This clip is joined by a Google Hangout that’s taking place starting at 1pm PDT / 4pm EDT and going forward into the afternoon. This Google+ Hangout holds the heads of the film, Hood and Orci, speaking to select members of the public as well as the star of the film Asa Butterfield. This actor portrays Ender in the film which will be released on the 1st of November this year.

Ender’s Game has also seen the start of a viral campaign that will be ushering in information about the plot and the environment which will hold the characters of this science fiction story. This story takes place in the future, a future where a single alien invasion has set our Earth on high alert, allowing a single government system to keep sway over the citizens of our planet while they train children to become future military leaders. These children – Ender included – are part of a future era of humanity in which kids have the potential to become genius-level thinkers in their adolescence.

The film stars Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, and Sir Ben Kingsley amongst many new entrants into the major motion picture world. This film is the first official adaptation of the Orson Scott Card novel Ender’s Game, a book which was born of a short science fiction tale told in the pages of Analog Science Fiction and Fact.

Have a peek at SlashGear’s brief timeline of events that’ve recently lead up to this release and be prepared for a flow of information the likes of which we’ve not seen since Prometheus.

The International Fleet Sentinel is a faux-publication being shown through the micro-blogging website Tumblr. There you’ll find a series of five portals that bring information about the story through blurbs written from the perspective of the space army that is the International Fleet and the world government, graphics included. The first of these is a Mission Statement.

UPDATE: The first full-length Ender’s Game movie trailer has been released – have a peek at it and discuss without end!

Series: Mission Statement of the International Fleet

It’s here that the International Fleet lets Earth know that it remains at the center of the “single, harmonious government” preparing for a potential second global invasion by aliens that were defeated by Mazer Rackham in the distant past. Readers of the book know that this posturing is done for more than just the benefit of the citizens of the Earth’s confidence in their leadership.

“Lucky for us, every human being has preparation on their mind,” reports I.F. Major Gerald Stacks, special negotiations envoy to the nations of Earth. “The leadership of humanity must prioritize interstellar readiness and, to support that, total global cohesion.”

This theme seems to be getting pushed harder than it is in the original book. Perhaps we’ll see more of a “big government crush” than we do in the original storyline. And hopefully more of Peter and Valentine.

Next Leader Recruitment

The application process for Battle School is not that unlike joining the Navy here in the present, only it’s not the recruit that signs away their future, it’s their parents. Gifted children are what Battle School will be pushing through to end up in I.F. Tactical and the Strategic Training Academy.

“There is no greater pride for parents than to see their children achieve greatness, and there is no greater achievement than to protect the survival of our race. The I.F. Tactical and Strategic Training Academies are training tomorrow’s brightest leaders and greatest public servants. Our world needs heroes. Your children are our brightest hope.

These exclusive academies provide a safe place for gifted children to refine their focus and learn the necessary skills to lead our planet in the impending intergalactic war. Prepare our world for the future and prepare your child for greatness today.

Does your child have what it takes? Could your child be the next Mazer Rackham? Apply to the I.F. through your local recruiting office to discuss your child’s government sponsored education.”

Of course these kids wont remain children as such for long. As the story tells us and as we can expect from the film, Battle School gives no mercy to the future battle-hardened members of the military, not for size, not for ability, not at any level. Through this mercilessness, Ender will become more powerful than the coddled child he was on Earth.

Here you’ll see the first teaser for the film, a seconds-long set of mini-clips also making way for the first full-length trailer coming up later today.

Developing a Strategic Mind

Here you’ll find information about the Battle School, where Ender and other future geniuses are sent to develop and become great leaders. It’s not in every plotline that a group of children are given such regard. Here though, the IF has recognized the power of the children of this future generation and will be making full use of it.

Looking Back at the Great Invasion

Setting the viewer up for an understanding of why everyone is so flustered about aliens in the movie, this bit tells of the former great leader of the military in Mazer Rackham. This fellow is, in the story, a major hero and one looked up to as history’s most prominent savior of the human race. The victory he commanded allowed the “Great Invasion” to be stopped and preparations to begin for the next wave of alien opponents.

Thirds

A plot element used in the Ender’s Game story used to single out Ender and prepare him to be a major military leader for the future of the human race. This Thirds announcement lets the world know that though overpopulation has regulated society at large to have only two children per couple of parents lest a special exception be made. Ender is, of course, part of a very special situation, as we’ll find throughout the story.

What the audience will find in this push for the film is an advertisement for an Audi vehicle stocked with infotainment system, light-up bits and pieces, and a presentation that makes Leonard Nimoy’s ride look like a bit of a joke. Of course that’s the point, as the new age – with Quinto, aka Spock from the newest series of Star Trek movies – makes way as the old – Leonard Nimoy, stays cool.

You’ll find Nimoy making reference after reference not just to Star Trek in more form than one, but to his own professional (read: odd) past as well. For an extended period of his vehicle trip in this video he sings a new rendition of the classic “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins”, a song which he sang for a variety show in 1967 by he name of Malibu U. Because we live in an age where all things digital can be preserved, you’ll be treated to this epic masterpiece as well, right this minute.

Please mind the 60′s pixie women, if you can. Zachary Quinto meanwhile stays par for the course, ready to appear as Spock for the film Star Trek Into Darkness later this month – on the 17th of May, mind you. It’s also rumored that Quinto will be returning to the most terrifying television show of all for another season soon: American Horror Story. Can’t be too silly for that one.

What you’re going to see here is a major spoiler in the form of a character appearing that, if you’re a fan of the book, you’ll remember isn’t supposed to appear outside of flash-backs and memories. Here he’s shown in the form of Ben Kingsley with a name tag making his role in the movie plain as day. If you’ve never read the book and don’t plan on it, this appearance won’t affect your movie viewing (unless you happen to remember his name when you begin your viewing experience.)

UPDATE: The first full-length trailer has arrived! Have a look!

The rest of the trailer is full of quick flashes of major plot devices like the Battle School and the Battle Room it contains. There you’ll see the big screen’s interpretation of “stars” inside the Battle Room, Flash Suits, and even a recreation of one of the most entertaining moments in the book. What we must assume is that this is Bean, a character that shadows Ender throughout the book and here uses a thin cord to out-maneuver the enemy in a game at the school.

“When the gate opened, all they could see was a large brown star only fifteen feet away, completely blocking their view of the enemy’s gate.

Ender didn’t pause. “Bean, give yourself fifty feet of rope and go around the star.” Bean and his four soldiers dropped through the gate and in a moment Bean was launched sideways away from the star. The rope snapped taut, and Bean flew forward. As the rope was stopped by each edge of the star in turn, his arc became tighter and his speed greater, until when he hit the wall only a few feet away from the gate he was barely able to control his rebound to end up behind the star. But he immediately moved all his arms and legs so that those waiting inside the gate would know that the enemy hadn’t flashed him anywhere.” – Hatrack, from Ender’s Game original story from August 1977 issue of Analog

Have a peek at the timeline below to see other recent sneak peaks, leaks, and straight up teasers from Ender’s Game the movie and follow SlashGear’s entertainment portal for more information on this film as it approaches this winter. The movie itself comes out on the first of November, but given the amount of teaser material we’ve seen thus far, there’ll certainly be a massive amount of buildup between here and there.

Roddenberry Entertainment and Wikia have announced a partnership to launch an online community portal called the Trek Initiative. The Initiative plans to give the millions of Star Trek fans around the world the place to talk and learn more about everything having to do with the Star Trek series and universe. The platform will also give fans a place to share local community projects and view exclusive content.

When the new Track The portal launches, it will have lots of Roddenberry content including a recording of a commencement speech that Gene Roddenberry gave in 1976. That particular speech spans 55 min. and during the speech, Roddenberry discussed the future of the human species and more. The portal will also offer fans images that haven’t been seen before from Gene Roddenberry’s personal life and from the set of various Star Trek movies and television episodes.

Gene Roddenberry’s son, Rod Roddenberry, also promises to offer blog content for the site giving insight into the motivations behind the Trek Initiative and to give fans perspective from inside the family. The Trek Initiative will also serve as a gateway for all sorts of Star Trek content on the web offering links to various Star Trek websites.

[via Trek Initiative]

The setup for the release at hand has had its stage set by a series of three devices from Acer, each of them appearing in the home for this campaign: Explore Beyond Limits (dot com). This site has several wallpapers with a Star Trek theme and also shows the Acer Iconia W510, Aspire S7, and Aspire V5 Touch. With these three devices in mind, the trailer for Star Trek (with Acer device inside) should have you wondering what the future holds.

