Philae, the brave little comet lander that captured our hearts last year, has probably fallen silent for good. After a final, desperate effort to contact the spacecraft over the weekend didn’t pan out, the German Aerospace Agency (DLR) reports that the chances of ever speaking to the probe again are slim—and they’re growing slimmer every day.

Landing the Philae probe on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, a frigid ice rock located some 300 million miles from Earth, was one of the biggest spaceflight achievements of the decade. But it didn’t go off perfectly. When the lander touched down in November of 2014, it bounced twice, and wound up in the dark shadow of a cliff. Without enough sunlight to charge its solar panels, Philae quickly exhausted its power supply. Within 57 hours, it had fallen silent.

Six months later, as Comet 67P approached the sun, Philae briefly woke from its slumber and phoned home. Then, it went quiet again. The DLR’s Philae team hasn’t heard a peep since.

Comet 67P reached perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, in August, and since then, it’s been speeding away. By the end of January, it’ll be so far out that Philae won’t be able to charge up at all. With the clock ticking, the DLR’s lander team made a last-ditch attempt to stir the probe into wakefulness on Sunday. They sent a blind command via Rosetta (the orbital spacecraft that deployed Philae to the surface) telling Philae to spin its flywheel. If that wheel could be jostled, it might shift the lander’s position enough to give it a few last rays of sunshine.

Sadly, Rosetta’s command didn’t seem to phase the frozen comet lander. But it isn’t entirely clear why Philae didn’t respond, according to Philae project manager Stephen Ulamec.

“We did not get a signal, so we do not know whether either the command has not been received, or if there is not enough power at the lander, or whether the communications unit is damaged,” Ulamec told Gizmodo in a phone interview. “So we did [a few commands] yesterday and will continue to do a few more commands.”

These commands include an attempt to switch on Philae’s radar system. According to Ulamec, if the comms system is busted, there’s still a chance Rosetta could pick up a radar signal. “But we’ve done this several times before and it hasn’t been successful,” he added.

As another final check, the DLR is analyzing photos of Philae’s crash site taken by Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera. If Philae kicked up any dust on 67P’s surface over the last few days, it could be a sign that the lander received the flywheel command. “Until now, we didn’t see any indication, but a few people are continuing to look,” Ulamec said. Gizmodo has reached out to the team analyzing the OSIRIS images, and we will update if we hear back.

But for final closure on the Philae lander situation, we may have to wait until the summer. As the Rosetta orbiter draws in closer to 67P, it’ll snap our best photos yet of the comet’s surface. “We hope to get higher resolution images of the lander on the surface, and we’ll learn a lot more then,” Ulamec said.

Its science career may have been cut short, but the European Space Agency still considers the Philae lander a huge success. During its brief period of activity on 67P’s surface, Philae managed to analyze some samples and relay the data to the Rosetta orbiter. Among other things, these samples provided verification that organic molecules—the building blocks of life—are present on the comet’s surface. Meanwhile, Rosetta has performed beautifully, collecting troves of valuable data over the past year.

“People are all very sad now, but we should not be so sad about what we couldn’t achieve and be happy about all the data we could get after the landing,” Ulamec said. “Which was fantastic.”

Follow the author @themadstone

Top: Artist’s concept of Philae on the comet, via ESA

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the classic campy Batman TV series starring Adam West that premiered on January 12, 1966, today Lego has officially revealed a massive new 2,500-piece Batcave set that includes the retro Batmobile, Batcopter, and Batcycle.

Available starting in March for $270, set #76052—the Batman Classic TV Series Batcave—comes with 2,526 pieces to be exact, allowing you to build all the best parts of Wayne Manor.

From the secret entrance to the Batcave revealed by the red emergency Batphone and a button under the Shakespeare bust...

...to a pair of Batpoles ready to whisk Batman and Robin to all of their wonderful toys hidden underground. And while it might seem campy and over-the-top to you, your parents probably thought the classic 1960's Batmobile was the coolest thing on four wheels.

As for Lego Minifigs, there’s a smorgasbord of classic Batman characters included with this set.

Not only do you get Batman, Robin, and their alter egos Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, but Alfred tags along too (someone has to take care of Wayne Manor upstairs) as well as Catwoman, the Riddler, the Joker, and the Penguin.

Drive the villains out from Batman’s Batcave!

Help Batman and Robin to drive the villain intruders from the Batcave, featuring a Bat Lab with Batcomputer, plus the Batmobile with stud shooters, Batcopter with flick missiles and the Batcycle. This special model, based on the classic 1960s TV show, also has a Wayne Manor section with an exterior wall to climb on and Bruce Wayne’s study featuring the iconic Batphone and a false bookcase that slides open to reveal the secret entrance to the Batcave. Before spiraling down the Batpoles into the Batcave, change identity from Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson into Batman and Robin (separate minifigures included).

