You Can’t Judge Life On Mars Until Next Week

Congratulations, ABC — after two attempts, and spending squillions of dollars, you finally managed to copy British cult classic Life On Mars pretty well. At least, compared to the sheer horror that was the original pilot, the version of Mars that finally aired last night was much better, and closer to the UK version. With…

Just Hurry Up And Write Unbreakable 2 Already, M. Night

It only seems like a few weeks ago that M. Night Shyamalan was talking about wanting to make Unbreakable 2, and now he’s at it again, telling MTV “I want to write it right now, but I want to write it for the right reasons… I want a story to pop into my head that…

The Greatest Depressions (and Economic Recoveries) of Science Fiction

Click to viewScience fiction never fails to predict bizarre, unwelcome futures and the current global economic meltdown is no exception. We love to imagine all the ways our world will end not with a bang, but with a flood of hemorrhaged garbage cash. Two of this year’s scifi film crop, Babylon A.D. and The Road,…

Who Should Be The First Female Ghostbuster?

Original Ghostbuster Bill Murray says he thinks the third GB film should include a woman putting on the gray boiler suit and showing she ain’t afraid of no ghosts. Since the film will probably introduce a younger generation of ghost-smacking recruits, we’re guessing it won’t be Whoopi Goldberg or Ellen DeGeneres… let alone Diane Keaton.…

The Village Pet Store (and Charcoal Grill) Opens For Mutant Business

British concept artist Banksy opened a strange installation yesterday in Manhattan at No. 89 Seventh Avenue — it looks like a friendly pet store with appealing window displays, but turns out to be something a lot weirder. Last night, we dropped in to check out the store’s stock of hyper-intelligent bunnies and fish that have…

The Dark Knight Blu-ray on Preorder!!!

ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG $24.95 ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG Features ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG. [ZOMG via ZOMG]

When Star Trek Drives You To Drink, Everyone Wins

If there is a greater way to enjoy Star Trek than accompanied by copious amounts of alcohol, then we’re not sure we’ve found it yet – although that time that I watched a Voyager marathon while wacked out on cold medication probably comes close, I admit. So, it’s not surprising that Trektinis, a podcast that…

Ember Proves The Only Grown-Up Movies Are Aimed At Kids

Why are kids’ movies the only ones allowed to deal with real grown-up issues? City Of Ember, opening today, reminded me of the allegory-rich Wall-E. Not least because it talked about issues like scarce resources and the cushiony softness of propaganda. It’s such a relief, after watching a thousand allegedly “grown-up” action-adventure movies, to watch…

NASA scientists have figured out a new way to find Earth-sized planets in distant space: Just follow the dust. The patterns of dust around stars can reveal a planet that may not otherwise be observable. [NASA Goddard Space Center]

Dwight Faces Nerd Torture Of The Highest Form

Click to view Our beloved Dwight Schrute, lover of bears, beets and Battlestar Galactica faced the toughest geek challenge from Jim Halpert on The Office this week. Watch as he painfully listens to Jim slaughter the plot of his favorite TV series and is restrained from correcting him. We feel your pain Dwight, because we…

The Week’s Smallville Joins The Lonely Hearts Club Band

There’s no way to get around it: this week’s Smallville was a return to the campy old days when they’d just steal the plot of a movie, make it a little more family friendly, insert a DC Comics character and then hope that no-one would notice. This time around, Maxima came to Earth searching for…

Bebo Sends Friend Request to Alien Planet

Social networking has gone interstellar. Yesterday, friend-connecting network Bebo beamed a message at Gliese 581c, a terrestrial “super-Earth” that might be capable of supporting life. But is this really a viable effort to make alien contact, or merely an instance of extrasolar spam?Bebo sponsored a competition to collect 501 photos, drawings, and text messages from…

Post-Singularity Toilets

After the singularity, even your toilet will be transformed. Maybe it will look like this fabulous, googie/populuxe toilet or maybe it will be made of converted T-1000 liquid terminators who can morph to fit any rear end — whether Wookiee or Gray Alien. What else does the far future promise us in the way of…

Hasselhoff Puts Final Nail In Knight Rider Coffin

The one saving grace that might have swayed people to watch NBC’s new Knight Rider series has been ripped out of the cast’s hands. David Hasselhoff (who was the main character in the original series) will no longer be appearing as a guest star in some upcoming episodes. It sounds like there was a disagreement…

Color me shocked. The first episodes of Brit remakes Life On Mars and Eleventh Hour both scored amazing ratings, around 11.6 million each. Our reviews of both episodes will be up later today. [TV Guide]

Star Ka’at Author’s Final War Has Been Settled

Good news: the battle over Andre Norton’s legacy has finally been settled, and that means her unpublished books will soon be coming out. A lower court in Tennessee gave Norton’s biggest fan Victor Horadam control over her works, including royalties. But an appeal court overturned the ruling, giving Norton’s inheritance to longtime caretaker Sue Stewart.…

My Virtual Journey On A Ribosome Spaceship And To The Far Ends of the Galaxy

Welcome back to MangoBot, a biweekly column about Asian futurism by TokyoMango blogger Lisa Katayama. The International Space Station is flying straight at me. “This is a glimpse into the future,” a voice says from somewhere above my head. “This is what the ISS will look like when it’s completed in 2010.” The giant silver…

V Is Back! All Hail The Visitors!

Welcome back, my 80s-permed alien friends. ABC is bringing back the lizard-alien mini-series V, hooray! The 4400 creator and producer Scott Peters revealed to the trades that the aliens are back and that there may be a video game on the way too. But more importantly, will they bring back the jumpsuits and fantastic 80s…

A Cardboard Cylon and Some Superhero Hotness

Nothing like combining a new-school cylon with the old-school goodness of cardboard. That’s what ratmanproductions did, and he has a nice step-by-step series of photos on Flickr showing the costume as it evolved out of cardboard, duct tape, and a head-mounted flashlight. Ratman’s recycled boxwear menace is just one of many fine costumes io9 readers…

Scifi Books that Have Been Banned in the Twenty-First Century

Click to viewAlien zoo sex, vulgar language, and the horrors of war have earned this novel (which shall remain nameless) a place on many a banned books list. And it’s hardly alone. Even in just the last decade, parents have tried to remove their least favorite titles from school libraries, and works of science fiction…