Ronald D Moore Tapped to Head up a New SciFi Trilogy for United Artists

In the history of Television, remakes of older series are rare, mostly because they are sure they wont work. With the exception of Star Trek:The Next Generation & Dr Who, I can’t think of any off the top of my head that were a success let alone as big of a hit as Battlestar Galactica (a TMB favourite).

So much of the success of Battlestar Galactica has been in the hands of its writers and producers, one of which is Ronald D Moore. This has not gone unnoticed and the Messiah of Scientology has decided to tap this resource in a suprising move.

Yahoo says:

Looking to develop its own homegrown franchises, Tom Cruise’s United Artists banner is embarking on a space odyssey with Ronald D. Moore, the man behind Sci Fi Channel’s “Battlestar Gallactica.”

The studio has signed Moore to create and write an original sci-fi trilogy for the big screen.

Now I call this a surprising move, but not because I think it is a surprise to hire a successful individual to head up your new gig. That’s just good business sense.

What I think is refreshing to hear is that Tom Cruise’s United Artists is hoping to set up a NEW franchise. He wants his own sci-fi mark on the public. Lucasfilm has his Star Wars, Paramount has their Star Trek, even Joss Whedon has his own rabid fan following with the short lived Firefly. Say what you will about Cruise’s loony public presence, he does know this business. He is hiring an accomplished writer/producer to create something new that he hopes will become iconic in the SciFi world.

And I am sure every film maker hopes that what they make will become a worldwide phenomenon that buries itself so deeply into pop culture, but do we think that can be forced? Did George Lucas know that Star Wars would be this huge? Did he “aim” for it?

Can Cruise and Moore bring us something new and exciting that will take a peice of the fanboy pie?