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Shrek The Halls
07/12/2007. It might be more fantasy than science fiction, but the BBC is bringing Shrek to the small screen in his first Christmas special for BBC One. BBC One will host the UK premiere of the Shrek The Halls on Christmas Eve. What's it about? Just when Shrek thought he could finally sit back, relax and enjoy his happily ever after with his new family, the most joyous of all holidays arrives. It's Christmas Eve, and everyone is filled with holiday cheer, except for Shrek. He isn't exactly the picture of yuletide joy, but for the sake of Fiona and the kids, he tries to get into the spirit of things as only an ogre can. Unfortunately, everyone seems to have their own ideas about what Christmas is all about, so when Donkey, Puss In Boots, the Gingerbread Man and the whole gang try to join in on the fun, Shrek's plans for a cosy family celebration end up spiralling into one truly unforgettable Christmas. 
 Eric Brown: Thirteen questions
01/12/2007. Angela - aka the Scifi Chick - reviewed the novel Helix back in June, and she has now grabbed the opportunity to interview author Eric Brown with both paws. Here it is. Thanks Scifi Chick.
 Bloggers of the SFFphere Part 1
01/12/2007. Aidan Moher, the muse at the seminal A Dribble of Ink, went ahead and gathered several his favourite bloggers, tied them up in a room, and picked their brains. SFF bloggers spend so much time putting the minds of authors under the knife that Aidan thought it would be interesting to take a look at another side of the industry that doesn’t get examined. Ever wondered what makes your favourite genre blogger tick? Well, you’re about to find out.
 Free will fantasy: An interview with Brian Ruckley
01/12/2007. John Ottinger, best known for his great blog Grasping for the Wind, interviews British fantasy author Brian Ruckley. Brian talks about his works, life and fills us in on Bloodheir, the sequel to Winterbirth, forthcoming in 2008 from Orbit Books.
 Connie Willis interviewed
01/12/2007. A.Fortis & TadMack over at Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog bring you a peak into the mind of science fiction author Connie Willis. Connie talks about why she was crazy about books from almost the moment she was born, her interest in quantum theory and her passion for the short story form in SF.
 Bullet in time
01/12/2007. Short fiction from the pen of writer Ray Tabler. When you peek through the temporal window, you don't always find what you're looking for!
 Bee Movie (Frank's take)
01/12/2007. A spelling bee. A busy bee. A killer bee. But a Seinfeld bee? Sorry Jerry, says Frank, your hapless honey-seeking hero doesn’t create much of an animated buzz. Still, the non-judgmental kiddies will be stung by the wealthy comedian’s colorfully amiable but simplistic one-note family fare Bee Movie. Seinfeld’s cheeky collaboration with the profitable DreamWorks machine wouldn’t arouse a beehive with spraying water from a garden hose.
 Martian Child (Frank's take)
01/12/2007. Droopy-faced, puppy-dog eyed John Cusack has been charming movie audiences for many years with his ability to convey a dripping sentimentality in feel-good cinema. Cusack has grown up before our very presence as a different kind of tortured teen in cinema-amiably unsure, sensitive, romantic, gently flawed, understanding and introspective. Thankfully, finds Frank, forty-something Cusack hasn't shied away from this on-screen trademark persona in adult life, either.
 Fred Claus (Frank's take)
01/12/2007. In Bad Santa, Billy Bob Thornton's obnoxious antics were cleverly utilised as an undercurrent cynicism for the holiday hoopla designed to plant a plastic smile on the consumerism craze that is the festive Christmas season. Now, says Frank, the anaemically kooky coal-in-the-stocking comedy Fred Claus feebly employs the same tactics ... but with less than mediocre results.
 The Singularity or Spike that won't be
01/12/2007. US science fiction author L.E. Modesitt, Jr. says that over the past decade, if not longer, there have been more than a few futurists who have predicted that in a decade or so from now, modern technology will change human society on a scale never before seen or imagined, from implementing the linked society envisioned in Gibson's Neuromancer to wide-scale nanotech and practical AIs. Well, don't hold your breath, he advises.
 Beowulf (Mark's take)
01/12/2007. Robert Zemekis's adaptation of the story of Beowulf is actually exciting and shows great imagination throughout, says Mark. The oldest story in the English language (dating from about AD 700) combines with state of the art graphic technology to create a fast-paced and exhilarating heroic adventure. This film does a lot that is very hard to get right and most of it, it does get it right.
 Green sky at morning, humans take warning
01/12/2007. When Mark was a teenager he read science fiction with its stories like When Worlds Collide. In those days it was not quite respectable to read science fiction. But he thought we really did live in a world where some of these things really could happen and by the time he became an adult some of this science fiction would have become reality and science fiction would be more respectable. Perhaps both have happened but they are not as tightly bound together as he would have thought.
 Mundane versus hard SF (and why Rudy Rucker kicks arse)
01/12/2007. Jonathan McCalmont of SFdiplomat fame has just received the September and October 2007 issues of the New York Review of Science Fiction and he must say, he is starting to really enjoy it. Interestingly, less so for the reviews (which are often of books he hasn't read or heard of) and more for the longer critical pieces and the occasional acts of genre politics.
 Interview with Philip Palmer
01/12/2007. This piece has been in the works by Chris Hyland - aka The Book Swede - for quite a while, and it's an interview he's been looking forward to greatly. Philip Palmer is a British SF author, debuting with Orbit in January 2008, on both sides of the Atlantic. Chris was lucky enough to get the page proofs of Debatable Space - and he found it a truly fantastic read.
 Fantastic Women: Trudi Canavan
01/12/2007. Fantasy author Trudi Canavan on the limitless creative energy of children, getting stuck in the manuscript limbo, and her work on The Magician's Apprentice. Trudi is interviewed by fantasy writer Karen Miller, author of works such as Kingmaker and Kingbreaker.
 The silent worlds of Richard Bizley
01/12/2007. When it comes to fine art and illustration, artist Richard Bizley tends to think of science fiction at one end and astronomical/space art at the other end with a rather narrow fuzzy margin in between keeping them separate. It is SF that he concentrates on for this article in SFcrowsnest.com.
