As you can see above, the film shows the early life of the young Han solo (played by Alden Ehrenreich) as he seemingly enrolls in the Imperial flight academy and apparently busts out of it before being recruited for an adventure by Woody Harrelson. Word is we’ll get to see his first encounters with both Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian – the latter of whom is being played by Donald Glover in what looks like a piece of A++ perfect casting.

Though a prequel, it is a standalone movie in a sense; like Rogue One, it’s not considered part of the Star Wars ‘Saga’ per se, despite providing backstory and filling out the history of the world the saga is set in.

Also released is a TV Spot which teases a few more scenes:

The film is directed by Ron Howard who’s mostly know for directing such Oscar Bait movies as A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13. He’s no stranger to genre material though, as he also directed cult 80’s classics Willow and Cocoon. Perhaps he’ll even draw on his time as an actor in Happy Days and give Solo a little of that Fonzie charm.

Will Emilia Clarke’s character be a love interest or, refreshingly, not? Will the adventure mould Han into the scruffy-looking nerf herder we all know and love? Will important bits fall off the Millenium Falcon at a crucial juncture?

We’ll find out on May 25th!

The post Solo : A Star Wars Story (Trailer & TV Spot) first appeared on Sci-Fi Heaven.

The Last Jedi is somewhat different. It makes efforts to try new things in the Star Wars universe. Some of them work, some of them leave you scratching your head. It hits some magnificent, classic Star Wars highs, but has some dangerously prequel-esque lows.

The latest chapter in the Star Wars saga picks up directly after the end of The Force Awakens. We see Rey continue in her pursuit of a reluctant Luke Skywalker, Poe and Leia striking back against The First Order and Finn generally having little of much substance to do.

And therein lies one of the flaws of the new film. Anything involving Rey/Luke/Kylo is fantastic (and I saw that with some surprise, as I didn’t take to Adam Driver’s Run in The Force Awakens all that much – he is much improved as a character here) and Leia is fantastic when she’s on screen (which isn’t much). However, the Finn and Rose plot line with them galavanting around trying to save the day – usually by contributing some small yet meaningful act – doesn’t really work for me. Finn’s characterisation seems a little off compared to the first movie, the Rose character simply isn’t that interesting, and the entire sequence on the casino planet is just dull. Things don’t get much better in the ludicrous battle between Finn and Phasma, which manages to lack any of the emotional resonance it should have had. Instead, we’re distracted by an obscene number of background explosions, cinders flying through the air, and all-round gratuitous CGI. It’s disappointing considering how well The Force Awakens did in this regard.

However, there is much to be admired here. The exchange between Snoke – disappointingly killed off with hardly any backstory development – and Rey on the Supremacy is fantastic, and the subsequent sabre fight with Kylo and Rey fighting side by side is wonderful from both a plot and cinematographic perspective.

So too are the exchanges on Ahch-To (or ‘Bless You’, as I like to call it) are very engaging, and the appearance of Yoda I enjoyed very much. In particular, a thumbs up to the decision to use a puppet instead of the awful prequel CGI Yoda that pirouetted across our screens.

There’s plenty of good Star Wars in here, but plenty to make it different. Right when we expect our heroes to stage a miraculous recovery and clinch victory from the jaws of defeat, the fall flat on their faces. I suppose that’s quite common in the second instalment in the trilogy, but nonetheless it felt quite fresh in the Star Wars setting.

Rey’s character development felt comprehensive and necessary too. Her brief duel with Luke on Ahch-To in particular feels like it is the pivotal moment of the entire trilogy, for her character, Luke and the overall story arc. Daisy Ridley is eminently watchable and engaging on screen.

Mark Hamill too rocks an excellent performance, with a darker, more troubled Luke Skywalker. Despite his embittered alcoholic demeanour, he lets moments of the original trilogy Luke shine through just enough to make his transformation believable. I particularly enjoyed his stand-off with Kylo on Crait, where his acceptance of what was necessary echoed the original encounter between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader.

There were also a few “Really, though?” moments. Particularly the handy and sudden development of hyperspace tracking rendering the Resistance pretty much useless as a guerrilla force. The fact that Haldo waited until pretty much the entire Resistance had been massacred before disabling the Supremacy as well seemed like it was only done to heighten the stakes of the final encounter on Crait (which is excellent, it should be noted). Finally, Poe’s entire plot line in the film seems a little at odds with the last movie. Still the plucky hero, it’s very quickly established here that he’s extremely reckless – which seems to be his main trait in this film.

