Tagged science fiction
Jun 04 2026
“For All Mankind” Goes Full Science Fiction in Its Fifth Season
Ronald D. Moore is one of Star Trek’s most prolific writers. He worked on more than 90 episodes across Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, as well as the screenplays for Generations and First Contact. Then he cemented his status as one of the genre’s most important voices when he created the…
May 16 2025
Apple’s “Murderbot” Is a Quirky but Faithful Adaptation of Martha Wells’s Beloved Book Series
As an avid science fiction reader, I must go on record as saying that I love Martha Wells’s Murderbot. I love the books, I love the character, and I love the world it inhabits. Give me a soapbox and I’ll gladly wax poetic about all of it. But when Apple announced it was optioning the story, I felt conflicted.…
Apr 18 2025
The Sci-Fi Predictions of “Planetes” Ring True 20 Years Later
Hard science fiction isn’t the first genre that comes to mind when I think about anime. Battle shōnen? Naturally. Magical girl? Staple. Isekai? What isn’t isekai these days? Even if an anime is classified as a sci-fi, it usually has some fantastical elements. And don’t get me wrong—I love fantasy in…
Dec 15 2023
The Expanse: Dragon Tooth Scratches an Itch for Fans of Both the Books and the TV Series
For most of its TV run, from its SyFy debut in 2015 to its final season on Prime last year, The Expanse felt like the perfect distillation of everything I love about science fiction. One moment it was a space opera with acts of heroism and big rousing speeches, the next moment hard conceptual sci fi, even…
Feb 28 2023
Showrunner Trey Callaway on Mercy Point, an Undeservedly Forgotten Sci-Fi Gem
In 1998, there was no shortage of science-fiction programming for genre fans on TV. The Star Trek franchise was running strong with both Deep Space Nine and Voyager, Babylon 5 had entered its final season, Stargate SG-1 was just getting going, Sliders was in the middle of its five-season run,…
Feb 07 2023
Worldbuilding Partially Saves Seven Faceless Saints from Its Cast
I once worked with a woman who notified everyone that a book wouldn’t keep her attention unless there was a dead body in it. I must admit that she and those words came to me within the first chapter of Seven Faceless Saints as it successfully grabbed my attention with—what else?—a dead body. M. K. Lobb’s…
Jan 11 2023
After 30 Years Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Holds Up Now More Than Ever
This year, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) celebrates its 30th anniversary. Upon its release back in 1993, it was met with a different reaction than the much more widely accessible Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) preceding it. Granted, the show itself welcomed the differences, making clear in…
Oct 19 2021
Denis Villeneuve Does Dune Right
Frank Herbert’s Dune is a notoriously dense book and certainly not the easiest story to transfer to the big screen. There have been two previous attempts to do so: The first try was in the 1970s and was never completed—experimental filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky took a whack at it with some ambitious…
Sep 07 2021
Noein: To Your Other Self Is a Forgotten Anime Gem
In the summer of 2007, the Sci-Fi Channel (now known as Syfy) began an anime programming block called “Ani-Monday.” The block aired many popular anime series, such as the genre-defining mecha series Gurren Lagann, but it also brought less well-known series to an American audience for…
Feb 18 2021
In Its Third Season, Star Trek: Discovery Finds Its Identity
Back in 2017, Star Trek: Discovery had a lot riding on it. Not only was it the first Trek series to grace the small screen since Star Trek: Enterprise left the airwaves back in 2005, but it was set to also be the first series in franchise history to embrace a more modern storytelling style while also bucking…