Bryce Zabel's FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH

UFOs or SETI: What FIRST CONTACT w/ E.T. Really Looks Like

"When Visitors Come to Call" originally posted on Movie Smackdown!

 Contact (1997) -vs- Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) 

The Smackdown. If you're old enough to remember the marketing campaign for "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," then you'll remember the goosebumps you got when you heard the phrase, We are not alone.  What was great about that simple sentence was that it promised a movie about aliens that was about wonder and mystery and wasn't about the same old Hollywood treatment of life in the universe, namely that if it bothered to interact with humans it was for a nefarious reason, everything from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" to "War of the Worlds" to the later "Independence Day."   Twenty years after "Close Encounters" came another film that promised to make first contact a matter of humanity's growth out of the cradle and not some intergalactic cage match. Both "Close Encounters" and "Contact" were aliens for smart people brought to you first by the immense talent of Steven Spielberg and later by the immense intellect of Carl Sagan.  In my Hollywood career, I've had the good fortune to discuss UFOs and extraterrestrial life with both of these men and found them to have some very different visions of the subject.  They each have used film to express their views about life as it might exist "out there."  The question is, which version comes closest to what might be the truth about first contact, and which one is the better film?

The Challenger. "Contact" (the movie) directed by Robert Zemeckis is a faithful film adaption of Contact (the novel) written by Carl Sagan.  In both tellings, radio astronomer Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster in the film) hits the cosmic jackpot when the giant radio telescopes that are part of S.E.T.I. (Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence) actually turn up a non-random signal from across the universe.  Someone is talking to us or, more accurately, talking back.  You see, they've picked up the very first television transmission the Earth ever leaked outward, amped it up and sent it back to us.  It's an excellent surprise and -- without spoiling it -- let's just say that the first TV signal that went out from Earth is, well, unexpected.  After that, the story kicks into where no film has really gone before.  There's another signal buried in that TV re-transmission that is, basically, the blueprints for building a gigantic spacecraft... for one person!  Well, if there was ever a situation designed to stretch our humanity to the breaking point, it would be trying to determine who's going to be that lucky (or, in failure, unlucky) person.  Where will they go?  Will they ever return?  Will they die?  Is it some kind of trick?

This Re-Boot's Made for Warpin'

Beau DeMayo is a regular contributor on Movie Smackdown!

 Star Trek (2009) -vs- Star Trek: Wrath of Khan (1982) 

The Smackdown.  Reboots.  A familiar frontier. These are the voyages of the Hollywood business. Now if only I could go reboot the time I bested too many Jager shots and woke up at the campus bus stop twenty minutes before a Physics midterm. Now, it's easy to groan when Hollywood reboots yet another franchise.  Batman.  Hulk.  James Bond.  The list goes on.  Up this year is Star Trek, one of television's most enduring franchises, spawning spin-offs, films, video games, and Trekkies. With such a long history and devote fan base, it's scary to think what a reboot could mean for a franchise most believe reached its prime with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  Nevertheless, we boldly go tonight where no smackdown has gone before, with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan locking phasers and photons with the reboot simply titled Star Trek.

The Challenger.  Facing down gospels of Star Trek canon, J.J. Abrams reintroduces the original crew of the USS Enterprise in their fledgling years at Starfleet Academy, centering the film around an arrogant and willful James T. Kirk and an emotionally-conflicted Spock.  But there's not much time for learning with these Starfleet cadets as a Romulan mining ship arrives from the future (of course, it's Star Trek) hellbent on revenge, thus demanding an emergency response from The Federation.  Star Trek benefits from the advances of modern technology and offers a visually-arresting action film.  In keeping with Abrams trademark storytelling, the film grinds its legendary characters through unrelenting plot twists, revelations, and reversals.  A faithful adaptation of a franchise mixed with a little bit of Apple, Star Trek is a summer blockbuster with the thrills and chills to please fans and newcomers alike.

People Don't Watch Shows That Suck

Lee Goldberg writes regularly on A Writer's Life

People don't watch shows that suck.

You'd think that would be common sense but, apparently it's not. Case in point -- today an Entertainment Weekly article questioned why so many science fiction shows this season are tanking while audiences are still flocking to science fiction movies:

Two weeks ago, Fox aired what was probably the final episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a pretty solid sci-fi show which nevertheless suffered from guttery ratings. Two weeks from now, Terminator Salvation will premiere in theaters -- where it will likely make somewhere in the vicinity of $90 million in its first weekend, regardless of how "good" it is. Two separate extentions of the same franchise: one will be labeled a failure, the other a ginormous hit. Why? Why don't we want science fiction on television anymore?

