"Forbidden Planet" news - SPOILERS POSSIBLE

[PMvanova]

Some concern was voiced by some sf movie 'purists' shall we say. One was rather skeptical about this being redone at all and pointed to the recent disaster of War of the Worlds.
I replied with 'At least Spielberg and Cruise aren't involved in this one.' The person I was talking to has never watched B5, but knows of it from my experience. I assured him that of all the people to give this one a 're-imagining' I trust JMS the most.

I started to ponder the question though (and if someone could pass this on to him it would be interesting to see his answer):
What will be his treatment of it? He is well known to us as writing character stories first and let the rest take care of itself. All the movies he's getting are very much character stories which I think is a very purposeful choice on his part. He's already given some hints on his treatment of the Lensmen stories (which I am thrilled he got) but what about Forbidden Planet?


Side question for the rest of us that know the story, who do you think should be cast in it? Knowns or unkowns? Ooooohhhh... here's a kicker... how about Bruce Boxleitner as the replacement for the Leslie Neilson character? oh my...I think that would actually work.

[Jan]

Ain't It Cool News is claiming to have details about how JMS will approach "Forbidden Planet",

that it'll be less of a remake and more of a continuation:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/38991

Harry also says that JMS has just "completed his rewrite for THOR." I'd be sorry for that to be true.

Jan

[glindros]

Ain't It Cool News is claiming to have details about how JMS will approach "Forbidden Planet",

that it'll be less of a remake and more of a continuation:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/38991

Harry also says that JMS has just "completed his rewrite for THOR." I'd be sorry for that to be true.

Jan

Really? What does the first script look like?

[Jan]

Really? What does the first script look like?

White sheets of paper with black marks on them?

Dunno. I don't generally trust anything AICN says without corroboration. I've started a thread on the moderated newsgroup in case JMS wants to chime in.

Jan

[frulad]

Harry also says that JMS has just "completed his rewrite for THOR." I'd be sorry for that to be true.

Jan

Well, I think the main reason Mark Protosevich's THOR draft needed rewriting was to reduce the budget several tens of millions of dollars!

(Also, can we make this a spoiler thread because I have a thought or two about AICN's story today?)

[Jan]

Am I going senile? When/where did we find out that JMS was rewriting somebody's Thor *script*?! I was assuming that he meant that JMS wouldn't be writing the comic any longer.

Spoiler warning added to the thread heading.

Jan

[Jan]

JMS responds to the AICN 'scoop':

That report is totally incorrect. It's not going to be retro, and
it's not going to be a continuation. When Altair 4 blows up, it blows
up. I have, however, found a way to honro the original movie without
in any way besmirching it in order to do this iteration. Once folks
find out what we're actually going to do, I think they'll be most
pleased. Forbidden Planet remains one of my favorite films of all
time, and I wouldn't even think about doing this project if I didn't
think there was a way to do it that would not in any way diminish the
original...which is why this is the the first development in years to
actually get to the script stage. Everybody involved is very excited
by the approach.

jms

Jan

[frulad]

Am I going senile? When/where did we find out that JMS was rewriting somebody's Thor *script*?! I was assuming that he meant that JMS wouldn't be writing the comic any longer.

Spoiler warning added to the thread heading.

Jan

Harry would have mentioned it if it were for the comic. Besides, don't we have two unnamed projects he's working on?

[frulad]

Although the AICN story has now been officially debunked, I have to say that I had some concerns about the idea of a "continuation." FP is, at its heart, is a morality tale and how do you do a sequel or a "continuation" to a morality tale?

[Dr Maturin]

Yeah, me too, that movie is quite good!

I can't wait for Crowe's Robin Hood movie.

I am not looking forward to Forbidden Planet. For one, it's a remake, for two, JMS will find some way to stick a political statement into the story.

[Talwyn]

While I'm not usally in favour of remakes, Forbidden Planet is a good candidate for it, especially if JMS is going to script it.

It would be great if he gives it a political theme as well - maybe something on the lines of the perils of the abuse of power?

