WRITER'S VIEW:
On the eve of the certain destruction of the Earth, under the guise of
an impossible mission to destroy an asteroid of immense proportions,
the decision is made to send five hundred groups of six children each
out into the galaxy toward planets suspected of being able to sustain
human life. Each group knows that after their thousand-year journey,
there will be no planet Earth to which they might someday return. This
then is the saga of group #317 who, after being roused from ten centuries
in hypersleep, discover they've been awakened seventy-five years too
soon. Now, as they continue toward their destination, they must try
to keep their situation from getting out of hand.
This is a story about a group of children who are thrown into adult roles with some very adult problems. I wanted to create a story, which was really a metaphor for us all on this planet. We're really stuck here. And if we don't all find a way to get along, our very existence as a species may be in jeopardy.
I also wanted to create a world where every problem isn't solved by technology. Door open? Push a button. Closed. Can't see something? Turn on a monitor and what do you know, you can miraculously see anything, anywhere. 317 is rooted in reality. Sometimes you can't see what's happening. You can't see around that corner up there. Sometimes you lose track of people. Sometimes stuff breaks and refuses to be fixed.
We've also taken a unique approach to the makeup of the flight crew. When you have only six humans to work with, how do you repopulate the human race? Do we send six kids with blond hair and blue eyes? Or do we send some sort of politically correct mix of races? At first, there seemed to be no equitable solution to this dilemma. Then we came up with the notion: What if the flight crew were already of mixed ethnicity? And that's what we did.
As far as the characterizations go -- and this spills over completely into the story, of course -- I felt that the way children have been portrayed in films and TV series lately has been becoming more and more troublesome. With few exceptions, children are presented as either obnoxious brats or some sort of super kids? What we've tried to do is say, look, these are just kids who have been given a tremendous responsibility. They should be thinking about playing games or learning new things or just enjoying life and each other. Instead, their world has vanished as they slept. I think about all the children who live in strife-torn parts of the planet where life and death aren't just words in a dictionary. Places where the next meal or a safe place to play or sleep have become unattainable treats. Places where living is simply dangerous. And I wonder how, with all our brain power and technology, we've come to be this way.
Maybe we don't deserve this planet. I don't know.
~Hank
This is a story about a group of children who are thrown into adult roles with some very adult problems. I wanted to create a story, which was really a metaphor for us all on this planet. We're really stuck here. And if we don't all find a way to get along, our very existence as a species may be in jeopardy.
I also wanted to create a world where every problem isn't solved by technology. Door open? Push a button. Closed. Can't see something? Turn on a monitor and what do you know, you can miraculously see anything, anywhere. 317 is rooted in reality. Sometimes you can't see what's happening. You can't see around that corner up there. Sometimes you lose track of people. Sometimes stuff breaks and refuses to be fixed.
We've also taken a unique approach to the makeup of the flight crew. When you have only six humans to work with, how do you repopulate the human race? Do we send six kids with blond hair and blue eyes? Or do we send some sort of politically correct mix of races? At first, there seemed to be no equitable solution to this dilemma. Then we came up with the notion: What if the flight crew were already of mixed ethnicity? And that's what we did.
As far as the characterizations go -- and this spills over completely into the story, of course -- I felt that the way children have been portrayed in films and TV series lately has been becoming more and more troublesome. With few exceptions, children are presented as either obnoxious brats or some sort of super kids? What we've tried to do is say, look, these are just kids who have been given a tremendous responsibility. They should be thinking about playing games or learning new things or just enjoying life and each other. Instead, their world has vanished as they slept. I think about all the children who live in strife-torn parts of the planet where life and death aren't just words in a dictionary. Places where the next meal or a safe place to play or sleep have become unattainable treats. Places where living is simply dangerous. And I wonder how, with all our brain power and technology, we've come to be this way.
Maybe we don't deserve this planet. I don't know.
~Hank
