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Review the Dark City TV Series!

According to Swifty, the Dark City TV series that Xeus mentioned some time back has apparently already started showing on Astro RIA. I don't own a TV and I certainly don't own a satellite dish to connect to the TV that I don't own, so I wouldn't know if the show is really based on the book of the same name. I highly doubt it.

Seems the ratings have been low because there hasn't been any marketing to promote the show. So the filmmakers have taken things into their hands and plunged their film-making selves into the tubes of the dangerous internets to bring you the following message:
NICHE FILMS present DARK CITY, a local 13-episode series playing on Astro RIA every Wednesday at 10:30pm (followed by repeats throughout the week).

In the tradition of omnibus shows like ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS and THE TWILIGHT ZONE, DARK CITY brings you various tales of the macabre with a distinctly Malaysian flavor ... ranging from supernatural horror to psychological thrillers, and black comedies to noir-ish suspense.

With a roster of local cutting-edge directors such as Khai Bahar, Keith Chong, Johan John, Virginia Kennedy, N'aa Murad, Tony Pietra,and Rob Nevis, DARK CITY aims to break new ground in Malaysian TVdramas. So if you're looking for a full 30 minutes of homegrown thrills and chills , give DARK CITY a chance ... you might be in for a surprise!

In the next episode of DARK CITY (Wednesday/June 27, 10:30pm, Astro RIA):

DEATH ROW: A taut prison thriller set in an alternate Southeast Asian country ... and beyond the grave. Directed by Cyberjaya-award winning filmmaker Tony Pietra (and live-action director on the AIM-award winning Pete Teo music video LOST IN AMERICA) and written by Allan Koay, with a score by AIM-award winning electro-rock artist Rabbit.

The week after:

CELLPHONE: A tale of showbiz murder with our favorite daily gadget as the centerpiece. Written and directed by the Anugerah Skrin Award-winning Khairil M. Bahar (CIPLAK).
Those of you lucky enough to afford a television set (and a dish that receives beams from space), why not check the series out and post a review or something on your blog. Swifty is offering to link to your reviews, good or bad, once you have them up.

I'm kinda curious too as to what the show's like. Maybe I should invest in this "television" thing that people talk about all the time too.

UPDATE:
According to Sharon, it seems Xeus is unhappy about the whole thing, so I have personally decided to boycott the show. (Not that it makes any difference...)
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Comments

  1. Tunku Halim26/6/07 7:29 am

    Ted - do not do it, do not be tempted by this "television" thing. Once it has it's hands on you, it'll never let you go, not ever!

    ReplyDelete
  2. sharkgila26/6/07 9:35 am

    That "television" thing, its evil. They like to invade on precious reading time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ted Mahsun26/6/07 9:53 am

    How do you guys know? Have you lost friends and family to its vile grip already? It seems to me that this "television" thing has been getting around a bit!

    ReplyDelete
  4. John Ling26/6/07 11:30 am

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ted Mahsun26/6/07 11:38 am

    From what I understand, there is no issue of IP since the TV series aren't really based on her stories. I think there might be an issue with them using the title without her permission though?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Edmund Yeo26/6/07 11:55 am

    Heh, Dark City is also the title of that well-known 1998 cult film starring Rufus Sewell and Jennifer Connelly.

    I'll see how it goes. Guess this whole thing might be bigger than I thought.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ted Mahsun26/6/07 12:06 pm

    You know, when Alex Proyas's Dark City came out, I thought it was inferior to his previous work, The Crow. But over time, I've been beginning to think that Dark City is much, MUCH better than The Crow. It's certainly a better version of the concept told in the Matrix.

    Regarding Xeus's Dark City though, I think it's bad form (and most likely illegal) to use someone else's title for your own project, especially when the two projects (book and TV series) share a same genre or theme, in this case, horror.

    The issue isn't that Xeus's title has already been used so it's a free-for-all, but that the title is used in a way that confuses the public into thinking that the show is related to Xeus's book.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous26/6/07 12:08 pm

    I also have not this "television" thing. It was wrenched out of my life when one of my housemates left (belonged to her) and since then I have been blessedly free!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ted Mahsun26/6/07 12:10 pm

    Good for you, Irene! More time to spend with books perhaps?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Artemis Hunt26/6/07 5:46 pm

    Dear Ted, thanks for blogging about this. Niche Films did contact me. If my 3 stories were used (as they had originally intended in their proposal to Astro), then I have a case. If they are not, then it's OK.

    But it would be very difficult for me to produce a series called Dark City now based on my book. (And yes, Ted, you hold the rights to any of your stories that will appear in Dark City 3 too, so imagine if someone were to take your story without your permission.)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ted Mahsun26/6/07 5:59 pm

    I can't imagine someone stealing my story really. I'll burn that bridge when I get there. Or something.

    There's one good thing that can come out of this I think. When you launch Dark City 2 (and 3 and 4, etc.) you could probably get people who watched the show into buying your books. Since they stole your title, I don't see why you can't gain from "borrowing" their viewers.

    But that's assuming the show does well lah.

    ReplyDelete
  12. bibliobibuli26/6/07 7:10 pm

    the real problem is the use of xeus' name 'dark city' which will mean (among other things) that she won't be able to use the name should she want to produce her own stories (which she actually planned to do).

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ted Mahsun26/6/07 9:24 pm

    Why is that? Did the producers of the show trademark the title or something?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Edmund Yeo26/6/07 10:11 pm

    Cos' it'll be kinda stupid to have another TV series called Dark City, even if this is done with Xeus' blessing.

    As for the film, yeah, it's mindblowing, though it's a real pity I never really watched the entire film (it's always snippets of here and there, THEN the last third) Jennifer Connelly, mmm...

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ted Mahsun26/6/07 10:47 pm

    Ceh! I thought you'd have watched it already with all the comments about the movie you've been leaving on everybody's blogs! :p

    I'd suggest you get the DVD pronto. It's worth it for both Proyas's and Roger Ebert's commentary (on separate tracks, not together). Love him or hate him, Roger Ebert gives some seriously good insight on the movie. He dissects it from a film student's point of view so I think you'd appreciate that a lot, Swifty.

    ReplyDelete
  16. John Ling27/6/07 6:46 am

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Edmund Yeo27/6/07 9:59 am

    No lar, I was like trying to spread awareness of that film (hey, even though I watched bits and pieces of it, along with the last third, I still like it more than enough... cos' of Jennifer Connelly, yaay) because the film IS underrated despite being a cult hit. I mean, it should've been as big as Matrix. Hmph!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous27/6/07 10:33 am

    More time to spend with books? Nah, more like more time to spend on the Internet! :P

    ReplyDelete

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