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Post by Richard Bignell on Feb 4, 2010 9:45:45 GMT
It's always baffled me as to why we have seemingly endless versions of Jane Austen novels being made over and over again and yet some really classic television-originated drama is overlooked. I'm another one who would love to see proper remakes of the Quatermass stories, allowing time for the stories develop rather than trying to do them in one-off presentations.
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Post by davemachin on Feb 4, 2010 13:24:27 GMT
There is a long history of historicals on tv and they do them well as whole. But they could bring some of the human qualities that are in them to other types of drama, such as science fiction. Only rarely do they do this properly but occasionally they get it right. If they were to remake the Quatermass serials, they should remember that this was an important part of what made them work.
The Quatermass serials and classic Doctor Who are two examples of things where the drama is given a chance to develop, as you were talking about Richard. With the longer DW stories like Silurians, War Games and Ambassadors Of Death, by the end of the serial you care what is going to happen to the characters. The new Who misses this totally with usually shorter, self contained stories. This human drama isn't to be confused with over-soapyness though. Episodic drama is a large part of what tv is about rather than one-offs all the time, even though I think there is a place for this too.
Nigel Kneale always did the 'human factor' well too by bringing in things that were familiar and contemporary to the audience and then introducing the sci-fi elements to that. Another series that brought us human stories with a fantastic slant, of course, was Out Of The Unknown, which seems a popular one with people on this thread. I'm all for more in this vein too, rather than keep remaking the historicals endlessly.
Dave
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2010 14:34:06 GMT
I've never understood why all the remakes of the classics either! After all these years, don't they feel they've created the definitive versions yet?!? The '80s BBC Bleak House, for instance, is about as good as it's likely to get but I don't suppose it'll stop them making further versions.
I've nothing at all against these kind of adaptations but there does seem to be far too many in comparison to other types of drama (and other remakes). New, original created-for-television ideas is the ideal way forward for me but some carefully chosen remakes of individual items (particularly if the originals are wiped) would be good too.
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Post by Frederick Thompson on Feb 4, 2010 15:51:52 GMT
Dennis Potter's missing play Message For Posterity was remade in the '90s and there must be a lot more notable missing works that could be presented in new versions. That is one area where remakes could serve a useful function (especially as the original is not there for comparison and therefore there is nothing for a new version to live up to). I quite agree with this sentiment and would like to see a proper remake of A for Andromeda instead of the overcondensed version put out by BBC4. |
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Post by Rob Moss on Feb 4, 2010 19:40:49 GMT
Dennis Potter's missing play Message For Posterity was remade in the '90s and there must be a lot more notable missing works that could be presented in new versions. That is one area where remakes could serve a useful function (especially as the original is not there for comparison and therefore there is nothing for a new version to live up to). I quite agree with this sentiment and would like to see a proper remake of A for Andromeda instead of the overcondensed version put out by BBC4. Count me in for a remake of The Road. |
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Post by Christopher.C on Feb 5, 2010 9:32:54 GMT
Yes. Considering it's reputation among Kneale's work, I am surprised it hasn't been re-made already. The premise is great. The problem will be in doing it justice. I think a subtle, understated approach, something akin to the christmas ghost stories would work most effectively.
