Tag: Science Fiction

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Amazon Studios lays out plan for must-see sci-fi TV

Snow Crash book cover art
Seattle author Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash” tells the story of a pizza-delivering, sword-wielding computer whiz. (Turtleback Books)

In its quest to find the next “Game of Thrones,” Amazon Studios is reportedly adding three science-fiction series to its list of production prospects, including Seattle author Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash.”

The two other projects mentioned in Variety’s report would be based on Larry Niven’s “Ringworld” and Greg Rucka’s “Lazarus” comic book.

Variety quoted from an internal email in which studio head Roy Price said he was “bullish” about the lineup emerging for 2018 and 2019. “The biggest takeaway is that once again, our overall content investment is increasing, which will allow us to continue to meet customer demand around the world for high quality and engaging programming,” Price was quoted as saying.

We reached out to Amazon, but the company says there’s nothing to report beyond what’s been written.

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5 cool ideas from the visuals of ‘Valerian’

Valerian duo
Valerian and Laureline (Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne) make off with a treasure taken from a virtual marketplace in “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.” (STX Entertainment)

Does director Luc Besson’s latest movie, “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” live up to his sci-fi cult classic, “The Fifth Element”? Mmm, no. But the visuals and fictional tech concepts are literally out of this world, and well worth seeing.

“Valerian” has been getting decidedly mixed opening reviews – mostly due to the plodding plot and what some have called the anti-chemistry between the two lead actors, Dane DeHaan as Valerian and Cara Delevingne as Laureline. (To be fair, “The Fifth Element” got similarly mixed reviews when it premiered 20 years ago.)

The visuals are over-the-top, but the problem with “Valerian” may well be that it takes itself too seriously. The heroes and the villains are too earnest, in contrast to the cartoonish baddies in “The Fifth Element.” Ironically, a new movie based on a comic-book classic isn’t comic-bookish enough.

The best way to experience the movie is to set your expectations accordingly, and then let the computer-generated visual effects wash over you for two hours. Here are some of my favorite moments, based on the visuals as well as what they say about technologies to come.

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How tech wizards created ‘Planet of the Apes’

Andy Serkis in "War for the Planet of the Apes"
A comparison of motion-capture footage featuring Andy Serkis and the character he plays in “War for the Planet of the Apes” shows how the actor is transformed into an ape. (Twentieth Century Fox / Weta Digital)

“War for the Planet of the Apes,” the latest installment of the blockbuster movie reboot, is all about revealing the humanity in Caesar and his legions of gene-altered apes – but it takes legions of wizards to make sure that humanity comes through.

Fortunately, there are wizards galore at Weta Digital, the special-effects studio behind film extravaganzas ranging from “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” to “Avatar” and the upcoming “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.”

Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Dan Lemmon said “War for the Planet of the Apes,” opening today, set a new bar for his New Zealand-based team.

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‘Seat 14C’ tales imagine 20-year time warp

Time warp for Seat 14C
The short stories of “Seat 14C” imagine that an ANA Boeing 777 jet has passed through a wrinkle in spacetime. (Illustration for XPRIZE / Seat 14C)

Imagine you’re a passenger on a jet that mysteriously time warps to the year 2037: That’s what a team of world-class science-fiction writers did for “Seat 14C,” a project created by XPRIZE and Japan’s ANA airline.

Now you can imagine as well, and your tale may well earn you a trip to Tokyo for two.

But wait … there’s more: The winner of the “Seat 14C” contest also earns an honorary seat on the XPRIZE Science Fiction Advisory Council, alongside such greats as Margaret Atwood (“The Handmaid’s Tale), Paolo Bacigalupi (“The Windup Girl”) and Seattle author Nancy Kress (“Beggars in Spain”).

Those writers are among the more than two dozen contributors to the online “Seat 14C” short-story anthology, all focused on technological visions for 2037.

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Time-travel novel spawns instant spin-off

Neal Stephenson
Seattle author Neal Stephenson’s latest novel is “The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.,” written with Nicole Galland. (Photo by Bob Lee / CC BY 2.0)

Seattle author Neal Stephenson’s newly published science-fiction novel, “The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.,” serves as the launch pad for a newly released literary app as well.

The free Bound app, available for iOS with an Android version coming soon, features a serial that’s spun off from the time-traveling characters created by Stephenson and his co-author, historical novelist Nicole Galland.

