Science Fiction

"Jesus....MacArthur....Jay-Z....the great ones....always return." The four dots are meant to represent dramatic pauses. Work with me here, people. Paramount Pictures has unveiled the latest trailer for the highly anticipated comedy sequel Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. You can check it out here below. When I saw that a new trailer for Anchorman 2 had hit today I tracked it down with the hope that we would finally get a first look at scenes from the sequel that has been in the works in one form or another for nearly a decade. No go friends. Instead we once again get the Channel 4 News Team - lead anchorman Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), field reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), sports anchor Champ Kind (David Koechner), and weatherman Brick Tamland (Steve Carrell) - giving direct-to-camera quips, showing us that the team chemistry is still there despite having been mothballed since Bush II ran for reelection [...]

You can now download Glen Cook's The Black Company: The First novel of "The Chronicles of the Black Company" for only 2.99$ here.Here's the blurb:Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hard-bitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their doubts with their dead.Until the prophesy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more. There must be a way for the Black Company to find her...So begins one of the greatest fantasy epics of our age—Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company.

The BBC has released a video of David Tennant and Matt Smith chatting about Doctor Who - watch it in the player above. During it they talk about how their characters get on in the 50th Anniversary Special, due to air on November 23. Visit the episode section for more news on the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special HERE.

The BBC has released a behind~the~scenes video from tonight's Doctor Who Series 7 finale, The Name of the Doctor - watch it in the player above. Visit The Name of the Doctor section for more pics, news and clips HERE.

So, by now, we’ve all seen Star Trek Into Darkness. Some of us loved it, some of us hated it, some of us said, “meh.” But, forget about what you thought of the movie for a second. What did you think of the science? Let’s take a more in depth look at some of the most sciencey moments from STID. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyways, that this review contains SPOILERS!!! [WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD] Into the Volcano The Nibiru volcano scene was revealed in the IMAX preview of STID last December. We basically saw the entire scene back then, but there are a few points that I didn’t catch the first time around that I’ll touch on here. Spock takes a stroll in the Nibiru volcano The look and feel of the volcano is pretty spot on For the most part, they get this part right. Speaking as a volcanologist who loves to nitpick geology scenes in movies, there is not much for me to gripe about in Into Darkness. Of course, the visual artists did dramatize the scene a bit, but for everything they got wrong there’s another detail they got right. What was wrong visually? I can tell you from experience that the inside of an active volcano doesn’t look quite like what we saw in STID. The biggest flaw? Flames. Too much fire and brimstone. Yes, volcanoes produce hot steam, ash, and magma, but what’s depicted in STID looks more like a forest fire — embers and flames swirling around Spock. Again, this is a somewhat minor point, so it’s forgivable. The visual details that are spot on. The geologist in me was giggling with joy when she saw Spock standing atop real lava! The ropey, black rock beneath Spock’s feet is really something that came out of a volcano: a type of lava rock called Pahoehoe. And, if one was to flash freeze molten volcanic rock as Spock’s “cold fusion device” did, it’d look a lot like what we saw on screen: jet black volcanic glass. The best part of the volcano, though, was the bubble burst. A gigantic bubble of gas rose through the lava lake and formed a huge dome of lava that loomed far above Spock’s head. The pressure built up inside the bubble until it burst open, sending bits of molten rock flying in one large catastrophic explosion. That is EXACTLY what happens in real lava lakes. Spock in a seriously cool looking volcano BONUS: Fumaroles on a nearby planetoid! Recall the scene where Carol Marcus and Bones shuttle down to a nearby planetoid to have a go at diffusing of the mysterious photon torpedoes. What you probably didn’t realize was that this was a “volcanic” scene, too! My eyes immediately jumped to the flat plain of lava rock (scoria, a type of basaltic volcanic rock) where Carol and Bones were fiddling with the torpedo. In the background was a beautifully rendered fumarole – a crack in the ground where volcanic gasses escape into the atmosphere. The look and feel of the scene was completely scientifically realistic. What’s even better is that it felt like a barren, vast, wasteland. No vegetation, no animal life. This made it really feel like some small volcanic moon or “planetoid”. I’ll go out on a limb here and say this is in my opinion the most realistic looking planetary body I’ve ever seen in a movie. Props to the visual artists! Below is a couple of examples of real world locations reminiscent of the torpedo disarming scene in Into Darkness. Volcanic plains resembling the torpedo disarming scene in Into Darkness Verdict: The visuals were great. The volcano looked more realistic than any film I’ve seen, minus the swirling embers. What a real volcano looks like The science behind the volcano: Oh so close, but not quite right We cannot take the heat, cap’n! Here’s where the volcano scene took a turn for the less believable. Both Sulu and Scotty suggest that the heat from the volcano is too much for the shuttle or the Enterprise

