Category Archives: Transhuman News

Deadline first broke the story last night that Warner Bros. has hired Matt Lieberman to pen the script for a feature length animated version of The Jetsons. The big question: Will it be 2D or 3D animation?

We've been hearing for nearly a decade that a live-action Jetsons movie is in the works. And Jetsons nerds have been understandably nervous about how the First Family of Futurism might translate into flesh and blood. But they can breathe a sigh of relief now that Warner Bros. is reportedly back to working on The Jetsons as an animated project.

Lieberman is relatively new to Hollywood and most of his work has yet to see the screen. But he's sold a number of scripts that are currently in production, including a reboot of the Short Circuit franchise. The new Jetsons movie doesn't have a director yet.

The Jetsons lasted just one season during its original run in 1962-63. But those 24 episodes would play on constant repeat during Saturday morning cartoons, becoming firmly planted into the brains of at least three generations that grew up dreaming about our techno-utopian future.

The Jetson family would get a reboot in the mid-1980s for a few more seasons, but those episodes are widely considered to be inferior to the original show. There was also a feature length animated movie in 1990.

There's no word yet if this new version of The Jetsons will get any updates that catapult them even further into the future. Nor whether we'll see any other time-traveling cameos by that family from Bedrock. But with so many rumors of a Jetsons reboot that never panned out, we can't count our robotic chickens before they're hatched. This project still has the possibility of getting derailed.

Image: Screenshot from the 1962 version of The Jetsons

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Warner Bros Planning New Animated Jetsons Movie

Silver streak: Perth band Pond's frontman Nick Allbrook at Laneway Singapore. Photo: Nor Asyraf

Five years into its Singapore experiment, St Jerome's Laneway Festival now appears a truly local fixture. Under looming thunderstorms that never quite broke, a sold out crowd of 13,000 showed up to The Meadows at Gardens By The Bay on Saturday to cheer on an eclectic array of artists from across the globe.

Wandering around the lush surrounds, culture shock came in waves. Though laneways are mostly absent from The Meadows' sprawling gardens, seeing the familiar festival signage draped against the dazzling Singapore skyline prompted a dissonant shock of recognition. So too the many Australian bands on the bill.

While Melbourne's reigning R&B crooner Chet Faker would draw one of the biggest crowds on the day to his evening slot, Perth act Pond introduced themselves early. Resplendent in tiny silver shorts, singer Nick Allbrook turned himself in knots throughout a raw set of psychedelic pop, with the band's loose larrikinism wildly exotic in the humid afternoon. "We're so happy to be playing in Singapore in this beautiful setting" said drummer Jay Watson by way of introduction. "This next song's called Heroic Shart."

Warm welcome: Courtney Barnett on stage at the Singapore leg of the 2015 Laneway Festival. Photo: Rueven Tan

While many fans brought their own blankets to lay out on the grass, even the unsettled climate was catered for. Fat drops of rain come down at Pond's finale, prompting the audience to don the free ponchos that were distributed upon entry. Unpacked they revealed an array of vivid hues that turned the domain into an exotic petri dish of colour. "That was intentional, believe it or not," claimed Laneway's Jerome Borazio. Along with Danny Rogers and in league with promoter Michael Chugg, as well as a local contingent organisers have worked hard to adapt the domestic event to Singapore. Singapore acts are dotted throughout the lineup. The foray seems to be working, with the festival now drawing thousands, up from hundreds, when it began.

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Bratty US pop-punk Mac Demarco was good accompaniment to the fading drizzle, his sunny, scratchy guitar tunes and hilarious banter an inviting counterpoint to the clouds. Demarco and band freely tested the country's harsh view on swearing, dropping several F-bombs on their way to a boisterous set that included a wonderfully tongue-in-cheek cover of Coldplay's Yellow. Later, Demarco would look down the camera in the Media Tent and state his fondness for fellatio.

Melbourne's Courtney Barnett found a warm welcome on the main stage, her staunchly Aussie accent serving as an Antipodean entree for Angus & Julia Stone's set of Americana-infused guitar twang. Loud UK rock duo Royal Blood attracted one of the biggest crowds of the day, eager to jump up and down to the band's riff-reimagining of Queens of the Stone Age and The White Stripes. On the smaller Cloud Stage local act Hanging Up The Moon came on like a fey Augie March, complete with technical issues and moments of transcendental beauty.

Dark minimalism: FKA Twigs' Laneway Singapore set left some in tears. Photo: Alvin Ho

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Laneway Festival settles into Singapore with female figureheads FKA Twigs, Courtney Barnett and St Vincent