• Includes 9 minifigures: Batman, Robin, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Alfred Pennyworth, The Joker, Catwoman, The Riddler and The Penguin.

• This LEGO model of the Batcave as seen in the classic 1960s TV series features 2 Batpoles for Batman and Robin to slide down, a selection of Bat-gadgets, helipad, plus a Batmobile and Batcopter.

• The Wayne Manor section of the model features Bruce Wayne’s study with the iconic Batphone, a hinged Shakespeare bust with secret button underneath, sliding false bookcase to access the Batpoles, and assorted elements including decorated wallpaper bricks, wall lamps, framed portraits, a framed fish and trophies. It also includes an exterior wall for climbing, with an opening roof for easy access to the Batpoles and an aerial element.

• The Batcave incorporates a hi-tech, 2-floor Bat Lab with Batcomputer element and a variety of detachable accessory elements, including a lie detector machine, table, chest of drawers, Bat-gadgets and test tubes with translucent elements. Also includes the iconic Batcave entrance for the Batmobile and a helipad for the Batcopter.

• The Batmobile features a dual cockpit with iconic Batphone, 2 stud shooters, an opening trunk, dual exhaust and sign stickers.

• The Batcopter has an opening cockpit for a minifigure, bat-inspired wings with 2 flick missiles, spinning rotors and a spinning propeller. A villain minifigure can grab onto the back of the Batcopter for more aerial battle action.

• The Batcycle features a driver’s seat for Batman, translucent headlight element and a sidecar for Robin.

• Also includes a cat.

• Weapons include The Joker’s TNT, Catwoman’s whip, The Riddler’s TNT and The Penguin’s umbrella.

• Accessory elements include Batman’s 3 Batarangs, rope, grappling hook and handcuffs.

• Includes separate minifigures for Batman and Robin’s alter-egos, so enter the secret doorway as Bruce and Dick, and slide down the Batpoles as LEGO DC Super Heroes!

[Lego]

You’re reading Leg Godt, the blog with the latest Lego news and the best sets on the web. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

It’s been over 50 years since Herschell Gordon Lewis directed exploitation classic Blood Feast. And now the 86-year-old, whose gleefully bloody filmography dominated drive-ins in the 60s and early ’70s, has a brand-new picture: horror anthology BloodMania.

Lewis took a few decades off from the splatter-movie biz to make a mint in the decidedly more tame world of advertising. But he was always proud of what he’d made, and pleasantly baffled by his ever-growing cult fame, since his films—always more of a moneymaking strategy rather than an artistic venture—had been routinely dismissed by critics.

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Feast-Sp...

In 2002, Lewis’ enduring fandom was enough to coax “the Godfather of Gore” out of retirement to make Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat, followed up by 2009's The Uh-oh Show. (In 2007, his Wizard of Gore was remade by other filmmakers, too.) BloodMania’s press release describes it as “four unique stories that combine horror and gore with outrageous humor that will satiate every horror fan’s appetite.” It’s due out sometime in 2016 from Diabolique Films.

Check out the trailer for BloodMania below. And in the meantime, get up to speed by watching HGL’s earlier works, including must-watch classics Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs! (the Godfather’s personal favorite), and the original Wizard of Gore.

“BLOOD ... WILL ... FLOW!”

http://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Mania...

http://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Gore-Sp...

It’s amazing that anyone would ever dismiss Wonder Woman. She’s a better fighter than Superman, and more powerful than 99.9 of most other DC characters... and she’s got the fight card to prove it. Besides all the villains she’s defeated, here are some of the fellow superheroes she’s had occasion to trounce.

1) Batman

Let’s start big, shall we? In Greg Rucka’s The Hiketeia, Wonder Woman swears an oath to protect a woman who also murdered someone in Gotham. As Batman finds out when he goes to capture the criminal, Wonder Woman takes her oaths very seriously, no matter the circumstances. Has there ever been a time where Batman has been more thoroughly defeated when Wonder Woman punches him out of a building, tells him to basically get lost, and then Batman proceeds to immediately run the hell away? I’d contend there is not.

2) Green Lantern

In Justice League #11, Hal Jordan makes the rather chauvinistic mistake or telling Wonder Woman she can’t go off to save her friend Steve Trevor (mainly because WW is a bit angry at the time). Wonder Woman does not care for that, so Wonder Woman punches him into a car about a block away. Batman and the rest of the Justice League stop the fight shortly thereafter, before a winner can be definitely named. But given that (as per the image above) WW can break any Lantern construct she wants with sheer force of will, Green Lantern is exceedingly lucky the rest of the Justice League stepped in.

