It’s always a good day when the Syfy channel announces its making science fiction entertainment. It’s n even better day when that entertainment is a TV adaptation of Frederick Pohl’s Hugo and Nebula award-winning scifi novel Gateway, which will be co-developed by Battlestar Galactica producer David Eick.


Have you read Gateway? I haven’t, but I still know how highly it ranks in the pantheon of classic scifi. Here’s the official plot synopsis:

In Gateway, humanity discovers an asteroid teeming with the long abandoned spaceships of an advanced alien race — the Heechee – setting in motion a gold rush for alien artifacts and technology. The ships are preprogrammed, transporting their voyagers to distant worlds of riches — or certain death. Undaunted by the peril or the odds, prospector Robinette Broadhead gambles everything on a journey to Gateway. After one nightmare mission, he returns to extraordinary wealth and luxury, but is haunted by the loss of his crewmates, including the love of his life. Said Bill McGoldrick, Executive Vice President, Original Content, Syfy: “We’re delighted to develop this fascinating First Contact story with long-time partners Universal Cable Productions and Entertainment One. Gateway is thought-provoking and unsettling, raising profound questions about mankind’s possible relationship with alien life.”


Gateway is the first book in what became the Heechee saga, so if Gateway does well, there’s plenty more material to be mined.

Syfy also revealed the premiere date for its other major scifi adaptation, Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End, which will be a three-night, six-episode event, as well as its ambitious new interplanetary mystery series The Expanse. Both will premiere on December 14th.

Contact the author at rob@io9.com .