[Jonas]

Well, since Forbidden Planet is based on The Tempest, and The Tempest has some pretty strong cultural/political questions in it... and since sci-fi is one of the best places to truly discuss politics and philosophy... and since that is one of the best things about B5... I don't see why not!

[Tom Bedlam]

Original movie sidestepped the major plot line

I was never sure if it was intentional or not, but they drop lots of hints and never address the issue.

What WAS the machine for? Morbius handwaved it by saying it was to eliminate physical instrumentalities; while that may be true in a sense, Morbius' use of it and his descriptions of the library give it a bit of a different spin that was never addressed squarely.

First, Morbius says that after he was "vastened" or "enhanced" or whatever you want to call it by the Educator, the first thing he learned from the Krell library was how to invent Robbie - artificial life.

In the same scene, he uses the Educator to create a simulacrum of Altaira - "simulated life" if you will, stating that "she was alive moment to moment in his mind as he manipulated".

Later, you see Altaira's "friends" - a mix of animals from Earth. No other life higher than plants apparently survives from the time of the Krell downfall, but these animals do. And they're in general not breeding pairs, different types of monkeys, a single tiger, a pair of female deer. But even if they somehow WERE the only animal life to survive, in 250,000 years, they never evolved? They're still in Earth coloration? You wouldn't recognize a tiger's 250,000 year old ancestor as a Bengal. Why haven't these animals changed? And why do they associate with Altaira? Because Morbius intentionally created them using the Krell device, that's why.

The ID monster itself was a sort of pseudo-life created from Morbius' subconscious. Morbius was doing the same thing in the small, consciously, off-stage.

The question you have to ask ("She exists from moment to moment in my mind...as I manipulate") is if Altaira herself was created by Morbius after the death of his wife.

The purpose of the Krell machine wasn't just to deliver pizza on time or a spare hammer for working on the deck - it was intended to create living beings on demand for whatever use, which better explains the captain's last line - "We are, after all, not God", which never really seemed to fit.


On another subject....

I always thought it would have been interesting to set a remake in current time, so you could get the sets cheaper and have less Captain Video looking props and uniforms, and more audience identification with the characters. Just posit that the Navy has crude interstellar travel that's very SCI (re Gary McKinnon) but maybe not so dependable, and that the Bellerophon was a European first gen craft from the late 80's. It gives you an excuse for having a breakdown that strands both the Bellerophon and the C57D ala Tempest/FP (the technology's still over-complex and cantankerous), and a reason for waffling/stalling while the ID monster has a chance to eat half the crew (we don't know how to do FTL comms yet). Cast David Bowie as Morbius, throw in some Europe/US cultural tension, stir.

And on the way back, have the surviving corpsman discover that Altaira's no more human than a woodwife in the last scene...set up for sequel.

[Jan]

There's a short interview with JMS about "Forbidden Planet" on MTV Movie Blogs.
Of particular note after the AICN rumor:

It’s not a remake. It’s not a reimagining. It’s not exactly a prequel. You’ll have to see it. It’s something that no one has thought of when it comes to this storyline.”

I thought this was interesting as it ties back to JMS's request for suggestions on who he should talk to regarding the future a while back:

Straczynski will be paying close attention to detail, with the writer revealing conversations he’s had to ensure the film is as scientifically attuned as possible. “[When coming] up with the Krell backstory and who they are, I sat down with some of the nation’s best minds in astrophysics and planetary geology and A.I. and asked them — based on what we know now — what will a million years from now look like? The goal is to put things in there you’ve never seen before.”

I'm looking forward to this.

Jan

[mandragora]

At least now we know the reason for his research tour concerning far advanced societies.

ETA: Not a re-imagining and "not exactly" a prequel. Exactly a prequel would be the establishment of the colony itself. And he was looking for information about a far advanced society - not just the technology was mentioned in his post a few months ago. This sounds like it will involve the exploration of the Krell. But it can't focus on the Krell alone, somehow the humans must play a part in it. Some of the colonists discovering information of the Krell, perhaps? I wonder if there will reminders of Epsilon 3's "Great Machine".