DRIVE Director Nicolas Refn Developing BARBARELLA TV Series For Gaumont

Per Deadline: After bringing Hannibal to the small screen with an upcoming NBC series, Gaumont International Television and producer Martha De Laurentiis are looking to do the same for another iconic character, Barbarella. GIT, the U.S.-based production and distribution arm of European feature studio Gaumont, is teaming with De Laurentiis and Drive director Nicolas Refn for a TV series that will be based on the character created by Jean-Claude Forest in a graphic novel and made famous in the 1968 sci-fi movie starring Jane Fonda as a sexpot tasked with finding and stopping the evil weapons inventor. Refn will direct and executive produce the series alongside De Laurentiis, whose late husband Dino produced the 1968 movie.

It is just me or has the "let's adapt the most inappropriate movies possible into safe network television series" trend officially gone too far?

Too far was the HANNIBAL show. "Hannibal The Cannibal" on a weekly basis? I don't see it working ...AT ALL. Throwing all the good actors they can find (Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen are attached) will not change that the series will NEVER be able to show the main character doing what he does best which is eating people which is a huge NO-NO to the Standards And Practices suits.

Seriously though, BARBARELLA?!? I'll be the first one to admit the original film is a delicious bit of cheese that only gets better with time ...but it's really not network material. Only way it could be made to be palatable to today's audiences would be to remove all the sexy bits and camp which would pretty much remove the stinger from the bee if you know what I mean.

If you don't, reference back to the HANNIBAL mini-rant I just delivered. Why make a show based on an already established character if you can't actually show that character doing what he/she does best? Makes no sense to me. Maybe you could get away with more on cable but neither of these series are being developed for cable so that doesn't apply here.

Ugh. I give up. I'm gonna go watch the original BARBARELLA to wash the sure-to-subpar taste of this homogenized reboot away.

Oh and far as Nicolas Refn is concerned: He's better than this. I've got no idea how to even process his involvement. I mean, seriously, dude directed DRIVE, BRONSON, and the PUSHER trilogy. Here's he's not thinking about bringing his patented brand of grim and gritty to the sexy and campy universe of Barbarella.