With every big-budget Hollywood take on a beloved television series, there’s a certain segment of the fan population who will be unhappy with any change made to the original. The latest cast in Universal’s big-screen version of “Land of the Lost.”
Actor Danny McBride has a message to those fans, however.
“There are the purists, who I always read about, that are like, ‘I can’t believe you’re raping my childhood,'” McBride told SciFi Wire “If ‘Land of the Lost’ is your childhood, and we’re raping it, I apologize. I think the show is awesome, and I think [screenwriters] Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas keep the mythology intact without taking it too seriously. If it was taken too seriously, it’s just ‘Jurassic Park’. We’ve seen that movie before. This is a more interesting take on that tone.”
McBride went on to say that he grew up watching “Lost” and ” was definitely freaked out by it, but found myself watching it whenever I could.”
“Chaka’s brow freaked me out a little bit, and the Sleestaks,” he added. “It’s funny, because I had forgotten about the Sleestaks, which is like, “How could you forget about them?” When I first came to the set and all those Sleestaks were there, seeing them brought back all these primitive fears in me that I had when I was a kid. I was like, “Oh, I hated these guys, and now I have to act with them.””
Larry says
It’s fine to “rape my childhood” if you do it to make something better. Go ahead and destroy Vulcan, or make Starbuck a woman, but make something better.
The biggest problem with LOTL is that they alienated their audience…the children and grandchildren of the original series…and made a Will Ferrel comedy instead.
D. C. says
Well said, Larry.
Change anything you want, but make a decent movie out of it. I don’t expect a movie based on a cheesy 1970s Saturday morning live action show to take itself seriously. But I do expect it to not insult the audience.
And casting Will Ferrell as anything is an insult to the audience.
Tom Boucher says
apology not accepted.
you didn’t remake the film, you parodied it. I’m more disappointed that sid & marty kroft were involved. While yes, the special effects weren’t awesome and many other old technology things shine through the message was really there about real science, and real experimentation, not some bumbling idiot.
JFStan says
“.. If it was taken too seriously, it’s just ‘Jurassic Park’..”
WRONG, SIR. WRONG. Anyone who has watched the original and new “Battlestars” can tell you that. You could have taken the beloved but cheesy show and made it into something dark and well written, but instead you decided not only to make it a high-tech slapstick comedy, you decided to cast Will “Coffin-Nail” Ferrell to further purtrify it.
If you want to “lampoon” or “parody” a show, that’s fine, but to outright insult a classic show is unforgivable. And your box office numbers reflect that.
Michael Mennenga says
The original series was cheesy, it is NOT standing up to the test of time, and it was ready for a remake.
BUT NOT THIS REMAKE!!
The whole premise was insulting, and the lack of vision on where this remake could have taken us is a testament to those who are looking for a quick buck and could care less about the fans that loved the show of old.
The movie could have been about great things. Alternate reality, cool alien technology, dinosaurs and ancient times, other world people and situations that made us think and gasp with awe…. But instead…. We get more brain-numbing stupid, with one of the biggest brain-numbing stupid actors in the business. (Come on Ferrell, do something with some substance if you have any talent at all.)