sf/f TV development news - 2013

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Temis the Vorta, Oct 10, 2011.

  1. Kemaiku

    Kemaiku Admiral Admiral

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    Indeed, the Dreadfuls ran from 1830's onwards and never exactly ended, just becoming several spinoff pulps into the 1950's and 60's when mass market comics took over.

    Only Frankenstien (1818) and Carmilla (1825) really predate them.

    Which is what worries me, all the titles given are of standalone horror novels, not the actual Penny Dreadful series like Varney the Vampire (although I have the compendium volume, it's massive, so maybe that's why).
     
  2. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Thanks for updating the title, mods! Just in time for the fall season news to start ramping up. Update from the CW.

    The Vampire Diaries is getting a spinoff set in New Orleans, starring Klaus. Eh, he's a big reason why I'm no longer watching, I find him boring, but I'd probably have bailed in any case.

    2013 is young but so far, that's the Quote of the Year.:D
     
  3. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Yeah, that sucker's huge. I've got it on my Nook and it will probably take me the rest of my life to read it. :rommie:

    I'm reminded of Buffy. When they spun off Angel and Cordelia, they got rid of my two least-favorite characters and made room for a parade of new characters that I liked a lot.
     
  4. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Varney is pretty unreadable. I made a stab at it back in the eighties but finally surrendered in defeat. It's like reading three years of GENERAL HOSPITAL plotlines in prose; it's a long, pointless, unstructured mess that is clearly being made up as it goes along.

    To paraphrase some critic (whose name escapes me), the lesson of Varney is that dead vampires should kept away from moonlight--and writers should never be paid by the word! :)
     
  5. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    ^^ I don't disagree, which is why I'm not going to read it straight through. But, as a lover of archaic genre literature, I feel compelled to go back to it from time to time. :rommie:
     
  6. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Well, that's probably the way to do it. To be fair, it was never meant to be read straight through like a modern novel. It was a magazine serial that ran as long as the public kept buying new installments. So, ideally, the way to read it would be one chapter a week for however long it takes. Like watching a soap opera or whatever.

    (I remember that the old Dover edition ran to two thick volumes.)
     
  7. Kegg

    Kegg Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    It's name recognition. Varney the Vampire is not exactly a household name. (Sweeney Todd kind of is, though, which makes his absence more noticeable).

    On the other hand, a TV series cannot subsist on three characters alone. It could be that Varney and his penny dreadful kin show up for standalone episodes, as recurring characters, or as the rest of the main cast. It depends how much the show commits to being a pastiche of Victorian horror (and though not penny dreadful, appearances of Irish horror icons like Melmoth the Wanderer and Silas Ruthyn would be nice, there's more to the tradition than Dracula, even if his abdunance of media appearances would say otherwise).
     
  8. diankra

    diankra Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Might conceivably have to change title to avoid problems with the British comedy group The Penny Dreadfuls (think of The League of Gentlemen, but sillier). But suspect not.
     
  9. Bob The Skutter

    Bob The Skutter Complete Arse Cleft In Memoriam

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    Freemantle Media are remaking a French Zombie Film in to a TV show with British Writer/Producer Paul Abbot.

     
  10. Borgminister

    Borgminister Admiral Moderator

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    Sound like the 6th Sense in a way. But unsustainable one would think.
     
  11. lennier1

    lennier1 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Depends on the length. While the concept itself has been done before, this take could make for a nice single-season series (longer than a miniseries, but 26 episodes at the most).
     
  12. Bob The Skutter

    Bob The Skutter Complete Arse Cleft In Memoriam

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    Given it'll be a British show I would expect it'd either be short series or no more than 12 episodes anyway.
     
  13. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I wondered where the dramatic hook was, too. So, people realize "hey aren't you supposed to be dead?" And then what? That's a situation, not a story premise, but the premise is in the link:

    So...an undead serial killer is running amok and the "good" dead people must stop him? Only a ghost can stop a ghost! Yeah, that could be fun. :bolian:
     
  14. Kegg

    Kegg Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Not inclined to trust Abbott's involvement that much. I know he was only minimally involved with Hit & Miss but that was a pretty disappointing show. I guess the original French series sounds interesting enough to maybe look at.
     
  15. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Penny Dreadful, and Under the Dome sound cool. Not sure what to make of Rebound yet.
    Has anyone said whether or not Stephen King will be involved with Under the Dome?
     
  16. Enterprise is Great

    Enterprise is Great Vice Admiral Admiral

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  17. Hugo Rune

    Hugo Rune Vice Admiral Admiral

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    In relation to that I am wondering if Moore has latched onto the original spec pilot as something he wants to work on and develop, or whether he will do what he did with Auchebaum's "sentient robot" script which he took the central premise and then completely overhauled into Caprica.

    Either way, it's Moore, so I am there for the first season at least, but given Moore wrote the original outline/draft for what became that horrid The Thing prequel, I'm wondering if he's seen another way of telling the same story and jumped on it - given that script was about, well, finding something bad at a Pole and trying to stop it from reaching the rest of the world...


    Hugo - Skeptical but intrigued
     
  18. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Since they just cancelled his show, maybe they can give David Straitharn a role on Helix.
     
  19. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    You mean Remi Aubuchon's pitch? The decision to merge that with Moore & Eick's BSG prequel originated with the Universal Television executives, rather than being something Moore did on his own initiative. So it's not predictive of what might happen here.

    Still, there's no telling how much can change between an initial proposal -- specifically a spec one -- and the final work.
     
  20. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Maybe not technically sf/f, but close enuf. CBS comedy from the guy who did My Name Is Earl: