Outland remake, spooky hotel TV show

[Temis the Vorta]

Might as well group all the news together...

Of course they have to remake Outland. This would actually interest me more as a TV series. The Last Honest Man Standing, Gary Cooper style, having to deal with a lawless outer space outpost seems like it would have reasonably broad appeal and offer some interesting plot directions. Timothy Olyphant would be great as the lead (in the movie or my wannabe TV series.)

This sounds fun! ABC developing a TV show about a haunted hotel..

The script centers on a series of ghoulish incidents at a haunted hotel.

Horror maven Barker is attached as a producer, and McG's Wonderland Sound and Vision banner [the guys behind The CW's Supernatural] is in talks to produce. Joe Daley is co-producing. McG could come on board in a directorial capacity if the project moves forward.

I don't know anything about the characters, but off the top of my head, I'd like them to find a place for Clancy Brown and Matt Barr (surprisingly good on Harper's Island.)

 

[Harvey]

A haunted hotel series? Sort of a low-rent version of Bates Motel, itself a low-rent version of the Psycho sequels, themselves low-rent versions of the original. Meh.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

A haunted hotel series? Sort of a low-rent version of Bates Motel, itself a low-rent version of the Psycho sequels, themselves low-rent versions of the original. Meh.

A low-rent Psycho with at least one hot guy (preferably two, since the Supernatural folks are involved ) sounds like it could be a fun show, and reasonably distinct from the majority of shows that are already on the air. It would have a decent amount of popular appeal and the damn thing practically writes itself, so it might stand a chance of not getting cancelled right off the bat.

But I'm sure this will be far more in the fantasy realm than Psycho ever was.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

NBC is also attempting to copy Supernatural with a show called "Midnight Mass." Oh, my little show. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Dammit, it keeps losing its best behind the scenes personnel, though. It was bad enough when Raelle Tucker got lured away to write for HBO's True Blood. Then I find out that another SPN writer, Cathryn Humphris, is now the executive story editor on Mad Men. Ahhhhh, you gotta love the CW for continuing to cut SPN's budget.

Dammit.

Oh well, at least SPN still has Pete's secretary, Hildy, on hand to make more appearances as Anna the fallen angel that Dean banged in the back seat of his Impala.

 

[Starbreaker]

Meh... don't think we'll see either one of these.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

NBC is also attempting to copy Supernatural with a show called "Midnight Mass."

Oh yeah I read about that one, sounds like McMillan & Wife meets the X-Files!

 

[Dorian Thompson]

HA!! Twilight Zone moment. That's exactly the thought that crossed my mind. Hee. They'd better get an uber hot pair of brothers and steal Ben Edlund and his psychotic mind from SPN's staff if they want to make Midnight Mass like SPN.

I still can't get over how Humphris jumped from SPN to Mad Men. Call it a hunch, but I don't think any of Smallville's writers will be making the same jump.

 

[Davros]

I thought Outland was about a mining colony on one of Jupiter's moons.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I thought Outland was about a mining colony on one of Jupiter's moons.

Yep, Io. The article says so - sounds like they're keeping to the High Noon theme. Lawless frontier, etc.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Outland? They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel for these remakes. I mean it was OK for what it was (already a copy of a Western) but not exactly screaming to be revisited.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Hey, I *liked* Con-Am's lawman!

 

[cylkoth]

Might as well group all the news together...

Of course they have to remake Outland. This would actually interest me more as a TV series. The Last Honest Man Standing, Gary Cooper style, having to deal with a lawless outer space outpost seems like it would have reasonably broad appeal and offer some interesting plot directions. Timothy Olyphant would be great as the lead (in the movie or my wannabe TV series.)

I wish they'd go after the BBC's 80s show Star Cops instead. It would give them a much broader arena for storytelling-cops based on the moon, charged with protecting law and order on the moonbases, space stations and within the entire solar system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Cops

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I wish they'd go after the BBC's 80s show Star Cops instead. It would give them a much broader arena for storytelling-cops based on the moon, charged with protecting law and order on the moonbases, space stations and within the entire solar system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Cops

I loved that show.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Outland? They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel for these remakes. I mean it was OK for what it was (already a copy of a Western) but not exactly screaming to be revisited.

The basic premise is good, though. I can't even remember the movie's plot.

Might as well group all the news together...

Of course they have to remake Outland. This would actually interest me more as a TV series. The Last Honest Man Standing, Gary Cooper style, having to deal with a lawless outer space outpost seems like it would have reasonably broad appeal and offer some interesting plot directions. Timothy Olyphant would be great as the lead (in the movie or my wannabe TV series.)

