# Stuff that should NOT be rebooted **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741 "2018-09-04T14:54:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/21 "2018-09-04T23:50:32Z")
I’d let 80s John Carpenter remake Forbidden Planet ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/22 "2018-09-05T00:24:07Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I’d let 80s John Carpenter remake Forbidden Planet With Kurt Russell and Keith David? I’d pay to see that. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/23 "2018-09-05T00:28:13Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > With Kurt Russell and Keith David? I’d pay to see that. > > Stranger Hell yeah! ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/24 "2018-09-05T00:30:16Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Never say never. There is a new Papillon coming out. > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Now thats a movie with promise because…the original feels kinda American (actors and just how they did their parts. not slamming them, love the movie but still) set against a foreign background. Also, the movie hews from the novel somewhat. > > There’s tons of room for a new Papillon. There could be a Papillon HBO series if they wanted what with the novel being so sprawling and grandiose. It’s out. Or at least has been reviewed at [rogerebert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/papillon-2018). 2 stars. Same as the original ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/25 "2018-09-05T00:42:56Z")
What was _Police Academy_ but a reboot of the Keystone Cops? There has not been an original idea since Gilgamesh. The question is not whether something has been done before, but whether the new version is done well or poorly. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/26 "2018-09-05T02:48:11Z")
It’s all about the money – but not in the way most people think. Movies and TV shows are expensive. Goddamned expensive. And when things are expensive, investors don’t want to risk money. And a known property is perceived as being less risky than a new one, since some of the audience immediately has an idea of what they’re getting. So sequels and reboots can attract investors more readily than a new film can. There’s also the influence of TV and video. The one thing Hollywood can do better on a big screen is spectacle. Which means big budgets. Which means known properties. Independent and foreign films don’t have the same issues, and TV can still do new drama and comedy that fits the small screen. But Hollywood can’t risk the cost of a small film without a lot of explosions. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/27 "2018-09-05T03:14:54Z")
I don’t think Married with Children should be rebooted. Nor the simpsons. Nor All in the family. These are cultural icons and a reboot would cheapen them. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/28 "2018-09-05T04:00:02Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > - Forbidden Planet\* does not need a reboot. But it does need a robot. Everything’s better with a robot. ---
**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:** [September 5, 2018, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/29 "2018-09-05T12:18:37Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > - Forbidden Planet\* does not need a reboot. But it does need a robot. I wholeheartedly agree, but apparently they’re doing it, anyway: > **[Forbidden Planet | Sci-Fi](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1317479/)** > > IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. Find ratings and reviews for the newest movie and TV shows. Get personalized recommendations, and learn where to watch across hundreds of streaming... > [@](#): > > New Line Cinema had developed a remake with James Cameron, Nelson Gidding, and Stirling Silliphant involved at different points. In 2007 DreamWorks set up the project with David Twohy set to direct. Warner Bros. re-acquired the rights the following year and on October 31, 2008, J. Michael Straczynski was announced as writing a remake, Joel Silver was to produce.[42] Straczynski explained that the original had been his favorite science fiction film, and it gave Silver an idea for the new film that makes it “not a remake”, “not a reimagining”, and “not exactly a prequel”. His vision for the film would not be retro, because when the original was made it was meant to be futuristic. Straczynski met with people working in astrophysics, planetary geology, and artificial intelligence to reinterpret the Krell back-story as a film trilogy.[43] In March 2009 Straczynski reported that the project was abandoned, and that a new script was requested.