Jim Carrey has signed up for a a film update of the Six Million Dollar Man.
*sigh*
Granted, the show is, in retrospect, easily parodied, as is most TV fare from the 70s, especially the successful stuff.
But I have an old fondness for the series, goofy though it occasionally was. Bearing in mind the dearth of sf on TV in those days, anything of that sort fired my little imagination. Likewise, I enjoyed the old Martin Caidin Cyborg novel, which, ironically, was more of a tragedy than a comedy, focusing on what it means to be human, and how Austin (and those around him) dealt with the idea of being part machine. That’s perhaps a bit passe these days, but I think something could have been done with it.
But I guess Jim Carey needed another comedy vehicle to make gazillions with. Oh, well.
(via SEB)
Heck…
I’m still not happy about him doing Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events .
Though, Jude Law is playing “Lemony Snicket” so it won’t be a complete fiasco.
…Holy crap!
He’s in remake mode.
not only the Bionic Man (snicker), but Fun with Dick and Jane (which was bad the first time around), and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty which is a classsic. The new one will be directed by Spielberg (which could be a good thing (Shindler’s List, saving private ryan, Indana Jones 1 & 3, Empire of the Sun, and 1941) or a bad thing (Minority report, AI, ET, Goonies, indiana jones 2, and jurrasic park)).
Errrr….Kill me now, and spare me the pain!
Given the number of great, funny, exciting, dramatic, etc., books and short stories and novellas and plays…why does Hollywood keep re-making stuff? Especially stuff that wasn’t that great to begin with?
I think you could do a kick-ass revival of SMDM. I just don’t think this will be it.
And, fwiw, SMDM ran for quite a few seasons, plus spin-offs and TV movies, and has a lot of nostalgia/name recognition. Makes more sense as a remake than some other possibilities.
So, did SMDM start the slo-mo = fast schtick that continued in Kung Fu and currently thrives as Bullet Time?
Yep, I remember the SMDM. And the SMDW. And the SMDD (dog). And wasn’t there a SMDK (kid)?
And I bought the books, etc.
I just think we can do better! Lord of the Rings was considered a dead project for years until that Jackson fella took a chance. What would you like to see? How about “Childhood’s End” by Clarke? “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” by Heinlein? “Doc” Smith brought to the screen accurately? “Ringworld” by Niven? “Mote in God’s Eye” by Niven and Pournelle?
Let’s all sing the Bob the Builder theme: “We can build it! Yes we can!”
I don’t know that SMDM originated the “We’re doing it in slo-mo because otherwise it would be too fast to see” schtick, but they certainly popularized it.
I don’t disagree that there aren’t a zillion great books (and plays and comics and …) waiting to be made movies. I’m not sure, though, given that translation from TV to movie is a translation, why TV shows shouldn’t qualify for the same. Certainly there are more profound and interesting works out there than SMDM, but, hell, there are more profound and interesting works out there than most of the sources of movies we get.
(I’m being slightly contrarian here, since I’m usually bitching about this myself.)
I think I’ll see it out of curiosity. Putting Jim Carrey into the lead role is an *interesting* choice for the SMDM. I think it would be groovy if some of the original cast had some cameos.
Since Hollywood seems to be on a role as far as making older tv shows into movies, how long do you think it will be before they release Three’s Company, One Day at a Time or the Facts of Life?
Dallas the movie
Fantasy Island
Love Boat
Gilligan’s Island – the Movie
Hogans Hero’s
F troop – the Movie
The best of Hanna-Barbarra – the movie
Paladin – the movie
Family Affair – the movie
Oh man, how could I have forgotten Fantasy Island and the Love Boat! Who would play Tattoo and Captain Stubbing?
Actually, FI had a very nice revival five years back or so. Malcolm McDowell as a much less warm-n-fuzzy Mr Roarke. And no Tattoo. I liked it.
And wasn’t there an abortive attempt at reviving Love Boat, with Robert Urich as the captain, a year or two back?
And there was a Family Affair remake just last year (Tim Curry as Mr. French).
I doubt you could do Dallas (too much backstory) or Hogan’s Heroes (too many cute Nazis) or F-Troop (too many cute Indians/Troopers).
The rest are all terrifyingly possible.
Oops. That was me.