The returns are starting to come in for Star Trek Into Darkness and it looks like it is going to come in under expectations with an domestic opening weekend around $70M (giving it an $83M total including Wednesday and Thursday). Overseas the film is performing stronger than its predecessor with an estimated $75M international take. More details and analysis below. Into Darkness underperforming Star Trek 2009 Domestically Star Trek Into Darkness brought in $11.5 on its opening day on Thursday making it the #1 domestic movie, but below expectations. Box office watchers feel that many movie-goers weren’t aware Paramount moved the release date up one day, which was only done a week ahead. Early estimates for Into Darkness had it headed for a $27M Friday and a $85M opening weekend (Fri/Sat/Sun), boosted by a "A" CinemaScore rating and strong reviews. However, by Saturday morning Friday’s results were revised to an estimated $22M. Paramount is now projecting $70M for the weekend. Analysts and rival studios think the number could be less, as low as $56M (according to Deadline). BoxOffice.com is estimating $68M. Bottom line is that it looks like despite inflation and increased revenue from 3D ticket sales, Into Darkness will underperform the 2009 Star Trek movie in its opening weekend (although it will likely end the weekend with a higher cumulative gross due to the earlier release). STAR TREK VS. INTO DARKNESS Domestic $M Star Trek 2009 Into Darkness (estimates*) Wednesday - $2.0** Thursday $4** $11.5 Friday $26.9 $22.0 Saturday $27.2 Sunday $21.0 Open Wkd Total. $75.2 $70.0 Cumulative $79.2 $83.5 *Estimates based on Paramount projection **limited release A $65-$70M opening weekend would make Into Darkness the third highest grossing opening weekend of 2013 so far (behind Iron Man 3 and Oz: The Great and Powerful) and would rank it in 7th or 8th place if it were a 2012 release. The 2009 Star Trek movie had the 6th best opening weekend of the year. Into Darkness overperforming 2009 Star Trek Overseas Paramount tells Variety, Into Darkness is "currently orbiting $75M for the weekend in 33 territories." We don’t have country by country details yet, but so far wherever there has been data, it has shown Into Darkness significantly overperforming the 2009 Star Trek film in each territory. Overall the film has been doing round 60-70% better than the previous film internationally, but it is still early to see if that trend continues. Right now most of the above is based on estimates and projections. In the next couple of days we will have more concrete details on how Into Darkness is performing both domestically and internationally.

Included in the player below is the sensational opening pre~titles sequence from the Doctor Who Series 7 finale, The Name of the Doctor which just aired in the UK. It airs later tonight in North America and on May 19 in South Africa, Poland and Australia. Visit The Name of the Doctor section for more pics, news and clips HERE.

Another interesting trailer, this one forwarded to me by my friend, Nick Oettinger:

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/05/17/joss-whedon-much-ado-about-nothing-siff/ EW.com covers Thursday's screening in Seattle. A video of the red carpet event featuring interviews with Alexis, Amy, Clark and Joss can be here and some fab pics from the Q&A can be found on Flickr.

“On The Smugglers’ Radar” is a feature for books that have caught our eye: books we have heard of via other bloggers, directly from publishers, and/or from our regular incursions into the Amazon jungle. Thus, the Smugglers’ Radar was born. Because we want far more books than we can possibly buy or review (what else is new?), we thought we would make the Smugglers’ Radar into a weekly feature – so YOU can tell us which books you have on your radar as well! On Ana’s Radar: I saw this book on NetGalley last week and OH MY GOD, the blurb touches on many of my favourite things! A dauntless heroine coming of age at the turn of the twentieth century confronts the hazards of patriarchy and prejudice, and discovers the unexpected opportunities of World War I Set in rural North Carolina between the Civil War and the Great War, Love and Lament chronicles the hardships and misfortunes of the Hartsoe family. Mary Bet, the youngest of nine children, was born the same year that the first railroad arrived in their county. As she matures, against the backdrop of Reconstruction and rapid industrialization, she must learn to deal with the deaths of her mother and siblings, a deaf and damaged older brother, and her father’s growing insanity and rejection of God. In the rich tradition of Southern gothic literature, John Milliken Thompson transports the reader back in time through brilliant characterizations and historical details, to explore what it means to be a woman charting her own destiny in a rapidly evolving world dominated by men. This new book from Sarah Beth Durst sounds like it can be loads of fun. And after loving Vessel so much, reading this is a no-brainer. Lost your way? Your dreams? Yourself? Welcome to Lost. It was supposed to be a small escape. A few hours driving before turning around and heading home. But once you arrive in Lost…well, it’s a place you really can’t leave. Not until you’re Found. Only the Missing Man can send you home. And he took one look at Lauren Chase and disappeared. So Lauren is now trapped in the town where all lost things go-luggage, keys, dreams, lives-where nothing is permanent, where the locals go feral and where the only people who don’t want to kill her are a handsome wild man called the Finder and a knife-wielding six-year-old girl. The only road out of town is engulfed by an impassable dust storm, and escape is impossible…. Until Lauren decides nothing-and no one-is going to keep her here anymore. This MG Fantasy series came highly recommended to me and I am intrigued, I even bought the first book already. Anyone read this? MAX MCDANIELS LIVES a quiet life in the suburbs of Chicago, until the day he stumbles upon a mysterious Celtic tapestry. Many strange people are interested in Max and his tapestry. His discovery leads him to Rowan Academy, a secret school where great things await him. But dark things are waiting, too. When Max learns that priceless artworks and gifted children are disappearing, he finds himself in the crossfire of an ancient struggle between good and evil. To survive, he’ll have to rely on a network of agents and mystics, the genius of his roommate, and the frightening power awakening within him. Ok, so. DEEP BREATHS. I hate the tagline on the cover – it sounds super cheesy and I will put it down to a marketing choice because the blurb, the fact that this is Norse Mythology AND the author make me want to give it a try. Fans of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and Holly Black’s The Curse Workers will embrace this richly drawn, Norse-mythology-infused alternate world: the United States of Asgard. Seventeen-year-old Soren Bearskin is trying to escape the past. His father, a famed warrior, lost himself to the battle-frenzy and killed thirteen innocent people. Soren cannot deny that berserking is in his blood–the fevers, insomnia, and occasional feelings of uncontrollable rage haunt him. So he trie