My only other criticism would be the pacing in the opening hour. It felt a little bit disjointed, and a little aimless for a while. That didn’t take too long to clear up and get moving, and what we’re left with is a film that feels two and a half hours, but you don’t ever quite feel the need to check your watch.

By contrast, I felt The Force Awakens flew by.

I’m curious to see what the final chapter brings. How will they deal with the tragic death of Carrie Fisher, when Leia’s character plot line is clearly unresolved? Will we find out more about Snoke? Is what Kylo told her about her parentage the truth? There’s plenty more to see here, and I look forward to seeing JJ Abrams’ take in the final movie.

The Last Jedi proves there’s plenty of life left in the Star Wars universe without the need to homage the original trilogy constantly. It stands as a very strong Star Wars film in its own right – lightyears ahead of the prequel trilogy – but is let down by some of its handling of characters like Finn, a little over-exuberance with those CGI horses, and some pacing/plot holes that didn’t sit quite right with me.

That said, I cannot wait for the next instalment and to find out what happens next with Rey. I’m also curious to see where they go with Poe, as it happens. Finn/Rose? Not so much. I do hope they find a nice way to tie off Finn’s character, but there’s a real risk of it falling into mediocrity in the overall Star Wars lore – and they don’t have a huge amount of screen time left to fix that.

Onwards and upwards.

Overall? B+

The post Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Review first appeared on Sci-Fi Heaven.

And another factor is oversea box office. Certain video games are immensely popular in other countries besides the US, and moviegoers flock to the theater to see movies based on those games. All in all, movies based on video games are hot properties, and the following five video games are great examples of that.

Mortal Kombat

The first three movies based on video games to be made by Hollywood are Super Mario Brothers, Double Dragon, and Streetfighter. The first two were box office poison, and all three received incredibly low critical reviews.

The fourth movie adapted from a video game was Mortal Kombat, and it elevated the genre. It made as much money as the previous three movies combined, and received better reviews than any video game-based movie had before.

Streetfighter and Mortal Kombat are very similar games, and in fact were direct competitors as video games. They both were tournament-based one-on-one fighting games. Streetfighter attempted to create an elaborate plot that veered wildly outside of the video game’s scope, and enlisted the star power of action mega star Jean-Claude Van Damme. The near-universal audience and critical reaction was deeply negative.

Mortal Kombat, on the other hand, stuck true to its video game roots. The plot was very similar to the plot of the game, with a fighting tournament for the fate of the world. The movie starred Christopher Lambert, known for his work in the Highlander series of movies, but not an action star on Van Damme’s level. The movie put the focus on its driving techno-based soundtrack and the fighting, and audiences responded.

Critics too liked Mortal Kombat more than previous video game adaptations, while not being overly effusive. But what it proved was that the movie based on a video game could be a hit, and a viable franchise.

Tomb Raider

The next video game property to burst onto the Hollywood scene was Tomb Raider. The treasure hunting heroine Lara Croft had long been a video game fan favorite, and superstar actress Angelina Jolie signing on to play her in the movie was a big deal. Tomb Raider went on to make nearly $275 million at the box office, shattering the record Mortal Kombat had held.

Jolie went on to star in a sequel called Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, which grossed only around $150 million. It wasn’t quite up to the standard set by the original movie, but it still was the second-highest gross for a video game based movie.

And the franchise still has legs, as a Tomb Raider reboot is in the works currently. A new star is onboard to play the iconic heroine, and it’s possible that this new movie will continue the trend of box office gold for the video game franchise.

Resident Evil

The video game which has produced the highest number of movies is Resident Evil, and it’s not particularly close. The horror survival game has had six movies made based on it, with the last of them signaling (at least for now) the end of the movie franchise.

The first Resident Evil movie was made in 2002, and the last was made in 2016, meaning that Resident evil movies have been hitting the market at an average of about every two years for over a decade. The franchise has grossed over $1.2 billion over its lifespan, making it the video game property whose adaptations have been the most financially successful of all time.

What’s interesting about the Resident Evil movie franchise is that it was so successful despite ignoring most of the content of the games themselves. It follows the exploits of a protagonist named Alice, who was created entirely for the movie franchise. There are zombies, but aside from that almost nothing from the games makes it into the franchise. And yet Resident Evil was wildly successful.

