We’ve known since Disney’s Investor Day presentation in December 2020 that the House of Mouse has big plans for the Alien franchise as a streaming series for FX. The studio even tapped Fargo’s Noah Hawley to develop it. Though it took a while to learn more about the show, the latest developments have been big ones. According to Deadline, the Alien series has cast Timothy Olyphant in a major role. The site reports he players Kirsh, a synth. Additionally, Hawley recently shared a bit of insight about what we can expect from the series, including when we might see it finally release.

When Will Noah Hawley’s Alien TV Series Release?

There’s no firm date yet for Noah Hawley’s Alien TV series to arrive on FX and our screens. However, speaking to The Wrap, Hawley offered a little bit more of a timeline for the release of this anticipated show.

He offered, “We’re all just waiting for the strike, and it will end… The plan right now is to go back in January and be shooting in February, and looks like shoot until July or so, which puts the air date somewhere in the in the first half of ’25.” Hawley further noted to Deadline, “We’re getting back into production as quickly as possible.”

There you have it, the Alien series will most likely release somewhere in early 2025. That’s not too long to wait.

The Cast of FX’s Alien TV Series

As mentioned, Sydney Chandler will play one of the leads in Noah Hawley’s Alien TV series, reportedly named Wendy. Chandler is joined by The End of the F*cking World‘s Alex Lawther who will play the male lead, a soldier named CJ, and Samuel Blenkin, who is named as another main character, a mysterious CEO called Boy Kavalier. Essie Davis and Adarsh Gourav also join the series as Dame Silvia and Slightly.

According to Deadline, Shadow and Bone‘s Kit Young has also come aboard the FX Alien series and will play a character named Tootles. And, as mentioned, Timothy Olyphant will reportedly play “Kirsh, a synth who acts as a mentor and trainer for Chandler’s Wendy, who is a hybrid, a meta-human who has the brain and consciousness of a child but the body of an adult.” Fargo‘s David Rysdahl has also joined the cast in an unknown role.

Finally, Babou Ceesay, Jonathan Ajayi, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Diêm Camille, and Adrian Edmondson will all play a role on the series.

The Setting, Plot, and Timeline of Noah Hawley’s Alien TV Series

While speaking to Esquire about his novel Anthem, Hawley spilled a little more tea about the series. And he gave fans of the Xenomorph some things to ponder. Here’s what Hawley had to say about his Alien TV series:

“It’s set on Earth of the future. At this moment, I describe that as Edison versus Westinghouse versus Tesla. Someone’s going to monopolize electricity. We just don’t know which one it is. In the movies, we have this Weyland-Yutani Corporation, which is clearly also developing artificial intelligence. But what if there are other companies trying to look at immortality in a different way? With cyborg enhancements or transhuman downloads? Which of those technologies is going to win? It’s ultimately a classic science fiction question: does humanity deserve to survive?”

Additionally, according to Slash Film, Hawley offered that the show was inspired by a specific moment from Alien. He noted, “There’s that moment you realize Ian Holm [who plays Ash] is an android where you go, ‘Oh, this is really interesting now, because this is humanity trapped between the primordial past and the AI future, and they’re both trying to kill us.'”

As we guessed before, the Weyland-Yutani Corp., otherwise known simply as “the Company,” are likely the new Alien series’ “Big Bads.” But we’re still unclear about a lot of things. For starters, how will all this tie into the ongoing Xenomorph saga? After all, they call this show Alien, not “Android.” So we’re going to have to see the acid-blooded bad boys at some point. Otherwise, it will disappoint a great deal of very disappointed fans out there.

The Series’ Plot

Speaking to this, Hawley recently commented on the presence of the aliens in the new series. He offered that the movies “always [mimic] the life cycle of the creature, right? Which is egg, slow, Facehugger, starts to get faster — you know what I mean? And, of course, that’s great for a horror movie to build that way. So I found a way to kind of innovate around that structure and play with it.” He didn’t add more detail about how the structure of the Facehuggers’ life would come into play or be updated, but it’s good to know the Xenomorphs are on Hawley’s mind.

Additionally, Hawley noted more about the difference between the new Alien FX series and the movies that originated it, offering, “Look, a two-hour movie, you can set it up, and then it’s just about, ‘Are they going to survive?’ But if you’re making a series, ‘Are they going to survive?’, you can’t sustain it. Even if you have 60% of the best action-horror on television, you still have 40% of ‘What are we talking about?'”

That makes sense to us, and we can’t wait to see how the Alien series manages all these different expectations.

The Series’ Timeline

Another big question is when does the Alien TV series happen with respect to the movies? Prometheus takes place in 2089, while Alien: Covenant takes place in 2104. The original Alien takes place exactly 100 years from now, in 2122. The events of Aliens occur some 57 years later in 2179, with Alien Resurrection finishing things a whopping two hundred years later. And Weyland-Yutani exists in all these eras.

But happily, we now know a little bit more about where the show will land in the timeline. FX Chief John Landgraf shared an update on the Alien series at a TCA winter panel for the network.

He said, “Alien takes place before Ripley. It’s the first story that takes place in the Alien franchise on Earth. So, it takes place on our planet. Right near the end of this century, we’re in — so 70-odd years from now. Ripley won’t be a part of it or any of the other characters of Alien other than the alien itself.” That’s right folks, no Sigourney Weaver. We’re sad, on the one hand, but excited for more specificity on the other.

Really though, all we want is one good chestburster scene. Is that too much to ask? The Alien series does not yet have a release date.

Originally published on January 5, 2022. 

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The Creator is one of the most visually impressive science fiction movies I have ever seen. After years of Hollywood giving us rushed, incomplete, unconvincing CGI, the film delivers an absolute special effects knockout. The movie’s artificial intelligence robots look completely real. As do the advanced technology and large-scale settings that populate the futuristic world of the film. It’s hard to see the proverbial seams between VFX, actual actors, and practical effects. And if The Creator‘s story and dialogue were even half as good as its aesthetics it would be a truly great sci-fi entry. Unfortunately they’re not even close to that, and they result in an entertaining but frustrating tale bogged down by trite concepts, underdeveloped and underutilized ideas, and a clunky script.

The Creator from writer-director Gareth Edwards (Rogue One) is worth watching simply because the film looks that good. It’s the kind of top-notch spectacle that reminds you why some movies deserve the biggest screen possible. The film’s Earth of 2065 is also a fully realized one that is compelling to explore even if the story being told within it isn’t. It’s a place where true artificial intelligence has led to all-out war between A.I.-hating America and A.I.-embracing “New Asia.” Edwards fully fleshes out this dangerous sci-fi realm with a deft combination of macro and micro world-building elements. (The many smaller details that populate The Creator will make rewatches especially rewarding.) Together those aspects make the movie an immersive experience that is easy to get lost in.

At least it is when no one is talking, because far too often The Creator suffers from dialogue that is heavy-handed, cliché, or downright hokey. Eye-rolling lines constantly ruin the film’s immersive qualities. And those lines happen way too much in a movie where the rest of the dialogue is rarely great and usually mediocre. None of its attempts at humor work, either. Cutting out any and all “levity” from The Creator would be an improvement.

As for its explorations of A.I., imperialism, the United States’ military industrial complex, and what it means to have a soul, there’s nothing new here, either. The story—centered around the hunt for both the robot’s human god (Nirmata) and the robot savior (a special, powerful robot child/weapon named Alfie)—doesn’t delve into anything you haven’t seen or read many times before. That would be fine, except there’s little to no variation on what those ideas could mean. Ultimately all of the movie’s themes feels trite and uninspired.

The plot always goes exactly where you think it’s headed, too. And the few times it seems like it might head somewhere original and interesting it either doesn’t or simply glosses over a tantalizing concept. For a movie that combines so many inherently rich storytelling genres—it’s part love story, part redemption tale, an anti-war screed, a reflection on the role of technology in our lives, a religious allegory, and a story of acceptance—The Creator plays it frustratingly safe.

Fortunately the movie’s stellar cast saves the script from totally sinking the movie. Lead star John David Washington, along with Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, and Sturgill Simpson, all give compelling, believable performances. Allison Janney also stands out as an aggrieved mother and soldier intent on destroying A.I. forever. Young Madeleine Yuna Voyles, the kid robot at the heart of the film, delivers just that. Alfie is responsible for most of the movie’s true moments of pathos. (Unfortunately the script also saddles her with some of the cringiest lines.)

If that sounds like an uneven, frustrating movie that’s exactly what it is. The Creator would be a much better film if it cut 80% of its dialogue. It excels when no one is speaking. It would also be far more interesting and compelling if it wasn’t so predictable and tread very familiar ground.. And yet, when the credits rolled on the film I was glad I’d seen it. If nothing else it’s incredible to look at. I liked spending time in a world where robots feel as real as people. The problem is when the credits rolled I was also glad it was over. It’s not fun spending time with people who speak like robots.

⭐ (3 of 5)

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on  Twitter and  Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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It’s a complicated time for the prospect of artificial intelligence. More than ever, it seems like all the movies warning us about the threat of A.I. have more than a little merit to them. The latest of this ilk, a movie called The Creator, from Rogue One director, Gareth Edwards, seems to really understand the dangers posed by giving A.I. too much power and control over our lives. But at the same time, it also goes out of its way to humanize the artificial intelligence—a fascinating prospect. Where exactly The Creator falls on the morality of A.I. isn’t clear from its first full trailer. But we’re excited to explore more of this new sci-fi world. And we’ll have a chance to view it in a couple of different ways. The Creator will be released in theaters and IMAX.

The Creator‘s Official Trailer and Synopsis

Take a look at The Creator‘s official trailer below.

The synopsis for The Creator illuminates more of the plot we see in the trailer. It shares:

Amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, Joshua (John David Washington), a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife (Gemma Chan), is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war… and mankind itself.  Joshua and his team of elite operatives journey across enemy lines, into the dark heart of AI-occupied territory… only to discover the world-ending weapon he’s been instructed to destroy is an AI in the form of a young child. 

Joshua even reminds the A.I. child to buckle its seatbelt in The Creator‘s teaser trailer above. But does a childlike form really change anything? We’ll just have to wait and see. As mentioned, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘s Gareth Edwards directs the movie, so it definitely has that going for it.

The Creator‘s Theatrical and IMAX Release Date

20th Century Studios‘ The Creator releases in movie theaters on September 29. The Creator will also be released in IMAX theaters on that date.

Originally published on May 17, 2023.

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Would you leave behind the person you love the most to travel the cosmos? Obviously that’s not an easy question. It’s one that gets even harder if your journey would force your spouse into years of solitude they might not survive. But what if there was a way to make sure they weren’t alone? That would to seem to make the choice at least a little easier, but that’s far from the case in the first trailer for FOE starring Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal. Because the only thing worse than leaving your wife might be leaving her with a robot version of yourself.

Amazon Studios’ upcoming film, which also stars Aaron Pierre, might look like inspired by the recent episode of Black Mirror starring Aaron Paul. But it’s based on best-selling author Iain Reid’s 2018 novel. His story certainly wouldn’t be out of place on the Netflix series. Here’s the official synopsis for FOE to bring its trailer into clearer focus:

Hen & Junior farm a secluded piece of land that has been in Junior’s family for generations, but their quiet life is thrown into turmoil when an uninvited stranger shows up at their door with a startling proposal. Starring Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, and Aaron Pierre, Foe’s mesmerizing imagery and persistent questions about the nature of humanity (and artificial humanity) bring the not-too-distant future to luminous life.

Directed by Garth Davis with a script from him and Reid, Amazon Studios’ also says the film is “a haunting exploration of marriage and identity set in an uncertain world.”

This is the latest big screen adaptation for Reid. Charlie Kaufman brought the author’s debut novel I’m Thinking of Ending Things to Netflix in 2020. Maybe Hen and Junior should keep that in mind. Watching movies is probably a much less problematic way of dealing with your spouse’s absence than living with a robot of them.

FOE comes to theaters in the U.S. on October 6, 2023. It arrives in Canada a week later on October 13.

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We love ourselves some Judy Greer here at Nerdist. Put her in more things. Put her in everything! She’s always good. When she was in Halloween (2018)? We loved it! (And subsequently we did not love what happened in Halloween Kills.) Greer takes center stage in Aporia, a new sci-fi thriller which is set to premiere at the 2023 Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal. In it, Greer deals with debilitating grief by messing with time. It doesn’t go how she wants. Take a look at the trailer below.

Aporia feels like a mix of Primer and The Butterfly Effect, but completely centered around loss. Greer’s character so badly wants her husband (Edi Gathegi) back that she allows a machine to send a “bullet” through time. The results aren’t just as clean as “yay, my husband’s back!” Wouldn’t be much of a movie if they were, yeah?

The movie comes from writer-director Jared Moshe and also stars Payman Maadi. Gathegi, as you probably recently learned, will play Mister Terrific in James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy. Check out the cool poster below as well.

Aporia will have its world premiere at Fantasia Film Festival on July 27 ahead of the film’s August 11 US theatrical release.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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If you haven’t watched Foundation‘s first season, it’s time to catch up. Because season two will soon arrive on our screens in fine fashion. Foundation has officially revealed its summer release date and shared the first teaser trailer for its second season. This futuristic sci-fi series on Apple TV+ had us at the edge of our seats during its first ten episodes. And we are absolutely ready to blast off into more Lee Pace, Jared Harris, and Foundation as a whole. Take a look at season two’s trailer below and get ready for an uprising.

Foundation Season Two Trailer, Clip, and Release Date

“All empires fall,” reads the description for Foundation season two. And we certainly see there are many struggles ahead for the universe and its characters. War is coming, and it’s inevitable. But thankfully, the power of belief is strong in the forces of the rebellion. Foundation season two’s official trailer promises us an epic season is on the way.

Of course, it also promises us that we’ll see a lot of Lee Pace in, eh, not a lot. A new Foundation season two clip reveals Pace in a fight for his life that includes blood, beheading, and a lot of body. It definitely does the job of hyping the season.

A release from Apple TV+ shares:

More than a century after the season one finale, tension mounts throughout the galaxy in “Foundation” season two. As the Cleons unravel, a vengeful queen plots to destroy Empire from within. Hari, Gaal and Salvor discover a colony of Mentalics with psionic abilities that threaten to alter psychohistory itself. The Foundation has entered its religious phase, promulgating the Church of Seldon throughout the Outer Reach and inciting the Second Crisis: war with Empire. The monumental adaptation of “Foundation” chronicles the stories of four crucial individuals transcending space and time as they overcome deadly crises, shifting loyalties and complicated relationships that will ultimately determine the fate of humanity.

Foundation season two releases on July 14. New episodes will debut weekly through September 15.

Foundation Season Two First Look Images

Foundation season two also shared a slew of first-look images. The above was our very first glimpse of Foundation‘s second season. We won’t say the most important part is Lee Pace in a fishnet shirt… But we will say, it doesn’t hurt. The show knows how to deliver an aesthetic. And it knows its audience.

Click To View Gallery

Foundation Season Two Cast

Joining the original cast in Foundation season two are also ten new stars. We also have descriptions of their characters that add a bit of context to what next season might entail.

Isabella Laughland as Brother Constant, a cheerfully confident claric whose job is to evangelize the Church of the Galactic Spirit across the Outer Reach. Constant is a true believer, whose courage and passion make her hard not to love.

Kulvinder Ghir as Poly Verisof, High Claric of the Church of the Galactic Spirit. Whip-smart and sardonic, he’s also a terrible drunk—intelligent enough to see the path he’s on, but too cynical to change.

Sandra Yi Sencindiver as Enjoiner Rue, the beautiful, politically savvy consigliere to Queen Sareth. A former courtesan to Cleon the 16th, Rue parlayed her status to become a royal counsellor.

Ella-Rae Smith as Queen Sareth of Cloud Dominion. Used to being underestimated, Sareth employs it to her advantage, charming her way into the Imperial Palace with biting wit, all while on a secret quest for revenge.

Dimitri Leonidas as Hober Mallow, a master trader with a sarcastic personality and questionable morals, who is summoned against his will to serve a higher, selfless cause.

Ben Daniels as Bel Roise, the last great general of the Superliminal Fleet and would-be conqueror of the Foundation. Bel is noble to a fault, but his fealty to the Galactic Empire is waning.

Holt McCallany as Warden Jaegger Fount, the current Warden of Terminus and guardian of its citizens against external threats.

Mikael Persbrandt as The Warlord of Kalgan, a monster of a man, coiled with muscle and possessing powerful psychic abilities, and fueled by hate in his quest to take over the galaxy.

Rachel House as Tellem Bond, mysterious leader of the Mentallics.

Nimrat Kaur as Yanna Seldon.

It looks like we’ll be seeing many new players in season two. From sarcastic cynics to angry warlords to savvy politicians. The world of Foundation is about to grow even more. And we feel excited about that. After all, the more mysterious leaders and quests for revenge in space, the better. Sci-fi interstellar dramas have always brought us excellent world-building. And we have no doubt season two of Foundation will follow in that tradition.

While You Wait for Foundation Season Two

If you have watched season one already, and feel impatient for more, here’s something to tide you over in the meanwhile.

Lee Pace may not don fishnet in this interview, but he certainly has a lot to say about the show and his character. We can’t wait to hear what he has to say about the show as season two approaches.

Originally published on May 11, 2023.

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Science fiction is fun because physics and lack of technology aren’t constraints. You can create any building or vehicle you can imagine, no matter how big or fast. Just as important, though is that you don’t have to worry about tedious things like budgets or having enough building materials. And when you’re free to make anything you want, no matter how ludicrous, you can get really, really outrageous. But as this new starships size comparison video shows, even when you think you’ve dreamed up something so enormous it defies belief, someone else has made something even more ridiculous.

And that something is Ringworld.

The fantastic YouTube channel MetaBallStudios from Álvaro Gracia Montoya is back with another size comparison video, and this time we’re looking at more starships than we can count. Previously he’s shown us the difference in scope between fictional creatures and planets. But this latest size comparison video is an extra-long, updated version of different fictional starships. It might also be his most incredible video yet.

Starting with the tiny Hocotate ship from Pikmin, which stands less than a foot tall at 30 centimeters, this video takes us through some of the most famous star crafts in pop culture. Of which there are a lot. And every time you think, “Wow, that’s bigger than I realized,” like with an Imperial-I Class Star Destroyer from Star Wars, you realize how small a lot of these other starships are in the world of sci-fi.

It’s when you get to the Borg’s Cube that you first come to appreciate how gigantic some of these starships really are, we guess that’s where the size comparison comes in. Then they get bigger. And bigger. And bigger. Until you’re no longer talking about anything the human mind can even comprehend. Because it’s impossible to truly understand the enormity of our Sun. So how can anyone process the scope of Star Trek‘s Dyson Sphere?

And Ringworld easily surrounds that.

How big would a galaxy have to be to even have enough materials to build something that big? Forget defying physics; the coolest thing about fictional starships is defying resource limits. We wonder if, in a future iteration of this starships size comparison video, a ship will ever top Ringworld.

