No Terry Gilliam, Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Madeleine Stowe, or Frank Gorshin. Instead, you’ll get cheesy FX and vets from Little Nikita.
12 Monkeys, based on the 1995 Terry Gilliam movie, stars Aaron Stanford (Nikita, X-Men: The Last Stand, X2), Amanda Schull (Suits, Pretty Little Liars), Noah Bean (Nikita, Damages) and Kirk Acevedo (Fringe) and follows the journey of a time traveler (Stanford) from the post-apocalyptic future who appears in present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will eventually decimate the human race.
So, I was skeptical about the Fargo series, but it was an original story and it was FX. And it turned out fantastic. This is not an original story, and it’s the channel whose decision making is typified by the decision to call itself Syfy. I am bracing myself here, because I predict disaster incoming.
You can easily imagine Fargo being turned into a series because the charm of the movie was more than just the story of a detective uncovering a botched kidnapping. It was the characters, language, and overall vibe. The setting was ripe for plopping a series into.
Conversely, I don’t see much in 12 Monkeys that would work in a series. The whole point of the movie (and original short film) is the time loop and the way we uncovered the mystery just as the protagonist did. I don’t see how a series would improve that unless they plan on a finite run. Even then, why would you watch it if you’ve seen the movie? I doubt the series will offer anything better than goggle-eyed crazy Brad Pitt.
I saw a commercial for this where it seemed to imply that the series is more or less a sequel to the movie. There was a voice over of someone saying “It’s been 20 years since I first met you. Now here you are, not having aged a day” or something like that
I saw an extended trailer for the show recently and I recall hearing that line. My take on it is that they’re going to play up the time travel aspect pretty heavily, and have a lot of time bopping ™, which would account for conversations like that one.
The bad decision was not to call themselves SyFy, the bad decision was to call themselves SciFi. They could only trademark the logotype, not the name, because it was a common phrase in current existence. Yes, it seems loopy from a from a fan perspective, but from a business perspective it made you wonder why they didn’t do it sooner.
Fargo worked, as have other movie to TV series - it all depends on the creative people involved for success or failure. I’d feel better about this if it wasn’t an open ended series, and instead had a beginning, middle, and end, like Fargo did. It could be played out over several seasons (Hell on Wheels), but if it meanders aimlessly I’ll probably lose interest fast. But for now, I’ll give it a shot - hey, I thought a Battlestar Galactica revival was the dumbest thing possible, and it turned out pretty good.
From what I’ve read the show goes with a different time travel premise, and the past/future can be altered, so kind of losing interest in it based on that.
Every time the ad runs and they do the “You’re all dead!” line, I can’t help but thinking that the show is going to be a weak throw-back and that’s about it.
You’re not wrong that their original name was also a bad idea, but Syfy is a spectacularly dumb name to replace it with and makes me cringe every time I see it.
Well, fwiw the IGN TV podcast guy (and girl) watched the first 9 episodes and really liked it. I really like the movie (it’s one of my all-time favorites, in fact) and am going to re-watch the film with my son this weekend and based on his interest, may watch the show as well (it’s set to record, why not?). Well, I suppose I’ll watch the show regardless, but it would be more fun if my kid watched it with me.
12 Monkeys is pretty high up there in my list of favorites. Every time I roll my eyes over something crappy that Bruce Willis does (e.g., Die Hard #23: Dying is a Part of Living), or seeing what weak crap Brad Pitt is up to nowadays (e.g., War Z), I watch 12 Monkeys again to remind myself that they are capable of great stuff given a good script and director.
