News Pantheon The Second Season of Pantheon, Based on the Work of Ken Liu, Is Headed to Netflix Time called it “2022’s Wildest Tech Thriller” By Molly Templeton | Published on January 27, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share Two years ago, AMC pulled the plug on the animated series Pantheon, which is based on six stories from Ken Liu’s The Hidden Girl and Other Stories—despite the fact that the second season of the show had been produced. At the time, Deadline noted that there was a “small chance” the second season may wind up on another network or streaming platform. In November, the first season of Pantheon arrived on Netflix with fairly little fanfare. And now the second season seems set to do the same. In his newsletter, Liu shared a link to a What’s On Netflix post announcing that season two of Pantheon will arrive “in all countries” on February 21st. Created by Craig Silverstein (Nikita), Pantheon is about a teen girl (Katie Chang) who begins receiving mysterious messages online—messages that seem to come from her dead father, David (Daniel Dae Kim). When Maddie begins to explore what happened, she uncovers a much bigger conspiracy. The series also stars Paul Dano, Aaron Eckhart, Rosemarie DeWitt, Chris Diamantopoulos, Kevin Durand, Ron Livingston, William Hurt, and Tunde Adebimpe—a stellar lineup for what is, by all accounts, an outstanding show that has the coveted 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. At Time, Judy Berman called it, “A gripping, cerebral, remarkably high-concept animated sci-fi series.” In his newsletter, Liu said, “I love what Craig and the team have done with season 2. If you enjoyed season 1, you’ll definitely want to find out how the story ends.” If you need to get caught up, the first season is currently streaming on Netflix.[end-mark] The post The Second Season of <i>Pantheon</i>, Based on the Work of Ken Liu, Is Headed to Netflix appeared first on Reactor.

News Alex Award Four SFF Books Win 2025 Alex Awards Congratulations to the winners! By Molly Templeton | Published on January 27, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share This morning, the American Library Association announced the 2025 Youth Media Awards, which range from the Caldecott (for picture book illustration) to the Printz (for young adult fiction) to the Alex Awards, which recognize books written for adults that have special appeal to teens. There are often some SFF titles on the Alex list—last year’s winners included Starter Villain and Fourth Wing—and this year is no exception. Among the ten titles on the list are P. Djèlí Clark’s The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, Stephen Graham Jones’ I Was a Teenager Slasher, Rosie Hewlett’s The Witch of Colchis, and Henry H. Neff’s The Witchstone. Interestingly, given the award-cycle dominance of Percival Everett’s James, another book on the Alex Awards list is a different retelling of Huckleberry Finn through the eyes of Jim: Big Jim and the White Boy: An American Classic Reimagined, a graphic novel by David F. Walker. Here’s the full Alex Awards list: Beautiful People: My Thirteen Truths About Disability by Melissa BlakeBig Jim and the White Boy: An American Classic Reimagined by David F. WalkerDaughters of Shandong by Eve J. ChungThe Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djeli ClarkHow to Solve Your Own Murder: A Novel by Kristen PerrinI Feel Awful, Thanks by Lara PickleI Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham JonesThe Witch of Colchis by Rosie HewlettThe Witchstone by Henry H. NeffWoman, Life, Freedom by Marjane Satrapi Other notable winners this year include Molly Knox Ostertag, whose graphic novel The Deep Dark is a Printz Honor Book, and nd Tiffany D. Jackson, who won the Margaret A. Edwards Award, which honors an author “for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.” Also Paul Tremblay, Sarah Beth Durst, and Peng Shepherd all have books included on the Listen List of recommended audiobooks, which was announced separately. You can find the full list of 2025 Youth Media Awards at School Library Journal.[end-mark] The post Four SFF Books Win 2025 Alex Awards appeared first on Reactor.

