Author: kane2026

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Computer Games

Shadow of the Tomb Raider set for September 14th on PC Xbox One and PS4

Shadow of the Tomb Raider Coinciding with today’s release of the Tomb Raider movie Square Enix has released a teaser for the third game – Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The game is set for a September 14th and will cap off the trilogy known as the ‘third era’. This era started in 2013 with Tomb Raider and received a much lauded sequel in 2016 with Rise of the Tomb Raider. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was rumored to be in production since 2016 when a developer was spotted working on a presentation on a train. Since then we only got...

The Last Jedi novelization cover - Jason Fry

Literature

The Last Jedi novelization review – a decent effort by Jason Fry

The Last Jedi novelization review The Last Jedi is set for a home release soon. Next week it will be available as a digital download on Disney Movies Anywhere and on March 27th on Blu-Ray and DVD. This week however saw the release of the official novelization written by Jason Fry. Normally I am not a big fan of novelization. But as The Last Jedi ran for two and half hours and was not without controversy I sought an alternative adaptation. The dark side, and the light There is both good and bad with this novelization. The good is the...

Sara Serraiocco as Baldwin Counterpart

TV-series

Counterpart – the new spy thriller starring J.K. Simmons and Sara Serraiocco

Counterpart I have been meaning to write about Counterpart for some time. The spy thriller from Starz starring J.K. Simmons has been on air since December, though I only learned about after reading up on Berlin Station. Like that show Counterpart is set in Berlin – with filming also taking place in L.A. At first I didn’t know what to make of this show. J.K. Simmons is a wonderful actor but aged 63 and wearing a cap in the trailer I almost wrote this off as a slow-moving drama. After watching the first two episodes I was wrong about that – Counterpart...

Black Panther movie

Film

Black Panther Review – Ryan Coogler succeeds with Afrofuturism

Black Panther Review Finally fans of Black Panther get the movie they always wanted. Personally I knew little about the character before his introduction into the MCU with Captain America Civil War. However, just like with Spider-Man it was a hugely successful introduction. Chadwick Boseman played the role of Crown Prince T’Challa (and then King) with charm, depth and elusiveness that endeared. Black Panther tells the story of what happened after the events of Civil War, after the death of T’Challa’s father – T’Chaka – at the hands of Helmut Zemo. Wakanda has been referenced before – notably in Age of Ultron as...

Stargate Origins - Paul Langford with Brucke and Eva Reinhardt

TV-series

Stargate Origins episode 1 to 3 – An underwhelming return for the Stargate franchise

Stargate Origins I tend to write about thing that I like. Rarely do I see need the need for a bad review of a movie, series or game. I probably would not watch or play it if it was bad. I love Stargate, from when I saw the original movie, to SG-1 and onwards. However, I do not like Stargate Origins. In fact I hesitate to call it a show at all. So far just 3 of the 10 webisodes have been released on MGM’s “Stargate Command” subscription service. Each is around 10 minutes long. Sadly, the show does not manage...

Star Trek Discovery - The Enterprise

TV-series

Star Trek Discovery S01E15 Will You Take My Hand? Review – Finale achieves mixed results

Will You Take My Hand? After last week’s episode of Discovery saw the beginning of the end for Starfleet and the Federation the series has set the stage for the finale. While it cannot match all of my expectations it is a decent episode in its own right. The episode starts with the show doing the right think – putting former emperor Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) in command of the Discovery. A number of the bridge crew are shaken by the curt and unethical orders they receive – especially Saru, but they make their way to Qo’noS. The mission is to lay the groundwork for...

Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds Review

Literature

Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds Review – The Maestro of SF revisits the Glitter Band

Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds Review Another year and thus another Alastair Reynolds novel is released. Well, strictly speaking, we did not get a novel in 2017 – but we got two in 2016 (Revenger and The Medusa Chronicles). And Elysium Fire was released in January. So its not all bad – right? Elysium Fire is the direct sequel to Aurora Rising, a standalone novel set in the Revelation Space universe released in 2007. These two novels exist quite separately from the larger RS-verse. They are set in the Glitter Band – a world of thousands of the habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone in...

Altered Carbon - Joel Kinnaman as Takeshi Kovacs

TV-series

Altered Carbon Review – Netflix strikes out with a Hardboiled Cyberpunk Marvel

Altered Carbon Review Netflix’s new show Altered Carbon is one I have been looking forward for some time. The show is an adaptation of the novel with the same from author Richard K. Morgan. Altered Carbon’s best description is as a ‘hardboiled’ cyberpunk story. Show creator Laeta Kalogridis has created what in essence is Blade Runner for the small screen. A worthy successor to a little known TV show from the 90s called Total Recall 2070. In fact, comparing Altered Carbon with either of those would underplay the terrifying depiction of a dystopian world, the special effects, storylines and sardonic humor. Despite ticking...

