Charlie Jane Anders, Author at Gizmodo

How To Create The Most Boring Villains In The Universe

Now that we know volume three of Heroes will be called “Villains,” it’s not too soon to start bracing ourselves for the worst. After all, that show hasn’t had the greatest track record in creating and sustaining villains so far. There’s no surefire way to make a villain scary and memorable. But there are some…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 15

The Greatest Spaceships Made From Scrap

With the space shuttle program about to be retired, we need a new class of crewed ships for space exploration. But Congress may never cough up the money to build them. Luckily, science fiction teaches us that anything can be a spaceship: an old airplane, a World War II battleship, a fairground ride… or even…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 15

Buy Yourself A Retconned Happy Childhood

People spend the GDP of Peru in therapy trying to cope with the crap that happened to them when they were kids. It’s such a 20th century approach to childhood suckage. Maybe soon, we’ll be able to pay to turn our childhoods happy retroactively. Click through for our roundup of ideas for making your childhood…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 15

First Look At Sulu’s Away Mission Suit?

This weird structure plays a role in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie, judging from photos of the shooting taken by JFX Online. The ultra-smudgy photos also show someone who could be a Klingon, or a craft-services worker. But there are also pics of John Cho (Sulu) drinking coffee in some kind of battlesuit/spacesuit with a…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 15

Astro Boy Gets Space Jammed

Early warning: The CGI Astro Boy movie will be an “Oliver Twist” story, says newly announced screenwriter Timothy Harris (Space Jam, Kindergarten Cop). Directed by David Bowers (Flushed Away), Astro Boy is the story of a scientist who creates a robot boy to replace the son he lost. But the young robot fails to fulfill…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 15

Airbrushed Space Pics Are Abstract Art

Is this art? This picture of the Cat’s Eye Nebula, and other images from the Hubble Space Telescope, are hanging at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. The exhibition of science photos has made people question whether a photo taken by a machine can be art. But the more you examine that question, the more…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 15

Torchwood May Actually Be Growing Up

Here’s yet another super-disturbing clip from Torchwood, which seems to be dipping into horror more and more. Two new episodes of Torchwood aired Wednesday night in the U.K., and they were both way above average, leading us to hope that the “grown-up” Doctor Who spinoff might actually be growing up. Click through for spoilers and…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 15

New Spoilers For Justice League Movie

If we had a superhero for every mutually contradictory plot synopsis we’ve read for George Miller’s Justice League movie, we’d have enough for three super-teams. But the latest League plot info supposedly comes from a casting notice, and sounds just dumb enough to be real. We also have spoilers for Wolverine, Lost and Torchwood. Plus…

Television Charlie Jane Anders Feb 15

1980 Fighter Jets Vs. 1941 Japanese Bombers

Here’s the most one-sided dogfight in history, as U.S. fighter jets that have traveled back in time take out two Japanese “zero” planes on their way to bomb Pearl Harbor, in 1980’s The Final Countdown. Kirk Douglas, commanding the U.S.S. Nimitz, tries to avoid killing the Japanese after his ship travels back to 1941. But…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 14

Is Lost Fantasy Or Science Fiction?

Lost doesn’t just defy comprehension, it defies genres as well. We’ve been hotly debating among ourselves whether it’s a science fiction show, or whether everything that happens is just magic. Like the spooky Jacob’s Cabin, not to mention Locke’s spine. But then there’s the Dharma Initiative, and hints that something sciencey is going on as…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 14

Don’t Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!

The Pentagon plans to fire a missile at a rogue U.S. spy satellite that threatens to crash to Earth in March. But don’t panic: even without a missile strike, the chances of a huge chunk of spy-gear crashing on your head are fairly low, General James Cartwright just told CNN. Also, “the blogs” are wrong…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 14

Wall-E Meets Peter Gabriel

You may not want to shock the monkey, but you could find yourself dancing with the cute robot. Peter Gabriel is doing some music for the soundtrack of Wall-E, Pixar’s new robot movie. He’s creating a couple of new tunes for the occasion, plus putting “some glue” on things he’s come up with previously. In…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 14

The Most Confusing Doctor Who Era, Explained

Ever wanted to know what was really going on during the final seasons of time-travel show Doctor Who’s original run? When it got all mystifying, with the darkly significant Victorian chambermaids and hints about the Doctor’s secret past? Now you can ask Sylvester McCoy, who starred in those episodes, and Andrew Cartmel, who was in…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 14

