The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do The Time Warp Again Discussion

[msisux 2,261]

There is another topic about Laverne Cox, but most of the comments are about RHPS, so I'm making a seperate topic for it.

A week ago, Fox aired their primetime television event of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. All over the internet, there mixed reviews from fans, critics, and even the casual Frankie fan. Love it? Hated it? Share your thoughts here!

When I saw it the first time, I wasn't really able to properly gather my thoughts about it because the hype train was going off the rails. Fox and my local floorshow cast held a screening party where we got to watch it on a movie theatre screen. Between that, seeing a 25 minute preview of it in August, and a recent interest in Ryan McCartan (Brad), I was bouncing off the walls with excitement. Rewatching it a few days later, I noticed some things I don't care for as much, or enjoyed even more. I care too much about Rocky Horror in general, so I have a long and detailed post about it below the cut. 

Spoiler

There are so many small details about this version that the casual viewer might not pick up on, but as a super fan, I noticed, and it gave me hope for the film. Kenny Ortega is actually a huge Rocky Horror fan himself (he also directed the 35th RHPS anniversary show a few years ago). With him and Lou Adler on board, I knew that they would do a great job.

Science Fiction/Double Feature is a beautiful arrangement. It's one of the best versions of the song I have ever heard. Ivy Levan is gorgeous and has killer vocals. The usherette costume she is wearing is a huge nod to the original stage show. The posters around the theatre/castle with the movies referred to in the song is also a nice touch. Of course, this is going to be different from the iconic lips of the original's opening, but is nicely alluded to at the end of the song.

Then "the movie starts" with the 20th Century Fox intro from the original. Not gonna lie, that made me cry. In the wedding scene, the photographer is played by Sal Piro, who is the president of the RHPS fan club. I really liked the funeral party walking around for the "Janet"s and "Oh Brad"s of Dammit Janet. Brad proposes to Janet in front of Mary Shelley's (creator of Frankenstein) grave. Again, it's another one of those small details they threw in they make it so much better, imo.  Another detail that I love is that Janet's newspaper says "The Denton Daily," which is perfect for those two darn Denton kids. The scene just before There's a Light starts is almost identical to the original. I really like this version of the song too, especially the instrumental during Riff Raff's part. It adds a nice build up before going into the chorus again.

This film is a "reimagining" to give it more of a modern twist, but thinking of it as a televised version of the stage show might help people be more accepting that things will be slightly different. I'm glad that not everything is the same. (Not that it would happen anyways), but it reduces the chance of it overshadowing the original. 

I adore Reeve Carney as Riff Raff. He does a great job of channeling Richard O'Brien's performance. I liked his verses of songs more than Richard's, honestly. The way Reeve did them reminded me a lot of Riff on the Roxy cast recording of the stage show (which is my favorite version of any of the songs, btw). Apparently, the studio tried to use the original skeleton coffin from the film, but the guy who had it was asking for too much money. The prop department did an amazing job of recreating it.

I'm still kind of on the fence about Christina Milian as Magenta. Part of it is because I can not get over that extremely forced accent, and her wig  Columbia is an interesting interpretation. She looks more like a "groupie" than she would in a gold sequin tailcoat tbh. But this whole thing is a modernized version, so it's something any goth/punk kid could probably pull out of their closet in their sleep. In a way, Columbia and Magenta's personalities are kind of switched around in this version. Magenta's not as energetic as Little Nell, but this Columbia definitely has the IDGAF attitude Patricia Quinn has.

I don't like the intro for Sweet T. (well, musically, it's nice, but visually, eh) One thing that is always so captivating is when Frank throws off the cape, and you see what is underneath. Here, the cape is flowing around, and you can see Frank's outfit before the chorus. The "big reveal" just seems underwhelming. I guess the headpiece is to help mask her face to make up for it so there's still kind of a "BAM" moment during the chorus. 

The lab/creation scene had a little bit of a faster pace to it. I liked that because that scene aaaaaalways seems to drag on for me in the original. It was creative that "Rocky's tank" was a cooler for drinks at the theatre (I forgot that it was a castle/movie theatre at that point), and used lightning to help bring Rocky to life. It was more of a "Frankenstein" feel versus using food coloring or whatever.

Rocky's gym shorts are ugly, but it's primetime television, so there were probably lots of things they couldn't really do costume wise. Sword of Damocles wasn't too bad. The backup singers in the lab were doing the choreography that Riff Raff, Magenta, and Columbia do in the original, and it had me briefly shook.

I don't like everything about this version of I Can Make You A Man, but the choreography was fun. Adam Lambert's Hot Patootie wasn't bad. I'm confused why Columbia starts freaking out when Frank announces "Eddie has left the castle," and not while he's being stabbed.

The bedroom scenes were underwhelming. It didn't leave anything up to the imagination for viewers to see. Brad's reactions to Frank seducing him was pretty funny though. For Toucha, I get that it's primetime television, and they have to change things to fit that, but god, was it messy. (Not as messy as Glee's version though) I guess jumping and dancing in circles are how the kids get laid these days. Magenta and Columbia's costumes were great during it. I guarantee if Magenta had that wig on during the beginning of the movie, that RHPS fans would have one less meltdown.

When Dr. Scott enters, he is celebrated by the audience members throwing toilet paper. "Great Scott!" These set designers actually gave him a place to enter (elevator), which is something they forgot to do until it was too late originally. (Which is why he had to burst through the wall.) During the dinner scene, I COULD NOT BELIEVE Columbia said, "Hope it's not meatloaf again!"  She. did. that. I mean, it doesn't make as much sense with Adam as Eddie, but still a good callback regardless.

