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Mary Robinette Kowal - The Ten Deadliest Monsters in Fantasy

2009-11-20T05:00:29Z

Fantasy has a lot of monsters. Sure, they turn up in science fiction from time to time, but nuclear mutations aside, enormous beasties are typically the result of imagination -- and fantasy has the lock-down on sheer ferocity. Monsters make a ready conflict for the hero, and raise the stakes in ways that no mere human villain can. The question remains: Which beastie is the most deadly?

10. Mulgarath in The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
This shape-shifting ogre -- voiced by Nick Nolte -- is terrifying precisely because he can appear as anything. His plans for world domination start with fairy kind, but he's not thinking small: The only thing standing between him and victory is his need for the Book. Though he has the possibility for widespread destruction, he doesn't live up to his potential and actually kill anyone on screen, which is why he's stuck in the 10-spot on our list.

9. Kali in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974)
Brought to life by the magic of the evil Koura, (Tom Baker) the six-armed idol of Kali gives Sinbad (John Phillip Law) a run for his money. Against any other opponent, she would win the day without even thinking -- which she doesn't, being an animated statue and all. She gets points for style but the execution is lacking. Literally: To be deadly, you need to execute people.

8. Grendel in Beowulf (2007)
Ogres and trolls run through fantasy the way magic runs through a wand, and the archetype starts with Grendel (Crispin Glover). Ferocious and a deadly killer, Grendel can rip apart dozens of trained Viking warriors. And let me tell you, having lived for a year in Iceland, the Vikings are tough, tough people. Even missing an arm, Grendel's still a match for most men, and the only one who can defeat him is, of course, our hero Beowulf (Ray Winstone).

Daily Scan for 11.20.09 - Pitt Fills Dark Void, Campbell Eyed as Khan

2009-11-20T05:00:16Z

• Rebecca Mader, who played Charlotte on Lost, will be back for the show's final season. Looks like they're bringing everyone back, though my guess is that it's going to happen in another timeline that runs parallel to the main one.

• Brad Pitt is now attached to a movie based on the video game Dark Void, about a pilot lost in the Bermuda Triangle who wakes in another world.

• Seems like every actress under the sun has been slotted to play the Black Cat in Spider-Man 4. Add another, perhaps more likely contender to the list: Anne Hathaway.

• Will Lost's Richard Alpert play Khan in Star Trek 2? He would be a fantastic choice.

John Scalzi - Education Is Not the Answer for Star Trek's Bad Science

2009-11-19T05:00:29Z

Here's an interesting question, sent along in e-mail, which I've trimmed down to the bare bones:

"Do you think science in science fiction movies would be better if science education were better in the United States?"

This is of particular relevance to me since the home video release of Star Trek was this last Tuesday, and while watching with my wife I alternated my enjoyment of seeing the franchise revived with the aggravation of the science of the movie being aggressively bad, even for Star Trek. I've noted before with the Trek franchise that at this point one has to just let that go, but then I see "red matter" again and I want to hit something. Clearly, I have issues.

Let me be the first to say I'm a huge proponent of more and better science education in our schools. In the tech-oriented world of today, a firm grounding in science will make our kids economically competitive and also better able to understand the changes in the world around them. I think science education more than any other is subject to the whims of people who have social, religious or political goals, which can limit what and how much science kids learn. This is stupid and short-sighted. More bad things will happen because people don't understand science than will happen because they do. So yes: More science education, please.

That said, no I don't really think the science in science fiction movies would be better if suddenly everyone's baseline of science education here in the U.S. went up a notch or two. Why?

Daily Scan for 11.19.09 - Corman Gets Oscar, Stiles In Talks for Spider-Man 4

2009-11-19T05:00:16Z

• Jupiter's moon Io may have 100 times the oxygen previously thought, which means that there may be aquatic life swimming beneath its ice crust. Just like in 2010!

• Yeesh. V continues to slide precipitously in ratings just one week before it goes on hiatus for a couple months. ABC must really want this show dead.

• Famed genre director and producer Roger Corman has received an honorary Oscar. He deserves it: I'd be hard pressed to think of more directors who have given me a greater volume of joy.

• Tim Burton's exhibit at the MoMA has on display some concept art from his canceled Superman Lives project, including this adorable Brainiac drawing.

• Will Julia Stiles of the Bourne Trilogy play The Black Cat in Spider-Man 4? She does look good in black leather.

