Flatland | TVmaze

tnt wrote 6 years ago: 1

https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/43434/flatland

It is scheduled to premiere tomorrow (2019-08-20 @9:00pm) on El Rey Network. However, there's something mysterious about this series.

The weird thing is, the series was actually shot back in 2001-2002, and it seems that it never saw a light of day, at least I couldn't find any mentions of it being broadcasted during the past 18 years. The series supposed to consist of 22x44' episodes (some sources say 22x30'). Besides that, there's an 80-something minutes long film, released as a direct-to-video sometime in 2011-2012, and promoted as the last role of Dennis Hopper (who passed in 2010). Is it a cut-down version of the show, or it's a re-shoot / reboot / remake – I couldn't find any plausible explanation.

So, the question is: does anybody know more? Did they actually released the series before, on air or DVD, or El Rey's broadcast is really the first time the show being released to the public?

Some links I've found, that may be useful or interesting:

http://catalog.xenonpictures.com/movies/flatland-2/ - production company. Mentions 22x44' series and 1x89' film.
https://www.chron.com/entertainment/article/Dennis-Hopper-to-star-in-sci-fi-TV-series-2027381.php – an article from 2001
https://cityonfire.com/flatland-dvd-xenon/ – says it's a DVD of "forgotten TV series starring Dennis Hopper". However, the Amazon's item, linked from this page, is actually a film https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/914yjj3LFGL.jpg
https://variety.com/2001/tv/news/debrino-sues-over-flatland-1117855262/ – some lawsuit happened during a production, resulted in showrunner change
http://ederyfilm.com/wp/flatland – some production stills, unfortunately no dates
https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000012292298/Rick-Tuber-Shanghai-Cuts – a book by show's film editor

JuanArango wrote 6 years ago: 1

From what I recall this is a never shown before series with the deceased Dennis Hopper :o

tnt wrote 6 years ago: 1

JuanArango wrote:
From what I recall this is a never shown before series with the deceased Dennis Hopper :o

Does it really released for the first time in 18 years since it was shot? That's possible, of course, but really weird :) And what's the deal with the film? If they're saying it's the Hopper's last role, it should've been shot somewhere in 2009. And the rest of the cast is the same, so it's like they've decided to reshoot the same script in shorter form or something... I probably will skim through the editor's book, could be an enlightening read :)

wmulder wrote 6 years ago: 1

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292515/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt

Release Dates

China

2002

USA

January 2002

tnt wrote 6 years ago: 1

wmulder wrote:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292515/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt
Release Dates
China
2002
USA
January 2002

Thank you, Captain Obvious :D

Is it a network? A streamer? DVD? Needless to say we're all know, how reliable IMDb is for TV shows. In this case those dates are total BS. According to show's film editor, Rick Tuber, in January 2002 he only got a job offer to fly to Shanghai to edit the series. And the cut was finished around May 2002. It's all in his book.

tnt wrote 6 years ago: 1

So far the only thing I've found, is that the show was released for mobile in 2005, "in groups of 50 two-minute episodes", through dedicated website. However, it is unclear, how many of those "groups" were released or how long this thing lasted.