The floorshow is another one of those ehhh parts for me. The beginning of the song has more of an elevator music vibe than a rock-burlesque tune. I wish that everybody had the some costume on, but it is what it is. Brad and Janet had the best floorshow outfits, and the best choreography. I'm glad they kept the iconic leg lift for Brad. With all the gold costumes, makeup, and lights, it kind of washed out a bit. I wish there was a little bit more variety so things would have popped out. I'm calling this Gold Tint My World from now on.

I heard the one note of the timpani and was so happy. THE FANFARE BEFORE DON'T DREAM IT, BE IT WAS THE ORIGINAL. I was getting really emotional because it was during that part when I started going to midnight showings a few years ago, that I realized that this movie was going to change my life, so having this again blew me away. (It's not on the soundtrack, probably because of copyright reasons. Disappointing.)

Everybody jumps into the pool, just to discover Frank had a costume change inbetween that! It kind of killed the moment for me. The moment came right back when Tim came on and said, "Don't dream it, be it." That part, for me, made up for anything that I didn't like about the production. 

It's a shame that the best dancer on the entire cast (Ben Vereen) was bound to a wheelchair for his role. Like, if Dr. Scott could get up and dance around during the floorshow, he totally would have upstaged everybody.

The commercial break in the middle of the song (before Wild and Untamed Thing) was tragic.  Almost as tragic as Brad twerking.  

There's a lot of people saying that Riff and Magenta's space costumes look weird, but think about what you're comparing it to:

Spoiler

A major continuity issue I noticed is why do they blast back to Transsexual, but the castle still flies away? According to some people in the Rocky community, the castle was originally going to be demolished, but I guess they changed it. 

Instead of Brad, Janet, and Dr. Scott barely making it out alive, they changed it so it seems more like they don't want to leave. The original movie version of Superheroes is way more powerful, but Tim singing at the end is beautiful. 

 

Overall, it is not as bad as everyone says it is if you watch it with an open mind. Yes, it has its flaws, but so does the original. This new version is to help introduce the world of Rocky Horror to a new generation of people. Even if you hate this version with a burning passion, the cult classic isn't going anywhere. 

 

[AndrewGr 6,019]

Great points! I love RHPS but I prefer the stage version to both movies... I want to ask you sth tho... why do you think Glee's Toucha was messy? I love it & prefer it to the original 

[JackTheTripper 866]

I havent watched it, but if the trailers and random clips are any indicative its pure trash. It looks so bad i cant put to words...

I realise that nostalgia is what sels everything today, but for **** sake does every single cult classic thing there is has to be reamked in 2016/2017. There is a terrible lack of originality and ideas today, so everyone remakes brilliant ideas from past- and in most cases it fails completly. Such is the ting with RHPC- just based on itself it looks bad, but when you compare it to original made 40 years ago, its even worse. Why even tap into remaking something that is so unique and and legendary and the genre for itself- when you know you wont make it justice?!

[Seeka 12,372]

I only watched the last half of it. it sucked. It sucked so much.

I know Laverne is an actual transgender, but she doesn't have the oomph and forbidden value of a man in the same role. What made Frankenfuter was the fact he was played by a man.

The only part I moderately enjoyed was Frankenfurter beating the sh!t out of Janet.

Don't watch it. It's just something cashing in on nostalgia factor. Watch the actual movie or go see a live show. This version is too cringy.

[msisux 2,261]

21 minutes ago, AndrewGr said:

Great points! I love RHPS but I prefer the stage version to both movies... I want to ask you sth tho... why do you think Glee's Toucha was messy? I love it & prefer it to the original 

Okay, well, I just rewatched the clip of it for the first time in a few years, and it's actually not bad. I should have probably double checked that before posting. I'm cringing at the fact that students are spying on their teachers doing that in between classes though 

[River 95,607]

It's bad.. so bad..

It's like they tried to make it "proper" for the young audience..

Laverne Cox is easy to digest, she's a transgender, the body hair is gone, the man behavior is gone, so you don't really see the REAL Frankenfurter, the transvestite.. you just see a woman in sexy clothes who's trying to be a man..

The shorts, please, wtf, the most iconic object in Rocky has been destroyed! and why? is it that scary to see the package moving on tv? the kids will be scared? come on.. it's about sex, everyone knows it, so stay true to the original!!!

[YeehawKylie 7,817]

Ivy Levan was the best thing about the whole production and I wish people would invest more time in her music cause it's amazing. I don't know why she's not bigger. Her label doesn't do her justice.

[msisux 2,261]

4 minutes ago, koonsisme said:

Ivy Levan was the best thing about the whole production and I wish people would invest more time in her music cause it's amazing. I don't know why she's not bigger. Her label doesn't do her justice.

YES. I've been listening to No Good a lot lately. It slays  I also just realized she's on Cherrytree/Interscope. Considering that, her killer vocals, and solid bops, I don't know how we don't talk about her more.

[L E O 6,035]

If someone have a link to watch it in good quality, my message box is open  Couldn't find it!

I'm really scared for this, the RHPS is actual my all time favorite movie so yeah. 

[Sizzily 14,543]

Well I'm just gonna come out of the closet here and say that I loved SF/DF, Don't Dream It, and I'm Going Home  But I can't speak highly for the rest.  You know what, I had a problem with the f**king spider webish leggings, wtf was that? And half of the Rose Tint My World performers were in not even in corset/fishnets deal?

The best ones were Brad, Riff Raff, and Dr. Scott. I think what brought most of the thing down was production. The costumes were just so off and the sets were a mess. And some of the actors just weren't that into it/not good in general.

Overall, I can live with it but if a remake is gonna be done, it needs to go 100%, not 50.

But clap for this hooker.

 

[Letmelivemylife 8,715]

I'm sorry but NOTHING will ever top the original film. It's a classic. "I've never seen rocky horror picture show should be banned from the English language