ABC has bought the TV rights to Robert J. Sawyer’s novel, Flashforward, based on a script by David S. Goyer (Batman Begins and the Flash movie that never happened) and Brannon Braga (Star Trek, 24). The network wants to turn it into a series, and thinks it could become a companion piece to Lost.
As described by Pop Critics (where I learned about the deal):
During [a scientific] experiment, as the button is pressed, the unexpected occurs: everyone in the world goes to sleep for a few moments while everyone’s consciousness is catapulted more than twenty years into the future. At the end of those moments, when the world reawakens, all human life is transformed by foreknowledge.
Why am I mentioning it here? Because I really like Robert J. Sawyer’s novels, and the word Flash is in the title. I discovered him through his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, and since then I’ve read Calculating God, Mindscan, and Rollback. I haven’t gotten to Flashforward yet, but it’s on my to-read list.
Sawyer tends to write social science-fiction: if X technological advance occurs, or Y scientific principle is discovered, what impact will that have on society? How would we react to discovering an alternate reality in which Neanderthals developed civilization instead of us? Or if aliens landed and claimed they had scientific proof that God exists and created the universe 14 billion years ago? What are the legal implications of being able to copy your personality into a virtually immortal, lifelike robot?
Regarding the title: In Sawyer’s blog, he mentions that the actual title is Flashforward, but because it was split into two words on the cover, it tends to get referred to as “Flash Forward.”
Hilarious! I too love Sawyer’s work. I think I’ve read about 90% of his books and am only missing some of his earlier novels. I am thrilled to hear this is being picked up for TV rights. It could be really good if executed correctly.
I heard some of his other books have been considered for movies as well.
Good stuff!
I checked his site. Interesting stuff, Kelson.
His Neaderthal books look fascinating as well.
.-= Rockin’ Rich’s latest blog post: More All Star Superman? =-.
Slow news day huh? lol Just playing, I might check out this series when it comes on.
Hey, it was either this or a whole post on Daphne from Heroes! (Just kidding.)
Seriously, it popped up on my Google Alert for “flash” and “comics,” and my first reaction was, “Cool!”