io9: adaptations

New Ridley Scott Movie Has Better Drugs Than Blade Runner

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:30:00 PDT

Ridley Scott is returning to science fiction, the genre he spurned, for the first ever movie adaptation of Aldous Huxley's classic false-utopia novel Brave New World. Leonardo DiCaprio, who owns the movie rights to Brave, will probably star as John the Savage, a natural man who confronts a world of test-tube babies who are kept pacified with drugs and sex. According to Leonardo's dad, who was friends with Huxley's widow, the movie will include CGI vistas of a "vast futuristic world." [Big Picture Radio]

Believe It Or Not, "Greatest American Hero" Is A Movie

charliejane — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:30:34 PST

The movie version of TV's worst superhero show, The Greatest American Hero, starts filming in July, says director Steven Herek (The Mighty Ducks). And Herek wants "name" actors to play the teacher who gets superpowers from an alien suit and his main nemesis. The good news: the movie version's synopsis actually has some potential to be way more interesting than the super-dull TV show.

In the movie version, just like on TV, Ralph Hinkley is a high-school history teacher chosen by aliens to defend humanity and wear a super-suit. But he loses the suit's instructions and flies around crashing into things. The movie also includes cranky FBI agent Bill Maxwell, a major supporting cast member in the TV version. The movie adds a villain, Harvey Lundy, who's another schoolteacher chosen by evil aliens to help them strip-mine the planet. Lundy and Hinkley wind up having a super-powered duel to the death. The movie also adds a love interest for Hinkley.

I rented the DVDs of the TV show a couple of years ago, and wound up bringing them back early, because the watching-water-boil storylines were so hard to sit through. But adding a supervillain, backed by his own set of aliens with their own agenda, gives the movie at least some potential to rise from awful to watchable. Maybe. [MovieWeb]

Two Gibson Adaptations, But Only One Peter Weir Movie

charliejane — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:00:23 PST

Hayden "Anakin" Christensen will star in a movie adaptation of William Gibson's classic novel Neuromancer, directed by Joseph Kahn. So far, Kahn's only credits are the low-budget biker movie Torque, and some Britney Spears music videos. (Torque does feature lots of spooky flickering neon lights, which is a start.) The slightly more experienced Peter Weir (The Truman Show) will be directing the movie of Gibson's Pattern Recognition.

Must See: The Incredible Hulk

charliejane — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 22:56:41 PDT

Must-see TV shows are futuristic classics that shouldn't be missed. Of course, not every must-see is perfect. That's why we've rated them 1-5 on the patented "crunchy goodness" scale.

Title: The Incredible Hulk
Date: 1978-1982

Vitals: An experiment gone wrong gives David Banner the ability to transform into a roaring green bodybuilder whenever something pisses him off. Unlike in the comics, he doesn't fight supervillains or alien menaces. Instead he runs from place to place, pursued by a meddling reporter and only occasionally becoming the Hulk.

Famous names: Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno, Jack Colvin, Kenneth Johnson

Crunchy goodness: 3

Bang for your buck: Ferrigno, as the Hulk, wore a $650 wig made out of pure yak hair. Also, one reason for the show's cancellation was that it had the highest special-effects budget in television — higher even than Buck Rogers. Network execs wanted to cut costs, letting Banner turn into the Hulk only once per episode instead of twice.

Spinoffs/Sequels/Copycats: Three TV shows, featuring other Marvel characters such as Thor, Daredevil and the Kingpin. Bixby planned to direct another TV movie, featuring Spider-man and co-starring Nicholas Hammond, who played Spider-man in his short-lived TV show. But it never happened.

Stunt casting: Mariette Hartley won an Emmy for playing a terminally ill scientist who falls in love with Banner in the two-part episode "Married."

The Incredible Hulk TV Series Page: Episode Guide, FAQ, Multimedia & More

Must See: Wonder Woman

charliejane — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 22:52:03 PDT

Must-see TV shows are futuristic classics that shouldn't be missed. Of course, not every must-see is perfect. That's why we've rated them 1-5 on the patented "crunchy goodness" scale.

Title: Wonder Woman
Date: 1975-1979

Vitals: An Amazon from an all-woman island paradise travels to America to fight Nazis — and then hops forward a few decades to fight disco.

Famous names: Lynda Carter, Lyle Waggoner, Norman Burton, Douglas S. Cramer

Crunchy goodness: 2

Spinoffs/Sequels/Copycats: Joss Whedon was supposed to write and direct a movie, but now it's stuck in development hell.

Stunt casting: Chloris Leachman as Queen Hyppolita, Wonder Woman's over-protective mother, who's worried about letting Wonder Woman visit the unhygienic outside world.

The shit: When the boogie-woogie theme music plays and Carter spins around to create a burst of light and don her spangly costume, you can't help believing in Amazons.

The Wonder Woman Pages

Must See: Flash Gordon

charliejane — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 22:43:04 PDT

Must-see TV shows are futuristic classics that shouldn't be missed. Of course, not every must-see is perfect. That's why we've rated them 1-5 on the patented "crunchy goodness" scale.

Title: Flash Gordon
Date: 1954-1955

Vitals: The swoosh-haired Flash Gordon fights the Cold War in space, with the help of the only-slightly-mad Doctor Zarkov and the dashing Dale Arden.

Famous names: Steve Holland, Irene Champlin, Joseph Nash, Edward Gruskin

Crunchy goodness: 1

Spinoffs/Sequels/Copycats: Before it was a television show, Flash was a newspaper comic strip and a 1930s movie serial. After this show, Flash went on to star in a 1980 movie. We've also heard rumors of a 2007 television revival, but have never been able to find anybody who's watched a whole episode.

Sights you'll never unsee: Holland, as Flash, wearing the world's tightest T-shirt with a big lightning bolt on it, and an honest-to-Zarkov girdle scrunching his tummy.

The shit: Dale Arden isn't just the girlfriend or sidekick, she's a space fighter in her own right, showing great bravery whenever she's threatened with a death ray or "the breath of death" or whatnot.

Flash Gordon and The Planet of Death (1954).