Thoughts on The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951 and 2008

[BAYLOR]

I love the original 1951 film with Micheal Rene in the least and Patrica O Neal . It's classic of the first order . As for 2008 Film with Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly , this was film that I didn't initially like but over time and subsequent viewing, it's grown one much like the Guy Pierce's 2002 version of The Time Machine, in its own right , the 2008 film is pretty good and Reeves does manage to pull of Klaatu and the story which includes an environmental message and the need to change the ways things are done on earth , world very nicely .

What are you thoughts on both of these films?

 

[BAYLOR]

At one point ther was talk of a direct sequel to the 1951 film but never got anywhere.

 

[Rodders]

I must confess that I haven't seen either of them in a long time, but I enjoyed both versions. The original version with Michael Rene was definitely my preferred version.

 

[ginny]

I loved the 1951 movie and enjoyed the 2008.
One major difference is that the black and whites always had to rely heavily on the acting to offset the special effects; where now days the special effects sometimes overwhelm the acting.
The message of each movie is slightly different. Although it could be said that the 1951 movie had some concerns over the Earth--it mostly fed into the concern of the times which was global nuclear holocaust.
The aliens detected our use of nuclear weapons and became concerned for the future(especially if we gained space travel).
It was sort of like--there goes the neighborhood. They were trying to decide whether to isolate us from the universe because of our war like nature..

The 2008 movie focused on the earth--our misuse of resources and devastation of the earth through over harvesting.
We were like some sort of vermin overflowing the earth.
More like 'damn' cockroaches(They must have read Kafka). They wanted to wipe us out and repopulate the flora and fauna.
I was never certain whether they wanted to create a paradise the aliens could enjoy or just save the earth.


It's interesting that the story this is based on has a totally different outlook.
In that the whole thing culminated in a twist at the end.
The alien bio-form from the ship eventually suffers and possibly dies and one of the people investigating tries to apologize to the machine for having harmed their master and the machines is unfazed and responds "I am the Master."

 

[BAYLOR]

I loved the 1951 movie and enjoyed the 2008.
One major difference is that the black and whites always had to rely heavily on the acting to offset the special effects; where now days the special effects sometimes overwhelm the acting.
The message of each movie is slightly different. Although it could be said that the 1951 movie had some concerns over the Earth--it mostly fed into the concern of the times which was global nuclear holocaust.
The aliens detected our use of nuclear weapons and became concerned for the future(especially if we gained space travel).
It was sort of like--there goes the neighborhood. They were trying to decide whether to isolate us from the universe because of our war like nature..

The 2008 movie focused on the earth--our misuse of resources and devastation of the earth through over harvesting.
We were like some sort of vermin overflowing the earth.
More like 'damn' cockroaches(They must have read Kafka). They wanted to wipe us out and repopulate the flora and fauna.
I was never certain whether they wanted to create a paradise the aliens could enjoy or just save the earth.


It's interesting that the story this is based on has a totally different outlook.
In that the whole thing culminated in a twist at the end.
The alien bio-form from the ship eventually suffers and possibly dies and one of the people investigating tries to apologize to the machine for having harmed their master and the machines is unfazed and responds "I am the Master."

In the 2008 film the alines simply wanted to save the Earth from humanity by wiping us out. They weren't interested in colonization.

 

[CriticalCarrot]

The re-make is definitely a disappointment.

 

[Bagpuss]

I haven't seen either of them for a while, but the thing that always annoyed me about the 2008 film was the product placement. At one point Klaatu turns up at an outlet of a well-known fast-food chain and has a conversation with another member of his species about the forthcoming destruction of the planet. The whole scene is mostly pointless and if you deleted it from the film, then the film would still make sense and be a good 10 minutes shorter. The scene only really exists to show the logo of the said fast-food chain prominently at the start of the scene. At the time it really pissed me off. Apparently, it still does.

In terms of the original source material, I think the 2008 version is closer to the original source material than the 1951 version. The 1951 version imagines Klaatu as a space-Jesus allegory, which is absolutely not what the source story is about. Indeed, in the source story Klaatu gets shot and dies before the story starts. The 2008 version comes closer to some of the original ideas in the source story but doesn't explicitly state them, presumably to avoid upsetting American churches.

I liked the effects in both versions. The saucer in the original is great, and the ship landing scene in the 2008 version is equally great, although different.

If I had to choose between them, then I'm not sure.

 

[BigBadBob141]

Both films are very loosely based on a short story "Farewell The Master" by Harry Bates.
An alien and robot land on a mission of peace, the alien is murdered by a mad man, the alien is entombed with full honours while the robot becomes inactive.
The hero of the story finds out that at night time when no one is around the robot wakes up and conducts experiments, trying to revive/reproduce the dead alien.
The hero helps the robot and I think they manage to revive the alien for a short time, given hope the robot returns to it's home world with the body of the alien, hoping it will have more success there, before it leaves the hero tries to pass on a message saying he is sorry about what happened, that not all humans are violent and hopes it's master can be successfully revived, to which the robot replies along the lines of, "you do not understand, I am the master"!!!
Not bad seeing as it was written back in 1940!

 

[Jeffbert]

I admit I have not seen the remake. I comment on the very unlikely idea (in my opinion) that enlightened space aliens come to Earth, aghast at our violent ways. So far as I know, every creature strives for territory, food, mates, etc. Even plants, in their own way, must contend with others, for this & that. Large trees' shade will cause most anything underneath it, to wither, from lack of sunlight; fungi, the exception..

Given that the space aliens had long ago, overcome their own competitive / combative instincts, and come demanding we do the same; o.k., that seems more reasonable. Perhaps I had forgotten some element of the plot.

Very intense drama, though!

As for remakes, there are some things that are classics, and remakes just cannot do justice to them. It is all because somebody wants our money, or in this case, because of the message. Nearly everything is political!

 

[BAYLOR]

Both films are very loosely based on a short story "Farewell The Master" by Harry Bates.
An alien and robot land on a mission of peace, the alien is murdered by a mad man, the alien is entombed with full honours while the robot becomes inactive.
The hero of the story finds out that at night time when no one is around the robot wakes up and conducts experiments, trying to revive/reproduce the dead alien.
The hero helps the robot and I think they manage to revive the alien for a short time, given hope the robot returns to it's home world with the body of the alien, hoping it will have more success there, before it leaves the hero tries to pass on a message saying he is sorry about what happened, that not all humans are violent and hopes it's master can be successfully revived, to which the robot replies along the lines of, "you do not understand, I am the master"!!!
Not bad seeing as it was written back in 1940!

Ive read Farwell to the Master and thought it quite good . A a fun novelization of the 1951 movie exists .

 

[ginny]

The question, though, is does that even make sense?

In the 2008 film the alines simply wanted to save the Earth from humanity by wiping us out. They weren't interested in colonization.

A superior race--one that feels it is so superior to the indigenous population that they are certain that the natives are not properly using the resources on their planet--lands on the shores and decides to wipe out the indigenous population.

Our history shows that that always precedes colonization and after travelling the long distance to get to our planet I can't help but think that they really intend on making use of the planet after they bring it up to their standard of what is civilized.

Those aliens begin to look very familiar.

 

[BAYLOR]

The question, though, is does that even make sense?

A superior race--one that feels it is so superior to the indigenous population that they are certain that the natives are not properly using the resources on their planet--lands on the shores and decides to wipe out the indigenous population.

Our history shows that that always precedes colonization and after travelling the long distance to get to our planet I can't help but think that they really intend on making use of the planet after they bring it up to their standard of what is civilized.

Those aliens begin to look very familiar.

That's an Interesting take on the film .