Microbiologist ABRAHAM JENKINS has accidentally opened an evolutionary Pandora's Box. With a few eletrochemical adjustments, subjects (human or otherwise) can be catapulted ahead genetically, so a week's time affects you like ten millenia. When he and several other TEST SUBJECTS begin exhibiting radical psychic and physical advances, Abraham is faced with the choice between shutting them all down... with a vengeance, or unleashing some seriously dangerous individuals on humanity.
"They deserve us."
2 days ago
6 comments:
As an evolutionary geneticist, it took me quite a while suss this one out, and I'm still not sure I've got it. "Catapulted...genetically" means they acquire traits that would otherwise have taken over 10,000+ years to evolve?
Precisely!
Hmmm. Perhaps you'll forgive me for being critical of this one. I am fascinated by how science is portrayed in film, and think the entertainment industry provides great opportunities for improving public understanding of science. But it would be tough to make this premise work.
That said, I really enjoy reading your pitches, it's a great project.
You are of course forgiven, and thanks for the kind words about the pitch project. That said, vampires and zombies and time travel and warp speed would be tough to make work in real life too, but are fertile jumping off points for the kind of what-if? style entertainments that I imagined TEOTB would be. Cheers!
Also, if you ever come across any "real" science that you think would make a good core for a movie narrative, feel free to drop me a line here. I'd love to build a pitch out of it. Thanks again for weighing in!
Absolutely, I'm all for good science fiction, and love suspension of disbelief in entertainment. I guess I see zombies and time travel as being different, because they're obviously fiction. But the kind of plot you laid out in TEOTB is based on genetics and evolution and set in present time, so the more realistic and scientifically accurate, the better. And viewers may expect it to be consistent with fact, at least moreso than for vampires and warp speed.
Interesting recent article: http://www.salon.com/env/feature/2009/07/13/science_illiteracy/
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