Cool News
J.J. Abrams And Alfonso Cuarón Team For NBC Sci-Fi Pilot About Protecting A Girl With Powers!!
J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot (“Lost,” “Fringe,” “Person of Interest,” “Revolution”) and writer-director Alfonso Cuarón (“Y Tu Mamá También,” “Children of Men,” “Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban”) are teaming up for potential series with sci-fi elements, according to Deadline Hollywood.
Bad Robot’s new “Revolution” is for the moment the top-rated scripted series on NBC.
Deadline describes the concept:
It is about a girl in possession of a great gift/powers — which will come into their own in seven years — and the man who is sprung from prison to protect her from those trying to hunt her down.
“Children of Men” was about a man who comes to protect the only woman on the planet who can achieve pregnancy.
Cuarón will direct the pilot from a teleplay by Cuarón and Mark Freidman, who also created ABC’s forgotten 2009 Christian Slater series “The Forgotten.”
Bad Robot also recently landed a pilot commitment at Fox for “Fringe” showrunner J.H. Wyman’s project about human LAPD cops who team with androids to fight crime.
Find Deadline’s exclusive on the matter here.
Readers Talkback
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Obvious choice for protector. Unless he was serving time for pedophilia.
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SIX SEASONS AND A MOVIE!
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Sept. 21, 2012, 10:02 p.m. CST
I hate shows about androids, cops and girls with special powers
by Green
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Sept. 21, 2012, 10:04 p.m. CST
Needs protecting? The village mob with pitchforks/faux internet feminists
by Bedknobs and Boomsticks
are already sharpening their keyboards.
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Sept. 21, 2012, 10:09 p.m. CST
I'm guessing Toronto will stand in for Tattooine if this makes it to series.
by Bill C.
Hey, it was either that or a 'Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior' joke.
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But I like the fact that he's using his clout as a producer to get some interesting projects with interesting writers on the air -- granted most of those projects are duds, but hey, look at Person of Interest (which I like, shut up). Now he just needs to find something to do with David Fury.
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Or why else is he so special that he's the only one who can protect her? Putting her protection in the hands of someone who will get arrested simply by being recognized seems like a dicey prospect. Who springs him? If the gal is so special, maybe there ought to be a bunch of guys protecting her, like maybe the same guys who are apparently able to spring this dude from prison in the first place. Oh wait this is an Abrams show, I guess I should just look at the pretty cliche people and then...OMG CLIFFHANGER!!!
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Sept. 21, 2012, 11:15 p.m. CST
Powers to "come into their own in seven years?" Not a good premise since this show won't make it pass the first season.
by tylerzero
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isn't this the plot from I Am Number Four?
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Sept. 22, 2012, 12:23 a.m. CST
Say what you will about LOST, until the finale that show flat out rocked. With Alfonzo Cuaron directing and the premise, this could be good.
by RedJester
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Once the direction of the show became clear, people tuned out. Week two is expected to pull only a third of the ratings of the pilot, which is being called a disaster by pundits. Expectations are the show may not last the whole season. Surprise.
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Sneak preview - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZdLuz9SKGU Can't wait!
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It's a terrific show. Can't wait until it comes back.
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Sounds boring to me. What about this? A group of scientists finds alien artifacts on earth. Some of them try to use those to do good, while others intend to take over the world some time. The trail of the artifacts leads both groups through the solar system to find the ultimate piece to their collection of power.
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Sept. 22, 2012, 2:01 a.m. CST
"Revolution" Is A Loose Rip-Off Of "The Hunger Games"
by Media Messiah
It is really pathetic that Abram's is so devoid of originality that he had to rip-off "The Hunger Games"...it's life in that world if the games didn't exist. Worse, I just saw "Super 8" on DVD, and it is one of the most terrible and overlong little films of all time. In fact, the super 8 zombie film which showed in its entirety during the credits, something that was made to look bad, was actually better than Super 8 itself??? The movie actually is guilty of all of the film school plot cues that the kid director in Super 8 is trying to seed his film with, including adding certain relationships in order to give the movie emotional content and weight, however, it feels forced--and whole incidence happen without much needed explanation as if they were lost on the cutting room floor, and no one decided to weave in a brief voice-over to inform the audience about certain character motivation and plot turns. The kids were just fine, and the casting right, but everything else was out of wack. It was a script in need of a real reason to be made...to make you root for the kids and cheer. All was monotone and empty. Abrams is all smoke and mirrors, but no real fire, no real substance, ever.
