There are other movies which can be accepted as being a part of the TV Universe - the 1966 "Batman", "Highlander", "The X-Files: Fight The Future", "McHale's Navy Joins The Air Force", "Charlie's Angels", and the most recent example, "Serenity" which grew out of 'Firefly'. There's even an episode of 'Murder, She Wrote' which picked up the storyline of a film noir and brought back the original actors to continue the tale.
Those movies which are remakes of TV series, but without the original casts, don't count. "The Addams Family Values", "Sgt. Bilko", "The Saint", "My Favorite Martian" are a few examples. Conversely, TV series based on movies, like 'Lassie' or 'Stargate SG-1' don't have connections to the movies that inspired them. Not even if they share certain actors playing roles in both, like Gary Burghoff as Radar O'Reilly in both the movie and TV versions of 'M*A*S*H'.
And when even just one actor gets replaced once it becomes a TV series, a movie can be disqualified from making the connection, as was the case with "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" when it became 'My Big Fat Greek Life'. Once John Corbett's character was replaced by another actor for the TV series, they became two separate worlds.
So for the most part, Toobworld and the "Cineverse" (as Craig Shaw Gardner calls it) remain separate from each other. There are thousands of movies out there which will never have any connection to the TV Universe.
But there have always been a few of those films which I've always wanted to pull into the embrace of TV Land. "The Shootist" starring John Wayne is one such movie. And "The Poseidon Adventure" is another.
And tomorrow night, Sunday, November 20, Toobworld will finally get its own version of the story about the upside-down ocean liner.
With the advancements in technology over the last thirty years since the first version of Paul Gallico's book, this new adventure promises to be better when it comes to the special effects. As for the storyline, there will be some similarities - how could they remake "The Poseidon Adventure" and NOT include the classic shot of the passenger who falls from the floor down into the ceiling skylight? So of course we can look forward to that!
Like Gene Hackman before him, Rutger Hauer is a man of the cloth whose faith is challenged by the disaster. But this time out, Belle Rosen's husband Manny is already dead. And instead of being just a retired cop, Mike Rogo is now updated to working for Homeland Security.
Even the reason for the ocean liner to turn upside down has been revised, with terrorists replacing Mother Nature as the culprit. Since I haven't seen this 3 hour TV movie in advance, I don't know if acting in the name of God instead of an act of God itself rocks the clergyman's boat, but it definitely separates this new version from its cinematic forefather.
And like Martha Stewart would say, that's a good thing. Who wants to go to a concert to hear exact copies of the original songs? If you're going to remake a movie, I want variations that make the return trip worthwhile. Or else, why bother?
So my memories of the original version of "The Poseidon Adventure" - and I LOVED that movie when it came out! - will not be clouded by, nor will they influence, my view of this new adaptation of the book. Come 8 pm, EST on Sunday night, my VCR will be recording NBC's production of "The Poseidon Adventure" while I'm sleeping, so that on Monday morning I can enjoy Toobworld's latest version of a three hour tour.
A three hour tour.......
This won't be the only post I'll be making about "The Poseidon Adventure". Tomorrow, leading up to the movie's presentation, I'll share my wacked Toobworld viewpoint, which may be reminiscent of a controversial essay I wrote in the old Tubeworld Dynamic back in October of 2001.
Stay tuned........
BCnU!
Tele-Toby
"Chaos is out there, and he's lurking beyond the horizon."
Chris Stevens
'Northern Exposure'
Chris Stevens
'Northern Exposure'
