Say, what gender is adorable Star Wars robot BB-8? There's only one correct answer, and it's "Would you ask that question about a person?" As EW reports, even now the Force Awakens crew is not sure if the droid's a boy or a girl, or if the gender binary should be blown up like just another Death Star. "’I'm still not sure, dare I say, whether BB-8 is male or female," effects artist Neal Scanlan says. "BB-8 was female in our eyes. And then he or she became male. And that’s all part of the evolution, not only visually, but in the way they move, how they hold themselves."

BB-8's skillful code-switching is mirrored in its personality, which Scanlan admits is "quite manipulative." Like a child that knows how cute it is, BB-8 is not above using the heart-melting feelings it inspires to its own advantage, and Scanlan says it has no qualms about using its "coyness" to accomplish its "very important mission." Still, though, despite the robot's groundbreaking androgyny play, some of its creators are still stuck in a mind-set that belongs to a long time ago, gender-wise: EW reports that the crew still calls BB-8 "he." Looks like maleness is still the default, SMH.

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Filed Under: star wars ,the force awakens ,movies ,bb-8 ,droids ,this is the droid you're looking for

Supergirl will reportedly cast a young Superman for later this season

In the opening minutes of every episode of Supergirl, Kara dictates her story from the doomed planet of Krypton and her journey to Earth. Her parents planned for her and her infant cousin, Kal-El, to land on Earth and allow her the opportunity to watch over him; however, Kara’s ship was knocked off course and by the time that she arrived on our world, Kal was already an adult, and already Superman.

With all that in mind, TVLine reports that the series is looking to cast a 13-year-old actor with “future leading man looks” for the role of Kal-El in a series of flashbacks set to establish his bond with Kara. The problem, of course, is that in the context of the series, Kara was trapped in The Phantom Zone when Kal was 13-years old. Though anything is possible in a show about people that fly around and have heat vision. Check back here for more details on the casting as we learn them.

Melissa Benoist leads the cast of Supergirl season one as the title character with a cast that also includes Mehcad Brooks as James Olsen, Laura Benanti as Alura Zor-El, Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant, Chyler Leigh as Alexandra “Alex” Danvers, Jeremy Jordan as Winslow “Winn” Schott, Jenna Dewan Tatum as Lucy Lane (sister of Lois), Iddo Goldberg as Red Tornado, David Harewood as Hank Henshaw, Peter Facinelli as Maxwell Lord, and Dean Cain and Helen Slater.

If you missed an episode of Supergirl, or just need a refresher, be sure to check out our weekly recaps by clicking here.

The post Supergirl Casting a Young Superman for Later in the Season appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

Despite all of the weird stuff he has done and that whole Scientology thing (and all of the weird stuff it has done), Tom Cruise is still one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Soon, though, his career may reach an unexpected new stage, commonly referred to as the “Replacement For Brendan Fraser Stage.” That’s because Entertainment Weekly and Variety are reporting that Cruise is in talks to star in Universal’s The Mummy, a reboot of the Brendan Fraser-starring series (which itself was a reboot of the old series from back when mummies were more common). In a way, this is a compliment to Brendan Fraser, since Universal decided to go for someone way better than him for the next movie instead of someone equal or worse than him…but it’s also probably an insult, since we just referred to Cruise as “way better than ...

[Ask The Expert]
Explore the Supernatural forum.

The Dark Tower eyes Matthew McConaughey for the role of The Gunslinger

The man in black fled across the desert, and Matthew McConaughey followed…

TheWrap brings word that Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club, “True Detective”) is being eyed for the lead role of Roland Deschain, aka The Gunslinger, in the big screen adaptation of Stephen King‘s The Dark Tower. However, The Hollywood Reporter brings conflicting word that McConaughey is up for the film’s villain role, Randall Flagg, aka The Man in Black. Check back here once the dust settles on the film’s casting.

Director Nikolaj Arcel, who co-wrote the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and directed the Academy Award-nominated A Royal Affair, is set to helm the big screen adaptation, which also has a tie-in television series in development simultaneously. Academy Award winner Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) and Jeff Pinkner (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) have written the screenplay, which is said to be based primarily on the first book in the seven volume series.

Sony Pictures and MRC were teaming to make the live-action version of Stephen King’s epic tale, which focuses on the saga of the legendary Gunslinger.

“I’m excited that ‘The Dark Tower’ is finally going to appear on the screen,” King previously said. “Those who have traveled with Roland and his friends in their search for the Dark Tower are going to have their long-held hopes fully realized. This is a brilliant and creative approach to my books.”

Ron Howard was initially planning to direct the first film in the series. He is now involved in producing the series through his Imagine Entertainment alongside Brian Grazer and Erica Huggins. Goldsman is also producing through Weed Road with Pinkner set to serve as executive producer.

The Dark Tower is currently set for release on January 13, 2017.

(Photo credit: IPA/WENN.com)

The post Matthew McConaughey Up for Lead Role in The Dark Tower appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

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We’ve had a rewatch for one prequel, but there are still two more! After critics and fans alike came at The Phantom Menace with finely-sharped machetes, George Lucas decided to get a cowriter on Episode II. His name was Jonathan Hales, and I saw him on stage at Celebration II, the second Star Wars fan convention (back when they held it in Indianapolis—it was only a short road trip from home). He was talking about how it was important not to get bogged down in who-wrote-what-line, but did make a winking comment that Obi-Wan’s whole “You don’t want to sell me deathsticks” bit was his.

To be fair, it’s a pretty great bit.

The jump from Episode I to II was a great flying leap. Fans learned it was going to take place ten years later, that Anakin would be recast as indie darling Hayden Christensen, and suddenly Boba Fett had a dad? Yoda was CGI, and about to fight with a lightsaber? Christopher Lee was involved?

Then, of course, there was the fandom uproar over the title. Apparently people thought “Attack of the Clones” did not have the required oomph/sexiness for a Star Wars film. It was too silly, too trivial. Lucas claimed that the title was meant to harken back to old SFF serials from his childhood, and frankly, that seems as good a reason as any. Also… people really thought that title was cornier than “The Phantom Menace”? Come on.

The title did give fans a very important clue, of course: that the Clone Wars, name-dropped by Luke in Episode IV would indeed be a focal point of the prequel trilogy. The Expanded Universe (now the Legends canon) had already given their vague say on the Clone Wars, being that they were wars fought over the emergence of clone technology. It was a sound idea, and a sharp science-fiction move too. But Star Wars has never been heavy on the science front, and when you looked into it more closely, the idea that a galaxy with artificial intelligence and interstellar travel and freaking laserswords would balk at the idea of cloning seems a bit off base.

Lucas ignored these suggestions utterly, and made the name more literal—it’s called the Clone Wars because it is a war being fought by clones. Get it? But audiences knew nothing of that plan in the beginning. We only knew that we were finally going to figure out what sort of “damned fool idealistic crusade” Anakin followed Obi-Wan on. (In truth, he didn’t really do that, and Obi-Wan wasn’t such a big fan of the Clone Wars. Obi-Wan was just spinning tales, as he is wont to do when young Luke is nearby.)

So I rewatched it! Carefully, studiously, and again, doing my best to keep personal reservations and opinions out of the mix. And here is the curious result:

My stance on this movie has shifted entirely—Attack of the Clones is a weaker film than The Phantom Menace.

Episode I had a lot of excess material that needed trimming, and a lot of ideas that needed expanding. The one benefit the The Phantom Menace had going for it was that you could make plenty of inferences based on what you saw and heard. You could guess what Lucas was going for, even when the narrative was vague or sloppy. But Episode II, on paper, makes no sense whatsoever.

So Padmé comes back to Coruscant (she’s a senator these days) to vote on a very important bill, one that will create an army for the Republic, rather than allowing individual systems to defend themselves however they see fit. She’s against it, being from a pacifist culture and all that jazz. Her decoy is immediately offed in an assassination attempt—again, how do we not get more from Padmé and her handmaidens? it’s way too interesting to keep pushing off into a corner—and Padmé visits the Chancellor to talk about what went down. She tells him and several Jedi Council members that she thinks the Separatist Leader, former Jedi Count Dooku, was behind the attempt. She never explains why she assumes that, unless we’re meant to believe that the Separatists want war, which has not been implied at all up to this point.

