John Carpenter's: They Live
A cult sci-fi classic from the master himself, They Live remains a firm favourite and much loved sci-fi movie even by today's standards. Sure it's got that cheesy dialogue in places, its low budget effects (the film was made for $4 Million) still manage to do the job (just), and while we could sit here and pick holes in various aspects of the film (assault rifles with endless rounds of ammunition that never get reloaded) it oozes some great sci-fi storytelling with a real kicker of a story. They Live is actually an adaptation of Ray Nelson’s science fiction short story “Eight O’Clock in the Morning,” Carpenter saw a deeper metaphor ripe for turning into a film, and one that could that tie the aliens to Reagan-era Republican politicians, and it's this undertone that brought together alien invasion and its Orwellian themes to give us a true classic.
Carpenter had once commented that the movie was his 'primal scream against Reaganomics' but that aside I think the movie could say the same about most governments anywhere in the world. Starring the late "Rowdy"Roddy Piper, a wrestler turned actor and Keith David (Platoon), it created not only some superb comedy, it also delivered one of the longest fight scenes ever shot on film, it lasts for 5 minutes and the actors choreographed it for a full month before shooting.
The film also gave us one of the all time greats in movie one liners too as Piper's character goes into a bank and identifies several aliens among the staff and customers with his special sun glasses and armed with a shotgun, “I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubble gum.”
Chew gum kick ass pin badge over at Beastwreck
Okay so why a series? As TV show I think its a perfect fit, even for a short run series which could either be another origin story or pick up the insurgency against the embedded aliens that have infiltrated planet Earth. Previous sci-fi shows like V and Falling Skies have both used the premise of alien invasion as part of a story arc but I think They Live could be great since it could really play with character arcs, as in characters you love actually turn out to be aliens in a shock Season one finale type reveal, this could be great at setting up an explosive season two opener. Beyond that though it's got huge potential as a series made for TV with Carpenter as exec producer.
Assassins Creed (Update!)
The video game series from Ubisoft went from strength to strength if not for maybe a minor hiccup here and there and has spanned several different eras from the crusades through to 17th Century pirates and the French revolution and more recently, Vikings!.
While the Michael Fassbender film didn't really deliver the same grandeur (18% Rotten Tomatoes rating) that the game series has managed to, it did have a decent shot at putting across some rather impressive visuals and a small number of cool stunts and fight scenes featuring the assassins and their capabilities.
With Disney scooping up 21st Century Fox's assets, a planned sequel was shelved, the films scathing reception at review pretty much killed its cinematic aspirations.
Rotten Tomatoes commented "Assassin's Creed is arguably better made (and certainly better cast) than most video game adaptations; unfortunately, the CGI-fueled end result is still a joylessly over plotted slog"
However, Assassins Creed is so stuffed full of lore and historical events it's pretty rich for storytelling material, hence why there are more than 10 novels based on the franchise. The series actually covers around 2,500 years dating back all the way to 1191 up to modern day so it has the potential to feed off major events throughout time to define aspects of its setting and story.
Okay so why a series? - well creatively there's more time to tell more of a story with a series, again, even a short series of 6 or 8 episodes could work with each series depicting a different time era, in the same kind of way everyone who watched Westworld was hoping for a quicker jump to other worlds and stories to explore. While a series could be expensive a solid writing team could help embrace a viewership that isn't wholly reliant on being overly familiar with the video game series to be drawn to it. As mentioned above, 10 novels and over a dozen games in the series there's more than enough to define a series that can create great characters and thrilling story arcs.
(Update) Streaming Service Netflix will be developing an Assassin's Creed live-action series.
@Ubisofts's Jason Altman and Danielle Kreinik will serve as Executive
Producers.
Bladerunner
Another defining moment in sci-fi cinema was the original Bladerunner from 1982, Starring Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, a Bladerunner who hunts down rogue Nexus 6 replicants. Even by today's standards the original Bladerunner is a timeless classic, it doesn't really age. Director Ridley Scott's stunning visuals helped by cinematographer Jordan Croneweth gave us a highly crafted detective sci-fi film noir that not only drives a narrative that questions the moral compass of humanity and mortality, but also the ethics of genetic engineering.
Character wise, Bladerunner has the legs to spin off a well crafted series since the film could bring in new Bladerunners and replicants to build out the story, a notable mention must go to the late great Rutger Hauer of course whose portrayal of Roy Batty, leader of the replicants in the original Bladerunner was a showstopping performance to drive characterisation in the 1982 film. Hauer actually rewrote his character's "tears in rain" speech himself and presented the draft to Scott on set prior to filming the climatic scene, it remains a beautiful epic vision of chaos and turmoil told with a romanticism that will never age.
There are lots of films of rogue replicants, cyborg hybrids, Universal Soldier, The Terminator etc but Bladerunner has a crime story element where a story told over the course of a series could really carry it.
While Bladerunner 2047 is one of those films that divided many sci-fi fans, notably because Harrison Fords screen time was pretty light, it actually stands up pretty well all things considered. Ryan Gosling brought a brooding and complex character who also questioned the underlying themes of humanity and genetics that were seeded throughout the film.
