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Star Wars Series Ahsoka: Teaser Trailer

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Happy Star Wars Day!

Disney seems quite happy to churn out Star Wars miniseries for streaming. The latest newcomer is Ahsoka. Here’s a teaser trailer from April:

Ahsoka | Teaser Trailer | Disney+ by StarWars on YouTube

Ahsoka Tano seems an interesting character, and Rosario Dawson does a great job with her. I’m also delighted to see more of Genevieve O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma; she’s astounding in Andor. The character of Baylan is completely new to me, but Ray Stevenson I know from a few things (HBO’s Rome series, the Divergent trilogy, and the Thor movies); wonderful to see him get some Star Wars fame, too.

Otherwise it’s difficult to say what the series will be like. I recognize the name Thrawn, but since I barely follow the franchise outside the nine movies, that doesn’t say anything to me (except “obviously bad guy”).

The significant thing seems to be the amount of female characters in the trailer. I’m struggling to think of another SFFnal tv series with this many foregrounded women. Awesome! I do hope that the writing will be nuanced and actors are given lots of character details to play, just like in Andor. (That’s my quality metric for Star Wars series for sure.)

Ahsoka will premier in August 2023.

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Teaser Trailer for The Marvels Has Space Kittens!

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A new Captain Marvel movie is now in sight. The Marvels entangles the lives and powers of Kamala Khan, Monica Rambeau, and Carol Danvers, and a teaser trailer shows what’s in store:

Marvel Studios’ The Marvels | Teaser Trailer by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

Starts with an intriguing sight, doesn’t it—a huge space station on Earth’s orbit! Can’t say I recognize S.A.B.E.R., but it does sound like there should be a connection to S.W.O.R.D., right? I hope we get more info on both organizations. And what is this jump point? It looks to be worryingly close to Earth.

Speaking of worrying, I really, really hope they’ve toned down the character of Kamala Khan. We tried the series Ms. Marvel but had to stop after the first episode, having barely made it through that. (Basically hoping that it would change before long. It didn’t.)

Obviously Khan’s actor Iman Vellani is doing a great job, if she can raise such a visceral reaction, but I seriously don’t want to spend two+ hours with that git of a girl. (I guess I’m officially an old fart now.)

I am looking forward to more Brie Larson and Teyonah Parris; I like both very much in their roles. Thank goodness for a trio of protagonists. And space travel, plus possibly a litter of flerken kittens? How amazing would that be! Also, I don’t think Samuel L. Jackson could be bad if he tried.

At this writing, The Marvels is expected November 10, 2023.

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Creatures Trailer and Final Trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

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Paramount Pictures is trying to drum up interest for their D&D movie with a short creatures video and a final trailer.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves | Meet The Creatures (2023 Movie) by Paramount Pictures on YouTube

Clearly by creatures they really mean monsters. The big fish-like critter at the 4-5 second mark interests me most, because it’s the least media sexy and I can’t think of what it could be. Or why they’d include it! But I could’ve done without the brain monsters, though—urgh, blech.

The final trailer really sounds like a puff piece, though:

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves | Final Trailer (2023 Movie) by Paramount Pictures on YouTube

I’m perfectly willing to be entertained by a D&D movie that turns out to be better than my expectations, but “Best movie of the year”? Please.

More exciting is the 3-minute “Let the Games Begin” clip:

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves | Let the Games Begin Clip (2023 Movie) by Paramount Pictures on YouTube

That’s more like it, even if it doesn’t tell us why our intrepid adventurers end up on the arena, let alone competing with at least two other groups.

Looks like Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves opens today, if it already hasn’t in your neck of the woods. I really hope it’s at least a little good.

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Trailers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

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Tomorrow is the release day for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Here are the official trailers.

Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania | Official Trailer by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania | New Trailer by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

Whoa—looks dire and a bit horrible. Messing with quantum stuff can have potential for all sorts of catastrophes, yes, but I didn’t quite expect a timeline-rewriting plot of an Ant-Man movie.

Grown-up Cassie seems a great character, though, and if we find out more about Janet Van Dyne that’s wonderful, too. Come to think of it, I don’t think Hank Pym said a single word in either trailer, which is surprising.

I gather that Kang the Conquerer is going to be a round for quite a while. I hope actor Jonathan Majors does a better job with the character than the hammy clips we were served so far seem so imply (and given that trailers always lie, it’s likely).

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Second Trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

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A brand-new trailer is out for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves!

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves | NEW Trailer (2023 Movie) by Paramount Pictures on YouTube

We’re not seeing much new plotwise, just some beefed-up scenes from the first trailer. Glimpses of the Red Wizards and the orifice are on par with the typical medieval-inspired D&D worlds, but WHAT ON EARTH is going on with that broomhead wall?!?

Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves Screencap House

The roof looks properly thatched, but I have serious doubts of the durability of the facade. There’s obviously plenty of timber available in this area of the world for framing the house with, so the little detail above the door must be decorative. Perhaps there wasn’t quite enough to do the whole outer wall? Or the straw is there for easy repairs?? The original builders blew all of their money on framing and had to make do for cladding???

Anyway, if a trailer commentary can be so easily stolen by funky set design, the question arises whether the trailer in question really did fulfil its function or not… I hope we’ll get another, better one before the release day.

