InArchitects of Memory, first-time sci-fi writer Karen Osborne creates an Alien-esque, Weyland-Yutani-inspired construct in outer space in Earth’s future, where corporations are competing for market share as salvagers acquire a laundry list of weapons of terrorism to pursue a pathway toward citizenship. A race of unknown and unseen aliens (like those seen in Ender’s Game and Starship Troopers) are the threat, yet it may very well be the corporations themselves are humanity’s worst enemy. Mad science has concocted the ultimate weapon. Gruesome and invasive, humans become the experiment and the conduit to deliver destruction to the alien race, as a group of strong women struggle to understand their role in the corporations’ schemes.
How many sci-fi and outer space tropes can you pack into one hour of TV? You’ll find out in the first episode of Syfy’s new space fantasy series Vagrant Queen. It’s like Firefly and The Fifth Element as if they were directed by Sam Raimi. Star Wars elements meet Doctor Who aliens with effects that feel a lot like The Last Starfighter. And humor that’s a cross of Guardians of the Galaxy and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Or maybe it’s just sci-fi created by Canadians. Whatever it is you’ll be all-in with the crew of the spaceship Winnipeg as it takes off into adventures in some galaxy out there that is… not ours.
Adriyan Rae(Atlanta) plays the scavenger Elida, a mix of Marvel’s Valkyrie and Rey from Star Wars, who stealthily has masked her former persona as Queen Eldaya, being pursued by the dreaded Republic, led by Commander Lazaro, played by Paul du Toit (remember Gary Oldman’s Zorg in The Fifth Element? He’s like that guy). Tom Rozon(Lost Girl, Wynonna Earp) is Isaac, a frenemy from Elida’s past (part Han Solo or Jack Harkness or Lone Starr from Spaceballs or Bruce Campbell in… anything). They come together with a Kaylee-inspired ship mechanic named Amae, played by Alex McGregor, to save a space station’s bartender, get a ship back, and rescue the queen. And that’s just the first episode.
It’s light-hearted, campy fun a la Xena: Warrior Princess featuring a group of actors who seem to be competing to see who has the most fun. It’s a little bit… everything… that you enjoy about space travel, with a cool lead like Killjoys and alien makeups reminiscent of Farscape. Goofy banter and situations, you’ll find yourself calling out the inspiration from nearly every scene, beginning with an opening rif on The Mandalorian. This is the escapism you’re looking for right now.
A new sci-fi television series is coming your way next week with a similar vibe as Killjoys and Farscape. It’s an adaptation of a comic book series, but don’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of it. Like many TV series adapting comic book stories of late, the production was practically overlapping with its release. The series is called Vagrant Queen and it hails from one of the smaller publishers, Vault Comics. The comic was written by Magdelene Visaggio and illustrated by Jason Smith, and the TV series is written by showrunner Jem Garrard (Killer High), Mariko Tamaki (X-23, Tomb Raider, Lumberjanes) and Mika Collins (Travelers).
Adriyan Rae (Atlanta) plays the series lead Elida, with Alex McGregor (Blood Drive) as Amae, and Paul du Toit (Maze Runner, Tremors) as Commander Lazaro. Fans of Wynonna Earp, Lost Girl, and Being Human fans will be happy to hear Tim Rozon is the series co-star, playing Elida’s old frenemy, Isaac.
The series promises cannibalistic aliens, dangerous planets, shootouts, karaoke, and parking tickets. Order Vagrant Queen–the graphic novel–now from Elite Comics (it’s also available at Amazon here). And check out this preview of Syfy’s Vagrant Queen:
Steve Rogers. John Spartan and Simon Phoenix. Han Solo. Austin Powers and Doctor Evil. George Taylor. Mr. Scott and Khaaaaaan!
Now meet Chen Andalou and Dark Horse Comics’ new mini-series, Astro Hustle.
Not just another Space Station 76, it’s a four-part tale of space pirates out beyond Cosmic Coffee and the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. It has the space action of Killjoys and the fun of 1980’s Flash Gordon. The lost ship Sinnematica has been adrift in space, and with it one Chen Andalou, preserved for the past 60 years in cryo-freeze. Another sci-fi fish out of water, Chen is unstuck in time, surrounded by a future costumed like Barbarella meets the 1979-81 Buck Rogers, and filled with the more off-the-wall elements of Spaceballs and the animated version of Space Ghost, all thrown in for good measure. And then what? Chen runs right into the cop–Captain Igor, a mix of Javert and Prince Barin who is all ready to arrest him.
