The Day the Earth Stood Still remake

[ssampier]

That sounds really neat. You couldn't assume the audience had seen the original, however, so you'd have to explain your back-story.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

That sounds really neat. You couldn't assume the audience had seen the original, however, so you'd have to explain your back-story.

Yeah, but it could be explained rather quickly to get into things.

Not only that, but could even go on with the original meeting being ignored and so, mostly, forgotten about.

That really DOES sound like a great idea, though somehow I doubt it'll work out like that.

 

[ssampier]

Right. I'm not going to hold my breath on this one.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Haven't seen the orgiinal, don't know if I will.

I am looking foraward to seeing Will Smith in this role.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

I am looking foraward to seeing Will Smith in this role.

Dude, I think you're getting Earth Stood Still mixed up with Last Man on Earth.

 

[Templetroll]

Haven't seen the orgiinal, don't know if I will.

I am looking foraward to seeing Will Smith in this role.

I see Jack Black as Klaatu and Will Ferrell as Gort.

"Klaatu birada nikto" will be what Jack yells from the bathroom, the robot will lose the lower portion of its armor and be seen to have something that looks like underwear.

Theme? What does that word mean? Hollywood sure doesn't know.

Swoop109, doesn't your storyline make Earth similar to Iraq under the UN sanctions? Klaatu as Hans Blix?

 

[Swoop109]

Swoop109, doesn't your storyline make Earth similar to Iraq under the UN sanctions? Klaatu as Hans Blix?

Very much so. Remember, in the original movie Klaatu did not care if we blew ourselves up in an atomic war. All he was concerned with was that we did not spread our violence out into the galaxy.
If I were to be the one writing the new version, Klaastu's mission would be to ensure that our exsistence did not destablize the order of the galaxy. With our transmissions of radio and television going into space other races see our trend toward violence and start to question why they have to obey the laws.
By reducing the weapons tech of earth to pre-WWII levels the "Galactic Court" feels that a level playing field will allow us to destroy ourselves faster or force the nations to come together and achive some degree of peace. Either of which, they feel, would be better for the harmony and order of the galaxy. But the choice would be ours.

The upshot of the movie would be that by large the galaxy really does not care what we do to ourselves as long as peace can be kept everywhere else. They only noticed us when we started to be a threat to their way of life. And they have the force, and will, to do something about it.

And yes, it would be a morality story based on the events of the past 7 years.

 

[Krug]

Hmm.. ok well will just ignore him for the special efx.

 

[paradox42]

I'm cautiously optimistic. Honestly, I've seen the original several times, and Klaatu is quite wooden as an emotional source- Keanu Reeves (with his reputation) is one of the first actors I'd consider for reprising the role, not last. Besides the fact that he's known for being fairly one-note in most of his performances, he's pushing 50 now isn't he? That's the perfect age for Klaatu, given what he was like in the original movie. Modern effects for the ship, robot, and weapons of the robot (not to mention communication and resurrection gear) could do wonders for it.

As for switching off electricity for half an hour- you think the 50s people went nutso, just think what we of today would lose with that! No TVs. No stoplights. No cell phones (the towers are all down even if you could get an actual phone working). No cars running. No Internet or computers. No trading or banking (it all depends on computers these days), and no credit or debit cards either- just transactions done in cold hard cash. Half the population might drop dead from sheer boredom, or frenzy at trying to find something to do.

There's only one real problem with remaking this as far as I can tell, but it is a whopper: what's the message going to be? Stopping violence is a good basic message, and can come through unchanged from the original, but phrasing it and relating it to today's political scene- not to mention keeping it from seeming preachy (preachy stuff doesn't tend to go over very well with today's audiences from what I've seen, though I admit I don't know how well it went over with the audience in 1951)- would be extremely difficult. There's so many variables- and a large part of it today would almost have to be telling people to get away from religion, since religious extremism is one of the most-often-used excuses for violence these days. A modern movie studio would have to be very, very brave to put in a message that could be perceived as anti-religion- and I'm not at all certain if any of them have the guts.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Dude, I think you're getting Earth Stood Still mixed up with Last Man on Earth.

D'OH!