Mashing together classic science fiction with its own fevered—dare we say, mad?—hunger for “fresh” new content, CBS has announced that it’s working on a TV series based on H.G. Wells’ The Island Of Doctor Moreau. Developed by Sleepy Hollow co-creator Phillip Iscove, Moreau will center on the character of brilliantly deranged biologist Dr. Katherine Moreau, because it turns out that senselessly mashing animals together in the service of scientific hubris isn’t just for the fellas anymore.
With all its scenery-chewing scientists and people dressing up like kitty cats, The Island Of Doctor Moreau has been a popular source for adaptation (and many-assed mockery by South Park) over the years. Given how ridiculous some of those projects have been—with the image of a muumuu-clad Marlon Brando permanently burned into the public consciousness by John Frankenheimer’s 1996 film—Iscove and his team will have to do something pretty impressive or different with their show if they want to stand out from the ridiculous pack.
If they can pull it off, though, Iscove will have carved out a nice little niche for himself as TV’s foremost adapter of 19th century novels—which is suddenly big business, for some incomprehensible reason. On the bright side, though, the show’s success could mean it’s only a matter of time before we get that police-procedural reimagining of The Celebrated Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County that 19th century novel-heads have been begging the studios for for years.