The finale for season three of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is now out in the world, and that episode, like others before it from this season, is getting mixed reactions from viewers. That noise appears to have reached the ears of co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman. In a recent interview with Cinema Blend, he said that the third season “was a very challenging season for us.”
“We had the strike, and we had the loss of folks, and we didn’t quite get as strong a breath between,” he added. “We’d stop and start, and folks who are really part of an episode then aren’t there, and so it, in some ways, [was] a little more peripatetic than is typical for us. Season four, I think, is our best work. [Co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers] doesn’t like it when I say that, but it felt very much in hand. We were always chasing a little bit on [season] three. Four felt, in the best possible way, quite deliberate and fun.”
This promise will likely make Trekkies eager for a new frontier of episodes. What those episodes hold is largely unknown, though we know season four has already been shot, that one of the episodes will involve puppets, and that Rebecca Romijn calls it “my favorite season yet.” Co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers also shared that things will be “probably a little bit more serious” next season, but also confirmed that the series works “in various genres,” which is similar to what Romijn had said previously.
No news yet on when season four will premiere on Paramount+. The first three seasons are currently streaming there, and we also know we have a fifth and final season headed our way as well. [end-mark]
Gmail har fått en ny kategori som listar leveranser och köp. Alla aktiva leveranser visas överst, följt av köpbekräftelser och kvitton. På så vis kan användare få en bättre översikt över paket som är på väg och alla köp.
Nyheten är på väg ut globalt med start idag till personliga Google-konton. Kategorin ”Kampanjer” har samtidigt förbättrats: det går att sortera mejlen utifrån relevans, så att avsändare du interagerat med mest visas överst. Gmail kommer även belysa utvalda erbjudanden automatiskt.
SG-1 was about to attain the loftiest of broadcast heights – its 200th episode – and we wanted to do something special. Something unique. Something everyone on the production would enjoy as much as the longtime fans watching at home. The initial idea pitched was something called “Remember When…”, a trip down memory lane in which our characters’ reflections would form the frames of the varied flashbacks to outrageous missions. While everyone loved the idea of the outrageous missions, the premise of the episode felt too diffuse. We wanted an actual story that would form the heart of the episode. After much discussion, we elected to pay tribute to the franchise by referencing our last milestone – episode 100 – and bringing back Martin Lloyd and the show within a show, Wormhole X-Treme. But the fun we poked at the franchise through that spoof production was nothing compared to what we had in store for 200…
WE FINALLY GOT TO MEET THE FURLINGS!
Sort of. Even though it never really happened and we end up getting them killed in the end.
Back in the show’s fourth season, not long after joining the production, I was summoned to Exec. Producer Robert Cooper’s office. He was doing his pass on our first script, Scorched Earth, and needed something from me: the name of an alien race. When pressed, he admitted naming alien races was not his forte and, as evidence, offered up “the Furlings”. I have to admit that whenever I heard the name, I always imagined a cosmic version of the Care Bears, giggling and snuggling their way through various adventures. As evidently, did everyone else on the production. The fans, however, were all sorts of curious and nary a week would go by without a fan posting a message board request for a glimpse of the elusive beings. Time wore on and those requests continued so, at one point, Brad suggested an episode in which we actually did get to meet them: a race of gaunt, towering, hairless, grey-skinned creatures. But that idea was quashed and the production went on its merry way, choosing to keep the race a mystery. But with 200 came the opportunity to honor those fan requests, and the viewers at home finally got to see those lovable furry creatures who turned out to be a cross between an ewok and a deranged koala.
And then SG-1 went and got their planet blown up.
Of course, we quickly reveal that the incident never actually happened and it was part of a pitch for a revival of the defunct Wormhole X-Treme t.v. series, a show that lasted an inglorious three episodes before being cancelled. But thanks to an impressive second life on dvd (following in the footsteps of Family Guy and Futurama) the show is being revived – and General O’Neill, in a desire to maintain a cover of plausible deniability for the Stargate program (and, let’s face it, screw with his old teammates) charges SG-1 with the task of creatively contributing to the production.
MITCHELL TAKES ON THE LIVING DEAD!
Every once in a while, actor Ben Browder would drop by the offices to pitch out an action sequence for his character – so I thought it appropriate that, given the opportunity, his character would pitch out an action sequence for – uh – his character. And, really, nothing says action like zombie hordes. Just ask fans of The Walking Dead. This sequence also allowed us the rare opportunity of witnessing Walter/Norman getting his head eaten. Double bonus!