3) The Flash (and Others)

Blinded after a fight with Medusa (where she poured poisonous snake blood into her own eyes to keep from looking at her foe and being turned to stone), the JLA decided to make sure she was still going to be able to perform her duties as a hero. So, in Wonder Woman #212, she has to fight the Flash, Black Canary, Plastic Man and Martian Manhunter all at once. Obviously, the Flash is the big gun here, and Superman and Batman are concerned about her inability to handle his speed… for about half a minute, when WW starts using the change in air pressure to predict the Flash’s location. So clearly, Wonder Woman can beat the Flash while blindfolded. It may also be worth mentioning that this fight ends when Superman tries to shoot WW in the back of the head… a bullet that she deflects with her bracelet. While blind.

4) Power Girl

If you don’t know Power Girl’s origin, the simplest way to put it is that she’s essentially Supergirl from an alternate universe (usually). So she’s at least part Kryptonian, and has most of their standard powers: super-strength, invulnerability, flight, etc. As far as powers go, Wonder Woman considers Power Girl her equal. And in Wonder Woman #40 and #41 when some bad guys trick PG into an anti-WW rampage, Power Girl literally punches Wonder Woman into Canada. But as soon as she realizes she’s not going to be able to talk PG down, Wonder Woman reveals the one way Power Girl will never come close to matching her—combat skills.

5) Superman

There has only been one time when Wonder Woman has fully, totally, unequivocally kicked Superman’s ass, and that was in the (excellent) Elseworlds comic Injustice. To be fair, though, Superman and WW were at their normal power levels, so keep it in mind. In the real DC universe, whenever Superman and Wonder Woman fight they tend to reach a draw—because they come to a truce so they can team up to defeat actual bad guys, or because one of them is momentarily evil and the other doesn’t want to hurt them.

The latter was the case in Wonder Woman #219, where Maxwell Lord tricks Superman into thinking that WW was Doomsday, and has killed Lois Lane. Superman goes all-out—why wouldn’t he?—not only punching Wonder Woman into outer space, but punching her back to Earth, too. He blasts her directly in the face with his heat vision. He crushes her wrist in his hands. And not only does Wonder Woman get up every single time, she holds back, because she doesn’t want to hurt her friend. She eventually finds a (rather controversial) solution, but the fact is she takes the absolutely worst punishment Superman could dish out, and she’s ready for more. Given that she also has a sword of Hephaestus—one of the few items in the galaxy that can make Superman bleed—I know where I’d put my money if Wonder Woman ever decides to go all-out against the Man of Steel.

6) The Entire Justice League

You know how Batman has all those secret files full of elaborate plans of how to defeat every member of the Justice League, in case they turn evil? Well, Wonder Woman managed to do the same thing, in about an afternoon. In A League of One, when she learns of a prophecy of a great dragon that only the Justice League can defeat—but they’ll die in the battle. Rather than sacrifice her allies, she decides to take them all out, to ensure that she’s the only member of the league that will be available to fight the dragon when it arrives. So she’ll be the only one who has to die. She captures Martian Manhunter in her golden lasso and teleports him into a terrasphere in a volcano, where he’s surrounded by lava. She headbutts Green Lantern and takes his power ring right off his finger. She dropkicks the Flash into unconsciousness. She punches Aquaman into the mouth of legendary mythological monster Charybdis, which it’ll take him days to escape.

She flat out whups Batman. And when Superman finally figures out what’s going on, she tells him that she’s sent Batman, Flash and Green Lantern into space capsule, headed straight for the asteroid belt; and while Superman goes to save them, she’s going to fight the dragon on her own. She wins and dies—although Superman gets back just in time to give her a bit of super-CPR. Not a bad day’s work.

Contact the author at rob@io9.com.

After everything we’ve heard about how the original plan was to film Fury Road and its sequel at the same time and about how the George Miller already wrote the sequel, you’d expect him to go ahead and make it. What’s this now? Suddenly Miller’s out?

A statement from Miller appears on Page Six and, due to the way the copy is formatted, it’s kind of hard to figure out what’s going on. Here it is, as originally published:

Australian director of the snubbed “Mad Max: Fury Road” George Miller: “I won’t make more ‘Mad Max’ movies. ‘Fury Road’ with Charlize Theron, Zoë Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Riley Keough was forever getting completed. If you finish one in a year, it’s considered a leap of faith. Start, stop, start again.

“I’ve shot in Australia in a field of wild flowers and flat red earth when it rained heavily forever. We had to wait 18 months and every return to the US was 27 hours. Those ‘Mad Maxes’ take forever. I won’t do those anymore.”

Say whaaa?

It might be all one George Miller quote, but the way all those names are listed is downright weird. All of the stuff about how long they take and how hard it is does seem like an explanation of why Miller’s done, but that could also mean he’s done making them that way. Maybe they’ll stop shooting in Australia. Maybe he’ll turn the script over to someone else to direct—which is honestly somehow worst than him just closing the series on such a high note.

