Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski is penning a trilogy of films based on E.E. "Doc" Smith's classic Lensman series of novels.

Speaking to AMCtv.com, Straczynski revealed that "We're going to look at this as something with the effects level of the Star Wars movies, and the seriousness of Blade Runner. And it's going to be hopefully three movies. The first one will be more or less self-contained, but will open up the ending for the possible sequels."

The writer, whose script for the new Clint Eastwood movie Changeling received acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival, also noted that he didn't know if the Silver Surfer movie would ever be made. "They were kind of disappointed in how Fantastic Four 2 did... I think there is hesitation there about putting it forward."

He has also revised the screenplay for the Wachowski Brothers' latest movie, Ninja Assassin.