The notebook in the trailer above will once again be taking the touch-friendly interface created by Microsoft’s Windows 8 to an ever-so-slightly different place than Acer has gone before. From what we’re seeing here, this notebook will be coming with extended drag fins (or bumpers below the back of the bottom of the base), as well as a display that lifts up beyond the average limit of a notebook’s face.

It would appear that this machine’s touchscreen display and top hood lift up and turn back on a second hinge, allowing the entire notebook to become something that looks similar to the hero spaceship in the Star Trek movies and original Star Trek television show. This machine will have the capabilities of a tablet, a notebook, and some sort of in-between oddity, without a doubt.

This video also adds an interesting twist to the release schedule for Star Trek Into Darkness – let us know if you’re finding this particular push pleasing to your science fiction-loving mind, or if you prefer the regular plain-old trailer set instead?

What you’re about to read may make you cry – it’s riddled with what you might consider spoilers, or what you might consider near-spoilers that simply take the film to a new level of “must see” in your mind. The first big item revealed in the trailer released this week is the fact that the ship you’ve seen crash-landing into the water in previous trailers is, indeed, the Enterprise.

What you’ll find here is the markings of the one and only NCC-1701 A herself plummeting toward the planet Earth. You’ll also see the ship having gone into battle against our newest enemy, finding a much larger ship with essentially the same build facing off against the Enterprise, and that ship rising from the water after its crash. So you know the whole plot by now, right?

This film will be released in just under a month’s time and there, at last, you’ll find yourself seeing the full truth. Have a peek at our Star Trek tag portal for more information on the Star Trek Into Darkness release and stay tuned for the final drop!

LucasArts created a collection of games over the past couple of decades including such mega-hits as X-Wing vs TIE Fighter and Dark Forces and some relatively lesser-known titles that will effectively fizzle. According to a statement provided by Game Informer, layoffs are imminent, if not already in-effect.

“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.” – Disney

Reports today suggest that every single one of LucasArts remaining 150 employees have been laid off this month. This is the last wave, it would seem, of a series of layoffs that span back several years. According to Ars Technica, LucasArts employees numbered closer to 500 back in the mid-2000s. This also isn’t the beginning of LucasFilm’s LucasArts licensing out the rights to games without in-house development.

• Star Wars: The Old Republic – Bioware
• Star Wars: Battlefront – Pandemic
• Lego Star Wars – Travellers Tales

Though it’s always difficult to report news of layoffs in any of the industries we report on, this information can be seen as a positive force for those interested in the further adventures of the characters inside the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and several other LucasArts title universe. Though we’ve not heard specifically about anything beyond Star Wars titles at the moment, we’re certainly all for developers from all over the wide world of gaming taking their crack at A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away!

What you’re seeing in this poster (and it’s enlarged vision below) is, oddly, an illustration of what we’ll see in the movie theater. While this sort of thing is certainly not unheard of, (see: every single Star Wars movie), it is the first time that this particular movie has had a teaser that wasn’t an on-set photo. What we’ve got here is a battle school student – we’ll assume it’s Ender himself – standing in front of a new vision for the Battle Room in the Battle School where he’ll spend most of the film.

What you’ll notice here as a fan of the book is the major differences between the written word and this visual representation, starting with the transparency of the whole thing. While in the book we had to assume that the walls were either black or metallic gray, here they appear to be perfectly see-through, with the Earth shining brightly behind. This makes a whole lot of sense, of course, since these kids are, indeed, training to be battling in space – not in a darkened room.

The “stars” (aka the boxes) appear to be very much the objects written about in the book, and the Flash Suits look just as excellent as they did when we saw them in earlier previews of this film. You’ll see our first look at Flash Guns as well as the way the students will be blasting their way through one of the most important elements of the story – the game.

This film has been given a new synopsis in the last few weeks as well, mind you:

In the near future, a hostile alien race called the Formics have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young minds to find the future Mazer.

Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy but strategically brilliant boy, is recruited to join the elite. Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult challenges and simulations, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Mazer Rackham himself to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.

Based on the best-selling, award winning novel, ENDER’S GAME is an epic adventure which stars Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, with Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford.

Make sure you check this fabulous futuristic epic out on November 1st at a theater near you – and keep your eyes peeled as more website teasers like http://if-sentinel.com/ appear. Hot stuff!

[via Ender's Ansible]

Netflix has announced that it has a new science fiction series in the works called Sense8. The science fiction TV series will come in late 2014 from Georgeville Television. The television series marks the first time that the Wachowskis have ventured into the world of television programming.

Most science fiction fans will recognize the Wachowskis from The Matrix trilogy and other movies they have directed. Another important member of the Sense8 team is J. Michael Stracynski, who is the creator of the popular science fiction TV series Babylon 5 as well as other films such as Thor. The first season of the series will have 10 episodes.

At this point Netflix isn’t offering much detail on the science fiction series. Although the official press release says is that Sense8 is “a gripping global tale of minds linked and souls hunted.” I wonder if Netflix will offer all 10 episodes of the first season at the same time as it has for some of its other original programs.

[via Netflix]

Of course with such plot elements finding their way into the trailer itself, we must assume that Wolverine’s trip to Japan happens rather early in the movie. With the man finding his love in Jean Gray lost in a crumpled photo and and reborn in the woman you Wolverine buffs might recognize, he’s brought to the land of the blood red sun where we’ll certainly be seeing some rather emotional moments. No worries though, there’ll be plenty of sword fighting to be had.

When you dive into the Wolverine story archives, you find a massively expansive timeline and versions of the truth – in the comics, that is. If you’re talking about the film series, we’ve still got a lot of questions about how everything in Logan’s life will have happened – and will happen in the future. With this movie it would appear that those with the rights to the Wolverine name have decided that he’ll survive well beyond the lives of his X-Men pals – we’re not expecting many, if any, crossovers here in this installment.

This may well make for a less-than exciting set of battles in future X-Men-centric films – at least for this particular character. What fun is it if we know he survives?

This film will be hitting theaters in July – this international trailer reveals that internationally you’ll be grabbing your seat on July 26th! Have a heart and see Wolverine chop his way to mortality courtesy of a man with a fabulous set of magical science skills this summer – and let us know how it goes!

The new Doctor Who experience will roll out on March 27, which is tomorrow. The new PlayStation Home experience will give gamers a chance to go deeper into the world of Doctor Who and will allow fans to interact with iconic elements of the series. Players will be able to explore and customize environments as well as watch content from the popular series in a social atmosphere.

Fans of the series will be able to enjoy features based on the show’s most popular characters and scenery including the Eleventh Doctor and River Song costumes. The content also includes a TARDIS-themed private space and clubhouse. Fans can also visit a Doctor Who-themed LOOT Space Station Theater to enjoy additional video content from BBC Worldwide and shop for Doctor Who items real and virtual.

The new PlayStation Home content is part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Doctor Who television series. Sony also promises that additional Doctor Who themed virtual goods, environments, and social experiences will be added to PlayStation Home throughout the year. Check out the video below to get a sneak peak at some of the content that will be coming to PlayStation Home.

[via BBC Worldwide]

If you’re a fan of the original Star Trek television series, you’ll perhaps have been guessing at the idea that the antagonist for this film was going to be Khan. The man who launched a thousand memes. But consider this: we’re in a completely alternate timeline now – an alternate dimension, if you wish – where the Enterprise crew hasn’t necessarily even found the frozen crew of ultra-beings from whens Khan came.

Does that rule out the idea that Khan will make another appearance here in this film? Not necessarily. But it’s much more likely that the team behind this installment of the Star Trek franchise will opt for another brand new enemy to our best buddies Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and the rest. Here we’ll quite likely find that Benedict Cumberbatch – the actor you’re seeing acting quite mean in this and the other trailers – ends up being a brand new character altogether.

Fun Fact: you’ll also see Peter Weller standing up about 35 seconds into the trailer. That’s Robocop, just so you’re aware. He was also in several episodes of the television show Star Trek: Enterprise as a Terran supremacist – certainly not reprising that role here.

Have a peek at our timeline of Star Trek excellence below and get ready for the big jump – May 16th Internationally and May 17th here in the USA!

