Posted by
Alan Lewis on
Apr 26, 2012; 2:34pm
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/what-about-ufo-tp3939792p3941560.html
Pam, fair points, but straight away you prove the point
"I don't want... made PC (ok take out the cigarettes! As I'm a non-smoker!)"
Unfortunately, this interest group/exec/whoever wants the short skirts taken
out, as it demeans women. That group feels that there is
under-representation of an ethnic minority group. That group objects to the
implicit sexist attitude.
Slippery slope. Where do you stop...
Which leads to my main point. UFO established the show's premise in an
episode. How would Hollywood explain the plot to the audience in a film time
of 90-120 minutes? I'm not saying it is impossible, but it would take one
hell of a slick screen writer, short of an opening 'explanatory' sequence.
Which - again imho - tends to be overly intrusive. Unlike Jaws, for example,
UFO is hardly res ipsa loquitor
From:
[hidden email] [mailto:
[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Pam
McCaughey
Sent: 26 April 2012 14:33
To:
[hidden email]
Subject: Re: [SHADO] Re: what about ufo
I don't want to wade into this discussion by being rude to our American
friends. As a Canadian, I can appreciate that the entertainment industry on
both sides of the Atlantic have differing POVs. Most Brits and Yanks don't
get Canadian humour, and some Canucks and Americans don't get Monty Python.
So let's call it square.
I will say this: British made historical drama is often THE best made in
terms of accuracy. This applies to case in point: movie "A Night To
Remember" vs "Titanic". While James Cameron (who is a Canadian BTW) got the
forensic aspects of the sinking itself down pat, he ruined the screen play
with his stoooopid Jack-Rose love story - there were plenty of REAL love
stories on board the ill fated liner without creating a bogus one.
Then there is JJ Abrams' version of Star Trek 2-3 yrs ago. To say I was
aghast when I saw it would be understatement. Here is a historic and much
beloved SF franchise ruined by someone whose filmmaking depends solely on
CGI and derivative riffs off other better movies of the past. So to say that
an American film company would "ruin" UFO is beside the point, because it
has been proven the wrong people at the helm - no matter what their
nationality - can take a concept and go to hell with it.
To me, things like this (plus all the other remakes that have failed so
heavily at the box office and/or with the critics: Thunderbirds, The
Avengers, Lost in Space, Abrams' Trek, et al) scare me in terms of what
could happen to UFO. I don't want the characters re-written. I don't want
the dark side of the show washed up and made PC (ok take out the cigarettes!
as I'm a non smoker!). I'm scared some fool will turn Straker into the wrong
kind of guy as Abrams did with Kirk & Company. All the reasons we LOVED
those original Trek characters were destroyed in one fell swoop. Kirk became
an arrogant, brawling SOB whom you'd like to punch into next week, plus what
gives with making Spock boff Uhura? None of this is even remotely appealing
or canon. Straker is an OCD hard ass with skeltons in his closet and
suffering in his past. Don't take that away from him. Foster is (at first)
an arrogant young whippersnapper who comes around and joins SHADO because he
sees the life or death struggle. Freeman is Straker's heart on his sleeve
side kick, who thinks people should not be judged by computers.
Thanks for letting me air my POVs - Pam the Canuck
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