DC's new "Supergirl" may or may not turn out to be a classic of the comic-book genre. It may or may not be a smash hit in theaters. But whatever else happens when Kara Zor-El flies into the unpredictable headwinds of the worldwide box office, one thing the new movie has got 100% right is its promo poster.

Let's take a look at its components. The bright, primary-colored House of El logo in the background is so bold and unmistakable that there's no need to spell out that this is a Super movie. At the same time, having that famous shield spray-painted on a wall is elegant shorthand for "Looking for overgrown boy scout Clark Kent? Then move along".

Meanwhile, lead actor Milly Alcock's "don't care" pose — not to mention the overcoat, sunglasses, and retro headphones — screams attitude. And by the time you get to that "Truth. Justice. Whatever" tagline… well, you know pretty much everything you need to know about our latest trip to James Gunn's new-look DC Universe. The only thing it's missing is super-pooch Krypto.

This "Supergirl" promo stands out in multiplex foyers as every good poster should, yet feels like a rarity in modern Hollywood. Time and time again, one-sheet designs revert to a tried, tested, and tedious formula of Photoshopped (other design software is available) montage of famous faces from a movie. Many of them are presented in the same muddy monochrome — it's almost as if they've stepped out of a Zack Snyder movie — and you need a microscope to make out many of the details. Catching a theater-goer's eye seems a long way down anyone's list of priorities.

It hasn't always been this way, because the science fiction genre has been responsible for many of the best film posters ever made. In the 1950s, B-movies and even the occasional studio tentpole used their promos as unashamed generators of hype, commissioning artists to paint giant arachnids, giant monsters, and — in one notable 50-foot example — giant women. Embiggening the baddies was clearly one of the first things these artists were taught at poster school.

They also refused to be constrained by minor inconveniences like plot details. Posters for both "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) and "Forbidden Planet" (1956) are built around angry robots carrying scantily clad women, even though neither film features any such scenes.

A decade or so later, space-set sci-fi movies like "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) and "Silent Running" (1972) were opting for a rather more subdued approach. Indeed, their hardware-heavy one-sheets looked more like the covers of hard SF novels than movie posters. "2001"'s more famous conceptual "The Ultimate Trip" star child promos weren't created until Stanley Kubrick's epic was given a 1970 re-release, as movie execs tried to capitalize on its growing, though unintended, reputation as a psychedelic counter-culture classic.

But it's arguably two insanely influential movies released within two years in the late-'70s that laid down the blueprint for what a sci-fi movie poster could and should do — "Star Wars" and "Alien".

At first glance, the early posters for "A New Hope" look like the character montages that have gone on to become the Hollywood norm. Look closer, however, and there's genuine artistry to their composition.

Although Tom Jung's famous "Style A" poster is a galaxy far, far away from screen accurate — what's going on with Luke's lightsaber and six-pack? — it effortlessly captures the all-action essence of the movie. Tom Chantrell's (arguably) even-more-iconic "Style C" design unites all the key players in a wonderfully kinetic collage of laser fire, lightsabers, and X-wings.

It's a sub-genre of poster art that the late Drew Struzan (who passed away in 2025) would subsequently go on to master. His legendary, hand-painted designs for the likes of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", the "Star Wars" Special Editions, the "Star Wars" prequels, "Blade Runner" and (yes, really) "The Muppet Movie" have laid down a marker for every draughtsperson who's followed. "I want the poster to look like an adventure," Struzan told SlashFilm in 2021.

In 1979, "Alien"'s famous "In space no one can hear you scream" design helped to popularize the conceptual one-sheet, as a single extraterrestrial egg hinted at the horrors Ridley Scott had in store.

Many of the most memorable posters of the '80s, '90s, and '00s opted for a single abstract image, whether it was ET and Elliott silhouetted against the Moon, an alien spacecraft hovering over New York for "Independence Day", or the minimalist, Happy Meal-friendly logos of "Ghostbusters" and "Jurassic Park".

Struzan's famous poster for John Carpenter's "The Thing" (the one with a faceless guy in a parka) was born out of necessity, the artist having been given little information beyond the fact that it was a loose remake of 1951's "The Thing from Another World". "[I had to] find a way of making nothing into something," Struzan later said of a design he reportedly created over a single night. It's fair to say he succeeded.

One thing all these designs have in common is that — as well as being great adverts for their respective movies — they're bona fide works of art. It's a tradition modern creators like the brilliant Matt Ferguson (and notable exceptions like "Alien Romulus" and "Arrival") are doing their best to keep alive — even though the lobby of a contemporary multiplex is less likely to be confused for an art gallery than it might once have been.

Even with the caveat that we tend to remember the great stuff and forget the duds, modern movie posters are rarely as good as they used to be. With montages often based around the contractual importance of respective stars, too many look like they've been created by committee rather than a single visionary artist — the design most executives, agents, and lawyers disliked least, rather than the one a few loved.

Can there be any other explanation for "Transformers" one-sheets that look like they've been passed through a filter of sludge, or an "Avengers: Age of Ultron" design so crowded that it looks like Marvel's answer to "Where's Waldo?".

Maybe Hollywood doesn't care anymore. Maybe their market research tells them that identikit montages get the best results at the box office, or that traditional one-sheets are small fry next to social media and trailers when it comes to getting bums on theater seats.

But if the measure of a good movie poster is something that you'd want to put in a frame and hang on your wall, the current generation is (mostly) lacking.

So, whether or not "Supergirl" flies, let's celebrate the film's stylish, memorable poster art as a wonderful break from the status quo.

Five years ago, an internet meme turned into a reality in "F9" when the Fast & Furious crew launched a car into space. Depending on your sense of humor and ability to suspend disbelief, it's either peak cinema or extreme tomfoolery, but it's clear that the only way this franchise will ever top this moment is by drag racing a velociraptor in a "Jurassic World" crossover.

The "F9" scene sees Tej Parker (played by Ludacris) and Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) sit inside a rocket-strapped Pontiac Fiero that's launched from a plane and sent into orbit to destroy a satellite. They succeed in their mission, then find themselves hanging about in space and waving at the International Space Station crew, who wonder if they're Minions. No, they aren't, but they're (say this part in Dom Toretto's deep voice) family.

Now, the Fast & Furious franchise has never played by the rules of physics, or reality for that matter. It values entertainment above all, but it's still fun to explore where it gets certain parts right and wrong at times. So we asked three experts about this car-launched-into-space scene and how ridiculous it is. Surprisingly, it isn't as dumb as everybody might think it is.

The filmmakers flub the carrier plane, though. Remember the aircraft that takes the Fiero up into the sky? It's something of a Frankenstein's monster. "The cockpit that they show is crossed between a Boeing 767 and 777," David Cohen, the current dean of aeronautics at Lynn University and former colonel of the U.S. Air Force, tells Space. "However, the aircraft from the external shot looks a little like a military C-17 – except that it has four engines. The C-17 was actually used as the basis for the transport aircraft in the 'Avengers' movies."

According to Cohen, another major issue in this sequence is how the Fiero sits on top of the carrier aircraft before it's dispatched. "Even in a military aircraft that's carrying weapons and missiles, there's a tremendous amount of time that is spent on both the carriage and the release of that weapon from the aircraft, including multiple cameras and a lot of testing," he says.

"So there's never something as simple as, 'Oh, we're just going to strap this on and see how it goes.'" When the Fiero is released, it's far too close to hitting the tail of the plane. In other words, it would have needed to be launched in another manner.

Now, there is a precedent of air-launch-to-orbit (ALTO) in the real world, such as the Northrop Grumman Pegasus. However, Bryan Schmidt, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Case Western Reserve University, thinks the "F9" filmmakers took direct influence from the first spaceflight of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, which would coincide with the film's production timeline.

"Burt Rutan and Richard Branson formed a company called Virgin Galactic, and if you remember, they built a space plane for essentially space tourism," Schmidt says.

"The SpaceShipTwo could fly six people in this little rocketship that would get airdropped from a plane. Their first flight into space was in 2018, and this movie came out in 2021, so my guess is that the filmmakers were actually drawing a lot of inspiration from that system where the space plane would get carried up by an airplane, then the airplane would drop it around 40,000 feet, and the rockets would ignite and take it up to space."

As Schmidt explains, the SpaceShipTwo dropped at around 40,000 feet while the vehicle in "F9" is at 50,000 feet, but it's still a similar-enough concept. "The densest part of the atmosphere is the bottom," Schmidt says.

"By using an airplane to get you up, you're dramatically reducing the amount of work that the rockets on the spacecraft have to do. So you can make your engine and your spacecraft a lot smaller and still be able to attain a pretty high altitude. If you look at SpaceShipTwo, its rocket engine is pretty small – the engine itself is about the size of a person. The other interesting thing is that if you look in the movie, there's a tank of nitrous oxide in the car. In the SpaceShipTwo, the oxidizer that they used for their rocket fuel was nitrous oxide."

Ashmeet Singh, assistant professor of physics at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, sees the same logic in the ALTO but thinks the Fiero would struggle to reach its ultimate destination. "To stay in orbit you have to be moving sideways at about 7.8 kilometres per second, and thanks to Newton's Third Law of action equals minus reaction, rockets burn and eject fuel to get an opposite directed thrust," he says. "To get to those fantastic speeds, real rockets are almost entirely propellant by weight. A couple of boosters bolted to a car can't carry anything close to that."

There's also the question of the Fiero itself, and if it would last the entire journey. According to Earl (Jason Tobin) in "F9", the modified car has a ceramic polymer coating. While spacecraft use ceramic coating for heat protection, one wonders how thorough the testing for Tej and Roman's expedition really was. A regular Fiero simply wouldn't cut it, as Singh explains. "On the way up, the car wouldn't survive the heat from air resistance and the compression of the air, as the car rams into air molecules faster than it can move out of the way, which makes it heat past 1000°C. And a fibreglass body with ordinary glass has no heat shield and no structure for the violent shaking."

Cohen, Schmidt, and Singh all agree on how ridiculous it is that Roman uses the Fiero's steering wheel at all. "The steering wheel is pure theatrics: in a vacuum, there's no air over a wing and no road under a tyre, nothing to push against, so turning it does exactly nothing," Singh says. "Real spacecraft pivot by firing little thrusters, not by steering." Schmidt jokes that maybe it's something for Roman to hold onto while on the way up."*

*The car is shown to have tiny thrusters, so maybe they're hooked up to the wheel? We'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

All three experts also highlight that the scuba-like gear that Tej and Roman wear is grounded in some real-world logic. "The very first time human beings went above Earth into an area where there wasn't enough breathable air, Wiley Post was one of the first pioneers doing this in the 1930s," Cohen says.

"Post had effectively what was a scuba suit at the time to handle the pressure and keep the air in the suit, and allowed him to breathe. So, the concept is not foreign to aviation." What is funny to Cohen is how Tej uses duct tape to keep his suit together.

As Schmidt and Singh add, though, these suits might not suffice depending on the length of the journey and the pressure in space, differing from underwater situations. Apart from the actual suits protecting the characters, you also need to consider the effect of G-force on Tej and Roman. Both look relatively fit and in good shape, but are they astronaut-fit for this undertaking?

"As a pilot and astronaut, there's physiology you have to know about and ways you can clench muscles and attempt to fight some of the forces you experience," Cohen says.

"G-loss of consciousness is possible, and it happens with pilots in high-performance aircraft occasionally. They'll pull so many Gs that the force will take the blood out of their head down to their feet, and they lose consciousness. Ultimately, you do come back, but the goal is not to have that happen. It does not appear that there's any accountability for G-forces in 'F9', at least in the scene where the car is departing the aircraft."

Unquestionably, "F9" is pure entertainment, so liberties are taken to sell an outrageous story where everybody behaves and acts like an invincible superhero. Having said that, it's good to see that the filmmakers and screenwriters actually attempted to bring an iota of realism to the film.

"Another powerful moment the scene gets right isn't the hardware or the science, it's possibly the awe on Tej and Roman's faces when they see Earth reflected in their visors," Singh explains. "Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut who actually commanded the Space Station, even admitted that feeling to be true to the real thing."

To infinity and beyond... for family.

"F9" is available to stream on Prime Video.

Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios' brash experimental superhero series, "Spider-Noir," is a refreshing treat that revitalizes the fading genre with a cool film noir twist.

Showcasing the "Spider-Man Noir" comics character seen in "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse", it stars Nicholas Cage as a 1930s New York City private detective named Ben Reilly who moonlights as the nocturnal avenger The Spider.

Juilliard-educated composers Kris Bowers ("The Wild Robot," "Secret Invasion") and Michael Dean Parsons ("Light & Magic," "Bridgerton") have created a magnificent sweeping score with roots in old-school crime thrillers, Hollywood Golden Age jazz, and a variety of intriguing electronic instruments not traditionally used in a classical score of this nature. We caught up with the musical pair to hear more about their influences for this mesmerizing Spider-Noir soundtrack.

"The first thing we talked about when we were watching the picture-locked season was how it was important that this score was rooted both in the noir and superhero space but also be wholly unique in its own thing," Bowers tells Space.

"We created a playlist of all our favorite noir scores from 'Chinatown' to 'Double Indemnity' to 'Vertigo' and remind ourselves about all the things we love about that music, then pretty quickly try to forget it so we didn't lean too much in that," explains Bowers.

"Superhero music, I feel like, has been in our DNA for the last 20 years or so. For us, it was looking at how in the noir space, you had these iconic, memorable melodies and themes and these things that are tracking characters across the arcs of their stories. Then with the superhero side of things, it was about making it feel modern and edgy and have a lot of sounds you wouldn’t expect in your typical noir score."

From the beginning, Bowers and Parsons instinctively knew "Spider-Noir's" atmospheric music would be thematically driven, but they also didn’t want it to be an homage washing over the whole series.

"We wanted it to feel customized and coming out of these individual characters and the unique story that was being told," Parsons adds. "One of the first things we asked Oren was, since the show takes place in New York, what does New York mean to you?"

"We were expecting a noir-inspired answer, like about using trumpets and saxophones," says Parsons. "Instead, he said New York is 'Nineties electric punk guitar.' As we talked to him more, there was something that really fit naturally about bringing in a modern guitar sound into this palette that made us realize this is 50% superhero and 50% noir, but 100% totally new."

One enchanting component of this score’s distinctiveness, beyond the sweeping symphonic interludes, is the inclusion of some unconventional instruments to layer into the moody tracks.

"The theremin was one of our early discoveries that was kind of a marriage between the electronic contemporary and also this noir world," notes Parsons. "We were researching the early electronic instruments that could have plausibly been around or starting to be popularized in that era, so we gravitated towards the theremin not only for that reason, but because Ben's theme begins with this big soaring octave leap.

"So we thought, what if we take the theremin and have it play the octave leap as a signature for Ben. Anytime he's doing a day in the life detective work, or anytime we need to point out him doing something heroic, we're able to use that theremin, which has been run through distortion pedals and other things, to call it out."

Giving the composers enough confidence to be daring provided the ideal creative environment to conjure up what we believe is an instant classic that gets even better each time it's heard.

"It's really just a credit to how generous our collaborators were in Oren, the showrunner, and the rest of the team," says Bowers. "It was the thing where every time we shared something, oftentimes the only notes we got back would be to make it even weirder or more different or add some other sound. That's important, especially when you're on a project, and you don't have much time, and you're dealing with one of the most important pieces of IP in the world with Spider-Man.

"Often, you can get a lot of stress and anxiety and tightness in terms of not wanting to try things out. I feel like we were encouraged to fail in the best way possible, where we never felt any idea was too crazy for this team. It was an amazing collaborative process with them."

The show hails from executive producer Oren Uziel ('Mortal Kombat,' 'The Lost City'), and fans are applauding its stylish take on the multiverse, which can be enjoyed in either True-Hue Full Color or Authentic Black & White.

"Spider-Noir" is now streaming all 8 episodes on Prime Video.

Avatar: Fire and Ash was a box office smash hit when it dropped in December 2025, and it's easy to see why. Compelling characters, breathtaking action, beautiful environments, and an array of wondrous alien creatures.

We've explored the strange creatures of the Avatar universe before, but now that the third movie has finally hit Disney+, we're taking another look at three more awe-inspiring alien creatures from these movies, including some new stunners introduced in Fire & Ash.

If you’re more of an RDA fan (or at least admire the humans’ technology), we also took a good look at Avatar’s most iconic spaceships and vehicles. James Cameron rarely misses when it comes to gorgeous sci-fi designs — man-made or natural — and eagle-eyed veterans might even spot an explicit reference (which we won’t spoil here) to Aliens in Fire and Ash.

It might be a while before we get more updates on Avatar 4 and 5’s status, so if you're itching to explore Pandora more after watching Fire and Ash on Disney+, then you should also check out the video game, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Ubisoft’s open-world game is a memorable – and surprisingly brutal at times – experience, but it also lets fans explore the world, see the creatures, and dive deeper into the lore.

Now, let's mask up and prepare to drop into the wilderness of Pandora as we look at three of the Avatar series’ coolest (and weirdest) alien creatures.

Akula

First seen in Avatar: The Way of Water, the akula is a carnivorous fish that essentially acts as the great white shark of Pandora’s oceans, though it’ll remind paleofanatics of Earth’s armored Dunkleosteus. Its most shocking feature — and one perfectly showcased when it tries to eat Lo’ak in the second movie — is a three-part jaw that opens up in a big triangular shape.

Like most creatures in the Pandoran seas, the akula is important to the Metkayina’s culture. Those Na’vi choose to model their traditional knives after the teeth of the fearsome creature, and some members of the tribe even wear the akula’s actual teeth with necklaces. It’s terrifying to them, too, and thus deserves respect.

The lead creature designer on the Avatar sequels, Zachary Berger, revealed the process behind the akula’s creation, stating the basis for the final design was born from a sketch Wētā Workshop had done a long time ago. Unsurprisingly, it seems the mouth “reveal” was the final touch the otherwise familiar design needed to fully come together.

Nightwraith (ska’avum)

Another scary aerial predator introduced in the sequels is the nightwraith, which the Na’vi call ska’avum.

First seen in Fire and Ash as the ride of choice of villain Varang, it’s a four-winged monster with folding vanes that give it a distinct shape against the sky. It’s also slightly larger in size than the more common ikran, as seen during Varang and Neytiri’s ferocious clashes. Moreover, its “bony crests” give it an additional edge when it comes to attack and defense.

As far as we know, Varang is the only Na’vi to ride a nightwraith. This is a good fit considering the character’s fiery nature, but it wasn’t always the plan, as her aerial partner wasn’t defined in the script and was developed into an all-new creature after shooting had wrapped. Word is that Varang was originally meant to ride an armored ikran instead.

Southern squidray (tsyong)

Fire and Ash also added Pandora’s own giant squids to the already crowded bestiary, and those things are gnarly... even outside the water. When Eywa goes to war (again) during that third act, things get scary very fast if you’re on the human invaders’ side. Enter the four-eyed southern squidray, called tsyong by the Na’vi.

With razor-toothed tentacles and an oversized beak that opens up horizontally and can bite through most natural materials, these deep-sea hunters can feed on almost any other animal in the sea due to their impressive speed and strength in numbers.

Even the agile ilu have a hard time escaping them, so you can quickly understand why the Na’vi treat them as “dark spirits” sent by Eywa to judge. By the end of the third Avatar movie, the RDA is the one being judged (harshly) by the nightmare-inducing cephalopods.

Adult Swim's smash animated series "Rick and Morty" recently unleashed its ninth season, and it's already shaping up to be one of the best seasons so far, with plenty of interdimensional shenanigans, existential excursions, evolutionary entanglements, hostile living room furniture, a potential trip to Boob World, and Pool Time!

We chatted to the creators Dan Harmon and Scott Marder earlier this month, but now we're catching up with the main cast to hear from Ian Cardoni (Rick), Sarah Chalke (Beth), Harry Belden (Morty), and Spencer Grammer (Summer) on the rigors of voice acting, playing in the multiverse, and watching all your plosives.

"We've got what we would consider classic adventures, balanced by a lot of fresh and new directions for these characters and for these stories," Cardoni tells Space.

"I can honestly say that some of my favorite moments of episodes of the whole series run are coming in season 9, and I'm excited for fans to see that. Sci-fi in its best form is human stories. It may be our future, and I think we get glimpses of that by tapping into the human elements. With all the wacky hijinks that take place, we're in for a really amazing season and some real good science fiction."

Those hijinks call for some suitably animated vocal performances from the vast though. "These are voices that take a toll, even when it’s not a session, when it requires the intense gravel or yelling of Rick," explains Cardoni.

"It requires your full instrument. I like to prep with a full cardio workout because oxygen support is what you need. Then I go on vocal rest before and after sessions. I have all kinds of warm, hot, viscous liquids to soothe. I use a vocal steamer. Harry [Belden] is really religious about his regimen, but I’ve got my own way to get myself into the voice, but not burn out. Voice acting is acting. And the show doesn’t pull any punches emotionally."

Chalke relishes her time playing Beth and Space Beth and adamantly declares season 9 as her favorite season they’ve ever done.

"There's a couple of specific episodes, 'Salute Your Morts' and 'Jer Bud' where you really get to go deeper into the relationships," she notes. "The fun part of 'Rick and Morty' as an actor is all the unique challenges because there's no limits and because it's a multiverse and because the show can go anywhere, you’re always doing things with your voice you've never done before.

"None of us have to do the voice intensity Ian does with Rick. You're working those vocal chords so hard with the burping and all of that," Chalke remarks to Cardoni. "For me, Space Beth is more in that direction than Beth. So I always record all of that first and Space Beth second because she has more of a gravelly, raspy quality to it. It's whatever you need to do to make it grounded and as real as you can."

For Belden, it was gratifying for Morty to experience a great deal of personal growth this season.

"There are a lot of intense situations that he finds himself in, and I’m excited for fans to see him go through that and come out the other side," he adds. "For me, my favorite episode is going to be the finale ["Field of Dreams"] for sure, and the journey that Morty goes on. There's so much good stuff in there."

Regarding his own regimen of keeping his vocal health tip-top, Belden explains:

"I like to run a couple of miles before I start, stretch out the entire body, do the actual vocal warmups. Morty being such a particular voice, I need a lot of breath support, so I have a wide stance and create a powerful base. I’m expanding my ribcage to support myself. And that’s not without even getting into tongue placement, spreading your lips wide to get the sound out, watching your plosives on the letter 'p.' It's all this stuff you would never ever think about."

Grammer is thrilled to see some fan favorite characters make return cameos in season 9, as we get to watch Summer and Morty just being terrible teenagers, and loves the fact that the Smith family gets a swimming pool.

"I kind of learned on the job about 14 years ago," she reveals. "I was trained as an actor though, so I have a pretty good vocal ability. But it's very demanding, especially as you get older. There’s these tiny muscles and tiny folds. The last few years, I’ve really devoted to vocal health and got to a place where I can comfortably do the Summer role really well."

Grammer has really embraced the role of Summer, but it's also led to some major lifestyle changes for her. "You have to choose where you want to live. I don’t see a lot of people now. I just work a lot", explains Grammer.

"I can’t go to a party that’s going to be loud and talk to people. And that's fine. Alcohol is really bad for hydration, so I don’t really drink anymore. I’m constantly drinking water or something really slimy all the time. I have a whole kit of just things for your voice that I always take with me."

Executive produced by Dan Harmon and showrunner Scott Marder, "Rick and Morty season 9" airs Sundays at 11 p.m. on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, and will also begin streaming weekly on Hulu and HBO Max starting June 15, 2026.

'Project Hail Mary' has finally landed on a streaming service, though maybe not the one you were expecting.

