Michelle Yeoh looks damn good in the captain's chair

Watch the new trailer for 'Star Trek: Discovery.'



In case missed it, fellow Trekkies, here's the newest trailer for Star Trek: Discovery, straight outta San Diego Comic-Con. The latest foray into the final frontier takes place ten years before The Original Series, following the voyages of Starfleet on their missions to discover new worlds and new lifeforms. The new trailer includes several shots of Michelle Yeoh as Captain Philippa Georgiou looking badass, doing badass stuff.

Take a look:

Michelle Yeoh is the Starship Captain We've Been Waiting For

Watch the new trailer for 'Star Trek: Discovery.'



Hell yes. Fellow Trekkies, rejoice. The first-look trailer for the new CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery has dropped, and the latest foray into the final frontier looks pretty damn awesome, not least because of one badass looking starship captain in the form of one Michelle Yeoh. MICHELLE FRICKIN YEOH.

The newest entry in the long-running sci-fi franchise, set ten years before the original series, follows "the voyages of Starfleet on their missions to discover new worlds and new lifeforms, and one Starfleet officer who must learn that to truly understand all things alien, you must first understand yourself."

That one Starfleet officer is Sonequa Martin-Green as First Officer Michael Burnham, who we see with Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou, captain of the USS Zhenzhou, in the opening moments of the trailer:

CTRL+ALT: A Culture Lab on Imagined Futures

Presented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, November 12-13



If you're in New York City, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center invites you Ctrl+Alt: A Culture Lab on Imagined Futures, featuring the work of 40+ artists and scholars exploring themes of imagined future, science fiction and future technology. It's happening November 12-13 at 477 Broadway in SOHO/Chinatown.

Here's a nifty trailer:

Speculative Visions: An Evening with Ted Chiang

Friday, July 15 at the Asian American Writers' Workshop.



Hey, New York City. The Asian American Writers' Workshop invites you to a special evening with one of the country's most prominent science fiction writers, Ted Chiang, the winner of four Nebula and four Huge Awards. The conversation will be moderated by Whiting Award winner Alice Sola Kim and introduced by Kirby Kim, Ted's literary agent at Janklow & Nesbit. It's happening Friday, July 15 at the Asian American Writers' Workshop.

Here are some more details:

Our first look at Scarlett Johansson in 'Ghost in the Shell'

And now the full whitewash cycle is complete.



So this is really happening, huh? Production has begun on DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures' live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, based on the classic manga series by Masamune Shirow. And here is your first look at Scarlett Johansson as the character they're calling "The Major." I guess they didn't have the guts to refer to her by the character's original name: Major Motoko Kusanagi.

And now the full whitewash cycle is complete.

According to the studio's press release, Ghost in the Shell follows the Major, "a special ops, one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid, who leads the elite task force Section 9. Devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, Section 9 is faced with an enemy whose singular goal is to wipe out Hanka Robotic's advancements in cyber technology."

'Paradise Lost' re-imagined as an epic sci-fi action tale

Watch EB Rhee's epic proof-of-concept short 'The Garden.'



Spaceships! Dinosaurs! Pretty people in peril! See it all in The Garden, a new sci-fi action short from writer/director EB Rhee, starring Jun Sung Kim and Sheetal Sheth. Described as a sci-fi re-imagining of the literary classic Paradise Lost, The Garden is about a group of explorers who, after learning that the sun is dying, set out into deep space in search of a new home for humanity.

Check it out:

See spaceships and dinosaurs in the teaser for 'The Garden'

Watch the epic 18-second trailer for the forthcoming sci-fi short.



Hmmm. Just got a mysterious video link passed along to me... Check out this cool-looking teaser trailer for a soon-to-be-released sci-fi short film called The Garden. I don't know who's making it, who's in it, or what it's about, but it appears to involve spaceships and dinosaurs and laser guns and special effects and pretty people in peril. And I like movies about all of those things.

If you've got 18 seconds of your day to spare, check it out:

'Advantageous' will be available on Netflix starting June 23

Watch the trailer for writer/director Jennifer Phang's indie sci-fi drama.



Mark your calendars. The excellent indie sci-fi drama feature Advantageous, from writer/director Jennifer Phang, will be available for streaming exclusively on Netflix starting on June 23.

Starring and co-written by Jacqueline Kim, and set in the near future, it's an intelligent, evocative dystopian tale about a mother who must make increasingly desperate sacrifices to ensure a future for her daughter. There are no alien invaders or exploding spaceships. Advantageous is an ambitious, feminist, thinking-person's science fiction story, teeming with challenging ideas and brought to life with a unique vision. I really liked it.

The film, which premiered at Sundance and won the festival's Special Jury Prize for Collaborative Vision, also stars James Urbaniak, Freya Adams, Ken Jeong, Jennifer Ehle and Samantha Kim.

Here's the trailer:

The Terminator is back... and he is Asian.

Lee Byung-hun stars as the sci-fi action franchise's latest cyborg villain.



