The Syfy Upfronts brought out some very exciting news for science fiction lovers everywhere as it appears someone at Syfy listened to our pleas and a slew of new scripted dramas are on the development roadmap.
Last year Syfy had already announced it was developing and is still working on The Man in the High Castle from Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions, Stephen King’s Eyes of the Dragon and Dark Fall from Jim Henson Productions. Those productions are considered long form and will turn into series should they come to light.
Syfys newest two alien/space dramas will be mini-series adapted from 2 classic SciFi novels. The first is based on Larry Niven’s Ringworld. Adapted by writer Michael Perry (The River, Paranormal Activity 2), Ringworld is based on Niven’s best-selling book and is being developed as a four-hour mini-series Syfy event. The project is a co-production of MGM Television and Universal Cable Productions (UCP), with MGM as the lead studio. Executive producers are William S. Todman Jr. and Edward Milstein.
In Ringworld, a hastily assembled team of explorers travels to the farthest reaches of space to investigate a mind-blowing alien artifact called Ringworld – an artificial habitat the size of one million Earths. As they crash-land on this enormous structure, they discover the remnants of ancient civilizations, technology beyond their wildest dreams, mysteries that shed light on the very origins of man and, most importantly, a possible salvation for a doomed Earth.
The second mini-series is Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End. Childhood’s End will be executive produced by Michael DeLuca (The Social Network) with Universal Cable Productions serving as the studio. Childhood’s End follows a peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious Overlords, whose arrival ends all war and turns the planet into a near-utopia.
Childhood’s End has a familiar ring to it for those of us who are fans of TNT’s Falling Skies but in reverse. Rather then hiding from and rebelling against an alien force that is enslaving our children, the aliens in this novel have provided an end to war and turned earth into a near-utopia. But I think we all know better, there is always a price for perfection.
Ringworld has a familiar sounding story to that of Prometheus. Prometheus which was scribed as a ‘prequel’ to the Alien, brought a lot of fan hate with it. The film left many confused and unsure of how the story played into the Alien universe. However, I personally felt it was a great stand alone film and had just enough tie ins for Alien that a sequel can be made to help seal the deal.
In making the announcement, Mark Stern, President, Original Content, Syfy, and Co-Head, Original Content, Universal Cable Productions, said: “We’re proud to bring to life these science fiction masterpieces, Ringworld and Childhood’s End. With their brilliant scope of imagination, the astonishing visions of these two novels created riveting possibilities into the future of humanity which remain timely and provocative.”
Sound off about these two new mini-series projects and the overall push by Syfy to finally bring us more scripted dramas and less reality tv.
