Mrebo said:

I have a nascent theory I'd like to bounce off you all.

It is that media should not be remade in the same form that it was initially conceived.

I don't think your theory will make it beyond nascent. That said; I don't completely disagree with it. In fact I think it's often times a good idea. My wish is that the remakes would be much more thought out and tested before proceeding.

Film is really all my thoughts apply to, by the way. With written word, I completely agree. Books don't need to be rewritten. For each reader, their mind's eye realizes the story, so in a sense it's always being remade, for lack of a better term. Plus written stories don't need to be modernized. Doesn't mean they can't be. It just means they don't need to be. Special effects don't need updating in a mental visualization - your imagination doesn't read the story with dodgy special effects.

In a film, new technology can come along that really helps tell the story the way the author intended. In that respect, remakes can be done very well, often to the point of exceeding the original. Particularly if the original also strayed from the source material.

Coming to mind quickly as better re-tellings are;
Ocean's 11
3:10 To Yuma
True Grit
King Kong

I'm sure there are others. However, I will definitely concede that most remakes are inferior.