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NOT A HAND!
a year ago
General
Random Rumblings
No matter how good the 2 films (I think the second more then the first) the 90s remakes of the Addams Family were, they did something Awful.. very awful.. they replaced Thing with some other thing.
what do I mean? well, The Addams family started off as a series of one-panel cartoons by Charles Addams. It was later made into a TV series and it's this series which shapes alot of peoples views of the Addams family.
The Thing first appeared in Charles Addams book 'Homebodies'. He was called 'The Thing' because he was said to be soo horrifying that he couldn't been seen by human eyes. He is often 'seen' observing the family from behind balcony's and curtains. the only parts of him seen are his hand and parts of his face. They don't know much about him but he appears to be a good natured soul, or atleast always grinning and sometimes a whimper. This was 1954 (about 20 years after the start of the Addams Family cartoons.
In the 60s, a TV series was made. The Thing was changed into being a kinda man-servant who all you saw was his hand and arm (a much a up to the elbow) coming out of a box, many placed around the house. As well known, he was played by Lurch actor Ted Cassidy. Again, he was more described around the time as being a creature too horrible to see, so you could only see his arm. (which would change between left or right, partly due to Cassidy's sense of humour, but also due to how hard it could be for the almost 7 foot actor to hide out of sight for just his arm to appear. In the 70s animated series, he was pretty much the same as the 60s show, being a hand and arm.
By the time of the 90s films, people had.. made up there mind that the Thing was only a hand.. and Special effects were to a point that the Thing could now become a spider monster.. His hand was cut off at the wrist and would run around and jump and do stuff. And from this point on, the Thing was mostly seen only as a hand. The New Addams Family live action series had him as a hand, as did the 90s second cartoon series. The 2019 and sequel animated films had him as a hand with an eye ball on a watch in order to 'give expression' due to poor acting (well.. I would be directing and Animating in this case) I guess, cause others before had gave him alot of expression without needing to go that route.
For the kinda godawful netflix series (as in.. what the hell has it got to do with the Addams family apart from a couple of names?) he is now a Flesh Golem hand for whatever stupid reason they had.
But like I said, the Thing wasn't just a hand. In fact, it would make no bloody sense.. He was called 'The Thing' because he was a 'thing'.. this works with the original, and the 60s and 70s series. after that? he was a Hand.. so.. why not just call him 'The Hand'.. he was no longer a thing. That major part of his character was lost. Personally, I preferred the Munsters as the Addam family were... confusing.. often shown NOT to be human at times with some thing such as being able to drink or eat stuff which was clearly poison, and mostly, they were not nice people. They were all murderers and worse. Fair enough but they never wanted to really run with it either way.. So it was just this slightly unsure what they wanted to be series.. Where as the Munsters made much more sense to me.. They were a group of classical 'monsters' but they kinda just wanted to live a normal life. They couldn't help being who they are. Grampa and Lily were Vampires (in the classical sense, not the more modern 'Can't go out in daytime ones'), but they didn't go around killing people, they didn't want that, Though Grampa would talk about the 'old days'. Herman just happened to be a re-animated corpse, Eddie was just a young werewolf and Marilyn was Lilly's sister's daughter who was pretty plain and ugly as far as the rest though, but wasn't to others. (it was never explained why the Sister of Lilly Munster nee Dracula, somehow gave her daughter the surname 'Munster'.. maybe she also married into the fairly large family? We know Herman had a twin brother (Charlie).. I think in the 90s remake, Marilyn was the daughter of Herman's Sister.. but she was married to Norman Hyde, and there for, she was Marilyn Hyde.. so why do such a change, I don't know (and no, that wasn't the 'Munsters Today' sequel, it was a complete remake TV movie 'Here Come the Munsters').
Anyway.. It might have been part of the... 'censorship' that soo many things went under to tone them down.. It's like.. I'll admit I've never seen the full film cause.. it looks sooo censored and tame compared to the book, but they did a Film version of the Hellbound Heart called 'Hellraiser'.. Or as I call it 'The Kiddy version'.. It was just a very tame and censored version of the book.. So I just gave up and haven't bothered. Why change a 60s 'family show' 'unseeable monster' into a cut off hand... really can't figure it out.. censorship like that is just confusing.. does it really make it more kid friendly? Or maybe it was just 'We couldn't be bothered to look into the story of the series we claim to love to make sure it's correct.