Amazon MGM Studios' "Project Hail Mary" recently launched (June 18) first on the MGM+ streaming platform, which is a sister site to Prime Video, after its 90-day theatrical window was up. As a bonus, there is a summer deal that lets you snag the Amazon Prime Video MGM+ channel for $0.99/month for 2 months. Be quick, though; this offer ends June 26.

"Project Hail Mary" sees reluctant astronaut Ryland Grace embarking on a cosmic rescue mission to save Earth, aided by a stone-skinned alien named Rocky. Fans looking for the Ryan Gosling space epic to show up on Prime Video out of the gate might be a little surprised, but as they say, That’s Hollywood, Baby.

Why MGM+ and not Amazon Prime Video?

Since Amazon MGM Studios is both a theatrical and streaming studio, deals are often shifted depending on the different monetization models involved.

In "Project Hail Mary's" case, MGM+ becomes the initial outlet for streaming and PVOD, with Prime Video as the secondary streaming destination. Movies making their first streaming stop on Prime Video, like "Red One," are handled differently within the corporation, especially if their costs were paid by Prime Video.

Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, "Project Hail Mary" was a certified crowd-pleaser after a juggernaut marketing campaign that saw waves of teasers, trailers, clips, and interview videos anywhere and everywhere, which helped to catapult the popular sci-fi film adapted from Andy Weir's bestselling novel to a decent $678 million global haul.

Amazon, the behemoth parent company of both Prime Video and MGM+, possibly also made a decision to deliver the spring blockbuster initially to MGM+ as an enticement to lure prospective customers to the much smaller platform as a way to drive up subscription numbers. Prime Video's sweet MGM+ deal is further evidence of this plan's logic.

For now, "Project Hail Mary"'s interstellar odyssey is available exclusively on MGM+, but we’ll keep you updated when its official Prime Video date arrives.

On Episode 215 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and guest co-host Susan Karlin talk with bestselling sci-fi/sci-fact author Dr. David Brin.

If you've seen "Disclosure Day" or "Age of Disclosure," you're going to want to join us for this fascinating discussion. Long known for his universe-spanning visions, storytelling skills, and occasionally contrarian viewpoints, Dr. Brin will not disappoint! Our discussion ranged from reactions to Spielberg's "Disclosure Day" to why people believe in AI and more.

Download or subscribe to this show at: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.

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Space news of the week

• AiLIEN MINDS

Model Falcon 9!

Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.

About This Week In Space

This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?

Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.

Apple TV’s "For All Mankind" spinoff series, "Star City," places viewers directly behind the scenes of the hush-hush Soviet space program community in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s to witness all the harrowing missions, love triangles, espionage, sabotage, interrogation, and torture of those turbulent times. And believe us, there’s more than a little truth behind this alternative-history re-enactment.

Priya Kansara (who also voiced Ryan Gosling's AI spaceship in "Project Hail Mary") portrays Lakshmi Chadha in the absorbing new series. A gifted Indian aerospace scientist, Chadma, is recruited to Star City for a special, under-the-radar project by Rhys Ifans’ Chief Designer for the risky Venera-7 mission to Venus.

Josef Davies plays a younger version of Sergei Nikulov, a rocket engineer working at Soviet Ground Control, a character previously portrayed by Piotr Adamczyk in "For All Mankind." In that series, Nikulov becomes the director of Roscosmos and develops a relationship with Margo Madison (Wrenn Schmidt) during the Apollo-Soyuz program that leads to costly secrets shared and a very bad outcome.

Both Kansara and Davies both play pivotal roles in the show’s experimental Venera-7 deep space expedition and we spoke to them about crafting their roles. "I was very excited to play a much-loved character which people already know," Davies tells Space.

"But also to dive into it because this show has its own completely different identity. To be able to play that character that feels familiar but tells a lot more of the story to people who are interested in him and the world he came from.

"The whole experience has been incredible and something I hope continues for a very long time. I loved it deeply. Finding every moment of that character and really being able to have the reins to take control of it and play with it is my favorite part of the whole thing."

Kansara considered it a supreme privilege to play Lakshmi and to conjure up the character’s confident demeanor and innate determinism.

"She never questions her own ability even if the situation is not what was expected or somebody else doesn't believe in her," she reveals. "She really believes in herself. And when presented with a challenge she takes it head on even if it's terrifying."

"I really respect that strength that she has," continues Kansara. "It was so much fun to play and to explore that journey with her. The circumstances are so intense. Just some of the scenarios that are thrown at you, you’re like, 'I don’t have a relatable thing. This is not like life that we’ve experienced.' But it was fun to play with that as well."

Both Davies and Kansara had specific costumes touches that allowed them to create layered performances in their "Star City" episodes.

"The watch was a big one for me because it felt like it was mechanical," Davies mentions. "Everything was about precision and timing and all that. So that helped and it felt like an anchoring. Also my tie. I always liked for it to be a little bit too tight so I could feel it. That helped me get into that space. Honestly the whole thing was an amazing six months."

To stand out amid the drab colorless environment of Star City, costumers thankfully brightened things up for Lakshmi’s wardrobe.

"Lakshmi naturally had a little bit more color in her clothing because we wanted her to feel and look like an outsider," Kansara adds. "That was really important in terms of me walking into these bleak spaces. That physical reminder of me being someone who’s from the outside. The other thing was the Sindoor that I wear on my head, which is the red powder that symbolizes a married woman for Hindu and South Asian women. I wanted a piece of her that she can’t let go of. That’s hugely important. To put that on every day was a real grounding for me.

"We laughed a lot on set, we had so much fun filming together. It was amazing."

"Star City" season 1 is streaming now exclusively on Apple TV.

Emmy Award-winner Barrie Gower has helped created some of the most memorable beasts and creatures in the entertainment sphere, including "Stranger Things"' Vecna, "Game of Thrones"' chilling White Walker, the Night King, and the freaky fungus mutants of HBO's "The Last of Us."

For director Travis Knight’s sci-fi fantasy film, "Masters of the Universe," Gower called upon all of his veteran skills to provide special makeup and prosthetic applications for Jared Leto's Skeletor and his entire band of weird henchmen, plus He-Man's gang of crazy companions. From iconic characters like Spikor and Moss Man to Goat Man and Trap Jaw, Gower’s ace crew was tasked with bringing these monsters to the big screen.

"We got contacted a few years ago about 'Masters of the Universe' in 2018 or 2019," Gower tells Space.

"It was with a different director at the time and a different studio. It was two writer/directors, the Nee Brothers, who co-wrote the screenplay for this latest integration."

"The project changed studios two or three times and eventually they came back to us and the timing was bang on," explains Gower. "They’d enlisted Travis Knight and his vision was quite different to the original take, which was very high tech, very clean, very Marvelesque. Travis was a huge fan of He-Man and the '80s cartoon, the toy line, and the whole IP and franchise. His passion and love was really trying to do this film project justice and make it as true as possible."

The master plan was to still give the $200 million feature a fun modern spin, but Knight was interested from a character perspective of creating full-sized human equivalent action figures.

"He wanted the world to be ultra colorful, ultra bright, and have this sense of awe and eye candy. We went through the characters to decide what would be practical, what would be purely digital, and what would be a combination of the two. Because of Travis’s background with Laika Studios he was very much into the practical techniques."

That was all music to Gower's ears and his BGFX team began the process of bringing the menacing egomaniacal antagonist called Skeletor to life.

"Originally Skeletor was going to have some sort of decorative golden mask in the shape of a skull with possibly some kind of disfigured makeup underneath," he notes. "But Travis said we’re doing Skeletor properly. He’s going to have a skull for a talking face and a blue muscular body. And this is the prefect example of a combination between practical and digital effects.

"He was set on the idea of creating a practical muscle suit for Jared, and his head would be animated digitally. We had a scan of Jared's head that we reduced and classically sculpted the skull based on the concept art, then we 3D scanned that for a digital file which we shared with the visual effects department for them to use as an asset to animate."

Creating this blue-hued Skeletor muscle suit was quite a complex job that included upper and lower body appliances crafted out of foam latex.

"It was using a lot of Jared’s muscle tones that we over-exaggerated and sculpted in more muscle sets and tones, but kept everything relatively anatomically accurate," adds Gower. "Then we went through a lot of testing and paint schemes. We originally did some silicone work, which is one of the most commonly used products in the prosthetics industry now because you get a beautiful translucency with it. But it’s very dense and non-porous and very heavy. So Jared would have been walking around with pounds and pounds of rubber on him. We did R&D and it was going in the right direction but we were running out of time, so we reverted to foam latex."

Jared's otherworldly outfit consisted of a foam suit, skeletal silicone gloves that fit over his hands, a foam latex collar, and then a hood fabricated by the costume department.

"We'd actually built two suits based on Jared. It was on a January morning and we met him at a hotel near the London airport," Gower recalls. "We had a very small window of time before filming so we were praying we weren’t going to have many adjustments to make. Jared came in, we got the stuff on him, and he was really lovely with us. Very funny, very jovial. He had just stepped off a plane!

"It went really well, just a couple tiny adjustments. We had a small team looking after him with his suit every day. Usually with prosthetics if you’re gluing it over the entire body you’re looking at seven or eight hours to do an application each day. Apart from times where we had to glue a few things on him here or there, we actually got him into his suit in about 15 minutes. He was a joy to work with. He was a lot of fun on set and there was this charismatic presence every day."

"Masters of the Universe" is currently in theaters everywhere.

Let's all meet up in the year 2000! It was a tumultuous decade for the world, but we can't deny that the new millennium brought with it some fantastic sci-fi TV shows.

We're continuing our march through time to rank the best sci-fi TV shows of every decade. We started way back in the 1950s and since then we've barrelled through the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, but now it's time for Y2K to hit. This was a time in Hollywood when visual effects tricks and technology started trickling down to television, and the results were some damn fine sci-fi TV. We were blessed with a beautiful blend of new ideas and reboots of classic franchises that pushed the boundaries of the genre.

So, let's gas up the time machine and venture boldly into this alluring list of the 10 best sci-fi shows of the 2000s. Follow along and see how many of your must-watch series made the final countdown!

10. "Invader Zim"

Original Air Dates: 2001-2006 | Seasons: 2 | Cast: Richard Horvitz, Rosearik Rikki Simons, Andy Berman, Melissa Fahn

Doom! We had to add one quirky animated sci-fi series onto our list, as this was the decade when more mature animated projects rose to their prominence on channels like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.

Formulated around a tiny tyrannical alien named Zim (Richard Steven Horvitz) who was sent here by the Irken Empire on a mission to our solar system with his wonky robot named GIR to enslave Earth, he soon learned conquering a planet isn’t exactly easy. "Invader Zim" is the brainchild of comic book writer and cartoonist Jhonen Vasquez, and its sophisticated, esoteric humor and distinctive design style were far ahead of its time.

The 2019 Netflix animated film, "Invader Zim: Enter The Florpus" will have you rolling in riotous laughter! This weird franchise still has a massive following that includes a 2015-2020 comic book series from Oni Press, a gorgeous Abrams art book, and even a spinning theme park ride!

9. "Andromeda"

Original Air Dates: 2000-2005 | Seasons: 5 | Cast: Kevin Sorbo, Lisa Ryder, Keith Hamilton Cobb, Lexa Doig

If you‘ve never seen "Andromeda", then you're in for a real treat as this enormously entertaining series from the fertile mind of "Star Trek's" Gene Roddenberry deserves a coveted place on our list.

Derived from Roddenberry's never-used material, developed by Robert Wolfe, and produced by his widow, Majel Barrett, "Andromeda" was a Canadian and American production led by charismatic Systems Commonwealth starship captain Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo) ("Hercules: The Legendary Journeys"), who finds himself 300 years into the future after being stuck near a time-dilating black hole.

He awakes in a very different universe controlled by Nietzschean and Magog aliens after civil war rages. Hunt teams up with a motley group of mercenaries to traverse the cosmos while hoping to revitalize the Commonwealth and restore peace.

The sentient spaceship named the Andromeda Ascendant was a cool touch, and the show's upbeat nature won over loyal genre audiences. Later seasons suffered from rotating writers, but it still has evergreen appeal!

8. "Stargate: Atlantis"

Original Air Dates: 2004-2009 | Seasons: 5 | Cast: Joe Flanigan, Torri Higginson, Rachel Luttrell, David Hewlett, Jason Momoa

This fan favorite Sci-Fi Channel TV series, often abbreviated as SGA, was a spin-off from sci-fi smash hit "Stargate-SG1" (itself a spinoff of the 1994 "Stargate" feature film directed by Roland Emmerich).

The narrative chronicled an international gang of scientists and military folks that stumble across a Stargate network deep in the Pegasus Galaxy and its insidious alien antagonists called The Wraith.

Starring Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett, and Rachel Luttrell, "SGA" lasted 99 episodes over the course of five seasons and concluded with the titular city splashing into the Pacific Ocean near California's landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge. With its great cast chemistry, arresting visuals, realistic relationships, smart writing, and natural tonal balance, "SGA" still rocks.

Plus, it co-starred a young Jason Momoa as the team’s badass Satedan warrior, specialist Ronon Dex!

7. "Star Trek: Enterprise"

Original Air Dates: 2001-2005 | Seasons: 4 | Cast: Scott Bakula, John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating

Had it not been for the bewildering series finale episode, this timely and thoughtful "Star Trek" prequel would have ranked a lot higher.

Created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga and starring Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer, "Enterprise" told the story of Earth's first Warp 5 starship, the Enterprise NX-01, and her valiant crew exploring space back in the fledgling days of Starfleet a century before James T. Kirk.

The UPN Network was this show’s home base and after a couple seasons of standalone chapters, the creators introduced an overarching plot known as the Temporal Cold Wars and its alien adversaries, the Xindi, with a mystery figure from the future appearing sporadically to issue dire warnings.

Some standout performances from the cast, especially John Billingsley’s Dr. Phlox and Janine Blaylock's T'Pol, helped the show grow on fans until it was cancelled by Paramount after four seasons. This would mark the end of "Star Trek" TV that would last 12 years until "Star Trek: Discovery."

Fans may have hated the cheesy Velveeta-like theme song, "Where My Heart Will Take Me!", but you can't deny that this show had strength of the heart.

6. "Star Wars: The Clone Wars"

Original Air Dates: 2008-2013 | Seasons: 7 | Cast: Tom Kane, Matt Lanter, Ashley Eckstein, James Arnold Taylor

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" was Lucasfilm’s first venture into CG animation, unspooling the titular galactic clash set between the events of "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" and "Star Wars: Revenge of the Jedi."

Here we witness noble Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi along with Anakin's Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano as they command the Galactic Republic's clone army against Count Dooku’s Separatist Alliance during that storied time in "Star Wars" lore known as The Clone Wars.

This cherished series from George Lucas and Supervising Director Dave Filoni is still being tapped for characters such as Clone Force 99, Cad Bane, Saw Gerrera, and Bo-Katan Kryze in more recent "Star Wars" shows like "The Bad Batch," "The Mandalorian," and "Andor."

After initially airing on the Cartoon Network for five seasons, it made the leap to Netflix for season six and finally closed out its influential run for season seven on Disney+ in 2020.

5. "Doctor Who"

Original Air Dates: 2005-2025 | Seasons: 15 | Cast: Christopher Eccleston, David Tenant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, Jodie Whittaker, Ncuti Gatwa.

Ah, the half-decade of Christopher Eccleston’s 9th Doctor and David Tennant’s 10th Doctor showcased as our official Time Lords from Gallifrey was a wonderful experience with many fan favorite episodes like Dalek, "The Doctor Dances," "Blink," "Midnight," and "The End of Time."

This was a crucial period for "Doctor Who" as the beloved series had just endured a long 15-year hiatus since 1989 and this was the resurrection of the venerable British sci-fi adventure show. The modern revival was orchestrated by producer Russell T. Davies and a lot was riding on its success straight out of the gate.

Their adventurous TARDIS trips along the time stream helped bolster the show’s global fanbase with new and old recruits to kick off one of the most fruitful periods in "Doctor Who's" existence.

The show's future is up in the air at the moment, but he's hoping it brings that 2000s Who energy with it when it returns.

4. "Battlestar Galactica"

Original Air Dates: 2004-2009 | Seasons: 4 | Cast: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, Tricia Helfer

Few shows stirred up more hardcore sci-fi fans’ delight than this remake of the old "Battlestar Galactica" space opera show from the late 1970s. But instead of being a family affair, this time around Ronald D. Moore and his writing staff amplified the grim joyless aspects of this ragtag fleet of colony ships trying to fin d a shining planet called Earth before the evil Cylons annihilated them.

Based on Glen A. Larsen’s brighter and more humorous version, this highly-regarded dark reboot was found on the Sci-Fi channel (now SYFY) for four seasons after a 2003 3-hour miniseries aired. Its gritty military-leaning stories carried a somber post-9/11 feel that seemed appropriate for a fractured world needing a serious reality check.

The ensemble cast included Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, and Grace Park. During its Emmy Award-winning 74-episode run aboard the Galactica colony ship while being pursued by the android antagonists, this last vestige of civilization helped define what it was to be human with dignity.

3. "Firefly"

Original Air Dates: 2002 | Seasons: 1 | Cast: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin

Has it really been nearly 25 years since Captain Mal Reynolds and his Browncoat smugglers visited us weekly on the Fox network for one single season?

Conceived by executive producer and creator Joss Whedon of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "The Avengers" fame, "Firefly" was a one-and-done space western starring Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, and Jewel Staite.

Although Fox unceremoniously pulled the plug after only 14 episodes, "Firefly" did spawn the 2005 feature film, "Serenity," and in the proceeding years a passionate cult following has grown that spans toys, comic books, prose novels, a robust fan art community, and even a themed cookbook.

Loyal followers of the franchise have been clamoring for a live-action revival for ages to no avail, but we truly are getting a shiny new official "Firefly" animated series from 20th Television Animation soon.

2. "Lost"

Original Air Dates: 2004-2010 | Seasons: 6 | Cast: Naveen Andrews, Emilie de Ravin, Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia

We're heading back to the iconic island to once again immerse ourselves in the prophetic numbers, the puzzling timeline, polar bears, smoke monsters, and the totally bonkers wrap-up that alienated fans. Welcome to "Lost," a dreamy pop culture phenomenon not seen since David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" in the '90s.

It was must-see TV for millions who debated all the symbols, signs, and clues to dissect around the water cooler. The sci-fi mystery box centered around a group of plane crash survivors on a strange island that was once the home of a scientific think tank called the Dharma Initiative.

It could have been the show of the decade, with a mythology dense enough to sustain ten million flash-sideways headaches., but it collapsed under its own narrative weight towards the end, once ABC milked six seasons out of creators J.J. Abrams, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof.

1. "Fringe"

Original Air Dates: 2008-2013 | Seasons: 5 | Cast: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Lance Reddick, Kirk Acevedo

Don’t even try to argue with us or we’ll zap you into the alternate universe faster than you can whip up a Strawberry Supreme Shake.

Technically this remarkable show crosses decades, but it first aired in 2008 so it qualifies. Fox's paranormal sci-fi series was absolutely beyond its time and still holds up well over a decade after its five-season run ended.

Here, eccentric scientist Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) teams up with his son Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) and Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) in the FBI’s Boston-based Fringe Division to solve a series of bizarre happenings and deaths relating to a recently discovered parallel mirror world and its many technological secrets.

This is the best thing that creators J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci have ever done and we were all grateful to have experienced its exceptional storytelling, superb acting, and conceptual sci-fi themes that nailed the finale perfectly.

The gift that kept on giving was "Star Trek's" Leonard Nimoy portraying biotech genius Dr. William Bell, a role that Nimoy’s son, Adam, recalled was a bonafide favorite of his father's.

If there's anyone who has their ear to the ground when it comes to Steven Spielberg projects, it's British Sound Editor and Re-Recording Mixer Andy Nelson. This legendary sonic wizard has been a crucial creative element in 21 Spielberg films and has won multiple Academy Awards for best sound achievements in classics like "Schindler’s List" and "Les Misérables." In fact, he's been nominated for more Oscars (25) than any other living person, after the great John Williams.

For "Disclosure Day," Nelson once again teamed up with his longtime collaborator to lend his considerable expertise to the sound editing and final mixing of Spielberg's sci-fi film, which he considers to be one of the master’s best works in years.

We connected with Nelson to hear more about "Disclosure Day's" acoustic game plan and how dialogue, sound effects, and music perfectly fused together.

"My first film with Steven was 'Hook,' and this particular film, which I'm incredibly proud of, is actually my 21st movie working with Steven," Nelson tells Space.

"It's just been one wonderful event after another. The thing with Steven is that his stories are so fascinating, and I knew that he was so excited about this, to revisit and kind of almost bookend something that he started with 'E.T.' and 'Close Encounters.'"

Disclosure Day's plot was kept under tight wraps, even in the trailers, as Spielberg sought to keep an air of mystery to his sci-fi thriller. "I did get to read the script early on, locked in a high security room as you can imagine," reveals Nelson. "As I was reading, I got so excited because it’s a thrilling chase movie that’s got a ton of emotion but keeps your heart racing the whole time.

Spielberg wasn't the only long-time collaborator that Nelson was reunited with on this movie, though.

"For me, it was, 'Oh my gosh, how are we going to do this?' Obviously, I've also worked many times with John Williams, who decided he was going to write the score, which is absolutely stunning that he did that," explains Nelson.

"It's so beautiful. The truth is, everybody came with their A-game. Because the script called for it. Steven definitely calls for it. And we all turned up wanting something very special to come out of all our work on that screen.”

Nelson worked side-by-side again with 7-time Oscar-winning Sound Designer Gary Rydstrom, and the distinguished pair re-teamed on "Disclosure Day" to deliver a cohesive plan for the film's sound tapestry. Each film is a completely separate imaginative entity and thus requires an individual approach to its overall sound design and mixing, and "Disclosure Day" was no different.

"We had such an incredible story to work with and then knowing what Gary was going to be able to do for some of the subtle sci-fi noises and elements that are going to be throughout the film," he adds.

"Combined with that, you've got a straight-down-the-line race against the clock chase movie. So it was about finding how do we dance in and out of everyday sounds into the evocative sci-fi world. I think that was the dance we had to find, and a lot would hinge on what John Williams had written."

"I always start with dialogue because that’s our communication tool, and Steven is very aware of making sure we can hear every syllable as clear as it can be. Then, Gary and I work together with the music versus the sound effects and go through every moment to see which is telling the story more effectively. Once you get into more emotional scenes, the music is always going to take front and center. We’re just enhancing storytelling all the time.”

Talking to Nelson, it's clear that there was a deeply collaborative process behind the scenes on "Disclosure Day".

"Steven and Gary and myself, and John Williams — who sat with us during a couple of mixing sessions, which was fantastic — we'd all just stare at it and make choices and decisions, and that’s when the very best work happens. We create as we go," explains Nelson.

"What I love about Steven is his intuitive sense," says Nelson of the legendary director. "He has an innate way of knowing where to put the camera, and when he comes and sits next to us, and we start working through the sound, it's the same thing.

"He’ll come up with ideas immediately, and we’ll respond. For us, it's a fresh and exciting take on the story. It’s not predetermined until we all sit down. And that's what makes it so special. That's what makes it a Steven Spielberg film."

Nelson first saw "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" in London when he was just out of school, sitting in the front row of the balcony at the Odeon Marble Arch, which at the time was the biggest screen in Europe. “And when that mothership came over, I thought I was going to pass out. It was such a cool moment," he recalls.

"Never did I imagine in a million years that I would sit and work with the great director on many, many films. I didn’t work on 'E.T'. and I didn’t work on 'Close Encounters,' but I did work on 'Disclosure Day.' So for me, that’s the cherry at the end. That’s the one that I love, because I finally got to work on a real Steven alien-type movie. That's why it feels so special to me.”

