#sci-now magazine

[queenspock]

SCI-NOW, part two part one For @glitter-and-metal Thanks for giving me permission to make a second part. It was a ton of fun!

[nucleiaster]

"Calliway Industries has been the spearhead of innovation in spaceship building, led by Dr Isabella Calliway, its CEO. A closer look at the woman who represents humanity's savoir faire in the galactic Union."

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Link 1, Link 2 :)

Digital Good Omens 2 Sountrack is coming out in 4 days! 🥳 CD version in October! :) ❤ Coming soon on vinyl…

Out to Stream/Download from 25th August. Out on CD 13th October. Coming soon on vinyl…

David Arnold’s ‘end of the world’ complex and multi-genre soundtrack.

From the Award-winning composer of Sherlock and Casino Royale comes a follow up to the hugely successful, Emmy nominated Good Omens soundtrack.

Good Omens series 2 premiered on Prime Video on 28th July. The series follows the odd couple, angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and demon Crowley (David Tennant) in their quest to sabotage the end of the World. The six-episode sequel to the popular adaptation of the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, concerns the Archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) arriving without his memories to Aziraphale’s bookshop. Aziraphale and Crowley attempt to find out what happened to Gabriel, whilst hiding him from Heaven and Hell, both eager to find him.

The Soundtrack

David Arnold’s soundtrack to Good Omens was first released in 2019 to favourable reviews, with BBC Music Magazine calling it “a rollicking trip to hell and back”. Blueprint Magazine described it as “a great listen” and Sci Fi Bulletin commented on “plenty of memorable themes” to conclude that “This is another work of art from Arnold”. At times nostalgic and eerie but always varied, beautiful and full of excitement, the Good Omens 2 soundtrack showcases Arnold’s every skill from his composer arsenal. Featured here are orchestral arrangements with sprinkling of Sugar Plum Fairy pizzicato and percussion, jaunty strings and mighty choral sweeps from Crouch End Festival Chorus. Added to the mix are rock guitar riffs, and psychedelic 70s sounds and all together they create a haunting otherworldly feel, complementing the fantasy and the quirky humour of the show. The spirited Waltz of the opening theme is also present in the second series and it wonderfully sets the scene for fantastical mayhem. In series 2, this robust, evocative, and funny music entity, becomes yet again another character in the story. Award-winning composer David Arnold is well known for his blockbuster scores, including Stargate, The Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Hot Fuzz, Paul, Independence Day, 2 Fast 2 Furious and Casino Royale as well as for his TV work such as Sherlock and Dracula. Also available: The original soundtrack to the first series of Good Omens >

Tracklist

– Disc 1 – Chapter 1: The Arrival 1. Before the Beginning 2. Good Omens 2 Opening Title 3. Into Soho 4. Something Terrible 5. To The Bookshop 6. Maggie and Nina 7. He’s Smoking 8. Tiny Miracle 9. Heavenly Alarm Bells Chapter 2: The Clue 10. Avaunt! 11. The Song is the Clue 12. It’s What God Wants 13. A Mighty Wind 14. Whales 15. Gabriel Returns 16. His New Children 17. Am I Awful Now? 18. Fallen Angel Chapter 3: I Know Where I’m Going 19. Police Arrive 20. Scotland 21. We’re Going to Hell 22. People Get a Choice 23. My Car is Not Yellow 24. Beelzebub in Hell 25. The Book 26. The Fly 27. Mr. Dalrymple 28. We Need to Cut 29. I’m Going to Save Her 30. Crowley Goes Large 31. Not Kind 32. Beelzebub Isn’t Happy – Disc 2 – Chapter 4: The Hitchhiker 33. Hell-O 34. Nazi Zombies 35. March of the Nazi Zombies 36. Crowley Pep Talk 37. The Magic Shop 38. Catch The Bullet 39. Zombies in the Dressing Room Chapter 5: The Ball 40. I’ll Let You Have It 41. We’re Storming a Book Shop 42. Monsieur Azirophale 43. The Candelabra 44. Here Comes Hell 45. Gabriel Gives Himself Up 46. Shax 47. The Circle Chapter 6: Every Day 48. Bin Through the Window 49. Gabriel Leaving Heaven 50. The Halo 51. Gabriel Revealed 52. Gabriel’s Love Story 53. Leaving The Bookshop 54. Gabriel and Beelzebub 55. Crowley and Muriel 56. I Forgive You 57. Don’t Bother 58. The Biggest Decision 59. The End?

[thealieninhiding]

The Katie McGrath Archives (WIP)

A repository of my ongoing digital archeology & archival work please contact me if you have anything to contribute and buy me a coffee if you value my content

message me if you want a link to her complete filmography 🤫

Updates

(last updated 2024-07-03)

2024-07-03

Scans:

2014-02-07 London Times - Dracula sets

Audio:

(Un)likeminded 2x02 How to Survive The Apocalypse

2024-05-24

Video:

2017 Katie McGrath interview [CW|KMcGsource]

2017 Supergirl Season 3 Sweet dreams (are made of this) Music Video

2017 CW SDCC Promo Supergirl and Arrow

2019-01-01 The CW Promo Open To All

2021-04-25 Supergirl Season 6 Katie McGrath Lena Luthor

2021-09-15 Supergirl Season 6 Katie McGrath Reflecting on Supergirl

2024-05-22

Audio:

Interview - 2009-07-17 Katie McGrath Mr Media interview

Interview - 2009-10-15 Geek Syndicate Merlin BTS special

Video:

BTS - 2008-10-08 Blue Peter Merlin BTS

Events - 2009 TV Choice Awards Digital Spy interview

Events - Getty Videos of 2009 TV Choice Awards, 2010 Merlin Series 3 launch, 2011 W.E. premiere, 2017 King Arthur Premiere

2024-05-17

Archived interviews

2008-12-07 Tribune Magazine - What Katie Did

2011-10-14 What's on TV - Merlin's Katie McGrath- 'Bad girls have more fun!'

