The Man Who Saw Tomorrow - 1991 Remake

1991 Remake

On February 20, 1991, during the Gulf War, NBC aired a remake of this film, hosted and narrated by Charlton Heston. Much of the same footage, voice acting, and musical score was retained from the original movie. Much of Heston's narration constituted a verbatim reprise of Welles' original presentation. There were, however, some significant differences between the 1991 remake and the original film:

• Much of the religious content was omitted. The three Antichrists became three "great despotic tyrants", and the religious dimensions of the third tyrant's war were eliminated.
• The remake was shortened to one hour, leading to the omission of all references to the Robert F. Kennedy assassination, Francisco Franco, the Edward VIII abdication crisis, Jeanne Dixon, and to allegations surrounding the disinterment of Nostradamus in 1791. Discussion of the remaining predictions was abridged.
• As Edward Kennedy did not run for the presidency in 1984, or any time thereafter, references to his possible presidency were eliminated.
• The third tyrant's war, and the tragedies preceding that war, were made to seem less severe than in Welles' original documentary.
• Saddam Hussein was implied to be the third tyrant.
• The remake discussed the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, alleging that this earthquake may have been the one predicted in Welles' movie.
• Discussion of Nostradamus' alleged predictions was rearranged, in that the remake included discussion of Napoleon with the other two tyrants, rather than with the French Revolution.
• References to the end of the world were eliminated.

The nature of the overall changes served the purpose of brevity, reducing an eighty-eight minute film to a one-hour television broadcast with commercial interruptions. Moreover, the predictions relating to the third tyrant were adapted to serve U.S. propaganda purposes during the then-ongoing Gulf War. The severity of the natural disasters preceding the tyrant's emergence was reduced, as a worldwide famine leading to cannibalism, and earthquakes and flooding in various European cities, had clearly not taken place. Similarly, the severity of the third tyrant's war was diminished, omitting references to the conquest of Europe, nuclear war, and the destruction of New York City, as well as the prediction that the war would begin in 1994. Significantly, negative references to Islam, and references to the religious nature of the tyrant (calling him an Antichrist and a "strong master of Mohammedan law") and his war were eliminated, avoiding offense to Muslims, as well as the portrayal of the then-current conflict as a religious war.