Come with us as we boldly go where we haven’t gone before — our inaugural daily sci-fi news roundup. The biggest event in the sci-fi TV world this weekend is naturally Jodie Whittaker’s final Doctor Who episode, except we’re now learning that the actress has already put measures in place to ensure she’ll return to the TARDIS before too long. Meanwhile, Star Trek fans find something to love in one of the franchise’s worst entries. In the words of Captain Christopher Pike, hit it!
Jodie Whittaker is determined not to ditch Doctor Who forever
The Thirteenth Doctor won’t be off our screens for long if Jodie Whittaker gets her way. The outgoing actress has admitted that she would be “devastated” if she doesn’t get the opportunity to return to the Whoniverse in the next couple of years. So much so that she’s already reached out to incoming showrunner Russell T. Davies to let him know she’ll jump back into the fray whenever he calls. Can we expect her appearance as part of next year’s 60th-anniversary celebrations? Who knows?
Star Trek fans lead an insurrection and try to redeem the reputation of a critically mauled movie
1998’s Star Trek: Insurrection is no one’s favorite Trek movie, as its meager 55% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and even weaker 44% audience score attests to. And yet fans have decided to resurrect its reputation by discussing its alleged good qualities. A roster of Redditors looked through their rose-tinted glasses to praise Insurrection for feeling more authentically like The Next Generation than most of the other Picard and co. films, even if it does lack the pop of the best of what Trek has to offer.
E.T. icon reflects on the box office battle of two of the biggest sci-fi movies ever
Summer 1982 just happened to see two of the finest sci-fi movies of all time, let alone that decade, face off against each other at the box office — and they came from the same studio. To celebrate its 40th anniversary, E.T. star Henry Thomas has reflected on how the Steven Spielberg favorite trounced John Carpenter’s seminal The Thing remake, alleging that Universal actually thought the latter film was a surer bet and E.T. was a bit of a risk, even though that was the one that ended up phoning home with a ton of cash.
Streaming Spotlight: Dwayne Johnson rocks back into the charts with big, dumb video game blockbuster
With Dwayne Johnson back in theaters this weekend in DC’s Black Adam, it’s no surprise that streaming audiences are revisiting another blockbuster of dubious quality starring The Rock. Namely, Rampage, the 2018 video game movie features the mega-star teaming up with a giant albino gorilla to stop two other mutated beasties from destroying Chicago. In other words, Shakespeare this ain’t, but that hasn’t stopped Rampage from racing up the streaming charts right now, as folks hunger for more Rock ‘n’ roll action.
Beam back here tomorrow, Starfleet peeps, for another sci-fi news roundup.