I had no idea this existed

[james_davis_nicoll]

Did anyone else know there was a Remo Williams TV pilot?

(warning: it's a Remo Williams TV pilot)

"Remo Williams TV Pilot opening" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

If it's the one that ends with Remo doing the Jesus imitation then yes, I've seen it. Fun, if not exactly high art.

[nojay.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, cheese!

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

As it happens, I have known this for about two days.

A friend was asking about a site offering DVDs of his favorite TV show.

I browsed around and found they had a considerable "Unaired TV Pilots" section. Bootlegs all. Remo Williams can be yours for $12.95.

I noticed they offer a copy of Plymouth identical to the DVD I have, a murky transfer from VHS.

[timgueguen.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know if Remo Williams, The Adventure Begins, was the last big screen Hollywood film to have an actor in yellowface for non-parody reasons? For those who didn't know Williams Korean mentor/tormentor, Chiun, was played by Joel Gray in the movie.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Cloud Atlas made use of yellowface. Inept yellowface; the make up effects in that film ranged from good to not good at all.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know if Remo Williams, The Adventure Begins, was the last big screen Hollywood film to have an actor in yellowface for non-parody reasons?

It would be pleasant to think so, but I'm inclined to doubt it.

I love Joel Grey, especially when he tapdances*, but gee whiz.

On the upside, one might consider that casting Roddy McDowell as a Korean martial-arts master who can break the Fourth Wall with his mind might possibly have been one reason the TV pilot was not picked up. That, too, is a pleasant thought.




* I dream of seeing the 1970 TV production of George M! again before I die. Looked it up on IMDB, got a surprise: another fan of this production was F. Gwynplaine Macintyre. "And, really: Joel Grey dancing on a bare stage is far more magical and entertaining than some million-dollar pyrotechnic effect." Rest in peace, F.

[sean o'hara (from livejournal.com)]

If you expand "yellow face" to include Indians, there's Fisher Stevens in the Short Circuit movies and of course Cumberbatch in the most recent Star Trek.

[burger-eater.livejournal.com]

I found it while I was doing my blog post about the movie some weeks back. As it turns out, the pilot was pre-empted for the first 45 minutes by some news event (presidential speech, iirc) and only the last 15 showed.

And that was the end of that.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

To be fair, there was no yellowface involved in ST; they just didn't explain why a Sikh warrior was a white guy.

Original Trek didn't explain why a Sikh warrior was a Latino guy, of course, but the world was younger then.

I do think they could have lampshaded Cumberbatch; there are white Sikhs, after all, and a simple "his family came to India as colonialists and stayed as converts" would have done it.

[sean o'hara (from livejournal.com)]

No matter how you explain it, you still end up with "genetically engineered superman is white guy."

[nathan helfinstine (from livejournal.com)]

I dunno, that proposed explanation would have led us into "What these people need is a honkey!" territory.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Yes. But I think that would have been the lesser of two evils.

The whole business was dumb; why didn't they just write a new villain if they were so bound & determined to have Cumberbatch, or cast a South Asian actor if they were so bound & determined to have Khan? Ultimately they painted themselves into a stupid racist corner and then went "La la la la I can't hear you".

[michael j. walsh (from livejournal.com)]

TV show details ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Destroyer_%28fiction%29#Television

[timgueguen.livejournal.com]

You'd think I would have remembered that given the controversy and one of the participants being Halle Berry. On the other hand Wikipedia calls it a German film, despite being produced and directed by the Wachowskis.

[canyonwalker.livejournal.com]

I was surprised they cast a White Brit as Khan but I do appreciate the quandary they probably found themselves in. Once the Race Card is played, every move you can make is wrong. To wit:

- Cast a White person as Khan? You're insulting South Asians by "whiting" them out.
- Cast a South Asian actor as Khan? Now you're portraying South Asians as villains.
- Cast a South Asian actor as the villain and add a heroic South Asian character to balance it out? That's obvious pandering.
- Change Khan's last name to Smith so it makes sense cast a White European and no member of an ethnic minority is a villain? Now you're erasing the participation of other cultures from your story.

It's hard to parse out which of these is least bad. That said, I would have preferred the second one. At least it would have aligned with the existing backstory they used.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I was surprised they cast a White Brit as Khan but I do appreciate the quandary they probably found themselves in.

Is 'do an original story' completely off the board?

[canyonwalker.livejournal.com]

Is 'do an original story' completely off the board?

Theoretically, no. As a practical matter, given how they've chosen to finance, operate, and market the franchise, yes.

[kiya]

Hell, one of the husbands has a "public service" userpicture based on it.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

I found Roddy McDowell...less incorrect for Chiun than I had expected. Jeffrey Meek cannot move like Remo should. Never mind that no human can actually fight like that - he should at least be able to make it look as if he's a capable martial artist, yet his fight scenes do not even show him as a convincing competent brawler. On the other hand, the writing seems decent and the interpersonal chemistry is as it should be. If Meek could have been trained to look like a martial artist this could have been a decent series.

[bruce munro (from livejournal.com)]

Chiun walked on water in the movie, if that's what you're talking about. Or does Remo do the same thing in the TV show? I iz confused.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm remembering the movie wrongly, I think.