Check Out Chapter Two of AMC's The Prisoner Graphic Novel

2009-11-18T17:30:29Z

It's New Comic Book Wednesday again, and AMCtv.com is pleased to provide you with the second free installment of our exclusive online motion comic, The Prisoner: Book One: As the Air, Invulnerable. Last week you met Rebecca Meadows, an investigative journalist who throws herself into the world of Summakor in search of her sister. This week, she awakens in a Hospital -- one that viewers of AMC's miniseries may find hauntingly familiar. Is Rebecca The Village's newest resident dissident? Find out now! There will be ten chapters in all -- and you won't find them in your local comic book shop -- so be sure to log on to AMCtv.com every week for the latest installment!

Click here to see Chapter Two of The Prisoner graphic novel.

Science's Prediction? Life Goes on After 2012 (Sorry Mayans!)

2009-11-18T10:00:29Z

Roland Emmerich's latest doomsday flick, 2012, hasn't just been good for the box office; it's given conspiracy theorists a new pseudoscience to call their own. Despite a lack of evidence, more and more people are preparing for the end of the world. Will planetary alignment, solar flares and neutrinos destroy the Earth on December 21, 2012 (thus fulfilling the Mayan "prophecy")? I hate to break it to the believers, but [Spoiler Alert!] the answer is no.

I know what you're thinking: "Just because something is science fiction doesn't mean it's not based in reality." Except in this case. There are no naughty neutrinos heating up the Earth's core. To be fair, there are neutrinos that come from the sun, but they're nice neutrinos: They pass through the planet without ever interacting with regular matter and more than 50 trillion solar neutrinos pass through the human body every second. Don't believe me? Believe MIT.

Daily Scan for 11.18.09 - McG Is Off Nemo, Whedon Writes Terminator Comic

2009-11-18T10:00:16Z

• That'll do, pig: Disney lets McG go from the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Captain Nemo prequel.

• io9 lists the dumbest superhero retcons of all time. Hello, Phoenix! And that's one of the less stupid ones.

• SciFi Wire lists ten great scifi oddities from Google's new digital time machine.

• If you've got a few grand to spare, the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles will sell you a tour guided by Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy.

• A few weeks ago, Joss Whedon made a mock bid for the Terminator franchise. That's never going to happen, but now his brother, Zack Whedon, is doing a Terminator comic series for Dark Horse.

How Do You Make Avatar an Even Bigger Hit? Synergize it With Video Games!

2009-11-17T10:00:29Z

Today we'll be looking at the concept of "synergy" -- you know, that word corporate bigwigs adore and regular folk despise? -- and how it applies to Hollywood's relationship with the video game industry. You see, it may have taken Hollywood a few decades to respect the raw, monetary power of video games as a medium, but studios are now making up for lost time with a litany of tie-ins and licensed games. After all, why just capitalize on one medium when you can have two for twice the price? Let's take a look at the interesting history of video game synergy, and see where it's headed in the future.

The Movie: Surf Ninjas (1993)
The Synergy: Sega Game Gear's Surf Ninjas
In one of the most charmingly shameless synergies, the producers behind Surf Ninjas decided not only to create a Sega Game Gear game based on their flick, but to give the game almost as much screen time in their movie as the actual heroes. You see, the game in the movie isn't just another hand-held diversion -- it's a magical ninja-fighting program that tells the heroes what to do and gives them advanced warning when they're about to be attacked. The message to younger viewers is clear: If you buy the Surf Ninjas video game, you'll be able to fight ninjas and a robotic Leslie Nielsen, too! That neither the game nor the movie lived up to such hype should surprise no one.

Daily Scan for 11.17.09 - R2-D2 Spotted in Star Trek, Cox Wanted for Hobbit

2009-11-17T10:00:16Z

• Roland Emmerich and his fellow 2012 cast members fess up: this latest flick is really an animated movie.

• Brian Cox is rumored to be in heavy consideration for a role in The Hobbit. He would make an excellent dwarf.

• British scifi maestro Michael Moorcock responds to skepticism about his authorship of an official Doctor Who novel.

• In Altitude, a group of teens board a private plane and end up running into a floating space octopus. Consider me subscribed to the newsletter.

• Gizmodo has finally spotted the R2-D2 in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek.

Makers Author Cory Doctorow Explains the SciFi Allure of Disney World

2009-11-16T18:00:19Z

The Internet entrepreneur and author of the bestselling Little Brother discusses his latest novel, Makers, and what distinguishes his work from the cyberpunk of William Gibson.

Q: Where did you come up with the idea for Makers?

