First there were remakes, then there were re-imaginings. Neither of these terms applies to the recently announced Joel Silver-produced version of Forbidden Planet. So although a film can have the same title as a previous film, and may have a similar plot, and similar characters, apparently this no longer constitutes a remake, as Forbidden Planet Mk II scribe J Michael Straczynski has expressed. “It’s not a remake. It’s not a re-imagining. It’s not exactly a prequel,” the Babylon 5 creator has said. “You’ll have to see it. It’s something that no one has thought of when it comes to this storyline.”
Straczynski has explained that he has a new approach and a new idea for the movie – one that Silver was apparently most impressed with when he was first told it. Not to be too pessimistic but Planet is a bona fide sci-fi classic and there is a precedent of classics getting a mauling when they are retooled for contemporary audiences. Straczynski, though, at least has the writing and genre credentials so there is every chance he could do something new, and interesting, with the movie. We’ll have to wait till 2010 to find out, though.
