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Saturday, June 16, 2012

Weekend Discussion: Televisa Remakes We Would Produce

Amigos, damas, y caballeros!  The next photo gallery is in progress, so for this weekend I propose a game that occurred to me the other day as I wrote a comment on LQNPA.

A while back there was sufficiently enthusiastic discussion about my hypothetical Televisa version of Dark Shadows that this game is based on that discussion:


  • Pick a classic US TV program (We'll do movies another time).  Title translation optional.
  • Give your dream cast for the Televisa Remake you would produce.  Actors currently under contract to Telemundo are also invited to the casting call.  Although most or all character names would be changed into Spanish ones, use the original character names for clarity.
  • Make note of any minor changes to setting, character relationships, etc.
  • Comment on any previously posted project.
  • New projects should occur at least every third post, but more frequently is good, too!
Herewith, I propose Televisa's remake of Star Trek, to be called Viajes entre las Estrellas:

Regular Cast:

Captain Kirk............        Fernando Colunga
1st Officer Spock.........    Diego Olivera
Lieutenant Uhura..........    Indhira Serrano
Lieutenant Sulu.............    Pablo Cheng
Lieutenant Chekhov.......   Marcelo Cordoba
Scotty...........................    Mario Iván Martinez
Dr McCoy.....................   Jorge Salinas
Nurse Chapel.................   Sylvia Navarro
Yeoman Rand................   Angelique Boyer
Enterprise Chaplain*.......  Salvador Sanchez

Frequent Guest Cast:

Sarek............................    Alejandro Avila
Amanda.........................   Julieta Rosen
Commodore Mendez......  Cesar Evora
Klingon Commander.......  Guillermo Garcia Cantú
Romulan Commander......  Rene Casados
T'Pau, ruler of Vulcan......  Raquel Olmedo
Harry Mudd....................  Sergio Sendel

*New addition for cultural relevance

Have fun!

39 comments:

  1. I don't know, Urban, after watching Jorge Salinas in his present role, I can see Colunga and Salinas making quite a fight over the helm of the Enterprise.

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  2. i know this is for folks over 40 in our groups... but just like rcn made a Greys anatomy remake, how about taking our favs to space on a remake of BattleStar Galactica... i like Mark T and Brandon Peniche for our starfighter boys... cesar evora as the lead (Lorne Greene's char, or Jorge Cao could be that too), and you can name the rest... these boys had girlfriends so i would try to pair livia brito for Brandon's character, (heck i wish i could have put michelle pfeiffer in a time capsule as the other girl), or the girl that did Acorralada with DZ.

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  3. Great subject for discussion, Urban!

    I also think that Fernando and Jorge could compete equally for Captain Kirk. Though Jorge Salinas would be a good Doctor McCoy, because we see he does "grumpy" very well! LOL.

    I was thinking of casting for "Gone with the Wind." Jorge Salinas (with moustache and/or beard) as Rhett, Angelique Boyer as Scarlett, and maybe Sebastian Rulli as Ashley Wilkes? Who would play Melanie? Maybe Ana Brenda Contreras?

    Of course it was easy to think of Angelique and Ana Brenda in these roles, because many of us felt that "Teresa" had many echoes of Gone with the Wind in it anyway.

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  4. Oh no...you've made 'my' wonderful Rene Casados a Romulan!!!

    However...I need to ponder your wonderful ideas, Ms. Urban Anthropologist! Such fun!!!

    So GLAD you included the delicious Diego. Oh my...do I love that man!!

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  5. I have to admit I'm having a hard time picturing Julieta Rosen as Spock's mother. Amanda's just not that bitchy. :) That said she'd make an awesome actual Vulcan...perhaps T'Pau...

    Oh, who am I kidding? UA, you earned a total pass the minute you put Angelique Boyer in an ensign's minidress.

