Apparently it’s going to be totally different from the original, which may not be a bad thing, since I was never that much of a fan (and the original has dated somewhat). Here’s the quote that gets me though:
"We considered seriously how space travel might happen. In outer space, objects in motion remain in motion. You can’t bank against a gravitational pull. There’s a sense of organized chaos, you have to turn your craft around and fire jets in the opposite direction to slow down — just like the old games. When we were developing the show, I ran around telling everyone, ‘Remember Asteroids! Remember Asteroids!’"
Hooray! I’m not alone in wishing to see a decent attempt at realistic space flight! This kind of decision alone could make it worth watching, because it will change the look and feel of the show, and stop it looking like a Star Wars clone. I can’t wait to see how they do space battles though.
Firefly and Farscape
While on the subject of SciFi, I can’t understand how Firefly got the axe after just 10 episodes, and yet Farscape survived for 4 seasons! Firefly had less overhead I’m sure (with no aliens and simpler costumes & sets) and it wasn’t a complete load. Farscape seemed to be based on that horrible idea that the only kind of hero is an obnoxious American one, who probably played college football. I don’t know if this is a particularly western phenomenon, but I really despise the popular fantasy of visiting an entire alien culture/world/universe to discover that you are superior to every single person it it! The original set-up in the first episode was also a lame ripoff of Wizard of Oz, with his emergence from the worm-hole right on top of the brother of some powerful warlord. What are the odds, eh?
Contrast Crichton’s cardboard masculinity in Farscape with Mal’s character in Firefly: Crichton is clean-cut, go-getting American, therefore he is a hero. Mal earned his hero status, by having fought and lost on the side of the resistance. He is slightly bitter, but puts it behind him. He does not believe in moral absolutes, though he tends to do the right thing. He is not a hero, nor an anti-hero, and seems more ambivalent than anything [an ambi-hero?]. He’s got pretty good instincts, but he doesn’t go around constantly telling people how important it is to go with your guts [think every other american in space]. OK, so the point I’m obviously trying to make is, Firefly may not have been great, but it didn’t suck ass as much as Farscape.