OTHER SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

Get on the Global Frequency

POSTED BY: LUPINADDAMS
UPDATED: Monday, July 11, 2005 09:53
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VIEWED: 4524
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Tuesday, June 21, 2005 1:08 PM

LUPINADDAMS


Once upon a time, Brit comic writer Warren Ellis created a book called Global Frequency. It was good, damn good.

Someone (a guy called John Rogers) tried to make a TV show out of it.
The pilot was never aired - despite loving it, Warners had a change of management and you know what happens next...

Then some naughty person leaked the pilot on Bittorrent. No, it wasn't me - but I'll buy whoever it was a drink, 'cos...
now there's a growing fan movement to get the show made. A show that was never actually shown on TV in any form.

(You thought Firefly had it rough?)

And I finally got to see it. Put it this way - if it gets a series, it could be cooler than Buffy times Matrix 1. Like if X-Files had been any good. Seriously.

The core idea is that an ex-spy using the name Miranda Zero puts together a worldwide conspiracy of 1001 people to respond to emergencies caused by government black projects - stuff like rogue nanotech, Cold War-era cyborgs, mind control viruses, the weapons of mass destruction you never ever heard of. All the members of the Frequency have is this network of experts, Zero's contacts, a geekgrrl called Aleph running comms and a really cool cellphone - and if disaster looms, any one of the 1001 could be called to help.

The pilot is out there (if of dubious legal provenance). The graphic novels are still on sale.

Do check it out. I think some of you will like it.
And if it ever goes to series, things get very interesting.




"You are what you do."
Andrew Vacchs

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Tuesday, June 21, 2005 5:24 PM

HELL'S KITTEN


I finally saw it... through means which I cannot recall... and it was fucking brilliant. I've always loved Ellis' work, so I'm already a bit biased, but the pilot-that-never-was is better than anything I've seen in a long time.

无 党派 人士

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Wednesday, June 22, 2005 1:05 PM

NIKNAK


I downloaded it last night and watched it this evening. It was very good.

I'm amazed at how TV companies will spend so much on programs and then never air them. It seems like the fate of new series depends on the whim of a small number of TV executives. It would make more sense for them to air all the pilots that they make and get viewer feedback before deciding whether to commision or cancel them.

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Wednesday, June 22, 2005 7:29 PM

BARCLAY


I've seen the pilot as well. And I'm about to watch it again. This show has got everything we loved about Firefly: drama but comedy, character depth and interaction, wonderful writing an execution, an amazing premise.

If you have a chance to see the pilot (it's out there if you look), do. Even as a stand alone, it tells a whole story and is like a mini-movie. But with the opening left for sequels. Lots of sequels.

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Wednesday, June 22, 2005 7:51 PM

JADEHAND


I'll look for copies to show up at Cons, I don't have the bandwidth to get it otherwise. Sounds a lot like a series I read years ago,he might have been involved in(I forget), called "The Invisables". Still have a quote from it...
"That was the moment my world came apart. That was when it happened. That was when the scenery cracked and I saw the ropes and pulleys and wires in back of everything. I didn't know it then, but I know it now. That was my apocalypse." -The Invisables Vol 1 #20 may '96

Visit WWW.Marillion.Com for a better way to live
Visit www.TheInside.org and see Tim Minear's show Weds. 9:00pm EST

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 1:32 AM

LUPINADDAMS


The Invisibles is a totally different book, written by Grant Morrison. It's also my favourite comic ever, as it's one of the few that gets the details of using magic accurately (Morrison is a practicing Chaos Mage, as am I). There's some crossover in the conspiracy side, but Invisibles is more occult-oriented (though there is a mage in one issue of GF...).
There were plans for an Invisibles TV show on BBC which fell through. There were also plans for a movie at Warners... just before they made Matrix. How much plagarism occurred of Invisibles in the process is a matter of heated debate.

For more on Invisibles go to www.grant-morrison.com and www.barbelith.com (click on the psychedelic hand grenade!)

"You are what you do."
Andrew Vacchs

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 3:40 AM

JADEHAND


Ah, yes. Morrison and Ellis were both enjoyable. It's been years since I've gotten any comics, aside for the Astoning X-men run by Whedon. I spent so much $ trying to find the good stuff and ended up with some duds, but I did get some fantastic stuff. Invisables, Preacher, Books of Magic, Johnny The Homicidal Maniac, The Psycho, Nocturnals, just to name a few.

