not the first first men in the Moon

[sergebroom]

I recently caught the coming attraction for the BBC's 2010 production of "First Men in the Moon".

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2U-OplBePU )

It's not that it looks bad, but it seems rather... lackluster.
Eespecially compared to 1964's Ray Harryhausen version, displayed below.
Frankly, it's hard to top Lionel Jeffries as an eccentric scientist.

Comments

[pedanther]

It's that it looks bad, but it seems rather... lackluster.

I take it there's a "not" missing from the first part of that sentence?

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Oops.
Corrected.

By the way, what with your living in the Commonwealth and probably having easier access to the BBC, have you seen it? In spite of my comment above, I will watch it, should it come my way, just in case that my first impressions turn out to be wrong.

[pedanther]

I don't know that Australia has any greater access to the BBC than anybody else. We have to wait for programs to be picked up by a local network, same as you do. (I can remember at least one year where America got Doctor Who before Australia did, or at least before those Australians who didn't get it off the back of an internet no questions asked.)

Anyhow, I mostly don't watch live TV any more. Apart from Doctor Who, I generally wait for things to come out on DVD and watch them then.

[pedanther]

And now I've watched the trailer.

First thought: The chap in the old-age makeup looks exactly like the Doctor did in old-age makeup. Clearly, there's room for refinement in the makeup process.

Subsequent thought, after watching the rest: I'm not keen. There's a fine line between "not taking it too seriously" and "not taking it seriously enough", and the trailer makes me think they've ended up on the wrong side of it. If the people who made the story aren't taking it seriously, why should I care?

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

It may be that, like the 1964 adaptation, it has drama besides the humour, but the coming attraction's emphasis on the latter doesn't bode well.

As for the makeup reminding you of Doctor Who... It's true that that they both are TV productions, but DW usually managed to overcome its budgetary constraints with an evocative & godhwow feel to it. This movie, not so much.