Plenty of aliens are around to judge him, too–robots like the crazed guard in Logan’s Run and a mix of everyone else you might find aboard the Fhloston Paradise. Lucky for Chen he meets up with Carbon John the space pirate and his trusty Number One, Svetlana. But he soon learns while he was asleep his brother became President of the Galaxy. Wait–are they going to end up like the princes of England or the Kim Jong brothers?
What’s missing? The Cannon Films adaptation and a soundtrack by MECO (that’s the band with Tony Bongiovi, cousin of the Bon Jovi brothers, and Mr. Fabulous Alan Rubin of The Blues Brothers), and it should ship with one of those MPC model kits of a van with the space logo on its side. Astro Hustle has the crazy/cool of both Vandroid (the comic) and ManBorg (the B-movie), thanks to a creator-owned story by Jai Nitz(El Diablo, Toshiro, Kato Origins, Tron: Betrayal), artwork by Tom Reilly, color by Ursula Decay, and letters by Chris “Crank!” Crank (Rick and Morty, Ciudad, Toshiro).
An overlooked 2018 sci-fi adventure mini-series is making its way to a trade collected edition tomorrow. The six-issue story arc in Image Comics/Skybound’s Stellar is a mix of good sci-fi concepts and action-adventure imagery. You’ll find big-eyed aliens similar in design to the villainous hunter Zando-Zans of The Last Starfighter, a rundown future world bent on destruction like in Firefly, fast-paced action and characters like that of Syfy’s Killjoys, and a lead heroine called Stellar who is stuck out of time, with a past and future hidden from her, evoking recent years’ Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel stories.
Writer Joseph Keatinge(PopGun, Shutter) takes on a surprisingly complex idea created by Robert Kirkman(The Walking Dead) and Marc Silvestri(Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine) and delivers the kind of story that belongs in the graphic novel format. Stellar moves from place to place, from time to time. She pursues the evil Zenith, an alien monster she believes to be the cause of destruction in her future. Or is he pursuing her? She’s moving through time, encountering those who may be able to help her unravel the twisted time loop she seems to be stuck inside.
The pretty, futuristic stylings and color choices by artist Bret Blevins result in a standout read visually. And Keatinge pulls elements in from all kinds of sci-fi stories to create uncertainty and doubt. Readers will ask “what’s going on here?” more than once, with an ending that is both satisfying and interesting. It’s not the kind of tale that needs a sequel, the complete story is right there.
Here are some preview pages of Stellar, courtesy of Image/Skyborne:
We knew from early trailers and buzz going back literally years now that Syfy’s new series Krypton was going to cover Superman’s family’s distant past. Even back here at borg.com in 2014 we previewed the first plans for Syfy’s series, wondering how close the DC writers would stick to the known backstory from the comic book pages, asking “Will they keep the character’s original name Seyg-El?” Answer: Yes, with a slight change in spelling to “Seg”. And “Will they bring in an Eddie Haskell neighbor as a young Zod?” Answer: Not quite, but the Zod family is going to be well represented in the series, which premiered this week with a pilot that should far surpass fan expectations. In fact Krypton’s production values, writing, and actors are so well put together the show has the potential to equal the DC Comics adaptations on the CW network, and ten minutes into the pilot it already seemed more grounded in the comic books than any of the DC movie adaptations going back to Superman II.
The previews for Krypton failed to convey the actual scope and solid space fantasy framework the series is built on (and the epic scope that goes beyond Superman lore, but more on that below). It looked like it was going to be like Marvel’s Inhumans–another odd, fringe fantasy show. So don’t let the trailers mislead you. The acting ranks are excellently cast–the show’s lead, British actor Cameron Cuffe, plays Seg-El. The actor is a bright, knowledgeable fan of Superman in his own right, as conveyed as the host of the after-show. Seg-El’s family grounds the series instantly with genre gravitas: first, Sherlock’s Rupert Graves plays his father, then Paula Malcomson–who portrayed moms in both The Hunger Games and Caprica–plays Seg’s mother, and General Dodonna himself, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,Horatio Hornblower, and Game of Thrones actor Ian McElhinney, plays Seg’s own grandfather. From the beginning the women take on a fierce role in the show, with the house of Zod represented in warrior Lyta Zod, played by show co-star Georgina Campbell (Black Mirror, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, Broadchurch). Ann Ogbomo, who portrayed an Amazon warrior in the big screen’s Wonder Woman and Justice League plays her mother, Jayna Zod. While fans are still on a fantasy superhero high from this year’s Black Panther movie, the military guild with the fierce Amazon-inspired Zod warrior-in-charge is well-timed.
