At the height of the popularity of The Hunger Games, in book form and its wildly successful film franchise starring Jennifer Lawrence, Hollywood was all in on adapting Young Adult novel series for the big screen, particularly ones set in a dystopian world. In 2014, 20th Century Studios' answer to The Hunger Games was The Maze Runner, an action-adventure science fiction three-part franchise based on the books by James Dashner starring Dylan O'Brien.

Although recognizable brands still drive audiences to theaters, the promise of an epic space odyssey on the big screen is often enough to persuade audiences to take a chance on an original film not based on any pre-existing character or video game, as seen with one of 2026's smash hits, Project Hail Mary. Between Interstellarand the Dune movies, sci-fi and space movies are as fashionable as ever, and they routinely amount to box office titans amid the glut of IP.

Following the massive success of shows such as Severence, Foundation, and Silo, to name just a few, Apple TV's streak of producing excellent sci-fi shows continued this week with a new title. The streamer's latest offering premiered with two episodes and a perfect 100% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The premiere date coincided with the Season 5 finale of Apple's first-ever sci-fi show, For All Mankind. This is no coincidence, of course, given that the show happens to be a spin-off of For All Mankind. Like the original, it unfolds in an alternate history where the Space Race never ended. This time, audiences will get to experience the political power games from the Soviet perspective.

Honestly, if you want "managed democracy" to succeed across the galaxy, you're going to have to accept there will be a few intergalactic speed bumps along the way. This is one of those occasions. Sony and PlayStation Productions have been steadily building out their gaming-to-screen empire but their latest big gamble has just been hit with a big setback.

George R. R. Martin, for better or worse, knows storytelling. But the man behind the biggest fantasy series in the world, a series which famously did not stick the landing in any way, shape or form, has a bone to pick with another series that once caught the imagination of the viewing public. From the very start, viewers were wowed by polar bears, smoke monsters, cursed numbers, secret bunkers, time travel, and while Martin was one of them, he had a big problem with the grand finale.

Science fiction literature offers readers an immersive peek into the constantly evolving, expanding universe surrounding human life. But as our understanding of the universe changes, the perspective of sci-fi shifts as well, giving us new ways to imagine and understand the infinite, improbable world of “what ifs."

micky the pixel posted a photo:

Perry Rhodan / Heft-Reihe
2. Auflage (3. Ausgabe)
Kurt Mahr / Schach dem Universum (1963)
(art: Johnny Bruck)
Pabel-Moewig Verlag
(München / Deutschland; September 1967)
ex libris MTP
www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?587826
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan

Apple TV is entering a new phase — one marked by its continued production of high-quality shows that have attracted acclaim and awards. But this new phase leans into what is currently sustaining many streaming services and networks: franchises. The streamer has expressed interest in expanding the universes of some of its biggest shows, with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Severance, and Ted Lasso in consideration. However, one of the earliest contenders for a spin-off is the streamer's oldest sci-fi series, and that plan recently materialized.

Over the past few years, post-apocalyptic shows have been coming out left and right. From The Last of Us to Paradise's genre-bending Season 2, TV has shown audiences plenty of different scenarios of what the world could look like after doomsday. But while many of these shows became immediate streaming hits after their release, the Netflix original series The Rain also followed a post-apocalyptic storyline, but became a quieter, sleeper hit instead.