Posted by Griff! on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/New-Fanderson-Music-CD-tp1503276p1503315.html

I know it's very unfair to judge a film before it's shown or even made, but
as Marc mentioned, without an underground base (under a film studio), and
just keeping a few names from the original series completely undermines the
whole concept of the new UFO for me. I get a feeling I am going to loath the
new Thunderbirds film, whereas the original series "Blew my mind", and the
puppets (even with strings, and the limitations of Supermarionation - which
you forget about after viewing for a few minutes) have more charm, humour,
and cohesiveness with the sets, craft, concepts and explosions than I
believe will happen with Big Budget Films (which lets face it are just being
made 'on the back' of the success of the DVD's...

I cannot understand for the life of me why these people do this... they test
the market by making a few DVD sets of the original series, get a great
response, then produce DVD sets of pretty much all of the Gerry Anderson
productions, then get word that the DVDs (of the original series) sell well
(i.e. Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, UFO etc.)

The production bosses obviously see that there is enough interest (a big
market) 'out there' to warrant the production of a remake given this
interest... ...and then totally 'blow it' by going away from the very thing
"the very essence" of what made the shows so popular and 'cult' (do not
really like the word) for the core of the very public that bought the DVD's
in the first place... ...and I bet that the majority of the DVD's were
purchased not by children (new generation), but by the same people who saw
the series first time round, and are now able to see that series again as
they were meant to be shown, and with the convenience and quality that only
DVD's can provide.

The 'only' reason that Star Trek TNG really made it, was that Gene
Roddenberry kept an iron-like grip on the production concepts, values and
vision that he created and envisioned in the first place. He was vilified by
the 'powers that be' at the time, and under massive pressure to do to the
series in a way that others are now attempting to do with Thunderbirds and
UFO... these films will be launched with great publicity and will be
forgotten after a few months, and will doubtless be somehow 'divorced' from
the originals as some weird semblance of the same by the very public that
made the success of the DVD's in the first place. But then, I'm sure the
studios will make money out of it, so it their terms I suppose that is some
kind of success. I just hope 'remakeitus' dies out soon, before all of our
beloved GA productions suffer from a rash of 'weird doppelgangers' that are
merely pretenders and mere shadows (SHADO's) of the originals.

Even Gerry Anderson's CG Captain Scarlet will possibly suffer, but is the
ONLY GA remake that stands a chance of recreating any of the imagination and
charm of the original (even if Captain Scarlet the series was a little
ascetic and dry) but that's what I like about it, compared to some of the
other GA productions.

As you may be able to discern, I feel quite sad about all of this.

Best to all,

Griff