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twitterpate
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Canada
1026 Posts |
 Posted - 04/10/2008 : 4:32:16 PM
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Agree with other people that the message of the first movie was a little dubious, the second sounds insane.
Of course, the first movie plays as a reaction to the dawn of the Atomic Age, as well as a religious allegory. Mankind, in its hubris, had become so powerful that it actually threatened the heavens, or, by implication, Heaven. So it was really God presenting Mankind with a choice - stop fighting, or die. Sort of a "Tower of Babel" thing.
This version? OK, accepting the postulate that we're killing ourselves with pollution, nothing in the rest of the story indicates that there's any risk to any other planet. In fact, we'd be dead long before we'd be advanced enough to threaten other worlds. So, what exactly is the reason, other than sheer self-righteousness, to propose destroying earth?
I suppose you could spin it - perhaps the aliens KNOW that Mankind would have to buckle under the threat, but then you blow a lot of the suspense (and I doubt the filmmakers would give Mankind credit for that degree of self-preservation). Or, they could come as representatives of the rest of the living creatures in the world, to eliminate Man to preserve Animal-and-Plantkind - it could lead to an interesting debate about the value of sensient versus non-sentient lifeforms, and whether Mankind's behaviour is "natural" enough to be allowed to continue. But I doubt that the film will look into the contradictions that deeply. |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2008 : 5:07:10 PM
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An interesting twist can be found in a DC comics mini-series of the eighties where the superheroines went up against a giant alien called "The Ajudicator" who came to earth to decide mankind's fate. It turned out that he was a galactic LOONY who had escaped custody!
I laugh when I think about "Gort" enforcing his rules on earth: he gets around by WALKING! No hovercraft, no jetpack, no teleportation, no nothing! what if he has to kick some rebelous butt in china? Does he call a CAB to take him to the airport?
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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Danitsu
Minister of the Sacraments of Jabootu
40 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2008 : 9:57:55 PM
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Maybe Keanu will have some version of his inspiring "Johnny Mnemonic" speech about needing room service is why he came to threaten Earth...
"If you get served and serve them back...Then IT'S ON!!!" |
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TheFoywonder
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
833 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2008 : 10:59:02 PM
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Could be worse I suppose. A remake of THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN has been in development for years now. Did I mention the plan has been for it to be a comedy starring Eddie Murphy?
Now Playing in Foyeurism at Foywonder.com: NEVER BACK DOWN - Much like the martial arts, the film's messages are also mixed
Plus: B-WARE THE BLOG is alive at http://www.livejournal.com/users/foywonder |
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Capt. Nemo
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
630 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2008 : 12:35:33 AM
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The thing about it is that, if they were so hell bent on using the global warming angle, they could have used a better story.
For example, maybe centuries ago aliens buried something in the polar ice caps. Now that global warming is occuring, the ice is melting. The aliens want global warming to stop. So they send Klatu down to warn people that warming is becoming a threat. The bottom line being if its a choice between wiping out humanity or letting the something in the ice be uncovered then humanity is S.O.L.
And what would be buried in the ice? Who cares? Its the MacGuffin. But it could be a dangerous form of radiation. The anciestors of a advanced civilization in Cryo-freeze. Perhaps evil aliens who built the indestructable Gort and Klatu and his people were able to wrestle control away from them and banish them to earth. And now they are worried we will set them free.
Take your pick.
At least it sound better than some alien know-it-all from a know-it-all race coming down here to lecture us and how we are destorying the planet.
________________________________________________________________________
"Ward, the Beaver blew up the 7-11 again."
"I'll have a talk with him Dear" |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2008 : 09:51:11 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by TheFoywonder
Could be worse I suppose. A remake of THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN has been in development for years now. Did I mention the plan has been for it to be a comedy starring Eddie Murphy?
Couldn't be any worse than the comedy remake they already did with Lily Tomlin. |
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Flangepart
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
2329 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2008 : 4:54:11 PM
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When you listen to the anti-military feelings of the director in the commentary track...don't it seem a bit modern Hollywood liberal?
In that, they don't mind the use of force, as long as they get to do it. So the deeper questions of the concept are not looked at as closely as they might be, in a well written remake.
Yeah, whats to ensure Gort won't get all COLOSSUS on the universe, and take it all too far?
"I had to destroy them Dave...they had a 2.3% chance of diverting my reason for being...I must compleat my mission..."
Greenhornet : Klattu did leave Gort the keys to the saucer...
P.S....they touch my Bernard Herriman score, I'm gonna take 'em out with extream predjudice...
Marvin the Paranoid Android to Buzz Lightyear "Too infinity and beyond-i've been there, its rubbish!"
