I remember when Smallville was first announced, hearing the whole “no tights/no flights” rule and thinking, “How the hell is that going to work?” It ended up working better than it had any right to, even though it was far from a perfect show. Now we’ve got Gotham, a Batman show without Batman. It takes the Smallville concept even further by showing us adventures in Batman’s burgh before young master Wayne has even gone through puberty. Well, brace yourselves, folks, because DC’s just getting started with this shit. Next up, a Syfy series focused on Superman’s Kryptonian grandpa. Great Caesar’s ghost! (Stay tuned for the inevitable series about Perry White’s great-grandfather’s adventures during World War II.)

We first mentioned the possibility of a Krypton series in October, when word broke that Man of Steel/Batman Begins screenwriter David S. Goyer was developing a Superman prequel series that would focus on Kal-El’s homeworld. At the time, details were scarce — and actually, they’re still pretty scarce, but now we at least know the network involved. Syfy, amidst its full-court press to regain respectability and become the go-to destination for scripted science fiction TV, is partnering with Goyer, Ian Goldberg (FlashForward), and Warner Horizon Television to develop Krypton. Goldberg is writing the pilot script, based on a story conceived by Goyer and himself. And look, they have a logo!

While DC has announced ambitious plans to try and catch up with Marvel on the big screen, I continue to find their TV lineup far more entertaining. The CW has expanded the Arrow-verse with The Flash, NBC’s just-debuted Constantine is already generating rumors of potential spinoffs, and both TNT and CBS have DC-based projects in the works (Titans and Supergirl, respectively). And then there’s Fox’s Gotham, a bizarre experiment that has so far yielded decidedly mixed results. But what else should we have expected from a Batman show without Batman? Now it seems we might be getting another prequel-ish series from DC, one that will take us back to one of the most famous fictional planets of all time: Krypton.

Bleeding Cool reports that Man of Steel writer/producer David Goyer, who is one or the architects of DC’s burgeoning movie universe along with director Zack Snyder, is developing a TV series called, simply, Krypton. That’s pretty much the only info they’ve got at this point — there is no mention of where the show might eventually air, or even what the show will be about. Of course, with a name like Krypton, it’s not that hard to hazard a guess. Since Kal-El didn’t exactly spend a whole lot of time on his homeworld, and given that it went kaboom as it made its exit, Krypton would presumably be about Jor-El and Lara before Kal came along, or perhaps Zod and his camp, or maybe even Braniac. Honestly, it could be about anything Krypton-related, but I have to imagine it would hang its narrative hat on characters we’ve actually heard about, and that list of Kryptonians is pretty damn short, especially if you’re not a hardcore comics fan.

What if there was a way to enter the minds of the recently dead and bring them back to life…but only for a short time? Anyone who has lost someone close to them would no doubt jump at the chance for even a few more minutes with that person, especially if the person died suddenly and without a sense of “closure.” This notion is at the core of Doctors, a new science fiction TV project from…(checks notes)…Fox. Well, damn.

THR reveals that Fox has snagged the TV rights to indie comic creator Dash Shaw’s graphic novel Doctors, which was published just last month. The book is about one Dr. Cho, who has created a device that lets him and his team infiltrate a dead person’s fading consciousness in the form of a memory and resurrect them briefly. In the graphic novel, Cho is hired by a woman to bring back her mother, who was killed in a random accident. The scientist hits a snag when the mother doesn’t want to come back at all. See, in the world of Doctors, the dying “unconsciously create the afterlife they want, or feel they deserve, in their minds before everything fades to black.” So the question is posed: is it right to drag them back out of that fleeting final bit of happiness, even if it isn’t real?

(poof)

That was the sound of sci-fi movie fans’ faith in humanity going up in smoke. Another remake that few people wanted has found a screenwriter with one of the more uneven resumes in Hollywood. The long-gestating update of Richard Fleischer’s 1966 family adventure Fantastic Voyage has injected Man of Steel‘s David Goyer into its bloodstream to write the script treatment and executive produce. Can’t somebody sink this project for good already?

Though Fox is one of the studios behind it, it’s Lightstorm Entertainment’s James Cameron—you might have heard of him—who has been spearheading this one for years, but there hasn’t been much talk about it since Night at the Museum‘s Shawn Levy left it behind some years back. Goyer could also potentially fill that director’s chair, but it looks like they just wanting to utilize his storytelling skills for now.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you guys how much ruins your day when a wormhole opens up in the middle of the city right when you’re trying to get some lunch. Such is the case for the civilians who live inside the world of FBP: Federal Bureau of Physics, the Vertigo Comics series from Simon Oliver and Robbi Rodriguez. Scientific conundrums like this, and many more, are on their way to the big screen. Warner Bros. has tapped screenwriter Justin Marks, who penned the script for Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book, to take over writing duties for an FBP feature.

One of the most hit-or-miss personalities in Hollywood, writer/director David S. Goyer has a penchant for balancing hugely popular and successful blockbusters with projects that…aren’t hugely popular or successful. As we wait and see what his influence will bring to the clusterfuck that is Zack Snyder’s Batman/Superman Movie Sequel Event Thing, Goyer is lining up his next directorial effort, an adaptation of Patrick Lee’s 2009 thriller novel The Breach. Without any superheroes, vampires, or ghosts, this could be a side of the filmmaker that no one has ever seen before. Oh wait, he also co-created ABC’s dismal post-Lost mystery series FlashForward, so we’ve almost definitely seen this side of him.

Goyer and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura optioned and developed the novel in 2012, only taking it to studios last week. And though Warner Bros., Fox, Relativity, and Millennium all showed interest, Lionsgate came out with the rights, in part because they’re interested in getting this project made sooner rather than later. The screenplay is being written by Justin Rhodes, who last co-wrote the script for Stephen Gyllenhaal’s comedy Grassroots with Jason Biggs. We’re hoping for something a little more exciting than that one.