Originally published September 30, 2020.

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Regardless of the role he plays, Adam Driver makes an impression. This time, it’s as Commander Mills in 65. The sci-fi film sees Driver end up in a parallel universe with a young charge—a parallel universe that involves prehistoric Earth. That means dinosaurs and all the danger inherent to that type of environment. When we talked to Driver and his costar Ariana Greenblatt, who plays Koa, about the movie, we discussed how Driver’s performances often make such an impression that they lead to memes.

We’re not surprised that Driver doesn’t have a favorite Adam Driver meme. We will forever hold him saying “meme factory” close to our hearts, though. Greenblatt, however, definitely has a favorite one, and it’s the “good soup” meme. Though “good soup” spread around TikTok in 2021, it’s actually from a 2017 episode of Girls.

Greenblatt mentioned whenever she posts about 65 on social media, she gets a lot of “good soup” in her DMs. We kind of hope she’s shared this with Driver at some point.

Now, will there be good soup in 65? It seems unlikely that the action adventure leaves much time for lingering over meals. But perhaps the film will give us more memeable Driver moments. Watch the trailer to get a taste of the movie and its dino-terrors.

If we’d trust anyone to get us through prehistoric danger, it’s Driver’s Mills. Koa is in good hands.

65 arrives in theaters tomorrow, March 10.

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Could we have a better word scramble to describe a trailer? I don’t think so. But that is exactly what happens in the trailer for sci-fi thriller 65. Adam Driver’s character adopts a young girl after their space travels go awry. Luckily for them, the planet they land on has drinkable water and a breathable atmosphere… It’s actually Earth. Unluckily for them, this planet is earth 65 million years ago, and it also has dinosaurs. Who may or may not be of an extra-killer variety? When we think about futuristic space travel movies, we don’t often think of adding pre-historic creatures into the mix. But really, why not have dinosaurs running around? And they are just the backdrop to Adam Driver’s journey toward understanding the meaning of family? Sign us up.

Check out the first trailer for 65 right here:

As if all of that weren’t enough, the trailer description for 65 reminds us that this movie comes “from the writers of A Quiet Place and producer Sam Raimi.” So we know that although the premise seems absurd, this movie will likely offer us an amazing adventure. A Quiet Place became a sensation in 2018 and offered us one of the most interesting horror conceits in recent history. And, of course, we know Sam Raimi knows what’s what. Of course, we trust Adam Driver’s acting with our lives. So altogether, 65 has one strong team.

The full synopsis of the movie reveals a little more about its plot and clarifies what we saw already in the 65 trailer.

After a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, pilot Mills (Adam Driver) quickly discovers he’s actually stranded on Earth…65 million years ago. Now, with only one chance at rescue, Mills and the only other survivor, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), must make their way across an unknown terrain riddled with dangerous prehistoric creatures in an epic fight to survive. From the writers of A Quiet Place and producer Sam Raimi comes 65, a sci-fi thriller starring Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt, and Chloe Coleman. Written, directed, and produced by Scott Beck & Bryan Woods – the film is also produced by Sam Raimi, Deborah Liebling and Zainab Azizi.

Space travel and time travel do go hand in hand. The further you get out into space from a point, the more differently you experience time as compared to your original location. We’re not sure how Adam Driver achieves time travel at one point in time and space in 65. But, hey, we’re game to find out. And to watch him take on the dinos. And to watch him become a good dad. Basically, we feel ready for this movie. The second trailer for 65 only builds on that excitement, focusing on dinos and dads.

65 releases in theaters on March 10.

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Space-faring ships that turn out to be alive are nothing new in science fiction. There’s more entries every year, but the leviathans often have similarities to previous versions. Many of them are whale-like, with interior corridors that look like the belly of the beast. Some even sing like whales. But while there’s plenty of overdone tropes in science fiction, what exactly constitutes life and sentience is one that is still interesting. As humanity’s understanding of non-human sentient life deepens over time, we continue to explore this concept in our entertainment as well. Here’s some of our favorite living “ships” from TV and film.

Jean Jacket (Nope)

Nope is the latest sci-fi movie to introduce a living ship. The flying saucer turns out to be an animal rather than a typical UFO. Technically it does carry passengers, for a little while at least. Then it eats them. If only we humans weren’t so delicious and nutritious. The real animals that inspired Jean Jacket’s design—urchins, cuttlefish, squid, and other ocean life— are not really a threat to us. But when a large alien shows those same unfamiliar behaviors, it’s a lot more scary.

Jordan Peele consulted scientists to make his predator more realistic and comment on the dangers of trying to control nature. That’s a tale many of the sentient ship stories that came before tell, and will likely remain a sci-fi theme for years to come since humanity hasn’t yet taken it to heart.

TARDIS (Doctor Who)

The TARDIS is clearly a sentient ship and seems to actually be alive. At one point, it transforms into a woman and we get to hear its “voice” and get a peek into its “soul.” But is it alive or is that just Gallifreyan AI? The TARDIS certainly seems to have a life and mind of its own, making decisions and showing some level of warmth and love towards The Doctor. And, a TARDIS is not built by beings, but rather grown, which indicates that it is itself a living being that operates as a ship.

This is surely a debatable one among some fans; however, there is an episode of Doctor Who where there is a more clear-cut living ship. In “The Beast Below,” the monsters of the week aren’t Daleks or Weeping Angels—they’re humans. Survivors from Earth have captured the last star whale and they torture it into obediently carrying their “civilization” on its back. Anyone who protests after learning of the animal’s captivity is summarily fed to the whale. Amy Pond saves the creature, who just wanted to help instead of harm others.

Moya and Talyn (Farscape)

Farscape’s ship Moya is biological, a species called leviathans. Just like our heroes are escaped prisoners, Moya is an escaped prison ship. The Peacekeepers used a collar to control her and inhibit her abilities. She is bonded with Pilot, an enormous Henson puppet that is the crew’s connection to their ship. Both suffer when they’re apart. In certain storylines, the rest of Moya‘s flawed crew tests this interconnectedness and grapples with their treatment of both the ship and Pilot.

Throughout the series, Moya sometimes goes off on her own missions. She even gives birth to a baby ship, Talyn, who is actually a hybrid. Part Peacekeeper ship, he is covered in weapons and harder to communicate with. Farscape offers plenty of takes on life and love and is often unexpected and weird. Perhaps our crew of misfits grappling with the morality of living on a sentient ship is actually the most normal thing they ever do.

Vorlons and Shadows (Babylon 5)

Now that the show has finally been upgraded to HD, it’s time for a full rewatch. Both the Vorlon and Shadow ships are biological and at least semi-sentient. They act instinctively and can heal from attacks and even adapt their defenses. Though it’s highly guarded technology, Sheridan and his crew learn a little bit about them during the Shadow War. But they don’t really ponder the ethics of destroying these ships. Instead, the unfamiliar technology of living ships is merely fascinating.

The Vorlons and Shadows are ancient enemies, but there are many similarities in their fleet of biological ships. Between conflicts, the ships disperse and hibernate, standing ready for the next sign of trouble. They need to bond with a pilot so even though there’s a billion Vorlon ships, the relatively small number of Vorlons themselves mean much of the fleet is out of service. The ships communicate telepathically, another recurring theme in sci-fi. They even sing.

Gomtuu (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Multiple species that use biological ships exist in the Star Trek galaxy. The episode “Tin Man” in The Next Generation‘s third season revolves around making first contact with a new life form. The Enterprise finds the being hanging out near a supernova in Romulan-occupied space. The infallible bridge crew respects its right to exist but is also wary of its powerful abilities. Luckily, they have a powerful Betazoid named Tam aboard who is able to communicate with it telepathically.

Tam learns its name is Gomtuu and it hasn’t seen another of its kind in thousands of years. The species evolved to live symbiotically with passengers and Gomtuu is lonely now that its crew is dead. Tam is also isolated (and kind of a jerk) because he is bombarded with everyone’s telepathic thoughts. You can see where this is going, right? Tam beams aboard to help save Gomtuu from both the supernova and the Romulans. They end up bonding and finding the companionship they both need.

Species 8472’s bio-ships (Star Trek: Voyager)

Later in Trek history, Voyager introduces the much more ominous Species 8472. So named by the Borg, both the aliens and their ships are organic life. They are impervious to both Borg and Federation technology, leading to the unlikely temporary alliance that introduces Seven of Nine to Voyager‘s crew. The bioships have plenty of traits we’ve seen before and will see again. They regenerate when damaged and can communicate telepathically with Kes.

Species 8472 lives in another realm called fluidic space, which we’ll have to ask the Star Trek science advisor about, because we have no idea what that means. Though allegiances flip-flop multiple times during the two-part “Scorpion” storyline, Voyager ultimately defeats 8472 in the Delta Quadrant. And because it’s Star Trek, Leonardo da Vinci (played by John Rhys-Davies) is somehow involved in the conflict.

Biblical stories about Leviathans and other sea monsters have made way for science fiction fantasies about sentient ships. The morality lessons we tell about the ethical treatment of animals, even if they do pose a threat to us, are important. They can also be entertaining, too! We hope to see many more living ships in science fiction yet to come.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Science fiction is a vast and long-running genre that pushes our imaginations to the brink, taking us into imaginative worlds and futures. Space sagas like the Star Wars franchise make the universe seem even more vast. Groundbreaking dramas akin to The Matrix films examine humanity and our possible futures. Countless movies, TV shows, and books fall into this category, thrilling us with their stories. While it is nearly impossible to pinpoint the first ever science fiction story because, well, human imagination predates text and video, this genre does have a huge milestone movie. And, you can actually watch it on HBO Max (in color) as well as YouTube. The first ever sci-fi film, aptly titled A Trip to the Moon, is a silent, short, and very trippy ride, indeed. 

A Trip to the Moon‘s Ambitious Plot

A Trip to the Moon (French: Le Voyage dans la Lune) is a 1902 short film by director and writer Georges Méliès. We will dig into his history and how this film came to fruition later. But let’s start things off with explaining what A Trip to the Moon is about. Astronomy Club president Professor Barbenfouillis proposes a trip to the moon to his colleagues. After some discussion, several of them (including the infamous Nostradamus) agree to go on the adventure.

They devise a plan to use a space capsule that is shaped like a bullet and shoot it out of a very large cannon straight into the moon. They accomplish their mission but not without hitting the Man in the Moon right in his eye. (We will talk about that shot later, too.) After arriving, they hop out of the capsule and explore this new surrounding. And boy do things get very sci-fi and odd. You have to see it to believe what is transpiring. The travelers make a few discoveries and have to make their way home to tell the world of their exploits. It is meant to be rather satirical in nature while also taking some digs at colonialism and imperialism.

Is A Trip to the Moon a bit creepy by today’s standards? Sure. Most silent films are quite theatrical and wonderfully strange to the modern eye. The wild costumes and jaunty music also amplify its odd factor. But the plot is incredibly ambitious for that time period and the first sci-fi film pulls it off quite well.

A Trip to the Moon’s History, Inspirations, and Filming Challenges

Star Film Company/Lobster Films/Groupama-gan/Technicolor

Prior to this film, Méliès was an accomplished stage actor and illusionist with an eye for cinema. He began shooting his first films in 1896, setting standards by utilizing early versions of special effects like time-lapse photography and stop tricks. Méliès work would frequently dive into the strange and surreal while blending in his theater background, all of which certainly show up in A Trip to the Moon. The director affirmed that Jules Vernes’ novels From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and Around the Moon (1870) were major influences for the film’s overall storyline. The former book follows a club of weapons enthusiasts who want to build a massive gun to shoot people into space while the latter digs deeper into the aftermath of that effort. We get both of those narratives packed into this film. 

A Trip to the Moon was a challenging feat for Méliès as his longest film at the time (approx. 8-12 minutes for various cuts) with a relatively large budget (10,000 Francs), lots of theater pomp, and special effects. He filmed it at his studio in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, which had a greenhouse-like setup that allowed him to take advantage of the natural light. In fact, a portion of the ceiling shows up in the film itself when the capsule is being built. There were color prints (done by hand, no less) of his film alongside black-and-white (by far the standard of that time), with the HBO Max version being in color. This version is a big deal because, for decades, the film could only be found in black and white.

During this time, actors were often anonymous but Méliès did play Professor Barbenfouillis. The film’s themes of discovery, exploration, and otherworldly adventure along with a strong emphasis on storytelling are why it is credited as the first science fiction film. 

A Trip to the Moon: Scammers, Posers, Influence and the Film’s Legacy

At the time of A Trip to the Moon’s release, it stood out among its contemporaries with a strong, humorous story, sleek production, and iconic special effects. (Just imagine what it was like to experience it in person.) Its popularity went far beyond France and into the United States for several years following its release. A Trip to the Moon made others want to dive deeper into fantasy topics and bring them to audiences for pure fun. We love a satirical take. The concept of transferring science themes into live-action became a thrilling challenge for filmmakers. However, the problem with being original is that others will want to copy and capitalize off your success. And that’s exactly what people did

Siegmund Lubin released a very similar film, A Trip to Mars, the following year. Spanish director Segundo de Chomón basically did a “copy my paper but make it a lil different” with Excursion to the Moon in 1908. Aside from a few small changes, it is literally the same film. And, film pirating (who knew it was even a thing then?!) took over when it hit America. Companies like The Edison Manufacturing Company and Vitagraph distributed illegal copies, subsequently hurting Méliès’ profits. That’s right, Thomas Edison once again proves himself to be a Messy Marvin who lives for legal drama. It led to a legal fight that was hard for Méliès to control and eventually led to bankruptcy. (It is interesting that Thomas Edison died in 1931 while Méliès outlived him by seven years with a more delightful legacy in his wake.)

Interestingly, the first sci-fi film almost fell into obscurity following Méliès’ retirement but film enthusiasts resurrected interest in the 1930s. Since then, the film and its images—particularly the scene where the capsule lands in the eye of the Man in the Moon—continues to show up in pop culture. There are so many examples of the moon’s depiction as sentient and male that we cannot name them all. Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) rightfully paid homage to the first sci-fi film in its prologue. Rob Zombie’s film The Lords of Salem features this film in its background and Katy Perry’s 2012 Billboard Awards performance of “Wide Awake” pays homage.

A Trip to the Moon certainly resonates. While the inspiration may not be as direct, a legion of other works about space travel came in its wake. It’s safe to say that Star Wars, the Apollo franchise, and countless others owe their success to Méliès’ groundbreaking work.

So, if you have a quick 15-ish minutes to spare, dive into the first sci-fi film. It will make you marvel at how the human imagination continues to evolve.

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Gary Whitta is versatile. He’s a writer on films such as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Book of Eli and the TV series Star Wars Rebels. Whitta’s also penned video games, comics, and a book. Then in 2020, he created a wildly popular show in Animal Crossing: New Horizons with Animal Talking. Whitta streamed his take on the late-night talk show on Twitch with a dazzling list of guests. And now Whitta is leveraging Twitch to do something entirely different with his sci-fi novel Gundog: he’s debuting the audio adapation of Gundog in weekly live-streamed episodes on Twitch. It’s a live serialized sci-fi audio event!

Gundog is Whitta’s second novel. It tells a story about Earth in the near future. A race of alien machines known as the Mek has conquered the planet. But a rebellious young woman named Dakota Bregman finds a map that may liberate everyone. She has to go on a journey first though, and she finds a long-lost prototype war machine that will help humanity fight back.

The gripping plot will premiere to audiences on Twitch first. Whitta will live-stream each of the nine hour-long episodes on his Twitch channel. He’ll introduce each episode and then host a discussion at the end with listeners. After Gundog airs on Twitch, each episode will then be available through all major podcast providers and on Whitta’s YouTube channel. Once the adaptation wraps, listeners can get the novel Gundog in physical and digital formats.

This first-of-its-kind adaptation is ambitious. Plus Whitta has pulled in some top notch talent to help tell his self-produced audio serialization. Shannon Woodward (Westworld) performs the narration, while Grammy-nominated composer Austin Wintory (Journey) provides the score.

You can get a taste of the story with this preview:

Woodward’s narration and Wintory’s music make a captivating combination. We can’t wait to see more. The first episode of Gundog premieres at 7:00 p.m. PT on Wednesday, August 10 on Twitch (it will be right there on the front page, but be sure to follow Whitta’s channel). The adaptation will run for nine weeks with a separate weekly live broadcast every Saturday at 7:00 p.m. GMT to accommodate audiences in other time zones.

Amy Ratcliffe is the Editor-in-Chief for Nerdist and the author of Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy, The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, The Jedi Mind, and more. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is back for more cosplay in the cosmos. She virtually attended FedCon, a huge sci-fi convention, from aboard the International Space Station. Dressed as Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica, no less. So frakking cool. And Katee Sackhoff approves of this badass move paying tribute to her one of her beloved characters.

Cristoforetti gets the shirt and backwards tank just right, along with Starbuck’s dog tag glinting around her neck as it floats in zero gravity. She hints that maybe kickass Viper pilot Kara Thrace got bored on Earth and ended up back in space after BSG‘s finale. Seems plausible, maybe even preferable, to the fate the show hinted at.

We saw this awesome cosplay on ComicBook.com, which also reminded us that Cristoforetti previously dressed up on the ISS back in 2015. Back then it was as Captain Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager. Another total badass.

Her viral tweet about the arrival of the ISS’s first ever espresso machine quoted Janeway, a known coffee lover. This was years before Janeway returned to Star Trek in Prodigy, so it was great to have the reminder of that strong female presence amongst the stars. Like female astronauts throughout history, Cristoforetti is undoubtedly inspiring young people to pursue their dreams of going to space. And geeking out with all of us science fiction nerds along the way.

The European Space Agency (ESA) shared Cristoforetti’s convention message on YouTube. The description includes that, “While we may not yet have invented a faster-than-light drive as used in Battlestar Galactica, ESA turns science fiction into science fact every day.” A worthy goal! So say we all! 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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For the past two years, Turner Classic Movies has had to resort to at-home editions of its annual Classic Film Festival. In 2020, barely after the pandemic began in the US, it had a weekend of programming on the cable network. Last year, the programming grew to include HBO Max as well. Both displayed the best of what makes TCMFF such a beloved staple of the festival circuit. But for 2022 (hopefully, please world), the Classic Film Fest returns to Hollywood, from April 21-24. And the film fest has chosen quite the movie to open the festivities: a 40th anniversary screening of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Steven Spielberg’s 1982 sci-fi masterpiece has touched audiences for 40 straight years. It’s still one of the most beloved and treasured movies in Spielberg’s long and storied career. E.T. will kick off the 13th edition of the TCM Classic Film Festival with the theme “All Together Now: Back to the Big Screen.”

Mr. Spielberg himself will be in attendance for the opening night screening, along with producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall.

“I was 15 years old when E.T. came out and what was true then remains so today; the film continues to speak to both children and adults. And it’s fair to say that this is the most influential family film since The Wizard of Oz,” said Ben Mankiewicz, TCM primetime anchor and official host of the TCM Classic Film Festival. “When Steven Spielberg started work on E.T., he didn’t imagine he was making a movie with mass appeal. We don’t get to say this often, but boy was Spielberg wrong.”

