It would seem there's no stopping the revival of the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson shows now. The last few years have brought us the live-action Thunderbirds feature film and the New Captain Scarlet television series, and it was reported on May 4th 2003 at Variety.com that Walt Disney Pictures have optioned the development rights from Carlton to make Joe 90 into a live-action feature film.

Might explain why BIG RAT was getting so many extra hits around March 2003... somebody doing some sneaky research perhaps?

Of course there is no guarantee that what is produced will be recognisable as Joe 90, but with the success of films with children as the heroes (Spy Kids) and even ones wearing glasses (Harry Potter) we can at least hope that some of the elements that made the show a success will remain reasonably intact.

Or it could all go horribly wrong, like it did with Thunderbirds.

For more information, try the following links...

Variety.com (subscription required)
BBC News at bbc.co.uk
Sci Fi Wire at SciFi.com

By the way, if you read the Variety article and the word "skein" confuses you, it's their "slanguage" for "television series". I didn't know that - and I've worked in television for over two decades. I do know the meaning of the word "pretentious" though.