If Miller is seriously just done with Mad Max, that would be a shame. He’s shown remarkable dedication to it over the previous decades, though. Given the obvious confusion, we hope some clarification is forthcoming.

Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.

The trailers for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice have revealed there will be some truly epic battles playing out between the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel, but deep down there’s a part of me who would find it just as entertaining if the two battled it out like a pair of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.

But because I doubt that’s the kind of action Zack Snyder has in mind for his next superhero flick, I’m going to have to settle for Mattel’s updated take on its classic Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots game where the robotic pugilists have now been replaced with Batman and Superman.

The goal of the $25 game, which has also been upgraded with electronic sound effects, is still the same as the original version—you’re trying to beat your opponent into submission. But instead of their heads eventually flying off, which would be pretty traumatic for kids to see, either character pops off their base in defeat when they’ve had enough of a pummelling. [Mattel via Geek Alerts]

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Sabrina the Teenage Witch dominated the TGIF lineup when it premiered in 1996. It aired Friday nights on ABC, alongside Boy Meets World, Family Matters, and Two of a Kind. And it was much, much weirder than any of those. And weirder than even just a regular show about a teenage witch might have been.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch could have just combined “hiding magical powers from the regular people,” à la Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie, with a dash of the usual high school angst. In other words, what Buffy the Vampire Slayer did, albeit in a much more nuanced way. But Sabrina didn’t rely on anything so ordinary.

The show starts with having the 16-year-old Sabrina Spellman move in with her paternal aunts Hilda and Zelda. Why? Because she’s a half-witch whose powers are about to manifest, and she needs the guidance. And why, exactly, can’t she get that from her parents? Because if she sets eyes on her mortal mother, her mother will turn into a ball of wax. And her father lives inside her magic book. And the reasons for both of those things boil down to “because.”

The rules of the Other Realm, where witches come from, make up a lot of the confounding weirdness of this show. One episode revolves around the fact that a witch’s first kiss with a mortal turns them into a frog. And this only gets reversed if the witch passes three tests proving true love. YES. A teenager’s only way to make sure a boy isn’t stuck as a frog is to hope that it’s true love. And if she fails, she turns into a frog, too.

The best character on Sabrina is also the one with the weirdest backstory. Salem Saberhagen is a black cat. Or, really, a witch sentenced to one hundred years as a black cat for trying to take over the world. Which is fine. I mean, it’s actually insane—but since it’s the reason that the back-talking black cat is on the show, I’m fine with it.

I’m less fine with the weird cat axe the executioner wields.

Or how about the whole season revolving around Sabrina getting her “witch’s license?” Which somehow meant a “Quiz Master” can show up at any time and demand she complete some sort of random task, usually with a heartwarming lesson attached. That storyline carried on for one whole season, and then the Quiz Master vanished. Another season required Sabrina to solve a series of clues about “the family secret,” which turned out to be that every member of her family has an evil twin. In some shows, the evil twin reveal might merit more than a single episode. Not Sabrina! Her evil twin gets tossed into a volcano, and then everything is fine.

(Let’s also point out that half of the clues turn out to mean “Every member of the Spellman family.” So much time wasted figuring that out.)

The evil twin secret pales in comparison to the secret that the Spellman family has an in-born addiction to pancakes. “Pancake Madness” is a third season episode that’s devoted entirely to watching Sabrina have a pancake-based meltdown. She dances the pancake samba—and then it’s never mentioned again. There’s a musical number and a lady dressed as a giant syrup dispenser.

Add to all of this a number of big name cameos that were weirdly important to the plot. Sabrina didn’t just have famous people show up for single-joke scenes—although the show also did plenty of that. Britney Spears shows up, as herself, to talk to Sabrina about how she misses home. And to teach her to dance. The whole family ends up on an episode of Jerry Springer. Baseball player Brady Anderson spends an episode as Sabrina’s life coach when she gets trapped in her bad mood.

Something which wasn’t a cameo at the time, but is completely confusing if you rewatch the show, is that Paul Feig was a regular in the first season. Yes, the director Paul Feig. He plays Sabrina’s much put-upon science teacher.

Sabrina also had a tendency to blow through cast members like you wouldn’t believe. Sabrina’s best friend in season one is nowhere to be seen by season two. Her best friend from seasons two and three is shipped to Alaska in season four. Her nemesis goes to boarding school in season four. Her new nemesis, a trainee witch, lasts twelve episodes. Her aunts disappear after season six. The only characters who actually last the entire run of the series? Sabrina and Salem.

Say goodbye to everyone but the cat, Sabrina.

