars.
I just like the name Blue Mars. I wouldn't be religious about adhering to the plotline or characters.
Or just reboot the heck out of Stargate when MGM goes under. Finally do something interesting with the franchise.
US Touching Evil never got very far, even with Jeffrey Donovan. Official credit for five episodes out of twelve was a good chunk of the series. One episode had Andrea Thompson if memory serves was very much in the continuity from Seven of Nine in Equinox to Caprica Six in BSG.
The Moore adulation on this bbs is so pervasive that one often gets the impression that DS9 was a Moore series.
On a side note, Donovan was set up for a recurring role on Braga's Threshold the next year. Donovan apparently liked his Threshold experience, though, having had Brian Van Holt and Rob Estes on Burn Notice. Vera Farmiga, Zach Grenier, Brian Markinson and Kevin Durand haven't made an appearance though.
The Moore adulation on this bbs is so pervasive that one often gets the impression that DS9 was a Moore series.
On a side note, Donovan was set up for a recurring role on Braga's Threshold the next year. Donovan apparently liked his Threshold experience, though, having had Brian Van Holt and Rob Estes on Burn Notice. Vera Farmiga, Zach Grenier, Brian Markinson and Kevin Durand haven't made an appearance though.
Again, I wouldn't describe one writing credit and four credits as a "consultant" as significant involvement. The important thing here is not the number of credited episodes, but the type of credit, and a "consultant" usually wields little or no power on a television series. Film.com lists Moore's credit as a "consulting producer," which you might recall is the same token credit given to Glen A. Larson on every episode of Battlestar Galactica, a series with which he had no direct involvement.
When it comes to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, it is certainly incorrect to claim that Moore was the principal figure behind that series. Indeed, he didn't join it until the third season premiere. On the other hand, he is a credited writer on 30 episodes, and without looking, I know that he was at least an uncredited writer on In The Pale Moonlight. That's not a paltry contribution, and it's also worth remembering that by the sixth season he had been promoted to co-executive producer (for three seasons previously he was a supervising producer).
As a side note, I'm not surprised Donovan didn't carry Touching Evil. I've never been fond of him as an actor, but besides that, his breakout role in Burn Notice wouldn't come until a few years later.
When it comes to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, it is certainly incorrect to claim that Moore was the principal figure behind that series. Indeed, he didn't join it until the third season premiere. On the other hand, he is a credited writer on 30 episodes, and without looking, I know that he was at least an uncredited writer on In The Pale Moonlight. That's not a paltry contribution, and it's also worth remembering that by the sixth season he had been promoted to co-executive producer (for three seasons previously he was a supervising producer).
As a side note, I'm not surprised Donovan didn't carry Touching Evil. I've never been fond of him as an actor, but besides that, his breakout role in Burn Notice wouldn't come until a few years later.
It's simply the contrast between the mixed opinions about RDM and the savagery with which other prominent showrunners/show originators are treated.
He's the one-eyed man in the land of the blind.
Dusty Ayres
Commodore
Yes he should, and here's my version:
By 2020, humanity is set to explore the solar system, and the way to do that is through the gravity drive. Humanity must do it quick, though; Earth is fucked up environmentally, and is beginning to come apart at the seams socially, politically, and economically. A colony on Mars has already been established, but the colony leaders want to break away from Earth (shades of the Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars trilogy) and a conflict is brewing.
Meanwhile on Earth, tensions between the PRC & the U.S.A. are threatening to explode into war over trade and economics (China has degenerated due to civil war, America has barely managed to stay on top, but Europe has become a global player by becoming a nation, and the gravity drive is America's attempt to make itself important again.) Scientist/NASA astronaut/Air Force pilot William Anthony 'Buck' Rogers has invented the drive, and wants to test it with the new spaceplane Ranger III. On September 13, 2020, Buck lifts off into space aboard the Ranger III for a three hour test flight of the gravity drive 'around the block' (the solar system) and then back again.
However, a freak mishap in the ship's systems causes it to overshoot it's planned trajectory, and for Buck to be somehow frozen in time due to a strange form of time dilation (similar to what happened to Dylan Hunt in Andromeda). Eventually, the gravity drive settles itself down, and both pilot and ship come back to normal, but when they return, its the 25th century....and what a century it is!
The war that resulted as a consequence of the various political/social/economic/environmental factors partially devastates Earth, forcing half of its population to explore the solar system and colonize it; Europe dominates half of the inner system (in particular Jupiter and its moons): Africa, the Middle East & Asia dominates the outer system and the asteroid belt and the other half, with the capitol being Mars: what's left of the USA and the PRC controls the Moon and Earth.
