Scott Delahunt" />
Psycho Drive-In logo
Search
  • PDI Press
    Featured
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      Scott Delahunt
      January 17, 2022
      Fiction, PDI Press, PDI Press Writers
    Recent
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      John E. Meredith
      January 17, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Seven)

      John E. Meredith
      January 16, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Six)

      John E. Meredith
      January 15, 2022
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    Featured
    • Skinamarink (2023) - Take Two

      Scott Delahunt
      January 30, 2023
      Movies, Reviews
    Recent
    • Skinamarink (2023) – Take Two

      John E. Meredith
      January 30, 2023
    • Skinamarink (2023)

      Nate Zoebl
      January 24, 2023
    • Christmas Picks: Black Christmas (1974)

      Paul Brian McCoy
      December 24, 2022
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
    Featured
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      Scott Delahunt
      July 13, 2018
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      The Final Girl
      July 13, 2018
    • David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

      Dan Lee
      March 7, 2017
    • Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

      Andre Lamar
      September 29, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

      Jason Sacks
      July 28, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

      Dave Hearn, Paul Brian McCoy
      July 27, 2016
    • Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

      Gary Richardson, Laura Akers
      April 16, 2016
  • News
    Featured
    • Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

      Scott Delahunt
      February 1, 2023
      News, Shot for Shot
    Recent
    • Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

      Paul Brian McCoy
      February 1, 2023
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      psychodr
      July 30, 2019
    • X-Men: Dark Phoenix arrives on Digital 9/3 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD 9/17

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 16, 2019
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Breaking
  • Skinamarink (2023) - Take Two
  • Skinamarink (2023)
  • Christmas Picks: Black Christmas (1974)
  • Christmas Picks: Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)
  • Christmas Picks: Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
  • Christmas Picks: Violent Night (2022)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Home
Columns
Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation 151: The Green Hornet

Scott Delahunt
February 19, 2016
Lost in Translation

There’s a known issue when making a photocopy of a copy. The resolution drops; the further generations of copying from the original, the worse the resolution gets. A second season Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, “Up the Long Ladder,” uses the term “replicative fading,” applying it to the fading of DNA in clones. While the problem doesn’t appear when copying digital media – ones and zeroes don’t degrade – the idea is still key to examining adaptations. Ideally, an adaptation begins with the original work, not another adaptation. Hollywood is nowhere near ideal. There have been works that have been based on adaptations of adaptations; the Frankenstein movie is a good example, coming from stage adaptations instead of from the original Mary Shelley novel. Another good example is today’s subject, The Green Hornet.

green-hornet-01

The Green Hornet began as a radio series in 1936. Britt Reid, a millionaire playboy* and newspaper publisher, and his sidekick Kato fought crime. The twist, though, was that the Green Hornet and Kato were seen as villains by criminals and the press alike. Reid, as the Hornet, used a gas gun to subdue his foes while Kato used martial arts. The pair got around the city in Black Beauty, a heavily modified sedan. Helping the duo was Lenore Case, who provided information to Reid to help him fight crime.

The Green Hornet has since been adapted in other forms, including movie serials, comics, and a TV series. The 1966 series introduced Bruce Lee to North American audiences in the role of Kato. Van Williams played Reid. The series lasted one season, but did crossover with the 1966 Adam West Batman series. Al Hirt provided the theme music, a jazz version of “The Flight of the Bumblebee” used by the radio series. The TV series, while considered to be camp, did take itself seriously.

green-hornet-02

In 2011, Seth Rogan co-wrote and starred in a film adaptation of The Green Hornet, playing millionaire playboy Britt Reid. Jay Chou and Cameron Diaz co-starred as Kato and Lenore, respectively. The movie acts as an origin story for the Green Hornet. Britt Reid begins the film as a layabout, living off his father’s wealth. When his father dies from a bee sting, Britt inherits his publishing empire. He discovers his father’s car collection and the mechanic who maintains it, Kato. Together, they get drunk and go to cut the head of the stature of Britt’s father. During their task, they hear calls for help from a couple being mugged and go to render assistance. The police mistake them for the actual criminals, though, and the pair escape without being seen.

