Hey folks, Harry here with another remake of a classic Science Fiction film. It seems that Stephen Sommers is leaving the world of classic monsters behind, and now is going to set his mania to re-imagining the world of Classic Science Fiction instead. He's been developing FLASH GORDON at Universal, though he has yet to commit to directing that, and now he's going to remake WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, which was originally made by George Pal whose glorious rocketship on rails is one of the great science fiction film images in my estimation. Love that ship, got the lobby card at home.
Now, what Sommers' plans are for WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE - that's anybody's guess. I certainly hope that he's not going for a sugar rush end of the world. I love the film George Pal produced - it had an elegance and a sweetness and a sense of dread that's just wonderful. George always had his films move as if a higher power than man was driving them. I love that. I also love the lushness of Technicolor in that original film. Now - I find it interesting that that the Variety story didn't mention that the Pal produced WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE was based on a novel - guess they just didn't know, but it is based on the novel by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer. Now - the one thing that always aggravated me about the original version is... they land on that 'new world' and then cut. DAMMIT! I wanted to see what the New Eden for man, that God placed floating nearby in the ocean of space for us to settle anew upon. I loved the sci-fantasy of that, and that new sunrise is a great moment... but for crissakes... this is a new world... I wanted to see more of it. I would have loved a sequel that was all about mankind starting anew on that planet. It'll be interesting to see Sommers' take. I just hope he takes the material a little more seriously than his previous endeavors.