Earth is recovering from the war, and it's position is poor compared with the rest of the solar system; the remnants of the USA have now organized itself as the United Earth Government, with its capitol in Toronto, and dominates much of what was once North, South, and Central America, with what's left of the PRC controlling China & North Korea , and now known as the Han Confederation. Technology is advanced, and interplanetary travel is prevalent due to the invention of fusion power and Buck's gravity drive (making Ranger III an antique to everybody else that sees it.) When Buck arrives back at Earth, his flight path takes him into the the NAU's corridor illegally, and he is initially suspected of being a pirate or a terrorist. He meets Dr. Huer, Wilma Deering, Twiki, and the advanced AI Dr. Theopolis, represented by the hologram of a beautiful bald woman. Buck must now figure out this new world for himself, and come to terms with it. Compared to what he's facing now, flying was a breeze.
Neither of the last mentioned stories are realistic or even that great (and both are now beyond the pale/outdated). Robinson's characters are better than watching half-naked, white, red and green-skinned people romp around on a Mars that doesn't really exist (and which, if made into a movie, will become fodder for bloggers and feminists, with most of the commentary negative due to Dejah Thoris's near nudity.) Bradbury's Mars is equally unrealistic, and will never happen no matter what. The Robinson stories only piss you off because the politics are repugnant to you as an American, and you think that they are socialists with no realistic goals.)
By 2020, humanity is set to explore the solar system, and the way to do that is through the gravity drive. Humanity must do it quick, though; Earth is fucked up environmentally, and is beginning to come apart at the seams socially, politically, and economically. A colony on Mars has already been established, but the colony leaders want to break away from Earth (shades of the Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars trilogy) and a conflict is brewing.
Meanwhile on Earth, tensions between the PRC & the U.S.A. are threatening to explode into war over trade and economics (China has degenerated due to civil war, America has barely managed to stay on top, but Europe has become a global player by becoming a nation, and the gravity drive is America's attempt to make itself important again.) Scientist/NASA astronaut/Air Force pilot William Anthony 'Buck' Rogers has invented the drive, and wants to test it with the new spaceplane Ranger III. On September 13, 2020, Buck lifts off into space aboard the Ranger III for a three hour test flight of the gravity drive 'around the block' (the solar system) and then back again.
However, a freak mishap in the ship's systems causes it to overshoot it's planned trajectory, and for Buck to be somehow frozen in time due to a strange form of time dilation (similar to what happened to Dylan Hunt in Andromeda). Eventually, the gravity drive settles itself down, and both pilot and ship come back to normal, but when they return, its the 25th century....and what a century it is!
The war that resulted as a consequence of the various political/social/economic/environmental factors partially devastates Earth, forcing half of its population to explore the solar system and colonize it; Europe dominates half of the inner system (in particular Jupiter and its moons): Africa, the Middle East & Asia dominates the outer system and the asteroid belt and the other half, with the capitol being Mars: what's left of the USA and the PRC controls the Moon and Earth.
Earth is recovering from the war, and it's position is poor compared with the rest of the solar system; the remnants of the USA have now organized itself as the United Earth Government, with its capitol in Toronto, and dominates much of what was once North, South, and Central America, with what's left of the PRC controlling China & North Korea , and now known as the Han Confederation. Technology is advanced, and interplanetary travel is prevalent due to the invention of fusion power and Buck's gravity drive (making Ranger III an antique to everybody else that sees it.) When Buck arrives back at Earth, his flight path takes him into the the NAU's corridor illegally, and he is initially suspected of being a pirate or a terrorist. He meets Dr. Huer, Wilma Deering, Twiki, and the advanced AI Dr. Theopolis, represented by the hologram of a beautiful bald woman. Buck must now figure out this new world for himself, and come to terms with it. Compared to what he's facing now, flying was a breeze.
Neither of the last mentioned stories are realistic or even that great (and both are now beyond the pale/outdated). Robinson's characters are better than watching half-naked, white, red and green-skinned people romp around on a Mars that doesn't really exist (and which, if made into a movie, will become fodder for bloggers and feminists, with most of the commentary negative due to Dejah Thoris's near nudity.) Bradbury's Mars is equally unrealistic, and will never happen no matter what. The Robinson stories only piss you off because the politics are repugnant to you as an American, and you think that they are socialists with no realistic goals.)
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