So, click on the door on the left, and you’ll find Marvin the paranoid android waiting, while the “Don’t Panic” control calls up a brief Babel Fish animation. Adams addressed the problem of thousands of interplanetary languages in his most famous book with a living translator, resembling a fish, that when inserted into the ear could convert any speech to something the wearer would understand.

Hitchhiker’s Guide isn’t the only work of Adams’ to be referenced, however. The cup of tea is a nod to the Dirk Gently series, for instance, more specifically the second novel, The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul.

Adams died in 2001, having not only written best-selling novels but Doctor Who scripts, and was known for his love of technology as well as his staunch atheism which earned him a dedication from notorious biologist and God-arguer Richard Dawkins. There’s more on Adams at his Wikipedia page.

As it was with the Army logos shared earlier this week, so too has this image been shared exclusively with the likes of fan sites like Ender’s Ansible. What the Ansible has done is to go through pre-release and pick out the goodies involved in the image which we’ll also be speaking about here – in addition to our own insights as well, of course. The first thing you’ll notice is Ender (played by Asa Butterfield) on the right speaking with Petra Arkanian (played by Hailee Steinfeld) on the left.

These two characters are central to the storyline, with Ender appearing from start to finish and Petra playing a big part in Ender’s journey through the battle school. Behind them in the mess hall you’ll notice a big digital screen with a couple of army logos on it (Rat and Asp). This board appears throughout the story in relation to the Battle Room games the students play in the battle school. There’s a ranking for each student both inside their army and in relation to the rest of the school, and each battle is shown with army vs army scores on the big board immediately following a match.

The scoreboard also shows that one of two things is possible. Either there aren’t nearly as many people in a battle in the book as there are in the book, or they’re simply showing 8 team members at a time instead of all at once. It may make more sense to have fewer students battling at once rather than the 40+ on each team the book speaks of simply because so many characters are easily lost on the big screen.

You can also see statistics of the battles taking place on either side, with variables being shown regarding full body freezes, partial outs, and all that good stuff – not up close and clear yet, but there’s really nothing else all that junk on the right and left could be. To the immediate left or right of the army logos up on the screen you’ll also see some health bars (or point bars) being shown for a battle currently in-progress. It may be that the center circle is showing the battle virtually as its taking place as well – the red and blue lines represent the army’s gates.

Some of the other characters you’ll see in this still are:
• Commander Pol Slattery of Leopard Army (played by Cameron Gaskins) in the far upper-right.
• Dink Meeker of Salamander Army (played by Khylin Rhambo) by Ender’s right arm.
• Bonzo Madrid of Salamander Army (played by Moises Arias) two spaces to the left of Petra.

NOTE: It is pointedly odd that these two commanders would be in the mess hall at this point in the story as there’s a Commander’s mess hall separate from the rest of the army members. It may be that this separation is done away with in the movie altogether.

The person in the yellow suit on the left is likely in the employ of the battle school. You’ll see a similar suit in the first photo shown to the public (seen below) with Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff. It could also be that the yellow suit is a Flash Suit, or the first layer of one. A Flash Suit is a special outfit a student wears when they enter the Battle Room, there freezing any part of their body that’s hit by one of the flash guns used in the game.

And that’s it! There are a few more teeny-tiny color marks in the background on people’s shoulders that might reveal other team logos, but we can’t be too sure. Teal and red are what we’re seeing, though Rat is also red – perhaps a member of Rat that’s out with a broken leg.

For those of you wishing to see the full-sized version of this image, just have a click in the smaller gallery below – it’s massive! Stay tuned to SlashGear for more Ender’s Game movie madness all the way to November – hit up our Entertainment tag portal for more information and posts galore!

The Ender’s Game movie will be released on November 1st, 2013, and all the way up until then we’re expecting tips and leaks like these to be spread across the internet like a fine fan-friendly butter. This is a great way to go about promoting the film especially since it’s the first time fans of the science fiction text will have ever seen an “official” set of graphics for their beloved story – not counting the comics, in this case. Each of these logos is officially licensed by the film studios and production companies involved.

The logos you’re seeing here play important bits of storyline in the book and what we expect the final storyline in the movie to show as well. With Ender starting with an extremely short stint in Rat Army, we’re seeing that and the army he eventually takes control of as well as another he was a part of – Dragon and Salamander! Asp – on the other hand – is included in “the Authorized Ender Companion” by Jake Black – a text you may own.

Have a peek at each of the logos above and below, clicking each of the images in the gallery below to see them full-size. Let us know if you’re pumped up about Ender’s Game and if you’re going to see the film when it’s out later this year – you know good and well that we’ll be covering this movie right through opening weekend!

Note also that the logos were distributed to Ender’s Game fansites as follows: Ender’s Ansible with Rat, Ender’s Game Fan Site with Asp, Ender News with Dragon, and EnderWiggin.net with Salamander. Gotta catch em all! You’ll be able to follow SlashGear’s coverage of Ender’s Game through the future inside our Summit Entertainment tag portal as well as our Entertainment tag portal – be there!

Thanks for the tip, Darian!

The restoration took place by none other than The Time Machine Restoration Team. The DeLorean was carefully refined to the condition it was in during the filming of the first movie. And yes, in case you were wondering, it does contain the flux capacitor powered by plutonium. This is one of three different cars that were created for the movies.

As you can probably guess, the other cars were designated “B” and “C.” The Hero A car is called such because it was the vehicle filmed with the actors, according to BTTF. The “B” car, meanwhile, was used for stunts and effects, while the “C” car had the tamest purpose of them all, being used for interior shots. The “A” car, however, saw the most action, starring in all three films, as well as other productions related to the movies.

Like many actors beyond their movie-making heyday, the car was eventually relegated to an ordinary day job as a theme park attraction, where it spent two decades slowly breaking down, having only gone through one small change during this time. It was a short film promotion by Nike, however, that brought the “A” car back from retirement, prompting its eventual restoration.

[via BTTF]

This is similar to what the X-Men franchise did with the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie. The tip on the standalone films comes from Disney CEO Bob Iger. He said that Disney was working on a “few stand-alone films.” He didn’t offer any specifics, but rumors suggest that the first standalone film would focus on Yoda.

Work on the standalone movie is said to be progressing alongside the new Star Wars trilogy. The first installment of that new trilogy will be directed by JJ Abrams, and is due out in 2015. The standalone films are reportedly expected between 2015 and 2021 and are being written by Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg.

The first Star Wars film we can expect from Disney will be written by Michael Ardnt, who wrote Toy Story 3 and Little Miss Sunshine. Iger noted that Disney plans to make Star Wars 7, 8, and 9 over a roughly 6-year. He said there would be a few other films released during that period. Star Wars fans may or may not know that Kasdan worked on the scripts for the original trilogy including The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

[via BBC]

This movie will follow the plot of the original Ender’s Game full novel in a loose sort of way, with those familiar with the project letting it be known that “none” of the scenes will be exactly spot-on with their original source material. It’s more of a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy sort of situation, it would seem, with each different iteration of the Ender’s Game universe being its own unique vision.

The news about James Horner comes from the publication Film Music Reporter where they’ve also made clear that Horner has completed work (very recently) on his score for the upcoming Romeo & Juliet film by Carlo Carlei. Ender’s Game is set to be an entirely different beast with young children going to take part in war games that will ultimately decide the fate of the human race. Romeo & Juliet is a bit more romantic than all of that.

Horner will likely push the film to a place somewhere in-between Avatar and Aliens with a dash of humanity as this tale makes the case for a genius boy (Ender, played here by Asa Butterfield), being molded into a beast of a wartime leader. The music will more than likely be wholly instrumental as this movie takes place both in space and in the future, mainly inside a training facility where pop music dare not tread.

Stay tuned to SlashGear’s Entertainment tag portal for more information on Ender’s Game as it becomes available through the next few months – we’re looking at a November 1st 2013 release date and the timing seems to be holding fast!

Interestingly enough, the Qualcomm technology we’re using here in this app isn’t limited to the Qualcomm processor you may or may not have in your smartphone or tablet device. Instead its built in to the app itself, allowing you to use the app on essentially any iOS or Android device you’ve got on hand. This app takes you diving directly into the Star Trek universe with a selection of media bits you unlock yourself, each available right out of the box or revealed at a later date as we drive closer to the final release of the movie itself.

The original announcement of this app took place back on January 7th at CES 2013 where Qualcomm’s CEO Paul E Jacobs made it clear that the company here demonstrates the ability to “harness the power of the smartphone to bridge the digital and physical world” with Gimbal! In addition to collecting images with your smart device’s camera, you’ll be playing sounds with your computer that your smartphone hears and recognizes and actually moving out into the real world (outside your office or home) to find the full collection of locks.

This app uses a geofencing function that has you heading to specific GPS-based lock points – and the Star Trek Into Darkness movie itself down the line. This app currently brings a series of photos and video to the viewer that they’d otherwise (for the most part) be able to grab online if they know where to look – but the finding of everything is fun, and the content can be used as wallpapers, lock screens, and more, and it’s all sized appropriate to the device you’ve got on hand – iPhone 5 for us here in this test.

The real reason you’re going to want to download this app is to stay up to date on Star Trek Into Darkness news straight from the source and to attain exclusive opportunities you wont be able to get anywhere else. You can get this app right this minute for free from the iTunes App Store or the Google Play App Store by heading to the Star Trek Movie website right this minute. You can also simply search for “Star Trek App” and poof! There it will be – believe it or not!

Star Trek Into Darkness will be released to theaters in May 17th, 2013, and you’ll be blown away by everything inside it. Without a doubt. Stay tuned to our Star Trek tag portal for more information and news updates galore up until and through that time too!

The confirmation for Ant-Man came back in 2012, technically, with Marvel’s Kevin Feige confirming again with MTV this week that Ant-Man will only be made if director Edgar Wright can make it. And lucky you, this legendary man behind Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is indeed signed on for the Ant-Man movie for release in 2014. The Ant-Man movie being the only one of the “3rd” generation of Marvel movies at the moment, Feige was asked what characters would be up next.

Confirming two things at once, Feige noted that, “you probably don’t have to look too far to guess” at which characters will be coming in the next wave of films, this referring to the Avengers-specific corner of the Marvel Comics universe. He went on to know that “Doctor Strange, which I’ve been talking about for years, is definitely one of them.” He also added a quick note about how “Guardians of the Galaxy” will be just as “totally different from anything else we have [done]” as Doctor Strange will be and as Ant-Man eventually will be as well.

What we’re expecting with Ant-Man and Doctor Strange is a couple of films (or, again, perhaps just one together, no matter how wild that would be), in which we’re in the Marvel Comics Universe, but we’re not necessarily on The Hulk’s doorstep. When each of the new phases of the individual Avengers characters come forth over the next two years and the Avengers 2 movie appears in 2015, we’ll quite likely be seeing both of these characters hinted at, if not seen in their first appearances entirely.

Have a peek at our brief timeline of Avengers-centric updates in the timeline below and make sure you hit up our Marvel Comics tag portal as well as our Entertainment tag portal to stay up to date on the finest movie and entertainment action launching forth from the comics industry through the future!

[via The Verge]

What Chief Communications Officer Lt. Uhura represented to the world back when Star Trek’s original television show was originally on the air was a strong, black, female presence on the bridge. The bridge being up front and center of the Enterprise, the spaceship around which the entire show centered. As StarTalkRadio host Niel deGrasse Tyson recounts:

“The original Star Trek series was created, as many of you know, by Gene Roddenberry and was groundbreaking on many fronts. For me the most important feature of that show was that the deck of the starship Enterprise was international. Lieutenant Uhura herself represented – again this is the future – the United States of Africa. Not only was she there but there was representation from Asia, from Europe, from the Americans, and even planet Vulcan – of course, in the guise of Spock.

The point is, if you were a science fiction fan of the day, and you viewed how authors and producers portrayed the future, it was a future that did not include people of color. A really frightening prospect if you happened to have been a person of color.

And now comes the series of Star Trek, and you see a woman who is dignified, who has poise, who is not somebody’s maid, and who is in fact an educated communications officer of the deck of the starship Enterprise. And is fourth in command, by the way. And your vision of the future can change overnight.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson

Speaking about her aspirations for being a stage actress and ultimately hitting Broadway with her skills as a dancer and a singer as well, Nichols made it clear that she originally planned to only be on the show for a short while. At the end of the first season, in fact, she handed in her resignation to Roddenberry, who tried to convince her that her part was “more than just a role” and with choice words such as “don’t you see what I’m trying to do here” he implored that she take the weekend to think about her decision.

The weekend in question, Nichols was a celebrity guest (that Saturday night) at an NAACP fundraiser in Beverly Hills, California. This was 1967, by the way, right after the first season of Star Trek had completed filming. Nichols recounts what happened after she’d been formally greeted by the crowd:

“Just as I’m getting seated and getting ready to turn to the other celebrities, one of the promoters walked up from behind and said ‘Miss Nichols, sorry to bother you’, I said ‘no problem’, and he said ‘well there’s someone who wants to meet you, and he says’s he’s your greatest fan.’ And I’m smiling and I say ‘of course’ and I’m getting up to turn and say ‘where is he?’ and he says ‘right over here.’ And I’m thinking it’s a Trekker, you know, maybe it’s a child, maybe a little man – someone that just wants to congratulate me.

And so, delighted, I turn, and I see this man across the room with this brilliant smile – which you didn’t often see on his face. And I remember thinking to myself ‘whoever this little Trekker is, they’re going to have to wait, because this is my leader’ – Dr. Martin Luther King walking towards me with a smile on his face. And I never met the man, you know, this like I’m starting to tremble.

And he walks to me with this smile, he says – and puts his hand on my shoulder and says, ‘Miss Nichols, I am your greatest fan.’ I thought – ‘what an incredible moment.’ I just, was flabbergasted. And he begins to speak about my role on television, and the power of Star Trek, and how important it is.

In the meantime, for the first time in my life, I had no words to say. I could speak anyway, I’m shaking in front of this man. And he is saying how important Star Trek is to the future. That this man who has written this, who has produced this, has seen the future – and we are there, because you are there.

He said “you have one of the most important roles. This is a first. It’s non-stereotypical, it’s brilliance, it’s beauty, and it’s intelligence. And you do it with warmth and grace.”

And I’m just standing there watching him and listening to him, and I’m thinking the only visions I’ve seen of this man, really, are nightly on the news with marching, and black people in the south, marching and demanding their rights to sit at a lunch counter. And having fire hoses turns on them, attack dogs turn on them, men, women, and children, and this man leading them and marching and the face of all this. Being arrested.

Every night I ever saw him I said, ‘they’re gonna kill him. It wont happen past this time.’ But it did, and so he became this power, of hope. And here I am playing this character – that I’m going to give up – and I said to him, ‘Dr. King thank you so much, I’m going to miss my co-stars’ – before I could say ‘because’, he said ‘what are you talking about?’ And I said, ‘I’ve just told Gene that I’m leaving the show after the first season. Because I’ve received’ – and he said ‘you cannot.’

My mouth just dropped, and he said, ‘you cannot leave. Do you understand, it has been heavenly ordained. This is God’s gift, and onus for you. You have changed the face of television. Forever. Because this is not a black role, it is not a female role – anyone can fill that role.’ He said, ‘it can be filled by a woman of any color, a man of any color, it can be filled by another Klingon or an alien.’ He said, ‘this is a unique role and a unique point in time that breathes the life of what we are marching for: equality.’ He says, ‘besides, you’re Chief Communications Officer, you’re fourth in command!’

I’m thinking, ‘nobody told me that.’ He knows Star Trek is built on the Air Force, on the rankings, so he knew the rank. And he said, ‘you have no idea the esteem that we hold for you.’ And I start shivering. And I’m just looking at him, and my mouth was quivering. And he said, ‘Nichelle, you have no idea the power of television. This man has shown us, in the 23rd century, this man has created a reality. And because it’s in the 23rd century and you are Chief Communications Officer – 4th in command on a starship on a 5 year mission going where no man or woman has gone before. It means that what we are doing today is just the beginning of where we’re going.’

‘You cannot leave,’ and then he smiles again, and says ‘besides, Star Trek is the only show that my wife Coretta and I allow our children to stay up late and watch. And Nichelle, I can’t go back and tell them this, because you are their hero.’” – Nichelle Nichols

Needless to say, Nichols went back to Roddenberry and asked to stay with the show. She recounted the words King had spoken to her to Roddenberry and, with tears rolling down his face, he said, “God bless Dr. Martin Luther King, someone realizes what I’m trying to achieve.”

