Fantasy and SF

The star of the short-lived ABC sci-fi show is suing to stop someone from hacking his Wikipedia entry.

Halfway through last night’s 2-hour premiere of the SyFy miniseries Alice, the Walrus and the Carpenter, reimagined as chemists in a vast laboratory of milked human emotions (don’t ask), wander through their warehouse as the Carpenter recites: The time has come, Walrus, old friend To test our many skills The Oohs, the Aahs, the healing drops, The passions and the thrills, And see how joy and awe and lust Can all be turned to pills. It’s indicative of the series as a whole: numerous, often-skillful callbacks to Lewis Carroll’s books, in a setting too far from the original to feel comfortable and not quite thrilling enough to be gonzo fun. That said, the series has some redeeming features; the trick is whether they’re enough to get you to tune in for tonight’s conclusion. Below the cut, let’s talk of pros and cons and iffy plots, of cabbages and kings! [Through the looking-glass…] Two years ago, SyFy (then the SciFi Channel) produced Tin Man, a miniseries that purported to update The...

WALKIN' BUTTERFLY (ウォーキン・バアタフライ) • Chihiro Tamaki • Aurora Publishing (2007-2009) • Kodansha (Vanilla, 2005-2007) • 4 volumes • Jôsei Modeling Drama • 16+ (language, nudity, sexual situations) Michiko is a grease-monkey, motorcycle-riding high school dropout, an excessively tall tomboy who's too shy to tell her friend Nishikino she loves him. When she accidentally stumbles backstage at a fashion show and is mistaken for a model, she has a fleeting taste of a different world, but is dismissed by aloof designer Ko Mihara, who tells her "You won't last one step on that catwalk because you can't see your true self." Vowing to show Mihara, Michiko ends up working at a modeling agency run by a fortysomething alcoholic ex-model, and struggles to get her foot in the door of her new chosen career. The result is a fast-paced story of ups and downs, half comedy and half serious, like its mood-swinging heroine. The hyperactive tone, more than the pretty art, recalls Moyoco Anno's Happy Mania, but...

J. Michael Straczynski returns to Smallville to retell the journey of Earth's greatest adopted son as he grows from boy to Superman.

There's a report that the fourth installment in the zombie movie franchise will be delayed.

The Stargate Universe stars answers your questions about SGU, Supernova (!) and his band.

Vampires own the top of the charts, but otherwise, it was a fairly week weak for sf/f/h movies...

First, it was a superhero gone bad in IRREDEEMABLE, and now a villain turns hero in INCORRUPTIBLE

The adaptation of Rachel Klein's The Moth Diaries should begin filming this year, and we got an update from the movies head vampire actress, Lily Cole, on her role and the mystery that surrounds this new character. The book is told through the diary of a young teen girl in a private school who is obsessed with her classmate Lucy, and Lucy's possible vampire roommate Ernessa. It's left ambiguous: The reader never really knows if the school is housing a real-life porcelain-skinned vampire girl, or if the narrator is just obsessed with Ernessa's roommate. We got a chance to catch up on this project with the actress from Dr. Parnassus, Lily Cole, cheering her on for making a female-centric vampire film, in the wake of shirtless, sparkly, six-packed male vamps and wolves. When do you start filming for The Moth Diaries? As far as I'm aware it's in the beginning of next year. And as far as I know, they were talking about Montreal. But nothing has been set in stone, this industry is always...

Same-sex sexual behavior has evolved multiple times in various animals, including mammals, birds, fish, and even insects. Researchers are increasingly finding that the reasons such behaviors evolved are as varied as the animals themselves. The always excellent New Scientist has an article synthesizing much of the research into same-sex sexual behavior in animals and the possible evolutionary explanations. They spoke with University of California evolutionary biologists Marlene Zuk and Nathan Bailey, who recently published a paper examining same-sex behavior in various species. Zuk and Bailey note that same-sex sexual behavior in other animals can't necessarily be equated with sexual orientation in humans, researchers have come up with similar questions as to why certain animals have evolved to include members who expend energy on same-sex liaisons. Evolutionary biologists have come up with various hypotheses for why same-sex behavior has evolved in various animals. In some cases,...

Like robots doing complicated surgeries, the computers that generate CGI effects are more than just tools. They're storytellers. This week on io9, we explore a world where humans watch the world through computer eyes just by going to the movies. Since the earliest days of cinema, special effects have been crucial to movie storytelling. One of the earliest popular short movies, Jacques Méliès' 1902 La Voyage Dans La Lune, was a science fiction story with special effects. All these effects were created by human hands. In the mid-twentieth century filmmakers like Jean Cocteau started to perfect the art of using film technology to create special effects. In Orphée, for example, he used double exposures and ran the film backwards to do his special effects. Here is a great moment where Orpheus goes through the looking glass into another world. Meanwhile, back in the states, special effects masters like Ray Harryhausen were using good, old-fashioned elbow grease and stop-motion techniques to...

The most popular SFScope articles during the last week...

Early Monday Dec 17, DC announced two new ongoing series- as ongoing Graphic Novels. We speak to artist Shane Davis about Superman's new adventure

Just like E.T., the aliens in District 9 visited and wanted to phone home... but maybe they weren't quite as cute. David Meng tells us he aimed to make the creatures disgusting, and they weren't originally going to be CG. As we can see from that early concept art, some of the alien designs were way stranger than the final version. Why were those rejected? Were you told to tone down the nastiness? Those designs weren't necesarily rejected outright, we just evolved away from them. A huge amount of work was done designing these things. There were so many iterations, by the time the final design was nailed down, these early images were out of sight and out of mind. The technical approach to realizing the creatures was always in flux, so that affected the look. I'd like to note that the reason the aliens in the early concept art have such human eyes was because they were, at first, intended to be actors in make-up. Due to budgetary constraints, we didn't think the aliens could be done as...

