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Kill The Cheerleader, Save The Show
In season three, Heroes seemingly went from bad to worse. Now, with Bryan Fuller deserting NBC's sinking flagship, we're left wondering: Can Heroes really can find Redemption in its fourth season? More »
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Comment by tawm: I was positively obsessed with this show even through the mediocre second season. The abysmal third volume broke me. I want... 5 Responses | Other threads
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The Brilliant Ghostbusters III Pitch We Want To Greenlight
The Ghostbusters III script is in production, which could mean epic win or monster fail. But now a new idea for the franchise is circulating online, and it's got us excited. But it might be too smart to get made. More »
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Comment by u_nick: Telephone System haunted? Fine. Telephone System actually the 'nervous system of a fallen angel'? Er... no. 7 Responses | Other threads
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John Carpenter's Alf And The Cabbage Patch Dolls Of Death
After posting a flood of frightening Adam Sandler fake movies today, we'd like to treat you with this little video collection of fake trailers that absolutely should become movies. Who doesn't want to see The Smurfs By Peter Jackson? More » -
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20 Marvel Heroes Who Deserve A Shot At The Movie Big Time
If Marvel really wants to make four movies a year, then they're going to have to dig deep into their toybox to find enough characters to fill them. Luckily, we're here to help out with some suggestions. More » -
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What TV Shows Should Be Animated To Stay Alive?
With the announcement that Futurama is coming back as a series six years after its cancellation - mirroring Family Guy's resurrection - we got to thinking about which SF shows could use a little animated spell to get healthy again. More » -
rant
How To Reboot Star Wars
Now that both Batman and Star Trek have enjoyed cinematic reinventions, it's only a matter of time before Hollywood reboots the franchise that rebooted entertainment itself. Here's how the inevitable Star Wars reinvention could be fantastic instead of embarrassing. More »
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Comment by Belabras: Coming soon to a cinemaplex near you - Remakes of Ben-Hur, Laurence of Arabia, Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, and... 10 Responses | Other threads
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the strain
How Fox Ruined del Toro's "The Wire With Vampires" Pitch
We could have had The Wire, with vampires, a Guillermo del Toro show full of craziness, topped off with anal blood worms. But Fox had different plans for GDT's television show — and anyone else notice similarities between Strain and Fringe?
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Comment by ultra_balexbot: "classic Easter European vampiric lore" and here i always thought Bunicula was American! also, i like his copy-cat defense: just say... 3 Responses | Other threads
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Oh, If Only The Onion Ran TV Networks
With Lost going into its final season next year, wouldn't it be great if there was a spin-off show ready to follow it? In the we-wish-we-could-visit-it world of The Onion, there is, and it stars the show's most mysterious character. More »
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Comment by twophrasebark: I think the spin-off that I posted a few weeks ago was funnier: 2016 TV Guide LOST Again ABC, 10/9 EST/MST A cruise ship... 3 Responses | Other threads
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5 TV Crossovers We'd Love To See
Wouldn't you want to see the Dollhouse being investigated by the cast of Fringe? Or watch Heroes try to avert Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' future? We have five team-ups to save television's falling ratings.
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5 Bad Guys To Help Vin Diesel Get Faster And More Furious
Now that Fast and Furious has has a record-breaking opening weekend, perhaps studios should take star Vin Diesel's desire to play a supervillain more seriously. Here're some roles executives should be offering him.
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Comment by Alexis Brown: I really like Vin Diesel. I don't know why. Maybe because he plays WoW. A Lot. 10 Responses | Other threads
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5 Battlestar Spin-Offs We'd Love To See
Battlestar Galactica comes to an end this Friday... but why does it have to end at all? Never mind Caprica, here're some other possible additions to the BSG family that could one day happen.
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What Should the Wachowskis Do Next?
The Matrix was one of the best movies of the last decade, but its director/producer team, the Wachowskis, headed downhill with the sequels, and bombed with Speed Racer. Here's what they need to do next. More » -
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Where Is My Jetsons Movie?
