I haven’t figured out what to think about the announced plan to remake Forbidden Planet. On one hand, the movie really is a classic film that shouldn’t be touched again. On the other hand, the scribe behind the plans is J. Michael Straczynski, the writer behind Changeling and Babylon 5. As a writer I’ve followed over many years, I have faith in Straczynski’s abilities to honor the original while telling a good story, but still, it’s Forbidden Planet…
Exactly what kind of new chapter Straczynski has planned is still up in the air. Rumors have been spreading that the writer wasn’t creating a remake as much as a sequel, following up the original story with a retro-styled story on an Altair that didn’t explode. Fortunately, Straczynski has a pretty constant online presence to clear up such rumors. The writer popped onto his moderated Usenet group to post the following:
” That report is totally incorrect. It's not going to be retro, and it's not going to be a continuation. When Altair 4 blows up, it blows up. I have, however, found a way to honro [sic] the original movie without in any way besmirching it in order to do this iteration. Once folks find out what we're actually going to do, I think they'll be most pleased. Forbidden Planet remains one of my favorite films of all time, and I wouldn't even think about doing this project if I didn't think there was a way to do it that would not in any way diminish the original...which is why this is the the first development in years to actually get to the script stage. Everybody involved is very excited by the approach.”
So there you have it. This isn’t a sequel, and Altair 4 is space dust. Of course, this means we still don’t know what brilliant idea Straczynski has in mind that got his approach to the script stage, but at least we know what isn’t happening. I’m glad to hear this isn’t a half-cocked sequel, although the retro approach sounded kind of cool.
