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Amazon is dramatically ramping up its production for next year, moving forward with three new high-concept series, Variety has learned. These new efforts represent a significant production investment from the studio, which is currently in preproduction, production or post on 67 TV series and 20 movies around the world.
The streaming service is developing the following:
• “Lazarus,” based on a comic book by Greg Rucka (“Marvel’s Jessica Jones”), is set in an alternative near future, where the world has been divided among 16 rival families, who run their territories in a feudal system. Each family has allies and enemies among the other families. To crush uprisings and fight wars, most families have a Lazarus: a one-person kill squad.
Rucka serves as writer and executive producer on “Lazarus,” along with Michael Lark (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) and Angela Cheng Caplan.
• “Snow Crash,” which is based on Neal Stephenson’s cult novel, is a one-hour science fiction drama set in futuristic America. In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain.
A co-production with Paramount Television, “Snow Crash” is executive produced by Joe Cornish (“Ant-Man”) and Frank Marshall (“Back to the Future”).
• “Ringworld,” a co-production with MGM, is based on Larry Niven’s sci-fi book series from the 70’s. It tells the story of Louis Gridley Wu, a bored man celebrating his 200th birthday in a technologically-advanced, future Earth. Upon being offered one of the open positions on a voyage, Louis joins a young woman and two aliens to explore Ringworld, the remote artificial ring beyond “Known Space.”
Not bad, but maybe we're all better off going outside to play.
(Score: 0, Troll) by crafoo on Sunday October 01 2017, @03:56PM (6 children)
Snow Crash and Ring World could both be very good. How much SJW post-modernism screeching will be involved though? How much unracism will I have to stomach to enjoy what should be two very good sci-fi stories?
I'm optimistic. I'd like to think Niven at least wouldn't allow rudderless relativism and leftist anti-intellectual hate into something based on his writing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 01 2017, @04:18PM
If it's online stREEEEEEEEaming, we shouldn't care since nobody will watch. Long may such shows remain as avoidable as STD!
(Score: 5, Informative) by theluggage on Sunday October 01 2017, @05:42PM
Sounds like you've already decided.
I'm no SJW, and I love Ringworld, but even I find the original a tad sexist. Teela is pretty much there as Louis' willy-warmer, the only other female character is a whore, and and it turns out that
...which was a bit rich even for the 70s and Niven retconned Teela's destiny to something a lot less patronising for the sequel. Heck, even EE "Doc" Smith - who started out with his female characters literally in the kitchen making goulash - had let the women out of the kitchen and given them guns'n'spaceships by the 70s. Getting Teela right - making her clumsy and naive but because (spoilers) without making her look like a dumb blonde - is going to be a bit tricky.
However, let's just hope that, when the cast is announced, there isn't a cry of "OMG whitewashing!!!" from people who haven't read the book and assume that Louis Wu is supposed to be an Asian.
Of course, if they want to 'gender flip' Ringworld they'd be better off making Terry Pratchett's Strata instead (which is partly a gender/race/species-flipped Ringworld parody - only good).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 01 2017, @06:12PM
I'm not sure how involved Niven would actually be -- it seems to be more the exception than the rule for the author to be closely involved in TV adaptations, though it's certainly not unheard of.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 01 2017, @11:32PM (1 child)
I remember there being rape and a vagina dentata in Snow Crash. I see that not making it to a one hour version, which btings me to a more important point: how do you adapt a novel like Snow Crash to half a full-length movie, except by disembowling the plot?
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I hate that message.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 02 2017, @12:55AM
I don't understand. What makes you think they'll adapt the entire novel into the first episode? What do you think they're going to do with the rest of the series?
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Monday October 02 2017, @11:11AM
> I'm optimistic. I'd like to think Niven at least wouldn't allow rudderless relativism and leftist anti-intellectual hate into something based on his writing.
Not sure how they'll treat the Pak protectors then - since they built the damn thing. Either you are against them, anti-intellectual hate, or you're with them in insane xenophobia, or most likely you are dead. Should be fun either way.