Last summer, we got our first glimpse of Apple TV's hotly anticipated adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series of novels when Apple released a teaser trailer during the 2020 Worldwide Developers Conference. Production on the new show, which stars Jared Harris and Lee Pace, shut down last March due to the pandemic, but filming resumed last October. No official air date besides "late 2021" has surfaced, but there are a few tantalizing extra glimpses in the streaming platform's new summer (and beyond) preview trailer, per the eagle eye of The Spaceshipper on Twitter.

Mild spoilers for the first book in the Foundation series below.)

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The series started as eight short stories by Asimov that appeared in Astounding Magazine between 1942 and early 1950. Those stories were inspired in part by Edward Gibbons' History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and the first four were collected, along with a new introductory story, and published as Foundation in 1951. The next pair of stories became Foundation and Empire (1952), and the final two stories appeared in 1953's Second Foundation. Asimov's publishers eventually convinced him to continue the series, starting with two sequels: Foundation's Edge (1982) and Foundation and Earth (1986). Next came a pair of prequels: Prelude to Foundation (1988) and Forward the Foundation (1993), the latter published posthumously (Asimov died in 1992).

The original trilogy centered on mathematician Hari Seldon, who has developed a mathematical approach to sociology that he calls "psychohistory." Psychohistory enables him to predict the future of large populations—like the Galactic Empire, which incorporates all inhabitants of the Milky Way. Unfortunately, Seldon's theory predicts an imminent collapse of the empire—well, in 500 years, which is certainly imminent on galactic time scales. This will usher in a Dark Age lasting 30,000 years, after which a second empire will arise. The news is not received well by the members of the Committee on Public Safety, who essentially rule the empire, and Seldon is forced to stand trial for treason, along with a brilliant young mathematical protégé named Gaal. //

In his defense, Seldon argues that he cannot stop the collapse, but there is a way to limit those Dark Ages to just 1,000 years. He proposes creating a Foundation, a group of the most intelligent minds in the empire, charged with preserving all human knowledge in the Encyclopedia Galactica. Rather than executing Seldon, the committee decides to exile him, along with the members of the new Foundation, to a remote world called Terminus, where they can begin compiling the encyclopedia. Much of the first book in the trilogy follows the establishment of the colony on Terminus and the various political machinations that shape its early history, along with a startling revelation: unbeknownst to the committee, Seldon has established a second Foundation at the other end of the galaxy.

We don't yet know how much of this history will be included in the TV adaptation or how closely the show's narrative will follow the books.

Ars is excited to be hosting this online debut of Sunspring, a short science fiction film that's not entirely what it seems. It's about three people living in a weird future, possibly on a space station, probably in a love triangle. You know it's the future because H (played with neurotic gravity by Silicon Valley's Thomas Middleditch) is wearing a shiny gold jacket, H2 (Elisabeth Gray) is playing with computers, and C (Humphrey Ker) announces that he has to "go to the skull" before sticking his face into a bunch of green lights. It sounds like your typical sci-fi B-movie, complete with an incoherent plot. Except Sunspring isn't the product of Hollywood hacks—it was written entirely by an AI. To be specific, it was authored by a recurrent neural network called long short-term memory, or LSTM for short. At least, that's what we'd call it. The AI named itself Benjamin.

On Sunday, January 23, 1957, a large American audience gathered around their television sets to watch the weekly episode of Disneyland, a popular show created and hosted by Walt Disney in return for an investment from ABC that he used to build Disneyland. On that evening, the audience was treated to a compressed course in atomic physics and science history titled “Our Friend, The Atom.”

The show’s narrator, Heinz Haber, was a knowledgable, respected nuclear scientist. With the help of the professional storytellers and animators who worked for Walt Disney, he wove a fascinating, informative tale that compared the discovery of atomic energy to the fable from The Arabian Nights titled The Fisherman and the Genie (some translations use the title “The Fisherman and the Demon”).

When directors and producers set out to make a movie, it’s easy to envision they have this perfect idea in their head from the beginning, and that idea is what moviegoers eventually see on the big screen. But that’s just not how the creative process works. From beginning to end, changes both big and small are happening as the finished movie is coming together. This happens most often on the cutting room floor where entire scenes are edited out, but it also happens during filming, when unplanned moments come to light. In these cases, it’s usually the actors who are making slight tweaks to their planned lines. Usually, the director yells “Cut!” after hearing this and informs the actor just to read the line as given. But there are times when the improvised line is so perfectly suited for the moment, it makes the entire scene (and film) better. These famous lines not in the script were simply too good for the director to cut from the film.