In the beginning
01/12/2007. A tale of life as we know it, by GF Willmetts. A flick of a switch and in the beginning, there was light. The entity for want of a better name ended up being called God by Man thought it was good and that he could see what he was doing.
What's in a name?
01/12/2007. Look at that title again. What's in a name? For a writer, it is a reflection of the character's persona that is being created. A hook to catch the reader's imagination. Often as not, the fewer syllables, the stronger the name. Some names look weaker than others.
Taking control of reality
01/12/2007. The yin and the yang of it. Every year, says Uncle Geoff, our reality is changing. Some times too quickly. Some times not fast enough. If its not the weather effects of global warming then it's the advances in technology or even bio-technology now the human genome has been unravelled. A brave new world. Nascent and naive in some ways. Practical Science Fiction in others.
 Sounds like a fairy tale
01/11/2007. Four classic Fairy Tales Rapunzel, Cinderella, The Emperor's New Clothes and Billy Goats Gruff are updated by contemporary writers - Ed Roe, Richard Pinto, Anil Gupta, Debbie Horsfield, Jeremy Dyson and brought to life by British actors Bernard Hill, Geraldine James, Shaun Williamson, Lee Ingleby, Charity Wakefield, James Nesbitt, Maxine Peake, Charity Wakefield, Denise Van Outen, Hariett Walter, Liz White, Mathew Horne, Paul Nicholls and Sarah Smart - for BBC One.
 Naomi Novik interviewed
01/11/2007. Fantasy author Novik on winning the 2007 John W. Campbell Award, getting her Temeraire books optioned by Peter Jackson, and the use of dragons in Napoleonic alternative realities.
 30 Days of Night (Frank's take)
01/11/2007. Writer-director David Slade's vaunting vampire vehicle 30 Days of Night is a darn bloody good time to count one's giddy goose bumps, says Frank. The premise about slick-minded bloodsuckers creeping in the frigid Alaskan nighttime is a refreshingly original concept. Slade's (graphic storytelling resonates properly with the right amount of thrills and chills to overcome some of the film's occasional problematic schemes.
 Resident Evil: Extinction (Frank's take)
01/11/2007. Well, muses Frank, the Resident Evil movie series finally reached its trilogy status. This is not exactly something worth notifying the American Film Institute about anytime soon. No doubt the action-packed adventures of Milla Jovovich's curvaceous cutthroat zombie-zapping eliminator has its ardent following. Otherwise, there wouldn't be the existence of Russell Mulcahy's sci-fi snoozer Resident Evil: Extinction, a ludicrous and over-extended action-adventure that feasts on its boisterous banality.
 The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (Frank's take)
01/11/2007. Can somebody say Harry Potter Lite? Well, there's no doubt that director David L. Cunningham's (The Path to 9/11 miniseries) flimsy fantasy-actioner The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising will invite inevitable comparisons to J. K. Rowling's beloved and bespectacled Boy Wizard. Frank discovers this sparse superpower saga lacks the eye-popping definition and worldwide intrigue that made Harry Potter and his pithy pals both literary and cinematic sensations.
I am always right. Well, nearly always
01/11/2007. Read those opening words in the opening title above very carefully. Either I'm turning you people reading my editorials into yes-people or I'm writing absolute truths that you don't disagree with. I mean, no one really ever disagrees with me or could it be said, don't want to try. Am I right or am I right? Are you even reading me here? That statement could lead to paranoia. I think there has to be an accepted given that no matter what is written on the Net, someone out there is reading it or why else are blogs becoming so popular?
Job By Degree
01/11/2007. A short story by GF Willmetts.
 Marrying authors to their market: A genre perspective
01/11/2007. You'd think it would be easy - in the science fiction and fantasy field - to publish a book that appeals to science fiction and fantasy fans, the traditional 'core genre market'. After all, isn't every fantasy novel just a retelling of The Lord of the Rings and every science fiction novel just Star Wars by another name?
 In The Shadow Of The Moon (Mark's take)
01/11/2007. Never-before-seen footage of the Apollo space program and interviews with nine astronauts give new life the story of how the US put men on the moon. Personal interviews with several astronauts tell much more than most of us have known about the adventure and experience of going to the moon. This, says Mark, is an enthralling documentary even if you have seen the story told before.
 Costas Mandylor interview
01/11/2007. Costas Mandylor talks about working on movies such as Saw IV and Beowulf, how living in LA compares to Oz, and being named as one of the most beautiful people in the world.
 Tobin Bell interview
01/11/2007. Tobin Bell on the Saw horror movies, his parts in series like Alias, The X Files, Charmed, ER, 24, NYPD Blue and The West Wing, the backlash against violent films, and becoming known as The Saw guy.
 Profound - it is what it is
01/10/2007. Don't confuse the term 'profound' with 'profanity', says Uncle Geoff. Different words. Different meanings. 'Profanity' means an irreverence where nothing is sacred. Something that probably deserves an editorial of its own sometime. Remind him when he's bothered.
 Worldcons of diminished expectations
01/10/2007. One of my friends - one whom I see almost exclusively at the World Science Fiction Convention (or Worldcon) each year - announced this week that he was not going to the Worldcon any more. He says that it no longer is meeting his needs, and his answer is to go instead to San Diego Comic-con each year. He invited his friends to join him in this change of habit. Well, I am not going to do it. I will probably continue to go to the Worldcon each year.
 Halloween (Frank's take)
01/10/2007. Writer-director Rob Zombie heavy-handedly revisits filmmaker John Carpenter's 1978 classic Halloween, finds Frank, with an audacious blood-spilling banality that pretty much is business as usual given the crude content of slash-and-splash expectancy. To Zombie's credit, he doesn't want to shape the legendary lunacy that made Carpenter's entry a celebrated creepfest. Instead, Zombie's version is actually an inspired albeit uneven take on his particular visionary landscape of senseless slaughter and bouncing breasts.
