Friday, March 18, 2005
SciFi Roundup
It's been a little bit since I last did this, so there's quite a bit of science fiction that deserves some attention...
Trailers
Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith
I know I behind on this one, but you can see the Revenge of the Sith trailer here. Somehow, I sill prefer this trailer (h/t Christiana)
Star Wars - Revelations
Revelations is a major fan flick coming out on April 16. (what better way to unwind after Tax Day?) Its timeline appears to occur between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Here's a link to its trailer. The special effects actually look pretty good, though the actors are definitely not Hollywood actors. (h/t slashdot)
War of the Worlds
Coming out this June. (Official site here. It's horribly slow, so consider yourself forewarned.)
Fantastic Four
It's going to be a great summer with yet another SciFi Movie. (h/t Drezner)
New Hitchhiker's Trailer
A new trailer (quite amusing too) is available here.
Old TV Shows Made New
Battlestar Galactica
If you've missed out on the show so far, you can at least see the entire first episode here.
Dr Who
The first episode of the new Dr Who apparently leaked out onto the net. The BBC isn't happy about this and are looking into threatening downloaders with copyright laws. I think they could learn something from the SciFi Channel's treatment of Battlestar Galactica. Capt Xerox thinks the leak was done intentionally so the BBC's posturing my all be for show.
Legos and Scifi
What do legos have to do with SciFi? Ask Stephen Green.
Spiderman vs Doc Ock
In LEGOs in a yahoo quicktime movie.
Batman in Legos
On this site in another LEGO quicktime movie. It has actually has some amazing voice talent for an online movie (like Adam West as Batman). (h/t SFSignal)
Lego Starwars Demo
The Lego Starwars game mentioned in the previous roundup, now has a demo that you can download. (h/t SFSignal)
Fantasy
Technically not scifi, but why not?
The Hobbit
It appears to be in the works, but perhaps 3-4 years off according to this article.
LOTR - the Musical
is opening in Toronto next March.
Legend of Zelda Trailer
Yes, you read that right. A video game has its own trailer. (h/t Christiana)
Fantasy Bedtime Hour
The only thing better than fantasy? Having fantasy novels read to you by a couple chicks in bed it's the Fantasy Bedtime Hour. (h/t gnxp science fiction)
Some cool links I found via SFSignal
If you're not reading SFSignal daily for your SciFi fix, you should be.
The Physics of Science Fiction
Is discussed in this presentation interspersed with a transcription of the original speech. There's a lot of detailed discussion of the physics and stability of Ringworld. (SFSignal article)
George Takei Soundbourd
A very large collection of George Takei (Capt Sulu) is available here. (SFSignal article)
The Differences Between SciFi and Science Fiction
is discussed in this article. In short, the author posits that SciFi (cinematic Science Fiction) is concerned with stories where the characters are fighting to stop/avoid an event that will change the status quo (think Armegeddon or Deep Impact) whereas in Science Fiction (literary Science Fiction), the story follows the characters' attempts to adjust to the event (think Lucifer's Hammer). (SFSignal article)
Random Stuff
I couldn't find a good categorization for this stuff, but I thought you would like to see it nonetheless.
A Scifi role playing game
that you write as you go along on this site (h/t Nute)
Scifi for [fill in the blank] lists
For liberals (h/t The Mumpsimus)
For socialists
For just about everyone else. Though I think the list of "Science Fiction for people who think supreme executive power should be lodged in the candidate who possesses the memories of previous leaders" is lacking as it doesn't include the Serpentor series.
X-Files 2
Appears to be in the works according to Duchovny. However, it won't have anything to do with the alien storyline.
Andre Norton
The author of the Witch World series has died. (h/t Instapundit)
Wonder Woman Movie
Appears to be in the works.
Latex Costumes
You know you want one. (h/t boingboing)
Learn to Draw Boba Fett
You know you wanna.
Revenge of the Sith will be like the Titanic?
So says Lucas - "I describe it as a 'Titanic' in space. It's a real tearjerker, and it will be received in a way that none of us can expect."
Silly me, I was expecting bad ass light saber fights. Maybe when Vader kills Mace Windu, he'll exclaim, "I'm King of the World!!"
Polyscifi
H.P. LoveCraft in the WSJ
You know an author has finally been mainstreamed when he appears in a WSJ article.
Economics as Psychohistory
After noting an article by Kevin Drum which highlighted an economic study by econophysicists, Jon of QandO analogized the situation to Asimov's psychohistory.
