As a member of the First Television Generation, I thrilled to this:
The Lone Ranger made a pretty good transition from radio to TV. He showed up on the Big Screen in color in 1956, but I didn't see that one until I was old enough to sit up in front of the television set.
They tried to do an "updated" movie in 1981 which, to borrow a phrase from Mel Brooks, stank on ice. Klinton Spilsbury was so bad they had to bring in another actor post-production to overdub his dialogue. Didn't they catch any of that in the auditions?! Not even Christopher Lloyd as the villain Butch Cavendash could save that turkey.
So it was with mixed feelings I found out Disney was doing a new version, with Armie Hammer (not to be confused with the baking soda) as TLR and Johnny Depp as Tonto.
For those of us who grew up with Clayton Moore and Jay Silver heels
this look at Hammer and Depp may be something of a culture shock:
I dunno, it could be pretty cool. Or it could be a rotting disaster, like "The Green Hornet" last summer, in which they altered the characters and the set-up to try to make it a "hip" snarky joke. We'll see in May.
I am thinking of going to see "John Carter" this week, but since I've never read any of Edgar Rice Burroughs's "John Carter Warlord of Mars" books, I'll have to ask fan (and renowned romance author) Devlin O'Neill how well the Disney Dudes translated that one! Well, Barsooming Dev goes to see it.
Meanwhile, I hear Disney is doing a new version of "The Mickey Mouse Club," too!
I'll probably tune that in.