“E.T. is the perfect example of a modern classic movie that combines both innovative direction and heartfelt performances,” said Pola Changnon, general manager of TCM. “This film is beloved by millions around the world and we’re honored to have it open our festival.”

The rest of the lineup for TCMFF 2022 will roll out in the coming months. For more information on the festival, visit the official site.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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Sci-fi thrillers and other suspenseful movies work at their best when monsters and terrors meet heart. Just think about the impact of a movie like The Mist. Sure, intensely creepy creatures from the beyond are great, but they hit hardest when we really care about the characters. And when they in turn, really care about the characters around them. Amazon Prime Video sets up exactly this kind of story in the trailer for its new movie Encounter. Encounter stars Riz Ahmed (who we know from a release plays Malik Khan), Octavia Spencer, and more.

Amazon Prime Video shares a description of the film with its trailer, saying:

A decorated Marine goes on a rescue mission to save his two young sons from an unhuman threat. As their journey takes them in increasingly dangerous directions, the boys will need to leave their childhoods behind.

Well, that sounds ominous. While the true danger comes from alien threats, the true core of the film looks like it will stem from Malik’s relationship with his children. Although going on the run can’t be an ideal situation, it will likely bring the family together. In the emotional conclusion of Encounter‘s trailer, Ahmed’s character recounts the story of The Three Musketeers. He says, “They could survive anything ’cause they stuck together. Now you’re telling me if we don’t stand by each other, we can’t get through anything?” Get those tissues ready.

Additionally, the platform shares in a release that Encounter “seamlessly combines elements of science fiction, psychological thriller, family drama, and police procedural into a riveting and thought-provoking road adventure. ”

That’s a lot going on. But we feel the teaser does a good job balancing all these elements. And even though it seems at times pensive and ponderous, moments of pure action hit hard. It definitely looks like the aliens may get under Malik’s skin… The Mummy-style. Eeps.

Encounter releases in theaters December 3 and on Prime Video, December 10. We can’t wait to see all its varying pieces come together.

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Science fiction universes are often full of ocean worlds and watery beasts. Despite their ubiquity, however, it’s hard to say which aquatic sci-fi monsters should (theoretically) scare the squid ink out of us the most. A new video comparing the sizes of oceanic sci-fi baddies from YouTuber and animator MetaBallStudios now gives us some sense, thankfully. And the comparison serves as a reminder that Bruce from Jaws is a guppy compared to a lot of other creatures lurking in the imaginary depths.

MetaBallStudios (or MBS) recently posted the above video to YouTube. For those unfamiliar, MBS—a Spanish animator by the name of Alvaro Gracia Montoya—has created countless size comparison videos before. Including many that showcase ships and other vehicles from the likes of Star Wars and Star Trek.

In this size comparison, Montoya lines up dozens and dozens of the most popular sci-fi sea creatures; beginning with Sheldon J. Plankton (2 inches tall) and SpongeBob (4 inches tall) from SpongeBob SquarePants. The fact Montoya has included both of these characters, incidentally, hints that this list of “monsters” includes a lot of friendly fictional sea creatures along with frightening ones.

MetaBallStudios 

Speaking of which, there are some genuine monsters from the deep in this lineup. After cruising past the Mosasaurus from Jurassic World (55 feet long) and the Megalodon from The Meg (75 feet long), things start to get truly gigantic. The Leviathan from Gears of War dwarfs the other creatures at 255 feet long, for one.

The sea monsters continue to grow in hugeness as Montoya shows Leatherback from Pacific Rim (265 feet tall), Godzilla from MonsterVerse (393 feet tall) and even H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu, which Montoya notes is only described as being “hundreds of meters” tall. Things grow downright incredible, however, when Karathen from Aquaman appears at nearly two miles long, soon followed by Genbu from Naruto at approximately 3.1 miles long.

MetaBallStudios

As for the biggest sea monsters in Montoya’s lineup? The second place finisher is Kraken from Warhammer 40,000 at roughly 25 miles long. And, finally, SCP-169 from the SCP Foundation; a creative fiction website detailing top-secret investigations, research, and containment policies of the paranormal. SCP-169, Montoya shows, is an astounding 3,100 miles long—give or take about 1,800 miles. Which makes us wonder: If these creatures are fictional, why are their measurements always so approximate? It seems like they should be less slippery.

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Going back to the days of Star Blazers and Robotech, anime hair has always been a wee bit extreme. And sci-fi western Cowboy Bebop was no different. It’s always a suspension of disbelief that anyone can pilot those giant robots with all those locks of hair always strategically covering one eye. And it’s why so many live-action adaptations of anime and manga kind of skip the whole extreme hairstyle thing.

Netflix

But while not quite as extreme as the anime series, John Cho’s interpretation of space cowboy Spike Spiegel for the live-action Netflix version of Cowboy Bebop does indeed sport some luscious locks. And the internet wasted no time in letting Cho know how much they loved it, and its accuracy to the original character. Somehow, Cho pulled off what most anime adaptations had thus fair failed to do.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cho revealed just how much attention his stylish new ‘do got from fans. He said “People were texting me, ‘FYI, your hair is trending on Twitter.’ I did think it was a joke. After multiple texts, I looked, and literally, it was trending on Twitter. I couldn’t believe it.”

Netflix

And just so everyone knows, that is indeed Cho’s hair and not a wig. Apparently, wearing a wig for Spike was just not in the cards for Cho. He said “I just really disliked the idea of a wig. Have you ever worn one? I’m just so aware of wigs. I said, ‘I really want it to be my own hair.’ It was a kind of a struggle to grow it out. It went through some really awkward phases.” The last time he was on a famous starship was in the Star Trek films. But that character’s hair was pretty standard Starfleet regulation. With Spike, it was a whole different ball of wax. But judging from these early photos, he’s pulled it off rather nicely.

The live-action version of Cowboy Bebop is coming to Netflix on November 19.

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We are so ready to jam we can’t even stand it. The recent first images of Netflix’s live action Cowboy Bebop have us about as excited for a show as we’ve been in a while. Not least because, since there’s a darn pandemic, we’ve had to wait extra long for it. To make up for our immense longing for bounty hunting and acid jazz (hi, Yoko Kanno), fans will get not just a new TV show in the Bebop universe. Titan Publishing has announced a new official slate of Cowboy Bebop comics and books headed our way.

Titan currently has three Cowboy Bebop books ready to launch beginning in November. The first is a prequel novel; the second is a comic book series which takes place within the TV show’s continuity; the third is a big making-of coffee table artbook.

Cowboy Bebop: A Syndicate Story: Red Planet Requiem

Titan Books

So many colons! This novel, from live-action series staff writer Sean Cummings, will give longtime fans of the property a story they’ve long hoped to know. It will follow a young Spike Spiegel and Vicious during their time as friends and rivals as part of the Red Dragon Syndicate. This is, of course, the criminal organization to which Spike once pledged undying loyalty. Go figure, he broke away from them, and in the series proper, they want him dead. Spike’s history with Vicious, both vying for the love of Julia, plays a big part in our hero’s life. That’ll be interesting context.

The prequel novel will hit shelves in November, the same month as the TV series dropping.

Cowboy Bebop: Making the Netflix Series

Titan Books

This behind-the-scenes companion to the Netflix series “captures the epic journey” to bring a beloved anime to live-action. Featuring an exclusive foreword by showrunner André Nemec, this book will have  beautiful concept art and revealing behind-the-scenes photography. The cast and crew will tell the story of translating Cowboy Bebop faithfully for a new audience, and in a new medium.

The making-of book will come out spring 2022.

Cowboy Bebop: The Comic Series

Titan Comics

Finally, we have Titan’s bread and butter, an official tie-in comic series.

Set in the year 2171, the bounty hunter crew of the spaceship Bebop chase an ex-gang member who holds a vest which gives the wearer unlimited luck. This new series will be penned by DC Comics veteran Dan Watters (Lucifer, Home Sick Pilots) with art by Lamar Mathurin and will debut with a range of fantastic covers including cover art by comics legend Stanley ‘Artgerm’ Lau.

This four-issue series will debut in December 2021. A collected trade will hit stands in May 2022.

It looks like fans will have a ton of new Cowboy Bebop to uncover in the coming months, not just a new TV series. Now if we could just keep the world from imploding until then, we’ll be in good shape.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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For fans of classic British science fiction, there are a few names that always pop up. Doctor Who, naturally, stands head and shoulders above everything else. Other favorites like Sapphire & Steel, The Prisoner, and the shows of Gerry Anderson pop up as well. But for a certain age of fan, the cream of the crop is Blake’s 7. The show was the BBC’s direct attempt to capitalize on the success of Star Wars. Blake’s 7 ran for four seasons from 1978 to 1981 and has been pretty hard to find in North America lately. That is, until now. The entire series will debut on BritBox beginning August 13.

BBC/BritBox

Created by Terry Nation, the creator of the Daleks, Blake’s 7 is a dark space opera about a dystopian future society ruled by a totalitarian regime called the Terran Federation. They use drug pacification, brainwashing, and heavy surveillance to keep citizens in line. Roj Blake (Gareth Thomas) is a political prisoner at the beginning of the series. He escapes along with two other prisoners, Jenna Stannis (Sally Knyvette) and Kerr Avon (Paul Darrow), aboard a technologically advanced alien spacecraft. Eventually, they pick up more criminals (seven in total). Together they begin a campaign to disrupt, irritate, and hopefully destroy the Federation.

The good folks at Big Finish, tied to their line of audio dramas, produced this handy video giving you the show’s basic set-up.

While Star Wars may have given the BBC leave to produce a space opera, Blake’s 7 stands alone. Beloved for its harder edge and darker themes, it’s a mix of Robin Hood and The Dirty Dozen. In space! The character of Avon has specifically become a fan-favorite antihero over the years. If you’ve watched and enjoyed the Tom Baker years of Doctor Who, you’ll find a lot to love in Blake’s 7. Especially if you like your sci-fi dramas on the nihilistic side.

All 52 episodes of Blake’s 7 will drop on the BritBox streaming service on Friday, August 13. Get in, and enjoy the ride.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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Fans of bounty hunting, genre-defying, and acid jazz fusion have had a hard time keeping patient as the live-action adaptation of anime classic Cowboy Bebop has been delayed several times. The most recent delay had to do with some kind of global pandemic? First I’m hearing of it. Anyway, Netflix’s Geeked Week live stream finally gave fans the tantalizing first glimpse they hoped for… as well as a piece of super exciting news! The composer of the original anime’s earwormy, jazz-western-rock score, Yoko Kanno, is back composing the original music for this show!

As the brief promo proclaims, “There is no Bebop without Yoko Kanno,” and it’s hard to argue. The anime, for as groundbreaking as it was in 1998 in the visuals and storytelling, making it a true crossover hit, might not have had the universal appeal without Kanno’s music. Her music, performed by her band the Seatbelts, is some of the best soundtrack music ever written. From the series’ theme “Tank!” (which we hear in the video); to other timeless tracks like “Spokey Dokey,” “Piano Black,” and “Rain”; the whole thing is made of bangers. Probably why they’ve released something like seven or eight soundtrack albums.

Netflix

In addition to this exciting news, we also got our very first look at the character lewks of three of the main cast members. John Cho looks absolutely spot-on as Spike Spiegel with his trademark horizontal-flared hair. Could not have asked for a better realized version of the stoic bounty hunter. We also got to see Daniella Pineda in Faye Valentine get-up which thankfully looks more functional than they half-falling-off gear from the anime. And finally we see Mustafa Shakir’s Jet Black, and the Jet from the anime wishes he looked that cool. Obviously a bit younger take on the character, but no less awesome.

We had hoped for a trailer or something in-universe, but that’ll have to wait. Netflix knows how to keep our salivary glands nice and active. But we have nothing bad to say about the character looks and Yoko Kanno doing music is a blessing. Cowboy Bebop is coming, folks! So, let’s jam!

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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With all of the whiz-bang rockets and brain implants we have these days, it’s easy to forget about genius inventions from simpler times. Thankfully, in a video posted to its YouTube channel, the Hursley Museum offers a great reminder of inventions past with a slow-mo look at IBM’s iconic Selectric typewriter. And even in 2021 the seminal typewriter’s “golf ball” element still seems like a neat piece of machinery.

BoingBoing picked up on Hursley’s slow-mo look at Selectric’s golf-element in action. The approximately minute-long video shows the element—a ball that supplants the series of individual marking arms connected to individual keys in other typewriters—working in normal time, as well as in time slowed by a factor of 32. Even at 960-frames-per-second, however, it’s difficult to tell exactly how the element functions.

Luckily, engineer and YouTuber, Bill Hammack, describes how the Selectric’s element works in an unrelated video (below). Hammack explains that the element has a series of typeface letters—both upper and lower case—on its surface. And that, to mark a piece of paper, the ball smacks into a typewriter ribbon. (The strip with ink on it that marks paper.)

The functionality behind the element itself works like this: Each time a Selectric user strikes a key, its lever tugs on a system of linkages connected to the element. This system of linkages—a.k.a. a whiffletree—in turn, tugs on two cables; one of which rotates the element, the other of which causes it to tilt up or down. Thanks to each key having its own unique tug on the element, it can be associated with a letter, number, or symbol. With each character owning a different point on the element’s spherical surface.

Hursley Museum

As Hammack notes, the Selectric is still an impressive piece of engineering. One can even consider it a key predecessor to today’s printers, as it was a digital to analog converter; that is, it turned the binary information of the key strokes into the movement of the element. In other words, the Selectric was an early way of turning “ones and zeroes” into printed type. And it helped to get the ball rolling on the digital computing revolution.

The post Selectric Typewriter Slow-Mo Reveals Its Genius Engineering appeared first on Nerdist.

This year, Alien Day is extra special. And that’s simply because 2021 is also the 35th anniversary of James Cameron’s Aliens, the rare sequel that equals the original. Due to the crew of Sulaco celebrating their 35th, the folks at 20th Century Studios are releasing a ton of cool Aliens swag. There’s everything from stylish fashion, deluxe toys, and of course, one very dope Funko Pop! vinyl figure. And we’ve rounded them up for you right here.

Weta

Weta is producing an Aliens-inspired xenomorph figure, evoking the attack on Newt in the waters under the  LV-426 colony. Newt’s baby doll has definitely seen better days. Weta also has a xenomorph figure in their mini-epics line. And yes, that alien drool is permanent. Mini-epics has Ripley and Jones the cat from the original film, and a facehugger attacking poor Kane. And the alien queen gets an adorable micro-epics toy. All can be pre-ordered now at Entertainment Earth.

Funko

Also, Funko honors the most iconic scene in Aliens, with a new Pop! vinyl of Ripley in the power loader. This one is a GameStop exclusive. And for another GameStop exclusive, take a look at this amazing Weta xenomorph warrior.

Weta

La Femme en Noir

La Femme en Noir is bringing the Alien aesthetic to life in an incredibly stylish fashion line. There’s a xenomorph crop top and maxi skirt set, which will set you back $158.00. In the more affordable range of Alien gear, there’s a moody long sleeve t-shirt ($34.00) and a regular t-shirt ($32.00). And the Alien hoodie ($54.00) is perfect for your next trip to LV-426. It gets pretty cold and windy there, ya know.

Finally, can’t you just see Ripley wearing these very chic Giger-esque sunglasses ($118.00)? All can be ordered now on La Femme en Noir’s website.

Lootcrate

LootCrate also has an all-new capsule collection paying tribute to the franchise. This includes a pocket tee celebrating the facehugger, a long sleeve henley showing some love for Alien 3, and a hoodie showing off the original Ridley Scott film’s logo design. Check these out at LootCrate.com.

Featured Image: Funko/Weta/La Femme en Noir

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Another Alien Day is upon us. Yes, April 26, or 4/26, is so named after the planet the Nostromo crew lands on in the original Ridley Scott film. This mysterious uninhabited world doesn’t have a name, just a designation: LV-426. And we all know just what they found there, and it wasn’t pretty. In recent years, we’ve taken to celebrating the premiere horror/sci-fi franchise on this day. Hey, if Star Wars can have a day all its own, why not Alien?

As a way of commemorating the day Lt. Ellen Ripley became a legendary sci-fi hero, the folks at Mondo are offering a fantastic new print showcasing the alien xenomorph from artist Attack Peter. This artwork does proper justice to the terrifying designs of artist H.R. Giger. Giger’s twisted genius gave us the look of the xenomorph, one of the most iconic creatures in film history. You can see several images of the creepy and beautiful new black-and-white print right here.

Mondo

Artwork by Attack Peter / Edition of 120
20″ x 30″ Linocut Print on Lokta Paper  / Printed by Attack Peter / $100

Attack Peter is the professional name of one Peter Santa-Maria. He’s a Miami-based artist and teacher, who work primarily in the process of printmaking. Attack Peter’s artwork features both original designs and pop culture icons, like the xenomorph from the Alien films. The artist is heavily influenced by traditional imagery from Thailand, American traditional tattoo flash, and his peers.

You can see more of his work by heading over to his website, along with his Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. In the past, Mondo has offered tiki mugs, enamel pins, and t-shirts to celebrate Alien Day. But this might be their finest offering yet. With a new Alien TV series announced for FX, now is the perfect time to display your xenomorph pride.

The new Alien print goes on sale on the official Mondoshop site on April 26, at 9 a.m. PST.

Mondo

Mondo

Mondo

Mondo

The post Mondo Debuts Stunning Black-and-White Print for ALIEN Day appeared first on Nerdist.

Although Mars is essentially humanity’s only option for a “Planet B” in this lifetime, it’s still quite a fixer-upper. One key breakthrough necessary for making the Red Planet reasonably hospitable, for example, is the ability to produce breathable oxygen from local atmosphere. That sounds very sci-fi, but as of April 20, 2021, it’s undeniable reality thanks to NASA’s Perseverance rover.

Gizmodo reported on the breakthrough experiment Perseverance performed on the surface of Mars. It comes as another first for the Martian rover as it continues to execute its various testing functions. The rover’s been operational since its landing on February 18, and just prior to this experiment, it delivered video of the first-ever controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

A boxy, toaster-sized experimental instrument aboard Perseverance produced the oxygen. The instrument, dubbed MOXIE (or the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment), performed its task by taking CO2 from Mars’ atmosphere and then running it through a “reverse” fuel cell. That is, MOXIE took Martian CO2, heated it to 1,470 degrees Fahrenheit, and then zapped the molecules with electricity to strip them of their oxygen atoms.

“This is a critical first step at converting carbon dioxide to oxygen on Mars,” Jim Reuter, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), said in a press release from the space agency. “MOXIE has more work to do, but the results from this technology demonstration are full of promise as we move toward our goal of one day seeing humans on Mars.”

