SciFi News For 12-16-11

New Trailer For "MS One: Maximum Security" - Formerly "Lockout" (Video 1:57):
http://www.movie-list.com/trailers.php?id=msone

Another "G.I.Joe" Film...This Time With The Rock And Bruce Willis (Trailer 2:51)
http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2011/12/13/g-i-joe-retaliation-trailer-released/

Two Earth's Still Equals One Review. "Another Earth" (Image & Trailer 2:17):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-2071889/Another-Earth-film-review-An-ill-considered-mixture-realism-science-fiction.html 

2012 Loaded With Science Fiction Movie Choices:
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/1166414/10_potentially_great_scifi_movies_coming_in_2012.html 

Filmmakers Going Retro With SFX In Upcoming Sci-Fi Short (Video 1:56) 
http://techzwn.com/2011/12/filmmakers-reviving-sci-fi-with-lights-miniatures-and-imagination/

The Six Million Dollar Man - First Season DVD Review:
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1987/1

"The Hunger Games" New Poster:
http://www.sfx.co.uk/2011/12/16/the-hunger-games-new-poster/ 

With Missions Complete Long Ago "Voyager" I And II Head Out of Solar System:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213144717.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29 

A Closer Look At The "Large Hadron Collider" (Dr Michio Kaku - Video 2:45):
http://www.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/large-hadron-collider.htm#mkcpgn=em16

"Lucasfilms' Version Of A Christmas Card:
http://blastr.com/2011/12/image-of-the-day-lucasfilms-humorous-2011-holiday-card.php

OTHER NEWS
It's been a few years since we've had a Mars-related movie, but a new film titled 

"The Last Days On Mars" is in the works directed by Ruairi Robinson. The films plot centers around an astronaut crew on their last days on the planet who suddenly discover evidence of life from rock samples. However as their relief crew's ship approaches the astronauts have to deal with impending danger back at the excavation site.

Director Bryan Singer is doing a theatrical release "Battlestar Galactica" movie,  unrelated to the prequel TV series "Blood and Chrome." Its writer is John Orloff, who when interviewed said that his version is pretty bold. He likes the recent TV series and said his movie won't contradict it.

There is word that Denzel Washington will appear as the lead in film "The Equalizer" It's based on the 80s sci-fi show that originally starred Edward Woodward as a retired secret agent who tries to atone for his violent past by offering his services to those in need. 

Warner Bros. has just bought the rights for an action sci-fi film called ‘Rise’ from up and comer David Karlak. Although details of the production are shrouded in mystery sources say there are some heavy hitters involved in the making of this movie.

If you weren't that impressed by the last James Bond movie, "Quantum Of Solace"  your not alone.  But Daniel Craig says don’t give up on the franchise, promising the new Bond movie "Skyfall" will be better. Craig says the "Solace" ran into problems due to the writer’s strike."We had the bare bones of a script and then there was a writers’ strike and there was nothing we could do. We couldn’t employ a writer to finish it. I say to myself, ‘Never again’, but who knows? There was me trying to rewrite scenes...and a writer I am not.”

Anonymous U.S. government sources confirm that Iran probably did scoop up one of America’s stealth RQ-170 Sentinel spy drones after the aircraft crashed near the Iran-Afghanistan border last week. What’s still uncertain is exactly why the drone went down, what it was doing in or near Iranian airspace and who was operating it. The Iranians claim they captured the RQ-170 “with little damage” after an electronic-warfare unit jammed its control signal. But the RQ-170, like most modern drones, doesn’t need orders from its human operators to stay in the air.

The most expensive weapons program in U.S. history is about to get a lot pricier.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, meant to replace nearly every tactical warplane in the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, was already expected to cost $1 trillion dollars for development, production and maintenance over the next 50 years. Now that cost is expected to grow, owing to 13 different design flaws uncovered in the last two months by a hush-hush panel of five Pentagon experts.

BOOK REVIEWS
"A Mirror For Observers" - Edgar Pangborn (1954)
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/12/quiet-martians-edgar-pangborns-a-mirror-for-observers 
"Sisterhood Of Dune" - Brian Herbert And Kevin J Anderson (Jan 3)
http://www.vjbooks.com/Kevin-Anderson-Brian-Herbert-Sisterhood-of-Dune-p/andsist01-b.htm
"Earthbound" - Joe Haldeman:
http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780441020959  
"Axis" - Robert Charles Wilson:
http://sfreviews.net/rcw_axis.html

SCIFI NEWS QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better. When it does not exist, design it." - Sir Henry Royce

SciFi News For 12-10-11

Massive Amounts Of CGI And Unfriendly Aliens At Sea - New "Battleship" Trailer
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2072357/Battleship-trailer-Rihanna-fights-aliens-sea-Battleship-trailer.html  