Sabrina was an intensely silly show, but that’s what makes it such addictive viewing to this day. And if you love puns and any time a turn of phrase is revealed to be literal, then this show is a goldmine. It’s definitely a good place to find out if you have some weird new fetish. I’m sure someone has a thing for earlobes:

I know there are people into this:

The world is a wonderful and varied place, so I’s sure this hits several buttons for people:

All of those are from a single episode, by the way. Season 3's “Boy Was My Face Red.”

Sabrina the Teenage Witch was unrelentingly, gratuitously weird. But the show took that weirdness as a license to do whatever it wanted, because nothing was ever out of bounds. Even as other, more logical, TV shows fade from memory, Sabrina the Teenage Witch remains a surreal, hilarious joy-ride.

Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.

No, you didn’t fall down and hit your head. The CW and DC are really letting Legends of Tomorrow spend part of its very first season time traveling to the Old West. Where they’ll meet up with Jonah Hex.

When you have a show that involves time travel, that opens up all kinds of doors. So the Legends of Tomorrow crew went through the one with a ten gallon hat and a six shooter on it. You have to admire the audacity. And given that this is the same crew that made Gorilla Grodd work on television, you kind of have to give them the benefit of the doubt.

According to Variety, this meeting will take place in the second half of the first season. Executive producer Marc Guggenheim said:

Ever since we decided that ‘Legends’ would involve time travel, we were eager to do a story set in the Old West. But if you’re going to do a story set in the DC Universe version of the Old West, you simply MUST include Jonah Hex in it. We’re thrilled about bringing another well known, beloved DC character to television.

“MUST” is a bit strong. Not many people would look at a bounty hunter with a surly disposition, a scarred face, and a strict morality and go “this character absolutely must be in my CW superhero show.” It’s not really the obvious go-to that Guggenheim thinks it is.

If this is how they’re starting the show, who is going to be showing up by season five? Matter Eater Lad? Catman? Ch’p the Squirrel Green Lantern?

[Variety]

Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.

Many a rock star has trashed a hotel room to celebrate a triumphant performance. It turns out rock stars of the children’s literature world do the same, they just tend to be a lot more polite about it.

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling tweeted the below picture, confessing that when she was done writing the final portion of the final book in her beloved series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, she could not stop herself from defacing one of the hotel’s sculptures in her triumph:

If you think her act of vandalism couldn’t be any more adorably proper, it seems that Rowling immediately informed the hotel of her crime. The Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh, responded swiftly ... by renaming the room she was occupying in her honor, complete with the bed she slept on, the writing desk she worked at, and the bust that she so viciously defaced.

According to The Telegraph, the room has become quite the Mecca for Potter fans. The hotel charges £1,000 (around $1,400) a night to stay there, which seems like a much more exorbitant crime than a bit of graffiti.

AP Photo/Akira Suemori.

Contact the author at rob@io9.com.

Not at all a spoiler: I don’t get to Mars in my most recent playthrough of Tharsis, the extremely difficult and very fun dice-based strategy game coming to PC and PS4 on Tuesday. This is not a spoiler, because getting to Mars is very hard. Players will fail. A lot. Count on it.

In the video here, you’ll see me play through one game of Tharsis. In it, I’m faced with many decisions, such as:

• Should I repair the maintenance bay or the greenhouse?
  
• Should I worry if the flight control module is broken?
• Should I heal my crew’s wounds at the cost of stressing everyone out?
• Should I have my crew eat their deceased fellow astronaut?
• Should I kill one of my crew so the others can eat him?

These are important space decisions! And they must be made in this turn-based game as catastrophe after calamity hits en route to Mars.

I don’t make it to the Red Planet, but I have fun along the way. Take a look and consider checking this game out when it hits tomorrow. It’s from the folks at Choice Provisions and will cost $15, but will likely be discounted for launch week. It works well as game you play solo or with friends nearby, as you debate which terrible choice to face up to next.

To contact the author of this post, write to stephentotilo@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @stephentotilo.

Star Wars is back. The space-opera juggernaut that ruled the late 70s and early 80s is once again reigning supreme over pop culture. Disney paid $4 billion for the contents of George Lucas’ toybox. But really, any movie studio that wants to can make its own Star Wars movie. (They just can’t call it “Star Wars.”)

Sure, you can trademark those two words, and the names of the main characters, and a few key touchstones like “The Force.” But as we’ve discussed endlessly, Star Wars is a mish-mash of tons of other stuff that was already decades old in 1977. It’s Flash Gordon, Lensmen, epic fantasy, The Hidden Fortress, The Dam-Busters and a bunch of other stuff, all smushed together and spiffed up with beautiful space VFX. You can’t really own Star Wars, because it’s a compendium of classic stories.

So any movie studio that wants to cash in on Star Wars mania can create its own space fantasy, full of weird creatures, spaceship battles, epic quests and huge mystical destinies. They don’t even have to base it on a particular classic IP—and given how much weird baggage things like Flash Gordon carry, it might be better not to.