I think that the EW article is based on a faulty premise. People do watch science fiction TV shows...when they don't suck (good stuff like THE X-FILES, STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, the first season of HEROES, etc). 

Unfortunately, most of them suck.  

People didn't reject TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES because it was science fiction...they stopped watching because it was lousy (and I say that as a guy who, inexplicably, didn't miss an episode). People turned away from HEROES for the same reason. The bottom line for science fiction shows is the same as it is for all shows in any genre:  they gotta be good or they'll die. 

DOOMSDAY: The World's Worst Day Ever

Writer/producer Bryce Zabel edits both "For What It's Worth" and "Movie Smackdown!"

Would you like a reason to wake up and smell the coffee, to stop and smell the roses and to tell the people you love that you do?  I've got one word for you:  DINOSAURS.

These poor creatures were cruising along, pretty much dominating the planet like we do today, only they were on a 162-million year streak compared to our paltry length of existence.  Then, one day, out of the blue came a killer that changed everything... forever... practically overnight.

This Thursday night(Feb 26) on Animal Planet at 9pm you can see for yourself when my two-parter on the extinction of the dinosaurs begins.  It's called "Doomsday Falling" and it's probably the hottest episode so far in the very good "Animal Armageddon" series.

Since last May, I've been working as a consulting producer and lead writer on this series about mass extinctions. It's been like going back to college and having to take all the courses I dodged the first time around, plus a few I probably couldn't even spell properly. In terms of being a mind-boggling head-trip, it's been both a treat and a brain puzzle. I don't say this about every project I work on but this one has truly changed the way I look at the world.

Although all the episodes in this eight-part miniseries are excellent if you only catch two of them, they should be the ones on February 26 ("Doomsday") and March 5 ("Panic in the Sky"). Let's just put it this way. The comet or asteroid that hit the Earth 65-million years ago was about the size of Mt. Everest. It was traveling at about five miles per second. When it hit in the waters near what's now the Yucatan, the energy it released was the equivalent of all the nuclear weapons that have ever existed, exploded at the same time, exploded in the same place (are you ready for this?) TIMES 10-thousand. Yeah, it was a big one. Part one deals with the first 24 hours or, as I called them in my script, the Worst Day on Earth Ever. Part two deals with the first year. By the end of it, the Dinosaurs were pretty much gone.

M.A.N.T.I.S. - TV's First African-American Superhero

 Call Me ... the MANTIS! 

I guess it's only appropriate that a week after President Obama historically took office, distributors would get around to releasing "M.A.N.T.I.S." on DVD because it, too, can claim to be an African-American first, starring actor Carl Lumbly in the title role of a scientist/superhero.  The series ran for a season back on FBC over a decade ago.  I received the WGA "Developed By" credit on the series and served as "Co-Executive Producer" and thought that now, for the record, a little trip down memory lane might be in order.

"M.A.N.T.I.S." was the first TV series where the powers-that-be gave me the keys to the car and said I was in charge of the writing staff. This was back in 1994 when I was coming off a successful first season of the "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" series. Sandy Grushow was in charge of FBC-TV back then, and he’s the first guy who said I was seasoned enough to be in charge of a budget of $1.4 million per episode and not blow it.

Anyway the deal was, "M.A.N.T.I.S" had started as a two-hour pilot, written by Sam Hamm ("Batman") and directed by Sam Raimi ("Spiderman"). The two Sams had a disagreement with Fox about how the series should go (they saw the series as an alternative world with an all-black cast and Fox wanted it to be a super-hero who was black in a regular American city), and walked away from their own project. Fox still wanted to do the series but somebody needed to make the changes and run the show. Both Hamm and Raimi were extremely gracious and understanding in the transition, nothing was made personal, and the series lived and (almost) prospered. 

More on DARK SKIES

To fans of the NBC series that aired in 1996-1997, I have some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is that it's been a very, very frustrating year trying to get the DVD (or Blu-ray) release of those 20 hours of TV. As many of you know, SONY was set to release it last year, changed their minds at the last possible moment, told fellow creator Brent Friedman and myself that if we could find a DVD company to release it they would help facilitate it.  Well, we found three.  They liked the idea, the series concept and the fact that plenty of fans still want to see it released.  Each time we got cautiously optimistic.

All of them, when it came time to budget the project, however, backed out when they realized the sheer amount of period music that we had incorporated into the series and factored in the cost of licensing against what they perceived as the upside of sales.  To have so many people saying "We love this project but we're not going to take it on" was heartbreaking and frustrating.