Luc Besson's "Lockout". Word Is...At Least It Will Be Fun! (Video 1:54)
http://www.scificool.com/first-trailer-for-lockout-aka-taken-meets-escape-from-new-york-in-outer-space/
  
Buzz For Sci-Fi Short "Rosa" Leads To Movie Deal For Comic Book Artist (Video 9:30):
http://www.sfx.co.uk/2011/12/09/rosa-goes-from-online-sci-fi-short-to-major-motion-picture/

Gerry Anderson Moving Forward With Updated "Thunderbirds"
http://www.scifiheaven.net/index.php/2011/01/12/thunderbirds-are-go-again/ 

Mars Rover "Curiosity's" Landing To Be Even More Hi-tech: (Video 2:26):
http://www.youtube.com/user/janlafata?feature=guide#p/c/9E98B3D9AA529836/12/_KLxmGLZQSY 

Win A $5000 34-inch Model Of The Enterprise From Star Trek.com:
http://www.trektoday.com/content/2011/12/uss-enterprise-replica-sweepstakes/

OTHER NEWS

While we wait for plot-line news about Star Trek XII rumors continue to circulate as to who the villain might be and one name that keeps popping up is "Khan". Dan Madsen of  The Official Star Trek Fan Club says "I would love to see that happen. Of course, I have a hard time imagining anyone doing a better job than Ricardo Montalban who made that role his own in The Wrath of Khan. Meanwhile it's also been announced that original "Robocop" Peter Weller is joining the cast.

After years of one sci-fi reboot after another, the ideas for fresh story lines is finally  starting to shift over some to the world of books. The latest in this movement comes from 1492 Pictures, which has has acquired the rights to Charles Yu's "How To Live Safely  In A Science Fiction Universe." The novel centers on a time travel machine repairman who has spent the past 10 years traveling back and forth in time in search of his father, who has disappeared.

In a recent Wall Street Journal interview Director Ridley Scott brought science fiction fans up-to-date on two of his upcoming projects. Regarding the highly anticipated "Blade Runner" follow up, Scott said his new film is "liable to be a sequel" and that he’s searching for writers who can help him with the screenplay. He was asked if Harrison Ford's Deckard character would return and put that idea to rest quickly. The film will feature all new characters.

Fox has confirmed plans for a follow up to "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes" Andy Serkis, the actor who wore the digital effects attachments that guided the animations  returns as the lead chimpanzee Caesar. Writers and producers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver are again writing and producing. Apparently a sequel was always planned and a third film has already been plotted. At this stage it's not known if James Franco's scientist character Will Rodman will return. Rodman was originally supposed to be killed off, but the studio re-shot an alternate ending where he survived after negative test screening feedback.

Sources say that that pre-production is continuing to move forward at a fast pace for the two planned "Independence Day" sequels and they are now actually getting closer to the shooting stage. "Independence Day" was directed by Roland Emmerich and he is onboard to direct the sequels too, but it appears unlikely Will Smith will star after asking for a huge salary.
 

Director James Cameron has been sued by a former employee who claims he stole the idea for Avatar from him. Science fiction fan Eric Ryder wants unspecified damages for his contribution to the film. He claims that in 1999 while working for Cameron he wrote a story called K.R.Z. 2068 which has remarkable similarities to Avatar. But in 2002 the project was shut down because "no one would go see an environmentally themed feature length science fiction movie"

In an open letter Thursday, a prominent Russian scientist took the blame for the failure of the country's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, which was meant to collect samples from Mars' moon Phobos, but instead is barely chugging along in low Earth orbit since it's Nov 8th launch. Lev Zelenyi, director of the Space Research Institute and Chair of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Solar System Exploration Board said the reason for the failure has yet to be determined.The spacecraft is expected to enter Earth's atmosphere in early January as a piece of space debris.

The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) in California is once again searching planetary systems for signals that would be evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Among its first targets are some of the exoplanet candidates recently discovered by NASA's Kepler space telescope. The ATA had been placed in hibernation mode last April as the result of the withdrawal of the SETI Institute's former partner, U.C. Berkeley, due to budgetary shortfalls.

NASA's New Horizons mission reached a special milestone today on its way to explore the Pluto system, coming closer to Pluto than any other spacecraft. It's taken New Horizons 2,143 days of high-speed flight, covering more than a million kilometers per day for nearly six years to arrive at it's ongoing location.  Operators at the Applied Physics Lab will "wake" the spacecraft in January for a month of testing and maintenance activities.