Reading the news that The Flintstones are heading to Broadway made me wonder why their more futuristic cousins, The Jetsons have never enjoyed the same amount of attention. If we're really living in the future these days, why aren't we lining up to see Will Ferrell play George Jetson at the closest multiplex?
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Comment by Doctor Who?: I think the Harvey Birdman episode on the Jetsons explains why this is a bad idea. 2 Responses | Other threads
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What Is "The Aquaman Problem"?
Apparently, people don't want to spend their money on a superhero who spends all of his time looking wet and smelling of fish. That's one possible conclusion to be drawn from the fact that DC Comics can never manage to make Aquaman a sales success. This problem has spread to TV as well, if you consider the character's jokey existence in HBO's Entourage and his non-existent series on the CW. So what is it about the character that stops him hitting the big time? And can he ever break through the water ceiling? More »
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Comment by James7344: Aquaman has the same problem as a character as Adam Strange - they both are suited to adventures outside the... 8 Responses | Other threads
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woody allen
Is Woody Allen Finally Going Back to Science Fiction?
In the latest New Yorker, Woody Allen has a near-future tale of smart drugs that feels like it was written as the beginning of a pharmaceutical dystopia flick. Called "Think Hard, It'll Come Back to You," the Provigil-addled prose unwinds the story of a guy who is about to sample a smart drug. But then he remembers what happened when his friend Murray Cipher sampled a concoction called "Cranial Pops" he found in his girlfriend's cupboard. More »
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Comment by John: Woody Allen's book "Without Feathers" is one of the funniest things I have ever read. This is proof that he... 2 Responses | Other threads
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What Familiar Face Should Show Up On Heroes Next?
From the very start of NBC's Heroes, the show has excelled in indulging the more geektastic casting decisions seen in mainstream television. We've seen fleeting appearances from Shaft, Uhura, and even Lana Lang from the short-lived 1980s Superboy TV show - and even seen genre regulars like Malcolm McDowell and Greg Grunberg get their time in the spotlight. But while the stunt-casting may seem to have peaked with William Katt, television's first Great(est American) Hero, we've come up with some must-see suggestions to keep more B-list SF veterans in work. More » -
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What Other Classics Need To Be Given The Odyssey Treatment?
News of a possible Brad Pitt sci-fi version of The Odyssey got us thinking. No, not about how quickly we could leave the planet in case said movie ever actually came out, but about what other classic literature could be turned into science fiction vanity projects for some of our favorite actors. Join us as we consider future methods to help high school students get into reading, why don't you? More » -
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Cthulhu Needs a Perky Blond Sidekick
Sure, a talking dog movie is money in the bank, but what about a talking Great Old One movie? Cthulhu is all the rage these days - there are freaking Cthulhu bunny slippers, for Yog-Sothoth's sake! And since Lovecraft's creations are all public domain, a studio could pen the script without having to license any rights. The time is ripe for Cthulhu to rise again...with a perky blond sidekick. More »
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Comment by Polybius: If Cthulhu is so popular, why haven't there been any cool movies made about it yet? (Does Hellboy count?) 3 Responses | Other threads
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joe haldeman
Joe Haldeman's Back Catalog Could Make Hollywood Billions
With The Forever War that much closer to the big screen, maybe it's time for Hollywood to take a closer look at Joe Haldeman's other works as well. Haldeman is already talking about trying to have more creative input into movie versions of his other books, if the Ridley Scott film is a hit. So which of his works should get the Hollywood treatment, and which are best left alone? More »
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Comment by Tekzel: Oh man, this is kind of funny. I had JUST mentioned in comments to another post a couple of... 1 Responses | Other threads
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NBC Needs To Make Their White Male Boredom Pay Off
We weren't the only ones underwhelmed by the premiere of My Own Worst Enemy, NBC's latest attempt to deal with white middle class male disappointment over how their life has turned out by pretending that they're really secretly spies and even they don't know it. But we have a plan for how to make the show worth watching - and save the network's failing Monday night line-up at the same time: Bring Henry Spivey face-to-face with Chuck Bartowski.
