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Happy National Read a Book Day! Celebrate with these essential sci-fi classics. Space, dystopian futures, robots, technology, aliens . . . what is there not to love about science fiction, a genre that stretches the imagination and offers a glimpse into what lies in a galaxy and time far, far away? Now that you've indulged on the most compelling, classic epic fantasy series, it's time to switch gears. Onward, futurists! We recruited our own POPSUGAR editors to help compile the ultimate list of geeky reads. And this week, we're showcasing the best sci-fi narratives, with all the traditional elements of...

Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is just about to enjoy a digitally restored limited U.K. theatrical release. And to celebrate, here's a lovely new trailer.

One of my favorite little moments in the very entertaining new “Star Trek” movie comes when the young James T. Kirk activates the computer system of a car he swiped for a joyride, and the Nokia logo comes up. It’s nice to see Nokia’s still in business in the twenty-third century. Such simple touches help to humanize the Star Trek universe, which had drifted a bit too far from recognizable human experience for audiences to fully engage with its characters. The presence of a good old-fashioned corporate logo in the new movie put me in mind of a long-ago, free-wheeling,...

It’s been 30 years since James Cameron made his name with a futuristic sci-fi actioner starring ex-bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, inspired by his own nightmare vision of a murderous mecha-skeleton. Shot for $5.6 million in 1984, The Terminator changed everything for Cameron and his fellow Roger Corman disciple and producer Gale Anne Hurd. The two have since carved their own influential paths – Cameron with Aliens, Titanic, and his $2.7 billion Avatar franchise, Hurd with AMC's ratings juggernaut The Walking Dead. And they're still proving that original ideas can be profitable in spite of Hollywood’s "fear-based" decision-making, while keeping a polite...

It's Banned Books Week! But people are trying to keep great books out of libraries and schools every hour of every day, year round. And often, people's reasons for challenging these titles are really, really... outlandish. Here are 12 SF and fantasy books that people have given incomprehensible reasons for banning.

Zack Snyder gave us a gritty, black-and-white glimpse of the new Batmobile back in May, and now, thanks to some people on Instagram who happen to be near the shoot, we're now starting to get a good look at the entire vehicle. The new photos show Batman v. Superman's Batmobile parked against the side of the road — where it's clearly a lot bigger than the average car.

Earlier this month, two fan conventions came to London: Nine Worlds and the World Science Fiction Convention, commonly know as Worldcon. Worldcon is in its 72nd year, a huge old dinosaur (or perhaps an aging dragon) of science-fiction fandom. This year more than 10,000 people paid for memberships, which included entrance to the annual Hugo Awards. The official guests of honor were revered science-fiction and fantasy authors, editors, and illustrators, all of whom were in their 60s and 70s. Nine Worlds was smaller, younger, and catered to a more varied crowd including comics, TV, and fanfic followers. But since both...

"The New Breed" is an episode from the first season of The Outer Limits revival series. It was originally telecast on June 23, 1995. It stars Richard Thomas. It is a cautionary tale about an experiment that goes too far. From the Wikipedia article: Dr. Stephen Ledbetter makes a technological and medical breakthrough when he creates a type of tiny machine, known as nanobots, capable of curing any disease or imperfections in the human body. Watch on HuluWikipedia (contains SPOILERS)IMDb (contains SPOILERS) The running time of the episode itself is 44:28 but there are commercials which add to that time.

An effort is underway to honor one of Waukegan's favorite sons, the late science fiction pioneer Ray Bradbury. Waukegan Public Library Executive Director Richard Lee said nearly all the details remain to be worked out beyond the basic idea -- a realistic statue or bust of Bradbury, who wrote evocatively of the fictional Green Town, a recognizable stand-in for his hometown. lRelated A history of Waukegan The effort echoes the push for a statue memorializing another Waukegan legend, comedian Jack Benny, a radio and early TV star honored with a downtown statue in 2001.

A new, unprecedented bill passed by California’s State Senate on Thursday will encourage public schools to teach students about the historical significance surrounding Barack Obama’s status as the first African-American president of the United States of America. Assembly Bill 1921 passed with a 30-1 vote, according to the Associated Press. It was introduced by Assemblyman Dan Holden (D-Pasadena). Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) says the bill would require the Instructional Quality Commission (which facilitates much of California’s Common Core framework) to consider teaching students about Obama’s election within the context of past voter discrimination, the AP notes. Sen. Joel Anderson...