You can listen to the whole show in the embedded stream above or you can head over the StarTalkRadio and download the full 25 minute show in MP3 form so you can bring it with you wherever you may roam. Have a peek at SlashGear’s full Star Trek tag portal for more of one of the greatest science fiction universes ever to have been birthed, and have a happy MLK day all day long!

Transcendence will be put together by the team behind the incredibly-popular film Inception, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio. Christopher Nolan will be the executive producer, and his long-time friend and partner-in-crime, Oscar-winner Wally Pfister, will be directing the new movie, which will be his first feature film. Jack Paglen signed on to write the screenplay.

According to TheWrap, who talked with the movie’s producer, Andrew Kosove, Transcendence will essentially be about a scientist whose brain is uploaded into a supercomputer with the aim of creating the world’s first machine that can think for itself. Kosove also confirmed that singularity, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence concepts are important factors in the movie.

The script mentions three scientists: Max, and a husband-and-wife couple named Will and Evelyn. Johnny Depp will play Will, while the other two roles have yet to be cast. In the script, the trio of scientists have been developing a programming code for the world’s first fully self-aware computer. Eventually, an anti-technology terrorists assassinate Will, and Evelyn uploads his brain into the prototype computer that the team has been working on.

Kosove says that there will most likely be a lot of script changes from now until the start of filming, and it’s not yet said when the movie will release, but IMDb lists a 2014 release date. So far, all other details have been layered in secrecy, but just like Kosove said, there will most likely be a lot of changes to the movie, since the production is still in its early stages.

[via TheWrap]

Image via Flickr

As confirmed by StarWars.com and therefor Lucasfilm itself, film writer Michael Arndt will be writing the screenplay for Star Wars: Episode VII. Both Kennedy and Lucas have “begun story conferences” with Arndt, and from what we’ve heard from these heads of Lucasfilm, they’ve got some “blank spots” to fill.

Lucas: I just said that I would back her [Kathleen Kennedy] up and I would be there if – you know, especially with the script, in making sure the script, sort of… there’s a lot of blank spots in the story treatment that hopefully we can fill.

Kennedy: This is not like a series of books like Harry Potter where you’ve already got a template of what the stories might be. These are original stories and original ideas that come out of a world that, essentially, is inside George’s head. The beauty of the collaboration that can continue is that as we work our way through these scripts, if we stop and we say “hmmm, I wonder if this character can do that,” or “does this make sense within the rules of Star Wars.” He’s the keeper of the flame when it comes to that.

Lucas: It’s the same as the first three films. That’s all my job is, is to be the keeper of the flame.

After this one singular confirmation, everyone and their mother has been tipped as on or off of the project here well before they’d actually be called up to join in on the party. The two most important people up for the job thus far have been Steven Spielberg and Conan O’Brien, neither of whom have actually been asked or intend to audition for such a role. Conan has begun a collection of audition tapes – not his own – that parody what it might be like if prominent directors keep with their own genre and move into the Star Wars universe. One example is Wes Anderson, as seen here:

Meanwhile Access Hollywood has point-blank asked Steven Spielberg if he’d be up for directing a Star Wars movie.

“Would you direct one of the Star Wars movies?” – AH

“No. No because it’s not my genre. It’s my best friend George’s genre.” – Spielberg

Then there’s the inevitable questions asked of Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford about the next films. If you take a peek at what Fisher says, you’ll get a terrible lump in your stomach because the only word comes from celebrity tabloids invading her privacy while she’s walking her dog – shame on them – to the point where her answers really don’t confirm anything. So we’ll be waiting on that one, even though TheForce.net did re-report it.

UPDATE: Leslie Gornstein of E! Online has been contacted by a representative of Carrie Fisher who notes: “She hasn’t confirmed anything. Everything you’ve seen has been tongue-in-cheek.” Extremely likely considering miss Fisher’s sense of humor. And the fact that the other “confirmation” she made at a book signing where a fan asked if she’ll be in Star Wars 7, saying “Yes… I thought it was already common knowledge!”

Harrison Ford, on the other hand, has been reported by Entertainment Weekly as being open to the idea of joining the films – or just the first one – and is “upbeat” about it, too.

“Harrison is open to the idea of doing the movie and he’s upbeat about it, all three of them are.” – EW Source

The writer Geoff Boucher reports this information as coming from a “highly placed source” and we’re inclined to believe it as legitimate. On the other hand, he recalls being a moderator for a 30th anniversary screening of The Empire Strikes Back (in the year 2010) where Ford spoke shortly of the franchise’s “ascension in popular culture”:

“I don’t know that I understood it very well. I’m not sure I understand it yet…I was very happy to be involved. I was pleased to be a part of an ensemble.” – Harrison Ford

Boucher also spoke with Mark Hamill about the possibility of Han, Luke, and Leia returning to the series. Hamill noted that Lucas actually “summoned” he and Fisher to a lunch in August (2012) and they “learned about the idea” back then. Whether or not this means that they considered the idea of coming back to the films in-person is not entirely clear. Hamill was frank about the perspective of the fans, on the other hand:

“I can see both sides of it. Because in a way, there was a beginning, a middle, and an end and we all lived happily ever after and that’s the way it should be — and it’s great that people have fond memories, if they do have fond memories. But on the other hand, there’s this ravenous desire on the part of the true believers to have more and more and more material.” – Mark Hamill

Stay tuned to SlashGear as we continue to keep our nose to the grindstone and eyes on the Star Wars universe for more information about the 2015 launch of Star Wars: Episode VII as it appears. At the same time, please feel free to continue to send us all the information you’ve got on the subject, be it a secret tip or an official news blast you’ve seen from your favorite odd source!

[Images via World Famous Design Junkies]

This announcement has Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom Inc., bringing this news to ShowEast 2012 where they’ve made it clear that they’re aiming for the latest in technical achievements as well as cinematic storytelling with this new beast of a film. With the Dolby hardware and software they’ll be using here, the biggest and the best can be a reality, especially since Academy Award winner Andy Nelson and multiple Academy Award nominee Anna Behlmer are up in the re-recording mix laboratory for the Dolby Atmos mix.

Academy Award winner Ben Burtt and multiple Academy Award nominee Matt Wood are the supervising sound editors for this project as well, bringing a revolution to the sound experience with a “new level of creative control” afforded by Dolby. This experience is said to be bringing the “full impact of the sound mix” regardless of the configuration of the theater in which you’re experiencing Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013.

“We are in the incredible and lucky position to have access to the latest technology, the best possible tools, and the most talented artists in the business. We are therefore thrilled to announce that we will be employing the amazingly immersive Dolby Atmos audio system to bring the Star Trek into Darkness soundtrack to life.” – Abrams

Oddly this does not mean that every theater will have a certified Dolby Atmos experience – a list of theaters selected to show “Star Trek into Darkness in Dolby Atmos” will be released closer to the release date of the film. This film was written by Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci and is produced by the same trio along with Abrams. The film will be produced by the four through Bad Robot Productions and, again, will be directed by Abrams. SlashGear will be continuing to cover Star Trek Into Darkness until it’s released – stay tuned!

The next Star Wars movie has no real details surrounding it at the moment other than the fact that it will, indeed, be housed in the same Star Wars galaxy (of course), and that it’ll almost certainly be made with real-world actors. By 2015 though, there’s no knowing what that could entail – having seen the advancements in movies like Tron: Legacy, we wouldn’t rule out Mark Hamill and Carrie Fischer coming back for another jaunt. As the official release on the subject goes, the episode will expand the universe “well into the future.”

Kathleen Kennedy, current Co-Chairman of Lucasfilm, will become President of Lucasfilm, reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Additionally she will serve as the brand manager for Star Wars, working directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build, further integrate, and maximize the value of this global franchise. Ms. Kennedy will serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant. Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future.

With the visual effects in films advancing at an exponential rate, by the time 2015 rolls around, we’ll have a new Star Wars film that’s advanced beyond our wildest imagination. George Lucas will continue to help with the process, but from there the sky is the limit. New directors can be brought in, and as Lucas has made clear:

“It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I’m confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come. Disney’s reach and experience give Lucasfilm the opportunity to blaze new trails in film, television, interactive media, theme parks, live entertainment, and consumer products.” – Lucas

The next generation is coming, Star Wars fans! This is good news unless you’re one of those in love with the original trilogy – classic forever. If you haven’t let go of the idea that everything outside that first set of three is sacrilege, now would be a good time.

