Introducing BARRIER, an SF television show project

[Michael]

Sheldon Whittaker Productions in New Zealand contacted Xenite.Org last week and asked for our help in promoting interest in a science fiction television show they are developing.

The official Web site is located at http://barrier.net.nz/ but Xenite has launched a custom site with exclusive information (including an interview with Sheldon Whittaker himself). We'll be posting updates from time to time. Here is an example of one of the pictures they allowed us to include in our gallery:



You can read our exlusive interview with Sheldon here.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

Xenite.Org: We'd like to know a little about your professional background. What's your education, projects, etc.?

Sheldon Whittaker: Well education-wise I left school early -- left home and started work at the tender age of seventeen, then over the following ten years, and spurred on by Babylon 5, I re-skilled myself in 3d animation.
I have been working in the broadcast television industry as a 3-D Animator / Technical director for the past seven years now. In that time I have met and made contacts with many cool 3-D people, writers, producers and directors.

Xenite.Org: What influenced your decision to develop a television show?

Sheldon Whittaker: Since I started out in the animation industry all I have really wanted to do is work on a scifi show like Star Trek or Stargate or Babylon 5.

But being in N(ew) Z(ealand) that kind of job has never come my way. So I decided to try and come up with an original show concept of my own and see how far I can push it through towards getting it produced. Two years on and many scrapped ideas later we have Barrier.

Also I have gotten a little tired with shows over the past few years where they always go military -- the galactic war where a small group of people takes on the evil empire or crooked alliance. I understand it's exciting to see war and military type shows, and Barrier does have an element of that, but the main premise isn't set in military conflict.

Even though I love these shows I always wanted to see a show set in and around a small group of non-military people trying to make their way in the world, that's not hampered by the evil government, that's instead being pulled from all directions by rivals, bureaucrats, family, financial concerns.

Not that the Barrier universe is completely at peace; there is a concept in the works for a Barrier spin off after season five of the series that is military set, but I can't say much more than that.

We'll be asking more questions for the team in coming weeks, so please don't be shy in visiting the site or leaving suggestions here for new questions.

But understand also that they have to be careful about not divulging too much information before the show is picked up for production. Please don't speculate or post story ideas. Those will have to be moderated.

You can look at the interview for ideas about the types of questions it should be safe to ask. You can also ask technical questions about how 3-D animation works, what the industry in New Zealand is like, etc.

And we're accepting question suggestions through our Contact Xenite.Org form.

[masterblaster]

I don't know if these would be considered "story ideas" but I have the following comments on the idea.
It sounds like this is animation. If so, imho animation dosen't work in anything made for adults.
The "evil government". It has been done to death and doesn't really work over a long time.

[Boomstick]

Best of luck to them, but I have to be realistic here, "space ship" science fiction just doesn't seem to attract a large enough audience on TV these days for a studio to take a risk on it. This would have been a brilliant pitch ten years ago, when syndicated genre shows were doing really well.

Not that the Barrier universe is completely at peace; there is a concept in the works for a Barrier spin off after season five of the series that is military set, but I can't say much more than that.

Even Farscape and Enterprise didn't make it to a fifth season, so best not to count the chickens before the eggs hatch.

[Michael]

Well, both Battlestar Galactica and Stargate have proven to be very successful so I have to disagree with your view that "spaceship science fiction" doesn't draw large audiences. I think it comes down to production values.

I believe the show would be live action, not animation. I will ask for some clarification.

[august]

Well, both Battlestar Galactica and Stargate have proven to be very successful so I have to disagree with your view that "spaceship science fiction" doesn't draw large audiences. I think it comes down to production values.

I think it depends on the definition of "large," and in what venue. For network television, anything under 10 million (unless it's all affluent purchasers in the 18-49 age bracket) is flirting with cancellation. On cable, a few million is fine, although things like the Sopranos (that got over 12 million at one point) some of the new USA and TNT shows (The Closer, Burn Notice, Army Wives) that get 5, 6 and 7 million viewers, and the VH1 "celebreality" shows w/ people like Flavor Flav that have gotten 5-6 million viewers, are raising the bar. BSG got a little over 3 million viewers for a few weeks at the beginning of its second season, then began steadily dropping, losing 2/3 of its audience. Stargate got close to 2 and a half million viewers around the time that it was paired with BSG, and then it too began steadily dropping. (Although it's not a spaceship show.)

As a result, Sci-Fi obviously has been moving in a very different direction. And none of the other networks are doing spaceship shows, since Trek was the only one that ever lasted more than a few seasons, and its entire network (UPN) got cancelled! (Its successor, CW, is finishing a weak 6th these days, behind Univision in Spanish.)

We must note though that this is a project for NZ television, and NZ only has about 4 million residents, so expectations are different. Ideally, it could get picked up for worldwide distribution though - I understand "The Tribe" is available on one of the satellite providers... Likewise, American tastes are every different from those in the extended British empire - Xena and Hercules were filmed in NZ, but were not overly popular when aired there; Dr. Who is hugely popular in the UK, and not even a million people bother to watch it in the US. And so forth.

So by the standards of traditional network TV (i.e. E/R, CSI, American Idol, Desperate Housewives) spaceship science fiction very definitely doesn't draw big (i.e. 15 million or more viewers) audiences. Some people I'm sure would say that a show on cable that lasts only 4 years, is filmed in Canada for budgetary reasons, and can't even attract a half of a percent of the population is about as low as one can sink in show business, since more people even watch infomercials. But at the same time it's one of the more successful shows on a niche channel on cable. So you take your choice.

Not sure that production values has much to do with it though, since Firefly for example had strong production values, and was quickly cancelled, while original Trek looked (to me anyway, even as a child) ridiculously fake, but lasted for 3 years. I've seen plenty of successful productions of Shakespeare done on a blank, bare stage where we have to use our imaginations, so there were no production values as far as $$... but the show still did just fine.

[Afiriel]

Sheldon Whittaker quote: Even though I love these shows I always wanted to see a show set in and around a small group of non-military people trying to make their way in the world, that's not hampered by the evil government, that's instead being pulled from all directions by rivals, bureaucrats, family, financial concerns. End quote.

Well, I have seen those shows. Buffy and Angel. Firefly. Heroes, also Jericho. The criteria set is a tad flawed. Just take out "evil government", and they all work, perhaps because they more clearly define the criteria. Some tension is necessary.

Cable allows choices. Internet viewing allows even more. I like the options we are now allowed in viewing.

It is a shame that the bean counters haven't figured it, because they end up cancelling what could have worked for them.

I agree, blank bare stage requiring our imagination is wonderful, but who will do that? The urselakleguin network?

Production value is not what draws us, I think; what draws me is storytelling.

[Michael]

Originally Posted by august

We must note though that this is a project for NZ television, and NZ only has about 4 million residents, so expectations are different.

The show is not intended for New Zealand television. It is being proposed for at the very least U.S. distribution and, I think, international distribution. At the very least, Sheldon assures me the show is being targeted toward the American market.

Hercules and Xena were eventually syndicated to around 80 countries. A show does not have to dominate its market as long as it brings in enough advertising revenue to keep everyone happy.

Not sure that production values has much to do with it though, since Firefly for example had strong production values, and was quickly cancelled, while original Trek looked (to me anyway, even as a child) ridiculously fake, but lasted for 3 years. I've seen plenty of successful productions of Shakespeare done on a blank, bare stage where we have to use our imaginations, so there were no production values as far as $$... but the show still did just fine.

The original Star Trek series had extremely high production values for its time (almost every set was built from scratch in the first season, if I recall correctly).

I never watched Firefly so I don't know how I would rate its production values. John Doe did pretty good but it was science fiction passing itself off as a thriller (and didn't last long anyway). Most television shows don't last very long regardless of their genre or production values, to be honest.

Barrier is planned as a live-action show. Obviously some CGI would be required but that is fairly standard in this genre now.

[august]

The original Star Trek series had extremely high production values for its time (almost every set was built from scratch in the first season, if I recall correctly).

That's sort of the tree falling over in the forest phenomenon though - I could name off the top of my head 50 people at the time who thought it looked extremely fake, myself included. Didn't stop me from becoming a huge fan, buying models and toys and comic books and posters and paperbacks .... I thought Lost in Space looked fake too, and Flash Gordon, and Batman. And Godzilla and Captain Sinbad. So I think that may be a little subjective there.... after all, if a hundred special effects experts agree that the production values are high, and one little kid watching says "No they aren't," then the kid wins in a 1-0 landslide of all viewpoints that matter in his viewing world. So then when I saw "Silent Running" a few years later, w/ stunning sfx by Doug Trumbull, I felt they really looked realistic... but the movie bored the tar out of me. So I went back to cheering on William Shatner wrestling w/ a muscleman in a fake lizard-head, watching Janos Prohaska in a furry white horned gorilla costume chomp DeForest Kelly, and had a far better viewing experience.