I wish they'd go after the BBC's 80s show Star Cops instead. It would give them a much broader arena for storytelling-cops based on the moon, charged with protecting law and order on the moonbases, space stations and within the entire solar system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Cops

Star Trek used to be "Star Cops," whenever they dealt with Federation outposts and colonies, but after TOS they pretty much dropped that angle. I'd love to see a Star Trek series where that forms a bigger portion of the whole series - phooey on going boldly!

Firefly also had that angle, but from the perspective of the outlaws rather than the cops.

 

[Harvey]

Outland? They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel for these remakes. I mean it was OK for what it was (already a copy of a Western) but not exactly screaming to be revisited.

Most science fiction these days (the big budget variety, surely) is a variation on the western genre. I mean, "wagon train to the stars," not so subtle. And then there's blatant space westerns like Firefly.

 

[stj]

The haunted hotel has the best genealogy, as well as the best premise for strong episodes.

Outland is not a premise for a series. It is a specific story, and once it's told, it's over. High Noon, the model for Outland, is false if the events of the story aren't the crisis for the town. Dealing with the ramifications would be tiresome. An Outland setting that somehow combines lawlessness with the technical demands of staying alive in a ferociously hospitable environment seems like it wouldn't keep conviction. If you have to keep track of the very air and water, keeping tabs on the people is a breeze. And cutting off their air will keep them in line. What are you going to do, have the bad guys smoke near the oxygen tanks and fart in the air locks?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Outland is not a premise for a series.

Outland is a story and it has a premise or a general situation: the Last Honest Man, making the last stand against lawlessness in the lawless frontier. It's the same premise as High Noon, which was Outland's inspiration, and can be done over and over, just like any strong premise can be transported to any number of stories.

It's the premise, not the story, that I find interesting. Like I said above, I don't even recall the specifics of the story.

High Noon, the model for Outland, is false if the events of the story aren't the crisis for the town.

Oh okay. Well, it's a deathless classic, not at all "false" (whatever the fuck that means ) and will stand the test of time for many years to come, forming an excellent basis for future stories.

Dealing with the ramifications would be tiresome.

Nice way to flee from a debate you already know you've lost.

An Outland setting that somehow combines lawlessness with the technical demands of staying alive in a ferociously hospitable environment seems like it wouldn't keep conviction. If you have to keep track of the very air and water, keeping tabs on the people is a breeze. And cutting off their air will keep them in line. What are you going to do, have the bad guys smoke near the oxygen tanks and fart in the air locks?

Solving problems like this is the job of writers who have a little thing called "imagination." For example: what if the outpost is so corrupt that it's the bad guys who have control of the life support systems? See how easy it is to dismiss such silly quibbles? I'm sure there are a dozen other ways to do it, that's just off the top of my head.

 

[stj]

In High Noon, Gary Cooper is the sheriff of a relatively peaceable town, respected and popular. A gang is coming at noon. This is otherwise unexpected and at short notice and the town, being pretty peaceful by and large, is unready. He tries to get citizens to help but he is betrayed and left to either flee, or fight alone. Outland, despite the exotic setting, was weaker because the essence of the story, the betrayal was telegraphed from the beginning. If it's obvious from the beginning that the sheriff is the Last Honest Man, then the shock of betrayal is either nonexistent or melodramatic whining or because he's an idiot who didn't notice.

The bad guys having control of the air might be an excellent premise. More generally, Last Honest Man Standing might be an excellent premise too. But it's not Outland or High Noon.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Outland? They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel for these remakes. I mean it was OK for what it was (already a copy of a Western) but not exactly screaming to be revisited.

Most science fiction these days (the big budget variety, surely) is a variation on the western genre. I mean, "wagon train to the stars," not so subtle. And then there's blatant space westerns like Firefly.

I know that was Roddenberry's pitch but Star Trek really was nothing like that, BSG 78 best fits that description I suppose but I don't really get Western from most sci-fi. Some of the big budget stuff is like a WWII action movie or a swashbuckler or adventure film but I don't really get "Western" vibes very often. Am I missing something?

 

[sojourner]

Well, it's not so much sci-fi as it is the space fantasy like settings equate to westerns. Basically any story where you can replace starship with horses, blasters/phasers with 6 shooters, aliens with native americans (as portrayed in old movie westerns). A good upcoming example of this looks to be James Cameron's Avatar. From the trailer I have seen it looks like the humans (U.S. cavalry) are taking over the aliens (native americans) world with the main protagonist finding the beauty in the natives way of life (Dances with Wolves anyone?).

George Lucas did a similar thing when he made Willow. It's basically a retelling of Episode 4 in a high fantasy setting. If you really want to get a good idea for how bad Lucas is at movies, watch Willow again and you'll notice that not only is the story similar, but some of the scenes are near identical in how they were shot. I find it especially funny to watch the big chase scene with the wagon while mentally thinking of the wagon as the Falcon and the bad guys on horses as TIE fighters.