What you will see is the look of this new film, starting with the suit as it appears above. This suit will undoubtedly bring Iron Man some new set of odd powers and will work with the fabulous new abilities (and less some Tony Stark-killing elemental damage) as seen in the Avengers. You’ll also get a very brief glimpse at the new villain here Mandarin – as played by Ben Kingsley.

It’s being hypothesized by the fan underground that Iron Man 3 will include at least one of the Infinity Gems. These gems are all-powerful next-level power-packed artifacts that, when combined, create the Infinity Gauntlet – this ties in with the cut-scene that appears at the end of the Avengers movie. Here in Iron Man 3, we’ll likely lead up in to a set of several other one-off movies with the Avengers on their own, crowned off by another Avengers in a bit over a year.

Pepper Potts appears here again played by Gwyneth Paltrow in a situation that’s obviously causing her a great deal of pain. The gold Iron Man suit can be seen powering up for a blast and flying towards a swarm of flying armors not unlike his own. The whole video fades in and out with black – and it’s so very epic! But it’s only a teaser, and the real deal will be out tomorrow – can’t wait!

Do you remember what it felt like to see The Dark Knight in the theater? If you didn’t see The Dark Knight (the one with the Joker in it, not “Rises” which just came out), you’ll have an idea of what this film did to me. I’ve seen some movies recently that were entertaining, to be sure – Total Recall was a fun adventure, Men in Black III was a great mix of comedy and relatively fun action – but none were movies I told even my co-workers that they had to see. LOOPER is a movie I’m telling my co-workers, friends, and family members that they have to see – in the theater, no less.

LOOPER is a movie that’s made for the movie theater. There are movies that are made to be watched a bunch of times. The Avengers was certainly made to be a hard-hitting big-screen entertainment force like no other, but made absolutely sure to be re-watchable in just about as big a way as any movie has been in the history of action films. The Amazing Spider-Man is another example – rather similar to The Avengers in that it’s comic book-based and made to keep the brand alive, to sell toys, and perhaps third most important, to present an engaging film experience for the sake of making a great movie in and of itself. LOOPER is a movie that’s made to be a great movie.

If you plan on seeing LOOPER, please do yourself a favor and see it in a movie theater. Don’t bother with the popcorn and the pop (or soda, if you’re not living up here in Minnesota), because you won’t need to pass the time by eating and drinking like you do with so many movies these days. It wont be an issue for you.

The plot of this film plays second fiddle to the execution, to the way the story is revealed – you can guess a lot of the answers to the questions the characters in the movie have before they do – and you won’t be disappointed when you do. What I mean is that this movie does not assume that you’re an idiot – this isn’t the kind of science fiction / action / horror movie where people scream because someone’s jumped out at them or because they’ve realized that their family has been ripped apart – no way. Instead, loud bangs, revelations, and visual jams on your eyes are used to astound your senses – and not always to make you say “oh wow.”

There’s also a bit of comedy in this production. LOOPER takes itself seriously until just before you’d normally say “oh come on, that’s stupid” in any other movie in which time travel is a plot element. For those of you wondering about the time travel bit in this movie, I recommend you see two things before you enter the theater.

1. SlashGear interviews Dr. Edward Farhi on LOOPER-esque time travel
2. 12 Monkeys

The movie 12 Monkeys has Bruce Willis and a time machine – and it’s generally regarded as rather absurd in how serious it takes itself, especially in the universe of time travel movies. It’s almost certainly because of that movie – along with the other surprisingly large amount of time travel movies that have made it into the main stream – that Joe (Willis) and Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) have a brief screaming match in a diner about how unimportant the details are. The details being how time travel works and what paradoxes are – in so many words.

This film takes beautiful futurescapes and conceptual industrial design that every Blade Runner lover can’t resist and cuts a giant hole from our present time directly into a future possibility of an environment. The ideas you see here outside the time travel concept are quite engaging, and interesting to see as each future vision film is, with those responsible for constructing this environment presenting the future they believe could very well be part of a timeline we’re on right this minute.

I believe it – for the most part.

There are some points at which you can tell that the creators of the film gave in to the now nearly cliche ideas of transparent smartphones with no border and the promise of flying motorbikes, but for the most part they serve their purposes in the story perfectly well.

The acting in the movie is up there in the great films each of the top actors and actresses in the movie have done, more or less. Bruce Willis is fresh, certainly making this film an effort that’s set to be a point in his career he can be proud of.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt took this movie to the bank, too, making an extraordinary character out of Young Joe, very much a young version of Willis – and executive producing the film as well.

I’m having difficulty finding anything negative to say about the movie, even when I make an effort to nitpick. You’ll find reviewers across the board saying this is a “must see” movie, must see for action lovers, for science fiction lovers, and of course for the lovers of both Gordon Levitt and Willis. They can be proud of this production, that’s for certain.

Farhi and colleagues Sean M. Carroll and Alan H. Guth worked on a report by the name of “An obstacle to building a time machine” which lets it be known that the amount of mass that would have to be destroyed to make a time machine work would essentially break apart half the universe. That’s a time machine that travels along closed timelike curves – what we’re interested in is a machine that jams a single human back in a metal tube from 30 years in the future to our own present – or in the case of the LOOPER plotline, just a few decades into the future (and 30 years from then.)

UPDATE: Check our full LOOPER movie review now!

Dr. Edward Farhi : There are two forms of relativity – one’s the Special Theory of Relativity [STR] and the other is the General Theory of Relativity. Relativity tells us that the rate at which clocks run depends on the speed of the system. And when we talk about clocks, we’re talking about the actual flow of time. It’s not something that just feels like it’s going at a different rate, it’s actually going at a different rate.

One thing we know is that if you could get into a rocket in space and go close to the speed of light and return to Earth, you could arrange it so that a short period of time elapsed according to you would be a much longer period of time elapsed on the Earth. For example I could put you, Chris, on a rocket, and you would say that 6 months have passed and you’d come back to Earth and 100 years have passed on the Earth – if you had kids, you would meet your great great grandchildren.

We call that “skipping into the future.”

Farhi : It’s actually allowed by the laws of physics. That rate at which you’re clock runs depends on the speed – another example is the GPS satellite. When you’re in your car you communicate with these satellites that triangulate your location. It’s very important that you understand that the rate at which the clocks run on those satellites is important – if you didn’t take into account the fact that the clocks are running at a little different rate because they were moving, you’d be driving in the ditch.

Moving clocks run at different rates, and that allows you to skip into the future.

The other thing is that if you’ve got a strong gravitational field it’ll also affect the way clocks run. So if I took you and I lowered you into a strong gravitational field, your clock would run slower. And if you were watching out, if you were watching me on the Earth, you would see me moving quickly and I would see you moving slowly and when we came back together again, you would have aged less than I. Those are real effects, there’s no doubt about these things.

Farhi : If you took that little trip and you went into the future and you wanted to come back, that would be a little more problematic. One of the reasons we can see it would be a little more problematic is that if you could go into the future and come back, then maybe you could today just go back – and if you could go back in time, you could prevent your parents from coming together and making you. That’s paradoxical. Most physicists, I would say, because of those paradoxes, going back in time doesn’t seem too possible.

Check out our LOOPER review tonight and see the full film out in theaters this weekend across the USA! This is a film that’s made for those who love loud blasts, massive kills, and massive amounts of mystery. It’s an investigative adventure from start to finish, one you’ll not want to miss on the big screen – and specifically there too, it’s a real experience.

Kotaku reports that you will be able to play and customize female Marines in the Aliens: Colonial Marines video game. Female characters will be available in co-op play and there will reportedly be multiple female avatars users can choose from for multiple player action. The announcement that female players would be included apparently came early because of an online petition accusing Gearbox of excluding female characters in the game.

The petition has over 3800 signatures and allegedly has signatures from some of the actors in the 1986 Aliens film both male and female. The rigmarole over female characters in the video game apparently started from an interview given by producer Brian Burleson after E3. During that interview, Burleson said there were no playable female characters.

According to Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, Burleson meant there were no playable female characters in the E3 demo. Pitchford told Kotaku that female avatars in the game were beneficial for visual diversity and game play diversity. Many of the details on character avatars are still being worked on. The announcement of female characters was made before Gearbox finalized many of the game details.

[via Kotaku]

Fathead has announced that it is now offering a collection of Star Trek wall art. The first of the Star Trek collection includes die cut and mural images. Images include Star Trek logos and popular characters from the series. Geeks who can’t decide if they like Kirk or Picard better will be glad to hear that both Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation are both featured.

