I didn’t know there was a television show, and I’m sure I’ll never actually watch it, but the film
12 Monkeys was brilliant. Terry Gilliam has been open about ripping off
La Jetée, which isn’t a put down at all, because I think Gilliam’s great, but almost no one is aware that it was extremely,
extremely similar to a French science fiction novel from the late forties or early fifties. I wish I could give you the name, but unfortunately I can’t. A very dear and greatly missed friend of mine read to me some lengthy passages from it, which he translated on the spot into English, certain aspects were incredibly similar. I’m not sure whether it was just a weird coincidence, or whether Gilliam was actually inspired by it. R. was one of the very best friends I’ve ever had, and he was just
incredibly smart, but he’s dead now and I don’t have any way to find out. The thing is, my friend had an enormous collection of impossibly rare science fiction potboilers, and so I would imagine almost no one in the whole world would be in a position to sort it out at this point. See, my friend way older than me, and he had actually read all of these weird old books he had collected, plus he was exceptionally brilliant, and I just don’t think that combination of traits is present in anyone else: he was one of a kind.:sad_bye: But whatever the story’s source(s), it was a brilliant hybrid of
Bladerunner and
The Monkeywrench Gang and
The Time Machine and the atmosphere Gilliam created was very cool, and be surprised if the television show was able to rise to that level, or even anywhere close.
But then, like I said, I haven’t seen it. Is it any good?
