If we were to caption this, the caption would read, “No seriously George, I’m way too good for you.” Oh wait, we did do that. It’s sort of weird Han Solo wasn’t allowed to wear sunglasses for real in the Star Wars movies. It kind of makes sense, and he would have looked slick flying the Falcon whilst wearing aviators.

Your daily offsite links are leaning up against a tree, mad-dogging George Lucas. Highlights include, tons of Star Trek stuff, fake spoilers, real spoilers, and My Little Pony.

[Read more]

Coming from artist Madéleine Flores is the biggest plot-twist spoiler alert of all time: David Bowie is Harry Potter’s true father! We always thought James Potter was a little underdeveloped in the latter books, and now we know why: he was a ruse to hide the Bowie! We do wonder what house Bowie was sorted into, though. Was it Hufflepuff? Gryffindor? Viacom?

Your daily offsite links are are full of stardust, man. Highlights include:

1. Bambi will scare you. Again.
2. Carrie Fisher is really, for sure, going to be in Star Wars again.
3. The Doctor asks for hand-outs.

[Read more]

Hello again! With this edition of “Don’t Touch That Dial,” we’re dealing with comedies and supernatural dramas. Two of the shows are Canadian imports that have already finished their seasons in the Great White North, but I’m playing by the American schedule so midseason premieres they are. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to turn off the TV for the first time in two months and take a walk outside….

Be warned, a lot of these mini-reviews contain moderate SPOILERS. Nothing worse than what you’d get by checking out the show’s summary on its network site, but still, don’t come into this post expecting to keep your televisual virginity intact.

[Risque Canadians is the name of my new band.]

In advance of a most excellent extended weekend for sci-fi fans from far and from wide, it’s time for another edition of the British Genre Fiction Focus, Tor.com’s weekly column dedicated to news and new releases from the United Kingdom’s thriving speculative fiction industry.

We have some especially exciting stories to talk about today, including an impassioned diatribe regarding the reach of the community revolving around genre fiction; a weird dream about another London, similar yet set apart from our own; and the reveal of a new monthly magazine which looks to reintroduce us to the slow burn satisfaction of serial storytelling. But if you ask me there’s no bigger news this week than the Sci-fi Weekender, which begins just a few short hours from now... and I’ve got the rundown on the best of the festival.

[Read more]

Calvin has crashed his flying saucer IN THE REAL WORLD! This great series of images imagines what the world would be like if Calvin and Hobbes found themselves in real-life settings. It almost makes us wish our plush tiger would come to life and eat us have adventures with us.

Highlights include of your daily offsite links include:

1. Superman tells us he’s selfless.
2. The latest hints about Game of Thrones season 3.
3. Han Solo should be a girl.

[Read more]

Can you count the number of pop culture/geek references in the first brand new trailer for Community, which kicks back on this week? We barely could, but we’re pretty excited! Watch the full trailer below.

(via Comic Book Resources)

[Read more]

Four years ago around this time, I wrote a post about some of my favorite bizarro holiday specials to help ring in our very first Tor.com Cthulhumas/Life Day/Krampusnacht/Solstice celebration. While a lot has changed since 2008, my abiding love of strange and unusual holiday-inspired lunacy is as strong as ever, so please enjoy this updated guide to some classic (or should-be classic) yuletide entertainment….

[From recent to retro, 11 shows to make the holidays a little bit more surreal...]

Welcome back to “Don’t Touch That Dial,” a mini-series in which I, your friendly neighborhood television addict, will break down some of the shows screaming for your attention. Previously we delved into fantasy/paranormal, horror/comics/general geekery, and mysteries/procedurals shows, so in this very special episode we’ll tackle sitcoms for nerds, namely The Big Bang Theory, Community, and Parks and Recreation. Be warned, where applicable these reviews contain moderate SPOILERS, nothing worse than what you’d get by checking out the show’s summary on its network site, but still, don’t come into this post expecting to keep your televisual virginity intact.Any shows you’d like me to cover? Drop me a line in the comments.

[When I grow up, I want to be Leslie Knope.]

In addition to Hurricane Sandy, we can’t believe the crazy times we’re living in. Penguin/Random House are one?! Disney is buying George Lucas?! What is this wacky world we just woke up to? Luckily, Carl Sagan in a time machine (well, the time machine) is keeping us calm.

Highlights of your offsite links include:

1. Bond fights himself.
2. Doctor Who/Doc Brown rap-battle
3. Play TETRIS on a pumpkin. 

[Read more]

As these set photos from the new Robocop reveal, he has not been programmed with the ability to text automatically and still needs his phone. Come on! What kind of robo cop is that? (Also who is he possibly texting?)