"Disclosure Day" is showing in theaters worldwide now.

On Episode 214 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk with former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine about his past and the space agency's future.

There are NASA Administrators, and then there are NASA Administrators—all are very accomplished individuals, but some stand out for their unique backgrounds and on-the-job successes, and Jim Bridenstine is one of the latter.

Entering service as the new NASA Administrator in 2017 with a background as a Navy pilot, Congressman, and museum director, he was an unconventional choice, and faced some headwinds in the appointment—but Jim turned out to be exceptional in the job, especially given the state of NASA when he took it on.

Join us to hear his experiences with our favorite space agency and what he's doing today.

Download or subscribe to this show at: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.

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Space news of the week

• SpaceX goes public with a mind-bogglingly historic IPO. The space industry may never be the same.
• NASA chief defends all-male Artemis 3 astronaut crew amid backlash: 'I don't think anyone should be reading into this'
• Scientists propose spraying chemicals into Earth's magnetic field to protect us from powerful solar storms
• About Quantum Space
• Quantum Space, a Leading Space Defense and Orbital Mobility Company, to Go Public via Merger with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. VI
• Quantum Space
• Quantum Space Selected by U.S. Space Force for Andromeda IDIQ Contract

Model Falcon 9!

Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.

About This Week In Space

This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?

Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.

Steven Spielberg is no stranger to making movies about aliens. Between Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and War of the Worlds, few other directors can match Spielberg's otherworldly output. 'Disclosure Day' joins that list, but it's not really about aliens. It's about compassion, accepting your neighbours, and then, weirdly, it's also about god.

The trailers were refreshingly coy about plot details, but Disclosure Day's story is largely what it appeared to be: there's a conspiracy to keep the existence of extraterrestrials secret, and a plucky resistance group trying to expose the truth.

We follow Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor), a cybersecurity specialist who has defected from the "baddies", and Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), a TV weather reporter who unwittingly becomes host to alien knowledge and abilities. What follows is a largely by-the-numbers chase movie, as our heroes attempt to outrun the villainous Wardex Corporation, led by Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth). It's entertaining and beautifully shot, but rarely surprising or daring.

Each of our dual protagonists has their partner along for the ride, and together the pairings bounce from peril to peril as they try to reach the resistance group's base, eventually connecting along the way. Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson) is Kellner's girlfriend, swept up in the chase after having been kidnapped by Wardex, while Jackson (Wyatt Russell) accompanies Fairchild with increasing frustration.

The trailers presented 'Disclosure Day' as quite a dour, self-serious affair, but thankfully, that's not the case. There are plenty of funny moments sprinkled throughout the drama. Russell plays the fool wonderfully as Fairchild's suffering boyfriend, reacting to the increasingly bizarre events as most of us would, with incredulity and swearing, and there are some brilliant sight gags sprinkled throughout the film.

Not all of the laughs feel intentional, though. Our screening chuckled at the ridiculousness of a few moments that I sense were meant to be played straight, like Kellner hiding from about 40 armed Wardex employees behind a small wooden fence that they could clearly see him through.

Wardex's incompetence is another bugbear. For an organisation hellbent on stopping the alien conspiracy getting out at any cost, they have a real aversion to killing people, and their plan in general seems to be to sit around and hope the aliens don't come back. They feel like villains in a kids' movie, there to provide the "mild peril" that the title card warns of, but rarely actually offering any real threat. In truth, the whole thing has the vibe of E.T., but with an adult cast.

Firth brings some fire to the table, putting in a stellar performance as Wardex's enigmatic leader. He's no scenery-chewing Bond villain — just a man doing what he thinks is right — and he carries himself with a quiet intensity that's both deeply threatening and oddly disarming. His standout scene comes early in the flick, when he uses an alien McGuffin to mind-control Jane.

Both actors put in a shift here, but this is also where the religious imagery makes its heavy-handed presence known. An earlier scene establishes that Jane is a former nun who lost her faith in her god. As he remotely interrogates her, Scanlon quotes scripture, while Jane resists his control by digging her cross into her hand, causing her to bleed from the center of her palm. It's all very on the nose.

This comes straight after Jane tells Kellner not to reveal the existence of aliens, because that knowledge would stop people from believing in god, and they need god. The rest of the movie then goes to great lengths to disprove this shaky strawman of its own creation. At the same time, it tries to rattle the foundations of Abrahamic religions by asking, "What if god loves aliens as much as us?" — a question that the Catholic Church at least has largely had an answer to for hundreds of years.

Even the resistance group led by Hugo (Colman Domingo) seems to revere the aliens as "closer to god" than humanity, with one of them basically praying at the Fairchild's feet at one point. It feels like a movie made by someone who heard the famous Arthur C Clarke quote — "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" — and took the wrong lesson from it.

Minor spoilers in the next paragraph!

Disclosure Day asks you to think, but has a plot that kinda falls apart once you do. What's going on with the alien McGuffins that everyone is using to do "magic"? Don't worry about it. And why can Colin Firth control it if he's not one of the chosen ones? Reasons. Why have the aliens not come back to recover their lost crews? Shhhh.

And despite all that, Disclosure Day is still an enjoyable ride. This is Spielberg after all. The man has made a film or two, and a lot of his brilliance still shines through the sheer plotlines. The writing is excellent, the performances are gripping, and the cinematography is world-class (nobody does a sweeping long shot like Spielberg). Regular collaborator John Williams tackles the score, and it's so evocative of the early Spielberg magic this flick is trying to recapture. Sure, the animal CGI is a bit naff, but you can almost forgive the otherworldly look of the creatures, given context.

Perhaps it's all just Spielberg's attempt to reconcile a belief in aliens with a belief in a higher power. Strip away all the big theological ideas, though, and 'Disclosure Day' is about having compassion and loving thy neighbours. That's a message the world — and especially America — needs to hear right now.

It's an earnest movie that wears its themes on its sleeve for all to see. You can tell that its heart is in the right place, but ultimately, it doesn't have much interesting to say.

3/5

'Disclosure Day' is showing in theaters worldwide now.

The titular cosmonaut training facility in Apple TV's "Star City" is a hive of duplicity, all scrutinized by the KGB's surveillance team and its small army of monitoring minions.

One of the main couples in Apple TV's Soviet-centered spinoff of their flagship alt-history series, "For All Mankind," is portrayed by Ruby Ashbourne Serkis and Adam Nagaitis, who are perfectly cast as Tanya and Valya Mironov. Valya is one of the Soviet Union's primary cosmonauts whose Luna 16 command mission in Sept. of 1969 lands the first woman on the lunar surface, Anastasia Belikova (Alice Englert).

But the Mironovs have more than a few secrets of their own as they struggle to stay out of the way of Star City’s prying eyes and ears, monitoring every word and whisper. We connected with Serkis and Nagaitis to hear much more about the core of their connected characters, embracing the essence of late ‘60s and early ‘70s Soviet culture, and playing a married pair under the pressures of the communist regime.

"What I like most about Valya, without any spoilers, is that his internal world was fascinating to me," Nagaitis tells Space. "He’s resilient and dedicated, and he's specific and reliable, and those things are useful for an actor because it gives you a focal point, which is always a good thing."

For Serkis (and yes, she is the daughter of "The Lord of the Rings" star Andy Serkis), there's a certain measure of love and sympathy for Tanya that provides an emotional cushion.

"I have a real soft spot for her, and I feel really sorry for her," she reveals. "I think she's someone who craves freedom and expression and connectivity, and her life at Star City is slightly devoid of that. So she has to seek out what she can in order to make it happen for herself

"I like her place in the show", continues Serkis. "I don't think I have the mental capacity to play a scientist. I’ve always seen her as representative of the Soviet wife and the dreams and hopes and ambitions that young women have growing up that would have been dashed and sacrificed with a husband. I like that she’s solid and she’s humanity, and I love that they include her amidst all the space.

"I think it's a really interesting environment to delve into. Ultimately, it's a culture of survival. As terrible and harrowing as things were, people just had to get on with it. And that was something that was useful to try and click into."

Stepping into the skin of a daring cosmonaut raised under that harsh, oppressive environment required more than a little thought as to how that would feel for Nagaitis’s conflicted spacefaring character.

"I read a lot about the Soviet Union, and it's easy to just attach to some Orwellian idea and say, 'okay all my rights and freedoms have been impinged and now what do I do,'" he explains. "That’s a completely useless thing for me because now I’m a dissident. Now I’m feeling things Valya didn’t feel. Valya grew up in this situation. All of his childhood memories are about the Soviet Union, which is what 'Secondhand Time' is about, that book we were all so fond of."

The book in question, Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets, is an oral history of the Soviet Union and its ultimate end, which became required reading for many of the cast. "It became an important mast for us to remember how deep the double-think and double-speak goes," notes Nagaitis.

“When I think of loving a country — which to me is a bizarre and slightly absurd notion — I can love memories of a way of life, I suppose. I can love stories that people have told me about things. So how did Valya love that? What were Valya’s stories of love that he holds in his memory and that he associates with people? Because everything is people. A country is nothing if it isn’t people."

“Star City” season 1 is streaming now exclusively on Apple TV, with new episodes dropping every Friday.

"For All Mankind's" new spinoff, "Star City," is a certified hit and another brilliant gem in Apple TV’s imposing crown of science fiction shows that includes "Foundation," "Silo," "Pluribus," and "Invasion." Viewers finally get to see the Space Race from the Soviet perspective inside the heavily guarded walls of the secret cosmonaut training city.

Created by Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, "Star City" is nearing the midpoint of its 8-episode inaugural season and its dark and enthralling peek within the heart of the USSR’s space program. We chatted with two of its stars, Anna Maxwell Martin, who plays Star City's chilling KGB security commander, Col. Lyudmilla Raskova, and Agnes O’Casey, who portrays her surveillance department protege Irina Morozova (whom we've seen as an older woman in "For All Mankind"), to learn more about absorbing the cold atmosphere of 1970s life behind the Iron Curtain.

"I have loved playing someone who’s so eccentric, because she's got such a lid on things and trying so hard to control everything about herself, that her impulses that do come up are so strong and so left of field at times," O’Casey tells Space. "Like maybe torturing someone.

"We're both very lucky with the characters we've got to play. The way that Matt and Ben write, we're just people. It doesn’t feel too gendered. It's not a big deal that they’re women in their fields. They're just sort of surviving and ruthless. It's a really exciting script to get to work on."

Martin's transformation into the monstrous KGB surveillance chief and decorated World War II veteran is a remarkable achievement, and the actor is relishing her part.

"I love playing Lyudmilla, she's an absolute hoot," Martin reveals before discussing her research process for the role. "I didn't look at fiction. I think we both kind of read about that period of time, that history. There’s a book we both delved into, which was a sort of verbatim account of people living in the Soviet Union, and that gave you a flavor of what it was like to be a Soviet person. I also read a book about — it wasn’t a gulag, but it was a female prison — and that was a pretty awful book. Mind you, there’s female prisons everywhere, but that wasn’t a very jolly book."

In terms of costumes helping to achieve an authenticity from which to establish their personas, O'Casey and Martin ponder the questions of wardrobe choices and the necessity of whether or not to break character once the cameras stopped rolling.

"If Irina is completely disembodied, I think she'd like to be in trousers and flats, but she dresses the part and wears her pencil skirts," O’Casey adds. "She’s not thinking about fashion. Her life is as convenient as it can be. She’s wearing a costume and not thinking about how she looks. We would’ve had a terrible time if we'd stayed in character. We would have crawled home."

Martin's crowded schedule of off-screen tasks gave her ample excuses to step away from Lyudmilla’s brutal regimen of torture, and she was not going to wear a skirt!

"I'm too busy doing things like organizing transport for my children, locating their whereabouts, doing online shopping, and seeing if the dog has been walked that day," she notes. "So I can’t possibly stay in character, and I couldn’t do those things as Lyudmilla. I could, and actually, if I did those things as Lyudmilla, they might be done more efficiently, actually, now thinking on that.

"I really pushed and was insistent that I was not to be in a skirt. And I think at first Matt and Ben were like, 'Uh, she’s in a skirt.' She’s not, she's in trousers. And I fought really hard for that, as did Nicole [Fischnaller], our head of costume. Lyudmilla was a tank commander, I just don’t think she’d be wafting around in a skirt. I wanted her to feel genderless. I had a furry hat at one point that I also fought for. In hindsight, now that I see it on the big screen, I think maybe it was a mistake."

"Star City" season 1 streams exclusively on Apple TV.

Reboot is a dirty word when it comes to TV. Very rarely does a remade show receive its due.

While "Voltron" might never have had the same impact on pop culture as the likes of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers", "Transformers," or "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe", it has a passionate fanbase that remains precious about the original animated series that debuted during the peak of cartoon-mania in the '80s to this day. So much so that all attempts to reboot it have been met with shoulder shrugs – bar one show.

On June 10, 2016, "Voltron: Legendary Defender" debuted on Netflix. In just two and a half years, this colorful and energetic series charged through eight seasons of action, humour, drama, and mecha glory, choosing to stay for a good time – not a long time. It has since departed the platform to join the wild blue yonder because the licensing deal expired.

Not many people outside of the fandom talk about it to this day, which is a shame since it's a fantastic example of a reboot done right — even if there are many (many!) YouTube videos about everything wrong with its contentious final seasons.

For those unfamiliar with "Voltron: Legendary Defender", think of it like the perfect merger of "Power Rangers", "Transformers", and "Robotech". The humongous robot Voltron served as the defender of the universe, being the only weapon able to fight off the evil Galra Empire and its ruler, Zarkon (voiced by Neil Kaplan).

Voltron is composed of five different coloured Lion ships, much like the Zords from "Power Rangers", and when they come together, they form Voltron (yes, just like the Megazord). After the annihilation of the planet Altea and fearing that Zarkon would get his hands on Voltron, King Alfor (Keith Ferguson/Sean Teale) separated the Lions and hid them away from the Galra Empire.

Centuries later, Zarkon continues to menace the universe. That is, until King Alfor's daughter, Princess Allura (Kimberly Brooks), and trusted advisor, Coran (Rhys Darby), encounter five pilots — Shiro (Josh Keaton), Keith (Steven Yeun), Lance (Jeremy Shada), Hunk (Tyler Labine), and Pidge (Bex Taylor-Klaus) — who become the new Lion Paladins and reform Voltron to save the world. Oh, yeah, it's mechan' time!

Some fans will swear down that the original was better, but here's the kicker… "Voltron" wasn't an entirely original idea either; it's an edited version of the Japanese series "Beast King GoLion" and "Armored Fleet Dairugger XV". Sure, the episodes were fun and hit like too much sugar on a Saturday morning, but they were extremely limited in storytelling scope, since the writers needed to work with the footage available.

"Voltron: Legendary Defender" doesn't have this issue. Consequently, it's able to unravel and expand the mythology while providing richer backstories for the characters involved. The first season of the show takes its time in setting the stakes, building worlds, and establishing the key players rather than bulldozing straight into intergalactic warfare. This gives the story a more serialised quality rather than just being an excuse to form Voltron, defeat the villain of the week, and peddle more toys to the public.

From Pidge's hidden identity subplot to Shiro trying to piece together his trauma and even Zarkon's own complicated legacy with the Black Lion, there are a lot of story nuggets for fans to sink their teeth into. This is something that actually makes the show stronger than the likes of "Power Rangers" and "Transformers", which often trade character development for quick serotonin spikes of sci-fi action. Think about it: how many Rangers or Autobots have there been? Way too many to count or care for. By comparison, "Voltron: Legendary Defender" stays true to its core cast and builds them up throughout the show, realising that music without notes is simply noise.

It shouldn't be all too surprising when you look at the showrunners behind the series. Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery worked on "Avatar: The Last Airbender", which is often heralded as one of the best animated series of the 2000s. They brought all the lessons about emotional resonance and story progression over here, all while ensuring it's still a visually appealing spectacle. As with Aang and the gang, viewers become mesmerised by Shiro and his crew's journey as both Paladins and people, wanting to trek along on the adventure.

Having said that, like any show that runs for eight seasons, "Voltron: Legendary Defender" isn't without its flaws. It dragged its feet in places, and some storylines failed to ignite, while the creators caved to audiences who wanted to ship characters. Then there was that whole drama around the seventh season and the accusations of queer-baiting that resulted in Dos Santos having to write an essay on X to defend the show's intentions.

But despite the occasional misstep, it's still a case of largely mission accomplished. "Voltron: Legendary Defender" succeeded in making its audiences care and become protective of these characters and stories, and that speaks to the power of the series to transcend beyond reckless mecha mayhem.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 95% critical approval rating and 78% audience score. When you consider how rare it is for a show to maintain this type of high rating even through its peaks and valleys, you begin to appreciate what the cast and crew achieved here.

There's a live-action "Voltron" film in the works, being directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber and starring Henry Cavill and Sterling K. Brown. Not much is known about it at the time of writing, but it would do well to learn from the "Legendary Defender" approach and less from Michael Bay's Bayhem-approved "Transformers" movies.

We've got enough movies featuring giant robots in CGI-heavy scenes. What the audience needs is something to connect with on a human level: the story and characters of this world. It's hopeful (or naive) to think that Hollywood will see this the same way, but if not, at least "Voltron: Legendary Defender" still exists and proves to be the rare reboot done right.

"Voltron: Legendary Defender" is available on Prime Video.

The BBC has announced that the planned "Doctor Who" 2026 Christmas special has been cancelled and that the show’s showrunner, Russell T. Davis, is departing alongside his production company Bad Wolf.

The cancellation of the special, a mostly annual release since "Doctor Who" returned to the airwaves in 2005, is definitely bad news, but, according to Davies, it was actually planned all along.

In his post on Instagram saying farewell to the franchise again (he ran the show from 2005 to 2010 and then again from 2023 to now), he reveals that the holiday special was actually never going to happen and that it was all a facade as the BBC decided what they were going to do with the franchise.

“There won’t be a Christmas Special - we only cooked that up to guarantee a future when no one knew what would happen, but now we do know, there’s no need for it. You’ll have to wait a bit longer for new "Doctor Who"… but you’ll be waiting for MORE "Doctor Who" than a one-off. So it’s worth it! For the record: there was no script, I never wrote it, and no actor was ever approached to play the next Doctor. You may disagree; fine, sit in that chair and wait to be proved right. You’ll wait a lonnng time,” he said.

Why they had to cook up a lie about a Christmas special to guarantee the future of a show that the BBC still holds as a cornerstone of its content isn’t too clear, but the entertainment industry is weird. The real question is, what will come next?

What is next for "Doctor Who"?

This is not a sign that the BBC is giving up on "Doctor Who". While the series struggled to gain an audience on Disney+ and eventually the partnership between the BBC and Disney collapsed, the network is still standing behind the franchise.

“'Doctor Who' remains an important part of the BBC, and this tender underpins the BBC’s continued commitment to "Doctor Who", ensuring audiences will enjoy the show for years to come,” the BBC said in a release.

What does putting up for tender mean? It means "Doctor Who" is up for grabs. The BBC is inviting any production company to pitch and bid for the rights to produce the show. With a legacy franchise like "Doctor Who" that’s a mighty tempting offer, and there’s sure to be plenty of companies out there looking to grab it. Just who that company will be probably won’t be known for a while, but it will definitely mean a dramatic new direction for the series.

As for who the next actor to play the time-travelling alien will be, that is also unknown. While Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor did regenerate into Billie Piper at the end of the previous season, there’s very little reason to believe Piper will actually take over the role. The actress is closely connected to Davies and his production company, having played Rose Tyler, and a new production company will probably want a clean slate. The Doctor also already revisited a familiar face when David Tennant returned briefly to the role.

Basically, this all means that "Doctor Who" once again finds itself with a clean slate and a new direction. That’s something the show is no stranger to, of course, so it will be exciting to see what the future (and the past and the present and the wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff) holds.

Nobody has done more for extra-terrestrial PR than Steven Spielberg.

Even before he hit paydirt with blockbuster smashes "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "ET" and "War of the Worlds", the filmmaker's rookie, teenage self was watching the skies in "Firelight" (1964), the first movie he directed. He's since described the latter as "one of the five worst films ever made" — a claim we can't verify, seeing as only a few minutes of footage still exist — but it proves how long the director has been interested in little green men. (Other extra-terrestrial archetypes are, of course, available.)

A new Spielberg alien movie is therefore always going to be worth getting excited about, though that's not the only reason "Disclosure Day" feels like the most important sci-fi movie release of 2026.

Along with Christopher Nolan, JJ Abrams and — following the success of last year's brilliant, genre-bending "Sinners" — arguably Ryan Coogler as well, Spielberg is now one of the few filmmakers in Hollywood with the commercial clout to make an original, standalone genre movie with blockbuster scale. ("Project Hail Mary" is another exception that proves the rule, though that did arrive with the advantage of being based on Andy Weir's already-beloved bestselling novel.)

It hasn't always been this way. Although the 21st century box office charts have been dominated by mega-franchises such as Marvel, DC, Star Wars and Harry Potter — not to mention James Cameron's extended mission to Pandora — you don't have to go back too far to find a time when original sci-fi movies were a significant force in Hollywood.

"Independence Day", "Men in Black", "Armageddon" and "The Matrix" were all among the top 20 highest-grossing films of the 1990s, as were "Ghost", "Forrest Gump" and "Home Alone". All of them achieved their success without relying on prior audience awareness, yet would be the outliers at the modern box office, just as likely to debut on a streaming platform as in multiplexes.

They'd certainly struggle to compete with existing intellectual property (IP) behemoths like the MCU, in a Hollywood machine that's become increasingly risk-averse. But as Marvel and pretty much every other brand has discovered in recent years, no franchise — except, perhaps, "Avatar" — is a guaranteed banker. And if you bet everything on a limited number of pre-existing franchises, you're left with a vacuum if/when they start to fail.

It's a state of affairs that hasn't been lost on Spielberg who, aside from sequels to his own "Jurassic Park" and "Indiana Jones" movies, has tended to steer well clear of franchise filmmaking.

"If all we make is known, branded IP, we’re going to run out of gas," Spielberg told CinemaCon in April (via Variety). "There is nothing more important than giving the audience visual stories, and they can be in any form, but we need to tell more original stories."

The desire for original stories is as much about the moviegoing experience as combatting existential threats to Hollywood. There's something exhilarating about sitting in a theater and not being entirely sure what you're about to see — an air of mystery Spielberg has done his damnedest to generate ahead of "Disclosure Day".

Until last December, it was simply known as Steven Spielberg's untitled UFO movie. We all knew that the legendary director was plotting a return to his alien visitation happy place, of course, but — aside from the identity of its stars, and the involvement of screenwriter David Koepp — nobody was exactly sure what form "Disclosure Day" was going to take.

Remarkably, six months later, he's managed to keep most of his movie's secrets out of the public eye. We know the story involves a push to disclose information about alien visitation, a government conspiracy to suppress it, and a creepy, clicky alien language, but not much beyond that.

Of course, non-disclosure agreements and copy-resistant scripts have become so commonplace in a paranoid Hollywood that you'd think the major studios were planning a significant military operation. Even remakes and adaptations of centuries-old novels are kept away from prying eyes, forgetting that everybody can look up the ending of every story ever told on Wikipedia. There's certainly no expectation that we do our "homework" in advance of seeing this self-contained, non-franchise film.

Indeed, a key point of difference with "Disclosure Day" is that we can't hunt for clues in existing comic books, expanded universes or previous stories. Assuming advance reviews keep key plot points on the QT, intel is currently limited to what a heavily media-trained cast and crew have divulged (or not) in interviews and teaser footage. And while the "final" "Disclosure Day" trailer shows off a little more of the aliens than we might have liked, these are hardly spoilers to rival Hulk catching a stricken Iron Man in promos for the first "Avengers".