 The big lie
01/10/2007. I am watching The Universe on the History Channel. At first I thought it was a really good program. I am finding the program more and more frustrating. It is clear the scientists who do the talking know the truth and are just refusing to mention it. Everybody is hung up on our egocentric ways of thinking we have had from ancient times. And though astronomers and cosmologists know the truth they choose not to tell us. You have to figure the truth out for yourself. Then if you dare you can tell other people, but even then something inside them will tell them it is you who are wrong.
One of Six
01/10/2007. Another look at 'The Prisoner' by GF Willmetts. Peel away one layer and something else is revealed. A rule of thumb when re-watching the ITV Everyman series 'The Prisoner'. I wasn't looking to write a new article on the subject. This one nearly slipped under my radar without me realising I had something more to say.
 Shoot 'Em Up (Frank's take)
01/10/2007. Writer/director Michael Davis is gleefully at the helm as he concocts an outrageously impish (if not unconventional) boisterous anti-gun action-thriller that embraces its preposterous presentation, says Frank. In the testosterone-driven live action "cartoon" Shoot 'Em Up, Davis swings for the frenetic fences as his convoluted comic-crime caper regarding ricocheting bullets and other manic mayhem packs a wincing wallop.
 Gary Hunt interview
01/10/2007. Insectoid interviewer Weta Bug sits down with fantasy and science fiction sculptor Gary Hunt (no known relation to fantasy author Stephen Hunt, we should point out) and asks Gary about how travelling the world led him to Weta Workshop, his work on the Lord of the Rings film, King Kong, and the Narnia movies.
 Oscar senses death coming
01/10/2007. A number of sources, says Mark, including Science News and the BBC News have been reporting about Oscar, the Providence, Rhode Island nursing home cat who can sense the coming of death. It seems that Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center adopted Oscar. The idea is that animals around a nursing home tend to cheer up their patients. Well, that is true in theory, anyway. Oscar it appears is not the most social of cats.
 Superbad (Frank's take)
01/10/2007. There are a lot of things in this complex world that cannot be easily dismissed, muses Frank, such as taxes, cheating spouses, high mortgage payments and yes...the ubiquitous presence of the American Pie-style high school romp.
 Hooded fun with the hooded one
01/10/2007. Starring Jonas Armstrong, Lucy Griffiths, Keith Allen and Richard Armitage, the new series of Robin Hood is coming back onto the BBC. In the October issue of SFcrowsnest, we look at the thoughts of these four actors who are playing, Robin, Marion, the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Guy of Gisborne.
 Inside the Spook Show
01/10/2007. Spy drama Spooks returns to BBC One for autumn 2007. Over the course of 10 hour-long episodes, Adam, Harry and the team are immersed in their most intricate operation to date. Actor Rupert Penry-Jones who plays agent Adam Carter talks about the new series and his thoughts on Spooks.
 Is Ray Bradbury the new James Fenimore Cooper?
01/09/2007. Mark was recently in a discussion about Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. The book is a novel written in 1950 about the colonisation and subjugation of Mars by humans who had screwed things up on Earth pretty badly and were migrating to Mars. The conflicts with the native Martians in some ways reflect the coming of Europeans to the New World and the destruction of the native peoples.
 Zombies and mnemonics
01/09/2007. There was an article in the February, 2007, edition of Reason magazine, notes Mark, a well-known libertarian periodical, on horror movies about flesh-eating zombies. Reason is a somewhat respected outlet of libertarian views. Now having Reason magazine writing about flesh-eating zombie movies is itself a little surprising. Reason probably is more a place you would look for political statements and not a place one generally would look for discussion of films about flesh-eating zombies, even if freedom from death is the ultimate libertarianism.
 Stardust (Mark's take)
01/09/2007. With little pre-release fanfare, Neil Gaiman's Stardust, directed by Matthew Vaughn, comes to the screen as a first-class fantasy film, one - says Mark - of the best. The story is convoluted but not really confusing. A young man from our world on a quest to win his love ends up being the fulcrum in a battle for the rule of a kingdom in a magical world. Gaiman is a fresh and a different voice in fantasy writing so the film is full of surprises and some genuinely funny jokes.
 The Bourne Ultimatum (Mark's take)
01/09/2007. Jason Bourne, says Mark, is hot on the trail of the people who know why he was made a deadly assassin. There are a few cracks in the wall of his amnesia and he is starting to see the picture beyond. The last of Bourne trilogy of films should have been the most satisfying of the three with the loose ends tied up and the CIA closing in. Will it be Bourne Dead or Bourne Free? But this film is less interested in good plot than it is in having long, drawn-out action chases of which there are entirely too many.
 Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (Mark's take)
01/09/2007. Harry Potter returns in his most complex and political story, not to mention his darkest and least cute one, opines Mark. Harry, Hermione, and Ron have to fight a two-front war against a takeover of Hogwarts and the return of Voldemort. Davis Yates directs. The films get more intelligent and more adult as Harry also does.
 Ratatouille (Mark's take)
01/09/2007. Ratatouille has an engaging enough premise, finds Mark, but does not really have a good story to tell. The first third of the film is much more engaging than the remainder. The furry rat who is the main character is expressive and winning, but the human characters do not give him much support and the story pulls in too many directions.
 The Invasion (Mark's take)
01/09/2007. This is a film that is pretty good until it turns bad. The fourth adaptation of The Body Snatchers has some thoughtful and intelligent additions to the telling. Sadly, in the last twenty minutes the film goes terribly sour as it metamorphoses into another mindless action film with a much too Hollywood ending. Nichole Kidman stars as the psychiatrist whose patients start reporting that the people around them are turning strange. And they are right.
 The Elves of Cintra
01/09/2007. Interview with fantasy author Terry Brooks, who chats about his latest epic novel, The Elves of Cintra, the longevity of his career in the genre, and how his world of the Shannara books came to be.
 Still Deaths
01/09/2007. Fiction from the pen of Mark Dellar. Still Deaths looks at what happens when the art world makes an unholy pact with the forces of law and order in a darkly futuristic UK.
