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NEWS ABOUT: science fiction

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Homeland Security Tests 'Pre-Crime' Detectors

'Non-intrusive' sensors collect data on prospective crooks

(Newser) - Homeland Security is trying to make Hollywood's science-fiction fantasies come true, CNET reports. While the Tom Cruise film Minority Report portrayed psychics who predict crimes, DHS officials are using a "prototype screening facility" to "detect cues indicative of mal-intent" in people, according to a DHS document. The... More »

Ridley Scott to Direct New Blade Runner

Alcon Entertainment slated to produce upcoming sequel or prequel

(Newser) - "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe..." But would the infamous replicant leader in Blade Runner believe that director Ridley Scott is making a new version of the 1982 sci-fi classic? Sequel or prequel, nobody seems to know—and Harrison Ford's participation is a question... More »

US Dreams of Interstellar Spaceship in 100 Years

DARPA offering $500,000 to space innovators

(Newser) - Is it possible that Star Trek and a sci-fi story written by Jules Verne more than 100 years ago will inspire the next generation of space technologies? DARPA, the research and development division of the US military, sure hopes so. In fact, the agency has promised to award $500,000... More »

Super 8 Almost Super

JJ Abrams directs Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning in sci-fi flick

(Newser) - Super 8 is a fun summer blockbuster about kids, monsters, and filmmaking—but don’t expect a classic.
  • Director JJ Abrams is “clever and sincere,” notes AO Scott in the New York Times , “but still, at least on the big screen, more student than master. Like his
... More »

Source Code an Action Flick With Brains

Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan star in Duncan Jones' sci-fi film

(Newser) - Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a military pilot placed into another man’s life using a secret program called Source Code—where he's forced to repeat the same eight minutes perpetually in order to catch a bomber. It’s pulse-pounding but deeply human:
  • It’s “the first film
... More »

Blade Runner Sequel Planned

Production firm in talks to buy rights to sci-fi classic's universe

(Newser) - Other Blade Runner movies could be here in time for 2019, the year when the 1982 sci-fi classic takes place. Production company Alcon Entertainment says it's in the final stages of talks to acquire the rights to make prequels and sequels based on the settings and characters of the original,... More »

Tron Trounces Box Office With $43.6M

Sci-fi sequel sends Yogi Bear to No. 2

(Newser) - The much-hyped sci-fi sequel Tron: Legacy trounced its closest competition at the box office this weekend, notching $43.6 million in an opening weekend some 28 years after the original cult hit debuted. Its $200 million budget let filmmakers "do some incredible things," says the director of the... More »

5 Reasons We Need New Star Wars Trilogy

Wired blog: Lucas denies rumors, but maybe he should reconsider

(Newser) - Rumors are flying that George Lucas has another Star Wars trilogy up his sleeve. Lucas says it ain't so, but Scott Thill offers five reasons at Wired why he should reconsider:
  • Purists are annoying: The first movie came out in 1977, and those who whine about Lucas ruining things "
... More »

Lego Robot Builds Stuff—With Legos

Machine could theoretically self-replicate, make Lego-Terminators

(Newser) - Could this be the first step toward a robotic apocalypse? A software engineer has created a machine made of Legos that builds objects made of Legos, based on 3D models. The MakerLegoBot (see video in gallery) takes advantage of the brand's new Mindstorms set, which incorporates motors and moving parts.... More »

Ray Bradbury: We've Got Too Many Internets

Sci-fi great also thinks we need a revolution and a moon base

(Newser) - Ray Bradbury: Crotchety tea partier? That’s the impression you might get from his interview with the LA Times , in which he decries the government, the “Internets” and the state of space travel. “We have too many cellphones. We’ve got too many internets,” the Farenheit 451 ... More »

Leonard Nimoy Retiring His Spock Ears

At 79, he's leaving the stage for good

(Newser) - Don't expect to see Leonard Nimoy in the Star Trek sequel now in the works for 2012. The 79-year-old tells the Toronto Sun he's retiring from all acting gigs—including Spock—for good. "I've been doing this professionally for 60 years,” he says. “I want to get... More »

4 Dystopias Health Reform Will Prevent

Could Obamacare prevent zombie plagues?

(Newser) - Perhaps the best way to explore how health-care reform will affect our lives is to consider the fictional dystopias the Obamacare society won't have to endure. Or, have io9 do it for you:
  1. A mutant plague. A rich country in which 30 million people have no access to preventative care
... More »

Book of Eli: Apocalypse, Sarah Palin Style

Denzel Washington impressive in post-apocalyptic road fable

(Newser) - The Book of Eli is almost certainly the best post-apocalypic Christian action movie you'll see this year, say critics, although many were put off by the preaching.
  • The directors scored with the casting—Denzel Washington as a grizzled gunslinger protecting the world's last Bible—the fight scenes and the explosions,
... More »

Russians Claim Avatar Rips Off Soviet Sci-Fi

Critics say Cameron owes a debt to the Strugatsky brothers

(Newser) - Avatar has prompted cries of plagiarism from Russians who say similarities between the 3D blockbuster and the Soviet-era works of the Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are more than just coincidence. James Cameron's movie and the Strugatsky brothers' World of Noon cycle of sci-fi novels both take place in the 22nd... More »

Directors Who Should Go Sci-Fi

Coen brothers, Scorsese, Tarantino could give Cameron a run

(Newser) - With Avatar whipping up Oscar buzz for James Cameron, io9 nominates five great directors who could make magic with the “wondrous freedoms” available in the science-fiction genre:
  • Paul Greengrass: The man behind The Bourne Ultimatum thrives on a “mixture of chaos and intimacy”—perfect to document the
... More »

Avatar Amazes and Awes

Cameron's comeback 'the most vivid fantasy world seen on screen'

(Newser) - James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar has been hailed as the future of filmmaking and the stunning fantasy world he has created more than lives up to the hype, say impressed critics.
  • "Avatar delivers," writes Steven Rea at the Philadelphia Inquirer . "Combining beyond-state-of-the-art moviemaking with a tried-and-true storyline
... More »

SyFy Name Change Not So Stupid

Ratings up since 'Sci-Fi Channel' name was dropped

(Newser) - The Sci-Fi Channel's bizarre name change to "SyFy" attracted near-universal mockery earlier this year, but it looks like the network's execs are having the last laugh. Ratings are up in double-digits across all key demographics since the name change, boosted by hit new series Warehouse 13 and the continued... More »

2009's Coolest Pop Culture

Wired picks the year's best

(Newser) - This has been a vintage year for pop culture, say Wired writers listing their year's best in fields from film to video games to microsculpture.
  • Stephen Colbert's "hyper-real genius" made the year for Scott Thill, who believes "Earth’s most relevant living cultural critic" is long overdue for
... More »

Don't Land On Planet 51

Laugh-free sci-fi satire mediocre at best

(Newser) - It has a cool concept—a human is greeted with paranoia on an alien planet straight out of the '50s—but critics say Planet 51 never reaches orbit. Some reviews:
  • It’s a “bland, humor-free narrative,” with lame references to other movies instead of jokes, writes Glenn Whipp
... More »

V's Great, If You Like Aliens, Politics

Obama parallels and standard plot bother some critics

(Newser) - Most critics agree that ABC’s much-hyped alien drama V is a well-made show with good acting. But does this remake of the 1983 miniseries feel original? Is it a conservative screed? Here’s what they’re saying:
  • Who cares if V is believable (it’s not)? All Heather Havrilesky
... More »

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