[Icehouse] OT: Oh No

[Andrew Plotkin]

On Thu, 11 Oct 2007, Subhan Tindall wrote:

> I thought LOL was *already* a comedy!  It had a pretty significant
> cheese factor if I recollect correctly.

It had a massive cheese factor, but it wasn't a comedy. It took itself 
very seriously. There was some comedy in the scripts, but it was... 
ponderous.

I think that a straight remake of LOL would flop today -- simply because 
the genre territory has been well-trampled. Trapped in an alien landscape? 
Alien monsters? Ancient crystal technology? It would come off as a weak 
mashup of _Lost_ and _Stargate_.

A good nostalgia-based comedy *could* work, a la _Galaxy Quest_. But even 
if it were brilliant, it'd be pandering to an awfully small audience. 
(_Galaxy Quest_ wouldn't have worked if most movie-goers hadn't *heard* of 
Star Trek, or of Trek fans as a cultural stereotype.) And if you try to 
appeal to the larger audience, you're back to a straight remake.

But I'm willing to be positively surprised.

--Z

-- 
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
Bush's biggest lie is his claim that it's okay to disagree with him. As soon as
you *actually* disagree with him, he sadly explains that you're undermining
America, that you're giving comfort to the enemy. That you need to be silent.