News Robin Hood There’s a Brand-Spanking-New Robin Hood on the Scene Sorry to say this one is not a fox By Molly Templeton | Published on January 27, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share Another year, another Robin Hood series, yes? Well, the answer is “yes,” whether you feel positively about it or not. And no, I’m not talking about The Death of Robin Hood, last year’s Robin announcement. We’ve got another one! And this time a very fresh face will be playing the storied character. Deadline reports that Aussie newcomer Jack Patten has been cast in the title role of MGM’s Robin Hood, which is described as “a modern take of the classic tale that brings historical authenticity, psychological depth, and a heightened focus on the relationship between Rob and Marian.” “Rob.” Are we calling him Rob now? Is this weird? I think this is kind of weird. At any rate, I cannot show you a picture of Patten in something else because Patten has not been in anything else. Yet. He is in the upcoming Netflix film War Machine, but as that film is not out, no one has seen him in it. He is apparently a former football player, by which Deadline means AFL (Australian Football League), and, somewhat confusingly for his online future, he shares a name with an Aboriginal Australian journalist from a century ago. Deadline has quite a bit of detail about the new series: In the series, following the Norman invasion of England, Rob (Patten) – a Saxon forester’s son – and Marian, the daughter of a Norman lord – fall in love and work together to fight for justice and freedom. As Rob rises as the leader of a band of rebel outlaws, Marian infiltrates the power at court, as both work together to thwart royal corruption and bring peace to the land. MGM was also home to the single-season Bernard Cornwell adaptation The Winter King, and every time I try to picture this Robin Hood, I just see the trailers for that series. The vibes seem similar, somehow. Robin Hood comes from creator John Glenn, the showrunner of Seal Team. The 10-episode first season will arrive on MGM eventually. Until then, perhaps it’s time to revisit Disney’s Robin Hood (pictured above)?[end-mark] The post There’s a Brand-Spanking-New Robin Hood on the Scene appeared first on Reactor.

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Knives” Mollari gets a visit from an old friend, while Sheridan starts hallucinating after an encounter with an alien… By Keith R.A. DeCandido | Published on January 27, 2025 Credit: Warner Bros. Television Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Warner Bros. Television “Knives”Written by Lawrence G. DiTillioDirected by Stephen L. PoseySeason 2, Episode 17Production episode 216Original air date: May 17, 1995 It was the dawn of the third age… Sheridan is unwinding in the station’s baseball stadium, having had a rough day dealing with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. (Why B5 has a baseball stadium is left as an exercise for the viewer.) Garibaldi joins him, having had a crap day himself, dealing with stuff in Gray Sector, nicknamed “the Triangle” because of weird shit that happens there. Sheridan is intrigued, and considers checking Gray Sector out, despite Garibaldi’s urging him not to. Mollari and Vir are discussing (and also singing) Centauri opera, when suddenly Mollari is jumped from behind. However, when the ambusher calls him “Paso Leati,” Mollari realizes that it’s his old friend, Vocator Urza Jaddo; the vocator is playing a prank. Jaddo and Mollari are both part of the Couro Prido dueling society on Centauri Prime. Mollari invites him for a drink, which Jaddo asks to postpone until later. Sheridan goes to Gray Sector and comes across a Markab with his head bashed in. Even though he seems to be dead, the corpse grabs Sheridan’s neck as he’s reporting the corpse to Garibaldi. We see a glowy thing transfer from the corpse to Sheridan. This will probably be important later. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Franklin declares Sheridan healthy and recommends rest. He also says the Markab committed suicide—yes, he really did bash his own head in. It’s possible that the corpse spasmed, as corpses sometimes do when gas builds up. Mollari waxes rhapsodic about his friendship with Jaddo. Their houses have been aligned for centuries, and they’ve been friends since childhood. Jaddo was always the better swordsman of the two of them, though Mollari was pretty good himself. “Paso Leati” became his nickname because he fought like a crazed leati, while Jaddo’s nickname was “Skal Tura,” which means “the silent beast.” Jaddo finally arrives, and he and Mollari start drinking. And reminiscing. And drinking some more. Jaddo talks of Mollari’s rising status, but also that he knows that the Narn didn’t start the war with the Centauri, but rather a faction of Centauri aristocrats did. They also assassinated the prime minister. While the first part isn’t exactly news to Mollari (not that he can admit it), the second part is a surprise, as he believed the official story that the prime minister committed suicide. Then Jaddo drops the other shoe: there is a motion before the Centaurum to declare Jaddo a traitor to the republic. Mollari is outraged and says he will look into it. Jaddo is grateful, and goes off to prepare for a banquet he’s throwing. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Sheridan’s attempts to sleep fail rather spectacularly, and he wakes up to see a grylor hovering over his bed. He shoots at it with a PPG, but the grylor isn’t actually there, so he does some lovely damage to the bulkheads of his quarters instead. Then in CnC, he sees the Icarus outside the station and goes into a panic, confusing everyone else who, of course, don’t see the ship his wife died on. He goes off to medlab. Mollari talks to Refa, who acts surprised that Mollari is speaking well of Jaddo, who he says is definitely is a traitor, and Mollari should reconsider supporting him. Mollari makes it clear that he will continue to support Jaddo, and Refa should do what he can to quash the resolution to declare him a traitor. Mollari also reminds Refa who, exactly, has the big gun in this relationship. Jaddo’s banquet is a lavish affair. Some Centauri nobles who used to ignore Mollari treat him well now. Mollari assures Jaddo that he talked to Refa and everything will be fine. Jaddo is enraged: Refa’s the one who brought the resolution in the first place, which Mollari didn’t know. Then Jaddo gives Mollari a gift: the sword he used at the Battle of Gorash, his most famous campaign. He talks about how he has been condemned because, like the late emperor, he has spoken out against further conquest. Then he challenges Mollari to a Morago—a duel to the death. Sheridan is back at the baseball stadium, having been there for three hours. Garibaldi arrives with some news: the Markab went through Sector 14. Sheridan only knows that that sector’s forbidden, but not why. Garibaldi explains about Babylon 4 and gives Sheridan footage of what happened. Studying the footage, Sheridan sees a white flash similar to what he’s seen in his hallucinations. He also sees a hallucination of his parents. Then he decides to go off in a Starfury, leaving his link behind. He goes to Sector 14. Garibaldi follows him in another Starfury. The glowy thing that transferred from the Markab leaves him and goes into a time portal that opens. The transfer knocks Sheridan unconscious, but luckily Garibaldi is there to rescue him. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Vir tries to talk Mollari out of the Morago, especially given that Jaddo is the better swordfighter. However, Mollari insists. While Jaddo draws first blood, Mollari is in the end victorious, killing his friend. The tradition of the Morago is that the winner takes responsibility for the loser’s family. Now Jaddo being declared a traitor will only affect him, and posthumously—the rest of House Jaddo is now part of House Mollari, and therefore immune from the consequences of the resolution. Sheridan explains what happened: there was an energy being that popped out into Sector 14 and latched onto the Markab. The images drove the Markab to suicide. But Sheridan was able to figure out that it was communicating images of fear, loss, and home, and wanted to go back from whence it came. Mollari is despondent over the death of his friend; Jaddo lost on purpose to save his family. Vir, having arranged to have Jaddo’s body to be returned to Centauri Prime, urges Mollari to reconsider the path he’s on. However, Mollari paraphrases Macbeth’s famous line: “I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan is able to dope out what the energy being is saying to him, unlike the Markab, who dashed his own brains out rather than continue to deal with it. Credit: Warner Bros. Television The household god of frustration. While EarthForce confiscated all the records of what happened with B4, Garibaldi did keep a copy. Which was probably illegal. In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Dueling societies are a very important part of Centauri aristocracy, and their traditions have the force of law. Mollari and Jaddo are part of one such society, and its regulations allow Jaddo to save his family. Also, Refa’s surprise that Mollari is supporting Jaddo isn’t particularly convincing, especially if the alliance between their houses is that established. No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Mollari has a sad remembrance of Adira, the dancer he had a fling with in “Born to the Purple.” Jaddo, for his part, is happily married, unlike Mollari, who doesn’t even mention his one remaining wife… Welcome aboard. We’ve got a couple of recurring regulars: William Forward, back from “The Coming of Shadows” as Refa, and who will return in “The Long, Twilight Struggle.” And Joshua Cox, back from “And Now for a Word” as Corwin, who will return in “Divided Loyalties.” But this week’s Robert Knepper moment is the appearance of Carmen Argenziano as Jaddo. He’s probably best known in genre circles for his recurring role on Stargate SG-1 as Jacob Carter/Selmak. Trivial matters. This was filmed before “In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum,” and intended to be aired first, but “Knives” had too many special effects and had to be delayed. Sector 14 was established as a no-fly zone due to the weird time-travel shenanigans of Babylon 4 in “Babylon Squared.” This episode establishes that those events were then classified. Because it would’ve been awkward for Jaddo and Mollari to discuss the emperor and the prime minister without using their names, the characters get named. In a fit of—simplicity? laziness?