More importantly, we never learn why we should be upset about the Separatist movement; they think they’re government is failing them, so they’ve decided to opt out. Why is this a problem? Will it create trade issues? Is the Republic concerned about vying against another large government? We hear people make vague comments like “The day we stop believing democracy can work is the day we lose it,” but we don’t see any evidence of that occurring. We just see a group that has decided that the political body in charge no longer has their best interests at heart. It’s not like the US Civil War; the Separatists’ desire to leave the Republic is down to the government’s antiquated systems, their overblown grandeur, their inability to get things done.

(I should point out that all of these questions are answered—and then some—in the Clone Wars cartoon. Seriously, that show is a gift, and works so hard to show the machinations going on across the galaxy. It puts everything that occurs from this film forward into perspective.)

Obi-Wan and Anakin are dispatched to look after Senator Amidala, and rather than attempt to show any growth Anakin has made (aside from becoming a totally different person), the first thing we find out is that he’s been carrying his torch for Padmé all this time, and now he’s gonna… well, we don’t know. But Obi-Wan is keen to tease him about it. The movie then proceeds to pepper horrifying dialogue throughout where Anakin proves that his creepy nine-year-old self has nothing on his creepy twenty-year-old self. Lines like, “She covered the cameras; I don’t think she liked me watching her.” and “I am haunted by the kiss you never should have given me.” and “I don’t like sand. It’s rough and course and irritating, and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Everything is soft and smooth.”

Because, at is core, Attack of the Clones was meant to be a love story. That’s right, this budding romance is meant to be the central narrative, the one that turns the wheel of the universe. The soundtrack single released in 2002 was the track “Love Across the Stars,” and it is so achingly beautiful that I can almost forget the dialogue and the awkward giggles, and just use this piece of music to tell me everything I need to know about Anakin and Padmé’s relationship. This motif has more to say about their forbidden love than the entire movie.

Oh that’s right—did I mention it was forbidden? Because that was a brand new thing that the film introduced. We got wind that this might be coming when Yoda got all freaked out by Anakin’s attachment to his mom in the previous film, but here is where we come to the crux of Anakin’s fall: It begins when he decides to fall in love with the woman of his dreams, against the commandments of the Jedi Order.

And in theory, I love this idea. The notion that the Jedi bring about their own destruction by demanding that their disciples avoid romantic attachment is a profound move—especially when we know that Luke’s familial love for his father is ultimately what saves him. It shows us just how deeply out of touch the Order is. Plus, I’m a sap, and forbidden love plotlines sounded like an awesome thing to have in a Star Wars movie.

The problem, of course, comes from the fact that the dialogue here moves beyond cliche and into parody. And no, Anakin being young is not an excuse for lines like, “My heart is beating, hoping that kiss will not become a scar. You are in my very soul, tormenting me.” If he were fifteen, and fronted a high school emo band, then I guess. He’s trying to impress a grown woman, a shrewd politician, and even more unbelievably, she goes for it. After straight up saying to him, “Please don’t look at me like that. It makes me uncomfortable.” No. This is not how real people act.

And that’s not even the best part! No, we haven’t even gotten to the point where Anakin buggers off to Tatooine because he’s certain his mother is in danger. He finds out that she’s been freed, and is married to a man named Cliegg Lars. (This was a huge alteration. Lucas’ original intention was for Owen to be Obi-Wan’s brother, and a large portion of the fanbase knew that. It was a big deal to have that detail scrapped.) The Lars family tells Anakin that his mother was taken by Tusken Raiders, and he goes looking for her. She dies in his arms on the floor of a tent, and Anakin’s reaction is to murder every last Sand Person in the camp.

There are about eighteen things wrong with this, the primary one being that the Sand People are simply cast as villains in this, even though they’re meant to be Tatooine natives. But the most horrific part of all is that Anakin comes back and admits this to Padmé and her response is essentially—I’m gonna marry that man.

Her sweetie just committed small-scale genocide and she comforts him. Yes, he lost his mother, but these are not proportionate reactions. If he had told her “I killed the men guarding her,” or even “I killed their warriors,” her willingness to overlook it might be understandable. Not better, but understandable. But after a guy tells you that he essentially destroyed an entire tribe of people, that he decapitated kids, that’s the point where you run to your shiny Naboo spaceship and get as far away as possible. (It’s worse with the deleted scene, an extension of Anakin’s admission, where Padmé counters this horrifying truth with “To be angry is to be human.” …ARE YOU F*CKING SERIOUS?) And worst of all, the entire sequence undermines the real, righteous grief Anakin should be feeling over the death of this mother, an event that will have a huge impact on the course of his development.

And then we have the B plot, which is Obi-Wan trotting all over the place to solve the mystery of Amidala’s attacker. Some of this stuff is charming and fun (whatever, I love Dex’s Diner, that whole retro-future 1950s setup is adorable), but the rest of it is totally confusing. Obi-Wan can’t find the planet Kamino in the records, and Jedi Master Jocasta—the super-librarian—says the most un-librarian-like thing I’ve ever heard: If we don’t got it, it’s plum made up. So Obi-Wan has to get some Jedi preschoolers to tell him that the planet is totally there, even though it should be obvious because of gravity. I think that entire scene was just an excuse to show tiny Jedi students.

Obi-Wan gets to Kamino and there’s this weird subplot about Jedi Master Sifo Dyas ordering the Republic a clone army. And here is where the film completely jumps the shark because we never get an explanation for this ploy or why it would ever work on people who have brains that make thoughts. Sifo Dyas is dead: the real point in that Sidious and Dooku are responsible for the clone army order and used his name so it seemed legit, but that is NEVER SAID OUT LOUD BY ANYONE. More importantly, Kamino has been making these clones for the past decade—if Dyas is dead, who is their contact? Here is one perfect place to interject a random Darth Sidious scene, showing him talking to the cloners. Without knowing, it seems as though the Kaminoans have been hammering away at that army for ten years without ever checking in with a Republic representative, which is not how business is done, period. In fact, they should have had people coming to inspect their work this whole time, someone checking off on their choice of DNA donor, requests and lab work and a million other little things.

Which brings me to my most anger-making question: why, in the name of all that is holy, did the clone template have to be BOBA FETT’S DAD. WHY. All it really proves is that George Lucas has no idea why the fandom liked Fett in the first place. He’s the silent cowboy type, the guy who never takes his mask off by choice because he’s got a true sense of theatricality. And now I’m watching kid!Fett sit in the Slave I cockpit with his dad, saying crap like “Get him, dad! Get him!” This is not a thing I ever wanted. I doubt anyone really wanted it. The only true purpose in putting Jango in the film is to have a Boba Fett-like character around to get in a fight with a Jedi. (This one really rankled for me personally because Fett in the Legends canon was really important to teenage me. I’ve gotten past it, but I sort of pretended it hadn’t happened for a while.)

Obi-Wan follows the trail and gets captured on Geonosis, then questioned by Count Dooku, and Christopher Lee is utterly wasted here. Yet again, nothing that he offers makes sense. His interrogation of Obi-Wan is just confusing; is he trying to mollify him? Turn him to the Dark Side? Proposition him? Nothing gets explained, people are just constantly in peril. Like the whole droid factory mess, which may be one of the most boring action sequences in any science fiction film ever. (Stop abusing Threepio like this, he’s better than those puns you keep piling on him.) And finally, we get a big battle at the end, and… the clones are useful? Hooray? This is one movie where we actually need a bit more politics—we need to understand how this looks to the galaxy, we need more public opinion, more cloak and dagger. The out-and-out firefight tells us nothing. It’s just a stock end-of-movie sequence.

And even above all of these strange problems, we have the most important takeaway: this poor cast. Pity them. Why was everyone directed this way? It’s some of the most wooden acting I’ve ever seen, and coming from truly excellent actors. The only person who manages to come off with his usual gravitas is Christopher Lee (probably because you don’t really direct Christopher Lee—you just point a camera at him and agree that everything that happens from that point forward is perfect). If you pay attention to the dialogue, we’re meant to infer that Anakin and Obi-Wan have this sparring brotherly relationship, that they’re playful and supportive of each other. Unfortunately, McGregor seems to have been directed to act the part of a grumpy dad. None of the character’s wit comes through (with the pointed exception of the “good job” exchange) and we can’t really blame Anakin for chafing under his direction. Christensen and Portman have all the chemistry of two wood blocks being banged against each other, and I don’t think it’s because they truly couldn’t have sold the couple—I think they’re being told to play it far too innocent to be believable. Neither of these characters needs to seem so naïve and wide-eyed.