    And since martaivett went and mentioned Battlestar Galactica, it got me thinking...be afraid:

    2003 version (I'll probably do the 1978 version later)

    Main cast:

    William Adama - Arturo Peniche
    Laura Roslin - Lucero
    Apollo - Brandon Peniche
    Starbuck - Laisha Wilkins
    Gaius Baltar - Gabriel Porras
    Number Six - Maritza Rodriguez
    Boomer/Number Eight - Sandra Echeverria

    Recurring cast:

    Number Three - Barbara Mori
    Tom Zarek - Jorge Luis Pila
    Saul Tigh - Andres Garcia
    Ellen Tigh - Olivia Collins
    Dr. Cottle - Saul Lisazo
    Helo - William Levy
    Chief Tyrol - Mark Tacher
    Dualla - Ariadne Diaz
    Anders - Jencarlos Canela
    Billy - Jonathan Islas
    Cally - Kika Edgar
    Cavil/Number One - Cesar Evora
    Gaeta - Alfonso Herrera
    Admiral Cain - Kate del Castillo

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  6. Oh wow, great idea!!
    Too funny - even before I got to where you suggested a Star Trek remake I was thinking "Space:1999" because just this morning (coincidentally) I happened to be mulling over how much better I would have liked it if they'd cast someone other than Martin Landau.

    But Star Trek is a way better idea. I see Salinas as Kirk and Colunga as Picard, actually. Two different types of captains. Salinas/Kirk is more a man of action than a guy who would have a lot of staff meetings in his ready room. Colunga/Picard is a more deliberate, analytical type.

    Oh! This could work with Colunga as Picard and Salinas as Riker.

    Sendel as Mudd? At first I thought no and wanted Eduardo Yanez instead based on his brief cameo as a gangster in The Punisher.

    But you're right and I have an idea: Mudd is now the Enterprise's permanent guest in the brig. (They've gotten lost in a different quadrant, so there's no proper starbase to drop him off.) Each week, he tries to manipulate the redshirt who is supposed to guard him (a different one every week, all of them extremely handsome and/or pretty) into either helping him with an escape plan, some kind of scheme for personal profit (not that he can spend any money out here in the beta quadrant, but old habits die hard), or just some random bad advice about romance or life in general that's likely to stir up trouble and get the poor kid court martialed.

    Then the distracted redshirt gets killed off by some bug-eyed monster or homicidal computer later in the episode before he or she can carry out Mudd's plan. Therefore nobody ever gets wise to what Mudd's been doing, nor do they understand why their security officers keep getting killed off.

    Also, I hope that the Yeoman Rand and Nurse Chapel roles can be written with a lot more dignity than they were originally. Normally I wouldn't get my hopes up with the Televisa writing staff, but I think the original series set the bar pretty low.

    I would also like to add a chef to the cast. I don't care who he or she is. I just want a lot of good food scenes.

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  7. Oh, and shouldn't Rene Casados be the chaplain? He's played a priest enough times, he ought to be able to swing it!

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  8. Rene Casados has been a priest in two consecutive novelas; oh, the typecasting! Thought Rene Casados would make a good Romulan, for the makeup and costumes.

    I loved Salvador Sanchez as Padre Matias in Mi Pecado, so I nominated him.

    I totally would give the female Federation officers better uniforms (catsuits or longer skirts), but they would still have to have cleavage or we'd have no male viewers! Are you alright with that, Bill?

    Yeoman Rand would be cracking the whip on Kirk to remind him of his daily appointments, like any good assistant. I thought she got very short shrift in the original. Nurse Chapel would still have the hots for Spock.

    Turning to comedy for a minute, how about Sexo y la Ciudad:

    Carrie...... Angelique Boyer
    Charlotte... Ana Brenda Contreras
    Miranda..... Sylvia Navarro
    Samantha.... Altair Jarabo
    Mr. Big..... Sebastian Rulli
    Steve....... Mark Tacher
    Harry....... Fabian Robles
    Stanford.... Jaume Mateo

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  9. Julie, I could see Salinas as Kirk also. He is more emotionally expressive than Colunga, which is why I first thought of him as McCoy. Sergio Sendel is so good at comedy I saw him as Mudd (esp after UFCS); I couldn't think of anyone overweight...

    ...unless Rafael Inclan is too old.

    We seem to all love science fiction here; maybe novelas are also cult TV?

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  10. I was going in the totally opposite direction... How about Dragnet? The original one in b&w. I don't know our TN characters well enough to name the (tiny) cast. How 'bout Cesar Evora as Joe Friday, since he gets to narrate?

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  11. Our cop shows have been popular in Mexico so why not? And who would be his sidekick?

    Julie, the brig scenes would be hilarious! And let's not forget Mudd's episode with the androids. I nominate Lucia Guimain (Frigida from Refugio) as his abandoned wife, Stella, with the flashing badge numer 500!

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  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  13. What fun. Bill- I love your new BSG cast list. All good picks!