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Speaking of which, NASA says MOXIE produced five grams of breathable oxygen for this experiment. Or enough to keep a person breathing for about 10 minutes. And while that doesn’t sound like a lot, at full capacity the unit can produce 10 grams per hour. A.k.a. enough for Mark Watney from The Martian to be able to science his way around certain asphyxiation.

Kevin Gill

For future Martian travelers who don’t have Watney’s skills, rest easy. NASA now wants to send a jumbo MOXIE to Mars—one that could not only produce oxygen for people, but also for rocket fuel. The ships need thousands of tons of the stuff, which is hard to find on Mars. And while, again, that may seem like sci-fi, the proof-of-concept obviously checks out. Plus, Mars’ atmosphere is 96% CO2, which means explorers will have plenty of breathable oxygen. As long as they don’t have any issues with their power supply. (For that issue, see fictional hero from previous paragraph.)

The post Perseverance Makes First-Ever Manufactured Oxygen on Mars appeared first on Nerdist.

Both creators have brought autobiographical elements of themselves into their work, though slightly fictionalized. They’ve both explored sexual philosophies, excessive drug use, and examined existential themes of alienation and self-creation. And in doing such the two have used creative outlets to define and redefine their experienced realities with the melancholy of metaphysics. 

XO/Republic Records

In fact, the Weeknd has referenced the work of Dick on several of his albums. He ended his debut LP Kiss Land with the song “Tears In The Rain,” a direct homage to Rutger Hauer’s bittersweet final line in Blade Runner. “All those memories will be lost to time, like tears in the rain.” Homages to Blade Runner will show up again in the videos for “Blinding Lights” and “Too Late” off of his most recent album After Hours, which explores the dark side of living a famous life in Los Angeles. Both Blade Runner and After Hours show a dreary night time Los Angeles, a city straddling the line between glamour and dank seediness.

Dick himself is name checked in another song from the album “Snow Child”:

She like my futuristic sounds in the new spaceship/futuristic sex, give her Philip K dick.

With “Snow Child,” Tesfaye, both lyrically and as expressed in the animated music video, returns to themes explored in his earlier albums including his debut mixtape House of Balloons. The titular house that inspired the mixtape comes from a one-bedroom apartment Tesfaye shared with friends as a teenager in the outskirts of Toronto. One can imagine what that bacchanalian life was like through the lyrics of those early tracks, full of allusions to copious drug use and meaningless sex. He told GQ in 2017, “we did what we were doing and then put it into music.”

In 1970, after his wife left him, Dick shared his house with teenage drug addicts and began to dabble in amphetamines himself. This experience inspired his novel A Scanner Darkly, which follows an undercover cop who becomes an addict himself and eventually loses track of his own identity. Dick insisted everything in the novel he “actually saw,” and that actually he saw worse things than he even dared put in the book. While Dick insisted he never used hard drugs, he attributed his use of amphetamines to his ability to produce such a large volume of work throughout this period of his life. 

Warner Independent Pictures

Much of Tesfaye’s early music as The Weeknd explores drug culture or uses drug metaphors. As in “What You Need” from House of Balloons: I’m the drug in your veins/just fight through the pain. Or his famous Teen Choice award-winning ode to cocaine “I Can’t Feel My Face,” from his second album Beauty Behind the Madness:

I can’t feel my face when I’m with you/But I love it, but I love it, oh.

In a 2015 interview with The Guardian, Tesfaye said, “When I had nothing to do but make music, it was very heavy. Drugs were a crutch for me. There were songs on my first record that were seven minutes long, rambling—whatever thoughts I was having when I was under the influence at the time. I can’t see myself doing that now.” However, in 2020 he also told CR Men that he uses drugs while creating to, “open up [his] mind.”

Whether under the influences of drugs or not, many of Dick’s works explore the creation of identity. From false identities through the implementation of memories like in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (the inspiration for Blade Runner), and We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (the inspiration for Total Recall), to the discovery that one’s identity can be erased, like in Follow My Tears, the Policeman Said.

Warner Bros

In a 1978 lecture called “How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later”, Dick posited that, “Fake realities will create fake humans. Or, fake humans will generate fake realities and then sell them to other humans, turning them, eventually, into forgeries of themselves. So we wind up with fake humans inventing fake realities and then peddling them to other fake humans.” In a sense, Dick could be describing the pop machine and the creation of entertainment idols by corporations and artists alike. 

Tesfaye understands this machine all too well, taking this idea of self-creation to the next level. Much of Tesfaye’s personal life has been transmogrified through the lyrical and visual content of his music as The Weeknd, which he has more than once called a “project.” Although in his hit song “The Hills,” he sings:

“When I’m fucked up, that’s the real me/When I’m fucked up, that’s the real me, babe”

He knows that he never really presents the real him. He addressed this dialectic in an 2020 interview with Esquire saying, “It’s definitely a character. When you hear some of the drastic stuff, you can tell. I mean, that’s why it’s tricky, because it is me singing the words; it is my writing.”

XO/Republic

However, by falling down the rabbit hole of drugs and fame as this character of his own creation, he found himself even more isolated. This rise to stardom and creation of his star persona is explored in Starboy, and finally through emergence of the red-suited alter ego dubbed The Character in the visual promotion for After Hours, he explores just what happens when the fame machine starts to eat you up. 

In “Alone Again,” the the first track on After Hours, he croons, “Take off my disguise/I’m living someone else’s life/Suppressing who I was inside,” and later in the title track he laments, “I was running away from facin’ reality, uh/Wastin’ all of my time out living my fantasies.” When asked to define reality, Dick once answered, “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” So as The Character, The Weeknd, Tesfaye faces a reality of his own creation, has he done one better than Dick in fully taking charge of what is real? Or is that just his perception of reality? It’s not really for any of us to say. What is real life anyway?

The post How Philip K. Dick’s Sci-Fi Inspired The Weeknd’s Music appeared first on Nerdist.

What do you really know about terms like warp drives and transporters? You likely associate them with Star Trek, but what else? You can expand your knowledge of these and other science-fiction words with the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction, which we first learned about at Winter Is Coming. Edited by its creator, Jesse Sheidlower, a lexicographer and former editor-at-large for the Oxford English Dictionary, this new online resource is for more than checking the correct spelling of words like lightsaber. The tool defines sci-fi words and provides their history and earliest known uses.

The genre of science fiction reaches back through the decades. Its words and ideas have influenced other genres and even the real world. Browsing the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction gives sci-fi terminology context and even more weight.

Sheidlower’s creation just came online recently, but it’s been in the works since at least 2001 when the editor put together the Science Fiction Citations Project for the Oxford English Dictionary. Back then, he enlisted help from the public to look for the origins of common sci-fi terms. The contributions from sci-fi enthusiasts led to the 2007 book Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction.

Lucasfilm

Fast-forward to the present when Sheidlower crafted a whole sci-fi dictionary to share online. It has 1,800 entries, some of which date back to the early 20th century. It’s pretty complex—especially for a free online tool that anyone can use. Each entry has a definition, obviously, but also that history we mentioned, links to information about the writers who used the term, and maybe scans of pages from publications where the terms first appeared. It’s a delightful rabbit hole. And an educational one. The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction will continue to expand as new sci-fi enters the world.

Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of The Jedi Mind, available now. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

The post Look Up Sci-Fi Terms with This New Online Dictionary appeared first on Nerdist.

Those are the final words of one of The Expanse’s most beloved characters—gregarious Martian pilot Alex Kamal (Cas Anvar)—slurred off-screen in the finale of the show’s fifth season, “Nemesis Games.” We don’t get to see him die; our final look at him is of Anvar, slumped in his seat on the racing ship The Screaming Firehawk, bubbles of CG blood pooling from his nostrils. He succumbed, tragically but suddenly, to one of the many risks the comparatively-grounded sci-fi series established in the beginning. High-G maneuvers in outer space can take a toll on your body, and even give you a fatal stroke. 

It’s a shocking death for Expanse fans, though maybe not the most surprising when you consider the behind-the-scenes reasons for Alex’s exit. Last summer, several women came forward with allegations that Anvar had harassed them both in person and over social media for several years. Some stories even involved minors. After a quiet, independent investigation by the show’s production company, Alcon Entertainment, Deadline reported in November that The Expanse would move forward for a sixth and final season without Anvar. 

Writing out such an integral part of the show’s fabric is difficult enough on its own. Alex was one of the four primary characters, the pilot of the former-gunship-turned-privateer-vessel Rocinante, someone who’s been with the show since the beginning. In Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck’s book series on which the show is based, Alex is still alive.

Amazon Studios

And what’s worse, the allegations and investigations seemingly came after the show already filmed its fifth season. It presumably ended with Alex surviving the harrowing events of the finale. (There are even some production photos floating around with Anvar in the party scene near the end of the season.) Look closely and you can see the seams. Careful reshoots and effects work retool the episode to manufacture his sudden death.

Abraham and Franck, along with The Expanse co-writer and showrunner Naren Shankar, did the best with what they had to work with. In radically altering a presumably-mostly-finished finale, they found a tragic, but thematically-fitting way to make the best of an unfortunate—but necessary—decision. 

They even had a built-in framework for killing Alex in a way that lent itself to existing story points. High-G maneuvers are a huge risk for space travelers, a fact established in the show’s pilot. Alex spent nearly an entire season at the pilot’s seat of the Firehawk. He went full-burn to evade missiles; chased stolen Martian ships; and (in his last act) performed a series of difficult high-G maneuvers to slow down his ship. In doing so, his co-pilot, former marine Bobbie Draper (Frankie Adams), could complete their last-ditch rescue mission to save crewmate Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper). The last we saw her was tumbling from a damaged, explosive-rigged cargo ship, part of a trap from season villain Marco Inaros (Keon Alexander).

Amazon Studios

Alex’s death also lends a necessary pathos to Naomi’s journey throughout the season. All through season five, Naomi’s journey revolved around an attempt to reconnect with her son, Filip (Jasai Chase Owens). (This came after Naomi’s abusive ex Marco fully radicalized their son.) As much as she tried, however, Marco’s manipulations and Filip’s divided loyalties gave her no other choice but to abandon that family and sacrifice everything to protect her new one on the Rocinante. 

The finale is all about proving the worth of the new family Naomi made for herself after leaving Marco. Her lover Holden (Steven Strait) defeats the Free Navy forces sent to destroy him. Her close friend Drummer (Cara Gee), who herself holds a torch for Naomi, betrays Marco and switches sides. And, of course, Alex gives his life to race to Naomi’s location and rescue her from the depths of space. It’s a sacrifice that proves Naomi made the right choice: where Marco merely used her as a prop to secure his budding interstellar regime, the Roci crew would literally die for her.

Alex’s death casts a shadow over the rest of the episode. And the sparsely-reshot scenes in the finale allow the audience to feel his absence. Naomi grapples with the guilt of knowing he died to save her. And Holden and potential-replacement-pilot Bull (José Zúñiga) contemplate the places on the Roci where Alex’s name lingers, from the ship’s dedication plaque to his favorite coffee mug. Amos, never one for sentiment, nonetheless gives him the best epitaph he ever could. “Making a choice to hold your ground to save your family? As far as last stands go, that’s the one I’d pick.”

Amazon Studios

But the most fitting acknowledgment of Alex’s death comes when Naomi plays Holden the message she left for him. Something she recorded in case she didn’t come back from her quest to find Filip. “People come into our lives and they go out. Families change. It can be hard and sad, but we bear it as long as we don’t shut ourselves off from the new and wonderful things that come.” 

It’s a message intended for us, the audience, as much as it is for the characters. Anvar’s alleged actions, as unconscionable as they may be, absolutely necessitated this decision. The situation required a narrative and production tightrope act no showrunner would envy. 

But it’s hard to imagine a better way the writers and producers could have handled such a difficult situation. Alex’s demise comes swiftly and suddenly, but fits the story, and reminds us that the world of The Expanse is not one that comes with plot armor. And the loss of the Roci’s sunniest, most optimistic character is a tragic portent for the trials that are to come in the show’s final season.

The post How THE EXPANSE Handled Alex Kamal’s Exit appeared first on Nerdist.

Just a little over a decade ago, we could have hardly imagined sci-fi TV shows like Star Trek: Discovery roaring into our homes in such high def glory. But the HD era has also meant that many classic shows have been left in the standard definition dustbin of history. A few shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation have had costly HD upgrades, but most fan favorites have not. But now, add one more to thelist, as ’90s cult classic Babylon 5 is making the jump to HD. At least in part.

According to Engadget, Warner Bros. have upgraded all five seasons of Babylon 5 to high definition. Babylon 5 Remastered is now available as both a digital download (via iTunes and Amazon) and also on HBO Max. But, given the circumstances of the series’ vintage age, this is only partially in HD. Babylon 5’s film sequences received 4K scanning, and then downscaled back to HD, with a fair amount of dirt cleanup and color correction.

The show’s CGI and composite sequences were another matter. These were upscaled to HD, and the improvement is only marginal. Without remaking all those ’90s CGI effects from scratch, it’s the best they could do. Keeping purists happy is the fact that the show is only available in the original broadcast aspect ratio of 4:3. Widescreen DVD versions came out of several years ago, but most Babylon 5 fans felt were not the way the show was intended to be seen. All in all, this project took a whopping six years to complete.

Warner Bros. 

Here’s hoping this spurs other ’90s classic shows to get proper HD upgrades. Once CBS did such an astonishing job on Star Trek: TNG, fans have been patiently waiting for similar upgrades for Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Some fans have even started using AI machine learning software to upgrade the episodes themselves! Buffy the Vampire Slayer received an HD upgrade a few years back too, but it was not up to snuff. Classic shows deserve preservation, so here’s hoping Babylon 5 starts a greater trend.

Featured Image: Warner Bros. 

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It’s hard to imagine just how large something is in a fictional universe until it’s been compared to a reference; either one from reality, or another fictional universe. And we know this, undoubtedly, because size comparison videos of fictional ships are all the rage on YouTube now. Including this new one comparing fictional watercraft from YouTuber, MetaBallStudios (or MBS).

The video, which MBS recently posted to his channel, compares the sizes of dozens of fictional ships from pop culture. Everything from the shrunken Proteus from the ’66 film, Fantastic Voyage to The Maw from the video game, Little Nightmares, floats shoulder to shoulder in the video.

It’s obviously difficult to say which particular size comparison is most enlightening. But there are a few leaps that can’t help but provide a new sense of sci-fi ship scale. Seeing all the ships from The Chronicles of Narnia, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea not make a dent in the Titanic, for example, shows how truly massive the real-life ship was.

MetaBallStudios

The comparison only continues to blow minds, however, when the Titanic quickly pales in comparison to the likes of the Nautilus from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to, ultimately, the Pravda vessel from Girls und Panzer. (For those unfamiliar, Girls und Panzer is a Japanese anime franchise depicting high school girls who are into tank warfare.)

For those now in the mood for more size comparisons, both from real life and from fiction, MBS has a ton of other great videos. His video comparing the sizes of ships in Star Wars is a real treat. And you’ll never think of your city the same way after seeing it compared to a bunch of bigger ones; or gigantic, city sized vessels from popular anime, of course.

MetaBallStudios 

Feature image: MetaBallStudios

The post An Enlightening Size Comparison of Fictional Watercraft appeared first on Nerdist.

Few cult classics have the staying power, and continued bewildering charm, of 1984’s The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. It’s a mouthful, and terrible for SEO. But its sense of humor, wild concepts, and stellar cast took it from mere oddity to beloved sci-fi staple. I’ve seen it several times and I still couldn’t fully tell you what it’s about. But that doesn’t stop me from being beyond excited for the long awaited sequel. Nerdist is thrilled to reveal the next chapter in the Buckaroo Banzai saga in the form of a prose novel from Dark Horse.

Dark Horse

The work of the film’s original screenwriter and novelist Earl Mac Rauch, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League, et al: A Compendium of Evil will find the world renowned physicist, neurosurgeon, test pilot, and rock star, Dr. Buckaroo Banzai, as he finally goes head-to-head with the evil organization the end of the first movie promised.

The official synopsis is thus:

Still mourning the losses of his beloved Penny Priddy and his surrogate father Professor Hikita, Buckaroo Banzai must also contend with the constant threat of attack from his immortal nemesis Hanoi Xan, ruthless leader of the World Crime League. To make matters worse, Planet 10 warrior queen John Emdall has sent her Lectroid legions against Earth with a brutal ultimatum. Or is her true target Buckaroo Banzai? As the apocalyptic threats continue to mount, only Buckaroo and his Hong Kong Cavaliers stand in the way of global destruction—or in the words of one of the movie’s iconic lines: “Laugh-a while you can, monkey boy!”

The adventure comes to us from the Reno Kid, a member of Buckaroo Banzai’s Hong Kong Cavaliers, as told to writer E.M. Rauch. That level of meta narrative about the exploits of Buckaroo is part of the fun. Rauch wrote the novelization of the film back in 1984. After a reissue in 2002, Rauch promised a continuation of the saga in novel form. Finally, August 10, 2021 will see that promise come true. You can pre-order now wherever you get your books.

Until then, highly recommend checking out the Buckaroo Banzai movie. It has an amazing (and we do mean truly outstanding cast) including: Peter Weller; John Lithgow; Christopher Lloyd; Jeff Goldblum; Ellen Barkin; Carl Lumbley; Clancy Brown; Lewis Smith; and Rosalind Cash. It’s so gloriously weird.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post Dark Horse Announces BUCKAROO BANZAI Sequel Novel appeared first on Nerdist.

Kino Lorber will release the 37-episode series on Blu-ray along with the theatrical cut of the pilot. So with only a couple of Mando episodes left, now’s the perfect time to check out the disco-dancing beefcake hero that is Buck Rogers.

The character of Buck Rogers actually dates back to 1928. He’s the creation of author Philip Francis Nowlan, and he first appeared in the novella Armageddon 2419 A.D. In each iteration, William (or sometimes Anthony) Rogers is a modern-day Earthman who through accidental suspended animation ends up 500 years in the future. The concept proved a particularly fruitful one and many imitators sprang up afterwards. The most famous of these is Flash Gordon, who debuted in 1934.

Glen A. Larson was a TV-creating machine in the ’70s and ’80s. His hit shows include Quincy, M.E. (1976-1983); Magnum, P.I. (1980-1988); The Fall Guy (1981-1986); and Knight Rider (1982-1986). But he’s perhaps best remembered these days for creating Battlestar Galactica, which initially ran for 24 episodes between 1978 and 1979. That show pushed the envelope for TV special effects. As a result, it was way too expensive and got cancelled.

Universal

But, without Battlestar Galactica, we likely wouldn’t have gotten Buck Rogers. Larson was concurrently developing the two series at Universal; Rogers has veteran TV producer Leslie Stevens (The Outer Limits) as co-developer. The studio had success releasing the pilot movie of Galactica in cinemas overseas and in select cities in North America. They wanted the same for Buck Rogers, and the pilot film used several redressed sets and props from Galactica, which was still in series production. The designs for the ships for the later series used Ralph McQuarrie’s unused designs for the Vipers in BSG.

