geekosystem

Ladies and gentlemen, today we mourn the loss of a real hero. With a lump in our throats and a tear in our eye, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History announced that their resident space-traveling red-backed jumping spider, Nefertiti, passed away yesterday, five days after returning from a 100-day and 42-million-mile journey to the International Space Station. We promised ourselves we wouldn't cry, but here come the waterworks.

Fresh on the heels of Alice in Wonderland's box office success, rumors are flying about not one, but two feature film remakes of The Wizard of Oz.  Now, there's more than one way to retell a story, and there are a few ways to redo Wizard that would probably work.  The odds of Hollywood actually finding those particular ways is unlikely.

More and more often these days, I find myself shouting at movie trailers and announcements: "WHY would you remake that?" Clash of the Titans?  The Karate Kid? My Fair Lady?

I'd like to take some time and explain when a remake generally isn't a good idea, and when it generally is, and whether or not this means that The Wizard of Oz is something we should revisit.