Lucas - Idiot or Savant?
Over the past week there was a lengthy debate in the Corner on the Star Wars franchise and Lucas. This one is rather lengthy, so click through if you want to read the exchange.
It all started with Jonah's innocent note that Revenge of the Sith may be too scary for kids...
Rick, no fan of Lucas (or Spielberg - too much SouthPark methinks), chimed in with "[George Lucas] and Steven Spielberg are two of the most disastrous pop cultural figures of the last thirty years. They converted an entire medium to childishness--scary sharks, space men, Indiana Jones. Star Wars is bits of plastic put together with Scotch tape. There were clever moments here and there, and more often cheap thrills. But anything adult was banished."
Rick then added: "George Lucas made a hugely successful piece of rubbish. Steven Spielberg, in his wittier way, has made many more. And we have all suffered." and trashed John Williams ability as a composer noting that the man actually managed to rip himself off.
At this point, Jonathon Adler noted that Jason Apuzzo had hopped in to defend Lucas on Libertas as a follow up to Apuzzo's prior post. While the defense was all well and good, Apuzzo also insisted that Jonah, Last and others had no place criticizing Lucas as they weren't sufficiently learned in the art of movie making. Needless to say, this pissed off Jonah. I know I felt the same way in this thread though Apuzzo at least argued a point.
However, all this was ignored for a while as Jonah dropped the ball.
Finally, on Monday, someone emailed Jonah Apuzzo's second post, and Jonah went off. Jonah then got official approval to pontificiate froma an emailer here. The Derb weighed in wishing for more intelligent SciFi.
Jonah finally got back to Rick's original argument here listing several craptastic movies that came out before Lucas and Spielberg would've had a chance to ruin Hollywood. Then Jonah offered an email supporting his position an contra Rick's Speilberg Nazi position (they're silly) and defended Williams in the process.
Rick weighed back in here expressing an appreciation forScifi kitsch. And then added a comment in praise of Kubrick's choice of music in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Rick and Jonah adjourned to Atlanta with Jonah challenging Rick to a light saber duel.
Rick rejoined his Spielberg Nazi criticism here.
Apuzzo then got around to responding to Jonah, which Jonah noted here promising more. I suggest (for what that's worth) that both sides drop it and stop the unproductive portion of the Lucas debate.
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Trailers
Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith
I know I behind on this one, but you can see the Revenge of the Sith trailer here. Somehow, I sill prefer this trailer (h/t Christiana)
Star Wars - Revelations
Revelations is a major fan flick coming out on April 16. (what better way to unwind after Tax Day?) Its timeline appears to occur between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Here's a link to its trailer. The special effects actually look pretty good, though the actors are definitely not Hollywood actors. (h/t slashdot)
War of the Worlds
Coming out this June. (Official site here. It's horribly slow, so consider yourself forewarned.)
Fantastic Four
It's going to be a great summer with yet another SciFi Movie. (h/t Drezner)
New Hitchhiker's Trailer
A new trailer (quite amusing too) is available here.
Old TV Shows Made New
Battlestar Galactica
If you've missed out on the show so far, you can at least see the entire first episode here.
Dr Who
The first episode of the new Dr Who apparently leaked out onto the net. The BBC isn't happy about this and are looking into threatening downloaders with copyright laws. I think they could learn something from the SciFi Channel's treatment of Battlestar Galactica. Capt Xerox thinks the leak was done intentionally so the BBC's posturing my all be for show.
Legos and Scifi
What do legos have to do with SciFi? Ask Stephen Green.
Spiderman vs Doc Ock
In LEGOs in a yahoo quicktime movie.
Batman in Legos
On this site in another LEGO quicktime movie. It has actually has some amazing voice talent for an online movie (like Adam West as Batman). (h/t SFSignal)
Lego Starwars Demo
The Lego Starwars game mentioned in the previous roundup, now has a demo that you can download. (h/t SFSignal)
Fantasy
Technically not scifi, but why not?
The Hobbit
It appears to be in the works, but perhaps 3-4 years off according to this article.
LOTR - the Musical
is opening in Toronto next March.
Legend of Zelda Trailer
Yes, you read that right. A video game has its own trailer. (h/t Christiana)
Fantasy Bedtime Hour
The only thing better than fantasy? Having fantasy novels read to you by a couple chicks in bed it's the Fantasy Bedtime Hour. (h/t gnxp science fiction)
Some cool links I found via SFSignal
If you're not reading SFSignal daily for your SciFi fix, you should be.