So there’s definitely something of a similar vibe to Buck Rogers in the 25th Century as Battlestar Galactica, but I think it ultimately works a bit better for Buck. Not least because there’s a chance to have some fun with concept and execution.

NBC

As the opening titles state, William “Buck” Rogers (Gil Gerard) is a NASA astronaut from 1987 on the last manned mission to deep space. Through a malfunction, Rogers ends up frozen for 504 years before members of the Draconian Empire, specifically the scantily clad Princess Ardala (Pamela Hensley), revive him. He’s obviously fairly disoriented and the Draconians, whose general Kane secretly plans to invade the Earth, send Buck off again with a tracking chip.

When he finally gets to Earth, he meets Colonel Wilma Deering (Erin Gray), who doesn’t trust him at all. He also meets the head of the Defense Directorate, Dr. Huer (Tim O’Connor) who gives the 20th Century Man a robotic servant named Twiki (voiced by Mel Blanc), and a hyper-intelligent computer called Dr. Theopolis (Eric Server). Twiki and Theo are like Flava Flav and his clock, if that helps you picture it.

Universal

While Buck ultimately helps the Earth defense force fend off the Draconians, the pilot movie ends with him unsure if he’s really ready to sign up for full time military defense service. However, he does agree to help out when they need him. And, turns out, they need him a lot. Since he’s effectively a nobody in New Chicago (the new capitol of Earth), he can go undercover to infiltrate threats to the planet. He ends up becoming kind of like a future James Bond.

It’s in this way Buck Rogers in the 25th Century cements itself as a particularly effective space adventure. Each episode or two was a new mission with an overarching plot involving Draconia’s mission to overthrow the Earth in the background. Deering and Rogers have a strong working relationship but, of course, also have a constant will-they/won’t-they thing that kept audiences invested.

Watching it now, there’s definitely a vibe of Peter Quill to Buck Rogers. He’s a 20th Century Earth guy, a fish out of water who has natural charm and charisma that helps him get out of just about any jam. Unlike the prettyboy leads of BSG, Gil Gerard is a beefy, rugged screen hero and you can’t help but root for him. And, of course, there’s some tremendous late-‘7os sci-fi action all the way through.

Universal

The first season saw impressive guest stars such as Jack Palance; Frank Gorshin; Cesar Romero; Peter Graves; Woody Strode; Jamie Lee Curtis; Mary Woronov; Jerry Orbach; Richard Moll; Sid Haig; Vera Miles; and Julie Newmar. Why yes, that is three different villains from Batman 1966. Also Gary Coleman, because ’70s.

And like all of the best short-lived sci-fi shows, it seems, if it gets a second season, it’s completely different. Like The Outer Limits and Space: 1999 before it, a new group of producers took over between seasons and totally revamped Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Buck, Wilma, and Twiki remained, but Dr. Theopolis and Dr. Huer were out. Also out was the central concept; instead of defending Earth from threats, Buck and Wilma were now on a ship called Searcher seeking out the five tribes of humanity that left Earth after the nuclear fallout. If this sounds a bit like Battlestar Galactica, it’s because that’s exactly what the new producers were doing.

Universal

So while season two does have a character named Hawk who is a Bird Person (seriously, the Rick and Morty team based him on Hawk), it loses some of the uniqueness. It feels just kind of like any other Star Trek-esque space series. And perhaps most egregiously, it made the character of Wilma Deering (a COLONEL let us not forget) into much more of a damsel. They even put her in miniskirts instead of the jumpsuit from season one. It may as well be a different character. It only lasted 13 episodes in its new format before sadly meeting cancelation.

While delightfully dated (Buck disco dances in the first episode), it also scratches a very particular sci-fi itch with me. The Mandalorian and its adventure-serial structure also scratches it. So if you need more spaceships zoom-zoom and laser guns pew-pew, I’d definitely recommend Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Kino Lorber has released the whole series plus the two-hour pilot movie in a complete Blu-ray collection.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post The ’70s Space Opera Glory of BUCK ROGERS appeared first on Nerdist.

2020—the year of the virus—has given large swathes of people ample time to faff about. And while that’s meant endless baking projects for some, for others, this massive amount of free time has been used to build extraordinary things. Like this backyard version of Disneyland’s famous Matterhorn roller coaster, for example. Which genuinely looks like a kid’s dream come true.

The miniature Matterhorn, which comes via Boing Boing, is located in Napa Valley, California. The LaRochelle family built the roller coaster as a substitute for the real deal, which they haven’t had access to this year. (Due to California’s COVID-19 restrictions, Disneyland is still not open for business.)

The family recently posted the full reveal of the roller coaster to its nascent YouTube channel, Magictecture. The family refers to the coaster as Matterhorn: Alpine Escape, and claims it’s “the most elaborate and detailed backyard roller coaster ever built!”

Magictecture

That is a mightily bold claim to be sure, although it may be true. In the video up top, the LaRochelles show off their coaster, and each go-round is a solid 30-seconds of weeeeeeeeeeeee! Not only does the coaster look fun, but it also has tons of details harkening to the original ride. The most prominent, of course, being the angry Yeti that roars right before riders dip, bob, and twist back down to Earth.

Magictecture

Unfortunately, the LaRochelle family didn’t provide any details regarding how it built the coaster. While they’re unnecessary for enjoying the roller coaster, it’d still be nice to know how many hours the family spent on it; along with how much it cost. Because some of us still don’t have any access to exciting theme park rides. And with enough time on our hands, we may want to start building a bunch of wild backyard rides too.

The post A Family Built a Matterhorn Roller Coaster in Their Backyard appeared first on Nerdist.

We’ve been in the CG generation for movies for almost longer than a generation. From enhancing models in movies like Jurassic Park, to the cartoony, floaty computer graphics of the early 2000s, to today when most CG is so seamless you almost can’t tell the difference. But you do. Whether it looks great or it looks bad, we can always tell it’s probably computer graphics and nothing tactile. That’s the way of movies today. But maybe if the CG in movies was a little more like the work of Rafael Segnini, the debate over whether something is or isn’t real will be a lot more heated.

Behold, the following six minutes, which contain maybe the best and most lifelike CGI I’ve ever seen. (It’s in Portuguese but you can turn on English captions.)

It’s truly a thing of beauty. The short is a fan-film for the 1985-1986 Japanese tokusatsu series Space Wolf Juspion. The title of the video in English, “Juspion 3D: Transformation of Daileon/Mad Gallant – Definitive Preview,” also refers to Daileon, the massive ship that turns into a robot, and Mad Gallant, the evil metal man whom Juspion fights later in the short. And if it seems like Juspion’s look is familiar to you, it’s because it’s part of Toei’s larger series Metal Heroes, some of which Saban adapted into VR Troopers and Big Bad Beetleborgs. He even uses the Daileon song, as sung by Akira Kushida, which whips ass.

So now that you know the context, let’s just marvel at the craftsmanship. Everything in the video is computer generated, from the humans to the trees to the robots to even the cars. The lighting, I think, is what really captures the realism Segnini is going for and the mix of shadow and dim light really brings the CGI figures to life. I mean, just look at this gorgeous moving shot:

Rafael Segnini

There is a weight, a heft to everything we’re seeing. The camera movements feel like they are the work of human hands and not a computer. There’s a jostle when Juspion snaps into the seat. And that’s just one of a hundred moments in this piece. Toward the end of the short, when Juspion is dog fighting in space, it has shots as good if not better than in Rogue One‘s vaunted Battle of Scarif.

As you can tell, I’m in awe of this. I’ve probably watched it 19 times already. And if you want to see the progression, you can compare the above to the following which Segnini posted just over a year ago.

Hollywood, give this guy money and make him your sci-fi guru is all I’m saying. And that he’s doing all this work out of love for tokusatsu just makes it even better.

Featured Image: Rafael Segnini

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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Godzilla’s first mighty roar in 1954 kicked off an aptly named kaiju boom in Japan that lasted over a decade. While Toho Studios were the undisputed kings of giant monsters in the cinema in the 1960s, other studios attempted to bring their own behemoth beasts to the screen. Competitor studios put out their own giant monster flicks; Shochiku had The X from Outer Space; Nikkatsu tried Gappa, the Triphibian Monster; Toei co-produced Yongary: Monster from the Deep with South Korea; and Tsuburaya Productions owned television with its long-running Ultraman series. But if any company got closest to rivaling Godzilla, it was Daiei and its titanic terrapin, Gamera.

Made on a relatively low-budget, 1965’s Gamera: The Giant Monster was a black-and-white chiller that followed very much in the mold of the original Godzilla: a giant monster rises from the Earth’s crust and marauds across Tokyo and the Japanese countryside. It was a modest effort, but enough of a success to launch its own series of sequels in the late ’60s. To contrast with Toho’s monsters, Daiei clicked into two things that their series could do to set themselves apart. 1) they’d place the focus of the narrative on children more than the adults; and 2) they’d show a lot of monster blood and gore. Seemingly contradictory stances.

The Kaiju Boom

In total, from 1965 to 2006, Daiei produced 12 Gamera films, which are the subject of a properly massive Blu-ray box set from Arrow Video. Watching the complete series is a revelation, because the swing in tone and quality is staggering and amazing. While the early Gamera films are silly enough to warrant five inclusions on Mystery Science Theater 3000, they laid the groundwork for a trilogy in the ’90s that are as serious and scary as any monster movies in history.

Daiei

Generally most kaiju films, or Japanese special effects cinema in general, are designated by era. The Shōwa era effects are the birth of men-in-suit monsters which perpetuated during the first kaiju boom. There’s a quaintness and a warm familiarity to Japanese spectacle cinema during the Shōwa era. They look right at home with technicolor fantasy films from the west.

What is a Gamera?

Gamera‘s Shōwa era (1926-1989) films take up the bulk of the cycle. Director Noriaki Yuasa directed the first film, a sort of hail mary pass following the box office failure of his debut feature. It was a surprise hit; for the second movie, Gamera vs. Barugon, Daiei turned the director’s chair over to Shigeo Tanaka, a proven hit-maker for the company. Unfortunately, Barugon, a much slower and longer affair, failed to match the success of the original. But fortunately for Yuasa, who returned for the third film, Gamera vs. Gyaos; this movie featured a stripped down story and amped up the monster effects and action. From there we were off and running. Yuasa directed the next five movies, from 1968 to 1980.

Daiei

The Shōwa era Gamera sequels are… weird. On the one hand, they’re colorful and the monster designs are fun. Guiron has a head that looks like a butcher’s knife; Viras is an intergalactic squid beast; and Gamera’s most recurrent enemy, Gyaos, is a giant bird-bat-dinosaur based on Dracula. But as the series went on, the movies got smaller and smaller budgets (necessitating run times well under 90 minutes) and put a greater focus on children as the protagonists. They’re enjoyable on the level of children’s book fantasy; obviously these things aren’t real, because how could they be?

Daiei

Blood and Gore… for kids!

At the same time, the movies upped the blood and gore in a crazy way. Gamera’s fights often left him oozing green slime-blood, most graphically in 1971’s Gamera vs. Zigra where the sharp-finned evil shark slices Gamera right down the middle of his soft underbelly. In Gamera vs. Guiron, our two young heroes (always one Japanese kid and one Caucasian kid) witness a fight on an alien world between knife-headed Guiron and a silver Space Gyaos. It culminates in Guiron literally chopping Gyaos to pieces, sending the gnarly bat’s head flying with purple viscera dripping.

Daiei

To a generation of kids in Japan and abroad, Gamera was exuberant fun and mindless action. By 1980, though, the franchise was reduced to a badly produced clip movie, Gamera: Super Monster. It included musical numbers, clips from unrelated anime series, and parodies of everything from Jaws to Star Wars.

When Gamera Became Great

And that could have been it; Gamera could have been nothing more than an amusing footnote in the annals of kaiju cinema. That is, until the mid-90s. Toho’s Godzilla series was seeing renewed interest in a new continuity of darker, more grown-up films in Japan’s Heisei era (1989-2019). Daiei decided it might be time to bring their own terrible thunder lizard back the same way. They gave the reins to director Shusuke Kaneko and special effects director Shinji Higuchi. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Kaneko’s three Gamera films are, for my money, among the top five kaiju movies of all time. The other two are Godzilla (1954) and Shin Godzilla.

Daiei

So, why? Well, Kaneko does this by playing into what the Gamera movies always were. As scary as Heisei Gamera looks (and he does look terrifying), he’s a heroic figure. The first movie is called Gamera: Guardian of the Universe and it feels a lot like a disaster movie; flocks of giant Gyaos descend on Japan while at sea, tanker ships crash because of a gargantuan turtle. The government thinks this turtle, Gamera, is the bigger (ha) threat; an ornithologist thinks Gamera is a threat but the Gyaos are a more pressing problem. But a young girl touches an ancient medallion and forms a spiritual attachment with Gamera and learns that he is, elemental or atomic, a figure of protection and kindness.

The only early Gamera movie where Gamera is the all-out threat is the first one, but even in that movie, he saves a child from falling to his death. Gamera is a friend to children. In the second of Kaneko’s trilogy, Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, Gamera comes up against a hive of man-sized insect beasts which eventually form together into a giant nightmare thing. This movie is even scarier than the first one (the Legion bugs take out a subway car full of people and it’s up there with Aliens) but it also features a scene of Gamera saving a whole bus full of children.

Daiei

And finally, Kaneko’s crescendo, 1999’s Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris. There’s always been a spiritual, elemental aspect to Gamera, and that grows over the course of the trilogy. In the third part, Gamera faces an alien who feeds on the hatred of a young girl (whose family died because of the massive turtle in part one), and Gamera must sacrifice himself (possibly) lest the world become infected with the evil of revenge. Iris sucks the life out of humans in truly horrific ways, leaving a husk behind. At the end of the movie, Iris tries to suck the life out of Gamera’s hand and the terrapin blasts off his own limb to be able to keep fighting. It’s brutal.

Why You Need This Blu-ray Set

The Heisei Gamera trilogy honestly deserve a full essay unto themselves (which I may write one day), but in the context of this set, it sheds a light on something very integral to movies like these. The trilogy is only as good as it is because the audience understands the fundamentals of what and who Gamera is. They’re truly scary movies with the most impressive suitmation and miniature effects I’ve ever seen, but if Kaneko hadn’t kept the basics of the series true and just brought up the tone and quality, they’d all be for naught. You earn the Heisei trilogy by watching the Shōwa series.

There is one more movie in the set: 2006’s Gamera the Brave. It starts the continuity over again and while it maintains the impressiveness of the effects to a degree, new director Ryuta Tasaki aims directly for a child audience again. Gamera is friendly looking, the main character is a little boy. It’s perfectly passable, but a paltry shadow of the three that came before.

Daiei

In all of this essay, I’ve only just talked about the movies themselves, including American versions of a couple, but that is just a sliver of the greatness you’ll discover in Arrow’s Blu-ray set. On each disc, you’ll find a bevy of extras including an incredibly informative introduction on 11 of the 12 movies from scholar August Ragone; audio commentary on every movie from a host of experts; interviews with cast and crew; and brief documentaries on the Heisei series.

There’s also a full 80-page book including retrospectives on the series and interviews with various luminaries. And finally, you get a 130-page comic book including full-color reprints of the four-issue Gamera comic from Dark Horse in 1996. Plus, the first-ever English-language printing of the prequel comic, The Last Hope, by Matt Frank and Joshua Bugosh. The whole thing is packaged in a beautiful box with brand new, vibrant artwork by Matt Frank.

Arrow’s The Complete Gamera Collection Blu-ray box is without question the best such collectors set of 2020. Even if you only know Gamera from the MST3K episodes and think “Eh, those are dumb and bad movies,” you owe it to yourself to pick it up. It’s one of my favorite releases in literal years. And like Gamera himself, it deserves to be appreciated, understood, and celebrated.

Featured Image: Arrow Video/Matt Frank

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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It’s weird to realize now, but there was a time Vin Diesel wasn’t a household name. The world famous action star was just an up-and-comer like many a young actor. He has reigned in blockbuster supremacy for close to 20 years but he might not have gotten his earliest breakout role if producers had their way. Before Dominic Toretto or Xander Cage, Diesel donned the goggles of Richard B. Riddick in David Twohy’s Pitch Black. As we learn from Twohy in this exclusive clip from the making-of documentary on Arrow Video‘s new Blu-ray, Diesel was almost axed for a bigger star.

It’s always a crazy prospect when you find out who almost ended up in your favorite movies; Will Smith was almost in The Matrix but David Schwimmer was almost in Men in Black. Weird, right? But though Diesel is all but synonymous with his Fast and Furious family man now, it was Riddick in Pitch Black that clearly spoke to him first. After all, he turned down the chance to appear in the sequels to both F&F and xXx in order to make The Chronicles of Riddick.

Universal

If you haven’t seen Pitch Black, or haven’t in a while, now’s your chance to see it better than ever before. Arrow Video has released a special edition Blu-ray of the movie, complete with both the theatrical and director’s cuts. You also get two archival commentary tracks, one of which has writer-director Twohy, Diesel, and co-star Cole Hauser. Other extras include Nightfall: The Making of Pitch Black, featuring the full interview with Twohy; new interviews with actors Claudia Black and Rhiana Griffith; cinematographer David Eggby; visual effects coordinator Peter Chiang; and composer Graeme Revell.

Arrow Video

And for you big Riddick heads out there, the Blu-ray also includes the full animated short The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury. From Aeon Flux director Peter Chung, the short features the voices of Diesel, Griffith, and Keith David and bridges the gap between Pitch Black and its sequel.

Pitch Black is a pretty dope sci-fi monster movie and even without the Riddick sequels, it stands up there with the likes of Aliens. Check it out!

Featured Image: Universal

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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You can’t make movies like Alien and Blade Runner without forever linking yourself to the science fiction genre. Ridley Scott has made a wide variety of movies and produced an even larger swath of others, but whether it’s great movies like The Martian or interesting failures (I said it) like Prometheus or Alien: Covenant, we just want to see Scott and Sci-Fi back together again. That’s why the trailer for HBO Max‘s new series Raised by Wolves is so exciting. And weird.

The series focuses on two androids who must raise human children on a mysterious virgin planet. Religious differences threaten to tear apart the burgeoning colony; the androids learn that “controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task,” which is an understatement. This sounds like a pretty interesting premise for a show, and a rather timely one. And the visuals look especially intriguing, as you might expect. Ridley Scott directed the first two episodes of the 10-episode series, marking his debut directing for American television.

And with this series, Scott keeps continues to explore artificial humans and their relationship to organic ones. Through all of his Alien films and especially Blade Runner, he tackles what it means to be a “human;” does it even matter if you were born or created? The main android in Raised by Wolves, played by Amanda Collin, is both the children’s caregiver and, as you can see, a terrifying murder machine. That should provide some drama, eh?

Scott is also an executive producer on the series along with writer and creator Aaron Guzikowski; David W. Zucker (The Man in the High Castle); Jordan Sheehan (The Terror); Adam Kolbrenner (Prisoners); and Mark Huffam (The Martian).

