JMS news story....the latest on Forbidden Planet and The Lensman..

[RAMA]

Thanks to this thread!: http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=115229

Lensman seems further along, though he mentions he just submitted a script for FP!!:

You’ve also become an able screenwriter for adapting works, and you’re working on scripts for Forbidden Planet and Lensman. First the latter – you’ve said Lensman’s been one of your dream projects, but not many people in this modern day know about it. I didn’t find out about it until I saw the anime and then ventured into the books. What’s the draw for you on Lensman?

JMS: I love the scale of the thing, and the degree to which it became a template for so much SF that followed it, everything from Star Trek to Star Wars and the like. I like the journey of Kim Kinnison toward something greater, toward the creation of humanity 2.0. As it happens, I recently got my next batch of notes from Ron Howard et al, so I'm deep into the next draft, which is going very well. Universal is also very excited about it, feeling this could be a multi-film franchise.

http://www.newsarama.com/film/JMS-Week-Movies-TV-100220.html

 

[Pilot Ace]

If I wanted to read Lensman in all it's glory, what should I do? Are these books still in print?

 

[Australis]

A few years ago a Brit fan set up a publishing company to print his own books, and along the way acquired the rights for the Lensman books. They're available at Amazon, here:
http://www.amazon.com/E.-E.-Smith/e/B000AP9YPC/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1266924322&sr=1-2-ent

They are:
Triplanetary
First Lensman
Galactic Patrol
Grey Lensman
Second Stage Lensman
Children of the Lens.

I'm pretty excited about this. These were among the first books I got into as a reen, the old Panthr pbacks. And when you consider they were read by JMS, George Lucas, Steve Spielberg and Gene Roddenberry, as boys, you begin to see their impact. Yeah, I'm stoked.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

They might have to do a little rewriting if they ever get as far as filming "Children of the Lens". I recall being a little perturbed by the implied incest when I read the book as a youngster.

 

[Kegg]

Lensman is something well overdue (maybe too overdue - it's not exactly timely by this point) for a decent theatrical production. As I bloviated about in the other thread, JMS is a pretty good pick because the Babylon 5 mythos owes a lot to the premise of Lensman.

I'm also interested to see what becomes of Forbidden Planet, honestly. I've heard vague rumours about James Cameron directing it, and at this point I'm rather interested to see what he or JMS could come up with. FP will be a rather hard act to follow, though.

 

[Mistral]

Grey Lensman is what I'd like to see-I always thought that was the peak of the Lensman series.

 

[Pilot Ace]

A few years ago a Brit fan set up a publishing company to print his own books, and along the way acquired the rights for the Lensman books. They're available at Amazon, here:
http://www.amazon.com/E.-E.-Smith/e/B000AP9YPC/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1266924322&sr=1-2-ent

Looks like many of those are out of print.

 

[stonester1]

I'm very excited about both of these.