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This commercial is like an odd mashup of NASCAR, Footloose, and Pong:

The new Transformers flick is coming out in 2007, from the looks of this clip at least we know it will look slick:

What's cool about this is that so far we've only discovered about 200 planets outside our solar system, so my guess is the number of discoveries will only continue to grow over the next century - and maybe just one of those planets will be like Earth:

Habitable Planet Possible Around Nearby Star System
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060801_science_tuesday.html

In recent years, with improving technology, researchers have found a handful of systems that could harbor life-bearing planets, in theory at least. A nearby star called 55 Cancri is one of the leading candidates.

Astronomers have said since 2002, when a planet was found at about the same orbital distance from 55 Cancri as Jupiter is from the Sun, that the star had the potential to harbor an Earth-sized world.

Rumored for many months, there is now confirmation that a new Doctor Who spinoff series starring Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith, from the Tom Baker era) will be put into production:

Sarah Jane Investigates
The BBC's in-house newsletter Ariel today released information suggesting the identity of the second Doctor Who spinoff series that has bee rumored for the past several months, one that will bring back Elisabeth Sladen, who appeared last season in the episode "School Reunion". Says the item, "CBBC is developing a spin-off series from Doctor Who based on the adventures of investigative journalist Sarah Jane, played by Elizabeth Sladen, and to be written by Russell T Davies. Sladen, who originally played the Doctor's assistant in 1973, returned for the last series where she was seen vying with young Rose Tyler for the Doctor's affections."

Photoshop contest of video games that have never made it out the beta stage:

Video Games That Never Got Made

Check out this amazing Flickr set of a Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyed made out of Lego:

Some good news for Star Trek fans:

Enterprise Heads to Sci Fi Channel

Sci Fi Channel has picked up the four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise to premiere on the cable network early this fall. Enterprise, starring Scott Bakula as "Captain Jonathan Archer," originally aired on UPN from 2001 to 2005, and its 98 produced episodes have been in syndication ever since.

The new venue for Enterprise is part of a package deal between Sci Fi Channel and CBS Paramount Domestic Television that includes multiple made-for-television movies and other series, including Threshold co-starring Brent Spiner ("Data") and produced by Enterprise co-creator Brannon Braga. Threshold was CBS' entry in the competitive sci-fi/thriller field last fall, but was pulled from the network after eight episodes. Twelve episodes were shot — all of which have aired overseas — so the Sci Fi deal will give U.S. audiences a chance to see the whole series on TV. (Of course, serious fans can pick up the DVD starting August 22.)

Good news for fans of 007:

Secret writer for new Bond book

A new James Bond novel is being written – 40 years after the superspy’s last outing. The estate of the late 007 author Ian Fleming has commissioned a “well-known and highly respected” writer for the task. The writer’s identity is being kept a closely-guarded secret until publication.

There hasn’t ben a new Bond novel since 1966 when Octopussy and the Living Daylights and were published after Ian Fleming passed away.

I guess the main question is if the new book will be set in the swinging sixties? James Bond and the Cold War go together like Sherlock Holmes and the Victorian era, it would be sad to get away from that.

This is way too cute:

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Trek, Christies is auctioning off over 1,000 items of memorabilia from CBS Television Studios. The auction will happen in New York 5-7 October but the items can be viewed in London from today until 8 August. Highlights include models of the Starship Enterprise, costumes worn by Captain Kirk, Spock and Uhura and a replica of Kirk's chair (estimate $8,000 to $12,000). There is also stuff from later series - you can bid for Deanna Troi's mini-dress(estimate $1,500 to $2,500), Captain Picard's Starfleet uniform or even your own Borg alcove:

christies.co.uk/special_sites/startrek/overview.asp

It's 1985 and Nintendo intruduces their Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in New York. Retailers are so skeptical about video games that Nintendo has to agree to buy back all unpurchased inventory. Armed with a large number of Nintendo-developed original titles and arcade games, the NES becomes a hit:

This is a fun website devoted to the cult classic live action Japanese TV series Monkey (sometimes known as Monkey Magic), made by NTV in the late 1970s:

http://www.monkeyheaven.com

Monkey Heaven is based on one of the great quest stories, a 16th century Chinese epic called Hsi Yu Chi (= Journey to the West). The title Monkey is probably from Arthur Waley's English translation. The tales, set in 630 AD, describe the demons and monsters who try to stop the Tang Priest Hs’an Tsang (Tripitaka) from reaching a Buddhist monastery in India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures.

The whole series recounts the exploits of the resourceful, brave, and humorous Monkey, the real hero of the fantasy, as he escorts Tripitaka, the pig monster Pigsy, and the water monster Sandy, on their perilous mission.