2012-12-03 Fanhattan Blog - Colin Morgan, Katie McGrath and Bradley James on Season 5 and The Series Finale

2018-08-01 The TV Junkies - Supergirl SDCC 2018 Interviews- Lena’s Impractical Lab Outfits, the Return of Reporter Kara and a More Grounded Season 4

Audio

HHush samples

Interview - 2009-2011 Sci-fi Talk rewind merlin the series specials episode 1

Interview - 2011? Merlin S4 Sci-fi talk byte katie mcgrath on morgana

Interview - 2013 BBC Radio 1xtra part 1 & part 2

(Un)likeminded 1x02 While You Were Dreaming

Trees a crowd- Irish folklore segment

Magazine scans

2008-09-20 Radio Times

2009-06-08 TV Week (Aus)

2010-09-05 Sunday Express

2010-09-30 Totally Merlin Magazine

2011-12 Total Film

2012-03-14 Sci-Fi Now

2012-10-06 Radio Times

2013-04-06 Irish independent

2013-09-02 Marie-Claire (UK)

2013-12 Instyle

2013-12 Total Film

Video:

Fans - 2012-04-16 Merlin4 [carlospyrrhus]

Fans - 2017-08-30 Supergirl cast together on set [Joyce Law]

Interview - 2009-09-?? Merlin S2 audio interview with Katie McGrath [BJsRealm] part 1

Interview - 2010-09-06 Merlin Series 3 - BBC Radio 1xtra Interview with Angel Coulby & Katie McGrath [BJsrealm]

Interview - 2011-10-14 Merlin S4 Colin Morgan, Eoin Macken Katie McGrath on The Late Late Show

Interview - 2012-07-15 Colin Morgan and Katie McGrath at SDCC 2012 - innerSPACE [merlinnetwork2]

Interview - 2012-07-18 Katie McGrath Talks Merlin At Comic Con 2012 [ThinkHeroTV]

Interview - 2012-10-25 BBC Radio 1 Breakfast - Colin & Katie part 1 & part 2 [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2012-12-03 Merlin S5 Katie McGrath interview international press day [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2012-12-03 Colin, Bradley, Katie phone interview [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2013-11-09 Katie McGrath on BBC One Saturday Kitchen [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2019-07-22 ENTREVISTA SUPERGIRL Elenco fala sobre a nova temporada [Warner Channel Brasil]

Interview - 2019-07-23 Melissa Benoist Teases Directing An Episode Of 'Supergirl' [ET Canada]

Interview - 2020-02-21 ‘Supergirl’ Celebrates 100th Episode [ET Canada]

Panels - 2011-07-28 Merlin Comic Con 2011 Panel [ThinkHeroTV]

[zapreportsblog]

❝corny lines wins the girl❞

✭ pairing : rory keaner x reader

✭ fandom : my babysitters a vampire

✭ summary : sure rory’s looks changed since becoming a vampire, he’s got a bit more muscular and he grew a few inches but he was still the same the old geeky rory, a bad flirt with even worse pick up lines, turns out some people are into that kinda thing.

✭ authors note : i definitely had a crush on this boy back when I watched disney

Rory Keaner had always been the quintessential nerd. With his mop of unruly brown hair, glasses that constantly slid down his nose, and an obsession with all things sci-fi and fantasy, he was a familiar face at Whitechapel High School. But there was something different about him now, something that caught the attention of his best friends, Ethan and Benny.

Since being turned into a vampire, Rory had undergone some changes. He'd grown a few inches taller, and his once lanky frame had filled out with a hint of muscle. He still wore his nerdy graphic tees and carried around his trusty backpack filled with books, but there was an air of confidence about him that hadn't been there before. Vampirism had its perks, it seemed.

One sunny morning, as Rory, Ethan, and Benny made their way through the crowded school halls, a hush fell over the students. Heads turned, and whispers of excitement rippled through the crowd. Rory followed their gazes and froze in his tracks.

There, standing near the lockers, was a girl he had never seen before. Her name was (Y/N), and she was a vision of beauty. Long, flowing hair cascaded over her shoulders, framing a face that seemed like it belonged in a fashion magazine. Her eyes sparkled with an indescribable allure, and her smile could have lit up the darkest of nights.

Rory's heart skipped a beat as he watched her. He couldn't tear his eyes away. She was the kind of girl who seemed to belong to a different world, a world far removed from the one he inhabited. But that didn't stop him from hoping.

Ethan and Benny exchanged knowing glances, and Benny couldn't help but tease his friend. "Rory, buddy, I hate to break it to you, but she's way out of your league."

Ethan nodded in agreement. "Yeah, man, she's like a movie star or something. What chance do you think you have?"

Rory couldn't help but smile, a newfound determination in his eyes. "You'll never get anywhere in life if you don't try," he said with a shrug. "Besides, you never know until you take a chance."

With that, he walked over towards (Y/N), determined to introduce himself and see where this unexpected encounter might lead.

Rory took a deep breath and leaned casually against the locker next to (Y/N)'s. He couldn't believe he was actually doing this, but there was a newfound confidence coursing through his veins. Clearing his throat nervously, he turned to her and flashed a somewhat awkward smile.

"Hey there," he began, trying to sound smooth but failing slightly. "I'm Rory. Rory Keaner."

(Y/N) looked at him, her lips curling into a faint smile as she glanced up from her book. "Nice to meet you, Rory. I'm (Y/N)."