Naturally, there are life-sized fathead cut outs of James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard. The Kirk cut out is one of Shatner when he was young, not the old and somewhat crusty Kirk from some of the later Star Trek films. Other than the two captains, Fathead is also offering several other popular Star Trek characters.

You can also get Mr. Spock, the original USS Enterprise, and the Enterprise used in TNG. Other life-size character cutouts included Lieutenant Commander Data, Commander William T. Riker, and Lieutenant Worf. Official insignias from the original series and TNG are also available in a more space friendly Fathead Junior size.

The last Star Wars Celebration was held in 2008 and this month Star Wars Celebration VI will be held in Orlando Florida on August 22 through the 23rd. If you’re unable to travel to Orlando Florida but want to know what’s going on at the event Sirius XM satellite radio has announced that it will be airing a limited run channel that broadcasts live from the Star Wars Celebration VI show.

Star Wars Celebration Radio will launch on Thursday, August 23 at 6 PM Eastern time. It will continue to air through Monday, August 27 at 3 AM Eastern time on Sirius channel 123 and XM channel 142. Fans who use the Sirius XM Internet Radio App on smartphones and other mobile devices will be able to listen on channel 770.

Star Wars Celebration Radio will air interviews with cast members of the Star Wars films as well as insiders and key players from behind-the-scenes who contributed to the series. Listeners will also be able to hear live panel discussions from the event throughout the weekend along with commentary from celebrity fans and attendees of the show. The station will also air an interview with George Lucas conducted by Senator Bill Bradley for a special edition of his American Voices program.

For the science fiction lovers amongst us there’s also the announcement made today that this mission’s managers have decided name the landing site “Bradbury Landing” in honor of the late writer. Ray Bradbury passed away this June and would have been 92 today, the day of this history next step in the NASA mission. Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA headquarters, made their intent clear today.

“We have truly extended our reach and touched another planet. Today would have been Ray Bradbury’s 92nd birthday, but he’s already reached immortality with the 100s of short stories he’s written and nearly 50 books. His books have truly inspired us. The Martian Chronicles have inspired our curiosity and opened our minds to the possibility of life on Mars. In his honor, we declared the place that Curiosity touched down to be forever known as Bradbury Landing.” – Meyer

Have a peek at the news conference given where the declaration was made and the team became the first in the universe to rove about the planet Mars.

Inside that conference you’ll see old footage – also included below – of Ray Bradbury reciting his poem “If only we had been taller” at an event at Caltech on the eve of the craft Mariner 9 heading to Mars in 1971. This event is epic as well, with his words containing the power to launch our ships of the future – proof is all around us!

[via NASA]

Have a peek first at the international trailer you may have already seen, this one released over a month ago with many details about the plot and moments of revelation. If you’re worried about spoilers, this might be a good time to turn back. Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt play one man, thirty years between themselves, with both of their goals appearing to be the murder of another for profit.

The second trailer is the newest, having just been released this week. This trailer takes on more than just the plot, it explains a bit more on how time travel works in this particular universe. We don’t yet know the mechanism that allows time travel here, nor do we see any time travel take place other than a moment in which a character is not there one moment, and is there the next – followed by a moment in which they’re blown away with a very rudimentary shotgun, of course.

Time travel here also appears to have the main characters – including Emily Blunt – grabbing anti-gravity powers for one reason or another too. Check out Blunt’s character pushing around a cigarette lighter in the trailer above. Also notice that this day marks the start of a viral campaign which also reveals the timeline in the movie. In the trailer, we hear that “time travel has not yet been invented, but thirty years from now it will have been.” The viral campaign gives us the year 2044, therefor we’ll be watching Looper in present day 2012. Fun stuff!

Stay tuned to SlashGear’s science and entertainment hubs as we interview a real expert on time travel later this week – Dr. Edward Farhi from MIT! It’s only a matter of time!

With the first three Bourne movies so extremely well received in the box office and Matt Damon’s character Jason Bourne being the center point for the series based on books, it was time for Gilroy to explore a new avenue. As it is with any successful piece of media, there were going to be fans who dislike anything different that comes out in opposition to the first three Bourne movies. Thusly, Gilroy pulled out the metaphysical boat of ideas and got to work.

“They were in a post-Matt world, just sort of fishing around for what to do. There were a couple of ideas, bigger ideas, that everyone got interested in. But it really wasn’t until the character dropped on them – it was like, ‘Oh, my god.’ That’s what you look for.” – Gilroy

Now it’s all about the character Aaron Cross played by the quickly rising star Jeremy Renner, a man who you’ll likely recognize from his most recent giant role as Hawkeye in the films Thor and The Avengers. Though Gilroy describes this fourth installment of Bourne as “an upgrade” for the franchise, “more epic in terms of the breadth of the story,” he also describes how the “jangled aesthetic” (as Wilner describes it) will not be present here in 2012.

“Moving the camera that way is not necessarily the key to excitement. The other big problem was that it had been completely and utterly ripped off by everybody. I mean, everybody. Because it’s not difficult to do, it’s on TV now every night. It’s on commercials.” – Gilroy

Stick around for more Bourne action as the film pops up in theaters across the United States this weekend – head out and see it! And also don’t forget to jump in on our Entertainment portal for movie action well into the future!

[Q] Was there a piece of future tech or aspect of the film you were particularly drawn to?

[Kate Beckinsale] I do quite fancy having a hover-car but I don’t fancy everyone having one. Because I feel like I’ve spent a bit of time on the 405, stuck. And if everybody had them, I’d be scared of crashing. But if it was just me, then, I think I’d drive quite fast. And I quite fancy the phone, but I don’t think I’d fancy having it stuck in my body.

NOTE: Total Recall features a phone-like device which essentially takes the place of the nose-based-tracker you’ll remember from the 1990 version of the movie. Expect some off-screen cringe-worthy memories of that particular bit of film.

[Q] When you work on a film like this where technology is very much a central part of the story and where you’ve got giant cameras on you all day, do you find yourself at the end of the day just pushing all of the gadgets away for a good night’s rest?

[KB] Now when you say ‘all of my technology’ I don’t know if you’ve seen my phone.

*Beckinsale holds up a small red LG flip-phone from Verizon*

[KB] That’s about the extent of it. I don’t like my iPod. I like a nice record player and a book. I’m very much about that. So all that happens to me – I used this a lot [the phone] so that’s the only reason I’d say I’ve had an influx. I’m not much interested in an iPhone.

Did you ever pick up an iPhone, it flips over! You can’t see what’s happening – It’s aways moving!

Have a peek at the rest of our coverage of Total Recall through our [Rekall portal] and hit up the timeline below to get all you need in the universe of talks with the stars and the director of the film! Also don’t miss our full review of the movie, and head out to theaters right this second to see the whole feature!

Down in Los Angeles last month SlashGear got to speak with each of the stars of the 2012 version of Total Recall as well as the director Len Wiseman. With Wiseman’s interview revealing that he loved and still loves science fiction in a big way, it seemed only natural to ask Beckinsale the same question – Are you a science fiction fan, and was sci-fi a bit part of your life growing up?

Sidenote: Wiseman is married to Beckinsale, so we had to expect SOME form of connection. No getting away from sci-fi when your husband is an die-hard fan (and a Die Hard director, puns galore), and you’re part of a movie series where you hunt down fantastic beasts on the regular (see: Underworld).

Above: Kate Beckinsale poses with co-stars Jessica Biel and Colin Farrell at the Los Angeles press junket for Total Recall where SlashGear met up with the lot of them

[Kate Beckinsale] I definitely was, I had four brothers growing up, so I was definitely exposed to those kind of movies. It’s also more of the fact, for me, that I get to play these strong female characters and this is a good genre for that. People show up for that.

[Q] Do you and Len have any favorite films you’d like to share in the science fiction genre or related genres?

[KB] When we first met I was already a huge fan of the Alien movies, and I was a huge Die Hard fan until it ate my husband for two years. But I absolutely love those. And one of my favorites has always been Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and Len loves that movie. All About Eve (1950) – so yeah, we could just sit here and put one of those in.

You’ll find that Beckinsale plays exactly the type of character that made her interested in the genre in the first place here in Total Recall – a strong female lead. But what’s different here, this time, is that she’s not the hero. In fact it’s the opposite, with her role taking the place of Sharon Stone’s 1990 appearance as the quickly-divorced wife of Schwarzenegger. Regarding her rather intense fist fights with the other main characters of Total Recall in the film, specifically with Jessica Biel, Beckinsale had a bit to say on the new generation.

[KB] These are not fights between two women that happens in some sexy way. They are quite vicious. I think it shows that women have really come a long way in this genre of movie. I know when I put my timid little nose into Underworld to see if I could do it, I was looking for references.

Above: Beckinsale also stars in the Underworld film series (2003-)

[Q] Do you feel as though you’ve perfected your craft in having been in so many action movies with Underworld et al?

[KB] Well it’s funny. Yes and no – now I have that added terror of going ‘I still feel like the person who shouldn’t be doing this, and everyone is acting around me as if I’m a bad-ass.’ And I still feel like – this still feels like a stretch.

[KB] But this is something that is incredible, and I get to do this – you know – I get wonderful teachers to help me, and it’s amazing. But it still feels like, it’s a reach for me. I still feel more comfortable in a drama, I feel like I know it a bit better there. But still, it’s good to be scared!

You’ll want to have a peek at the rest of our interview series as well as our full review of Total Recall 2012 right this minute! The movie is out in theaters now across the USA – and once you’ve seen it, be sure to head back to our Rekall portal to gain additional insight into the world of the Total Recall storyline and one whole heck of a lot more!

[Jessica Biel] If I would be playing a figment of someone’s imagination – for sure, 100% – I would still have prepared for that figment of imagination in the exact same way that I would prepare for somebody who was absolutely real. From a creative standpoint that wasn’t different – but the conversations that Len, Colin, and I had, on a daily basis, about ‘what is real, who are you, what do you remember? What do you trust? Do I even trust you?’

[JB] The thing that I asked Len all the time was, ‘how do I trust this guy? Yeah, I know how he trusts me, but how do I trust him?’ He was constantly talking me through that. Because I think that’s just as hard for her to accept as it is for Colin’s character – to accept this random person showing up in his life.

It was hard, it was hard to – sort of – walk that line of ‘are we confusing everybody? We’re confused.’ We were confused constantly – *laughs* – about what the hell, we were doing. And luckily Len figured it out. Thank god he figured it out and it’s not confusing anyone else even now.

Above: Jessica Biel poses with Bryan Cranston and Colin Farrell at the Los Angeles press junket where the interview series here on SlashGear originates

NOTE: SlashGear readers – if you’ve seen the 2012 version of Total Recall and ended up being “constantly confused” throughout, let us know! We’ve been hearing quite a few mixed reports on the subject. Does this mean that the film did it’s job just as the 1990 version did?

Also have a peek at the rest of our ever-growing collection of interview bits and pieces we collected last month before the premiere of Total Recall 2012 – out in theaters now! You can check out the Rekall portal or head to the timeline below to get our full review of the film, interview moments with each of the stars and the director Len Wiseman as well – and stick around after you’ve seen the movie too – we’ve got insights and secrets galore!

[Q] There’s been some talk of how this film, with its plotline that partially centers around themes of big corporations and class warfare. Some early critics are suggesting that the film was made to reflect things like the Occupy Movement. Is there anything to that, or is it that they are all just reading far too much into the story?

[Colin Farrell] I think you have to experience relevance and significance where you experience it and where you find it. The audience will see what they want to see. Some people will come out and hopefully enjoy two hours of action. Some people will find themselves gravitating toward the emotional dynamic the characters find themselves in, or some people will see some layer of subversion to the storytelling or some aspect of poking a finger in judgement at some elements of government or – foreign invasion on false pretenses – I mean you can go wherever you want with it really.

It’s not really the purpose of the film.

Above: Colin Farrell stands amid co-stars Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale at the LA press junket for Total Recall (from whens this interview segment came)

[CF] But no matter what film you’re telling, you’re representing some element of reality. You’re representing the idea of being a human being. You’re always with humans, their fears, their shortcomings, their braveries, their doubts, their loves, their abilities, their brilliance. And those things inevitably lead to physical systems, into political systems, into foreign policy, and all that kind of stuff. Crime, religion, and – so you see what you want to see, man – the purpose of the film is not to take a stand against big government. It’s an action film.

Len’s particular concern with the whole film, I think, was to have it as a narrative between the world of emotion verses the world of intellect. The idea that you can suppress or subjugate a person’s mind, and a person’s memories, and a person’s experiences – mentally, psychologically, intellectually – but that you can’t quiet them completely to the point of dormancy.

The emotional light of a person, the heart. And what the heart remembers and what the heart experiences. And even that, it’s not important if that comes across. It’s another composite, if that’s somewhere in how Quaid [the main character of the film, played by Farrell] can’t figure out anything but begins to feel his love for Melina [Jessica Biel] be awokened to the person that he was and the person that he’s becoming, then, that’s cool.

But if it’s not – its really what anyone wants to get out of it.

Stay tuned here at SlashGear in our Total Recall portal to see all the hot Rekall action as the film blows up starting this weekend. Make sure you also check the timeline below to follow our path through chats and interviews with the stars and the director of this 2012 action thriller, and see how deep this futuristic science fiction environment goes on the big screen!

[Q] Len Wiseman [director of Total Recall 2012] brought up that he’d seen Breaking Bad [see the rest of that interview here] and said, ‘I want to work with this guy.’ Is that the common thing for you now, has that show changed your image in the business from the comedy guy only?

[Bryan Cranston] Yeah, I have ridden the hard work and sweat of Vince Gilligan all the way to another level. The best thing a director can do is to identify good actors and fit them in the right parts, and if you can do that in your pre-production, once you get to production you can let them fly, and let them feel safe to be able to experiment and try things. You’ll find happy accidents.

Above: Cranson (right) taking on a very different role in the television series Breaking Bad in which he plays a chemistry teacher with terminal cancer and a meth-cooking business

[BC] For an actor what I try to teach young actors – the best thing they can learn is to identify well-written material. The writing in our industry, in a story, is the most important element, bar none. It is always about the writing first.

So what I’ve been able to do – the thing I’m good at, really, is to identify well written material. Now that doesn’t mean the product is going to end up that way. It’s a recipe – and sometimes it doesn’t work – and you’re thinking, ‘oh well, wait a minute, I had all the ingredients, how did this happen?’ That’s going to happen.

But if you start with something that has good writing, you at least have a shot. If you start with something that is not well written, you have no shot of making something good. The best actor in the world can make “C” level material “C+” level material. Maybe “B-”, that’s it.

Above: Cranston poses with co-stars Jessica Biel and Colin Farrell at the Los Angeles press junket for Total Recall

[Q] You had this in you all the time, even before Breaking Bad, but people’s perceptions of you have changed. Have you thought about that since – Drive, and this, you’re given harder-edged characters and just a straight jacket perception of what your previous roles would be?

[BC] Well, the only thing that an actor really yearns for in a career is opportunity. We don’t ask to be given roles – [if you don't] just give me a chance to get in the room, we have no shot. How I got Malcolm in the Middle – everything – what I try to teach young actors is that, ‘please know, that without a healthy dose of luck, you will not have a career.’ How do you do that? I don’t know. Just keep working, keep working hard, have faith, and this is your life!

Don’t give yourself some arbitrary number – ‘I’m going to give it a year – I’ll give it a good year’ – it’s like ‘stop now, go back to Idaho.’ You know? ‘Make some really nice potatoes. People will appreciate that.’ But it’s a joke – people, you’re either in this or you’re not in this. So that’s the first thing I say. But I was lucky to get Malcolm in the Middle. I was lucky to get Breaking Bad. And I have stories for those – but I don’t want to go in and monopolize that. But I know – the stars were aligning.

After you are able to get some level of success, like Malcolm in the Middle – seven years of doing a comedy – I got offers to do a goofy, silly, fun-loving dad. And had I taken those, I would have helped pigeon-hole myself as that guy.

You better – you better – if you’re on a hit show? You better save your money. You better, because you need to say no to those tempting offers of dollar bills to do the same thing you just did. To me it was no temptation. I just said no, I just did that. But you don’t know what’s going to happen next. I was very fortunate.

This is but one of several segments of the ongoing set of talks we had with the stars and director of Total Recall – stick around in our [Rekall portal] to see the future and past of the film as it rolls out in theaters this weekend! And of course don’t forget to check out our full movie review of Total Recall (2012) as well!