# Movies that COULD stand a rebooting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 8, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970 "2010-11-08T22:49:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/41 "2010-11-10T03:03:43Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Keep the Queen soundtrack. Hire Clancy Brown, if he’s willing - he looks too old to pull off the Kurgan, now, but he could make a good Ramirez. You’re my new hero. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/42 "2010-11-10T03:08:50Z")
I’ve mentioned this one several times before so this is once more, but _ **Gone With the Wind** _ as a premium channel miniseries rather than as a movie. The film version should be ignored, it should be filmed on location in Georgia and the many side characters dropped from the film (particularly Scarlett’s older children and the county neighbors) should be introduced. Rhett should have a beard (as he did in the movie) and the houses, sets, and scenes of wartime Atlanta should be more realistic. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/43 "2010-11-10T03:27:26Z")
I was thinking of Highlander the other day. I love the movie but it is very flawed. Would work well as a remake and its been long enough. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/44 "2010-11-10T03:30:16Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I was thinking of Highlander the other day. I love the movie but it is very flawed. Would work well as a remake and its been long enough. I would fear for a remake. They’d probably dumb it down, put it in 3D, amp up the action and turn the characters into WWE action figures. Also, they’d get M. Night Shyamalan to direct it. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/45 "2010-11-10T03:39:36Z")
Actually, there is [a _Highlander_ reboot](http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/09/22/fast-furious-director-to-reboot-highlander/) coming. Directed by Justin Lin, whoever he is, and possibly starring Vinnie Jones as the Kurgan, which is not who I’d pick. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/46 "2010-11-10T04:13:35Z")
Will the swordfights involve backflips and such? I’d kinda like to see then take a page from _Deadliest Warrior_ (an entirely ridiculous but entertaining show which describes the history, weapons and tactics of various historical elite military units and speculates on who beats who) and have the immortals represent a clear variety of styles and swords, representing the cultures that spawned them. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/47 "2010-11-10T04:34:21Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Will the swordfights involve backflips and such? > I’d kinda like to see then take a page from _Deadliest Warrior_ (an entirely ridiculous but entertaining show which describes the history, weapons and tactics of various historical elite military units and speculates on who beats who) and have the immortals represent a clear variety of styles and swords, representing the cultures that spawned them. In a way, that’s what they tended to do on the series (and the film a bit, Ramirez fight more in a Spanish fencing style). Though it doesnt make much sense for Immortals, some of them having long outlived their culture of birth. I hadnt thought of backflip style fighting, God, I hope they dont go for the “New Star Wars” road there, where strength in the Force was measured in how much somersaults you could do. As opposed to the “Old Star Wars” where strength was in lashing out mind-shattering repartees to your opponent at the worst moments (very useful if you ever get married). IMHO the original film is very lacking compared to what the series was able to do, still, the way they depicted fights (I’ll skip the Black/Moor guy with scimitar in African boubou getting impaled in the middle of NY. Kind of flamboyant there, might makes sense if the Gathering is near, as caution and stealth in not blasting away the existence of Immortals is less critical.), with back alley pure fencing styles was spot on, and one of the reasons Highlander was (and still is) regarded as a cult movie. Highlander is also a landmark in the "Supernatural creatures waging a secret war " that would be so popular in the nineties in RPGs, video games and comic books. They really should understand that that aspect is the heart of the concept, and try to keep it as pure as possible. Instead of muddying it up with trend of the day fightiing styles. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/48 "2010-11-10T06:41:47Z")
It’d be nice to see an all-around decent version of _The Island of Doctor Moreau_. I saw an interesting take on it in a play on PBS (that I later [found on VHS, luckily](http://www.amazon.com/Island-Dr-Moreau-Globalstage-VHS/dp/1892045052/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=video&qid=1289370745&sr=1-6)) awhile back. I’d love to see _any_ remake, though, that _doesn’t_ just toss out anything charming with the original in favor of better special effects, or a timely political subtext. ---
**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:** [November 10, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/49 "2010-11-10T12:34:10Z")
Amazing how many Robert Sheckley ties there are in the above responses. As I’ve noted before, **Total Recall** may acknowledge the Philip K. Dick story “We Can Remember it for you Wholesale” as its inspiration, but they exhaust that material in the first 20 minutes or so. Most of the rest is, I maintain, lifted wholesale from Sheckley’s book _The Status Civilization_. And Sheckley himself though King lifted most of _The Running Man_ from his story “The Prize of Peril” (which was actually turned into a French TV film before King wrote his book). And **Condorman** actually _is_ adapted from a Sheckley book, _The Game of X_. I’d like to see Sheckley filmed properly. No adaptation (including “Watchbird” on _Masters of Science Fiction_) has done him justice. The movie **Freejack** was supposed to be based on his book _Immortality, Inc./Immortality Delivered_, but you couldn’t prove it by me. It got too enamored of having Mick Jagger and Anthony Hopkins in it. It’s ripe for a reboot. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/50 "2010-11-10T13:15:29Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I’ve seen a couple versions of Metropolis, I liked the one with the Giorgio Moroder-Queen soundtrack! Did you watch Metropolis on TCM last night? It was a very good print, but OMG how very, very dated, even for a silent movie. Some time ago I heard an hour-long radioplay adaptation of \*Metropolis \*on the BBC World Service which incorporated elements of _1984_. It was stunningly good and incorporated much deeper (and more modern)socio-political critiques than the original. The ending would be a bit of a political hot potato (it involves a suicide bombing) so would never get made. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/51 "2010-11-10T14:53:47Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > What do you think of Colin Farrell in the lead role? Because they _are_ working on a remake, and he’s the leading candidate. That’s good news. Farrell could be really good in it. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/52 "2010-11-10T15:04:13Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Practically every Philip K. Dick adaptation could stand to be revisited, IMO. (Except _A Scanner Darkly_, which is perfect.) > > _Blade Runner_ is an excellent film on its own merits, but I’d love to see someone make _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_ I didn’t like Blade Runner in the theater. Harrison Ford had been making Indiana Jones and Star Wars movies and I thought BR would be in that vein. It took a few years for me to realize that the movie I saw was way better than the movie I was expecting to see. I also liked Minority Report quite a lot. I hadn’t read either Dick novel prior to seeing those movies, so no preconceptions of what they should have been. I have read five or six Dick stories and they all seem to have great, inventive ideas but also some weak spots. So it’s OK with me if movie makers want to change some things around, but any movie based on a Dick story that doesn’t have a dark or paranoid tone is probably missing a good bet. How the heck did I miss A Scanner Darkly? Thanks for the tip. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/53 "2010-11-10T15:08:27Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > [Salon.com](http://Salon.com) had an analytical article on “They Live”. There is a rumour it’s going to be remade. That **would** be interesting. The original Cold-War-era _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_ was based on the premise that the evil aliens are trying to get into our nice society and take it over. _They Live,_ made in 1988 when the decline of the American middle class was beginning to be apparent, is based on the idea that **they’ve already done that** – our ruling class **is** the evil aliens and that’s why everything sucks. I can’t wait to see what the Twentyteens (??? – say, what **are** we calling the present/coming decade?) twist on the theme will be. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/54 "2010-11-10T18:59:30Z")
There’s talk of rebooting the TV series _Dallas_ with the main characters being J.R. & Bobby’s sons (John Ross & Christopher). Could work, especially if they have cameos from Hagman and Duffy and work in things like the oil spill and Federal bailouts to show Ewing Oil in serious trouble. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/55 "2010-11-10T20:11:32Z")
I’d love to see a **Fantastic Voyage** remake. And another go at **Flash Gordon** could be fun as well. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/56 "2010-11-12T16:15:11Z")
They need to remake Street Fighter and just have the different characters go around throwing fireballs. No explanation, we’ll just have to accept that they can do this ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/57 "2010-11-12T16:31:34Z")
> [@davidw](#): > > I’d love to see a **Fantastic Voyage** remake. And another go at **Flash Gordon** could be fun as well. [Done](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1087521/) and [done.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421201/) ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/58 "2010-11-12T16:46:54Z")
A _Jurassic Park_ reboot could be pretty cool, simply for the fact that it could update the appearance of the dinosaurs (_Velociraptor_ is now known to have had feathers, for example). ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/59 "2010-11-12T17:12:51Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Highlander, as mentioned in one of the threads for it, _needs_ a remake. > > Hire actors who want to be there (ie, no Connery). Write a script where there’s more ‘things happen and people talk’ and less ‘we drift along watching pretty images of the Scottish Highlands’. I loved the scenic shots in Highlander, but they probably wouldn’t seem all that spectacular by today’s standards. On the plus side, I do think that a reboot would be able to attract a lot of interesting actors, so getting people who want to be there and are willing/able to put in quality performances would be a lot easier. > [@](#): > > Get rid of the concept of The Gathering - the Game is ongoing, There Can Be Only One is a vague future goal of those who take the game seriously, not so much an immediate imperative. I disagree. They don’t need The Gathering to be a major plot point, but I do think that, as part of the game, having something akin to the playoffs is necessary. They could, instead, leave it as something more nebulous, as in, the fewer there are, the stronger the urge is to seek out and fight eachother or something. > [@](#): > > Play up the personal grudge between the Kurgan and Connor to drive the plot, instead of the Game. Spend a bit more time on flashbacks to their histories, both individual and as enemies. Definitely. The feud they had was pretty weakly brought about. They ought to be able to fit in a few more run-ins over the centuries, rather than having a 400 year gap. > [@](#): > > Stuff to keep, aside from the basic ideas and characters: > > Keep the Queen soundtrack. Hire Clancy Brown, if he’s willing - he looks too old to pull off the Kurgan, now, but he could make a good Ramirez. The original soundtrack is a bit dated. I’d expect, instead, that a re-recording of a couple tracks and a similarly influenced sound would work well. I could totally see a modern power metal band doing it justice, Blind Guardian, for instance, I would think could do a solid interpretation. And Clancy Brown would absolutely have to have at least a cameo, but it might be too distracting if he played any significant role, even a lesser one like Ramirez. ---
**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:** [November 12, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970/60 "2010-11-12T18:05:38Z")
**Puppet Masters** and **Starship Troopers**. Heinlein deserves to be done right, for once. **I, Robot** and **Nightfall**. So does Asimov. They struck out twice with Nightfall. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-rebooting/559970.md?page=4)