Rory's heart raced, but he pressed on, determined not to back down now. He took a deep breath and delivered a classic, albeit corny, pickup line, "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?"

(Y/N) chuckled softly, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "No," she replied with a playful smirk. "But I did cut up my hands and knees a bit crawling up from hell."

Rory grinned, relieved that she was playing along. "Well," he said, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, "that must be why my heart's on fire for you."

(Y/N) burst into laughter, her melodious giggles filling the hallway. It was a response Rory hadn't expected, but it was music to his ears. He couldn't help but feel a surge of happiness at her reaction.

"You certainly have a way with words, Rory," (Y/N) said, still laughing. "I have to admit, that was a good comeback."

Rory blushed, feeling a warmth spread through him that had nothing to do with his vampire abilities. "Thanks," he stammered, trying to regain his composure. "So, do you come here often? I mean, to this locker, I mean...not that I'm stalking you or anything!"

(Y/N) laughed again, this time more gently. "No worries, Rory. I just moved here, so this is my first day. I guess we're locker neighbors now."

Rory's heart soared. He couldn't believe his luck. "Well, in that case, welcome to Whitechapel High, (Y/N). If you ever need help finding your way around or just someone to talk to, I'm your guy."

(Y/N) smiled warmly at him, and for a brief moment, the bustling school hallway faded away, leaving just the two of them. It was the start of something new, and Rory couldn't wait to see where this unexpected encounter would lead.

Rory's world seemed to revolve around (Y/N) from the moment they met. Fate, or perhaps a dash of daring, had brought them together, and he couldn't have been happier. In the days that followed their first encounter, Rory found himself sitting next to (Y/N) in most of their classes. He was determined to make her smile, even if it meant bombarding her with corny pickup lines.

In their English class, he leaned over and whispered, "Are you made of copper and tellurium? Because you're Cu-Te."

(Y/N) raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing at her lips. "Well, you must be a vampire because that line was pretty dead," she replied, her tone teasing.

Rory couldn't help but chuckle at her clever response. He wasn't used to someone who could match his wit. Meanwhile, Ethan or Benny, who happened to be in the same class, watched the exchange in disbelief. They couldn't understand how their nerdy friend had become so bold and charming.

During chemistry, Rory leaned closer and said, "If you were a compound, you'd be sodium chloride because you're salty but essential."

(Y/N) laughed softly, shaking her head. "Nice try, but I think I'd be more like helium. Rare, mysterious, and you can never really hold onto it."

Ethan or Benny, depending on the class, nudged Rory and whispered, "Dude, I can't believe you're doing this. And she's actually enjoying it!"

Rory gave a proud, albeit somewhat smug, grin as he continued his pursuit. In history class, he leaned over again and asked, "Do you believe in time travel? Because every time I look at you, time seems to stand still."

(Y/N) let out a small giggle. "Well, good sir, you may have just created a time paradox."

As the school days passed, the playful banter between Rory and (Y/N) continued. It was a unique connection that neither of them had expected. Rory found himself looking forward to each class they shared, eager to see what clever retort Y/N would come up with next.

Ethan and Benny remained astonished by the transformation of their friend, unable to believe how he had captured the attention and humor of such an enchanting girl. It was as if Rory had found his own magical potion, and it came in the form of witty pickup lines and a girl who appreciated them.

[aclickbaittitle]

What do Fiction Podcasts have to say about the future?

Whenever you write a story set years from now, how you construct the world around it creates a new way to see the future, a fictional image to a reality we could be headed towards.

Fiction podcasts love to play within the sci-fi genre, and the thousands of audio dramas they have given us new pictures of what our world could look like in the next century (or a few years closer).

In this article I want to analyze the settings in the following shows: Hello from the Hallowoods, Desperado and The Strange Case of Starship Iris.

Hello From the Hallowoods

Hello From the Hallowoods welcomes us to a world ravaged by black rains and capitalism’s greed. After a natural (but man-made) disaster involving acid rain and flooding the world’s successions gave birth to two different types of beings: those who prefer to dream in a company’s “Prime Dream” and those who stay awake to continue living.

Even though the world is post-apocalyptic on paper, it never feels like it. Rather it is enchanted, there are woods where gods, revenants, devils, giants and zombies fall in love with themselves and with each other, places where community is found.

This, I attribute this to the fact that most characters don’t lament a nebulous “end of the world”, since this is the world they have always been living in and they are going to make the best of it: find family, friends, lovers, build homes and destroy bigots.

You leave the world of Hello From the Hallowoods knowing that even a doomed world is worthy of being awake for.

Desperado Podcast

Desperado Podcast also takes us to a world that was looted, but this time mainly by religious colonialism. 

Neo-colionalism has made itself tangible through genocides and direct targeting to believers that worship other than the “Old man in the Sky”.  In its first episode a community in México which revere La Catrina (a goddess in the show inspired by a popular figure in mexican art) is wiped out by the crusaders. 

From there our protagonist Elio is the sole survivor of his people, however all is not lost as he teams up with Talia (the chosen of Baron Samedi) and Shinji (whom I believe is a death kami?).

Elio now literally carries the memories of his community as the vessel for her goddess. Likewise in Desperado, the magic of the characters is the legacy their ancestors gave them, and it is what keeps them alive in the violent world. 

Though if we are ever to worry that our protagonist could fall into its clutches, the structure of the world soothes our preoccupations. You see, it is the characters within the story that are narrating their own experiences to the audience so we know that after all the pain, they ended up safe.

What Desperado tells us about the future is that, even with the ongoing genocides, white-washing of our culture, and neo-colonialism in general we will end up victorious in the end, and that our history will be forever within our memory.

