Remakes are part of the culture in which we live, we just have to accept it and take it for granted. It is just one of those things in life we have to get used to. Having said that, though, the idea that a big budget Hollywood remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still was in the works was a hard pill to swallow. The original is a bona-fide sci-fi classic – a timeless piece of cinema. The remake stars Keanu Reeves.

We have had time to digest that frightful bit of news. Or, as is perhaps more to the point, push that particular casting decision to the back of our minds and pretend that it didn’t happen. Now, though, all attempts at pretending this remake (or re-imagining, or whatever PR-coined term is now employed to distract us from this abhorrent lack of originality) is not afoot have been scuppered by the arrival of the first trailer for the movie. It is here, it is really happening, but, if truth be told, it really doesn’t look like the abomination we had all feared.

Reeves looks hopelessly miscast. That doe-eyed monosyllabic delivery that he likes so much, on paper, makes him an ideal choice for an alien. In practice, though, it just comes across as tired and uninspiring. That aside, however, the film itself shows signs of promise. Orchestrating an Emmerich-esque sense of scale and disaster while maintaining a more sombre and pensive tone was always going to be a tough task – how do you appease the fans of the original while staying true to the story’s message and delivering enough wanton carnage for the multiplex masses? Director Scott Derrickson – yes he of The Exorcism Of Emily Rose ‘fame’ – seems to have found a suitable balance in the execution of the CGI set pieces and the muted emotions of the film’s human players.

The problem, perhaps, lies less with the film’s tone and more with the film’s story. “If the Earth dies, you die; if you die, the Earth survives,” Reeves states in the trailer, at his laconic deadpan best, of course. Updating the atomic warning of the original for a contemporary ‘environmental’ theme is a risky game to play, though. Sure it is more current, it is something we can all relate to, and it is an issue with which we do need to engage pretty darn quick, but films with such a clearly defined message rarely make riveting cinema. Emmerich’s The Day After Tomorrow stands as a clear example of exactly where Derrickson could come unstuck. There is potential for a decent and thought-provoking film it seems, despite our anxieties over Reeves and the molestation of a beloved classic, but the last thing we need is a bigger budget sequel to Shyamalan’s The Happening.

Well it’s finally over, and after the build-up and hype surrounding the mega final episode of Doctor Who, did it live up to this expectation?It’s not really an easy answer, and I’d need to put on two hats to fully answer this question. As a ‘ahem’ forty-something sci-fi fan, I’d have to ultimately say that I did really enjoy it, but it has to be classed as a ‘guilty pleasure’. Doctor Who is great Saturday entertainment, which is massively popular, and for science fiction I label this as a ‘good thing’, but is it great sci-fi? I’d have to unfortunately say no.

The build-up and promise at the end of arguably one of the finer episodes from new-Who’s season four, ‘The Stolen Earth’, was excellent. The effects first off were top-notch (for the BBC) and the spectacle of Davros (in new Star Wars Emperor guise), a supreme cloned Dalek war fleet, and the huge cliffhanger of the Doctor’s regeneration left all viewers (enthusiastic and usually cynical) with sweaty palms and a hunger for the conclusion seven days later.

The internet speculation was wild and got more outrageous every day. From initial thoughts that the new Dalek race were genetically altered from the ‘missing bees’ by Davros due the hive mentality of our avian honey makers, through to Donna being the Master (her ring is the Master’s), The Doctor regenerating into Sylvester McCoy/Paul McGann/a woman/River Song and more! In fact, the speculation of the happenings in ‘Journey’s End’ ended up being far more exciting than the actual event!

Settling down to watch on a Saturday evening, the event itself far outweighing any piffiling Wimbledon final, the opening credits rolled and I drank in every moment of the regeneration expecting something amazing. What I didn’t ever imagine was the Doctor just sort of ‘belching’ and shoving the regeneration energy into his manky hand! What a cop-out. First up, why is it that now the Beeb has its hands on CGI does the regeneration process have to become a massive explosion of energy? Regeneration is usually a very quiet affair, and certainly not one of ‘Highlander’ proportions. But this aside, the whole cliffhanger aspect of the regeneration was treated in such an ‘off hand’ (sorry about the pun) manner as to cheat the viewer. But then, part of me likens this to the old Flash Gordon series cliffhangers where actually nothing really ever happens.

As the finale continued, every one of the companions in peril was scooped up into relative safety in the first five minutes, nullifying all build-up of tension from ‘The Stolen Earth’. I found this disappointing, but still hoped for more ‘cleverness’ as the episode unfolded. After all, this was the finale.

