Barbarella TV series in development

[Sindatur]

Hm...I can see how they could do a remake movie, for Nostalgia sake, like the Land of the Lost, or the Recent Dark Shadows, but, as C. E. Evans says, it's hard to imagine what they could do with a Series, that does anything like the Original aside from the names and title.

I think you're making the mistake of assuming that the movie was the "original" incarnation. The original Barbarella was actually the star of a French comic book serial. She had multiple distinct adventures over the course of twenty years (on and off) in print. The movie just adapted parts of the first collected volume of her adventures, and there were ultimately four volumes in all. So she was the heroine of an ongoing series to begin with.

I suppose, maybe, if they were aiming for a Comedy Central Late at Night Series, maybe they could get away with the cheezy camp.

The movie was campy, but the comics were more a blend of pulpy space adventure with softcore erotica.

You can't really do an American TV show that's Soft Core Erotica anywhere but on the Pay Channels, and if on the Pay Channels like HBO, it would most likely be like Game of Thrones, I would imagine.

With the Picture of Jane Fonda in the article, it suggests to me, it would be expected to take alot from the movie

RedFern, Don't forget about Duck Dodgers

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I don't know if this show can succeed even if it's decent. It seems everyone has already made their mind up about it. 50's retro is cool but apparently 60's/70's retro is out if there's even a whiff of "cheese" or "camp" involved.

 

[Redfern]

Well, wether they draw from the original comics or the movie, the movie is what more average Joes remember, and to promote the idea, that's what they'll display to grab people's interest.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

You can't really do an American TV show that's Soft Core Erotica anywhere but on the Pay Channels, and if on the Pay Channels like HBO, it would most likely be like Game of Thrones, I would imagine.

Starz could be a good outlet for a sexy pulp space opera.

 

[Greg Cox]

With the Picture of Jane Fonda in the article, it suggests to me, it would be expected to take alot from the movie

I wouldn't attach any significance to the choice of photo. Somebody at Deadline Hollywood probably just grabbed the first piece of photo reference at hand.

"Hey, Mort, call up Barbarella and see what sort of art's available."

"I found a sexy pic of Jane Fonda in a silly outfit."

"That will do. Slap it into the article."

 

[Sindatur]

With the Picture of Jane Fonda in the article, it suggests to me, it would be expected to take alot from the movie

I wouldn't attach any significance to the choice of photo. Somebody at Deadline Hollywood probably just grabbed the first piece of photo reference at hand.

"Hey, Mort, call up Barbarella and see what sort of art's available."

"I found a sexy pic of Jane Fonda in a silly outfit."

"That will do. Slap it into the article."

Then it's false advertisement or bad journalism

LOL, good point

 

[Christopher]

I would love to see a remake of Blake's 7 with updated effects, but, mostly true to the original spirit of the show (IE: One step forward, two steps back. The "Heroes" don't always win, but, they do gain some ground, sometimes. The twisted multi-layered schemes by the Federation/Servalan, etc)

Would it be facile to say that's kind of what Firefly was?

Well, Buck Rogers has been reinterpreted several times already. (First the novella, then the newspaper strips, then the Buster Crabbe serials, then a series in the 50s (or was that Flash Gordon?), then the Glenn Larson version...)

There was indeed a live Buck Rogers TV series from 1950-1, initially with Earl Hammond as Buck and Eva Marie Saint as Wilma Deering, though both roles were recast over the course of the show. There are no known surviving episodes.

There was also a TSR role-playing game and associated novel series in the late '80s and early '90s, which I gather was in kind of a hard-SF Solar System setting, and a few other novels unrelated to the game.

You can't really do an American TV show that's Soft Core Erotica anywhere but on the Pay Channels, and if on the Pay Channels like HBO, it would most likely be like Game of Thrones, I would imagine.

Well, that's hardly the only pay-cable genre show out there, so I see no reason to expect it to be the same. GoT is what it is because that's what the books it's based on are like. It stands to reason that a show adapted from a different source would be different as well.

I imagine you could do a Barbarella series that would be similar in approach to the Canadian series Lost Girl, with a blend of action-adventure, sexy stuff, and humor revolving around an extremely sexual lead character. Although a pay-cable series could take it ever farther than Lost Girl's TV-MA rating allows.

 

[Greg Cox]

With the Picture of Jane Fonda in the article, it suggests to me, it would be expected to take alot from the movie

I wouldn't attach any significance to the choice of photo. Somebody at Deadline Hollywood probably just grabbed the first piece of photo reference at hand.

"Hey, Mort, call up Barbarella and see what sort of art's available."

"I found a sexy pic of Jane Fonda in a silly outfit."

"That will do. Slap it into the article."

Then it's false advertisement or bad journalism.

True, but what else were they supposed to use in absence of any "official" art from the new tv show? Remember, this was a news item, not an official press kit for the new show (which doesn't exist yet).

If somebody wrote an article on a Logan's Run remake tomorrow, they'd probably use a photo from the old movie in the absence of anything else. It's that or run the article without any art, which wouldn't attract any eyeballs.

And, I suppose, the Jane Fonda photo serves to remind people what exactly a "Barbarella" is!

"Oh right, that sexy movie with Jane Fonda! I saw that when I was a kid."