 Putting science back into science fiction
01/09/2007. It might not have escaped your notice that there has been an interesting proportion of science books in the review column in recent months. You might even have read the reviews, let alone pick up the books themselves. Apart from the nature of some personal research which you should see the results of shortly, it is also a reminder of the connection to two key words in our website name: Science and Fiction. We see the two words together so much that we tend to forget that much of our fiction has a solid core of science attached to it.
 God doesn't return his calls any more
01/09/2007. A short story by GF Willmetts. Let my carbon footprint be light in the winter snow and tell al-Qaeda you aren't letting them into your heaven...
 An interview with Dennis Batchelder
01/09/2007. A cautionary tale, flavoured with Science Fiction, metaphysics and spirituality built on a foundation of self-reliance, otherwise called 'Soul Identity' is the debut novel by software entrepreneur/author Dennis Batchelder of Kent Island, USA.
 Time and relatives in space
01/09/2007. The topic here is Doctor Who. More specifically, the Doctor himself and his relationship with his arch-nemesis, the Master. There has been much mulling in the Who fan community as to their relationship to each other. Rather than examine those opinions, Geoff prefers to examine the evidence to draw his own conclusions.
 I write. Therefore I am.
01/08/2007. What are we really? Not in the physical sense, asks Uncle Geoff, but here on the Internet. Think about it. As you read this editorial, what you are really seeing is a collection of symbols commonly called letters divided into consonants and vowels which are formulated into words and then meaningful sentence structures and grouped further into paragraph subject matter and expression of ideas that you can understand.
 Doctor Who Season 3: The Year Of The Master
01/08/2007. Season Three of 'Doctor Who' saw the introduction of two new companions, says Michele Fry, and the return of one former companion for the space of the three-part finale, following Rose's one-way trip through the Void to the parallel Earth known as Pete's World.
 Pecking Order
01/08/2007. The mighty Avis starship heralded its arrival about the Earth in a fantastic lightshow lighting up the sky. These aliens looked very much like they wanted to party. As the distant and speed they were travelling was so great, communication had been restricted to brief radio transmissions beaten out on a tachyon pulse.
 Brian W. Aldiss comes to HARM
01/08/2007. A conversation with the author of HARM, Brian W. Aldiss. BWA talks about why he is still protesting against something, generally against the shortcomings of human life itself; and why to be made uneasy is the beginning of enlightenment.
 SH20-The Seeds of Destruction (Part 3)
01/08/2007. Mark been talking about SH20 (pronounced S-H-2-O), the second half of the 20th century. Specifically he has been saying that improvements in the fortunes of the average person during those years may have been self-limiting and brought about many of the problems of the 21st century.
 Vacancy (Frank's take)
01/07/2007. The film's generic title may be called Vacancy but it echoes that very same sentiment as well-there's nothing worth checking in for regarding this empty, half-hearted horror flick. Woefully tedious, unoriginal and cheaply executed, Vacancy is about as scary and random as a facelift procedure performed in downtown Beverly Hills. This flimsy fright fable is trivial and trite at best.
 Paradoxes on seeing the future
01/07/2007. Longtime member Frank Leisti and I have been discussing the ideas of Philip K. Dick. Two of Dick's stories: Minority Report (adapted into a film of the same name) and The Golden Man (adapted into the film NEXT) have involved people with the ability to see into the future. This is not so simple as it might sound because when you can see a bad future you can prevent it. But then what you saw was not really the future. The real question is at what point the future is set. That is really dependent on your viewpoint.
SH20 - The seeds of destruction
01/07/2007. I frequently claim that I have what I call Luck of Leeper. At one point I said that this was just very bad luck. And I really have had some amazing runs of chance events going against me. They are sort of in the nature of vacations ruined because when I visited Spain it had the worst rains and flooding in fifty years. More recently I have been saying that Luck of Leeper is worse than one would expect on small things and much better than one would expect on the big things.
 David Anthony Durham's Acacia
01/07/2007. An interview with David Anthony Durham, the US author of the new fantasy novel Acacia. David talks about moving from historical novels, making the jump towards epic fantasy in one easy leap.
 John Twelve Hawks interview
01/07/2007. SFF author talks about his counter-culture hero Gabriel Corrigan, living off the grid and fighting for the freedom to remain outside the system.
 The world is my bookshelf
01/07/2007. If it hasn't occurred to you by now if you look at the reviews, I love books. Reading is one of my favourite pastimes and I do a lot of it. Not just Science Fiction but a fair scattering of non-fiction as well a variety of magazines. One hundred minutes worth spread over the day gets a lot read. As a reviewer, I can also turn on my analytical side and point out the good stuff from the clinkers.
 Doctor Who Unleashed II
01/07/2007. Holiday Inn Ipswich: 14 - 15 April 2007. A conference report by Paul Skevington. It's a warm day, the drink is flowing, and tonight I'm going to be watching a programme about a peculiar little man who travels through space and time in a most unconventional spaceship. Things are looking good.
 Before the Brain Eater comes for him
01/06/2007. There are so many writers and scientists and other interesting people out there, Ken Macleod noted in front of the Birmingham SF Group, that - according to careful scientific studies - statistically, a writer can expect to be invited to speak to any given local SF group at the most twice. The first time it's when their first book comes out and they're new and exciting. The second time is when people are saying things like, 'If we want to hear him again we better invite him now before the Brain Eater comes for him.'
 Lies my Jedi told me
01/06/2007. I have to admit to being in some respects somewhat slower than the general population. That is only in some respects. Most people in our society learn the cold, hard facts of life when they find out that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are really mythical and do not literally exist. Being Jewish I never had such illusions and so I never had to face being disabused of these illusions. You know Jewish kids don't get brought up on many myths.
 Disturbia: Frank's take
01/06/2007. We'll just have to face certain facts that a majority of contemporary films today will always have that reminiscence factor when "borrowing" the stimulating theme from other previously proven flicks, finds Frank. For filmmaker D.J. Caruso's horror/suspense piece Disturbia, this cinematic sentiment is certainly true. Suitably giddy with its horror movie platitudes aimed at mocking the facade of suburban hysteria, Caruso's Disturbia percolates effectively within its defined raucous rhythms.