According to IMDB, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is now expected on April 07, 2023, but the trailer still says “this March”, so go figure.

Image: screencap from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

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Living Vicariously Through Social Media: Eagle-Winged Northern Lights

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The Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest is hosted by National Maritime Museum, part of the Royal Museums Greenwich in Britain. In 2022, the competition was run for the 14th time. This shortlisted photo by Alexander Stepanenko didn’t win the award for auroae, as astounding as it is:

Colossal Alexander Stepanenko Winged Aurora orig Sm

Stepanenko’s shot was taken in Murmansk, Murmansk Oblast, Russia, and was highly commended by the jury.

Spectacular, isn’t it? As a Finn who grew up two hours south of the Arctic Circle, I’ve seen my share of northern lights, but never this, hm, I guess curvy is the right word. I know they undulate and can therefore make fancier shapes; I’ve only managed to see them fairly linear, though, or curving over quite a large swath of the sky, just like I haven’t seen any purple or yellow ones myself.

Come to think of it, there is a thin lining of white and purple at the right edge of this aurora. Wow! Is it any wonder that natural scenes like these have lead the earlier hominids and humans to think of magic and gods?

Image by Alexander Stepanenko, found via Colossal.

Out There highlights intriguing art, places, phenomena, flora, and fauna.

First trailer for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

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The first trailer for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is out!

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny | Official Trailer by Lucasfilm on YouTube

It’s still hard or impossible to say what the story is about. De-aging Harrison Ford looks impressive, from what we can see. But yay, more archaeology fan fiction with our favorite grumpy professor!

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Living in the Science-Fictional Now: Flying Cars Are Closer than Ever

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Flying cars have been dreamed of as long as cars have been around. If certain projects or companies are to be believed, flying cars will actually become available soon. For certain values of soon, anyway, and for certain values of car.

Current designs are as varied as the propulsion technologies and terminologies: flying cars, hovercars, gyrocopters, passenger drones, quadcopters, VTOL aircraft, eVTOL, maglev cars, personal air vehicles… Whatever you call them, aircraft that look less like airplanes and more like other small personal vehicles do seem be closer than ever to everyday reality.

Klein Vision AirCar in Flight Sm

For example, Volocopter’s air taxis have been demonstrated in Singapore (2019). The Dutch PAL-V Liberty gyroplane has not only test flown (2012) but also been approved for road use in Europe (2022). The AirCar by Klein Vision (pictured above) has completed a test flight between two cities(!) in Slovakia (2021) and received a certificate of airworthiness from the Slovak Transport Authority (2022). Reportedly, recent projects are also ongoing in Turkey and China. And, related to flying cars, a smart city and tourist destination being built in northwestern Saudi Arabia—dubbed Neom—has been planned for rail traffic and air taxis according to some reports.

Now, I’d assume all of the above is predicated on plentiful energy. How P*tin’s attempted extortion of Europe’s energy market (which has wider ripple effects, I’m sure) affects the development of flying cars will remain uncertain for some time yet.

I have to say, if flying cars do become common enough to be relatively easily available, I am tempted to get a pilot’s license (whatever kind might be required)—if I’m not too old by that time. (Planes are too high a hurdle, but small personal vehicles might just do for me.)

As a linguist, though, I’m mostly engaged with the question of a handy everyday name. That, too, is likely to be wrangled over at least as much as the technology side of their development.

Image: AirCar by Klein Vision

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Namor Featurette for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

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The U.S. release day for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is tomorrow! To keep the hype up, Marvel has published a short featurette on Namor:

Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Namor by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

Looks cool, even if it tells me less than I’d like. (If I ever read any comics with Namor as a kid, I’ve blissfully forgotten.) It does look like Angela Bassett’s Queen Ramonda has a larger part to play in BP:WF. That’s great; I’ve liked her a lot ever since I saw her in Strange Days. (OMG, that was in 1995!)

We two are really busy right now, but if lucky, we might be able to slip in to see BP:WF already today. (For some weird reason, in Finland the release of large international productions often happens a few days before the American one.) Definitely some time during the opening weekend, though!

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The Second Trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

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The second official and likely final trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now out:

Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Official Trailer by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

(Phew! I’m growing quite disillusioned with the current fad of making splashy trailers that tell you very little about the story. The cutting is fast, action even faster, and if anything is revealed of the characters it’s piecemeal or prosaic, reducing the characters to a gimmic each. But I digress.)

We do get a little more tidbits in this second trailer. Looks like Wakanda is attacked, but at least I can’t tell if it’s random western soldiers or Namor’s troops. (Or both???) A new character to me is Riri Williams / Ironheart. She’s wearing some sort of a power suit based on the Iron Man suit—which means that the two people in the world wearing those kinds of suits are both black, doesn’t it? Cool!

The former Queen Ramonda seems to be at the U.N. (approx. at the 1:23 mark), but what is she arguing for? Attacking Atlantis??? Finally, we do see the new Black Panther jump from a great height and land (with the kinetic energy of the fall being stored in the suit, of course). Clearly it’s a female figure—Shuri, from the general shape, maybe? And was that Nakia I saw with gorgeous, long hair?

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever releases on November 11, 2022. So soon! 🙂

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