Disney+ is taking a lot of 80’s classics, and turning them into tv shows, including the new Goonies series and Willow– check it out!
We’d be lying if we said we weren’t excited for the remakes/reimaginings. However, with them turning many things into full series, which end up being about 5-8 times as long (depending on episode length) you start to wonder if it’s the right move. Well, not even the right move, more like can the shows ever live up to the originals. Oftentimes, it feels like they lose the essence of what made the originals so good. But when they hit it right, you get something like The Mandalorian, and that’s just awesome.
Let’s check out the details we’ve seen for the new Goonies show and then get more into the idea if this is the right move or not.
New “Goonies” Series Coming to Disney+ (are shows the way to go?)
This was originally going to be a Fox show, however, they deemed the material not quite mature enough for their audience (this is just begging for a joke to be made…). However, once they passed on the show, Disney+ picked it up. While there aren’t a ton of details surrounding the show quite yet, we have a basic idea of the story.
It’s basically going to be a group of kids in a small town making a shot-for-shot remake of the original movie. It’s actually an interesting idea and will let there be plenty of nostalgia while moving the story to our times and still deal with many of the same things considering it will be set in a small town again.
The show will be a joint venture with Gail Berman, Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, and Donner’s wife, Lauren Shuler Donner as executive producers. It looks like the creator is Sarah Watson who actually was the original creator of the Fox show.
For a little more insight, here’s what Gail Berman had to say:
This is a partnership between me, Amblin, and Lauren Shuler Donner. When I was at Paramount, there were these young boys doing this movie about ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, a shot-by-shot remake. It got some press at the time, and the studio was very upset about it. I thought it was an amazing idea, and it always stood in my head of — how can you take an idea like that and turn it into a TV series?
We needed a terrific writer and great partners, so we brought the idea to Amblin and those guys loved it. Sarah Watson is our creator. The series is a story of a town and a family in the lens of ‘Friday Night Lights’, and within that they tell a story of a shot-by-shot remake of ‘The Goonies’.
We had to go to Warner Bros., to Toby Emmerich, and ask if we could have rights [to ‘The Goonies’]. They said yes, obviously, because of Mr. Spielberg and the Donners. We’re now doing this for Disney+.
Are Shows Ever Going to Live Up?
The real question becomes, will the shows ever live up to the original? There are two sorts of problems when you take old IPs like Willow or Goonies and try to remake them. The first is, that people who loved the original are often left feeling a little disappointed because they can’t quite capture what made the original so good.
Part of this problem is moving it to a show, you have to add so much (which can be amazing if they do it right because it really fills in the world). Then, the next problem becomes, that if people don’t know anything about the original, they are often left a little confused about some of what’s going on and don’t get super involved.
With that said, we’re still hopeful they will make them work and if they do, it could really lead to more world-building. Who knows, maybe Willow and Goonies will be the next Mandalorian with great storytelling and work perfectly.
Are you excited to see them remaking some classic movies into shows and series?
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