—they are given family names that match the given names of the actors who played them in “The Coming of Shadows”: Emperor Turhan (played by Turhan Bey) and Prime Minister Malachi (played by Malachi Throne). This is the last episode for a long time to be written by someone other than creator/executive producer J. Michael Straczynski. The remaining five episodes of season two, all of seasons three and four, and the first seven episodes of season five will all be written by Straczynski. The echoes of all of our conversations. “Vir, you have what the Earthers call a negative personality.” “No, I don’t!” “There, you see!” —Mollari criticizing Vir, Vir replying, and Mollari saying, “Bazinga!” Credit: Warner Bros. Television The name of the place is Babylon 5. “You cannot build an empire based on slaughter and deceit!” The Sheridan half of this plot is relentlessly mediocre. It’s pretty standard space opera stuff that wouldn’t be out of place in a Star Trek or Stargate or Buck Rogers or Space: 1999 or Doctor Who episode, with the only uniquely B5 element being the use of Sector 14, but that’s only relevant as a minor continuity hit. I’m also genuinely curious as to how the underfunded B5 has the space to waste on an entire baseball stadium, and how the Coriolis effect and the station’s rotation would affect baseballs hit in the air, which this episode carefully avoids discussing. However, that’s not what this episode is worth watching for. We’ve already seen Mollari come to appreciate how alone he is on B5 now that his star has risen in the Centauri Republic, mostly in “Acts of SLondo gets a visit from an old friend who seeks his help after being called a traitor by the Centarum. Sheridan starts hallucinating after being attacked by a dead alien.acrifice.” Now he’s seeing the underside of it in the republic itself. This is the first hint that Refa may not be the staunch ally Mollari thought he would be. The introduce-a-best-friend-we’ve-never-seen-before-and-then-kill-him is a bit of a cliché, but it works mainly because of the talent of the two guys playing them. Carmen Argenziano’s relaxed charisma works perfectly here, as he modulates from reminiscing with his old friend to outrage over how he’s been scapegoated by the Centaurum for daring to speak out against the current imperialism. And Peter Jurasik perfectly plays it, lucking into his ignorance regarding the prime minister’s cause of death to cover his lack of ignorance about the evil conspiracy of evil that has taken over the republic. He also is seeing all the unexpected consequences to the new world order on Centauri Prime, one that hits him right where he lives with the condemnation of his childhood friend. Next week: “Confessions and Lamentations.”[end-mark] The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “Knives” appeared first on Reactor.

President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20 with a pledge to help America “win like never before.” Winning the competition with China will be key to achieving that outcome. Outcompeting China requires a mixture of creative policymaking, hard-nosed geopolitical posturing, and high-stakes engagement that Trump is uniquely qualified to lead. His strong mandate and unorthodox style give him a degree of political capital and policy creativity few of his predecessors possessed. By engaging China smartly, he can ensure that, for once, Washington and not Beijing sets the terms of the bilateral relationship. The president faces a worthy opponent in China’s Xi Jinping. China has spent the past year preparing for Trump’s return. Xi and his foreign policy team have dealt with the president before and think they know what makes him tick. Their plan involves more than just retaliating against U.S. actions through counter-tariffs and bans of critical mineral exports. They will go all-out to seize the initiative, just as they successfully did with previous administrations. The task of Trump and his team is to not get outmaneuvered. When Chinese interlocutors are asked how Beijing plans to handle the Trump administration, they often smirk and say “negotiation.” Indeed, China has perfected the art of tying U.S. administrations down in endless talks for the purpose of slowing or weakening action that complicates Beijing’s objectives on the world stage. Some in China think Trump will be an easy target for this tactic, given the president’s reputation as a dealmaker, but they will likely be disappointed. The president may be eager to talk with Xi, but he won’t be easily manipulated. And after China’s failure to comply with the trade deal negotiated during Trump’s first administration, it’s even less likely Beijing can sway him through promises of agricultural purchases or high-profile business deals. However, China’s strategy is more sophisticated than that. Beijing’s success at handicapping previous U.S. administrations rested on hypnotizing presidents by promising to cooperate in areas the president viewed as high priorities. With an agreement seemingly always around the corner, yet never quite final, those administrations went out of their way to avoid antagonizing China for fear of derailing the negotiation process and jeopardizing months or years of hard work. During the Biden administration, the issue of choice was climate change. While it’s hard to know the reasoning behind some of the administration’s choices, some of its behavior gave the impression that Biden weakened his approach to China in order to ensure climate talks would continue. With Trump back in the White House, the climate card has lost its luster, but Beijing is already shifting its attention toward