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  14. I got to play Uhura in a series of skits every week for an entire summer in college for incoming freshman. Homemade costumes and all. The group just reconnected on FB and someone posted this pic of our Star Trek cast: http://bit.ly/MG0CAP

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  15. And yes, I'm wearing blue eyeshadow and silver lipstick.

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  16. I am laughing so hard I'm afraid I'll rupture something.

    Vivi, that's awesome! I love Uhura. She was usually written with respect and dignity, too. But Chapel's crush on Spock sometimes went too far into the "pathetic" zone, and Rand was far too often the target of unwanted sexual advances against which she seemingly had little ability to defend herself. That really bugs me.

    So let's make Chapel more of a schemer and give Rand a greater air of authority. (I don't care what they wear because they're going to have so much damned dignity that it won't matter.) Maybe Mudd's nagging android Stella can be the chef. And Rene Casados - well, how about we compromise and make him a Romulan chaplain.

    I like the idea of Dragnet, too. It wouldn't offer much in the way of regular roles (it's really just the two detectives and a handful of much lesser characters, right?), but what great potential for guest actors. And you can get people as guests that you could never get for a long-term stint, so that'd be cool.

    I never watched Battlestar Galactica, old or new, so can't comment on that. But any time you pack a bunch of hot, athletic people together on a spaceship you've got a soap opera waiting to happen. (Do Cylons talk? Would this be an opportunity for some guest actors to do surprise voice roles?)

    About the amount of overlap between TN fandom and sci-fi, I cannot guess. However, there is a surprising amount of overlap between TN fandom and anime fandom. I found this out a few years ago when I was blundering around on YouTube for a song I'd heard in a TN. I found like a zillion fan-made music videos that combined TN ballads/theme songs with montages of relationships from popular anime series.

    It's not so farfetched - anime, at least some of it, is practically fueled by relationship angst. I'm not a fan of it myself, but I can see why a fan of one might be drawn to the other.

    Um. Speaking of comedy, and of guest roles... would anyone like to take a crack at casting Batman, Robin, and a few villains? The campy 60s version, I mean. Most of our TN favorites have already proven themselves capable of saying ridiculous things with a perfectly straight face, so this should be a cinch.

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  17. STAR TREK: LA PRÓXIMA GENERACIÓN

    Capt. Picard…Manuel Landeta

    Will Riker…José Ron

    Deanna Troi… Fernanda Castillo

    Luoxana Troi…Felicia Mercado

    Geordie LaForge…Luis Gatica

    Tasha Yar…Margarita Magaña

    Data…Alejandro Avila

    Worf…Raquel Olmedo

    Dr. Beverly Crusher…Eugenia Cauduro

    Wesley Crusher…Adriano (or any other annoying adolescent)

    Q…Rene Casados

    Vulcan Commander…David Zepeda

    Romulan Commander…Lisardo

    Ferengi Commander…that guy Zoe just handcuffed to the bed on Amorcito Corazón

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  18. Emilia- I was thinking Dragnet too! (Thank you unemployment for letting me watch this and Adam-12). How about Sergio Sendal for a cop role? He already has the mustache for it. It's funny how many of the guest roles are played by people I recognize, so it could be fun. Jorge Salinas would be great as criminal. Brandon Peniche for a guest hippie punk. There's be a ton of potential prostitutes.

    Kelly

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  19. I'm saving Sergio Sendel for the remake of Magnum, PI.

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  20. Jajajá, Kelly -- there would be scant few potential NON-prositutes.

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  21. I can't believe I can't spell prostitute. After all this practice!

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  22. Blue Lass, that sounds great!

    Love the idea of Manuel Landeta as Picard. My only question about your cast is why are you making Worf female?

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  23. A female Worf might be an interesting twist! (I'm STILL laughing about "or any other annoying adolescent" for Wesley Crusher.)

    I have to admit that I don't know enough of the actors to assemble an entire cast for any show. Nor can I really envision most of my favorite shows as Televisa retreads. But there are individual characters that I wonder how they'd be cast. Gilligan? Ted Baxter? Reverend Jim and Latka Gravas? Fonzie? John Boy Walton? Al Bundy? Dr. Zachary Smith?

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  24. UA, Raquel is the toughest nut I know. I'M scared of her. And she has just the right voice.

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  25. After watching El Talisman, Julie, I think it's safe to say that there can only be one person to appropriately redo the Fonz: Aaron Diaz.