I found the banter with Davros fun, and occasionally there was even the philosophical debating Davros of old. Particularly interesting was the message that the Doctor, although he carries no guns, is the forger of human weapons, and the destroyer of worlds. Pretty powerful stuff and insightful for Who. As the episode unfolded, I grimaced at the Doctor/Donna appearance, that ‘chav speak’, the offhand way of destroying the Dalek armada (not to mention the fix for the Chameleon circuit) and I’d pretty much given up on it delivering anything truly ground-breaking, and so waited for the ‘Bad Wolf Bay’ payoff where the Doctor would finally profess his love for Rose. In effect what we got was the shell of the Doctor (notice how little the one heart Doctor actually said), whispering to Rose only what I can assume is ‘I love you’ (something nearly every person on the planet would say to Billie Piper, wouldn’t they?).

This episode left a lot of unanswered questions, but it did leave interesting implications for events to unfold later. For example, River Song recognises the Tenth Doctor from ‘Quiet In The Library’ but her Doctor is older, so one has to assume her relationship is with the ‘one heart Doctor’, as he can age. Yet he has no sonic screwdriver or TARDIS, leaving you to believe that ’something’ happens in the parallel world to give ‘one heart’ Doctor access to these things. Plus, what happens to Rose and his relationship there, then?

Overall, I did enjoy this episode as a Saturday night, takeaway chomping entertainment romp, but as a slice of great sci-fi it was found lacking. It ‘copped’ out many times, was far too drawn out at the end, and left me on a downer for the end of the season. There was no crescendo, no happy feeling. Nothing.

Then I saw that the Cybermen would be back on Christmas Day and my guiilty pleasure emotion chip clicked in again.

Here we go again.

Love/Hate/Love/Hate…  

Those familiar with the SciFiNow forum will know I’ve been on a pretty much non-stop vigil watching Star Trek Voyager. I kicked off on this mammoth ‘Trek’ with the first episode ‘Caretaker’ and have been steadily going all the way through to where I currently am, which is ‘Future’s End Pts I & II’.

I believe Voyager has had a bit of raw deal over the last 13 years as something of the poor relation to the Trek franchise; although I’ve always enjoyed it, it has been something of a guilty pleasure among the throng of Picard and Kirk fans out there willing to beat on poor Janeway and crew at any chance they could get. Ducking the verbal and physical abuse (usually from Aaron!), I’ve ploughed on. So, Sunday afternoon, with a huge pile of ironing that the wife refuses to do, I’ve been settling in with two or three episodes back to back. And so far I have to say I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. The show has its ups and downs, as would any franchise spanning so many episodes and seasons, but overall it’s weathered much better than other TV shows around 10-15 years old such as Sliders.

Highpoints so far have to be the following episodes:

1. Caretaker. This showed that the show really could be like ‘Wagon Train’ in the stars. A single ship on a long journey home. And pretty dark for Trek actually.
2. Eye Of The Needle. A great season one episode very ‘TNG’ with a cool ending twist.
3. Maneuvers. Seska, played by the wonderful and sexy Martha Hackett makes the whole story arc of an altered Cardassian agent among the Voyager crew who allies herself with the Kazon unmissable Voyager.
4. Basics Pt I & II. A huge showdown with the Kazon, Brad Dourff as serial killer Ensign Suder, and more Seska!
5. Flashback. Season three episode featuring the adventures of Captain Sulu, giving us a glimpse of the Trek show that George Takei wanted to make.

But… there’s low points too. Here’s some Voyager dross that you may want to close your pointy ears to:

1. Threshold. A real pile of Targ dung of an episode from season two. Paris and Janeway ‘evolve’ in to large salamanders and back again after Paris breaks the warp 10 threshold. Cack.

2. Prototype. Another season two poop, which sees B’Lanna activating a robot slave in a robo civil war. The effects on the robot can only be described as ‘home made’. Not even Doctor Who’s ‘Giant Robot’ can beat this for low rent.
3. Resolutions. Janeway and Chakotay play house on a planet after contracting a virus. Don’t waste 45 minutes of your life here.
4. Learning Curve. Tuvok is put in charge of ’slack’ Maquis recruits. It’s not bad as such, but the whole issue of integration of Maquis and Starfleet was done pretty poorly to be believable. It’s too easy to just accept that entrenched rebels would take on the uniform of the establishment too readily.
5. The Chute. Harry (please take me seriously) Kim and Tom Paris are stuck in a ‘very scary’ space prison. It’s not exactly ‘Prison Break’ in there.

So, I’m still going through it; I’ve got the second half of season three to go, which I’m looking forward to as the season finale is ‘Scorpion’ but so far, I’m enjoying the highs and lows of Voyager. Give it another go; it’s better than you think! Honest.