Image source: Bloody-disgusting.com

Prince of Persia

The Prince of Persia games became the next entrant into the big budget video game-based Hollywood movie arena in 2010, with the release of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Helmed by a cast including Jake Gyllenhaal and Ben Kingsley, the movie ended up grossing over $330 million, making it the biggest money maker of any video game-based movie up to that point.

The film earned mixed critical responses, but when considering the bar video game-based movies often set, this was seen as a success. And audiences turned out in sufficient numbers that the movie was quite profitable.

The standard that Prince of Persia established was that Hollywood had the ability to make a video game-based movie with big stars and have it be a safe financial investment. While no one will likely look back on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time as a groundbreaking movie in any way, it serves as an example of the increasing extent to which video games are mainstream entertainment.

Warcraft

If you had to guess the highest grossing movie based on a video game, would you guess Warcraft? Most people wouldn’t, and yet the movie Warcraft holds the distinction of making the most money of any video game-based movie of all time. Warcraft grossed $433 million dollars in theaters, shattering the record held by the Prince of Persia movie by nearly $100 million.

Critics generally strongly disliked the Warcraft movie, and US audiences tended to share that sentiment. Reviews were nearly universally poor, and the movie underperformed domestic projections for revenue.

However, two things pushed Warcraft to its lofty perch atop the video-game-to-movie heap. The first is the massive fanbase of the Warcraft video game universe. Warcraft was a series of groundbreaking real time strategy games, the most successful and popular Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Game of all time in World of Warcraft, and a popular digital card game in Hearthstone. And a modification of Warcraft 3 became DotA, which launched the MOBA video game genre.

Between all those games and the fanbases devoted to them, there was a strong baseline of moviegoers willing to see the Warcraft movie.

The second thing that benefited the Warcraft movie’s bottom line was the international market, and specifically China. The Chinese market was eagerly anticipating the movie, and it was a smash hit upon release. In its first five days in Chinese theaters, Warcraft grossed over $150 million.

The story of Warcraft goes to show that a movie doesn’t need to get good reviews or be beloved by the US moviegoing population if it has other things going for it.

Erik Winther is a passionate video producer from Southern California and the creator of Netflix Guides, a site to help all TV and movie enthusiasts keep up with the latest shows coming on Netflix.

The post 5 Video Games that Turned into Successful Movies first appeared on Sci-Fi Heaven.

The influx of awesome sci-fi movies won’t end anytime soon, as 2018 also has a good lineup for the genre. So, here are 5 movies for next year that should be on the list of any sci-fi fan.

The Maze Runner: The Death Cure

The Death Cure will be the epic finale of The Maze Runner trilogy. In this final installment, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) leads his group in the final and most mysterious mission yet. In order to save their captured allies, they must break into the Legendary Last City. If Thomas and his gang somehow survive, they are promised to get the answers they were seeking when they first arrived in the maze.

Pacific Rim: Uprising

Jake Pentecost (John Boyega) is the son of a legendary Jaeger pilot who gave his life for the sake of humanity. Unlike his father, Jake is an immature loose cannon who abandoned his training only to be caught up in the criminal underworld. But when a threat that could end the world once more surfaces, he is given one more chance to uphold his father’s legacy.

Black Panther

Black Panther follows the events of Captain America: Civil War. After saving the world, The Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) goes back to his reclusive, yet technologically advanced, country of Wakanda only to find out that he will be facing an uprising from several factions that challenge his seat of power.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

The sequel to the highly successful 2015 Jurassic World finds the characters played by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard returning to face a dinosaur threat. While plot details have been thin on the ground, it is rumored that the story will revolve around an attempt to weaponize the dinosaurs. For fans of the franchise the sequel is highly anticipated as Jeff Goldblum with be returning to franchise for the first time since The Lost World Jurassic Park (1997).

The Predator

The Predator follows the exploits of Major Dutch Shaefer in his attempt to rescue his allies that were captured by guerrillas. At first, it seems like any other mission fit for veteran soldiers. However, when Schaefer gets closer to his mission, he realizes that something horrifying and inhuman is hunting them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73BQ-VrMf1I

Science fiction is one of fiction’s most enduring and popular genres, as shown by number of tentpole titles being released next year. One of the key reasons that sci-fi franchises are so popular is that they can be easily adapted to other mediums to cater to current and new fans. One instance the Jurassic Park franchise has always successfully been able to introduce the film series to new fans is through merchandise. To promote the upcoming sequel a video game titled Jurassic World Evolution will be released that will allow players to create their own dinosaur park. The franchise has also worked to bring awareness to the film through online gaming. Entertainment site Slingo hosts two games, Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, that closely follow the franchise. The site also has tie-ins to this year’s Planet of the Apes film. By creating deals with gaming developers, the popularity of sci-fi movies increases further. It’s a symbiotic relationship that works well, and will probably continue for a long time.