There’s such a rich trove of material out there to borrow from, too. Space opera, just by itself, goes back generations and has left us with a huge wealth of archetypes, plot devices and story ideas. Star Wars barely scratches the surface of what space opera has to offer. And when you mash it up with other genres like epic fantasy, sword-and-sorcery and military science fiction, the possibilities are basically unlimited. A lot of what makes Star Wars so endlessly fascinating isn’t the result of George Lucas having a boundless imagination, but of Lucas having his hand in a lot of cookie jars. (And yes, I have now constructed a tortured mixed metaphor in which Lucas plundered several cookie jars to make a toybox.)

What I’m saying is, I hope that we see a wave of swashbuckling new space action movies soon. After the original Star Wars blew everyone’s mind, we got the Star Trek films, Alien, Flash Gordon, the guilty pleasure Moonraker, and a host of other random space movies from Buckaroo Banzai to Last Starfighter to Ice Pirates. Plus Buck Rogers and Battlestar. Plus a million Spaghetti space operas and other random oddities. Not all of these films were brilliant—although I will not stand for any smack-talk about Moonraker—but they were mostly thrilling and fun, and the perfect space candy for your inner child.

So I guess I’m hoping that, even as the success of some big films in the 2000s started a superhero feeding frenzy, a new Star Wars supremacy will make some other studios think about ways to get in on some of that sweet space action. One new Star Wars movie per year feels like a lot, but it also feels like not nearly enough space action. We need a regular dose of spaceships shooting energy weapons at each other, alien planets, wild and crazy ray-gun fights, and so on. There is a serious space-battle deficit in our lives.

I know what you’re going to say here. John Carter. Jupiter Ascending. Tomorrowland. Even J.J. Abrams’ own Star Trek movies didn’t really make Star Wars money. There’s been a long string of attempts to do a brand new spacey, futuristic movie series, and a lot of them have tanked. These sorts of movies are expensive, even if you cut corners. And we can be here all day discussing the ways in which those movies failed to win over audiences, and failed to convince us that they were going to be fun exciting romps. It’s absolutely true that Star Wars has a huge ocean of nostalgia to sip from, and The Force Awakens succeeded in part by reminding us of everything we loved about that universe. But the marketing for a lot of those other movies didn’t really convey the idea of “fun, exciting joyride.”

On the other hand, things like Guardians of the Galaxy and Avatar prove that it is possible to launch a series about spaceships and aliens, and have a massive success. It helps if there’s a known quantity involved, like Marvel or James Cameron, but also if the first movie actually seems fun and entertaining. The key to owning this rollicking-space-fantasy niche is 100 percent about convincing people that this is going to be a fun ride, with a decent payoff.

So sure, maybe doing a new space-opera movie series isn’t a slam dunk. But a canny film-maker can absolutely draw from the same sources that George Lucas plundered and come up with something that mainstream movie audiences will lose their shit over. If our new wave of Star Wars-mania leads to even one or two things that feel like a new Alien or a new Buckaroo Banzai, then that will be a brilliant outcome.

And you know what existing property actually desperately deserves a goddamn movie adaptation? Nexus. The space-faring comic by Mike Baron and Steve Rude about a guy who gets superpowers—but is forced to assassinate people he dreams about—is dying for a lavish movie adaptation. Also, Saga. But our Nexus movie is crazily overdue. WHERE IS MY NEXUS MOVIE, HOLLYWOOD?

Update: I realized that I already published a list of amazing space heroes who deserve their own movies, a couple years ago:

http://io9.gizmodo.com/space-heroes-w...

All images: Star Wars concept art by Ralph McQuarrie.

Charlie Jane Anders is the author of All The Birds in the Sky, coming Jan 26 from Tor Books. Follow her on Twitter, and email her.

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan—the only country in the world to measure its Gross National Happiness—is playing host to its first Western movie shoot, and it’s a supernatural horror movie with both Western and Bhutanese actors, called The Temple. Variety reports filming will begin January 20.

The United States has Star Wars: The Force Awakens. China has Monster Hunt. It’s the country’s highest-grossing film of all time, and it’s finally making it to U.S. theaters on January 22.

Here’s the new trailer, courtesy of MovieClips (really, it’s just this old trailer with new English writing):

If you still have no idea going on, here’s the ultra simple break down. Monster Hunt takes place in a world where monsters and humans co-exist. Things get crazy, however, when a human and monster have a baby together. It’s directed by Raman Hui, the main animator on the Shrek films.

For a full list of theaters opening the film later this month, both with an English dub and English subtitles, visit FilmRise.

[FilmRise]

Contact the author at germain@io9.com.