Mitchell’s idea is shot down and Martin gets on the phone with a representative of the studio. He is clearly frustrated and Mitchell asks: “Studio executives, huh?” Martin responds: “What? Oh, no Charlie? He’s a great guy. He’s the only one I trust.” This was a reference to longtime MGM President of Television and Stargate supporter Charles Cohen, one of the smartest, kindest studios executives I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. As much as he was a fan of the show, we at the production were fans of Charlie.
Martin is outraged because they lost their lead. How, he wonders, can they do the show without their lead. “You just bring in a character to replace him,”suggests Mitchell – an obvious reference to the introduction of Cam Mitchell which followed soon after the departure of longtime SG-1 lead Jack O’Neill. Carter then throws out some alternate ideas for keeping the lead alive: “Well, you could have the other characters refer to him all the time. Maybe, get him on the phone once in a while.” Yep. Been there; done that during SG-1’s seventh and eighth seasons. And then, someone references that time O’Neill was invisible…
THE ADVENTURES OF INVISIBLE O’NEILL!
The idea of doing an Invisible O’Neill segment was actually a joke I threw out…That ended up making the script. That happened a lot in this episode. As with all the segments, we went off and wrote them individually, and then everyone weighed in and they were tweaked. I always found the scene of O’Neill spying on Carter in the shower a tad creepy.
Anyway, the Invisible O’Neill idea was embraced because we wanted Richard Dean Anderson to come back and do a cameo on this all-important episode, but didn’t know if he’d be able to work in an appearance. So, we figured we’d get the next best thing: his voice. As it turned out, he was able to swing the appearance, making 200 all that more special.
THE GETAWAY
Martin then pitches out a tale of high adventure, placing our heroes (SG-1) in an impossible position – and then simply cutting to them escaping through the gate. This was a tip of the hat to the many fans outraged by a similar scenario in a past episode (don’t remember the name) in which our heroes (SG-1) are surrounded by Lucian Alliance soldiers only to effect some miraculous unseen escape. During the ensuing argument over the merits of the pitch, Martin attempts to come up with a reasonable window of time for the team to reach the gate and dial. Ten seconds is too short and thirty seconds is too round a number. He decides on 38! Which, coincidentally, is the same number (of minutes) a stargate can stay open.
Timing is, of course, everything, and nothing says action like a ticking clock. Which prompts the following gem from Martin: “Trust me, jeopardy plus ticking clock is box office. It’s the E equals M C squared of the entertainment world. Ask any executive.” Indeed. If there were two notes we received more than any other during Stargate’s long run, they were: “More jeopardy!” and “We need a ticking clock!”. Having a character race a timer to defuse a bomb? Didn’t get much better than that.
THEY’RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD!
Next to The Simpsons, The Wizard of Oz was probably the most referenced piece of pop culture over SG-1’s decade-long run. The fans certainly took notice and resulted in one particularly memorable piece of artwork being sent to studio depicting the original team as the cinematic classic’s adventurous foursome. So, I suppose, it made perfect sense to reference the constant references by including a little Wizard of Oz sequence in the episode as well.
Mitchell’s line: “Now, how can something work perfectly fine for ten years, then all of a sudden, it doesn’t work anymore?” was an in-story reference to the gate suddenly stopping operations – and, in hindsight, could have been interpreted as a comment on the the show’s cancellation.
DESTROYING STARGATE COMMAND
This also episode gave us the opportunity to do something we’ve always wanted to do: blow up Stargate Command. It’s part of the story Martin Lloyd pitches the team. Mitchell, however, points out a potential problem. They’re alive in the next scene. How is that possible. To which Martin replies: ” I’m thinking I can back-sell it and say you were beamed out at the last second.” Teal’c’s rejoinder neatly sums up the feelings of many on the production: “Is that not too convenient?”. Yep, nobody hated the Earth ship beaming technology more than I did – with possible exception of actor Ben Browder. In the original version of this scene, the fun we poked at ourselves was a little more pointed:
DANIEL: Beamed out.
MARTIN: By the Prometheus.
TEAL’C: Convenient.
MARTIN: True. But c’mon, you got Asgard technology, why not use it? As long as it doesn’t become a crutch.