Okay so why a series? Well, for a start its got an awesome backstory, Bladerunners hunting down rogue replicants. If we take the underlying story from the 1982 film we could either tell this from the Nexus-6 point of view, the replicant's backgrounds as combat operators giving them more of a backstory and building a narrative about their origins and story arc, the battles they fought in. This could create an interesting viewer dynamic whereby the protagonist is skewed from the Nexus-6 replicants perspective bringing the viewer more into the backstory. The perception of Bladerunners could be flipped so that they almost become the bad guys, thus creating empathy for the Nexus -6 replicants for the viewer, which could then be crafted by a talented set of writers to turn that on its head as the lifespan of the replicant's deteriorate and drives them to more erratic questionable actions and behaviour that then sees the Bladerunners as the heroes and entirely necessary to humanity rather than just replicant killers.
The Crazies
Hugely underrated movie which could at first glance be mistaken for a zombie movie, the fact that it isn't helps it stands out as a well constructed horror thriller instead, and thus helps it move away from a clichéd zombie label. The film is in fact a remake of the 1973 film of the same name from none other than George A. Romero. The 2010 version directed by Breck Eisner (Sahara) tells the story of a fictional Iowa town infected by a military virus that has infected the towns water supply from a crashed military plane. Those in the know will recognize Timothy Olyphant, him from the superbly funny Netflix horror Santa Clarita Diet starring opposite Drew Barrymoore and as sheriff Bullock in HBO's Deadwood, and more recently Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
The Crazies was shot for $20 Million and took a modest $55 Million at the Box Office, not a huge film by any imagination but certainly a solid sci-fi horror thriller none-the-less. With the virus slowly taking hold of the town's otherwise placid and friendly residents the infection turns them into crazed violent killers.
The films themes of military suppression and cover up conspiracy underpin the paranoia and very real threat from the deranged residents who are on the rampage killing others in the community. The military hospital scene being a particular stand out moment as Olyphant's wife Judy played by Radha Mitchell is strapped to a hospital bed as a lunatic with a gardening fork makes his way from bed to bed stabbing other strapped down patients one by one.
Ok so why a series? more-so why not?, it's got a pandemic story that can develop over the course of a series, even a limited one, maybe the comparisons of having a town sheriff is a little close to Walking Dead but I think you'd need that authoritarian figurehead to spearhead a clear head of thinking in a crisis. A sinister government role could give you that ,black SUV driving NSA character to give us a villain to despise' - bring in the military for a cover up with maybe a defecting soldier thrown into the survivor group and it could be a great premise. Opening episode could have the President killed at his desk with a letter opener by his press secretary who drank some funky water in a brutal scene with plenty of gore to wake up the audience. If The Walking Dead can string it out over a decade I'm sure someone could squeeze 3 short seasons out of this horror gem.
Halloween
Despite the fact I've chosen another John Carpenter project it goes without saying that this franchise has given us one of the all time horror villains in Michael Myers, the psychopathic slasher maniac / demonic force that terrorizes Haddonfield.
While some would agree that later films in the series including the daft Halloween III: 'Season of the Witch' film about killer masks and Rob Zombies poorly received version lost traction for the franchise, it was 2018's masterful return to the screen that gave Halloween its mojo back. Written by non other than Danny McBride (yes, the pyro man in Tropic Thunder!),Jeff Fradley and David Gordon Green, it brought Halloween back from the dead with a near enough refreshed reboot story with some truly no holds barred brutal kills and Jamie Lee Curtis back as Laurie Strode.
The 2018 film continued the legacy and mythology of the previous films, Blumhouse productions also came on board to help handle production duties which I think really helped steer this in the right direction, they handle the horror genre extremely well if films like The Purge,Insidious, Get Out and Split are anything to go by.
Halloween's appeal has always been the kill count, as characters go, having a silent villain that is just a total bad ass at dealing out death and destruction to Haddonfield residents has carried the series pretty well. 'The shape' as Michael is known in the script and book is a dark force, an evil energy that simply does not stop, can't be stopped, he's been shot, stabbed,sliced, run over and thrown down wells but bounces back again and again much to the audiences delight.
Ok so why a series?
I'd probably say a series would be good to consider after two more films, once Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends come out I think it would be time to call it quits as a strong trilogy of films and look at options for TV and build this as a series. The decent films in the series have all been driven with a strong character for Michael Myers to go against, in this case Laurie Strode played by Jamie Lee Curtis who provides an anchor point. With a TV series this would be harder to do since I don't think it works with Jamie Lee reprising her role, it would need another character to drive that balance in the show. However since Friday 13th tuned into a show there's no reason why Halloween can't either.
I'd still play this with the high school providing the slaughter meat, maybe Laurie's daughter or grandaughter is the backstory with something else thrown in for good measure such as cop who's career is on the wane and ends up being a show favourite when he saves the day, tempered with some good occasional laughs I think this should look to retain the sheer brutal horror of Michael's capabilities as a killer to lift the audience and then crush them back down to earth with some good strong kills of key characters in the series.
What other films could become TV shows, got other suggestions? comment below!
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