What ficitonal character has been "reimagined" the most?

[Bullgrit]

What fictional character has been "reimagined" the most? Off the top of my head, I'm thinking maybe Superman or Sherlock Holmes.

Bullgrit

 

[Dioltach]

Beowulf and Grendel, perhaps? Various characters from Arthurian legend had already undergone multiple reimaginings before the end of the Middle Ages.

 

[jonesy]

When you say reimagined what do you qualify for that?

Les Miserables has been adapted a huge number of times. There's nearly 60 movies, several tv versions, radio plays, plays, a musical, etc.

 

[Umbran]

I think, in western literature, at least, the winners are going to be the characters from Arthurian mythos and Robin Hood stories. Possibly quicly followed by Greek and Norse gods...

Or, actually, no. I take that back. The most re-imagined characters will be Shakespearean. MacBeth, Lady MacBeth, Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet - because pretty much every run of any of the shows has some re-imagining going on, and those get run a lot...

 

[Morrus]

Yeah, I'm with Umbran. Shakespeare, followed by Athurian & Robin Hood, followed by maybe Dickens (how many A Christmas Carols are there?)

Again, like he said - that's Western stuff. I'm not familiar enough with non-Western stuff to guess. So for Western stuff, it's gonna be old, popular Western stuff, which largely means British stuff from a long time ago, with some exceptions.

Oh, and the Bible, of course. Lots of versions of that! And Caesar.

So my guess, mainly Western except the Biblical stuff (so there could be vast swathes of non-western stuff I'm missing):

Shakespearian stuff
Biblical stuff (Jesus, Moses, etc.)
Arthurian stuff
Robin Hood
Caesar (not inc. Shakespearian interpretations of him)
Dickens' stuff

 

[Mallus]

You can argue every major, long-running comic book character is/has been in a continual state of re-imagining.

Also, my personal favorite re-imagining is Ariel into Robby the Robot and Caliban into the Id Monster (in Forbidden Planet).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Superman gets rebooted every decade, at least. There are at least 6 versions of him in comics, and the movies tweak him from time to time.

Godzilla gets revised occasionally as well, with the first revision being the biggest- from dead to not dead.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Re: Shakespearean characters

The conversion of The Tempest into Forbidden Planet is one of my favorite re-imaginings of all time.

However, another one that nobody but me will likely have seen was a local theater group's performance of The Taming of the Shrew as a Western...complete with the thick Texas drawls. It was a special evening.




Also, I like that Moby Dick has been made into both Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Of Unknown Origin. The latter is about a guy who is renovating a brownstone for his family, and encounters the meanest rat of all time...

 

[geradarys]

how about jungle king Tarzan?

 

[Umbran]

Oh, and the Bible, of course. Lots of versions of that! And Caesar.

Hm. I don't know how many outright "reimaginings" there really are of Biblical material. There are many versions, but most of them are pretty straightforward, keeping to the same basic vision of the characters and setting.

Shakespearian stuff

Oh, yeah! This year, I get to go to the Boston Commons and watch "Two Gentlemen of Verona", where the styling is not Renaissance, but... Vegas! As in, the show's tagline is, "What happens in Milan, stays in Milan."