And then we have more pointless symmetry. Last movie, Anakin blew up a Death Star droid control ship. This movie he gets his arm cut off. Okay. You can start his transition to “more machine now than man,” as Obi-Wan put it to Luke. But mirroring something just to mirror it is usually a bad choice.

The kids get married and no one notices that Anakin is gone because I guess he has lots of free time now that the Clone Wars have started(?) And we’ve just watched over two hours of romance/mystery/war mongering that will hopefully lead… somewhere. Just be thankful be have the novelization to look forward to—we’ll get much more information there, yet again.

Emily Asher-Perrin had a friend who used to faux-pick up women in bars by walking up and saying “I don’t like sand, it’s rough, but you’re smooth!” He never got a date off of it. You can bug her on Twitter and Tumblr, and read more of her work here and elsewhere.

We are loving this trend of kids’ bonkers drawings crossing over into tangible, real-life objects. Instead of being told that doodling is a waste of time or that their drawings don’t match the real world, kids get to see their designs turned into actual plush toys. (Or, in the case of one doting dad, those doodles become lifelong tattoos.)

IKEA is the latest to take part in this trend; it’s part of their Soft Toys for Education program with UNICEF, in which the purchase of each toy donates $1 to schools around the world. We have to say, the timing is very appropriate for Halloween, as the latest batch includes a bat and more than one adorable monster.

We’re particular fans of the little green dinosaur with a jaunty hat…

…this rainbow-colored alligator creature…

…and this one-eyed blob dude:

They’re just so cuddly! You can check out more drawings brought to life from artist Wendy Tsao and entrepreneur Alex Furmansky.

Star Trek star and Priceline pitchman William Shatner has been vocal about his distaste for the Star Wars franchise for quite some time. Even J.J. Abrams's spot at the director's helm for both franchises won't usher in a new era of peace as long as Shatner is trolling Star Wars fans hard on Twitter. Shatner made fun of the first Force Awakens trailer last November, as well as the unveiling of the new trailer and poster last week. He wasn't even taken by little BB-8!

Or the lightsabers.

With the new poster, he implies the new franchise was copying older space-adventure stories:

He has photos, too.

It didn't stop there.

But of course, this beef is really about Star Trek versus Star Wars.

If you respond to him, he'll just use that as another opportunity to troll.

And troll ...

And troll ...

He isn't even afraid to sass back at regular people!

December 18 is going to be so much fun.

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Filed Under: william shatner ,star wars ,star trek ,twitter wars ,movies

Not all horror movies are the same kind of scary. Reel Scary tells what movies people rate to be the scariest, and helps you separate the disturbing from the gory and the suspenseful.

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If you dream it, you can do it. That's the motto to follow when making this pizzaception creation — little pizzas, with all sorts of fun toppings, on top of one big pizza. What a time to be alive!

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Doctor, actor, aspiring member of the Blue Man Group… clone? Could Tobias Fünke be a recently discovered member of Project Leda? No, it’s just Tatiana Maslany showing off her chameleon-like powers on Halloween!

The Orphan Black star shared this amazing transformation on her Instagram. You’ve got to appreciate her attention to detail, down to the smear of blue paint on her neck. Now that’s a man we wouldn’t mind kissing between the cheeks. But is she wearing cutoff jean shorts?? She did make a Nevernudes joke… Tatiana, you blowhard!

Sutter Hill Ventures is a preeminent venture capital firm in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley. Today, Sutter Hill is developing a new and exciting aspect to our company-building approach, and it places tremendous value on a library science. We … Continue reading →

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I had no idea there was such a thing called trypophobia where one has a fear of tiny clusters of holes on human flesh or objects. In fact, there’s...

11.22.63 is based on Stephen King’s best-seller

Hulu Original series 11.22.63 is a thriller in which high school history teacher Jake Epping (James Franco) travels back in time to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy — but his mission is threatened by Lee Harvey Oswald, falling in love and the past itself, which doesn’t want to be changed.

The series also stars Chris Cooper, Josh Duhamel, T.R. Knight, Cherry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Lucy Fry, George MacKay and Daniel Webber.

The nine-hour limited event series based upon the New York Times best-selling 2011 novel written by Stephen King premieres Presidents Day, Feb. 15, 2016, on Hulu. J.J. Abrams, Stephen King, Bridget Carpenter and Bryan Burk serve as executive producers. Academy Award-winning Director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland, State of Play, Black Sea) directs and executive produces the first two hours.

You can view photos from 11.22.63 in the gallery below.

The post Hulu Original 11.22.63 Premieres Presidents Day 2016 appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

[Predicted]

I can't be the only one out there who has dreamed of Dean coming back to Stars Hollow just to rub the town's nose in his Sam Winchester alias and wipe the town clean of demons, djinns, and Dooses in the bloodiest possible way. Therefore, I have helpfully provided some ways this could be achieved just in case Netflix is listening.

1. Five days before Armageddon, Castiel goes to live among the regular people of a peaceful but quirky New England town in order to rest up for humanity's final fight. After three days in Stars Hollow, Castiel decides to fight no more forever.
2. Sam and Dean arrive in Stars Hollow on the trail of a Korneber, the feared German pig corn demon, which was raised by Taylor in order to pull off a corn maze in the town center that surpasses Woodbury's.

   

   The CW

   Lorelai makes a "He Who Walks Behind The Rows" fart joke, Dean winks at her, and they disappear in Metallicar for two weeks.

3. On a special avenging angel mission, Castiel drags Sookie to the Gates of Heaven to confront every innocent victim of her kitchen clumsiness but first he recognizes Michel as a brother angel and reminds him he's doing God's work.

   

   Warner Bros.

   Michel puts away the angel blade he'd been about to use on Kirk for tracking bedbugs into the Dragonfly and pouts.

4. Receiving reports of brutal murders in the kitchen at the Dragonfly Inn, Dean goes undercover as the Squire of Bracebridge. When Sam stops Sookie from taking a cleaver to her sous chef, Sookie realizes she's pregnant again and goes after Jackson with a meat cleaver for failing to get yet another vasectomy.

   

   Warner Bros.

   Just in time, Mrs. Kim outs herself as an archangel and reveals that Sookie is actually pregnant with Charlie's reincarnation. Charlie springs forth fully formed and runs off with Paris to Oz.

5. Learning about a town curiously obsessed with the private lives of two of its citizens, Sam and Dean discover a hex bag buried under several cat carcasses in Babette's garden. Taylor holds a town meeting to vote on whether or not to burn Babette on an enormous knitting needle during the Knit-a-Thon which is being held save the town's traffic camera that has has been stalking Stars Hollowians and blackmailing them with compromising photos taken at the intersection. Sam and Dean reveal that Taylor is the one controlling the camera using a grimoire he found at Bootsy's newsstand. They also hint that Taylor is either a Shtriga or a Wendigo, so the town burns him on the knitting needle instead and Dean shoots out the traffic camera with the Colt.
6. A cursed basket at the charity picnic basket auction, which enslaves the recipient and forces them to eat nothing but Mrs. Kim's eggless egg sandwiches for the rest of their life, turns out to be the work of Lillith who is now back after Taylor got confused when he tried summoning Lillith Fair to Stars Hollow.

   

   Warner Bros.

   After consulting with the files in the Men of Letters bunker, Sam and Dean determine that the only way to kill Lillith again is to go back in time and kill Jess.