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Abrams is a crook!!!
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Instantly thought of I Am Number Four.
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Your continued tips on how already good projects could become better always entertain. Ah those Dollhouse talkbacks... Anyway Super 8 for my money is one of the best modern blockbusters. Good story, good effects, well cast and with real heart. Yes its derivative of E.T. to a certain extent buts its a knowing homage. And nothing ever benefits from a voice-over. Nothing.
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Sept. 22, 2012, 4:41 a.m. CST
re: "a great gift/powers - which will come into their own in seven years"
by buggerbugger
So they're hoping this thing will last for seven seasons and the gift/powers will be revealed in the series finale? Well, that would certainly give them seven whole years to come up with something that wasn't totally shit and not worth the viewers' time for the pay-off, wouldn't it?
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Sept. 22, 2012, 5:13 a.m. CST
lol media messiah, The Hunger games is a rip-off of Koushun Takami's original Battle Royale novel!
by Hardboiled Wonderland
Besides, Revolution is ripped straight from the blurb of SM Stirling's Dies The Fire. Same concept, same characters. Read it.
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Sept. 22, 2012, 5:14 a.m. CST
Good grief, another "girl with special powers who needs protection" plot? Give me a fucking break.
by Hardboiled Wonderland
It was generic and cliched even when Firefly did it.
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He rips off other people's creativity, spins it into something the studios can make without getting sued for plagiarism, sticks around for the pilot... then fucks off and leaves other writers/producers to deal with the fact that Abrams never told them where to take the show, they have to make it up as they go along. The man is a con artist.
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I really wish we could have some sci-fi on spaceships again. I'm so bored of these present day shows where they're all cops/FBI/g-men running around cities chasing the monster of the week.
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Just want to point out that he's only listed as a producer. Eric Kripke created it and he should be the one being accused of being a copycat. The new show sounds interesting with Cuarón's involvement as a writer.
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Isn't that like being the hottest woman at a pig party?
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Sept. 22, 2012, 9:52 a.m. CST
Does Abrahms have a bunch of manatees at his office pushing balls around to create tv show synopses?
by KoolerThanJesus
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how is it the top rated nbc stript
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not even an anime version yet...guess this will hafta do
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Bad Robot uses a dart board for series "development."
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Sept. 22, 2012, 1:21 p.m. CST
Why does everyone blame J.J. as if he's anything more than a producer on most of these shows?
by bender
Hell, even LOST he only directed/co-wrote the pilot and wrote an episode in S3. THAT'S IT. For example, Revolution. He literally has no creative involvement in it. And I'm not defending this show, but it's really annoying to hear people say it's a Hunger Games rip-off (all of those accusing it of this seem to forget HG is a rip-off of Battle Royale...).
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Completely agree (though I liked the LOST finale). I really hate how just because of the finale people trash on the entire thing. It's still an amazing show.
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......is because the main character is a Katniss clone, and maybe because of the dystopic future setting, neither of which have anything to do with Battle Royale.
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HG is a Battle Royale ripoff because both feature young people put in a situation where they have to kill each other. And I brought BR up only because so many people claim this is a HG ripoff, I wanted to remind them that HG isn't that original itself. And the HG claims are just dumb to me. So we can't have a girl with a crossbow without her being a Katniss clone? The dystopic future setting? The same could be said for tons of other movies/TV shows/books.
