Global Frequency

Global Frequency is a comic by Warren Ellis, about a vast, 'open source' distributed troubleshooting organization, the Global Frequency. Members are sleepers, going about their daily lives, until tapped via a special cellphone, by Miranda Zero, the putative leader of the organization. Miranda has a dark past, and to pay for her sins, she's shouldered the burden of coordinating this loose-knit group of people while they clean up the nightmares of the 20th century. There are currently three graphic novels collecting the series from DC Comics.

In the last year, a production company shot a pilot for a television series based on the graphic novels. This pilot was used as the basis of a sales pitch to the WB television network, and it seemed that they would pick it up, as chronicled here. Unfortunately, the network passed on the pilot, and the show was doomed to lapse into obscurity.

Then the pilot was leaked, by someone, onto the Internet. Recently I heard about it, and decided to play the outlaw and grab it. I just watched it tonight. Verdict: why on earth did those network suits pass on this show? It's cheesy science fiction, but I could name two or three of those on the WB alone, so that couldn't be the reason. The characters behave in implausible ways now and then throughout the pilot, but again, I can name names if I have to.

And the dialog in the pilot was nifty! I just loved the throwaway lines they gave to the central characters. Okay, I'm a fanboy, but I enjoyed Buffy, Angel and X-Files (not all the same creator, I know), and this show resonates with that sort of cheerful noir, to coin a phrase. Anyway, I have hopes that some other network will pick this up, as it would have a guaranteed place on my ReplayTV schedule. And yes, I've added the first graphic novel to my Amazon wishlist.