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http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2015/06/10/bradley-cooper-and-syfy-to-bring-hyperion-to-television/

Bradly Cooper is teaming with Syfy to adapt the popular and acclaimed science fiction book series “Hyperion” into a television series — a goal the Academy Award-nominated actor has been trying to achieve for some time.

According to the LA Times, Cooper will executive produce the series for Syfy alongside “Argo” producer Graham King and Todd Phillips of “The Hangover.” “Boardwalk Empire” writer Itamar Moses will be scripting the screenplay.

The first novel in the four-book Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons, “Hyperion” follows seven characters on a spiritual journey, each with their own reason for making this particular pilgrimage. As the story unfolds, each character reveals their backstory and reasons for making the journey, with each story told in a unique style and tone and each of a different type of genre — from a cyberpunk detective tale to an action-filled war piece and more.

Cooper was quoted in a press release by Syfy saying, “It is an absolute honor to enter into the world created by Dan Simmons that is arguably one of the greatest works of science fiction, and help realize it for television audiences.”

On the one hand, I'm really excited by this news!

The HYPERION CANTOS is without a doubt my all time favorite SF series.

On the other hand...

SyFy?

And is there really ANY chance all 4 books will get made into TV series/shows now?

Potentially depressing, as the last two books are my favorites!

Still - cautiously optimistic!

Some pretty big names attached to this so I think "cautiously optimistic" is the best way to go. SyFy's movies are among the worst of the grade B movie category, but their TV series are generally decent at the very least. I loved SG-1, Defiance's first season was kind of weak but apparently the second is really good.

Given that SyFy has had such a lack of original programming for so long, I can see this as nothing but A Good Thing.

There are a LOT of big names attached, and this seems like it could be really the kick in the nuts that the channel needs.

I certainly hope so!

Alpharius, what is it about the Endymion books that makes them your favorite? I ask because I'm hoping you'll give me a good reason to pick them up and try to finish them.

Are they just doing Hyperion? Or are they going to make the first two books? I thought Hyperion was an amazing book, but Fall of Hyperion was something of a let down because of the way it ended. It felt like Dan Simmons had no idea how the story was going to end when he wrote Hyperion and had to fudge it in Fall of Hyperion. (And the "love is a nuclear force" bit just killed my suspension of disbelief.) I started to read Rise of Endymion, but couldn't get more than a hundred pages into it. Same thing happened for me between Ilium and Olympos.

I hope they do it well. If they take all the powerful stuff that works and cut out or change some of the dross, this could be the Godfather of Sci Fi miniseries.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Alpharius, what is it about the Endymion books that makes them your favorite? I ask because I'm hoping you'll give me a good reason to pick them up and try to finish them.

Are they just doing Hyperion? Or are they going to make the first two books? I thought Hyperion was an amazing book, but Fall of Hyperion was something of a let down because of the way it ended. It felt like Dan Simmons had no idea how the story was going to end when he wrote Hyperion and had to fudge it in Fall of Hyperion. (And the "love is a nuclear force" bit just killed my suspension of disbelief.) I started to read Rise of Endymion, but couldn't get more than a hundred pages into it. Same thing happened for me between Ilium and Olympos.

I hope they do it well. If they take all the powerful stuff that works and cut out or change some of the dross, this could be the Godfather of Sci Fi miniseries.

The four book series is very much divided (obvious once you start reading them!) into two parts:


"Part 1"
Hyperion
The Fall of Hyperion

"Part 2"
Endymion
The Rise of Endymion

"Part 1" is very much "The Canterbury Tales" done via SF - only 1 million times better.

It is hard to discuss what makes the entire series so good without seriously spoiling a lot of it - but for me, it is the best SF series, hands done, bar none.

And "Part 2" is the better of the series - it has one of the most exciting, satisfying and emotional ends to a series that I've ever read.

I just hope that the SyFy series can live up to it - and that it does well enough for them to film the entire thing!

I have never heard of this Hyperion.

All I'm picturing is this:

 Kanluwen wrote:
Given that SyFy has had such a lack of original programming for so long, I can see this as nothing but A Good Thing.

Syfy original programming had brought us the likes of Alien apocalypse, Jersey Shore Shark Attack, and the Sharknado movies. I find no fault in their programming.

SyFy has had so much damage done to its brand and its name, its impossible to recover.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
SyFy has had so much damage done to its brand and its name, its impossible to recover.

Few people are more critical of that network than I am, but the above is a ridiculous statement.

Of course they can remake their brand image. The main questions are whether they're willing to make a financial commitment to quality programming beyond just a series or two, and whether they can keep their eye on the ball long enough for that programming change to sway hearts and minds. We've seen the network dabble with quality in the past, but it's always quickly reverted back to its comfort zone.