Your offsite links know there will be trouble. Highlights include:

1. Is the Community delay good or bad?
2. Nick Fury sends a lot of memos.
3. You have always wanted to assemble a Lego Arkham Asylum.

[Read more]

Some people see unicorns, or sea horsies, or giant falcons in the clouds. But sometimes people see clouds that produce the one and only Godzilla! Look out, he's loose and cumulus! Your offsite links aren't nearly as ominous, but just as cool.

Highlights include:

1. Why is the apocalypse so appealing?
2. Voyager 1 had a birthday yesterday, when is it leaving the solar system?
3. Tricia Helfer is crossing over into another fandom (sort of)

[Read more]

We saw this image over on Geek Tyrant and it apparently comes from a canceled Avengers video game. But seriously, what could we call this guy? Also, why did they not merge him with Hawkeye or Black Widow?

(Art by Jeremy Love)

Your other offsite links are a combination of everything you love.

Highlights include:

1.  Big casting news from Game of Thrones and Community
2. Celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Fraggles
3. Where not to buy magical potions.

[Read on]

The nominations for the 64th annual Emmy Awards were revealed this morning. Join us below in taking a look at the nominees as we tally up where science fiction and fantasy make their presence known.

[Read on]

The San Diego Comic Con weekend may be over, but that doesn’t mean you can’t catch up on all that you missed. Check out our links below the cut for all the stories that may have flown under the radar. Note: Nothing will quite top this guy dressed as Slave Leia.

Highlights include:

1. Peter Jackson’s shocking Hobbit plans
2. The Universe gets a Twitter account
3. What’s next for Inspector Spacetime fandom

[Read on]

I have to admit: in light of the circumstances of Dan Harmon’s departure, I expected a little more tension at the Community panel than there actually was. You could definitely tell that the applause for new producers David Guarascio and Moses Port died just a bit more quickly than it did for the cast and the writers. But moderator Mike Schneider was quick to nail the elephant in the room and deflate much of the tension: “It’s gonna be okay?”

Guarascio: “It’s all gonna be okay.” Throughout the panel he was firm: he and Port have always been huge fans of the show and want to keep it “the weird wonderful gem that it’s always been; that’s not going to change.” As Port said later, after talking about how the cast and writers are some of the best on television, “What I mean to say is, we’re not going to screw it up!”

[Read more]

This past week, Karen Gillan, who plays the long-running companion Amy Pond on Doctor Who admitted that she adores NBC nerd-king comedy Community and wouldn’t hesitate to do a guest-spot as Amy Pond in the show’s internal Who spoof “Inspector Spacetime.”

Neil Gaiman responded on his Tumblr that he would love to cross the nerd-streams even more and write the bit for the show.

[Then things went south]

Apparently we’ve been missing all of these wand-duels on the rooftops of New York City. It’s weird because one member of the Tor.com team has a time-turner, another one is capable of turning into a wolf, and still another eats a ton of chocolate. So we were pretty sure we were aware of all the magical stuff going on around us. Oh well, back to making a patronus in the shape of Andy Samberg.

Your offsite links are full of liquid luck.

Highlights include:

1. Can creativity be scientifically measured?
2. The very human affliction of some dinosaurs.
3. Another, unexpected Prometheus connection to...Firefly?

[Read more]

Did you know Hawkeye’s original name was Night-Hawkeye, in honor of the Norman Rockwell painting? Well it was. [Citation needed.] Also did you see what we did with shawarma last week?

Your offsite links contain true facts, but no more shawarma.

Highlights include:

1. The Yutani corporation figures into Prometheus as well as Weyland.
2. How geeks should date.
3. Sybok was almost Spock’s twin brother. Nimoy wanted to play him.

(Avengers/ Nighthawks via Gizmodo)

[Read more]

In an installment of her wrap-up interviews for her run on BBC’s Doctor Who, Karen “Amy Pond” Gillan revealed that she loves stateside geek sitcom Community, loves the “Inspector Spacetime” spoof they regularly feature, and would not mind at all if Amy found her way onto the show within a show.

The admission made one of our office members lose his soft, gooey mind, so we must admit we are definitely behind the idea, although it’s missing a little Rory and The Doctor to make it truly perfect. Thankfully, the BBC is also behind this notion and is promoting the video with the hashtag #AmyMeetsAbed.

Your move, NBC/Dan Harmon/whoever’s in charge now.

Stubby the Rocket remembers the time Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Enterprise crossed over and how well it we... oh no. We thought we’d repressed this...