Battlestar Galactica may have been more of a critical hit than a ratings smash, but its producers are getting ready to spread its science fiction recipe, mixing grit and soap opera, through a bunch of more high-profile venues. David Eick is already signed to work on a TV series based on P.D. James' Children Of Men, and Ron Moore is writing a prequel to The Thing and a TV movie called Virtuality. And they're both working on the BSG prequel TV movie Caprica, and might be involved in a resulting series. But now, it turns out both creators will be much, much busier than that.
Moore just signed a deal to write and produce an original science fiction movie trilogy for United Artists, the resurrected production company that wants to create its own home-grown franchises. No word on what the trilogy will be called, or what it's about. New UA CEO Paula Wagner worked with him 10 years ago, when he co-wrote Mission Impossible II, which she produced.
As for Eick, he just signed a two-year development deal with NBC/Universal, on the heels of his failed Bionic Woman reboot. He's going to work on reinventing another, as yet unnamed, Universal franchise. But he's also working on two other projects, which scarcely sound science fictional at all: AKA, a "family adventure" that he describes as Little Miss Sunshine meets Thelma And Louise, and another series that's "sort of a modern-day Hart To Hart." [Hollywood Reporter and Variety, via Wes]













Comments
"...Little Miss Sunshine meets Thelma And Louise..."
The key to a good pitch: take two things that have nothing to do with each other and slap 'em together.
Based on that photo alone, I have to conclude that Cylon Porn would be absolutely amazing.
Enough with the reboots...I'd love to see what these guys would come up with working from scratch. Or at least use non-TV/film source material.
Little Miss Sunshine meets Thelma & Louise? If it has Abigail Breslin driving off a cliff in a car then I might consider watching.
i've got my fingers crossed for abrams dark tower.
although, i really don't care if they produce the whole thing.
What would be awesome, was if they did only the gunslinger, and produced it with all practical effects and had it done in exaclty the same style as a sergio leone western.
get Ennio Morricone to do the music while he's still with us.
@BullfightsOnAcid:
For the win.
The Thing? Prequel?
Um... No.
I thought The Thing, as it stands, is a wonderful bleak film. What needs to be added to it beforehand? Where the ship came from? How it tore apart the Swedes?
New from United Artists.
The Xenu Saga.
A 3 part telling of the true history of the known universe. Now in glorious e-reader-vision.
Is it bad that "original science fiction movie trilogy" makes me cringe more than a little? I'd like to be jazzed about somebody cooking up a new idea. It should thrill me. I think I've seen too many things on SciFi with "original" attached to them. I do hope this project turns out well.
"He's going to work on reinventing another, as yet unnamed, Universal franchise."
The Six Million Dollar Man? Let's see how he can make a campy 70s into an ultra crappy 00's show, again.
@diverguy:
Only if they included some of the original tin cans.
"No baby, leave it on. I like the helmet."
"Say it! Say!"
...."By your command.."
You could argue (if you were my girlfriend the trekkie) that ST:DS9 was the actual pioneer of feminine narrative in TV sci-fi, so all sci-fi, including BSG, is becoming more like DS9.
Personally, I'd rather hide the box sets so I can play me some Wii.
(Although now I think of it, the religious themes in DS9 might give some clues as to how BSG will end. Hmm.)
@Dunny0: I thought it said "... prequel to 'Swamp Thing'" and nearly lost my goodies for a second there
@kstop: I think you're dead-on about the religious themes and the links between BSG and DS9. I was strongly reminded of that in the latest episode.
@Goodnightbabytron: I've always thought that BSG was, in many ways, a retread of DS9. But with, hopefully, a less disappointing ending.
So all sci-fi will have hot Blonde and Asian robots who like bone average guys? How revolutionary.
David Eick is a hack. Just riding on RDM's coat-tails.
@PVIII:
I don't know about Hack. He's just not the creative side of the partnership. From his past projects, he is a great producer in the classical sense of being able to get things done and in front of an audience.
He just has no sense of narrative or direction and needs a better half to run the creative side of things. So, if I was a director or show runner who was trying to get my show made having Eick on board would be a dream. If I was a studio exec looking for someone to guide a new (or old) idea, not so much.
@edosan: "...in space."
> No word on what the trilogy will be
> called
How about Battlestar Virtuality.
And I want all the characters to have Ron Moore's hair.
ALL of them: male & female.
In the future, there will be only one haircut.
@Charlie Jane Anders: DS9 was burdened by the bias of What Had Gone Before, both ST: TOS, ST: TNG and whatever other "spin offs" preceded it. I think if they'd kept Avery Brooks in the shades and trenchcoat he used to wear on Spenser For Hire, it would've helped distinguish it a bit more.
@Dunny0: The Norwegians, damn it! THE NORWEGIANS! (though I would LOVE a sweded The Thing. Just sayin'...).
But yeah, prequel = bad idea. It's like trying to come up with something original... and then failing miserably. Unless it is a prequel to the original, in which case I don't feel that strongly about it, other than shaking my head at the, wait for it, failure to create something original.
Do I detect a pattern here?
Mission Impossible II - sequel to a remake.
Various incarnations of Trek, including First Contact - spin-offs of TOS plus semi-prequel.
BSG - remake.
The Thing prequel - uh, prequel.
Not to be dissin' the BSG/Ron D. Moore-fans (or, gods forbid, the Trek-fans), but does this guy actually create anything original? Then again, who the hell in Tinsel Town actually does these days...
Also, working with UA? Sci-fi-related? The smell of Thetans is ominously strong...
@Charlie Jane Anders: I'm not sure "retread" is fair -- maybe I'm reading that as too much of a pejorative -- but it's certainly exploring many of the same themes. Looking at the world around us, those themes still need exploration. Anyway, DS9 was far and away my favorite Trek, so I've enjoyed the parallels.
@Charlie Jane Anders: Oh and yes, the end of DS9 was a big bad thud...let's hope that isn't repeated.
@Charlie Jane Anders: really? I don't see it... BSG is moving, while DS9 is stationary. And I feel that in a figurative sense as well as literal. to each his own, I suppose.
@Goodnightbabytron: I meant "retread" in the sense of "redo," purely neutral...
I hope all sf will not be like BG, because enough is enough. Too much filler, not enough thriller. I'm board already. Someone just kill 'er!
@Jeff-Minor: And you're a poet and you didn't even know it!
You know, I just wish they'd do another Blade Runner-clone (or should that be "replicant") like Total Recall 2070 (only with actual actors). That's the kind of sci-fi I like best (apart from Doctor Who, of course)! These days it's all space-opera and time travel. Where's the love for future noir, or even cyberpunk? (and I realize I contradict myself there with loving Doctor Who, but I don't care).
@jbq: Sorry, sorry...
Although, the idea of a sweded Thing is rather fun.
I've got a camera and a weekend... There's still some snow on the mountain.
coming soon from the pen of ultra-mega-super-genius ronny d. moore, 'space 2199'. a stunning re-envisioning of the classic series featuring hot chicks, explosive effects and extra darkness and grit. every episode chock full of podcasts describing his diet and beverages while his wife, kids and pets add new, exciting distraction.
these dudes are so over rated, the 'bubonic woman' is the harbinger of things to come from these two.
Why don't they just take Niven's ringworld and use it as a setting for a series? The setting, the characters, the conflicts the vampires, floating cities, giant kitties. I want it now!
BSG is a bit more than just a remake of the original. The first series was just a poorly done retelling of the Mormon trek to Utah. They used the setting and characters, but it's not just a remake.
@daveNYC: The Mormons fought robots? o_O
@Jeff-Minor: I am with you. Hollywod finally knows SKIFFY SELLS but the retreads are going to kill the trend and we'll be back to nothing but buddy movies and teen comedies. If these doofuses are only going to making franchises based on existing properties why not poke their point 'lil heads out of the box and use something beside a cheezy show or movie they remember from childhood.
Ringworld would be a great possibility. The success of the Halo games has already created a load of folks primed to be interested.
@PVIII:
I'd agree with that. I think people give them both too much credit the way they've destroyed the potential and direction BSG once had. It's been nothing but shark jumping and force fed soap opera moments ever since the nuke went off and they changed teh rebellion/revolution from being a human one to a Cylon one.
The true sign of a hack is when they double back on the direction they followed and try to rewrite something they think makes more sense. It shows they didn't know what they were doing/had in the first place, and they really did have something.
The darkness of the premise once made sense, and they even had built up a pretty good argument that maybe the human race should be destroyed or merge with the Cylons and even had a group of rebels/revolutionaries that could have heralded in a new age without getting religious but by focusing on real world issues. What did we get? Plot contradictions and storylines that negate the significance of what was built up before.
And to screw up the Bionic Woman you have to be a hack. The premise is Robocop and what did we get? Female angst and relationship BS that we could have seen on Sex in the City. What they should have focused on is the fact that technology was introducing the latest evolution of mankind and the impact of that on the characters and society, not 'oh my greatness is interferring with my personal life'. That and it became yet another excuse to have Starbuck be the troubled angsty strong female character.
They are just writing scenes and stories around scenery chewing emotional outbursts by Starbuck now. The Lost trick I call it. Good dramatic scenes with no long term relevance or resolution because it can and will all be contradicted or negated. I gave up on Lost when season 2 ended without them addressing or resolving anything from season 1. It's micro-drama. It's junk food drama. It becomes forgettable.
Kill Starbuck off already, she's a one trick pony and we've seen the trick over and over and over and over.
@Dunny0: lol. Yeah, sexy robots! Oh the temptations those poor Mormons must've had to deal with!
DS9? B5. QED.
I'm rooting for a "Crawling Eye" remake.
Wow, I thought the title said "Soon all Scifi will Look Like Battlestar Galactica". Judging from the picture, that wouldn't be so bad either.
Just as long as they use the concept and not BSG's poor writing practices
Soon All Scifi Will Be Like Battlestar Galactica
...and my whatever god you believe in, have mercy on your soul.
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