Which speaks to the book’s other tricky element: Brave New World’s 600-years-in-the-future society-one that’s banned monogamy and family, done its best to erase history, mandates the use the euphoria-inducing drug Soma, and uses a combination of genetic engineering and brainwashing to create a rigid caste system-is quite functional, maybe even desirable. That’s partly because much of the novel is short on incident and long on ideas, effectively climaxing with one character arguing why the dystopia of New London, however awful in its implications, makes sense as the only recourse against humanity’s excesses. We’re Going to Run Out of TV The Ringer Guide to Streaming in July Adapting it, on the other hand, proves far trickier. A glossy take on the material filled with TV-MA-friendly amounts of explosive violence and tightly choreographed orgies, it proves that Huxley’s book can be easily mined for concepts and incidents. Instead, it’s coming to us once again as an ongoing series, one of the flagships of Peacock, NBC’s new streaming service (though this Brave New World was developed first for Syfy then for USA before finding its current home). Then, for a few years in the late ’00s, Brave New World seemed likely to become a feature film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Ridley Scott.
#BRAVE NEW WORLD TV SERIES MOVIE#
(What would have been the four-hour version, running just over three hours without commercials, eventually aired on BBC and is now the easiest cut to find.) The network returned to Huxley’s World State again in 1998, with a TV movie starring Peter Gallagher and Leonard Nimoy. A version of it, anyway-the miniseries had shrunk from six, to four, then finally three hours and been reduced to a TV movie. NBC found out that adapting Brave New World was tricky indeed-and not for the last time.Īfter pulling Brave New World from its schedule several times, NBC finally aired it in March 1980. And perhaps inspired by the Star Wars–stoked interest in all things science fiction, she also commissioned an adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s 1932 dystopian landmark Brave New World-despite it being, as a profile of Barkley described at the time, “a tricky property everyone in Hollywood had been afraid of.” Starring 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Keir Dullea and Harold and Maude’s Bud Cort, it was set to debut in 1979 and run for six hours across several nights. By 1978, she’d locked down the rights to James Michener’s Centennial, recruited Natalie Wood for a six-part adaptation of From Here to Eternity, and picked up James Clavell’s Shogun for a lavish production destined to become a ratings sensation in 1980. Undoubtedly a good watch, for those who have both read the book, and those who haven't and of course for those who enjoy Science fiction, this is a forgotten movie classic to be enjoyed, so I urge for those who know of its where abouts to go see.In the back half of the 1970s, when miniseries adaptations like Rich Man, Poor Man and Roots became runaway hits, a great book could make or break a TV career-so the influential NBC producer Deanne Barkley scooped up as many great books as she could.
Trying to recreate Huxley's Brave New World is akin to creating a land of Oz governed within Stalinist Russia, I'm sure many directors would find it near impossible to effectively portray the right amount of comedy, tragedy and realism in a adaption of Brave New World, and here we have a fine example of how it can be done.
Clearly this movie was made for TV and feels like a mini space drama, but the genius of Huxley's vision is evident on screen. The subtlety of this scene played out in such a extravagant setting is a good example of how well the director and the actors understand Huxley's world. One of the most subtle scenes is when John Savage is told he can have what ever he wants to eat by pressing a button on the machine, and he presses the button about four times, then when he is asked why he has ordered so much food, his reply is 'I don't know'. As I have mentioned despite this movies more obvious faults, there is essentially a strong narrative running through this movie, the characters are all believable, well played and fitting with the irony of the culture that they represent. How accurate this movie is to it's source I have yet to discover, but as a sci-fi movie which depicts society, and culture it is perfect, this movie is truly inspiring. This 1980's interpretation of Brave New World, despite the wobbly sets, despite the Buck Rogers style acting, despite the made for television feel, this is an awesome movie.
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