7. Having broken down and gotten fixed by Luke for so many years, Lorelai's Jeep becomes possessed by a misogynistic spirit and tries to eat her. Next, the Dragonfly Inn's horse-drawn sleigh becomes possessed by a homophobic spirit and tries to eat either Taylor or Michel (it isn't entirely clear which). Sam and Dean finally step in only after Christopher's truck becomes possessed by a misandrist spirit and actually does eat him. After consulting with the files in the Men Of Letters bunker, Sam and Dean determine that the only way to exorcise the spirits is to go into the future and kill Jess.
8. Because of the audible anachronism that occurred with Lorelai's cell phone last time, Woodbury has wrested control of the Festival Of Living Art from Stars Hollow. A perturbed Taylor bustles about arranging a human sacrifice in the town gazebo, for which Kirk has volunteered himself. When Taylor is unable to bring himself to say the word "hell," the curse aborts, and Kirk is instead imprisoned in his Festival of Living Art role: Edvard Munch's The Scream.

   

   The CW

   After consulting with the files in the Men Of Letters bunker, Sam and Dean determine that the only way to break the curse is to kill Jess.

9. Sam tells Rory he has died six times. Rory asks him to read her campaign-trail blog posts and tell her what he thinks of them. Sam tells Rory he drank demon blood. Rory tells him he needs to try Luke's coffee because he now has a burr grinder that no one is allowed to breathe near. Sam tells Rory he spent 120 years in Hell in a cage being tortured by Lucifer. Rory tells him she's really sorry he can't live without her but she's moved on and begs him to do the same.

   

   The CW

   Sam leaves Rory a parting gift of a book written by a nun named Agnes.

10. Sam and Dean finally track down God. They expected God to be judgmental.

    

    Warner Bros.

    They just didn't expect God to be wearing a Chanel suit.

Explore the Gilmore Girls forum.

Stress is as physical as it is mental.

Link to job posting. Deadline: 11/16/15Filed under: 0-2, Archives, historical society, Wisconsin Tagged: archives, digitization, metadata, project management, Wisconsin

Link out for more information Due date 2/12Filed under: 0-2, Government, Maryland, Medical Tagged: fellowship, medical, temporary

Link out to job announcement THIS VACANCY IS LIMITED TO THE FIRST 150 APPLICATIONS RECEIVED AND WILL CLOSE AT MIDNIGHT ON THE CLOSING DATE (10/29) OR MIDNIGHT ON THE DAY THE 150TH APPLICATION IS RECEIVED, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST.Filed under: Massachusetts … Continue reading →

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t seen last night’s episode of The Walking Dead, turn back now because we are going to be dissecting, dismantling, and disemboweling some super-spoilery content in today’s episode of Nerdist News.

Okay, are we safe? Great. GLENN WHY?! WHY GLENN WHYYYYYY?!

Last night’s Walking Dead was nothing short of brutal, and it truly seems that everyone’s favorite pizza boy-turned-supply runner, Glenn, has gone to that great, flesh-eating beyond. But is he really dead? Are we being tomfooled?! Is this just Jon Snow by way of Robert Kirkman? Join Dan Casey and Kyle Hill on today’s Nerdist News as they break down every single piece of evidence we’ve seen so far that Glenn is dead, alive, or just waiting to get a sweet pair of robot legs (it could totally happen).

Although, to be fair, maybe that isn’t the point of it all. In an interview with Vanity Fair, actor Steven Yuen had some strong words for people only watching The Walking Dead to see who bites it:

“I don’t particularly want to subscribe to the idea that this show can kill off anybody it wants. Yes, it can. Yes, that’s a thing. That’s definitely a thing. But I think that’s not the point of the show. Game of Thrones kills people left and right and yet that’s not the point of the show. Sometimes you look at the viewers and you feel kind of bad because they’re watching the show like an episode ofSurvivor. They’ve picked two people or one person and if that person continues to live, they’re happy. If that person wasn’t in an episode, they’re unhappy. But when you watch the show like that you’re missing out on such beautiful storytelling.

We talk in terms of “are you afraid to get killed off?” And for me, if it serves the story, I’m game for anything. I hope people can watch the show in that same regard. Stop watching it to see if your favorite character is still alive. That’s kind of been on my mind lately because you notice a lot of fans saying “we want you to live, or we want this person to die” and it’s like, that’s not what the show’s about.”

Well said, Steven, but who are we kidding? Of course we care about the character deaths! Or the supposed deaths! Or the fake-out deaths! So much to theorize about, so little time…

Thanks for watching today’s show! Don’t forget to enter our Attack on Titan contest in order to win a trip to Japan! And let us your theories on whether or not Glenn is alive in the comments below!

This post was originally published on October 26, 2015. Spoilers ahead for the season-seven premiere of The Walking Dead.

Glenn Rhee, former pizza-delivery boy, husband to Maggie Greene, and all-around badass, was killed by Negan in the season-seven premiere of The Walking Dead. But as any loyal walker watcher knows, he won't be forgotten. Glenn is one of Rick's OGs — and Steven Yeun has made the remarkable trick of being the only original cast member other than Andrew Lincoln (Rick) and Chandler Riggs (Carl) to still be kicking it since the first season (note: Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, and Lennie James were all guest stars). While there are plenty of babes in zombieland, there isn't one who would make a better boyfriend than Glenn. Dead or alive, know that you were the best thing in this dreary world, Glenn.

***

He'll run away with you in the night.

He'll wear that new shirt you bought him.

He'll take you out for scenic drives.

He came from humble origins.

He'll pick up after you.

He'll always use protection.

He's handy with shelving.

He actually means what he says.

He knows how to pick a good ring.

He looks great in riot gear.

He'll beat up punk-asses who try to get people killed.

And best of all? He's a good kisser.

Glenn: Come back to us!

Doc’s time-traveling DeLorean gets all the Back to the Future love, but lots of cars played important roles in the films, both to reflect the timeline of the characters as well as their class status. To celebrate Back to the Future Day, Toyota announced it will be honoring one of the other automobiles from the films by showing off special Toyota Tacomas based on the one Marty lusted after in the films. You remember it, all awesome and cool.

Fans in Los Angeles, Dallas, and New York City will be able to see the special versions today, at what Toyota is calling “major tourist destinations.” We imagine they were all waxed up by Biff’s Auto Detailing. Two coats.

Toyota says they made a number of modifications to their 2016 Tacoma to capture the look of the one Marty so desperately wanted to use to take Jennifer to the lake (he had been planning it for two whole weeks mind you).

Some of the modifications highlights include:

• A custom 1985 black exterior paint job
• Lots of KC HiLite driving lamps
• A badge for D-4S fuel injection
• 1985 mud flaps
• Custom tubular bumpers for the front and rear
• Custom headlights and taillights
• The classic “TOYOTA” logo

The DeLorean would be a lot of fun to drive/fly, but man, this, this is what you’d want if you were heading to the lake. Plus, I bet with all that power you’d easily be able to beat Needles off the line–oh man just let me race him one time–sorry, sorry, it’s like I learned nothing from these movies.

We’ve got a few more pictures of the special Tacoma in our gallery, so make sure to check them out.

What vehicle from Back to the Future would you most want to own, assuming the DeLorean can’t actually go back in time, but hoverboards exist. Tell us in the comments below.

—

HT: autoblog.com
1985 Tacoma Image: Universal Pictures
2015 Tacoma Images: Toyota

Most films set in the future involve something trying to put an end to humanity as we know it. Machines try to kill us in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Terminator, Blade Runner, and The Matrix. Creatures try to kill us in Alien, Starship Troopers, and Planet of the Apes. And if that weren’t enough, we try to kill each other in Mad Max, Children of Men, The Hunger Games, and countless others. Movies that try to positively frame aspects of future living (Minority Report, Equilibrium, In Time) usually end up a complete nightmare.

In short, most films aren’t looking forward to the future. Except for one. There is one shining light in all the futuristic cinema that manages to give us a not only a good future, but an absolutely great one. Few films feature the future in a more positive light than Back to the Future II. I’m not a religious man, but awaiting the arrival of Marty in 2015 is pretty much the closest I’ll ever come to worship.

Today at 4:29pm Pacific Standard Time is when Marty, Doc and Jennifer arrive in the futuristic Hill Valley. BTTFII got enough right about what our year might look like that I’m wondering if the DeLorean could really travel through time. They were a bit off sure, but there are many real-life analogs to the events and technology BTTFII predicted.

Futuristic Eyewear

BTTF 2015: We see three different types of eye wear that are more than just fashionable in the film. Doc’s opaque silver glasses are used as a rear-view mirror while driving; Marty and Jennifer’s kids use glasses to watch TV and take phone calls respectively. It seems Marty Jr.’s can actually do both.

