“Seven Samurai” by grasp Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa would possibly simply be probably the most remade movie ever. The 1954 movie is, positive sufficient, about seven samurai recruited to guard a farming village from bandits. The setting, themes, and characters are Japanese, however the premise is evergreen. “The Magnificent Seven” is simply “Seven Samurai” however with cowboys. “A Bug’s Life” retold the story with, properly, bugs. “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” episode “Bounty Hunters” recruits the seven from Jedi Knights and alien mercenaries.
“Star Wars” creator George Lucas is a widely known fan of Kurosawa. (Lucas even helped him finance his 1980 epic “Kagemusha.”) The galaxy far, far-off is not the one house franchise that may riff on “Seven Samurai” although. “Star Trek: Enterprise” aped the premise for its season 2 episode, “Marauders.”
First, although, why are Kurosawa’s movies so usually remade in spirit (moreover them being so good)? One cause is ease of translation. Kurosawa usually pulled from English-language works; he even obtained some hometown criticism again within the day for supposedly “pandering” to Western audiences. His movie “Throne of Blood” is “Macbeth” however relocated from eleventh century Scotland to feudal Japan. “Ran” did the same relocation for “King Lear,” whereas his noir “The Unhealthy Sleep Nicely” pulled from each “Hamlet” and Alexandre Dumas’ French revenge novel “The Depend of Monte Cristo.” Kurosawa’s kidnapping thriller “Excessive And Low” relies on a 1959 Ed McBain novel, “King’s Ransom.”
Like his muse, Shakespeare, Kurosawa’s tales had common cores and in flip discovered their approach again to influencing western movies. Francis Ford Coppola has referred to as “The Unhealthy Sleep Nicely” a significant affect on “The Godfather.” Like “Seven Samurai,” “Yojimbo” (the place Toshiro Mifune performs a ronin taking part in two rival gangs in opposition to one another) has additionally been homaged or remade numerous instances. That brings us again to “Marauders.”
Marauders is Star Trek doing Seven Samurai
“Enterprise” was a prequel sequence, following the first starship Enterprise exploring the ultimate frontier a century earlier than Kirk and Spock did. In “Marauders” (penned by David Wilcox, in his solely “Star Trek” credit score), the Enterprise must restock on deuterium gasoline. They occur on an alien mining colony, however the natives are reluctant to commerce regardless of it being their entire enterprise.
It seems a band of Klingon pirates has been extorting the colony, taking their deuterium and paying the miners solely with their continued lives. So Captain Archer (Scott Bakula) and his bridge crew of seven resolve to show the locals how you can defend themselves. Cue a coaching montage and a 3rd act the place the Enterprise crew and villagers drive the Klingons off with some intelligent tips and traps.
“Marauders” is a mediocre episode, but it surely’s symptomatic of bigger and graver points that “Enterprise” skilled in season 2.
“Enterprise” was the primary “Star Trek” sequence for the reason that unique to not run for seven seasons. Why? As a result of it had a tough begin and by no means recovered. Producer Rick Berman insisted on taking part in it protected, so no adjustments to the “Trek” method although they may’ve match organically right into a prequel like “Enterprise.” Bakula has additionally stated that the demand for 26 “Enterprise” episodes per season was an excessive amount of. Pushed by these twin mandates, the writers began recycling episode premises.
René Auberjonois, who had been a part of the primary forged on “Star Trek: Deep House 9,” guest-starred within the “Enterprise” episode “Oasis.” It was not misplaced on him that the episode was a remake of the “DS9” episode “Shadowplay.” He recalled:
“I used to be sitting with Scott Bakula at lunch about two or three days into taking pictures the episode. He stated, ‘I like this script. I feel it is a good one.’ I stated, ‘Yeah, we did this one in season 3.’ And he checked out me and stated, ‘What?” I stated, “It was the identical type of story.’ That was probably not a putdown, however if you’ve accomplished that a few years of writing tales, there will likely be recurring themes.”
By “Enterprise” season 2, round when “Marauders” got here round, it felt just like the present was working on dilithium fumes. That is why you might have an episode utilizing such a easy and acquainted thought as a “Seven Samurai” homage, one that does not really feel in any respect particular to the present. “Enterprise” struggled to carve out its personal identification distinctive from different “Star Trek” reveals. “Marauders” is each a results of that and a small a part of its trigger.