Visit WWW.Marillion.Com for a better way to live
Visit www.TheInside.org and see Tim Minear's show Weds. 9:00pm EST

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Monday, June 27, 2005 3:28 AM

TJACK


The two Global Frequency trade-paperbacks cover the first 12 issues.
Planet Ablaze covers 1-6, but I can't recall the name for the second.

...cause Justice is the one thing you should always find.

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Monday, June 27, 2005 4:27 AM

BARCLAY


Quote:

Originally posted by Tjack:
The two Global Frequency trade-paperbacks cover the first 12 issues.
Planet Ablaze covers 1-6, but I can't recall the name for the second.

...cause Justice is the one thing you should always find.



And both are available on Amazon.com (or likely your local comic book shop if you prefer local merchants).

"You are on the Global Frequency."

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Tuesday, June 28, 2005 10:59 AM

BARCLAY


Wired News has an article on the Global Frequency link up at the following link.

http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,67986,00.html?tw=wn_2culthea
d


"You are on the Global Frequency."

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Tuesday, June 28, 2005 12:17 PM

CHRISISALL


I did my part. I emailed WB tellin' them (politely) that I wanted a series, or at least the dvd of the pilot for sale.
Faces@theWB.com
I couldn't copy and paste it, sorry.
Edit: hey! It came up as an adress! Tec-f@#^in'-nology!

I like Ms. Forbes Chrisisall

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Tuesday, June 28, 2005 4:43 PM

HELL'S KITTEN


Don't know how interested y'all actually are in this, but here's some more about Global Frequency from the brilliant man who created it. I cut out a bunch of stuff that had nothing to do with GF and some stuff that didn't seem necessarily informative... for the sake of space. For those interested, this was dated June 24th:
Quote:

bad signal
WARREN ELLIS

* GLOBAL FREQUENCY:

I remain in an awkward position. I still haven't seen the thing, and, at this point, almost kind of don't want to. For one thing, I now know that it was the rough cut that went out to sales. The music wasn't in there, there was a placeholder ringtone (if we'd gotten the go-ahead, we were going to commission a musician to devise the GF ringtone. I was holding out for The Aphex Twin), etc etc. It's not, to me, the real thing.

As to any putative grassroots movement to get the show on the air somehow: I'm in two minds about that kind of thing, which is why I can't stand behind them. It does them a disservice to not be fully committed to them, since it's people essentially taking their time to speak on your behalf. That's a nice thing. I've never been totally convinced of their efficacy, but it's a nice thing. It also leads to people thinking that a vocal subsection of nutbags are in fact your voice. For every 99 people who speak with love and passion about your work and make you do the whole heel-scuffing awshucks bit, there's one genetic damage case who uses fictional swearwords and hires a Lithuanian midget child-actor to represent themselves as a tv producer by building a spaceship called THE PAEDOPHILE out of crackers.

And you can't do a damn thing about that. And associating yourself with it and THEN disassociating yourself from it is even ruder.

If you like the show, keep reading Rogers' blog at
http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com.

I love that people love GF enough to talk about these things. But I can't be optimistic about it any more. John Rogers is the optimist.
Rogers will keep you updated on developments.

Also, ha ha, friends in high places have asked me to not talk about the show in specifics, for conversations are still being had. (And not, as one piece of hatemail had it, because I have other irons in the fire.) So that is now as much as I'm going to say about it all.

I don't think I intended to say THAT much. Oh well.

(Yeah, you're free to reprint this one on websites etc.)

-- W



无 党派 人士

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Wednesday, June 29, 2005 6:39 AM

CHRISISALL


Thanks, that's a great link.
Is everyony emailing WB (nicely)?

Still hope Chrisisall

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Wednesday, June 29, 2005 11:47 AM

SPOOKYJESUS


Downloaded.

Watched.

Loved.


The fact that the WB didn't pick this up really makes me think that they don't want people to watch their channel.

Do they not want people to watch their channel?

Seriously?

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Wednesday, June 29, 2005 1:37 PM

LIZWHIZ


Check it out:
http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2005/06/gf-update-1.html

Something might actually happen!
:)

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Thursday, June 30, 2005 4:52 PM

BLACKEYEDGIRL


Not that I would go out and break any laws, but is there a way to find thise series besides Bittorrent. I'm not paying for their service and they don't offer a free period so I can't really get my hands on it. It sounds like something I'd love, but alas no one on Kazaa seems to have it either (not that I looked or anything).

Any suggestions?
email me

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Inara: "Do aliens live among us?"
Kaylee: "Yes. One of them's a doctor."

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Thursday, June 30, 2005 8:03 PM

ZOIC


Ummmm, Bittorrent is free, anybody paying to use Bittorrent is being ripped off.