Real life 2015: Google Glass, Oculus Rift , Microsoft’s Hololens and even Google Cardboard give us augmented realities to use in everyday life. It’s not used as mundanely as in the film, and most of these products are still fairly pricey (with the exception of Google Cardboard) — the future McFly’s were framed as a middle class family so it might be awhile until tech like that is a humdrum part of life. We’re not without progress though, maybe even surpassing their tech with this VR setup that Kyle got to demo:

Mr Fusion

BTTF 2015: The DeLorean was initially powered by stolen plutonium. (If we really think about Doc Brown’s actions, he was basically just as bad as the terrorists in the first film and has followed that up with fairly dubious motives and ethics throughout all three movies.) BTTFII used a Deus Ex Machina for the plutonium problem by introducing the “Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor,” which converts trash into power. The concept of powering a time-traveling car with a handful of garbage is pretty amazing if it’s assumed the 1.21 gigawatts are still needed to achieve time travel.

Real life 2015: We’re nowhere near Mr. Fusions but we have made advancements in solar energy, biodiesel, and alternative fuel sources. There are also worms and microbes that can consume plastics, which means that someday we may be able to harness that trait for power. It wouldn’t surprise me if a future Tesla had something like this considering all they can do now.

People Wearing Utter Nonsense

OK, so maybe this isn’t an actual prediction, considering spandex was as prevalent in 1985 as yoga pants and Under Armour are now, but BTTFII‘s 2015 people looked bananas. Every next generation will dress seemingly weirder than the previous one, so it’s not entirely fair to judge what they thought we were going to be wearing. However, it’s safe to say anytime after its introduction, skin tight clothing in some form will continue to be prevalent. Also, dude in the background is pretty much rocking a “left shark” sweatshirt.

Power Lace Shoes

What kid didn’t want a pair of these!? Nike designer Tinker Hatfield announced they were working on their BTTF-inspired power lacing MAG shoes in 2014 but replicas existed as far back as 2011, which were auctioned off to benefit the Michael J Fox Foundation.

Know what? Take a break from this and go donate — if you can — to the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. It does a lot of good and it’s the least we all can do as fans to thank him for decades of entertainment.

As for the Nike Mags, is there really a need for this sort of technology? It’s doubtful, as shoes without laces already exist which are considerably easier than shoes requiring a power source. If and when these arrive they’d be a novelty at most.

Autofit/Dry clothes

BTTF 2015: In addition to the power lace shoes, Doc suits Marty up in an auto-fit jacket that also detects when it’s wet. With some sort of tiny and unobtrusive fan it can dry off its wearer.

Real life 2015: Sadly there are no auto-dry jackets as of yet but there have been advancements in fabrics over the years. Under Armour, Gore-Tex, moisture-wicking and stay-cool clothing are available in some form at most clothing stores.

Robotic Gas Stations

BTTF 2015: The Texaco station in the film appears to be completely automated from re-fueling to checking the status of other components of hover-cars. Oh yeah, also, there are hover-cars.

Real life 2015:  Gas stations are still staffed by human beings but Tesla’s charging “snake” promises to be creepier than any 4am gas station attendant could ever hope to be.

Movie Theaters

BTTF 2015: The holographic Jaws 19 — directed by a Max Spielberg — was playing at the Holomax theater where “This time it’s really REALLY personal.”

Real life 2015: We don’t have holographic movies yet but we have seen holographic technology in the form of various Tupac Shakurs, Michael Jacksons and Li’l Sebastians. Our 3D movie tech is pretty damn awesome as well, but we do still need glasses to achieve it. Thankfully, the Jaws franchise stopped long ago and we only have to deal with three awful Jaws iterations, but the wonderful folks over at Universal made a Jaws 19 trailer for us to enjoy:

The real Max Spielberg was born in 1985 and actually did end up working in movies. Not that hard to predict when you’re the son of Stephen Spielberg.

Robotic Restaurants

BTTF 2015: Cafe 80s had no human waitstaff. Instead, robotic TV waiters with screens depicting Michael Jackson, Ronald Reagan and Ayatollah Khomeini took orders and interacted with customers. Beverages are served up through the counter itself and dishes are explained to you by the figures onscreen. MJ offers a patron a “Fajita Tortilla Pita, It’s got hot salsa, avocados and cilantro, mixed with your choice of beans, chicken, beef or pork.”

Real life 2015: Auto-mat diners have been around for ages and it seems every year we hear of a new robotic restaurant opening somewhere (usually Japan, it’s always Japan). But can we talk about the real eye-opener here? The Michael Jackson robot predicted Chipotle’s entire menu.

Elijah Wood is 4 feet tall

Alright, hear me out. Knowing Elijah Wood was in Back to the Future II is simple trivia, but in this scene (which is set in 2015) he’s shown not wanting to play Wild Gunman after Marty, the one with experience, shows him how to defeat bad guys. A hobbit-sized Elijah Wood is shown turning his back on fighting bad guys head-on and leaves the movie’s hero with his blonde and slightly taller best friend. Some sort of time loop was closed with this scene.

Pepsi Perfect

BTTF 2015: Marty orders a Pepsi and a futuristic bottle of Pepsi Perfect rises up out of the counter itself.

Real life 2015: IT EXISTS YOU GUYS! Well, sort of. A number of bottles were given away at New York Comic Con this year to people cosplaying as Marty. A reported 6,500 bottles will go on sale for $20.15 (ha, the year) sometime this month.

Beercades

A bit of a stretch, but the idea of Cafe 80s has somewhat come true in the vein of countless beercades across the world where anyone can enjoy the cabinet video games of the 80s. I live in Chicago and there are exactly five within a 3-mile radius of my apartment.

The Hoverboard

BTTF 2015: There is no reason that this far into an article about BTTF tech that you don’t already know about hoverboards.

Real life 2015: Alright, let’s put this to bed right now. Hoverboards — at least in the BTTF sense — are not a thing, but to some degree they do actually exist. With spinning magnets and Lenz’s law, hover tech is possible. It’s something we can all envy Kyle Hill for getting to try earlier this year:

Lexus has announced its own hoverboard technology that works in much the same way as the Hendo board. However, Lexus was a bit sneakier about things and buried a magnetic rail under a skatepark, making it look as though it’s hovering above normal ground. Also, the board has to be refueled with liquid nitrogen about every ten minutes, so there’s that. Oh, before you get your wallets out, Lexus won’t actually be selling it — it’s part of a bigger ad campaign for, you guessed it, something Lexus actually makes. Sadly, the hoverboards of our dreams are just that at this point, and we still have a long way to go until we can involve entire town squares in hoverboard-related gang scuffles.

The Chicago Cubs

BTTF 2015: The cubs sweep Miami in five games (according the the newspaper, but we’ll get to that in a bit) and win the World Series.

Real life 2015: This is quite possibly the scariest prediction of BTTFII. The Chicago Cubs — who haven’t won the world series in over a century — might actually stand a chance this year. Right now everyone is wishing they could go back to the beginning of the series and “put some money on the cubbies.”

The Miami Marlins were even in the BTTF spirit earlier this year when they gave away this shirt with a distinct logo change:

Last chance! Being given tonight only to those who buy the $25 special event package at http://t.co/GME8jnnvuk! pic.twitter.com/sOqMpXXPBF

— Billy The Marlin (@BillytheMarlin) June 2, 2015

Flatscreens/Videocalls

BTTF 2015: Large flat screens and projectors around the McFly household can broadcast television, conduct video calls, and even process peer-to-peer credit card transactions.

Real life 2015: Yeah, we got all that.

Biometrics

BTTF 2015: The same cubbie-betting old man made of rejected Doc Brown face pieces asks Marty to “Thumb a $100” to save the clock tower (which has apparently stood the test of time, so they are really doing something right). You can see a thumb sized pad on the device he’s holding, so it would stand to reason bank accounts are connected to biometric technology. This is also true for the doors in the McFly household — Jennifer can’t figure out how to leave since the doors have no knobs.

Real life 2015: Biometic door locks? Check! Finger print capable mobile devices? Double check! Paying with your fingerprint!? Triple BTTF’n check!