A: It's funny, I started off thinking I was writing a parable about the dot com collapse. I lived in San Francisco through the crash, and what I found interesting was that although a lot of stuff disappeared, there were a lot of people who hung in there and realized they didn't need much capital to do interesting stuff on the Web. They just kept making it, though nobody was paying them. And I found myself writing this book that was a parable about it. Then the economy collapsed [laughs], and I realized I had a story that was timely as well as historical.

Q: Was the timing a coincidence, or had you started to see the signs?

Enter The Matrix Trilogy With AMC's Ultimate Fan Quiz

2009-11-16T10:00:29Z

The ultimate in scifi cyberpunk, The Matrix trilogy explores questions of reality, religion and philosophy. Do you belong on the Zion Council of philosophers, or in the ignorant bliss of the Matrix? Swallow a pill, follow the white rabbit (aka, our Ultimate Fan Quiz) and find out. Just remember: All we're offering is the truth. Nothing more.Take Quiz Â»

Click here to see a complete schedule of the Matrix trilogy on AMC

Daily Scan for 11.16.09 - Avatar Wins Effects Award, Bradbury Pitches TV Series

2009-11-16T10:00:16Z

• Computer and Video Games previews Bioshock 2 -- the upcoming sequel to 2007's sub-aqueous dystopian classic -- and it's sounding surprisingly deep... no pun intended.

• MGM Studios is up for sale, which means that a few million can land you such scifi classics as Forbidden Planet, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Soylent Green, Westworld and Logan's Run.

• Popular Mechanics does a post-mortem on an effects sequence in Roland Emmerich's 2012.

• Despite the fact that it's not even out yet, James Cameron's Avatar has already won a special effects award.

• Ray Bradbury is pitching a television series... even though he just clarified that Fahrenheit 451 was about the evils of television.

2012 Review - The End of the World Never Looked So Good

2009-11-13T15:00:29Z

There's a scene early in Roland Emmerich's 2012 where John Cusack, his estranged wife, their two adorable children, and the smarmy new boyfriend have to escape Los Angeles, which is collapsing into the Earth. (It turns out the Mayans were right about the end of the world, which is brought about right on schedule by solar flares and the melting of the Earth's crust.) As skyscrapers and bridges crumble around them, they flee for their lives, first in a car, then in a prop plane. It is an orgy of computer-generated obliteration, the kind of scene that has been Emmerich's stock-in-trade since Independence Day, and I swear to you: It may be the most rousing ten minutes of footage I've seen this year.

For longer than I thought possible, 2012 blocks out every response beyond the gut-level. Yes, Emmerich's characters remain laughable one-dimensional stick figures; yes, his dialogue makes an audible clunk every other line; yes, the movie is obscenely long. Hard-hearted critics pride themselves on resisting "empty spectacle," eye-candy effects with nothing behind them. But long stretches of 2012 inspire nothing other than awe.

Mary Robinette Kowal - The Five Most Common Mistakes When Adaptating Children's Fantasy

2009-11-13T05:00:29Z

A few weeks ago I wrote about children's books that would make great movies, after which I received a flurry of e-mails from people expressing their horror at some of the current adaptations of their favorite childhood tales. I understand -- I've spent twenty years working in children's theater, film and television, and there are times when I look at children's fantasy adaptations and just shake my head. Let's talk about some of the common missteps Hollywood makes in bringing these books to life.

Combining multiple books into a single movie
I don't really understand why Hollywood does this. They find a fantastic property like, say, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), and then cram several of the books into a single movie. The problem is that the plot has to be so compressed that you lose almost all character development. Sure the movie is fast-paced, but why should you care? The same thing happens with The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008) although somewhat more successfully. The difference could be that in Spiderwick, the scope remains confined to a single family in a single house, which means there's still time for character development. In Unfortunate Events, the sheer range of characters from the multiple scenic locations deprives any one of them from getting enough screen time.

Daily Scan for 11.13.09 - Fox Cancels Dollhouse, Scott's Monopoly Is SciFi

2009-11-13T05:00:16Z

• The special effects team of Zack Snyder's execrable (but pretty) 300 has joined the Conan crew. As a huge Robert E. Howard fan, I can only hope the latter movie is exponentially better than the former.

• Whether we like it or not, Ridley Scott is directing a Monopoly movie. But here's an interesting tidbit you might not have heard: It's set in alternate universes.

• As predicted from the exact second that it first came on the air, Fox has sabotaged and canceled Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. If it makes you feel better, Joss promises a significant ending.

• Reacquaint yourself with the artist and designer whose amazing imagination inspired the look of Star Trek.