Out driving the other day, Stooby and I decided to amuse ourselves with creating our version of

the
1980's hit TV show The A-Team. Sure to be a success after
the sudden retro frenzy that has been invading our viewing pleasure of late, with film re-makes of
such classics as Starsky and Hutch¹, Lost in
Space², The Avengers³ and not forgetting that all time popular smash hit from yesteryear
Charlie's Angels⁴.

Before deciding to re-cast The A-Team we did have a brief encounter with the thought of
re-making that other classic The Six Million Dollar Man, but as Stooby pointed out quite
rightly, that in the current market of secret governmental research type thingies, six million dollars


would not really amount to much of a cosmetic overhaul these days. Maybe a hip replacement or
two, a hearing aid and a pair of really strong reading glasses, not quite the image we had in mind for


the big screen sadly. So we shelved the idea for future reference and decided to focus all our
attention on getting the right people to play the various characters in our second choice show.

Do you know that the A-Team was so popular in its day that they even brought out a single of
the theme music, I know because my sister bought it. Yes she will of course kill
me⁵ if she ever hears that I told you that, but she like


so many others was a very big fan.

So who plays who? That was the question we put to each other on this fated car journey. We
needed four actors or possibly five if you counted the token girly who appeared every so often

each season.

Hannibal Smith, not to be confused with Hannibal Lector who is a totally different
kettle of fish and make no mistake. Hannibal Smith the leader of our erstwhile little group of
'soldiers of fortune', played wonderfully by George Peppard, what actor could live up to this
towering talent? Several actors came to mind, including Sean Connery (can't you just imagine his
rich accent and Hannibal's catch phrase, makes your toes curl doesn't it), Dame Judi Dench (why
not a woman?) and George Clooney (Got to be loony to pick ole Clooney). But then we had this
bright idea of going for Samuel L. Jackson, after all we liked him, and he's in virtually every other
film going, plus he's quite weird in those bank adverts. The perfect Hannibal!!!

Templeton 'Face' Peck, played of course by the gorgeous Dirk Benedict, he of swishing
hair and meaningful looks. Sadly I noticed that his role - Starbuck - in the recently re-made
'Battlestar Galactica Mini Series (now out to own on DVD and video) seems to be played by
a woman, nothing wrong in that, but I wonder what sort of relationship he and Apollo are going to
have, hmmm... doesn't seem right somehow!! Anyway back the the deciding, once more several actors

came to mind, Leonardo DiCaprio (Hahaha, that was funny wasn't it?), Brad Pitt (Hmmmm... nice)

and Dame Judi Dench (maybe a tad old for the role but can still swing the best of them, just a bit

lower these days). But then like before we had a flash of inspiration, Will Smith, who could also

sing the new rap version of the A-Team theme tune, cutting down on the costs. The perfect

Face!!!

B.A. Baracus, played with much fierceness by the man with the biggest and baddest
attitude of them all Mr T. This was a tough one, who else could fill the delightful Mr T's over
large shoes. and who would want to? Not many actors sprang to mind, firstly there was Mr T.
himself, he could reprise the role, but no it wouldn't work, we needed a new guy. Someone tough,
mean, hard but with heart of gold to go along with the mountain of jewellery that would be needed

to complete the ensemble. Only one man sprang to mind, a fine actor (honest), larger than life (on

the TV screen anyway), athletic (no doubt about that), yes of course it's non other than The Rock.

The perfect name, the perfect B.A!!!

'Howling Mad' Murdock, played with much gusto by Dwight Schultz. Some would say
this was their favourite character, some would say it was someone else. Who could play such a man,
and make him believable, and once more only one actor sprang to mind, this being the ever faithful
Steve Buscemi, one of my most favourite of the slightly crazed looking actors to appear in a movie
theatre near you. Who could forget him in Armageddon or was it the other one, who could

forget him in Con Air and of course his most magnificent role in Gone With The Wind

a masterful, Oscar winning perfomance⁶ . The perfect Murdock!!!

Of course that leaves the token girlie, which could be any actress you cared to mention as she
wouldn't have much of a role anyway. Though my thoughts do still linger on Dame Judi Dench
(What a woman) and would love to offer her the role, but am not really sure that she is the right
actress. Maybe Julia Roberts, maybe any of the actresses in Charlie's Angels, maybe any of the

actors who play Bosley, who cares? I don't... it's the token girlie after all... doh!!!

So there's our cast for the new film, don't you just love it when a plan comes together? Now all
we have to do is raise a little money, and sort out a few technical problems and we're on our way to

media success.. That is of course if someone doesn't get there before we do... if only we could

hire someone to sort out our problems quickly, cause no one seems to be able to help... maybe we

should think about hiring...

So what are your thoughts? Who would you cast? Have you heard about a new A-Team film?
Let me know in a conversation below, I am just dieing⁷ to hear from you... honest.

Greebo T. Cat and StoobyB

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