A few quick notes on the merits and pitfalls of remaking and rebooting beloved classics. When the news of a remake is announced many of hard core fans scream out NOOOOO! Is it because they are afraid of changing or ruining a franchise?  Is it because of the strongly held belief that their version is the pinnacle of the whatever verse is happening? I cringe because many times I believe that to accept mainstream appeal, the filmmakers will change the core concepts to make it more accessible to the masses. Whatever your reasons for railing against the Hollywood machine, you have to deal with it. You can either give the new format a try, or you can ignore it, or you can continue to curse it’s existence.

I watched Battlestar as a kid, I guess I kinda liked it, always thought it was a rip on Star Wars, but I watched it. When I heard SyFy was rebooting it I screamed NOOOO, not because I thought they would destroy the original, it fell more on the WHHHHYYY Battlestar? But I was hooked from the first trailer to the end, YES I enjoyed how they ended it  ( I also liked LOST’s ending too). So over the years I have heard of many Hollywood Ideas to reboot or remake Dr Who & Akira for the big screen. At first glance the main question is why? Short answer is money. Visionaries have the ideas that rock our world. It is up to Hollywood to milk as much cash out of those ideas as possible.

Dr. Who, the remake has been bouncing about for decades. When they relaunched the series a few years ago they also thought about it too. The main reason for the push isn’t hard to figure out. The British film industry wants another juggernaut like Harry Potter, or Bond. Rebooting the Doctor is just about the easiest thing to do story-wise especially if you are going back to the beginning and doing a fresh start The Doctor goes to Hogwar….ooops I mean Time lord school to become a Doctor. I actually am very open to the idea because I did watch the Tom Baker Doctor and really enjoy the new series.

Akira on the other hand I still can’t wrap my head around a live Hollywood remake? The symbolism on the original Anime film was heavy with anti nuke, anti American military themes. (Don’t believe me, watch it again) Like Godzilla I believe the main antagonist represents America destroying Japan. What troubles me about a Hollywood remake is that the original film is layered, confusing at parts, there is an Anti hero, and I’m not sure the film was ever fully translated properly. Hollywood wants another Matrix, since Matrix “borrowed” heavily from anime and Asian culture. The machine thinks Akira is a natural fit. It’s not! Akira will never be a Hollywood powerhouse film, in it’s current state. to make it a mainstream hit you will need make it Not Akira. This will enrage the fan-base far more than actually making the film. If they make a frame by frame remake of the film, mainstream audiences will ignore the film. It is too grand and expensive a film to be art-house or Indy.

Whatever happens with these I will probably watch them with a grain of salt. I could be 100% wrong but that’s the good thing about varying opinions, it allows you to find the write audience for your story. Write a good enough story and the Audience will find you!

I must admit I am not an Apple user. I don’t have an Ipod, Ipad, Iphone. My extent of apple use was being trained on apples in college, working on a Macintosh when I was a loan officer and buying/winning a HUGE Apple at an auction, which I was never able to Frankenstein resurrect. That said I have a considerable amount of respect for Steve Jobs, and what he accomplished within his life. It is the American dream defined. What he did wasn’t easy, but he endured what was thrown at him and taken from him and ended up on top. I wish the best for the Jobs family losing someone is always difficult.

Thank You!

Jim McGee

Area 51 Comics