The Strange Case of Starship Iris

The Strange Case of Starship Iris, is the most sci-fi audio drama out of the bunch. It follows the crew of the Rumour, a smuggler's ship, as they try to uncover the dark secrets of the Federation and evade persecution.

As with the other two properties, the future is not an easy world, but our characters are making the most of it.

In a post-war galaxy, the crew of the Rumour is smuggling space-ship parts, medicine, and erotic magazines until they find a help alarm coming from the Starship Iris and rescue biologist Violet Liu. From there they are involved in a mystery which, if the truth comes to life, they could be charged with treason against the Intergalactic Republic. 

Throughout the two seasons of the podcast, Violet Liu and company heal together the scars that the war and its result: the Intergalactic Republic left them. They fight against the government not only through robberies, infiltration, and coordinated efforts with rebel groups but also by eating latkes, drinking, singing shanties, and getting gay jewish married.

To conclude

if queer podcasts are telling us something about the future, it is that it may be equally messed up as the present but that queer, disabled people of color will exist beyond the end of the world and that even in the bleakest of futures we will continue to love and thrive.

[redcon-enthusiast]

come to the mojave! we have

60s sci fi mad scientists that put their brains in robot jars and can’t put a square peg in a square hole and think vivisection or dissection is the solution to all problems and have become childish idiots that are a far cry from the scientists they were

california, but it’s a country! and democratic like the US! and hopelessly corrupt to the point it makes the worst american cop look like a saint! at least they repealed their draconian gun control laws…

literally roman LARPers that are trying way too hard to come, see and conquer and are making Julius Caesar and the Senate that murdered him roll in their graves

what if all the casinos and unincorporated communities in Nevada made a country? spoiler alert, it’s inherently unstable and likely to collapse without a real government

OC factions and people

literally vietnam war reenactors (or soldiers from the rest from the military before it exploded) but hopelessly indecisive even though they could make the roman LARPers beg for mercy

“hi chat, I’m a creepy scientist that makes their dead wife from mad science, cybernetics, a little gene splicing (the only scientific part) for some reason!!!!

go away we don’t want you in this community”

“what if I made vulpes a three dimensional character *not even 3 weeks later* oh wait he somehow took the Strip, has depression and is sexually confused”

“i miss my wife and I’m confused and terrified Six”

*[+DISRESPECT] [+DISRESPECT] [+DISRESPECT]”

“i don’t want to take the strip i want my wife and to go back to my us military but tribe, also I put furry magazines in places dogboi will find”

“pete where the hell have you been for three months, I can’t raise the kid and be a soldier at once”

“hi i’m the creepy scientist’s cloned wife! wanna try this radscorp casserole?”

“i’m THE mailman”

“i’m the other mailman”

“i’m a pawn shop owner that- oh wait, now I’m partially responsible for vulpes falling off the deep end”

“i am a caterpillar that ate vulpes” *RIPPER NOISES* *DOOR INSTALLING NOISES*

“i’m theoretically trained in physics” “ow ouchie my soul”

“ursus major and taurus-“ *ICBM LAUNCH SOUNDS*

“ever heard of war crimes?”

“i am the definition of a modern major gener- *loud laser explosion* *CYBORG NOISES* al, an expert in specimens vitamin and mineral”

“i can’t make up my mind if I want to join or desert the legion, i’m going to leave- no wait, I’m going to die of thirst hiking the Mojave”

“hey vulpes want to fu-* *[+DISRESPECT]*

“i…. am DEPRESSION!* *APPLAUSE*

[simon-roy]

Now I’m only antiquated to the WEBTOON comics but I noticed amongst the Griz Grobus sequel lore book there was a tidbit on Hive-men, I’m assuming that was a bit of a reference to Humanity Lost? And if it’s alright can you go into more on this lore?

Ah this is an interesting wrinkle - not to toot my own horn too loud, but by god, my hive men predate humanity lost by a good few years!

They first arose while I was working on Prophet and collaborating with my friend Matt Sheean on a story about hive-men on mars, back in 2013 (that never quite materialized into a solid story)- with the main thrust of the tale being not about the hive as an inexorable mindless mass, enslaved to a queen (which is the usual villainous hive depiction), but with the hive as a sort of beneficial, eusocial, communitarian approach to living on a hostile world - contrasted well against the individualistic, identitarian and ultranationalistic worldviews of the earthmen trying to conquer them. (Ive read enough sci fi with the same mindless hive army...)

(below - one of matts drawings for the hive city)

But their first visual appearance of my version was sometime in 2015, i think, for the Island magazine cover posted below. (Trade between baseline humans of some type and the hive men, goods being carried by silk-line to the great dyson tree...)

The first tale of the hive men i made (second ever story on my patreon) was drawn in 2017, and covers a dyson-tree habitat (in this case, grown around the comet hale-bopp) encountering a voracious organism of the void:

The latest story of the hive-men, drawn in 2021, is about an interloper earthman, a deserter from an invading army, who has found a new living among the martian hive-people, in a story called "A Portrait of the Artist as Hive Parasite" (colored by my longterm collaborator, Sergey Nazarov - without him i would wither and perish)

These stories can be found on my patreon, and they'll also be showing up in print (at some point, probably next year) once I get my next short story collection sorted. Hell, they'll probably end up online on webtoons soon enough, too!

[spacehippieface]

A monstrous tripod, higher than many houses, striding over the young pine trees, and smashing them aside in its career; a walking engine of glittering metal, striding now across the heather; articulate ropes of steel dangling from it, and the clattering tumult of its passage mingling with the riot of the thunder. A flash, and it came out vividly, heeling over one way with two feet in the air, to vanish and reappear almost instantly as it seemed, with the next flash, a hundred yards nearer. Can you imagine a milking stool tilted and bowled violently along the ground? That was the impression those instant flashes gave. But instead of a milking stool imagine it a great body of machinery on a tripod stand. [...]