This site is great for old school videogame fans, it features tons of scans of articles, ads and magazine covers from Joystik to Blip:

Phaze's Classic Videogame Magazine Museum
http://cvmm.vg-network.com

This sounds quite cool, but I think if I was paying $200k I'd like to spend a bit more than 5 minutes in outerspace:

Space travel will take off in five years, travel boss says

"Commercial flights to space could be taking off from Britain within five years, the head of the space travel firm Virgin Galactic said Wednesday. Will Whitehorn said the Lossiemouth Royal Air Force base in Moray, in Scotland, is on track to be used as a base for the company's spacecraft from 2011. Virgin Galactic, owned by billionaire British entrepreneur Richard Branson, will charge 110,000 pounds (209,600 dollars, 162,900 euros) a ticket to give passengers to experience weightlessness for five minutes. It plans to operate around seven spacecraft that will fly 87 miles (156 kilometres) above the earth's surface."

A very silly Russian website has a step-by-step guide to building your own Leela:

Playing a short time from now in a theater far far away:

Shakespeare troupe take light sabre to Star Wars

"George Lucas has given the Reduced Shakespeare Company the green light to condense the Star Wars saga into a 20-minute show. The films total more than 13 hours but this should not pose a problem for the company that did the Complete Works of Shakespeare in 97 minutes. "In the space of 20 minutes I'm going to be Jabba the Hutt, Jar Jar Binks, Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker," said Adam Long, who will write, direct and star in Star Wars - Shortened with two other actors."

This concept seems so far fetched to me - not the idea of a moonbase itself, but planning one over twenty years in advance:

Japanese to Live on the Moon

"It takes something fairly outlandish to raise eyebrows in today's scientific and technological communities, but the Japan Aeorspace Exploration Agency (JAXA) did just that at an international conference held in Tokyo last week. The agency announced its goal to build an inhabitable base on the moon by 2030. Preceding the construction of the lunar base, JAXA has some work to do. Junichiro Kawaguchi, the Japanese agency's director, said the current plan is to send astronauts to the moon in 2020 to begin construction. In the immediate future, the Japanese space program plans to send a new satellite into orbit and unmanned, robot-run missions to the moon to collect rock samples from the moon's surface as early as next year."

An artist's rendering of JAXA's future manned flight to the moon:

It seems like a Prisoner movie is getting close to reality. Christopher Nolan is slated to direct - I hope he does a better job than the Batman series - but then again I wonder if anyone could do a good job of making such a classic series into a movie:

Movie in the making?

"Following hot on the heels of rumours of a proposed TV re-make of "The Prisoner", news has reached TUW that a possible movie adaptation is rumoured to be in the works. According to "Variety", Christopher Nolan ("Memento", "Batman Begins", "Insomnia", pictured left) is ‘near a deal’ with Universal to direct a Prisoner movie, written by David and Janet Webb Peoples. What this means for the mooted Sky TV re-make is not clear. Universal have held movie rights to the series for some years, would they exert pressure on Granada/SKY not to move forward?. As always, we will be first to bring you more details if and when they appear."

...and of course don't forget to visit this cool Prisoner website:

http://www.theunmutual.co.uk/

So using Google trends I asked that age old fanboy Star Trek question:

Who is more popular Captain Kirk or Captain Jean-Luc Picard?

According to Google Trends the clear answer is Captain Kirk!

...although it should be noted that Shatner seemed to hit a high point in 2004, and Patrick Stewart seems in danger of catching up! And for some odd reason Kirk seems most popular in Calgary, Canada.

Fan of the Six Million Dollar Man will remember Steve's bionic eyes, well it looks like that technology will remain science fiction for a while yet (but it's neat to know they are working on this stuff):

FDA Says No to Bionic Eye
livescience.com/humanbiology/ap_060715_bionic_eye.html

A U.S. company had hoped that next year that might be your grandmother. Not so fast, a federal advisory panel said Friday. A tiny telescope designed to be implanted in the eyes of some elderly patients should not receive Food and Drug Administration approval, the panel recommended on a 10-3 vote. The FDA's ophthalmic devices panel recommended against the pea-sized bionic device for safety reasons, spokeswoman Heidi Valetkevitch said.

The first-of-its-kind device is called the Implantable Miniature Telescope. The telephoto lens could enable some patients to do away with the special glasses and handheld telescopes they now use to compensate for the loss in central vision caused by age-related macular degeneration, according to VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies Inc., its manufacturer.

Related links:

VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies Inc.