The Physics of Science Fiction
Is discussed in this presentation interspersed with a transcription of the original speech. There's a lot of detailed discussion of the physics and stability of Ringworld. (SFSignal article)
George Takei Soundbourd
A very large collection of George Takei (Capt Sulu) is available here. (SFSignal article)
The Differences Between SciFi and Science Fiction
is discussed in this article. In short, the author posits that SciFi (cinematic Science Fiction) is concerned with stories where the characters are fighting to stop/avoid an event that will change the status quo (think Armegeddon or Deep Impact) whereas in Science Fiction (literary Science Fiction), the story follows the characters' attempts to adjust to the event (think Lucifer's Hammer). (SFSignal article)
Random Stuff
I couldn't find a good categorization for this stuff, but I thought you would like to see it nonetheless.
A Scifi role playing game
that you write as you go along on this site (h/t Nute)
Scifi for [fill in the blank] lists
For liberals (h/t The Mumpsimus)
For socialists
For just about everyone else. Though I think the list of "Science Fiction for people who think supreme executive power should be lodged in the candidate who possesses the memories of previous leaders" is lacking as it doesn't include the Serpentor series.
X-Files 2
Appears to be in the works according to Duchovny. However, it won't have anything to do with the alien storyline.
Andre Norton
The author of the Witch World series has died. (h/t Instapundit)
Wonder Woman Movie
Appears to be in the works.
Latex Costumes
You know you want one. (h/t boingboing)
Learn to Draw Boba Fett
You know you wanna.
Revenge of the Sith will be like the Titanic?
So says Lucas - "I describe it as a 'Titanic' in space. It's a real tearjerker, and it will be received in a way that none of us can expect."
Silly me, I was expecting bad ass light saber fights. Maybe when Vader kills Mace Windu, he'll exclaim, "I'm King of the World!!"
Polyscifi
H.P. LoveCraft in the WSJ
You know an author has finally been mainstreamed when he appears in a WSJ article.
Economics as Psychohistory
After noting an article by Kevin Drum which highlighted an economic study by econophysicists, Jon of QandO analogized the situation to Asimov's psychohistory.
Lucas - Idiot or Savant?
Over the past week there was a lengthy debate in the Corner on the Star Wars franchise and Lucas. This one is rather lengthy, so click through if you want to read the exchange.
It all started with Jonah's innocent note that Revenge of the Sith may be too scary for kids...
Rick, no fan of Lucas (or Spielberg - too much SouthPark methinks), chimed in with "[George Lucas] and Steven Spielberg are two of the most disastrous pop cultural figures of the last thirty years. They converted an entire medium to childishness--scary sharks, space men, Indiana Jones. Star Wars is bits of plastic put together with Scotch tape. There were clever moments here and there, and more often cheap thrills. But anything adult was banished."
Rick then added: "George Lucas made a hugely successful piece of rubbish. Steven Spielberg, in his wittier way, has made many more. And we have all suffered." and trashed John Williams ability as a composer noting that the man actually managed to rip himself off.
At this point, Jonathon Adler noted that Jason Apuzzo had hopped in to defend Lucas on Libertas as a follow up to Apuzzo's prior post. While the defense was all well and good, Apuzzo also insisted that Jonah, Last and others had no place criticizing Lucas as they weren't sufficiently learned in the art of movie making. Needless to say, this pissed off Jonah. I know I felt the same way in this thread though Apuzzo at least argued a point.
However, all this was ignored for a while as Jonah dropped the ball.
Finally, on Monday, someone emailed Jonah Apuzzo's second post, and Jonah went off. Jonah then got official approval to pontificiate froma an emailer here. The Derb weighed in wishing for more intelligent SciFi.
Jonah finally got back to Rick's original argument here listing several craptastic movies that came out before Lucas and Spielberg would've had a chance to ruin Hollywood. Then Jonah offered an email supporting his position an contra Rick's Speilberg Nazi position (they're silly) and defended Williams in the process.
Rick weighed back in here expressing an appreciation forScifi kitsch. And then added a comment in praise of Kubrick's choice of music in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Rick and Jonah adjourned to Atlanta with Jonah challenging Rick to a light saber duel.
Rick rejoined his Spielberg Nazi criticism here.
Apuzzo then got around to responding to Jonah, which Jonah noted here promising more. I suggest (for what that's worth) that both sides drop it and stop the unproductive portion of the Lucas debate.
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