Seen nearer, the Thing was incredibly strange, for it was no mere insensate machine driving on its way. Machine it was, with a ringing metallic pace, and long, flexible, glittering tentacles (one of which gripped a young pine tree) swinging and rattling about its strange body. It picked its road as it went striding along, and the brazen hood that surmounted it moved to and fro with the inevitable suggestion of a head looking about. Behind the main body was a huge mass of white metal like a gigantic fisherman’s basket, and puffs of green smoke squirted out from the joints of the limbs as the monster swept by me.

Let's talk tripods! Every artist and fiilmmaker has different interpretations of the fighting machines. It's not hard to picture a towering three-legged alien death machine, of course, Wells gives us a good picture of what they look like, but I want to go over a few depictions of them and compare them to his written description, in no particular order, because I think it's interesting, and I think WOTW might actually be a special interest:

Wells drew this one himself. It's a stick figure, of course, but this was how he pictured them. I especially like the little guy going "oo-er!" at the sight of it, almost in polite terror.

The BBC version. To me, this one owes a bit more to Transformers design-wise, and moves like the Cloverfield monster, like the MUTO, like a lot of giant monsters we've seen in recent years, terrestrial or otherwise. But they are still menacing, and they actually make a clear "aloo!" noise when calling to each other. I've got to give them that, even though the BBC screwed up the Martians, the cylinder, they kept going on about Russia, the whole "you can't marry her, you're already married to your cousin" bit. It was a mess.

The Edward Gorey illustrations. O is for Ogilvy, burned like the flag. P's for the Parson, oh, what a drag. Sorry. This is basically a flying saucer with legs. Bit silly,but the tentacles are there, and the legs aren't the stiff kind Wells hated. Which brings us to...

Warwick Goble's illustrations from the original publication of WOTW in Pearson's Magazine. Wells famously hated these so much that when WOTW was published as a book, he wrote a segment into the story ragging on these stiff-legged water tower tripods. I think Goble took the milking stool description too literally, his tripods are always drawn tilted.

The 2005 Spielberg tripod. Great. Massive. Scary. Everything is there. The tentacles, the Heat Ray arm (two even), the suggestion of a head, even the basket. Say what you want about this movie with its excessive amount of Tom Cruise and young Dakota Fanning screaming, but the tripods are fantastic. Damn near perfect even. I think Wells would be very pleased.

The 1953 design. I am very fond of these, they're a great classic sci-fi ship, but they're more akin to the flying machines than the tripods. The filmmakers try to loophole their way out by talking about invisible electrostatic legs (which you can see when the machines initially appear) but I'm pretty sure they went this route because the film was getting more and more expensive and the budget wouldn't extend to stop-motion for the legs. Still, a wonderful creation, the goose neck/cobra head design for the Heat Ray is a good touch and my god, the hissing, ticking noises these things made. Love them.

The Jeff Wayne musical design. My favourite. My beloved. My nightmare fuel. Totally iconic. I'm sure when most people think WOTW, their first thought is the legendary album cover featuring one of these monsters melting the Thunder Child's valiant heart. Doesn't make them book-accurate though. The Heat Ray is built into the chassis, it's all one unit rather than a separate head on a body, the basket was given to the handling machines, and they are stiff-legged in stills. But they're scary in motion, and their howls still give me the jibblies. OH GOD, THOSE HOWLS. Opening Horsell Common And The Heat Ray on the Highlights album with that scream isn't fair!

Henrique Alvim-Corrêa's illustrations for the Belgian publication, and Wells' favourites. The effects of the Heat Ray are chilling, and they're definitely sinister when there's a lot of them just standing there or coldly blasting humans. But I'm just not sold on those googly eyes, they make them goofier. Although when these designs were used for the War of the Worlds 1913 indie game (which I still need to play) the eyes were just blank. Redemption!

[david-talks-sw]

The Sith don't want peace.

I've seen some fans use the below quote by Lucas in the Revenge of the Sith director's commentary to frame Darth Sidious/Sheev Palpatine as "evil but with well-meaning intentions".

"Lord Sidious thinks he's bringing peace to the galaxy because there's so much corruption and confusion and chaos going on. Now he's gonna be able to straighten everything out, but the price the galaxy is gonna have to pay for it is way too much."

And uh... no.

Sidious thinking that him ruling the galaxy will bring about peace as a byproduct and him wanting to bring about peace are two very different things.

He's not doing what he does for altruistic reasons. He's a selfish dick who is saying that technically the galaxy won't be fighting anymore and the corruption in the Senate will be quelled... because of course it will be, they'll all be under his thumb in his totalitarian regime.

So Palpatine is not lying, but he's not being genuine either. And that's his whole schtick.

"The Jedi are holding you back, Anakin." Yes, because Anakin has a tendency of flying off the handle, mainly because you enable him to give in to his darker instincts, Sheev!

"The Jedi are trying to take over!" Temporarily? Yeah. Because you're a dictator who orchestrated a war and cemented division across the galaxy, and everyone behind you is corrupt to the bone, SHEEV!

He's not Thanos or Killmonger, he's not the "if you think about it, he's actually a good guy who took it too far" villain.

This is a modern myth with a binary view of good and evil. He's Iago, Jafar, Freezer. He's not "gray", he's the classic "he's evil because he can be" villain. The Emperor is the Devil. As stated by Lucas himself:

"Palpatine is the Devil. There’s no fall from grace there. He’s the evil one." - Starlog Magazine #337, 2005

And the Sith are not pragmatists or people who try to bring positive change using their passion. They're not "free thinkers" who "follow their own path". They're not "religiously persecuted for pursuing knowledge beyond the dogma of the Jedi".

