sf/f TV development news - 2013

[lennier1]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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Them it's up to him what universe the series is set in, or even if the audience can tell the difference.

Brewery-poweded spaceships or time-traveling vampire space Nazis. Hard to decide.

[Temis the Vorta]

News of the day:

CW adapting Tomorrow People.

The co-creators/ executive producers of the CW‘s two top-rated series, Arrow and The Vampire Diaries, have teamed for a new project at the network — a series adaptation of the cult British 1970s sci-fi series The Tomorrow People. Arrow‘s Greg Berlanti and The Vampire Diaries‘ Julie Plec will executive produce the project, written by Phil Klemmer (Chuck). In the vein of X-Men and Heroes, Tomorrow People is the story of several young people from around the world who represent the next stage in human evolution, possessing special powers, including the ability to teleport and communicate with each other telepathically. Together they work to defeat the forces of evil.

More from the CW: Sick.

This is a premise parents of unruly teen kids can relate to — a series about a world where youths are quarantined after a mysterious virus makes adults allergic to teenagers. The CW has bought the spec, titled Sick. Described as a provocative cross between Contagion and The Hunger Games, it centers on a band of teens who escape from their containment units and go on the run from authorities.

At first blush that sounds like an idea for a bad sitcom. But if by "allergic" they mean something serious and possibly deadly, that sounds like a premise that could have some interesting dramatic possibilities.

[Temis the Vorta]

lennier1 wrote:

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Brewery-poweded spaceships or time-traveling vampire space Nazis. Hard to decide.

I didn't even notice that the engine room looked like a brewery the first time I saw that movie! And time-travelling vampire space Nazis sounds about right for Star Trek, wait, isn't that the Borg?

[Temis the Vorta]

Del Toro on his Strain adaptation for TV:

While speaking to MTV, Del Toro talked about adopting a new style and tone for the series.

"Basically I'm trying to do what I do in my movies which is to show it as a reality, but as a reality that is stylized. It's not like "CSI" or "The Wire," it's real but it feels a little stylized. But the way the camera work will be is very realistic. We want to keep the camera very documentary even if the look of the show is not. The look of the show is very designed. The style of the camera and the storytelling will be very loose.

The Strain centers on a vampire that infects New York. Del Toro wants to use fear and paranoia, to make it a reality-based horror. You can also expect all the blood and gore the director's known for.

"It will certainly be brutal," said Del Toro. "We are a TV show, we are restrained about how much human gore we can show, but we will be pretty brutal. If you read the novels and you read the comic, there are very, very harrowing human dynamics in the 3 books. Because the vampires in the books, the first people they want to kill are the people they love, so that's gonna be pretty hardcore [laughs]."

TV is restrained about gore? If this show is on cable (and it sure doesn't sound like a broadcast show!) then he can have buckets of blood everywhere.

[RJDiogenes]

Greg Cox wrote:

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I don't know. I've always found that an arbitrary distinction. By that reasoning, the remakes of PLANET OF THE APES, PSYCHO, and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (among others) should get a pass since the original films were all based on literary works, but those movies are commonly cited as bad or unnecessary remakes. Whether or not the original film was based on a book or not really has little to do with the quality or merit of any movie remakes or reboots. If the original movie is regarded as a classic, like THE WIZARD OF OZ or TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, some people are going to regard it as untouchable, regardless of whether it was a literary adaptation or not.

Or to use more skiffy examples, is it okay to remake LOGAN'S RUN (which was based on a book), but not okay to remake FANTASTIC VOYAGE (which wasn't)? Again, that seems like a meaningless distinction to me.

(There's also the fact that moviegoers don't necessarily know or care if there was a book or short story first. Are people going to be more receptive to a remake of THE FLY or THE THING if they're familiar with the original short stories? I doubt it.)

As for Hammer, it was mostly the first films in the series that count as literary adaptions; otherwise they were churning out Dracula and Frankenstein sequels like Universal did. Plus, of course, their MUMMY movies were very much based on the Universal films, not any established literary work.

Well, the remake can be derived from either the original movie or the source material-- depending on how different the original movie was from the source material, that can matter quite a bit. In any case, I completely agree that the Hammer films represent one of the more artistically successful reboots.

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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Corporations take their cue from what has been successful most recently. CBS wouldn't care that Abrams made the warp nacelles the wrong color or whatever it is that irks some fans about that movie.

Nacelles are the least of my concerns. I want adult Space Opera, not a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.

[Temis the Vorta]

Adult space opera and the modern blockbuster movie do not compute. I suspect that for what you want, you have to wait for Star Trek's triumphant return to TV.

Speaking of that...still no space opera, but another stab at ghost hunting.

Graveyard Queen at NBC...is a high-concept genre soap opera based on the series of novels by Amanda Stevens. It centers on a beautiful young cemetery restorer cursed with the ability to see the dead who — at great risk to her physical and mental well-being — joins forces with a haunted homicide detective to solve a string of brutal murders in Charleston, SC.

[Kegg]

RJDiogenes - I think what you want isn't adult space opera so much as it is family space opera. The original Star Trek and its successors were pitched at broad audiences, while nuBSG (which you detest) was more pitched towards teens-and-up audiences, just as the current Clone Wars cartoon is aimed at the under-twelve set.

