TV shows based on movies seem to be coming into their own.
Look at Fargo, a successful anthology series set in the same universe as the film. Bates Motel is a worthy prequel to Psycho. 12 Monkeys reimagines the story from the film, expanding its premise in smart and surprising ways.
This fall, Fox is attempting to add another hit movie-turned-TV-show to that list by adapting Steven Spielberg's Minority Report into an ongoing series. The network has posted a trailer for the show online, and what intrigues us most is not that it deals with the same "pre-crime" themes as the movie.
What's captured our interest is that Minority Report isn't a retelling the movie in episodic format, or an explanation of how the world of the film came to be. Instead, it takes the events of the movie as canon and pushes the story forward — far forward, in a compelling way.
If you recall, the movie ended with the Pre-Crime police force being dismantled and the three "precogs" that supplied its information released and allowed to live normal lives. The show picks up ten years later and follows the story of one of the male precogs, Dash (played by Stark Sands), who's still haunted by visions of crimes about to happen. It turns out that a life of seclusion didn't suit him, since he can't stop the visions from happening. So he sets out on his own to try and stop the tragedies he sees in his mind.
But Dash's visions are so fragmented, he finds it impossible to prevent the things he sees. After a disastrous first meeting, Dash soon teams up with police detective Lara Vega (Meagan Good) not to resurrect Pre-Crime, but to try to make a difference, one crime at a time. Along the way, they'll search for Dash's missing twin brother Arthur. Meanwhile the third precog, Agatha (who figured prominently in the film), still remains in seclusion and wants Dash to come home.
Another thing that strikes us about the series is that it seems to be hemming closely to the look and feel of the world from the movie. The technology the characters use and the production design from the movie are all still present here, and fans will appreciate that kind of detailed respect paid to the film. The show was created/developed by screenwriter Max Borenstein, who wrote last year's hit Godzilla revival, and seems to be the creative force behind the "big monster" shared universe being assembled by Legendary that includes Godzilla 2 and Skull Island.
We have very high hopes for Minority Report, despite its evolution into a case-of-the-week procedural. (When will broadcast TV get over its fear of tightly-woven, ongoing stories?) Note to Fox: go for Sleepy Hollow, not Castle.
It debuts this fall, where it will air in the comfy time slot right behind Gotham, at 9:00 P.M. on Monday nights.
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