Why were the aliens so obsessed with finding Friday?

Very plausible that the aliens wanted to find the earth man through Friday. I may also suggest that if slaves escaping was a rare thing. They might spend extra time & assets to hunt him down and capture him (especially alive) so they could then use him to set an example to frighten the other slaves into fear induced obedience. This, of course meant that once they captured him, they they might publicly subject him to some very unpleasant situations. They didn't appear to be beyond torture.

Maybe the aliens put so much effort into finding Friday out of sheer vanity and stubbornness. Maybe they’re obsessive about their property. After all, if they’re so technologically advanced, why do they still need slaves in the first place? Is it just because they like to hang on to their traditions?



All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?

I think the reasons hint at a much deeper and interesting story about "Friday's" background that should be explored in a sequel. In fact: Kenneth Von Gunden in his book "Twenty All-Time Great Science Fiction Films" suggests that the questions as to why the aliens were so interested in capturing or killing Friday would make an excellent story for a sequel.

Excuse me, but as people of color are the fastest growing population of the USA and the world, having a person of color as the lead would not be a negative thing, but a positive thing. Maybe you should try to accept that, and not be so close-minded. (Better yet, try and accept this fact; remakes are not made for you and fans of the original movie, they're made to get new fans and movie goers who haven't seen the original. Sure, not all of them are great, and not all are successes, but then again, not all productions of Twelfth Night, Hamlet, The Tempest, You Can't Take It With You, or any other play of musical you'd care to mention are great or are successes, either.)

If the actor is good at what they do, it really doesn't matter if they are Afro-American, Latino-American, or Asian-American,so long as they can act the part convincingly (and Will Smith has played the lead hero very well in a lot of movies, as has Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington, Cuba Gooding Jr., and last but not least, the man who paved the way for the above-mentioned gentlemen, Sidney Poitier!) A black actor or any actor of color isn't going to make a (possible) future version of Robinson Crusoe on Mars look any worse than a white actor. (Also, please be reminded that there have been black astronauts!)

I never took it as them coming back to Mars just for Friday. Remember this dialog:

"Enemy come."

"When?"

"Soon."

"How soon?"

"Sixty suns."

"Sixty suns? That's two months. They're overdue!"

I always took it to mean that they were just coming back on their regular mining schedule, and that whatever slave detection sweeps they did simply keyed on and activated Friday's bracelet(s). They probably started chasing him because the system noticed he wasn't at the mining site at the time.

I'd have taken the aliens more seriously if their space suits hadn't looked like leftovers from 'The Three Stooges In Orbit.' <G>

Because the authors of this thing thought they needed some suspense and action... and, unfortunately, this is the best they could come up with.



"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

Don't over think it. It's just drama.