What my followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ saw today:
• Oooo. Very conflicted about this… Martin Campbell Wants to Reboot Classic Brit Sci-Fi Series BLAKES 7 On U.S. TV
• Brilliant smackdown of that idiot on CNN’s faux geek blog I linked to yesterday. Geek Ladies: Papers, Please
• Ah, so apparently Yakko and Wakko are to blame. A Studio With Violence in Its Bones: Warner Brothers and Its Decades of Violent Films
Don’t forget the Warner Sister Dot, MaryAnn.
But seriously, folks…
It’s interesting that they mention The Last Action Hero–one of the last theatrical releases to seriously ask the question: why exactly do ordinary people like to watch action films, anyway?
True, the film was a bit corny and contrived and one can readily understand why the critics dogpiled on it. Yet it still had something interesting to say that was unfortunately drowned out by all the fuss about the magic ticket and Schwarzenegger’s hypocrisy and so on and so forth.
I suspect the real reason it isn’t brought up more often is that few movie-goers wanted to admit to identifying with the movie’s young protagonist, a kid who was continually bullied and robbed–and who saw Jack Slater as a fantasy figure that took him away from all that.
It didn’t help that it was released at the same time as Jurassic Park, the one movie everyone wanted to see that summer. And oddly enough, a movie with more than a little violence in it.
Oh, well. Satire has always been a hard sell, even in the best of times. And when it has to compete with killer dinosaurs, the odds are definitely against it.
re: Blake’s 7, i am *not* conflicted. i’m against it. look what US TV did to Torchwood, Life on Mars, Prime Suspect, and Cracker to name just a few… there will never be the moral ambiguity of the original series… i swear if kerr avon turns out to be noble or heroic at any time, i will … make someone talk or scream!
Darrow as Kerr Avon is one of my favorite characters of British sci-fi. While I would enjoy a well-conceived remake, I recognize the unlikelihood, especially when certain actors made the show popular.
Honestly, I’m kind of glad to see you post a Pandagon link. Flickfilosopher and Pandagon have both been in my daily reading blog-list for years now, but I’ve never brought it up because Amanda occasionally does movie reviews, and her take as another atheist feminist humanist progressive-type can be radically different than your own.
I was always equal parts eager and terrified to try and arrange a dialog on those films between the two of you. One the one hand, It could be a fascinating perspective on two very different views from very similarly aligned people, and could have been incredibly illuminating.
On the other, I was half afraid of the rhetorical version of The Quickening. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!
Great, another of my all-time fave shows being manhandled / ruined here in the States. If a remake is necessary, have the Brits do it where it belongs to be done.
You’re so eager to blame Yakko and Wakko but Dot is equally culpable!
Re Blake’s 7: hey, bring it on. It won’t affect the original, and it may provide good Bad Film Night fodder.