Inevitably, this information vacuum has encouraged some pretty out-there speculation. Some have suggested that "Disclosure Day" might be a 49-years-later sequel to "Close Encounters", while others have theorized that the US government has chosen Spielberg as a conduit to tell the public that aliens really do exist.

While those particular conspiracy theorists may have watched a few too many episodes of "The X Files", there's little question that Spielberg is out on his own when it comes to generating pre-release hype for a standalone blockbuster — even though the last two decades of his career have been dominated by less mainstream fare such as "Bridge of Spies", "War Horse", "Lincoln" and the semi-autobiographical "The Fabelmans".

When it comes to marshalling blockbuster action, only Cameron is in the same league, while every Spielberg movie — even the more forgettable ones — tends to have moments of bona fide movie magic. It's also impossible to look past the fact that "Disclosure Day" is the latest entry in a sequence that explores the good and bad sides of alien visitation via two all-time classics ("Close Encounters" and "ET"), and three quarters of one ("War of the Worlds"). Spielberg also produced Abrams' wonderful homage, "Super 8".

In other words, one of the greatest directors of all time is back on home turf, so — even if the new movie can't quite match its predecessors — it's guaranteed to be worth talking about. Ironic for a film about keeping secrets…

'Disclosure Day' is in theaters from June 10 in the UK and June 12 in the US.

What started off as a sci-fi horror turned into one of the best sci-fi comedies ever when it dropped 25 years ago. Being true to its title, Ivan Reitman's "Evolution" proves that nothing ever stays the same – including story.

In 2001, the film landscape didn't exactly reward fans who liked funny sci-fi. "Ghostbusters" felt like a fever dream from the long-gone '80s, while "Men in Black II" was still a year away from sliding into theatres and making your neck work.

It was one or the other here; you either watched Steven Spielberg's stellar "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" for sci-fi, or Tom Green's gross-out "Freddy Got Fingered" for comedy. That is until "Evolution" fused the two genres and demonstrated that it's all chemistry, baby!

The story begins with a meteor crashing in the desert of Glen Canyon, Arizona. Poor wannabe firefighter Wayne Grey (played by the Stifmeister himself, Seann William Scott) witnesses it as the giant rock wrecks his car, so he calls in the authorities.

Community college professors Ira Kane (David Duchovny) and Harry Block (Orlando Jones) head over to the site and spot a trace of liquid near the meteor, so they take back a sample to the lab to monitor and analyse.

What they discover is that there are alien microorganisms splitting and evolving at a rapid pace in Earth's atmosphere. Nobel Prize incoming – well, at least in Harry's mind.

Trouble arrives when the military and government descend on the site. Once they discover there could be aliens involved, the bureaucrats take over, denying access to Ira and Harry and even stealing their research and samples. The problem is the bureaucrats aren't aware of the severity of the issue, while Ira, Harry, and Wayne uncover more facts about the circumstances. To put it simply, the extra-terrestrials are evolving at astronomical speed and are days away from taking over the country then the planet. Friendly alien creatures, these are not.

Expectedly, the military makes everything worse and decides that nuking E.T.'s uglier cousins is the only answer… or the next best thing — they want to use "Napalm. Lots and lots of napalm". Bad decision, since heat only accelerates the evolutionary cycle of the extra-terrestrials, so it's up to the little people to clean up the government's mess when the bureaucratic bozos want to live in the "find out" stage of this ordeal.

The real solution to everybody's woes happens to be Head & Shoulders. Yes, the shampoo brand, which makes for one of the most inventive uses of product placement in a movie ever. Sadly cleaning the alien's hair isn't the solution; it's actually the selenium sulphide found in Head & Shoulders formula, which is toxic to the creatures.

From a tonal perspective, "Evolution" could have been much different. Initially, the first draft of the script veered more into sci-fi horror territory. "Don Jakoby, who wrote the original draft, had written ['Invaders from Mars' and 'Arachnophobia'], so if you think [those films] and then think about 'Evolution' taking place in a period of a few days, that was sort of the tone," co-screenwriter David Diamond told Forbes. "It was scary, action-packed, and cool, but certainly not what Ivan Reitman was gonna do with the movie."

According to Diamond, Reitman's instruction for him and co-writer David Weissman was to turn the story into something akin to "Ghostbusters". They certainly understood the assignment, as it isn't too difficult to pick up the similarities in the story, especially in terms of how Ira, Harry, and Wayne aren't taken seriously by authorities and end up having to take matters into their own hands, regardless of the consequences. The discovery of Head & Shoulders as a weapon feels an awful lot like the "crossing the streams" moment, and the inclusion of Dan Aykroyd as Governor Lewis is simply the perfect tip of the hat to Ray Stantz and the gang.

Diamond and Weissman didn't only take inspiration from "Ghostbusters", though, since "Men in Black" also peeks its head in here from time to time. From the alien designs to the ridiculous scientific explanations, it's all hokey – but in the kind of way that makes you chuckle and shake your head about how utterly silly and entertaining it all is.

Looking back, "Evolution" values its comedic elements more than sci-fi logic, but it works in the context of the film. There's a laugh-until-you-snort scene in which Harry gets an alien bug inside of him. In a horror flick like "Alien", the critter would burst out of his stomach in a cacophony of blood and screams. Here, the doctor flips Harry over on the table and tells him that he's going in with a pair of forceps to snatch the culprit. "I think it got the movie made," Weissman said. "Ivan referenced it right after reading the script as one of the funniest scenes he'd ever read."

As funny as the script is, it would mean absolutely nothing without the right performers. Fortunately, Reitman assembled a crew where chemistry is everything. From Seann William Scott playing Wayne, a less-horny but equally boobish version of Stifler, to Ted Levine's turn as the straight-laced General Russell Woodman and Orlando Jones' impeccable wit as Harry Block, everybody brought their A-game.

However, it would be remiss to not single out David Duchovny for special praise. As Fox Mulder in "The X-Files", he showed glimpses of his humorous side, but it would always be reined in before it escalated. Here, as Ira Kane, he's able to let loose and demonstrate the deadpan qualities that have served him well in his career.

Despite all the right molecules, "Evolution" didn't turn out to be an explosive hit in 2001. It's considered a box office flop, making just over $98 million from a $80 million budget, and its reviews were tepid to say the least. Even so, it received a short-lived animated series, while the opinions changed over the years.

It's remarkable, and ironic that through the passage of time, perceptions of "Evolution" evolved from misguided misfire to an underrated sci-fi comedy gem. Maybe viewers just couldn't stop scratching their heads over what they were seeing at the time – until they discovered the benefits of Head & Shoulders, of course.

"Rick and Morty" season 9 has already been eliciting riotous laughter since it arrived last week for a fresh and frantic 10-episode leap into more ‘multiverse galactic s**t.’ It’s one of the show's best and brightest seasons yet, with a cavalcade of interdimensional wackiness to enjoy.

We hooked up with "Rick and Morty" co-creator, Dan Harmon, and showrunner Scott Marder to get the full scoop on what this new batch of episodes brings. leaning back into hard sci-fi, and that sweet martial arts showdown in a treacherous Trader Joe's parking lot.

"I think it felt familiar and felt relatable," Marder explains to Space regarding the third episode, "Rick-Fu Hustle.” “Like, how cool would it be if an episode could just start from a minor fender bender? In this case, it just so happens to be with a kung-fu master, that gets the whole story rolling. A lot of times those are really joyful starts to episodes, things that start as small as that."

Harmon is eager to hear enthusiastic reactions from viewers, both longtime and new.

"It's been a long, turbulent ride," he notes. "The show's been on for a long time. Scott came on board to run it, and it was not a rewarding job to be brought into it. That's the thing I’m excited about. It’s like feeling like a grown-up. Having a show, and it’s airing, and it's airing on schedule, and people are responding to it and liking it."

There's one episode in particular that Harmon is excited to see the fan reaction to. "I’m really excited to see people’s response to the evolution episode," he reveals. "It was a little bit of a departure and an experimental way of telling a story, and I'm interested to see if it's a crowd-pleaser or not. I'll be proud of it regardless."

As showrunner and executive producer, Marder senses a creative solidarity flowing into this latest outing that starts with the entire creative team across the board.

"This season in a lot of ways is a celebration, and I think you can feel it in everything," he adds. "Everyone was so grateful that this show held together and weathered all the storms it did internally. All our best people stayed with us. The morale was through the roof, and you could feel it in every department, and it bled into every episode. That's why it feels so dense and upbeat. Everyone was so thrilled being part of this thing. It just doesn’t feel like the ninth season of a show; it feels like the third season of a show."

"Rick and Morty" has always been a massive pop culture sponge, absorbing current trends and hot topics, then twisting them into its own signature shape of surreal spoofs.

"I know that everyone in the writer's room of a sci-fi show watches like 'Black Mirror,'" Harmon says. "That's the one that comes to mind in a very meta creative way. That probably had a big influence on us. I'm saying the same thing now about 'Widow's Bay.' That obviously won’t apply to season nine, and we talked about 'Severance' being an influence on season eight. But it’s more like whatever show is out there hitting it, and you draw inspiration from watching it.

"You put yourself in the Salieri role of a Mozart story, and you just bathe in whoever is killing it. When I was doing 'Community,' 'Breaking Bad' was that thing. We were inspired by it, writing an NBC sitcom about a community college. Limiting it to sci-fi, maybe 'Black Mirror' is that thing. The writers can come in and go, 'what do you think about this way of handling these themes?'"

Staying locked in and motivated doesn’t seem to be an issue for Harmon, even though he admits it's been a very challenging past couple of years.

"Last year, my answer would be something as grim as, 'I just want to keep the kids off the street.' We have 200 employees, and that's sort of a Dickensian answer. Maybe it's just mood swings, but now my answer is going to be ‘Widow’s Bay’ and ‘DTF St. Louis.’ I’m watching colleagues in this wasteland, economically and industrially, and they’re creating beyond Golden Age television. Now I feel like I've got to get back in there and participate in making people happy."

But when all the portals close and there’s a quiet calm that settles over the "Rick and Morty" tribe, it remains the show's loyal fanbase that makes it all worthwhile.

"Our fans care so much, and the early vibes we're getting from even the critics and how they're enjoying the season, means a lot to us." Marder adds.

"It's very rewarding, and it fuels me to want to keep doing better. Not everyone gets to have a fanbase. A lot of shows just exist and disappear. I'm very grateful for this one to have a rabid one nine seasons deep, and to know that we're giving them an atypical one that’s better than a normal nine-season show should be."

"Rick and Morty" season 9 landed on Adult Swim on May 24, with new episodes each Sunday at 11 p.m. ET/PT. In the meantime, you can also catch the previous eight seasons on Netflix.

"Spider-Noir," Prime Video’s new antidote to superhero fatigue arrived on May 27 and the spirited show is currently enjoying a wave of enthusiastic reviews from both critics and fans and is now registering an impressive 91% Rotten Tomatoes aggregate score.

It stars Nicholas Cage as Ben Reilly, AKA The Spider, a Depression-era multiverse version of Spider-Man in New York City which was introduced in Marvel’s "Spider-Man Noir" comic books and later seen in the 2018's "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." He's a different beast from Peter Parker (Spider-Man going to space was a nice surprise, but we don't expect Cage's webslinger to ever make it into the cosmos), and not really part of the MCU (yet).

"Spider-Noir" is eight episodes of old-fashioned fun featuring pulp villains like Molten-Man, Tombstone, Sandman, Electro and the villainous crime lord Silvermane, played by veteran actor Brendan Gleeson ("Braveheart," "Harry Potter Franchise").

But one of its most alluring elements is that viewers can watch episodes in either True-Hue Full Color or Authentic Black & White, a cool gimmick that provides a very different experience depending on whatever suits your taste.

We connected with acclaimed cinematographers Darran Tiernan ("The Penguin," "Westworld") and Peter Deming ("Evil Dead II," "Cabin in the Woods"), the filmmaking wizards behind this two-pronged experiment to learn how it evolved during production.

"Initially it was going to be a black-and-white show and then very early on it was like, 'can we have a color version too?'’" Tiernan tells Space.

"I think it was Nic and Oren [Uziel] that said to the studio, 'well why not have both?' There was always going to be a little bit of concern about black-and-white. However, it's a film noir. So the task that was set to us was how are we going to create two versions that can co-exist with each other? We went through a lot of testing and discussions. Then it was a matter of synching departments so they knew what camera and lighting set-ups looked like.

"When we did the color sessions we tended to do the color version first, then the black-and-white, and there were certain scenes that would actually create a different emotional reaction in me, even though it's the same scene, the same actors, the same lines, the same composition."

Deming recalls Nicolas Cage making made a comment about this decision, emphasizing the fact that there’s a resistance to black-and-white in the marketplace.

"People either gravitate toward it or are hands off," he adds. "He wanted the show to reach the largest audience and he thought if there was a color version those people averse to black-and-white would tune in to the color. Now it sort of morphed into an adult version and a kid-friendlier version being the color, which is evocative more of a comic book or graphic novel look. It's never been done and I think it's working out.”

With its nostalgic comic book roots, "Spider-Noir's" atmospheric shots were intentionally framed and composed to imitate the appearance of classic comic panels.

"And all the amazing film noir films that gave us so many exciting ways of seeing a scene," Tiernan notes. "Sometimes they were very limited in resources and could create drama and action from where they placed the camera. It’s definitely a mix of the beautiful compositions and interesting angles of the comics books but also huge influence from film noir. You can go from films that I love that made a mark on me like Stanley Kubrick's 'The Killing' and Orson Welles’s 'Touch of Evil' and 'The Lady From Shanghai.' The list goes on and on of how incredibly inventive they were, so you have that license, and that was part of the storytelling."

Other cinematic influences were drawn from that dark well of Hollywood noir history.

"Also 'The Third Man' or 'The Sweet Smell of Success'" says Deming. "It was also a little bit of the chicken and the egg. I think film noir stole a little bit maybe from the comic book style, but then took it farther, then made its way back to graphic novels. So they're sort of feeding on each other, and that's why the black-and-white and the color versions work. Because they both have origin stories in that stylistic sense that are not put upon by filmmakers or designers. The color has the comic book base and the black-and-white has certainly the film noir base. It was a great playground to play in, and I hope that it opens up more projects like this for creatives to embrace and trust."

Created by Oren Uziel, "Spider-Noir" is currently airing all episodes on Prime Video.

On Episode 213 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik are joined by Apollo legend and former Johnson Space Center director Gerry Griffin live from the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in McLean, Virginia.

Griffin takes us on a journey through his extraordinary career, from his appointment as a flight director in the wake of the Apollo 1 fire, through the audacious decision to send Apollo 8 around the moon, all the way to the nail-biting rescue of Apollo 13. We also venture behind the scenes of Ron Howard's Apollo 13 film, where Griffin reveals the real story behind some of Hollywood's most famous dramatic liberties. It's a rare, firsthand account of the golden age of human spaceflight — from one of the few people who was there for all of it.

Download or subscribe to this show at: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.

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Space news of the week

• Astronauts on International Space Station take shelter in SpaceX Dragon as cosmonauts try to fix air leak

Model Falcon 9!

Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.

About This Week In Space

This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?

Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.

To be honest, we were all getting a bit worried about "Supergirl's" prospects in this fickle theatrical environment where YouTubers' no-budget feature films were beating out a "Star Wars" movie at the box office. It had been pretty much complete radio silence from its marketing campaign for the past two months ever since a lackluster preview landed in April, but that all changed this week!

DC Studios just released one helluva new "Supergirl" trailer that has us reenergized and extremely upbeat about its cinematic fortunes when it does finally arrive in multiplexes starting on June 26, 2026.

It’s a kickass battle royale from start to finish with all fight and no filler as Milly Alcock's soaring, fully-suited Kara Zor-El and Krypto the Superdog take on a cadre of intergalactic enemies.

The plot for director Craig Gillespie's "Supergirl" has been snagged straight from DC Comics' "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow," a 2021-2022 comic book miniseries written by Tom King and paired with illustrations from Brazilian artist Billquis Evely.

DC Studios co-chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran serve as producers on the DCU’s $175 million big screen superhero slugfest that just might exceed expectations.

It all revolves around a revenge mission when Supergirl teams up with gal pal Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley) to hunt down the pirate assassin Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts) and crosses paths with rowdy alien bounty hunter Lobo (Jason Momoa) in his first live-action DCU appearance. Interestingly, that cigar-smoking biker ruffian was not a character in the DC Comics title of a few years back.

We’re getting a bit fed up with the Blondie "Call Me" anthem that seems to cling to every 'Supergirl" preview, but here in this invigorating trailer we're given so much more than in any previous publicity offering.

This time we visit exotic alien cityscapes, witness brutal action galore, feel the blast of crimson heat rays, are shown the bond between Kara and Ruthye, share in seeing Supergirl’s first true costume, score a surprise cameo from David Corenswet’s Man of Steel, and even get to check out a cool flashback to when little Kara first came to planet Earth with Krypto.

"I know it’s pretty colorful, but that's just so everyone knows we're good," Superman declares when displaying Kara’s flashy new blue, red and yellow supersuit.

With a screenplay by Ana Nogueira and co-starring David Krumholtz as Zor-El and Emily Beecham as Alura In-Ze, "Supergirl" zooms into theaters and IMAX on June 26. You can catch "Superman" on HBO Max.

In Soviet Russia, you don’t watch "Star City," "Star City" watches you!

Apple TV"s stellar spinoff of "For All Mankind" has blasted off to enthusiastic reviews with its first two episodes and we’re all being indoctrinated into the dehumanizing Cold War oppression and super-secret town near Moscow where cosmonauts and their families lived and worked under intense control.

Rhys Ifans, who plays the stoic Ser Otto Hightower on HBO's "House of the Dragon," portrays the Soviet space program’s Chief Designer in "Star City," a designation left intentionally anonymous due to the notoriously paranoid Russian regime of the era. It's based on the real-life father of the USSR’s push to the moon, Sergei Korolev, who died in 1966, ending their lunar mission plans. But he's alive in "Star City's" alt-history plot.

We connected with Ifans plus "Star City" co-creators and showrunners Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert ("Fargo") to learn more about the inspirations and production secrets behind this instantly-absorbing 8-episode show.

"It's always exciting for any actor to play a character that has obstacles," Ifans tells Space. "Obstacles are wonderful things. Things that make that character's life difficult are always the most pleasing things to play. In this story, in this world, that's the case for all the characters.

"From dawn until dusk, every waking moment is about navigating their way safely through a very very hostile environment. And how one does that while keeping one's own sense of ethics and morality intact, while by necessity sometimes having to behave in ways and make decisions that in a normal world you’d never have to make. Every day is a kind of moral labyrinth for these people. But they get on with it. And I think ultimately the show is a show about resilience."

Ifans considers the Chief Designer role to be a joyous character to play, and he brings a certain dignity, warmth and keen intelligence to his craft that's a pleasure to watch in every scene he's a part of.

"It's such a unique thing to be, a genius like this who ordinarily would be a national treasure and a hero, but in this case no one even knows not just his name, they don’t even know of his existence. And that goes for the whole of Star City. Everyone working there and all the work that was being done there, none of the larger population had any knowledge of its existence."

For Nedivi and Wolpert, the element that wasn’t as focused on in "For All Mankind" is the alarming presence of secrecy and intelligence gathering of the surveillance state in Soviet Russia.

"That's the added element that 'Star City' has and that’s something we wanted to be as accurate about as we are with space exploration in 'For All Mankind,'" Nedivi explains.

"A lot of the contraptions and stuff you see being used on Star City is based on actual spycraft contraptions that were used in that time. That was one of the key elements we wanted to capture here.

"And the fact that the space program for the Soviet Union was their crown jewel. That for them was the thing they were most proud of. And you'd think that pride would mean they’d want that celebrated and the cosmonauts to be celebrated, but really it was quite the opposite. They wanted them even more controlled. They were so worried about their celebrity and success, making them feel like they were bigger than the state, that it put them under even more pressure when they came back to Earth. If 'For All Mankind' the danger is in space, in 'Star City' it's on the ground."

Stylistically, "Star City" nails the darkened mood and iron-fisted environment of life behind the Iron Curtain. The detailed production design was inspired by Cold War flicks like "The Manchurian Candidate," "Mission: Impossible," and James Bond movies.

"I’d add 'The Lives of Others' and 'The Conversation,'" notes Ifans. "I do remember watching these great '70s movies in my father's lap in a smoke-filled living room in North Wales or the cinema. For me it was any number of paranoid thrillers there seemed to be in the '70s and early '80s."

Wolpert echoes those same sentiments that define the overall immersive authenticity of "Star City."

"Especially even in the visual approach and the approach to how the show uses sound and the sort of filmmaking of it, we really wanted it to feel like it was one of those paranoid thrillers from the '70s like 'The Conversation,' like 'The Parallax View,' or 'All The President's Men,'" he adds.

"Those grainy, gritty films. You can feel the film stock and feel the playfulness with the approach to sound that we felt would really put people in that place and time."

"Star City" streams exclusively on Apple TV each Friday at midnight Pacific Time. through July 10.

"Masters of the Universe" was spacier than we expected. And we're loving it.

Spoiler Alert: We will be talking about specific details from "Masters of the Universe," if you haven't seen it yet, be forewarned

If you haven't caught up with He-Man since the '80s, it's a genre mashup of sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, action-adventure, with a healthy dose of retro '80s vibes sprinkled in. Think Guardians of the Galaxy meets Lord of the Rings.

But, while all of these elements co-exist spectacularly in the new live-action film, it is chock-full of outer space. You even get to meet He-Man's mom, a NASA astronaut!

"Masters Universe is famously, famously sort of this wacky, you know, unhinged blend of sci-fi and fantasy and all these kinds of crazy things mixed together, and so sci-fi in space is a big part of that," director Travis Knight told Space.

1. An 80's-tastic trip through space

Within the first few moments of "Masters of the Universe," it's clear that things are going to get space-y.

These early moments in the film not only establish Eternia's place in space, but take the viewer on a cosmic trip that really sets the tone and lets you know what kind of fun you're in for.

2. He-Man's mom is a NASA astronaut!

In the "Master's of the Universe" canon, it turns out that He-Man's mom is an astronaut.

"A lot of people aren't aware of this, but He-Man's mother, Queen Marlena, is actually a NASA astronaut," Knight told Space.

But beyond just being canon, Knight actually hid an easter egg in the film that hints at Queen Marlena's spacefaring background.

"If you look very, very carefully in the back, there's a scene very, very early on [in the film] where Adam is talking with his mother in the royal chambers. If you look in the background, you will see her NASA astronaut helmet," Knight added.

3. Eternia is an exoplanet!

According to He-Man lore, this exoplanet, or planet outside of our solar system, lies at the exact center of the universe. And at the center of the planet lies a "starseed," or a fictional remnant from the universe's creation.

Now, Eternia is very much unlike any exoplanet scientists have ever discovered. Not only is there flowing water and rolling green hillsides, but the planet is bustling with life including the mythical Griffin flying overhead.

Judging from a few scenes, the planet might also have some strange interior caves.

4. Teela "folds space"

"Ship, fold space!" Teela tells her spaceship that she takes to rescue He-Man (and the sword) from Earth back to Eternia. "Folding space and getting weird," the ship replies.

While no sci-fi space travel is perfectly scientific, this moment is a fun nod to the fabric of spacetime, and traveling great distances in a short amount of time by traveling through that fold in what we can only imagine is something like a theorized wormhole.

5. Spaceships (and, of course, spaceship battles) galore

Teela's space-folding spaceship is far from the only incredible spaceship or space plane we get in this film.

None of the ship designs are entirely different from what you may have seen in other science fiction films – in fact, one tiny ship that He-Man rides out of the back of another ship looks pretty much like a jet ski with some space-y paint thrown on it. But this movie provides no shortage of awesome adventures and battles on and between spaceships.