“The D.O.D.O. Files” is billed as an extension of the book, with episodes written by Jamie Ortiz and David N. Ishimaru. The first two episodes are available for free reading or listening, and fresh content will be added on a weekly basis.

In addition to the episodes, which take the form of emails as well as narratives, users can download excerpts from the fictional Department of Diachronic Operations’ human resources handbook, including DODO’s sexual harassment policy. (One of the banned behaviors is the “wearing of overly large codpieces or making reference to such codpieces.”)

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XPRIZE recruits all-star science fiction team

Future airplanes
Artwork shows what airplanes could look like in the 2035 time frame. (NASA / Boeing Illustration)

The non-profit XPRIZE foundation has recruited an all-star lineup of science fiction masters, including Seattle authors, to help create a series of fictional “road maps” for future innovations – and the first project, focusing on air travel, is already waiting in the wings.

Sixty-four creative types from nine countries around the world – including writers, directors and producers – have joined the XPRIZE Science Fiction Advisory Council.

Marquee names include Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood, author of “The Handmaid’s Tale”; Andy Weir, who wrote “The Martian” and the upcoming “Artemis” novel about lunar settlement; and Darren Aronofsky, the director of “Pi,” “The Fountain” and “Black Swan.”

At least a half-dozen of the advisers live in the Seattle area.

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5 revelations from ‘Artemis’ moon tale

The writer who made such a splash with “The Martian,” Andy Weir, is sharing the first chapter from “Artemis,” a crime caper set on the moon – and the thrills start hopping on the very first page.

You can get up to speed with the exploits of twentysomething porter Jasmine “Jazz” Bashara, thanks to an excerpt posted to the “Read It Forward” website. The story is set decades from now, when “Star Trek” is studied as intensely as Shakespeare.

To whet your appetite, here are five features of the future moon you’ll find out about in the excerpt.

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Star Wars alert: First trailer for ‘Last Jedi’

Did you feel a disturbance in the Force? As if millions of Star Wars fans suddenly cried out in delight? That upswing in the midichlorian count was caused by the release of the first online trailer for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” teasing us with the silhouette and voice of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker.

The two-minute clip was released today in conjunction with a weekend-long Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Fla.

Without getting too spoilery, let’s just say that the trailer picks up the story where the previous installment, “The Force Awakens,” left off. Skellig Michael, an island off the coast of Ireland that served as a monastic redoubt centuries ago, comes in for a lot of screen time.

Daisy Ridley, who was introduced as a swashbuckling rebel named Rey in the previous film, also gets a lot of screen time in the trailer. Skywalker is clearly giving Rey counsel on the Jedi ways, but apparently not the counsel she was hoping for.

“I only know one truth,” we hear Hamill saying in a gravelly voice, worlds away from the boyish tone he had 40 years ago in the very first Star Wars movie. “It’s time for the Jedi … to end.”

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NASA funds ideas from science fiction

Scene from "John Carter"
A scene from the 2012 movie “John Carter” shows an airship engaged in a Martian battle. The NASA-backed concept for a Martian airship isn’t as ambitious. (© 2011 Disney / John Carter™ ERB, Inc.)

Truth can be stranger than fiction, but it shouldn’t be strange to hear that NASA spends millions of dollars on efforts to turn science-fiction concepts into true technologies.

The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, also known as NIAC, has been backing far-out aerospace concepts for almost 20 years. It started out as the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, modeled after the Pentagon’s DARPA think tank.

NIAC’s latest crop of 22 tech projects was announced this week, and they include a few concepts that were virtually ripped from the headlines of science fiction’s pulp magazines.

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Ten top books for geeks to read in 2017

Bill Gates reading
What’s Bill Gates reading now? We’re taking a guess. (Gates Foundation Photo)

Geeks and books go together like athletes and balls, but just as there are different sports, there are different types of geek reading. We’ve put together a top-10 list of books on a wide spectrum of geeky topics, all published over the past year.

Some of these picks should help you prepare for what promises to be a … well, let’s call it an “interesting” year for geeks and everyone else. Others will provide an opportunity for respite and reflection, with a few geeky tweaks.

In addition to the list you see here, check out our list of 21 science books for the holidays in 2016, plus this year’s top five reads from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. And don’t be surprised if some of these top 10 for 2017 end up on Gates’ reading list during the coming year.

Get the full list on GeekWire.