BREAKING MOVIE/TV NEWS

Friday, July 14, 2006

Sci Fi Resurrects "Painkiller Jane"

Sci Fi Channel has resurrected the 2005 TV action pilot "Painkiller Jane," ordering 22 one-hour episodes, from Vancouver's Insight Film Studios ("Canes").

The comic book-to-film TV series focuses on a young (female) US Marine officer with 'self-healing' powers.

The original Event comic book "Painkiller Jane" was created by Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Quesada in 1995, as a 5 issue miniseries. The character went on to star in numerous cross-over titles including "The Punisher", "Vampirella" and "Hellboy". Recently the series relaunched at Dynamite Entertainment.

Premise of the comic book followed 'Jane Vasko', former undercover police officer who attempted to infiltrate the 'Fonti' crime gang. After gaining the trust of boss 'Joey Fonti', Jane was assigned to deliver a message to rival gang member 'Adam', not realizing that she was booby-trapped with an explosive device. As Jane met her target, the explosion caused significant injuries, but Adam was unhurt and managed to revive Jane with superhuman, 'regenerative' powers.

Leaving her life as a police officer, Jane became a vigilante, surviving being shot/electrocuted while healing at a remarkable rate within 24-48 hours.

Premise of the 2005 TV pilot, followed an army unit exposed to a biochemical weapon that killed everyone except 'Jane' (Emmanuelle Vaugier).

Jane recovered from the exposure, developing an ability to recover from injury. After discovering that the government was experimenting on her to develop a serum to be used on other soldiers, Jane escaped, with the army determined to hunt her down.