I was as surprised as everyone else when Battlestar Galactica proved ripe for dour reimagining, but if you really want to impress me, I’m afraid you’ll have to lace Glen A. Larson’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century with three longshoreman-thick fingers of straight Tarkovsky. “Bedebedebede, we’ve reached the limits of human comprehension, Buck!”
Since Nu Image/Millennium Films – which just snapped up the Buck Rogers rights from the late Frank Dille’s estate – is reportedly working with a $40 million budget, a 1972 Solaris throwback is, aesthetically, well within their grasp. But to hear IGN‘s Stax tell it, the plan is to make a parody of the 1980s television show. With Frank Miller directing. Which is a little like hiring Ingmar Bergman to make a Marx Brothers picture (if decidedly less awesome).
According to Variety, no talent deals have been struck at this time. Basically, it sounds like Flint Dille – the grandson of John Dille (who hired Philip Nowlan to write the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century comic strip), and a noted video game writer himself – was floating an ideal scenario to IGN. Though I’ve no idea if Miller really wants to make a campy redo of Larson’s series, the pieces do kinda fit together (i.e. Nu Image/Millennium has a solid relationship with Lionsgate, which is distributing Miller’s The Spirit). That said, does anyone really want to see The Brady Bunch Movie in outer space? And is there any point in ridiculing the show when South Park did it brilliantly two years ago?
Sounds like Buck just leapt from suspended animation into development hell.