The Mold Of Yancy
The Story: Dick imagines another off-Earth colony, this time hosting a Totalitarian regime presided over by the eponymous Yancy. Coming off like an ever-present Clive Tyldesley, Yancy commentates on every aspect of his citizens’ lives, via adverts, broadcasts and music. However, like Tyldesley, a closer listen reveals Yancy isn’t actually saying anything of note, with his public messages kept deliberately bland so as to de-politicize the general public. So who is this mysterious Yancy? And is there someone more sinister behind his benign appearance?
Directed By: J.J. Abrams is adept at generating an eerie atmosphere out of inscrutable characters, and could well be the man to bring this one to the big screen.
Starring: Sticking on the Lost theme, we could see Terry O’Quinn as the all-seeing Yancy, whilst Christian Bale plays the citizen who starts to question what he’s being told.
Key Scene: Yancy’s permanent smile, broadcast on televisions throughout the colony, momentarily slips when he realises one of his subjects has switched off…
Meddler
The Story: A government department has worked out time travel (well done chaps), and is illegally making Time Dips into the future. However, when one dip creates a set of adverse consequences, government operative Hasten is charged with returning to the future to correct the mishap. Naturally, things do not go smoothly…
Directed By: If anyone knows time travel, it’s surely Robert Zemeckis?
Starring: Ryan Reynolds stars as Hasten, the man caught in time, desperately seeking the repair the damage. Hey, if Ashton Kutcher can do it with a straight face (this sounds a lot like The Butterfly Effect ), Reynolds certainly can!
Key Scene: The science team look out of the window after the first Time Dip, only to find the world outside has become a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Quick, change it back, change it back!
Explorers We
The Story: When a group of astronauts apparently die on a mission to Mars, their families are duly flabbergasted when they return to Earth without a scratch on them. The FBI is suspicious and quickly tracks them down, but can find nothing to prove they aren’t the original spacemen. The astronauts themselves believe themselves to be human, but are they? And if they aren’t, should they be allowed to enjoy human life, since they are to all intents and purposes human? Tough one…
Directed By: Frank Darabont poses the tricky moral questions in this moving sci-fi head-scratcher.
Starring: Sharlto Copley stars as the lead astronaut, a family man who firmly believes he’s human, whilst Josh Brolin is the conflicted FBI operative forced to question whether Earth can take the risk of alien invasion.
Key Scene: The heart-rending finale where the four astronauts are set to be put to death…will somebody stand up for them at the last?
The Father-Thing
The Story: The Father-Thing tells the story of a young lad who becomes convinced that his old man has been replaced by a replicant. Naturally he can’t find an adult who will listen to him, so he’s forced to round up a gang of local kids to expose the imposter.
Directed By: Joe Dante does this sort of kiddie-thriller very well, so we’ll plump for him.
Starring: Kevin Spacey could revive his eerie K-Pax persona to play the unsettling father figure. As for the kid, any stage-school moppet will do.
Key Scene: A terrifying scene in which Kev comes in to say goodnight, a weirdly knowing smile playing across his face. He knows you’re on to him sonny!
Null-O
The Story: Null-O posits the existence of a breed of entirely logical humans, who view everything in the world in terms of component molecular parts. What’s more, they plan to reduce the world to a state of pure energy, believing this is the way it should always have been. Someone needs to stop the mad bastards before it’s too late!
Directed By: James Cameron takes the helm to turn Null-O into an eye-melting 3D spectacular!
Starring: Zachary Quinto as the lead Null-O (who obviously would be nothing like Spock…) and Jason Statham as the “normal” Earthling who fires up the resistance.
Key Scene: “Don’t you see,” asks Quinto mockingly, “its only logical to reduce the Earth to it’s original state?” “Fuck logic,” snarls Statham, smashing Quinto’s teeth down his throat.
The Chromium Fence
The Story: In this terrifying vision of the future, political differences have boiled down to one issue: plastic surgery. On the one hand you have the purists, who believe that every physical imperfection should be ironed out by science, whilst opposing them are the naturalists who believe that any such tinkering is morally wrong. Only one man refuses to join either side, but will even he be drawn into the madness?
Directed By: Mike Judge does a nice line in dystopian satire, and could probably find the germ of an idea in this, if it were played for laughs.
Starring: Luke Wilson as the last sane man and the movie’s protagonist, with Will Ferrell as the leader of the purists and Seth Rogen as the chief naturalist.
Key Scene: The introduction of Ferrell’s preening, botox-enhanced wackjob would be a sight to be seen.
Faith Of Our Fathers
The Story: Communists have taken over the world, with one supreme leader holding sway over all. However, when a party bureaucrat is unwittingly spiked with an anti-hallucinogen, he realises that the main man is actually an alien. And a bloody powerful one at that…
Directed By: The Wachowksi Brothers have been quiet for a while, and this is just the sort of dystopian nightmare that tends to float their boat.
Starring: We’ll pass on Keanu Reeves this time around and nominate Russell Crowe as the man to enlighten the people and save mankind.
Key Scene: The terrifying moment of realisation when Crowe first catches sight of the leader’s gruesome true appearance.
The Electric Ant
The Story: Generic everyman Garson Poole wakes from a flying-car accident (this is the future again, in case you hadn’t guessed) to find that not only has he lost a hand, but he’s also an organic robot known as an “electric ant”. Bummer, eh? Poole discovers a micro-punched tape feeding into his chest cavity that appears to distort his reality when tampered with. However, after some prolonged experimentation, Poole realises that the changes he makes also seem to affect those he comes into contact with. So, is it he who is not “real”, or is it everyone else? Hmmm.
Directed By: You’d have to be fairly barmy to be able to make sense out of any of that, which is why we’re putting Charlie Kaufman up for the job.
Starring: Can you imagine Nic Cage barking and jabbering about whether or not he’s real? Yes, so can we. Sign him up!
Key Scene: A frankly terrifying sequence in which Cage tweaks his tape in such a way that everyone he encounters appears to look like him. Yikes.
A Little Something For Us Tempunauts
The Story: A group of US time-travellers known as tempunauts embark on a mission into the future, only for a malfunction to land them days rather than years ahead of their departure. Exploring this near-future, they learn that their return journey will be fatal, prompting one of their number, Addison Doug, to conclude that they are doomed to keep living the same few days between their departure and death. But is there a way of tampering with time to ensure they can return in one piece?
Directed By: Another logic-mangling plotline this, so we’ll need someone whose willing to play fast and loose with the conventions of traditional storytelling. Send for Spike Jonze!
Starring: Sam Rockwell as the paranoid Addison Doug, with Mark Ruffalo as his more upbeat sidekick. It could work!
Key Scene: Rockwell has a near breakdown upon reading a newspaper headline announcing his death.
The Little Movement
The Story: The Little Movement refers to a group of sentient toys who plan upon taking over the Earth, starting with the ominously-named robot “My Lord”, who convinces a young lad to buy an army of toy soldiers to be placed at his disposal. With My Lord’s influence spreading over his owner and his friends, it’s up to the boy’s existing toys, lead by a teddy and a rabbit, to thwart the robot’s evil plan.
Directed By: Lee Unkrich plus toys equals Oscar. Simple.
Starring: We’ll have Hugo Weaving voicing the villainous My Lord, with Jay Baruchel and Amy Adams as the bear and the rabbit respectively.
Key Scene: A troop of My Lord’s men are derailed by a teddy-manned super-soaker.
