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wot3.jpg scifi sagas

7 Reasons Why Scifi Book Series Outstay Their Welcomes

Why do so many amazing novels sprawl into so-so trilogies? Let alone blah tetralogies, or dull ten-book series? Blame "Herbert's Syndrome," in which a great writer gets tempted to keep writing about a popular universe, like Frank Herbert's Dune, long after its expiration date. (The Fantasy Review coined the term "Herbert's Syndrome" back in 1984, so Brian Herbert didn't enter into it.) Here's a handy guide to the symptoms and causes of Herbert's unfortunate ailment. More »

Galaxy Quest

Scott Lobdell Tells io9 The Fates of the Galaxy Quest Crew

What happened to the crew of the Protector after their ship crash landed into the scifi convention? We asked Scott Lobdell, writer of the new Galaxy Quest comic, based on the comedy movie about actors who meet aliens who have taken their old science fiction show way too literally. After the jump, check out an exclusive gallery and find out it Fred and his alien love Laliari are still together, why they're back in space and if Gwen still has the ridiculous cleavage she sported in the movie. Lobdell also spilled the beans on his new project, a sorority-slasher-meets-Groundhog Day movie. More »

Wall-E

Wall-E Has Gotten Loose And Is Roaming L.A. Streets

Disney's adorable robot was spotted wandering the streets of L.A., in a fully animatronic version that looks just like the animated incarnation. Watch the video as he rolls up on the tips of his tracks, peers into the videographer's lens, and waves. WALL-E even fields a few questions from passer-bys on the sidewalk . But don't give him any money because he'll probably just spend it on booze. More »

holosonics.jpg mad science

We Will Beam Advertisements Directly Into Your Brain

You're walking down the street and suddenly a voice starts whispering seductively in your ear. "It's a surplus of style . . . Don't you want to chill in the Gap's surplus shorts?" Have you finally lost it and started hallucinating bad ad campaigns speaking inside your head? Nope, you're experiencing a technology that's already been deployed in New York City, where last December the A&E channel advertised its spooky show Paranormal State by broadcasting ads with a device that emits soundwaves you hear only when when those waves hit your body — which makes the sound seem to originate right next to you. Now other advertisers want to get in on the action and start beaming their slogans right into your head. More »

2492554787_ec947d93c7.jpg Batman

Why Kevin Conroy Is The One True Voice Of Batman

For 17 years Kevin Conroy has leant his intimidating, gravely voice to the animated Batman. In fact, many would argue the Conroy is the Father of the Batman whisper. Many actors have tried and failed to re-create this raspy overtone (George Clooney went with smarmy and look how well that went). Now Conroy's voice is returning in the animated anthology Batman: Gotham Knight, on DVD July 8. After the jump Conroy explains how he got his Bat back after all this time, why he originally wasn't interested in voicing the hero and why there's a little Batman in everyone. Plus new pictures. More »

Trixie.jpg Rant

Is Speed Racer Just Too Gay?

Why are audiences swooning over Iron Man's shiny suit but not over Speed Racer's sleek car? I mean, what the hell is going on when people have already spent nearly $200 million on watching lameass Iron Man get revenge in Afghanistan, but only about $20 million watching the awesome Speed zoom with sparkly CGI pizzazz across all those finish lines? Analysts have speculated that Speed Racer's death by box office might have been caused by a boring and confusing plot, or early negative reviews. But I know the real reason. Speed Racer is freaking people out because it's just too gay. Here are ten reasons why. More »

retro furturism

Wuxtry! Wirephotos the Wave of Newspaper Future! (1937)

Learn how photos are wired from one end of the country to the other in this clip from a 1937 educational film. It's a pretty amazing piece of not-particularly-high technology. Western Union first sent a halftone photo in 1921, and Associated Press started its WirePhoto service a couple years before this film was made. Love the scenes of the front page being made up with lead type and mattes. Poor ol' newspapers.

ultimatesmall.jpg ultimate origins

Marvel Tries Ultimate Rebranding

Looking to remind fans that they have this once-popular imprint called "the Ultimate line," Marvel has released a list of their top ten reasons to read the first issue of imprint rebrand book Ultimate Origins. Unsurprisingly, four of them mention the origin of something or someone. More »

ember2.jpg Poll

What's The Greatest Post-Apocalyptic Movie For Kids?

Will City Of Ember be the first post-apocalyptic movie aimed at kids? Based on Jeanne DuPrau's young adult novel, Ember features two kids discovering there's a world outside the dying underground city that they've lived in for the past 250 years. And director Gil Kenan (Monster House) sees it as a visual, epic teen adventure movie. But is it really the first ruined-world movie aimed at kids, as post-apocalyptic blog Quiet Earth claims? The Boston Globe's Josh Glenn says no, there have been plenty of others. Click through to vote for the greatest. More »

The Incredible Hulk

See The Softer Side Of Hulk

You can see more of the smash-em-up Hulk, beating cars together and emerging from asphalt, in this new international trailer for The Incredible Hulk. But you also glimpse the Hulk's softer side, like the image of Betty and the Hulk watching the lightning together, like a lazy, rainy morning. Will the Hulk mellow out more in the movie, like he sometimes does in the comics? Or will the film mostly be scenes of him throwing heavy objects around? [Slashfilm]

honestbobrocks.jpg honest bob and the factory to dealer incentives

The Best Geek Rockers Ever to Sing About Tatooine and the Time Cube

When I lived in Boston, one of the things I lived for (besides Herrell's ice cream) was the chance to see local indie nerd band Honest Bob and the Factory to Dealer Incentives. They bounce out poppy odes to people who park badly, the planet Tatooine, chairs (yes, they have a song about chairs), the Time Cube meme, and their song "Hey" is featured in videogame Guitar Hero. And the guys in Honest Bob have been at it since the 1990s, rocking the geek underground long before Jonathan Coulton sold us all out. Now you have a chance to hear their new single, and see them in New York tomorrow night. More »

ironcounc.jpg lunchtime reading

Star Trek Turns Out To Be A Bad "First Contact" Guide

A couple of Scottish boys find an actual crashed alien spaceship — and they assume that science fiction is a totally accurate guide to extraterrestrial encounters. That's just the set-up in Alan Campbell's hilarious and sick story "The Gadgey," which went up last week at venerable science fiction webzine Strange Horizons. Campbell's story gets more and more demented as it goes along — and the part where the boys and their friend get the alien stoned isn't even the weirdest bit. There are so many more reasons why "The Gadgey" is our recommended lunchtime reading for today. More »

space porn

Someone Has Stolen Our Supernovas

Here's the youngest known supernova in our galaxy, a mere 140 years old. The unassumingly named G1.9+0.3 is at least 200 years younger than the previous youngest known supernova, and it grew by 16 percent over just the last 22 years. NASA's Chandra Observatory was able to confirm North Carolina State University astrophysicist Stephen Reynolds' suspicion that this was a new supernova. But there's just one problem: NASA officials admitted in a teleconference: our galaxy is still missing about 50 supernovas. Who took them? More »

pimadness.jpg horrorhead

More Terrifying Than Space is Space Madness

Welcome back to Horrorhead, a biweekly column where we explore the intersection of scifi and horror. If there's one thing more terrible than having a zombie eat the tongue out of your head by breaking your jaw, it's imagining that zombies are eating you when they aren't. That's why one of the best veins to mine in scifi-horror is madness. What makes insanity worse in many ways than giant drooling monsters is that you can't kill the monsters in your head with ice or swords or cold viruses. You want to escape the horror of your own crazy? You've got to drill your own brain out, like the protagonist does in Pi. And that, my friends, is what makes scifi-tinged madness so tragic as well as frightening: there's no way to set things right. Without further ado, let's take a dark psychological tour of most horrifying examples of space madness. More »

1112_alien_attacks_jesus.jpg Space Catholics

Pope Says It's OK To Believe In Aliens

The Vatican has now given the all-clear for Catholics to believe in life beyond our planet. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, Jesuit Director of the Vatican Observatory stated in an interview that our universe is too big to rule out "additional forms of life even, intelligent ones." More »

sir%20lube%20of%20can-a-lot.png Robots

Robots Superheroes Made Out of Junk Metal

Paul Loughridge specializes in making robots and rockets from scrap metal and other junk. Pictured here is Sir Lube of Can-O-Lot, a mini-bot made from an old hydraulic pump poler, a vegetable grater for a shield, and a helmet with a hinged face guard. Loughridge also gives each of his bots a unique persona. Can-O-Lot is a modern superhero, who likes to save pretty princesses. More »

MODOG

Iron Man Takes on MODOG, Mo' Problems

This just may be the most disappointing news of the week. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of giant-headed genetically-modified killing machines as the next person, but although the reveal of Marvel's new villain MODOG - his name is an acronym for Mobile Organism Designed Only for Genocide - may look very impressive, it's nonetheless a sad day to see that he is still (relatively) human and incredibly un-dog-like. More pictures of the 'Dog under the jump. More »