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X-FILES’ Spotnitz Developing Two Sci-Fi Series For HBO, One Based On Robert Silverberg Novel THE WORLD INSIDE!!
I am – Hercules!!
Frank Spotnitz – the “X-Files” writer-producer who went on to “Millennium,” “Harsh Realm,” “The Lone Gunmen” and ABC’s short-lived 2005 revival of “Night Stalker” – now has two series in development at HBO:
1) “The World Inside,” based on the 1971 novel by Robert Silverberg , depicts Earth in the year 2381 when the world’s population has risen to 75 billion and people live in 1,000-story buildings that house 800,000.
2) “Humanitas,” a medical thriller set in the nearer future, depicts the perils of genetic manipulation and the threat of a deadly pandemic.
Find all of Variety’s story on the matter here.
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Spotnitz knows his shit.
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Irony abounds.
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Though knowing HBO they'll cancel it after 3 seasons....
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Ran into this exceedingly strange novel (even by SF standards) in a used bookstore ages ago. It's very "Brave New World"-ish in its treatment of sexual mores, but if it's being developed for HBO there's a chance it won't be bowdlerized.
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and honestly, 75 billion? do you realize what it would take to get there. even if you assume MASSIVE population growth, getting to like 15 billion is almost impossible.they need to massively retool the source material if they're going to do this. and it's gonna be EXPENSIVE as shit.
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Actually with population growth being exponential it's not mathematically improbable. Of course there will be zero resources for anyone, and life would be shit.
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Aug 14, 2009 2:41:27 AM CDT
They massively retooled the source material for True blood for T
by xiphos_2
so it's not out of the question.
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actually, it is mathematically improbable...it's not mathematically IMPOSSIBLE, but it's extremely improbable.put it this way: population growth is increasing all over the world, and the UN estimate for world population in 2300 is 9 billion. so let's say, the rate is 4 times what is reasonably predicted. 4 times is a HUGE difference. it means every person has like 4 kids on average or something. that only gets you to 36 billion. less than HALF of what the book has.it's just far fetched, to say the least.
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Assuming population growth stays roughly the same, we could hit 75 billion around the year 2900. If they don't change the year, a population of roughly 35 billion would be more suited to 2381.
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Not UN garbage.
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But what's the blooming story??? We have a gazillion billion people living in massive skyscrapers and.....what?...is it like an overpopulated episode of Friends? What happens??
And a medical thriller - possible pandemic....am I thinking ReGenesis here? -
he's a great writer, especially for this genre.
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"As the story moves from one character to another, we are introduced to such marvels as automated child-care, futuristic rock concerts, and pleasure-giving drugs, but we also gradually begin to see the cracks in the façade of utopian perfection, and the terrible price the residents sometimes pay. Universal sexual availability helps drain off frustrations and aggression, but sex quickly becomes monotonous, meaningless, and emotionally unfulfilling. The drug-induced highs lead to inevitable comedowns, marital fidelity is socially unacceptable, and personal freedom has more limits than at first appears. People mature early, in their early teens, and begin working, having sex, and producing children as soon as possible. Of course such a close-knit society must have order, and since no one is ever alone, it follows that someone is always watching. Variation from accepted behavior is viewed by the authorities as threatening, and the punishment is always either re-education or death. And as with any controlled society, all social institutions are geared toward convincing people that they are happy, even though there are many more unhappy people than is commonly admitted."
pfft, sounds like 2009 to me. seriously. sounds good though. -
Aug 14, 2009 8:13:09 AM CDT
BadMrWonka, Most population from 3rd world countries.
by evilwizardglick
Not "all over". Mainly third world and developing countries. Parts of the industrial world have negative or near zero population growth.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/08/13/2009-08-13_new_report_puts_world_population_at_7_billion_by_2011.html
The report states that 97% of global growth over the next 40 years will occur in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
“The great bulk of today's 1.2 billion youth - nearly 90% - are in developing countries,” said Carl Haub, a co-author of the report, to CNN.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Population_growth_rate_world.PNG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_growth
Globally, the growth rate of the human population has been steadily declining since peaking in 1962 and 1963 at 2.20% per annum. In 2007 the growth rate was 1.19% per annum. The last one hundred years have seen a rapid increase in population due to medical advances and massive increase in agricultural productivity[3] made possible by the Green Revolution.[4][5][6]
The actual annual growth in the number of humans fell from its peak of 87.5 million per annum in 1989, to a low of 76.4 million per annum in 2002, at which it stabilised and has started to slowly rise again to 79.4 million per annum in 2007, and 80.2 million per annum in 2009. Growth remains high in the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa.[7] According to projections by the U.S. Census Bureau, the annual world population growth will peak in 2011 at 80.9 million.[8]
Some countries experience negative population growth, especially in Eastern Europe (mainly due to low fertility rates and emigration). In Southern Africa, growth is slowing due to the high number of HIV-related deaths. Some Western Europe countries might also encounter negative population growth.[9] Japan's population began decreasing in 2005 -
...has a babe with ripped blouse and the old cover has tall buildings. Awesome.
