adaptation

In January, I mentioned that SciFi would, most likely, be developing a Flash Gordon series. Well, they've found their Flash Gordon, and twenty-two episodes have been ordered, so keep your eyes peeled for the show this July. Flash Gordon, which began as a comic strip in the '30s, has been adapted into just about every medium save for wax cylinder recordings. SciFi's plans are to create a show that's lighter in tone than its other series, such as Battlestar Galactica, but not quite as campy as previous incarnations.

CinemaBlend writes that Christopher Showerman, who has previously appeared in movies such as the made-for-video George of the Jungle 2 and Frankenbabe, is being considered to play Flash in the new series.

Shhh, listen.

Hear that? It's the Magnum, P.I. movie rumor machine cranking up again.

Jonathan told y'all back in June that Ben Affleck was the favorite to take on the role popularized by Tom Selleck on the original '80s TV series, but now Dark Horizons is reporting that Matthew McConaughey has been listed as the new Magnum by Rawson Marshall Thurber, who recently finished a redraft of the script. Other actors supposedly involved with this "on again, off again" project include Steve Zahn as Rick, Tyrese Gibson as T.C. and William H. Macy as Higgins. Also, Optimus Prime, not wanting to be typecast for his role in The Transformers, will play the helicopter.

One other thing: in the movie, Magnum will be an Iraq war veteran, not a Vietnam veteran.

Rumors about Steven Spielberg helming an adaptation of The Talisman, the novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub, have been circulating for almost as long as the book itself has been in print, almost three decades. Last year reports began to pop up again that a film adaptation was in the works, but still nothing. Now, however, it's official: Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy will be executive producing the six-hour adaptation for DreamWorks Television, set to air on TNT in the summer of 2008. Ehren Krueger (Arlington Road, The Ring, The Brothers Grimm) is penning the script.

The novel focuses on Jack Sawyer, a young boy who sets out on a quest to find the titular talisman, a magic artifact that may save his mother, who is dying of cancer. Jack flips back and forth between parallel worlds, his own reality and another called "the Territories." This novel, along with its sequel, 2001's Black House, also ties into King's seven-part Dark Tower series, as does a large portion of his other works.

There's not much information yet, but NBC is close to securing three new comedies set to air sometime next season. The first, I'm with Stupid, which I mentioned last month, is a re-tooling of a British series about a man who befriends a boy in a wheelchair and lives in a home for the disabled. The project is being helmed by directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly, along with Ben Silverman, who helped develop both The Office and Ugly Betty for American audiences.

Kath and Kim is based on an Australian series about a divorced mother and her daughter. Nancy Pimental, a former writer for South Park and a former co-host on Win Ben Stein's Money, penned the adaptation and will serve as executive producer with Silverman. The series, along with I'm with Stupid, is being developed for the Farrelly brother's Reveille production company.

In 1990, when I was in middle school, ABC aired a two-part miniseries based on Stephen King's gargantuan novel IT. I had a television in my room, so I had a place to watch shows my parents didn't want to watch, so I stretched out on my bed and watched the movie. Perhaps I was just a wuss (and I was) but the movie scared the living crap out of me. Fast forward to college, and my then girlfriend and I decide to rent IT, which I had not seen since those two nail-biting nights in my room back in 1990. I have to say I didn't have the same reaction as before. I found it to be rather mediocre, and mildly frightening at best. Also, by that time I had actually read the book, so I knew what most fans of King's work already know, which is that movie and television adaptations of his work can be very hit and miss, but mostly miss.

But that's not going to stop them from trying it again. Peter Filardi, who already adapted 'Salem's Lot for TNT and is helming "The Road Virus Heads North" segment of the upcoming Nightmares and Dreamscapes series, told Fangoria he's developing IT for the SciFi Channel. Originally he was to make a two-hour version of the novel for TNT, but will instead stretch it out to a four-hour movie for SciFi. The article further states that the adaptation will tell the story "through the eyes of the character of Beverly Marsh."

Desperation, the ABC movie based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, will be airing opposite the American Idol finals on FOX, and King is none too happy about it. He's been touting the series on his site for awhile, claiming it's one of the best adaptations of his work. Both shows will air tomorrow night. As a gentle warning to his fans, King wrote, "Those of you who don't [watch Desperation], and watch American Idol instead...well, just remember: I have strange powers. I have been watching you all for some time through your computers. (This is actually a power conferred upon me by the Bush Administration.) I watch you when you eat, I watch you when you sleep, and I watch you when you undress. In regard to this last comment, some of you need more stylish underwear, but never mind; the point is, I will know if you watch American Idol and if something bad happens to you, it will be your own fault."

Despite being the city in which the popular television series was based, the upcoming film adaptation of Dallas may not actually be shot there due to high costs. Some private fundraising is being planned in order to create incentives for the studio to bring the film to the city where the TV series took place, but like all films, cost will be the deciding factor in whether or not Dallas actually comes to Dallas.  One producer maintains that Dallas is naturally the first choice, but it's still too early to know for sure. The reality of movie making, however, is that the celluloid version of Dallas will be whatever location is most economically viable. If producers do decide to venture elsewhere for a location, I hope the residents of Dallas will take some consolation in the fact that movies these days are rarely filmed in there supposed "actual locations." For example, Mission to Mars wasn't actually filmed on Mars. Frankly, I find that inexcusable.

I have a love/hate relationship with Stephen King. I've read all of his early work, and all together I've probably consumed about ninety-five percent of his total output. I think The Onion's Tasha Robinson put it best when she described King as "a populist yarn-spinner of the highest order." The man writes big, weird stories and he does it well and without pretension. In a way, he's the U2 of literature, a creature often stigmatized for the crime of simply being popular. Sometimes I love him, and sometimes he lets me down. It's kind of a marriage in its own way, and even when he doesn't live up to my expectations, I still have a soft spot for the big galoot.

Translating his work to other mediums, however, is always a crap shoot at best. King's novels allow one to get inside his head, but without King guiding you along and lighting the way, what works on paper can just seem downright trite or silly on screen. With the exception of The Stand (and even that wasn't flawless) his made-for-TV movies tend to (what's the word kids use these days?) oh yeah, they "suck."

So will Desperation, the ABC movie based on his 1996 novel, be any good? When I mentioned it back in June King seemed really excited about the talent assembled for it, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and approach with rare optimism. It hits the airwaves on May 18 at 8 p.m.