News has it that CBS is developing the Jake Gyllenhaal-starring time-travel thriller Source Code, directed by Duncan Jones, as a TV series. It seems standard enough. It’s high-concept and an interesting idea. It could be a popular show. Makes sense, right? Well, here’s what I think is really happening:
In the time-space continuum we recognize as reality, Source Code was a movie, but now, through a top secret government project (using CBS as a front), Source Code is going back in time and taking the form of a television show. This way, we’ll be able to prevent tragic attacks on the slated time slot from other movies and television shows with ill intentions. Of course, there is the risk of causing a rift in this dimension and creating new realities… in which Source Code is an off-Broadway play, or a music video, or a religion, or a cookbook.
Whichever theory you choose to believe, this project has potential. The plot of Source Code (which I assume you already know otherwise you would have grown livid with confusion in reading that last paragraph) Gyllenhaal is sent back in time into a stranger’s body, over and over again, eight minutes before said stranger is killed by a terrorist attack. The time travel stunt is performed in hopes of gathering information about the scene and preventing it from happening.
The series can capitalize on the endless possibilities here. In order to avoid mind-numbing monotony, there will likely be new missions each episode. They can all be large scale terrorist attacks like in the movie, but it might be even more fun to use everyday events as subject matter. It could be a whole new spin on the crime procedural. Perhaps even a new addition to the Law & Order franchise. Law & Order: Source Code… this time, Munch is right about the government.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
