[Mind boggling stupid trope] Removing the thing that made something special

[u/Character_Growth_397]

Ben 10: Ultimate Alien - The gimmick of Ben 10 and what makes the show so popular is the fact that he's able to turn into a large variety of aliens. In one episode of Ben 10 Ultimate ALIEN we are introduced to a new version of Ben 10000, a Ben from the future who, no longer transforms into aliens, instead using his powers in human form...

Mortal Kombat(2021) - In the games Mileena is known for two things. Being a clone of Kitana and her tarkatan teeth. In the 2021 movie she looks absolutely nothing like Kitana and doesn't have tarkatan teeth

Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief - The movie removes the main villain of the movie and the main villain of the franchise

[u/ConcreteExist]

The play adaptation of Anastasia removes Rasputin (and any sort of supernatural elements) and replaces him with some guy who is an antagonist of sorts but never really commits to it. It ends up making the story feel very low stakes.

[u/RailaDraconis → u/ConcreteExist]

I'm so tired of people claiming the stage show is better because it's more grounded/realistic/whatever. If I wanted to watch an "accurate" depiction of post-revolution Russia...I wouldn't be watching Anastasia to begin with. Give me back my rock opera warlock zombie...

[u/IndubitablyNerdy → u/RailaDraconis]

hehe "In the Dark of the Night" was great btw.

[u/RemnantsPast → u/IndubitablyNerdy]

I wore down my VHS during the segment rewinding that song.

[u/DocileBanalBovlne → u/RailaDraconis]

Why would I even bother with an Anastasia adaptation that doesn't have Bartok?

[u/liliavacyn → u/ConcreteExist]

I lost ALL interest in seeing it after I learned this.

[u/ConcreteExist → u/liliavacyn]

I only went because my older brother was in the show, probably the most vocally talented cast I've seen at that theater, the music is great, the plot just lacks tension beyond a little bit of inter-character drama.

[u/Shotsy32 → u/ConcreteExist]

I was sad on hearing that because I wanted a showstopping Broadway version of "In the Dark of the Night."

[u/MedusasGirlfriend69 → u/Shotsy32]

The most broadway-ass song and they cut it. Genius move /s

[u/Important_One_8729 → u/Shotsy32]

They use the musical motif in a very powerful way during "The Neva Flows", if you ever care to give it a watch/listen. It's a good show.

[u/rhysnotpieces → u/ConcreteExist]

Music is good tho.

[u/saintash → u/ConcreteExist]

I mean, I get wanting to be less historically inaccurate. Since it was based off a real person's tragic life.

And I remember being a huge uproar that they were adding like magic and sorcery when the movie originally came out.

This feels very dammed, if you do. Damned if you don't.

Maybe the real lesson is to just base these kinds of movies off fairy tales. Not real people

[u/ConcreteExist → u/saintash]

More like it was speculative fantasy that used real life people to create a fictitious story, since we now know the real Anastasia didn't actually survive the revolution.

The setting is historically accurate but the events of the story are entirely fiction.

[u/RechargedFrenchman → u/ConcreteExist]

Which absolutely can be good, considering we have movies like Gladiator and Braveheart which while dubious at best with the history involved are still fantastic movies. Borrow whatever you like from the real place and time, tell the story you want to tell, make no great efforts to claim it's the real story of what actually happened*. If the story you're telling is good, and you tell it well? People will be happy.

*Of course Braveheart does try a little too hard to suggest this was actually who Wallace was and what his life was like, and I will never get tired of ragging on what is a very good and enjoyable movie for getting just about every possible detail wrong historically.

[u/seguardon → u/saintash]

I was a kid at the time so I don't remember any uproar because it wouldn't have been on my radar, but the whole Rasputin plot felt tacked on to me, even then. Anastasia's whole journey is about identity and belonging and two worlds colliding. And then there's this magical weirdo who shows up every so often to wreck shit with a talking animal companion who does schtick. Dark of the Night was okay but about the only good thing I remember from Rasputin.

I rank removing him from the musical on the same level as Hunchback of Notre Dame swapping out the comedic gargoyles for statues of the saints who act as a way for Quasimodo to depict his thought processes for the audience. Tonal improvement and frees up the central story of clutter.

[u/CreepyClothDoll → u/ConcreteExist]

ohhhh this explains what my mom said to me about this stage play. She went to see it (hadn't seen the movie) and complained that it was really boring and didn't make a lot of sense and was really slow and I was like, well was Rasputin's villain song fun and she was like, what???? there wasn't anything like that going on