Friday, August 22, 2008

Clue

I am going to miss stoic old Colonel Mustard and the mild mannered
Professor Plum. What's this world coming to? Did you hear that
Hasbro has recently updated the Clue game? What about those of
us who loved the classic charm of the colonels and professors
rambling around in grand old house like the one in Gosford Park in
the 1930's? The new version includes younger characters, more
weapons and a new modern mansion. Colonel Mustard is now Jack
Mustard, a former football player (Why does this bring to mind O.J.
Simpson? There's even a guest house--Kato Kaelin's place?) and
Professor Plum is a rich video game designer. Oy. I think I am going
to hang onto my vintage game. Call me old fashioned, but I'm not so
sure I like the idea of this newly made over "tabloid" Clue. I wasn't
too happy when they updated the lovely Morton Salt girl, Betty
Crocker and the Coumbia Pictures lady, either!

27 comments:

  1. Ah....this is tragic. I prefer the original as well.

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  2. Most everything like this that is updated is inferior to the original..it lacks the charm and beauty. They did this to Candy Land when my kids were small. The oringinal was much better!

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  3. O-NO, they can't do that, can they??????
    I will cherish my very ancient Cluedo even more. At the moment we are having "The Classic Thriller Season" at Nottingham Theatre, three down two more to go. I am in my element with these, they are all Agatha Christie style. I've guessed who DUNNIT every time...

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  4. Dear Willow

    Am here a little bit late to wish you a very happy anniversary to you and your dear WT !

    so sorry i missed it - am just trudging along on a big translation job (seems non ending)

    as for the cluedo, keep yours preciously !!
    :-)

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  5. I can't believe that! That's awful! If they change to Columbia Pictures lady to Lindsay Lohan I think I'll cry.

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  6. Oh dear. I'll be scanning the thrift store for the original Clue. Argh! A former professional football player. Oh brother.

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  7. I agree ... somethings need to stay the same.

    :-Daryl

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  8. How true! Maybe we're just getting old (but that can't be it.) I think the older ones were better! I don't think I'm going to like these new versions you described.

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  9. Sales of the game must be off and they decided that a change is needed. I'm surprised that they didn't choose Hanna Montana and Paris Hilton. Not all change is good.

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  10. What?!!! This is totally sacreligious and very upsetting!

    I also had a very hard time when Crayola started renaming some of their crayons and adding new colors (including Awesome, Best Friends, Happy Ever After, Bear Hug, Super Happy...and Famous).

    ps. I am also with you about the Columbia lady. Leave well enough alone, I say!

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  11. Hi, Willow
    I came here from Cait's.
    Hasbro do some unforgivable things sometimes. I wrote My Little Pony books etc when the Little Ponies first trotted into England (way back in late 1980s). When the ponies were 're-launched' a couple or so years ago...well, they weren't like the first ones!

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  12. P.S.
    I tried to sign your guest book.
    Couldn't work out how!

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  13. This type of change always makes me sad. I dislike when the cherished parts of life are erased like they never existed.

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  14. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I think that is a terrible idea. There is enough 'new' out there already. How about keeping nostalgia alive and how about tradition? How can it be Clue without femme fatale Miss Scarlet? ;)

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  15. Good grief. Professor Plum a video game designer? Gracious. They should at least continue to offer a vintage edition of the game.

    They're probably trying to bring in a wider audience, but I think they're going about it the wrong way.

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  16. Everything changes, but I don't have to like it do I? They need to make a classic version of Clue as well as the modern version for the young set.


    And some things they just need to leave alone.

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  17. I'm with you. I remember the first time I played this game....back in the 60's I think. I was Miss Scarlette, and, ended up being the killer. I chose her because her color was red and I liked red! My son loves board games and has a clue game after the Simpsons......go figure. I'm sure they have to change it up becasue people like you and I still have our original games, and we won't be buying a now one!!!!!!!

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  18. WHAAAT? I hadn't heard about this but did we really have to give Colonel Mustard a name change and a career change? Hang on to your old game...it's going to be valuable!

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  19. I'm going to have to take on that new mustard man in the library with the candlestick. I'll bring my own, if I have to.
    All the charm of that musty old mansion will be forever destroyed by the newfangled additions. Obviously Hasbro doesn't have a Clue!

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  20. Adding my appalled-ness. My gaming friends will be shocked.
    It's great to be a conservative for once!
    However I still have room for tasteful innovation. We play a reverse-Cluedo called 'Kill Doctor Lucky' where the objective is to kill the host in the appropriate room with an appropriate weapon without being seen by any other player.
    Of course the expansion that involves also killing Dr Lucky's little dog Shamrock is completely tasteless and should be avoided!

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  21. I am a late comer to the game. My son was given one as a present last year and we have played on a couple of occasions. I quite like it but have yet to get the hang of it. I will report back as soon as I stop shouting: 'Colonel Mustard is the murderer and he did it with the candle holder in the pantry!', only to lose to my wife, my daughter and my son.

    Greetings from London.

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  22. Oh no!!!!!!! :-(((
    I wished I had bought a new set of the old version of the game.

    I remember the new Betty C., but didn't realize they updated the Colombia Pictures Lady ("Classic Look" - updated? Pleeease!). I was unawares of the new Morton Salt Girl too! Is she wearing a Burburry raincoat or something along that line now?

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  23. I hate the modernization of the classics, especially the adaptaion of Romeo and Juliet complete with gangs and rap music. Oh vomit! I like the classic games: marbles, hide and seek, scrabble, Clue with Colonel Mustard and Monopoly with the original Atlantic City streets. I'm with you Willow. I always thought it's not a good idea to tamper with the classics, even when I was young. Imagine if they adapted Lady Chatterley's Lover or Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to modern times? Yech!

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  24. Never played it - but I'm guessing the company making it is doing this as a stunt - much as was done w/ Monopoly. I mean, just how many "special editions" of that are there?

    As for the Morton Salt girl(?) how old is she anyway - all that salt can't have been good for her health.

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  25. Very interesting post, Willow. I don't have my old "Clue" game, but I bemoan the changes being wrought upon the classic icons of our times. How about Uncle Ben, for example? He's been given a real update - although he still has a bowtie, I believe.

    Kat

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  26. Uncle Ben! Yes, and Aunt Jemima, too. They remade them into thinner more modern versions. I liked their former jolly old selves.

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  27. Double Amen,
    What were they thinking?
    Out with the new and,
    Bring back the old.

    Not all progress is good.

    Also what david and amanda said. Grrrr.

    Come visit anytime,
    Troy and martha

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)