6. A possible Star Wars nod?

Keep your eyes peeled during one particular spaceship chase scene through the forest.

It seems heavily inspired by, and perhaps a cheeky nod to, the speeder chase scene in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. Am I seeing things? Let us know if you see the inspiration in this scene.

7. Adam loves his telescope

While living on Earth, Adam (or He-Man) has a telescope pointing out of his bedroom window.

That telescope even has a NASA sticker on it. With his memories from Childhood, Adam is obsessed with his old life on Eternia, and it seems like this telescope is likely placed facing out his window as he spends his time searching the night sky for any sign of his home planet.

Perhaps he used our best telescopes guide to get his setup?

8. Brian May is here?!

Legendary Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May was even invited to the He-Man party. May delivered some seriously epic guitar stylings to the movie's score.

May's cosmic and searing guitar solos can be heard across the track Eternia on the soundtrack composed by Daniel Pemberton.

9. Eternia has auroras

He-Man's home world has auroras, or colorful light displays in the night sky that occur when charged solar particles interact and react with a planet's atmosphere.

In fact, in one scene, we even see Skeletor sending a message to He-Man and the gang through an aurora.

10. Aliens galore

Eternia is home to more creatures than just He-Man and Skeletor. This planet has a wide variety of aliens that come to life with a variety of prosthetics, makeup, props and costumes.

Reminiscent of the variety of aliens in any Star Trek series, Eternia has everything from a blue pig man serving as a henchman to Skeletor to a "moss man" who meets his untimely demise.

The new 'Masters of the Universe' movie is in theaters from today (June 5, 2026). You can watch the original "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" on Amazon Prime Video.

Inconsistent, experimental, downright ludicrous… "Masters of the Universe" has a line-up of heroes and villains unlike any other in sci-fi or fantasy.

Thanks to the franchise's unique origin story, the hit '80s cartoon series was effectively a commercial for Mattel's extremely lucrative toy range. The show's writers subsequently did their best to accommodate the strange whims of action figure designers on the hunt for more and more playable designs. What other mythology would even try to accommodate extending necks, water squirters, and intentionally unpleasant aromas?

So, as the new He-Man movie prepares to transport us back to Eternia, we take a look at 12 of the weirdest characters from the "Masters of the Universe" back catalogue.

1. Mekaneck

A great guy to have on your team, but only if you need someone to peer over a reasonably high fence. Mekaneck is the Inspector Gadget of He-Man's gang, capable of periscoping his mechanical neck to implausible lengths and, er, not much else.

Later iterations of "Masters of the Universe" saw him contemplating the pointlessness of his powers, but he was still considered worthy of a place in the new movie.

2. Buzz-Off

Ever wondered what you'd get if you fused the DNA of a flying insect with that of a human male?

"Masters of the Universe"'s answer to the question was rather different from David Cronenberg's in "The Fly", as Buzz-Off — who pulled off the double-whammy of being both a Heroic Warrior and an instruction — was a muscular bee fella with wings, a stripy sweater, and a buzz-like speech impediment.

3. Clawful

The toy designers at Mattel always loved a pun, but this may be the most shameless of them all. Human lobster Clawful was nominative determinism in action, being both an awful guy (he was one of Skeletor's hired goons) and the owner of a giant claw.

In the Filmation cartoon — which gave the character a more reptilian appearance — he fancied his chances of getting his filthy claws on Skeletor's throne.

4. Whiplash

Most of 'Masters of the Universe''s heroes and villains were one-offs, but some were extremely derivative of other franchises.

The reptilian Whiplash (whose name came from his ability to whack stuff with his tail) was essentially an Eternian version of veteran Spider-Man adversary the Lizard. His colleague Webstor, meanwhile, borrowed heavily from the Wallcrawler's own skillset.

5. Moss Man

Probably the only "Masters of the Universe" action figures you could use as air fresheners in your car, Moss Man toys came with a pleasant pine scent.

In the original cartoon, this eco-friendly hero was a master of disguise and a cunning spy who utilized the fact that he was a walking plant to help him blend into the background. He could also control foliage, making him Eternia's answer to Swamp Thing.

6. Two-Bad

Are two heads really better than one? You'd really have to ask Two-Bad, though it's unlikely both of his noggins would agree on the answer.

This member of Skeletor's entourage was effectively "The Odd Couple" fused together in one body, as his constant bickering with himself ensured he rarely lived up to his boss's minimal expectations.

7. Sy-Klone

The most striking thing about Sy-Klone — aside from that bold blue-and-yellow color scheme — was how much he copied He-Man's style.

Rather than being the long-lost brother of the most powerful guy in the universe, however, this one-man ode to terrible spelling was actually a cyborg who could spin his body very, very fast to create mighty winds.

8. Stinkor

This guy stank the place out — literally. Human/skunk hybrid Stinkor could compete with Mekanek in the useless power stakes, though at least his godawful stench (so bad even he had to wear a protective mask) worked over slightly longer distances.

The toy was infamous for its (intentional) pong, but Filmation vetoed his appearance in the cartoon after the show's writers found it impossible to take him seriously. Stinkor did, however, find his way into later shows — including Kevin Smith's 2021 follow-up "Revelation", where he was voiced by Silent Bob's sidekick, Jay (Jason Mewes).

9. Snout Spout

The embodiment of Mattel's "toy first, worry about the backstory later" policy, Snout Spout (also known as Hose Nose), used his robotic elephant head to squirt water.

Although he was created for the "Masters of the Universe" toyline, Eternia's firefighter in chief arrived too late for the original Filmation cartoon, so he made his cartoon debut in the spin-off show "She-Ra: Princess of Power".

10. Clamp Champ

It's not clear which ruling body granted this He-Man disciple the status of champion of the clamp, but the "Heroic Master of Capture"'s pincer action — in toy form, at least — put Clawful's to shame.

When the action figure launched in 1986, he was, shockingly, the first Black character in the MOTU line. He had to wait until "Revelation" for his TV debut.

11. The Rock People

By the mid-'80s, "MOTU"'s only real rival for the title of " world's most popular toyline" was "Transformers".

The Rock People were a feeble attempt to cash in on the shapeshifting craze, as Stonedar, Rokkon, and Granita (the latter never immortalized as an action figure) could turn themselves into… er, meteors. Like Snout Spout, the residents of Geolon were created too late for the original He-Man cartoon, but did cross paths with She-Ra.

12. King Hiss

Beneath his human exterior, King Hiss (later King Hssss) was an ophidiophobe's worst nightmare. Because, under that carefully crafted mask, this reptilian ruler was actually a writhing bundle of snakes inexplicably working together as one.

It remains a mystery how anyone at Mattel would think '80s kids might get a kick out of a few snakes emerging from a set of human legs. They tried it anyway.

The new 'Masters of the Universe' movie is in theaters from June 5, 2026. You can watch the original "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" on Amazon Prime Video.

Apple TV has just unearthed a fresh trailer for "Silo" season 3, and it looks like we're in for another excellent season of dystopian sci-fi drama. Warning: Potential "Silo" Spoilers Ahead!

Juliette survived her brush with an inferno at the close of season 2, but she's come down with a case of amnesia after her ordeal. The trailer highlights the fact that we’ll be jumping back and forth between the present and her past, as she struggles to regain her memories of Silo 18 and the important info she picked up on her ill-fated trek to Silo 17.

We'll be delving into the past, following journalist Helen Drew (Jessica Henwick) and Congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman) in the “Before Times,” to uncover the origin story of the subterranean network and the original architects and founders of those doomsday bunkers as the season goes on, too.

Created by Emmy Award winner Graham Yost ("Speed," "Band of Brothers," "From The Earth To The Moon") and adapted from sci-fi author Hugh Howey's dystopian trilogy, "Silo" season 3 arrives on July 3, 2026.

That’s just in time for a firecracker-hot Independence Day holiday weekend, as Juliette has apparently survived season 2's airlock inferno thanks to her trusty fire-retardant suit and indomitable will. But it's left her with amnesia for the time being, which does complicate matters a bit!

"You were in there for three minutes," exclaims Common’s Robert Sims in the intense trailer. "Three minutes in a box of fire."

"Season three of 'Silo' reveals an origin story set centuries earlier, while continuing the saga of a dystopian society of 10,000 people living underground under mysterious circumstances," states the official synopsis.

This evocative trailer tosses us right back into "Silo's" grim world as Juliette attempts to retrieve the shards of her memory to recall the silo-saving secret to the founders' failsafe device in each bunker.

We also see shots of the silo program starting hundreds of years earlier, which launched the plan to try and save humanity from a lethal external threat of its own making. Especially interesting are the images of the silo network's gold panel layout and button diagram.

Reassembling for the next chapter of this enthralling series beside Ferguson, Henwick, and Zukerman are Common, Harriet Walter, Chinaza Uche, Avi Nash, Alexandria Riley, Shane McRae, Remmie Milner, Rick Gomez, Billy Postlethwaite, and Clare Perkins.

Also rounding out the international ensemble cast are Laura Innes, Jessica Brown Findlay, Morven Christie, Reed Birney, Matt Craven, Colin Hanks, and Steve Zahn’s Solo, the endearing manchild survivor of Silo 17.

Produced by Apple Studios, "Silo"'s 10-episode season 3 is executive produced by Graham Yost, Michael Dinner, Rebecca Ferguson, Nina Jack, Joanna Thapa, Morten Tyldum, Howey, Amber Templemore, Fred Golan, Rémi Aubuchon, and AMC Studios.

As every streaming platform inevitably becomes like linear TV and offers up more commercials than common sense, we're left sighing at the 360 that society has taken. Still, if these spots were more like the Masters of the Universe-themed MoneySuperMarket advert that aired in the UK in 2017, maybe audiences would be more tolerant of these incessant ad breaks.

Set in the evening, the scene broods as an unknown figure, only identifiable by his terrible Lego haircut and furry boots, stomps toward the Stallion Saloon. It looks like one of those rough places where too much liquor and too much testosterone culminate in bouts of fisticuffs for no good reason. Remember that bar that Arnie walks into in Terminator 2 when he's out shopping for clothes, boots, and motorcycles? It's basically that mixed with the cantina from Star Wars.

The saloon's music stops, and the patrons fall silent when they recognize who it is: He-Man. The hero's footsteps thump loudly as he searches around the room. He stops when he sees Baby Skeletor in the corner. The two foes lock eyes. He-Man snarls. Uh-oh! Something is about to go down.

The tension suffocates as He-Man reaches for his Power Sword, but Skeletor isn't backing down here either. Yet Eternia's warrior doesn't strike down his bone-headed nemesis with all his might. Instead, he uses the magic to light up the jukebox and play Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes' "(I've Had) The Time of My Life".

He-Man trades his mystical sword for Skeletor's hand. Cha-cha-channelling the spirits of Patrick Swayze's Johnny Castle and Jennifer Grey's Baby Houseman from "Dirty Dancing", the eternal rivals let their bodies do the talking here.

They re-enact one of the most famous scenes from the 1987 film, as they time their dance to the beat of the bouncy bass. However, there's one minor blip when He-Man overshoots Skeletor's pirouette, resulting in his foe crashing through the wall into the men's restroom.

Fortunately, there's no animosity here, since all's fair in love and dance floors. Their bodies continue to get lost in the rhythm of the night, while the patrons become a part of the musical number and dance like John Travolta is watching.

Of course, the commercial ends in climactic fashion, as He-Man lifts Skeletor above his head for the grand finale and the sorcerer erupts into his legendary cackle.

Ten out of ten. No notes.

Is this the most memorable encounter that He-Man and Skeletor have ever had? The 27 million views the commercial received in only a few days certainly suggest so. According to Born Licensing, ad agency Mother London's whole concept was centered around an "epic" campaign for MoneySuperMarket — a company that claims to save money for people in the UK.

Well, no money was saved watching this commercial, but it definitely provided everybody with the time of their lives. Maybe He-Man and Skeletor should have never tussled for the power of Grayskull; they only ever needed to unite for the power of love.

Can Masters of the Universe hit the bar set by this incredible commercial? We'll have to find out when it hits theaters on June 5.

Not every space show is here for a long time. Some of them are just here for a good time – or in this case, only a single season.

There's an argument to be made that one season is not enough to determine a series' worth, since everyone is still trying to figure things out in real time. Having said that, would you rather the show get in and out in one piece, or drag its feet into the pit of "bore-me-to-death" like "The Walking Dead" (which was like watching actual dead people walk by the seventh season) or "How I Met Your Mother" (which made no one care how they met by the end)?

Sometimes, less is more. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that yada yada. With that said, in modern-day streaming, it's a miracle if any series lasts beyond two seasons before receiving the death march, so this list might be getting much longer in the near future.

So, let's take a look at the best one-season space shows of all time. These are in no particular order because frankly, they're all worth your time.

And the best part? You'll be able to binge most of them over a single weekend!

1. 'Crusade'

Release date: June 9, 1999 | Episodes: 13 | Cast: Gary Cole, Tracy Scoggins, Daniel Dae Kim, Peter Woodward

A "Babylon 5" spin-off, "Crusade" sees Captain Matthew Gideon (Gary Cole) and the crew of the Excalibur zipping around the cosmos in search of a cure for a deadly virus that the Drakh unleashed on Earth. They have five years to find something — anything, really — or else that's it for this planet!

The original plan was for a "Babylon 5"-inspired five-season run, but conflicts between network executives and producers resulted in the series' cancellation before it debuted in 1999. In fact, not all the episodes of the first season were filmed, and the network didn't care even enough to air the completed episodes in the right order. Ouch.

Regardless of the passive-aggressive Hollywood politics and boardroom pettiness, "Crusade" has all the thrills and unpredictability to keep everyone wondering what happens next in this race-against-time space voyage. It's also helmed by "Babylon 5" creator and sci-fi master J. Michael Straczynski, so you know this isn't any old rubbish churned out for the sake of content.

2. 'Silver Surfer'

Release date: February 7, 1998 | Episodes: 13 | Cast: Paul Essiembre, Camilla Scott, Colin Fox

There was a time before the MCU in the '90s when Marvel's animated world created its own interconnected universe. One of the shows that aired was 1998's short-lived "Silver Surfer".

The series serves as an origin story for how Norrin Radd (voiced by Paul Essiembre) becomes the herald of Galactus (James Blendick), then breaks free from the clutches of the Devourer of Worlds to surf around the galaxy and help others. It rides the waves of both the superhero and sci-fi genres to unleash a highly imaginative show that's unlike any of its counterparts.

While the likes of "X-Men: The Animated Series" and "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" keep the action grounded on Earth for the most part, "Silver Surfer" takes place in Marvel's cosmic universe, seeing the Surfer interact with the likes of Thanos, Beta Ray Bill, and Adam Warlock. It's one of the few Marvel programs that captures the full scope of Jack Kirby's psychedelic space adventures and embraces the surrealism of it all. Plus, it's a much better depiction of Silver Surfer lore than any of the movies have provided to date.

3. 'Star Cops'

Release date: July 6, 1987 | Episodes: 9 | Cast: David Calder, Erick Ray Evans, Trevor Cooper

Police procedurals are a dime a dozen, but what about chucking the police into space? Sounds a whole lot better than "Line of Duty", doesn't it? In 1987, the ambitious "Star Cops" came out all guns blazing on British television but left without much of a bang.

Created by Chris Boucher, who knew a thing or two about sci-fi after working on "Doctor Who" and "Blake's 7", the show takes place in the far-off future of 2027, where people travel freely from planet to planet, so a space law-enforcement unit is formed to keep the stars safe from criminal elements.

Sure, it's ridiculous to imagine common space travel in 2027, given that we can't even do a Windows update without breaking some program on the laptop, but it's cute to see how optimistic people were about the future in the '80s. If only the 2020s were that exciting…

Even so, "Star Cops" is a sci-fi show written by people who love the genre for those who adore space and all its various frontiers. It's only nine episodes long, so it's certainly worth checking out if you haven't before. It's not on any streaming service, and DVD copies are rare, but you can watch the whole thing on the Internet Archive.

4. 'Firefly'

Release date: September 20, 2002 | Episodes: 14 | Cast: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin

If Han Solo is your favourite "Star Wars" character, then "Firefly" will hit the right spot. Quite often, the series has been described as what would happen if Solo and a crew flew around space and experienced high-stakes adventures. In this case, Nathan Fillion's Mal Reynolds plays the wisecracking and morally ambiguous Solo-type role, while he's accompanied by a ragtag crew aboard his ship, known as Serenity. Sadly, there's no fluffy Chewbacca here, but you can't win them all.

"Firefly" only aired for 14 episodes, but its influence surpassed its brief stint on TV. It turned into a multimedia franchise complete with comic books and its own movie. Also, in March 2026, Fillion confirmed that there's an animated series in the works, set to feature the return of the original cast. The fact that this show is still relevant more than two decades after it ended speaks volumes to what it means to its fans.

For many viewers, "Firefly" remains the best one-season space show of all time. Taking into account its legacy and how it's still viewed today, it's tough to dispute that.

5. 'Nightflyers'

Release date: December 2, 2018 | Episodes: 10 | Cast: Eoin Macken, David Ajala, Jodie Turner-Smith, Angus Sampson

George R. R. Martin made a name for himself with fire-breathing dragons, weird ice zombies, and questionable relationships between siblings in "Game of Thrones", but the wielder of words proves he's more than a fantasy guy with his novella "Nightflyers". It received a TV adaptation in 2018, turning into a terrifying sci-fi horror series that's perfect for fans of "Alien" and "Event Horizon".

"Nightflyers" follows scientists tasked with making contact with other alien lifeforms. On this journey through space, they begin to experience disturbing events and unusual happenings, leaving them to believe that something malevolent is on board the ship with them. Oh, dear, you know how this goes.

Being real for a second: "Nightflyers" doesn't have the budget of "Alien" or other sci-fi horrors – and it is a Syfy series, meaning it's on the low-budget side of TV, but it makes the best with what it has. In addition to a gripping story, the show features terrific performances from Eoin Macken, David Ajala, and Jodie Turner-Smith.

6. 'Stargate Origins'

Release date: February 15, 2018 | Episodes: 10 | Cast: Ellie Gall, Connor Trinneer, Aylam Orian, Philip Alexander

Now, this entry might be cheating a little, since "Stargate Origins" was released as bite-sized episodes, then eventually stitched together into a feature film titled "Stargate Origins: Catherine", but hey, it was a show first, so it finds its way onto this list.

The "Stargate" franchise is like "Star Trek" in the sense that it can be hard to follow if you don't know where to start, since it all seems so overwhelming to figure out. "Stargate Origins" is technically the beginning – really, it's in the title – and helps the viewer understand what the heck Stargate is and why it matters so much.

Considering how short the series is, it's easy to breeze through "Stargate Origins" in one sitting. It's not overly complex or fancy in its ambitions, but it helps demystify this franchise that's more than capable of getting lost in its own convoluted storylines and wormholes to who-knows-where.

7. 'Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles'

Release date: August 30, 1999 | Episodes: 40 | Cast: Jamie Hanes, David DeLuise, James Horan, Bill Fagerbakke

Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers" remains a beloved sci-fi classic, even if the filmmaker views the story through his own lens of critique rather than sticking to the themes of the 1959 original novel. For those who prefer more straight-up military action as the humans blast their way through alien bugs, "Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles" might be exactly what you're looking for.

Featuring many of the beloved characters from the movie, such as Rico, Dizzy, and Razak, this is 40 episodes of computer-animated madness that never falls short on the action. Yeah, at times it feels like you're watching video game cutscenes from 1999, but there's a lot of entertaining squirmishes and worldbuilding to be had here.

"Starship Troopers" is an odd franchise; the first film is great, and everything else thereafter deserves to be squished from existence. However, "Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles" makes a case for being the second-best adaptation from this universe.

Sadly, you won't find it on any streaming platform officially, but there are some fan uploads on YouTube.

8. 'Space: Above and Beyond'

Release date: September 24, 1995 | Episodes: 23 | Cast: Lanei Chapman, Kristen Cloke, Joel de la Fuente, James Morrison

How about a space show written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, two prolific screenwriters who had a helping hand in making "The X-Files" as great as it is? Released in 1995, "Space: Above and Beyond" should have been the next big thing on TV. Instead, it was exiled after one season because of poor ratings.

This military sci-fi show sees Earth colonising the galaxy. A team of space marines known as the Wildcards needs to maintain law and order, but their lives are made infinitely harder by aliens who like to wreak havoc across space. What are the marines expected to do but fight back, right?

Loud and explosive, "Space: Above and Beyond" leaves nothing on the table, pumping out an all-action space show. It may not have the nuance and deftness of "Star Trek" in addressing themes and providing food for thought, but if big, dumb fun is what you're after, you'll find it here.

9. 'The Lone Gunmen'

Release date: March 4, 2001 | Episodes: 13 | Cast: Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund, Zuleikha Robinson

Speaking of "The X-Files," let's not forget "The Lone Gunmen," the one-and-done 2001 spin-off that told us the truth is out there (just not on social media right now). This series isn't quite as stern and serious as Mulder and Scully's adventures, though. Instead, it's more of a lighthearted spy-fi series.

The Lone Gunmen are Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood), John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Harwood), and Richard Langly (Dean Haglund), who you might recognize for giving a hand to Fox Mulder on "The X-Files", as well as running their own conspiracy theory publication. They're actually pretty useful as investigators and prove to be resourceful under duress, uncovering all types of government shenanigans and wrongdoing around the world. Plus, it gets even more interesting when they team up with Jimmy Bond (Stephen Snedden), who has a license to shill for the Lone Gunmen.

The short-lived series ended on a cliffhanger, but this was the 2000s — a time before executives just ignored creatives and their audiences — so the story found resolution in an episode of "The X-Files". "The Lone Gunmen" is available to watch for free on YouTube, so don't say that the Space team never offers you gifts.

This one hurts Stargate fans. Remember that new "Stargate" show that Amazon announced it was working on for Prime Video back in November 2025? Yeah, that's not happening anymore.

As reported by Variety, Amazon has axed the new "Stargate" TV series. The show was being developed by Martin Gero, who was a co-producer on both the "Stargate: Atlantis" and "Stargate: Universe" spin-off shows, along with input from Stargate SG-1 showrunner Joseph Mallozzi and producer Brad Wright.

The news was confirmed by Mallozzi in a post on X shortly after the story broke.

According to a source that Variety spoke to, the show was cancelled because "Amazon execs were concerned that Gero's take on the series would not have broad appeal beyond the franchise’s already dedicated fanbase". Mallozzi pushed back against this statement on X, saying, "Nope. No. Sorry. Gonna have to push back on this. We were ever mindful of creating a show that would have broad appeal."

Very few plot details had been shared about Gero's project, but in an interview with Stargate podcast Dial the Gate in November 2025, Gero said that the show was "not here to undo what came before", framing the project as a continuation of the franchise, rather than a reboot. The show was still early in development, with Gero also noting in that same interview that "We're not casting yet. We're nowhere near casting yet."

This is disappointing news for Stargate fans — me chief among them — but there is still hope. While they've turned away from this idea, Amazon is reportedly still interested in exploring the Stargate franchise, and Gero himself will continue to develop show ideas as part of a larger deal with Amazon MGM Studios.

The first series, "Stargate SG1", debuted on television in 1997. It was a spin-off from the 1994 Roland Emmerich film that massively expanded upon the story and lore, while recasting the lead roles. Richard Dean Anderson slipped into the boots of Colonel Jack O'Neill (this time with two 'l's) while Michael Shanks took over from James Spader as Daniel Jackson. The duo was joined by Major Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and alien warrior Teal'C (Christopher Judge) to form the eponymous SG-1, a team tasked with exploring the galaxy through the mysterious Stargate.