 Unexpected interconnectivity
01/06/2007. A few weeks ago I talked in my editorial about Colony Collapse Disorder. This is the situation where honeybee hives are being found to have been deserted. At that point one of the prime suspects was cell phone radiation which in certain frequency ranges has been shown to disorient honeybees. I have been discussing this offline with Kenneth Howard. He sent me a reference to an article that suggests that a parasitic fungus may be the cause.
 The Reaping: Frank's take
01/06/2007. Two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank didn't receive her golden statuettes by not being pensive. After all, Swank is an adventurous actress and often is consumed by the various interesting roles she effortlessly plays. It's admirable that Swank looks to delve into different types of projects because she's a capable performer that has the ability and luxury to do so. Granted she has had her share of hits and misses. Unfortunately, her latest stint in director Stephen Hopkins's bloated biblical supernatural thriller The Reaping is an inexplicable misstep for the normally revered Swank.
 The Promise (Wu Ji): Mark's take
01/06/2007. This is a Chinese fairy tale told in the style of very old Chinese fairy tales but brought to the screen with very modern CGI. A little girl makes a Faustian bargain with a goddess. Huge armies march. Men out-race the wind. Assassins make devious plots. There are some spectacular scenes that we know are generated largely in computers, but they are still fabulous. Chen Kaije's film is the melodramatic and complex story of a princess who has made this bargain and now must choose between a great general and a superhero, knowing she must lose whomever she picks. China's film industry is learning to make fun films.
 Superman (1980, Telugu language): Mark's take
01/06/2007. A man is able to fix his family's problems when Hanuman gives him super powers. This 1980 Tollywood film is an ultra-cheesy rip-off of the DC Comics character Superman. It was a blockbuster in an India at a time when busting blocks must have been extremely easy.
 Anniversary of the Hammer Horror cycle
01/06/2007. It should be noted that May 3rd of this year is the 50th anniversary of a major milestone in the horror film, says Mark. That was the date of the rebirth of what was mistakenly thought to be moribund, the gothic horror film. Universal Studios had built a gothic horror cycle in large part out of the ruins of the German film industry and the tradition of the popular films of Lon Chaney.
 Interview with Dan Christopher
01/06/2007. Never let go of your dreams. Some day, you might have the chance to make them happen. Just ask Daniel R. Christopher of Lebanon, Maine. He finally finished his own movie, 'Saga Of A Crew' in 2006 that he had been forced to abandon in 1984 when time and money ran out. Michael Driscoll interviews Dan Christopher about the making of Saga Of A Crew.
 A country is only as good as its reputation (or be careful where you choose to go on holiday)
01/06/2007. There is one thing that I have in common with the late Isaac Asimov, although not necessarily for the same reasons is I'm a lousy traveller. In fact, I make him look like a travel-hound compared to myself in recent years. I might send my characters around the world or even off it but I have little in the way of wanderlust myself. If I see it or not, won't change the fact that other countries will exist without my visiting them to say I've been there. With the help of the Net and a postal service, anything I really need is just a purchase away. Granted, I might not have the experience of actually visiting a place for local colour but as a card-carrying minor infection-prone diabetic, it would certainly be a different colour to the norm anyway.
 I Spy with my little Fi
01/06/2007. An odd question came down from above recently asking whether or not I thought James Bond was Science Fiction and if it was, would I review the latest film DVD, 'Casino Royale'? After all, I regularly cover the 'Modesty Blaise' material that's being released although my argument there is the Princess is a popular read amongst SF fans anyway. It also needs addressing as to where TV shows like 'Knight Rider' and 'Airwolf' fall into the pattern of things. I'm leaving both Bionic series out of this cos they are definitely in the realms of Science Fiction although there's always a little heart flutter as science catches up with fiction. However, where does SF stop and regular reality creep in, especially for spy fiction?
Hunting high and Low
01/05/2007. An interview with fantasy and SF author Stephen Hunt, the team from HarperCollins Voyager filling the interviewer's seat.
 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (Frank's take)
01/05/2007. It's rather challenging in trying to determine the off-kilter appeal of the six-year presence of Cartoon Network's Aqua Teen Hunger Force, says Frank. Actually, it shouldn't be difficult to understand why a subversive animated series couldn't capture the twisted allure of selected audiences. After all, we're talking about an extremely wacky and contentious cartoon that owes its flippant foundation to the likes of proven stalwarts The Simpsons, Beavis and Butthead, South Park or any other unbalanced entry that dared to be unconventionally wisecracking in its seemingly innocuous skin.
 Curse Of The Golden Flower (Mark's take)
01/05/2007. This is a Faberge egg of a film, finds Mark. It is exquisitely beautiful, but the story is not one of Zhang Yimou's best. It is an overwrought melodrama set on a background of impressive beauty. The story is theatrical and not especially deep so as not to distract from the visual. An emperor and empress struggle for power against each other in a story of sex, drugs, and murder, all set during the chrysanthemum festival. This is a beautiful film, but the characters are weak and disappointing from Zhang.
 Meet the Robinsons (Frank's take)
01/05/2007. Walt Disney Pictures' computer-animated Meet the Robinsons is an actively spunky futuristic sci-fi showcase that doesn't necessarily break the mode when it comes to serving up digital ditties that are wildly imaginative, says Frank. In fact, one would have to question the endless contributors (among them is writer-director-voiceover actor Stephen J. Anderson) that offered their diverse input into a pithy pet project that wouldn't be considered breathtakingly unique. Routinely, Meet the Robinsons has that three-dimensional, old-fashioned Disney Chicken Little/Jimmy Neutron vibe to it that screams instant familiarity.
 Meet The Robinsons (Mark's take)
01/05/2007. A foundling and aspiring young inventor travels by time machine several decades into the future and finds a world that has been transformed by a true genius inventor. Now, discovers Mark, he has to deal with the inventor's weird family. The pacing of this 3-D animation film is uneven, from slow and sad to madcap, but eventually all is explained and it turns out to be a decent time travel story.
