Babylon 5‘s J. Michael Stracynski explains why most TV scifi is awful

Talking to Slashdot, Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski delivers a thundering indictment of network execs’ attitudes to science fiction on television: The problem is that the networks still don’t take SF seriously, or even feel threatened by it. I’ve had executives say that a space-show doesn’t work because people don’t care about what happens…

Patton Oswalt’s brilliant Star Wars: Episode VII pitch has a poster

Dear Disney: Failure to film exactly what Patton Oswalt suggested in his epic Parks & Rec filibuster video will be considered irrefutable proof that you hate 1) money, 2) fans and 3) joy. I mean, look at this thing. Greatest. Movie. Ever. https://gizmodo.com/patton-oswalts-8-minute-episode-vii-pitch-is-delightful-474924224

If this True Blood rumor is true, we may have to burn down HBO

On June 16th the sixth season of True Blood begins. But already, there are horrible rumors about a major plot twist that would ruin our enjoyment of this vampire hump show forever. Let’s hope it’s not true. Major spoilers ahead… According to many many online whispers Alexander Skarsgård may be departing the show in the…

How to Build an Artificial Womb

Artificial wombs are a staple of science fiction, but could we really build one? As time passes, we’re inching closer and closer to the day when it will finally become possible to grow a baby entirely outside the human body. Here’s what we’ll need to do to pull it off. Top image by Mondolithic Studios.…

Benedict Cumberbatch tells Kirk how much he sucks in new Trek promo

Man, John Harrison — if that’s even his real name — does not care for James T. Kirk. So much so, in fact, that he’s apparently shared this entry in his video diary in which he explains why Kirk is the worst, as a new Star Trek Into Darkness promo. I’m not sure if he…

10 Once-Great TV Shows (And The Exact Moments They Started to Suck)

By Amanda Yesilbas and Charlie Jane Anders. We all live in fear of the day when Game of Thrones starts to suck. We’ve lived through this trauma before — many great television shows went astray, often due to one highly questionable decision. Here 10 once-terrific shows, and the exact moment they started to suck. And…

What makes red squirrels the greatest warriors in Squeaktown

Though cute and furry on the outside, North American red squirrels have the souls of warriors. Each adult will claim a small section of forest, and fiercely defend its territory against all others. And the most successful fighters owe it all to stressed-out mothers. Human mothers are advised to avoid stress, but that advice doesn’t…

Legendary Programmer Why The Lucky Stiff’s Strange, Fascinating Novel

Ruby programmer Why The Lucky Stiff (or _why for short) vanished in 2009, deleting his whole online identity. But the other day, his website (reborn in January) started serving up print spools, so your computers’ printer could produce a novel that I couldn’t stop reading. Actually, maybe it’s a novella, or novelette. Probably not the…

Oblivion has its meh moments, but one hell of a satisfying payoff

With its cool, liquidy visuals and CGI-esque Tom Cruise as its lead, Oblivion has all the hallmarks of a summer action movie. But it’s not. This is a flick that aspires to be a psychological thriller — and occasionally, it succeeds quite well. Cruise is generically rugged and fearless as Jack Harper, a technician assigned…

The time M.A.S.K. took a super racist Australian vacation

Most of us look back on the cartoons of our youth through the lens of nostalgia, but man, M.A.S.K. was horrible. I mean, just awful. It made G.I. Joe look smart, and it made He-Man look deep. And, as it turns out, it could be super, super racist, too. We begin the episode “Sacred Rock”…

These animated gifs are some of the coolest we’ve ever seen

Webdesigner Depot has put together a mesmerizing collection of innovative GIF art from three vastly different designers. The first batch comes from Croatia’s Paolo Ceric, a digital artist who began his creative work by watching coders and trying to replicate their work. Check out his blog, Patakk. The second set of gifs are from Brooklyn’s…

Iron Man 3 Behind-the-Scenes Footage Is Six Minutes of Pure Awesome

If you’re not already excited about Iron Man 3 you don’t have a beating heart. For those of us who are human, and therefore teeming with anticipation, this six-minute clip of behind-the-scenes footage that should make that pulse of yours quicken. https://gizmodo.com/new-iron-man-3-trailer-so-much-badass-5988658 The footage doesn’t spoil anything that happens in the movie, but it does…

How Oblivion Made Earth Sound as Post-Apocalyptic as It Looks

The new sci-fi thriller Oblivion opens today, and the SoundWorks Collection has a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how the filmmakers used sound and music to paint the chilling landscapes of post-apocalyptic Earth. While the film will obviously have a slew of explosive action sequences, Oblivion’s sound design was just as much about crafting the atmospherics…

Watch the ISS spacewalk live for some respite from the manhunt madness

This morning’s manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers has left many of us glued to our screens. If you find yourself in need of a little mental/emotional/psychological vacation from it all, here’s a live feed of this morning’s spacewalk outside the ISS. http://gawker.com/5995053/the-boston-marathon-manhunt Broadcasting live with Ustream More info, via NASA: Expedition 35 flight engineers…

The whole first season of Netflix’s latest original show, Hemlock Grove, drops today. Are you planning to check it out?

The scientist who turned a hobby into genius

There are so many precocious geniuses out there. So many people have achieved great things because they worked on them since the first grade. That’s fine for them, but precocity is annoying. Let’s talk about the woman who made an incredible discovery via a few post-graduate courses and volunteer work. Henrietta Swan Leavitt made a…

This R-Rated Weird Science remake sounds kind of gross

If there’s one movie that probably doesn’t need an “edgy” R-rated remake, its a movie about how two horny teens make their perfect woman out of a Barbie doll. But, that won’t stop Hollywood from defiling the already fairly creepy ’80s film Weird Science. Joel Silver and Michael Bacall (who is penning this reboot) want…

This isn’t what you think it is

As hard as this is to believe, you’re looking at one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century, and it’s currently on display at London’s Science Museum. It may look like a scatological avante garde sculpture, but it’s actually a physical representation of the myoglobin molecule, an iron and oxygen binding protein found…

Meet “Fundawear,” the vibrating underwear you control with your phone

So this is a thing now. Undergarments – briefs, panties, bras, etc. – packed with vibrating touch technology that you control with a smartphone. It’s called Fundawear (fun… underwear… fun to wear! Oh, you get it), and it’s made by Durex. As in the condom company. The schtick is simple: vibrating underwear that lets couples…

Why is the talking raccoon the heart of Guardians of the Galaxy?

That’s just one big hint James Gunn drops about his Marvel space opera. The latest castmember in Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland hints at the movie’s top-secret plot. Guillermo del Toro explains why Pacific Rim is nothing like Transformers, in case anyone actually needed that explained. All that, plus spoilers galore! Top image from Ender’s Game. Iron…