    And since someone else asked for it, here's Hombre murcielago (it'd likely still be called Batman, but hey)

    Main cast:

    Bruce Wayne/Batman - Eduardo Yáñez
    Dick Grayson/Robin - Valentino Lanus
    Commissioner Gordon - Sergio Goyri
    Alfred - Jorge Ortiz de Pinedo
    Barbara Gordon/Batgirl - Anahi
    Chief O'Hara - Osvaldo Rios
    Aunt Harriet - Delia Casanova
    Narrator - Enrique Rocha

    Recurring cast:

    The Joker - Eugenio Derbez
    The Riddler - Arath de la Torre
    The Penguin - Pedro Fernandez
    Catwoman - Aylin Mujica
    Mr. Freeze - the guy in Abismo de Pasion who looks like Ronn Moss
    The Mayor - Harry Geithner
    Mad Hatter - Eduardo Santamarina
    Egghead - Hector Suarez Gomis
    King Tut - Cristian de la Fuente
    Warden Crichton - Cesar Evora (he has to be in everything, after all)

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  26. What a Batman that would be! And in true Televisa fashion Robin is played by an actor at least 10 years older than the character.

    Fun times! How about....Bonanza:

    Ben.......... Eric del Castillo
    Adam......... Jorge Salinas
    Hoss......... Eduardo Yanez
    Joe........ Pablo Montero
    Hop Sing... Pablo Cheng
    Sheriff.... .. Gilberto de Anda*
    Saloon Owner.. Vicente Fernandez Jr

    *or he who played the police chief in FELS.

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  27. lol, lol, lol histerica....EY as Hoss..
    sfchicabointa

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  28. You know, if we want a Law and Order type drama, the cops from El Tal were pretty good. Hard to believe anything good came out of that, but the cops weren't as clueless as they usually are. Jose Ron wouldn't be bad an uptight lawyer. Maybe Michele Vargas (Sarita in El Tal) as the cute young assistant DA.

    Do enough young actors sing well enough to pull together a Glee-like musical show?

    Kelly

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  29. I know there are musical novelas and they are mostly for younger audiences. You could put that together.

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  30. A lot of Televisa's stars can carry at least a halfway decent tune.

    Bill, thanks for casting Batman. I like your choices. Only thing is I'd swap Evora and Goyri. And if we really want to be funny about it, Robin should be a middle-aged guy with a bit of a paunch and a smoker's cough.

    I love the Bonanza casting too, though maybe Eduardo Capetillo for Lil' Joe - he's even hairier than Pablo Montero! (My mom was always nuts about Little Joe. I prefer Adam, and Jorge Salinas would be even better than Original Adam! Damn those dimples!!)

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  31. Julie,I don't like my men to have too much chest hair. In fact, I'd rather see them wax it off, like most of the guys who did Solo Para Mujeres, but that requires a perfect body.

    Now, if we wanted to give the Cartwrights a cousin or two Eduardo Capetillo is perfect, just as he was in FELS.

    Back to ST: Proximo Generation, Wesley needs to be a smart teen, so how about Diego Velazquez (the young Gael from Abismo?

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  32. Good idea, UA! I don't very many younger actors.

    I had a lot of candidates for Riker, but I chose José Ron because he's the most like a good-natured but not too bright puppy (CME.)

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  33. Valentino Lanus as Robin is inspired!

    And I can totally imagine Jorge Salinas as Adam from "Bonanza."

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  34. How about another Western:

    The Big Valley

    Victoria Barkley.... Jacqueline Andere
    Jarrod Barkley...... Fernando Colunga
    Nick Barkley........ Sebastian Rulli
    Audra Barkley....... Danna Garcia
    Heath Barkley....... Gabriel Soto
    Eugene Barkley...... Eugenio Siller
    Silas............... Rudy Casanova

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  35. UA, I like your lineup for The Big Valley, but I don't like Sebastian Rulli for Nick.

    My memory of The Big Valley is that Jarrod was the "responsible" one. I think Fernando would be good here. Heath was the impetuous, rebel hottie. I like Sebastian better here. Nick is the stubborn hothead. Now, let me think, who can play an excellent stubborn hothead? I know! Jorge Salinas! LOL.

    I like Gabriel Soto and he definitely has hottie status, so maybe he could be a good Heath. (But given a choice, I think I prefer Rulli.)

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  36. Hmmm.... I just think that Jorge is a little sophisticated for that role. But there are no lack of hothead types at Televisa...

    I'm glad everyone has been having so much fun with this. In two weeks we'll do the movie version, so everybody start thinking about your favorite classic/blockbuster/genre movies for that!

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