Global Frequency is also available for download through Emule, which works much the same as Kazaa except it is hell of a lot better than Kazaa, nobody uses Kazaa anymore.

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Thursday, June 30, 2005 8:49 PM

ZOIC


Here is a review of the episode that I found, which also has some screen caps from the episode.

http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/rage/111863094537167.htm

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Friday, July 1, 2005 1:22 PM

NIKNAK


I watched it again last night and its still damn good on second viewing. Whichever WB exec decided to turn this down should be sacked.

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Friday, July 1, 2005 6:25 PM

SIMONSAYS


Quote:

Originally posted by niknak:
I downloaded it last night and watched it this evening. It was very good.

I'm amazed at how TV companies will spend so much on programs and then never air them. It seems like the fate of new series depends on the whim of a small number of TV executives. It would make more sense for them to air all the pilots that they make and get viewer feedback before deciding whether to commision or cancel them.



Kinda makes you wonder how much $$$$$$ these crazy TV networks make off of the advertisers. Also, were do they get such anal exacutives with no sense of humor or vision?


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Saturday, July 2, 2005 11:41 PM

CAPNERIC


I had never heard of GF until yesterday when I read about it here.

I have now watched it 3 times in a row and perused the blogs, fansite and author sites.

I had no idea Warner Brothers could be as stupid as Fox!

This is a great concept! I love Michelle Forbes, have for years and the other 3 main actors really meshed well.

The only thing I didn't like - the controller's title should be pronounced "Ah-leph", not "Ay-leph"

"I like simple answers and have an eleveated capacity for violence"

Is there any hope?

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Saturday, July 2, 2005 11:44 PM

CAPNERIC




I see this was also Slashdotted last week, Tues the 28th.

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Sunday, July 3, 2005 4:36 AM

ZOIC


I read somewhere that the creator of Global Frequency had set up a meeting with the WB, because his web site was receiving an extra 10,000 hits per week since the pilot was leaked on to the net, to see if they would be interested in releasing the pilot on DVD and if successful maybe picking it up as a series.

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Monday, July 11, 2005 9:53 AM

BARCLAY


I, like many others, sent John Rogers an email after seeing the pilot. Today, I got back this message (which appears to be a form letter), and a personalized message. I'm going to post just the form letter here.

"Yes, yes, another form-ish letter. Sorry, but the numbers of e-mails for GF have completely overwhelmed me -- but I feel I owe you for taking your time out to write. It's time we stopped treating the audience as a metric, and started building the relationships with theim we need in the new media. Showed them -- you -- some respect.

Right now, things are particularly crazy at Kung Fu Monkey, finishing a script and prepping for a trip to the San Diego Comic-Con. (Watch the blog for when we finalize a time for a KFM hook-up)

But if you're getting this, you dropped me a nice letter about Global Frequency at some point. First off, thanks so much for taking the time to let me know how you felt about the show. I've conveyed everyone's enthusiasm to the cast and crew, and they're all floored.

With this unexpected interest in the show, I'm doing my damndest to get some form of DVD release, Internet release, or even continuation, of Global Frequency going by negotiating with the official channels. At the same time, the growing feedback and mainstream press attention really help the case.

If you could, please check in over at FrequencySite.com in the next few days for an e-mail address or two, where you can let the
powers-that-be know how you felt about the show. Fifteen seconds, just letting the guys in suits know that you'd be interested in buying the pilot or a boxed set, will help convince them that this would be worth their while.

I believe Craig will also be posting some e-mail addresses/ideas for more mainstream press coverage. Every little bit of buzz helps.

Thanks for taking your time to contact us, and hope everything's cool in whatever corner of the globe you're at.

John
www.kfmonkey.blogspot.com"

Right now FrequencySite.com has the following suggestions...

" * E-mail Entertainment Weekly - ew_letters@ew.com. EW is a Time-Warner company, and it's also one of the most highly-read entertainment mags out there. This is really our first recommendation. Beyond that, we can go from there.
* E-mail the tech reporter of your local daily paper, or a gaming/tech magazine, and tell them the story of a TV show with a fan base that at this point only exists on P2P.
* Drop by your favorite forums and spread the word! The more buzz, the better!
* Send these folks to Frequencysite. Or to producer John Rogers' blog (kfmonkey.blogspot.com) which has had a lot of coverage of the pilot's appeal. Spread the word about the fan efforts."

So, Browncoats, I ask even if you haven't seen the pilot, send off an email to EW or spread the word any way you can. We Browncoats are already on the ground floor of the TV revolution, let's step it up a notch.

"You are on the Global Frequency."

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