Film

Most Anticipated Sci-Fi Movies (2018 and beyond) – from Mute, to Dune to Neuromancer

Most Anticipated Sci-Fi Movies 2017 was among the best years for Science Fiction at the cinema. With movies such as The Last Jedi, Blade Runner 2049 and Logan. But what ‘great’ sci-fi movies can we look forward to from this point on. Below I have a compiled a list of movies that are in one stage of development or another. Some, such as Mute and Solo are practically finished while others such as Dune have only been announced. So here is the list of most anticipated sci-fi movies – in no particular order. Mute When director Duncan Jones released his...

The X-Files S11E04 The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat - Doctor They

TV-series

The X-Files S11E04 “The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat” Review

The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat This week’s episode of The X-Files was totally not what I expected. In fact, I am not sure that I fully understand it. It is aptly named “The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat” after the conspiracy-theorist-of-the-week. This episode has a fair share of absurdist humor common to X-Files, and it might be a little bit confusing at times. Nonetheless the episode is worth viewing twice just so you get it. It starts familiarly enough. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) meets a man named Reggie in parking garage. Their meet was arranged using the same method Mulder used...

Literature

Dark State by Charles Stross Review – Jaunting back into the Empire Games

Dark State Before reading Empire Games last year I had never read a book in the Merchant Princess series by Charles Stross. Empire Games is the first in a new trilogy that would not require prior knowledge. I certainly did not regret reading it. I have been looking forward to the second novel – Dark State – ever since. A small recap The Merchant Princess is set in a alternative universe in which certain people can travel to parallel worlds. It is called jaunting or world-walking. Such people are members of The Clan and the novels set before Empire Games dealt with their...

Sherlock Holmes

Literature

Read my Sherlock Holmes short story on FanFiction.net

Sherlock Holmes on FanFiction.net Fans of Sherlock Holmes can read a short story I wrote on FanFiction.net (follow the link to the story). I just uploaded Sherlock Holmes The adventure of the Second Woman Who Wasn’t. And so I cannot be certain others can read it straight away. It is a Science Fiction story with background references to Neural Networks and crime solving computer systems. I had been wanting to do a Sherlock Holmes story for a while. At first I considered combining it with Star Trek (a lot of Trekkies are Holmes fans too). However, the story is instead set in the...

Franzis Retro Aracde Kit

Computer Games

Franzis Retro Arcade Kit – tinkering with old-school Pong through the New Year

Franzis Retro Arcade Kit During the Christmas holidays I was in Berlin. There I visited the famous Dussmann bookstore – 4 stories worth of books, Blu-ray’s, trinkets and electronic kits. The latter surprised me and I could not resist picking up a small DIY Pong Retro Arcade kit. It is essentially a long title for a kit that allows you to put together your own small 70s console that plays Pong. At 29.99 euros I decided not to look this horse in the mouth. It is produced by a company called Franzis, but an older version of the kit is...

A Happy New Year from SciFiEmpire.net

Computer Games / DVD / Film / Literature / TV-series

A Happy 2018 from SciFiEmpire.net, your website for all Sci-Fi news

A Happy 2018 from SciFiEmpire.net I want to wish every reader of SciFiEmpire.net a Happy 2018. I think it will be easier this year. Last year we had just lost Carrie Fisher and her mother and the election of Donald Trump was weighing on the minds of a lot of people. Yet, since then things have changed considerably. Looking back on 2017 And so 2017 has also come and gone. As I am growing older it feels like the years are passing by more quickly. Well, what a year 2017 has been. Donald Trump was in the news more often than...

Solo A Star Wars Story poster

Film

Preview of 2018 Science Fiction Movies with Solo, Jurassic World and many more

Preview of 2018 Science Fiction Movies 2017 was probably one of the best years in science fiction film – maybe ever. With movies such as Blade Runner 2049, The Last Jedi and Logan spoiling us with quality and controversy. But there was plenty more: Thor Ragnarok, Alien: Covenant, War for the Planet of the Apes and Valerian. Looking back it was just too much. But the question is. Can 2018 emulate that list? The short answer is no as there is no Blade Runner movie set for 2018. Also the Han Solo movie is not part of the sequel trilogy. So what...

TV-series

Wishing you a happy Christmas, from SciFiEmpire.net

Wishing you a happy Christmas, from SciFiEmpire.net Christmas is here and so the year is also nearly over. As the author of SciFiEmpire.net I have been wishing readers a happy Christmas for a few years now. Except last year when I was on hiatus. However, the days before the holidays always make me think back to what has been going on in my life. When I wrote a similar Christmas post in 2015 I had just started a new job (and since I have started a new one) and I has just seen The Force Awakens at the cinema. Thus...