[44] > > Another remake effort appears to be underway by Ragnarok Creative (following a preliminary effort by Studio Ronin in 2016). At present alternative design stills and an upcoming trailer are mentioned, though the previous trailer by Studio Ronin appears to have been withdrawn. > **[Forbidden Planet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_Planet)** > > Forbidden Planet is a 1956 American science fiction film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack, and directed by Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on an original film story by Allen Adler and Irving Block. It stars Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielsen. Shot in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope, it is considered one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s, a precursor of contemporary science fiction cinema. The characters and isolated setti They already did a rock musical stage show of it in London over 25 years ago: > **[Return to the Forbidden Planet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_the_Forbidden_Planet)** > > Return to the Forbidden Planet is a jukebox musical by Bob Carlton based on the 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet, which, in turn, is loosely based on Shakespeare's play The Tempest. The show features a score of 1950s and 1960s rock and roll classics and dialogue largely adapted from well-known passages from Shakespeare. > Often billed as "Shakespeare's forgotten rock and roll masterpiece", Return to the Forbidden Planet has been performed all over the world since its premiere in London... ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/30 "2018-09-05T12:24:49Z")
Jaws (looking at you **The Meg** ) ---
**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:** [September 5, 2018, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/31 "2018-09-05T13:11:10Z")
\*\* Casablanca\*\* didn’t need a reboot, but that didn’t stop them from trying. **the Day the Earth Stood still** didn’t need a reboot. Especially not the Keanu Reeves one. **the Maltese Falcon** desperately needed one after the first two disastrous version, but after the John Huston-Humphrey Bogart version, it doesn’t need another. **The Prisoner** didn’t need a reboot, but it got one anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/32 "2018-09-05T13:34:28Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Have they simply run out of original ideas these days? They ran out of ideas centuries ago\*. Or maybe you think that we shouldn’t have a newer version of Hamlet or Cinderella or Oliver Twist? Either on stage or at the movies? And maybe you are actually surprised that I know that James Bond as a character will return after Bond 25\*\*? Rebooting is just using the same source material again. Sometimes it’s pointless, as it was with the color remake of Psycho, sometimes it turns out horrible, like the latest version of The Mummy. And sometimes it turns out to be great, as it looks like and early buzz is indicating about A Star is Born. It’s not the rebooting that’s problematic, it’s how it is done. And why shouldn’t younger generations get a chance to put their marks on older source material? \*[The Seven Basic Plots - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots) \*\* No title available yet. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/33 "2018-09-05T13:38:09Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Forbidden Planet\* does not need a reboot. You wouldn’t mind a re-imagining of Tempest, though? ---
**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:** [September 5, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/34 "2018-09-05T14:29:28Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > You wouldn’t mind a re-imagining of Tempest, though? I’ve had this argument endlessly with English majors. Despite what people say, _Forbidden Planet_ isn’t _The Tempest_. It may have been inspired by the setting of Shkespeare’s plays, and uyou can draw one-to-one correspondences between characters, but their motivations are altogether different. Morbius isn’t a deposed ruler abdicating his responsibilities and fleeing into exile – he’s a philologist running into novel situations, exactly as he should be doing. Prospero encourages the wedding of Miranda and Ferdinand, Morbius opposes the affair between Altaira and J.J. Adams. Cookie isn’t Stefano and Trinculo, even if he gets drunk with an inhabitant of the planet (and Robby is more like Ariel than Caliban, anyway. Caliban is, if anything, the Id monster). And Cookie isn’t mutinous. And so on and so on. You can think of modern out-of-place Shakespeare plays as reboots, if you want. I’ve seen modern reboots of _The Tempest_ – the Teller-directed version put on by ART, a version with a ballet dancer as Ariel, even the movie _Prospero’s Book_. All of these leave the story and motivations intact. _Forbidden Planet_ doesn’t. Whatever its roots, it’s now _sui generis_. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/35 "2018-09-05T14:53:46Z")
Personally, I think _Forbidden Planet_ owes more to H. Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs than to Shakespeare. But, that’s a discussion for another thread. It is almost certain that a re-boot will suck. But it’s not **completely** certain. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741/36 "2018-09-05T17:27:32Z")
The reason it’s almost certain a reboot will suck is because it’s almost certain that anything will suck. 90% of everything is crap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-should-not-be-rebooted/820741.md?page=1)