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Zap2it reports that the television remake of the UK series “Spaced” is going ahead as planned, produced by McG and written by Adam Barr (”Will & Grace”). I’m sure everyone is hoping for the same success as “The Office” (many Americans don’t even know there was a UK original), but I’m not sure I do. “Spaced” was an original show, wholly and totally original, and that just can’t be repackaged or re-imagined. It was what is was, it should stand on it’s own.

Original show’s star and co-writer/creator Simon Pegg had this to say (and more) a little while after the original announcement (via the “Say NO to the American Remake of Spaced” Facebook page):

My main problem with the notion of a Spaced remake is the sheer lack of respect that Granada/ Wonderland/Warner Bros have displayed in respectively selling out and appropriating our ideas without even letting us know. A decision I can only presume was made as a way of avoiding having to give us any money, whilst at the same time using mine and Edgar’s name in their press release, in order to trade on the success of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, even professing, as Peter Johnson did, to being a big fan of the show and it’s creators.

A device made all the more heinous by the fact that the press release neglected to mention the show’s co-creator and female voice, Jessica Hynes (nee Stevenson). The fact is, when we signed our contracts ten years ago, we had neither the experience or the kudos to demand any clauses securing any control over future reversioning. We signed away our rights to any input in the show’s international future, because we just wanted to get the show made and these dark days of legal piracy seemed a far away concern. As a result, we have no rights.

[...] If they don’t care about the integrity of the original, why call it Spaced? Why attempt to find some validation by including mine and Edgar’s names in the press release as if we were involved? Why not just lift the premise? Two strangers, pretend to be a couple in order to secure residence of a flat/apartment. It’s hardly Ibsen. Jess and I specifically jumped off from a very mainstream sitcom premise in order to unravel it so completely. Take it, have it, call it Perfect Strangers and hope Balkie doesn’t sue.
Just don’t call it Spaced.

It’s a shame, since the pilot is now a certainty, whether we like it or not, a simple phone call and a few reassurances might have helped to at least curtail the tide of indignation from fans and creators alike. I have, as of yet, heard nothing.

- Simon

It’s sad and I’m sure everyone in the world could complain, but it still wouldn’t make a world of difference in the end. It’s funny, though, that movies and TV shows are ripe for the picking when it comes to “I can do that better (and make more money too).” When’s the last time you heard about someone rewriting someone else’s novel? Or here’s something radical: make a movie (or TV show) out of a novel or short story!

Update: The pilot has apparently been killed. Hooray! News here.

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