There are plenty of other awesome movies slated for 2018. Are you looking forward to one that’s not on this list? Let your thoughts be heard in the comments section and share away!

The post 5 Sci-Fi Movies to Look Forward to in 2018 first appeared on Sci-Fi Heaven.

It’s been a few months since the last Star Wars trailer landed, and the latest dropped today, leaving Star Wars fans everywhere in a frenzy.

Theories abound – watch and let us know what your thoughts are!

The post Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Trailer 2 first appeared on Sci-Fi Heaven.

Guillermo Del Toro may not be directing, but with the move from the ocean to the city streets it looks like this sequel’s ramping up the stakes and doubling up on the action.

It looks like big dumb fun. I’m in!

The post Pacific Rim: Uprising Trailer first appeared on Sci-Fi Heaven.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of getting home from work, hurling myself on the sofa and tuning into a brand new episode of Star Trek. As Sam Kurd recently mused, the new series is having something of a marmite reaction. There are plenty out there claiming that it’s not “real Star Trek“, or it’s “too dark” or “too serious”. Many others are – like myself – riveted and enjoying every second.

As I reflected on the latest episode, I found myself wondering whether Gene Roddenberry would see the show as a suitable sequel for the universe he created. Gene Roddenberry’s vision for humanity just ten years after the events of Star Trek: Discovery does, after all, paint humanity in a rather glowing light; up-standing members of the human race peacefully exploring the galaxy with heroic bravery and noble virtue. We got the obvious tension between Kirk/Spock/McCoy but ultimately these were three people whose personalities both complimented and clashed, but who never lost sight of their mission, even if their interpretations and opinions varied.

Star Trek: Discovery is very different.

In Michael Burnham we have a deeply scarred and flawed main character, whose own personal struggles have left her judgement apparently compromised, despite years of Vulcan training. Gabriel Lorca, although we haven’t seen much of him, is painted as a military commander rather than a stereotypical Starfleet captain, whose ‘the ends justify the means’ mentality looks set to push Starfleet rules and regulations to the limits. Science officer Stamets – Trek’s first openly gay character (a first of which Roddenberry would certainly approve) – has a touch of the Rodney McKay about him, clashing openly and quickly with Lorca’s militaristic approach.

The producers said before the show aired that they weren’t scared to show these characters as genuine human beings, whose flaws cause conflict and drama. Whilst much of Roddenberry-era Trek was an examination of the human condition provoked by holding up non-human characters as comparisons, Discovery looks set to take a somewhat different approach and allow the humans to explore and expose their own flaws all by themselves. Thus far, the magnificently portrayed Saru feels most at home with previous incarnations of the series.

Whilst this approach is by no means a bad approach, it does stand at odds with Gene Roddenberry’s vision. That being said, Star Trek had already begun to explore this in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. One need only think back to the seminal episode, In The Pale Moonlight as Sisko wrestles with his conscience over the decision to remain silent over the murder of a Romulan senator in order to trick the Romulans into joining Starfleet’s war against the Dominion. In some senses, it’s nothing new. However, often Sisko’s moral debates and decisions were forced upon him by the actions of another (in this case Garak). In Discovery, my early impression is that the internal flaws of the human characters will precipitate morally ambiguous decisions.

I can understand why this might make some people feel uneasy. After all, this crew seems much closer to the 21st Century than Kirk’s original Enterprise, or indeed the intrepid explorers led by Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise over a century before. It does seem odd. It feels different. And I can understand why to some – at first glance – it might appear like a wilful ignorance of not just canon, but the central essence of what made Roddenberry’s Star Trek so endearing: the hope that we can improve as a species.

Whilst I understand this opinion, I don’t agree with it. I read a comment earlier this week where a long-time fan noted that Discovery feels like the birth of a third era of Star Trek. First we had Roddenberry’s vision through The Original Series, its films, and then The Next Generation. You then had the Rick Berman-era with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (although really the show-runners here were left to their own devices), Star Trek: Voyager and finally the much-maligned Star Trek Enterprise.

