From: nebusj-@-rpi-.edu   
      
   "Chris \"Sampo\" Cornell"  writes:   
      
   >When I first heard that they were remaking this, I predicted the critics   
   >would hate it, no matter what (though their contempt seems deserved).   
   >The original is (perhaps rightly) considered a holy icon among film   
   >buffs.   
      
   	You know, while I like Robert Wise's directing, and the presence   
   of the original Klaatu, I don't think I'd grant the original Day The   
   Earth Stood Still status as a holy icon or a classic, except maybe in   
   the (to be impolite) very uncompetitive market of science fiction films,   
   where anything that doesn't end in a big stupid explosion stands out.   
      
   	The original sets up a great scenario, but then punts the story   
   away with the resolution: give up your warlike ways or our robots will   
   destroy you!  For your own good!  That's a totalitarian vision of peace,   
   and no less based on the fear of destruction than the existing Cold War   
   was.  It'd be a softer destruction, I suppose, but no less horrible to   
   those trying to survive it.   
      
   	Arthur C Clarke's _Childhood's End_ has the same gimmick of the   
   alien bloodlessly conquers Earth, but he puts that in the prologue of   
   the story, and at least shows that some of the hard work of governing   
   Earth to a better location has been going on.  (Most of this is off   
   stage, of course, in part because he needs to preserve his original   
   punch line.)  That feels missing in the original _The Day The Earth   
   Stood Still_, and I think that's what keeps me from really feeling the   
   love for it.   
      
   --   
   								Joseph Nebus   
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)