"Hoody Hoo, i waste 'em with my cross bow!" Bob Herzog- KODT
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Edited by - Flangepart on 04/11/2008 4:55:49 PM |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2008 : 5:48:24 PM
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It's fascinating how many Hollywood films with a utopian vision of the future always take on a fascist bent. Whether it's Gabriel Over the White House or Day The Earth Stood Still, there always seems to be the not-so-hidden subtext: "What we really need is a uber-dictator threatening to wipe out the entire world unless everyone complies."
I'll exempt James Cameron from this generalization because his story choices often smack more of opportunism and reckless imagineering than as a desire to make some half-@ssed political statement. ("Whoa, wouldn't this idea make a really cool movie?!") |
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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2008 : 6:27:56 PM
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One of the earliest films I can think of that fall into that category ZW is Things to Come. In that film, the scientific elite end up ruling the world. Although it's interesting that at the end of that film the ruling class have to rush to launch their spaceship because the people have started to question what all of their labor is for. Day has the same conceit with Klaatu saying that scientists will be more receptive towards him.
- Si desea pulse 2 para español, encontrar un país diferente. - |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2008 : 7:25:07 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Terrahawk
One of the earliest films I can think of that fall into that category ZW is Things to Come. In that film, the scientific elite end up ruling the world. Although it's interesting that at the end of that film the ruling class have to rush to launch their spaceship because the people have started to question what all of their labor is for. Day has the same conceit with Klaatu saying that scientists will be more receptive towards him.
- Si desea pulse 2 para español, encontrar un país diferente. -
Day The Earth Stood Still may have gotten it's inspiration from Things To Come, particularly the scene where the guy lands his futureistic airplane and says (As best I can remember) "The 'Brotherhood Of scientists' don't believe in independant nations" it was pretty arrogant and THREATENING.
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
Edited by - Greenhornet on 04/11/2008 7:26:23 PM |
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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2008 : 9:55:43 PM
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In the book, Klaatu really didn't get to say anything before he was gunned down by a lunatic (not the army). The entire earth was seriously concerned about how the aliens would react. The movie and the book really diverge. The book has more of a
Twilight Zone story and is devoid of political content.
If I remember correctly, didn't Things to Come have the scientists form an organization called Wings Over the World? Yes, we have come to save you from the dictator by placing you under a scientific dictatorship. I do remember the scene you are talking about. They took the cheap way out of actually deposing The Boss (yes, that's what they called the dictator) by having him die due to the sleeping gas they used and giving some lame explanation for it.
- Si desea pulse 2 para español, encontrar un país diferente. - |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2008 : 10:09:50 PM
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There was a book? I'm not joking, until this very moment I did not know that DtESS was not an original screenplay.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2008 : 10:26:41 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Sardu
There was a book? I'm not joking, until this very moment I did not know that DtESS was not an original screenplay.
Yes, it was written by Harry Bates and was originally called Farewell to the Master. It was a simple short story. The only thing really taken from the story was the basic idea of alien with robot comes to Earth and is shot. The movie takes that concept and takes it in a very different direction.
- Si desea pulse 2 para español, encontrar un país diferente. - |
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Liz of the Spiders
Altar Boy of Jabootu
3 Posts |
Posted - 04/17/2008 : 1:00:47 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by TheFoywonder
There are so many books out there just begging to be made into films, why does Fox have to remake a classic? Why not film Joe Haldeman's,"Forever Wars"? Or "Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination"? Or Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous With Rama"? Or "Childhood's End"? Or the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson? Or quit stalling Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" as a movie?
Isn't Rendezvous with Rama stuck in development hell? I seem to recall that Morgan Freeman is really interested in making a movie out of it, but they can't come up with a script or backers or really anything at all.
One problem: so much of the really good sci-fi stuff just deals too frankly and casually with what we might call "alternative lifestyles" -- Rama includes homosexual relationships, plural marriages, and casual non-monogamy, and Clarke handles them in a kind of rational, off-hand fashion that really isn't possible in today's filmmaking. Oh, you could put it in, and treat it that way, but it'd turn into such a huge media deal that it'd really overshadow the rest of the movie. Take it out, and there goes most of the emotional content.
Personally, I'm surprised no one's ever decided to make a movie of Heinlein's Friday. It's a story about a nymphomaniac super-agent! Come on, guys! Put Scarlett Johansson in that skintight zip-up jumpsuit and you've got box office gold. |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 04/17/2008 : 1:47:28 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Liz of the Spiders
Personally, I'm surprised no one's ever decided to make a movie of Heinlein's Friday. It's a story about a nymphomaniac super-agent! Come on, guys! Put Scarlett Johansson in that skintight zip-up jumpsuit and you've got box office gold.
I'm sold... *g*
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
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