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Category: Science Fiction

The title card for Invaders for Mars, featuring the text of the title over some planets and stars

Dreams & Nightmares: Invaders from Mars (1953) Painstakingly Restored on 4K

By Orrin Grey • January 26th, 2023

Ignite Films has planted their flag as a company to watch for what their own logline calls “classics for the future.”

Title card for Silent Running, with a beaming sun visible just over the top of a spiked geodesic dome floating through space

Everyone Has a Job: The Future of Silent Running (1972)

By Orrin Grey • December 13th, 2022

Anyone who complains that modern movies are too didactic probably shouldn’t watch Silent Running, which puts all its theses into the mouth of Bruce Dern’s space-bound ecologist.

A crop of the cover for No Escape, featuring Vincent's brother looking concerned, a gangster staring down the scope of a rifle launcher, and the reasonable Ghostbuster with a very fierce expression on his face

Not in the World: The Unlikely Precognition of No Escape (1994)

By Orrin Grey • December 8th, 2022

In fact, to the extent that No Escape has anything more novel to say than “prisons are bad” – which they are, and it’s great when movies say so, but like “war is hell” it may be true but it’s also a bit of a cliché in pictures like this – it’s probably something to do with its many meditations on guilt, and what guilt should cost us.

I Played It, Like, Twice...
The tite from the Doom board game (2004) cover of the rules with the mid-era cyber Doom font and the spooky Diablo font

Fragged!: Translating DOOM to the Tabletop via a Somewhat Unlikely Route

By Orrin Grey • July 26th, 2022

Despite the box art and the demonic miniatures, DOOM is fundamentally an action game that isn’t particularly interested in horror.

I Played It, Like, Twice...
figures from the game Space Hulk, blue and red, moving across a tabletop.

They’re Coming Out of the Goddamn Walls: Reliving a Moment with Space Hulk

By Orrin Grey • February 28th, 2022

It is difficult, for me at least, to separate the game itself from that dream, solidified by glossy magazine photos of massive Space Hulk boards set up.

Performers from the David Lynch Dune movie, specifically Sting and Patrick Stewart are visible.

The Sleeper Has Awakened: Watching the David Lynch Dune for the First Time in this, the Second Year of the Plague

By Orrin Grey • October 14th, 2021

So, nearly forty years later, in a world with a very different cinematic landscape, on the cusp of a new, much bigger-budget adaptation, did I come out knowing that I’ve seen Dune?

Feature Excerpt

Imagining the Future in Games

By Ruth Cassidy • June 24th, 2021

A vision of tomorrow, today!

Antiracist Cosmic Horror

By Noah Berlatsky • April 13th, 2021

A companion to Noah Berlatsky’s March feature story!

Always Autumn
A drawing of the rapture.

Post-Post-Apocalyptic: Come Along with Me

By Autumn Wright • March 23rd, 2021

What comes after what comes after the world ends?

Feature Excerpt
A poster of two people guarding against Morlocks.

Eugenics from Morlock to Shoggoth: The Origins of Cosmic Racism

By Noah Berlatsky • March 17th, 2021

What horror lies in the heart of men?

The Growth and Adaptation of Samuslikes

By Don Everhart • May 26th, 2020

Samus Aran, videogames’ own Strong Sci-Fi Female Protagonist, echoes through the medium just like the design of Super Metroid.

Lightsaber Dueling Pack

By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • May 4th, 2020

Relive the duel between Luke and Vader over and over again, without breaking a sweat! No lightsaber toy necessary!

No Accounting for Taste

Movies Could Be More Boring

By Adam Boffa • April 9th, 2020

The Star Wars sequel trilogy is too exciting to be interesting.

Try Reading...

New Kid on Earth

By Harry Rabinowitz • April 9th, 2020

Space Boy Volume 1 proves that – even eons into the future – moving still sucks.

Feature Excerpt

Accepting Death as the Sun Goes Out

By Ryan Cooper • April 2nd, 2020

The Outer Wilds’ tragic time-loop helps Ryan Cooper process real-world struggles.

Star Frontiers

By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • March 30th, 2020

Join us in the far reaches of known space as we explore Star Frontiers!

The Shadow People

By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • March 23rd, 2020

Descend into the depths of the earth to meet The Shadow People!

No Accounting for Taste

Lost in Space, Out of Time

By Adam Boffa • March 19th, 2020

In Outer Wilds, the clock is always ticking.