You may have noticed how creak-free the publicity machine for Iron Man has been. It’s irritatingly perfect. Whenever there’s a big football match on, rest assured there’s an Iron Man trailer at half time making you feel like an idiot for not thinking about it all the time, non-stop, now and forever. Indeed, whenever 15 to 40-year-old males are likely to be gathered around the goggle box you can bet your nan’s oxygen mask that Paramount’s promotion team will be there before you, ready to shove that charming devil with his shiny metal suit in your face.

These aren’t ten second TV spots either; these are two minute, loud, brash motherfuckers that show the whole bloody film bar the boring bits. In other words, they’re really good. And probably so expensive that the marketing budget will be hid from prying eyes for the next century for fear of the whole recession-hit world turning against those rich bastards in La La Land. But why, a sensible person might ask, the big spend? There’s been nothing but piss on the cinema for months, so surely the general public are going to leap toward the multiplexes at the first sight of CG. Not so, for as cocky as the suits at Marvel and Paramount might appear to be about their too-cool-for-this-hero-shit mascot, they’re secretly petrified about the unstoppable enemy approaching.

Like most people with a pathetic life and bugger all sense, I’m fairly excited about the Iron Man movie. The idea of a man dressing up in an expensive toy and blowing the crap out of evil foreigners simply appeals to me. But will I be watching it come the all-important first week of release? Will I hell. I’ll be killing people instead. And stealing cars. And selling drugs. Basically, I’m going to be playing the shit out of GTA IV and there’s nothing Iron Man can do to stop me.

Now, when a big game is released, there seems to be shorter queues at the pictures, and Paramount knows it. That’s why there’s been this month-long pre-emptive strike on our TVs. It’s also why Iron Man won’t be the biggest movie of the summer and why the chances of a sequel are going to be seriously affected by something that has sod all to do with it. Not that I care though, after all, I’ll be too busy blowing the bollocks off mobsters to give a shit.

Get ready for the next sentence. This is the sentence you’ve been waiting for; coming soon: a new sentence about the next paragraph. The next paragraph is set to begin.

What in the name of gamma is going on with this Hulk trailer? This morning I’ve just watched what, without sound, I would have assumed was a teaser for the upcoming film that seemingly has sod all to do with the Ang Lee effort and everything to do with the TV show. Unfortunately the volume was turned on and my ears were suddenly opened to the cacophony of desperate marketing. This was no mere teaser, this was an advert for a trailer. It even had a voiceover man demanding everyone tune in to MTV at a certain time to see the full trailer debut. Fancy the notion that thousands of people are no going to switch on their telly to wait for the adverts. A terrible state of affairs.

It’s almost as if the suits are so aware that a film’s quality has little to do with its success that they’d rather invest their efforts into more exciting marketing campaigns. Why bother making a good 100 minutes when all you need is a great 2? Soon they’ll be getting Spielberg in to compose the trailers and some nincompoop to film the rest. It’s a sad truth to accept, but it’s now more about the packaging than it’s ever been, and I hate it.

WonderCon 2008 has been whipping audiences in San Francisco into a frenzy over the past week or so with inside looks and sneak peaks at some of the films that will be hitting theatres this summer.

John Favreau’s Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr looks terrific), The Wachowskis’ Speed Racer (it can’t really be as bad as the trailer suggests, can it?), Prince Caspian (second time lucky, we hope) and Wanted (Bekmambetov does The Matrix) have all gone down a storm, but it appears that the movie that has received the most rapturous applause is the X Files sequel.The teaser trailer offers up the first glimpses of Mulder and Scully’s return but, according to reports, it appears to place its emphasis in the most surprising of places. Set mostly in a snow and ice covered field, it shows us a grey-haired Billy Connolly - the main draw for believers out there, we’re sure - struggling through the ice with a load of FBI guys following behind. Amanda Peet gets to shout a bit while Connolly yells “It’s here!!!” (about what he’s referring we do not know but it’s probably a safe bet it ain’t a werewolf as Chris Carter and co have tried to have us believe!) but Mulder and Scully barely get a look in. Instead of taking centre stage they’re relegated to quick cuts which show them looking mildly perplexed about something or another.All these snow-bound shenanigans are intercut with, according to AICN’s Quint, “autopsy scenes, Mulder driving, Mulder running, Billy Connolly convulsing with blood coming from his eyes, and a pissed off looking bald guy.” Chris Carter may have explained at the WonderCon panel that he always saw The X Files as “a search for god,” but it all sounds a bit like a bunch of deleted scenes from The Golden Compass. We’re waiting for the next trailer, you know, the one where the Glasgwegan comedian starts rucking with a great big polar bear.