The Newspaper Lightning Round

As proof something had to be done about his kids, Doc Brown shows Marty a copy of the October 22nd, 2015 USA Today newspaper and it is chock full of future info. Why Doc didn’t just bring some sort of futuristic vasectomy ray gun to shoot Marty in the crotch with is beyond me, especially considering he had that weird knock out ray he used on Jennifer at the ready. What I’m saying is that Doc is a shady character and really shouldn’t be trusted. His kid turns into a wiener-poking weirdo like right out of the gate in the third movie so how can Doc tell anyone they have to fix their own kids? I’ve gotten off track. Let’s have a closer look at the paper:

Female President – Not yet, but Hillary Clinton might win next year.

Swiss Terrorist –  A rare BTTF miss.

Queen Diana Will Visit Washington – Sad.

Thumb Bandits – If you can pay with your thumb this is akin to identity or credit card theft.

3-Minute Mile – ALMOST! Hicham El Guerrouj holds the record at 3:43.13

USA Today Having Three Billion Readers Daily – Eh, not quite.

What BTTF Got Wrong

If you look past the fantasy aspects of the film — of which there are a lot — there are only a few glaring mistakes that we’ve surpassed in our own 2015.

Pay Phones

Couldn’t tell you the last time I saw a real working pay phone. Do they even exist? We kind of have to let this one slide though — they got payphones wrong but the sign to the right is offering breast implants on sale. The future is grand.

Faxes

So. Many. Fax machines.

The major thing BTTFII didn’t, or rather couldn’t, predict was the prevalence of handheld technology and everything it can do. The movie has almost every bit of technology voice command driven. Additionally, we barely see any touch screen technology. A printed newspaper is needed to convey the goings-on of Hill Valley and faxes are used enough to warrant multiple machines in a single household. Both of these functions would be taken care of by a google search and an email on a mobile phone. Walkie Talkie’s are used later in the film and Doc doesn’t seem to mention that there might be an alternative — cell phone technology really wasn’t on anyone’s radar.

Although we only spend about 34 minutes in 2015 Hill Valley, that short amount of time has made an immense impact on the pop culture landscape and clearly my obsession with movies. Back to the Future II promised us a 2015 with amazing technological advancements. The incredibly unexpected thing is, the movie was actually pretty spot-on.

Did we leave something major out? Want to talk a bit more on how Doc is a terrible person? Let us know in the comments below!

—

Images: Universal Pictures

Blake Rodgers writes for Nerdist from Chicago IL where he lives happily with his Guinness World Record for High Fives and his Mattel Hoverboard. You can be his pal and send him Pepsi Perfect by following him on Twitter @TheBlakeRodgers.

The folks who created the Back to the Future movies want you to know: The future doesn’t stop here.

I started the day of October 21, 2015 in the most appropriate way possible: hoverboarding talking to Michael Klastorin, the unit publicist for Back to the Future Part II and III, and the co-author of new book Back to the Future: The Ultimate Visual History, as well as Bob Gale, the writer and co-creator of, you know, the entire series. Basically, I was talking to folks who knew everything there ever is to know about the movies, the world of Hill Valley, and the future. On the very same day that Marty, Doc, and Jennifer arrive into their “future.”

I see that your eyes have gone wide. Good. Keep them that way.

The Ultimate Visual History chronicles the extensive production process for the three movies, broken down into detail week by week, and supplemented by a tremendous amount of supporting visual material–initial script pages, concept drawings for the gadgets in the films, Bob Gale’s old yearbook, the never-before-seen letter that Marty left for Doc in 1955… There’s so much in the book that it literally can’t all fit on the page. Many of the items, like George and Lorraine’s prom photo or the poster for Jaws 19, are attached separately.

The book also makes you privy to the heavy-duty process that went into filming Back to the Future II and III back to back. Michael Klastorin’s role as the unit publicist on these two films put him in a central position between the requests from the media, the expectations of the fans, the demands of the studio, and the work of director Robert Zemeckis and his crew. Klastorin was there, in essence, to watch Back to the Future grow from a goofball surprise time travel hit, into a beloved touchstone of pop culture.

According to Klastorin, the crew spending the entirety of 1989 deep inside the world of Hill Valley played a large part on the ultimate the impact the trilogy had on the world. “I say in the book that I’m proud and honored to be in the Back to the Future family and that’s really what we became during our work on the sequels: a family. A part of my job was to keep folks away from the set, because we needed to focus on making these two films, these two very complex films.”

Klastorin and the production got a bit lucky in that creating their sci-fi epic in 1989 meant that the influence of the outside world was more centralized. “We didn’t have to deal with fans filming the set on their phones, or a hundred different outlets digging for information on the story. We didn’t have to deal with everyone knowing the budget for our movies beforehand, which was good. You never want a movie to be judged on those small pieces. You want the movie to be considered as itself.”

With outside influence turned away, the already vivid settings in Back to the Future Part II and III became reality for the cast and crew. Visual History details the intense amount of work that went into creating not one, but three different worlds for the characters to inhabit, all with their own separate challenges. “The pizza scene [in BttF II] in the McFly house took two whole days to shoot,” Klastorin reveals, referencing a scene where Michael J. Fox depicts Marty, Marty’s son, and Marty’s daughter all sitting down for a meal and interacting in one complex shot. Zemeckis and his crew had to invent an entirely new camera system, creating movable split screen technology years before CGI houses would perfect the same tech. Visual History also contains a three-week breakdown of how the hoverboard chase was created. (As well as some very, very spooky pictures where the hoverboards look like they’re actually hovering even when the cameras aren’t rolling.) Having to take so much time on just one-third of one of the movies required focus and dedication from every crew member. The separation from outside influence, the vivid worlds of Hill Valley in 2015, 1985, and 1955, and the focus from everyone on set created a familial, supportive atmosphere. It was them against the world. “It was hard work, yes,” Klastorin admits. “But it was such a great world to spend your time in!”

As filming continued on, the movies intruded more and more into the lives of the crew. “2015 was bright, but really challenging, so we didn’t get to appreciate it as much as you do when you’re watching the film,” Klastorin explains. “Then we moved into the alternate 1985, which we called ‘Biffhorrific’. The dark tone stayed with us as we were working on it, and [director] Bob Zemeckis says that because of that Part II is probably the darkest movie he’s ever done.”

A movie lasts only two to three hours, and can be shut off anytime, but the cast and crew of Back to the Future had to spend weeks inside Biffhorrific before moving on to the 1955 sequences of the film. In that kind of atmosphere, the BttF family had to squeeze in some fun where they could. Case in point: Lester: The Wallet Guy.

Personally, I have never, ever, forgotten this moment from Back to the Future Part II:

What’s the deal with that guy? For a moment, you think the movie actually might start following HIS adventures…

Writer Bob Gale explains: “The wallet gag was something Bob Z. came up with on the set to make that character memorable. Obviously, it worked!”

Wallet Guy obviously made a big impact on the crew, as well, even thirty-ish years later.”That actor has actually taken it out as a one-man show,” Klastorin jokes.

If only.

Random stress-relieving moments like The Wallet Guy were obviously required during the filming of Back to the Future Part II, and who knows what kind of non-sequiturs we might have gotten had the series not switched gears into the Old West in Back to the Future Part III?

In both the Visual History and Klastorin’s recollection, the western-themed Part III stands in great contrast with the creation of Part II. Although Part III took just as much, if not more, work to create than Part II (Part II could just redress the existing Hill Valley from Part I, but Part III had to build a whole new town.), the atmosphere was markedly different. “Part III was a great decompression after the filming of Part II because where Part II was hard, Part III was QUIET,” Klastorin reveals. “Part II was a closed set in Los Angeles with machinery and rigs and sixteen guys walking around with ladders.”

Part III, however, switched locations to dusty fields outside of Sonora, California, near Yosemite National Park, so far north that director Robert Zemeckis’s daily schedule involved flying between L.A. and Sonora on a daily basis so he could film Part III, then work on post-production for Part II. The majority of the cast and crew, however, essentially lived just outside the old West town they had created. “I mean, we didn’t build a hotel just off camera from old Hill Valley, but when you were there it was a much different place. There weren’t jets and trucks rolling by the time. You could only get to the set by walking there or taking a motorized cart. It was almost like actually going back to 1885.”

