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Starship Troopers Marauder
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beyond protocol
Design Your Own Starship with "Beyond Protocol"
You're a galactic warlord with the latest space tech and a pile of resources burning a hole in your pocket. What kind of spaceship would you like to design? You'll get to answer that question in a million ways if you play Beyond Protocol, an online game being developed by Dark Sky Entertainment. It will feature infinitely customizable ships, a massive technology tree and a persistent online galaxy that grows and changes (and attacks your forces) even when you're offline. I got a chance to check it out at the Origins Game Fair a few weeks ago, and it looks to be a deep game that will fully engage your brain. More »
the sf alternative career guide
The Full 10-34 About Your New Space Trucking Career
Science Fiction opens the mind to more than just fantastic concepts about technology and alien planets. At its best, it also makes you realize that there's more than you could be doing with your life than sitting at your desk and wasting time on the internet. That's where we come in, with the SF Alternative Career Guide. They say that travel broadens the mind, so it stands to reason that the further you travel, the broader your mind would be. In that case, why not become the broadest-minded mother you know, by becoming a Space Trucker? More »
what-the-hell science
The Future Is Not Now, But Seven Years Ago
It's apparently official - The collected hive mind of global academia thinks that the world of tomorrow will turn out to be seven years ago. At least, that seems to be the message of a newly-released survey of over 50 academics, who judged 2001: A Space Odyssey the most realistic science fiction movie vision of the future ever. They also claimed it was the most "scientifically accurate." More »
new comics we crave
Something For Everyone Who Likes Awesome In This Week's Comics
Stop now, what's that sound? It may just be the stampede of new books hitting comic stores tomorrow - As we get closer to San Diego Comic-Con, publishers are stepping up their game, and tomorrow's haul includes first issues, final issues, deaths and resurrections and all manner of exciting things to make your hump day worthwhile. Join us under the jump, why don't you? More »
9:00 AM on Tue May 13 2008
By Graeme McMillan
3,196 views,
11 comments
iron sky
Nazi Moonbase Launches Stealth Attack
The long-awaited teaser trailer for Iron Sky, the science fiction comedy from the Finnish makers of Star Trek parody Star Wreck, is finally out. And unlike Wreck, which always seemed a bit pointless, Sky looks like it could be really twisted and awesome. For one thing, the script is by Johanna Sinisalo, author of the award-winning Troll: A Love Story. For another, it's about Nazis on the Moon. And finally, it's the first-ever open-source science fiction epic. More »
doctor who recap
Doctor Who's New Girlfriend GIves Good Phone
Here's the moment where I decided I was actually getting to like brassy comedian Catherine Tate as the new traveling companion for Doctor Who's quirky time-traveler. Yes, she's not nearly as clever as Martha Jones, my number one hero, but that makes her heroics, when they happen, more exciting and suspenseful. I actually felt a bit of tension in this sequence, which almost never happens on the new Who. In general, part two of our Sontaran storyline was just as muddled as part one, but at least it was fun this time around. More »
superhero movies
Movie Superheroes Whose Secret Origins Aren't In Comic Books
Hollywood often does such a bad job translating comic books to film, it's better to start from scratch. When movies create their own original superheroes, they can have the cool comic booky trappings, without the need to include/ignore/defile decades of print history. If it works (The Incredibles) you get something really fresh. When it doesn't... it's only about as bad as a superhero movie based on a comic. Click through for our list of superhero movies that didn't have a direct comic-book heritage. More »
ridiculous plot twists
...And Then WHAT Happened? The Silliest Scifi Plot Twists
Science fiction thrives on suspension of disbelief. When you watch a movie or read a book about space battles and time travel, you're actively cooperating with the story to make it hold up. But when the story takes a sudden, nonsensical swerve, your suspsension of disbelief can turn into a savage retaliation. Here's our guide to the weirdest and least sensible plot twists (Ape Lincoln?!) from scifi books, movies, TV and comics. Major spoilers ahead, naturally. More »
concept art
This piece of conceptual art, entitled "We Never Learn," shows a dangerously overpopulated world with floating cities, parks, and layers that threaten to blot out the sky. Of course, that doesn't mean we wouldn't want to live there, flying cars and all. Although if you hit the ball out of one of those parks, good luck getting it back. And life on one of those lower levels is probably a horrible experience, at best. You not only get all the falling detritus from above, but very little sunshine as well. Still, for some reason the whole thing is hauntingly beautiful.
More »
Overpopulated Floating Cities Threaten To Obliterate The Sun
This piece of conceptual art, entitled "We Never Learn," shows a dangerously overpopulated world with floating cities, parks, and layers that threaten to blot out the sky. Of course, that doesn't mean we wouldn't want to live there, flying cars and all. Although if you hit the ball out of one of those parks, good luck getting it back. And life on one of those lower levels is probably a horrible experience, at best. You not only get all the falling detritus from above, but very little sunshine as well. Still, for some reason the whole thing is hauntingly beautiful.
More »
Star Wars Battle Found in Google Sky?
If you're like us, you spent a lot of time over the weekend goofing off with Google Sky, the cool new application from Google that lets you search the starry night sky the same way you search Google maps. You can move around, zoom in, and get popups with information on what you're seeing. But there's no helpful popup for this Star Wars battle that one io9 reader found in Google Sky right here. Sure it might just be an artifact or lens flare, but those streaks sure do look like giant laser blasters. (Thanks, Luke!)
