in General

Charlie Jade

Robert J. Sawyer is one of my top three favorite authors (with Neil Gaiman and Larry Niven – no particular order). Meeting him in a small setting a couple Decembers ago was a wonderful experience. When I reviewed one of his books for the school paper in college, he was even nice enough to tell me thanks. How many Hugo award winners would take the time for that? He’s a Real Class Act.

In his most recent journal entry (dated 1/31/05), Sawyer mentions an upcoming sci-fi TV show that he’s gotten to see in advance. Charlie Jade sounds really interesting.

Details are scarce, but after poking around the web I’ve figured out that it involves a detective from a parallel universe solving a mystery while traveling between 3 such universes. One of these universes is our own, though that’s not where the show starts.

A couple of quotes about the show from Sawyer:

“Just as the new Battlestar Galactica is establishing a new standard in outer-space SF, Charlie Jade is a breakthrough in Earth-based SF.
Everything that comes after it will be judged against it.”

“This is the closest we’ve ever had to a Blade Runner for the small screen.”

Anything that can be compared to BSG and Blade Runner, and still hold its own, is worth checking out. Sawyer isn’t prone to hyperbole either, he’s not one to paste his recommendation on just anything.

Currently the show looks like it’ll debut in March. Unfortunately the show is jointly produced by Canada and South Africa, and as far as I can tell it hasn’t been picked up in the U.S. But I’m resourceful, I’ll find a way…

edit: I just noticed in his discussion group that Sawyer actually did some consulting in the early stages of Charlie Jade’s development. No way I can’t watch it now.