Brent and I aren't ready to say that's the end of it, but it's the end of the beginning.  We're probably more disappointed than any fan out there.  We're very sorry to report this.

The good news is that Frank Garcia and Mark Phillips are out with Science Fiction Television Series, 1990-2004 and it includes an excellent amount of material on DARK SKIES.  Both Brent and I talked to Frank extensively.  This is a highly recommended book for any science fiction fan.  Here's an excerpt:

Dark Skies came to light when two of Hollywood's most experienced producers met for the first time and sat down, ruminating for their next project. The discussion turned to the UFO phenomenon and that's when the electrical charge they generated became a neon sign. "It just came to us — what if we fused the two greatest conspiracies of all time together?" says executive producer and co-creator Bryce Zabel.  "We came up with the Unified Field Theory of conspiracy — who killed JFK and why, and whether Roswell was a real event or not. The essence of the series is that John Kennedy was assassinated because he was going to tell the truth about UFOs in his second term."

"I told Bryce about a very credible Washington insider I knew who had told me there was intelligent, extraterrestrial life here on Earth," says supervising producer and co-creator Brent Friedman. "That sparked some conversations about Roswell and the possibility it really occurred. And if it did, how could events like JFK's assassination, Watergate, Vietnam, etc. — how could those events have any meaning historically unless they were somehow tied to the alien truth."

With the basis of the series firing up their imaginations, Zabel and Friedman went to work. The first task at hand was to shape the "series pitch" proposal into an unconventional form to generate interest, and provoke the network executives receiving it, to immediately pick up the phone and say the words, "We're interested!"

"We started creating an ultra-classified briefing book that was meant for high-level top secret people that basically told them about the UFO cover-up and how it all happened and made the case that, in 1994 and 1995, the government was going to have to come clean and tell people what was going on," explains Zabel. "And the best way to get the public prepared for it was to do a television series about the truth, so that they could see it as fiction at the beginning and later come to understand the truth. So we were already mixing reality and non-reality in a way that I think was pretty fascinating. We did this whole briefing book before we showed it to anybody."

Here's the link to the authors' site where you can read more about the book and even order it.  Or, if you prefer, here's the link to the book on Amazon.

Frank and Mark have worked very hard to sweat the details in this book.  Check it out.  

Meantime, we'll keep thinking about how to get the DVD released.

God of War II (2007) -vs- God of War (2005)

Videogame Review by Jonathan Zabel

The Smackdown.  The "God of War" franchise is one of only a select few based on original IP that have broken out into major mainstream success.  Hard as it might be to believe today, SONY took a pretty big risk when they greenlit the original, "God of War."  We do live in the age of movie tie-ins and sequels, after all.  I can only imagine the reaction from execs when legendary designer David Jaffe gave them his first elevator pitch:  "There's this bald Greek dude, Kratos, OK?  And the gods screwed him over!  Armed with only a kilt, a bunch of body paint, and the two swords chained to his arms, he's going to get revenge..." But they bought it, obviously, because we have "God of War II" to play now.

"Griffins are mythical beasts with the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle... but don't worry, I fixed the second part."

The Challenger.  When you're making the sequel to an almost universally acclaimed game, you've basically got two options:  (1) Change as little as possible and improve by degrees or (2) spend the goodwill of the fans trying out innovative new mechanics.  SONY Santa Monica took the conventional path with "God of War II," but I can't say I really fault them for it.  Everything has been dialed up to 11 both in terms of scale and intensity.  Let's take the opening stage as an example, in which Kratos is drained of his godly powers and forced to square off against the humongous Colossus of Rhodes (which has been granted ghastly life by a vengeful Athena).  It chases you across the entire island as you frantically attempt to slow it down by breaking its arms and cutting out both of its eyes.  Eventually, you climb inside the statue and deliver the final blow using a sword given to you by Zeus himself.  Did I forget to mention that was the first level?

"Where's Harry Hamlin when you need him?"

The Defending Champion.  "God of War" impressed critics and gamers alike not because it was original, but rather because it took almost every concept that action games have been trying to do for years... and it did them right.  Most of the gameplay revolves around the combat, which is context-based.  Press the correct button or sequence of buttons at the right time and you'll perform a devastating finishing move.  You can never behead enough Gorgons if you ask me!  As far the story goes, there's no argument that ashen-skinned Kratos is a certifiable badass in addition to being one of the most unrepentant anti-heroes gaming has ever seen.  Finding out the true reason behind his unflinching desire to kill Ares (the God of War), regardless of how it might damn him, is a surprisingly compelling story considering the medium in which it's being told.