The surprise from the pilot is how much Krypton seems to have the potential to be the next big Syfy series, like Battlestar Galactica came out of nowhere to reinvigorate science fiction television 15 years ago in 2003. The show pulls from several science fiction and space fantasy realms, but the space fantasy potential is most interesting, with Stargate, John Carter, Valerian, Riddick and more as possible inspiration. Pinar Toprak’s musical score, with appropriate John Williams Superman movie theme cues, has a pulsating Daft Punk Tron: Legacy vibe, with brightly neon-lit ships also borrowing some of that film’s more familiar visual elements. Add in the visuals you can find late artist Michael Turner’s Krypton and great costume styles from designers Varvara Avdyushko (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) and Bojana Nikitovic (Underworld: Blood Wars, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance). Story elements can be found in Logan’s Run, Flash Gordon,THX-1138. Even parallels to scenes from Batman’s backstory come into play. The story in the first episode plays like one of the better episodes of Star Trek’s Enterprise series, the J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot, incorporating the beginnings of political tangles like those in The Dead Zone.Krypton is also cool and cocky in its sets, style, writing, and acting, much like one of Syfy’s best recent series, Killjoys. As fulfilling as the CW Network’s worldview of the DC Universe has become with the Arrowverse, Krypton is different, with none of the pop culture reference-heavy chatter, or that soap opera vibe of Smallville. It’s a promising pilot–this looks like a most welcome Syfy channel space show.
Both were pulled from Special Forces units. Dakota Prentiss is an ex-Ranger. She’s tough, rough, crude, and been through it all. Then new worker Matt Salem is brought onto her security team. He’s ex-Navy SEAL and she can’t help falling for him, something she’s never quite had time for with her lifetime committed to always fulfilling the mission, and now she’s bound herself for life to a private corporation where you keep secrets or you die. In Nat Cassidy’s novelization of Mac Rogers’ dramatic podcast series, Steal the Stars, we get a first person account of bad choices that only get worse from Dakota aka “Dak” in a science fiction noir style that takes place on an Earth where corporations have gained far too much power and the CEO of one giant company has the power over life and death.
And it’s also a heist story. Dak determines the only way out of the mess she has gotten into by violating company fraternization policy with Matt is to steal the very thing her team is guarding–a UFO that crashed a decade ago and the alien inside that may or may not be dead–and sell these secrets to China. Dak is every bit the tough and in-charge leader like Hannah-John Kamen’s Dutch in the Syfy series Killjoys, including her ability for falling for the next guy who joins her team. The company follows rigorous protocols in their own variation on Warehouse 13 to maintain the safety of the UFO and its harp-shaped power drive, which they soon learn has power so great whoever controls it could control everything. The alien inside, called Moss for its slowly diminishing moss-like covering, simply stares off into nothing as if dead. But why does he still seem to have body heat?
Another entry from The X-Files? Sure. It’s also heavily influenced by other alien arrival stories, especially the most recent Oscar-winning film about first contact, 2016’s Arrival, with its focus on the process and set-up for quarantining such a discovery. Also a mash-up of They Live and Bonnie and Clyde and even Philip K. Dick’s short story “Paycheck,” Steal the Stars pulls bits and pieces of sci-fi from all angles to create a compelling read that will keep you onboard for all of its 416 pages.
Well it’s been one long year, with plenty to do and see, plenty of good and not-so-good to read and watch, and as with last year we’re certain we reviewed more content this year than ever before. This year was a big year for borgs in TV and film, so we had some difficult decisions to make. All year long we sifted through all that Hollywood had to offer and honed in on the genre TV, films, comics, and other books we thought were worth examining. We went back and looked at it all and pulled together our picks for our annual Best of the Best list.
Today we reveal the entire list–the best genre content of 2015–with our top categories Best Sci-Fi Fix, Best Fantasy Fix, Best Superhero Fix, Best Animated Fix, and Best Borg selected regardless of medium. A dozen properties garnered multiple mentions.