An optimist’s dreams of an atom-powered future. //

There’s one thing I’m certain “Walt Disney” doesn’t make you think of: nuclear power.

But maybe it should.

It may surprise you to know that Walt Disney dreamed of an atom-powered future. And he wasn’t alone. //

But Walt Disney didn’t just dream. If there was one thing that made him successful in life, it was his belief that you could make your dreams come true. This belief culminated in plans to power his new Disney World Florida megaproject with its own nuclear reactor. He even got permission to build one.

Walt Disney died in 1966 before Disney World was complete, and somewhere along the way the plans for a small nuclear reactor were abandoned. //

Evidence of Disney’s atomic dreams is still visible today: the original concept of Disney’s Tommorowland parks was to showcase nuclear technology. Perhaps the greatest example of Disney’s nuclear legacy is the educational movie, titled Our Friend, the Atom, commissioned in 1957 by Mr Walt Disney himself (there is also an accompanying book).

The movie is incredibly positive about the future of nuclear power, predicting that nuclear will displace dirty fossil fuels as the way we produce electricity but also as a means to power our ships, planes and rockets (you could say Disney predicted ‘deep decarbonization’ with nuclear).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PwllA-CyJU

The 1998 movie “Saving Private Ryan” is one of the all-time great war movies. While much of the movie is a fictional account, the premise behind Capt. Miller’s mission is based on a true story. That is the story of the Niland brothers — Edward, Preston, Robert, and Frederick — from Tonawanda, New York.

The two middle brothers inspiring the “Private Ryan” film, Preston and Robert, had enlisted prior to the beginning of the War. After America entered the war the oldest, Edward, and youngest, Frederick, known as Fritz to his friends, joined up in November 1942. //

When the War Department received word of the tragedy orders were dispatched to return Fritz Niland to the United States. That task fell to the regimental Chaplin, Father Francis Sampson. Sampson located Fritz, who had been searching for his brother in the 82nd and began to paperwork to send him home.

Returning to the United States in 1944, Fritz served for the remainder of the war as an MP in New York.

Saving Private Ryan is one of the most epic World War II movies ever created. These behind the scenes facts give insight into its production. //

Saving Private Ryan opens with an intense D-Day battle sequence with the allied forces storming Normandy beach under a hail of bullets and mortars. It is one of the biggest battle scenes of WWII ever done in movies and it took more shooting days than anyone can imagine.

While speaking with NBC News, Spielberg revealed, “It took us 25 days of shooting to capture 25 minutes of those landings.” As you can imagine, the sequence was expensive too. Mark Huffman, the movie’s associate producer, revealed to the Irish Independent (via Esquire) that the scene cost around $12 million to make. //

Since much of the cast were portraying soldiers, Spielberg thought it was only right they undergo some military training. While speaking with Roger Ebert, Spielberg said that the boot camp was necessary to familiarize the cast with weapons. At the same time, the director explained, “I wanted them to respect what it was like to be a soldier.” //

However, Matt Damon reportedly did not undergo training. It was thought it would help the cast build up some resentment for the actor, which would translate to a more authentic portrayal of their characters, onscreen.

The fire is roaring and hot cocoa is almost ready. Here’s how to navigate all the endless streaming services to see these 25 beloved Christmas classics.

The Aerial, first and foremost, is a silent movie. It came out in 2007 but looks like the classic sci-fi films of cinema's infancy, like Metropolis or A Trip to the Moon. It depicts a nameless city where the populace has lost the ability to speak, instead communicating in subtitles that appear in the air around them. The only person with a voice is the mysterious television host La Voz.

The plot follows a young girl named Ana and her family as they encounter a conspiracy to use La Voz's voice as a deadly weapon and fight to stop it using her young son, who inherited her ability to speak. "They can take our voice, but they can't take our words," Ana's father says. That becomes the thesis statement of the entire work.

The joy in The Aerial is how it revives the experimental form that film took when it was brand new. Practical effects are combined with film cutouts and exposures to create a movie where every shot feels new and revolutionary. It comes as no surprise that the director, Esteban Sapir, is primarily a cinematographer. He throws every filmmaking trick that exists at The Aerial, all without relying on CGI to create something after the fact.

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl also offers a fun spin on what it means to be a hero. Max didn't need physical powers to aid in the defeat of Mr. Electric, and he returns from his fantastical journey left him ready to face the issues in his own life — or at least make peace with them. In this way, the film includes a dose of truth to go with its candy-colored reverie.