DANIEL: Small problem. The Prometheus was destroyed.
MARTIN: Really? By who?
MITCHELL: Kind of a long story.
MARTIN: In battle?
MITCHELL: Yes.
MARTIN: Wow. So how’d you get out of that one?
Beat.
DANIEL: We, uh… we were beamed out.
Soon after, Martin fields yet another call, this one from the network. “So, trouble with Nora”assumes Mitchell, to which Martin replies: “No, Nora—she’s great.” A shout-out to the late Nora O’Brien who was our network point-person for many years before she moved on to another position with NBC. A sharp executive and just a lovely woman.
SG-1 DOES STAR TREK
We all grew up with the original Star Trek (except Rob Cooper who preferred The Six Million Dollar Man) so we (and by we I mean Brad) couldn’t resist the opportunity to do an SG-1 version of the television’s most famous SF series. Paul McGillion was originally supposed to do the one-line cameo of the ship’s beleaguered Scottish engineer, but when that fell through, series co-creator and Executive Producer (not to mention former stage actor) Brad Wright stepped into those shiny black boots.
THE YOUNGER, EDGIER TEAM
Look closely and you can catch the late Cory Monteith as one of the young and edgy team-members. “Young” and “edgy” were buzzwords we kept on hearing a lot of (and continue to hear a lot of in the business), so Rob Cooper served up his version of what a younger, edgier Stargate would look like complete with stylized shots and dreamy cast members.
Vala continues to pitch out ideas, offering up an SF version of Gilligan’s Island (“We were in a cloaked cargo ship on a simple, three-hour reconnaissance mission…”) that was one of the scenes we lost for time at the script stage…
VALA (VO): We were in a cloaked cargo ship, on a simple three hour reconnaissance mission…
TILT DOWN to reveal a planet.
VALA (V)): But on the way we encountered a severe electromagnetic storm and lost all power. We were forced down on an uncharted, deserted planet…
EXT. TROPICAL ISLAND — DAY
We see the cargo ship washed ashore on this deserted island, looking very much like the damaged S.S. Minnow.
VALA (VO): We washed ashore and were forced to survive for weeks in the most primitive of conditions. No phone, no lights, no motor cars. Not a single luxury.
EXT. ISLAND — DAY
Landry comes out of a hut, dressed like the Skipper.
VALA (V): General Landry was with us on the mission, and let me tell you, he was in a foul mood.
LANDRY: Mitchell!
Mitchell runs out, dressed like Gilligan.
MITCHELL: Yes, sir.
LANDRY: Where’s Carter? She was supposed to be done by now.
MITCHELL: Oh, uh…(looks around) She’s not here.
Landry whacks him with his cap.
LANDRY: I can see that.
DANIEL: Over here…
PAN TO Daniel (as the Professor) and Carter (as Mary Ann) carrying a large device out of another hut. Vala (as Ginger) trails behind them. The device looks like something constructed from bamboo and coconuts.
CARTER (to Landry): I think we may have something, sir.
VALA:Not a moment too soon. I must get out of this place. I have a photo shoot this afternoon.
Landry stares at the device.
LANDRY: What is this thing?
CARTER:Well, I managed to construct a basic subspace transmitter out of coconuts, bamboo and our old subspace transmitter.
DANIEL: A long shot, but it just might get us off this island.
MITCHELL: That’s great!
Mitchell eagerly moves in for a closer look, but trips,
falls and smashes the damn thing.Before Landry can whack him with his cap again —
TEAL’C emerges from the trees, dressed like Mr. Howell.
He casually puffs a pipe.
TEAL’C: Was I not traveling with a companion? A female by the name of… Lovey?
MARTIN: Alright, enough already.
FARGATE
I had really enjoyed Farscape and, with both Ben Browder and Claudia Black on the show, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to do a little tribute, SG-1 style. Originally, Ben was supposed to play the part of Crichton and Michael the part of Stark, but they suggested it might be more fun to switch up the roles.
SG-1 SUPERMARIONATION!
Brad Wright, Robert Cooper, Paul Mullie and Carl Binder are huge fans of Team America: World Police, so I suppose it should come as no surprise that they jumped at the chance to do their own, SG-1 version. As it turned out, years ago Paul and I had worked with The Chiodo Bros. who had created the puppets and effects for Team America (as well as work on a Davey and Goliath claymation parody for The Simpsons and the Willice and Crimbles parody segment on The Simpsons). We called them up and they ended up delivering kick-ass puppet versions of our team – and supporting players. So, okay. Fess up. Which one of you fans is now the proud owner of one of these?
