A new series on my radar is the upcoming BBC sci-fi series Outcasts, set in 2040 on a nearby planet settled by a group of “social misfits and criminals” as “the pioneers of a large new settlement” after some sort of nuclear event on earth. It’s been noted by TV Guide's Matt Roush as a sci-fi/Western hybrid which (as Rob Owen at Pittsburg Post-Gazzette suggests) brings back memories of beloved-by-this-blog Firefly as well as elements of the shortlived Earth-2 (I loved the premise of this series) and the recent (and also beloved of this blog) Battlestar Galactica. But beside the fact that it’s sci-fi (and I love my sci-fi), what intrigues me about this series is the questions the creators (the makers of favs-of-this-blog Life on Mars and Hustle) are exploring:… 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 the fresh, unified and courageous new world? And, most importantly of all, how do is a new and better world created?This sets up another interesting question: will this be a utopian or dystopian series? Personally, I’m hoping for the latter as I think they make better stories (think Blade Runner and Children of Men), but here’s how one of the creators, Ben Richards, responded to the subject per the aforementioned Rob Owen:
"The idea is that there is hope for humanity and there is the potential for survival," Richards said. "One of the books I particularly hate is 'Lord of the Flies' because it suggests humans are inherently evil and children are filled with original sin and I don't believe that. I wanted to tell a story where humans are neither good nor bad, they're just human."
Another interesting insight? A tweet posted by The Surf Report on Twitter:
Outcasts creator/writer Ben Richards loved Deadwood but doesn't think he can get away w/everything that show did.I’ve only seen a half-dozen episodes of HBO's short-lived Deadwood, but personally, I was fascinated by it. Putting all this together, I’m not sure what to think of Outcasts at this point. Deadwood definitely had a dystopian feel to it, yet it showed the power of love to overcome the darkness of humanity—and that is something I am fully onboard with as that is the kind of story with the potential to bring God-talk into open spaces. It’ll be interesting to see where Outcasts heads.
(Image: BBC America)