Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Flashing Forward

Transits of Neptune (dreams, imagination, mystical) and Uranus (futuristic) through Aquarius and Pisces, in each other's sign of rulership ("in mutual reception") over the past few years has helped spawn lots of movies and TV series with futuristic and/or mystical themes. The list is too long to present here, but no doubt y'all could name quite a few of them. There are still more in the pipeline. I saw a trailer for "The Time Traveller's Wife" last night, "2012" is due for release in November, and a new TV series coming up in September, in the US, all fit the bill.

The TV series, "Flash Forward", will explore "the aftermath of a two-minute, 17-second, blackout experienced by the whole of humanity." From publicity so far released, it appears that there's some connection to CERN and the Hadron Collider.

Two minutes 17 seconds doesn't sound like much, but imagine a worldwide total blackout of consciousness - think of what might be affected - surgery, driving, aircraft....a never-ending list of disaster looms. During the blackout, individuals had visions of their lives six months in the future, on a specific date, April 29, 2010.

"Besides the car wrecks, botched surgeries and bruised bodies resulting from 6.8 billion earthlings losing motor function simultaneously, Episode 1 (which includes a cameo from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane) sets up two overarching questions: a) What the hell happened? And b) During the global blackout, each human experienced a “memory” of events that happen six months in the future. Can they, or should they, try to change destiny?"(See here)

The series is based, albeit very loosely, on a novel by Robert J. Sawyer, "Flashforward" published in 1999.

More information on the series, and some promo videos at flashforward.net.

The theme of "Flash Forward" has great potential, if handled well. That's a big "if" in American TV though! First complaint - and the series hasn't even started yet - take a look at the cast below. Nobody much over 30? Come on guys - be a bit realistic! A large proportion of your viewers are well over 30, 40, 50, 60... why not give 'em a prominent character to whom they can relate - it'd be good PR.


6 comments:

anthonynorth said...

I've got my own ideas on why such programmes are beginning to take off. Fantasy/sci fi asks questions, and it seems to me that they become most popular at times when people are fearful of the future. In other words, 9/11 could well have been the catalyst. And now that we're in Recession, and people's economic lives are falling apart, those questions will intesnify, with media fact and fiction the route to a kind of answer.

Twilight said...

AN ~~~ Both your theory and mine could be right - I don't think they are mutually exclusive (aha! I got to use that clever-sounding term!) ;-)

Shawn Carson said...

two minutes and change is nothing...I can't remember 1979 at all!

Unknown said...

I love sci-fi and fantasy stuff cos I have a good imagination and enjoy the what if scenarios, but one thing struck me when reading your synopsis of this programme....at the time of the "blackout" at least half of the global population will be asleep !!

It's night time folks!

So does this just happen in your time zone then?...lol

Enjoy your trip to Tulsa.

PS Loved your post on Puck. Had heard the name but knew nothing about him til now. Not really hit the headlines or supermarket shelves over here.

Twilight said...

Shawn ~~ Erm - not sure what you meant - perhaps I need another cup of coffee here!! ;-)

Twilight said...

Rossa ~~~ I don't know how they'll deal with the aspect of the plot that you correctly point out. I'm sure they'll address it in some way.

Re Puck and chefs to come: glad you're interested in this - this week's chef isn't too well known either but I've chosen one who actually is doing the job rather than appearing on TV etc. :-)
I guess I'll be restricted to celebrity chefs soon enough though as birth data just isn't available for so many others.