The Ways Hollywood Can Screw Something Up
This summer, there’s a veritable cavalcade of films coming out which take preestablished properties, and takes them to places seldom imagined by the original creators or fans. Two of these films, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Star Trek, look to take their respective franchises to heights yet unimagined. In the case of Star Trek, the series is being rebooted and reimagined for a new generation of audiences, with the hope of reigniting interest in the franchise beyond the hardcore fans. But, in the end, it’s still ultimately Trek: Kirk and Spock and Bones, transporters and phasers and warp engines. In the case of Transformers, the franchise bears nearly no resemblance to the cartoons and toys which inspired it. And that is a major problem.
Lately, there’s been serious discussion of a Robotech film, headed by Tobey MacGuire, who somehow obtained the rights to the film. You might recall this being discussed during a previous episode of the podcast. There’s been some traction to these rumors of the past few months, though nothing solid has formed. But the mere concept of a Hollywood version of a Robotech (Macross) adapation makes me shudder based on what Hollywood has done to franchises of the past.
Case 1? Transformers, as I alluded to earlier. A franchise beloved by twenty to thirty somethings, the ultimate result of Transformers on the big screen is something of a betrayal to the legacy of the cartoon. No longer were the Autobots simple vehicles, but crazy, over the top, overcomplicated transforming devices which transformed not for the sake of going in disguise, but for blowing out a CG budget. Optimus Prime went from being a noble leader to an overgrown, clumsy giant who used outdated slang.
Case 2? Speed Racer. While Speed Racer was never exactly realistic, it at least kept to an idea of racing that was somewhat familiar. The Wachowski Brothers took the kernal of the television series and turned it into…something else. No one was quite able to decipher what was going on, much less me.
Hollywood seems to be incapable of comprehending what made the franchises they adapt so endearing and engaging in the first place. The reimaginings seem to be more for the purpose of presenting a package to an (assumed to be) idiotic consumer with no idea of what the source franchise is or what made it great in the first place.
An example of a reimagined property done right, which several point to as one of the best franchises of all time, is Battlestar Galactica. While the creators of the new television series didn’t necessarily adhere closely to the source material, much in the same way Michael Bay didn’t, this was overlooked for the fact that the new franchise was excellent. It didn’t dumb down the roots of the franchise, but rather smartened it up, made it mature and gritty and worthwhile in its departures from its roots.
If Hollywood has anymore childhood franchises it looks to acquire, it must be painstakingly clear to everyone involved: make it clear you understand the audience of the franchise you’re pulling from, and if you make dramatic changes to the franchise in question, don’t dumb things down, but play up the intelligence factor. We’re not dumb.
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