Russell Baillie: A dam good Kiwi week

Last week's news that Peter Jackson is producing a new version of The Dambusters has me very excited.

The whole legend of the 617 Squadron and the bouncing bombs captured my imagination as did the original film - especially as I was the sort of kid who risked giving my childhood home structural failure with the number of model planes hanging from the ceiling.

Like King Kong it's another cover version for Jackson though he's delegated directing it to one of his faithful Weta whizkids, Christian Rivers, possibly to let Jackson get on with the fun of gluing the miniature Lancaster bombers together - though he could have a couple fullsized ones built by the same team who's been assembling a small a squadron of World War I biplanes for him in a Wellington workshop.

Anyway, one aspect of The Dambusters has already caused the media some consternation - not about whether the film would show how the raid killed 1300 civilians in the Ruhr Valley. No, it was about the name of 617 Squadron Leader Guy Gibson's faithful black labrador, Nigger.

There are, of course, ways to get around the sensitivities of the pooch's name. Like cast Samuel L. Jackson in the Gibson role, have him wear his RAF cap backwards and every time the dog bounds into shot have the actor exclaim: "Yo dog, wassup my nigga?" - a move that will surely help take Dambusters to an urban demographic who normally wouldn't want to see an old fashioned Brit-style war movie.

Yes, and perhaps extending this same thought, they could get Ray Parker jnr to work up a new theme tune based on his most famous work - "There's Nazis in the valley/ Up to no dam good/ who you going to call?/ Dambusters!".

No. Quite. If there's one thing that the new Dambusters should retain from the old Dambusters it's Eric Coastes's famous theme.

The one that went "da-dah-dah!" and set the template for theme tunes of everything from Thunderbirds to Star Wars.

Actually, George Lucas' first space opera stole its finale from The Dambusters - Luke Skywalker flying down the trench and trying to get the missile down the weakspot in the Death Star. Pure Dambusters that was.

Can't wait to see it again. And using a bouncing bomb will be so much cooler than using The Force.