And this battle between the Jedi and Sith, thousands years prior to the films ⬇️...

... it didn't happen the way it's shown in the comic panel. That's Sidious showing horrific unreliable visions to Maul - a child - to indoctrinate him into hating the Jedi.

You know who does that? A cult. That's what the Sith are.

Hell, their code was partly based on Mein Kampf.

The whole "the Jedi 'limit' but the Sith 'embrace' and that's why we're being hunted down" line is just that. A line.

It's what the Sith tell themselves to justify the fact that they fucked with Dark Magic, got corrupted, and are now making it everyone else's problem.

"The Sith are people who are very self-centered and selfish. [They] learned how to manipulate both sides of the Force, and then they fell into the trap of being corrupted by the dark side." - Sci-fi Online, 2005

Which is why the Jedi step in, to stand up to them.

"The Jedi are the enemy of the Sith because the Sith want to dominate the galaxy, to control everything, and for a thousand years they have had a plot against the Jedi." - Sci-fi Online, 2005

The Sith just wanna subdue and control everyone around them, including the Force itself, to fashion the galaxy in their image.

"The end game for the Sith was to bring the world into a very selfish, self-centered, greedy, evil place, as opposed to a compassionate place." - James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction, 2018

So sure, have fun with your The Old Republic OC, go to town.

But when it comes down to it, when we're talking about the intended narrative (I'm looking at you, The Acolyte):

The Sith don't care about peace, they're literal religious extremists.

While some Sith may say they're misunderstood and some may justify themselves as being altruistic... at the end of the day, they're objectively not. They're greedy, power-hungry and self-centered.

They're the anti-theme to Star Wars' theme of "be compassionate".

[saltilier]

Do YOU love Star Trek? Specifically, DS9??

Do you like to show your love for things by plastering your personal belongings with stickers of very niche pop-culture phenomena that only 10 other people in the world will recognize???

Then maybe you'll like these stickers I made of Avery Brooks as Benjamin Sisko as his alter ego Benny Russell, who appears once (1) in the entire series, in episode 6x13 "Far Beyond The Stars". (you know, the one where they're all sci-fi writers for a magazine?)

I also made one of Kira Nerys. Nothing niche about this one, just good old Major Kira.

You can stick them on your laptop to cover up the logo on the back of the screen, so no one can see which evil mega corporation lured you into giving them $1500 for a device that will break in a year, but that you need to complete your university degree which you will realize is completely useless when you finally cave and start applying to cashier positions at your local aldi because you still don't have a job 6 months after graduating.

Shipping only available within Australia (for now). But if you're from outside Australia and you want them, send me a message and maybe we can work something out.

Thank your for reading this far. And if you don't want a sticker, but still want to support me, just click on the etsy link! that gives me page views, which I assume the algorithm likes. Oh, and/or reblog/like this post of course. Thank you so much :)

[undertalethingems]

I don't know if I'll actually get to draw anything for let sans rest day (which is today), but I can at least think of a few prompts that fit the bill. Feel free to use them and tag me if you do, I'd like to see :>

Some prompts aren't so much about sans resting as they are about him having fun, but I think that's still in the spirit of the day! Some are more suited for a post-true pacifist Sans on the surface, but others work for just about any setting. So without further ado, here's a list of things sans would much rather be doing literally all the time:

Napping on the couch, someone's put a blanket on him, a classic

Variation on previous, napping on the couch with one or more of his friends piled around him, also a classic

Chilling on a park bench--he could be reading, feeding hot dogs to pigeons, watching his friends play a game, or just vibing

reading, location unspecified--car magazines, food magazines, physics and astronomy books, sci-fi novels--whatever seems fitting

At a party just sipping a drink watching everyone else have fun, possibly adding commentary

Breakfast in bed! The degree of success is up to you

Trying a new food/revisiting an old favorite

Related, going to a restaurant with his friends

Frisk constructs a blanket nest around him, he's trapped forever now

setting up/pulling off a prank

Being a soundboard for toriel--coming up with new puns, helping her plan an event, or policy in timelines where she's queen

He goes to a cat cafe and becomes buried in cats

the group goes to a pool and sans spends all his time chilling in 1 of 3 places: the lazy river, the hot tub, or the bottom of the main pool (because bones sink).

Papyrus or Toriel gets him the perfect pun shirt, OR finds him a new, incredibly comfy hoodie

He attends a lecture or watches a documentary about astrophysics, comes home the most excited papyrus can remember in a long time

Similar theme, he and alphys go be science nerds at a museum together

He and papyrus go for a scenic drive

He relaxes overlooking some beautiful landscape, either in the underground or on the surface

Stargazing!!!

Anyway, this is hardly an exhaustive list bit it's all I have time for atm, so I hope you enjoy!

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: The Golden Age of Sci Fi

Robert Heinlein: now i usually tell stories over at space coven Heinlein: but i thought I'd come over and tell you a story Heinlein: about alien puppet masters Heinlein: i call it the puppet masters Barker: are they alien? Heinlein: Heinlein: oh you've heard it?