Spacesuits Are The New Lingerie, In The Vacuum Of Love

Looking for something to wear on that hot date tonight? Tell your sweetie that your heart will survive, no matter what, by wearing the latest survival gear. It’s romantic! These are designs from today’s Madrid fashion show by up-and-coming Spanish designer Jose Miro. Like other recent designers, he’s opted for some “Mad Max” gear, but…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 14

The Unholy Love Match Between Scifi And Romantic Comedy

You can tell any kind of story using science fictional ideas, from alien invasion to small personal transformations. But somehow, whenever you mix science fiction and romantic comedy, you create a pungent ooze that eats away at the eyeballs of everybody in the audience. What with it being Valentine’s Day and all, here’s our tour…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 14

Critics Hate Stephen Chow’s Hit Scifi Movie

The good news: Stephen (Shaolin Soccer) Chow’s venture into science fiction, CJ7, has been a huge box-office smash in China, in spite of record-breaking snow storms. The movie has made an impressive US$18 million in its first two weeks, meaning that other Chinese film-makers may be tempted to ditch martial arts for space adventure. The…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 14

A New Glimpse Of Doctor Who Season Four

A new trailer for Doctor Who season four has been showing in British movie theaters, and now some blurry cameraphone copies have turned up online. We have the least eye-abusing of these, plus some crazy-but-maybe-true Doctor Who rumors. We also have some new Lost spoilers, and a first look at the latest addition to the…

Television Charlie Jane Anders Feb 14

Another Bomb Drops On Jericho

The post-apocalyptic rebuilding may have begun on last night’s Jericho, but the CBS show’s own restoration after a cancellation scare looks like it’ll be short-lived. The season opener failed to beat a rerun of Law and Order, and an original Boston Legal. The episode’s 7.1 million viewers was much better than the tail end of…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 13

300 Baby Stars In Our Nearest Star-Factory

Newborn stars are surrounded with dust in the Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud, in this new image from the Spitzer Space Telescope. Only about 407 light years from Earth, Rho Oph is one of the closest star-forming regions to us. There are more than 300 young stellar objects within the central cloud, which contains the crucial…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 13

A Bright Future Vision, For A Change

Short fiction is returning to Futurismic, one of our favorite SF webzines which frequently publishes Ruth Nestvold, Chris Nakashima-Brown and Jason Stoddard, among others. The site has been fiction-less since last April, but plans to start running monthly free stories again in March. And for those of you who are sick of gloom and doom,…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 13

Charlie Jane Anders

How To Create The Most Boring Villains In The Universe

The Greatest Spaceships Made From Scrap

Buy Yourself A Retconned Happy Childhood

First Look At Sulu’s Away Mission Suit?

Astro Boy Gets Space Jammed

Airbrushed Space Pics Are Abstract Art

Torchwood May Actually Be Growing Up

New Spoilers For Justice League Movie

1980 Fighter Jets Vs. 1941 Japanese Bombers

Is Lost Fantasy Or Science Fiction?

Don’t Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!

Wall-E Meets Peter Gabriel

The Most Confusing Doctor Who Era, Explained

Spacesuits Are The New Lingerie, In The Vacuum Of Love

The Unholy Love Match Between Scifi And Romantic Comedy

Critics Hate Stephen Chow’s Hit Scifi Movie

A New Glimpse Of Doctor Who Season Four

Another Bomb Drops On Jericho

300 Baby Stars In Our Nearest Star-Factory

A Bright Future Vision, For A Change

Southwest Is About to Limit Power Banks on Flights

Damn, the ‘Power Rangers’ Reboot Could’ve Had Four Movies

The Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Team Wants to Go the Distance

‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ Will Please Gross Horror Fans

Somehow Paramount’s ‘Avatar’ Movie Has Leaked, Too

The World Is Basically Begging for Another iPod

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

OpenAI Says Elon Musk Is ‘Injecting Chaos’ with Recent Legal Maneuver

Google Displayed Polymarket Bets as News ‘In Error,’ Google Says

‘Marvel Rivals’ Wants to Start Being More Than Just a Hero Shooter

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

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AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best