Cast members along with Collin include Abubakar Salim (Fortitude, Jamestown); Winta McGrath (Aloft, Red Dog: True Blue); Niamh Algar (The Virtues, Calm With Horses); Jordan Loughran (The Infiltrator, Emerald City); Matias Varela (Narcos, Point Break); Felix Jamieson (Game of Thrones, The Ghost); Ethan Hazzard (The Long Song; Damned); Aasiya Shah (Call the Midwife, Unforgotten); Ivy Wong (Star Wars: Rogue One, Maleficent 2); and Travis Fimmel (Vikings).

Raised by Wolves premieres on HBO Max September 3.

Featured Image: HBO Max

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post Ridley Scott’s RAISED BY WOLVES Looks Real Weird appeared first on Nerdist.

We take spectacle cinema for granted these days. Summer movie season now stretches roughly 10-and-a-half months and delivers 150+ minutes of eye-bleeding action and CG-saturated excess. Some of the movies are good, some are enjoyable if not groundbreaking, and some are just a slog. But they all have the same thing in common: they’re big. Each franchise tries to outdo the others and offer the biggest, most popcorn-devouring spectacle of the year. Sci-fi action owns the big screen, and it has done for a very long time.

Watching Criterion‘s new release of the 1953 The War of the Worlds, it’s easy to draw a line across 67 years of cinema. That movie is still supremely effective, and it did it in only 85 minutes.

It’s easy to look at movies that set the initial bar in retrospect and deem them boring or quaint compared to today. But you have to put yourself into the mind of a viewer in the early 1950s. We’ve seen alien invasion movies all our lives; back then it was brand new. 1951 saw the release of three of the most important such movies in the early days; The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Thing from Another World, and When Worlds Collide. Each has its own sense of awe and fear with aliens arriving, or the planet of the brink of destruction. But by 1953, these themes coalesced into a perfect spear of shock.

George Pal, the independent producer who made Destination Moon and When Worlds Collide, impressed Paramount and they gave him H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, the rights to which producer-director Cecil B. DeMille had  obtained years earlier. Pal was the perfect choice for this kind of movie. Both Moon and Worlds won the Oscar for best visual effects in 1950 and 1951, respectively. For this, he’d push his skills even further.

Paramount

To direct The War of the Worlds, Pal chose Byron Haskin, a director, cinematographer, and special effects man whose career started in the 1920s. He knew how to frame miniatures to make them look enormous, and the film’s alien ships look gargantuan on the scale model streets and hillsides. Rather than use the walking tripods from Wells’ book, Pal and Haskin opted for flying machines with eyestalk lasers on top.

The story of the film transposes Wells’ English countryside to a small town in Southern California. Gene Barry stars as Dr. Clayton Forrester (yes, MST3K used the name), a renowned scientist (the best kind) who spies a falling celestial object when out fishing with some pals. At the crash site, Dr. Forrester meets USC library science instructor Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) and her uncle, Pastor Matthew Collins (Lewis Martin). That night, the strange pod opens and a Martian weapon disintegrates the men standing guard. The Marines surround the object as reports pour in of more such “cylinders” crashing to Earth.

Paramount

Thus begins a series of brutal victories for the Martian craft, using heat rays and disintegration to destroy all obstacles in their way. Even Pastor Collins gets blasted when trying to reason with them in the name of God (a shocking scene today, but damn near volcanic in 1953). As Forrester and Sylvia struggle to learn anything about the Martians, the US Military tries in vain to battle them. They are hopelessly outmatched; the subjugation of the Earth seems assured.

I’m not going to give away the ending to the movie if you haven’t seen it or read the book. But it is a bit of an anti-climax after the destruction and carnage on display. But that’s sort of what’s genius about it. This isn’t a “humanity fights aliens” movie; it’s an “aliens as natural disaster” movie. The aliens are less an invading threat than an unstoppable force majeure. Watching their ships maraud ’50s America is akin to an earthquake, tornado, or hurricane. All you can do is try to survive. That the Martians (spoilers) eventually stop marauding is down to luck and chance, not the will of any man.

Paramount

Steven Spielberg obviously remade this movie in the 2000s and, in typical Spielberg fashion, focused on a family breaking apart rather than a scientist and his newfound love interest. It’s a much more blue collar approach to the same story, but I don’t think it’s nearly as effective. In Pal’s movie, we see regular citizens fall victim to the Martians, sure, but we also spend a lot of time with the American military failing at every turn. The same American military that came home the heroes of WWII less than 10 years earlier. No greater way to show how absolutely pwned we are than that.

The War of the Worlds has received a dazzling 4K restoration which you can see on Criterion’s Blu-ray. The color of that 1950s Technicolor positively oozes from the screen. We also have a new alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, created by sound designer Ben Burtt and presented in DTS-HD Master Audio. All this means that there’s nothing quaint or hokey about the way this movie looks and sounds on your home screen. It’s the movie that more or less birthed the sci-fi spectacle movie and it shows. Movies of this nature led to B-movie hokum, but there’s none on display here. This is an astoundingly good and still quite scary movie.

Criterion/Peter Leger

And amid several documentaries and interviews on the Blu-ray, you can also listen to the entire Orson Welles Mercury Radio Theatre production of The War of the Worlds, which several people thought was real in 1938. Both of these depictions of H.G. Wells’ story prove what a staggering work of science fiction it is. And honestly, no one’s ever topped them. Not even Mr. Spielberg.

Fittingly, The War of the Worlds won the Visual Effects Oscar in 1953, making Pal a three-in-a-row winner. He’s go on to produce other science fiction spectacles like Conquest of Space, Atlantis, the Lost Continent, and his 1960 masterpiece The Time Machine, based on another H.G. Wells book. When Pal met Wells, it was nothing short of magic.

The War of the Worlds is available on Blu-ray from Criterion now.

Featured Image: Criterion/Peter Leger

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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No flying cars, no replicants, no off-world colonies – and no futuristic looking Los Angeles as depicted in the opening shots of the movie. As it turns out, we just had to wait a little while.

One title card and some music from the original score later, and suddenly it feels like the opening shots coming to life. We’re not sure but we wouldn’t be surprised if Harrison Ford was down there somewhere too. For comparison’s sake, here’s the original Blade Runner opening scene down below:

Although owning and setting off fireworks is illegal in L.A. County, that clearly didn’t stop a metric ton of people from acquiring them and shooting them off on Independence Day anyway. As you can see from the aerial footage, hundreds of fireworks were going off all over the city that night, regardless of the ban. (If the last few months have proven anything, it’s that most Americans don’t care much for things like rules.)

Warner Bros

Combine all that with some of the more recent skyscrapers that Los Angeles has constructed with a more futuristic look; suddenly the skyline of L.A. looks quite a bit like that of Blade Runner’s. In the movie, the city has factories all over the place spouting off giant fireballs into the skyline. With these fireworks, and the original film’s evocative score from Vangelis, it really does feel like the future Ridley Scott dreamed up. Now, if only we could get those flying cars…

Featured Image: Warner Brothers

The post L.A.’s 4th of July Fireworks Look Like BLADE RUNNER appeared first on Nerdist.

Ridley Scott’s Alien, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, spawned a franchise that resulted in three sequels, two prequels, and two spin-off films. But unlike fellow sci-fi heavyweights like Star Wars and Star Trek, one thing we’ve never had is an Alien-inspired animated series or movie. Probably (one would imagine) due to the chest-bursting and acid blood slaughter of it all. Doesn’t exactly lend itself to family-friendly fare.

But let’s for one moment say there actually was an animated Alien spin-off. What would such a thing even look like?

Imagine Alien not only as an animated movie but as the crème de la crème of animated movies, one coming from Pixar Studios. We now have a a pretty good idea of what that would look like. Thanks to BoingBoing, we’ve discovered the work of Monica Ion, a concept artist who hails from the U.K.. Ion has designed a number of mobile games. For fun, she recently decided to pay tribute to Ridley Scott’s  classic by rendering images from the film in the recognizable Pixar style. And the results have us wishing this was all a real thing.

Ion has recreated several of the most iconic scenes from the movie, including Ripley escaping the Nostromo before its self-destruction at the climax of the film, with kitty-cat Jones in tow. Also included is the discovery of the derelict alien vessel on planet LV-426. Of course, the infamous xenomorph chest bursting scene in all its bloody glory gets a nod as well.

Twentieth Century Fox

This all could technically become a reality now, as Disney own Fox, which in turn owns Alien. But we wouldn’t count on such a thing ever happening. Thanks to this fan art, however, we can imagine Ripley’s adventures in space to the tune of a Randy Newman score. Maybe with Ripley getting an assist from Buzz Lightyear.

For more of Monica Ion’s amazing work, be sure to head on over to her official website.

Featured Image: Twentieth Century Fox

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Don’t let us beat around the bush: there is nothing good about the COVID-19 outbreak. It is deadly and horrible and causing severe issues worldwide. But a lot of positive things are happening surrounding the global quarantine that are helping to give us a respite. Celebrities especially seem especially keen to use their stardom to help and entertain. And we’ve seen a rash of shows and movies having full-on Zoom reunions, like Melrose Place and Back to the Future. Now you can add Orphan Black to that list. The cast will reunite for a virtual table read, to give voice to a very important cause.

Almost three years after the final episode of Orphan Black, the bulk of the cast and crew will reunite on Sunday, May 17, at 3pm ET on the show’s official Facebook page for a reading of two episodes. The reading will be in support of Mental Health Awareness in May and International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia. The stream will invite viewers’ charitable support of two specific charities, CenterLink and Sistering.

BBC America

The Emmy-winning star of the show, Tatiana Maslany, had the following to say of the event:

“Kristian Bruun and I started talking about the idea of doing an Orphan Black reunion back when everything had shut down. We wanted to show love to Clone Club and help raise some money for people who are disproportionately affected during this difficult time. We chose two charities, CenterLink and Sistering Toronto. CenterLink supports over 250 LGBTQ community centers across the world. Our LGBTQ fans have always been deeply important to us. Sistering Toronto helps at risk, socially isolated women and trans people in Toronto, who are certainly in dire need right now of support, resources, and healthcare.

In addition to raising funds, we hope that we can bring some joy to the fans, something intimate just for them, make them feel connected to the Clone Club community even if we’re all far apart. Going back to the first season for some nostalgia and iconic moments. All of the cast and producers and writers did a zoom chat the other day to discuss things and none of us wanted to hang up. Our show was always about family and community and sestrahood, so bringing us all back together for this just felt right.”

BBC America

This is very exciting for members of the Clone Club community. The cast and crew will read episodes 106 and 107 from the show’s first season. Confirmed are cast members Tatiana Maslany as Alison, Cosima, Sarah and Helena; Maria Doyle Kennedy as Mrs. S; Jordan Gavaris as Felix; Kristian Bruun as Donnie; Kevin Hanchard as Detective Art Bell; Dylan Bruce as Paul; Evelyne Brochu as Dr. Delphine Cormier; Josh Vokey as Scott; Michael Mando as Vic; Inga Cadranel as Detective Angela DeAngelis; Eric Johnson as Chad Norris; and Natalie Lisinska as Ainsley. Kathryn Alexandre, Maslany’s acting double, will also be in attendance as well as co-creators Graeme Manson and John Fawcett, executive producer Kerry Appleyard, writer Will Pascoe, and co-producer Mackenzie Donaldson.

Just as the series promoted positive LGBTQ representation in its 50 episode run, those involved in Orphan Black will continue to do so at a time when marginalized communities need support the most.

Featured Image: BBC America

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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Set your clock for the ’80s. It’s time to go back and explore the impact of the ’80s sci-fi films we love. The In Search of Tomorrow documentary from director David Weiner will examine movies such as Blade Runner, Back to the Future, and Mad Max to look at the artists who made them and how they’ve affected the broader pop culture landscape. Clocking in at over four hours, the documentary will include interviews with actors, directors, SFX experts, composers, and writers. We have an exclusive trailer showcasing the many classic movies the documentary will feature.

They say the doc will be an extensive nostalgic journey. That footage shows that statement is one hundred percent accurate. In Search of Tomorrow serves as a follow-up to the comprehensive In Search of Darkness, a four hour documentary about ’80s horror. Weiner told Nerdist, “The sleeper success of In Search of Darkness demonstrated that genre fans will enthusiastically welcome a nostalgic return to the films that shaped their lives in the form of an extended super-doc. In Search of Tomorrow promises to be an even more ambitious film journey worthy of the amazing content and creators that came out of ’80s Sci-Fi cinema: A celebration of human potential, exploring the most inspiring and eclectic movies of the decade, year-by year, that firmly captured our collective imaginations and changed our lives.”

In Search of Tomorrow‘s interviewees include the likes of Bob Gale, Walter Koenig, Nancy Allen, Sean Young, Dennis Muren… and the list goes on and on. As you can imagine, this huge number of interviews takes time. They’re targeting a July 2021 release date for the documentary. But until then, you can join their fan community on Discord (gaining access is part of a Kickstarter pledge) for watch parties, special guest Q&As, and discourse about ’80s science fiction.

You can support In Search of Tomorrow on Kickstarter through May 17, and you can choose from a plethora of cool rewards.

Featured Image: CreatorVC Studios

Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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Everyone these days is aware that May the 4th is Star Wars Day, but less folks know the Alien franchise has an unofficial online holiday too. April 26th marks Alien Day simply because of the planet in the movie where the Nostromo crew discovered xenomorph eggs. The planet goes by the designation LV-426. So, April 26.

And to commemorate the day Lt. Ellen Ripley kicked some slimy alien butt, the folks at Mondo are offering some fantastic new items celebrating Ripley, the xenomorph, and even Jones the cat! Since 4/26 falls on a weekend this year, Mondo will kick off the celebration and put the Alien Day collection on sale starting on Friday, 4/24, at the Mondo Shop.

Twentieth Century Fox

You can preview Mondo’s new Alien Day offerings below, starting with these adorable Alien enamel pins! The Ovomorph Enamel Pin is 1.51″ wide, while the Chestburster Enamel Pin is 1.47″ wide. The Ripley & Jonesy Enamel Pin measures 1.8″, with the Xenomorph Enamel Pin coming in at 1.6″ wide. All four pins are made from hard enamel on black nickel with double posts and rubber clutch backings. The 100% Soft designs are priced at $10.oo each.

Mondo

The Alien Queen Tiki Mug – Airlock Variant is an approximately 9 inch tall ceramic tiki mug, which holds 22oz. The Alien Queen Tiki Mug comes with one Facehugger swizzle stick and one Chestburster swizzle stick. It’s designed by Mike Bonanno, sculpted by Tufan Sezer, and manufactured by Tiki Farm. This one will set you back $50.00.

Mondo

The Alien Egg Tiki Shooters (2-Pack) – Airlock Variant cost $25.00 per set, and stand at about. 2.5″ tall. They hold 2oz. This set contains 2 Alien Egg Shooters. The same crew from the mug designed them.

Mondo

And while Ripley might be the hero of the franchise, you can’t forget her trusty cat companion Jones! There’s a Jonesy T-Shirt in black and white by Martin Ansin, as well as one in color. Both styles are available in in unisex sizes XS-4XL, and women’s sizes S-2XL. The Jonesy shirts can be yours for $25.00.

Mondo

Any or all of these items are the perfect way to honor one of the most kick-ass franchises in sci-fi history. For more info, be sure to head on over to the Mondo site.

Featured Image: Mondo

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We’re all looking for stuff to watch during this open-ended quarantine. Stuff to take our minds off of the uncertainty and transport us to a fantastical world. At least that’s what I’m doing. I’ve been watching stuff like marbles racing for weeks. But as a big fan of both sci-fi and whimsy, I’ve found a ton of comfort in Japanese tokusatsu, or special effects, shows. The one that has truly blown me away is Ultra Q. Though The Twilight Zone was the contemporary American show it sought to emulate, it feels to me more like The X-Files but with giant monsters. It rules.

In the mid ’60s, following the continued success of Toho’s giant monster movies, the special effects supervisor Eiju Tsuburaya launched his own production company. Tsuburaya pioneered the mix of model, miniatures, puppets, and performers in monster suits. This became the standard for Japanese effects for the next 50 years and beyond. So when Tsuburaya Productions sought to make their first television series, the result was the most expensive, most cinematic show ever on Japanese TV to that point.

United Artists Television

Airing weekly on the Tokyo Broadcast System between January and July 1966, Ultra Q was about mystery, science, and monsters. Our main characters are Yuriko Edogawa (Hiroko Sakurai), an intrepid young reporter; Jun Manjome (Kenji Sahara), a pilot for Hoshikawa Air Service and an amateur sci-fi writer; and Ippe Togawa (Yasuhiko Saijou), Jun’s eager young apprentice. Yuriko initially hires Jun and Ippe to fly her around to sites of the unexplained; eventually the trio partner to investigate strange occurrences all across Japan. Occasionally they seek aid from Professor Ichinotani (Ureo Egawa), a renowned scientist who faces the unexplained through the lens of hard science.

That’s already a pretty great set-up for a show; like The X-Files, the heroes can get embroiled in any sort of strange plot since they’re supposed to investigate anyway. But because TBS wanted Tsuburaya’s trademark giant monster effects, the vast majority of the show’s 28 episodes deal with some kind of behemoth kaiju. The show’s opening episode, “Defeat Gomess!” is probably the closest the show gets to a Godzilla-esque kaiju movie. A mining team’s excavation unearths a giant, bipedal, tusked creature named Gomess. They also unleash the massive bird Litra that protects Earth from Gomess.

United Artists Television

And there are certainly other giant monsters, a couple of whom recur. Episode five, “Peguila is Here!” introduces the Antarctic menace, Peguila, which fires ice beams; it returns in episode 14, “Tokyo Ice Age,” in which a nuclear reactor explodes near Antarctica which sends Peguila heading north. Another recurring monster is Garadama. This monster sprang forth from a meteorite and looks like a mix of a hedgehog and a toad. Garadama appeared in episodes 13 and 16.

United Artists Television

Other monsters like a giant octopus, a gargantuan snail, and a big ol’ mole also pop up in various episodes. And if this were just a show where big monsters destroy stuff, as impressive as the effects are for the time, Ultra Q would have been pretty boring. But very quickly, the writers of the series began to play with the format, and even the well-trod effects Tsuburaya invented.

In the episode “Metamorphosis,” an entomologist and his fiancee travel to an island to look at rare Amazonian butterflies only for the butterflies to poison the man and transform him into a giant. We’ve seen all manner of men in rubber suits in this show, but here we see just a guy marauding through the miniature sets. It deconstructs the whole idea of what a “kaiju” actually is. Ultimately, it’s just a guy, whether he’s in a monster suit or not.

United Artists Television

In another episode, “The 1/8 Project,” Yuriko feels overwhelmed by humanity and the rush of life in Tokyo. She decides to look into a project to reduce population growth, only to discover it’s an experiment to literally shrink humans to 1/8 their size. The project forcibly shrinks her and takes her to a warehouse in which they’ve built a scale model of a city for all the humans to live in. This leads to Jun and Ippe walking through the tiny city looking for their friend. They, in effect, become the kaiju, as the shrunken citizens run in fear from the well meaning but clumsy heroes.

