Why is it that so many remakes of classic films don’t bother to recapture what made the original films special? Part of the problem is that Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still was very much a film of its time, taking place in the years following WWII and as the Cold War was beginning in earnest. Yet what really makes it work is the everyday-ness of the film’s world, taking place not among scientists and doctors but in single-parent families and rooming houses. Of course, it’s hard to imagine the story playing out in a contemporary as it did in the original film, in which Klaatu more or less walked around undetected for most of the film, and I’m not sure I can think of a way to make the story translate smoothly into today’s world. Perhaps the best solution would have been to not make the film at all. Also, where’s Gort?