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Just pointing out that Hunger Games talk here has nothing to do with Battle Royale. And I also think calling it a Hunger Games ripoff is stupid (the Katniss character seemed pretty plain to me, but otherwise the show doesn't make me think Hunger Games much at all). But I also always thought calling Hunger Games a Battle Royale ripoff was lazy too, of course theres obvious comparisons, but if we're going to call somethig a ripoff everytime it shares a core concept that echoes through tons if other stories we might as well jut stop making anything. Battle Royale certainly has a ton of precedents that its borrowed from, and I'm sure Hunger Games wont be the last time we see a sci-if story about kids forced to fight each other (though for impact someone will have to step it up at some point, maybe sentient adorable puppies forced to fight for survival). Though I do think you're being too forgiving on the Katniss parallels here, sure you can have a young girl uniquely talented with a bow and arrow in a dystopic future, but when you do it right on the tail end of a hugely successful book/movie franchise with the same character it strikes me as being a pretty shallow mimic, but that's just how studios work and you can even bet it was pitched like that (studios are trend followers, so having a Katniss character makes for an easy sell, no different then shows like Vampire Diaries or Teen Wolf cashing in on the Twilight craze).
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Sept. 22, 2012, 2:22 p.m. CST
re: "So they're hoping this thing will last for seven seasons and the gift/powers will be revealed in the series finale? "
by jim
Nope, the powers will be the hook for the feature film. Six Seasons and a Movie!
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It's NBC
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I get what you're saying about the Katniss/network execs thing. But the two characters still have almost nothing in common.
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But it can also be said it is a rip-off/mash-up of The Running Man & Lord of the Flies. Just like Battle Royale.
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Damn that has become the biggest scifi cliche of the 21 century! How much you wanna bet she wants to date the cute guy or jock? Or hang with the "in crowd" and be popular? And she'll have a best friend who's a fellow loser and maybe it'll be a nerd guy who secretly in love with her? How about she goes around keeping her powers a secret from various family members whether adopted or not? Man, I think I just reveal the entire premise and likely all the eps of SEASON 1 and Season 2, if it goes that far!
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Lord of the Flies was a bunch of kids dropped on an island who resort to brutality and savagery in the absence of parental guidance because children are, at their core, total assholes. This was such a controversial theme that people protested and tried to get it banned because they strongly felt that children are innocent and this was a corrupting influence. Battle Royale is about adults FORCING children to fight each other. It's more of an allegory for war and the corruption of innocence and youth for the want of power(which is REALLY heavy-handed in the sequel). In that regard, The Hunger Games is a direct thematic descendant of Battle Royale but there is almost no relationship between Battle Royale/The Hunger Games and Lord of the Flies. Battle Royale and The Hunger Games are about adults turning children into killers for sport. Lord of the Flies is about children creating a savage, brutal society when left to their own devices. Now, The Film Version of the Running Man has more to do with Battle Royale and The Hunger Games than Lord of the Flies does. But even then, The Running Man movie is a much closer descendant of The Most Dangerous Game and once you get past the inciting incident, the movies are completely unrelated thematically and narratively. And that's ignoring how very little the book and movie have in common for The Running Man. In the end, The Hunger Games is basically a reimagining of Battle Royale, and it takes a lack of familiarity with the rest of these stories to think Battle Royale is heavily based on any of them.
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Super 8 was just a lot of explosions, without good reason. Maybe it is because a woman largely wrote ET...and wasn't impressed by, or thinking about visual hype? Nor it appears, was she looking to hit every connect the dots mandate of script-writing classes--as that stuff is only there as a guide, not an edict--unfortunately, the people behind Super 8, and all the worse, Spielberg of all people forgot that--maybe it's his age? Super 8 lacked the soul of ET, and let me say, there are a lot better rip-offs of ET out there--try for instance "D.A.R.Y.L.", now that is a great film. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARYL
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Subject matter wise, "Hunger Games" is a rip-off of "Battle Royal" and shame on its author for that, no excuses, but Abrams gets no cookie either. "Revolution" ripped-off the look of Hunger Games and stripping out specific elements of its future world...in order to throw together a series at the last minute, that you just know some empty headed network exec said..."That book series and movie is a culture hit! Order a pilot that copies that, and get Abrams to do it so we can quickly cash-in!" What a waste of effort, time, and money. I just assume that Abrams was better than that, but as time goes on, and he keeps throwing out rip-off projects, one after the other, or original series--those, like the rip-offs, all without substance, I am learning that he is a real hack, and not the visionary that he is marketed as being--and that is the biggest shame here.