The show ran for an impressive 10 seasons between 1997 and 2007, racking up a staggering 214 episodes during its decade-long run, cementing itself as one of the most successful sci-fi TV shows of all time.

There were also two spin-off shows after that — "Atlantis" and "Universe". "Atlantis" had a successful run of five seasons, racking up 99 episodes of its own, but "Universe" struggled to find its footing, lasting for only two seasons before ending in 2011. Since then, the only Stargate we've had on our screens was "Stargate: Origins", a low-budget (but surprisingly good) prequel series that explored the life of Catherine Langford, the woman who discovered the Stargate.

For now, it's back to the drawing board for Amazon, and back to the pit of despair for us Stargate fans, but mark my words; there will be another Stargate show. Undomesticated equines could not stop it from happening.

"Masters of the Universe" brings He-Man to life for a new generation, and director Travis Knight is taking this responsibility seriously.

"It is very personal to so many people," Knight told Space. "He-Man has been around for over 40 years; it's a huge part of many people's childhood, including myself."

"You always feel pressure when you're doing something like this," Knight added. With his lifelong connection to He-Man and understanding of this film's importance, Knight takes on making the first He-Man movie since the 1980s.

He-Man began in the early 1980s as a character created by Mark Taylor for Mattel, which sold He-Man action figures packaged with mini-comics as part of a "Masters of the Universe" toy series.

The figurines were an instant phenomenon, and, over the decades, the He-Man-verse grew with comics, an incredibly popular animated television show, a live-action movie, and more.

Related: The weird origins of He-Man, Skeletor, and the 'Masters of the Universe'

From action figures to the big screen, He-Man has never been just one thing. And that multi-faceted nature extends to the genre as well. While the original action figure might at first glance look like a classic cartoon barbarian, the character and his world are a wild blend of science fiction, fantasy, action-adventure, and even comedy.

"It's action, it's drama, it's comedy, it's something with incredible heart. It's got spectacle," Knight said. "It's a tricky tightrope to walk, because these things can very easily become like a bunch of scraps of crazy quilts sewn together."

But despite the challenge of balancing fan expectations with the many different layers of He-Man, Knight is pleased with the outcome. But it isn't the big action or the mesmerizing sci-fi fantasy elements that Knight sees as the shining jewel of the film. It's the heart.

"I'm very, very proud of the balance that we struck," Knight said. "At the heart, it's just a really fun, joyful adventure. But it does have a real, emotional core out of it, a core at the center of the movie, which is the thing I'm most proud of. I think the movie has tremendous heart."

And the fan that Knight was the most eager to please with this film? His eight-year-old self.

"My North Star, my compass was about trying to please the eight-year-old version of myself who discovered He-Man for the first time, and whose little tiny mind was blown out of the back of his head. That's the child that I wanted to make happy with this movie."

"I remember what was so unique and so special about it. I remember why I loved it, and I wanted to make sure that this film would have made that kid happy, and I think it would have," Knight added.

"Masters of the Universe" is set to be released in theaters on June 5.

Sci-fi spin-offs can be a mixed bag. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Stargate SG-1" were so successful that they spawned numerous follow-ups of their own, but efforts to expand the respective universes of "Babylon 5" ("Crusade") and "Battlestar Galactica" ("Caprica") proved rather less successful. Both were cancelled after a single run of episodes.

"The X-Files" spin-off "The Lone Gunmen" — whose final instalment debuted 25 years ago — belongs in that same one-season wonder category, but was rather better than its premature axing might suggest…

Like "Cheers"' spawn "Frasier", "The Lone Gunmen" shifted the tone of the source material; it was lighter and more overtly played for laughs than "The X-Files", and it focused on characters who'd started out as supporting players.

Conspiracy theorists/investigators John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Harwood), Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood, who also worked as an assistant director on the sci-fi smash's early seasons), and Richard "Ringo" Langly billed themselves, oxymoronically, as the Lone Gunmen.

The brainchildren of X-Files legends Glen Morgan and James Wong (who'd later go on to make "Space: Above and Beyond"), the fan-favorite trio had been helping out Fox Mulder's investigations into the unexplained since season 1 episode "E.B.E.". Their presence had subsequently grown throughout the original show's run, and they'd even been granted an origin story in season 5 episode "Unusual Suspects".

But this spin-off was never designed to be a casual, more off-the-books version of "The X Files". Instead, it was a comedic spy thriller fronted by three guys who'd never usually get close to the espionage front lines. Co-creator Frank Spotnitz has said that "the whole series was designed to be sort of a 'Mission: Impossible' with geeks," and the opening of the pilot episode proves the point by dangling Frohike from a ceiling like he's (almost) Tom Cruise. To accentuate those spy-fi credentials, the show even featured — in a lawsuit waiting to happen — a character called James (okay, Jimmy) Bond.

Byers was a former government employee whose cynicism about the official explanation for President Kennedy's assassination led him to go freelance; Frohike was a former tango dancer with a major crush on Dana Scully, and a lesser interest in electronics; and Langly was a computer-hacking tech genius in an era when most people were still using dial-up internet. They were united by paranoia, and their quest to protect the American dream by exposing conspiracies and secrets that the powers-that-be would rather stayed hidden.

Watching the show back now, it's very much a product of the early '00s. This was story-of-the-week network television, with minimal serialization, that unmistakable "Vancouver masquerading for [insert name of US city]" vibe, and MASSIVE computer monitors. It also featured a guest star role from former "Neighbours" regular Alan Dale, who also popped up in "The West Wing", "ER", "NCIS", "Lost" and seemingly every other major TV franchise of the era. (He would go on to appear in "The X-Files" itself a year later, playing an entirely different role.)

Perhaps most retro of all, the Gunmen's day job is running a periodical magazine, printed on actual paper. Despite seemingly disastrous sales, the trio persisted with publishing "The Lone Gunman" to expose wrongdoing and cover-ups at all levels of the US government. Just a few years later, they'd surely have found a more natural — and potentially more lucrative — home for their musings online.

Indeed, this was a more innocent time when conspiracy theories could still be fun and eccentric, and were less likely to be exploited by extremist actors. Weirdly, however, the show is now most remembered for a story point in the pilot episode. Aired six months before the tragic events of 9/11 unfolded in New York, it featured a plot to fly a passenger jet into the World Trade Center.

"My very first thought [on seeing the news of 9/11] was 'The Lone Gunmen'," Spotniz recalled in a 2025 interview with the US Television Academy. "I thought, 'Oh, my God, did they watch our show? Did they get this idea from us?' A year or so after, I read something that relieved me of that fear — but, wow."

The show's cast of regulars was rounded out by the aforementioned Jimmy Bond (Stephen Snedden playing an optimistic, naïve rich kid who stepped in to bankroll the magazine), and the enigmatic Yves Adele Harlow (Zuleikha Robinson), a femme fatale who drove a different sports car every week, and was both friend and foe to the Gunmen. Her name (a pseudonym) was an anagram of Lee Harvey Oswald (JFK's assassin), which was indicative of the show's penchant for gags, silliness, and in-jokery. "The X-Files" had its fair share of comedy episodes, but never quite like "The Lone Gunmen".

Characters wore masks/voice changers as if they were Ethan Hunt on an impossible mission, Frohike got his very own "Matrix"-style bullet-time moment, and Bond (not that one) got to live his best Tom Cruise life running around in shirt, underwear and socks à la "Risky Business".

Area 51 anti-PR man Morris Fletcher (Spinal Tap's Michael McKean, reprising his role from "The X-Files") claimed to be the inspiration for Tommy Lee Jones' character in "Men in Black", before getting interrogated by a very fake-looking recreation of pop culture's ubiquitous gray aliens. FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) and Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) also showed up for crossover cameos.

The series debuted to an impressive 13 million viewers on Sunday, March 4, 2001, but things started to go wrong when it moved to Friday nights a few weeks later. The ratings dropped off, never recovered and the FOX network declined to pick up "The Lone Gunmen" for a second season.

"I think looking back on it, ['The Lone Gunmen' coincided with] season 8 of 'The X-Files,'" Spotnitz told the Television Academy. "We had already hit our peak, and we were already on the way down in terms of the mania for 'The X-Files'. It was probably two or three seasons too late to do that spin-off. If we had done it in season four or five [during 'The X-Files'' run], we might have had a different reception."

But the Gunmen did live (briefly) to fight another day. Although FOX was sceptical about bringing the characters back, "The X-Files" writers' room gave them a heroic send-off in "Jump the Shark", an episode in the show's ninth and (then-) final season. Byers, Frohike, and Langly saved the world by locking themselves in a room with a fatal virus. They were buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery, with Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), Skinner, Bond, and Harlow among the mourners. They later made posthumous appearances in both of "The X-Files"'s comeback seasons.

These days, you won't find the Gunmen's solo exploits on any streaming services*, as — away from Mulder and Scully — their existence appears to have been conveniently redacted. Maybe that's how those anti-establishment investigators would have preferred it, though they deserve to be more than a footnote in that list of one-season sci-fi wonders.

*It is, in fact, so forgotten by the networks that you can find the show in its entirety for free on YouTube. The truth is always out there, if you know where to look. You can also try to find one of the increasingly rare DVD copies still on the market via third-party resellers.

The science fiction film trope of the passionate astronomer monitoring radio telescopes in search of transmissions from an extraterrestrial intelligence, then actually hearing one, seems cliché today after decades of overuse. Surprisingly, its origins actually aren’t that old. It can be traced to 1996’s "The Arrival," which happens to be marking its 30th anniversary today.

"The Arrival" was quietly released by Orion Pictures on May 31, 1996, one month before the comic book-like alien invasion spectacle of "Independence Day" landed, and a year before Robert Zemeckis's "Contact" hit the screens with its adaptation of Carl Sagan's first contact novel.

Directed by veteran Hollywood screenwriter David Twohy, "The Arrival" ranks as one of the most overlooked and underappreciated sci-fi movies of all time. The film's taut, intelligent script by Twohy and standout performances from Charlie Sheen, Ron Silver, and Lindsay Crouse elevate it to a bona fide classic that remains topical today with society’s fascination with UFO culture, Congress spilling UAP images, and Spielberg's "Disclosure Day" on the horizon.

Twohy loves the sci-fi genre and notoriously co-wrote Kevin Costner's epic flop, "Waterworld," but would redeem himself admirably with "The Arrival" before writing and directing "The Riddick Trilogy," which consists of "Pitch Black" (2000), "The Chronicles of Riddick" (2004), and "Riddick" (2013).

"The Arrival" begins as pretty standard sci-fi fare with a devout radio astronomer for SETI named Zane Zaminsky (Charlie Sheen) intercepting what might be an extraterrestrial radio signal from Wolf 336, some 14 light-years off. After recording the transmission, Zaminsky takes the evidence to Phil Gordian (Ron Silver), his smarmy boss at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, where his remarkable findings are rejected as a misinterpretation and the smoking gun tape is eventually destroyed.

When he’s dismissed from his SETI job, a huge cover-up ensues. Hit men are dispatched, homicide takes hold, and a smear campaign is hatched to discredit Zaminsky as faking signals to keep his SETI gig. Realizing he’s stumbled onto a global conspiracy, Zaminsky goes on the run after linking neighborhood satellite dishes to create an array relocating the alien signal.

This leads him to a radio station in Central Mexico, where the cosmic transmission is being masked by its own signal. Here, he connects with a climatologist named Ilana Green (Lindsay Crouse). She's traced one potential source of Earth’s rising temperature to a newly built power plant in the same area that turns out to be the secret base of shape-shifting E.T.s attempting to heat things up to a steamy climate more to their toasty taste.

Cinematography on "The Arrival" was done by Hiro Narita, who five years earlier had been the Director of Photography on 1991's "The Rocketeer" and "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country."

Narita brings a no-nonsense visual style to "The Arrival" that keeps it well grounded, even when we first see the otherworldly beings in their true form. He uses tight paranoid close-ups and vivid splashes of local color that take full advantage of the location shoot and its jungle landscapes once the plot switches from Southern California to South of the Border.

Those weird reptilian alien creatures were digitally created by Pacific Data Images PDI, an early visual effects and digital animation studio bought by DreamWorks SKG in 2000 and merged into DreamWorks Animation. Along with Pixar, they were pioneers of computer animation and contributed visual effects to more than 70 feature films, including "Antz" and "Shrek."

Sadly, "The Arrival" didn’t exactly catch box office fire and only collected a total of $14 million upon its domestic release, off a $25 million production budget. With bigger tentpole releases like "Independence Day" looming and its bombastic marketing flooding the airwaves, "The Arrival" never attracted mass audiences, but it is being rediscovered for its many merits.

Sheen pulls off a fantastic, convincing performance, displaying an unhinged intensity while rockin’ a sweet goatee and close-cropped hair. Fans have noted the likeness of "Half-Life's" hero, Dr. Gordon Freeman, being similar to Zaminsky, with the sci-fi horror protagonist sporting identical horn-rimmed eyeglasses and black ‘90s-style facial hair!

With its "The X-Files"-like mystery, captivating alien creature effects, invasion conspiracy theories, climate crisis warnings, and sincere pitch-perfect performances, David Twohy's ambitious film is a must-watch for both sci-fi diehards and pulse-pounding thriller enthusiasts that won’t disappoint.

Steven Spielberg's "Disclosure Day" is nearly upon us, but this is a vintage gem also reminding us we're not alone.

Prepare yourself by checking out "The Arrival" on its 30th anniversary with our highest recommendation! You can catch it on Amazon Prime Video if you're subscribed, but you can also buy or rent it on Amazon.

It’s done already? Tonight, "For All Mankind" launches into its 10th and final episode of an eventful fifth season filled with romantic gestures, explosive action, a Happy Valley rebellion, major food shortages, heartbreaking sacrifices, and a Titan discovery of illuminating proportions.

Wrenn Schmidt and her extraordinary portrayal of Margo Madison, from a bright NASA engineer who becomes the first woman at Mission Control, then director of the Johnson Space Center, to trading Soviet secrets, stealing an asteroid, living as a Russian refugee, then landing in a U.S jail, has to be one of the wildest character arcs ever witnessed in the history of television.

We connected with Schmidt to look back at Margo's remarkable journey in Apple TV’s flagship sci-fi series, and her five-decade onscreen transformation.

"We didn’t talk a ton about Margo coming back in season five," she recalls regarding word of her traitorous character's return from creators Matt Wolpert, Ben Nedivi, and Ronald D. Moore.

"She's in the slammer. We talked about it being about Margo being back in jail serving her sentence, and she really hangs her hat on these visits with Aleida. That was kind of it. I've always been someone who doesn’t want to know anything ahead of time. I’d get the scripts and just see what was there. It was a weird season because Margo was so integral to everything before. Now she's more of a supporting character. It was a big shift for all of us."

After spending the last eight years on "For All Mankind" from the onset, there’s a synchronicity that evolves naturally from being part of an ensemble cast.

"It’s pretty extraordinary to get to play a character like this for that long," Schmidt explains. "When I wasn’t playing Margo, I really missed her. One of the things that happens when you're playing a character for such a long time and you’re working with a lot of the same actors, there becomes a shorthand you don’t even realized gets layered in. Like, who is Aleida to me? It was just there. The same was true with Ed Baldwin [Joel Kinnaman] and pretty much everyone I acted with. It gives you a wonderful freedom to focus on other things."

Often told by her acting coaches to choose ingenue-type roles, Schmidt slipping into Margo’s skin has been a career-defining opportunity. "From playing Margo, I'm actually in a place where now somebody can say, 'play seventy.' I’m getting to do a lot of things that are really hard. It was the pleasure and honor of my career to play Margo in her Sixties in Russia. That's an extraordinary challenge that you don't come across very often."

There’s a definite physicality to senior citizen Margo this season, with her shuffling gait in prison-issued orthopedic shoes and her Tootsie Rolls.

"There’s so much to think about when it comes to being in an aging body," she notes. "Where does she feel good? Where are things painful? I feel like these are things that I’m just beginning to experience. It feels like your body starts to betray you in a way. Especially if you’re someone who’s not been physically active or is physically fit. Margo has time to have hobbies.

"She has time to be interested in stuff maybe she never would have come across before. She listens to Dolly Parton now. She’s exposed to all kinds of things being in jail, because she’s got nothing but time. I always envision that she watches 'The Price is Right' every day. That's her show."

“For All Mankind” season 5 streams exclusively on Apple TV along with previous seasons. You can also catch Star City, the Soviet-set spin-off show, which debuts on May 29.

On Episode 212 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik are joined by Space.com's Mike Wall to discuss the loss of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket.

The explosion appears to have severely damaged the launch structure, LC36, along with the loss of the rocket. Fortunately, there were no casualties. But this does throw NASA's schedule for returning American astronauts to the moon into question, given that the agency had recently signaled their choice of Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander for Artemis 4 in 2028.

It's now a toss-up between the US and China, with the competition hotter--and closer--than ever. And of course, we'll still discuss Starship and the latest lunar base plans!

Download or subscribe to this show at: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.

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Space news of the week

• Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket explodes in massive fireball during prelaunch test
• Manhattanhenge 2026 begins tonight: Here's when and where to see the sunset spectacle
• How to catch the perfect full moonrise — just in time for the Blue Moon show on May 30
• SpaceX just launched Starship V3 — its most powerful megarocket yet — into space for the 1st time in spectacular Flight 12 test (video)
• What's next for SpaceX's Starship V3 megarocket after its historic debut flight?
• FAA grounds SpaceX's Starship V3 megarocket after Flight 12 'mishap'
• NASA: Moon Base
• China shakes up its space programs to land astronauts on the moon by 2030: 'We will spare no effort'

Model Falcon 9!

Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.

About This Week In Space

This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?

Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.

Teela is a force to be reckoned with in the new live-action He-Man flick, "Masters of the Universe."

Played by Camila Mendes, Teela is the captain of the Royal Guard on Eternia, the alien world where He-Man and Skeletor duke it out. But, just as the film balances a wild blend of sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, action, and 80's nostalgia, Teela balances her role as a serious warrior and leader with some seriously relatable emotional ties.

"Obviously, she is a very tough outer shell, but you get little glimpses of this, like inner sensitivity and empathetic side throughout," Mendes told Space.com.

Teela does it all

Mendes finds this balance between Teela's role as a battle-ready captain and her inner self by connecting to a place within the character that many may find relatable.

"I see her very much as this parentified child, somebody who had to grow up really fast, really young, and she's had to take on so much responsibility and hasn't really had a break," Mendes said. "So I feel like that's something a lot of people this day and age can relate to."

Whether you see Teela as a parentified child or suffering from "eldest daughter syndrome," the root of this pain is evident in the film. Between explosive chase scenes and sword-fighting, Teela's inner sensitivity and pain are exposed most in her relationship with her on-screen father, Duncan, played by Idris Elba, who previously served as the captain of the Royal Guard before going down a darker path.

"There's a bit of a strained relationship and a little bit of resentment," Mendes explained.

But you can see some of that inner softness shine through in her relationship with Adam, or He-Man, as well. Rather than show the two as romantically linked, the film shows the two as they are: childhood friends from lifetimes and planets apart, slowly working through the awkward wall between them.

Becoming Teela

Playing Teela is not Mendes' first time stepping into the world of science fiction. While based on the very much not sci-fi comic series "Archie," the television show "Riverdale," in which Mendes stars as Veronica Lodge, is unexpectedly laden with science fiction concepts, including time travel and alternate dimensions, In fact, just as there are Griffins flying over the land on Eternia, Riverdale has "Griffins & Gargoyles," its own in-show spinoff of Dungeons & Dragons.

But to step into this role and become this warrior character, Mendes had to take things up a notch. And her preparation for the role went well beyond just acting. While Mendes worked with a stunt double for the movie, she also underwent intense training to really become Teela.

"The training process really felt like the perfect way to get into Teela's body," Mendes said. "Because Teela had to train as a young girl to get to where she's at, so, through all the weight training and stunt training that I had to do, I felt like I was literally becoming Teela through that process."

And He-Man isn't the only one who "has the power" with a sword.

"I had a lot of sword training," Mendes said, adding that "I had to do some rifle training because of her rifle staff."

"And when I finally got those props, that's when it really started to come together and come to life when I really got to hold her sword and hold her rifle staff," she added. "These weapons are an extension of her in a way, so that really helped me sort of finalize her [Teela]."

"Masters of the Universe" hits theaters worldwide starting June 5.

Get ready to watch 'Star City' and see the alternative-history space race from behind the Iron Curtain.

Everyone is familiar with NASA's Apollo Program and its endeavor to land the first person on the lunar surface when Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong took one small step for a man on July 20, 1969. But Apple TV's "For All Mankind" gave us a look into an alternative history version of the historic mission, one where Russia landed on the moon first, and the Space Race accelerated further than true-life events transpired.

Now we're headed over to Star City, the Soviet Union’s secret cosmonaut training city located just an hour outside Moscow, to see how this fictional feat was accomplished by the forbidden city’s population of cosmonauts, security thugs, scientists, engineers, aerospace aces, KGB operatives, and double-agent spies.

With "For All Mankind" season 5's finale airing this week, it’s time to switch sides to "Star City" and learn how the USSR beat the Americans at their own game despite oppression, near-disasters, sabotage, love triangles, paranoia, and some really bland food.

Let’s brave the Cold War chill, comrades, and march right into Apple TV's "Star City!"

When does "Star City" come out?

The debut season of "Star City" starts on May 29, 2026 for its first 8-episode outing at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), with the initial two chapters titled "The Eyes" and "A Bear on a Chain" kicking things off.

Subsequent weekly episodes will arrive each Friday until the season finale is broadcast on July 10, 2026.

How To Watch "Star City's" Inaugural Season?

"Star City" and its dark espionage saga, paired with harsh life inside the Soviet space program’s clandestine headquarters encircled by concrete and razor wire, can be seen exclusively on the Apple TV streaming platform, along with all five seasons of the original "For All Mankind" flagship series from which it was spawned.

If you're going to be out of the country when the show debuts, you can still watch it on your streaming service of choice using a VPN. You'll be able to connect to your streaming services, no matter where you are on Earth (though it won't work on Mars, sorry).

What Is The Plot Of "Star City?"

More than just a Space Race story set in the early 1970s when the Cold War was still heating up, "Star City" is actually closer to a classic Hollywood spy thriller with the Soviets' secret cosmonaut training base at the core of the tense (and often quite violent) new series.

In many ways, Apple TV's advertising campaign sums it up perfectly with the truthful motto that "as dangerous as it is in space, it's more dangerous on the ground." It's grim, cold, calculating, severe, and humorless, exhibiting an authentic peek into the Soviet side of human spaceflight.

"A bold new chapter inspired by the critically acclaimed space-race drama, 'For All Mankind,' 'Star City' is a propulsive paranoid thriller that takes us back to the key moment in the alt-history retelling of the space race — when the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a man on the moon," states the official synopsis.

"But this time, we explore the story from behind the Iron Curtain, showing the lives of the cosmonauts, the engineers, and the intelligence officers embedded among them in the Soviet space program, and the risks they took to propel humankind forward."

"Star City" Teasers And Trailers

The first bleak teaser dropped on Mar. 25, and opens on a b&w TV broadcast of a Soviet lunar landing, accompanied by the voice of cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who becomes the first man to walk on the Moon.

A montage of images from the heart of Star City proceeds to paint austere conditions and the constantly unsettling setting in a forested town not on any map to see how it was all accomplished.

A second full trailer arrived April 23, and begins with an abrupt wakeup by Lyudmilla Raskova, the KGB’s security chief in Star City, dragging a frightened woman out of bed, then sets the stage for the unnerving paranoid environment that exists within the Chief Designer's space program and the Soviets' solemn desire to keep beating the Americans.

