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Posts Tagged “

space opera

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kronk burger

How To Be Totally Sophisticated

Welcome to Kronk Burger, an occasional column in which we will mock your shortcomings and -goings. When you're in a foreign country, you don't gawk, and you don't get your photograph taken in front of anything that's not naked and roaring with nubility. That's because you're not a tourist — you're a Seasoned Traveler. The same thing should apply to your enjoyment of science fiction — you should strive to be a sophisticate with calluses in the right places. Here's our guide to having seen it all before. More »

Feature

10:08 AM on Wed May 21 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
4,669 views, 77 comments

Latest by Mazda Plainview: I'd like to add Christopher Lambert to the list of actors whose work can be dismissed unseen. more »

kanye west

Kanye West Lost In Space, With Only Killer Beats And Sexbot For Company

Rapper Kanye West premiered his space opera-themed Glow In The Dark tour last night in Seattle, and he may have single-handedly reinvented hip hop performance for a science fictional era. Rapping alone, in front of screens that showed whirling backgrounds of space porn, he navigated through the story of an "astronaut on a mission to bring creativity back to Earth," says the L.A. Times. More »

4:00 PM on Thu Apr 17 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
3,084 views, 38 comments

the new space opera

Why Is Space Opera Unsung?

The New Space Opera, a recent anthology edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, was supposed to testify to the resurgent vitality of the space-opera sub-genre. Instead, it showcases a new space-opera canon that's listless and cut off from the mainstream, argues reviewer Alan DeNiro in Rain Taxi. Find out why the space-opera renaissance doesn't make DeNiro want to sing, and why his review sparked a soul-searching discussion among the authors, below the fold. More »

12:00 PM on Tue Apr 8 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
2,934 views, 64 comments

childhood's end

Boys Don't Cry Director Tackles Trippy Scifi Classic

Arthur C. Clarke's weird science fiction novel Childhood's End could soon be a movie directed by Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry, and the upcoming Stop-Loss). Peirce says she's attracted to the challenging themes of Clarke's 1953 novel, but she'll have a hard time turning it into a big-budget movie. The novel inspired songs with the same title by Iron Maiden and Pink Floyd, but it's probably too dated for 21st. century audiences. More details after the jump. More »

8:20 AM on Wed Jan 9 2008
By charliejane
1,715 views, 16 comments

Latest by freznel: Hope this pushes through. Childhood's end is one of the first novels that got me hook with sci-fi. Hope they could do it great justice. more »

morning spoilers

Secrets Of Star Trek, Torchwood And Sarah Connor

Even though we're dreading the new Star Trek movie, we can't resist plunging our hands into the qagh bowl of spoilers. That's because we're total fiends for any and all spoilers, and we start every day with a binge. We also spoil Michael Gondry's new scifi film and unveil a scandalous new Torchwood picture, after the jump. More »

6:00 AM on Mon Jan 7 2008
By charliejane
3,406 views, 19 comments

sunshine

Bad Science Looks Killer In "Sunshine"


We can't wait for Danny Boyle's Sunshine to come out on DVD next Tuesday. Sunshine might have been the best SF movie of 2007, even though its science was iffy in places. Take this cool-looking scene, where hapless communications officer Harvey tries to jump from one spaceship to another without a suit and doesn't quite make it. Within a minute or so, he freezes and becomes so brittle his arm shatters like an icicle. What would actually happen to an unprotected Harvey in space? More »

11:20 AM on Thu Jan 3 2008
By charliejane
6,115 views, 53 comments

Latest by n/a: try to think what makes a good film - characters, plot, story, music, moments that remind of us our humanity sunshine is not the greatest film ever made, and it annoys me that they even had to have a villain, some more »

john scalzi

Killing Aliens Runs In The Family

The Old Man's War universe isn't just for men any more. A new quasi-sequel will follow the old man's daughter into more battles with claim-jumping aliens. That's just one of the many, many books that military SF maven John Scalzi is putting out in 2008 and 2009. Scalzi's newly announced pipeline also includes a sequel to his blue-sheep comedy The Android's Dream. All the dirt, below the fold. More »

10:00 AM on Thu Jan 3 2008
By charliejane
1,393 views, 8 comments

star trek

Six Reasons Why Star Trek Should Stay Dead

Star Trek was relevant twice: in the 1960s, and then in the late 80s-early 90s. But now, it's become a microcosm of everything that's wrong with science fiction. Here's our list of reasons Star Trek should rest in peace. More »

8:40 AM on Wed Jan 2 2008
By charliejane
16,883 views, 117 comments

How Would We Kill Aliens Without Faster Than Light Travel? What if warp drive, hyperspace and wormholes turn out to be fantasies? We'll still need to kill aliens from other solar systems. What will we do? Take the poll after the jump!

