Perhaps the biggest spoiler of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is that it lives up to its pre-release hype. J.J. Abrams seems to have revived a franchise that, after the ponderously dull prequels, felt best left for dead. But Abrams has also done something very smart in The Force Awakens: he’s treated the source…
Historical romance covers of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s are instantly recognizable—a triumph of design, frankly. But equally striking are the covers for these science fiction romance stories from the period. In 3034, we won’t need spacesuits, just pants and rippling abs. The future looks bright!
Ah, midcentury America, when even authors responsible for envisioning wild and wacky futures in SPACE could hardly fathom women doing science.
Last summer, I fell down the rabbit hole of the science-fiction drama Extant starring Halle Berry because, to me, being black means I must give black actors and shows a chance. (I can quit later, but only after I’ve supported.) Extant is the blackest mainstream sci-fi show I’ve ever seen.
The Syfy Network is the most important channel on cable television, with or without the Sharknado franchise. It has Face Off and Defiance and Dominion. It has Ghost Hunters which has aired for approximately 37 years. Syfy is the greatest. American tastemakers Affleck and Damon recognize this, and now they want to get…
Yesterday, actress Elisabeth Sladen died. She played Doctor Who regular Sarah Jane Smith, one of sci-fi's first feminists, and a character dear to my heart.
When an interviewer asked Hugo- and Macarthur-winning novelist Octavia Butler what she thought of her books being classed as science fiction, she said, "Really, it doesn't matter. A good story is a good story." In honor of Women's History Month, here is (some of) the story of Butler's life.
You guys, scientists are learning to erase our memories! Everybody panic! Or ... maybe not.
We wouldn't expect Bill O'Reilly to applaud American Eagle Outfitters's new trans-friendly policies — but did he have to compare transpeople to Ewoks?
It's about to be 2010, which means: The Future! But what will that look like? To find out, let's take a tour through some famous visions of the future in TV and film.
At their New Yorker Festival reading on Friday, Junot Diaz and recent MacArthur Genius Grant winner Edwidge Danticat talked about writing with kids, being marginalized as a "nerd of color," and why it's so hard to change the world.
Geeks rejoice! Mattel is releasing Star Trek Barbies in time for the new Trek movie this summer. Now you can make Kirk and Spock get it on, just like Barbie and Barbie used to. [Reuters]
If you happen to be in San Francisco this weekend, you may want to check out Arse Elektronika, a three-day conference on sex, science fiction, and technology. Annalee Newitz, of our sister site io9, will kick things off tonight with a no doubt Glamour-worthy list of "the dos and don'ts of sci-fi sex." Other highlights…
Jezebel Trekkies (we know you're out there), pour out some Romulan ale in honor of "Star Trek" fan extraordinaire Joan Winston, who died on Sept. 11 at the age of 77. Winston organized conventions, wrote "Star Trek" fanfic, edited a fanzine about "Trek" character William T. Riker, and became so popular with other fans…
The Republican National Convention hasn't even officially started and already it's being scaled back due to Republicans not wanting to look like insensitive assholes (again) when a hurricane hits the Gulf Coast. In the absence of hangovers, parties or Madonna concerts to discuss this week, Kay Steiger of Campus…
The X-Files: I Want to Believe premieres today, shrouded in its own set of Clintonian conspiracy theories. Can Agent Scully rekindle our fangirldom? Are our two special agents still an item? Who's the casting director that saw rapper Xzibit and thought "FBI agent?" Oh, and about that plot: it sounds like a mediocre…
When last we wrote about science fiction conventions we learned about something called the Open Source Boob Project, wherein women attendees kindly volunteered to wear buttons allowing desirous men to grope their tits. If only all convention attendees were so open and accepting! Last weekend, a woman named Rachel Moss…
When people first started imploring us to weigh in on the Open Source Boob Project we had this scary image of a website featuring a picture of a pair of fake tits that registered computer programmers could modify and reshape and manipulate with nanotechnology or whatever else until the resultant pair of tits reflected…
Anxious about what the year 2008 will bring? What about 2070? Forward-focused Jezebels might want to head over to our new science-fiction sister blog, io9, which officially launches today. Described by editor Annalee Newitz as a pop-culture site in which she and her team of writers get to focus on "fantasies as well…
Last night I was standing on a street corner talking on my phone when a man in patent-leather sneakers came up to me. "Excuse me miss, but something just landed in your hair," he said, at which point I flipped my head violently and hurled my hair upside down while screaming, "For the love of God get out of my…