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The more realistic scenario is the new longevity will force nations to limit family size. More 'old" people, the biggest growing segment of the population is those 100 and over, necessitates fewer 'young" people.
It is conceivable that developing nations will be the future work force as Africa looks to be slated as the future breadbasket of the world. With the industrialized nations controlling capital and living much longer lives. -
You'd think that by now HBO and Showtime would have more than dabbled with Sci-Fi. Even FX or AMC for that matter. Good to see they're finally coming around though.
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...from when I read this book back when the world population was half what it is today, is your basic Logan's Run/THX1138 ending: they open a hatch and go outside. Anyone else remember more detail?
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Given advances in genetics, artificial organ and limb replacement, molecular-manufacturing and surgery, robotics, and neuropharmacology, it's not inconceivable that the population could reach that number. Resources would be the biggest challenge, but again, that's without factoring in advances in food production or the production of substitutes (Soylent Green)?
However, it's not at all likely that it would happen by 2300. Certainly not the kinds of towers that are supposed. That sort of world-wide uniformity of development is nearly a millenia away. -
...My Pants.
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Aug 14, 2009 3:44:12 PM CDT
The vast increase in the population is indeed possible,
by one_guy_from_andromeda_
it's just that the fat, comfortable nerds on this talkback forgot to factor in a drastic decrease in infant mortality of third world nations. And, of course, we'll find alternative food resources, there's all kinds of oncogenic viral eukaryotic expression vectors just waiting to be unleashed in a suitable host. And that's just one avenue of possibilities.
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With the population packed in big buildings that the people started living in blocks named after famous people?
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I'll watch this every week! ;^)
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Aug 14, 2009 8:15:59 PM CDT
it doesn't matter how you slice it, 75 mil is near impossible
by badmrwonka
no one really knows what the situation is going to be like in 2300, it's so far off, but just thinking mathematically, what it would take for our population to reach that height is staggeringly improbably. we're arguing the difference between UN projections at 9 billion, huge growth predictions at 12 billion, some magic scenario where food and health discoveries decrease infant mortality and elongate human life, getting us to say 20 billion... YOU'RE STILL NOWHERE NEAR 75 BILLION...I get that it's aci-fi, and if you want to go there, go there. but it's logically ridiculous.
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sorry, typing and eating...
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...so I'll be checking it out. However, it sounds vaguely "Foundation"ish, and I'd much rather see somebody develop those books into a cable series. Still, Sci-Fi on HBO would be cool.
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...more often is cost. Tons of costumes, make up and special effects. Not to mention the fact that even when a Sci-Fi show is respected (Battlestar Galactica) it still rarely gets good ratings. Very few Sci-Fi series in modern times have had long runs. TNG, DS9 and Voyager all made it to seven years (although Voyager was kind of forced to that point, really), but I can't think of anything else that went more than five (unless you count something like X-Files, which I wouldn't do, personally).
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This is too funny...one of his '70s novels is now ready for TV. Way to go, Hollyweird, welcome to the 21st century, already in progress. That and the Foundation Trilogy. What's next, "Stranger in a Strange Land"?
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...being converted to film/tv, how would they do it? I just don't think it was possible for a very long time. Not if they wanted to do it justice, anyway. But then again that may just be the fanboy in me talkin' as I've been reading those books for more than 2/3 of my life. I don't want to see a cheap tv representation of those books. Not. At. All. It's got to be the highest of hi-tech and have a generous budget. Whoever is working on both Foundation and this book, I hope, have that kind of freedom during production. HBO spent a mint on Rome, though, so I have some faith in this.
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I guess the pro-life side wins out in the end, huh?
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...at about 10 billion by 2050 and then it's all downhill from there. As pointed out in earlier posts Japan's population growth is gone. You need 2.2 kids(approximately) per female to maintain population...NOT increase. Just stay the same. Only the US (mostly red states) as well as most Muslim countries and, I think, Nigeria have sustainable mother/kid ratios. Interesting stuff there. 75 billion? heh. Too funny.
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Both these series will bomb--as they are bland. You want something, better? Email me.
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Frank Spotnitz was always one of my favorite "X-Files" writer/directors. His episodes mostly hit hard with inspired weirdness and quintessential character moments. I always liked his style.
Thus I hope he'll develop something cool for HBO. I've only read one Robert Silverberg novel -- "Majipoor Chronicles" -- but found it interesting, though very PG-rated. His imagination is big, luckily, and his characters are often strange in very alien ways.
Personally, I'd rather see "Humanitas" brought into production, but that's because I don't yet buy the premise for "The World Inside." Earth's population at 75 billion? Hyper-population is a funky theme to write about, but without unlimited resources or technologies that prevent humans from killing each other en masse, this population number is just a pipe dream. If humans were at some point genetically re-engineered to be docile, computer-controlled automatons, then I could see it. This might actually be a compelling landscape for a story, but not if humans haven't been re-engineered. I should probably read the book before I start generalizing, but maybe Spotnitz found something there to sink his teeth into.
I wish him luck developing these series. HBO-level science fiction could be pretty badass. -
In an AICN talkback? Ew. Gross.
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