MovieChat Forums > Saturn 3 (1980) Discussion > Remake SATURN 3 with updated Hector

Remake SATURN 3 with updated Hector


I enjoy the controversy about SATURN 3. In my opinion, the movie wasn't bad. It was fairly gripping and entertaining. I think too many people were unfairly comparing Saturn 3 with Star Wars and of course that's not a fair comparison. Given some of the cheesy, cheap sci-fi flicks being shown on cable television, Saturn 3 at least had old-fashioned, expensive sets and props and special effects. Saturn 3 aspired to be a mystery and sci-fi thriller at the same time and perhaps that was its drawback.

I believe a remake of SATURN 3 is feasible by updating the storyline a little and the special effects a lot.

The biggest change I propose is a new Hector, based on the 'artificial person' concept from the ALIEN franchise. If the 'artifical person' is too realistic, then perhaps a large, human-like android could be constructed. For example, a new Hector could resemble the first generation infiltrator Terminator from that Franchise, ie, the rubber faced android used before the organic flesh version. The 1980 Hector looks too primitive and unsophisticated for today.
The original Hector was unfortunately programmed by a psychotic, amoral scientist space pilot. And the programmer was sexually attracted to the Farrah Fawcett character. Hector picked up the sexual obsession of its programmer but this angle was not fully explored and could be pushed a little further without descending into pornography.

The storyline plot of how the Kirk Douglas character finally defeats Hector was actually a good idea and should be duplicated. I could perceive an almost Christian and heroic message in Kirk's character's final action to defeat Hector which meant self-sacrifice and tremendous courage to lay down one's life in order to save the life of his fellow man, or woman in this case.

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I think a re-make would be very hard to pull off. The film has no background material, no decent plot and no tangible characters.

There are already many movies that pulled this sort of thing off far better (Alien, Terminator etc). Re-making Saturn 3 without drawing obvious comparisons to those movies would be very hard. I don't think any studio would want to put money into a bad idea that failed in it's day.

There's a lot of good sci-fi out there begging to be re-made (Babylon 5, old Dr. Who, a number of 50s B-movies etc) so no real need to scrape the bottom of the barrel with this.

My opinion anyway :o)

N.

"You are entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts"

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"I think a re-make would be very hard to pull off. The film has no background material, no decent plot and no tangible characters. "

I disagree completely and on everything. this story screams for a first class remake. No background material is necessary, just two people who want to get a way from it all, visited by a psychotic "dr frankenstein" and his monster. The plot was perfect, the allegory to hector and achilles well done, albeit a bit forced, and the only slight issue of no tangible characters is only because of the terrible casting of kirk douglass, Farrah and the poor use of harvey kietel.

I would love to see this done with a memorable villian and his creation, for the Adam and Eve role, I would again go for an older actor with a too young girl, and have the villian again play that against them. Nobody jumps out at me for the roles though. I could see jude law or mathew mcConachy as the villian. that would be a nice switch for them. kirk douglas in his 60's was too old for this role. someone in his mid 40's, a sad sack fellow disgusted with the world is necessary, Jeremy Renner would be good. for the Girl, your basic DID will be fine, she could have some spunk if you want, that is really the least important role. keeping away from the A-listers, I would think zoe dashenel, or even the other zoe, Zoe Saldana would be fine, it just has to be someone with better delivery than FF. just someone in their mid 20's

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There's a million really cool, better story lines out there...
how about enough of the remakes and they make something cool and new in its space?

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