We hope you agree with many of these great creations of the entertainment industries, and wish everyone a great 2016!
Best Sci-Fi Fix – Killjoys (Syfy). Surprised? Killjoys pulled together great worldbuilding, characters and actors in a year of a dozen new sci-fi shows to provide us the closest thing to the next Firefly we’ve seen in a long time.
Best Fantasy Fix – Galavant (ABC); Runner-up The Librarians (TNT). It aired early in 2015 but nothing surpassed Galavant’s medieval high adventure and all-out Princess Bride-style fun.
Best Superhero Fix –The Flash (CW). Of all the Marvel movies and TV series from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to Agent Carter and from Arrow to Supergirl, nothing had us coming back for more each week like the superhero world in The Flash.
Best Animated Fix – Star Wars Rebels (DisneyXD). Compare it to Star Wars: The Force Awakens and see if you think this animated Star Wars galaxy had an even better story and characterization, along with the return of its own group of original trilogy actors, compelling visuals and rousing music.
Best Borg – Pops (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from Terminator Genisys(Paramount). Schwarzenegger created yet another borg that could stand up against his prior successful characters from the series. A cool, moving character in a big year for borgs on screen!
Best Borg Movie – Ex Machina (DNA Films). Incredible storytelling and a small cast of talented actors provided a classic science fiction story and Oscar-worthy film about our favorite subject.
Best Borg TV Series – Humans (AMC). On television the most in-depth look at life as a borg and among borgs has never been portrayed more dramatically than on this year’s surprise sci-fi hit series from AMC.
Best Kickass Genre TV Heroine – Liv Moore (Rose McIver), iZombie(CW); Honorable Mentions: Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen), Killjoys (Syfy); Helena (Tatiana Maslany), Orphan Black (BBC)
Want to know who we picked for best villain and best comic books of the year? Take a look after the cut…
The Renaissance of movie and TV tie-in action figures arrived in 2013 with Funko’s classic Kenner-style ReAction figure line. Other companies focus on single licensed figures and getting the likenesses spot-on, but Funko’s diversification of lines meant everyone could find something that fit their personal niche at an affordable price point. A true throwback series, one of the overlooked features of the line is the incredible variety of no-names-taken, classic kick-ass heroines represented.
In fact you can find here the top of the world’s best, in-your-face, take-no-prisoners, genre heroines. Buy them for yourself, for your friends, or get your favorite as a totem to inspire you each day from your desktop. And where the early sculpts in Funko’s line admittedly looked nothing like the actresses that made the roles famous, the new lines have only improved. And nobody has better packaging designs than the ReAction line.
Who would you add to the Funko roster of heroines? Compare your list to our more than 85 suggestions for future kick-ass women action figures below.
First, check out this Baker’s Dozen of our favorites in the current Funko pantheon:
Two new sci-fi series are coming your way this month with another to follow later in the year, all on the Syfy Channel. The Friday night line-up includes the mercenary show Killjoys and the psychological outer space thriller Dark Matter. A release date for the dark Them vs. Us series The Expanse has not yet been released.
In Killjoys, a Canadian production by Lost Girl writer Michelle Lovretta, three bounty hunters including genre and Syfy veteran Aaron Ashmore (Warehouse 13, Lost Girl, Smallville, Veronica Mars) chase their deadly targets across the galaxy in what looks to be a fun, Firefly style show.
Dark Matter, another Canadian production, features a six-person crew of a spacecraft who all had their memories wiped and must work together to learn why. The preview has this series looking like a darker version of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Conundrum,” where the crew was mind-wiped in order to use their technology to take sides in a battle between two warring factions. Look for genre veteran Roger E. Cross (Arrow, Orphan Black, The Returned, Eureka, 24, Star Trek Enterprise, The X-Files) as one of the stars of the show, and Lost Girl’s Zoie Palmer as “The Android.”
Based on the James S.A. Corey’s novelLeviathan Wakes, The Expanse stars Thomas Jane (The Punisher, Medium, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Grimm, 24), Steven Strait (Sky High), Cas Anvar (Lost, Leverage, Source Code, In Plain Sight), and Wes Chatham (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay). This series has a bit of an Aliens universe vibe. A spaceship crew finds a derelict vessel with secrets that could spell doom for the human race.
