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The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 2:28 pm    Post subject: The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) Reply with quote




Okay, class, come to order please. Today's lesson is called "How NOT to do a remake."

First of all, it's important to remember that a remake assumes the original is highly regarded by loyal fans who like specific elements of the film. These elements can include the characters, the setting, the plot, and — most import of all — the basic concept.

A good remake retains as many of these essential elements as possible, even though it takes advantage of modern film techniques to enhance the appearance of the movie. For example, B&W becomes color, academy ratio becomes widescreen, flawed FX become flawless FX, etc.

The story might also adjust to changes in our society and culture, so that what was relevant and current at the time the original was made is replaced by what's relevant and current when the remake is made.

However, these adjustments don't change the basic premise of the story, because that premise is based on universal truths that aren't affected by superficial changes in culture.

The premise is, of course, the "moral of the story" — the important message being delivered by the movie. A remake should be delivering exactly the same message, otherwise it's not a true remake. It's just using the original film's title and a few superficial similarities to trick movie goers into buying tickets.

And remember this — the original obviously has a certain timeless quality that allows it to transcend the decades and remain interesting and enjoyable to modern audiences. Since the original is a true "classic", it has elements that should not be changed, because these elements are what allows the film to endure the passage of time and still be viewed as a cinematic work of art.

Equally important is the fact that the fans of the original will demand that these elements be respected and included in the remake. If they aren't included, the remake is viewed as a fraud — and worse still, an insult to the original, because it ignored what made the original a classic.

With all that in mind, class, we must ask ourselves these important questions: Does the 2008 remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" retain the original's essential message, while enhancing the story with modern film techniques? Does it respect the original, even though it makes adjustments to the setting and the characters so they will be relevant to today's society?

The answer, of course, is . . . hell no.

The original is a story about an interstellar society that has imposed rigid restrictions on its own behavior — restrictions so inflexible that the alien races cannot prevent them from being imposed on Earth as well if we demonstrate aggressive behavior.

Basically Klaatu is saying, "Get off the tracks, because a train is coming. It's our train . . . but we can't control it."

It's a fascinating story with implications that are rarely discussed. It suggests that Klaatu's interstellar society is like a drunk who gave his car keys to a sober friend. These alien races don't want the responsibility of policing their own population, so they've subjugated themselves to cold robot intellects who tolerate no shades of gray, no moral dilemmas, no "lesser of two evils".

As Klaatu states in his closing address, "It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet. But it you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned out cinder."

Well, my goodness . . . that certainly isn't the message in the 2008 remake, is it? In that movie, Klaatu and Gort are here to save Earth from the nasty old humans who are ruining it, because our planet is deemed rare and valuable, a great place for critters of all kinds to evolve and proliferate.

In other words, the aliens don't give a rat's rectum about people, but they just can't stand the thought that we've ignored the advice given to us by that wise old prophet -- Woodsy Owl.

"Give a hoot, don't pollute."

Class, please understand that I'm not demeaning the message of Mr. Woodsy Owl. But it is definitely not the same message as the one given by Mr. Klaatu.

And as for this so-called remake preserving the other elements of the original, it couldn't have done worse if it had slapped the title on the movie "Spaceballs" and called it a remake of the "The Day the Earth Stood Still".

I mean, gud gawd a'mighty — Gort turns into a swarm of nano-insects that go out to eat the human race? Klaatu collects spheres that contain biological samples so they won't be destroyed by humans?

And how does Klaatu save mankind when he decides we might be pretty good Joes after all? Does he order Gort not to dissolve into flying purple people eaters? Does he order the ship to recall the nano-locust?

Nope.

He touches the ship (yes, just touches), and then he dissolves into gray, blowing dust. The little nano-bugs fall down dead, and the machines stop all over the world.

And that simply had to happen of course, or the fans would say this wasn't a real remake. Right?

In conclusion, this was not a remake at all — and it wasn't even a good story. It's just a murky, pretentious attempt to present ideas that are supposed to seem deeply intellectual. But they aren't.

And that sucks.

Class dismissed.

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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Mon Mar 05, 2018 11:59 am; edited 3 times in total
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 7:48 pm    Post subject: Re: The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
However, these adjustments don't change the basic premise of the story, because that premise is based on universal truths that aren't affected by superficial changes in culture.

The premise is, of course, the "moral of the story" — the important message being delivered by the movie. A remake should be delivering exactly the same message, otherwise its not a true remake.

It would be interesting to see this approach applied to a remake of Birth of a Nation. Very Happy
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 8:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Never seen that one. How do my comments apply to a remake of that movie? Wikipedia says this about the premise.
______________________________________

The film chronicles the relationship of two families in the American Civil War and Reconstruction era over the course of several years: the pro-Union Northern Stonemans and the pro-Confederacy Southern Camerons. The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth is dramatized.
______________________________________

So, help us here, Wayne. Very Happy

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 11:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The remake of BIRTH OF A NATION is about the Nat Turner rebellion. Both are and will be told from a revisionist point of view.

D.W. Griffith told his story about the Reconstruction period and pictured the "birth" of the KKK as an honorable reaction of southerners to the changes in their culture and society by the Civil Wars' results.

The new telling is about the "noble" reactions of black slaves to the institution of slavery and their justified murder of white citizens as a response.

There is no correlation of the two films other than the title.

This is mostly true of the remake of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.. The names may be the same (of many of the characters as well.) but the stories are completely different apart from a few general point.

