May 22, 2013
Super Bass
Is Gian’s love for the Summer King stronger than his hate?
May 15, 2013
The Button Man and the Murder Tree
An all-new Wild Cards story
May 14, 2013
Shall We Gather
When one world brushes another, asking the right question can be magic…
May 8, 2013
Fire Above, Fire Below
The dragon below our city has died. What is to be done?
Is Mark Hamill actually sleeping in this picture? Does Star Wars bore you sir? Do you have a problem with Star Wars? Fine, we’re going to cast someone else as Luke Skywalker! Good day, sir!
Your collection of daily offsite links imagines a universe where Luke wakes up and was dreaming of all of us. Highlights include: The Wrath of Gonzo, Brad Bird dishes and more!
Jim Henson’s work has been an important part of my life, from Sesame Street to the Fraggles and beyond. It’s no surprise, then, that he also created my favorite holiday movie of all time — Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas.
Carl Sagan would like to remind you that whenever we go to into space, we really should avoid plastering it with tons of giant advertisements. Stubby couldn’t agree more, but would be totally okay with putting giant Carl Sagan billboards up in space.
Highlights of your daily offsite links include:
You couldn’t have forgotten how the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man terrorized the city... Well, some of New York City... The FILMography Tumblr has set out on an incredible journey, mapping your favorite movie scenes to their locations in Manhattan and overlaying those scenes onto pictures from the current day. Check out some of our genre favorites, including a very surprising Superman!
Mild Doctor Who film location spoilers below. Click any image to enlarge.
If you grew up with Sesame Street, it's hard to forget the monocled purple vampire “The Count.” This, among other characters, was Jerry Nelson, an accomplished muppeteer with nearly 60 years of work. Sadly he passed away last night, leaving behind a legacy of work on The Muppet Show (Pigs in Space!), Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock. Thanks, Jerry.
Below, one of our favorite videos involving The Count.
Your friends at Tor.com are taking a small break to celebrate Independence Day, and in what has become a tradition for us, we like giving our readers a dose of Muppet patriotism courtesy of Sam the Eagle: keeping the world safe from weirdos since 1976.
Enjoy and have a great 4th of July.
At the point at which there really was a Muppet Wizard of Oz, why not do a Muppet X-Men? Like an actual movie. Seriously. I really don’t know why this couldn’t happen. Everyone would like it and Magneto would be powerless because metal is rare in the body of a Muppet.
Your offsite links will make your dreams come true. (Ken Haeser drawn X-Men Muppets via io9)
Today’s highlights include:
Jim Henson’s work has been an important part of my life, from Sesame Street to the Fraggles and beyond. It’s no surprise, then, that he also created my favorite holiday movie of all time — Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas.
Tomorrow, September 24th, would have been Jim Henson’s 75th birthday, and that fact is making me feel awfully nostalgic. As a child of the eighties, I grew up in the Golden Age of Henson’s career, watching Sesame Street and reruns of The Muppet Show, Muppet movies, Muppet holiday specials (taped on VHS, of course), and completely, utterly obsessed with the darker fantasy work of his later career: The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and the amazing StoryTeller series. My childhood was utterly infused with Henson’s humor, and the power of his imagination was a constant influence on my own, as it was for several generations of children (and plenty of adults, as well).
Get to swabbing that deck, you jackanapes! It be Talk Like A Pirate Day in these waters. Watch these here Muppets and have a hearty laugh or we’ll send ya straight to Davy Jones’ locker!*
*We won’t be sending you to any lockers whatsoever.
For the Sound Pirate Advice of the Day, don’t let your finger hire a crew. Also, never pass up a good song and dance number, especially when Tim Curry is involved. See below.
There are a lot of sci-fi fantasy mash-ups out there on web, but every once and a while we find one that is VERY close to our heart. Courtesy of artist Amy Mebbenson comes The Muppets mashed up with Doctor Who. Some of our favorites here include Rizzo sulking as the Ninth Doctor, Sam the Eagle as the First Doctor, and multiple Miss Piggies as both River Song and Rose.
Amy Mebbenson is professional comic artist with credits from places like Boom Comics, Pixar, and much more. She’s also responsible for another favorite in the Tor.com offices: Muppet Sherlock Holmes, which unlike her Who/Muppet fan art, was released last year in comic book stores! (We have them all!) Muppet Sherlock Holmes was also notable for featuring a few references to Doctor Who, Torchwood and even Sweeney Todd. Thank you Amy Mebbenson!
