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wideawakewesley
05-13-2010, 11:59 AM
From previous thread:

Here's a British import to look out for:

The BBC has announced development of a futuristic series entitled Outcasts, dealing with humanity’s search for a new living space beyond Earth.

Written by Spooks scribe Ben Richards and made by production company Kudos, who were behind Life On Mars, Outcasts is described by the BBC as a “tense and fast-paced series about co-operation and conflict, idealism and power, sexual competition and love”.

Specific plot and character details have yet to be released, but the BBC stated that the show revolves around “life's big imperatives – cheating death, seeking suitable mates and surviving as a species.”

Jane Tranter, BBC Fiction Controller, relayed her enthusiasm for the project, commenting: "Following the unique success of time travel in Life On Mars, I'm naturally extremely excited about the dynamic duo of Kudos and Ben Richards joining forces to create a further dimension in BBC Drama."

And the latest news:

Created by Ben Richards, Outcasts is a new eight-part series set on a recently discovered planet and tells of the dilemmas, loves and lives of a group of people setting up a new world.

This life-sustaining planet is now home to the surviving population from Earth. Here there is a chance to start again, to bring the lessons learnt from Earth and to put them into action on a new planet.

Set in 2040, Outcasts begins on the day the last known transporter from Earth arrives, prompting great excitement on the new planet: Who is on board? Friends and loved ones? Important supplies and news from Earth? But also many questions: Will the new people bring the problems of Earth with them? Will the mistakes that destroyed Earth be repeated? Will the arrival of a new, would-be leader, rock the fragile and precarious equilibrium of our fresh, unified and courageous new world?

And, most importantly of all, how do you create a new and a better world?

Shooting starts in South Africa in April 2010 with casting to be confirmed.

The BBC has commissioned a new eight-part sci-fi series from Ashes To Ashes producer Kudos.

Outcasts follows a diverse group of people who are living in a small town on a fictional planet that has been colonised by humans. These pioneers are helping build a new community far away from their loved ones and are optimistic about their future, but the planet holds many mysteries which threaten to destroy the fragile peace.

The cast includes Hermione Norris (Spooks), Danny Mays (Ashes To Ashes), Eric Mabius (Ugly Betty), Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica) and Ashley Walters (Small Island).

The series is currently being filmed in South Africa for transmission in the Autumn on BBC One.

A sci-fi series which sees humans attempt to populate another planet is being filmed for the BBC.

Among the Outcasts stars are Ugly Betty's Eric Mabius and Spooks actress Hermione Norris.

Currently filming in South Africa, the eight-part series will be set on the fictional Carpathia in 2040.

The series opens with a group of pioneers waiting to welcome other settlers to the planet, who will hopefully bring news of Earth.

Outcasts, which is due to screen on BBC One later in the year, has been created by Spooks writer Ben Richards.

Other actors joining the cast include Jamie Bamber, who appeared in cult US series Battlestar Galactica, and rapper-turned actor Ashley Walters, who recently starred in the BBC adaptation of Small Island.

Ben Stephenson, controller of BBC drama commissioning, said: "Outcasts is a richly intelligent, character led drama full of big ideas about what it is to be human told through thrilling and surprising stories that could only appear in this show."

I hope this lives up to the billing.

gm_wil
05-13-2010, 01:37 PM
Sounds interesting - i just watched the BBC show they did about traveling in our solar system and it was really good.

"Voyage to the Planets and Beyond" (2005)

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wideawakewesley
08-09-2010, 04:06 PM
SyFy posted this bit of info on the show:

Remember how Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek to TV execs? He called it "Wagon Train to the stars." But it wasn't, not really, and it took Joss Whedon to truly mash up sci-fi and westerns with Firefly. Now it's the BBC's turn to saddle up for space?and they're taking BSG's Jamie Bamber with them!

Outcasts is about a group of survivors some time in the future establishing a new home on the planet Carpathia. It's sort of like a western, in the new frontier. They always called Star Trek a western anyway, and Outcasts has a little bit of future technology.

"It's been like sort of Star Trek and warp factor, although we don't mention warp factor at all," series creator Ben Richards (who knows he shares a name with Arnold's character in The Running Man) said. "We have to cheat a few things. They're always nanoteching stuff. Basically they had to build their own community on what they landed with. The transporter in which they landed is very high-tech and very modern, and they can do all kinds of stuff. People live in very rudimentary [ways]. That's that western feel. It's a frontier town kind of thing."

A rescue ship comes to join them, and all the old disagreements and fighting from back on Earth starts to happen again. That's the BSG part, only without the robots. Also, Jamie Bamber's in Outcasts. "Although Battlestar Galactica does this as well, I think it's much more firmly rooted in sort of human emotional and political stories," Richards said. "So I would say it's a couple of notches down the level of sci-fi from Battlestar Galactica."

The director of Richards' first episode reined in some of the sci-fi. Richards would have gone further with phasers and blasters, but director Bharat Nalluri (BBC's Life on Mars) decided to give the characters modern-day guns. He even quoted Star Trek, too.

"I would rather lazily write in the script, 'Cass pulls out a gun. A red light streaks across the screen.'" Richards said. "The director would just go, 'I don't think so. We're not having any "set phasers to stun." We are not having any of that crap. You're going to have to just trust me on this.' What you get, actually, is a bizarre mixture."

The primitive planet setting keeps Richards from worrying too much about BSG comparisons. "Apart from being fairly honored to be compared to Battlestar Galactica, it certainly wouldn't be a kind of problem for me in that respect," he said. "I think the big difference is probably the actual level of sci-fi involved. We're not at any point on board transporters jumping through space. We don't have the kind of aerial battles that you see in early episodes of Battlestar."

Still, Trek and BSG aren't a bad club to belong to. Richards made sure to embrace his sci-fi roots while trying to distinguish himself. "I hesitate to say it's not sci-fi, because I think that's quite condescending as well," he said. "I love sci-fi, and I think sometimes when people are trying to be clever about sci-fi, they go, 'Oh, it's not sci-fi. It's all about the human spirit.' Well, every drama is about the human spirit. I don't think you have to reject sci-fi as a genre. I certainly don't. I think the best sci-fi always has that element of the western in it."

Outcasts is currently shooting in South Africa. BBC America will air it in December

gm_wil
03-22-2012, 12:47 AM
It's on Netflix streaming in HD - just watched episode 1 . . . enough of a bite to make me want to see episode 2.

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darth-ed
03-22-2012, 02:29 AM
I repeatedly get this show mixed up with the BBC series Misfits. The names are too damn similar.

satori
03-22-2012, 02:34 AM
I repeatedly get this show mixed up with the BBC series Misfits. The names are too damn similar.

+1 .

bubba-mudd
03-24-2012, 08:58 PM
It's on Netflix streaming in HD - just watched episode 1 . . . enough of a bite to make me want to see episode 2.

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... and it has been cancelled. I'll still check it out on Netflix, though.

http://www.division6.co.uk/wp/2011/03/15/will-there-be-an-outcasts-season-2/

gm_wil
03-25-2012, 04:59 AM
... and it has been cancelled. I'll still check it out on Netflix, though.

http://www.division6.co.uk/wp/2011/03/15/will-there-be-an-outcasts-season-2/

Well crap . . . I hope it "ends" in a decent way (like they knew it was cancelled and didn't end on a cliffhanger like Sarah Conner Chronicles!)

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gm_wil
04-01-2012, 02:51 AM
Damn it . . . it ends like Sarah Conner Chronicles . . . just as the crap hits the fan it stops at a cliffhanger with everything coming down around them . . . that apparently will go nowhere because it's cancelled . . . craptastic.

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