MovieChat Forums > The Martian Chronicles (1980) Discussion > Martian Chronicles an excellent candidat...

Martian Chronicles an excellent candidate for Hollywood remake

posted 19 years ago by Barbourino
29 replies | jump to latest

I was watching the movie today, and I thought to myself that of all the cheesy movies Hollywood is remaking, why not do a remake of this one? I think the Martian Chronicles story has all the hallmarks to make for one amazing big budget hollywood blockbuster. It beats another Dukes of Hazzard or Starsky & Hutch remake. Of all the movies that ever came out about the red planet, IMO this one was always the best and most original of all. Hopefully someone in Hollywood is thinking about the idea to do a modern version of this movie. If they got a good director along with a decent cast, this movie has serious potential to kick ass at the box office.

[–] Border_Ruffian 19 years ago

Yes.

The special effects in this 1980 version are very dissapointing.
Considering it was made about the same time of the first Star Wars trilogy...it can't be a lack of technology.

They must have spent most of their budget on big-name actors.

[–] rarema 19 years ago

I too agree.

For me seeing the thing a while ago, after 25 years was a disappointment not because of special effects but the story which was remarkably slow. The sequence with the priests on the mountains took forever. The first episode was easily the best.

About special effects compared to Star Wars: this was a tv mini series, not a major feature film. Good point about actors: Rock Hudson was a bigger star than the whole cast of SW combined!

[–] Barbourino 19 years ago

My favorite stories were the first episode, and then the one with the son David who was actually a martian. The last one with the mother and daughter who were created by the father, that was good too. Those were such amazing stories. But the first episode, yeah.. that was great. I remember watching that as a little kid 8 or 9 years old and I was blown away and still get the same feeling to this day. I can see that episode alone as a killer hollywood movie.

[–] rarema 19 years ago

I remember being very scared watching the first episode back in 1980 or so (I was 7)!

The only other thing I remember well is the flashback from episode 1, of Spender / a Martian fighting against the astronauts in the last episode. The way the figure just appears on screen was executed well.

[–] chizzle3000 18 years ago

Read somewhere they spent 15% on Rock Hudson alone. Yikes.

- CRT

[–] dcabigail 18 years ago

As a kid, I enjoyed the miniseries and remember it well today. I think a motion picture with top notch FX and maybe an exceellent screenwriter could turn this into a classic film.

Bring it on!

[–] Polaris01313-1 19 years ago

It is just fine the way it is. It does not need to be remade. Let this one be. There have been enough remakes as it is. Remakes don't kick ass at the box office. They flop at the box office big time.

[–] A_Minor_Blip 19 years ago

i dont think tho theyd want to call it a REMAKE, theyd just call it a version of the bradbury tale, the DEFINITIVE version is what they'd say

[–] mark-1435 19 years ago

Im a great believer in "If it ain't broke don't fix it" true the effects are dated but that doesn't matter, the story is well executed and is not in need of a remake in my opinion. If Hollywood get hold of it we will have another War of the Worlds on our hands. I hope they steer well clear. I love it as it is.

[–] chizzle3000 18 years ago

Ugh. You really think it's a well executed story? It's so ponderous and slow. I've seen it a couple of times since it was made and man, it's killing me now. Ugh. I like some of the production, but you know it could be done well.

Like the sci-fi channel did Battlestar Galactica.

- CRT

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] lugosi-11 19 years ago

I dont really think that it needs to be re-made for the sake of it, but I was SO disappointed that the filmmakers did not see fit to include the House Of Usher chapter from the book. That was IMHO one of the best chapters in the book, not only because I am a big Poe fan, but because of the message that chapter conveyed.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] IanDSmith 18 years ago

This is perhaps the most perfect candidate for a new Sci-Fi Channel miniseries. If 'The Martian Chronicles' were given the 'Dune' treatment, I could see it doing exceedingly well, certainly much better than 'The Lost Room' did last year.

[–] lugosi-11 18 years ago

Now THAT is an idea that I would get behind......

[–] sanma_sensei 18 years ago

This could definitly use a "Re-Imaging".

Would the Battlestar Galactica team please step forward .... :D

[–] Polaris01313-1 18 years ago

The Battlestar Galactica remake is definately a piece of(if you'll pardon the pun)felgercarb!!! The Sci-Fi Channel should have left the classic be anfd focused their attention on something original.

In any event, The Martian Chronicles is just fine the way it is. Unless Michael Anderson was thinking of redoing the SFX like George Lucas did with The Star Wars trilogy, then the mini-series is just fine the way it is and should not be bothered. Let alone altered!!!