 The Reaping (Frank's take)
01/05/2007. Two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank didn't receive her golden statuettes by not being pensive, says Frank. After all, Swank is an adventurous actress and often is consumed by the various interesting roles she effortlessly plays. It's admirable that Swank looks to delve into different types of projects because she's a capable performer that has the ability and luxury to do so. Granted she has had her share of hits and misses. Unfortunately, her latest stint in director Stephen Hopkins's bloated biblical supernatural thriller The Reaping is an inexplicable misstep for the normally revered Swank.
 Grindhouse (Frank's take)
01/05/2007. The mere thought of a simmering collaboration between two of Hollywood's noted flashiest and furious filmmakers is mind-boggling, says Frank. Hence, the corrosive artistry of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez certainly doesn't disappoint as their warped worlds collide in the 3-hour thumping bloodbath Grindhouse. Enthralling and exhilarating in its explosive camp-driven excess, Grindhouse is a combustible concoction that shamelessly stimulates the senses.
 Grindhouse (Mark's take)
01/05/2007. Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino set out to recreate the 1970s experience of seeing a bad double feature in fourth run theatre, says Mark. They respectively make sub-films Planet Terror And Death Proof. Planet Terror is a fairly accurate pastiche of an out-of-control grindhouse film. Death Proof is a frequently dull film with homages to road-rage flicks and non-1970s films. It is more a Tarantino film than a grindhouse one.
 The Last Mimzy (Frank's take)
01/05/2007. Critics and moviegoers alike usually have the tendency to call them as they see them, says Frank. After all, you can't blame the masses for assessing New Line Cinema executive Bob Shayne's slight family fare The Last Mimzy as an E.T. knockoff for the millennium age. The comparison is obvious and tries to match the whimsical and imaginative spectacle of Steven Spielberg's early eighties memorable, fetching fable. The distinction, of course, is that there's a vast difference between the Oscar-winning filmmaker's little alien that wanted to "phone home" and Shayne's spotty sci-fi narrative that's lucky enough to invite the "compare-and-contrast" vibes.
 Primeval and the linearity of time
01/05/2007. The basis of the ITV series 'Primeval' is not so much dinosaurs and other early species entering the modern day time frame but the periodic appearance of portal anomalies across the UK, says Geoff. Dr. Helen Cutter's investigations also indicates that these portals don't appear at random but move across the Earth based on some predictable spatial-temporal movement.
 Do I look big in this?
01/05/2007. A story by GF Willmetts. This was not going to be a good day. Yesterday was even worse. I looked into the mirror and watched as Virtual Me sorted out the pixel spot that my real life me would have to wait for a couple days to cure. Would make-up really hide such blemishes?
 If you're not one of us you're one of them
01/05/2007. Prejudice seems to be part of the human psyche, muses Geoff, hailing from tribal aspect and hostility to purely because you're different from other people. If you were an SF fan brought up in a non-SF environment, then you've at least tasted a sample of being bullied for your interest.
 300: Frank's take
01/04/2007. Co-writer/director Zack Snyder's 300 is a starving fanboy's odyssey drenched in eye-popping, rustic opulence. Artistically triumphant in its arresting visual spectacle, Snyder's historical action-adventure oozes with technological magnificence, finds Frank.
 300: Mark's take
01/04/2007. This film, says Mark, shows us why they did not let Robert E. Howard write history books and why they did not allow Frank Frazetta to illustrate them. This is a macho, violent, and very bloody re-telling of the previously true story of the Battle of Thermopylae. It is overblown with hyperbole that needed computer animation to visualize. This is actually a very bad telling of the story, but it is just the kind of thing to get some of the teenage audience interested in history.
 When should we party?
01/04/2007. Anniversaries. You have them for birthdays and post-nuptials and yet the same thing is applied to particular films and TV series as if it's a significant event. Other than getting maybe a fresh supply of photos it seems an odd thing to celebrate.
 The Last Mimzy: Mark's take
01/04/2007. A box of toys from the future transforms a young brother and sister into something beyond human. Only one or two ideas were taken from the Lewis Padgett story Mimsy Were the Borogroves, supposedly the source of the story, says Mark. The film becomes a sort of low-budget variation on E.T. with a lacklustre rag-doll bunny standing in for E.T. The film may work better on the small screen than in theaters.
 Premonition: Frank's Take
01/04/2007. Cinematically, says Frank, actress Sandra Bullock is all over the erratic map. One could take this as a positive and progressive move in her film career. She's done it all with inconsistent and uneven results: action-adventures, quirky comedies, romantic comedies, melodramas, ensemble indies, sci-fi thrillers, etc. Clearly, the fortysomething Bullock can proudly point to the fact that she's a versatile performer that can't be pigeonholed in any one particular genre.
 Bridge to Terabithia: Mark's take
01/04/2007. Jess has a terrible life at home and at school, says Mark. But situations get much more bearable and better when the new girl in town moves in next door and is enrolled in his class. She opens for him a whole new world of intellect and art and fantasy. The two are outcasts, but form a rich (platonic) relationship together that strengthens Jess for some of the emotional wrenches to come. This is a film that is by turns wonderful and heart breaking. Do not expect a big special-effects fantasy. Fantasy and its power is just one theme among several well-presented themes.
 TMNT: Frank's take
01/04/2007. Remember in the heyday (read: early 90's) when the pizza-swilling, butt-kicking roguish reptiles were all the rage? One couldn't even hide in their shell without being exposed to the progressive propaganda that was the Renaissance-named rascals with the nifty ninja reflexes in the likes of Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello. The Mutant Ninja Turtles were the ultimate bomb for the kiddies and an absolute guilty pleasure for the grown-ups. So then why are the new and improved crime-fighting cretins seemingly misplaced in the revved-up animated actioner TMNT?
