Mike Horn, currently the editor for Current TV is the crazy genius behind that video that all too lovingly depicts the Enterprise being vaporized by the Death Star. A clever mashup of two of sci-fi-doms most enduring franchises, that video is just one of two he created. It also appears that his videos were not sanctioned by the venerable George Lucas as we may have previously conjectured,
Archive for Sci-Fi Odds and Ends
Meet the Guy Behind the ‘Death Star Destroys Enterprise’ video
NASA Denies Colbert Space Station Name
Sorry, Colbert fans, your precious Stephen Colbert won’t be getting a space station named after him despite 230,539 write-in votes, trumping the second place finisher, “Serenity” with a measly 40,000 votes. Instead, NASA has decided to go with the name “Tranquility” for the Node 3, its new living quarters on the International Space Station, which it publicly asked for naming suggestions in an attempt to drum up interest.
Starlog the Magazine Shuts Down, Goes Exclusively Online
I was never one of those guys who devoured sci-fi magazines like a fat kid and cake, so I can’t really say I’m all that bothered by this news that sci-fi magazine Starlog has decided to cease publication of its print version and will instead go exclusively online. Hey, why not join the party, right? But I’m sure this will be a disappointing to those of you who have read the magazine through the years.
Your Essential Time Travel Tattoo
If you plan on any extended time travel Easter weekend, may I suggest you tattoo on yourself this list of absolutely must know info for any successful or even survivable foray into the temporal unknown.
I say tattoo because everyone knows, unless you get to borrow the Tardis, you’re going to arrive naked, Terminator style. Thanks Gizmodo.
Star Wars Nerdgasm Alert: Hot Chicks Lightsaber Fight
So what can possibly be hotter than pretty girls who, for some strange reason, have an interest in “Star Wars” and doesn’t think you’re weird for dressing up as a Wookie and attending Star Wars conventions? Or cringe at your complete devotion to a short, bearded guy who lives on his own ranch and adopts kids by the dozens? How about hot girls who break out the lightsabers to compete for your attention.
Six Volunteers Test Mars Mission Psychology
Four Russians and two other Europeans have begun a 105 day stay in a habitat located in Russia to test the human psychological response to extreme close quarters isolation. Each volunteer will have a small sleeping area and be able to bring books, dvd’s and a laptop with them. All supplies are locked in and all communications with the outside world will be delayed just as if they were traveling for real to the red planet.
Sci Fi Channel Creator Says SyFy Name Change is Dumb
This is not science fiction TV news per se, but well, it is about TV, and it is sci-fi (well sort of), and it’s kind of fun. Anyways, as you may know, the Sci Fi Channel recently announced that it was changing its name from The Sci Fi Channel to The SyFy Channel for business purposes — mostly so it can brand and copyright the name, something it couldn’t do with its original name. One of the channel’s original founders Mitchell Rubenstein (who co-founded the channel in the early ’90s with Laurie Silvers) has spoken out, and he doesn’t sound too happy about the name change.
Hugo And John W. Campbell Nominees Announced
Anticipation, or the 67th annual World Sci-Fi convention, has announced their noms for the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards. The winners will be unveiled on Sunday, August 9 at the Palais des congrès in Montreal, Canada.
Robots And Rapture: The Shiny And Sexy Occupants Of Our Possible Futures
Robots are the ultimate Sci-Fi sex objects. While the human female can be as perfect, they come with certain disadvantages, like free will and a healthy suspicion of males. Synthetic females in film and television seem designed for no guilt attraction. Most are engineered to pass entirely as women, while some wear their feminine chrome in plain view. Disguised, a beautiful bot can perform many tasks, including deluding stupid and smitten males for the brief time it will require for them to be probed, sampled, interrogated or terminated.
Harlan Ellison Sues CBS-Paramount and the WGA for City on the Edge of Forever
Harlan Ellison, the famous sci-fi writer who wrote what is probably the most well-regarded Star Trek The Original Series episode ever, “City on the Edge of Forever”, has sued CBS-Paramount and the Writers Guild of America on behalf of that episode. Specifically, Ellison believes the studio hasn’t paid him what he’s owed for “City”, while the WGA is being punished for not doing enough to help him get his just dues.
The Apocalypse Survival Guide
With the coming Botocalypse, the thinking person must turn their attention to the practical problems of staying alive while dodging those stealthy chrome plated villains of robotic mayhem.
SteamPunk Artistic Award Winners: Your Sci-Fi Victorian Vision
SteamPunk is a brilliant alternative parallel Sci-Fi universe. It’s a place where Charles Babbage and his difference engine ciphers a life’s probabilities by gaslight and all your darkest clockwork dreams are realized.
Kepler Spacecraft To Hunt For Alien Earths
When the predictions of a million Science Fiction novels and movies are about to come true, it demands a post here at SciFiCool. Plus, the alien parasite grafted to my primary motor cortex demands it. I am powerless to resist.
A Sci-Fi Injection For Your Daily Commute
I love the fact that many of the new cars I see coming off the lines are starting to look like the concept cars I have been seeing on the cover of pulpy Sci-Fi novels for years. The designers imagine these cars, but in the past the brain dead executives in charge of the car companies have refused to stick the real rubber and chrome on them and get them on the road.
Skynet Prototypes Dominate Fantastic Robot Images Of The Coming Bot-Apocalypse
Despite the best efforts of my brethren in the Sci-Fi universe, propeller-heads the world over continue their stubborn efforts to engineer and build the stealthy red eyed human harvesters and terminators of the future. Behold a sample, from The Big Picture, of the horrors to come.