As some of you may know, issue twelve of SciFiNow hits shelves today.Twelve issues…wow! Although we technically have thirteen a year, and we don’t celebrate our official anniversary until April, it’s still quite an achievement for a new mag in such a niche market as science fiction. I joined SFN during the production of issue three and as a result have watched it grow into the form it’s taken today. Magazine creation in itself is a fascinating process, from the initial drafting of the flatplan, to the research, to the (slightly hellish) job of spending hours on Mac Mail and the telephone trying to secure check discs for that one review, or that lead image for a feature that can’t go to design without it. But I can’t complain at all, I love this magazine, I love science fiction, and seeing it come back from press is always a thrill that never really fades.However, what we’re really interested in is what you think of the mag. We have an active group of readers on our forums who provide endless entertainment and some really great feedback for every issue, and having had the opportunity to meet several of you, I can honestly say that you’re some of the most intelligent, kind and pleasant people I’ve known. We believe that SFN is built around quality content, but also around the community of people who read and enjoy it on a monthly basis - we listen to you guys, because we value your opinions.So, issue twelve isn’t just a milestone for us, but we’ve tried to make it as solid as possible for you as well. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it, and I’ll see as many of you as possible at the anniversary celebrations in London, 22 March. See the Off Topic forums for more details.

Today started off as any other day. I came into work, stuck on a particularly pleasant Chieftains/Sinead O’Connor song that I’d heard at the beginning of a Dropkick Murphys gig the other day, and opened up Word. What I wasn’t counting on was the Deputy Editor of HD Review coming over with a slightly haunted look in his eyes, asking if I’d heard the news regarding HD DVD.I hadn’t, since although I’m interested in high definition and freelance for that magazine, I don’t keep up to date with it on a daily basis.Anyway, it seems that it’s the season for resolution of conflict, with the WGA reaching an agreement with the AMPTP, and now, Toshiba dropping HD DVD from their production schedules and long term plans. In a press release, the CEO of Toshiba stated that they “carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop”.So in other words, Warner Bros  and WalMart really screwed us over, and we’re cutting our (substantial) losses while we can?How this’ll affect the company remains to be seen, but what we’re really worried about is how it affects us, let’s be honest. The single format is probably a good thing for high definition in the long run, however it does mean an end to the competition in terms of price cuts that have littered the battlefields of this conflict of late. While Sony and their consortium of Blu-ray supporters still have to win over standard definition users, don’t expect the same kind of bargains that you may have been nabbing recently.Personally I think that competition is a good thing, but the HD war did go too far. Warner Bros essentially made HD DVD users second class consumers by releasing enhanced Blu-ray discs, while Sony practically told early adopters to like it or leave it when they upped the profile of the format. Hopefully this won’t lead to a monopoly over high definition, particularly as there are some great releases coming out soon (both old and new, having had the pleasure of checking out I Am Legend and The Omega Man/28 Million Miles To Earth recently), but at least we can finally put that Blu-ray/HD DVD argument to bed and focus on what’s really important - who’s going to get the chop at Toshiba?I’m kidding. What’s important is The Sarah Connor Chronicles premiering this week. Watch it!

I’m sitting here, desperately attempting to make sense of the maelstrom of press releases, past issues and books that is my desk, and it occurs to me slowly that I haven’t actually seen the HD trailer for Indy IV yet. I’ve seen the bootleg, don’t get me wrong, but the relatively good quality of it can’t disguise the fact that it is filmed on a dodgy camera.Having now watched it, my opinions are still mixed about the film. I don’t like the fact that half of the trailer is just footage from the previous offerings in the franchise, and I do think that Cate Blanchett’s character design is just far too cartoonish for my liking.Also, seriously, when did Indiana Jones become John McClane? The guy falls backwards into a jeep windshield without even flinching, quips, and elbows the soldier next to him right in the kisser. So there’s no spinal damage, or at least mild bruising? Hmm.I remain firmly skeptical about Indy IV. But I suppose that’s good, because it leaves me open to being pleasantly surprised if it turns out to be excellent.

Hello and welcome to the new SciFiNow blog, the latest addition to our ever-growing website.
Written by the team behind the UK’s biggest and best sci-fi magazine, the new SciFiNow blog will offer regular stories, updates, news, insight and more on the world of sci-fi, fantasy and horror. If you’re looking for the latest behind-the-scenes industry info or simply want to know what the members of SciFiNow think about the latest trailers, episodes and books, then log on and get reading. This won’t be the place for in-depth features and extensive interviews – just light, snappy shorts that bring you even closer to the action. 
Enjoy!