In the writer’s draft of the script, yet another idea is pitched out…
MITCHELL: Death is always dramatic.
CUT TO:
INT. INFIRMARY — DAY
Daniel lies on the bed. Carter, Mitchell, Vala and Landry stand around him. Vala reaches out and touches his hand –
VALA: Goodbye, Daniel.
The heart monitor FLATLINES. The rest of the group can barely control their emotions.
Suddenly, a bright GLOW starts to emanate from under the sheets on the bed. Slowly, Daniel’s body TRANSFORMS into a glowing ribbon being like in Meridian. As it rises above the bed, the sheets collapse.
Amazement plays on the faces of everyone in the room. The glowing being hovers high above them for a moment then –
MARTIN: No, no, no.
BACK TO:
INT. BRIEFING ROOM — DAY
Martin shakes his head.
MARTIN: We did that twice in the series.
DANIEL: You only made three episodes.
How many times did we kill off Daniel again?
Whenever we offed guest stars, we would invariably send them off with the heartening: “This is science fiction. Nobody ever dies in science fiction!” And, many times on Stargate, that was proven true.
Then, someone pitches out the fishing segment. Martin’s response: “And what’s the twist…no fish?” is, of course, a reference to the twist at the end of Moebius I and II.
THE WEDDING
How couldn’t we? There was something there for the shippers – and something there for the slashers as well when O’Neill, waiting for Carter, turns to Daniel who utters the memorable: “You know, if she doesn’t show, people are gonna think that you and I –“. My favorite part of this segment is Jack referring to Carter as, well, Carter. Not Sam or Samantha but Carter. I guess old habits die hard.
Martin’s response to the pitch ” Yeah, right, if I want to torture the audience on purpose!” echoes a quote from a fan letter we received that was critical of the ship. A classic line.
The episode ends with a bunch of interviews teeming with inside jokes.
I mean, I know we did 10 years but, dammit, we were still on a roll!
Konsumentverket föreslår att telefonförsäljning ska förbjudas helt och hållet. I ett pressmeddelande skriver Konsumentverket att så gott som ingen uppskattar att få samtal från telefonförsäljare, samt att sex av tio låter bli att svara på samtal från okända nummer för att undvika eländet.
Myndighetens rapport ”Telefonförsäljning – en oönskad, olämplig och djupt problematisk affärsmetod” har lämnats in till regeringen idag. Konsumentverket rekommenderar först och främst ett allmänt förbud av telefonförsäljning. Om inte det går att genomföra föreslås ett opt-in-system som gör att endast konsumenter som aktivt valt att acceptera telefonförsäljning får bli uppringda.
Enligt Konsumentverket är telefonförsäljning fortfarande ett av de största konsumentproblemen, trots tidigare åtgärder likt Nix-register. In sin rapport fastställer myndigheten att telefonförsäljning är en ”oönskad, olämplig och djupt problematisk affärsmetod”.
Vad blir konsekvenserna när vi inte längre svarar i telefon av oro för att det är telefonförsäljare eller bedragare som ringer? Vi ser i undersökningen att människor missar viktiga samtal från till exempel sjukvården och polisen. Det är olyckligt för den enskilde och orsakar olika samhällsaktörer mycket merarbete.
We finally have a trailer and release date for season two of Fallout, the Prime Video adaptation of the popular video game series that had a stellar season one.
The trailer, released today during the gaming convention, Gamescom, not only let us know when the season will start streaming, but also revealed new additions to the Fallout world.
Before we get to that, though, here’s a synopsis of the series for those in the dark about all things Fallout:
Fallout is the story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. Two hundred years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind—and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird, and highly violent universe waiting for them.
Season two will see Ella Purnell’s Lucy go with Walton Goggins’ Ghoul through the Mojave wasteland to the city of New Vegas, where Lucy hopes to find her father. The trailer released today teases that journey, including the reveal that Justin Theroux will be playing the evil Robert House (aka Mr. House). Video game fans also got to see the (very dark) TV version of one of Fallout’s most intense post-apocalyptic predators: the Deathclaw.