This isn't to say that Sharkboy and Lavagirl is the best you’ll find on Netflix — it’s not. However, its visuals look a whole lot better without the 3D glasses that were all the rage back then. The film is also unabashedly mushy and boosted by some decent performances, valuable life lessons, and a theatrical adventure that is well worth the watch despite some questionable special effects.

Now, Nick’s directed a new documentary film on faith, how the nation was founded, and what we can do to secure our freedoms today, “America, America, God Shed His Grace On Thee.”

“America, America…” weaves its story with the help of a constellation of voices, not just Nick Searcy’s. The film does that with many conservative stars, including Pres. Trump’s Housing and Urban Development secretary and former GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. Louis Gohmert, former Breitbart News editor-at-large and Daily Wire founder and editor in chief Ben Shapiro, former New Left activist and author David Horowitz, Rush Limbaugh’s radio show wingman, Bo Snerdley, Salem Media Group radio host Dennis Prager, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece, Alveda King, actor and documentary director Dean Cain, and — on a somewhat bittersweet note — contains the final interview given by the late, great Herman Cain.

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'Challenger: The Final Flight' successfully tackles the anticipation, tragedy, and recovery involving the defining national event of a generation. //

“It was a totally clear sky…it was ‘Mars to CAVU,’ as we used to say, ‘clear and visibility unlimited.’ It was just a beautiful day,” recounts William Harwood, the longtime Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International. “It was just very cold.”

On Jan. 28, 1986, after crews had finished scrapping off hundreds of giant icicles that had formed the night before, and following two days of scrubbed launches, the 25th flight of the United States Space Shuttle Program was finally cleared to go.

Onboard the shuttle Challenger were astronauts Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, Francis Richard Scobee, Michael Smith, payload specialist Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe — a social studies teacher hailing from Concord High School in New Hampshire and set to be the first civilian in space.

Unknown to the crew of the Challenger, it would be the last mission of the spacecraft. Just 73 seconds into the flight, at an altitude of approximately 46,000 feet, it was over.

They were all gone.

Comprising four episodes and a combined three hours, Netflix’s new documentary, “Challenger: The Final Flight,” successfully tackles the anticipation, tragedy, and recovery involving one of the defining events of national mourning between the assassination of J.F.K. and 9/11.

In a period where much of the output from Hollywood is either uninspired or, conversely, overburdened — and frequently ruined — by the desire to shock audiences by being overly brazen or bizarre, in many respects, what Abrams and his team have produced feels akin to their source material: the product of a bygone era.

True, the cinematography benefits from the latest digital technology, and the score feels more nuanced and authentic than something that would have been composed a generation earlier, but everything else about the production feels refreshingly familiar, albeit with a 2020 up-gloss. //

Ultimately, “Challenger: The Final Fight” is an incredibly pro-life documentary; not in the sense of being anti-abortion, but in the authentic and moving ways it pays tribute to the seven lives that were lost that cold January day 34 years ago. At the end of the miniseries, few viewers will be lamenting the $3.2 billion cost of the disaster — they’ll be left saddened, sore, and shaking their heads at the wholly unnecessary deaths of the brave Americans who boarded the final flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

This eco-documentary takes a harsh look at how the environmental movement has lost the battle through well-meaning but disastrous choices. //

Planet of the Humans’ faced a coordinated suppression campaign led by professional climate activists backed by the same ‘green’ billionaires, Wall Street investors, industry insiders & big foundations skewered in the film.

The Outpost movie is based on the true story of one of the most difficult days for the US Army in Afghanistan when a small installation with only 50 troops was nearly overrun during an attack by 500 Taliban.

Here are six pirate movies that should satisfy the skeptics as much as the would-be swashbucklers.

To celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day we’ve put together this great list of the best pirate movies for kids. //

Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19th! “What is Talk Like a Pirate Day?” you ask? Well, it’s a holiday that two guys from Oregon made up just for fun, but it caught on and is now celebrated by the masses. You can do as little as wear a pirate-inspired accessory for the day or say “Arrr, mateys!” a few times, or you can go all out in full pirate garb and even change your Facebook language to pirate!

Kids can get in on the fun too. After school, have a piratey movie night (or afternoon) with some fun themed snacks and a flick from this list of our top 16 best pirate movies for kids!

Most time-travel movies use some sort of mechanical device/machine and are a big part of the Sci-Fi genre, but there are some movies that don't include any science fiction elements, they could be using the mind, accidental, or some time loop/rip in time. The following movies involve time travel, but they are not considered Sci-Fi genre according to IMDb. Which one do you think is the best?
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring