A Film Update I Want to See

This is an interesting bit of news that I came across via the SciFiWire, the SciFi channel's news site - J. Michael Straczynski is updating Forbidden Planet.

Yes, JMS, the same guy who did Babylon 5, easily one of the greatest SciFi shows out there, is turning his attention to one of my favorite films of all time, and working to update it. This has me very, very excited, because this is one film that I've always thought would be a good one to modernize with CGI, and with this news, it's clear that they're getting a competent writer.

Here's the original story:

Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, who also wrote Clint Eastwood's upcoming Changeling, is writing a long-in-the-works update of the SF classic Forbidden Planet for Warner Brothers, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Joel Silver is producing via Silver Pictures. Warner picked up the project on the down-low earlier this year. As late as last year, it was set up at DreamWorks, with David Twohy attached to direct. Prior to that, New Line had it. James Cameron, Nelson Gidding and Stirling Silliphant have been associated with the remake over the years. Released in 1956, Planet told the tale of an expedition sent from Earth to check on a colony of scientists on a far-off planet. They find two members, a man who has found alien technology that doubled his intellect, Dr. Morbius, and his daughter, both of whom have managed to survive an unseen monster roaming the planet. The movie is loosely based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. The movie, directed by Fred Wilcox, starred Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis and Leslie Nielsen, but is perhaps best known for the character Robbie the Robot.

Straczynski certainly knows something about the movie - there's a number of references in B5 in the way that it was filmed and some of universe that he creates - the planet Epsilon (where B5 is located) comes to mind, and I'm sure that there's a couple of others.

This is SciFi during the golden age - it's got the ray guns, the robots, confident captains and space ships, not to mention a monster. While it's certainly cheesy at points, it also has some of the most memorable moments, as well as some of the most basic themes of science fiction - exploration, the unknown, technology - there's a sense of wonder throughout the film, and it's for these reasons that the film stands the test of time, even if the technology doesn't necessarily do so.

Hopefully the film will be faithful to the original, but will be able to stand on its own. And, hopefully Warner will attach a good director to this.

Writer's Strike About to End?

Various news agencies are reporting that the Writer's Guild of America and various production companies might have reached a consensus and that the strike might be ending soon. Already, Television writers have been on strike, picketing constantly, for four months, leaving all the major networks strambling for programming by rearranging their schedules or adding new reality shows to the airwaves. Some shows, such as the popular 24 have been pushed back indefinently, while others, such as Battlestar Galactica, LOST, House, and more, have incomplete seasons ready, and their runs are going to be up in the air. According to Reuters:

"Negotiators for Hollywood studios and striking writers have agreed to terms of a new contract that could be presented to union leaders in days and, if approved, end their three-month-old labor clash later this week, two sources told Reuters on Monday.

While the outlines of an accord were reached over the weekend, the two sides still need to hammer out contract language before a deal is submitted for approval to the governing boards the East and West Coast branches of the Writers Guild of America, they said."

Variety is also hopeful:

"As the lawyers work overtime to hammer out the details, scenarios are emerging that could -- underline could -- bring an end to the WGA strike as early as next week."

Finally, the New York Times is cautious, not because the writers might be returning, but because of the very nature of the strike, the playing field will be very different:

"But even as the sides were moving toward conciliation, many of those best-versed in the writers’ business were fretting that a more complicated, and perhaps less lucrative, future lies ahead. In interviews last week, lawyers and others — some of whom were granted anonymity to avoid derailing talks — cautioned that a post-strike world appeared likely to bring more imports from foreign television, diminished spending on expensive pilot episodes and even more reality programming."

I guess we'll be seeing. I hope that the strike has been helpful to the writers, and that they will get paid for the work that they do for the shows, but I'm guessing that that will come to light once the strike is over.

The next big step will be the recovery. At this point, I see it as highly unlikely that most of the current shows will recover from this strike. The current season has been effectively slashed in half. Some shows have been delayed, such as Battlestar Galactica and 24, while others have aired their current runs, and are at the mercy of the strike for their return. Heroes had done this, with a much shorter season. Hopefully, this won't impact some shows as much, but I suspect that it might be the death for some, such as Friday Night Lights.

The strike, I'm guessing, will also spell an end for some of the upper range budgets that some shows have typically employed. COupled with the financial problems of the US, numerous shows have already been dumped by studios while they tighen up their belts.