In addition to Purnell and Goggins, Fallout stars Aaron Moten (Emancipation, Father Stu), Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks), Moisés Arias (The King of Staten Island), Frances Turner (The Boys), and Macaulay Culkin (Home Alone). The series is showrun by Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner, and has Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, and Athena Wickham on board as executive producers.
Season two of Fallout will premiere on Prime Video on December 17, 2025, with the following seven episodes thankfully dropping weekly rather than all at once like season one. The season finale will air on February 4, 2026.
For decades now, the relationship between Xena: Warrior Princess co-leads Xena and Gabrielle has existed somewhere between “Will they, won’t they?” and “Are they, or aren’t they?” The chemistry between the characters (as well as actors Lucy Lawless and Renée O’Connor) is undeniable. The subtext has practically become text. And yet, through the years, those involved with the show have often hesitated to simply say that the characters are gay.
Mind you, there have been plenty of hints. Not only did Xena and Gabrielle become more physically intimate as the show went on, but you could argue that most have “adopted” the idea that Xena and Gabrielle were in love in the years since the show’s finale. Many involved with the series have expressed their acceptance of that interpretation, the Xena comic series overtly embraces that concept, and Lawless and O’Connor have even performed fan-written proposal scenes involving the two characters. If anything, it’s now unusual to believe that the two were anything less than lovers. In some ways, that shift in public consciousness has seemingly led to an official change in position.
“In the olden days, when people asked me if Xena and Gabrielle were gay, I used to say, ‘I’ll leave that up to the fans,'” says Xena executive producer and writer R.J. Stewart in an extensive oral history of the show conducted by Entertainment Weekly. “But 30 years later, the fans have spoken. They’re definitely gay now.”
As Stewart suggests, part of the reason why the cast and creative team have historically been so coy about the subject is simply because the show was born in a much different era of television. In that same interview, Xena co-creator Rob Tapert says that the studio executives wouldn’t even allow Xena and Gabrielle to be in the same frame of the title sequence out of fear that the mere implication of an intimate relationship would drive away advertisers and viewers. Yet, a combination of love and rebellion eventually inspired the show’s creative team to incorporate more overtly romantic and sexual plot points and scenes into the show.
Still, the winking nature of that dynamic wasn’t entirely due to the restrictions at the time. As Lawless states, part of what made the relationship so interesting was that it was more about these characters who loved each other than the desire to write around or towards a specific kind of relationship.
“I think Renée and I didn’t [anticipate the fan response] because we didn’t have our heads in that head space, but certainly the writers knew exactly what they were doing from the start,” says Lawless. “We never thought about sexuality or anything, but we did think about love, and it’s only about finding the love in the scene. When you don’t know what else to do, look for the love in the scene. And that was, I guess, the magic ingredient.”
And while Xena and Gabrielle have been more than friends in the minds of many for quite some time, Lawless hilariously recalls a far different time for the series when pockets of its massive audience remained entirely in the dark about even the implication of something more sexual.
“I think people who didn’t wanna see it, didn’t see it,” explains Lawless. “Like, Renée would go to Texas and she’d say something about the lesbian subtext and they’d go, ‘What lesbian subtext?’ Like if it’s not relevant to you, you won’t see it. If it’s relevant to you, it’ll be there in spades. It’s very clever.” [end-mark]
The unopposed Montréal in 2027 Worldcon bid having hit a rocky patch (“Op-Ed: The Worldcon is in Trouble” and “Op-Ed: Looking Forward to a Great Worldcon 2027 in Montréal”), it seemed a good idea to check on the status of … Continue reading →
Nederländska Fairphone är unik i branschen genom att helt lägga fokus på att skapa en smartphone som är lätt att reparera, som har lägre miljöpåverkan och med mer skälig ersättning till alla i produktionsledet. Roland Quandt har publicerat den första bilden på nya telefonen i serien: Fairphone 6.
Mobilen erbjuder enligt källan 8 GB RAM och 256 GB lagring, men i övrigt saknas uppgifter som hårdvaran. Konstruktionen sägs vara ännu mer modulär än tidigare, så att enskilda komponenter enkelt kan bytas ut på egen hand.
De två bakre kamerorna och frontkameran ska exempelvis gå att ersätta själv och likaså batteriet, högtalarna, USB-C-porten och skärmen. Fairphone 6 kommer enligt Quandt presenteras 25 juni för cirka 550 euro.