If you're like us, you spent a lot of time over the weekend goofing off with Google Sky, the cool new application from Google that lets you search the starry night sky the same way you search Google maps. You can move around, zoom in, and get popups with information on what you're seeing. But there's no helpful popup for this Star Wars battle that one io9 reader found in Google Sky right here. Sure it might just be an artifact or lens flare, but those streaks sure do look like giant laser blasters. (Thanks, Luke!)
sky doll
Is Sky Doll Too Hot For America?
A life-like female android who exists only to serve the State's needs gets rescued by two "missionaries," and starts to learn that she may be more than just another robotic toy. So far, the plot of European comic Sky Doll doesn't sound too different from plenty of other android awakening tales. But Sky Doll's journey of discovery involves a lot of sex — and Marvel Comics is taking a leap into a whole new territory by reprinting it in the U.S. Click through for details. More »
special effects
The Star Wars Movies Have Lost The SFX Race
The skyrocketing number of special effects shots in the Star Wars movies has become a shorthand for the way movies in general have become more SFX-heavy. But while the Star Wars films may have started the SFX arms race, they didn't win it. None of the three Star Wars prequels has as many special effects shots as 1996's Independence Day. Also, the visually stunning first Matrix movie only has as many SFX shots as The Empire Strikes Back. Click through to find out the most SFX-heavy movie of all time. More »
triviagasm
You Have Ten Seconds To Reach Minimum Safe Distance
Science fiction has always had a dark obsession with destroying things, and spaceships are a constant target. When not worrying about enemy ships fragging them to pieces, crews have to worry self-destruct sequences, on-board bombs, lousy construction, bad driving, and suicidal commanders who seem hell-bent on piloting their ships to certain death in what we like to call "shipicides." Damn the photon torpedos! Set the engines for ramming speed in our picks of the best ship sacrifices in science fiction.
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flying cars
She Wanted Her Flying Car, and She Got It . . . for $131,700
eBay member Prattesgirl has a feedback score of 29, and 100% positive feedback. Apparently those are the qualities, along with $131,700, that allowed her to buy the last Sky Commuter prototype test aircraft in existence yesterday after 82 nail-biting bids. If $131,000 seems a little pricey for this retro-futuristic airborne wonder, consider this: it cost Boeing $6 million in research and development costs back in the '80s before the project was discontinued, and Prattesgirl gets all of the research, as well as all rights, to the project as well as the vehicle itself for her money. What next? Sky Commuter: The Movie? Write that down, Michael Bay! The last Concept Sky Commuter aircraft in Existence [eBay.com]
sf politics
Charles Stross Talks to io9 About Sex, Prison, and Politics
Yesterday we talked to Jim Munroe about one of the most political science fiction novels written in the last century, and today we've cornered science fiction author Charles Stross into talking about the future of a more socio-political issue: sex. Stross is the author most recently of Halting State, a near-future MMO crime thriller, as well as gender-bending prison experiment novel Glasshouse, extropian revolutionary war novel Singularity Sky, and many others. His novels are often political in the "rulers fighting" sense as well as in the personal sense — his characters are at odds with themselves, trying to figure things out like love and sexual identity while also shooting big guns and playing with nanotech. So here's what Stross talks about when he talks about sex (and politics). More »
triviagasm
Science fiction doesn't just give us the best machines; it also gives the best sex as well. After all, if the future is full of anti-gravity lifts and teleportation, just think how far the porno industry will evolve. Scifi isn't just about human sex either: you can get it on with aliens, clones, and even machines. Star Trek's Data was a "fully functional" android, and gave some robo-lovin' to the frigid Tasha Yar (and the Borg queen!) from time to time. After the jump, our list of the best science fiction sex scenes to get you through hump day.
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Pumping in Zero Gravity With the Best Sci Fi Sex Scenes
Science fiction doesn't just give us the best machines; it also gives the best sex as well. After all, if the future is full of anti-gravity lifts and teleportation, just think how far the porno industry will evolve. Scifi isn't just about human sex either: you can get it on with aliens, clones, and even machines. Star Trek's Data was a "fully functional" android, and gave some robo-lovin' to the frigid Tasha Yar (and the Borg queen!) from time to time. After the jump, our list of the best science fiction sex scenes to get you through hump day.
More »
i am legend
A trailer for the upcoming movie I Am Legend shows Will Smith and his canine buddy wandering an entirely empty New York City. But that's nothing new. Hollywood has always loved to show one of the most bustling cities on the planet smashed to hell and emptied of human life. Check out our list of movies that crush New York under their boots. Special bonus: click through our gallery featuring emptied-out NY, with many mangled Statues of Liberty.
More »
Movies That Smash the Statue of Liberty
A trailer for the upcoming movie I Am Legend shows Will Smith and his canine buddy wandering an entirely empty New York City. But that's nothing new. Hollywood has always loved to show one of the most bustling cities on the planet smashed to hell and emptied of human life. Check out our list of movies that crush New York under their boots. Special bonus: click through our gallery featuring emptied-out NY, with many mangled Statues of Liberty.
More »
