There’s been a lot of buzz surrounding ABC’s new paranormal drama series “Flashforward.” And for good reason, if the series pilot is any indication of upcoming quality in the show.
I won’t go into great detail regarding what the show is about. A quick summary though … A mysterious global event causes the entire Earth’s human population to simultaneously lose consciousness for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. During this blackout, everyone sees visions of their lives six months in the future. The event results in massive deaths from accidents and leaves the survivors wondering whether what they saw will happen. It’s a great premise for a show and I look forward to watching it.
What a lot of people don’t know is that “Flashforward” was originally a science fiction novel (of the same name) written by Robert J. Sawyer [wiki | web] in 2000. Interestingly, Sawyer has been involved in the show and will even write at least one of the upcoming episodes.
One of the major, and necessary, differences between the book and the TV series is that in the book the visions show what everyone’s lives will be like in 20 years. This is a major change that Sawyer sees as necessary to adapting the series to TV.
To find out why, you can listen to a couple of good interviews with Robert J. Sawyer about “Flashforward” (both the book and TV series) and his other projects. Just check out these two Farpoint Media podcasts:
Both podcasts are run by author Michael R. Mennenga. They cover a little of the same territory, but not a lot. I enjoyed listening to both podcasts for both the Sawyer interviews and the other show content. In particular, the Dragon Page podcast includes Sawyer talking at length on the craft of screenwriting. I thought he had some interesting insights and recommendations.
I have a good hunch about this show. I hope I’m right.