[–] goreneur 18 years ago

Was thinking the same thing earlier while watching the series. Although I would take out the scene with Christopher Connelly and Bernadette Peters just because (IMHO)it isn't important to the story. The only part of that scene I did enjoy was when Ben was making the phone calls and gets the recording to leave a message;

"This is Gladys, please leave a message."
"I would be glad to leave a message, GO TO HELL!"

One scene I would add is from the chapter of the book titled "Comes The Soft Rain". This is my favorite chapter of the book and with the level of F/X that Sci-Fi channel or any major studio is capable of I think they could pull it off nicely.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] colinvespa125 15 years ago

I would like to see one where the Colonist stay and rebuild on Mars.

[–] solitaire40 15 years ago

I've never seen this series but why can't they take some of these made for TV movies that had good premises but maybe bad directing, or cheesiness and improve on them by doing remakes that or good instead of remaking things that have already been done successfully. e.g. New Nightmare on Elm St., numerous Batman movies, etc. I remember watching alot of tv movies in the 60s and 70s. Way better than these reality shows or the game shows they had on back then. If they don't want to put them on DVD then do good remakes.

[–] denise1234 14 years ago

goreneur^

"Although I would take out the scene with Christopher Connelly and Bernadette Peters just because (IMHO)it isn't important to the story."

I guess for readers of the book (this is by far my favorite Bradbury book), we all have our favorite little stories from it we would like to see realized on screen.

I LOVED the CC/BP piece as depicted in 'Martian Chronicles'. BP did GREAT in that role.

And, it DID have some importance, as CC shows up, just in time, in another 'episode' (won't 'spoil' it here).

Just MHO!

"I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than..a rude remark or a vulgar action" Blanche DuBois

[–] scribe1270 14 years ago

I think one of the problems with the original is that it is basically fragmented due to the fact that it was episodic in nature. I mean the novel was actually a collection of short stories (as even Ray Bradbury admits) and piecing such a story line together to make a movie can't be easy. They did the same thing with I Robot (by Isaac Asimov) a few yrs back and the movie bears little resemblance to the book it's based on (IMO). I mean Will Smith's character doesn't even exist in the book, nor was there a murder in the original stories. Both were added to create a spine to tie the elements together. I imagine they tried the same thing with Col. Wilder in the MC storyline but it didn't work quite as well. And of course the special effects problem (I think) came from the fact that a TV Mini-series doesn't have the same budget as a Hollywood movie. You see the same disparity if you compare a western like How The West Was Won to Centennial. Part of that is also trying to give everyone sufficient screen time. In the movie you only have a small number of central characters but in a Mini-series you can have a lot more people having their five minutes of screen time and you have less time than when filming a movie to get the work done (or at least you have more scene changes, etc since you aren't just sticking with a core group of actors).

[–] chas77 14 years ago

As a kid in the '70s I read and re-read "The Martian Chronicles" many, many times. I think I was around 13 when the mini-series came out and needless to say, I was so excited.

I couldn't have been more disappointed. I'm not a big FX person but some of the scenes looked like they were shot in a bathtub -- the one with the ships chasing each other...can't recall exactly which one since it was so many years ago but you could see the wires! HORRIBLE FX. Even "Buck Rogers" with Gil Gerard looked better in comparison.

Then the script. I guess the TV execs thought audiences HAD to have Rock Hudson's character tie things together instead of treating each episode separately as they were in the book. We're not that stupid. Even Bradbury came out in an interview stating how boring he thought this miniseries was. IMHO I cannot imagine anyone who truly loved the book being anything but disappointed by this crappy effort.

Here's hoping HBO or Showtime put out some bucks to do a proper miniseries one day...

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] ryansassy1 13 years ago

Not a "remake" -- a reboot. Remember the source material is a book :)

Yes I'd like to see a serious movie made out of TMC with decent production values. The Martian set on this version is actually quite good, I wouldn't change that or the Martians themselves, but the rest would benefit from a tighter script and better actors.
_________________________________
"I'm sorry, but.." is a self-contained lie.

[–] Barbourino 13 years ago

Wow, I can't believe I started this thread 7 years ago!! And it's still going.

I haven't heard about a reboot yet, but since 2005 we've had a few corny ones already. Even Spiderman is getting rebooted and it's barely 10 years old!

I wouldn't change the Martians either, they are good the way they were. Nothing too extreme or any silliness that would require CGI (like Jar Jar Binks hehe).

[–] Barbourino 13 years ago

Well well.. I wonder if they were reading this thread. There's not much info posted, but could this be real?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682182/

[–] chas77 13 years ago

It's all still up in the air. Paramount optioned it but nothing has been set, no director, script, etc.

http://www.scifimoviepage.com/upcoming/previews/martian_chronicles.html