Back at Britt’s manor, he gets the idea to fight crime by posing as criminals, making sure that innocents couldn’t be used against them. Kato modifies one of the cars in the collection, adding weapons and gadgets to it, calling the car the Black Beauty. Britt uses the files his father had on Chudnofsky, a Russian mobster that Britt believes his father was trying to expose. Using his newspaper, the Daily Sentinel, Britt begins to publish articles about the new criminal in town, the Green Hornet. Britt uses the criminology knowledge of his new secretary, Lenore, to plan the Green Hornet’s every move, taking out a number of Chudnovsky’s operations.

green-hornet-03

Chudnovsky, however, isn’t about to let a new criminal take over any piece of his empire, and has an ace up his sleeve. After a failed attempt on the lives of the Green Hornet and Kato, though, he offers them half the city if the Green Hornet kills Britt Reid. Meanwhile, Britt discovers that his father’s death wasn’t an accident but murder. The DA tried to bribe Britt’s father into downplaying the levels of crime in the city but was refused. He offers Britt the same bribe and, when rebuffed, tries to kill the millionaire playboy using the same bee venom that killed his father. Kato arrives at the restaurant, nominally to kill Britt, but rescues him while disrupting the meet.

Britt thought ahead, though. He had made a recording of the DA’s bribe, saving it to a USB memory stick. He and Kato escape the restaurant and race to the Daily Sentinel to get it on the paper’s website. The DA and Chudnovsky chase the pair, leading to the climactic fight in the paper’s offices.

green-hornet-04

The movie stays more or less faithful to both the original radio series and the 1966 TV series. However, there is a change in tone. The radio series was a serious crime drama. The TV series, while camp, was also serious and played straight, more melodrama than crime drama, but not intentionally a comedy. The movie, though, was a straight up action-comedy. The action portion would fit in with the TV series. The comedy, though, creates a situation where the uncanny valley effect comes into play. The movie feels off, but not in any way that’s obvious, much like a too human-looking robot or animated character feels off because it doesn’t quite have the proper responses expected. If the movie were less like the TV series while still using comedy, the problem would be obvious. Likewise, if the comedy was toned down, it’d feel closer to the original and the TV adaptation. The movie, though, hits a not-quite-right tone; it gets most of the details near-perfect, but the comedy becomes dissonant**. Thus, the movie isn’t a bad adaptation, in fact, it comes close to being ideal, except for the dissonance.

The movie adaptation of The Green Hornet shows some of the problems of copying a copy. The introduction of the comedy aspects threw off an otherwise near-perfect adaptation. Ignoring the comedy portions, though, the movie does adapt the TV series well.

green-hornet-05

* It seems that the best superpower to have is incredible wealth. While Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, is the best known millionaire playboy, other mystery men with the same background include Oliver Queen (aka the Green Arrow), Lamont Cranston (the Shadow), and, Tony Stark (Iron Man).
** It took several viewings and chatting with other members of Crossroads Alpha to figure out why the movie didn’t feel right despite hitting all the right notes, thus causing last week’s hiatus.


This article was originally published to Seventh Sanctum.

7S-Logo

Thanks to our friends at Seventh Sanctum for letting us share this content.

Seventh Sanctum is a partner in Crossroads Alpha along with Psycho Drive-In.

(Visited 145 times, 1 visits today)

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Bruce LeeGreen HornetJay ChouLost in TranslationScott DelahuntSeth RoganVan Williams

Legends of Tomorrow 1.04 “White Knights”
Better Call Saul 2.01 “Switch”

About The Author

monsterid
Scott Delahunt
Lost in Translation

By day, Scott Delahunt is an IT analyst, fixing problems and explaining operating systems for end users. By night, he takes his degree in Computer Science, his love of movies, his vast knowledge of tabletop gaming, his curiosity into how things work and becomes a geek!  Although he has nothing published professionally, Scott has written fanfiction, scripted an anime music video, play tested role-playing games, and applied his love of bad movies to Lost In Translation.  He has also helped put on an anime convention and organize bus trips to Anime North. In his spare time, he raises two cats to become Internet icons and maintains a personal blog, The Chaos Beast.

RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

Archives

Large_rectangle_336X280
All work on this site is Copyright © each individual writer.
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
%d bloggers like this: