Greetings, Brothers! In the Fall of 1997, a catalog for Executive Collectibles Auctions contained the following item: "Frank Brunner-Original art for the upcoming DOC SAVAGE ANIMATED SERIES being produced by DREAMWORKS SKG." Accompanying that description was a photo of five finely rendered drawings of Doc Savage (drawn in the 1960's "James Bama" fashion) in various action poses. A curious reader spotted the catalog photo, scanned it, and posted it onto the Internet. The Internet usenets devoted to Doc Savage and other pulp topics quickly seized upon the news and began to spread the rumors: Steven Spielberg was producing a Doc Savage Animated show! There was only one problem... there was no such animated show in production. Nor is there likely to be one in the near future. Dreamworks turned down the idea of doing a Doc Savage movie for two reason: 1) Conde Nast, the people who own Doc Savage, wanted too much money to license Doc, and 2) Dreamworks realized that they own their own version of Doc Savage... his name is Indiana Jones. Dreamworks politely declined Conde Nast's terms and dropped the idea of doing a Doc Savage show. The supposed "Doc Savage animation production art" circulating on-line is actually pre-production concept art, designed to "pitch" the Dreamworks brass on creating a Doc Savage show. When the negotiations fell through, the art reverted to Frank Brunner and he sold it. Regardless of what you may have heard, there is NO Doc Savage show in current production. There is, however, a film in "development hell," though I doubt it'll ever get made. The simple fact is that almost everything unique about Doc has been slowly stolen by other characters over the last sixty years: The Man of Bronze became The Man of Steel when Superman moved into Doc's Fortress of Solitude; Batman inherited Doc's money, his self-improvement bodybuilding, his penthouse operations base, and his autogyro; Doc's nerve pinch was stolen by the emotionless Mr. Spock; James Bond laid claim to Doc's armory of deadly hidden weapons -- the list of copycats goes on and on. Things look even worse for a Doc project when you examine how successful the Doc imitators have been without needing to use Doc's name! Indiana Jones is merely Doc mixed with Johnny, a chunk of Monk, and a smidge of Renny, but he's starred in one of the world's most successful film franchises and a groundbreaking television show. Superman, the ultimate extrapolation of Doc Savage, is getting a new movie of his own (someday?), a live action Dawson's Creek-knockoff, two animated series, and sells plenty of comics every month. Bond, James Bond (the grace of Ham, the ladykilling charm of Monk, the quick thought and dexterity of Doc) is currently starring in his 20th film. Why should anyone pay for Doc Savage when they can steal the Doc-like features they want, slap them onto a new Doc-like character which they own, and make a mint without having to cut Conde Nast in for millions of dollars? I don't like beating up on Doc Savage, but from a cost/benefit analysis, what does Doc really have to offer one of the major studios? I'm an animation producer/writer.I'm also a huge Doc Savage fan. There's nothing I'd like to see more than a great series of Doc Savage films. But it's never going to happen. Now, don't think I'm badmouthing poor Doc... even if Dreamworks didn't want him, he's still a great character, and who knows, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Frank Darabont and Chuck Russell and their two nobody screenwriters may actually finish that "new" Doc Savage movie someday, but I wouldn't want to bet any money on it. Just to put that "new" Doc Savage movie in perspective, when it was first announced, the rights to Spider-Man were not yet cleared up and no one thought that a Spidey movie could get made... yet here it is, a short three years later and "Spider-Man" is coming out in the summer. Other movies announced in the same week as the Arnold/Darabont Doc Savage film: The Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes (Tim Burton version), X-Men, Space Cowboys, Rollerball, and Red Planet. Uhm... notice how all the rest of those are finished now? What's the problem here? Here's the problem: everyone's too busy. Arnold swore that after The Sixth Day, his next film would be Doc Savage, Frank Darabont swore that he was going right into Doc Savage the second that The Majestic was finished, and Chuck Russell... well, he had nothing else to do, so he was going to be ready whenever the two big guns were. Flash forward to 2002: Arnold is negotiating to make Terminator 3 his next film, Darabont is negotiating to helm "Farhenheit 451" and Chuck Russell is busy directing "The Scorpion King." By the time these three men are finished with their current slates, assuming that none of them have anything else to do (not likely), then I suppose that it's possible that they might get around to making a Doc Savage movie in, oh, say... 2005? By which time, Arnold will only be... 58 years old. Like I said... it MIGHT still happen, but I'm betting against it. On a happier note, I'm really thrilled by all the great interaction I've been having with you Internet Fans of Bronze! Since I first posted this page in May of 1997, I've recieved over 300 letters! I appreciate every single letter, regardless of length... some of them have inspired me quite a bit. I can't respond to every one, but I do try to respond to most of them. Some of you have very strong opinions about how a show with Doc and crew should look, sound, the era in which it should take place, and just who should play Doc himself. Many have simply written in to support the idea of a show or film in any form. Some of you want to kill me for suggesting it. The thing which really matters, though, is that you are interested enough in a Doc Savage show to bother writing to me about it! It bodes well for the commercial viability of a show based on these characters. Though I have, myself, given up on a Doc Savage film or television series, I haven't given up on the spirit of the books which initially inspired me to think about such things. In fact, I recently wrote and produced an animated pilot for Nickelodeon Animation titled "Constant Payne," which was my homage to the pulps and everything that they inspired in me as a kid. Who is Doc Payne? people have visited since 11/22/97 Doctor Axel Brass, the latest in a long line of Doc Savage inspired characters. Doc Brass appeared in the Wildstorm Comics graphic novel series "Planetary" written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by John Cassaday.