More Remake Nonsense: Revenge of the Nerds

[ulthar]

CNN Story

IMDB Entry for Remake

According to CNN, the director is slated to be Kyle Newman.  I've never heard of him or any of his movies.

But, it gets worse.  Adam Epstein is co-writing, and he gave us such winners as 2001 and 2002 MTV Movie Awards (what the??? he wrote THAT and allowed it in his filmography on IMDB??), NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE and AMERICAN PI.  This does not bode well for the quality of this project.

On the plus side, "Still Standing" (a not completely bad CBS Sit Com, or at least the first season was ok) pen man Adam F. Goldberg is the other co-writer.

Fan reaction so far does not seem very positive.

[daveblackeye15]

I havn't seen the original but I already feel insulted by the idea of a remake.

[raj]

What about Porky's?  Are they going to remake Porky's?

[Derf]

Or maybe Fast Times at Ridgemont High, with Sean Penn as a teacher this time?

I don't normally care whether a movie is remade (I usually just ignore an obvious poor choice). I'm sure I'll ignore this one as well, but I can't see any reason to remake this movie; nerds aren't even tormented any more (or at least to the same extent they were then), so why do they need revenge?

[ulthar]

Derf Wrote:
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>  but I can't see
> any reason to remake this movie;

This is just pure speculation, but, as Scott mentioned in another thread, certain movies 'age' well.  That is, they gain some popularity - or at least a cult following - over time.  I *think* part of what we are seeing is a result of this.  Somebody somewhere notices that a group of people quote an oldish movie, or that certain plot points have become cliche and want to cash-in on that.  Why bother trying to create something new (with the risk noone will care), when you "know" your audience already likes the product?

[Derf]

ulthar Wrote:

> This is just pure speculation, but, as Scott mentioned in another thread, certain movies 'age'
> well.  That is, they gain some popularity - or at least a cult following - over time.  I *think*
> part of what we are seeing is a result of this. Somebody somewhere notices that a group of people quote an oldish movie, or that certain plot points have become cliche and want to cash-in on that. Why bother trying to create something new (with the risk noone will care), when you "know" your audience already likes the product?
>

Agreed. However, remaking an old movie also results in an "update," usually at the expense of the lines that are well-loved and often-quoted. How do you update nerds? Techno music is dead in America, so that angle is pretty much out. Everyone and his dog is "into" computers, so that aspect is gone, and porn is easily and freely accessible, so why bother with the sorority cameras that play such a big role in the movie? What is a nerd any more? The word seems to have lost most of its meaning, and certainly most of its negative connotations. If Napoleon Dynamite can be a hero, how do you make a group of "nerds" seem like underdogs? As an adult nerd, I don't see how you can recreate something that was so purely '80s.

Whoa, I seem to be taking this waaaaay too personally. I guess some people get offended at zombie or slasher remakes/ruinations; I'll just have to be the voice of the outraged nerd.

Wonder Twin powers activate! Form of . . . a swirlie! Shape of . . . an ice pocket protector!

[odinn7]

Derf Wrote:
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> Wonder Twin powers activate! Form of . . . a
> swirlie! Shape of . . . an ice pocket
> protector!
>

Oh...this is a different topic alltogether...Wonder Twins? I believe we had a thread in which it was decided they are among the lamest super heros out there.

Seriously though...aren't we really all nerds? Or are we geeks? I can't remember which is which...I am a dork, I know that.

[dean]

The old Nerds/Geeks/Dorks argument seems to have various complicated arguments to it, but I do remember a thread a while back which had a quiz to see what you were at heart!

On another note, you really have to think about how silly the marketing for this would have been: "Hey Napoleon Dynamite's a nerd-type guy, how about we just get a bunch of Dynamites together for one explosive package of hero-nerds.'' to which some arsehole producer will say ''that's a great idea, except for the fact that it was kind of already done by Revenge Of the Nerds,'' to which they'd both look lovingly at each other and just shout 'REMAKE!!!' and then start rubbing their hands together in a 'gimme money' sort of way.

And yes, I put waaaaaaaay too much thought into that scenario.

But seriously, why Revenge of the Nerds?  I'm generally willing to give remakes the benefiet of the doubt most of the time, with the hope that with creative writing it could work, but I have to say, that with the points raised above about the state of what Nerds are like, you really have to imagine that it will be an uphill battle in getting this to work right.

But anyways, I'm just getting a mental picture of that guy from American Splendour talking about Revenge of the Nerds...

[Derf]

odinn7 Wrote:
Wonder Twins? I believe we had a thread in which it was decided they are among the lamest super heros out there.
>
> Seriously though...aren't we really all nerds? Or are we geeks? I can't remember which is which...I am a dork, I know that.
>

Yeah, the Wonder Twins are about the lamest ever. That's why I used them in that post. It seemed appropriate. Also, it works as a trap to bring out the true nerds/dorks/geeks, who are about the only ones who'd get it. I probably fit into all three categories, so there you go.

[odinn7]

Derf Wrote:
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> odinn7 Wrote:
> Wonder Twins? I believe we had a thread in which
> it was decided they are among the lamest super
> heros out there.
> >
> > Seriously though...aren't we really all nerds?
> Or are we geeks? I can't remember which is
> which...I am a dork, I know that.
> >
>
> Yeah, the Wonder Twins are about the lamest ever.
> That's why I used them in that post. It seemed
> appropriate. Also, it works as a trap to bring out
> the true nerds/dorks/geeks, who are about the only
> ones who'd get it. I probably fit into all three
> categories, so there you go.
>


Hey Derf...I wasn't knocking you...nope...in fact, I was agreeing with you.

[ulthar]

Derf Wrote:
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> Also, it works as a trap to bring out
> the true nerds/dorks/geeks, who are about the only
> ones who'd get it. I probably fit into all three
> categories, so there you go.
>

You are not the only one.  I have to admit that when I first saw Revenge of the Nerds, I identified with Gilbert and Lewis just a little TOO much.  But, I had some close friends who were jocks (and friends in other 'groups' too), so my experience was not quite as pidgeon holed as the movie.

Here's a bit of Revenge of the Nerds trivia (or nonsense).  If you write the two main characters names as Gilbert 'N Lewis, you spell out the name of a VERY famous 20th Century chemist (Gilbert N. Lewis of the "Lewis Structures" fame).  I have no idea if that was inentional by the makers of the movie, but it was a useless fact Iiked to point out to my Chem. students back when I was teaching.  In the latter years that I taught, many of them had not even heard of the movie.  Oh well.

[Derf]

odinn7 Wrote:

>
> Hey Derf...I wasn't knocking you...nope...in fact, I was agreeing with you.


I didn't take it as any kind of knock; I was just proclaiming my own nerdhood/geekhood/dorkhood. I got the agreement; don't worry.

[Just Plain Horse]

raj Wrote:
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> What about Porky's?  Are they going to remake
> Porky's?

I get the feeling that- given half a chance- hollywood will eventually remake every single thing. Oh, it'll take a few decades, and some of us probably won't live long enough to see it, but eventually every single film we've ever liked will get redone.