The TV Journal

Dear Diary,

ABC’s freshman drama ‘Flash Forward’ is based on the 1999 book of the same name by author Robert J. Sawyer. The story is about an event that causes all of humanity to blackout simultaneously. While unconscious, each person sees a vision of his or her future. The concept was so interesting I decided to pick up a copy of the book to see how the story played out as conceived by the original author. Turns out, the novel and the television series are two entirely different beast, sharing little more than a premise in common. For instance…

The Time Frame

The novel is driven by the question: Will the visions seen by everyone actually come to pass? The question is answered when the present finally catches up to the future. The flashes in the novel are of a time a little more than twenty years into the future. The passage of time is dealt with quite tidily with a handy “Twenty-One Years Later.” But a book doesn’t have to make an entire ensemble cast look twenty years older, week after week. No, better to shorten the time frame, in this case, shorten it to fit within a single television season. The future visions on the TV series show us the character just a little more than six months hence.

The Protagonists

The television characters are dealing with similar issues to their literary counterparts. Mark Benford, like LLoyd Simcoe in the book, fears the end of his relationship. Demetri Noh, like Theo Procopides, is trying to find out who ends his life. But while Simcoe and Procopides are research physicists, Benford and Noh are instead FBI agents. On TV the story has been re-conceived as a traditional procedural, complete with gun fights and car chases. The two scientists in the novel are decidedly less flamboyant in their investigations.

The Mystery

The “flash forward” in the TV series was a man-made phenomenon of unknown origins. The novel dispenses with the mystery all together. While the science (and I use the term loosely) isn’t wrapped up until the end, the book actually begins at the source of the phenomenon. The who, what, when, where, and why (by accident) are all disclosed in Chapter 1. From there on out the characters are occupied with the personal, professional, and philosophical fallout from the event.

The Scope

In the novel the event impacted every person on the planet — without exception. No one was immune. But with the focus being on a criminal investigation, the TV show needs suspects. It provides that in the form of two individuals known to have remained conscious during the event.

The Evidence

The aforementioned suspects were discovered by means of technology that recorded their activities. The two were speaking on the phone and one was seen on a surveillance camera. Perpetrators in the book would have escaped any such detection because the event also affected electronic equipment. There were no convenient video recordings or cell phone records to be had.

The Point of View

Robert J. Sawyer, author of the Flash Forward novel, is Canadian, as is his lead character Lloyd Simcoe. Throughout the book are inklings of a perspective that is more American as in North, and less American as in United States of. For instance Sawyer takes a shot, figuratively speaking of course, at the Second Amendment which one character refers to as “…whatever damned thing it was that made Americans think they could go around armed.” Clearly, the TV series just a smidge more pro-2nd Amendment. Gee, I wonder how Mr. Sawyer likes the show…

Still a fan,
C.C.

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