AMC used to show old retread movies. Now their commitment to high-quality original series has made them a basic cable HBO. SyFy can do the same thing, I'm just skeptical that they WILL.

It should also be said that SyFy may not be wrong with their typical strategy. This is probably going to draw a reaction, but I'm going to stand by it -- geeks aren't the most discerning consumers. They have a tendency to gobble up stuff in their favorite genre and be fairly willing to overlook quality issues. Why produce another Battlestar Galactica when you can run out another utterly forgettable series at 1/10th the cost?

About a year ago SyFy admitted that messed up in their who re-branding.

I miss when it was called Sci Fi.

They want to head back into what they were know for at one time shows like Battlestar and star gate.

Do I think it can be done? Yes, but they can't cut corner be cheap an expect quality or a loyal fan base.

Hopefully they can create some excellent sci fi and space opera shows and movies.

Never understood why SyFy loved pumping out a new crappy movie every other week instead of investing time and money into a few good movies.

Quality > quantity

 paulson games wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
Given that SyFy has had such a lack of original programming for so long, I can see this as nothing but A Good Thing.

Syfy original programming had brought us the likes of Alien apocalypse, Jersey Shore Shark Attack, and the Sharknado movies. I find no fault in their programming.

When SyFy refers to their "Original Programming", it's referring to their TV shows(which reminds me--Defiance comes back this Friday with a 2 hour episode).

Kind of goofy I know, but they have actually branded their so-awful-they're-great-for-drinking-games movies as the "Saturday SyFy Films".


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Piston Honda wrote:

Hopefully they can create some excellent sci fi and space opera shows and movies.

There's a show premiering next Friday at 9pm called "Killjoys" which looks like it could be good.

Never understood why SyFy loved pumping out a new crappy movie every other week instead of investing time and money into a few good movies.
Quality > quantity

They DID do a "few good movies". They did Dune, Children of Dune, Tin Man, and a few other big things that rather than airing as movies they ran as "Miniseries".

In the long run though, SyFy had to justify their low ratings for those kinds of miniseries versus the rather large spikes they got from their "crappy movies". Craig Engler(the former head of SciFi/SyFy) actually was rather candid about it on his Twitter feed some years back when asked why shows like BSG, SG-1, etc were getting cut compared to things like Ghost Hunters or Destination Truth(which was rather good--even if there are some questions about whether their findings were legitimate or not in some cases) and the simple answer was that the shows which had a reality TV component did way better than their other shows if the shows weren't considered "family friendly"(like Warehouse 13 or Eureka).

How the gak does reality tv get so popular?

Do other countries have this problem?

 Alpharius wrote:
http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2015/06/10/bradley-cooper-and-syfy-to-bring-hyperion-to-television/

Bradly Cooper is teaming with Syfy to adapt the popular and acclaimed science fiction book series “Hyperion” into a television series — a goal the Academy Award-nominated actor has been trying to achieve for some time.

According to the LA Times, Cooper will executive produce the series for Syfy alongside “Argo” producer Graham King and Todd Phillips of “The Hangover.” “Boardwalk Empire” writer Itamar Moses will be scripting the screenplay.

The first novel in the four-book Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons, “Hyperion” follows seven characters on a spiritual journey, each with their own reason for making this particular pilgrimage. As the story unfolds, each character reveals their backstory and reasons for making the journey, with each story told in a unique style and tone and each of a different type of genre — from a cyberpunk detective tale to an action-filled war piece and more.

Cooper was quoted in a press release by Syfy saying, “It is an absolute honor to enter into the world created by Dan Simmons that is arguably one of the greatest works of science fiction, and help realize it for television audiences.”

On the one hand, I'm really excited by this news!

The HYPERION CANTOS is without a doubt my all time favorite SF series.

On the other hand...

SyFy?

And is there really ANY chance all 4 books will get made into TV series/shows now?

Potentially depressing, as the last two books are my favorites!

Still - cautiously optimistic!

Judging how they've adapted Women of the Otherworld into Bitten, it could okay, but it might not follow the books. Bitten largely follows the plot of the first novel in the series and more or less the general plot of the second, but significant liberties are taken with characters and motivations.

Didn't the writer for this Hyperion book series go a little crazy with some sort of Islamic hate mode post?? November 2006?

 angelofvengeance wrote:
Didn't the writer for this Hyperion book series go a little crazy with some sort of Islamic hate mode post?? November 2006?

And?

That has what Relevance to this discussion?!

Not that I was aware of or could find now...

Got a link?

SyFy has a lot of gak on it, but it did bring me things like Eureka, which was pretty fantastic.

I have faith in them. They are getting Nerdist News as a show, so I think they are going to be moving towards more serious shows. Hyperion seems to have some very serious people behind it, so this is even more promising.

 Alpharius wrote:
Not that I was aware of or could find now...

Got a link?

Probably this.