By now, you’ve undoubtedly heard that SpaceX founder Elon Musk hopes to establish a colony on Mars. Eric Mack of Cnet argues that the plan is insane but not impossible, while TheVerge’s Elizabeth Lopatto finds Musk’s plans implausible, but notes that they may lead to other important discoveries.
Assuming the first flights ever get off the ground, they’ll be dangerous one-way trips.
Who wants to sign up?
Or ask additional questions?
We’ll get you something new next weekend when our annual October Countdown begins. Specifically, we’ll have a review of The Blair Witch, currently shaking up theatre audiences.
For now, with summer ’16 just gone and the horrors of the Presidential Debate nigh, we present one more retro review, from a more innocent time.
This film holds a strange place in the history of SF cinema. Made in Japan with a non-Japanese cast, The Green Slime plays like the love child of Star Trek and a 1950s drive-in movie creature feature, presages (and possibly helped inspire) Armageddon and Alien, and was the basis of Mystery Science Theater 3000‘s unaired pilot episode.
That’s probably all you need to know but, if you want more, read on.
After four years of deserving it, Tatiana Maslaney finally won the 2016 Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series for her multiple roles in Orphan Black. Game of Thrones, no stranger to awards, broke the record for receiving the greatest number of Emmys in one year with twelve wins, including Outstanding Drama Series.
Of course, with the Fall Season upon us….
Some people divide 1960s SF into 2001: Space Odyssey and Everything Else: A Cheesy Outing. One exception came along in 1969. Marooned features A-list actors and production values.
A few months before Apollo 13, the theatres ran a movie in which American astronauts, returning from a very-near-future space station, must inform Houston that they have a problem.
We noted Dragon Con here, but the end of summer saw a number of events, and we’ve found some video below for those interested.
Dragon Con also witnessed the announcements that Grant Imahara, Tory Belleci, and Kari Byron, Mythbuster‘s “Build Team”, will have their own Netflix series, The White Rabbit Project, apparently making its debut December 9.
Toronto’s Fan Expo included an announcement that Chapterhouse, publishers of Jason Loo’s Pitiful Human-Lizard and the most recent people to revive Captain Canuck, will be creating their own universe of Canadian superheroes, consisting of characters old and new. (Jokes about, say, “Zamboni Man and Beaver” are inevitable, so feel free to contribute your suggestions. W. Blaine and I won’t be offended).
Dragon Con in Atlanta (see Scottsquatch’s Dragon Con Parade video above) awarded the inaugural Dragons this weekend. The open nomination and voting process and broader category range resulted in a (mostly) different set of winners from this year’s Hugos.
Results below:
Instead of an older genre film, this Weekend Review takes a belated look at Daredevil‘s second season.
Luke Cage will be out shortly, and Daredevil’s third season will arrive next year.
In May, a Russian telescope received a distinct and unusual signal, possibly from the sunlike star, HD 164595, which is known to have at least one planet. Information is now reaching the press. I’m not saying it’s aliens, but It’s the kind of signal that deserves and is receiving further investigation. Stay tuned.
Juno completed its first orbit of Jupiter this weekend, while NASA’s year-long simulation of a Mars mission ended with much learned and no one dead from annoying their close-quarters roommates. In fact, the six participants are confident a Mars mission would succeed, at least in terms of the human factors. It is the longest such experiment since a Russian one that ended in 2011.
Also from Russia, with love if a bit belated: Some video has been posted to Youtube of St. Petersburg’s StarCon, earlier this summer.
Gene Wilder, well known as Willy Wonka and Young Frankenstein, died at his home due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. His long and diverse career included many comedic roles.
Rest in peace.
A new adaptation of Stephen King’s notorious It will hit theatres roughly a year from now, early September 2017. The novel features a brilliant horror premise with flawed development, but no one can deny It‘s1 success and influence.
This weekend’s review flashes back to 1990, when the first adaptation hit the small screen.