4 comments

venus rises

Class War Between Mars And Venus

A new web TV show could pick up where Firefly left off, telling gritty stories of class warfare on human colonies. Venus Rises is filming now in New Jersey. Four episodes will be available next year on national video-on-demand cable channel Illusion TV as well the show's own site. One glance at the first episode's synopsis shows how deeply Firefly is in Venus Rising's DNA.
More »

1:30 PM on Tue Dec 4 2007
By charliejane
649 views, Comment

fictional trends

The Rise and Fall and Rise of Space Opera

What do Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Star Wars, the anime Robotech, and the novels of Iain M. Banks all have in common? They're space operas, part of the scifi subgenre that goes back to the 1930s and includes practically any cool outer-space story with lots of awesome ships and intergalactic battles. Now critics (and a new anthology) say this creaky old genre is making a comeback. More »

10:00 AM on Thu Nov 29 2007
By Annalee Newitz
836 views, 2 comments

space war

Super Lasers Of The Cold War

By the early 1980s, the Soviet Union will have a fleet of space shuttles far superior to our own, plus a network of space stations and a second fleet of orbital vehicles to service them. Oh, and mega laser weapons. That was the prediction in a 1974 book Soviet Conquest From Space. How did Peter James get it so wrong? More »

11:00 AM on Thu Nov 15 2007
By charliejane
124 views, Comment

maelstrom ii

Man Hops Off A Freight Train At 7,000 KPH In Space


Rockets may be a thing of the past one of these days. Instead, we may use huge electromagnetic "rail guns" to escape from the gravity of a body such as Earth or the Moon. But this concept hasn't appeared much in movies or TV yet. Hence this new short film (which is still in development, hence the unfinished test footage, just posted last night.)

Maelstrom II is based on a short story by Arthur C. Clarke. More »

9:59 AM on Mon Nov 12 2007
By charliejane
63 views, Comment

movies

Bad Movie Science Will Drive You To Cannibalism

People give science fiction movies a free pass when it comes to bad science, complains astronomer and novelist Mike Brotherton:

Why is it when people go to see a mediocre drama, they complain about the acting or the unrealistic characters, but when they go see a mediocre science fiction film ("sci-fi"), with bad science, they forgive criticisms with "it's just a movie!"

Brotherton doesn't offer any answers to how we can foster more respect for real science in the movies. (He's too busy warning that we'll turn into cave-dwelling cannibals if we watch the Chronicles of Riddick.) But here's an idea: when a movie comes out with plausible science and real characters, like Sunshine, boost the hell out of it. That might do more good than complaining about implausible blockbusters.

Science In My Science Fiction: Literacy? {SF Novelists]

12:29 PM on Fri Oct 12 2007
By charliejane
56 views, Comment

battlestar galactica

Battlestar TV Movie Shows Torture Orders Came From The Top


We get to see Admiral Cain actually ordering the use of torture in the new Battlestar Galactica: Razor TV movie, which airs Nov. 24. We'll also get to see the scene, alluded to back in season two, where Admiral Cain shoots her XO in the head for disagreeing with her orders. The scene where she orders her Cylon prisoner tortured is one of two new clips from Razor which have turned up on YouTube. There's also a new review, featuring spoilers: More »

11:29 AM on Fri Oct 12 2007
By charliejane
61 views, Comment

serenity

Will A Serenity Sequel Happen While Nathan Fillion Is Still Juicy?

We'd all given up hope for Serenity 2 ever coming out. But maybe we despaired too soon? Alan Tudyk claims the "special edition" DVD of the first Firefly movie has done so well that Universal is considering a sequel. More »

5:37 PM on Fri Oct 5 2007
By charliejane
1,397 views, 3 comments

galaxy quest

Must See: Galaxy Quest

Must-see movies are futuristic classics that shouldn't be missed. Of course, not every must-see is perfect. That's why we've rated them 1-5 on the patented "crunchy goodness" scale. Written by Sherilyn Connelly.

Title: Galaxy Quest
Date: 1999

Vitals: The washed-up cast of the long-cancelled cult sci-fi teevee series Galaxy Quest are recruited into a space battle by aliens who think the show was the real thing.




More »

9:47 PM on Mon Oct 1 2007
By Annalee Newitz
203 views, Comment

green lantern: ganthet's tale

Must Read: Green Lantern: Ganthet's Tale

Must-read graphic novels are futuristic classics that shouldn't be missed. Of course, not every must-see is perfect. That's why we've rated them 1-5 on the patented "crunchy goodness" scale.

Title: Green Lantern: Ganthet's Tale
Date: 1992

Vitals: Larry Niven sends Green Lantern on a cosmic voyage to the dawn of the universe. Cue swirly nebulas and hubristic aliens who want to hide the secrets of time. Can Green Lantern make the universe safe for cosmology?

More »

12:11 AM on Mon Oct 1 2007
By charliejane
104 views, Comment

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