Remake of Kronos

As a nod to the original, any remake would need to cast an actor more famous as the voice of an animated character as one of the scientists (instead of George Jetson, they could get the Dad from Family Guy or something).

It would be a nice touch.

I hope it does not end up gone for a Burton like Mars Attacks! and Alice in Wonderland but gets an appropriately serious treatment comparable to the original, not for a laugh, not for camp. The gadget doesn't get destroyed by being exposed to Slim Whitman, or even Justin Bieber or the cast of Glee, while the victorious scientist do a silly dance, ok?

CB

Good Times, Noodle Salad


"Gone for a Burton" is British slang for killed in action.

SinceMars Attacks! was trashy material from bubble gum cards in the first place so it's not so tragic, while Alice was a crime against civilization. Then again a civilization that rewards such vandalism with a billion dollars deserves to die.

Interesting you would ask that question...

I knew actor Jeff Morrow personally as a close friend the last 15 years of his life, and he always smiled when someone mentioned KRONOS, as he was very proud of that, a real gem, it was a classic sci-fi B-movie done on a low budget which managed to look expensive since it had very well-done visual effects, a fine cast, great production design, art direction, editing, direction by Kurt Neumann, and an excellent music score by Paul Sawtell & Bert Shefter.

Most people are surprised that Jeff Morrow was 50 years old when he starred in KRONOS! He didn't look a day over 35! He managed to stay youthful until he was in his 60s.

In 1977, 20 years after the original KRONOS was made, there was talk going around 20th Century Fox about doing a color and wide-screen stereo remake of it, and the project got as far as pre-production before it was quietly aborted. Such a shame! I would have loved to have seen a classic like this updated to 1977.
Special Effects wizard Robert F. Skotak told me when he first arrived in L.A. from his native Michigan, he wrote a good screen treatment for the remake of KRONOS, which Fox purchased from him for several thousand dollars, to develop into a shooting script (which to my knowledge was never written), plus a portfolio of proposed production design sketches which he and his brother Dennis Skotak worked out over that summer when they were first breaking into the Hollywood film biz. Someone at Fox took a shine to them for a while, but after the project was aborted they had to go back to working hard for a living until Roger Corman hired them in 1979 to work on BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS (1980) where they met James Cameron, who was also doing special visual effects work. And hard work it is too, doing SPFX. And that was years before they began their Oscar-winning streak with Jim Cameron in 1986...
I worked with Bob & Dennis Skotak in 1986-1987 on a bomb titled INVASION EARTH, released briefly in 1988. It was a really bad movie, but we all had fun making it. I played one of the green BEMs (bug-eyed monsters) and worked on the special visual effects crew with them.

I would still like to see a good high-quality technically superior remake of KRONOS with a good cast. Sort of a GIANT ROBOT version of CLOVERFIELD...

Dejael

That would be a sacrilege. Anyone familiar with the Mars Attacks cards (and there are sites online where one can see and read the story, card by card) and grown up even a little bit knows that Mars Attacks is rubbish even by genre SF standards. It is was designed to be kid stuff for a kid product and so it is. That Burton chose to trash it is a small matter. (That he trashed Alice in Wonderland is a crime against civilization which was sadly rewarded with far too much money). It gives new dimension but retains the meaning of the phrase "gone for a Burton" as applied to quality material subjected to his "adaptation".

Kronos has some quality story elements and deserves better than instant camp (e.g. Mars Attacks) or the action, effects and a bit of sleaze lobotomized treatment (as with with the J.J. Abrams re-shred of the Star Trek franchise, in particular the Into Darkness entry).

CB

Good Times, Noodle Salad

Agreed!