Author: Ben
-
Star Wars Burgers
I’ve seen articles about this around the internet and I find it very, very interesting. And very, very disgusting. In anticipation of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace being re-released in theaters next month in 3D, a burger joint in France is making the experience even MORE interactive . . . but letting…
-
POLL: What’s your favorite sci-fi/fantasy franchise?
We want to know . . . what’s YOUR favorite? Star Wars or Star Trek? Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings? Vote! And then, please, leave a comment below and talk about your answers . . . then come back and see what other people are saying! (First time commenters have to be approved…
-
EPISODE 4 – “There and Back Again – Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit”
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSWell, it’s here. The Hobbit trailer gave us a peek into what Peter Jackson has in store for us, so we decided that was something worthy of an episode. You can see the trailer here. In this episode, Ben and Steve look back at the Lord of the…
-
EPISODE 3 – “The Best (and Worst) Christmas Stories”
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSWhat are the best Christmas movies? The worst? Christmas movies are a big part of this season. Join Dr. Jayce and Ben as they talk about Christmas traditions and classic Christmas movies and maybe some not so classic Christmas movies. Before listening, or after, if that’s your style, check…
-
TRAILER: The Dark Knight Rises
And here we have the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. As I already posted, the teaser poster got me excited to see the movie. More excited than I already was, I should say. You can watch it here . . . Some of this feels disturbing . . . some of it feels strange…
-
AUDIO: Rare Star Trek II Radio Documentary
Over at trekmovie.com, a Star Trek news blog, they have posted an article about the unearthing of a rare recording made to promote Star Trek II. In includes interviews with Shatner, Nimoy, and Khan himself, Ricardo Montalban, and some recordings of Roddenberry speaking at a university (possibly because he was not involved in the making…
-
VIDEO: Vader Did You Know
So someone Tweeted about this video yesterday and I found it HILARIOUS! I shared it with Dr. Jayce and Steve and then I saw that it was spreading on Facebook and Twitter and I just had to share it with our fellow Strangers and Aliens out there. It’s a parody of the song Mary Did…
-
NEWS: Men in Black 3 trailer
Could this become a contender for Dr. Jayce’s top ten time travel movies? With Josh Brolin channeling Tommy Lee Jones . . . and Will Smith channeling, well, young Will Smith . . . this could be fun. I liked the first Men in Black and didn’t care one way or the other for the…
-
NEWS: New Dark Knight Rises Movie Poster!
Well, after that Amazing Spider-Man poster (which I wrote about here), DC Comics has released their own new poster, for The Dark Knight Rises. Coming off two of the best superhero movies ever made, this one is playing up the opposite angle that the Spider-Man poster emphasized. Spider-Man is an origin story, promising the “untold’…
-
NEWS: New Amazing Spider-Man Movie Poster
From SuperheroHype: I have to say, I love this poster. As far as posters go, this actually gets me excited. It’s very, very simple. The spider symbol is something that is recognizable. I remember when the first Batman movie came out and the poster was simply the Batman symbol. That was all that was needed.…
-
SCI-FI FOR KIDS: Wall*E
When I was a kid, my imagination was dazzled by Superman and Star Wars on the silver screen and Superfriends and Battle of the Planets on the small screen (among many, many other things), not to mention various comic books like Superman and X-Men and kids books like Narnia and The Littles and . .…
-
EPISODE 2 – “What if You Could Go Back … to the FUTURE”
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSWhy are time travel stories so compelling? What is it about the idea of traveling through time that captures our imagination? What do time travel stories teach us about ourselves? About God? Why are they just so much fun? In our second episode, we explore one of our…
-
QUOTE: Nicholas Meyer on Allegory and Metaphor in Star Trek
At its best, Star Trek appears to function as pop-allegory/pop metaphor, taking current events and issues (ecology, war, racism) and objectifying them for us to contemplate in a sci-fi setting. The world it presents may make no scientific sense but it is well and truly sufficient to lay out human questions for us to think…
-
Shatner’s Thanksgiving Warning . . .
I’ve never seen a more poetic depiction of a man and his turkey fryer . . . Here’s a public service announcement about turkey fryer safety. There’s so much to love about this video. “But I was young and arrogant . . .” Score one for Kirk . . . you could never imagine Patrick…
-
QUOTE: Asimov on religion in sci-fi
. . . it is impossible to write science fiction and really ignore religion. What if we find intelligent beings on other worlds? Do they have a religion? Is our God universal, and is he/she.it their God as well? What do we do about it? What do they do about it? This point is almost never taken up but, since…
-
The White House’s Official Stance on . . . Aliens
Finally, a president who is willing to let the truth be revealed! There’s a new initiative on the White House’s website that, if you have a petition with 25,000 signatures, they will address your question. So of course, people are going to ask the question that is in front of most Americans these days: “What…
-
REVIEW: William Shatner’s “The Captains”
I’m a big fan of William Shatner. If we ever do a podcast to tackle the classic “Kirk vs. Picard”, there will be no question what side I fall on. I will listen to opposing arguments, but I will not change my mind. (Gauntlet thrown, Dr. Jayce.) I enjoy watching Shatner in Star Trek,…
-
EPISODE 1 – “Why Sci-Fi”
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSSOur first episode of Strangers and Aliens the podcast is up and ready to go! In this episode, our intrepid heroes discuss what got them interested in science fiction and fantasy in the first place and why imaginative fiction engages them now. After you listen to the episode,…
-
Welcome to Strangers and Aliens
Welcome to Strangers and Aliens, a blog and podcast exploring the nexus of faith and imagination. The website is the nexus for Strangers and Aliens itself — here you will find the podcast, our main event, so to speak; the blog, which will feature thought provoking articles and quotes, along with book and movie reviews;…