TVSquad

AMC has done pretty well for itself of late with the critically acclaimed series Broken Trail, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. I'm also hopefully optimistic that they will do a good job with their mini-series remake of The Prisoner. Because of this established pedigree, I am incredibly excited to hear that AMC is developing a series based on Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars novel. With Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth series already coming to television, it looks like someone in TV land has been raiding my library. Oh there are so many more good sci-fi and fantasy series to develop. Feel free to stop by any time!

The article indicates the series is based on Robinson's 1992 novel of the same name, but I hope they take it a step further and look to his expanded Mars trilogy. That way they can have several seasons of stories to tell. I guess, though, with the bigger story covering a couple of centuries there could be some casting problems. Hell, overhaul the entire cast every few seasons. ER does it and it's been on the air for almost fifteen years.

The story is an extended chronicling of the settling and terraforming of Mars. As such, it is driven as much by social interactions and character stories as it is the rich sci-fi backdrop of the drama. This should help to keep the budget respectable. Maybe scientists will be inspired by these stories, as they were by Star Trek, and we can begin our trek to our red sister within my lifetime.

Battlestar Galactica has proven that an extended narrative and character driven science fiction can create compelling drama that appeals to even the hardest anti-science fiction folks. And AMC has proven that they create television with a tone and style unlike anything anywhere else on television. It's no wonder people are running away from network television these days. All the really cutting edge stuff is on cable.