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Samuel Youd, who died yesterday at age 89, was better known under the name John Christopher, one of several pseudonyms. And under that name, he was best known for creating the fearsome Tripods, alien invaders who enslave the human race with the mind-controlling "cap." Christopher's Tripod trilogy is a wonderful adventure story, but it's also a direct precursor to our current flood of young-adult post-apocalyptic/dystopian novels. He also wrote the ground-breaking eco-apocalypse novel The Death of Grass. The Guardian has a fantastic tribute to an influential, fascinating author who will be greatly missed. More »
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Steven Spielberg's new show Falling Skies launched last night on TNT, and the good news is, it got gangbuster ratings for a basic cable show: 5.9 million viewers, more than The Walking Dead's first episode on AMC. More »
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Can a book really become a decent television show? Yes, and here's the proof! Here are 12 shining examples of science fiction and fantasy books that actually got turned into television series that are worth watching in their own right. More »
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Tripod adapter and screenwriter Stuart Hazeldine talked about the current film process for Alex Proyas's adaptation of John Christopher's hostile alien takeover book series Tripods. And they're looking for the big money, to afford bigger explosions. More »
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In this album art from Jeff Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds, artist Geoff Taylor has recast the menacing tripods as robots who look like giant, horrifying iPods ravaging the Earth. More »
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Even as his current movie tops the weekend box office, director Alex Proyas is talking about his next project, a big-screen version of SF classic novel series, The Tripods... including which character gets Starbucked. More »
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Alex Proyas, director of aliens, robots and a poorly coiffed Nic Cage, is readying for his adaptation of John Christopher's Tripods trilogy. More »
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John Christopher's amazing Tripods book series is getting its big-screen debut, thanks to director Alex Proyas. So teens, ready yourself for the rebellion of your lifetimes, against evil alien overlords. More »
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Sometimes it seems like every little dreg of geek culture from your youth is out on DVD — but it's not true! Weirdly, there are huge gaps in the archives of science fiction TV shows that Hollywood is willing to sell you. Think about this the next time you invite over that hottie from work and fail to get laid, entirely because you don't have a DVD of Automan or M.A.N.T.I.S. on your shelf to impress that person. Here's our list of essential SF TV that you can't own on DVD, because Hollywood hates you. More »
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It happens to the best dashing science fiction hero: You come up with a preternaturally clever plan to stop the bad guys, involving a totally cunning bit of MacGyvering or hustle... and it totally fails. Your super-gadget blows up. Or your allies flake. The bad guys turn out not to be total idiots. Or all the random variables you totally had a handle on turn out different. It's what you do after your cunning plan fails that separates the good guys from the great guys. Here are our favorite failed plans. More »
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Why do so many adventure movies seem to have the same story? A lot of the blame goes to the Hero's Journey, a cookie-cutter spiritual-ish adventure recipe concocted by Joseph Campbell in 1949. Star Wars and many fantasy sagas famously follow this treasure map step by step, but how do other science fiction stories measure up? We score scifi stories on our "Hero's Journey" checklist, after the jump. More »
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