7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

[Susano]

 

I haven't been a fan of Hollywood's "Let's Remake Everything That Was Ever Popular!" plan, but I was pleasantly surprised by the reboots and reincarnations of Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, and even J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek movie, which is out on Blu-ray and DVD today. I'd argue that maybe science fiction is immune to the remake syndrome, but then you have Michael Bay's two awful Transformers movies. So that sort of shoots my theory in the foot.

 

Whatever the case, it's been great to have so much quality science fiction to choose from lately. There's also a hell of a lot out there that deserves a second look. Forgotten series from the 60s and 70s that have classic storytelling, great characters, and a lot of elements that make up truly good sci-fi: robots, spaceships, and time travel. So while you're enjoying that slick new Trek Blu-ray (even the menus are amazing!) and waiting for James Cameron's Avatar to hit screens, here are some classic science fiction properties that need some new life.

 

http://www.cinematical.com/2009/11/17/cinematical-seven-sci-fi-series-that-need-movie-reboots/

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

It's just .... there's all this work in generating stories. The whole visit-a-new-planet-each-week thing is so hard to pull off. Where do you get your material from? And how do you execute? I hate the Star Trek stories where they visit issue-of-the-week planets, and if I had to write a script from first principles, I'd probably rip off a classic first contact/first landing story like Andre Norton's Janus or Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover Landfall. Yet those were stories that Star Trek: Enterprise did, and they both sucked.

If you want a setting to drive the story, you have to have the setting. That's where Enterprise went so terribly wrong, taking four seasons to visit Vulcan, and giving us exactly one character-driven Vulcan story before leaping right into the "fix Vulcan's problems forever" plot. Battlestar Galactica (2004) at least got that right. The story is about running from Cylons, so you show us more, and more about Cylons. Once you've played out the Cylons, you've played out the series.

These examples show the limits of what can be done. The Cylons are remorseless machine pursuers (to start with). They generated 4 seasons of gripping TV drama, and a surprisingly deep story, but they basically define the genre, giving us the real "Wagon Train in space" in the process. And Enterprise had two generations of intellectual capital to use --or squander, as the case may be. If you want this to work, you have to either find a way to deliver the setting to the viewers, or find one that actually will carry a story. Babylon 5 shows that the former can be done. None of the series cited look to me like they have the latter.

Actually S. M. Stirling, much as I would like to lock him away for offences against scientific historical inquiry, has hit on at least one property that would work. The consensus swords-and-planets solar system of the 1930s. Now there's a story approach for you: Alias in a universe where there are Dry Towns and canals and ancient kings on Mars, jungle and dinosaurs on Venus, cavern cities on the Moon, and American and China (or whoever) are racing to get the Rimboldi (that was it, right? I'm too lazy to check) Device....

[mkultra]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

What...no "Logan's Run"?

[Susano]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

Isn't that where Babylon 5 and Deep Space 9 excelled? By giving us a static environment and letting the action come to our heroes? Thus, you could develop a known setting in depth, and not blithely jump from place to place and never come back.

[Yansuf]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

I can see a desire to remake some of these, but my god, some of these?

 

An explosion in a nuclear waste dump causes the moon to leave orbit and go on a galactic tour; traveling FTL between new solar systems and then slowing down for a while in them, before going off FTL again? That isn't science fiction, that's fantasy! And frankly I find Mordor, Oz, and Xanth more believable.

 

UFO (and SHADO)? The world's major powers agree to form an organization to fight Alien marauders, and keeps it secret by putting its HQ in an old movie studio? May as well make it an animated movie. Not to mention that the aliens' problem is hereditary sterility!

 

Both of those should stay dead.

[Ternaugh]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

What...no "Logan's Run"?

 

It's currently in development as a movie, and might release in 2012 according to IMDB. The project's been languishing in "development hell" for the better part of a decade.

 

JoeG

[lapsedgamer]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

I used to watch Space:1999 in syndication when I was a kid in New York. I believe they had to be reruns because I would have been only nine when the show first aired. In fact, if it's out on DVD I will be watching them again soon. Also, UFO. I may have a busy week on the couch on my next furlough.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

I recall a column written by David Gerrold in the early 1980s (I think) where he was comparing Original Trek, Space 1999, and Original BSG. One point he made was, IMO, especially valid. Star Trek was based on courage - the characters were heroic and had chosen to be where they were, as masters of their own destinies. In Space 1999 and BSG, the primary characters were heroic (or trying to be), but in one they were helpless passengers, and in the other they were running away.

 

Would like to see a Six Million Dollar Man remake. Enjoyed most of the originak series. Not so much SF as secret agent (verging on super-agent / low-end superhero) with REALLY advanced technology. Probably can't call a remake 'Cyborg' - I know that name was taken for a Van Damme movie.

 

Just, for ghod's sake, whatever is remade next, I would really like it if they stopped this 'Let's make it really EDGY' crud. Personally, I hated the "EDGY" BSG remake - seemed like it was all about torturing, compromising and corrupting basically decent people into being total asshats. And sometimes vice versa. Not much heroism there, very little that was positive, just one long nightmare.