There's a great TV Guide interview with J.J. Abrams who has been tapped to co-produce the next Star Trek film. There's something quite neat to see that someone who loves the show will be involved:

Lost Boss Tackles Star Trek Enterprise

"TV Guide: Why do you think Star Trek continues to fascinate?
Abrams: It was incredibly smart television. The original series and Next Generation were about something — human nature and the idea of coming up against the unexpected and the often terrifying. It was a good story that happened to be science fiction. When I watch episodes with my 7-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter and see them so vitally respond to a show that was made the year I was born — it's not because it takes place on a spaceship. What endures isn't a genre, it's character and emotional connection."

...I like the fact that his focus is on the original series from the 60s and when he talks about "smart television", you start to suspect that he respects his audience.

Good news for fans of Aarti Chabria (she was Miss India Worldwide 2000):

Aarti Chabria to do the Indian version of Kill Bill

"Aarti Chabria may not be much visible on the Bollywood circuit but down south she is quite a rage. Having already wowed the Telugu audiences with her previous 2 films, she has now added another substantial role to her kitty with Janardhan Maharishi's untitled venture. In her next Telugu film, she plays the role of a terrorist having a split personality. Inspired by the western action saga Kill Bill, Aarti is also handling all the action scenes on her own! Her team members have started calling her ' Matrix', after seeing her perform action sequences. Apart from doing special training for the action sequences, Aarti has also colored her hair jet black to suit the roles. Says a seemingly excited Aarti, "After a long time I have got a chance to show my talent in portraying some different roles and I'm sure my fans will appreciate my new avatars"."

It's very cool that Microsoft is doing this - creating video games has always been very closed, hats off to Gates and Co, on this one:

Microsoft Invites the World to Create Its Own Xbox 360 Console Games for the First Time

"In the 30 years of video game development, the art of making console games has been reserved for those with big projects, big budgets and the backing of big game labels. Now Microsoft Corp. is bringing this art to the masses with a revolutionary new set of tools, called XNA Game Studio Express, based on the XNA platform. XNA Game Studio Express will democratize game development by delivering the necessary tools to hobbyists, students, indie developers and studios alike to help them bring their creative game ideas to life while nurturing game development talent, collaboration and sharing that will benefit the entire industry.

By providing an integrated, seamless development environment based on Visual Studio Express and .NET that simplifies the integration and use of game content, XNA Game Studio Express makes game development easier to accomplish for smaller projects, strongly increasing the chance for great game ideas to make it out of the concept stage and into the hands of gamers everywhere.

The XNA Game Studio Express beta will be available Aug. 30, 2006, as a free download on Windows XP, for development on the Windows XP platform. XNA Game Studio Express will give anyone with a Windows XP-based PC access to a unified development tool that liberates the creation of great Xbox 360 and Windows XP-compatible games, providing a new alternative to the existing multithousand-dollar development kits that many console games require. The final version of XNA Game Studio Express will be available this holiday season."

A fan website has come up with some inspirational posters featuring Kirk and cohorts. Each poster is available for download as a low-res JPG or a higher-res PNG:

It looks like William Shatner will be doing a voice over for an upcoming Star Trek video game:

William Shatner to save Star Trek

"WILLIAM SHATNER is hoping that his voice over work for the next Star Trek game could spark a renewed interest in the franchise. Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk in the original series, has agreed to reprise his role in the new Star Trek: Legacy game which is due out in October. Interest in Star Trek is waning after Star Trek: Enterprise was mercifully canned last year and no feature films planned until 2008.

Shatner told Reuters in a telephone interview that interest was waning because Trek has been around a long time. He thinks it needs something new and different. Shatner, who doesn't play video games, hopes the gaming medium can keep the "Star Trek" flame burning. He added if Legacy was a good game, keeping true to the characters and having an interesting story that branches, it could bring freshness to a franchise like 'Star Trek."

According to Wikipedia: "The Atari 2600, released in 1977, is the first successful video game console to use plug-in cartridges instead of having one or more games built in. Originally known as the Atari VCS—for Video Computer System—the machine's name was changed to "Atari 2600" (from the unit's Atari part number, CX2600) in 1982, after the release of the more advanced Atari 5200. It was wildly successful, and during the 1980s, "Atari" was a synonym for this model in mainstream media."

Here's a cool commercial from the golden age of video games:

If you like seeing good science fiction that features vampires you're in luck, Richard Matheson's 1954 novel "I Am Legend" is set to start filming:

Will Smith to Begin a Six-Month Production Shoot for I Am Legend

"An over half-year production schedule has been set for the Will Smith sci-fi film I Am Legend, according to Production Weekly. The film is the adaptation of the Richard Matheson's 1954 novel to be directed by Constantine director Francis Lawrence. Set in Los Angeles after a biological war, the film centers on the sole healthy survivor, a man who finds himself in a battle against nocturnal mutants. Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth... but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and child has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood."