BOOK REVIEWS
"Micro" - Micheal Chrichton:
http://www.thesetonian.com/pirate-life/michael-crichton-s-micro-is-a-major-success-1.2729098#.TuNyUfIR2ZR
"Count To A Trillion" - John C. Wright:
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/john-c-wright/count-trillion/
"I, Robot: To Protect" - Mickey Zucker Reichert
http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-revew-i-robot-to-protect/
"Civilizations Beyond Earth" Extraterrestrial Life and Society - Douglas A. Vakoch and Albert A. Harrison.
http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=VakochCivilizations 

SCIFI NEWS QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Nuclear powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality within ten years."

Alex Lewyt - Vacuum cleaner manufacturer, 1957.

 

Scifi News For 12-2-11

New "John Carter" Trailer (Video 1:53):

https://www.worldswithoutend.com/blog.asp?view=plink&id=645

10 Reasons Why "Mars" Was Dropped From "John Carter" Title:

http://www.sfx.co.uk/2011/11/30/10-reasons-why-andrew-stanton-dropped-mars-from-the-title-of-john-carter/ 

Concern About Re-Making "Starship Troopers":

http://io9.com/5864597/why-is-hollywood-remaking-verhoevens-starship-troopers 

A Closer Look At Big-budget SciFi Film Locations (Slideshow):

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/12/9-for-9-movie-locations/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29 

From The "Whatever It Takes" Files - Microscopic Worms May Help To Colonize Mars:

http://www.universetoday.com/91411/microscopic-worms-may-help-to-colonize-mars/ 

Are "Warp Drives" Really Possible?:

http://www.futureincredible.com/2011/warp-drives-science-fiction-or-science-fact/ 

"Moon" Designer And Visual Effects Supervisor Gavin Rothery Interview: 
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/24/gavin_rotheray_interview/ 

Ray Harryhausen Talks Saucer Construction:

http://www.proparchives.com/science-fiction/science-fiction-pre-1970s/earth-vs-the-flying-saucers/earth-vs-the-flying-saucers-stop-motion-flying-saucer 

Need A Hand With That Hand? - Body Parts Manufacturing (Video 3:22): 
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500165_162-20126356/body-parts-manufacturing-future-may-be-now/ 

OTHER NEWS

The Hollywood Reporter has the news that Harlan Ellison has dropped the suit against New Regency Films and director Andrew Niccol, "with prejudice."  Ellison's original claim was that the film "In Time" had obvious similarities to his 1965 award-award-winning short story "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman." Sources say that Ellison may have dropped the suit in response to the film's poor showing at the box office.

The cold war may be over but the space race is still alive and well in robot form as pressure for countries to get to Mars is still on. So intense is the pressure for Russia's Space Agency to regain it's former success that recent failures to even get out of earth orbit have brought on threats of serious punishment for those responsible from Russian President Dimitri Medvedev. The Russians are currently 1 for 19 at Mars, which you’d think would convince them to pick a different planet, like Venus, where they’ve been more successful. In contrast, NASA has been amazingly successful at Mars, with three spacecraft currently operating there and another on the way. This past week the Phobos-Grunt craft finally gave some signs of life, but chances are still good that the spacecraft will fall to Earth in a few months.

A three-pound piece of metal was found lying on the floor of a Massachusetts warehouse on Thursday and experts say it may have fallen from space.The chunk of metal appears about the same size and shape as a tall, skinny soda can, but the silvery cylinder has a tarnished look to it. The FAA says that there are approximately 20,000 bits of man made space junk in low-Earth orbit that are as big as or bigger than the chunk that crashed through the warehouse. These usually burn up during re-entry when they fall into Earth's atmosphere, but sizable pieces occasionally make it to the ground.

BOOK REVIEWS

" A Bridge Of Years" - Robert Charles Wilson (12/6)

http://keifuswrites.blogspot.com/2008/09/review-of-bridge-of-years-by-robert.html 

"Dr Who Encyclopedia (New Edition)":

http://www.waterproofjacketsonsale.com/detail/p_1849902313/Cheapest-Doctor-Who-Encyclopedia-New-Edition-.html 

"The Man Who Folded Himself"- David Gerold

http://www.timetravelreviews.com/books/gerrold_david_1.html

"Awaken" - Katy Kacvinsky

http://www.theresabook.com/2011/07/book-review-awaken-by-katie-kacvinsky/
"Back To The Moon" - Travis S Taylor & Les Johnson:

http://www.republibot.com/content/book-review-%E2%80%9Cback-moon%E2%80%9D-travis-s-taylor-and-less-johnson-2010 

SCIFI NEWS QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"I have a strong feeling about interesting people in space exploration. . . . And the only way it's going to happen is to have some kid fantasize about getting his ray gun, jumping into his spaceship, and flying into outer space."- George Lucas

