1 There are so many African-American classics that haven’t been filmed, or at least not with a budget, and many of them are in the public domain which would save on production costs.
2 The first miniseries is dated but still a high quality work
3 There were so many scandals associated with the original book due to plagiarism and accuracy, plus, Haley forgive me, it just wasn’t that good a novel
But, I’ll probably watch it since it’s so rare for them to do anything that actually has history of any kind in it.
Do you plan to watch it if you have the time and all?
I agree it looks good, but the story’s already been told and wasn’t exceptional the first time. I’d rather see a good bio of Frederick Douglass or Harriet Jacobs or even the far better known Harriet Tubman (one that includes her Civil War service and meetings with John Brown and other famous people of the day and later years). A movie about the murder of George Wythe would be interesting and could feature Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings as characters. The Clotilda (a slave ship that came to Mobile in 1860) and the founding of AfricaTown by its enslaved passengers would be interesting (few people realize that there were African born former slaves around until the 1930s). Even Millie & Christine McCoy would be a very interesting way to examine race in the day.
I just wish they’d plow new ground, especially since the novel had so many problems.
Probably won’t. I was out of the country, in the military, in 1976, when the first one showed. I’ve seen clips of the original, but that’s all. I did read the book, and, sorry to say, thought “Meh.”
More likely the captured Kunta will be offered to a bald trader who tells them "I’m not really an expert on Mandinka slaves. Do you mind if I call my buddy who is and can tell me what’s a fair price? "
Probably. It looks like it was well done, and while I watched the original, it was sooooooo long ago it might as well have never happened. I guess it depends on what it’s competing with at the time. Right now, there isn’t that much on that I like.
I was just a kid when the original first aired and truly don’t remember much about it. So, sure. I’ve already set a reminder on my calendar. Besides, this looks like it’ll be informative.
I thought the original was just “okay”. I was too young to watch it when it first aired. I was in my 20s when I finally got around to watching it, and at that point it seemed kinda dated to me. Very “70s”. Kizzy’s jehri curl afro and the corny music take me out of the movie, sorry.
I recently watched the first episode of WGN’s “Underground”. While there were some things in the episode that made me raise an eyebrow (like that guy taking a legible imprint of wall etchings with his own blood), I did enjoy seeing the slave genre updated with modern scripting and cinematography. Plus, it is wonderful to get to see the slaves being bad-ass. I hope the new Roots has that element to it.
I’ve declared personal war on remakes. If you can’t come up with something original, I’m not wasting my time with your rehashed production. So, nope, not watching.
Generally, although there are exceptions. Peter Jackson certainly exceeded all expectations and previous attempts at LOTR. Also, the Jack Black version of “King Kong” was far and away the most entertaining of the bunch. The Kurt Russell version of “The Thing” was terrific, as was Russell’s take on the endless stream of films about Wyatt Earp.
I was glued to the TV for the original, along with my (fellow whiteboy) college roommates. We lived and breathed and talked about that series, and read the book. I took up genealogy in a big way due to that series.
But I have no desire to see another version. The original is quite iconic in my memory.
I can barely commit to watching my favorite half hour shows so that combined with the many other things I’m trying to catch up on will probably deter me from watching the whole thing. If I could somehow figure out which four episodes James Purefoy and Jonathan Rhys Meyers are in, I’ll gladly chain myself to the couch and watch (no pun intended).
The weird thing is that in the imdb credits it makes them look like they’re all in every episode, which would be impossible.
Purefoy plays the character played by Lorne Greene in the original- the planter who buys Kunta Kinte when he is first sold in Annapolis- so he’ll probably begin around the second episode.
Rhys Meyers plays the character played by Chuck Connors in the original- the planter who buys and rapes Kunta Kinte’s daughter Kizzy and is the father of her son. If it’s at all like the first one he’ll have the longest arc of any of the white characters so he’ll probably be in all the middle episodes.
Thanks Sampiro! I couldn’t recall any of the white character’s names from the original so had no idea what these roles were. I seem to remember finding Chuck Connors (or his character anyway) especially vile and my sweet baby Jonathan does vile very well <insert lusty smiley>.