 Flatland The Film: Mark's take
01/04/2007. Edwin Abbott's 1884 fantasy is adapted to the screen. Like the book the film seems deceptively simple. In Flatland the inhabitants are figures from plane geometry who do not believe there ever could be a third dimension. Abbott's political satire is updated for the screen, but the story loses none of its charm or its bite. This is a unique animated film that takes on race, gender, class, and political corruption while entertaining and perhaps even teaching a little mathematics.
 Room Full Of Strangers
01/04/2007. A work of flash fiction by GF Willmetts.
 The Astronaut Farmer: Frank's take
04/03/2007. There's something that can be said for innocuous family fare that embraces its inspiration with notable fortitude, thinks Frank. Whimsical films about reaching impossible dreams or existing in worlds where anything imaginable can overwhelm the mind is something that cosy-minded cinema loves to convey. In writer-director Michael Polish's NASA-driven narrative The Astronaut Farmer, the mawkish sentiments are displayed on the launching pad. Unfortunately, the treacle-induced tendencies are unfocused as a high concept adventure for schmaltzy consideration.
 Returning to Mars (Part 1 of 2)
01/03/2007. After a successful run both in the UK and on BBC America, the makers of 1970S retro-cop time-travel drama Life On Mars faced a tough challenge… how do they follow that? How could they ensure the second series is as strong and captivating as the first? SFcrowsnest looks at the answers.
 Returning to Mars (Part 2 of 2)
01/03/2007. SFcrowsnest meets the stars behind the BBC TV series Life on Mars. Give us the answers we're looking for now, you slag, and will you stop knocking over my bins in your bloody Ford Cortina.
 There is no rainy day. Rainy day is today.
01/03/2007. Something I've always been reluctant to do is quote from a book that I'm reading and likely to include in the review section. Mostly because it can be seen as being unfair to highlight a book higher than others. Mind you, as this particular book has been out a couple years now, was self-bought and part of my storycraft book project research, it raises an interesting point so I hope you can forgive me this one time.
 Happy Never After
01/03/2007. A story by GF Willmetts. If your idea of heaven is white smocks and wings then you've come to the wrong place, honey. Heaven is pretty much as it is on Earth only with a lot more people. There's also some segregation until you find your feet.
 The Astronaut Farmer: Mark's take
01/03/2007. This film may involve rockets and exploration, finds Mark, but it should play better with a non-technical audience. If somewhat overly familiar and contrived at times this is a likable Capra-esque story of a farmer who believes he has the smarts to build his own low-cost orbital rocket. He finds he has to fight the system to achieve his dream. The view of small town life will be pleasing to some and cloyingly sweet to others. On balance this is just okay entertainment.
Going Primeval
01/03/2007. Tim Haines & Adrian Hodges, the series co-creators of the new dinosaur-hunting time-travelling action drama Primeval, tell the readers of SFcrowsnest how the TV series came about. Were they stung by a giant spider or chased by a Gorgonopsid in real life - or did they just make it up?
 Here be monsters
01/03/2007. Mike Milne, Director of Computer Animation at Matt Fox, goes behind the special effects curtain to look at the creation of the creature shots for ITV's new SF TV drama Primeval.
 Dracula (2006): Mark's take
01/03/2007. This may well be the least faithful and poorest adaptation of a novel ever to appear on America's Masterpiece Theater, says Mark. There is very little of the novel in this production and what is there is twisted. Victorians who thought there was little that could be done to make this story less subtle than it already was would be amazed to find how crudely it could be adapted. Nevertheless, I realized watching it that there was a way for the viewer to make it a much more pleasurable experience.
 Hannibal Rising: Frank's take
01/03/2007. Dr. Hannibal Lecter is perhaps one of the most disturbing, sophisticated iconic sociopaths that modern cinema has ever produced, says our Frank. Whether in the literary arena or on the big screen, Lecter has proven to be a calculating commodity; he's a brilliant freak of humanity that combines the off-kilter ingredients of intelligence and insanity. When audiences experienced the chilling and sensationalistic aura of Oscar-winning Sir Anthony Hopkins's literate lunatic unfolding before our very eyes in the magnificent Silence of the Lambs we didn't realize that the bounds of inhumanity could be so compellingly taunting. Hence, serving up Hannibal the cannibal in any other capacity-particularly the humble beginnings-would be a tall order of expectations to fill automatically.
 Drakula Istanbul'da (Dracula in Istanbul): Mark's take
01/03/2007. This has been a very rare film, muses Mark, but it seems to be becoming more readily available. This is not a sequel to, but a simplification of Bram Stoker's novel. It just replaces the London backdrop with Istanbul and sets the story in the year of its production, 1953. The film has some nice bits on a tight budget, but turning the Mina character into an alluring stage dancer somehow cheapens the story. Atif Kaptan makes what seems a lacklustre Dracula, but perhaps if I knew Turkish it might have been more impressive.
 Ghost Rider: Frank's take
01/03/2007. Over the years the emerging genre of big-budgeted comic book adaptations has had its share of mixed reaction, says Frank. Specifically, the Marvel Comics superhero flicks are received with ambivalent forethought. For every successful or critically acclaimed Stan Lee staple ranging from the immensely popular Spider Man movie series we have to endure the duds such as Daredevil and The Fantastic Four.
 The Abandoned: Frank's take
01/03/2007. Spanish co-writer/director Nacho Cerda has an eerily perceptive vision that some horror fans know all too well, says Frank. In Cerda's innovative and grim 1994 short film Aftermath the filmmaker proved that instilling an audacious and salacious tone to his frightening fare is certainly what the genre was desperately looking forward to well over a decade ago.
 Into hell on a Harley: the Ghost Rider
01/03/2007. Long ago, superstar motorcycle stunt rider Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) made a deal with the devil to protect the ones he loved most: his father and his childhood sweetheart, Roxanne (Eva Mendes). Now, the Devil has come for his due. By day, Johnny is a die-hard stunt rider... but at night, in the presence of evil, he becomes the Ghost Rider, a bounty hunter of rogue demons. Forced to do the Devil's bidding, Johnny is determined to confront his fate and use his curse and powers to defend the innocent. SFcrowsnest goes behind the scenes to look at the new movie of the Marvel comic-book creation.
