Charlie Jane Anders

Amazing Comparison: Shanghai 1987 Versus 2013

What a difference a quarter century makes. This comparison of Shanghai from 1987 and 2013 was posted the other day on the HistoricalPics twitter, and it shows just how much the Pudong region has gotten built up into something insanely futuristic.

Your Afternoon Soundtrack: 10 Minutes of the Pacific Rim Theme

It’s the main theme, extended to 10 minutes long. Fact: Anything you do while listening to this will seem 1000 percent more heroic. [via JeffFromAbove]

The Most Awesome Moments from Krrish 3, The Bollywood Superhero Classic

We’ve had a lot of superhero films this year — but a strong candidate for the year’s wildest superheroic ride might be Krrish 3, the Bollywood extravaganza featuring ice-cream-stealing mutants, face-melting kisses, and much much more. We’ve screencapped the best bits. Warning: Major Spoilers for Krrish 3 ahead… So Krrish 3 is maybe not quite…

And now, here’s Benedict Cumberbatch as the Joker

He’s managed to play just about everyone else — so why not have Benedict Cumberbatch play the Joker? He’d probably be pretty amazing, and a worthy successor to Ledger, Nicholson and Hamill. This fan art comes from concept artist Alex Tuis, whose work on various movies we’ve featured before. (Via Comic Book Movie.) And here’s…

Who would win in a fight: Alexander the Great, or Genghis Khan?

If you built a time machine and forced Alexander the Great’s army to fight Genghis Khan’s, who would win? The answer: It’s not even close. A thousand years separate those two forces, and they include a few striking technological achievements. Image via Ethically Challenged. Over at Slate’s Quora blog, they break down the bloodshed, and…

What’s the most pointless self-sacrifice of all time?

Sometimes, a hero has to give his or her life for a greater cause. And sometimes, a hero’s sacrifice is utterly pointless and in vain. What’s the most utterly pointless self-sacrifice of all time? Please include a picture or clip of this needless moment of self-abnegation. And let us know the title of the movie,…

To boldly lie: Howard Leventhal pled guilty to fraud chargesafter he snookered people into investing into a nonexistent “McCoy Home Health Tablet,” a version of Dr. McCoy’s medical tricorder from Star Trek.

Keanu Reeves’ new movie has 47 problems, but the Ronin ain’t one

Nobody was expecting the new 47 Ronin movie to be good — its long delays and problems have become legend — but it’s bad in a particularly depressing way. This is a film that’s not only boring and campy, but also kind of nonsensical, turning a classic story of revenge and loyalty into a stew…

What’s the greatest heist in all of science fiction or fantasy?

Sometimes, a dashing hero of the galaxy has to grab something, and dash. Sometimes, you have to make with the sticky fingers. What’s the greatest heist story in all of science fiction or fantasy? Please include a picture or clip of this daring robbery. And let us know the title and where it comes from.…

Why aren’t there more memes about Star Trek’s Unicorn Dog?

This is a grave injustice, the likes of which the universe has never witnessed. Why isn’t the internet full of GIFs and pictures featuring Unicorn Dog, the best Star Trek character? Sure, there are pictures of Unicorn Dog on the Internet — with such a fantastic get-up, how could he not have some great pics?…

12 Monty Python Side Projects, Ranked from Worst to Best

We’ve just learned that Simon Pegg will star in Absolutely Anything, a brand new film that reunites the surviving Monty Python castmembers. But how will this movie stack up to the canon of Monty Python spinoffs? Here are 12 Python side projects, ranked in order of greatness. https://gizmodo.com/simon-pegg-will-star-in-the-brand-new-film-from-the-mon-1481429798 Note: For the purposes of this list,…

Watch out: This book is addictively brilliant!

Ian Tregillis’ Something More Than Night is one of those books that manages to be both clever and exciting — you want to pause to admire all the brilliant ideas he’s tossing around, but you have to keep turning pages to see how it’ll turn out. This tale of angels is so brilliant, you might…

Who’s the most unconventional superhero ever created?

Superheroes come in all forms, from green rage monsters to circus-acrobat ghosts. In fact, the superhero genre is just a conglomeration of other genres. But who’s the weirdest and most mold-breaking superhero ever created? https://gizmodo.com/10-genres-that-superheroes-have-swallowed-up-511461075 Please include a picture or clip of your chosen superhero. And let us know their name, and why they’re the…

Great Lost Manuscripts of Science Fiction and Fantasy

Some of the greatest authors of science fiction and fantasy have put words on paper — only to see those words lost or destroyed. Before there were computers, manuscripts got burned or lost in the mail all the time. Here are the famous authors whose books were lost, destroyed, misplaced or erased. Actually, some of…

What’s the worst movie we left off our list of the year’s worst movies?

We made our choices, and now it’s your turn. Last week, we posted our list of the best and worst movies of 2013, but it was especially hard to decide on the worst this year. So please tell us: Which movie should we have included on our “worst” list? https://gizmodo.com/the-best-and-worst-science-fiction-and-fantasy-movies-o-1485583680

10 Lessons That We Hope 2013 Has Taught the Entertainment Industry

This past year was a killing ground, but also a proving ground. Huge, massively-hyped projects crashed and burned, but there were also some surprising hits. And in the midst of this carnage, a few stark truths. Here are 10 lessons we hope the entertainment industry learns from 2013. Top image: Oblivion. 1) If your movie’s…

This Week’s TV: Say a final goodbye to two of our greatest heroes!

There are two sad farewells this week. First Matt Smith has his very last adventure on Doctor Who, and then the series finale of Nikita sees the super-assassin going to a dark place. There’s also some of the strangest holiday programming you’ve ever heard of. Tons of clips and details below! Top image: Doctor Who…

Last night’s Nikita was one of the best hours of TV I’ve seen in ages

How do you follow up one of the weirdest cliffhangers in television history? With an episode chock full of jaw-dropping moments and one terrible shock. They could have called this “The Last Temptation of Nikita.” This show is going out on an amazing high note. Spoilers ahead… Parts of last night’s Nikita felt like a…

How do you wash your clothes in zero gravity? It’s a bigger problem than you’d think at first, and there are some very complicated solutions for what you could do on a long interplanetary voyage.

The Doctor finally meets a problem the Sonic Screwdriver can’t solve

Check out the first clip from the Doctor Who Christmas special, “Time of the Doctor.” In which the Doctor finally faces a problem too big for the sonic screwdriver. It’s just a short snippet, but it showcases one of the main features of this special: We’re rebooting Clara’s home life, getting rid of the “nanny…