1. Science Fiction novelist and SciFi Scanner columnist John Scalzi pwns Salon.com's Andrew O'Hehir, who argued that Guillermo Del Toro was a bad choice to helm The Hobbit.

2. F is for Foundation in this week's ABC's of SciFi as John Brownlee deconstructs Asimov's magnum opus.

3. The Scanner reviews Speed Racer, and says that not even a goofy monkey can detract from the film's eye-popping, wall-to-wall, high speed action.

4. There is a God, and God is good. Marvel announces a sequel to Iron Man in 2010 and an Avengers movie in 2011.

5. Industry steps on the back of the Shire-folk this week as Iron Man topples The Hobbit in our highly scientific SciFi Power Ranking list.

SciFi Dept. Video: Kevin Maher is used to working alone, but for this mission -- track down the best scifi buddy cop movie ever -- he's going to have to take a partner. Cue dramatic music.

In 1945, Nazis left for the moon. In 2018, they are coming back. So goes the tagline for the only fan-made independent scifi film worth getting excited about, Iron Sky.

From the creators of Star Wreck, the most popular Finnish film of all time (and, according to its producers, the most popular Internet feature film of all time), Iron Sky posits an alternate history where Nazis established a Fourth Reich on the dark side of the Moon. In 2018, with their anti-gravity technology perfected, the Nazis send two young soldiers down to Earth as an advanced party to assassinate President Jenna Bush.

The script is by Johanna Sinisalo, Finland's best-known science fiction writer, and the whole project currently has a budget of $5 million. That's a pretty sizable figure when you consider the movie is being made independently, and when you look at the recently released, spectacular looking teaser trailer.

Continue reading "Not Just Another Space Nazi Movie, Iron Sky Lets Fans Help with the Filmmaking" »

• io9 looks at the largest mega-sentients in scifi.

• Zack Synder has posted the second video journal for Watchmen.

• Just a reminder that the Star Wars: Clone Wars two-minute trailer will be simultaneously aired tonight on the Cartoon Network, TNT, TBS, CNN and Boomerang.

• A chronological listing of all the Season Four Battlestar Galactica episodes.

• A gigaton of new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull pics have been released to scrutinize for scifi minutiae. Hard to believe that in only a couple weeks, we'll know for sure if it even has an alien in it.

• SF Signal hosts another Mind Meld, this time asking about famous scifi stories Hollywood should film.

Continue reading "Daily Scan: 05.09.08 - The Secret Life of Stormtroopers; What SciFi Stories Hollywood Should Film" »

• Bertie Wooster as a early adopter post-humanist? Throw in an Asimovian Jeeves while you're at it.

• Shadow Unit: "It's a series "no one had ever seen. It would share DNA with 'Criminal Minds,' with 'The X-Files' and 'Millennium,' with 'Man from U.N.C.L.E.' and the old paramedic show 'Emergency" to name but a few.

• Some pretty heady spoilers for the ninth episode of Battlestar Galactica.

• Cyclops will apparently appear in the upcoming Wolverine movie.

• This bodes ill: Matthew McConaughey is top of the list to play Captain America.

• Was Mick Jagger in the running to play a droog in Clockwork Orange?

• Ten years later, Time Out looks at The Matrix.

Continue reading "Daily Scan: 05.08.08 - Catch Shadow Unit Online; Cyclops Joins Wolverine" »

• Ain't It Cool News has a questionably gruesome image of Harvey Dent as Two-Face in the upcoming The Dark Knight which gets veracity from Warner Bros' rapid-fire cease-and-desists over the image. The mouth's a bit much, but I like it.

• Marvel writers discuss the brain trust behind Iron Man's success.

• The Polish X-Files 2 poster is quite something.

• The SciFi Channel has acquired the rights to Star Trek: The Next Generation. It hasn't aged well, but it's still my favorite Star Trek.

• io9 offers up an exhaustive plot summary of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Continue reading "Daily Scan: 05.07.08 - The Brains Behind Iron Man; Viral Marketing Campaign of Cloverfield 2 Begins" »

Have you been up all night working on your fan site for Robocop 3 and worrying that only your friends and family will be the only earthlings to ever see it? Are you a science fiction artist, author, filmmaker or blogger who wants to reach a bigger Internet audience? It's time you made contact with Chuck Joslin, creator of the scifi internet directory, ScifiSource.com, and let him bless your site with the "Rocket Rating" it deserves.

Joslin launched ScifiSource.com in 1999. "This site started as fun, since we're long-time science fiction fans," says Joslin, "It's a little rough around the edges, but it's held up well with few modifications in the past several years." The site will be undergoing a re-design this year and will feature new search capabilities.

Continue reading "Site of the Week - ScifiSource.com" »

Most of us only fight crime as an excuse to flaunt our figures in latex and body-armor, but unfortunately, that means dressing like dishwater-drab Clark Kents in our everyday lives, right? Think again, says the New York Times. "In case you haven't heard, superhero is the new floral. Faster than a speeding bullet, it has become the fashion industry's springtime obsession."

What does that mean? Lots of webby, clingy garb and utility-themed accessories, in bright colors that exclaim "KAPOW!" and "ZAM!" A look at the accompanying slideshow proves that designers are striving to put secret identities in the spotlight.

Some of these styles look a little retro; in putting superheroes on the cutting edge as fashion, are we opening the door to full-blown kitsch? Try not to think about it -- as The Incredibles' Edna Mode would say, "I never look back, darling! It distracts from the now!"

• io9 points out what happens when music nerds and scifi collides.

• An actual biologist blanches and winces at the terrible marine biology of Cloverfield.

• Great news, Browncoats: you can now pre-order the Firefly Blu-ray set.

• The apocalypse will not feature swearing: Terminator 4 eyes a PG-13 rating.

• All the best giant robots go Ivy League.

Continue reading "Daily Scan: 05.06.08 - Ebert Blogs About Arthur C. Clarke; Bad Marine Biology in Cloverfield" »

• Iron Man did so well last weekend that a sequel has basically been confirmed for the first week of May, 2010.

• The NCC-1701 bottle opener allows you to get loaded with the help of the saucer section.

• The latest trailer for The Dark Knight. John DeNardo of SF Signal speaks ill-truth of the dead when he notes the Joker sounds like a whining insurance salesman.

• The Creature will rise from the black lagoon soon.

• BuddyTV talks about the fourth season of Battlestar Galactica and basically points out the show is dragging again. I've just about lost interest in BSG. I liked the show a lot more when it was about the day to day logistics of survival, as opposed to politics.

• Popular Science asks what can movies teach us about space travel. Well, at least this: In space, no one can hear you scream.

• Bummer: John Berkey, artist of the King Kong remake's excellent poster, died las week.