12 Monkeys TV Series

Vivek

Master Member
'12 Monkeys' Adaptation Near Series Order at Syfy (Exclusive)
Interesting, didn't see this coming.

My friend Terry Matalas who was part of the Time Machine Restoration project, also a writer on Nikita, Terra Nova and Star Trek: Enterprise is writing this show along with Travis Fickett.

12 Monkeys is one of my favourite sci-fi films and I am really looking forward to this. Though I think the movie is great on its own, I like the idea of exploring the world of 12 Monkeys further, with both the present and post-apocalyptic world which will likely be established in the series in a different way.


Some bits from the article:

"Feature film producers Chuck Roven and Richard Suckle from Atlas Entertainment -- one of the production companies on board the Universal film -- submitted the pitch, which is being eyed as a 90-minute backdoor pilot that would eventually lead to a straight-to-series order in a fashion similar to Syfy's Battlestar Galactica.

Terry Matalas (Nikita, Terra Nova, Star Trek: Enterprise) and Travis Fickett (Nikita, Terra Nova) will pen the script, with 24's Jon Cassar on board to direct.

We have a great pilot, we're now flushing out what the rest of the series might be," Syfy president of original programming Mark Stern told The Hollywood Reporter.

12 Monkeys comes as Syfy looks to beef up its original scripted fare following the successful launch of pricey drama Defiance. The network is looking to add five to six new original scripted projects for 2014 to join Helix, which also was picked up straight to series."

We're looking at short orders, maybe eight to 10 [episodes] as opposed to 13," Stern said. "Some may be [split runs of] 10 and 10. Our goal is to do five or six original scripted series a year and a big tentpole event miniseries that could also possibly serve as a backdoor pilot to a series as well the way that Battlestar Galactica did. It's an exciting time for us."

"We have a half-dozen scripts that are all pretty amazing in their own way," Stern said of Syfy's development pipeline. "It's a return to our roots in terns of science-fiction: cool, interesting push-the-genre science fiction. Some we're looking at doing straight to series because you really want to give them the flexibility and do a closed-ended arced run. Some of them are going to be traditional pilots, then we'll decide and they may be a bit more episodic."
 
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12 Monkeys was one of my favorite movies.

I wonder how different the feel of the series will be. Terry Gilliam has a pretty distinct style and look to his movies and that was part of the appeal.
 
Terry Gilliam has a pretty distinct style and look to his movies and that was part of the appeal.
Agreed and I don't think they can evoke that same feel and atmosphere even if they tried. They will likely have to come up with their own bleak tone to the series, while trying to mimic the movie.
 
Yeah 12 Monkeys is in my library as well! :thumbsup

This is one of those films I drove myself bananas over trying to "figure it out." I was trying to establish if there was a connection between the scientists from the future sending Cole back to 1990, that in doing so may have set the events of the end of the World in motion. One of those Twilight Zone twists in which it turns out they did it to themselves all along.

However no such connection exists. ;) :lol


Totally agree that any Gilliam film has a distinct style and also agree it will be missing from the series. There's something... I don't know... depressing I guess about his films.


Not too sure if I'll tune in to this one. 12 Monkeys pretty much stands on its own and needs no further revisiting (well... in my humble opinion).


Kevin
 
Our goal is to do five or six original scripted series a year and a big tentpole event miniseries that could also possibly serve as a backdoor pilot to a series as well the way that Battlestar Galactica did.

Except they cancelled BSG. What's the point of making awesome new shows? Syfy needs to go die and let another channel try out the science fiction for awhile.

I'm not saying they can't make a quality series, they just can't keep them around long enough to finish the story, and if they do, they drag it on and on until it becomes crap that should have ended years ago.
 
I know they are calling it 12 Monkeys because of the branding to associate it with the movie, but wasn't it established in the film that the army of the 12 monkeys was a dead end and had nothing to do with it?

At this point there no longer is a tie in with that since the movie ended with one of the scientists sitting next to the guy with the virus on the plane. I guess you could expand the story after that and still have a tie in the the army 12 Monkeys after all

At this point I guess there is not much to do but wait and see how it goes. It still could be good.
 
vivek on tv.jpg
when did you become an actor Vivek? Haha! the main actor kind of looks like your Avatar!

Isn't this type of Plot line just like Groundhogs day? It just keeps repeating?
There is the new movie with Tom Cruise like it and one other with Jake Gyllenhaal, called Source Code. or that one De Ja vu with Denzel Washington.
DeJa Vu is interesting because he (spoiler) kills himself.


You know what show I want back is Journey Man, or at least know what the writers were heading towards.
 
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when did you become an actor Vivek? Haha! the main actor kind of looks like your Avatar!
Ha...no way :lol.

In a larger scope of the story the character is part of a time loop, but he doesn't get to live the same day again and again like those other movies.

You know what show I want back is Journey Man, or at least know what the writers were heading towards.
Yeah I really enjoyed Journeyman, it ended somewhat on a cliffhanger.
 
I started to watch the first trailer that was posted in this thread, but I couldn't even finish it. I just really don't like the actor they got to play Cole, so I highly doubt I will be watching this when it's on TV.

Of course 12 Monkeys has always been one of my favorite sci-fi movies, so I'll admit it would be extremely difficult for them to make something that I could really enjoy.
 
I'm glad syfi is doing something new, I had given up on that channel what with all the ghost hunter "reality" shows, and wrestling. :facepalm

12 Monkeys was a work of pure genius, or insanity, or both... But I loved that movie!
 
I have my doubts about the scifi channel making anything good anymore given their terrible movies and it doesn't look nearly bleak enough to me. I would like to see more of the future from the movie though.
 
The actor Aaron Stanford playing Cole was Pyro in X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand and did a decent job in that role. Zeljko Ivanek playing Leland Frost was great in the series Damages, he also won an Emmy for that. And I liked Kirk Acevedo when he was on Fringe and though he had a small role in it he did good in the recent Apes movie. I can't comment on Amanda Schull as I haven't seen Suits where she is a regular.

So I think it's a good cast, so despite how the trailer has been cut, I am hoping they play out well in the actual episodes.

I am always in for a good time travel story, so based on the pilot if the premise keeps my attention, then I will have a new sci-fi show to look forward to.
 
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