2010 will bring some fantastic sci-fi/fantasy movies to theaters! Here are the Top 10 I am thankful for already! For many fans, however, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part I will be in their list. I know this is blasphemous, but I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan. For some reason the first sentence of the series irks me and I think it has colored my enjoyment of the books. But I know when something is released that will excite true fans! This morning Warner Bros. released an early look at Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows! The first part of the video features the producer and director of the final movies talking about what Harry Potter means to them and what it is like bringing the final book to the silver screen. The second part of the video features a teaser-like trailer with footage from the movie, voice over, and gives a glimpse what the movie is about. For those who haven't read Harry Potter & the Deathly Gallows, of course! Do any of you even exist? Here is the video: Looks...

Featuring a soapy Katee Sackoff, the DNA of Leonard Nimoy, and the time machine from The Time Machine.

If you’re reading this, chances are you like to read genre books. And, there’s an even greater chance that you enjoy reading them when they’re free…! Therefore, I’m cross-posting a Galaxy Express book giveaway announcement at Tor as a way to introduce you to the joys of science fiction romance. If you think you’re completely unfamiliar with science fiction romance, chances are you’ve sampled a taste without realizing it: Think of the romance in found The Empire Strikes Back. Or, perhaps you’re already a fan of Catherine Asaro’s character-driven hard SF stories. There’s room for all. [Want to know more...?] Here’s the scoop: 12 bloggers have teamed up with 17 authors for your chance to win over 30 SFR books. Yes, that’s 30 new books you could score for the coming year. Whether you’re new to the genre, or looking to beef up your current book shelf, this is your chance. Entering is free and easy. All you need to do is leave a comment at one or all of the following blogs to enter. That’s...

Wondering how long it'd take for the events of September 11th to go from real life tragedy to thoughtless plot McGuffin? Marvel's new mega-event Siege demonstrates that the answer is "eight years, and we can kill even more people." Marvel Comics' reaction to 9/11 was both heartfelt and far-reaching, understandable for a company not only based in New York but one so tied to the city in its demeanor and subject matter (Marvel's New York state is the setting for the majority of its line, being home for years to Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men and Daredevil, amongst many others): Not only did they publish the prerequisite memorial special editions (Heroes and A Moment Of Silence), they also created a short-lived line of emergency services comics (The Call), relaunched Captain America as a hero hunting terrorists (with patriotic covers announcing things like "Fight Terror" and "Never Give Up"), placed a memorial logo of the World Trade Center Towers on all of their comics...

Tonight marks a historic event: Virgin Galactic will unveil SpaceShipTwo, the first crewed commercial spaceship set to fly the extraterrestrial skies, at the Mojave Air and Spaceport. Get a sneak peek at the ship before its debut. [Gizmodo]

Join yours truly tomorrow at NYC's Borders, on Park and 57th at 7 PM, for a signing of my book Vampire Taxonomy. We'll talk all things vampire, from the next wave of lesbian vamps to the Renfields among us. [Borders]

The Best Shots team has plenty of fresh comic book reviews for you for the big column this week

Okay, so the YAS Hotel in Abu Dhabi looks like it's being attacked by a whale from Tron's cyberhomeworld, but that's just its color-changing LEDs that can play customized 3D videos on its shell. Click through for more images. gawkerGallery(5420151,4,''); [Contemporist]

That's an actual sign at Stanford Hospital in California.

A video preview from the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is now live.

New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks will be chatting with his fans tomorrow here on Suvudu! Terry usually does this twice a year. What can you expect tomorrow? A snarky, witty Terry answering as many questions as he can. Expect a few comments like "What do you think?" He will undoubtedly talk about the two movies he has under option and give some hints regarding his forthcoming book, Bearers of the Black Staff! He will chat for at least an hour but sometimes these events go over into 1 1/2 hours. There may even be a surprise video at the end of the chat! Sign up for a chat reminder below: Tomorrow will of course come quickly! Be sure to sign up for the chat reminder. The portal / gateway for the chat will appear as if by magic here on Suvudu tomorrow afternoon around 5 pm EST / 2 pm PST. The chat will open for fans to start asking their questions five minutes prior to the designated time of 7 pm EST / 4 pm PST. More tomorrow! Stay tuned!

FlashForward author Robert J. Sawyer says the long interruption is a good thing for the show.

Why we doubt McG will be taking on a fifth and sixth Terminator movie.

The Other Other Gods You know all of the Other Gods the Old Ones and their avatars from creatures made of bubble soap to things that lurk beyond the stars. But what of Other Other Gods? less famous then ol’ squid-face head? For where you dare not dare to dare the fearsome Rhonda licks the dead! Part dish, part rat, part magic lamp Part cuttlefish, part soup, part slug The arcane Trevor, while you sleep pours buttermilk upon your rug. There’s Pam, whose gums stink of the sea And Stephanie the bloated sun And Omar, called the Goat and Wheel And what’s-her-name, the nameless one And Ferdinand, the Leaping Glare! And Butterscotch the Brutal Snore! And Ethan Jones of Wichita. (I don’t know what he’s in here for.) More terrors gibber in the mist than penetrate the mind’s facades So when your rug smells of the dead Recall the Other Other Gods. Illustration by Brian Elig. For more, see the I Speak Fluent Giraffe Index.

The director of the Lord of the Rings movies clarifies what story the two Hobbit movies will tell.

We're getting six more episodes of Chuck than originally planned, and that's all good.