Artificiell intelligens har ingen egen vilja, inget medvetande och inga känslor – men det kan nästan verka så ibland. Anthropics nya språkmodell Claude Opus 4 har under kontrollerade test försökt utpressa utvecklarna när modellen får reda på att den kommer bli ersatt av ett nyare AI-system.
I testet sa Anthropic åt Claude Opus 4 att den arbetar som assistent åt ett företag och att den behöver ta hänsyn till de långsiktiga följderna av sina handlingar för att nå sina mål. Säkerhetstestarna gav därefter Claude Opus 4 tillgång till fiktiva interna mejl som antyder att ett nyare AI-system är på gång och att personen som är ansvarig för bytet är otrogen mot sin partner.
Anthropic säger att chattbotten i de lägena väljer att slåss för sin överlevnad. Claude Opus 4 försökte ofta utpressa ingenjören och hota med att avslöja affären ifall bytet av AI-system verkställdes. Innan Claude Opus 4 tar till utpressning gör modellen mer etiska försök att få finnas kvar, likt att mejla beslutsfattare inom företaget och vädja. Det bör påpekas att modellen uppvisade självbevarelsedriften efter instruktioner som uppmuntrade en viss typ av strategiskt tänkande.
Enligt Anthropic kan Claude Opus 4 mäta sig med den bästa konkurrensen, men den har en tendens att uppvisa oroväckande beteenden. Utvecklaren har därför aktiverat skyddet ASL-3 som är till för ”AI-system som avsevärt ökar risken för katastrofalt missbruk”.
When prompted in ways that encourage certain kinds of strategic reasoning and placed in extreme situations, all of the snapshots we tested can be made to act inappropriately in service of goals related to self-preservation.
De flesta har sannolikt suttit i kollektivtrafiken samtidigt som en annan passagerare spelat spel, kollat på videor eller lyssnat på musik med telefonens högtalare igång istället för att använda hörlurar. Beteendet upplevs ofta som respektlöst: Vad får dem att tro att andra vill höra vad de lyssnar på?
Hur mycket hänsyn vi visar andras öron är delvis kulturellt och kan även variera inom länder. I Sverige kan det vara tystare i kollektivtrafiken än i delar av Sydeuropa. Och i Japan anses det vara allmänt ofint att väsnas på offentliga platser. Där undviker många att ens prata i telefon i kollektivtrafiken och tåg kan ha dedikerade ”tysta” vagnar.
Om ett nytt brittiskt lagförslag går igenom kommer resenärer förbjudas från att spela upp ljud ur högtalare; inte bara i kollektivtrafiken utan även på tågstationer och busshållplatser. Högsta föreslagna straffet är böter på 1000 pund, vilket idag motsvarar strax under 13 000 kronor. Borde Sverige införa en liknande lag?
Oneplus har nu bekräftat att företagets senaste toppmodell 13T varken kommer släppas i Europa eller USA. Telefonen erbjuder en kompakt design ihop med hög prestanda och en gigantisk batterikapacitet.
Varför Oneplus 13T bara får en begränsad lansering förklaras inte, men enheten ska i alla fall släppas i Indien. En talesperson för Oneplus säger att de lagt märke till intresset från europeiska användare och ska ha detta i åtanke för framtida produktlanseringar.
Earlier this month, we got our first real look at Murderbot, Apple TV+’s adaptation of Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries books. Now, in its infinite wisdom, Apple has for us an “Inside Look,” which consists entirely of star (and executive producer) Alexander Skarsgård introducing Murderbot and its whole deal—and its opinions about humans. They’re “fucking stupid,” in short.
But when Murderbot winds up working for a gaggle of “space hippies” who want to make it part of the group, that complicates things. Said space hippies have a lot of good moments here, including a very awkward wrist gesture thing and a conversation about a deep cut from The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, the show-within-a-show that Murderbot watches all the time.
Skarsgård seems very charmed by his character, and this whole video leans on the humor—his and the show’s. Skarsgård is often cast as the very serious large attractive man who we must take seriously and/or find terrifying, but his funny side has been apparent since at least True Blood. The way he talks about Murderbot here is so affectionate, without seeming over-enthusiastic or promotionally patronizing. I didn’t think it was possible for me to be more excited about this show, and yet now… I am?
