THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL: REMAKE GOES WRONG ALREADY!

Excuse me while I scream a second. AAAAAGGGH!!!! Thanks. Appreciated. I just read AICN’s report on the remake of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, which is now shooting in Vancouver with Keanu Reeves in the lead role of Klaatu. According to this report, there’ll be no Gort onscreen, and nobody even says ‘Klaatu Barada Nikto’ once! This really isn't on, guys. Come on. Look at the original. Rarely has such an image lived on for so long in so many minds and on so many shelves. This is the real thing, and it shouldn;t be messed with like this.




Right, how in the name of our lord, George Lucas, can you remake this film without those two elements? You can’t! I’m really getting sick of classics getting screwed up when they are remade. You can bang on all you want about ‘updating’ or ‘reinventing’ but when you take away something as fundamental and iconic as Gort, you pretty much rob the movie of its links to the original.

Yeah yeah, Gort and the ‘Klaatu..’ phrase aren’t what the movie is totally about, but those two things are amongst the most important things in the entire science fiction pantheon. To do away with them is to do a massive disservice to the original and the fans of the genre. Don’t rob this generation of their Gort, and please, please don’t screw up The Day The Earth Stood Still. Its like remaking Star Wars and not putting Darth Vader in it! The classics attain their status for damn clear reasons, and when these remakes get pitched, these elements should be first and foremost in the makers’ minds. Please, do us all a favour and respect the giants of the genre. Do them justice.