[via The Mary Sue]
Stubby the Rocket is the voice and mascot of Tor.com. Stubby has an idea for a Muppet mash-up: Muppet Requiem for a Dream. For some reason no one is interested.
Happy Fourth of July to everyone celebrating the holiday weekend, and for everyone simply celebrating the regular weekend, Happy Friday!
Tor.com is taking a vacation on Monday but you’ll still be getting a new installment of Jo Walton’s Hugo Revisit, along with a fresh helping of Saturday Morning Cartoons.
In the meantime, let’s all sit back and enjoy some classic, Muppet-style patriotism courtesy of Sam the Eagle: keeping the world safe from weirdos since 1976....
We all do it—spend our time combining all of our favorite fandoms in infinite geeky majesty. But having the ability to render that in art is truly something unique, especially when you have the talent of a man like James Hance. It seems he’s done it again, and this time the Muppets are getting a turn on the good ship Serenity. Look! Vera is a rubber chicken! Sam Eagle is a shepherd! Kermit looks great in brown!
Green With Envy, a sweet romantic picture about Jason Segel (whose movies are nearly always better than you’d expect) falling in love with Amy Adams (whose movies are similarly nearly always better than you’d expect) but almost blowing it with his forgetfulness—isn’t that just like a man—and one hopes they get together by the end of the ZOMG MUPPETS!!! YES!!! YES!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Sorry. Ahem. But I mean really, dude, Muppets. That is to say, Muppets. Pursuant to the ideal of a cinema of depth, purpose, and meaning, MUPPETS. There’s a new Muppet movie. Things is alllllllllll right.
Dunwitch, Mass—Despite the numerous binding spells in place, 6 year old Bobby (not his real name) let loose an arcane beast that had for many years lay trapped in a tome. The cunning creature, known by the unpronounceable eldritch name of “Grover” broke the fourth wall repeatedly and used reverse psychology to coax the child into turning page after page, breaking barrier after mystical barrier. The boy’s innocence and youthful feeling of invulnerability surmounted the power of the spells. Bobby is currently in protective custody in the pediatric wing of Arkham Sanitarium.
Earlier this year Danimal from the band OK Go attempted to win a staring contest against Animal from the Muppets.
But you can’t win a staring contest with Animal. Ever
This is why.
Happy Fourth of July to everyone celebrating the holiday weekend, and for everyone simply celebrating the regular weekend, Happy Friday! We’ll be posting as usual over the next few days, but in the meantime, let’s all sit back and enjoy some classic, Muppet-style patriotism courtesy of Sam the Eagle: keeping the world safe from weirdos since 1976...
Is that a lightsaber in your...silhouette...or are you happy to see this 50s-style Star Wars poster?
In a stunning reversal of traditional reporting, Bookgasm tracks the least popular search terms that still got people to the site. I’d hate to see ours!
A clock that eats flies, fine, but I draw the line at vertebrates-as-fuel. Ew.
A museum of the most interesting materials on the planet! I want to go play with the aerogel and the nano-composite everything. (via Futurismic)
“Mahna Mahna” grows up. djBC remixes familiar Muppet and Sesame Street music. (via BoingBoing)
Fantasy & Science Fiction announces an online workshop, and also mentions that attendees may get published in F&SF. Hmm. Over at Making Light, Patrick Nielsen Hayden responds.
[Below the cut, the new Harry Potter movie and the most famous alien jazz song ever.]
Funny, I was just reading about the insane amount of money that the Friday the 13th remake made, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but news of another remake of a film I hold dear. (Okay, so I’m not a poet.) The Kennedy/Marshall Co. (who brought you The Case of the Curiously Long Movie) and Leonard DiCaprio’s Appian Way production company have acquired rights to The NeverEnding Story. They are apparently in discussions with Warner Bros. about “reviving the 25-year-old franchise with a modern spin.”
This remake bug is damned infectious. (Total Recall? The Crow?) Remaking slasher films is just a way to repackage sequels so people will see them in the theater. But remaking iconic fantasy films like The NeverEnding Story is a challenge—to the genre, to the fans of the work—and it’s not one to be undertaken lightly.