That sense of fun and camaraderie is clearly evident in the finished product, from Doc Brown’s gun-toting entrance to the clock tower dedication dance to the various and colorful townspeople of 1885 Hill Valley–a group that includes Klastorin himself! “I’m in there as Townsman #1!” Klastorin hails Marty, rather Mr. Eastwood, a good morning during the scene where Marty walks through town after having unwisely challenged Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen to a gunfight.

There was plenty for the Back to the Future family to do while they lived in the Old West. “Some of us would go horseback riding around the town on Sundays [the only days off that the shoot got] when the handlers took the horses out to be exercised.” The crew would also gather when new folks came to town, like legendary western actors Pat Buttram, Harey Carey Jr., Dub Taylor, and Matt Clark, who played the Hill Valley saloon bartender and the peanut gallery poker table. “It was so much fun to have old cowboys on the set! They’d be telling us all stories about their careers in between takes,” Klastorin says. “Sometimes at the same poker table they camp out at in the movie.”

Even the train itself in Back to the Future Part III carried movie history. “They loaded that train up with the entire crew and we would ride the rails for weeks! That particular train has a lot of movie history itself, been in dozens of movies starting from the silent era to today, like the Marx Bros’ Go West and some Buster Keaton movies.”

“And then you’d have ZZ Top come in and play concerts for us,” he continues, referencing the suspiciously familiar band visible during the clock tower dance scenes. “How can you not have an amazing time?”

After spending more than a year working alongside the same folks, experiencing the same surreal “outtatime” moments, it’s easy to see how Back to the Future turned from a movie trilogy into a formative familial experience for the crew. The tremendous box office debut of Back to the Future Part II further validated that experience, and the fans themselves would go on to sense the warmth and love put into the making of these movies. Some of us would be affected very deeply by them. The movies became pop culture, which became a continuum that carried us through the decades.

It’s a continuum that resulted in, amongst many things, Klastorin’s compilation of his time with the movies, as we can now see in Visual History. “You’ve been carrying this book inside your head for almost thirty years…” I told him.

“Yeah… We originally pitched this for the 25th anniversary, but it was supposed to happen now,” Klastorin laughs, telling me this on the morning of October 21, 2015. “This was the perfect time for the book.”

Back to the Future: The Ultimate Visual History really is a deep mining of the memories between Klastorin, co-author Randal Atamaniuk, and movie writer Bob Gale. Every false start, every failure, and every triumph of the films is chronicled within its colorful pages, to such an extent that it seems impossible that the first movie ever got made, let alone three monumental films. It also knows how to have fun with itself, as the movies themselves do. One of the props included is a lenticular photo of Marty and his siblings. Twist it one way and they disappear. Twist it back and they reappear. It’s so funny that it makes you want to do the same with your own family photos.

This article is being written mere hours before Marty and Doc “arrive” on the afternoon of October 21. So as you’re reading this, the entirety of the 130 year-spanning story of Back to the Future has finally become history. The future is now past, and once again unknowable.

And that’s great! As Klastorin, a person who has not just helped create Back to the Future, but very substantively lived Back to the Future, points out: “The positivity of the entire trilogy goes beyond the events in the movies. The future really is what you make of it. It’s up to you and the possibilities are endless. The future doesn’t stop at October 21, 2015!”

One Last Fan Theory…

Being a huge fan of Back to the Future and working at a science fiction publisher, I had to ask writer Bob Gale something I’ve been wondering about George McFly for a long time.

Did George McFly write episodes of the original series of Star Trek based on his encounter with Marty/Darth Vader in the first movie? In 1985, George and the McFly family are clearly is doing okay in terms of money, but he’s only just published his first novel, so where did that money come from? My (and Ryan Britt’s) theory: George wrote for television in the 60s, probably for Star Trek, and may have even created the planet “Vulcan” for the series.

Howsabout it, Bob?

George was likely a college professor of English or literature while he sold short stories and worked on his novel. He probably became head of the department at Hill Valley College and got tenure, allowing him to buy some nicer things for his family.

This also jives with the initial script for Back to the Future Part II, where Marty visits his parents in 1968 and George has become a professor.

So, George didn’t write any Star Trek, but Bob Gale very kindly tells me…

[George] probably assumed that Gene Roddenberry was visited by another alien from Planet Vulcan named Spock, and that inspired him to create Star Trek.

…and that’s just as awesome.

 

One Last LAST Fan Theory, I Promise…

I’m terrible, I know. The Visual History contains the mass market edition of George McFly’s book A Match Made in Space, which details the story of the book for the very first time. Bob Gale wrote the synopsis for that story and it is very clearly inspired by the events in Back to the Future Part I.

Since the events in the movie had such an impact on George, I asked Bob if he eventually recognizes that his son Marty is a time traveler.

A college aged George goes searching for Calvin Klein in issue #3 of IDW’s new comic series.

Looks like that issue just came out, too! At long last, the answer to my weird questions…

Chris Lough writes for Tor.com and is very, very happy with how he ended up spending October 21, 2015.

Yesterday, Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to discuss their Welcome to Night Vale book and to listen in on Night Vale’s community calendar. Oh, and Oprah was there, too.

It’s incredibly fitting that Colbert had the podcast creators on his show, for two reasons: First, there’s the obvious geeky connection, as summed up by Cecil Baldwin performing while standing next to Colbert’s treasured Captain America shield. But the four also have a theatrical connection: Cranor, Fink, and Baldwin all met through the New York Neo-Futurists, an experimental theater company; and Colbert was oh-so-briefly a Chicago Neo-Futurist way back when. Does that mean in an alternate universe, Colbert could have voiced one of the many oddball residents of Night Vale or (boo) Desert Bluffs? We think so!

Check out the interview and surprise mini-performance!

You can watch the full episode here; the Night Vale segment comes at the 36-minute mark.

Want to watch a scary movie but still sleep at night? These 10 titles will do the trick.

The Road So Far

Welcome to week forty-six of the Supernatural rewatch project, superfans! If you like to alternately laugh and cry like a maniac, then these are the episodes for you. The show gives, returning to meta-awesomeness bystaging a geeky Supernatural convention attended by Sam and Dean. And then it takes away, killing off two fan favorites. RIP, Jo and Ellen.

Let’s pour one out for the baddest mother-daughter team since…well, ever.

THE OFFICIAL FYA SUPERNATURAL DRINKING GAME:

Take a drink every time:

•  There’s a corpse

•  A demon possesses/de-possesses and/or makes a deal with some hapless schmuck

•  A far-off disaster is mentioned but not shown for budgetary reasons

•  Dean crams his face full of junk food

•  An angel is snotty

•  Anyone is tied up

•  Either brother picks a lock

•  Someone employs a Titan of Classic Rock as an alias

•  The Glorious and Faithful Impala is damaged in the line of duty

5x9: The Real Ghostbusters

Monster of the Week: Ghosts, creepy child edition

The Winchesters rush to respond to a 911 text from Chuck, only to find out it was actually from Becky, who swiped his phone. She’s sorry for the trickery, but she needed them to see it. It, of course, being a Supernatural convention that she and Chuck set up.

Sam and Dean enter a hotel only to be surrounded by other Sams and Deans.

Who’s your favorite? Mine’s the lady playing Bobby.

After a list of panels are announced (including one entitled “Frightened Little Boy:  the Secret Life of Dean), Chuck takes questions from audience members who take that as a cue to air their grievances about inconsistencies in the show. Becky doesn’t take it well.

FANGIRL4EVA

Chuck saves face with a big announcement. He’s found a wealthy investor and is going to start publishing more books in the Supernatural series! Sam and Dean are not amused.

After the discussion is over, Chuck tries to talk to Becky. It’s clear he’s got a crush. But unfortunately for him, she still has (crazy) eyes for Sam.

Can I say once again how much I adore Emily Perkins?

The game portion of the convention takes place, as an actress playing a hotel maid claims to have seen a ghost and launches into a tale of how the hotel used to be an orphanage and is haunted by the ghost of the former matron who slew several of her charges and then herself in a fit of rage.

The real Sam and Dean roll their eyes and go get a drink. But when a cosplaying Sam is attacked by what appear to be real ghosts, they begin their own investigation. It turns out the fake ghost story is actually based on the real history of the hotel. The orphanage matron killed four boys, including her own son.