[Nyrath]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

Isn't that where Babylon 5 and Deep Space 9 excelled? By giving us a static environment and letting the action come to our heroes? Thus' date=' you could develop a known setting in depth, and not blithely jump from place to place and never come back.[/quote']

 

Well, it seems to me that a space station is just a stationary starship: nothing about a space station setting will prevent the producers from pushing the plot reset button at the end of each episode.

 

The difference with Babylon 5 is that Stracyznski actually plotted out a five-season story arc. This meant that the reset button was not pushed, the background would change as plotted by the story arc.

 

It also made for some nice surprises for intelligent viewers. Almost all the seemingly irrelevant details that appeared in earlier episodes would become oh-my-GOD!!! critical details a season or two later.

 

DS9 had shorter story arcs, but B5's arc spanned the entire five seasons.

 

Example of reset button:

In the ST:TNG episode Unnatural Selection, Dr. Pulaski gets infected with an alien thinggy that causes hyper-aging. She is cured by using the image of her body in the Transporter's pattern buffer. In theory this technique could be used to cure anything. But the reset button is pushed: you never see this technique used ever again.

 

Example of not pushing reset button:

In the B5 episode The Quality of Mercy (first season), an alien machine turns up that can heal almost any malady, abet at the cost of draining the life-force from another person. The machine is confiscated and locked up since it is too deadly to use.

In the B5 episode Endgame (fourth season), Ivanova is mortally wounded and is dying (wounded in a prior episode). Marcus the Ranger (who loves her) discovers the records of the alien machine, and uses it to save Ivanova's life by sacrificing his own.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

 

Would like to see a Six Million Dollar Man remake. Enjoyed most of the originak series. Not so much SF as secret agent (verging on super-agent / low-end superhero) with REALLY advanced technology. Probably can't call a remake 'Cyborg' - I know that name was taken for a Van Damme movie.

 

Just, for ghod's sake, whatever is remade next, I would really like it if they stopped this 'Let's make it really EDGY' crud. Personally, I hated the "EDGY" BSG remake - seemed like it was all about torturing, compromising and corrupting basically decent people into being total asshats. And sometimes vice versa. Not much heroism there, very little that was positive, just one long nightmare.

ias an old school super-hero tv fan i secontd both theese motions

[Tom Carman]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

I can see a desire to remake some of these, but my god, some of these?

 

UFO (and SHADO)? The world's major powers agree to form an organization to fight Alien marauders, and keeps it secret by putting its HQ in an old movie studio? May as well make it an animated movie. Not to mention that the aliens' problem is hereditary sterility!

 

Both of those should stay dead.

 

I like UFO, actually (OK, the costuming probably had a lot to do with it). There was a scene in the UFO novel that addressed the whole movie studio front. As best I can recall, it ran like this:

"...So anytime we need to bring in special equipment or something, the locals just say 'Oh, Harlington-Straker's gearing up for a new flop.'" "A flop?" "Yes, we specialize in flops here. ...Twice we made a profit; terrible movies, I mean REALLY awful! And they made a mint! The Commander was livid!" "What?!" "Well, sure, think about it: the government spends months arguing and finally gives us a grant. Then we come up with a dividend! There's just no way to account for a profit in government finance."

 

I would like to see UFO in its original time period (1980), and see what kind of explanation the film makers can come up with for such rapid technological advance.

[Markdoc]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

Example of reset button:

In the ST:TNG episode Unnatural Selection, Dr. Pulaski gets infected with an alien thinggy that causes hyper-aging. She is cured by using the image of her body in the Transporter's pattern buffer. In theory this technique could be used to cure anything. But the reset button is pushed: you never see this technique used ever again.

 

I saw that episode. It's the only one I've seen. I also realised instantly that "Hey, they can cure anything now - even old age. They have near total immortality!" at the same time as I realised the technique would never be used again. At which point I decided that ST:TNG was too mind-bogglingly stupid to watch ever again.

 

cheers, Mark

[Kristopher]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

I saw that episode. It's the only one I've seen. I also realised instantly that "Hey' date=' they can cure anything now - even old age. They have near total immortality!" at the same time as I realised the technique would never be used again. At which point I decided that ST:TNG was too mind-bogglingly stupid to watch ever again.[/quote']

 

The Federation "system" seemed to be set up to squash anything that would risk even slight changes in "being human". Trying to have Data classified as a machine, for example, or the strict laws against (all but the most desperately needed therapeutic) genetic modification. It wouldn't surprise me if the Federation had a policy of banning things like "transporter medicine" after the reports got back to HQ and the legislature.

[Yansuf]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

The Federation "system" seemed to be set up to squash anything that would risk even slight changes in "being human". Trying to have Data classified as a machine' date=' for example, or the strict laws against (all but the most desperately needed therapeutic) genetic modification. It wouldn't surprise me if the Federation had a policy of banning things like "transporter medicine" after the reports got back to HQ and the legislature.[/quote']

 

Yeah, the more we learned about the UFP, the more dystopian it got.

