The return of the Rocky Horror Picture Show

Years ago, I blogged about seeing the Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time, as a college student when my college’s film society showed it as part of a weekend film fest.  Yeah, it was an adventure.  But I was hooked.  So much so, that I purchased an audience participation record that contained the full audio track of the film – along with the standard “call and response” comments.

Yeah.  That was fun stuff.

It was a combination of the surreal and the exciting, the hilarious and the erotic.  And it was the benchmark and totem for an entire generation.

Unfortunately, it was also ripe for parody and misguided homages.

Now the most reverent of these homages came when the late-night variety show Fridays did an extended sketch about Ronald Reagan’s first years in office, a sketch called “The Ronnie Horror Picture Show.”  It’s presented here, in two parts.  And yes, that’s a pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards in the Brad Majors role.

Meanwhile, the producers of the original film thought that a sequel would help make some big bucks.  Thus begat the film Shock Treatment.  Yeah.  No.  I repeat.  No.

And in the grand scheme of things, Shock Treatment wasn’t the worst thing that ever hit the Rocky Horror fanbase.

Okay, at this point you need to go to your medicine cabinet, find the bottle of Pepto-Bismol, and guzzle it.  Straight.  No chaser.

Done that?  Good.

Brace yourself for the … er … um … “interpretation” of the Rocky Horror Picture Show… by the cast of the TV show Glee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPpTIOTxgVQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sW58kThy_w

Is it just me, or did this episode of Glee just kill the entire show like RoundUp in a botanical garden?

Yeah.

Of course, if you did want to find some of the cast members of the original film actually appreciating what the movie meant, I direct you to Rocky Horror creator Richard O’Brien’s performance on the Australian music game show Spicks and Specks.  The whole episode is listed first, but if you want to hear Richard O’Brien reprise his Riff Raff character one more time, click on the second video.

Ha ha ha ha…

Now comes word that Fox Television has completed a TV movie version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with Laverne Cox in the Dr. Frank-N-Furter role, Adam Lambert as the motorcycle-riding Eddie (the role made famous by Meat Loaf), and …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btL-tQYLELs

Wait a second…

Did I see Tim Curry in this clip?

Yes I did… he’s going to play the Narrator (you know, the guy with no neck in the original film).

But surely, a television movie won’t have that immersive experience.  You would need an audience to make this work.  A theater audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3TDwa2cDOc

Well… maybe it can work.

And honestly, if they’re going to make this work, I’ll give the TV remake a chance.  Sure I will.

But if I see Lea Michele or Chris Colfer or any of the cast members of Glee in this remake…

Then we are done, son.

The TV remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show premieres October 20th on your local FOX affiliate.

Don’t disappoint me, Fox…

Because, as you can imagine…

I want this remake to be awesome.

I want this remake to make me shiver with antici…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… pation!