JMS to update "Forbidden Planet"

[LaxScrutiny]

It would be funny if they used some old sets, props and costumes from 'Enterprise'.

Forbidden Planet was a great film that stands on it's own, but half the fun is also looking for what are essentially Trek easter eggs (although they're really reverse easter eggs.)

 

[Psion]

You guys really need to go pick it up. They put out a really nice remasted dvd just last year. Looks gorgeous, and the stories held up a lot better than most 50's SF.

Hmmm, I should go watch it again.

AND it comes with a cool Robbie the Robot figure. Just don't let your three-year-old take it and break off the radar loops.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

WTF?!

I'm surrounded by POD PEOPLE!

Maybe they're not TOS fans. To me, being a TOS fan who hasn't seen Forbidden Planet would be like being a TOS fan who's never seen "The Cage." So much of early TOS comes from Forbidden Planet that it's almost like finding someone who likes the animated Clone Wars but has no interest at all in the actual Star Wars movies. But there's really not a lot of FP influence on the later Trek series at all.

Which reminds me: the problem with remaking Forbidden Planet is that, as great and influential as it is, it's also very dated. A starship crew that's all white, male, and heterosexual; the crew's reactions to and interactions with Altaira; the heavy emphasis on Freudian psychology; the focus on Robbie the Robot as amazingly high tech... a lot of that is going to look terribly dated to a 21st century audience.

The first question is, how can you update something like Forbidden Planet without radically changing everything from the characters to the plot structure, while staying faithful in some way to the original?

The second is, if you're sure the first can be done, who do you get to do it? JMS is a relatively old-fashioned kind of writer; his attempt at giving Marvel's classic Doctor Strange character a modern makeover in a comics miniseries not too long ago was unconvincing, trying to balance a middle-aged man's idea of what's hep with the kids of today with staying faithful to the essence of the story and character, and not really pulling off either. I can't help but think that a JMS take on FP will be similar -- too retro and stodgy for young viewers, too full of desperate attempts at updating for fans of the original.

Considering that here in the 21st century we don't have robots anything like Robbie, we don't have interstellar drive, many ships crews are still all male.

Even having some female crew members doesn't change the crux of the story, the entire crew doesn't have to be hot for Altaira, just the Captain and the first officer really need to have a rivalry to get the plot point across.
Freudian jargon is dated, but the concept of the Id isn't, and the power of the subconcious controlling the "monster" still works fine.

I think it could be done really poorly, or really well, but if done well it is well worth it.

In as much as it's a remake of The Tempest the orginal film took huge risks and pulled it off. A remake could easily do the same.

 

[Steve Roby]

Even just the sound design by itself is so good you could play it on the radio and still come out having had an enjoyable experience.

I've got the soundtrack by Louis and Bebe Barron on CD. Great stuff. Techno musician Jack Dangers did an alternate Forbidden Planet score using old synthesizers, but it's more of an interesting experiment than a valid replacement. It sounds more like the old Radiophonic Workshop stuff on Doctor Who.

My wife was flicking through channels on TV yesterday, and TCM was showing From the Earth to the Moon, a 1958 Jules Verne adaptation. Didn't watch it, but we did notice that they recycled the Forbidden Planet music/sound effects. It really didn't seem appropriate.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I really don't think the second best movie of all time needs to be updated. I'd rather see another movie or series set in the same universe; but the way things are these days, they'd probably screw it up. I have no interest in seeing a Forbidden Planet universe "updated" to have ships that look like rusty junk on the outside, warehouse basements on the inside, and have crews who dress in leather bondage gear.

A few years ago, Starlog (I think) published some preliminary designs for a FP reboot, and they were just awful; I suppose it would be even worse now....

 

[stj]

I think they could make a decent scifi movie by redoing The Tempest.

In The Tempest, as I recall, Prospero gives up magic, Ariel is freed, Caliban gets his and Miranda gets married. In Forbidden Planet, Morbius dies to pay for his unconscious incestuous longings, Robbie the Robot is neither an Ariel nor a Caliban, and Altaira gets horny, probably laid and maybe married. Those stories seem pretty different to me, even if a father with amazing powers is alone with his daughter in an isolated land.

 

[Dr. Drake Ramoray]

^ Well put. That's exactly what I was thinking. Even without what you said about JMS specifically, I think that kind of failure of approach typifies remakes in general. Lost in Space, anyone?

I'm putting myself in the 'expecting the worst, hoping for the best' camp.

Hey! Lost in Space was a great movie!

 

[Forbin]

Why are y'all calling it a "remake" of The Tempest as if the tempest was just some old movie? Just bein' picky, I guess, but the word doesn't apply. It's no more a remake of The Tempest than West Side Story is a remake of Romeo & Juliette. They're new stories inspired by the original Shakespeare play.

IMHO, I guess.

 

[stj]

^^^Okay, they could make a good SF moving by doing one inspired by The Tempest.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Oh good. Another classic movies in need of dilution.

 

[CaptJimboJones]

I've got the soundtrack by Louis and Bebe Barron on CD. Great stuff.

Yes, I've got that CD as well, and it's fascinating to listen to the electronic bleeps and blurts of the soundtrack removed from the dialogue of the film. If you play it in your car driving down the highway at night, it feels like your car is zooming through space.