Electronic bugs are installed, secretaries listen in on every phone call and conversation, and rock 'n roll is banned in this cruel culture of absolute secrecy.

Who Are The "Star City" Cast And Creators?

"Star City" is truly blessed with an outstanding ensemble cast of international actors that rivals the impressive assembly of talent seen in "For All Mankind." And that's not really a surprise since the spinoff series was conceived by Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, and Ronald D. Moore, the same competent creative team behind its Emmy-winning sister series, "For All Mankind."

The show is headlined by "House of the Dragon's" Rhys Ifans as Chief Designer, a character patterned after real-life Soviet space chief Sergei Korolev, and "Motherland's" Anna Maxwell-Martin portraying the emotionless KGB security boss Col. Lyudmilla Raskova.

"Star City's" killer cast also includes Agnes O’Casey, Alice Englert, Priya Kansara, Solly McLeod, Adam Nagaitis, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, and Josef Davies.

Sergei Korolev was one of the most pivotal figures in the early days of space exploration. This Ukraine-born engineer had one hell of a resumé, having overseen the development of the R-7 rocket (derivations of which are still in use on Soyuz spacecraft), Sputnik, and Vostok programs. He was a major reason why the USSR beat the USA in most of the early exchanges of the Space Race, as the first satellite, first man in orbit, first woman in orbit, and first spacewalker all hailed from the eastern side of the Iron Curtain.

Most people in the Soviet Union, however — even his closest colleagues — didn't even know his name. Instead, he was referred to simply as "the Chief Designer" during his lifetime, as Communist party officials were paranoid he'd become an assassination or defection target for their Cold War rivals in Washington.

SPOILERS FROM EPISODES 1 AND 2 OF STAR CITY AHEAD

Korolev's death during surgery is also the "Sliding Doors" moment that sets the alternative timeline of "For All Mankind" in motion. The Apple TV show's creators, Ronald D Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi, have all identified the engineer's 1966 passing as the point at which their fictional universe diverged from history. The theory goes that, had Korolev survived, the USSR would have maintained its advantage in the Space Race and beaten Apollo 11 to the Moon in 1969.

Over five seasons (to date), "For All Mankind" has extended that thought experiment deep into the 21st century, turbo-charging space exploration to a point where thousands of humans call Mars home. But the new spin-off show "Star City" has gone back to the days before the parent show started turning into "The Expanse".

Like "For All Mankind," it opens with Alexei Leonov planting the flag of the USSR on the lunar surface, but this time we see it from the Soviet perspective, in a mission control overseen by the aforementioned "Chief Designer" (played by Rhys Ifans). Even though it's fiction, this meticulously realized period piece is quite the eye-opener for anyone with an interest in space exploration.

Apollo is one of the best-documented human endeavors in history. Many of NASA's key players (from Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to Nazi rocket scientist Wernher von Braun) became household names, while the stories — even those of "failures" like Apollo 13 — have been retold as many times as those of the Beatles.

The entire western world was watching when Armstrong took that first small step onto the lunar surface, but the contrast with the Soviet version of events couldn't be more striking.

In "Star City"'s opening episode, "The Eyes", there's no advance hype for Leonov's groundbreaking moonwalk. Indeed, even his own wife has no idea that her husband is a long way from home, and only learns he's in outer space when KGB agents come knocking in the dead of night and escort her to mission control — arguably not the most pleasant (or celebratory) way to learn that a loved one has just become a hero of the state.

As "Star City" co-showrunner Nedivi told SFX magazine: "Obviously there was a lot of research done into the Soviet space programme when we were working on 'For All Mankind', because so much of that concept started from a place of them [the USSR] and us [the US]. And the more we read and researched it, the more we were fascinated by it. One of the challenges of 'For All Mankind' was that there was so much already known about the early days of the American space programme, about Apollo — there have been countless movies, TV shows, and books about it. But with the Soviet space programme, nobody really knows so much at all, even now. I think the secrecy of it was what made it so intriguing."

That obsession with keeping everything on a need-to-know basis — where the Party decrees that practically no one needs to know — is at the heart of "Star City". Even the Soviet space program's eponymous base of operations was a state secret, its location unknown to everyone but the chosen few. How different to the NASA equivalents at Cape Canaveral (then Cape Kennedy) and Houston, which were already well established in the national lexicon by the late '60s.

And while putting a human on the Moon was undoubtedly a very expensive propaganda exercise for the United States, too, "Star City" takes political machinations to the next level. It's as much "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" as "The Right Stuff".

For all the "Chief Designer"'s influence, KGB officer Lyudmilla Raskova (Anna Maxwell Martin) is the true power in this version of the Soviet space program. She employs a vast surveillance team — including Irina Morozova (Agnes O'Casey), who'll go on to run Roscosmos in later seasons of "For All Mankind" — to know everything about the cosmonauts and engineers on the payroll. In her own words, she wants to "know what every person is thinking before they think it".

The show leans heavily into conspiracy theories that Yuri Gagarin's death was no accident. So when high-flying (but outspoken) cosmonaut Yana Akhmatova (Niamh Algar) is falsely accused of spying for the Americans, it turns out to be easier to execute her than exonerate her. As Raskova coldly explains, "We do not arrest the innocent."

And when first woman on the Moon Anastasia Belikova's (Alice Englert) speech veers away from a government-mandated script, the powers-that-be threaten to replace her with a more compliant lookalike ahead of a publicity tour to Paris. It makes the ongoing question over whether Armstrong's famous "One small step…" speech was misquoted look like a mere triviality.

There's also an inescapable sense of cosmonauts being forced to live on the edge far more than their astronaut counterparts. Early on in "For All Mankind", astronaut Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) complains that NASA's safety-first approach cost America the Moon. But look at the interior of Belikova's capsule, and it's clear no expense has been wasted on comfort.

It's particularly interesting to compare her transfer to the lunar lander to the complex, almost balletic maneuvers the Apollo command modules performed to dock with their LEMs. Instead, she has to make a precarious spacewalk to enter the tiny vessel that will carry her to the Moon.

The cosmonauts are effectively the human equivalent of first dog Laika, sacrificing themselves — if necessary — for the good of the wider populous. And that relentless ambition shows no sign of slowing.

After the Soviet flag is planted on the lunar surface for a second time, there's talk of Soviet missions to Venus and building bases on the Moon. Most of the show is fiction, of course — the real Sergei Korolev had died long before the timeframe of "Star City" — but it's an intriguing glimpse at another way of doing things, an Iron Curtain away from the popular image of Apollo's superstar heroes.

"For All Mankind" has undoubtedly lost some of its original period cool since it's upped the science fiction quotient with missions to Mars and beyond. "Star City" offers a chance to go back to those early days, but with added Cold War paranoia and plenty of danger — both in outer space and closer to home.

The first two episodes of 'Star City' are available now on Apple TV. New episodes debut on Fridays. Five seasons of 'For All Mankind' are also available on the platform.

The 1970s were an evolutionary step for global science fiction films, with some of the most pivotal and game-changing releases helping to expand the genre by addressing environmental issues, political unrest, technology anxiety, societal decay, and existential questions of life and death.

"Star Wars" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" will, of course, be remembered as the eventual heavy hitters of the ‘70s, but there were a multitude of other bold standouts that might have been left in the dust, yet deserve our rapt attention.

British director Nicolas Roeg's "The Man Who Fell To Earth" is one such pioneering gem, and we’re celebrating the film’s 50th anniversary today to remind cinephiles of its dreamy atmosphere and poignant portrait of a benevolent extraterrestrial visitor ruined by human vices. It was a role so beautifully captured by rock legend David Bowie in his very first film appearance... and it was a banger!

The plot chronicles the sudden arrival in New Mexico of an elegant alien being masquerading as a human named Thomas Jerome Newton, who lands on planet Earth in an attempt to rescue his own distant drought-ruined homeworld.

Originally released in the U.S. on May 28, 1976, and adapted from Walter Tevis's bestselling sci-fi novel of 1963, "The Man Who Fell To Earth" is a curious cinematic experience that lulls you into its artsy surrealism to empathize with this strange family man on a mission of mercy. By employing his knowledge of advanced technology to achieve his goal of crafting a spaceship to transport life-giving water back to his dry planet, Newton creates enormous wealth for his insane aqua-ark idea.

However, as these mega-projects often go, internal and external forces around him — represented by excessive drinking, exploitative influences, soulless corporate interests, and governmental distrust — cause his watery dream to slowly die. It’s incredible to realize how timely this movie has become with today’s billionaire titans paving the way to the stars , climate change concerns, and humanity fixated upon mysterious UAPs.

Amid more serious, pre-"Star Wars" sci-fi movies of the period like "The Andromeda Strain," "Solaris," and "Westworld," Roeg’s melancholy interpretation of Tevis's book feels like a movie far ahead of its time.

But "The Man Who Fell To Earth" is certainly still a product of its own years as well, with the counter-culture movement spilling out of the '60s, the Apollo era wrapping up, and the Cold War raging up toward potential nuclear armageddon just as the environmental crisis was gaining awareness across the world.

Roeg has gone on record in interviews to reveal that he cast Bowie for the role of Thomas Jerome Newton due to his mercurial, alien-like appearance — something rock fans were familiar with in Bowie's transformative, genderless Ziggy Stardust days.

Bowie was also a heavy indulger of booze and recreational drugs during that decade, which mirrored the character’s descent into the destructive nature of fame and fortune and humankind's lesser angels. With its themes of isolation and alienation, ideas often addressed in Bowie's music in cosmic songs like "Space Oddity" and "Life on Mars?," the project seemed tailor-made for our superstar.

Co-starring Candy Clark, Rip Torn, and Buck Henry, the occasionally confusing movie also has its share of controversy. U.S. distributor Cinema 5 notoriously meddled with the director's original final cut of the film and sliced off some of the more graphic sexual scenes and character-building sequences that neutered the original intent of the filmmaker’s vision. A re-stitched version seen in the U.S. was even more disjointed than Roeg’s, but the actual restored uncut version does survive today.

Bowie's Thomas Jerome Newton is absolutely magnetic, and this must be one of the greatest performances of his cinematic career (but I do see you in "The Hunger" and "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence!").

His fragile starman is a strange, complex being navigating his way through Earth’s obstacles, including love, lust, addiction, greed, and ambition in his plight to save his planet and survive the chaos caused by his arrival. It's probably Bowie’s most personal film, as his own real-life stardom at the time was eerily reflected in his thin, pale person from another solar system.

On the occasion of "The Man Who Fell To Earth's" 50th anniversary, now is the ideal time to indulge in Nicolas Roeg's non-linear, enigmatic sci-fi masterpiece about a sad, stranded alien hauntingly played to total perfection by the great David Bowie.

If the sight of the hulking He-Man charging into the fray atop a snarling Battle Cat doesn’t get your geeky heart racing for the onslaught of pure '80s nostalgia, you'd better check your pulse!

Amazon MGM Studios just unleashed their final trailer for "Masters of the Universe" (MOTU), and it's a stimulating sci-fi sensation that opens with a fun nod to Mattel’s classic toy line that inspired the Saturday morning cartoons that entire generations were raised on.

Charging into theaters on June 5, 2026, and starring Nicholas Galitzine as Adam Glenn, aka Prince Adam/He-Man, this epic sword-and-sorcery adventure in the land of Eternia is poised to pounce on the global box office and make its mark.

This last sneak peek serves up heaps of colorful heroic set pieces as He-Man recruits a fearsome force to storm Castle Greyskull and reclaim the throne from his hateful nemesis.

Co-starring Jared Leto as the power-crazed wizard, Skeletor, "MOTU's" ensemble cast also includes Camila Mendes (Teela), Idris Elba (Duncan/Man-at-Arms), Kristen Wiig (Roboto), Alison Brie (Evil-Lyn), Moreno Baccarin (The Sorceress), and James Purefoy (King Randor).

Rounding out He-Man's personal posse of eccentric oddities is Ram-Man (Jon Xue Zhang), Mekaneck (James Wilkinson), and the huge-handed brawler, Fisto (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson). Directed by Travis Knight ("Bumblebee") from a screenplay by Chris Butler, Aaron Nee, Adam Nee, and Dave Callaham, "Master of the Universe" is executive produced by Ynon Kreiz, Bill Bannerman, and David Bloomfield.

Will it actually have the power to lure audiences into multiplexes when it drops onto the big screen starting June 5? Only time will tell, but by the power of Greyskull, we're excited for this one.

Spring is fading into summer, and everything seems to be a rich shade of green — especially the new emerald-hued trailer for HBO's Green Lantern miniseries, 'Lanterns.'

I can't say we were exactly enthused when the first lifeless, profanity-laced 'Lanterns trailer' arrived earlier this year; It was devoid of the dashing superhero escapades we'd expect from the interplanetary space police force known as the Green Lanterns, but more importantly, there was barely any green in it. Instead, fans were teased with a grounded true-crime show akin to "True Detective."

Loyal Green Lantern acolytes were left scratching their collective heads as to what the heck DC Studios were doing to their legendary cosmic cops. But all that changed last week when we were all treated to a second preview for the upcoming eight-episode show debuting Aug. 16, 2026, on HBO and HBO Max.

This latest trailer showcases Kyle Chandler as veteran Lantern, Hal Jordan, and Aaron Pierre portraying the younger newbie Lantern, John Stewart, and it’s loaded with full costumes, superpowered flight, glowing power rings, and cool bright green constructs.

In addition to talk about being "ring-worthy", the nature of power and its responsibilities, this much-improved trailer reveals that Nathan Fillion's wise-cracking Green Lantern, Guy Gardner, from last year's "Superman" movie, will be joining the overall storyline.

Apparently, the mystery narrative will be split into two timelines, the first set in 2016 and revolving around an extraterrestrial shooting in Nebraska, and the second taking place in 2026 following the end of 2025’s "Superman" feature directed by James Gunn.

"Lanterns" was co-created by showrunner Chris Mundy ("Ozark"), Damon Lindelof ("Lost", "Watchmen," "The Leftovers"), and Eisner Award-winning comic book writer Tom King. James Gunn and Peter Safran, co-chairs of DC Studios, and James Hawes act as the series' executive producers.

Co-starring Laura Linney, Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Jason Ritter, and Ulrich Thomsen as Sinestro, "Lanterns" lands on HBO and HBO Max starting on Aug. 16.

In December 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney live-streamed a much-talked-about "Investor Day" presentation. Along with her Marvel Studios counterpart Kevin Feige, then-Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced a slew of new projects to join Disney+ hit "The Mandalorian" (then nearing the end of its second season) in an impressive slate of "Star Wars" projects.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi", "Andor", "The Acolyte", "Ahsoka", "The Bad Batch" and "Star Wars: Visions" have all since made it to the screen (to varying degrees of success), while "Rangers of the New Republic", "Lando" and "Rogue Squadron" were either abandoned completely or cast into the Sarlacc pit better known as development hell.

But arguably the most intriguing project remained nameless and was little more than an aside. This "climactic story event" would be a theatrical release directed by Dave Filoni (who's since become president of Lucasfilm), and would wrap up storylines established in "The Mandalorian", " The Book of Boba Fett" and "Ahsoka".

This "Avengers"-style team-up, we believed, would be where the Imperial Remnant would get its backside kicked, before running off to hide in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. Yes, we also knew they'd eventually go on to form the dastardly First Order, but that was a problem for another day.

THE PATH AHEAD CONTAINS "THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU" SPOILERS. CHOOSE WISELY IF YOU'RE YET TO SEE THE FILM.

Five-and-a-half years have now passed since Kennedy teased "Star Wars: The Climactic Event", and it's not even a dot on the horizon. "The Mandalorian and Grogu", now in theaters, was ideally placed to progress the story, but — despite a few Imperial entanglements early on — it's definitively not that movie. And in such an intriguing era of "Star Wars"' in-universe history, that feels like a hell of a waste.

It wouldn't have been proper to interrupt the Ewoks' party with a reality check, but — whisper it — the Empire was never going to go quietly after Emperor Palpatine's (temporary) demise in the bowels of the Death Star. Even the old, no-longer-canon Expanded Universe novels (now branded "Star Wars Legends") told stories of Grand Admiral Thrawn and other Imperial hangers-on making themselves a nuisance for Luke, Han, Leia, and co. So it was no surprise when history repeated itself in Lucasfilm's official "Star Wars" timeline. The Mandalorian was crossing paths with "Imps" from day one.

But these Imperial Remnants exist as a very different entity to the authoritarian regime that developed a penchant for blowing up entire planets or — perhaps even worse — crushing its enemies via the medium of relentless bureaucracy in "Andor". With the New Republic now in control, it's the Imperials who are the insurgents, a ragtag collection of warlords in need of leadership — a dark echo of the Rebel Alliance's early years.

A meeting of the Shadow Council in "The Mandalorian" season 3 episode "The Spies" (featuring the father of a certain General Hux) showed that the late Moff Gideon was just the tip of a very dodgy iceberg, while "Ahsoka"'s first season spent eight whole episodes bringing Thrawn back from exile to take his place as the Emperor's heir apparent.

In an interview with SFX magazine, "The Mandalorian and Grogu" writer/director Jon Favreau said that a fourth season of "The Mandalorian" — which he wrote scripts for, before it was abandoned in favor of the new film — "was teeing up what was happening moving into [the second season of] 'Ahsoka'. It was about Grand Admiral Thrawn and following the larger storyline [of this era of the Star Wars timeline]".

But if you've seen the movie, you'll know that Thrawn is conspicuous by his absence, sidelined in favor of a more standalone story. That said, "The Mandalorian and Grogu"'s opening act does see Din Djarin and his little green friend working for the New Republic, hunting down rogue Imperials to order on behalf of Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver).

Two members of the aforementioned Shadow Council are soon apprehended — one brought in warm, the other brought in cold — in what turns out to be the best segment of the movie.

Djarin is a bounty hunter at the top of his game, making full use of his Mandalorian box of tricks. Grogu, meanwhile, turns out to be a surprisingly effective foil. There are TIE Fighters, Stormtroopers with appalling aim, and at least two models of Imperial Walker, as the film riffs on some of the franchise's greatest hits, while continuing (all-too-briefly) the hunt for the Emperor's disciples. It's fun, fast-paced, and transports you to wretched hives of scum and villainy as only "Star Wars" can.

But as soon as Mando apprehends Imperial bad guy Lord Janu (Jonny Coyne), "The Mandalorian and Grogu" decides that the Empire aren't the main threat after all. Instead, its attentions shift to Jabba the Hutt's twin cousins, who unleash their bounty hunting muscle, Embo, after Mando double-crosses them to free Jabba's cage-fighting son, Rotta.

It feels like a strange decision — imagine an alternative cut of "Return of the Jedi" that rushes through all that annoying business about Darth Vader's redemption and the Death Star (y'know, the stuff with galactic implications), so we can all get back to having fun in Jabba's Palace. There's monsters galore, a chance to catch up with those cute Anzellans, and too much time watching Grogu slowly (but endearingly) nurse his surrogate dad back to health. All the while, you can't help feeling that the more exciting, big-screen worthy stories are happening in another corner of the galaxy.

There are a couple of important caveats we should mention here. Firstly, the writer and actor strikes of 2023 delayed productions throughout Hollywood, ultimately prompting Mando and Grogu's transfer to the big screen. Favreau has also said that he wanted "The Mandalorian and Grogu" to work as a standalone, to keep the movie accessible to newcomers.

That's an admirable aim — not everybody who goes to the theater has access to Disney+ — but surely it's safe to assume that, if you're going to watch a film about Baby Yoda and his armor-wearing chum, you're going to know that the Empire is/was bad news — especially as the state of play is explained via a title card at the start of the film. Indeed, all of these elements are undoubtedly better known than the movie's nominal villains. The Hutt twins' only previous appearances came in two episodes of "The Book of Boba Fett", which debuted more than four years ago.

That's the other problem with "The Mandalorian and Grogu"'s reluctance to face that Empire-shaped bantha in the room. By the time "Ahsoka" season 2 picks up, Grand Admiral Thrawn's story in 2027, more time will have passed since that show's first outing than elapsed between the "I am your father" revelation in "The Empire Strikes Back" and its resolution in "Return of the Jedi". This arc is advancing slower than a glacier on Hoth, and Mando apprehending a couple of mid-level Imps on the big screen doesn't really fill the gap.

If the story of the Imperial Remnant is as important as Disney and Lucasfilm have made out — and a big enough deal to tantalize all those investors back in 2020 — it surely deserves a conclusion in the not-too-distant future. "Avengers: Endgame" delivered on the promise of a decade of movies, but crucially, it rarely lost momentum en route to that final showdown with Thanos.

If "Star Wars" doesn't resolve its Imperial Remnant issues soon, inertia and apathy might just unravel this intriguing period in the "Star Wars" timeline.

'The Mandalorian and Grogu' is in theaters now. All three seasons of "The Mandalorian" are on Disney+.

With Stan Bush’s arena rock anthem, "The Touch," echoing into eternity to herald its return to theaters, "Transformers: The Movie" is gearing up for a special 40th anniversary 4K salute thanks to the nostalgic folks over at Fathom Entertainment.

"Transformers: The Movie" originally marched into theaters beginning on Aug. 8, 1986, as a bridge between the second and third seasons of the "Transformers" animated series to introduce the next generation of sentient machines to roll out with Hasbro’s reformed Transformers toy line. Since then, it's become a bona fide geek favorite that still stands as one of the best "Transformers" movies of all time.

To honor its big birthday, "Transformers: The Movie" will be re-released in theaters starting on Transformers Day, aka Sep. 17, 2026, and running limited screenings through Sep. 21, 2026, so fans can "relive the action, the music, and that moment".

This dynamic Autobot versus Decepticon showdown on the planet Cybertron features an evil planet-sized Transformer called Unicron and its insatiable appetite for destruction. The cult film was a decidedly somber affair set in the year 2005, two decades after the events seen in the "Transformers" cartoon show.

The movie features the shocking deaths of several beloved G1 characters. We really dig the marketing of its re-release poster, labeling the event as "The Apology Tour!" Poor Optimus.

Don’t confuse "Transformers: The Movie" with some simple kids' movie just because it's an adaptation of a cartoon show based on a toy line. It's a dark, satisfying sci-fi adventure with an exceptional vocal cast that includes Orson Welles as Unicron, Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, Frank Welker as Megatron, and "Star Trek's" Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron.

"Hasbro and Fathom Entertainment would like to formally invite you back to the scene of the crime,” states the official anniversary event synopsis. "Forty years after 'The Transformers: The Movie' did what it did to Optimus Prime, The Apology Tour 40th Anniversary Screening brings the film back to theaters…with four decades of hindsight and one very overdue 'our bad.' Relive the moment in the place where your world was changed forever. Not changing history. Just finally celebrating it. Because forty years later, it still hits like a truck."

"For decades, Transformers fans have carried this film with them, which is a testament to its storytelling and lasting cultural impact," Alyse D’Antuono, Vice President, Global Brand & Franchise Strategy, Action Brands, Hasbro, said in a press release. "Bringing it back to theaters is an opportunity for longtime fans to relive it together, and for new audiences to experience a defining chapter of Transformers history."

"Transformers: The Movie" heads back to multiplexes on Sep. 17, 2026.

Disgruntled alcoholic super-scientist Rick Sanchez, his nerve-rattled grandson Morty and the whole dysfunctional Smith clan are returning for another round of interdimensional delirium when Adult Swim's "Rick and Morty" season 9 lands this Sunday night, and we've got the lowdown on this fantastical frenzy of sci-fi shenanigans.

And just in time for the addictive series' sci-fi shenanigans, news was announced that longtime "Rick and Morty" director Jacob Hair will be helming an upcoming and long-rumored "Rick and Morty" feature film that will exist in its own continuity, ensuring that the Emmy-winning series will continue to evolve and expand into previously unexplored entertainment universes.