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Comment by SteverMan: Like I said in another comment stream a few days ago, have Henry drive by a BUY MORE. Start... 3 Responses | Other threads
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5 Ways To Make Star Trek More Like Star Wars
So we've been told that the writers of next year's Star Trek reboot want to "bring more Star Wars" to Gene Rodenberry's brightly-colored vision of America's interstellar tomorrow. But what does that actually mean? We've given it some thought and come up with five ways in which the crew of the Enterprise should model themselves after Luke Skywalker, C3-PO and company. More » -
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We Are In Dire Need of a Scifi Sitcom
CBS' Two and a Half Men, with 14,073,000 viewers last week, crushed Heroes (which reeled in only 8,198,000 viewers). Plus Heroes' lead-in, the dorkcom The Big Bang Theory, also destroyed the 112-character Tim Kring serial. When television ratings decline, the incentive to invest in hour-long series with multiple locations generally goes with it. That's why it's time to make our dream of a SF sitcom in high definition come true. We've got all the details, plus a bonus Alf retrospective. More »
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Comment by ♠ Final ♠: I think the only genre sitcoms allowed are fantasy and dead people related. Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me, Reaper (never... 6 Responses | Other threads
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Five Easy Steps To Save Heroes
With ratings apparently in freefall for an underwhelming, overcompensating third season premiere last week, it's fair to say that NBC's Heroes may look as if it's in trouble. But if there's one thing that we've learned from watching Hiro, Peter and Claire for the last two years, it's that last-minute saves are something of a speciality for show creator Tim Kring and the rest of the show's writing team. But just in case they need a little nudge, here are some of our ideas how to make the series Must See TV again. More » -
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Make The Best Spider-Man 5 You Can, Sam Raimi
So we're already getting very heavy hints that the recently-announced Spider-Man 4 will center around the long-teased-to-the-point-of-not-caring "Curt Connors Becomes The Lizard" storyline that easter eggs in the first three movies have been slowly building to, but that's not why we're excited about the prospect of Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire returning to the Spider-Franchise for two new movies. No, what makes us giddy with glee is the idea that Spider-Man 5 can finally deliver what we've been waiting years for: The movie version of Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends. More » -
fall tv watch
5 Fall Shows That Could Be Improved With A Little Scifi
Try as hard as you like - and we've tried, trust us - but a fan cannot live by scifi alone. That's the only explanation we have for the fact that we're all secretly also addicted to non-SF shows like Gossip Girl, Psych and Grey's Anatomy. But even while we watch these shows, there's a little voice in the back of our head that asks, wouldn't it be better if they all had lasers and space ships? So we decided to figure out which fall shows most need some science fiction, and how we'd do it. More »
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Comment by Garrison Dean: R.O.A.C.H.: I've long wanted to do a "long con" sci-fi show. A 90210/OC that lasts for almost a full season... 4 Responses | Other threads
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How Darkseid Can Visit Smallville Without Embarrassing Himself
While we hope and pray that the rumor about Darkseid appearing in the next season of Smallville has no basis in truth whatsoever, the fact that the makers of the CW's most frustrating hour of television have already made Brainiac into a schoolteacher points towards it being real with the Source's very own flaming finger of fate. But is there a way to put the personification of pure evil (and probable inspiration for Darth Vader) into Smallville without it sucking? We look at the possibilities and spoil you some more under the jump.
