Today's News: HBO goes from Westeros to WestWorld

Get ready for a serious MS newsflash!:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/149718/hbo_gaat_westworld_serie_maken

HBO, J.J. Abrams, Jonathan Nolan. One name I do not much care for in this triumvirate, and it will come to no surprise to my dear readers that it's Abrams. The guy has almost singlehandedly caused the abominable degeneration of one classic science fiction franchise and is most likely about to do the same to another. Fortunately in this particular case he's only producing, while Nolan will write and direct. Now that is good news, since it will keep Abrams out of much of the creative loop, while Nolan has already shown himself an outstanding writer on such films as The Dark Knight and The Prestige, as well as on the current TV-drama Person of Interest. No doubt he'll be damned before he lets an intriguing notion like a theme park populated by robot slaves subject to our every base fantasy deteriorate in a bland series of action set-ups moving from one needlessly dynamic sequence to the next without caring about such trivialities like story logic and character development, much less respecting its original source material. Nolan is much too smart to let that happen, so he'll provide a decent counterweight to ensure this show won't be done too much Abrams style (though a fair amount of lens flares will prove unavoidable). And HBO? Perfect choice for this project! Apart from the fabulous quality they always offer in their addictive, delightful original programming, the subject matter suits them well. Imagine all the robot sex and violence we're in for now! And speaking of robots, I don't recall Home Box Office doing a similarly Sci-Fi-ey show before. Seems they're breaking new ground and it will definitely be fascinating to see what a fine series HBO can deliver with a concept like this if it gets past that initial pilot stage (too bad Michael Crichton won't be able to witness it). If only HBO took over that other science fiction franchise from Abrams... Now that would be a Trek worthy of the 21st century!