Reasons why an American Doctor Who remake wouldn't work (IMO):
1. US remakes of British shows suck 9 times out of 10. Especially shows that are of an action/dramatic bent, but also comedies. Exhibit A: Red Dwarf which they tried to pilot twice and finally gave up. Exhibit B: Life on Mars which no fan of the original will ever forgive the US network for f*cking up the ending. Exhibit C: the movie version of The Avengers which is still stinking up the room. Yeah it was shot in the UK but it was still Americanized (starting with the sin of casting an American as Emma Peel). Exhibit 4, er, D (I hate lists anyway): The Thunderbirds movie. A pure example of a show that the filmmakers completely did not understand (and ironically the Tracy family was American!). The only person who knew what she was doing was Sophia Myles as Penelope.
2. The UK version of Doctor Who would be diminished. First, there would be less interested in the UK version because US networks would be more interested in the US version. Second, if the US version failed, interested in the original might also wane.
3. Would you be in favor of the BBC doing an all-British remake of Star Trek: TOS with Marc Warren as Captain Kirk, Russell Brand as Spock, Freema Agyeman as Uhura ... yeah, I didn't think so.
4. Doctor Who is a British institution. Remaking it for American audiences is pointless unless they keep it British. This also goes for James Bond. There have been a few occasions in the past with Americans James Brolin and John Gavin being temporarily cast as Bond before someone came to their senses. If they decide to, wonder of wonders, keep Doctor Who British, then there's no point in not just importing the UK series for US TV, or taking over production of it (which I do NOT want to see).
5. The original Doctor Who has not finished its story yet. Life on Mars was remade after the original had ended (that's why most of us were able to say the US ending sucked). Even Steven Moffat's Coupling, which it was disastrously remade in the US, was done so - IIRC, anyway - after the UK original ended. I think Queer as Folk (granted a rare example of the US version not sucking) was the same. I know The Office (ditto) was a case of this.
6. It's pure greed. Quality over quantity. The Doctor Who franchise is stretched thin enough with the original, Torchwood, Sarah Jane, and K-9. We don't need a US interloper gumming up the works.
7. It's incredibly unfair to Matt Smith because all the momentum he will need to build up at record speed in order to follow on from Tennant will be stopped dead when all the media suddenly switches to promoting the new American Doctor, especially if they get a big name for the part like, say, William Pedersen of CSI or Hugh Laurie (House can't last forever).
8 US audiences - the big mainstream audiences who turn out in tens of millions to watch things like American Idol or NCIS - don't get Doctor Who. That was proven when the 1996 TV movie crashed and burned. DW does well on niche cable channels like Sci-Fi and BBC America, but it's not going to work on mainstream American TV because they just won't get it. The track record for any sort of "out there" sci-fi on the major networks is abysmal. We'd end up with a show completely 21st century Earth-bound like X-Files or Lost. And while the Pertwee era actually used a single time and location to its advantage, we do expect a bit more from DW these days.
I'm not too cheery about a US Torchwood remake, either. I'll go for it being a spinoff about an American branch of TW, like Torchwood 5 or whatever, though Point #6 still applies.
I like RTD and Julie Gardner a lot. And I've defended them a lot over the last few years against unfair attacks, bulls*it about "gay agendas" and people griping about the show not having the cardboard sets and over-extended storylines of the original. But on this issue they stand alone (at least as far as I'm concerned). They should be focusing on creating new, original product for the US, not revisiting old material. I thought that's why RTD left in the first place. If he just wanted to keep doing Doctor Who he might as well have stayed on with BBC Wales.
Alex
1. US remakes of British shows suck 9 times out of 10. Especially shows that are of an action/dramatic bent, but also comedies. Exhibit A: Red Dwarf which they tried to pilot twice and finally gave up. Exhibit B: Life on Mars which no fan of the original will ever forgive the US network for f*cking up the ending. Exhibit C: the movie version of The Avengers which is still stinking up the room. Yeah it was shot in the UK but it was still Americanized (starting with the sin of casting an American as Emma Peel). Exhibit 4, er, D (I hate lists anyway): The Thunderbirds movie. A pure example of a show that the filmmakers completely did not understand (and ironically the Tracy family was American!). The only person who knew what she was doing was Sophia Myles as Penelope.
2. The UK version of Doctor Who would be diminished. First, there would be less interested in the UK version because US networks would be more interested in the US version. Second, if the US version failed, interested in the original might also wane.
3. Would you be in favor of the BBC doing an all-British remake of Star Trek: TOS with Marc Warren as Captain Kirk, Russell Brand as Spock, Freema Agyeman as Uhura ... yeah, I didn't think so.
4. Doctor Who is a British institution. Remaking it for American audiences is pointless unless they keep it British. This also goes for James Bond. There have been a few occasions in the past with Americans James Brolin and John Gavin being temporarily cast as Bond before someone came to their senses. If they decide to, wonder of wonders, keep Doctor Who British, then there's no point in not just importing the UK series for US TV, or taking over production of it (which I do NOT want to see).
5. The original Doctor Who has not finished its story yet. Life on Mars was remade after the original had ended (that's why most of us were able to say the US ending sucked). Even Steven Moffat's Coupling, which it was disastrously remade in the US, was done so - IIRC, anyway - after the UK original ended. I think Queer as Folk (granted a rare example of the US version not sucking) was the same. I know The Office (ditto) was a case of this.
6. It's pure greed. Quality over quantity. The Doctor Who franchise is stretched thin enough with the original, Torchwood, Sarah Jane, and K-9. We don't need a US interloper gumming up the works.
7. It's incredibly unfair to Matt Smith because all the momentum he will need to build up at record speed in order to follow on from Tennant will be stopped dead when all the media suddenly switches to promoting the new American Doctor, especially if they get a big name for the part like, say, William Pedersen of CSI or Hugh Laurie (House can't last forever).
8 US audiences - the big mainstream audiences who turn out in tens of millions to watch things like American Idol or NCIS - don't get Doctor Who. That was proven when the 1996 TV movie crashed and burned. DW does well on niche cable channels like Sci-Fi and BBC America, but it's not going to work on mainstream American TV because they just won't get it. The track record for any sort of "out there" sci-fi on the major networks is abysmal. We'd end up with a show completely 21st century Earth-bound like X-Files or Lost. And while the Pertwee era actually used a single time and location to its advantage, we do expect a bit more from DW these days.
I'm not too cheery about a US Torchwood remake, either. I'll go for it being a spinoff about an American branch of TW, like Torchwood 5 or whatever, though Point #6 still applies.
I like RTD and Julie Gardner a lot. And I've defended them a lot over the last few years against unfair attacks, bulls*it about "gay agendas" and people griping about the show not having the cardboard sets and over-extended storylines of the original. But on this issue they stand alone (at least as far as I'm concerned). They should be focusing on creating new, original product for the US, not revisiting old material. I thought that's why RTD left in the first place. If he just wanted to keep doing Doctor Who he might as well have stayed on with BBC Wales.
Alex
