MovieChat Forums > Forbidden Planet (1958) Discussion > Why a remake might be better

Why a remake might be better

posted 10 years ago by alisdairgordon
50 replies | jump to latest

I know there's another thread here but that one seems to quickly degenerate into the usual IMDB forum abuse and counter-abuse.

Recently watched this again several times on BBC here in the UK, and that's prompted me to post this.

So, what's wrong with the original, many of you'll ask, to justify a remake?

Well, firstly, there was nothing wrong with Infernal Affairs but the Departed was I think a better film (discuss).Maybe not the best analogy 'cos the aim with the Departed I suppose was to make a more accessible version of the original foreign-language film.

Seems to me you can remake with a view to improving and/or updating a classic. Doesn't have to be anything necessarily 'wrong' with the original. I would mention here the Lee Marvin version of the Killers which is, I think, just as good or maybe better than the Burt Lancaster original.

So to the faults..! (and there are quite a few)

The acting ain't great and is often downright hammy.

The special effects are pretty lame by today's standards, in contrast to the set design the scenes of the house and Krell lab etc are still pretty amazing.

Maybe not a fault, allowing for when the film was made, but it really stands out that in the distant future there will be no non-whites in space and no women either.

Robby the robot - well, cute, quaint, light relief etc but he doesn't really work now.

So here's my idea - same initial set-up but the captain is female or the first officer is, and the daughter Altaira finds herself attracted to both of them,so creating a storm of conflicted emotions. And maybe suggest the father has sublimated feelings for his daughter....

Make Robby an android.

So - anyone else got any ideas for a good remake?

BTW is this film really in development or is it in development hell? Anyone know?

[–] jsm-33292 8 years ago

Dr Morbius (Marilyn Monroe) is married to Altairon (Cary Grant, a kind of house-husband). Commander Adams (Elizabeth Taylor) is married to Chief (Marlon Brando). Marilyn is overtaken with passion for Elizabeth. Marilyn believes Liz has shown tokens of reciprocal interest in her and is only staying with Brando out of a misguided fidelity that's a few centuries out of date. So Marilyn's id monster kills Brando. Seething with anger - because she has no sexual interest in Marilyn after all, and she loved Brando - Liz teams up with Marilyn's jealous, enraged husband (Cary Grant). Together, Liz and Cary boost their intellects with the Krell IQ expander, then launch their id monsters against Marilyn, whose own id monster is outnumbered 2 to 1. With Marilyn dead, Liz and Cary Grant, like a 23rd Century Eve and Adam, remain on the Forbidden Planet and become the mother and father of a new race.

[–] turtlecroc 8 years ago

What a pathetic idea, to try to remake this film. I suppose they'll remake The Sound of Music and Star Wars (Episode IV) and The Godfather eventually too, just because they can buy the rights to those movies.

Easier than coming up with your own ideas, I guess.

(And wow, does this website ever suck. @IMDb: please upgrade to something newer than a Pentium 3 to host your site. Thanks!)

[–] turtlecroc 8 years ago

"Make Robby an android."

Hey, that's a great idea. For a different movie, maybe. In Forbidden Planet, though, Robby is a ROBOT. Get it..? "Robby the robot?" It could be "Anus the android" i suppose. That would go well with your other ideas, like having naked chicks, and soap opera-like relationship stuff, and lots of sex!

Oh wait, but that isn't Forbidden Planet anymore... It's a porn flick. Get a clue please.

[–] turtlecroc 8 years ago

Make Robbie the Robot an android--now there's an idea! And they could replace Anne Francis with Jessica Alba, and replace the flying saucer with the Millenium Falcon, and the navigation globe with a touchy-hologram thingy, and the space between your ears with a brain.

Oh, is that the kind of counter-abuse you were talking about..? Seriously though, remaking this movie would be like replacing your mother with a clone. The clone could do the dishes faster, if nothing else.

[–] grizzledgeezer 8 years ago

A remake might very well be "better" -- in terms of drama and plotting -- but it isn't really needed.

It's unfortunate that the rather lame script is from Cyril Hume (an American, not an Englishman) who wrote outstanding TV scripts (The Rifleman, especially) and at least one Tarzan film.

As for making Robby an android -- hell, no. Robby remains the greatest of all screen robots (except perhaps for the False Maria *), and absolutely sui generis. He will always be that magnificent costume (which MGM tried to pass off as a working robot), with Marvin Miller's voice.

* I originally typo'd "false Maris". Hah!

[–] nitestar95 7 years ago

As with other remakes Hollywood would ruin it. The cast would all be young and hot. Way too many obviously CG special effects, fight scenes more then likely, less emphasis on a good story and more on action.

^this is today's Hollywood's answer to everything. More CGI, more action, change the race and sex of characters, add in more gay romance. The pace of the story is too slow to keep the attention of all the ADD kiddies? Speed everything up! Done! Then they wonder why it isn't a hit.

Leave it open for a possible sequel.

That's the mentality of Hollywood these days. Leave plot holes so you can fill it up with another blockbuster sequel later. Way too much concern about the next best thing, instead of just creating a great movie. This isn't a seriel; it's a stand alone story. There are great stories to tell. Today's studios simply can't be bothered to make them. At this point, we are going to foreign films to find great writing. Try 71 into the fire.

[–] liscarkat (17125) 4 years ago

Yeah, make it Woke, and add lesbian and incest subplots. That will be a better movie, for sure.

[–] Rinn13 (167) 2 years ago

There is nothing of any actual value they could accomplish or "improve" by trying to remake this film.

It would, I feel, come off as contrived, forced, and likely chock-full of today's tiresome modern Hollywood tropes.

There's no reason or call for it. This movie is a classic, as a film, as a parable, as an adaptation of The Tempest, however you want to look at it. There's nothing there to "improve". The effects, by "today's standards", are actually still quite effective. Some of the very best special effects that to this day have ever been done in a film. CGI would not make anything they do in this film look "better". And Robby DOES work. Him being an android would defeat the entire purpose of his existence. He is a Krell-level construct, capable of creating just about anything for them, and is not only immensely strong (could topple the house if he was ordered to), but probably physically impervious to most damage as well. He may "look goofy" by some people's standards today, but he's a Robot. They can look like anything, and I think he's more effective the way he is, than some "near human" android nonsense.

Also....I'm sorry, I'm not attacking, but your ideas for "improving" the characters/plot, sound pretty terrible, and incredibly stereotypical of EXACTLY what Hollywood would probably do, these days. And none of it would add or "improve" a single thing about the plot.

[–] liscarkat (17125) 2 years ago

The special effects are extraordinary by any standards, including the standards of 2022. Far superior to any CGI.