Producer Mark Gordon says there’s active development on a film version of The Silver Chair, based on the fourth book of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Of course, it’s being billed as a reboot. Which makes no sense whatsoever.

Good... er ... bad... er... news! Even as a fan of the Narnia series, I tend to forget that they made it all the way to the third book for the latest adaptation. I remember The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. I forgot they released The Voyage of the Dawn Treader five years ago. Which is frankly shocking, since Narnia is ripe for an epic fantasy franchise. These should be huge films, so it’s a good thing that they’re trying to right this ship.

Gordon told Collider that they’re hoping to start making The Silver Chair “shortly,” but then added this weird caveat:

No [none of the original cast will be in it], it’s all going to be a brand new franchise. All original. All original characters, different directors, and an entire new team that this is coming from.

Collider called this a “reboot.” Which, no? They’re not remaking The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book published. Nor are they starting over by adapting The Magician’s Nephew, the first book chronologically. To say this is a reboot makes no sense, since the other movies aren’t being ignored—they can’t be, otherwise there’s going to have to be a lot of exposition in the new movie. This is just a new creative team, which used to happen all the time without it being called a “reboot.” It’s just that “reboot” sounds fresh and sexy. Whereas “we fired everyone and hired a bunch of new people” sounds like they’re admitting to mistakes.

Plus, to say that none of the original actors are showing up isn’t that big a deal. Almost no one from the other stories shows up in The Silver Chair. Caspian is in Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but he’s ancient by the time The Silver Chair rolls around. Only Eustace, a kid from our world who traveled to Narnia in Dawn Treader, is close enough in age to be recognizable. So one person is getting recast. That’s another thing that’s happened all the time without it being a “reboot.” But, again, “recasting” sounds like something went wrong.

Anyway, we’re actually getting another Narnia movie. Fingers crossed this one goes as well as it should.

Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.

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It’s great that we live in a world of $30 Bluetooth speakers, but most of them aren’t exactly known for their attractive industrial designs, to put it charitably. Not so with this aluminium Inateck model, which looks good enough to keep out on display, and is even water resistant if you want to take it in the shower. [Inateck Ultra-Portable Aluminum Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 Speaker, $30 with code SZL2HN7E]

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If you’re in any way dissatisfied with your current vacuum cleaner, Amazon will sell you a highly-rated Hoover for just $75 today, an all-time low.

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Today only, Amazon’s bundling the original Robocop trilogy, and the 2014 reboot, into one affordable package. I’d buy that for 22 dollars. [Robocop Trilogy and Robocop 2014, $22]

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Motion-sensing stick-anywhere night lights are super useful for dark hallways, cabinets, and closets, and we’ve found two great options today.

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We see “toy” drones for $46 fairly frequently, but this model is unlike any other.

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Home Theater

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PC Parts

• Thermaltake Core V21 Black Extreme Micro ATX Cube Chassis ($40) | Newegg | After $20 Rebate

Mobile Devices

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Photography

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Fitness

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Apparel

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Camping & Outdoors

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Tools & Auto

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Media

Movies & TV

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Music

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Gaming

• Amazon Prime Members get 20% Off Preorder Video Games | Discount applies in cart.

Peripherals

• Mayflash Wireless Wii U Pro Controller to PC USB ($15) | Amazon

PC

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PlayStation 4

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Xbox One

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Wii U

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3DS

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Board Games

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Toys

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Even the most die-hard fans of The CW’s long-running series Supernatural might find it difficult to stay as enthused for the show’s 11th season. So here’s a bit of good news—the incomparable Jim Beaver will return as fan-favorite hunter Bobby Singer in an upcoming episode.

If you wondering whether Bobby would show up as a ghost—which is pretty standard practice on Supernatural, so that’s a totally valid guess—it turns out he won’t. Instead he’ll appear with his fellow deceased hunter Rufus (played by Steven Williams) in a flashback. According to Nerdist, they’ll be shown investigating a case from season five of the show, which will of course have ties to the case Sam and Dean will be looking into in the present day.

Bobby will make his welcome return on the 16th episode of this the season, which should air sometime in March. Jim Beaver: Supernatural’s sweeps week secret weapon? Works for me.

Contact the author at rob@io9.com.

Jar Jar Binks is the epicentre of so many people’s rage about the issues of the Star Wars prequels, or even Star Wars in general. But people often forget that under the CG alien was actor Ahmed Best—and he’s spent over a decade having to deal with Jar Jar’s reputation.

A new interview with Best conducted by Jamie Stangroom for a new YouTube series called These Are The Actors You’re Looking For, where he hunts down stars big and small who appeared in the Star Wars saga and asks them about their time with the franchise.

