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?
I have, throughout my life, been known as something of a Generations apologist. My reasoning behind this is not at all balanced—I am more of an Original Series fan than a Next Gen one, and Generations, to me, had some interesting things to say about being Captain Kirk.
But in terms of a film meant to launch the Next Generation crew into their own slew of Hollywood blockbusters, it is perfectly fair to say that Generations is a meltdown of nuclear proportions. Let’s be real here.
In the U.S., radio plays do not have the popularity they once might have enjoyed years ago, but in the U.K. they are an enterprise that continues to flourish. Big Finish has given the many Doctors of Doctor Who new life with their audio dramas, and there are many more to chose from. But lately, good fans had been waiting excitedly for the radio adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. And with a cast counting James McAvoy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Natalie Dormer, David Harewood, and Christopher Lee among its number, it wasn’t hard to figure why.
I maintain that if The Lost World was not automatically pitted against Jurassic Park by virtue of being its sequel, people probably would have gotten a kick out of it.
That doesn’t change the fact that the movie couldn’t beat its predecessor without blindfolding it, hogtying it, and sending it into the raptor cage first, but come on—there’s nothing wrong with letting Dr. Ian Malcolm carry a film with a baby T-Rex in it. So why all the hostility?
[Probably has to do with that “dino eats the family dog” thing, right?]
The problem with being properly introduced to a new Doctor Who companion like Clara in a Christmas special (plus one episode beforehand, of course) is that we have to wait before we get to know her. It means that regardless of our theories we have very little to go on, that is, minus a few quirks and oddities. One could argue that it’s the hardest part of Who, adjusting to new companions, particularly because it happens far more often than the Doctor’s regeneration. Still, there are ideas cropping up everywhere, from a living meme theory to Clara being the Doctor and River’s daughter. (Let’s hope not, because of the kissing stuff.)
But the odd thing is that, dying and re-dying aside, Clara appears to be shaping up into a brunette version of Rose Tyler. The details are almost too specific to ignore.
The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles de Lint is many things, but first and foremost you should know that its entire plot does not revolve solely around cats. Cats are a catalyst, you might say, the first step on a road that leads a young girl on a long, difficult journey. It is less of a neat package that many stories of a similar ilk; unlike Dorothy and Lucy and Little Red, the culmination of young Lillian’s tale seems more of a footnote than each trial she faces in getting there. Her story has tiers, levels, steep grades that require scaling before any reward is in sight.
And if that doesn’t have you interested, the lovely illustrations by Charles Vess should do it.
We all know that your chances of getting bit by a radioactive spider in this reality are somewhat slim, but what science taketh away it can surely giveth in some other form, right? Turns out, if you want Spidey Sense, you may only have to wear some weird clothes. With wires and stuff. Hey, it’s the future?
While audiences have been treated to three or more fairy tale reimaginings a year lately, Hollywood gems have been few and far between. The new takes have either been too comical to be taken seriously (a la Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters) or too lackluster to leave an impression (Snow White and the Hunstman). So what made Jack the Giant Slayer stand out among their number?
Well, not shirking the origin story helped a lot for starters.
There’s a question that has been lurking at the back of Who fandom since… well really since the New Who season two episode “The Girl in the Fireplace.” I know some would argue that it’s the first and only question of Whovians everywhere, but in reality, asking the question “Doctor Who?” in any seriousness only began when Madame de Pompadour informed us all that it was something worth taking seriously.
It’s a question that has been on showrunner Steven Moffat’s mind, and one he seems intent on answering—whether we like it or not.
In many ways the conception of Valentine’s Day feels a bit like a science fiction thing, or at the very least, an urban legend. Unlike Saint Patrick, who totally, for real, drove snakes out of Ireland (maybe), details about exactly what Saint Valentine did are dubiously muddled and/or non-existent. The essential fact is this: at some point there was a Saint Valentine who was certainly a martyr, so it might as well be for love!
But when you stop to reflect on it, science fiction and fantasy is lousy with martyrs, and we probably know much more about them than we’ll ever know about Saint Valentine. Here are seven martyrs who keep sci-fi and fantasy going, mostly because they seem to always come back after they’ve died!
Though we know in our heart of hearts that the true meaning of Valentine’s Day is all about brutal martyrdom, it’s a little disheartening that the common reaction to the holiday is often kind of cynical and negative. While we’re not recommending that you go read a Nicholas Sparks novel or spend a bunch of money on bad chocolate or greeting cards, we do wonder: what’s so bad about romance? Or to put it another way, aren’t we allowed to love good love stories? In that spirit, here are eight love stories in science fiction or fantasy narratives that still make us weak in the knees (even if those knees are robotic).
