remake

Actors say a lot of things, and they talk about a lot of roles they'd love to tackle. But when Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle) said recently to the folks at IFC that he'd love a shot at playing Ralph Hinkley in a remake of The Greatest American Hero. The original show ran three seasons on ABC in the early '80s, when I was very young. And yet, so much of it has stayed with me through the years.

That iconic costume, the flailing arms and legs whenever Ralph was flying and his complete failure to grasp how to properly use the alien, super-powered suit he picked up in the desert. It was a wonderful blend of humor and drama and superheroics ... at least to this young mind.

That concept is definitely strong enough to support a revival, and I think Fillion is a great choice for the role of Hinkley. He's not overly muscular, he's about the right age and he already has plenty of genre credentials, which means a built-in audience.

I'm a latecomer to The Prisoner. Primarily because I wasn't alive when it first hit the airwaves in the 1960s, but also because whenever I would catch it, I was always overwhelmingly confused. Why don't these people have names? What is this Village? Is that a giant white balloon chasing him?

When I finally got the chance to watch it in order, I was treated to one of the most innovative and thought-provoking series I'd ever seen. Now, after years in development, AMC's remake of The Prisoner finally has a release date. The six-hour mini-series will air on three nights, starting Sunday November 15th at 8pm ET.

They must be pretty confident in the quality of this remake, because they're offering an opportunity at instant comparison. You can catch The Prisoner's entire original series 17-episode run on AMCtv.com. I'd recommend you do yourself a favor and at least check it out. The Prisoner is one of those projects that anyone who considers themselves a fan of science fiction needs to experience at least once. And "experience" is a good word for it.

Why is Hollywood so obsessed with remakes? Now you've got David Cronenberg looking to remake his own remake of The Fly. I get that the special effects technology has advanced and that you can make it look so much cooler, but the 1986 Jeff Goldblum film has become a modern classic. It doesn't need to be remade.

Every time we get reports of another remake, that's one less original film being made. And original doesn't even mean Cronenberg needs to make up a whole new story. Think of all the awesome science fiction, horror and fantasy stories that have been written that nobody's made a movie out of them. Why do you think we had to wait so long for a complete live-action The Lord of the Rings?