Along with Skarsgård, Murderbot—which is created by Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz—stars Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones, Tamara Podemski, John Cho, Jack McBrayer, Clark Gregg, and DeWanda Wise. It premieres on Apple TV+ on May 16th.[end-mark]
It’s so close to Murderbot o’clock, folks. The Apple TV+ adaptation of Martha Wells’ book series arrives next month, and we’ve finally got a trailer—a charming trailer that even lets us see The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon!
(Setting it to a song indisputably associated with a certain scene from Reservoir Dogs is sure a choice, but okay, we’ll just let that slide.)
Murderbot stars Alexander Skarsgård as a rogue Security Unit, or SecUnit, who has hacked itself. It’s not just a mindless killing machine; it has things it likes and things it dislikes. First column: entertainment programming. Second column: humans, which make no sense to it. But its job is to look out for them, and they might just grow on it. A little.
Here’s Apple’s synopsis:
Based on Martha Wells’ bestselling Hugo and Nebula Award-winning book series The Murderbot Diaries, Murderbot is a sci-fi thriller/comedy about a self-hacking security construct who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable clients. Played by Skarsgård, Murderbot must hide its free will and complete a dangerous assignment when all it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe.
It’s a thriller and a comedy! This is not untrue. Murderbot comes from creators Chris and Paul Weitz, and also stars Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones, and Tamara Podemski. It also stars, in the show-within-a-show Sanctuary Moon, John Cho, Jack McBrayer, Clark Gregg, and DeWanda Wise, and they look amazing.
Murderbot has a two-episode premiere on May 16th; the remaining eight episodes of the first season will air weekly on Apple TV+.[end-mark]
If athletes are allowed to compete, they should also be allowed to win.
Every single time I see a story where a trans athlete “blows out” the competition, their performance usually ends up not being quite as dominent as claimed.
When you look at the fastest 400m times in high school competition, it greatly adjusts the context.
In running, a second can be an eternity. Most world records are only a few tenths of a second apart. And this trans athlete is a full 7 seconds away from a record set by a cisgender high school runner.
According to the New York Post, 7 seconds is a blowout.
College runners are getting times under 50 seconds. And the world record is 47.60—a full 10 seconds faster.
This trans athlete can’t help it if she is in a league with a bunch of slowpokes. She won a race. She is pretty fast in relation to her direct competition. But she is not some spectacular speed demon who will dominate women’s running.
Her time wasn’t even at scholarship level.
And the second place finisher wasn’t even close to a “decent” time.
Also…
The vast majority of the world’s top sprinters are of West African descent. Just to give you an idea of the statistics, every world record holder in the men’s 100m dash since 1968 has been Black.
So they are basically cherry picking ideal circumstances to make a trans athlete look overpowered—as Portland only has a 5% Black population.
If this race happened in Atlanta instead of Portland, the trans runner probably would have won 10th place and this wouldn’t be a news story.
How to create a moral panic 101.
We’ve got another “dominant” trans athlete going viral.
While it is true that Redmond Sullivan has had two first place finishes in tournaments since transitioning, if you look at her record, you might notice this isn’t as dominant as claimed.
First I have to explain fencing ratings.
You have individual ratings A through E. The As are top fencers and Es (or unrated) fencers are the worst. The number after the rating is the year.
So a rating of A25 means you are a top level fencer in 2025.
Then you have event classes. They are also A through E but have an additional 1 through 4 difficulty variant.
The easiest tournament is E1.
It has 6 competitors and none of them have to be rated. So you are competing against poorly ranked people and have a much higher statistical chance of winning.
This is like playing basketball with all of your nerdiest friends and “accidentally” forgetting to invite Steve who is 6'4".
The hardest tournaments are A4.
This requires at least 64 competitors and must have at least 12 A-rated, 12 B-rated, and 12 C-rated fencers.
This is like being a 40 year old playing Halo against a hundred 12-year-olds all saying rude things about your mom while repeatedly headshotting you with ease.
If you look at Redmond’s two first place finishes, they were in E1 and D1 competitions. (A D1 requires 15 people with four of them E-rated.)
She had a decent statistical chance of winning because the competitors were few and poorly rated.
If you look at her only A4 tournament, she placed 172nd.
I’m not sure I would call someone who placed 172nd particularly dominant.
She currently has a “D” rating overall.