Posted using PostyBirb
what do I mean? well, The Addams family started off as a series of one-panel cartoons by Charles Addams. It was later made into a TV series and it's this series which shapes alot of peoples views of the Addams family.
The Thing first appeared in Charles Addams book 'Homebodies'. He was called 'The Thing' because he was said to be soo horrifying that he couldn't been seen by human eyes. He is often 'seen' observing the family from behind balcony's and curtains. the only parts of him seen are his hand and parts of his face. They don't know much about him but he appears to be a good natured soul, or atleast always grinning and sometimes a whimper. This was 1954 (about 20 years after the start of the Addams Family cartoons.
In the 60s, a TV series was made. The Thing was changed into being a kinda man-servant who all you saw was his hand and arm (a much a up to the elbow) coming out of a box, many placed around the house. As well known, he was played by Lurch actor Ted Cassidy. Again, he was more described around the time as being a creature too horrible to see, so you could only see his arm. (which would change between left or right, partly due to Cassidy's sense of humour, but also due to how hard it could be for the almost 7 foot actor to hide out of sight for just his arm to appear. In the 70s animated series, he was pretty much the same as the 60s show, being a hand and arm.
By the time of the 90s films, people had.. made up there mind that the Thing was only a hand.. and Special effects were to a point that the Thing could now become a spider monster.. His hand was cut off at the wrist and would run around and jump and do stuff. And from this point on, the Thing was mostly seen only as a hand. The New Addams Family live action series had him as a hand, as did the 90s second cartoon series. The 2019 and sequel animated films had him as a hand with an eye ball on a watch in order to 'give expression' due to poor acting (well.. I would be directing and Animating in this case) I guess, cause others before had gave him alot of expression without needing to go that route.
For the kinda godawful netflix series (as in.. what the hell has it got to do with the Addams family apart from a couple of names?) he is now a Flesh Golem hand for whatever stupid reason they had.
But like I said, the Thing wasn't just a hand. In fact, it would make no bloody sense.. He was called 'The Thing' because he was a 'thing'.. this works with the original, and the 60s and 70s series. after that? he was a Hand.. so.. why not just call him 'The Hand'.. he was no longer a thing. That major part of his character was lost. Personally, I preferred the Munsters as the Addam family were... confusing.. often shown NOT to be human at times with some thing such as being able to drink or eat stuff which was clearly poison, and mostly, they were not nice people. They were all murderers and worse. Fair enough but they never wanted to really run with it either way.. So it was just this slightly unsure what they wanted to be series.. Where as the Munsters made much more sense to me.. They were a group of classical 'monsters' but they kinda just wanted to live a normal life. They couldn't help being who they are. Grampa and Lily were Vampires (in the classical sense, not the more modern 'Can't go out in daytime ones'), but they didn't go around killing people, they didn't want that, Though Grampa would talk about the 'old days'. Herman just happened to be a re-animated corpse, Eddie was just a young werewolf and Marilyn was Lilly's sister's daughter who was pretty plain and ugly as far as the rest though, but wasn't to others. (it was never explained why the Sister of Lilly Munster nee Dracula, somehow gave her daughter the surname 'Munster'.. maybe she also married into the fairly large family? We know Herman had a twin brother (Charlie).. I think in the 90s remake, Marilyn was the daughter of Herman's Sister.. but she was married to Norman Hyde, and there for, she was Marilyn Hyde.. so why do such a change, I don't know (and no, that wasn't the 'Munsters Today' sequel, it was a complete remake TV movie 'Here Come the Munsters').
Anyway.. It might have been part of the... 'censorship' that soo many things went under to tone them down.. It's like.. I'll admit I've never seen the full film cause.. it looks sooo censored and tame compared to the book, but they did a Film version of the Hellbound Heart called 'Hellraiser'.. Or as I call it 'The Kiddy version'.. It was just a very tame and censored version of the book.. So I just gave up and haven't bothered. Why change a 60s 'family show' 'unseeable monster' into a cut off hand... really can't figure it out.. censorship like that is just confusing.. does it really make it more kid friendly? Or maybe it was just 'We couldn't be bothered to look into the story of the series we claim to love to make sure it's correct.
Posted using PostyBirb