issues of great importance to the new president, such as the fentanyl crisis and the war in Ukraine. These are not issues Xi loses much sleep over, but Trump is committed to resolving them, and a resolution will be much easier to achieve with China’s help. On the Ukraine war, Trump’s efforts to convince Xi to help resolve the conflict represent an opportunity the Chinese leader is unlikely to squander. Xi cannot force Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine, but he can offer to work with Trump on giving the Russian president and his Ukrainian counterpart the pressure and assurances needed to bring them to the bargaining table. From that angle, Beijing cares little whether the war is resolved. As long as peace talks—or the sense of progress toward such talks—continue, Beijing will seek to use its involvement as leverage to soften the administration’s approach to China. Beijing’s cooperation is even more essential for ending the fentanyl crisis. China has thus far failed to crack down on its outflows of precursor chemicals, likely because it wants to use the possibility of such cooperation as leverage in high-stakes negotiations with the U.S. China will seek to tie its cooperation on those issues to U.S. concessions in areas such as technology and trade that are important to Beijing. At the very least, it will try to use the promise of assistance on those priority issues to entice the Trump administration to delay or weaken important policy actions that complicates China’s revisionist aims. The president must learn from the failures of previous administrations and not take the bait. That isn’t to say Trump shouldn’t talk with China. He just should remember who holds the upper hand. As much leverage as Beijing expects to have due to the fentanyl and Ukraine crises, it can’t keep its economy afloat and its citizens employed without access to America’s technology, markets, and financial system. To take away such access completely is akin to a nuclear option that shouldn’t be considered lightly. But an administration that understands the extent of its leverage has many tools not only to shield itself from China’s manipulation, but to outfox Beijing. If Trump plays his hand wisely, China will be the one making concessions to keep the U.S. at the negotiating table. The president is off to a good start. His plan to tariff Chinese imports in response to Beijing’s failure to curb fentanyl exports shows he understands the power disparity. He just has to stay focused and not succumb to China’s cunning efforts to shake him from the course he’s on. The post How Trump Can Beat Beijing at Its Own Game appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. One of this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) panels brought together publishers, a French minister, and a UK think tank previously involved in US State Department-funded censorship of Americans, who praised the EU’s controversial Digital Services Act (DSA) while railing against “misinformation.” French Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology Clara Chappaz spoke about the DSA as a solution to the “problem” presented by free speech on the internet. Chappaz and another speaker, the CEO of the UK think tank – the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) – defended the law as not being a censorship tool but “merely” making what is illegal offline also illegal online. Yet the French official remarked that it requires platforms to introduce measures reducing “the systemic risks” tied to “misinformation.” And this ends up providing a mechanism for censorship of whatever the authorities decide to consider “misinformation.” Chappaz also spoke about an age verification law that was introduced in France last week, the pretext being preventing minors from accessing adult sites. ISD CEO Sasha Havlicek went as far as to claim that instead of being a censorship law, EU’s DSA is in fact there to “serve fundamental rights” – and that includes free speech. Havlicek – whose organization advises Spotify’s Safety Advisory Council on how to deal with “online abuse, hate speech, disinformation, and extremism” and is also a member of YouTube’s Priority Flagger Program – repeated Chappaz’s assertion that the DSA cannot be a censorship tool because it mandates the removal of illegal content only. Another panelist, Dow Jones & Company publishing group CEO Almar Latour, complained about “disinformation” playing a big role “in the past year” and dismissed those who claim otherwise as spreading “misinformation.” Latour spoke about the ever-eroding trust in institutions (i.e., entrenched elites), and while acknowledging that this has “deeper roots,” he also repeated the claim heard many time over the last years that “disinformation” and “misinformation” are now present on such a scale that they “exacerbate that trend.” To Latour’s mind, the fact that legacy (“news”) media and others rapidly losing trust of the public is “a very malignant trend.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post World Economic Forum Panel Praises EU Censorship Law appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

One of the 'Non-Violent Criminals' Biden Released Murdered an 8-Year-Old and His Mom

It’s bearly a contest as to the best way to stop conflict with these large predators.

The mysterious emission of radio pulses is unlike any we have seen before.

It's possible to learn to gleek on command. Please don't.