Star Wars Galaxy Guides

By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • December 9th, 2019

Everyone is talking about Star Wars right now, and so are we! We take a stroll through the 12-volume series of Galaxy Guide sourcebooks for the West End Games Star Wars RPG.

Rookie of the Year

Star Trek: The Sex Generation

By Matt Marrone • October 8th, 2019

The ladies of the USS Enterprise want to get it on. Badly.

Here's the Thing

The Last Unicron

By Rob Rich • September 11th, 2019

With the recent announcement of a crowdfunding campaign to create a new, massive Transformers Unicron toy, Rob ponders the reactions and possible reasoning behind it all.

Another Look

Evangelion and Endings

By Yussef Cole • August 1st, 2019

Twenty years later, what’s it like to watch the anime that made you stop watching anime?

The Devil is Only Human After All

By Pascal Wagner • May 20th, 2019

Depictions of Satan fluctuate depending on the media, but they all touch a part of our subconscious.

Feature Excerpt

Crack the Network: It’s Called Cyberpunk Not Cybersecurity

By Liam Conlon • November 23rd, 2018

While disappointed by Cyberpunk 2077’s announcement to exclude a non-binary option, Conlon thinks it’s necessary to desire more than small kernels of representation.

Deep Space Nine is More Important Than Ever

By P.J. Kryfko • November 2nd, 2018

Looking back on Deep Space Nine, it seems ahead of its time, but maybe we’ve just been backsliding.

The Heavy Pour

New Gods

By Sara Clemens • November 2nd, 2018

New York Comic Con is a monument to hype with amusements deliberately designed to part fans from their money and/or time, but Sara would hate to miss the fantasy.

Backlog

Culture is Not Canon

By Gavin Craig • September 12th, 2018

Star Wars is a case study in how canon can grip a culture, and what happens when fandom turns toxic.

Another Look

Hood Cyberpunk

By Yussef Cole • August 7th, 2018

Cyberpunk stories don’t generally want, or need, to change society. It seems, rather, that they’re perfectly content partying in the rubble.

Here's The Thing
A scene from the Lost in Space remake.

Getting Lost in Lost in Space

By Rob Rich • July 16th, 2018

Is the new Lost in Space yet another shining example of a classic franchise reboot that works? Hell yeah it is!

Feature Excerpt

The Mass Effect Issue: At All Costs

By David Shimomura • June 6th, 2018

Humanity never needed Cerberus.

Another Look

The Mass Effect Issue: Artificial Immortality

By Yussef Cole • June 6th, 2018

Mass Effect makes us question our preconceived notions about artificial intelligence.

Feature Excerpt

Gods & Astronauts – An Excerpt from Unwinnable Monthly 96

By Oliver Milne • November 1st, 2017

If space is the final frontier for science, how come so many scientists and science fiction writers use the language of religion to describe it?

Checkpoint – Horizons

By Corey Milne • July 13th, 2017

Why go somewhere nice when the vast empty nothingness of deep space is calling?

Spilled Ink

“Every Gundam Time…” – MSG: Thunderbolt Vol.2

By Austin Price • March 1st, 2017

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt is a tonal mess that knows irony can be used to underpin horror to shocking effect, but has no clue how or when to implement said irony.

New Year’s Resolution: Introspect Nostalgia to Death

By David Shimomura • January 2nd, 2017

Why do we get so thrilled at the prospect of new Power Rangers but are so hurt when we see the trailer?

Carrie Fisher, 1956-2016

By Team Unwinnable • December 28th, 2016

In Carrie Fisher, the world lost more than a princess.

Who is Eleven’s Papa? A Stranger Things Theory

By Megan Condis • August 29th, 2016

There are a lot of questions to be answered in the wake of Season 1. Who is Eleven’s papa? Can Steve’s hair get any taller?

Duskers Explore Derelict Ships

Duskers: Finding Love In An Empty Space

By Declan Taggart • June 24th, 2016

Have you ever visited a Video Games Therapist?

Hack the Planet: Mainlining Demo

By Megan Condis • June 7th, 2016

Wouldn’t it be great if Hollywood was right, and hacking was actually just rollerblading and drinking soda all day?

Historian of the Future: An Interview with Andrew Groen

By Megan Condis • May 9th, 2016

Megan had the opportunity to sit down with Andrew Groen, author of Empires of EVE

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