“Sumuru: The Series”: reborn?
Kategorien: Film, TV & Presse, Gedanken, In Arbeit, Neues.
Manchmal macht man etwas nicht, und erst Jahre später dämmert einem, dass das vielleicht auch ganz gut so war.
Wie ihr wisst, habe ich seinerzeit das Drehbuch von “Sumuru” übernommen, und komplett neu geschrieben. Der resultierende Film lief erfolgreich auf RTL2. Was kaum noch einer weiß: die Produktionsfirma bat mich seinerzeit, auch noch ein Konzept für eine TV-Serie zu schreiben, die an den Film anschließt. Ist ja auch inhaltlich kein Problem: am Ende des Films fliegen die Helden (und ein Häufchen Getreue) mit einem uralten Raumschiff ins All, auf der Suche nach den Resten der Menschheit (die von einem Gen-Virus dezimiert wurde).
Meine Idee für “Sumuru: The Series” war damals, nur Teile der Serie im Weltraum spielen zu lassen. Es war nicht mein Interesse, “Star Trek” oder “Battlestar Galactica” Konkurrenz zu machen. Vielmehr konzipierte ich den Plot so, dass die Helden nach ein paar Episoden die Erde finden – ohne Menschen, aber beileibe nicht entvölkert: Dutzende von Alien-Rassen haben unseren rohstoffreichen, und mit einer guten Infrastruktur ausgestatteten Planeten übernommen, und missbrauchen ihn als Müllhalde, “lawless zone”, Handelsplatz, und Testgelände für gefährliche Experimente. Unsere Protagonisten beschließen, die Erde zurück zu erobern. Zuerst als Guerilla, später als Armee.
Hier ist der Pitch, den ich damals geschrieben habe – im übertrieben-angemessenen Marketing-Speak:
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Based on the exciting feature film from 2003, „Sumuru: The Series“ chronicles the further adventures of the last humans, desperately searching for a place to start over
After a long and hard journey, Adam, Jake, Sumuru and the other survivors from Antares decide that the only place that could possibly offer them sanctuary is the cradle of mankind – Earth.
Arriving in our solar system, the crew aboard the cruiser makes a startling discovery: Earth is teeming with life! Alien life…
Over the last two decades, warring alien factions have taken over the depopulated planet, strip mining its resources, and destroying its ecological system. The scum of the universe is thriving in the ruins of the once great cities.
The last humans have to make a decision: Search for another planet in another solar system – or stay and fight? The decision is unanimous: If mankind is to survive, they will have to take back their planet. 218 men, women and children against thousands of heavily armed alien marauders. What are the odds?
With gorgeous South African locations, state of the art special effects, and an exciting and complex story, “Sumuru: The Series” is epic sci-fi action at its best.
Using the more tongue in cheek “Sumuru” feature as a springboard, the series tells of a dramatic struggle to reclaim earth for mankind – or what’s left of it.
In many respects, “Sumuru: The Series” will be unique and innovative. While the episodes are self contained to a certain degree, they are driven by a bigger arc, one which will inevitably lead to the climactic battle for supremacy over earth.
During the course of the series, our heroes will travel, learning more about what has happened to earth while mankind explored space. They will discover ravaged cities, burnt out landmarks, but also the beauty of a planet still in its prime.
The first season will end with our lead characters captured by the aliens, about to be executed – when a battle cruiser from a hitherto unknown intergalactic security force intervenes.
In the second season, some of the action will shift to the moon, where some freedom fighters use a moon camp on the dark side as their base of operations.
During all of this, our characters will grow and broaden their horizons. Relationships deepen, and somewhere down the line, there will be love, marriage, birth, betrayal, heartbreak – and death.
“Sumuru: The Series” has it all – and then some…
The Characters
Adam Wade. He has led the last humans to earth, and he has convinced them to stay. Now it’s his job to look out for them. The weight of this responsibility is almost too much to bear. Without the love of Sumuru, he couldn’t do it.
Jake Carpenter. A little more carefree than Adam, Jake is glad to be back “home” (even though he was born in space). His natural curiosity gets him into trouble, and his survival instincts gets him out. He would be a great leader – if he wasn’t shying away from it. He worries that Sumuru will replace him as Adam’s closest confidante.
Sumuru. Coming from a society with very little knowledge about earth, Sumuru is wary of this strange new world. But as the Queen of her people (re-elected shortly after landing), it is her duty to help Adam in the fight to reclaim the planet. Secretly, she’d prefer to resign, settle down, and have children.
Will. For the 10 year old orphan, life on earth is the biggest adventure. Everything is new, frightening, mysterious. He is determined to do his part in the fight for earth, and tends to get in trouble doing that. But Jake always looks after the little brat.
Kagan Hellup. One of the handful of humans left on Earth after the gene virus. Leader of the (not too successful) resistance. Driven by hatred and a thirst for revenge, he is as dangerous as he is helpful to the new arrivals. Adam hopes he’ll come around – because if he doesn’t, he poses a serious threat to the group.
Laura Hellup. Kagan’s daughter. A shy, introverted girl in her late teens, she is not her fathers proudest achievement. But beneath the shell shocked surface lurks a cunning, bright, and ultimately unpredictable mind. She tries to hide it, but she has “powers”. Powers that might be a deciding factor in the battle for Earth.
San Shat’Yl. Alien. Criminal. Mastermind. In that order. Sort of the “Godfather” of the extraterrestrial scumbags looting our planet. He is acutely aware that the spirit of the humans might develop into a serious problem – therefore, he is prepared to have it broken. Resides in what was once Chicago.
Tiberius. The AI core of the once global computer network “Planex”. Still working, it’s a valuable source for information. Unfortunately, Tiberius’ memory banks are like a maze, with a lot of the data locked by age old security codes and access restrictions. It’ll take a long time to hack him, and he’s not exactly cooperating.
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Das ist natürlich nicht die Neuerfindung der Fernseh-SF – es sollte eine Action-Abenteuerserie für ein junges Publikum sein, und einfach genug gestrickt, um auch in Turkmenistan verstanden zu werden.
Der Gedanke dahinter war, die phantastischen und vielseitigen Locations in Südafrika voll auszunutzen. Wenn man in Wüsten, an Wasserfällen, und in Industrieruinen drehen kann, warum soll man den ganzen Tag im Studio schwitzen? Außerdem fand ich es immer schade, wie wenig z.B. “Star Trek TNG” von der Erde gezeigt hat.
Aus der Serie wurde nichts – RTL2 konnte sich aus hausinternen Gründen nicht comitten, und der Sci Fi Channel in den USA fand den Film zu ironisch für sein Samstag Abend-Publikum. Ich hatte nie wirklich an das Projekt geglaubt, und war dementsprechend nicht arg enttäuscht.
Nun ist aber in den USA ein Film namens “Star Quest: The Odyssey” aufgetaucht, dessen Trailer ziemlich exakt so aussieht, wie “Sumuru: The Series” angesichts des Budgets, und der involvierten Personen vermutlich geworden wäre:
Und plötzlich bin ich doch froh, dass das Projekt nie verwirklicht wurde…