Remakes and reboots

[Devon Malcolm]

Steven Moffat 'annoyed' at American version of Sherlock

 

Sherlock co-creator and writer Steven Moffat says he is "annoyed" a US network is working on an American version of the hit UK show.

 

CBS announced earlier this year they would be filming a pilot called Elementary.

 

The US programme will feature Sherlock in New York and Watson will be played by 43-year-old Lucy Liu.

 

Steven Moffat says he hopes it will be good or it may degrade the Sherlock brand.

 

"It isn't a version of our show," he said. "They've just decided to go off and do one of their own, having been turned down by us to do an adaptation of our version.

 

"So how do you think I feel about it? Annoyed is in there."

 

The US Sherlock will be played by British actor Jonny Lee Miller.

 

If the pilot is successful, it will be turned into a TV series which will air on US television in the autumn.

 

"The bigger problem for us with Elementary is, what if it's terrible? What if it's awful? Then it degrades the brand," he said.

 

"I remember there was a legitimate American version made of Coupling, actually adapted from our version.

 

"It was terrible and it was a disaster and it did sort of diminish the original.

 

"So if there's this completely unrelated rogue version of Sherlock going around and it's bad, it can be bad for us."

 

So far CBS hasn't revealed which Arthur Conan Doyle stories will be made.

 

Talking at the Royal Television Society Awards, Moffat dismissed the idea that legal action had been taken over copyright.

 

"We don't own Sherlock Holmes," he said. "We don't even own the idea of updating it. It's been done before.

 

"I hope they know their Sherlock Holmes very, very well indeed because we know what's in our show and wasn't in the original.

 

"So if we did discover our material had made it into somebody else's show we would have a problem with that. If there is no such incidence of that, then there's nothing we can object to."

 

When asked about a possible fourth series, Moffat revealed that Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch was keen to continue playing the lead role.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17453924

 

I think Moffat's talking total bollocks here.

 

I don't watch Sherlock and I almost certainly won't watch Elementary. I did watch some Coupling and I can't imagine it would have been possible for the US version to have been much worse, really. But does this US version 'degrade the brand'? What does that even mean? What is the brand? Sherlock and Elementary, surely? And that's it. So what he is saying in a roundabout way is that he's worried that this version will make his version seem slightly crapper, and I've really no idea how he figures that out.

 

Did anyone feel slightly less inclined to enjoy the original Psycho once Gus Van Sant (who is really shit, by the way - not entirely relevant, but worth mentioning as much as possible) had finished bum raping it for his remake? Are the originals of all the Asian horror films that Hollywood has been redoing for the last decade or so any the less good for the inferior remakes coming along? I don't think they are and I really can't see how they would be.

 

Or is he just worried that the US version will be better? I can't imagine anything with Lucy fucking Lu in it would be better than anything, really, as she's totally bloody awful as well. Either way, are remakes really that big a deal and does anyone actually subscribe to this theory that bad remakes or reboots are an 'insult' to classic originals and diminish their quality in some way?

[Halitosis Romantic]

Yeah, they're a huge problem, if you're a twat with nothing else to think about.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I have no faith in Michael Bay rebooting the Turtles movie franchise.

Michael Bay tells Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans to 'chill' over reboot

Director Michael Bay has told Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans to 'chill' after being accused of 'sodomising' the popular story.

 

The man behind the recent Transformers remake will be in the director's chair again for a reboot of TMNT, but at least one key part of the plot will be changed.

 

Instead of being a set of four pet turtles which mutate after exposure to radioactive waste in a sewer, Bay's turtles will be a group of alien reptiles.

 

The announcement sparked outrage among fans, but Bay insists the story will be better for it, saying: 'Fans need to take a breath, and chill. They have not read the script. Our team is working closely with one of the original creators of Ninja Turtles to help expand and give a more complex back story.

 

'Relax, we are including everything that made you become fans in the first place. We are just building a richer world.'

 

Yet Robbie Rist, who voiced Michelangelo in the 1990s films, has accused Bay of 'sodomising' the original.

 

He wrote on his Facebook page that alien ninjas are even less believable than mutated turtles: 'You know that ninjas are a certain kind of cultural charact.... Oh what the hell am I talking to you for? The rape of our childhood memories continues.'

 

I hate it already. Saying that, because I'm all for anything that reminds me of a time when I wasnt a dickhead adult, I've ALWAYS loved a good remake/reboot. I'm all for another Rocky, Terminator, Childs Play, Ghostbusters, Mr. Nanny, Nightmare of Elm Street, the lot.