In these days of seemingly weekly science fiction blockbusters (which are usually SF in name only… they're actually just big gun actioners that take place in the future) and the hype that surrounds them, it's easy to forget that once such films were the low man on the totem pole. Stuff fit for kids and juveniles but not serious adult audiences. Thus, in past decades, except for a few A list films like Them and The Day the Earth Stood Still in the 1950s and Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, and Logan's Run in the '60s and '70s, many...

The NBCUniversal-owned cable network has put into development Ghost Brigades, a drama based on John Scalzi's Hugo-nominated Old Man's War universe book series, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The NeverEnding Story's Wolfgang Petersen will oversee development on the project alongside Scott Stuber (Safe House), with Jake Thornton and Ben Lustig (Winter's Knight) on board to pen the first script. The drama hails from Universal Cable Productions, Petersen's Radiant Productions and Stuber's Bluegrass Films. Ghost Brigades follows John Perry, who at 75 enlists in the Colonial Defense Force to fight a centuries-long war for man's expansion into the cosmos. Technology allows...

The reviews aren't yet in for Scarlett Johansson's new movie Lucy, but a single viewing of the trailer is enough to give the film a resounding "two thumbs down" on science... The idea that humans only use 10% of their brains is a complete, utter, and total myth. Lucy is entirely premised on neuroscientific BS...

A recent list of top science fiction films had some unusual choices and left out some well-regarded classics. But, says Quentin Cooper, that's part of the problem – sci-fi is such a broad church it's often very hard to define. Time Out, the weekly listings magazine, recently ranked the 100 best sci-fi movies of all time. They did it by polling 150 "leading sci-fi experts, filmmakers, science fiction writers, film critics and scientists" and getting them to each provide their 10 favourites. As lists go it's a decent one. It's hard for me to take issue with a top three...

The TV series Dark Secrets, from 3net Studios, begins each episode with a teaser prologue, followed by this ominous voiceover: “When an abandoned industrial building is cleared for demolition, a locked door is discovered in its basement. The door conceals an archive of strange and disturbing specimens, recordings, photos, and documentary films—compelling evidence of monstrous creatures and preternatural events. The documentarian’s whereabouts remain unknown. In his records, he identifies himself only as ‘The Teller.’ His investigations reveal a frightening world of dark secrets.” The series deals in strange, supernatural phenomena, presented in a classic documentary style. Eyewitnesses or survivors are...

Stephen Leeds, AKA “Legion,” is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills. As the story begins, Leeds and his “aspects” are drawn into the search for the missing Balubal Razon, inventor of a camera whose astonishing properties could alter our understanding of human history and change the very structure of society. I thought you Freepers might like this book, I found the storyline good and the characters interesting, and I found the "aspect" J.C. fun. The...

This summer drama mashes up a lot of sci-fi premises we've seen before, but in a way that shows potential. The first episode of Extant (CBS, Wednesdays) establishes with several quick cues that you are looking at the future. When astronaut Molly Woods (Halle Berry) washes up in the bathroom, she pulls up a news feed on the mirror. The garbage can outside her house is a transparent prism that compacts trash elegantly. Also, the show seems to posit an alternative universe in which CBS airs high-profile new dramas and they’re not about cops or lawyers. That particular aspect of...

Scientists are desperately scrambling to face the newest “global change” problem: plastic in the ocean. A recent expedition involving over 400 scientists from around the world has discovered that there is plastic in ALL of the world’s oceans. Really. ALL of them. Oceans, not scientists. “The findings reveal that plastic pollution is far more widespread than first thought,” says Science World Report. “Rather than being in isolated pockets of the ocean, it's a global problem. It's clear that steps need to be taken in order to reduce the amount of plastic waste currently winding up in our world's oceans. A...

In "Man of Steel," the most recent Superman film, when Superman's parents send their son away from their dying planet to save his life, his mom worries he will not be accepted on Earth because he is an alien to the planet. "He will be an outcast. They'll kill him," his mother says. "How? He'll be a god to them," says his father, Jor-El, who believes Superman will be an ideal Earth's inhabitants will strive to reach.