Stylistically, it’s obvious that there has been an effort to tie Star Trek: Discovery into the Abrams film series. The warp effects, the camera angles, the sound effects and editing… it sits nicely as a successor to the films, even though it’s supposedly set in the Prime Universe and not the Kelvin-timeline in which the films continue. The likely reason for this is that something wildly different to the films may make the show too bewildering to new fans who’ve come on board in the last eight years and followed Chris Pine’s Kirk. The Discovery itself feels like it could logically precede Abrams’ Enterprise by ten years. Shatner’s flagship seems like a tin can in comparison.

I don’t see this as a problem. It’s simply not possible to create a TV show in 2017, make it look like it was made in the 1960s, and expect it to be a success outside of a very small, hardcore band of fans who now are likely in their mid to late sixties. Star Trek has to evolve. Whilst Discovery is a new series set in the Trek universe, it is also a television show made in 2017. It has to be modern, it has to feel real, it has to look brilliant. Provided it is consistent with itself and doesn’t blatantly abuse the shoulders it stands on, I don’t see any issues with this. The Next Generation was a very different ship and universe from The Original Series and Gene Roddenberry happily launched that new vision to the world.

Roddenberry also intended Star Trek to encourage thought and debate about events in the world at the time. The vision of a Russian on the bridge of the Enterprise at the height of the Cold War was startling at the time. The appearance of an African American woman on the bridge held in high esteem was similarly radical. Star Trek after all famously featured the first interracial kiss on American television. In short, it broke new ground. It told stories that provoked thought, and encouraged people to see shades of grey in a time when dichotomies had perpetuated for too long.

Star Trek: Discovery could do the same in 2017. In the era of Donald Trump and ever-increasing fears of a nuclear North Korea, Discovery boldly launches with a female Asian captain and a war against an enemy that has been silent and ignored for some time. The Klingons in Discovery have been treated by Starfleet for decades with a kind of “if we don’t bother them, they’ll go away” tactic, but to no avail. I do wonder what contrasts Discovery will explore, and how Burnham’s prejudices against the Klingons will be challenged along the way. I have no doubt that they will be. Perhaps Lorca’s burning desire to win at all costs will trigger a reluctance in Burnham, and her Vulcan training will come to play an important part in being trapped between a bloodthirsty conflict she helped to start, but one she has now matured to see is unnecessary, and unwinnable. Ater all, we already know that neither the Klingons nor Starfleet will be annihilated.

There’s no doubt that Discovery is different. It’s modern, it’s dark, it’s edgy. It’s the adrenaline shot Star Trek has needed for twenty years. It will walk a tightrope between abandoning the core ethos of Roddenberry’s vision, and bringing it masterfully up to date into a dark political climate. With some of the names behind the project (Roddenberry’s son, for one), I have no doubt that it won’t abandon the Star Trek that came before.  Whether it succeeds in its mission remains to be seen, but if it does, then I have no doubt Gene Roddenberry would be proud.

The post Star Trek: Discovery – what would Roddenberry think? first appeared on Sci-Fi Heaven.

You back? Good, let’s keep going.

It’s been 12 years since a Star Trek show was last on TV, so naturally there was quite a bit of trepidation about its return to the small screen. After JJ Abrams rebooted the universe for his movies there was something  of a furore in the fandom, and when Discovery was announced there was a lot of worry that the new show would follow in its footsteps rather than honouring its classic roots. Would it be set in the Kelvin timeline of those movies? Would it just be a series of back-to-back explosions and lens flares with nary a boldly go to be seen? Would it feel like the Star Trek we know and love?

Well now it’s out and you can make up your minds for yourselves.

I think it’s too soon to tell for sure, but I do feel this is a very strong start to what could be a superb instalment in the Star Trek canon, especially after the freshly released third episode. We have a diverse cast of characters, some of whom most decidedly don’t get along, which is a nice departure from Roddenberry’s Box. We have optimistic humans and sceptical aliens. We have a tense encounter between the Federation and Klingons, who haven’t crossed paths for a hundred years by this point. We have a main character who’s fighting to marry their very human burning curiosity & desire to explore with the logical constraints of her Vulcan upbringing. We have a neurotic alien science science officer who serves as a sort of friendly foil. And we have a familiar character popping up to keep us grounded.

Since the two-part pilot aired, I’ve seen only two responses to it: ‘I’m so glad Star Trek is back, this is so good!’ and ‘THIS IS AWFUL, WORST STAR TREK EVER’. I haven’t seen a single person say ‘eh, it’s ok’. Fans can be very passionate about the things they love, and few properties are as beloved as Star Trek.

