David Goyer, the guy who wrote Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (OK, so he also wrote Jumper, but I think I hated that because they cast Hayden Christensen in the lead) is taking a side trip to TV land. He and Brannon Braga (co-helmer of the Star Trek dynasty for many years and currently working on 24) are bringing a new Sci-Fi series to ABC next fall: Flash Forward.
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The series will be based on a novel of the same name by Robert J. Sawyer. The basic idea of the book is that a scientific experiment goes bad, and the result is that for a few moments the consciousness of the entire human race is thrown forward by about twenty years. Once the initial shock wears off, the pressure to repeat the experiment is on. The fallout is that everyone wants a glimpse of their future, a chance to “flash forward” and see their successes… or learn how to avoid their failures.
It sounds like “time travel lite” and I’m OK with that – I know some people think that time travel has been done to death, but there are SO many angles you can take that I think the possibilities are almost endless… you just need a writer who can find that unique approach that hasn’t been done before.
The series will star Jack Davenport, Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, Sonya Walger and Courtney B. Vance, and there are plans for five 22 episode seasons. The idea is for it be kind of a counterpart to ABC’s hit show Lost, so I would expect lots of plot threads that are labryinthine and tease the audience ceaselessly. If the show makes it past its first season, the good news is that it sounds like they’re mapping out the arc of the entire series – always a good idea for a show of this type in my opinion. Also, the word is that on the show characters will only “flash forward” six months, not 20+ years.
There’s not too much known about the show at this point, but it sounds like something worth at least checking out – more Sci Fi on TV is a good thing (do ya hear that, “SyFy?”). And there is one lonely little viral site for the series: TheMosaicCollective.com. All you can do is answer the question “What did you see?” (when you flashed forward for two minutes) and enter your email address, ostensibly for updates on the show.
Sources: AintItCool, SciFiWire
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5 Comments
The book is great, and Sawyer is one of my favorite authors.
It isn’t really time travel, as I recall. Everyone in the world sees their future, but are not able to interact with it.
And the story was less about the event itself (and how to reproduce it) and more about the ramifications of seeing your future – including those who saw nothing during the event.
If you like character-driven, current world scifi, then do yourself a favor and pick up any of Sawyer’s books. They are fantastic.
Cool, thanks for the recommendation.
With everyone on the planet doing the flash forward, I’d probably be the guy who flashed forward to standing in front of the sink, brushing my teeth, lol.
Vic
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