What do you think about the upcoming new Hawaii Five-O?

[B.R.Stateham]

Here's a clip for the new Hawaii Five-O series coming to CBS this fall.  Remakes. . . what do you think of them?  Generally the consensus is remakes never reach the level of fanship the originals do.

 

But the new James Bond series is doing it.  And the re-introduction of the Star Trek franchise worked very well.  Does Hawaii Five-O have a chance?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJOhqxHnWa8&feature=related

[Camille LaGuire]

I haven't watched the video yet, because I'm still freaked out about the idea of a sexy vampire playing Steve McGarret. (I've always felt that the only person who could actually capture that strange combination of hip and square, stiff and dramatic was David Caruso.)

And I can't imagine them ever doing anything that could possibly live up to the opening credit sequence.

But, as for remakes, I have nothing against them. When a remake exceeds the original (such as The Maltese Falcon) we tend to forget the original. Generally I try to take it on its own merits. (The movie version of The Fugitive was fabulous, The Saint was awful. Mission Impossible has been surprisingly enjoyable to me.)

And it's hard to live up to the kind of reboot Bond got with Casino Royale.

[minervaK]

Observations:

The guy playing McGarret looks younger than the guy playing Danno. Part of the charm of the original series was McGarret's elder-statesman thing with his crew. That appears to be missing here.

I don't see any native Hawaiians in the trailer (the woman in the bikini might be, but she doesn't look like it, to me). Everybody's white-culture pretty.

Tired cop-show tropes everywhere (fully-clothed men talking to women in bikinis, guys punching each other out to prove who's top dog, hollywood-skinny stupormodel type successfully decking buff male, etc.).

Probable grade: Fail. For me, at least.

[I. J. Parker]

I never did like "Hawaii Five-Oh."

[D.R. MacMaster]

I can't see the trailer because CBS geo-locked it.

However, since I'm on the internet, I will still judge it sight unseen. ;)

1. I did once see an opening credit sequence for a Hawaii 5-O revival attempt from the 90s with Gary Busey in the lead. I think a bat-sh*t crazy McGarrett would have been a daring creative choice. I don't think there's anything daring in this remake.

2. Why do a remake when they could either do a new show set in Hawaii, or if they wanted to use the familiar brand, do a "Next Generation" deal with a new cop taking on McGarrett's old job? Even have a portrait of Jack Lord in the 5-O office. It'll be a nice detail than just rehashing the same characters with younger, prettier actors.

3. Without Wo-Fat it will be nothing. Sure the actor wasn't even Asian, but he was just so happy about his work, he made the character a ray of sunshine.

[Camille LaGuire]

"Melodramatically corny" YES! That's what I was trying to say about Jack Lord. (And David Caruso, for that matter.)

I wonder if the younger generation doesn't realize it seemed melodramatically corny back then too.

Other thoughts (now that I've seen the clip): Since the woman is Kono, I guess she's The Native Representative (even if she is a cousin of Chin, who looks Japanese to me). And yes, the fact that Steve looks younger than Dano is a disconnect. (Strangely enough, when I watched this as a kid, I always assumed Chin was the second in command. Dano was just the sidekick. When I got older and saw that he wasn't, it was another disconnect for me....)

I think a Next Gen take would have been a much better idea.

And I would have LOVED to see a version with Gary Busey.

[John McFetridge]

I also can't see it because the Canadian network that bought it (Global) hasn't bothered to put the trailer online, or do any promo for that matter.

But, as DR says, I'm on the internet so why not comment on it? I think it's too bad that all Hawaii ever gets to show is the scenery. There's a complicated multi-ethnic social dynamic in Hawaii and a complicated world of crime. But it seems for serious crime networks only look at New York and LA. I guess the success of shows like Castle and Bones and the low ratings for Southland will mean lighter cop shows for the next few years.

[Eric Christopherson]

I read once (around the time I got married in Hawaii) that the state has one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the nation. (Insert Maui Wowee jokes here.) But it has a lot of property theft, which I assume is do to the tourism trade.

[Jon Loomis]

I was never a big fan of the original. This one looks really stupid (helicopters shooting rockets in a cop show is always a bad sign), but on the other hand the girl in the bikini is extremely attractive. So I'm guessing it'll probably be a hit.

On edit: The young lady in question is Grace Park--I'm guessing that surname is Korean, and guessing further that she's Korean American. If you just want to look at her and don't care about helicopters and explosions, here's a nice picture, for informational purposes only, with apologies to all who might be offended:

[B.R.Stateham]

Good eye candy,

[Jon Loomis]

It's a goofy image, really--the boots, the lady with the guitar, the contrived pose. Still, she's quite good at wearing very small clothing.

[B.R.Stateham]

If I remember correctly, she was one of the Cylons on Battlestar Galactica.

[I. J. Parker]

Not offended. I like looking at pretty people.