But yeah I wouldn't get one's hopes up yet as Temis pointed out. Space opera just isn't as hot a commodity on TV as it was say twenty years ago. Probably why Defiance - although having aliens and tech and whatnot - is tooled to the post-apocalyptic mode shows like Walking Dead and Falling Skies are running with.

danellis wrote:

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Not necessarily: I would think that re-imagining would be the best term for, as an example, the BBC's recent SHERLOCK series.

I guess. There's definitely something different between repurposing a public domain work like the Holmes stories than updating a franchise property, which is the implict part of a reboot.

But Burton definitely wasn't using the term that way.

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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TV is restrained about gore? If this show is on cable (and it sure doesn't sound like a broadcast show!) then he can have buckets of blood everywhere.

Strain will be on FX, home of American Horror Story. So, yeah, he can get pretty grisly but I suppose his point is it can't be as graphic as an R-rated horor film.

[Temis the Vorta]

American Horror Story is as bad as any R-rated movie I've ever seen, but I don't watch torture porn, so maybe it's not as bad as that.

Still, if someone wanted to make a torture porn TV show and they thought they could get an audience, cable wouldn't balk at that.

[RJDiogenes]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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Adult space opera and the modern blockbuster movie do not compute. I suspect that for what you want, you have to wait for Star Trek's triumphant return to TV.

That's exactly what I'm doing.... probably in vain.

Kegg wrote:

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RJDiogenes - I think what you want isn't adult space opera so much as it is family space opera. The original Star Trek and its successors were pitched at broad audiences, while nuBSG (which you detest) was more pitched towards teens-and-up audiences, just as the current Clone Wars cartoon is aimed at the under-twelve set.

Not necessarily aimed at a family audience, and definitely not aimed at the Rated-M-For-Mature teen set. I want Star Trek to be what it originally was: Idea-driven morality plays and social allegories, stories about the Human condition aimed at grown-ups. I want it to go back to being the show that's remembered for having the first interracial kiss on TV and commentaries on Vietnam and overpopulation and so on.

[Kegg]

RJDiogenes wrote:

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I want Star Trek to be what it originally was: Idea-driven morality plays and social allegories, stories about the Human condition aimed at grown-ups.

How old were you when you first watched Star Trek?

Because it's very much in that sense it's a family show.

[Bob The Skutter]

Kegg wrote:

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How old were you when you first watched Star Trek?

Because it's very much in that sense it's a family show.

So much so that the BBC always showed it at 6pm and Sunday mid morning, which was their teen viewing slot that Buffy and The Simpsons shared.

[Temis the Vorta]

RJDiogenes wrote:

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That's exactly what I'm doing.... probably in vain.

Worse than in vain, counterproductive. The only way Star Trek will get back on TV is for CBS to be so overawed by the stunning success of the movies that it overrides all the huge obstacles a TV show faces. If you really want a new TV show, start telling everyone that they should go see the next movie about 20 times and tell everyone they know to do likewise.

Idea-driven morality plays and social allegories, stories about the Human condition aimed at grown-ups.

Maybe if CBS decides to put it on Showtime or partner with Netflix. But they could just as easily opt for the CW or an animated series on The Cartoon Network. What form a new series would take would be determined by the audience where it is placed.

SAGA in development at ABC.

In the high-concept SAGA, which could be a potential companion to ABC’s fairytale drama Once Upon A Time, when the author of a best-selling book series (think J.K. Rowling) goes missing before she can complete the final installment in her epic fantasy saga, a family of fans discovers she’s been kidnapped into the very real world of her books and attempts to rescue her.

As long as Kathy Bates plays the author, I'm in...

And a couple 3D shows in development.

SPACE
From the Big Bang to the present and forward into the future, Space gives a vision of the birth, evolution and end of the phenomena that make up the universe as never seen before. Billed as the world’s first native 4K project for television, the series employs lyrical and deeply stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD shots to immerse the viewer within space itself as concepts are presented with relatable visual storytelling. What’s the view like from inside a nebula, or a comet’s tail? What does traveling at the speed of light really look like, and just how hot is the planet Mercury? Each hour long episode of this three-part series won’t just answer these questions, it will also offer viewers an unprecedented opportunity to experience the answers through the use of breakthrough 3D and 4K production techniques. A 3net Studios original production in association with Percolate Digital.

MARKSMEN
This innovative 3D stop-motion graphic novel series takes viewers into a post-apocalyptic wasteland – following the government collapse, a civil war erupts between two cities as they fight for control of the world’s scarce remaining resources. Rebuilt by a group of top scientists and protected by the Navy Seals stationed at the Coronado Navel Base, “New San Diego” is a technological utopia that lives in peace and must defend itself against the oil-hungry and war driven, “Lone Star.” This half-hour, four-part series follows Drake McCoy and his band of high-tech soldiers, the “Marksmen,” on their heroic quest to protect “New San Diego” from total annihilation. A 3net Studios original production in association with Jump! 3D.

[Kegg]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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SAGA in development at ABC.

As long as Kathy Bates plays the author, I'm in...

That sounds potentially hilarious. It needs a zealous superfan for whom the completion of the saga is a matter of life and death (think a particularly worried fan of George R.R. Martin).

[Temis the Vorta]

George R.R. Martin should play the superfan!

[FreezeC77]

I wish Saga was on cable and done in the vein of Lev Grossman's "The Magicians".