United Artists Television

The episodes that really knocked me out were the ones that played with the format even more. For example, in “Baron Spider,” Jun, Yuriko, Ippe, and some of their friends get lost on a back road and seek refuge at a seemingly abandoned mansion near a swamp. Jun remembers legends of a mad scientist obsessed with spiders who lived out in such a place. As they hang out in the cobwebbed old house, they soon realize man-sized spiders are stalking them. Amid all this Godzilla-style action, we get an episode that’s straight-up Gothic horror.

Another horror-themed episode is “The Devil Child,” which honestly feels like it could be a Twilight Zone or X-Files episode. A traveling magic act finds a man hypnotizing his young daughter while she sits in a box with a window for the audience to view. To the surprise of the crowd, the girl appears on top of the box and answers questions from the audience. It’s a great trick, but Jun soon suspects something sinister when a series of deadly road accidents coincide with people believing they’ve seen a little ghost girl.

United Artists Television

There are purely comedic episodes as well, most of which hardly feature our main characters, if at all. All of these episodes are aimed at children, as they were a major audience for Ultra Q. And while the comedic episodes do tend to seem inconsequential and frothy, they nevertheless employ some real creativity and a great use of Tsuburaya’s effects.

United Artists Television

But while the monsters and effects are the draw, Ultra Q gives us a trio of compelling leads. Also like the later X-Files, there’s something of an unspoken infatuation between Jun and Yuriko, and Ippei exists to third-wheel it on occasion. It’s a really fun dynamic; Jun and Ippei have a master/student relationship (Ippei even calls Jun “Senpai”); Yuriko and Ippei are best buddies who go hang out together. Closer in age, the two relate a bit more like school chums and it’s fun to watch. And Jun, as played by the handsome Kenji Sahara, is both the heroic lead and a great foil for when the other two characters step up.

Easily my favorite episode is episode 19, “Challenge from the Year 2020,” which is strangely fitting. People begin to disappear when they come in contact with a strange, gelatinous substance. Weirder still is that all of these occurrences appear word-for-word in a novel Ippei loves. The author, a scientist who disappeared years ago, insisted his account was a true telling of first contact with an alien race. Very soon, as even Jun disappears, Yuriko and Ippei realize the last of a dying alien race, the Kemur, have infiltrated Earth. The episode ends with the strange Kemur creature coming to Yuriko looking like Jun, attempting to entice her to him to abduct her for organ harvest.

United Artists Television

This episode is one of Ultra Q‘s most visually striking and nightmarish. Yuriko meets the Kemur at a fairground at night. The rides and their glowing lights illuminate the otherwise pitch-black scene. Eventually the Kemur itself displays lights emanating from its strange head. It grows ten times its size and begins destroying the fair. It’s like some kind of David Lynch- or Carnival of Souls-type craziness. I love it.

Ultra Q was a massive ratings smash and immediately led to TBS asking Tsuburaya for another series, in color this time. Premiering only two weeks after Ultra Q‘s finale would be the series that made Tsuburaya Productions a powerhouse. That of course is Ultraman, the first in a long line of giant-hero shows. But without Ultra Q and its blend of science, spookiness, and suitmation, it never would have happened.

Ultra Q, along with several other Ultra series, have recently gotten an HD Blu-ray release from Mill Creek. It’s a gorgeous transfer, making the most of the 35mm film stock. You can also get the whole series on Amazon Prime Video, or if you do a cursory search on one of your Tube sites, you can find the whole series colorized. While it looks fine in color, I think the black & white really ups the eeriness factor. Which in truth is what Ultra Q really brought to the party.

Featured Image: United Artists Television

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!
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Let’s say it’s been a minute since you’ve watched Battlestar Galactica, a.k.a. BSG. That’s fair—the show debuted over a decade ago, guiding Syfy, then known as the Sci-Fi Channel, to genre TV and breaking new ground in the science fiction space. Naturally, your best course of action would be to watch every episode, including “Black Market.” But if you find yourself short on time, we’ve distilled the series down to its most important episodes. You’re in for the faster-than-light (FTL) jump of your life.

The Miniseries

Universal

TV miniseries are usually reserved for historical docudramas, Stephen King classics, or star-studded HBO projects. So, kicking off a four-season sci-fi series with a three hour miniseries initially felt like an odd choice. But, what could have been a misstep was the right move—the Battlestar Galactica miniseries lays out what this world looks like, its important players, and the thematic questions the show will pose. It’s engrossing from the start and serves as a fine introduction to what’s to come.

Season 1, Episode 1 – “33”

Universal

Technically, “33” isn’t the pilot, but it would have been a damn good one. Commander Adama (who you, the viewer, are already pretending is your dad) and the Galactica crew must complete a FTL jump every 33 minutes, meaning five and a half days without sleep. It’s an exhausting episode to watch and illustrates just how draining it is and will continue to be to evade the Cylons.

Season 1, Episodes 12-13 – “Kobol’s Last Gleaming”

Universal

At first blush, it seems like this two-parter’s sole purpose is to move the story along. The crew finds a habitable planet for the first time, and they feel conflict over whether to settle or continue on in their search for Earth. The most important factor here is what happens when a Cylon unaware of their Cylon status finds out what they are. Cliffhangers don’t always land, but there’s nothing like the shock at the end of the episode.

Season 2, Episode 1 – “Scattered”

Universal

The second season opener is a sort of Saul Tigh character study. We learn why he’s loyal to Adama, what keeps him in the fleet, and how his leadership may not hold up to scrutiny. Simultaneously, we see the Cylons’ sheer power both on the ship, which they successfully crash into, and on Kobol, where they ambush Galactica crew members.

Season 2, Episodes 11-12 – “Resurrection Ship”

Universal

In “Pegasus,” the episode that precedes this two-parter, we meet Admiral Cain, who commands another colonial ship, Pegasus. It’s not long before Cain reveals herself to be a ruthless leader who treats Cylons like animals and rules over her crew with an iron fist. In their struggle for control, Adama and Cain plan to assassinate each other. Ultimately, both back out, but Cain is put in a difficult situation.

Season 2, Episodes 19-20 – “Lay Down Your Burdens”

The season two closer features several bold choices on the part of the writers: making Gaius Baltar president rather than the levelheaded Roslin, solidifying some romantic relationships, and, most notably, jumping forward a year to see what Baltar’s done with New Caprica, the crew’s settlement. It’s a great refresher course in character motivations, the goals of the Galactica, and the series’ themes on a whole.

Season 3, Episode 1 – “Occupation”

Universal

Remember that occupation? It’s still going strong four months later when season three picks up and we find our crew fractured, some imprisoned by Cylons on New Caprica, others in space, planning recovery missions. This is one of the more obvious instances of BSG mirroring reality, but it wasn’t too heavy-handed to garner an Emmy nomination.

Season 3, Episode 17 – “Maelstrom”

Universal

Starbuck was always one of the most compelling characters on Battlestar Galactica, a brash, bold, talented pilot with a special connection to the Adama family and a murky, mysterious destiny referenced by certain Cylons time and again. When she dies while battling a Cylon Raider, it’s in the midst of several scenes depicting her dreams and memories. Basically, we get to know Starbuck like we never have before.

Season 3, Episodes 19-20 – “Crossroads”

The final five Cylons are referenced throughout the series, but we don’t find out any of their identities until the masterpiece that is the third season’s finale.  An earworm version of “All Along the Watchtower” draws four of the five together. A couple of them are wildcards. As if that weren’t enough, Starbuck returns and shares an important discovery. Now that’s entertainment.

Season 4, Episode 4 – “Six of One”

Universal

Another Emmy-nominated episode, this early entry in the show’s final season sees some of the show’s heavy hitters—Starbuck, tactical officer Gaeta, and on-and-off pilots Helo, Athena, Lee, and Anders—splitting off to follow Starbuck’s vision. That’s only after some sweet Cylon action, with a Raider recognizing one of their own and the known models panicking over whether or not to effectively lobotomize the Raiders so the final five’s identities won’t be uncovered. Crew infighting is nothing new on this show, but seeing it happen among the Cylons is always a treat.

Season 4, Episode 12 – “Revelations”

Universal

From the very beginning, we know that the fleet’s ultimate goal is to find Earth. What happens when they finally do is devastating. The Earth, it turns out, is a cold, dead place, completely ravaged and hardly habitable. Battlestar Galactica has never been a happy show, and that’s often to its benefit, perhaps more than ever here.

Season 4, Episodes 21-23 – “Daybreak”

Universal

Finales can sometimes focus too much on tying up loose ends and not enough on emotional resonance. The three-part conclusion to BSG balances things, and the mini-arc deserves more than being distilled into a paragraph. This is television that ought to be savored even if you’ve marathoned the rest at FTL speed. Do yourself a favor, say a hearty, “So say we all,” and invest a few hours in the end of one of the best sci-fi stories ever told.

Featured Image: Universal/SYFY

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Hold the frakking ship right now. You can watch Battlestar Galactica for free this very second. Syfy has made the beloved science fiction television series available to watch on their site. This means if you’ve been meaning to watch (or rewatch) Battlestar Galactica, now is the time. You don’t need to have a streaming service subscription or acquire physical media. You need only to get comfortable with your internet connection and press play.

Syfy knows you need to approach the world of BSG as a completist, so they’ve made everything available. Start with the two-part 2003 miniseries (note Syfy was known as Sci-Fi then). Then watch seasons one through four of the TV series. And don’t forget about the BSG movies, The Plan and Razor. It’s so many hours of wonderful content. What an abundance of the Adamas, Roslin, Starbuck, and Cylons to be blessed with in these trying times. The series is incredibly smart and well-written, and as someone who’s recently rewatched BSG, it one hundred percent holds up.

Universal

And when you need even more Battlestar Galactica content, you can fill your ears with a podcast. As you watch each episode, tune into the Syfy Wire: Battlestar Galacticast. BSG cast member Tricia Helfer (Number 6) joins Marc Bernardin to plumb the depths of every installment of the series. It’s also available on the site.

Battlestar Galacticast has something special coming up on April 20, too. They’ll release a bonus episode featuring a cast reunion with a live read of the acclaimed and beloved episode “33.” Edward James Olmos, James Callis, Jamie Bamber, Katee Sackhoff, Michael Trucco, Rekha Sharma and more will join the podcast.

“Sometimes you have to roll a hard six.”

Look, I’m not saying the quote fits the current context, but if you have a chance to use any of William Adama’s words, you should. I know he has more than a few pieces of wisdom applicable to current times, but moreover, he has an unstoppable attitude. If he were here fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic instead of Cylons, he wouldn’t quit. And he would remind us to stay the frak home. Luckily bingeing Battlestar Galactica helps us do just that.

Featured Image: Universal
Posted updated on April 8, 202

Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy. Follow her on Twitter.

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It’s a good time to be a fan of Tokusatsu fan. The genre of superhero, kaiju, or robot series (Tokusatsu literally translates to “special filming,” denoting heavy special effects) is having a major resurgence. Sure, Power Rangers, the western adaptation of the Super Sentai series, is going strong, but the original Japanese shows are getting their due in a big way. Mill Creek has recently issued HD restorations of the entire Ultra franchise, including Ultra Q, Ultraman, and Ultra 7. Just this week, Pluto TV and Shout! Factory launched a 24-hour Tokusatsu channel with shows like Super Sentai and Kamen Rider.

Toei

Now, Toei, the original studio behind most of this, has launched its own YouTube channel where fans of the genre will get to find 70 different series. Featuring shows from the 1960s thru the 1990s, the channel launched Sunday, April 5 with the first two episodes of all 70 shows. Beginning the next Monday, the next two episodes of the individual series will debut, one show per day, seven days a week. This will presumably be until those first shows have completed their runs.

The first round of shows include National Kid, a rather obscure 1960 show about a messenger from Andromeda who protects Earth from alien invaders; Love! Love!! Witch Teacher, an adaptation of a Magical Girl manga; Robot 8-Chanhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueiUt2tdiMw, a 1981 robo-hero show; Space Sheriff Gavan, the first installment of Toei’s Metal Hero series; Space Wolf Juspion, another; and Gorenger, the very first entry in the Super Sentai series which began Zyuranger and Dairanger, the basis for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Further shows premiering down the line include some pretty wild titles. For instance Space Sheriff Sharivan, the second in that series and the one with the villain named Demon King Psycho. Also Captain Ultra, Toei’s attempt to get some of the audience left in the gap between Tsubaraya Productions’ Ultraman and Ultraseven. And Message from Space: Galactic Wars, the TV spin-off of the late-70s Star Wars cash-in film (that we love).

We’re pretty stoked to get to see these classic shows, and we’re particularly pleased to see Toei parsing them out over the course of weeks. There’s such occasion to waiting a week for the next installment of an adventure. But, oh, are they ever smart for giving us two episodes of every single series all at once. Well done, Toei. And well done, us all, for getting to watch it.

Toei’s Tokusatsu channel launches April 7. What show has you most excited? Let us know below!

Featured Image: Toei

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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Alex Garland has a very clear brand, and one that I buy up with gusto. He tends to write science fiction as a mixture of awe and terror. Something new and unfathomable will always spark a mixture of “Wow” and “Oh no!” but Garland’s work makes it the central struggle. Elements of this showed up in his screenplays for Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later and Sunshine. With his own directorial efforts, they came front and center. Ex Machina introduced the idea of a perfect AI, with ulterior motives; Annihilation showed us an entity that could warp our very existence. Now Garland is putting both of those ideas together for the haunting new TV miniseries Devs.

From the first two episodes—which premiere Thursday, March 5, on the new FX on Hulu channel on the streaming giant—it feels like Devs is the third part in this thematic trilogy. While it returns to the insanely advanced tech world explored in Ex Machina, it also touches on the metaphysics, quantum states, and existentialism of Annihilation. It’s not quite as apocalyptic, or at least not yet, but it weaves some truly heady and troubling ideas through its central mystery.

FX on Hulu

The story begins with computer genius couple Lily (Sonoya Mizuno) and Sergei (Karl Glusman) who live together in San Francisco and both work for the massive Amaya tech company. Lily is in cyber encryption while Sergei heads an A.I. team. The head of Amaya is the seemingly zen, ultra hippie Forest (Nick Offerman) who named the company after his late daughter. He’s devoted to her memory; a picture of the young girl adorns all Amaya branding and the campus of the company features a truly giant, rather creepy statue of the girl. Its head and shoulders stand higher than the treeline.

After Sergei’s team impresses Forest with their latest breakthrough (involving A.I. matching the movement and thought patterns of nematodes), Forest invites Sergei to join Devs, Amaya’s mysterious experimental division. No one knows what Devs actually does, and no one is allowed to talk about it. It’s far from the main campus in a strange concrete building. At the center (which looks right out of Ex Machina‘s underground bunker), there’s a giant supercomputer. Forest tells Sergei nothing about what he’ll do there or what the division even does; he just asks the young man to read a particular code on a computer screen. He’ll understand.

FX on Hulu

And he does understand, even if we don’t. Glusman conveys the shock, amazement, and gut-wrenching cosmic implications of what that code could mean, though we don’t learn it. It’s clearly something monumental, earth-changing, but above all terrifying. And from there things take a turn. Sergei doesn’t come home and Lily is instantly worried. Evidence shows him running away, but Lily doesn’t quite buy it. Though Forest and Amaya’s head of security Kenton (Zach Grenier) seem helpful and concerned, Lily nevertheless begins to suspect something sinister at play. This leads her to contact her still-bitter ex-boyfriend Jamie (Jin Ha), another computer genius, to help find out what really happened to Sergei.

Garland keeps a very tense atmosphere throughout, often showing seemingly innocuous but oddly foreboding images in between scenes, just enough to make us worry. He trusts the audience to know more than our characters in some sense, which creates the Hitchcockian ideal of suspense. At the same time, he shows us some things without any context and they’re enthralling in their own way. This, at least in the first two episodes, manifests via Devs itself. We know it’s up to something, and Offerman and co-stars Alison Pill, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson have some crazy scenes where we see crazy things and they talk about it like it’s normal. I can’t wait to find out what the heck all of that is about.

FX on Hulu

But that’s the beauty of Devs thus far; it’s instantly compelling, and because it’s only eight episodes, we know it’ll have an ending, satisfying or otherwise. Garland is one of the most interesting and thought-provoking storytellers today and now he has eight hours to play with. Each character we’ve met so far has a motive and an inner life and can breathe within the story. Right at the center of that we have Offerman playing a truly complex and odd figure, the show’s troubled guru figure. And Mizuno, the quintessential outsider determined to learn the truth, makes for an excellent and rootable protagonist. Discovering the truth of Devs will be a fun journey to take with her.

Devs absolutely slaps so far. Garland re-teams with cinematographer Rob Hardy (Ex Machina, Annihilation) to keep with the visual palate of those films, and composers Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow create some haunting, howling music as they did in the previous two Garland films. The addition of the new wave jazz group The Insects adds another sonic layer, helping to keep the audience on edge and ready to open their mind. And your mind will indeed be open.

FX on Hulu

Devs drops new episodes every Thursday on FX on Hulu and it’s a show we think you’ll want to stick with to the end. The answers are bound to expand your mind and wreck your soul.

Featured Image: FX on Hulu

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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This review contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard, ep 1 “Remembrance”

Over the last decade, reboots, reassembling classic cast members, “legacyquels” and harnessing the nostalgia of well-established intellectual property has become a cornerstone of Hollywood storytelling. Depending on the execution, these projects can span the spectrum from much needed masterpieces to cynical rehashes. Luckily for fans of Star Trek and Patrick Stewart, the pilot of Star Trek: Picard elevates its easy sequel concept, delivering a complex, thoughtful, and original episode that feels full of promise.

Set around 20 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, we find Jean-Luc Picard retired and living on his family vineyard whilst coming to terms with the horrors of his past. His idyllic life in France is shattered when an enigmatic young woman named Dahj (Isa Briones) arrives, desperate for his help after being attacked by masked assailants. What sounds like a simple conceit actually holds a story which surprises, charms, and feels incredibly timely.

CBS

Star Trek has long been built on the core idea of a futuristic utopia, which means that Star Trek: Picard might take some fans a while to get used to. The first episode brings a harder edge to the violence and threat that we expect to see in a Star Trek series, as well as introducing a Federation which is far from the benevolent peacekeepers that they’ve been portrayed as in the past.

In an interesting twist that unites both the classic Star Trek TV show and the contemporary film universe, showrunner Michael Chabon alongside writers Akiva Goldsman, Kirsten Beyer, Alex Kurtzman, and James Duff introduce the Romulan Supernova from the 2009 Star Trek movie and its alternate timeline as a defining event in the prime timeline. The cosmic disaster has waylaid the Federation, Starfleet, and Picard himself. This works as not only a slick way of connecting the two disparate parts of Star Trek canon, but a smart device that sets up a major conflict: the Federation failed to rescue and rehome the Romulans who were displaced by the supernova. This caused Picard to leave Starfleet, disenchanted by their ever more isolationist behavior.

