Margaret Atwood notoriously opted out of the Sci-Fi genre, declaring it the realm of, "Rockets, chemicals and talking squids in outer space." Rather than take the jab personally, the crew over at Space Squid revels in the ridiculousness of a much-beloved genre, bringing you podcasts, comics, and a quarterly-printed zine that plays on the more brainless aspects of Sci-Fi culture.

Previews on their site only hint at what you get in the printed version, but if their test to see whether you can pick Barack, Bra'Tac, and Barada out of a lineup doesn't get you, the High Elven Word Jumble in their latest issue is sure to hit painfully close to home. Getting a peek at the rest of it will cost you one dollar -- but then again, I'm willing to throw down a buck to get a closer look at any publication that sells itself as "The site Margaret Atwood warned you about."

Where do you draw the line between science fiction and imminent possibility? Well, wherever you draw it, the A2 can get there in 5 hours. When completed, the new hydrogen-fueled rocket plane is intended to fly from Brussels to Australia in 4 hours and 40 minutes. Senior engineer Alan Bond shared details with the Guardian today: "The A2 is designed to leave Brussels international airport, fly quietly and subsonically out into the north Atlantic at mach 0.9 before reaching mach 5 across the North Pole and heading over the Pacific to Australia."

Though it could be 25 years before this kind of air travel is available to mainstream consumers, the A2 technology has another thing going for it: Being liquid hydrogen-powered, its exhaust contains only water vapor and a small amounts of nitrous oxide. But before you get too excited about green, high-speed travel, keep in mind that it still currently takes plenty of carbon-based energy to produce that kind of fuel, something which scientists are working to overcome. Or to quote Bond, "Our work shows that it is possible technically; now it's up to the world to decide if it wants it." Well it's no HoverBoard, but I think you can count on the SciFi community's support!

Fans of Space: 1999 will be sad to hear that veteran actor Barry Morse, who played Professor Victor Bergman on the classic British Sci-Fi series, passed away on Saturdady, February 2 at the age of 89.

Morse enjoyed a lifelong career in film, TV, theater and radio, performing many memorable roles, such as the relentless Lt. Philip Gerard on the hit television series The Fugitive. Sci-Fi fans will particularly remember his appearances in The Twilight Zone and The Martian Chronicles. His son, actor Hayward Morse, stated to the press that his father died at University College Hospital in London, after a brief illness.

In a recent video to fans, Morse seemed ever the thoughtful storyteller as he shared details about his latest book and quoted from Shakespeare's Henry V: "Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot/ But he'll remember with advantages/ What feats he did that day."

Gilles Nuytens loves Science Fiction. "SF allows people to dream," he says. "Without it the world would be so sad, so formal, so gray!" So, like many people, he decided to share that love with a community in 2005 by building himself a website. But, unlike many people, Gilles found a hook--something to distinguish his SciFi destination from the myriad others on the Internet. "When I was in design school, I had a website that listed sites with high-resolution 3D artwork that really impressed me. So then I decided to try to make my own."

In six months, The SciFi World began receiving thousands of hits a day and became one of the Web's premiere destinations for original, exclusive (and yes, unofficial) wallpapers, chat smilies, and Instant Messenger avatars for some of the genre's heaviest hitting shows and films: Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, Star Wars, Firefly and many others. "I wanted to create something different," Gilles says. "There was no need to create one more news site or even a big site with thousands of desktop wallpaper downloads. I wanted to offer only quality."

Continue reading "Site of the Week: The SciFi World" »

Spider-Man's slavering, whip-tongued evil doppelganger Venom has always been a contentious villain among fans. Sure, the evil mirror image is a classic superhero trope, but Venom was ultimately indicative of everything that was wrong with Marvel in the 1990s, the ultimate champion of their absurd line-up of brooding anti-villains.

But even Venom fans had to agree that the villain's portrayal in Spider-Man 3 was weak. Topher Grace made a good, whiny target, but a poor sociopathic villain -- because his entire character arc was essentially a temper tantrum about Peter Parker getting his job.

Good news, then, Venom fans. A standalone Venom movie is in the works; it's a spin-off from Sony's lucrative Spider-Man series. There are scant details on what it will contain, though I think we all hope for a different actor in the role and a complete reboot of the Venom concept.

Venom Movie In The Works [IESB]

• Although the first Fantastic Four movie was pretty execrable, it could be worse: It could have been produced by Roger Corman. We watched this a million times when I worked at a comic store in my teen years.

• Everyone's favorite skin-peeling reptiloids from outer space are back in V: The Second Generation.

• Techropolis asks, "Is Science Fiction Mainstream Entertainment?" They spend hundreds and hundreds of words on a thesis that could have been answered in four: "Now it is, yes."

• There are more than 200 "real" superheroes on MySpace.

• SF Signal rails against another New York Times literary idiot. DeNardo's awesome at this.

Continue reading "Daily Scan: 02.05.08" »