The first of the two biggest indictments I’ve heard against it is that it doesn’t look or feel like Star Trek. It’s shinier, it’s bigger and there’s just something missing. The writing is a bit expository. The Klingons look weird and they speak like their mouths are full of gagh. The weird hologram communication is more Star Wars than Star Trek. The pacing isn’t right for Star Trek.

But here’s the thing: there’s nothing wrong with most of that. In fact, I’d argue that if Discovery felt like a classic Trek show of yesteryear, it would be to the show’s detriment. This is because television has inevitably moved on since 2005, not just in terms of special effects thanks to the technology we now have at our disposal. The moment the Battlestar Galactica reboot aired, sci-fi television started to evolve into a sleeker, more sophisticated beast. That’s how we got the Games of Throneses and the Walking Deads of today. Production values have been increasing, and as audiences we’ve grown to have certain expectations of newer shows. A new show with the pacing of a Next Gen episode just wouldn’t work. We move faster today, so our media tends to move faster too.

The other big criticism I’ve seen levelled at is one that frankly I find completely baffling – the claim that it’s ‘Star Trek for SJWs‘ and too politically correct.  The source of the upset? The fact that the cast is the most diverse Trek cast yet. The lead character is a black woman, whose mentor is a Chinese woman, fighting against a fanatical force of xenophobia to spread Starfleet’s message of tolerance and peace. There’s also Anthony Rapp’s character, who will reportedly by the first openly gay character in a Trek show. There are more people of colour on screen at any one time than I’ve seen in any Star Trek, though most of them are in background roles. To some, this diversity is forced and has no place in the Trek universe.

“UGH. When did Star Trek start pandering to SJWs!?”

“September 8, 1966. Thanks for playing,” pic.twitter.com/LSZxvmRUQm

— Black Nerd Problems (@BlkNrdProblems) September 24, 2017

My only response is: what? Have we been watching the same TV shows? This is a franchise that placed a black woman on the bridge in a position of power during the height of the Civil Rights movement. This is a franchise about humanity having come together to set aside our petty differences and squabbles with a new purpose to explore the stars and make peaceful contact with all alien species (that’s the aim, though obviously that doesn’t always happen or there’d be no show). This is a world that we’re specifically told has eradicated hunger, poverty and war amongst itself – but there’s no place for diversity or tolerance and white skin should be the most common skin colour on show? It’s not even the most common skin colour here and now! This is a franchise that gave us Far Beyond the Stars. This is what Star Trek has always been about.

Now that the third episode is out and has given us a peek at the direction the show is going (war! conflict! shady shenanigans!), I for one am firmly in the ‘love it’ camp. It’s not without problems (I’m looking you, gagh-mouths), but I’m looking forward to champing at the bit after every episode, waiting for the next one. I can’t wait to see how the war with the Klingons evolves into the cold war seen in Kirk’s time, and how much of that will be due to Michael Burnham’s attempts to make amends for starting it in the first place. I want to see if Jason Isaacs’ Captain Lorca has ties to Section 31 (I strongly suspect he does) and I need more Doug Jones pouring salt into his tea in my life.

I may hate Marmite, but I love Discovery so far.

The post Star Trek: Marmite? first appeared on Sci-Fi Heaven.

Trailer released April 14, 2017.

The post Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Teaser Trailer first appeared on Sci-Fi Heaven.

Three of the seven planets are located within the stars so-called habitable zone, the area around the star in which conditions should be sufficient to allow life to thrive.

The star system, TRAPPIST-1, is located a mere 40 light years from Earth. Okay, so that’s still 235 trillion miles, but in intergalactic terms that’s a stone’s throw.

“The seven wonders of TRAPPIST-1 are the first Earth-size planets that have been found orbiting this kind of star,” said Michael Gillon, the lead author of the paper. “It is also the best target yet for studying the atmospheres of potentially habitable, Earth-size worlds.”

The launch of the James Webb telescope next year should allow still further investigation. Provided all goes to plan, it will enable studies into the atmospheric conditions of the individual planets, and allow scientists to detect the presence of gases such as methane and oxygen.

Naturally, if oxygen were detected on a planet within the habitable zone, it would be by far and away the most promising candidate yet detected for life beyond our planet.

The post NASA Announces 7 Potentially Habitable Exoplanets first appeared on Sci-Fi Heaven.