There are a lot of big bangs (if you’ll beg my pardon) coming up in the Whoniverse lately to keep fans excited. We’ve got a brand new companion, the Doctor’s wearing waistcoats now, and the 50th anniversary special is coming. Still, as each year comes and goes, we’re forced to keep track of our leading man and our showrunner—we’ve had the team of Moffat and Smith since 2010, which begs the question of when the inevitable change-up is coming. It’s probably not too far off now.
No announcements have been made, so of course it’s too early to properly speculate on anything. But a bit of news grabbed my attention, and I couldn’t help but wonder….
Imagine there’s this universe where everyone thought the first Star Wars film was some awful kiddie flick, so a low-budget sequel was released in 1980 starring only Luke and Leia. The decidedly-not-brother-and-sister tried to recruit people to the Rebellion, got stuck on a planet with a mysterious Force-enhancing crystal and… got into a mud fight?
This is the alternate universe we might have lived in. Thankfully, Star Wars broke the box office bank and Alan Dean Foster’s Splinter of the Mind’s Eye was never a film. In fact, looking at it now, it’s only barely reconcilable as canon in the Expanded Universe. (And that’s saying something.)
It honestly feels like only a couple months ago (though a whole year has certainly passed) that Being Human made some very brave choices in their fourth season and changed their entire lineup, bringing stories to an end for George, Annie and little Eve. But Honolulu Heights is still occupied, and we’ve got a new team who has a lot to learn. One newly-minted ghost, one werewolf who is still getting used to having friends and his own room, and one vampire with OCD who just fell off the wagon after being clean for 60 years.
Alex, Tom, and Hal are going to need some house rules.
[And a rotor, and jobs, and some guy tied up in their basement… wait, what?]
Geeks of all stripes are in on a secret: being a fan is fun. And no matter where your obsessions lie, we share a whole lot in common; we read, we watch, we talk online, we theorize during downtime, we cosplay and meet at conventions. We can quote entire films back and forth, we read each other’s fanfics, we collect prop replicas... (Or is that last one just a me thing?)
And we also assimilate. Not in a creepy Borg kind of way, but it’s an interesting phenomenon all the same.
It’s at the point where the townsperson in Ye Olde Village is hocking milk sold in bottles with drawings of missing children tied onto them that you realize just what you signed up for in sitting down to watch Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.
Which doesn’t mean it’s bad... well, yes it is. It is really bad. But there are odd bits of redemption lingering in its depths that are truly baffling to behold. I should explain:
Right alongside the debut of King of the Nerds there’s a more romantic look at the dorkier side of life—Geek Love. (Not to be confused with Katherine Dunn’s book of the same name.) The title may sound familiar; it started as a show on TLC in 2011, meeting with its fair share of understandably ticked off reviews. For season 2, the production has been moved to YouTube, and the format for the show altered considerably. Three ten-minute episodes are currently available for your viewing pleasure.
On its second and much-improved round, is it a reasonable portrayal of the trials of speed dating? Yes, and you might be surprised just how much.
Over at The Chronicle Review, Camille Paglia stirred quite a few pots a while back by asserting that George Lucas might be the greatest artist of our time. It’s no surprise that your average appreciator is having a hard time with that statement, for a veritable walk-in closet’s worth of reasons. But I found myself won over by her argument in many places, particularly where she pointed to George Lucas’ myriad of influences and the fact that he is a primarily visual artist.
Which is when I decided to watch the Star Wars prequels with the sound off.
When I started reading Star Wars books at the tender age of ten-or-so, there weren’t so many that I couldn’t catch up to what was out there. But these days, that’s not entirely true (unless you want to read nothing but Star Wars books for the next few years). So let’s say you’d like to read a Star Wars book, but you come upon this veritable library of titles—where do you begin?
Here are a few fun suggestions based on taste, focus and more. Because everyone should read at least one Star Wars novel in their life.
It seems that ever since Peter Jackson announced that he was going to split The Hobbit into three movies, people have done nothing but predict disaster of epic proportions. Some immediately heralded the dawn of a new George Lucas, while others who had never been pleased with his interpretation of the initial Lord of the Rings trilogy triumphantly crowed, “I told you so!” to anyone within shouting distance.
So I’m awfully pleased to say it—The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is lovely. Please just go and enjoy it.
(Minor spoilers for the film.)
“Star Wars meets Ocean's Eleven” is the quick pitch for Star Wars: Scoundrels, but that sells the book short by a few parsecs. With Han, Luke and Leia on their way out in the Expanded Universe, quite a few novels have chosen to go back in time and flesh out the pieces that we missed. Naturally, that three year gap between A New Hope and Empire is the perfect ground for these sorts of adventures.
So Han Solo isn't quite a Rebel yet—he's trying to clear that bounty on his head, and the perfect job falls right in his lap. But Han's a smuggler, not a con man; it would seem that a team of special experts are required to pull off one of the biggest heists in galactic history.
