Monday, April 20, 2009

Flash Forward moving forward....


According to an article over at io9, the pilot based on the novel Flash Forward is going ahead and will get a series order from ABC.

For those out there that don't know, Flash Forward is a novel by respected Canadian SF author Robert J. Sawyer. In it, an experiment at the Large Hadron Collider creates a two minute period where the entire population of the planet Earth has their consciousness transported twenty years into the future. The novel follows the pair of scientists who orchestrated the experiment, and the major themes of the story focus on whether or not the future is set or can be changed and how foreknowledge can alter your decisions. Heady stuff, but there's also a cool mystery, as one of the scientists doesn't experience a vision, indicating that he may be dead in the future, and he learns from other peoples' visions that he may have been murdered.

I liked the book (aside from the ending, which I won't spoil, but went too far into sci-fi land for me) as did Mrs. Nerdlinger, but we both wondered how it would turn into a series.

Well, wonder no further! Here's what io9 has to say:

But unlike the novel, in which everyone sees twenty years into the future, the show, produced by David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga, gives everyone a glimpse five months into the future. And at the end of each season, the show resets and people get another future-glimpse. The show stars Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, Sonya Walger and Jack Davenport.

I like the alteration, as it gives the series more versatility, although how this can be said to be based on the novel is beyond me. Still, I like the cast. The only thing is that some of these high-concept shows have kind of tanked as the concept becomes too overwhelming. We'll see this fall, I guess.

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