# Klaatu Barada Nikto -- Whoa! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2008, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080 "2008-02-25T14:39:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/1 "2008-02-25T14:39:17Z")
Keanu Reeves is playing Klaatu in the remake of **The Day the Earth Stood Still** currently being filmed. > **[The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still_%282008_film%29)** > > The Day the Earth Stood Still is a 2008 American science fiction film and an adaptation of the 1951 film of the same name (which itself was based on the 1940 short story "Farewell to the Master"). Directed by Scott Derrickson from a screenplay by David Scarpa, it stars Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, an alien sent to try to change human behavior in an effort to save Earth from environmental degradation; this version replaces the Cold War-era theme of nuclear warfare with the contemporary issue of nega... ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/2 "2008-02-25T14:41:00Z")
How is he supposed to wander around and pose as a human? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/3 "2008-02-25T15:03:08Z")
The real question is who is playing Ash… Uh oh, wrong movie, nevermind… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/4 "2008-02-25T15:08:48Z")
Not my first choice, but I could see him pulling it off. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/5 "2008-02-25T15:11:00Z")
Oh come on, it’s not that he _can’t_ act, it’s that he usually chooses not to. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/6 "2008-02-25T15:26:14Z")
Some movies do not need to be remade. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/7 "2008-02-25T15:34:22Z")
He’d better suited as Gort. Let Ralph Fiennes be Carpen… Klattu. Won’t hold a candle to the original though. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/8 "2008-02-25T18:45:34Z")
I bet Gort blows up a lot more stuff. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/9 "2008-02-25T19:53:34Z")
Perfect thread title, **CalMeacham**. My first reaction to reading it was, “What, is Keanu in the remake?” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/10 "2008-02-25T20:08:27Z")
[QUOTE=randwill] I bet Gort blows up a lot more stuff. [/QUOTE] Dude, they won’t have Gort in the remake, but the “Good Robot Uses” from [Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_&_Ted's_Bogus_Journey) What Wile E said. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/11 "2008-02-25T20:22:12Z")
Do you think Klaatu will be, like, really misunderstood and brooding and stuff? And will Gort be a more human looking robot, or completely non-humanoid? ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/12 "2008-02-25T20:28:06Z")
Never mind Keanu Reeves as Klaatu. But John Cleese in the role that Sam Jaffe owned as the eccentric professor??? He’s too identified as Q in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/13 "2008-02-25T21:32:42Z")
> [@](#): > > But John Cleese in the role that Sam Jaffe owned as the eccentric professor??? –I have a complaint about this alien. –Ah, yes. Arcturian Blue. Beautiful plumage. –I don’t care about the plumage. This is a DEAD alien –Nooooo… He’s just pinin’ for the nebulae –Pinin’ for the nenulae? When I got him home, I found that the only reason he was standing upright on his saucer was that he was nailed there. –He’s just restin’! –(Thumps Klaatu against the desk; no reaction) ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/14 "2008-02-25T22:23:23Z")
I actually think it’s an interesting project, one which has a lot more potential for interpretation than most remakes. The original film was a Christ-allegory for the Cold War, when the atom bomb was the spectre of inevitable damnation awaiting us all. How does that message apply today? But then it also stars Keanu Reeves, so it’s pretty much guaranteed to be stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/15 "2008-02-25T22:25:49Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] –(Thumps Klaatu against the desk; no reaction) [/QUOTE] Hardly definitive; we are still talking about Keanu Reeves here. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/16 "2008-02-26T16:08:14Z")
It could be worse. They could’ve cast Cruise. “The Day the Earth was Clear.” ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/17 "2008-02-26T16:12:56Z")
“I know Klaatu.” “Show me.” ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/18 "2008-02-26T19:51:56Z")
You guys are going for the easy movie targets. Let’s see ya work in some Keanu lines from “The Prince of Pennsylvania” or “A Walk in the Clouds” or “My Own Private Idaho” if you’re so clever! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/19 "2008-02-26T20:00:51Z")
> [@](#): > > You guys are going for the easy movie targets. Let’s see ya work in some Keanu lines from “The Prince of Pennsylvania” or “A Walk in the Clouds” or “My Own Private Idaho” if you’re so clever! If we did, who would know? Brevity is the soul of wit, and the more easily recognized the line is, the better. Nobody does Humphrey Bogart imitations with lines from **The Return of Dr. X**. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080/20 "2008-02-26T20:16:20Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Nobody does Humphrey Bogart imitations with lines from **The Return of Dr. X**. [/QUOTE] Maybe nobody _you_ know… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klaatu-barada-nikto-whoa/439080.md?page=2)