The Twilight Zone being rebooted by Bryan Singer and CBS

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Dream, Dec 19, 2012.

  1. Dream

    Dream Admiral Admiral

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    http://www.joblo.com/horror-movies/news/the-twilight-zone-being-rebooted-by-bryan-singer-and-cbs

    I would be quite surprised if CBS puts this show on their schedule. Are they finally going branch out from the crime dramas and do Star Trek next?
     
  2. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    In this new anthology, each episode will represent an unsolved case with a different forensics team.
     
  3. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    How can you reboot an anthology series?
     
  4. Dream

    Dream Admiral Admiral

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    Maybe they think the word reboot in the title will bring in more readers/viewers?

    Anyway, the last Twilight Zone that was hosted by Forest Whitaker really sucked overall. I hope they would do a better job on this one.:vulcan:
     
  5. Klaus

    Klaus Vice Admiral Admiral

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    *sigh* ...will they never learn?
     
  6. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I can't believe they're doing another one of these. Did anyone even like the other two revival series? I know I watched the last one, and thought it was ok.
     
  7. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    That was the first thing that popped into my head as well.
     
  8. Gaith

    Gaith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Katherine Heigl trying to kill baby Adolph doesn't do it for ya? Tough crowd! :rommie:
     
  9. Admiral2

    Admiral2 Admiral Admiral

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    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

    Every single time they've tried to update this show the results have been SHIT! Utter absolute SHIT! Not friggin' again.

    Raise Rod Serling from the dead and have his zombified corpse executive produce, I might watch. Not if it's made by the guy who shat out Superman Returns.
     
  10. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Because "reboot" does not only mean "create a new version of an existing continuity." That's the usage that's become prevalent in fandom in recent years, largely under the influence of the Battlestar Galactica reboot, but it's not actually defined that narrowly in the industry. In industry terms, a reboot is any attempt to reinvent or revitalize a dormant franchise, to update it in a way that will make it relevant and engaging to a present-day audience and thereby make it profitable again. And it doesn't matter to them whether they do that by creating a new, separate continuity or just revamping the old one. It's not about continuity to them. What the studios and networks are trying to "reboot" is the revenue stream that the franchise can bring them.

    After all, the term "reboot" originally comes from computing and means to restart a process that was shut down. Strictly speaking, it refers to restarting the same process, not replacing it with a different one, so the case could be made that what fandom perceives as the standard definition of "reboot" is actually a complete misuse of the word. Something like "recoding" or "upgrading" might be a better computing analogy for that.

    So there's no point in being nitpicky about what constitutes a reboot and what doesn't. It's just a rough, figurative analogy in any case. Heck, even its "literal" computer usage is itself based on a fanciful slang metaphor (to pull oneself up by one's boostraps).
     
  11. FatherRob

    FatherRob Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Meh... pass. I wasn't a huge TZ fan to begin with; much preferred "The Outer Limits". Was not a fan of it's second life either.
     
  12. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    If the writing is up to snuff, this could be worthwhile. It's not like there's a glut of anthology series out there.

    Of course, that's a big if...
     
  13. A beaker full of death

    A beaker full of death Vice Admiral Admiral

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    This. I've always hated the use of this term, and, frankly, the entire concept. The 2009 Star Trek movie went through ridiculous convolutions to apologize for not being Shatner/Nimoy Trek, when all they had to do is unapologetically, brazenly recast the roles.
    Was Olivier's Hamlet a "reboot" of Barrymore's?

    Back on topic.... seems like they bring back TZ every decade. The Forest Whittaker incarnation had an interesting sequel to It's a Good Life.
     
  14. Morpheus 02

    Morpheus 02 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    i am up for seeing a new Twilight Zone...especially with today's technology...but it's really the writing & concepts that need to be up there.

    For the host...i ike Forest Whitaker as an acto, but he just didn't seem like the right fit for it. Maybe somone with a bit of creepiness (but not too much)...like maybe Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus of Lost/Person of Interest). And maybe that they blend in with the surroundings just before they speak (vs. Rod Seling's randomness)

    i just hope they don't resort to sex & violence the way the Outer Limits did on occasion.

    Despite Superman Returns, I remmeber & appreciate X-Men, and hoping for that quality.

    The Twilight Zone showed us some great actors, often before they became famous...the BRAND NEW Twilight Zone might be a place to feature some known actors in a different light.

    By the way --- i hope they re-sue the Grateful dead re-imagining of the theme...or at least get inspired by that along with the classic.
     
  15. stj

    stj Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Anthology series are always judged retrospectively by memories of their best, while current anthologies are judged by the last two or three (or so it seems, anyhow.) I think the Ira Steven Behr incarnation was pretty uniformly bad, though.

    But I'll sure be happy to try it out, especially if it's not on a ten o'clock. I do wonder whether they'll rule out SF entirely or limit themselves exclusively to horror. And whether they'll do short story adaptations.
     
  16. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    I've only seen a few of the Forest Whitaker episodes, but, I've enjoyed all the ones I've seen, The Monsters on Maple Street one, the sequel to It's a Good Life and the one were Jessica Simpson was the baby sitter of the girl with the dolls (Jessica Simpson can't act her way out of a wet paper bag, bt, I thought he episode itself was pretty decent)

    I'd be up for a new Twilight one, and I agree, I'd like for them to include SciFi and not limit it to Horror.
     
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Michael Emerson as the host is an inspired suggestion.
     
  18. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

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    Up till recently, there was talk of another movie version. And unlike the 1980 version (notorious for the on-set deaths of Vic Morrow and other actors), the proposed movie would feature one story, not a compilation of remakes from the old show. Seemed absolutely pointless to me.

    A tv compilation show is where TTZ belongs, but compilations seem to be a hard sell to modern audiences. More so than serialised shows, this will rise or fall on the quality of the stories, as it won't be able to rely on a strong cast or even an ongoing arc to attract viewers. So it's far to early to predict how it will do. But I suspect that it's going to have a job finding a niche in today's audience.
     
  19. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Except that, as mentioned in another thread, two recent movies, Real Steel and The Box, have been adaptations of Richard Matheson stories that were previously adapted as Twilight Zone episodes, from the original and '80s versions respectively.

    The point, from the studio's perspective, is to use the TZ episodes they own as a source of material for making movies. Maybe the TZ label would be incidental in that case, but if we can get some interesting movies out of it, does it matter that much if they exploit the branding? (And I assume the idea would be to do a series of movies under the TZ brand, get a franchise out of it.)
     
  20. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

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    ^No, as long as the movies are good, I don't care. It's just that as I say, the idea of the TZ as anything other than a compliation of stories seems odd (dare I say alien?) to me. But yeah, I can see the marketing logic behind it.