Clive Barker: ugh space coven? Barker: those guys are the biggest nerds King: i thought you said unicorn fuck club were the biggest nerds Barker: no i said they were the biggest dorks Barker: there's a difference

Barker: nerds and dorks are totally different King: what do you mean, what's the difference? Barker: let me explain it this way Barker: you stephen are a dork Barker: but edgar is a nerd Poe: now hold on there Mary Shelley: no he's right

Heinlein: I call this story Heinlein: In the Realm of the Electric Medusas, What Measure the Measure of a Man? Heinlein: it's about a space guy who shoots aliens Heinlein: with a laser

King: what kind of aliens? Heinlein: what? King: what kind of aliens? Heinlein: oh like i dunno Heinlein: big green bug-eyed slug monsters Heinlein: you know like just your standard alien Heinlein: the one everyone's writing Heinlein: the important thing is they get shot

Heinlein: you know what i love about aliens? Heinlein: you can just beat 'em up! Pow Zap! Bang! Heinlein: shoot them with a big gun!!! Heinlein: and no pinko commie's gonna tell you to stop! ha ha! yeah! Heinlein: hey do you guys play warhammer?

Heinlein: so do you guys play warhammer? Barker: no King: not really Poe: nope Koontz: uh uh Lovecraft: no Heinlein: Heinlein: oh Heinlein: do you WANT to play warhammer?

Heinlein: see what's cool is, it's both a game and a collection Heinlein: look at these cool space marines Heinlein: pretty bad ass don't you think? Heinlein: i wish they gave them more guns tho Heinlein: so i was reading about these new rare miniatures in stormbringer magazine Barker: oh my god i'm dying

Heinlein: so anyway everyone knows the chaos space marines are the best faction cuz you can access specific Stratagems using the chaos emeralds Barker: i can't take this nerd shit Barker: [weakly] mary please Barker: [weakly] save us from these nerds Barker: [weakly] bring your shiv

Barker: hey did you see starship troopers? Heinlein: hell yeah brother!!! i love that shit! Heinlein: love when they shoot the bugs! Yeah! Heinlein: i love that shit Heinlein: UNIRONICALLY!

Heinlein: starship troopers movie is so cool Heinlein: i love it! Heinlein: it's totally what i saw in my head when i wrote the book! Heinlein: they captured my ideas perfectly! Heinlein: what Heinlein: what's so funny

Barker: haha you dingus, it was a satire! they were making fun of you haha Heinlein: what? shut up! Heinlein: stop mocking me! Heinlein: I'm a serious hard science fiction writer! Heinlein: I predicted the water bed!

Heinlein: bang! pow! i love killing aliens! Heinlein: oh, you're different than me huh alien? huh? is that it?! Heinlein: where the fuck do you get off?! Heinlein: [miming gun] bang! bang! Heinlein: and that's why i'm a member of the SFWA

[p-h03n1-x]

Excerpt from Xiao Zhan’s interview and WeChat article posted by Elle "Xiao Zhan, The Simpler, The More Complex"

Part 3 Elle September 2024 magazine with Xiao Zhan. Link to part 1 here and part 2 here

ELLE: Do you watch any sci-fi movies or read sci-fi literature?

Xiao Zhan: Yes, I used to enjoy reading "Three-Body Problem." Recently, I’ve been watching some sci-fi shows, like the American series "Kaleidoscope" and "Chao's Adventure in Parallel Universe." They all touch on infinite loops and parallel universes. I find the concept of parallel universes fascinating because each choice you make could potentially create a different parallel universe.

ELLE: Do you ever imagine what Xiao Zhan in a parallel universe is like?

Xiao Zhan: Yes, I really do. For example, is he still an actor? Maybe he is, but is he still filming now? Is he still singing? Or is he a designer? Is he working for someone, or has he started his own business? (laughs) Yes, I really think about this.

ELLE: What about the future? What do you think it will be like?

Xiao Zhan: Wow, I actually think the future might see a return to simplicity. This world might become more beautiful, with people going back to more fundamental ways of communicating.

ELLE: That’s interesting. Why do you think that?

Xiao Zhan: Well, I’m personally a bit averse to the omnipresent nature of the internet. When we were kids and didn’t have phones, we’d chat over meals, and friends would call each other downstairs to play, hide-and-seek, and various games. I actually think those times were precious.

ELLE: Do you think the profession of acting will still exist then?

Xiao Zhan: I think it will. I believe as long as life continues, drama will continue. People need an outlet, and they need emotional resonance and solace, whether through images or sounds. So, I think that even if the world were to be destroyed, as long as people still exist, drama will definitely exist.

[pers-books]

INTERVIEW

Jemma Redgrave: ‘Doctor Who will keep me young’

The actress would be happy to be remembered for the sci-fi series, she tells Dominic Maxwell

Jemma Redgrave: “My character wanted to make her way on merit. That wasn’t difficult to play”

Dominic Maxwell

Saturday November 25 2023, 12.01am, The Times

Jemma Redgrave has a problem. “Every time I get a new office,” she says, “it blows up.” Granted, she admits, the first time we saw her office — in the 50th anniversary Doctor Who special of 2013 that featured Matt Smith and David Tennant — it was in the Tower of London, and that one has stayed standing. Otherwise, though, in her role as Kate Stewart, the head of the Doctor’s paramilitary allies UNIT, her workplaces seem to routinely explode. That they seem to get swankier and swankier each time only seems to make them more vulnerable to the zap gun.

She won’t give anything away, and the BBC is keeping under wraps each of the three 60th anniversary specials, which start tonight. Yet you have to fear for the giant floating Marvel-style Unit HQ that features in the trailer. Redgrave doesn’t appear until the final part, which pits David Tennant’s returning Doctor against Neil Patrick Harris’s Toymaker, a villain not seen since 1966. She will, however, be the one other holdover from the 50th anniversary specials. “Yes,” she says with a disbelieving smile over morning coffee in a north London café, “I think it’s just me and David.”

She and her sons, now aged 29 and 23, had watched the series ever since it returned, after 16 years off our screens (a one-off comeback starring Paul McGann aside), in 2005. She wondered for a while why seemingly every other actor she knew got a role in it. Hers, though, has proved to be the longest-running.