 

[Christopher]

^Right, and I'm sure that the first articles reporting on the announcement of the Abrams Star Trek reboot, before anyone was cast or anything, were illustrated with shots from the old Star Trek, that articles on Superman Returns were illustrated with shots from the Reeve movies, etc. Because, seriously, what else is there? It doesn't make sense to accuse someone of bad journalism for failing to use imagery that does not yet exist.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Check this out, they were planning on making a Barbarella cartoon at one point!

http://www.hollywoodcomics.com/forestanim.html

 

[Greg Cox]

I don't know if this show can succeed even if it's decent. It seems everyone has already made their mind up about it. 50's retro is cool but apparently 60's/70's retro is out if there's even a whiff of "cheese" or "camp" involved.

Well, there goes that Blacula remake I was hoping for . . .

 

[scotpens]

Well, Buck Rogers has been reinterpreted several times already. (First the novella, then the newspaper strips, then the Buster Crabbe serials, then a series in the 50s (or was that Flash Gordon?), then the Glenn Larson version...)

There was indeed a live Buck Rogers TV series from 1950-1, initially with Earl Hammond as Buck and Eva Marie Saint as Wilma Deering, though both roles were recast over the course of the show. There are no known surviving episodes.

I've never heard of that series before. I do remember the ultra-cheap Flash Gordon TV series from the 1950s, starring Steve Holland and filmed in Germany. Buster Crabbe starred in three Flash Gordon serials during the 1930s and a single Buck Rogers serial in 1939.

 

[Christopher]

Oh, and a couple of years ago, the people who make the Star Trek Phase II fan films were working on a Buck Rogers webseries with involvement from Gil Gerard, but apparently that project is defunct.


Odd that there have been at least three animated series based on Flash Gordon (the '79 Filmation series, Defenders of the Earth from the '80s, and a '90s version from Hearst Entertainment that turned the lead characters into skateboarding teens), but never an animated Buck Rogers.

Nor does there appear to be a Buck Rogers counterpart to Flesh Gordon, despite the obvious wordplay potential.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Let's see: A colorful, softcore Space Opera driven by old-school Feminism? Yeah, count me in. Has to be pay cable, though.

There was also a TSR role-playing game and associated novel series in the late '80s and early '90s, which I gather was in kind of a hard-SF Solar System setting, and a few other novels unrelated to the game.

Yeah, that was a good RPG. I have the trilogy of computer games... for the Commodore 64.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Oh, and a couple of years ago, the people who make the Star Trek Phase II fan films were working on a Buck Rogers webseries with involvement from Gil Gerard, but apparently that project is defunct.


Odd that there have been at least three animated series based on Flash Gordon (the '79 Filmation series, Defenders of the Earth from the '80s, and a '90s version from Hearst Entertainment that turned the lead characters into skateboarding teens), but never an animated Buck Rogers.

Nor does there appear to be a Buck Rogers counterpart to Flesh Gordon, despite the obvious wordplay potential.

I wonder if that might be because they both mine the same territory but Flash has more distinctive elements (Ming, Hawkmen, Lionmen, Ice Kingdom, etc.)


Some see Farscape as a play on Buck Rogers. I had to smile in the episode where Crichton used the jet pack

 

[MacLeod]

But in the case of Flash Gordon there was that dire TV show a few years back.

Unfortunantly any reimaging (or whatever the katest buzz word is) is compared to at least the previous incarnation if not all previous incarnations.

Now admiarlty the previous incarnation of Flash Gordon was camp (i.e the 1980 Movie) but did that Movie cross the So Bad it's Good line?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I loved Flash Ahhhhh - King of the Impossible!!!!

 

[Christopher]

But in the case of Flash Gordon there was that dire TV show a few years back.

Which actually got a whole lot better in the final 1/3 of the season. They abandoned the attempt to copy Smallville, ditching the Earthbound stuff and focusing almost completely on Mongo (and in the season finale, the main cast was stranded on Mongo permanently). And they got a better handle on writing for ultra-low budget, focusing more on character interaction, worldbuilding, and ideas than on action and spectacle, so that it became much more engaging and satisfying. Unfortunately, the weak beginning had already doomed it in the ratings, so most people never got to see the relatively good show it eventually became. (I'm still mad at myself for not getting around to rewatching it on Hulu before they pulled it. I didn't realize its presence there would be impermanent, so I just kept putting it off.)

Now admiarlty the previous incarnation of Flash Gordon was camp (i.e the 1980 Movie) but did that Movie cross the So Bad it's Good line?

In some ways, perhaps. But the one really great Flash Gordon movie out there is the one hardly anyone's seen, the 1979 Filmation TV movie that was aired only once in 1982 and apparently no longer exists in a sufficiently high-quality form to get a DVD release. Most of it was broken up and restructured into episodes of the 1979 TV series (which is on Hulu now), but the more adult parts like the WWII opening are not included. It is on YouTube, but in rather low quality.

 

[MacLeod]

Shows can survive weak openings, though perhaps that is easier for some shows than it is for others.

 

[Greg Cox]

Now admiarlty the previous incarnation of Flash Gordon was camp (i.e the 1980 Movie) but did that Movie cross the So Bad it's Good line?

Absolutely. That's a great guilty pleasure. I'm embarrassed to admit how much of the dialogue is burned into my brain:

"Klytus, I'm bored!"

"Flash, I love you, but we only have [X ] hours to save the Earth!"

"No, not the bore-worms!"

"This Ming's a psycho!"

"You can't beat the human spirit!"

"They're called tears. They're one of the things that make better than you are."

"All Citizens will Rejoice--on Pain of Death!"

"GORDON IS ALIVE!"


I rest my case.