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

[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.

[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".

[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.