Now realize, I am NOT saying the UFP was a dystopia; just the closer to it they seemed to come. I would agree they still had a long way to go.

[Yansuf]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

I like UFO, actually (OK, the costuming probably had a lot to do with it). There was a scene in the UFO novel that addressed the whole movie studio front. As best I can recall, it ran like this:

"...So anytime we need to bring in special equipment or something, the locals just say 'Oh, Harlington-Straker's gearing up for a new flop.'" "A flop?" "Yes, we specialize in flops here. ...Twice we made a profit; terrible movies, I mean REALLY awful! And they made a mint! The Commander was livid!" "What?!" "Well, sure, think about it: the government spends months arguing and finally gives us a grant. Then we come up with a dividend! There's just no way to account for a profit in government finance."

 

Didn't know there was a novel version. But that scene is GR8!

 

Still, I have real problems with the series.

[Deadborder]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

I'm sorry. The article lost all crediblity when it described Earth 2 as a "great series".

[mkultra]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

An explosion in a nuclear waste dump causes the moon to leave orbit and go on a galactic tour; traveling FTL between new solar systems and then slowing down for a while in them, before going off FTL again? That isn't science fiction, that's fantasy! And frankly I find Mordor, Oz, and Xanth more believable.

Many "vehicles" travel at the speed of plot.

[Sundog]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

I LOVED (and still do love) UFO. A good remake would be wonderful, though it would be hard to find a good replacement for the role of Straker.

 

Oh, and sterility was just ONE of the problems the Aliens had. Their whole biology was screwed up - there was some speculation in one episode that their planet had undergone an ecological catastrophe.

 

Now, tell me they couldn't get some mileage out of THAT today!

[egaroadkill]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

I'm sorry. The article lost all crediblity when it described Earth 2 as a "great series".

 

I agree! Ugh... That series annoyed the heck out of me.

 

Now what I'd like to see is a Blakes 7 movie and new series.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

Yeah' date=' the more we learned about the UFP, the more dystopian it got..[/quote']

 

There is some speculation that Terry nation wanted the tyrannical Federation of Blakes 7 to be literally built around the ruins of the trekiverse. That they used an inverted version of the Starfleet symbol seems hardly a coincidence....

[Clonus]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

I saw that episode. It's the only one I've seen. I also realised instantly that "Hey, they can cure anything now - even old age. They have near total immortality!" at the same time as I realised the technique would never be used again. At which point I decided that ST:TNG was too mind-bogglingly stupid to watch ever again.

 

cheers, Mark

 

I don't think that follows. On TV there are a lot of techniques for reversing artificial aging, none of which would work on natural aging. For that matter Captain Kirk was afflicted with a similar form of pseudo aging and it likewise magically went away when the biological infection causing it was neutralized.

[Markdoc]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

I don't think that follows. On TV there are a lot of techniques for reversing artificial aging' date=' none of which would work on natural aging. For that matter Captain Kirk was afflicted with a similar form of pseudo aging and it likewise magically went away when the biological infection causing it was neutralized.[/quote']

 

Yep, in this case, however, what they did was use the "transporter record" to simply provide her with a new body. There was no suggestion this was some kind of special event, that was specific to this special sort of viral infection. Indeed, the whole point was that the characters had aged and that there was no way to reverse it.

 

It could actually have been cool, if they had taken that idea and run with it - it would have added a whole Ian Banks Culture vibe to the show that would have meshed reasonably well with the Federation background. But noooo. It's a TV franschise and the first rule of most franschises is that nothing significant must ever change.

 

cheers, Mark

[Susano]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

Yep, in this case, however, what they did was use the "transporter record" to simply provide her with a new body. There was no suggestion this was some kind of special event, that was specific to this special sort of viral infection. Indeed, the whole point was that the characters had aged and that there was no way to reverse it.

 

It could actually have been cool, if they had taken that idea and run with it - it would have added a whole Ian Banks Culture vibe to the show that would have meshed reasonably well with the Federation background. But noooo. It's a TV franschise and the first rule of most franschises is that nothing significant must ever change.

 

cheers, Mark

 

Which is what makes TV franchisees, or even comic book worlds different from a lot of game settings. The GM often seems to consider "what happens if I do X" and then run with it. TV writers think "what can we do in this episode with X" and then go on to something else.

[KawangaKid]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

Example of not pushing reset button:

In the B5 episode The Quality of Mercy (first season), an alien machine turns up that can heal almost any malady, abet at the cost of draining the life-force from another person. The machine is confiscated and locked up since it is too deadly to use.

In the B5 episode Endgame (fourth season), Ivanova is mortally wounded and is dying (wounded in a prior episode). Marcus the Ranger (who loves her) discovers the records of the alien machine, and uses it to save Ivanova's life by sacrificing his own.

 

And let's not forget in Season Two when the device comes back the first time in order to bring back Mr. Garibaldi from a PPG-induced coma -- to help establish how deadly the PPGs were and hint that the device would come back again.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: 7 Sci-Fi Series Ripe for Movie Reboots

 

the writers could at least madea plot device of OUTLAWING transporters to be used in that fasion