Charlie Jane Anders

Watch the Star Wars logo evolve right before your eyes

There are few symbols as iconic as the Star Wars logo. Just looking at it brings a sense of romance and adventure. But it went through a lot of variations before becoming the sleek piece of text we know today. Here’s one video that sums up the whole process, including some weird offshoots. Check out…

A Strong Candidate for Greatest Science Fiction Dance Sequence Ever

Science fiction is full of great dance sequences and supervillain musical numbers. But this scene from The History of Future Folk is still a strong contender to be the best of the bunch. There’s a cop-and-criminal tango, interspersed with a balletic alien kickpunching fight. Awesome. https://gizmodo.com/the-greatest-scifi-dance-routines-of-all-time-349053 https://gizmodo.com/the-36-greatest-supervillain-musical-numbers-of-all-tim-5978701 Like The Wall, The History of Future Folk…

Warning: This brief clip from The Wall will creep you the hell out

Seriously, there’s something intensely creepy about this scene from The Wall, a new movie coming out in New York today. The premise is similar to Stephen King’s Under The Dome, but the execution is a lot more low-key… and kind of intense, for all that. The Wall is opening today at IFC Center in New…

Shyamalan’s new film is a huge disappointment (because it’s not awful)

Admit it: You were secretly hoping for After Earth to be a trainwreck. It’s M. Night Shyamalan’s first movie since the oh-god-my-eyes Last Airbender. It’s Will Smith trying to jumpstart his son Jaden’s career. It has a ridiculous backstory. All signs pointed to another MST3K-worthy outing. Except After Earth is… actually okay. https://gizmodo.com/the-alien-backstory-you-didnt-see-in-the-after-earth-t-509618063 (There will…

The National Association of Theater Owners is calling for shorter movie trailers that include fewer spoilers.

What’s the Most Gratuitous Comic Book Death of All Time?

This week, we found out about a completely gratuitous death for a major DC Comics character. Yup, as usual. No doubt it’ll be retconned, or there’ll be a bizarre resurrection. Superheroes tend to do that. But meanwhile, we’re wondering: What’s the most bonkers or pointless death in comics? https://gizmodo.com/uh-dc-just-randomly-killed-the-hell-out-of-a-major-cha-510341170 https://gizmodo.com/10-incredibly-stupid-ways-that-superheroes-and-villains-5971716 https://gizmodo.com/the-15-dumbest-superhero-retcons-of-all-time-5405696 https://gizmodo.com/7-bad-storytelling-habits-that-we-all-learned-from-supe-510497734 https://gizmodo.com/10-reasons-not-to-bring-someone-back-from-the-dead-5916491 https://gizmodo.com/back-from-the-dead-eleven-scifi-resurrections-5209135 Please…

Futurama‘s John DiMaggio explains why Adventure Time baffled him

John DiMaggio might be the greatest voice actor of our generation. He’s Bender on Futurama, Jake on Adventure Time, Aquaman on Batman: Brave and the Bold, and many others. We were lucky enough to have an exclusive interview with him today, and he told us that if you don’t like cartoons, “there’s something wrong with…

Gender-swapping superhero’s creator responds to right-wing backlash

In SheZow, a 12-year-old boy accidentally puts on a magic ring that turns him into a female superhero, known as SheZow. It’s an excuse for lots of fish-out-of-water comedy and some personal growth. Or, if you’re Breitbart News, it’s a left-wing conspiracy. We talked to SheZow’s creator about the controversy. In case you missed it,…

7 Bad Storytelling Habits That We All Learned from Superhero Comics

Today’s escapist storytellers share a rich legacy, from classic TV to great SF novels. But most of us also guzzled superhero comics during our formative years. And the writing of Stan Lee, John Byrne and countless others shaped us, in good ways and bad. Here are seven story pitfalls we picked up from classic superhero…

Brad Pitt is a sad conflicted puppy in first World War Z clip

Torn between his duty to his family and his country’s summons to come and stop the zombie onslaught using his incredible super-investigator skills, Brad Pitt is incredibly conflicted, in this first peek at the drama in World War Z. What do you think? World War Z opens June 21, 2013.

Can’t Stop Staring at these Trippy Norwegian Book Covers

Science fiction book covers in the 1960s and 1970s were often wild and psychedelic — but these Norwegian book covers, from the science fiction imprint Lanterne, are astounding. Designed by Peter Haars, they are like a wild drug frenzy in book-cover form. These covers were posted on Flickr by user Gojira2012, and then found their…

Which classic science fiction novel still holds up today?

Sometimes you revisit a classic science fiction book that rocked your world years ago… and the letdown is like falling off a space elevator. Some beloved books just don’t hold up. But sometimes? You read an old favorite, and it’s even better than you remember. Which novels are just as great today as when they…

We’ve lost another one of the greats: R.I.P. Jack Vance, 1916-2013

Jack Vance’s impact on science fiction can’t be overestimated. His Dying Earth series alone would be enough to make him one of the genre’s most important figures. But he also gave us the Demon Princes series and several others, and he helped revitalize the planetary romance genre with Big Planet. He died over the weekend…

Game of Thrones adding three major characters for season 4!

Game of Thrones season three is almost over, but we already have our first hints for season four, courtesy of George R.R. Martin. He named three book characters who we’ll meet next year. Obviously spoilers ahead, if you haven’t read A Storm of Swords… Martin was at ConQuesT in Kansas City this past weekend, and…

What’s the future of Star Trek after “Into Darkness?”

Star Trek Into Darkness is a hit movie — it’s just not enough of a hit for Paramount. What does this mean for the future of Trek? In its second weekend, Star Trek Into Darkness dropped 46.9 percent, slightly more than the first J.J. Abrams Trek movie in 2009. Most box office experts now expect…

Revolution demonstrates the difference between good & bad plot twists

In just one clip, Revolution shows the difference between a plot twist that actually feels organic and natural to the characters… and one that feels random and totally WTF-based. See for yourself! Last night’s episode of Revolution wins a total free pass from me because it had the coil guns that make people explode into…

What Classical myth do you want John Hodgman and Adam Savage to bust?

Tomorrow night in San Francisco, Mythbusters’ Adam Savage is appearing live on stage with That Is All author John Hodgman. And we’re giving away a free pair of tickets! All you have to do is answer one question: What ancient mythology do you want Savage and Hodgman to bust? (e.g., “You can’t give birth through…

Pacific Rim concept art includes our best look at the giant monsters!

So much awesome. Some brand new Pacific Rim concept art appeared in Empire Magazine, and it gives us a way clearer look at the Kaiju that are terrorizing the world, to the point where we need to built mega-bots to fight for us. These scans from the brand new Empire appear over at Comic Book…

What movie did you love — until your friends convinced you it sucked?

We’ve all been there. You walk out of a movie thinking you had a pretty good time. And then, you find out you’re on your own. Worse yet, your friends raise such strong points, you wind up agreeing with them. What movie did your crew talk you into hating?

This gender-swapped Lord of the Rings dream casting is note perfect

We all know that Middle-Earth is a sausage fest. But what would happen if you flipped all the genders? Could Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings still work as well if you replaced Sean Bean, John Noble and Sean Astin with women? This dream cast proves it would. It’s… a diversion. https://gizmodo.com/the-chart-that-proves-just-how-much-of-a-sausage-fest-m-5951489 Over at Livejournal,…