The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

Billie’s biography

Our favourite time-travellin’, Dalek-stompin’, devil-slayin’, world-savin’ gal, Billie Piper is the subject of no less than three biographies in the next few months. As Billie’s final two-part Doctor Who story is about to begin on BBC screens this weekend and the press discuss her failed marriage and now divorce from Chris Evans, Hodder announced Billie [...]

Spider-Man 3 trailer live

A short teaser trailer for next summer’s Spider-Man 3 is now live at apple.com, also accessible via the official site here. Now there is a superhero movie we can be pretty confident of. The clip is short but we do see Spidey in the black costume and a brief glimpse of the Sandman in full [...]

New Emerald City

Cheryl has posted the new edition of Emerald City, number 130, on the site. John Shirley talks to Tim Powers in “an existentially poignant, angst-ridden, grimly realisitc yet surreal interview”, Justina Robson’s Keeping it Real is reviewed, as is the Five Fists of Science and many other SF&F titles, including Adam Roberts’ latest, Gradisil, dashed [...]

Aaron McGruder in the Boondocks

Aaron McGruder is featured on BBC Radio 4 with a look at the Boondocks strip, which is relatively (and shamefully) unknown to UK readers but huge in the US where it is printed in over 250 newspapers and famous for its political and sometimes controversial strips. If you enjoy Doonesbury or Ted Rall you [...]

Batman lays down the law

There is an interesting article from a local American paper, the Daily Record, which I picked up via Blog@Newsarama. The mainstream press seem to have woken up lately to the fact that comics can address ‘real’ world problems and issues (witness the press inches on Marvel’s Civil War or the lesbian Batwoman character for DC’s [...]

What The Author Says – Alan Campbell

It’s always a pleasure to have authors and artists on the blog for our What The Author Says feature. It’s an even bigger pleasure when we’re introducing a good new writer to the SF&F reading community. I’m lucky in that I have a number of authors whose work I’m always eager to read, but there [...]

Rowling to kill two in final Harry Potter

J K Rowling revealed on Richard and Judy’s show that she plans to kill two characters off in the seventh and final Harry Potter novel, although for obvious reasons she will not discuss which characters will die. According to the interview Rowling, who famously wrote much of the first novel in Edinburgh cafes to keep [...]

Butler to star in Priest movie

Scots actor Gerard Butler is to star in the forthcoming movie Priest. No, not a new version of Jimmy McGovern’s controversial film of the same name with Linus Roache as a gay clergymen but a movie adaptation of Min-Woo Hyung’s Tokyopop Manga series Priest. According to various movie trade journals Butler will be playing the [...]

Kirk’s dating service

My colleague Lee draws my attention to this brilliantly silly bit of Star Trek merchandise: a mug. But not just another Star Trek mug, oh no. This is James T Kirk’s Intergalactic Dating Service Ceramic Mug! Nice one! I wonder when we will see a Jame T Kirk range of condoms?

Imagining Albion

I almost missed the start of this short series, but thanks to the magic of digital archives caught up with it; Imagining Albion is a programme by Francis Spufford on a history of British science fiction. The first part was broadcast last Thursday (so you only have a couple more days to listen to it [...]

‘New’ Jack Kirby

Marvel has The Galactic Bounty Hunters coming out shortly, based around concepts and characters by the legend that is Jack Kirby. The co-writer is none other than Lisa, Jack’s daughter, who, along with Steve Robertson and Mike Thibodeaux, is picking up her father’s concepts and expanding them, taking them into press in what is bound [...]

Al & Bender – Futurama! Hurrah!

What The Author Says – John Picacio

Well, we have a nice treat to start the working week with for you this fine summer Monday morn – award-winning artist John Picacio has kindly taken some time to talk to us about his new art book, Cover Story: the art of John Picacio. Some of you will recognise John’s name (he is shortlised [...]

Lucy Lawless in Dragonlance

A new animated series based around the bestselling Dragonlance books from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman is in production with Paramount, with no less an actress than Lucy Lawless recruited for voice duties. Taking time out from her appearances in the new Battlestar Galactica Lucy tried out several voices for the producers but they apparently [...]

Iron Man movie

Marvel Entertainment and Paramount announced that the Iron Man movie is scheduled for a release in the summer of 2008 (so, Fantastic Four last summer, X-Men now, Spidey 3 next summer, then Iron Man – anyone see a pattern here?). Rumour has it that a villain will be announced at the big San Diego Comic-Con [...]