Let's prepare for an existential plunge into the demented "Rick and Morty" multiverse to see what’s new in their bizarro world this season!

When Is "Rick and Morty" Season 9's Release Date?

"Rick and Morty's" season 9 arrives on Sunday, May 24, 2026, at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT, with the first installment of its 10-episode collection of wild alternate reality escapades.

How To Watch "Rick And Morty" Season 9

"Rick and Morty" season 9 can be viewed weekly on the Cartoon Network's late-night mature animation block, Adult Swim.

Not long after, the show will migrate over to its streaming homes at HBO Max and Hulu, with episodes dropping each week starting on June 15, 2026.

If you're going to be out of the country when the show debuts, you can still watch it on your streaming service of choice using a VPN. You'll be able to connect to your streaming services, no matter where you are on Earth (though it won't work on Mars, sorry).

What Is The Plot Of "Rick and Morty" Season 9?

"'Rick and Morty' is back, baby! Season Nine is all certified bangers," states the official synopsis. "No AI slop! Just Grade A organic slop, made by real humans with real human traits like back hair and cysts. Please watch, or we'll have neglected our families for nothing."

Expect more drunken levity this season with a colorful descent into a veritable whirlwind of adventures that will take Rick and Morty toward surreal depths of portal-hopping immersion.

The risqué theme park known as Boob World returns, the Smiths score a swimming pool, Trader Joe’s' parking lot becomes a battlezone, living room furniture runs amok, and we visit a strange alien summer camp for troubled teens!

"Rick and Morty" Season 9 Teasers And Trailers

Adult Swim has been rather generous with teasers and trailers for season 9 and it's been the perfect hype machine.

The first blood-pumping trailer for "Rick and Morty" season 9 dropped April 7, 2026, paired with Billy Idol's ‘80s rock anthem "Rebel Yell."

Then on April 15, Adult Swim revealed a cool trailer announcing all ten episodes featuring the rough animatics created for each of the corresponding chapters.

May 5 brought us the season 9 opening sequence which kept anticipation levels high.

And after multiple clips rolled out over the past month, the final trailer arrived May 12 with a cavalcade of kookiness!

Who Are The "Rick And Morty" Season 9 Cast And Creators?

Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland are the twisted original creators of "Rick and Morty," with Scott Marder currently acting as the series showrunner and executive producer.

The extreme "Rick and Morty" madness absolutely cannot exist without the incredibly talented cast of vocal actors bringing this crazy cartoon crowd to life.

Season 9’s line-up includes Ian Cardoni (Rick Sanchez), Harry Belden (Morty Smith), Chris Parnell (Jerry Smith), Sarah Chalke (Beth Smith/Space Beth,) and Spencer Grammer (Summer Smith).

As usual, expect many surprise cameos (Owen Wilson!) and special guests.

Will There Be A "Rick and Morty" Season 10?

Yes, there will not only be a tenth season, but co-creator Dan Harmon has confirmed that "Rick and Morty" has already been given the green light for a season 11 and 12!

On Episode 211 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk with Jacob Scoccimerra of Monolith Space.

When one ponders the diet of Mars-bound astonauts, oysters don't often come to mind... but they should. As it turns out, the plucky bivalves have much to offer space voyagers, including water filtration and a ready source of protein.

Scoccimerra, formerly of Nanoracks, initiated a research project with students from the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, to design, build, and operate a closed-circuit, automated support environment for oysters in a simulated space analog. It's a fascinating discussion that may leave you hungry.

Download or subscribe to this show at: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Space news of the week

• SpaceX's IPO paperwork has landed. Here's our first look inside the finances of Elon Musk's rocket company
• Shakeup at JPL? Control over iconic NASA center could change for 1st time in nearly 100 years
• This cryptocurrency billionaire will fly SpaceX's 1st private Starship to Mars, but when?
• A YouTuber just recreated the original Star Wars with cardboard, and it's awesome
• Harrisburg University Students Design Oyster-Based Aquaculture System for Space Exploration
• Shell We Go to Space? Prototype System to Study Oyster Biology in Microgravity

Model Falcon 9!

Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.

About This Week In Space

This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?

Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.

Acclaimed actor Costa Ronin ("The Americans," "Homeland") is another fresh face in Apple TV’s "For All Mankind" season five; his Soviet ex-cosmonaut politician, Leonid "Lenya" Polivanov, has the dubious honor of presiding over Happy Valley as the official governor of Mars.

"The entourage makes the king, right?" Ronin tells Space. "The colony has grown so much, and with any growth of any colony, there’s more to do and more responsibility and more political intrigue."

It can be challenging for an actor to join a show so late into its run, but Ronin has embraced that challenge. "It has been incredible to walk into a show that's been TV royalty for so many years. You walk in on set, and you get to play with your favorite actors, your favorite characters, and favorite world. It's really quite remarkable."

Regarding Polivanov's ultimate allegiances on the Red Planet, the series has made the most of Ronin's instinctive skills to present a mercurial, multidimensional personality who is much craftier than he first appears. Often leveraging his powers at will as Mars is being cut off from aid, even as he’s secretly hoping to become the USSR's next President.

"I approach it as if you imagine a bow and arrow,” explains Ronin on his artistic process. "You know where the shot is going to come from; this is where we meet that character. Then I try to go as far as I can to create as much backstory as possible so that by the time it's day one of filming, I kind of release him into the world and let him make his own decisions.

"I had multiple conversations with the creators of the show and the writers to get an idea of where the character was going and, more importantly, where he's coming from" notes Ronin. "What he says ultimately is dictated by what he thinks, and what he thinks is dictated by what he knows."

That meant homework for Ronin before he could step into the role.

"It was important for me to read those books that he perhaps would have read about the Soviet space program. Because he comes from being a cosmonaut. He does not come from a nepotism environment of political powers. I created a cosmonaut who then later, through his wife’s relationships and ambitious family ties, became a politician, which led him to be the governor of Mars."

Ronin composed his Martian governor role with absolute precision, assembling the character from the inside out and harkening back to his early cosmonaut days. His fashionable wardrobe was selected by costume designer Esther Marquis. until it came to one essential accessory.

"I know how to tie a tie, and there are ten or twenty ways to do it,” he admits. "And the only way I don’t know how to tie a tie is exactly the way they tie it in the show. So I always had to have somebody come do it. "

Beyond his own styling, Ronin also leaned on the prop department to help him get into the character of Polivanov. "There’s a scene in the governor’s office where there were a few things I wanted to have there from his past days as a cosmonaut," Ronin explains. "I wanted him to have two clocks and two watches to know this was the time on Mars, and this was the time in Moscow. So there were little things that may not necessarily be visible to the audience, but I, as a character, knew."

As to how he wrapped his mind around the notion that his Lenya Polivanov was residing on another planet? Ronin felt it wasn’t too tough because he didn’t really get to play outside.

“So I didn’t get to play with zero gravity or any of the elements that space brings into our life," he notes. "To me, the fact that the sets were built with such incredible attention to detail helped tremendously. It didn’t matter if you were in an actual building or in a spaceship because everything was functional. The only thing that spaceship didn’t do was actually fly. Every button had a function and a purpose. We have tremendous consultants, and we were always able to refer to them.

"There's a scene where Celia and I fly in a transport hopper, and we had a conversation with the consultants to make sure this was the actual sequence of how it would happen in real life. These are the buttons that would get us there. So when you are in the pilot’s chair in your scene, you don’t have to think about it because the character would be able to do that in his sleep."

"For All Mankind" season 5 is streaming now exclusively on Apple TV, where you can also find the previous four seasons.

Apple TV's "For All Mankind" is setting up for an explosive season 5 finale as hungry Marsies are growing impatient, and Earth's M-6 Alliance just dispatched an inexperienced military fire team to commandeer the all-important Goldilocks asteroid and its precious Iridium resources.

Avery "AJ" Jarrett (Ines Asserson) and Lily Dale (Ruby Cruz) are two of this season's newest young adult characters. They were last seen as children in season 4, but they are all grown up now with the show’s time jump to the 2010s. We connected with Asserson and Cruz to learn more about their journeys on Apple TV’s flagship sci-fi series and the rigors of zipping up a spacesuit!

“We had so many different costumes because of their development in her association with the Marines," Asserson tells Space. "It was so cool, and I felt really powerful in the uniforms during the space travel to Mars. We weren't in them very long. It was easy to physically enter the headspace of a Marine wearing them. The first time in a spacesuit was really cool, then I realized they're not that easy to wear. They're heavy and clunky, and you want them to look cool. I mean, when else would I get to wear a spacesuit?"

Asserson's Off-Planet Expeditionary Force (OPEF) marine is a complex individual whose family legacy is a generational aspect of the hit show. She's the daughter of Danny and Amber Stevens, and granddaughter of astronauts Gordo and Tracy Stevens, who sacrificed themselves in season 2's finale to save the Jamestown lunar base by taking a suicidal moonwalk.

"There’s so many tensions with AJ; there’s this rigidity and so much desire and emotion and loneliness within her," explains Asserson.

"She’s really fighting such a battle with herself that speaks to that kind of yearning for belonging and friendship and family as well, and to embrace her family history. Her struggling wth her past is always going to be a difficult thing for Avery. I think that’s going to take shape in many different situations. Everything is going to make her see another side of herself."

In crafting her Earth-based soldier character, Asserson talked to a number of veterans, which was something that became incredibly informative to understand the mindset of combat and camaraderie.

"Then we did a lot of CQB (Close-Quarter Battle) training with a real Green Beret," she adds. "He was phenomenal. We learned to clear rooms, operate guns in a way that's realistic, and to work together as an OPEF group. Those friendships have really become super important to me in my real life, actually, which I think is that Marine mentality."

Ruby Cruz portrays Lilly Dale, the daughter of Miles Dale (Toby Kebbell), and an ambitious journalist who helped leak the secret Happy Valley automation documents to the press with Alex (Sean Kaufman).

"Building Lilly was really fun because I got to watch Miles Dale in season 4 and build the daughter that that father would raise," Cruz tells Space. "It's so cool thinking about the different qualities in him that she would really admire and look up to and want to embody. And the different qualities in him that really frustrate her and that she would want to reject. Building out with Toby was really fun because he's one of the funniest people.

"I really like that Lily is a young person discovering her voice in fighting for what she believes in. She has this very rebellious, fiery, impulsive nature that I can somewhat relate to. I don’t like the establishment. I don't like organized systems," notes Cruz.

"And I do relate to her in that way, but she's harsher than I am, and I liked being in that headspace. She also has a very big heart and has a lot of care for people. I think her journalistic tendencies are really cool. She cares about the truth, and it was inspiring to be reminded that it's a very important thing."

Filming in multiple sound stages on the historic Sony Pictures Studio lot in Culver City, California, was particularly rewarding for Cruz, as was trying to absorb the production’s insane scale.

"Nothing shoots in L.A., so it’s cool shooting at home. But also to film on these historic stages. 'The Wizard of Oz' filmed there!" exclaims Cruz.

"Then, to be in such immersive sets made it easy for an actor to be immersed immediately, and that was a rare experience. The spacesuits are like real spacesuits! They're so complicated and much heavier than you'd ever expect. [Costume Designer] Esther Marquis is so well versed in making space suits that space companies have approached her in helping design their suits."

"For All Mankind" season 5 streams exclusively on Apple TV, along with the previous four seasons.

"The Mandalorian and Grogu" is exactly what you expect from it: Baby Yoda melting hearts through his cutesy interactions with the feisty (and funny) Anzellans, Mando doing a lot of brooding, and some space stuff happening in between.

The film doesn't really move the needle for Grogu and Din Djarin's narrative in any meaningful way, but it at least offers an intriguing origin story for one interesting character — Rotta the Hutt (played by Jeremy Allen White).

Spoilers for "The Mandalorian and Grogu" lie ahead.

Appearance-wise, Rotta is impossible to miss. Unlike the other lousy lumps in his family, he stands out for his shredded and beefy physique. Of course, the internet reacted in the way you would imagine when pictures of him first surfaced, as The Cut asked the real question, "Is Jabba the Hutt's son hot now?" We're not here to judge anyone's taste in oversized, muscular slugs and meat slapping…

Rotta isn't an entirely new character in a galaxy far, far away. He was introduced as a baby in the animated series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars", where he was affectionately referred to as Stinky. Judging by the general living conditions in this universe, it's probably an accurate nickname for him, too.

"The Mandalorian and Grogu" picks up in the post-Empire future, where the jacked Rotta works as a gladiator and fights in an arena. He isn't bashing other alien creatures for the praise and giggles, though; he's trying to earn his freedom from the despicable Janu (Jonny Coyne). The way in which Mando (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu figure in his arc is that they're working for the New Republic, which strikes a dodgy deal with the Hutt Twins. The agreement is simple: Mando rescues and brings back Rotta to the Hutts, and they'll provide the details of who the pesky Imperial warlord they're looking for is.

It's a bit of a non-story, really, as it's fairly obvious who the warlord is, so why there's a need to cut a deal is anybody's guess here. Regardless, when Mando and Grogu speak to Rotta, they discover he's not like his father, Jabba, at all. He's kind to Grogu, offering the tiny and fluffy creature something he values more than the teachings of the Jedi: food. Rotta also doesn't want to live a life of crime, nor does he want to associate himself with the Twins, who are two-faced and end up double-crossing the New Republic. What a shocker…

Several convoluted plot threads later, and it all culminates in Rotta and Mando joining forces to take down the Twins and save the day. In the end, Rotta pledges his allegiance to the New Republic, deciding that instead of running from fate, he'll rewrite his own destiny as a hero for the forces of good. Cue the upbeat score and raise your lightsaber to the sky.

Rotta marks a departure from how a Hutt is traditionally portrayed in the "Star Wars" Universe. Normally, they're showcased as greedy and untrustworthy antagonists who'll do whatever they can to gain and maintain power, including smuggling and slavery. Here, though, Rotta demonstrates that he doesn't have to walk – or slither – down the same path as his father or the Twins. He chooses good when it would be much easier to fall into the same trappings he grew up around.

His story oddly mirrors Luke Skywalker's, actually. Both of them discover their fathers are capable of great evil (don't give us that "Darth Vader is misunderstood" nonsense; he was part of Order 66 and killed the Younglings). However, the true test of their mettle is the temptation of unadulterated power. It would be much easier for them to give in and join the family business and repeat the cycle, but they reject it.

Where Rotta has it tougher, though, is that he's completely alone. Luke has his sister, Leia, and a solid support system to help him see reason, while Rotta is isolated, save for the other Hutts, who are all lowlifes and thieves. Add everyone else's preconceptions of him, based on how the rest of his kin act, and we can see what a tough and lonely road Rotta had to slither down. It showcases his character, which is built from tremendous integrity, incredible willpower, and empathy.

At the same time, it's clear that there's a deep sadness in him when he sees Mando with Grogu. More than a few times, he commends their relationship, reminding Grogu that he has a good dad and needs to appreciate him. Again, this highlights how "Star Wars" is literally all about daddy issues, and everything that goes wrong is because of it.

Rotta's story is far more interesting than anything Din Djarin and Grogu get up to in this movie. In an age in which every character needs to have some edginess or shadow of darkness in them, this Hutt is the contrary. He's kind, honourable, and heroic — like a slug version of Captain America. He's a breath of fresh air in a universe that hasn't done such an excellent job of introducing likable protagonists in recent times.

Leaving "The Mandalorian and Grogu", you can't help but be curious about Rotta's future. His story is far from finished, and he has the opportunity to rewrite the Hutt history in "Star Wars". Sure, his brethren didn't do themselves any favours with their questionable behaviour, but Rotta could be the one to prove that no one is defined by their past. This franchise has always been about second chances, so it's time for him to grasp his and become a symbol of optimism. A new hope, if you will.

Alternatively, maybe everybody just wants to see the jacked Rotta knock around a few Stormtroopers. Who needs a lightsaber when you have those guns on your arms?! Give us a trilogy of Rotta-led movies, you cowards!

"The Mandalorian and Grogu" is out now on the big screen, while "The Mandalorian" is available to watch on Disney+.

Apple TV’s "For All Mankind" is cruising into the final episodes of its fifth season, and these are restless times for the Martian settlement of Happy Valley as conflicts mount. We’ve got irate workers rebelling against automation, Earth’s M-6 sending marines to reclaim the Goldilocks asteroid, food supplies running low, and a Titan mission seeking out alien life.

Portraying down on her luck security officer and a member of Happy Valley's Mars Peacekeeper Force, Mireille Enos’ ("The Killing") Celia Boyd has quickly become one of the sci-fi series' most compelling characters while she finds herself in the thick of conflicts erupting on the Red Planet.

"Story always wins," Enos tells Space regarding her casting. "You always just want to be telling good stories. But I'd been telling myself that I really don't want to play anymore cops for a while. I’d done that and I got to do that in a really elegant way. Then the guys came and said they'd love for me to be a cop on Mars. I said, 'You guys, I don’t want to be a cop.' We started a creative dialogue and the thing that was very interesting to me about her is that ultimately she is very skilled, and she believes in herself at the beginning, but she's not good at her job."

"And that's such a weird starting point, to be introducing a new character who's kind of at a low, trying to hide under a rock, has run away from her life" explains Enos about what attracted her to the role. "She's not really a cop, she's really just a glorified security guard."

Despite the cool red beret worn by the settlement's law enforcement unit, Boyd is an underdog whose past decisions haven't been the smartest. And yet, she’s tenacious and fans have watched her evolve over the course of the season to play a pivotal role in revolts and Free Mars uprisings.

"She doesn't want a promotion or any attention. She's just trying to stay under the radar. How do you build a person who’s not trying to reach for anything, yet the moments that unfold in front of her, she can’t help but continue to step through those doors?" muses Enos. "What’s the key to why she steps through those doors? It's her moral compass and it's her inability to keep her mouth shut in the face of ignorance, injustice, and people being bad at their job. Historically it’s gotten her in a lot of trouble. Yet, for whatever reason, in this moment in her life, on this crazy red planet, it's what sets her on her hero's journey. And that's very interesting."

The Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actress admits to loving a good wardrobe fitting to discover exactly what her character is all about.

"From the short hair to the clothes, I kept asking our costume designer Esther Marquis to bring in boxier shapes, more masculine, more heavy, to try embody that sense of her trying to hide and not draw attention to herself," Enos adds. "The weight of the shoes, the belt, all of that was helpful in tapping into her toughness, but mostly she was trying to hide inside of this role. She's a very different creature than me."

Enos is no stranger to the sci-fi genre as she co-starred opposite Brad Pitt in 2013's "World War Z", and grew up watching "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" with her older brothers.

"I remember watching 'The Wrath of Khan' and watching Spock die and feeling impacted by that," she recalls.

"Science fiction is wonderful. I feel like it taps into all our childhood sense of play. Like when we were little, sitting in cardboard boxes and drawing buttons with markers and pretending to be in a spaceship. That question of what's bigger than us? What's beyond? This show is so meticulous. The art direction and everyone's commitment to making the world as real as possible. They built a real spaceship and taught me how to fly it! It's just really fun."

"For All Mankind" Season 5 is now streaming exclusively on Apple TV.

The Mandalorian & Grogu kicks off Star Wars' return to cinemas on May 22, and it'll likely have casual moviegoers wondering who that metal hat-wearing bounty hunter is that's pursuing Din Djarin and the little fella we still love to call Baby Yoda. His name is Embo, and he's already got quite the history in the Star Wars universe.

While The Mandalorian & Grogu isn't the beginning of a new Star Wars era, it marks the first big-screen project exploring the long 30-year gap between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. And sure, a bunch of Star Wars TV shows — as well as books, comics, and games — have expanded on the period. Still, there are more stories to be told in that space, and Jon Favreau's theatrical follow-up to The Mandalorian Season 3 is aiming to tell an old-fashioned Star Wars adventure.

As our Mandalorian protagonist and his little green sidekick take on more Imperial warlords, now as freelancers working for the New Republic, it seems the baddies will be annoyed enough to enlist Embo's help. You might not know him, but he's been an iconic 'Glup Shitto' for over 15 years, so here's everything you need to know about The Mandalorian & Grogu's main villain.

Embo's homeworld, species, skills, and equipment explained

Embo is a Kyuzo male bounty hunter. The Kyuzo are a humanoid species native to the planet of Phatrong, located in the Outer Rim of the galaxy. They're known for their fast reflexes and resilience, which makes them notable fighters with a strong sense of honor.

Based on his previous appearances, Embo is a stoic figure who rarely loses track of his prey. When he speaks, he does so in his native language. He's tall, intimidating, and remarkably focused on the job, yet he's shown remorse at times. When it comes to his most defining skills, his acrobatics and overall agility come to mind. Even unarmed, he was a formidable opponent who even gave Jedi Knights trouble during the Clone Wars.

Another defining aspect of Embo is his preference for traditional weaponry over blasters and other weapons. His primary weapon – at least in past appearances – is a wide bowcaster.

More surprising is his metallic hat, which can be used as a shield and like a (deadly) frisbee (much like Kung Lao in Mortal Kombat). He also had a pet anooba (a canine-like mammal) named Marrok, but the companion we've seen in The Mandalorian & Grogu's trailers is likely a different one (unless Marrok's passing before the Battle of Jakku – as revealed in the Aftermath: Empire's End novel – is retconned).

Embo's history during the Clone Wars and the Imperial era

Embo's on-screen presence is (so far) limited to the second Clone Wars animated show, with his debut happening in Season 2 Episode 17 'Bounty Hunters', which happened on the colorful world of Felucia. There, he and other bounty hunters – alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano – protected a village from a gang of pirates. During the ensuing battle, Embo was heavily wounded.

His freelancing days during the Clone Wars also included brief scuffles with clone troopers, clone commandos – including Clone Force 99 (aka The Bad Batch) – and other bounty hunters.

Working for various crime syndicates, corporations, and even Count Dooku, he often crossed paths with the Jedi and Naboo senator Padmé Amidala. On Scipio, he managed to fight off even Anakin Skywalker himself, walked away, and informed Darth Sidious of the success of his mission to scare Baron Rush Clovis into leaving the InterGalactic Banking Clan's vault world.

Near the end of the Clone Wars, Embo also worked with Boba Fett's team. At some point, the former Sith assassin Asajj Ventress hired them to help with the rescue of Quinlan Vos, the Jedi Master she fell in love with. The mission was a failure, but the team survived an encounter with Count Dooku (aka Darth Tyranus), an impressive feat by all accounts.

Embo's activities during the Imperial era are mostly unknown. He reappeared after the Battle of Endor to collect a bounty on Lando Calrissian, but the resourceful New Republic general managed to capture him.

Somehow, he regained his freedom and traveled to Jakku, during the big final showdown between the Empire and the New Republic, to capture Zabrak bounty hunter Jas Emari, who'd been working for the Republic for some time. Embo and the rest of the team eventually turned against Mercurial Swift, the bounty hunter who recruited them, in exchange for full pardons from the New Republic.

Embo after the Battle of Jakku

As promised, Embo and the rest of Jas Emari's crew were pardoned with the help of Sinjir Rath Velus, Jas' good friend and an ex-Imperial who became Chancellor Mon Mothma's adviser. For a few more years, Embo worked for the New Republic along with Emari and her team, likely targeting the Imperial remnants as the new galactic government was firmly established.

By 9 ABY (after the Battle of Yavin), however, Embo ran out of New Republic funding and retired from bounty hunting, at least for a while, settling on Felucia as a farmer. By the time The Mandalorian & Grogu begins, it seems he's returned to the old profession, hired by Imperial warlords or the Hutts to take care of Din Djarin and Grogu.

Will that be his final mistake? We're about to find out...