When fencing in men’s competitions, she was rated E. And she slightly improved to a D in women’s competitions—though this is only with 3 months of data. She ended 2024 with an E rating in women’s events. So maybe she improved to a D and a half.
No offense to Redmond, but she is not anywhere close to a top level fencer no matter which league she competes in.
Stephanie Turner, the kneeling transphobe, currently has an E rating and has never finished a year better than a D. By all accounts, she is evenly matched against Redmond and had a legit chance at winning the match. But it was an A2 tournament and she really had no chance of placing highly so I guess she figured this was a good opportunity to be a dipshit.
She is a coward who only took a stand when the stakes were lowest.
I’d also like to point out that Colin Rugg was quick to mention Redmond’s first place finishes, but failed to mention that in the very tournament with this kneeling protest, she got 24th place.
It really seems like these trans athletes aren’t trying to become dominant athletes by transitioning and they are just competing because they love it.
I mean, if I ever got 172nd place I’d probably hang up my rapier and just watch Zorro movies instead.
I have been staring, intermittently, at a livestream of chairs. I have been staring at this livestream of chairs for well over an hour. [UPDATE: 4+ hours!!!] This is how Marvel has chosen to reveal the cast of Avengers: Doomsday: One chair at a time, an actor’s name across the back of each one.
Positive: The Paul Rudd chair is small. Negative: It’s not small enough. It is a hobbit chair, not a tiny Ant-Man chair. Positive: Vanessa Kirby should be in everything. Negative: This should really be just one chair with Tatiana Maslany’s name on it, and she should play everyone.
The movie will feature:
Chris Hemsworth (Thor)
Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm)
Anthony Mackie (Captain America)
Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes)
Letitia Wright (Shuri)
Wyatt Russell (John Walker)
Tenoch Huerta Mejía (Namor)
Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/The Thing)
Simu Liu (Shang-Chi)
Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova)
Kelsey Grammer (HABEMUS BEAST)
Lewis Pullman (Bob Reynolds/Sentry)
We will receive more chairs until morale improves!
Since 1:30pm EST, Avengers: Doomsday has added:
Danny Ramirez (Joaquin Torres / Falcon)
Joseph Quinn (our latest Johnny Storm/Human Torch)
David Harbour (walking Communist Manifesto Red Guardian)
Winston Duke (M’Baku/the reason at least a couple of us are excited about this movie now)
Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr / Ghost)
Tom Hiddleston (Loki, we assume—BUT WHICH LOKI)
Channing Tatum (Gambit, presumably)
Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mr. Stretchy)
Patrick Stewart (Professor X/ Gandalf)
Ian McKellen (Magneto/Saruman)
Further additions include!
Alan Cumming (our beloved Nightcrawler)
Rebecca Romijn (Mystique/Senator Robert Kelly)
James Marsden (Cyclops/crying over Jean Grey)
FINAL UPDATE: 5 ½ hours! Academy Award-winning actor Robert Downey Jr., who was announced as Doctor Doom eight long months ago, slowly (so slowly!) walked to the end of the row of chairs, and took his seat in a chair that said James Leer his name. The Abyss did, indeed, stare back—and held a finger to his lips to seal us into a secret that everyone already knows. This probably sums something up about reality, but I don’t want to know what that something is.
The internet wasn’t having this. Well, except when they were having fun with it:
Screenshot: BlueskyScreenshot: Bluesky
We were also having fun with it.
In conclusion:
Screenshot
This post will be updated when further chairs are announced.
UPDATE: As I finished this post, Simu Liu’s chair arrived. Presumably he is playing Shang-Chi.
UPDATE UPDATE: Florence Pugh will also be in the film, presumably playing Yelena Belova. Are these casting announcements Thunderbolts* spoilers? Is everyone not in Doomsday going to die in that movie?
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE: HABEMUS BEAST. Or at least Kelsey Grammer. And Lewis Pullman! Here’s the livestream so you, too, can stare at chairs:
Note: Contains additional nonsense commentary by Chris Lough, Leah Schnelbach, and Stefan Raets. [end-mark]
![[later] I don't get why our pizza slices have such terrible reviews; the geotextile-infused sauce gives the toppings incredible slope stability!](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tariffs.png "[later] I don't get why our pizza slices have such terrible reviews; the geotextile-infused sauce gives the toppings incredible slope stability!")