[EDSEL_PK]

Well, I like the FX. It is an interesting concept. My prayers go out to the makers of it.

[august]

Oh, I think this could be an incredible show, if it comes to fruition. The AU/NZ sfx folks have a tremendous amount of experience not only at doing high-quality work on sometimes scimpy budgets, but also at being inventive in finding ways to compensate.

[Afiriel]

Still, the thing I don't understand is the focus on production, rather than story.

It could look like a comic, I don't care, if the story is good. (I have always liked comics, and have no problem filling in the blanks.)

Which is the reason Star Trek worked for you, I would say, August.

(Though myself I have always loved Silent Running. The quiet echoing the immensity. Those poor little proto guys, I so cared about them.)

The most necessary ingredient is the writing.

[august]

I liked Huey and Dewey, but not Louie.

That said, in this day in time, on the big screen, the "look" often assures commercial success, with or without a decent story to back it up. If nothing else, how spiffy a movie looks is pretty straightforward, whereas whether it's written or acted well is ultimately open to debate. Case in point, many people with serious film credentials find tremendous levels of religious, philiosophical and sociological significance in "The Matrix," while others equally as enlightened see it as an extended music video without the music.

But with television there really is a limit to how much $$ can turn up on the screen. Hence the need for good stories, good acting and so forth. "Lost" was supposedly the most expensive pilot ever filmed... but an awful lot of that was just doing a realistic plane crash and paying a large cast or featured actors. And the costs of relocating everyone to Hawaii. (Putting 100+ people up in hotels or condos is far more expensive than just waving as each drives back to their own home down the road in Hollywood.) But once the series got under way, there was minimal expense in shooting close-ups of a couple of actors on location outdoors, and for extended periods of time, no sfx whatsoever. No costumes except ragged off-the-rack stuff from Penny's and Sears. No sets except for some make-shift tents made with tarps and driftwood. Amd initially, none of the leads were making any significant $$. So they had to get popular simply by acting and writing. And it worked.

[Afiriel]

Have to agree, Louie was never very well-written.

Actually, agree with everything you are saying. But the writing on Lost, well, it got lost. For me, at least, started skipping rope, if not actually jumping. I will try to catch up; been gone for a long time.

[august]

Yep, and Dewey did often overact, while sometimes Huey missed much of his character's motivation. *sigh* Droids. No wonder we don't serve their type in here.

Now with "Lost," just substitute your favorite show acting-wise that doesn't have a lot of sfx on screen. Many early X-Files eps, perhaps. Nothing but close-ups, long shots obscured by shadows, no name-brand guse stars, and primarily just location shots of various offices, suburban homes, warehouses and alleys in Vancouver.

[Boomstick]

Originally Posted by Michael

Well, both Battlestar Galactica and Stargate have proven to be very successful so I have to disagree with your view that "spaceship science fiction" doesn't draw large audiences. I think it comes down to production values.

SG1 wasn't a spaceship sci-fi until the later seasons. From a production point of view, the whole stargate concept is a gimmick to get the sci-fi story telling without the big budget space fx shots.

Battlestar may have started out strong and been something of a critical darling, but ultimately if failed to progress beyond four seasons. The fact is you just don't see shows like the 90s Star Treks or even The X-Files any more. Real science fiction costs too much to do and doesn't draw a big enough crowd. You can water it down a la "Heroes," but forget about honest to goodness space based shows.

Like I said, all the best, and I'll be pleased for them if they prove me wrong, but I think the evidence is clearly stacked against any spaceship science fiction being successful these days.

[Michael]

Stargate was always about spaceships, even going back to the theatrical movie. The pyramids were supposed to be landing platforms (even though the Hatak mother ships in the series seem to have been able to land without pyramids, so I have to wonder what the advantage was).

In any event, there were a lot of things about the original Star Trek that looked better than your average television-based spaceship television show (the ship was much larger than anything else previously shown, for example). But, yes, Star Trek was all about the story rather than the gadgets.

As far as Barrier is concerned we're going to have to wait to see what the writing is like.

I hope I've made it clear that the artwork shown here, on Xenite, and on the Barrier Web site is concept art and doesn't necessarily represent the finished product. I don't know how much if any storyboarding will go into the production process. But the show is definitely going to be live action.

I was supposed to get another interview done this weekend but I was sidetracked with Xenite.Org. I'll do my best to put together some questions this week.

If anyone would like to ask something else, please feel free to make suggestions. Again, I cannot ask them about story ideas or character ideas for obvious reasons.