 Behind the scenes of Ghost Rider
01/03/2007. Like the comic book series on which it is based, the film version of Ghost Rider combines humour and darkness with the western and superhero genres, as well as the world of motorcycle stunt riding. SFcrowsnest goes behind the scenes to meet the producers and special effects crew and finds these boys are playing with fire!
 L.A.con IV (Part 1 of 3)
01/03/2007. Evelyn C Leeper brings us another of her much renowned science fiction convention reports from the US of A. L.A.con IV saw a number of talks, the ones that she attended including classics remembered: Space Cadet, the rise of theocracy, and overrated films and overlooked movies.
L.A.con IV (Part 2 of 3)
01/03/2007. Evelyn C Leeper brings us another of her much renowned science fiction convention reports from the US of A. L.A.con IV saw a number of talks, the ones that she attended including classics remembered: Space Cadet, the rise of theocracy, and overrated films and overlooked movies.
L.A.con IV (Part 3 of 3)
01/03/2007. Evelyn C Leeper brings us another of her much renowned science fiction convention reports from the US of A. L.A.con IV saw a number of talks, the ones that she attended including classics remembered: Space Cadet, the rise of theocracy, and overrated films and overlooked movies.
 Children Of Men (Mark's Take)
01/02/2007. How would universal infertility affect the human race? How would people react to a death sentence in sixty years or so? How exactly is society different without children? These and many other fascinating ideas are foregone in Children Of Men, says Mark, in order to give us a very prosaic action film. The film is diverting, but empty.
 The Saviour Principle
01/02/2007. Uncle Geoff brings you chapter seven of his Future Writing series: using and understanding science fiction nomenclature. In this one he looks at the thorny problem of religion in science fiction.
 Pan's Labyrinth (Mark's Take)
01/02/2007. Guillermo del Toro gives us one of the masterpieces of the fantasy film, says Mark. A child's fairy tale fantasies help to shape events in a military outpost after the Spanish Civil War. This is a film that works as a fantasy film and even better as a war film. Del Toro is one of the finest fantasy filmmakers in the world and this is his finest film.
 The BEST Pet.
01/02/2007. Sort fiction from the pen of Jo Frith. Who wants a Daalen for a pet? Come on, hands up, now. The size of a two-year-old child, it sat by the wall dipping its three-pronged hand under the waistband of its trousers. It pulled out a handful of poo and slapped it on the wallpaper.
 From Other Worlds
01/02/2007. This light, amiable science fiction film has a woman encounter two kinds of aliens, finds Mark: one from the Ivory Coast and one really from out there. A Brooklyn housewife and mother is sort of permanently zoned out until she is focused by being abducted by aliens, having a romantic fling, and going on a quick mission to save the Milky Way Galaxy.
 Do it again
01/02/2007. It occurred to Uncle Goeff recently that there was another thing that sets us, that is people interested in SF, fantasy and horror, apart from people who aren't. Namely, it is our capacity to re-read books and even more endless replays of our favourite SF films and TV series which demonstrates a seemingly lack in the boredom threshold when doing so.
 The Death Of Mr Lazarescu (Mark's Take)
01/02/2007. This, discovers Mark, is a film not so much about death as about the experience of dying in modern society. It is a realistic look at the last hours of a dying man as he goes through the wheels of the medical bureaucracy of Romania - probably not too different from our own. The film feels very real and not a little scary since the viewer knows that he is very likely to eventually likely to share Lazarescu's fate.
 Apocalypto (Mark's take)
01/01/2007. This is history with more than a little Grand Guignol, notes our Mark. At times the view of the ancient Mayan civilization is engaging and unique, but it in no way should it be thought to be historically accurate, in spite of director Mel Gibson's use of the original Mayan language. Conflating two periods of Mayan history several centuries apart, it is the story of an intended human sacrifice running for his life while chased by implacable Mayans. Mel Gibson needs a much better scriptwriter than Mel Gibson.
 Interview with Troy Denning
01/01/2007. The author of Star Wars Legacy of the Force: Tempest talks about what it's like to plot and write a multi-book movie-based series like this with two other writers.
 Casino Royale (Frank's take)
01/01/2007. The movie world's greatest super agent is back and assuming a whole new attitude if not a physical makeup, finds Frank. Gone are the vintage days of Bond-era sophisticates Sean Connery and Roger Moore. Also, let's not forget the trivial pursuit reminiscences of one-time Bond wannabe George Lazenby.
 Dr Who's assistant no more
01/01/2007. Steampunk fans, drink your fill. Billie Piper returns to the small screen in her first lead role and first period drama to star as Sally Lockhart in the BBC's adaptation of fantasy writer Philip Pullman's The Ruby In The Smoke. SFcrowsnest interviews Billie and looks behind the series of The Ruby In The Smoke.
 The Fountain (Mark's take)
01/01/2007. Mystic pizza. This is an enigmatic story involving the Tree of Life with three story lines: one in the 1500s, one in the near future, and one in the far future, says Mark. Darren Aronofsky is less interested in coherence than in creating New Age-ish cosmic images. This is the sort of film that plays much better at midnight whether you stay up that late or not.
 How to cheat-read
01/01/2007. Mark has a confession to make. He has recently started doing what he calls cheat-reading of certain books. He really likes cheat-reading books. Particularly because he has a house with 20,000 books and by cheat-reading he can get to a lot more of them.
 I have special powers
01/01/2007. Maybe the superhero comic books are not so far-fetched, says Mark. He knows he has special powers. He goes on to muse, "I think I have a sense that the vast majority of other people do not have. I am quite serious about this."
 Reality. Reality.
01/01/2007. Playing with realities is a common theme in Science Fiction, says Uncle Geoff. Invariably, reality is manipulated for the mechanics of any story than in any other genre although there isn't really much in the way of first hand experience in this you would think. It's just taken as a given in SF that a reality can be tweaked and rules are changed as a means to differentiate from current reality, especially as so much is set in the future.
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