SciFi News For 11-25-11

A Tribute To Anne McCaffrey:

http://www.oliviawaite.com/blog/2011/11/a-tribute-to-anne-mccaffrey-accidental-romance-author/

Don't Look Now But There's A Giant Face Behind Us. New Stills From "Prometheus":

http://www.firstshowing.net/2011/new-photos-for-ridley-scotts-prometheus-found-in-the-latest-ew/  

SciFi Film "Infinite" Close To Release (Behind-the-scenes video 8:07):

http://www.bctv.org/special_reports/arts/sci-fi-film-shot-mostly-in-reading-is-close-to/article_2da0eb60-0e72-11e1-8db5-001cc4c002e0.html

Why We Like "Big Dumb Object" Science Fiction Stories:

http://io9.com/5860657/why-we-love-big-dumb-object-science-fiction-stories 

China's "Area 51" (Multiple Images):

http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1912&category=Environment&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+C2C-AllContent+%28Feed+-+Coast+to+Coast+-+All+Content%29

The Good And The Bad Options For Future American Spaceflight:

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1974/1 

The 48th Anniversary Of The Longest-running Scifi Show Of All Time (Videos):

http://blastr.com/2011/11/for-48th-anniversary-48-r.php

New Score For First SciFi Film, "A Trip To The Moon" (Video 1:00):

http://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/film/score-george-melies.html

Irradiated Smoked Turkey And Heat-treated Yams. Happy Thanksgiving From Space:

http://www.space.com/13721-nasa-space-station-astronauts-thanksgiving-food.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+spaceheadlines+%28SPACE.com+Headline+Feed%29

Spray Painted Science Fiction Art?...Yes And It's Wondrous! 
http://io9.com/5858087/sense-of-wonder-in-a-can-the-amazing-beauty-of-spraypainted-science-fiction-art

Luke Skywalker Meets "Pigs In Space"(Video 7:50):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFvZtROeJrE&feature=player_embedded

OTHER NEWS

In the Star Trek world they refer to time quite frequently, but the latest annoucement on Trek XII's release date is anything but fiction. The sequel was originally slated for a June 29, 2012 release, but has just been bumped back to May 17, 2013, where it will take the spot vacated by Roland Emmerich's "Singularity" which moves to November 2013. The entire cast is set to return. 

Though many find the idea of remaking "Robocop" borderline sacrilege, in a recent interview director Jose Padilha said that his version of the film will focus on a very particular area that the first film glossed over: "In the first "Robocop" when Alex Murphy is shot, gunned down, then you see some hospitals and stuff and then you cut to him as "Robocop". My movie is between those two cuts. How do you make "Robocop?" 

There will be a new Q in the next James Bond film. 31-year-old British actor Ben Whishaw has been cast as James Bond's gadget man Q in director Sam Mendes' upcoming Bond flick "Skyfall" 

NASA is expecting some 13,000 people to attend the launch of its newest Mars rover on Saturday (Nov. 26). The Mars Science Laboratory or Curiosity rover, is scheduled to lift off at 10:02 a.m. EST. Following the retirement of the space shuttle fleet, NASA hopes to carry some of that interest over to its robotic planetary science missions which have traditionally drawn fewer spectators than manned launches. The state-of-the-art, one ton rover is NASA's most sophisticated Mars mission to date. Following the launch, the spacecraft will embark on an 8 1/2-month cruise to the Red Planet, with a planned arrival in August 2012. Once on the surface, the rover will study the planet's geological history, and whether it is or has ever been habitable.

The European Space Agency announced Wednesday that a ground station in Australia heard signals from Russia's marooned Phobos-Grunt Mars mission, but prospects are fading for the probe to reach the Red Planet as scheduled next year. A tracking station in Perth succeeded in contacting Phobos-Grunt, a 29,000-pound, truck-sized probe designed to retrieve samples from the largest moon of Mars and return them to Earth. Officials have been unable to contact Phobos-Grunt since a problem prevented the craft from exiting Earth orbit and accelerating toward Mars after liftoff Nov. 8.

BOOK REVIEWS

"Stark's War" - Jack Campbell:

http://www.geeknative.com/24173/starks-war-review/

"Reality 36" - Guy Haley

http://sfbook.com/reality-36.htm 

"The Time Ships" - Stephen Baxter:

http://www.sfsite.com/06a/ts129.htm

"The Case For Mars - The Plan To Settle The Red Planet And Why We Must": 

http://spacecoalition.com/blog/book-review-the-case-for-mars-the-plan-to-settle-the-red-planet-and-why-we-must-revisedupdated?doing_wp_cron

SCIFI NEWS QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." - Winston Churchill