[iamtheman]

a shit version would surely make his version more popular. people complain, fans tell those people watch this instead and huzzah a good chance of more fans.

 

that turtles stuff is bullshit too. fuckin bay

[Devon Malcolm]

I have no faith in Michael Bay rebooting the Turtles movie franchise.

 

I just ignore him these days. I suggest everyone else does the same. I never really cared for Transformers anyway. I'm sad that he will never make another The Rock or Bad Boys, though, but at least he's left us with those.

[Arch Stanton]

The Steven Moffat comments are particularly strange considering it's Sherlock Holmes we're talking about here, a character created 125 years ago, that has famously been portrayed by more actors than any other character in the history of film. The talk of potentially degrading the brand seems completely irrelevant to the UK show.

[tiger_rick]

The Steven Moffat comments are particularly strange considering it's Sherlock Holmes we're talking about here, a character created 125 years ago, that has famously been portrayed by more actors than any other character in the history of film. The talk of potentially degrading the brand seems completely irrelevant to the UK show.

Agree with this. I could see his point if it was something he'd created. Something like this is such a ridiculous thing to moan about.

 

I'm generally not against remakes but I've rarely got much of an attachment to the original. Also, something like The Office taught me not to judge stuff until I'd seen it.

[Devon Malcolm]

I didn't realise he wrote Chalk. Christ, that was fucking awful. I definitely don't like him now.

[patiirc]

Moffat really has got a bee in his bonnet over that Sherlock thing, gawd knows why? Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu, sounds interesting. I'd give it a watch

 

So it isnt 'true' to the story, a modern day set Holmes isnt either, but that hasnt stopped it being popular and neither have various riffs on the story including the magnificent 'Without A Clue' which has Michael Caine as a drunk actor playing Sherlock.

 

As for TMHT, they have been rebooted so many times recently does anyone actually give a shit? In the space of 25 years or so there has been:- comic turtles, cartoon turtles (different look and style), film turtles (different look and style again), Live action TV series with a female turtle, a rebooted TV cartoon (with a different look), a rebooted TMNT movie (iirc), a CGI TMNT movie and then another rebooted TV series with a old school cartoon cross over TVM (iirc). Shredder, Splinter and various others have been redesigned and whatever and now people are having a fit over it being alient turtles. At this point I dont care its been redone that many times.

[Chest Rockwell]

I do think it's more lame to be remaking something that's currently still being made... but the US have made their own versions of our shows forever; it's nothing new. Highlighted nicely by the fact there was even a fucking sitcom about the whole business of US remakes of UK shows last year.

 

And I'll admit I sigh a little when I hear of something I really like being remade when the remake sounds shitty, but peeps who get really worked up about it need to reassess their priorities.

 

edit: I like the current UK show, but this one has Lucy Liu in it so I'm definitely willing to give it a shot.

[tiger_rick]

Highlighted nicely by the fact there was even a fucking sitcom about the whole business of US remakes of UK shows last year.

There was a rumour that they were going to remake that!

[Surf Digby]

I did watch some Coupling and I can't imagine it would have been possible for the US version to have been much worse, really.

But Coupling was based on Friends, so a US version would have just been an Americanised version of a Britishised American sitcom.

As for TMHT, they have been rebooted so many times recently does anyone actually give a shit? In the space of 25 years or so there has been:- comic turtles, cartoon turtles (different look and style), film turtles (different look and style again), Live action TV series with a female turtle, a rebooted TV cartoon (with a different look), a rebooted TMNT movie (iirc), a CGI TMNT movie and then another rebooted TV series with a old school cartoon cross over TVM (iirc). Shredder, Splinter and various others have been redesignednd whatever and now people are having a fit over it being alient turtles. At this point I couldnt give a shit.

Not a reboot, but the third movie was rather different, as someone went a bit funny in the head and decided to not use Jim Henson to make the suits.

[Chest Rockwell]

The main reason I have to care that the Turtles remake will most likely be shit is because I have enjoyed most of the incarnations of it that there's been over the years. It's not that I'm precious about it, but rather that I would prefer it be good.

[ReturnOfTheMack]

I did watch some Coupling and I can't imagine it would have been possible for the US version to have been much worse, really.

But Coupling was based on Friends, so a US version would have just been an Americanised version of a Britishised American sitcom.

 

 

Im fairly certain it wasnt. It just happened to be around at roughly the same time. I mean, I could be wrong, wouldnt be the first time.

[mikey]

It entirely depends on what you're doing. If you're rebooting Superman, I have no issue with it. If you're remaking the Godfather, you can fuck right off.

 

In Sherlock Holmes' case, it's way more of the former.