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Comment by u_nick: Ugh, so tired of hearing people comlain about Smallville, and how it 'ruins' prexisting characters. This is SMALLVILLE, not Superman.... 4 Responses | Other threads
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How To Make Smallville Watchable Again
As the story of Clark Kent's awkward young adult years heads into its eight year as a television show, it's time to face an even more awkward truth: Smallville kind of sucks. For the last seven years, the show has had its moments of greatness (Yay, the very existence of Chloe!) and it's moments of... well, not so greatness (Hello, almost every subplot that ever involved Lana Lang). With the show's eighth season being its first without Lana and Lex as regular cast members as well as its first without show creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, we'd like to take the opportunity to suggest some other changes that could make the show worth tuning in to every week. More » -
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How To Fix Life On Mars: Bring In PRI's Favorite Son
We've given you the lowdown on the US remake of Life on Mars already, and the word is out: It's going to need a little work. But we think that the problem goes a little deeper than just casting and script - We think that it's going to take some major surgery to make this latest revamp work for an American audience. Maybe change the career of the time-lost hero... or even the identity of said hero. Broaden the scope of the show from cop drama to slice-of-dated-life human interest. It sounds extreme, I know, but picture the time-tossed cop recast as a brainy radio host, and the setting changed to an public radio station in 1970s Chicago. After all, who could resist This American Life on Mars?
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Where Is The Posthuman Bertie Wooster?
Sometime soon — maybe in our lifetimes — we humans will finally exceed our design limitations. We'll interface with artificial intelligences, extend our lifespans, and gain the ability to modify our bodies far beyond our current understanding of prosthetics. And when that happens, our capacity to make total idiots out of ourselves will be increased a thousand-fold. But sadly, there's never really been a posthuman Bertie Wooster. Here are a few pointers on how to write the transhuman fool's progress.
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star trek
Captain Wesley Crusher, Starfleet Investigative Services
The Star Trek franchise has always been about "big picture" stories, but the next Trek series should take the opposite approach, narrow the scope and focus on a few well-developed characters - primarily Wesley Crusher. Yes, the much maligned ensign should be brought back as the captain of a Starfleet science vessel that warps around the Alpha Quadrant solving mysteries for the Federation. Think of it as CSI . . . in space! Here's how it would work. More » -
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How To Bring The Weird In Your Near-Future Stories
Everybody says we're living in a science fictional era now. Your grandma's poodle is on Facebook, your whole social life is on your iphone, and mega-corps know everything about you. But if you think the world is futuristic now, just wait another twenty years. The weirdness will swarm exponentially, making the world of 2028 easily as jarring as 2008 would seem to a visitor from the Reagan era. So how can we, as writers and storytellers, create a believable medium-near-future world?
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Time to Make a Movie Version of "Astronauts in Trouble"
In a world where it seems as if every comic ever made has had their movie rights optioned, the lack of news about a future Astronauts in Trouble movie feels more and more like a failure on Hollywood's part. The indie series of graphic novels centering around TV news crews and astronauts getting in and out of - you guessed it - trouble seems custom-built for a multiplex near you. More »
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Comment by radio1: Maybe we can get Michael Bay to remake Apollo 13...?! more » | Other threads
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The Coming War Between Religion And Super-Science
The 21st century may well see a final showdown between scientific rationalists and religious fundamentalists. We'll see more and more conflicts — like Dawkins vs. creationists, or Bush vs. stem cells — as scientists discover more facts that challenge religious beliefs. But I've been racking my brains to think of science fiction stories that depict the conflict between science and religion in a compelling way. Why don't we see more stories that deal with this? And how can you (yes, you!) write about these conflicts in a smart, interesting way that doesn't resort to caricatures?
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How To Make Superman/Batman Team-Ups Rule, For A Change
Any comic called Superman/Batman should really be the most astounding piece of reading material since Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. And yet, sadly, DC's monthly comic about the adventures of its two most famous characters has been a bit dull for a few years now. I've been obsessing, during my rare downtime, about how I would restore Supes/Bats to its former spiffiness, if Dan DiDio was somehow afflicted with brain damage and chose to let me write it. Here are my thoughts.
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Fri Jul 10
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