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Post by Ian Fryer on Feb 5, 2010 10:05:37 GMT
It's always baffled me as to why we have seemingly endless versions of Jane Austen novels being made over and over again and yet some really classic television-originated drama is overlooked. Oh God, I so agree! And why are there so many remakes of sodding Wuthering Heights? Anything that's not Detectives, Doctors or an airbrushed version of history doesn't seem to make it on screen often. |
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Post by Philip Hindley on Feb 6, 2010 12:01:07 GMT
There have been countless versions of David Copperfield,/Wuthering Heights/ Jane Eyre/ Oliver Twist etc; undoubtedly all classic stories but it took the BBC 52 years to give us a new version of THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT which was ok but why are we still waiting for new versions of all the serials, why cant someone remake THE TROLLENBERG TERROR/ STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X/ A FOR ANDROMEDA (Yeah I know there was that recent condensed version. Quatermass is just crying out for a big budget remake version.  |
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Post by John Wall on Feb 6, 2010 15:59:59 GMT
There have been countless versions of David Copperfield,/Wuthering Heights/ Jane Eyre/ Oliver Twist etc; undoubtedly all classic stories but it took the BBC 52 years to give us a new version of THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT which was ok but why are we still waiting for new versions of all the serials, why cant someone remake THE TROLLENBERG TERROR/ STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X/ A FOR ANDROMEDA (Yeah I know there was that recent condensed version. Quatermass is just crying out for a big budget remake version. Remakes of some things, sci fi in particular, are difficult. What made them originally successful was that they were of their time and in so many cases technology has moved on significantly. I've recently got the "Dalek War" boxset which dates from 1973. Look at the way people sneak in and out of alien bases - almost at will. 37 years later we've got all the surveillance technology that would make that sort of thing very difficult; not only CCTV but heat, movement, etc sensors. Most 1950s sci fi has no conception of unmanned spacecraft. Listen to "Journey into Space"; they head off to Mars in "The Red Planet" in a fleet of spacecraft with little idea of what they're going to find. Fifty years later we've not sent men, or women, to Mars but we have good quality images of virtually all of the planet and know lots about it. You just couldn't make "The Red Planet" nowadays as it would be laughed out of court. However, anything "historical" doesn't have that problem. Set anything in the past and there's little argument about costumes, technology, etc, etc. |
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Post by davemachin on Feb 6, 2010 21:10:22 GMT
My problem with a lot of modern sci fi on film or tv is that it doesn't look forward any more. It's like period drama in the same way historical classics like Dickens are. When the older sci fi was written like Quatermass and even War Of The Worlds, it was looking to see what was coming. The periods shown in these now looks like the past to us (and remakes are often set in the past as it's easier to deal with) but for sci fi to have the impact of those older stories again it has to look forward and to be to this time what those stories were to their times. Otherwise sci fi will be regarded as another form of historical drama.
Dave
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2010 21:26:31 GMT
Yes, placing remakes of older sci-fi in the (past) time they were written is against the spirit of the originals, in my view. I find it annoying when they place an older classic (the 1984 movie remake, for example) in the '50s with the look of a kind of retro chic. When it was written, it was meant to be futuristic. But rather than attempt to remake something that way, either update the concept to comment on something contemporary now or, better still, try writing something NEW!
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Post by Christopher.C on Feb 7, 2010 12:11:39 GMT
Speaking of Nigel Kneale, does anybody here know when Sex Olympics turned up as a b/w print and where it was sourced from? When an old Primetime article was written in the mid '80s, it was considered to be a great lost piece of missing television.
So far as remakes that would possibly work are concerned, Department S was mentioned earlier and this and several other of the ITC shows could all be recycled as they have strong formats. Whether it would be a good idea is another matter. The remake of Randall And Hopkirk about ten years back was a bit of a curate's egg. Great plots and concepts spoiled by too much soap style characterisation and out of place lavatory humour. It was a creditable effort not without it's charms but could have been so much better. Maybe programme makers have lost the sensibility needed to successfully produce an innocent escapist adventure series in these darker times?
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Post by davemachin on Feb 8, 2010 16:48:44 GMT
I always thought Department S. would make a good new series as well. But I'm not sure how you would translate Jason King's character to 2010! It could be a disaster though as happened with Return Of The Saint, although maybe it wasn't far enough away in time from the Roger Moore version for a new series to work then?
Those I.T.C. series did have strong formats. In a way The Champions was remade as Six Million Dollar Man and there were a few more that could be recognisable as The Avengers by another name. It might be better to set them in the past though.
Dave
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Post by adriane17 on Feb 8, 2010 18:50:09 GMT
The prime candidate for a remake - or "re-imagining" as the creatives would have it these days - would, in my book, be Adam Adamant Lives! providing it was cast and played straight (no so-called comedians please) and the humour derived from the situations.
Can anyone recall a remake that is actually better than the original? Certainly not Doctor Who...
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Post by John Wall on Feb 8, 2010 21:28:24 GMT
The prime candidate for a remake - or "re-imagining" as the creatives would have it these days - would, in my book, be Adam Adamant Lives! providing it was cast and played straight (no so-called comedians please) and the humour derived from the situations. Can anyone recall a remake that is actually better than the original? Certainly not Doctor Who... The "Gentleman Adventurer" seems a difficult thing to do nowadays - it worked between the wars and even up to the 1960s. The Return of the Saint in the late 1970s only ran for a single season of 24 episodes. In a high tech world it's difficult to see how you can have some sort of mysterious outsider "helping" poor, lumbering, PC Plod. Being surprised by technology has been used several times. Think of Catweazle or Louise Jameson's Leila. There's a limit to how far it can be takem though. Isn't New Tricks possibly a successor to Department S ? |
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