She first played Kate Stewart opposite Smith in an episode in 2012. She didn’t realise the significance of the surname at the time: Stewart is the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, the head of Unit from 1968 to 1975, during the eras of Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. All of which is catnip to the fans, some of whom, as emissaries from Doctor Who magazine, were on set doing a story on her first day. They helped her to join the dots.

As Kate Stewart in the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials (BBC)

Stewart, after all, didn’t use her full name. “She didn’t want to take advantage of her connections and wanted to make her way on merit,” Redgrave says. As the daughter of an actor (Corin Redgrave), the niece of two actresses (Vanessa Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave), the granddaughter of actors (Michael Redgrave, Rachel Kempson) and the cousin of actresses (Joely Richardson and Natasha Richardson), she knew where Stewart was coming from. It can be tedious spending your time fending questions about how you’ve got where you are today, after all.

“That you’re some sort of nepo baby? It can be, can’t it? Sometimes those questions go on and on and on, many, many, many, many years down the line.” Redgrave, a gifted under-player of a scene, gives a surprisingly full-hearted chuckle. “So that wasn’t a difficult scene to play.”

Redgrave appears only sporadically, but has rubbed shoulders with six doctors: Smith, Tennant, Peter Capaldi, John Hurt (in the 50th special), Jodie Whittaker and, coming soon, Ncuti Gatwa, who will take the lead once Tennant’s celebratory trilogy is done.

There have been rumours that Stewart and UNIT are getting their own show, but Redgrave insists that this is news to her. Then again, it’s rare for her to be permitted to admit even that she is in the first Gatwa series. She has to sign an NDA each time she shoots the show so that nobody, with the exception of her partner, who may be staying with her in Wales during shooting anyway, knows what she is working on.

She understands the rationale for this, although it can become absurd. During lockdown, because travel was restricted, the BBC sent a car to her north London home to pick her up for filming. On the way to the car she bumped into Smith, who lives in the area, walking his dog. He asked where she was heading. Cardiff, she told him. He asked what she was working on. “I said, ‘I can’t possibly tell you. I’ve signed an NDA.’ And he said, ‘Oh well, send them all my love.’”

Redgrave is a young-looking 58. Her extensive stage work includes appearing in a London production of Chekhov’s The Three Sisters with her aunts. Her TV work includes starring in the series Bramwell as well as recurring roles in Holby City, Grantchester, Silent Witness and Cold Blood. How would she feel if the world remembered her most for her sporadic role as the head of UNIT?

“I think that’s OK,” she says. “I grew up watching Jon Pertwee. And Jon Pertwee doesn’t change in my imagination. The people I grew up watching don’t get older in my imagination and I will remain in the imagination of the children who watch this 60th-year episode. And that is a kind of lovely thing. So I’m very happy to be remembered as Kate Stewart. Also, she’s a formidable woman. She has humour and heart and courage. And she’s vulnerable and aware of her limitations. So she’s kind of human in every possible way, even though she exists in a world of aliens and tech.”

On the subject of “the sci-fi stuff”, she admits that jargon and technobabble can be hard to play: the plot may need it, but it’s hard to bring much of yourself to. So she tries to find some emotional resonance of her own. “Either that or you just play it fast. It’s one or the other.”

She has found, too, that the fans will support her in other roles. Recently she appeared in a play, Octopolis, at the Hampstead Theatre in London. “And a lot of Who fans came to see that, which is a lovely thing. She’s a great character, but partly the reason that UNIT has continued through this series is because fans have been very vocal in their love of those storylines.”

When she was growing up, it took her a while to admit that she wanted to be an actress. “My parents split when I was young. My mum [Deirdre Hamilton-Hill] supported me and my brother. There wasn’t a lot of money around, but we did get taken to the theatre. And I think growing up in the theatre, and particularly not having a fear of Shakespeare because I encountered him on the stage and not in the classroom for the first time, was a great privilege.”

It was a trip to see the Wars of the Roses Shakespeare history plays at the RSC in Stratford when she was 13 that convinced her she wanted to act. “Before that I’d played my cards close to my chest. I didn’t have much confidence. I was quiet about it because there were a lot of people in my family who acted.” When she told her father, he gave her a complete Arden set of Shakespeare plays, and wrote “to commemorate your decision to become an actress” on the front page.

She went to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, after which she began to work regularly. She appeared in a TV film, The Relief of Belsen, with her father, and in Howards End with Vanessa, but beyond that has ploughed her own furrow. So is the family connection one she can celebrate at this point?

What’s lovely, she says, is going to a set and having crew members come up to her and tell her they worked with her father, or her aunt, or her cousin or her brother Luke, a successful cameraman. “And usually anybody who says ‘I’ve worked with somebody in your family’ says it because they loved working with them. So it’s suddenly not quite such an intimidating environment.”

Family fame is dwarfed by sci-fi fame anyway. “I’m ‘her from Doctor Who’. And if you’ve got a body of work behind you, people don’t talk about the name. I just feel lucky that I come from the family that I come from because I grew up with books and theatre, which is a proper privilege. There wasn’t a lot of money, but there was that, and that’s worth everything.”

Doctor Who is on BBC1 and iPlayer from November 25. Jemma Redgrave’s episode is on December 9

(Source)

[scimitar-and-longsword]

I'm writing a sci-fi short story to submit to a local fiction magazine (stressful, let me tell you! ...story for another time.) and because of it I have had the most ridiculous fall into a new fandom.

Short story uses lots of radio jargon -> I look up scenes of radio chatter -> I start watching a bunch of Call of Duty Modern Warfare videos -> I start watching a bunch of Ghost/Soap compilations -> I now ship them.

Dear reader, I have never in my life played a Call of Duty game, and yet here we are...