Friday, July 19, 2013. 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Ballroom 20.
“Are you out of your Vulcan mind?!” human Karl Urban (Star Trek’s Bones) says as he walks out on stage
Michael Ealy, the other half of the Bromance, says he modelled android Dorian on Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne, Jeff Bridges as Starman and Robert Patrick as Terminator.
Fringe and Almost Human showrunner Joel Wyman says he created Almost Human to “keep Fringe fans happy”.
Set in 2048, Almost Human features technology butis more about relationships andthe people dealing with world of the future, Wyman says
“I truly believe the best science fiction always reverts back to what it’s like to be human,” Wyman says.
Almost Human premieres Monday, November 4th on FOX in the U.S. and Global TV in Canada.
Vancouver-shot pilots have dominated San Diego Comic-Con’s Preview Night for years, largely because Warner Bros. Television has such a big presence here. 2013 is no exception with pilots Almost Human and The 100 and the New York-shot pilot The Tomorrow People — which has shifted production to Vancouver — all to be screened in Ballroom 20 on Wednesday night, July 17th.
Almost Human — Part-robot human Detective John Kennex and part-human robot Dorian are a buddy cop duo in future Los Angeles, where all cops must partner with androids known as synthetics. The pilot was filmed all over in Vancouver this past March in some familiar Fringe locations. It stars Karl Urban (John Kennex), Michael Ealy (Dorian), Minka Kelly, Mackenzie Crook, Michael Irby and Lili Taylor and is produced by uber-producer J.J. Abrams, Fringe showrunner J.H. Wyman and others. And if you miss the Wednesday night screening, you can catch the pilot at the Almost Human panel on Friday, July 19th, followed by a Q&A with cast and showrunners. The series begins filming in Vancouver after Comic-Con and FOX plans to debut it on Monday nights after the World Series, starting November 4th.
Panel: Friday, July 19th – 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Ballroom 20.
One Broken Man. One of a Kind Machine. Their Future. Is Definitely. Unwritten.
Almost Human showrunner Joel Wyman shared the official trailer for the new filmed-in-Vancouver series shown at the FOX Upfront in New York today. The look and style of this pilot is even better than expected. Especially the dry humour and banter between this buddy cop duo of part-robot human and part-human robot.
Human John Kennex (Karl Urban of Star Trek) and android Dorian (Michael Ealy) are police partners investigating crimes in Los Angeles 35 years from now. But in this partnership, the android displays more emotions than the human because John is shut down after getting seriously hurt on a mission. From J.J. Abrams and former Fringe showrunner Joel Wyman, this new series pays homage to Fringe in so many ways. The production used many of the former Vancouver Fringe crew as well as its production signs BELLY. Some of the set dressing looked familiar too, with futuristic kiosks like Quick Volt electric car stations and Quick Stands offering everything from Experience Enhancers to Intellect Expanders and Synthetic Pets on set. Almost Human filmed for three weeks in the Vancouver area in familiar Fringe locations from the downtown business district to Gastown’s Winters Hotel to under the Cambie Bridge to the Terminal City Ironworks complex dressed like a Blue Light district.
Crew for the FOX pilot Almost Human (formerly Human) built a futuristic coffee kiosk on a sidewalk under the Cambie Bridge to shoot a scene on Easter Monday of masked kidnappers abducting a plainclothes Los Angeles police officer and driving away. I got there too late to see the abduction so I don’t know which actor was taken, but this is probably the officer whom John Kennex (Karl Urban of Star Trek) and his android cop partner Dorian (Michael Ealy) try to rescue from Gastown’s Winters Hotel.
J.J. Abrams and Fringe showrunner Joel Wyman’s futuristic buddy cop show is about LAPD officers partnered with androids and focuses on one particular pairing between John Kemnex and android Dorian, where the android displays more emotions than the human because the human is shut down after getting seriously hurt on a mission. Other characters include a cop-with-strong-morals Valerie Stahl (Minka Kelly), another police officer (Michael Irby) and the police captain (Lili Taylor).
Brad Anderson (The Machinist) directed the pilot not Joel Wyman but Wyman was in Vancouver overseeing production. I spotted him without his mohawk on set last week conferring with Anderson between takes under the Cambie Bridge.