One of murdered boys appears to another pair of Winchester cosplayers and points them to an old map that shows where the matron is buried. Sam and Dean overhear them discussing it. Dean wants to take it from them at gunpoint, but Sam convinces everyone to work together. The cosplayers agree, but only if they can be Sam and Dean. They assign the real Sam and Dean the roles of Bobby and Rufus. Heh. But when “Rufus” and “Bobby” start digging up an actual grave, the cosplayers freak. Things get worse when the matron’s ghost appears and attacks them! Luckily, real Dean salts and burns the bones just in time to save them.

It should be over. But when they get back to the convention, the hotel’s exits all seal, trapping everyone inside. The ghost of the matron’s son appears, asking why they sent his mommy away. It turns out her ghost was all that was keeping the other ghosts of the evil little boys from hurting people. On cue, the said evil ghosts corner a Hook Man cosplayer in the hall.

I feel you, Hook Man.

Sam and Dean discover the body and herd everyone into the main conference room, discretely salt the doors and tell Chuck to keep them busy while they hunt the ghosts. The hotel manager gets quickly sick of Chuck’s stories and tries to leave, breaking the salt line. Almost immediately a ghost attacks, but Chuck snatches up an iron music stand and sends it fleeing. Becky is intrigued by this display.

Her body is ready.

Meanwhile, using the actress who played the matron in the convention’s game, the boys lure out the ghost children, while their cosplaying dopplegangers manage to escape the hotel. The real Sam and Dean fight the ghosts while the costumed Sam and Dean find and burn the bodies.

After it’s all over, Becky breaks up with Sam, telling him she’s in love with Chuck. Sam gracefully says he’ll have to find a way to keep living.

Brotherly Angst Quotient: Infamous

Dean gets increasingly frustrated with the convention goers, saying he doesn’t understand why they’d want to emulate the Winchesters’ lives.

Doesn’t he just, darlings.

But later, after the Sam/Dean cosplayers help defeat the monsters, Dean thanks them. The Dean cosplayer says he’s wrong about Supernatural. In real life, they work retail jobs. The idea of waking up to save the world with a brother who’d die for you, who wouldn’t want that? Dean realizes they have a point and tells them they don’t make a bad team themselves. He’s right as it turns out. In addition to being Winchester cosplayers, they’re also lovers.

Aw, adorable subtext.

Paradise Lost of It All: After Becky breaks up with Sam so that she can be with Chuck, she gives him a consolation prize: she’s such a close reader of the Supernatural series, that she remembers Bella never actually gave the Colt to Lilith. She gave it to a demon named Crowley. The boys now know where to start looking for the weapon that might kill Lucifer!

How Drunk Are We?: Sociably! Take three drinks for rock aliases and a single corpse.

The Quotable Winchesters: “The way I look at it, it’s really not jumping the shark if you never come back down.” –Chuck the Prophet.

Moment Most Likely to Inspire Troubling Fan-Fic:

I suppose a panel discussion doesn’t technically count as fic, but close enough.

Notable Cameos: None

5x10: Abandon All Hope

Monster of the Week: Lucifer, Meg, hellhounds

Cas manages to find and follow the demon Crowley to his anti-angel warded home. With an assist from Jo, the boys manage to get inside Crowley’s compound. Just as they face Crowley himself, they’re captured by a pair of demons. Crowley shoots both demons. He claims to be on the boys’ side, theorizing that once Lucifer is done killing all humans, he’ll be after demons next. He simply hands them the Colt, extra ammunition, and tells them that Lucifer’s likely to pop up next in Carthage, MO.

That was suspiciously easy.

Wary of Crowley’s intentions, but without a lot of choice, Sam and Dean take the gun and head back to Bobby’s. It’s a party of sorts. Ellen and Cas having a drinking contest! Dean finally notices Jo’s hotness and tries to use the end of the world as a way to get her into bed.

The hardest of hard passes.

Bobby insists they all get a photo together, since they’re probably all going to die tomorrow, and that thought pretty much ends the celebration.

When Sam, Dean, Ellen, Jo, and Cas roll into Carthage, the town seems empty. But Cas says it’s not. Reapers are everywhere.

Saddest street festival ever.

Cas walks off to talk to one Reaper and instead runs into Lucifer, who traps him in a ring of holy fire. Lucifer’s vessel is looking kind of gnarly as he offers to let Cas join his rebellious angel team. Cas says he’d die before helping him.

Meanwhile Ellen, Jo, Sam and Dean run into Meg. Lucifer wants to see them, and she’s brought a bunch of hellhounds to enforce his request. They run! A hound grabs Dean. Jo tries to save him only to be mauled herself! The rest manage to pull her into a hardware store. They quickly turn it into anti-demon safehouse while Jo bleeds out. Ellen tells her she’ll be okay, but by the blood pouring from her abdomen, everyone knows it isn’t true.

Dean contacts Bobby by radio and gives him the news. Ellen tells him about all the reapers and Bobby says he thinks Lucifer’s planning to unleash the horseman Death. He’s picked this town because it as the site of a really bad battle in the civil war. They need to get to it and stop him.

When Sam and Dean argue over the best way to get Jo on her feet, she tells them to be realistic. She’s not going anywhere. But that doesn’t mean she can’t help. She outlines a plan to build a salt/iron suicide bomb so she can hit the hellhounds while the rest escape. Ellen is not trying to hear it, but Jo stops her, saying, “This might be literally your last chance to treat me like an adult. You might want to take it.” Ellen tearfully agrees, and I’m not crying, you’re crying.

They build the bomb and Dean hands Jo the trigger saying he’ll see her on the other side sooner or later.

*sobs*

It’s time to leave. But Ellen says she’s not going anywhere. She’ll never leave her daughter alone. While Sam and Dean escape, Ellen cradles Jo. But just before the moment of truth, Jo dies, leaving Ellen alone.

Can I give Samantha Ferris a retroactive Emmy?

Ellen hugs her dead daughter closer and blows the bomb, killing the hounds.

Sam and Dean escape and find all the missing townspeople lined up on the Civil War battlefield along with Lucifer. Sam distracts Lucifer while Dean shoots him in the head with the Colt!

It doesn’t work.

Lucifer pops up and says there is only five things in Creation that the gun can’t destroy and he’s one of them. He starts the ritual to free Death, his demon-possessed townspeople sacrifices dropping like flies.

Meanwhile, Meg brags to Castiel about how they’re going to win. Cas plants a seed of doubt in her mind, saying Crowley belives Lucifer’s using demons and he’ll kill them all when their purpose is complete. Then he manages to grab her and pull her into the holy circle. When he tries to angel-murder her, he realizes his heavenly power kill demons has been cut off. But he can and does throw her into the holy flames and escapes. On his way out of town, he rescues Sam and Dean just as Lucifer frees Death.

At Bobby’s, everyone takes in the defeat, listening to news reports of terrible storms over Carthage. Bobby throws the photo he took the night before into the fire.

Brotherly Angst Quotient: Parallels

Lucifer tries to win Sam over by pointing out that they’re both little brothers rejected by the older brothers they worshipped for thinking for themselves. Sam holds out for now, but some of Lucifer’s words look like they hit home.

Paradise Lost of It All: Thanks to the Colt’s failure, Lucifer’s got himself another horseman on the loose.

How Drunk Are We?: Clinically dead. The number of demon-possessed corpses alone made counting too difficult, so I’m just going to give the okay to chug the whole bottle/keg.

The Quotable Winchesters: “Number one, he's gonna wipe us all out anyway, two, after you leave here I go on an extended vacation to all points nowhere, and three, HOW ABOUT YOU DON'T MISS, OKAY? MORONS!” –Crowley, on what will happen if Dean fails to shoot Lucifer.

Moment Most Likely to Inspire Troubling Fan-Fic:

SOMEONE WRITE FIC WHERE THIS ALL ENDED BETTER, PLS

Notable Cameos:

Mark Sheppard of basically everything (Warehouse 13, White Collar, Leverage, Battlestar Galatica to name a few) plays Crowley.

Next Week: Sam goes all Freaky Friday with an unfortunate teen