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Great Minds Think Alike!:)
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Sept. 22, 2012, 10:02 p.m. CST
With Battle Royale, people need to stop thinking about the manga and movie, which are very different to the original novel
by Hardboiled Wonderland
Read the novel. Then you will see. Besides, "Katniss" would have to be the most stupid fucking fanfiction Mary Sue name I've ever heard.
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Sept. 22, 2012, 10:03 p.m. CST
Stirling's novel Dies The Fire also has a bow-toting teenager
by Hardboiled Wonderland
People really need to read it to see how "similar" Revolution is.
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Sept. 22, 2012, 10:04 p.m. CST
Battle Royale author Koushun Takami said he won't sue Hunger Games, it's enough for him for fans to see how it ripped off his work.
by Hardboiled Wonderland
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Rips off other people's ideas, spins it, sells it to the studio without a fucking clue where to take the pilot, and then fucks off and leaves other people to figure it out and get the criticism for a pile of shit finale and seven years of making shit up and fucking with the audience. Jar Jar Abrams is a con artist.
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The show from the 80's where Louis Gossett Jr., was the protector of teenager Matthew Star, who was hidden on Earth until his powers became strong enough to re-take his home planet. I believe that was on NBC too.
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that is all.
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Rips off other people's ideas, spins it, sells it to the studio without a fucking clue where to take the pilot, and then fucks off and leaves other people to figure it out and get the criticism for a pile of shit finale and seven years of making shit up and fucking with the audience.
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Sounds like you're talking about LOST there. It's amazing how many people realize JJ had almost 0 creative involement in LOST after the first season. Or any of the shows with his name on them.
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How could I have forgotten such bad TV? So what's this ,gift or power she gets in 7 years? Puberty?
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Sept. 23, 2012, 3:48 a.m. CST
if anyone in tv does ripoff hunger games, would be poetic justice
by walt
collins spent 20 years in tv. and she learned one thing....stealing is good...it brings you great rewards
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Yes, and he always begins his series with some big self-important plot device designed to lure in viewers, and the plot device never goes anywhere.
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Sept. 23, 2012, 2:54 p.m. CST
What is a talented genious like Alfonso Cuarón doing in the company of such mediocrity like JJ Abrams?
by albert comin
This will not end well! Otr maybe this will be like in Jonanthan Nolan's "Person Of Interest", where after the pilot Abrams fucked off and let the truly talented people run the show. There's hope.
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Don't talk to me about "Super 8", i hated that fucking movie with the passion of a fiery sun! Greatest waste of Elle Fanning's talent since ever!
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Sept. 23, 2012, 3:11 p.m. CST
JJ Abrams deserves the backlash because he is never shy to milk his involvement on hit shows for self-publicy
by albert comin
Remember how "Cloverfield" was from the creator of "Lost"? Who cared if it was Matt Reeves who directed it? All attention was on JJ. JJ loves to milk all the positive publicity for all the shows he's involved, even if minimal, to self-promote. With "Lost" it was down right pornographic. So, if he wants that, he will have to get both the good and the bad. He gets both the accolades and the backlash. Were he a less fame whore, things would be different, we would be far more forgiving.
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You've hit the nail on the head! Avoiding Space ship shows is just an attempt to avoid spending money on a quality show. In this day and age with good CGI getting less expeinsive there's no excuse for it. I want spaceship shows back also as these sort of SF shows go from the very few being good to extremely lame.
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Look it up.
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I remember watching H&YY as a child.
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Pull my finger.
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Won't watch another show from his team.
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...if we're gonna talk about a girl with powers who battles evil, with a "protector/mentor" (Giles) to look out for her... I don't know much about the Abrams show yet so I don't know how close the concepts are. But that's the first show that came to my mind when I read the description. I guess we'll see... but NBC seems to commit more to comedies and dramas than the more "fantasy"-type works in the last few years.
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That every New Show has his name on it. I mean doesn't Hollywood have anyone else that can create Original programming? Surely there are lots of new talents out there. I'm beginning to feel like Hollywood has no choices but are filled to the throat of JJ Shows. Next I'll be hearing that JJ Abrams has done a Sitcom, a Medical drama, a Day time Soap, A talk Show, etc.
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