Most people he’s interviewed so far have been happy to discuss their connection with one of the biggest franchises in pop culture history. However, the ten-minute chat with Best paints a pretty miserable picture after years and years of people lashing out about Jar Jar Binks’ role in the prequel movies:

Star Wars was my first ‘most hated’ title in anything really. It was painful. One of the biggest reasons I took it was because of the challenge of it—there was no Andy Serkis and Gollum, Navi from Avatar, Martians, John Carter.

I was to be the template for this, so I was kinda working with George to pioneer this new character form of acting and storytelling. On set we were all just so focused on the challenge of it and having so much fun that the post-Star Wars stuff was a surprise. Even though you play characters, you put a lot of your own personality into it, you get emotionally and personally invested in the work that you do, it’s your work and you take pride in it. So when your work is criticized negatively, you feel a hit.

It wasn’t just fan reaction after the release of The Phantom Menace that soured Best’s time with Star Wars. Jar Jar was prominently featured in the merchandise for the movie—leading to some ridiculous products being attached to his character, including an infamously lewd-looking Jar Jar lollipop:

Apparently the item was so poorly regarded, Best was apologized to by marketers just for it actually existing.

The worst one was a lollipop dispenser, that was ridiculous, I saw that thing and ran. That was bad, the head of marketing actually called me to apologize for that one.

You can’t help but feel sorry for the guy.

For those fans that loathed Jar Jar, Best provides some good news by confirming he’d say no if he was ever asked back to reprise the character. (He has briefly voiced Binks in the Clone Wars animated series, though.). But still, while it’s very easy to look at the flaws Jar Jar represents, it’s twinged with sadness when you see how Best feels about it all these years later.

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Virtual reality already makes some people woozy. For others, roller coasters are also a motion-sickness nightmare. What happens when you mix two stomach-turning activities? A theme park in the UK is going to find out.

Today, Alton Towers, a theme park in Staffordshire, England, announced it would debut a VR experience called Galactica this April. The VR roller coaster hurls (lol) you through space, into wormholes and through interstellar portals alongside spaceships and droids. As far as we can see, it’s the first virtual reality roller coaster in the world.

During the ride/show/voyage, you’ll skim through the Orion Nebula, fly over the frosty crags and volcanoes of various planetoids, and apparently watch a new star be born. The trains will hit 47 mph, last three minutes, travel 2,755 feet in track, hold 28 passengers, and drop riders from 66 feet at its gnarliest drop.

The BBC reports that the ride has been in the works for a good two years, and that it will obviously require riders to wear VR headsets. (Not sure how comfy or cool-looking that’d actually be, based on this spectacle from CES last week.) The BBC also says that riders are hit a max of 3.5gs g-force in the space simulation, which set the park back millions of pounds to develop. It better be good!

[Alton Towers via BBC]

We’re about 17 months away from seeing the eighth episode in the Star Wars saga, but the director of the ninth film is already making our minds go into overdrive. In a new interview, Colin Trevorrow talked about Rey’s parents, Luke, Leia as well as the legacy of his installment.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Trevorrow said he’s approaching Episode IX, which will hit theaters at some point in 2019, as more than a single film.

By the time we get to Episode IX, I look at that movie as one movie, as three movies, as six movies, and as nine movies. It’s something that needs to honor a story that has been told over a period of 40 years… Star Wars is a belief system, it’s not just a story and it’s not just a movie, and it’s something I take very seriously.

So what will that include? Well, Trevorrow says he’s read all the theories concerning the lineage of Force Awakens star Rey and believes fans won’t be disappointed.

We’re going to make sure that that answer is deeply and profoundly satisfying. Rey is a character that is important in this universe, not just in the context ofThe Force Awakens, but in the entire galaxy. She deserves it. We’ll make sure that that answer is something that feels like it was something that happened a long time ago, far away, and we’re just telling you what happened.

Trevorrow’s quotes seems to suggest that we may have to wait until his film to find out this answer. Which would be frustrating, but understandable. He also says she’s “important” in the “entire galaxy,” which may tease that she’ll cross into another trilogy like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo did.

It also seems possible, from Trevorrow’s interview, that Luke and Leia will be around for his film. He told ET that he can’t wait “to find new places that we can take those characters.” And that “They are icons, but they’re also people that have suffered tremendous loss and challenge over the course of all these films.”

Also of note, the director said that he’s been doing “a lot of scribbling and a lot of notes thinking about the story that I want to tell,” in regards to Episode IX. Does that mean he’s writing the script? We don’t know, and a request to Lucasfilm as of press time was unanswered.

Still, with the film so far away, the fact Trevorrow is thinking so much about it is very exciting. The Jurassic World director currently in post-production on a smaller movie called The Book of Henry and will co-write the sequel to Jurassic World, out in 2018, before focusing full time on the final film of the sequel trilogy.

[Entertainment Tonight, h/t Collider]

Images: Lucasfilm, Universal

Contact the author at germain@io9.com.