 

[Philo]

^ Hah, that'd be awesome! I'll have to try that while riding my bicycle.

Even just the sound design by itself is so good you could play it on the radio and still come out having had an enjoyable experience.

I've got the soundtrack by Louis and Bebe Barron on CD. Great stuff.

Oh damn, I never even thought about getting the OST. I should do that.

Techno musician Jack Dangers did an alternate Forbidden Planet score using old synthesizers, but it's more of an interesting experiment than a valid replacement. It sounds more like the old Radiophonic Workshop stuff on Doctor Who.

I'll have to check that out too. My roommate who writes glitchy electronic music would probably also especially be interested in it.

My wife was flicking through channels on TV yesterday, and TCM was showing From the Earth to the Moon, a 1958 Jules Verne adaptation. Didn't watch it, but we did notice that they recycled the Forbidden Planet music/sound effects. It really didn't seem appropriate.

Doesn't sound like it would be. Honestly, I'm a little surprised that Star Trek didn't recycle a lot of Forbidden Planet's foley work. Hmm, that's an area of trek behind the scenes history that I don't know a lot about. I should rectify that.

Hey! Lost in Space was a great movie!

 

[Ptrope]

They should get Leslie Nielsen as The President of Space or something.

Actually, Nielsen might make a very interesting Morbius ...

That being said, I'd rather have a "Forbidden Planet Remastered," with CGI FX only where it would improve upon the model/matte work (leave the creature from the id alone!), than a remake. Forbidden Planet is a classic for all the right reasons - it doesn't need to be remade.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

AND it comes with a cool Robbie the Robot figure. Just don't let your three-year-old take it and break off the radar loops.

You unwrapped yours?

 

[Kelso]

Today, we have additional info that indicates this is not so much a "remake" as a complementary piece to the Fred M. Wilcox/Cyril Hume classic.

Straczynski's screenplay will essentially act as if Altair 4 didn't blow up. We don't have much in the way of story details, but we do know that Straczynski was not shy about paying homage to FORBIDDEN PLANET in BABYLON 5, so it's not a surprise that he would want to honor the integrity of Wilcox's visionary film.

As for the look of the film, it will apparently be an "enormous, giant, retro sci-fi movie"; in other words, they're going to implement the design of the original rather than attempt something modern. As Harry said, nothing "sleek or chromy" like Fox would do.


SOURCE

Sounds interesting to me.

 

[Psion]

So much power ... falling into human hands when we're ill-prepared to know what to do with it!

I'd prefer to have an explanation as to why Altair IV looked like it blew up rather than doing a what-if it didn't, but I'm intrigued about this news. So ... 1950's set and costuming designs in a 2008 movie? I wonder how that will go over after the debates around here concerning set designs in Trek XI!

But I don't care ... I can't WAIT to see Robbie on the big screen!

 

[RJDiogenes]

Straczynski's screenplay will essentially act as if Altair 4 didn't blow up.

So it's like the pilot for a Forbidden Planet TV series?

As for the look of the film, it will apparently be an "enormous, giant, retro sci-fi movie"; in other words, they're going to implement the design of the original rather than attempt something modern. As Harry said, nothing "sleek or chromy" like Fox would do.

Now that's encouraging.

I'd prefer to have an explanation as to why Altair IV looked like it blew up rather than doing a what-if it didn't

Ditto. Or have another ship find another Krell planet; they were space travelers, after all, so it's odd that their whole species became extinct because of events on their (presumed) homeworld. But I always think "in-continuity" explanations are better. Re-imaginings strike me as just lazy most of the time.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

So much power ... falling into human hands when we're ill-prepared to know what to do with it!

I'd prefer to have an explanation as to why Altair IV looked like it blew up rather than doing a what-if it didn't, but I'm intrigued about this news. So ... 1950's set and costuming designs in a 2008 movie? I wonder how that will go over after the debates around here concerning set designs in Trek XI!

But I don't care ... I can't WAIT to see Robbie on the big screen!

Obviously because the Krell have been telepathicly creating the illusion that Altair blew up, and the whole was an experiment on the humans.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Straczynski's screenplay will essentially act as if Altair 4 didn't blow up.

So it's like the pilot for a Forbidden Planet TV series?

One suspects. Or the beginnings of a movie franchise.

Anthony Hopkins for Morbius. His name was actually brutted about for the role in connection with an earlier version of the project.

Oh, and I'm sure that Chris Pine could play the ass off of J.J. Adams.

 

[Jan]

Today, we have additional info that indicates this is not so much a "remake" as a complementary piece to the Fred M. Wilcox/Cyril Hume classic.

Straczynski's screenplay will essentially act as if Altair 4 didn't blow up. We don't have much in the way of story details, but we do know that Straczynski was not shy about paying homage to FORBIDDEN PLANET in BABYLON 5, so it's not a surprise that he would want to honor the integrity of Wilcox's visionary film.

As for the look of the film, it will apparently be an "enormous, giant, retro sci-fi movie"; in other words, they're going to implement the design of the original rather than attempt something modern. As Harry said, nothing "sleek or chromy" like Fox would do.


SOURCE

From JMS on the moderated newsgroup:

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.

jms

ETA: Link to Google Groups post

Jan