The Scorecard.   "God of War II" is, in many ways, simply the logical extension of the first game, but that doesn't mean there aren't some meaningful differences between the two.  More specifically, the plot of the second feels like a "greatest hits" compilation of Greek mythology, as you cut down heroes like Perseus (who killed Medusa), Theseus (who killed the Minotaur of Crete) and anyone else who happens to also be seeking out the Sisters of Fate to change their destiny.  Admittedly, having to pause to go Wikipedia a mythical figure or three is a bit distracting...

Crow DVD Audio Commentary

The audio commentary for the two opening hours of the TV series DVD release for "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven" couldn't have gone better.

Series lead Mark Dacascos and I sat in an audio room at Hollywood's Crest Digital, wearing headphones, watching the first two episodes back-to-back and talking like old friends watching a past project and remembering how much fun they had together.

I'm glad we weren't over-rehearsed because I think fans will enjoy the spontaneity and discovery we ended up having for our own work (and the work of so many others who worked so hard on the series). I think we both were honestly surprised by some things we saw and the memories came authentically flooding back. We each remembered different things and different people, from fight coordiantors and stunt men to writers and producers.

Something else that helped is that in the last year, Mark and I and our wives have had dinner together three times and really renewed our friendship. Sitting in that room was just as natural, well, except for the championship dining aspect. But we laughed a lot yesterday. So much fun...

The DVD is being released as part of the "TV Guide" brand by Hart Sharp Video. It will be out on July 24, just a few days before the San Diego Comicon which Mark and I will also attend. Thanks to the Crow fans who lobbied Hart Sharp to get Mark and I in that audio room together, and we'll see you in San Diego we hope!

The Crow flew again and it was a good thing. He wasn't dead after all!

As the Crow Flies... Again...

The DVD set for "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven" is set for release on July 24, 2007.

It comes from Hart Sharp Video out of New York.

Lead actor Mark Dacascos and I recorded a two-hour audio commentary for the project in May 2007.

I've also given them the show's "gag reel" for some comic relief, plus a collection of dailies and promotional materials.

So there should be sufficient "goodies" to make this stand out from any bootleg or anything else that has come before.

I've written extensively about the experience of developing the Crow franchise for TV and working as the executive producer on the series.

By going to that post, you can download either the original pilot script, or the series bible written before we got started, or even the episode summaries as they were kept by the writing staff. Just CLICK HERE.

My best wishes to all the fans for their continuing support!

*****

You Haven't Seen This One Before!

I guess most people who read this blog regularly know that I like history, and I like John Kennedy, and I like science fiction. I combined those into an alt.history for the NBC "Dark Skies" series and now it looks like I've done it again.

What if they missed in Dallas?

Yeah, I know, I know. This is the classic "what if" and it's been done a few times. Historians love to speculate on this scenario, wondering if magically the nation would have been spared the pain of Vietnam and even Watergate. Knowing what we know now, it seems like they've missed the point. There's a new twist to the answer that wouldn't have been possible to even dream of until about a decade ago.

If he’d gotten out of Dallas alive, John Kennedy might easily have suffered the same fate as his arch-nemesis Richard Nixon -- humiliation and removal from office.

That's the premise of a novel I've been working on for over a year with Harry Turtledove who is pretty much the dean of alternative history novels. Our project is called:

And before you freak out and start calling me names, both Harry and I are life-long Democrats. We don't hate JFK. We have been as compelled by his story as anyone. We just think that this is one of the best alt.history ideas either of us has ever worked on. Our premise is pretty simple:

With the eyes of the world on the United States and the media in a frenzy, with JFK himself alive and not a martyr, an immediate investigation would have been launched into who might have been interested in killing our popular American President. Starting with the Secret Service, the blame-game would have taken on a life of its own, forcing explosive revelations in mere months that have instead dribbled out over decades. Kennedy’s reckless conduct would have become public: the lies about his medical condition, contacts with mobsters, election money-laundering, numerous attempts to assassinate foreign leaders, and even the hundreds of high-risk sexual encounters that endangered Kennedy’s safety and, by extension, our country’s security.

This alternative history novel covers the period from the November 22, 1963 near-miss assassination attempt of President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas through the events of early 1966 when the fate of John F. Kennedy was in the hands of 100 United States Senators worried about their own careers in the next election.

If you'd like to see the whole bit, just CLICK HERE or on the BANNER ABOVE to visit the site.