A few days back I watched the 1980 movie “The Final Countdown.” If you have somehow failed to see this flick, the premise is this: the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Nimitz is magically transported back in time to December 6, 1941. Most of the movie deals with the crew trying to discover just what has happened, and then deciding whether or not to intervene in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the following day. The end is, bluntly, one of the great letdowns in movie history, but probably the only end they could afford at the time: the captain launches the Nimitz’s aircraft to go swat the Japanese, but the same magic “time storm” suddenly returns and sends them back to 1980. Feh.

“The Final Countdown” is not the only story like this. “Zipang” is a Japanese manga & anime (comic book and TV cartoon) where a modern Japanese destroyer goes back to WWII. The interesting difference between the two different takes on the concept is the different type of decision the characters need to make. For the Americans, fighting on behalf of their homeland makes sense. But for modern Japanese (or, say, modern Germans) sent back to WWII, fighting for their homeland means fighting for a historically evil regime. Of course, some wouldn’t have a moral difficulty, as they might have *preferred* the Imperial system, but I imagine most would be at least conflicted.

For real fun, imagine a modern US Navy ship going back to the middle of the War of Southern Aggression. Most crewmen would probably want to side with the  North. How many would want to sign on to the slavers cause, though?

In a few weeks, the unnecessary “Robocop” will be released. “Robocop” was fine the way it was. The remake will, if the last few years are anything to base prognostication on, be nowhere near as good as the original. I would not have remade “Robocop.” But “The Final Countdown?” I can see a way to remake that in a meaningful way.

For starters, it would be *two* movies.

The first movie would largely follow the plot of the first, with necessary updates. Perhaps the USS Ford rather than the Nimitz. The F-14s would be replaced with F-18s. That sort of thing. A more important change: rather than just the carrier, the whole carrier strike group would be sent back. According to Wiki:

A carrier strike group (CSG) is an operational formation of the United States Navy. It is composed of roughly 7,500 personnel, an aircraft carrier, at least one cruiser, a destroyer squadron of at least two destroyers and/or frigates, and a carrier air wing of 65 to 70 aircraft. A carrier strike group also, on occasion, includes submarines, attached logistics ships and a supply ship.

I’d throw in the whole shebang. During the course of the movie, it really wouldn’t make a difference to the plot, as all the interesting stuff was done via aircraft.

At the end of the movie, the captain would, as in the original, send the F-18s and F-35s to go swat the Japanese attack force. Unlike the original, though… no magic time storm. The movie would climax with the Japanese beginning their attack on Pearl Harbor… and then getting set upon by the modern fighters. The Japanese would be allowed to draw first blood, and then they would be shot down. Every single plane would be blown from the sky. They would be allowed to radio messages back to the fleet, but none would be allowed to escape. The fighters would then return to the carrier in triumph.

REVISION: Instead of killing every fighter plane, the US forces specifically allow a half dozen or so to escape. Specifically, the first half dozen or so to turn tail and run… the pilots most likely to be considered “cowards” by the Japanese military. Additionally: these half dozen planes would be targeted by UCAVs… not to be blown out of the sky, but to be played with. They would maneuver around the aircraft in an intentionally taunting fashion, and close enough so that the Japanese pilots – and their navigators/tail gunners/observers can confirm that the American aircraft have neither cockpits nor pilots.

The movie would end with the captain in the combat information center, examining recon data showing the Japanese fleet. The movie would end on some variation on “Well, now what?” as the radio in the background carries a news report from Europe describing the Nazi war effort.

And a year later Part Two would hit the theaters.