The remake is a dismal, incoherent jumble and, ln my humble opinion, a waste of good celluloid.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 10:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Ah-ha! So, Wayne's example of a non-remake was bang on target.

Thanks. Very Happy

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 20, 2017 10:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Here's the only thing good about the so-called DtESS remake.




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Robert (Butch) Day
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 2:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The producers almost caved in to The Suits at 20th Century Fox and were going to use a concept of Gort that would have modernized him:



Eerie. It looks like some of Bud's drawings!

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 7:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

______________________________________

I still like my jazzed up version. Very Happy

________
But the hands (instead of the "metal mittens") on the one above are actually pretty good.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Robert (Butch) Day
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like yours better also. But what about that color?
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 9:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
But the hands (instead of the "metal mittens") on the one above are actually pretty good.

The hands could be mittens until Gort needs to manipulate, or handle something, then the mittens separate into fingers. That way you spring a surprise on the audience.

David.
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 8:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

_______________________________

Hey, I like that, Krel!

At first I thought you meant that Gort was liquid metal like the T-1000, but then it occurred to me that since the ship's entrance and ramp were "seamless" when closed, perhaps Gort's fingers were seamlessly joined while in "mitten mod".
Very Happy
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Robert (Butch) Day
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 2:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe Gort is like EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) from WALL•E (2008) and is made of a morphing plastic and is programed for certain shapes as needed. EVE in stand-by null mode along with WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth-Class) who has decorated her as a Christmas tree:



EVE's hands transformed into fingers:



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Krel
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 11:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A good way to do Gort now would be as a costume combined with CGI to do transitions, and to smooth the costume out.

David.
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has 45 trivia items for this movie, and despite the fact that I despise this movie, I found a surprising number of them interesting, shown below in the blue text. Very Happy
________________________________

~ Renowned astronomer Seth Shostak was hired as a consultant on the film. He reviewed the script several times for errors, and gave suggestions for making the scientists less dry: "Real scientists don't describe an object entering the solar system as 'notable for the fact that it was not moving in an asteroidal ellipse, but moving at nearly 3*10 to the 7 meters per second'. More likely, they would say that there was 'a god-damned rock headed our way!'" He also noted the scientists should refer to one another by a first name basis.

Note from me: I wish Dr. Shostak had also said to the producers, "By the way, I love the original . . . and your ideas for this sequel suck." Rolling Eyes

~ In Harry Bates' short story "Farewell to the Master", upon which the movie is based, the last line revealed a dramatically different angle. It reads: "'You misunderstand,' the mighty robot had said. 'I am the master.'"

Note from me: Hey, that's completely consistent with my contention that Klaatu's final speech tells us that the robots are the masters of Klaatu's society. Klaatu says, "In matters of aggression we have given them absolute power over us. This power cannot be revoked."

~ In the original movie, GORT was eight feet tall. In this film, he is 28 feet tall.

Note from me: Gort is also absolutely useless in the story. He does but shoot down a few drones, stand in a big room, and then . . . dissolve. Who's dumb idea was THAT?

~ The line "Klaatu barada nikto" from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), was re-used in this film at Keanu Reeves's insistence. In both films, the line is used to stop Gort from attacking the humans.

Note from me: Well, hurray for Keanu, but we can barely hear the line spoken in the brief scene when Gort comes to the wounded alien's rescue early in the movie, and the line is only used one more time, at the end. Jeez, what horrible story-telling. Sad

~ Keanu Reeves recorded the line "Klaatu barada nikto" twice, and one recording was played backward and spliced with the other (which was left normal) to make the overall dialogue sound more otherworldly.

Note from me: Oh, gosh . . . that's brilliant, eh? Just in case somebody figured out what Klaatu had said, they made it unintelligible.

~ The design of GORT is similar to his original portrayal in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), but GORT is now a biological form, rather than mechanical, as Scott Derrickson considered some extraterrestrial races would develop advanced biological forces, instead of technology.

Note from me: I didn't know Gort was biological. Frankly, the idea doesn't impress me in the least. Rolling Eyes

~ This movie is rich with Oscar winners and nominees, directly or indirectly associated with this movie. A quick glance reveals; John Cleese for A Fish Called Wanda (1988) (Nominated); Jennifer Connelly for A Beautiful Mind (2001) (Won); Kathy Bates for Misery (1990) (Won); and Edmund H. North (original 1951 screenplay) for Patton (1970) (Won).

Note from me: Right . . . and I'm sure they all wish they'd never been part of this sad excuse for a movie. Smile

~ The DVD and Blu-ray release of the film came packaged with a disc containing the original classic. This is a new disc, and does not contain any special features.

Note from me: Clever. The inclusion of the DVD with the classic original prevented the DVD and BD of the remake from being completely worthless. Very Happy

~ Klaatu used the famous line, "Klaatu Barada Nikto" twice in the movie. At the beginning, after he is shot by the military, to stop GORT from hurting them, and then at the end of the movie, when Klaatu touches the sphere and says, "Klaatu Barada Nikto" to stop GORT, who now is in the form of the Nanobots, from destroying the world. Once he touches the sphere and says, "Klaatu Barada Nikto", the nanobots all die.

Note from me: I don't think I even noticed the second use of the three word phrase. I must have dozed off . . .

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 10:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

While the concept for Gort was totally screwed around in this movie, the physical appearance wasn't too bad. It still maintained the basic "look" of the original.




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