Below: Cover designs from various printings of the book:

Good news if you like Tim Burton films or musicals based on the penny dreadful exploits of a Victorian barber who kills his customers (sounds like a winning combo to me):

DreamWorks Greenlights Tim Burton Sweeney Todd Film Starring Johnny Depp

"DreamWorks Studios confirmed plans for the upcoming Tim Burton film version of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd starring his constant collaborator Johnny Depp in the title role. John Logan ("The Aviator," "Gladiator") penned the screenplay adaptation planned to begin work early in 2007 for a "late 2007 release," according to the announcement."

...I can't wait to see whatthey do with Depp's hair for the role, even if the film is bad you know it's going to be fun!

Below: Artwork from the 70s Broadway musical.

I think I'm already over this film and I haven't even seen it yet (maybe one doesn't have to see it, perhaps just knowing enough the correct catch-phrases is all that is required for proper water cooler conversation on the topic). But here's some of the latest hype from the Daily Show, because you don't want to be left behind:

This finding reminds me a great deal of the movie Blade Runner:

Clone 'would feel individuality'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5187990.stm

A cloned human would probably consider themselves to be an individual, a study suggests. Scientists drew their conclusions after interviewing identical twins about their experiences of sharing exactly the same genes with somebody else. The team said the twins believed their genes played a limited role in shaping their identity.

A found this great tutorial by knitting diva Kristine Howard on how to make your own sock monkey:

web-goddess.org/writing/tutorial/Image0.html

This video was shot at a convention in England, on stage is Marina Sirtis, Garret Wong, and Robin Curtis. After being asked what the future of Star Trek is on TV, Garret gives a possibly too honest answer:

Rick Berman not welcome at Paramount?

This is a smart marketing move, and some of the t-shirts are pretty clever too:

"Creating a unique program in the true ‘citizen’ spirit of Snakes on a Plane, New Line and CafePress have partnered to permit fans of the movie to become official licensees of Snakes on a Plane merchandise."

http://www.cafepress.com/buy/snakes+on+a+plane

I don't know, is it me or does this game look quite lame? The trailer doesn't quite capture what made the film so good, I mean do I care where Mr. Pink put the diamonds? Also by following the film so closely it looks like they suffer from bad game design by being too linear, but you be the judge:

I always thought that Stargate was alright, but to be honest I was never blown away by the show. Every episode seemed alike after a while, although MacGyver in the laed role made it interesting to catch from time to time. But anyway after a long run it looks like they've pulled the plug, but on the sad side they've renewed the spinsoff show Atlantis:

Sci Fi’s Stargate SG-1 Said to Be Axed

"People close to the production of Stargate SG-1 said Sci Fi Channel canceled the series on the eve of its 200th episode, which aired last Friday night, making the show the first cable scripted series to reach such a milestone. The announcement came in sometime before cast, crew and executives gathered to celebrate the historic airing at a Saturday-evening bash held at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia, where the series is shot. Spinoff series Stargate Atlantis -- which also airs Friday nights on Sci Fi and shares producers and production facilities with the older SG-1 -- was said to be unaffected by the cancellation. Atlantis is currently in its third season."

According to Ain't It Cool News the creators of South Park are working on a new film called "Giant Monsters Attack Japan". Here's the source article from Variety:

Crass clowns park pic pair

"South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have set two live-action films at Paramount. Parker and Stone, who have re-christened their Par-based shingle Important Pictures, will first make the Jeff Roda-scripted high school comedy "My All-American." They plan to follow with "Giant Monsters Attack Japan!," a film scripted by J.F. Lawton ("Under Siege") that will combine live-action with the "rubber suit" techniques made popular in Asian imports like Godzilla."

Song Hye Kyo is a Korean actress whose nickname is "woodpecker" because she talks so fast. Her first big break came when Song co-starred in the KBS drama Autumn Fairy Tale in 2000 with Song Seung-hun and Won Bin. The show quickly became popular as a tragic love story.

Here is an ultra cute ad she recently did for McDonalds in Korea which is pushing ice cream:

Alright I admit it, I'm not the biggest fan in the world of the new Galactica series. I watched the show when it was first on the air, and my final memories of the series was that bad spin off Galactica 1980 which was bad, really really bad! In fact it was so bad that one episode featured a baseball game ala the Bad News Bears. So no matter how cool the new show is, I always be haunted by memories of that damn space dog robot and the phrase "Starbucking!"

But anyway on the bright side if you are a fan of the show and not haunted by visions of that brat Boxey (God I hated that brat!) then you'll love this very cool website which is a wiki on Battlestar Galactica:

battlestarwiki.org

I just discovered this great web page via Digg:

Evolution of Speech Balloons