Here’s some pretty good news: Battlestar Galactica showrunner Ronald D. Moore will write a three-picture science fiction series for United Artists, says Variety. The bad news: he’s writing it for United Artists.
But let’s not let UA’s recent difficulties like Lions For Lambs and the press on Valkyrie stack up against Moore’s upcoming movies. With Battlestar drawing to a close I’m truly happy to see that someone else is ready to give Moore a chance to work on a canvas that, if not larger, will at least be accommodating to his ideas. And if UA can let a bomb like Lambs out of the gate unmangled, hopefully they can stay hands off with Moore. (Pray that they do; last time Tom Cruise and Moore worked together we got Mission: Impossible 2.)
If this was from anyone other than the Galactica revivalist, who has fully proven that he can carry a compelling story over an extended period of time, the ‘trilogy’ aspect would bug me a little bit. The success of Lord of the Rings and sequel-ready superhero films has primed studios to think (or hope) that any major new genre project should be spread across more than one film, which is a terrible way to work. (Even if science fiction novels have long been conceived as series rather than standalone projects.) I love the idea of three new movies from Ron Moore, but I’d almost rather see him just work one feature and knock the sumbitch way out of the park.