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04-10-2008, 09:47 AM
April 10, 2008
Ain't-It-Cool-News got a look at the "The Day the Earth Stood Still" script, a remake of the science-fiction classic starring Keanu Reeves in the title.
Here are some highlights:
A robot is in the film but its nothing like "Gort." It's called the "Totem" and apparently walks around on all fours, shoots a death-ray and stands upright like a totem pole when its finished.
Also, the immortal words, "Klaatu Barada Nicto" are never uttered. Ever.
Want a peek at the script still? Here it is :-
*****WARNING - MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*****
The story starts out with a promising beginning. Astronauts aboard the space shuttle discover a glassy sphere, which they recover through their bay doors.
No sooner as they do, the sphere (as if it has a will of its own) lets itself out, joining thousands of other spheres that head towards the surface of the Earth.
Scientist Dr. Helen Benson (portrayed by Jennifer Connelly) has a whiny son, Jacob. He's not as interesting as Bobby Benson in the original, and I'm real tired of the dysfunctional family theme. Jacob plays too many "violent" video games, Helen scolds him for it. She might as well put a dress on this kid and get it over with. Yet, they live in a violent world - we discover that Jacob's father was killed in Iraq.
An enormous energy sphere shows up in New York, and good ol' Klaatu makes his appearance. The entire army and air force are ready to stomp his ass if he gets out of line.
Of course he gets shot, and we do get a robot to come out of the ship. But its nothing like "Gort" - nor is it as fierce as "Gort."
Its called the "Totem". It walks around on all fours, does its destructo-ray stuff, and stands upright like a totem pole when its finished.
Cut to the chase.
Klaatu enters the hospital. He escapes in a military uniform. There is no allusion to the "Major Carpenter" or "Carpenter" name, which is the subtext in the original film (Klaatu was a metaphor for Christ).
Klaatu befriends Helen and Jacob, enlisting their aid to meet with a "Mr. Wu" who is from Klaatu's home planet. Wu who has been monitoring Earth's behavior for eighty years - at a McDonald's of all places.
Turns out that...because of Global Warming (and the destruction of our own planet with industrial waste and pollution)....the other galaxies deemed that we are not fit to survive. The glass spheres they sent down were to collect land and sea animal specimens to take back to their planet for study.
Needless-to-say, Earth goes through a violent energy field released through Klaatu's ship (wait a minute - wasn't Gort supposed to be the ultimate bad ass in this story?). But Earth survives, with Klaatu giving we humans a second chance as he dies - telling us that we must change our ways in order to survive, in a delivery that would rival Steven Segal's speech at the end of "On Deadly Ground."
Professor Barnhardt is in it, but his role his limited. Plus, he gets killed. Why? He was the voice of reason. This makes no sense.
Yes, there is a scene where everything in the world stops for an hour and chaos erupts, but it was done in the original much better...and with style.
There are so many books out there just begging to be made into films, why does Fox have to remake a classic?
Why not film Joe Haldeman's,"Forever Wars"?
Or "Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination"?
Or Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous With Rama"? Or "Childhood's End"?
Or the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson?
Or quit stalling Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" as a movie?
Why...
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36336
Ain't-It-Cool-News got a look at the "The Day the Earth Stood Still" script, a remake of the science-fiction classic starring Keanu Reeves in the title.
Here are some highlights:
A robot is in the film but its nothing like "Gort." It's called the "Totem" and apparently walks around on all fours, shoots a death-ray and stands upright like a totem pole when its finished.
Also, the immortal words, "Klaatu Barada Nicto" are never uttered. Ever.
Want a peek at the script still? Here it is :-
*****WARNING - MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*****
The story starts out with a promising beginning. Astronauts aboard the space shuttle discover a glassy sphere, which they recover through their bay doors.
No sooner as they do, the sphere (as if it has a will of its own) lets itself out, joining thousands of other spheres that head towards the surface of the Earth.
Scientist Dr. Helen Benson (portrayed by Jennifer Connelly) has a whiny son, Jacob. He's not as interesting as Bobby Benson in the original, and I'm real tired of the dysfunctional family theme. Jacob plays too many "violent" video games, Helen scolds him for it. She might as well put a dress on this kid and get it over with. Yet, they live in a violent world - we discover that Jacob's father was killed in Iraq.
An enormous energy sphere shows up in New York, and good ol' Klaatu makes his appearance. The entire army and air force are ready to stomp his ass if he gets out of line.
Of course he gets shot, and we do get a robot to come out of the ship. But its nothing like "Gort" - nor is it as fierce as "Gort."
Its called the "Totem". It walks around on all fours, does its destructo-ray stuff, and stands upright like a totem pole when its finished.
Cut to the chase.
Klaatu enters the hospital. He escapes in a military uniform. There is no allusion to the "Major Carpenter" or "Carpenter" name, which is the subtext in the original film (Klaatu was a metaphor for Christ).
Klaatu befriends Helen and Jacob, enlisting their aid to meet with a "Mr. Wu" who is from Klaatu's home planet. Wu who has been monitoring Earth's behavior for eighty years - at a McDonald's of all places.
Turns out that...because of Global Warming (and the destruction of our own planet with industrial waste and pollution)....the other galaxies deemed that we are not fit to survive. The glass spheres they sent down were to collect land and sea animal specimens to take back to their planet for study.
Needless-to-say, Earth goes through a violent energy field released through Klaatu's ship (wait a minute - wasn't Gort supposed to be the ultimate bad ass in this story?). But Earth survives, with Klaatu giving we humans a second chance as he dies - telling us that we must change our ways in order to survive, in a delivery that would rival Steven Segal's speech at the end of "On Deadly Ground."
Professor Barnhardt is in it, but his role his limited. Plus, he gets killed. Why? He was the voice of reason. This makes no sense.
Yes, there is a scene where everything in the world stops for an hour and chaos erupts, but it was done in the original much better...and with style.
There are so many books out there just begging to be made into films, why does Fox have to remake a classic?
Why not film Joe Haldeman's,"Forever Wars"?
Or "Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination"?
Or Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous With Rama"? Or "Childhood's End"?
Or the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson?
Or quit stalling Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" as a movie?
Why...
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36336