CBS

Director (and Co-Exec Producer) Hanelle M. Culpepper gives the pilot a tangibility and depth that feels miles away from the slick shine of Discovery. Her deft hand shapes the intimate character based story that we get as Picard and Dahj try and solve the mystery of her birth. In an age of often drawn-out “Mystery Box” storytelling, the quick yet satisfying reveal that Dahj is in a synth who was built from the memories and neural net of The Next Generation character Data comes as a refreshing surprise. That’s not to say that Star Trek: Picard gives up all of its secrets in its pilot, though, as it rather lays the groundwork for a great deep-space mystery that centers on Dahj’s creation, her maker, and the possibility that she isn’t the only synth who was crafted from Jean-Luc’s oldest friend.

One of Star Trek: Picard’s biggest surprises is how fresh it feels for a late stage addition to a long running franchise. Star Trek has throughout its decades of history constantly reimagined and rebooted itself, but here we get something that does feel different whilst still consistent with what we’ve seen before. It helps that both Culpepper’s eye and Jeff Russo’s magnificent score feel familiar yet original, painting a more intimate and personal picture of the man now known as Admiral. That careful balance of new and old will be vital going forward as the final act of this episode introduces a shocking new status quo for the Romulans and another age old Federation enemy who are apparently living side by side in an iconic and terrifying location.

Despite once again being banished to the wilds of CBS All Access, Star Trek: Picard is worth watching whether you’re a fan of the franchise or just love good television. It’s a sci-fi story with heart, one that hints at bigger explorations of isolationist governments, political refugees, and even the conversation around sentient artificial life which looks to be at the center of the series. Even though the show feels like it’s bringing something new to the table, it’s still doing what Star Trek does best: using sci-fi to have important conversations and tell stories that might otherwise be ignored.

4/5

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Given its vitality, its artistry, its originality and the sheer and indefatigable terror that it still delivers today, it’s hard to believe that Alien is a 40-year-old movie. But even for a glossy sci-fi movie set in the distant future, Ridley Scott’s film has always exuded a timelessness thanks to a uniquely blue-collar sensibility in its storytelling⁠—characterizing the crew of the Nostromo as “truckers in space”⁠—and a cast composed mostly of established actors who were noticeably older than most typical space adventurers.

Yaphet Kotto was 40 years old when Alien was released in theaters, and he was by any measure its biggest star. He’d already conquered the box office as James Bond’s adversary in Live and Let Die, won critical accolades for Paul Schrader’s Blue Collar and received an Emmy nomination for playing Idi Amin in Raid on Entebbe. Another 40 later, Kotto still delivers one of the film’s most vivid performances as Parker, a pragmatic, disgruntled Chief Engineer who recognizes the impending danger more clearly than the science officers to whom he reports. And yet, Kotto continues to have an expansive, acclaimed body of work that transcends even this iconic role, and almost included several more.

20th Century Fox

On the eve of a series of Alien screenings across the country, Kotto spoke to Nerdist from the Philippines, where he’s just completed The Witchcraft Wars, a series of novels he hopes will bring attention to a phenomenon that is near and dear to fans of Scott’s film: extraterrestrials. In addition to talking about his own real-life encounters with creatures from other worlds, Kotto reminisced on the making of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi-horror classic, revealed some famous film and television roles he passed on (or passed on him), and reflected on a career that made him a movie star, even if there were occasional moments he wondered if he should have just stayed in the theater.

I read that you rejected a different film offer in the hopes of being cast in Alien. What was it that resonated with you about the script that made you want to do it so badly that you would give up other work that you were guaranteed?

When I read that script, I said, “You know what? I have to do this movie.” I stayed out of work for a year, waiting to see if [things] would go my way and fortunately they did.

At this point you had already been in Live and Let Die. I understand you turned down the role of Lando Calrissian in Empire Strikes Back. You were considered to play Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Alien was a film where the gender and ethnicity of the characters was not defined. How difficult has it been for you to find opportunities to act in roles that subverted stereotypes?

What bothered me was the rumors that came out of Fox about Lucas wanting me for Star Wars, and then he went with Harrison Ford. And later on what bothered me was the fact that they wouldn’t give me my proper billing in Alien because I was the most known actor and I wanted proper billing. But I was very fortunate where a lot of movies came my way, and the reason I didn’t do them because New York actors have a saying about not playing the same role twice because if you do, they’ll typecast you and then it’s over with.

I didn’t want to do Lando Calrissian. Irvin Kershner had approached me during lunch at Pinewood and we talked about it and I told him, number one, I gave my word to do Brubaker in Ohio, and I didn’t want to say I’m going to do something and then not do it. So I was glad I had that excuse, because I had the fear that if I went from Alien to Star Wars, that would be it. They’d say, “Oh, he’s a space adventure guy. We have a movie about a police officer or a prison.” “No, no.” You become typed.

So my style was to jump around from one thing to the other so they couldn’t pinpoint me, and it worked. I don’t regret it. I don’t care how big a film is. Life is too short for that shit. We just should be glad that we’re working. We’re getting opportunities and God has blessed me with, even now, I’m getting a lot of opportunities. I know they wanted me to do Star Trek, and for the same reason, I didn’t do it. So it went its way. I would do it now because a lot of time has passed and Star Trek has become different, so it wouldn’t be like I was following after Alien. If the offer came my way, I would do it now.

Just to go back, were you in the running for Han Solo opposite Harrison Ford?

I was in the running for that role. They wanted me for that role and it was a racial decision where I didn’t get it. The same decision was what they told me [about] why your name shouldn’t be first [in Alien] because we don’t want people to think this movie is about immigrants or anything like that. I don’t think Fox was ready to, at that time, have me playing Han Solo. George Lucas himself has told people, “We were going in Yaphet’s direction.” But they went another direction.

A few years ago you said that you were done either talking about Alien or doing events to promote it. Is there a reason you’ve been reluctant to revisit the movie?

No. I’ll tell you why. When I was about ten years old, I had an experience with what you’d call extraterrestrials. The first time I was looking out of a window when I was a kid, I turned around and something was behind me, and it darted way. And all the years things kept happening, and I kept just saying, “What was that?” Until I was confronted with a situation where that was no longer something I could walk away from.

For the last 20 years until Alien came along, I had been experiencing these… I still don’t know what to call it. Because it’s tempting to say they were aliens, but you experience these things, and you’re quiet about it until you’re with someone else and they say, “Did you see that?” And you say, “Yeah, I saw it. What did you think it was?” And then you go, “Wait a minute, this is no longer my imagination.” When other people are there with you, you know it’s no longer your imagination. And when Alien came around, I thought there would be answers about it in there, but Alien was about a creature from outer space.

20th Century Fox

The new documentary Memory: The Origins of Alien touches on the idea that the science officers are taken more seriously than Parker and Brett, that there are class divisions within the ship. What discussions occurred at the time about those kinds of conflicts on the Nostromo?

That’s a very good observation, but I kept attributing that script to The Hairy Ape. It’s an American classical play [by Eugene O’Neill]. If you’re familiar with that play, you’ll see all the elements in Alien are in The Hairy Ape. That play [takes place] down in the coal room of a ship, so that’s where I was coming from. They were the ones that made the ship go. Those lines are right out of The Hairy Ape. “Why don’t you come down here? This is where the real work is.”

Your character and Harry’s are really the only ones who are right about the danger of going on LV-426. Did Ridley talk to you about the idea that to some extent your characters were this chorus speaking a truth that’s not necessarily getting heard by the rest of the crew?

I had three experiences with directors that I loved very much. The first experience was Blue Collar. The second was Live and Let Die. And then of course Alien. All three of those directors came to me and said, “We want you in this movie because you’re a director-proof actor. No matter what the script is, you’re going to bring some things to it that we didn’t see.” And Ridley got out of the way. He gave us a lot of freedom to come up with a creative interpretation about where we were going. And Parker was an existentialist. He really didn’t care why they were there. He just wanted to get there and get back to what he was doing before. It gave me the ability to be apart from the officers, so to speak.

I read a story that Ridley Scott had asked you to antagonize Sigourney Weaver during filming, but he didn’t tell her after filming that he had told you to do that. Were you able to reconcile with her later?

Well, I didn’t like the fact that Ridley didn’t tell her afterwards, because it was her first film and with veterans like Tom [Skeritt] and Veronica [Cartwright] in the movie, we were afraid that one cross move and the movie goes down the tubes. And by the ending, she had to have balls. She had to fight that alien, and if she wasn’t angry about what the alien was doing, the whole movie was down the tubes. So he came to me and he said, “I noticed you’re very chummy with Sigourney. Stop being so chummy. Give her a hard time. Don’t do makeup with her. Don’t do this that and the other.” I’m a method actor⁠—it has to be real for me⁠—so I said, “Okay, fine.” I stopped socializing with her. What I regret is that he never went to her afterwards and said, “Sigourney, I put the actors up to doing what they did.” I regret that he wasn’t social enough to do that.

What were your relationships like with him and the rest of the cast during filming?

It was fun. Tom and I had been friends for years. Veronica is a sweetheart. Harry and I had been friends for years. Ian [Holm] and I just met, and Sigourney was a nice lady. She took what was going on in stride⁠—so much stride I couldn’t believe it. Sigourney is an unbelievable woman. I don’t know whether it was a rehearsal or not a rehearsal, but one day Veronica walked over to Sigourney and slapped her face as if she was Muhammad Ali hitting George Foreman. And after the slap, Sigourney never reacted to it. It was like Veronica was never there. Her face went to the side. I was standing on the other side of the room and I heard the echo of the slap. And she continued talking to the person she was talking to as if nothing had ever happened. And I said to myself, “That woman is a giant, man. I can’t believe what he just did.” I’d never seen anybody not react to a slap before. I talked to Veronica about it. She said Ridley asked her to do it. It was a rehearsal, but it didn’t look like a rehearsal to me. Sigourney is a mountain. That’s all I can describe her as. She’s got some internal thoughts in her that are beyond belief.

20th Century Fox

The chestburster scene has become this iconic moment, not just in the movie, but in pop culture in general. Obviously, the process was laborious, but did you have a sense at some point that it was going to be a powerful moment in the movie?

I no idea of what the ramifications of what they were going to do, what the outcome would be. It’s not good, in my opinion, for an actor to get too involved with the mechanics of what’s happening because it’s not going to be organic for you if you know everything. So I stayed away from it. When it happened, I started thinking about the first thing I ever did in my career, which was Othello. And then I did a number of Shakespearean plays in Boston and my career was going pretty good. But I lost all my stage actor friends in New York when they told me, “When you go to California, you’ll sell out. You’ll never come back to the stage.”

But when this thing happened, I started thinking that maybe I should go back to the theater. Maybe I should get out of this business and do something artistic. I thought this was a cheap, exploitative event. It scared the shit out of me. The crew had on goggles and white smocks. The walls were covered with paper and cloth. The cameraman was in disguise. Blood was all over the room. Just grisly gore and blood came out. I said, “What type of business am I in?” So those reactions were not just in the scene. Those reactions were, “Hollywood has gone too far.” I was up three nights thinking maybe I should get out of the industry and become a lawyer or something. But I didn’t realize we had just made history. Later on when we went to the theater, people were running out of the theater screaming, and I realized we had done something special. But at the time it just seemed like some claptrap phony thing with blood and gore.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Alien. Do you have a favorite moment that is emblematic of your experience or something you fondly recall about making it?

There was a mascot on the space uniform during the moment that Parker decides to die to protect Lambert. The mascot decided to play “Teddy Bear Picnic.” And for some reason something happened on set where white phosphorus or snowflakes started to come down and I couldn’t really see the alien. He was there, and that mascot was playing that song, and that was the spookiest moment. It was real. It was no longer an act for me. I was about to become the space GI Joe saving her life. I had to distract the alien from her to me and I couldn’t see the actor. I couldn’t see the alien. I begged Ridley, “Leave this in.” The snow was coming down, and that tune scared me more than the alien itself. They didn’t leave it in. They removed the tune. But the eeriness of that whole damn thing scared me for real. I was not acting at that point.

But what did bother me was when I saw what the alien does to Parker’s head, considering the fact that I am a spiritual person. I believe in the third eye, and it went straight for Parker’s third eye. So I wasn’t acting in that scene. And I said, god, when you get to the point where you’re no longer acting, you’re actually reacting to the atmosphere, and this weird haunting music just helped that scene more than I brought to it. So it’s one of the few movies that I’ve been in when it was real.

And there were a lot of moments like that. I don’t know whether they were working on my head or what. Someone found my name in the Bible, and they were leaving little Bible prophecies around. And no one ever answered me about that. That’s still a mystery. So I don’t like that last scene. Stanislavski would have loved it. Lee Strasberg would have loved it. Harold Kornberg would have loved it in the studio. But I didn’t love it, because who wants to experience death like that? But I still think that Ridley was up to something because that music was so haunting, and they never used that phosphorus and falling snow. They never used it.

20th Century Fox

Now that Ridley Scott has come back to the Alien franchise, would you be interested in the opportunity to come back and explore that world in a different way?

There’s a book I’ve written called The Witchcraft Wars, which is about alien life. The book will be out shortly. I wrote 20 different episodes of this book, and the first one will be at very shortly. So I would go back into space again, because as I said before, with aliens is, we have to come to the realization that they are here. They’re not out there, they’re here. I don’t want to sound crazy and say, “Oh, he’s lost his mind. He’s talking about, ‘They’re here.’”

Let me tell you something. Myself, my wife and 100 people in the Philippines saw an alien spaceship come down as big as Yankee stadium and there were individuals waving down to 100 of us. Now, I don’t know where that thing came from. But we all saw it. It moved, and then bang, in the blink of an eye it was gone. Now, I have a hundred people who were there, who saw it. Why we don’t get to a place that we can say, “Okay, yeah, they’re here,” I don’t know why. We’re not crazy, man.

Maybe that’s a story that you need to tell as an actor.

Well, I wrote The Witchcraft Wars, and we’ll see where it goes. Either the studio will do it or I’ll do it. I have the contacts to do whatever I want to do, but it’s not for want of money. It’s the want that you and your associates and your friends are going to have to deal with the fact that we’re going to be facing people from other worlds face to face.

Check out the Fathom Events website for showtime and ticketing information for Alien anniversary screenings, which begin October 13 across the country.

Featured Image: 20th Century Fox

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When Blade Runner came out in 1982, it sat at the center of a new genre: “Future Noir.” Ridley Scott established a world so similar and yet so foreign to our own that it felt like both a throwback and a step forward. But Blade Runner was not the first film at once a science fiction movie and a noir movie. French New Wave legend Jean-Luc Godard had made a few neo noirs (movies using the storylines and themes of ’40s American crime movies, set in a contemporary time and place) in the early ’60s. It was his stock and trade. But in 1965, he turned out one set far in the future on a distant planet…but shot it in ’60s Paris and didn’t change anything. This brilliant oddity is Alphaville.

That’s where Godard comes in. In his endless journey to mess with cinema’s conventions and tropes, Godard took the well-known cinema hero and transposed him into a sci-fi setting. He even cast Eddie Constantine as Lemmy Caution again, making this a more or less official adventure. But Godard went out of his way to make Constantine ill at ease. He didn’t treat the actor as the star he’d become, and lit him to look even craggier than normal. Also absent were the quips and puckish charm of Caution; in Alphaville, befitting the somber tone of the narrative, Lemmy Caution is tough as nails, but out of his element.

Lemmy Caution, a secret agent with the code 003, heads to Alphaville from “The Outlands” to find three missing colleagues. They are Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, and Henri Dickson, all of whom had never returned. Alphaville itself is a brand new, state-of-the-art city of the future, run by a massive AI called Alpha 60. While Caution flies into town in his Ford Galaxie (really a Mustang), he pretends to be a photojournalist named Ivan Johnson, taking pictures of everything.

But, of course, Caution is on a mission: once he finds Dickson, he must kill or capture Alphaville’s creator, Professor von Braun (Howard Vernon) and destroy Alpha 60. While von Braun created the city and Alpha 60, the computer is actually in charge. It has outlawed free thought and individualist concepts like love, poetry, and emotion in the city. Naturally, this makes Alphaville a cold and desolate place, logical and without joy. Eventually, Caution meets von Braun’s daughter Natacha (Anna Karina), though she claims never to have met her father. Lemmy falls for her, and his love introduces uncertainty and chaos into the city. Together, Caution and Natacha must destroy Alpha 60 or escape to the Outlands.

Godard’s premise has a beefy ur-American hero taking on an unfeeling machine; famously, the director wanted to name the film Tarzan versus IBM. The references to other pulp heroes like Flash Gordon and Dick Tracy help solidify the comic book aesthetic at work. But Godard also keeps the film as low-fi as possible. He gives Lemmy Caution brand new things–the Ford Mustang, a new-for-1965 flash camera–but keeps everything else very traditional. Constantine wears typical film noir fedora and trench coat, and he even carries a classic Colt. 45 pistol.

Simply through context and sounds, Godard is able to make contemporary Paris feel like the city of the future. The neon lights, the brutalist architecture, and nouveau riche decor would feel dated in any other movie, but in Alphaville they feel futuristic. Blade Runner and The Matrix would later use all of this to create their own hellish, crowded future scapes.

Alpha 60 takes on the same unseen, unfeeling dictator archetype as George Orwell’s Big Brother in 1984 and several evil computers throughout science fiction. The Matrix, Skynet from The Terminator series, and even every other baddie from Doctor Who fit that mold later on. Caution and Alpha 60 have several conversations during the movie–where the agent sits in a room while the belching voice of the computer asks questions. Interestingly, Godard gives Alpha 60 several direct quotes from the Argentinian poet and philosopher Jorge Luis Borges, one of the most humanist and imaginative writers of the 20th century.

So it might seem like Godard, like a lot of his work, created a tongue-in-cheek satire of American pop culture with Alphaville. Certain he did that a lot. But if you just watch the movie as presented, the tone is deathly serious, the cinematography from the great Raoul Coutard is moody and bleak, and the story of love conquering in a world of oppressive logic feels completely genuine. Godard did make a work of dystopian science fiction, he just did it in a way that evoked film noir.

And in that way, Alphaville remains a benchmark for the genre. The mixture of noir with futurism is now ubiquitous, whether in anime like Akira and Cowboy Bebop or live-action films like Blade Runner and The Matrix. Lemmy Caution is a sci-fi hero for the ages; a stoic, hard-bitten fighter for love and creativity. It might have gotten there on its own, but Cyberpunk as a genre might not exist without Alphaville.

Alphaville has a brand new 4K restoration from Kino Lorber, available now on Blu-ray. It’s an essential piece of the sci-fi puzzle and a standout work of French New Wave cinema. Definitely check it out if you haven’t.

Images: Kino Lorber/Athos Films

Kyle Anderson is the Editor at Large for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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