It's generally believed among the hoi polloi that remakes usually suck. With little exception that does seem to be true, leaving parched cinema fans in a lurch to explain why they're made again and again. Where remakes succeed they introduce technical achievement while retaining an earnest fidelity to the original story elements, the touchstones of setting, character, and plot. Where they fail is usually the fault of a director who should have known better, one who should have rested until the urge passed. Even with a superior production team though there's nothing to gain from retouching an unparalleled classic. If indeed skilled their efforts are short-changed by not working fresh material. If unskilled then woe betide anyone so enraptured by his malevolence (at best) or incompetence (at worst) to even attempt the project.

Good movies wield enormous power to connect people with common imagery. If a picture is worth a thousand words then frame flickering after frame quickly builds into the bazillions! Cinematic references are bandied as easily as Darmok the Tamarian (precisely!) because the references relay immediate, unambiguous meaning. Affixing new information therefore imposes an immediate disadvantage of superfluity, and to be worthwhile must provide some clear advantage, of scope, of resolution, of improving the reference so communicated. If not, what then was the point?

The lack of originality inflicts boundaries not only on creators but also consumers, as the act of forced comparison inhibits a full response from the audience. Some say there are only a few basic stories - fine, but even changing titles can add a multiplicity of new meaning! For all its faults film exists as a visual medium and functions primarily to introduce fresh concepts from other media (especially imagination), not regurgitating properly digested material. Twice chewed food never tastes so good as the original mouthful.

Robert Wise made few science fiction films, yet in less than a year three of his most notable will have been remade. (And had the original schedule for the remake of "The Motion Picture" remained on course that span would have been reduced to weeks!) Hopefully before long his masterpiece will again Stand Still as a paragon of the futility of human fear, desperation, and aggression. The odds on meeting the bar are so hard even children's television can't survive the transformation. What frozen ice cube's chance does a classic have? But hey! At least they're drawing attention to the original genius of the material, even if its shine is scuffed by self-aggrandizement as part of the process.


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