"Come with me if you want to live!" Terminator: Genisys is the latest attempt to revive the blockbuster sci-fi action movie franchise. The freshly released trailer re-casts and brings back the series' familiar characters, but also adds a yet another new tangle to the doomsday narrative's twisted timeline.

Yes, Arnold is back. But now he's older, greying and one of the good guys. The big bad Terminator this time around? Korean superstar Lee Byung-Hun (last seen in RED 2 and G.I. Joe: Retaliation) as the all-new lean mean liquid metal killing machine. Whaaaaaaat. Take a look:

Unidentified available on DVD, VOD and Digital Download

Indie found-footage sci-fi thriller comedy about a Vegas trip gone wrong



Hey, movie fans. If you're looking for something a little offbeat, I point you in the direction of the indie found-footage sci-fi/thriller/comedy Unidentified, about a trip to Vegas gone inexplicably very very very wrong.

Written and directed by Jason R. Miller, and starring Parry Shen, Colton Dunn, Eddie Mui and Eric Attell, the movie mixes science fiction, suspense and laughs to create a unique, crazy take on an otherworldly encounter. Our friends Parry and Eddie also put in double duty as producers on the project.

The movie is now available on DVD, Video On Demand and Digital Download -- iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, XBox, YouTube, Google Play -- pretty much wherever and however you prefer to watch.

Want to win an Unidentified prize pack? Scroll down for details on how to enter. But first, here's the trailer:

Fund This: Advantageous, a sci-fi feature by Jennifer Phang

Advantageous, directed by Jennifer Phang and co-written with actor Jacqueline Kim, is a new sci-fi feature about a mother and daughter struggling to survive together in 2041. Originally conceived as a short film for the ITVS mini-narrative series Futurestates, they're making it into a feature, and are currently in the home stretch of a Kickstarter campaign to make it happen. Can you help?

The story concerns Gwen, a spokeswoman for a cutting-edge biotech firm, who considers a dangerous, breakthrough technology that is the only hope for a better life for her daughter. The story takes place at a tipping point in artificial intelligence and neuroscience and speculates on the impact of a *singularity on the future of the lives of women and girls. Watch this video for more information on the project:

Sulu will bring balance to The Force.

George Takei is indeed the one who will bring balance to warring factions of the sci-fi fan universe. Today on Facebook, the veteran Star Trek actor announced that he'll be starring in the highly anticipated new Star Wars movie. Here's some more information from Mr. Sulu himself:

Writer Ken Liu is a triple nominee for the Nebula Awards

Cool news. Writer Ken Liu, who became the first author to win all of science fiction's three major honors -- the Hugo, the Nebula and the World Fantasy Award -- for his short story "The Paper Menagerie," is a triple nominee for this year's recently announced Nebula Awards: 2012 Nebula Awards Nominees Announced.

The Nebula Awards are presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Liu is nominated for best novella ("All the Flavors"), best novelette ("The Waves") and best short story ("The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species"). Winners will be announced at the Forty-Eighth Nebula Awards Weekend in May.

He's definitely a rising sci-fi talent. View the full list of current nominees here. For further information about Ken Liu and his work, visit his website. You can also follow his updates on Twitter. (Thanks, Christopher.)

ted chiang's "story of your life" to be adapted into movie

Some movie news... Just read about an upcoming feature film in the works, Story of Your Life, based on the award-winning science fiction short story by noted author Ted Chiang: Shawn Levy-Produced 'Story of My Life' Finds Financing, Nic Mathieu Directing.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Nic Mathieu will direct the big screen science fiction flick, financed and produced by FilmNation and Lava Bear Films.

The script, adapted by Eric Heisserer, is described as a "mind-bending sci-fi thriller with a powerful emotional twist," and involves alien visitors and language translators and stuff:

ken liu's "the paper menagerie" wins top sci-fi awards

Writer Ken Liu became the first author to win the Hugo, the Nebula and the World Fantasy Award -- science fiction's three major honors -- for his 2011 fantasy short story "The Paper Menagerie." I just read it. Consider me a new fan.

Originally published last year in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, the heartbreaking story is about a boy, the son of an American man and his Chinese mail-order bride, who grows up feeling alienated because he's different. The mother speaks little English, but she has the gift to blow life into her origami animals. The tale is magical... and very sad.

io9 recently posted the story in its entirety: Read Ken Liu's amazing story that swept the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards.

justin lin producing/directing hibernation and subdivision

More Justin Lin movie projects! The director of Fast Five and Better Luck Tomorrow is attached to direct and produce the sci-fi thriller Hibernation: Justin Lin to Direct Sci-Fi Thriller 'Hibernation.'

The details of Hibernation's plot are being kept under wraps, but according to producer Troy Craig Poon, it's a "dynamic futuristic thriller." Cool.

News also recently broke that Justin will produce the sci-fi comedy Subdivision through his Universal Pictures-based production company Barnstorm Pictures: Universal, Justin Lin team on 'Subdivision.'

So I've lost count. How many movies is Justin attached to produce or direct? He's currently hard at work shooting the sixth Fast and Furious movie (which looks pretty damn awesome), in addition to several other projects: