Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1826

The Moon’s Getting a Mobile Phone Network

American based mobile phone companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint are always trying to outdo each other when it comes to price and network. They peddle deals promising unlimited data and a million lines (we’re approximating). But Vodafone might be winning. The European mobile company is teaming up with Nokia (remember your old “candy bar” phone?) to concentrate on expanding the range of the 4G network. Expand by how much? Well, is the freaking moon far enough?



Reported by the BBC, the two companies and Audi are making this leap in support of a PTScientists mission to achieve the first privately funded Moon landing, aptly called Mission to the Moon. The 4G network will support two Audi lunar quattro rovers on the moon’s surface and connect them to a base station. This endeavor, scheduled to launch in 2019 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, will make sending large files back to Earth easier.

One of the biggest questions asked of PTScientists was why should Vodafone be putting 4G on the Moon before parts of the UK has received it. Kate Arkless Gray responded that so much of our technology, such as the cameras in our current smartphones, was created or discovered either through or for space exploration. Who knows what possibilities can be found using the technology in this fashion.

What do you hope scientists are able to find on the Moon? Will a Justice League Watchtower satellite soon be within the realm of possibilities? Let me know on Twitter at @donnielederer or sound off in the comments below.

Images: BBC

More from above!

The Andromeda galaxy may not be as big as we thought.
Neptune’s “fart storm” is about to die.
NASA releases new Juno images of Jupiter.

CHRONO TRIGGER Finally Hits PC…Surprise!

Last year, fans of the 16-bit rpg Chrono Trigger were disappointed when it wasn’t included in the line up for the SNES Classic. But now, a new generation of fans will get a chance to try one of the all-time great games. Square Enix has released Chrono Trigger on Steam, and it’s available to play right now!

It should be noted that this is not a direct port of the title which first appeared on the Super Nintendo in 1995. Instead, it’s a port of the mobile edition of Chrono Trigger, with a few additional features including the two dungeons that were added for the game’s Nintendo DS release. The game places players in control of a group of adventurers who travel back and forth through time to save the world from a catastrophe. The game was originally developed by the creators of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, Hironobu Sakaguchi and Yuji Horii, alongside Akira Toriyama. Square Enix has called them “the Dream team,” and they certainly lived up to that billing!



For a limited time, Square Enix is also offering a limited edition of Chrono Trigger on Steam, that includes five tracks from the soundtrack with notes by composer Yasunori Mitsuda, as well as six wallpaper images. While the mobile and the Stream editions of Chrono Trigger aren’t as popular as the SNES version, we’re hopeful that the renewed interest in the game will lead to another sequel or even a modern remake. In any form, this is a game that deserves to find a new audience.

Are you excited to play Chrono Trigger on PC? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Image: Square Enix

More of the latest nerd news

Barbra Streisand cloned her freakin’ dog !
The Last Jedi VFX reel shows the creation of Snoke
See how every robot and monster in movies stack up, size-wise

You Can Now Digitally Visit London’s HARRY POTTER Exhibit

Did you miss your opportunity to see the Harry Potter exhibition at the British Library last year? If so, you’re not alone. “Harry Potter: A History of Magic” allowed fans  to see rare books, manuscripts, and other objects that explored folklore and magic beyond the Wizarding World of J.K. Rowling. The exhibition sold out quickly, but your second chance has arrived. Google and the British Library have teamed up for an online walkthrough of a few of the exhibit’s most popular items. As part of the announcement, Google Arts & Culture released a video with the exhibit’s curator, Julian Anderson, which also offered a few fun lessons in “Muggle magic.”



Via i09, Google’s online curation of the Harry Potter exhibit can be found here. Unfortunately, it doesn’t feature everything that was a part of the original exhibit, but it does have several items of note. That includes the early drafts of Rowling’s outline for the novels and her original sketches for the grounds of Hogwarts, as well as a 360-degree tour of the Divination Room. There’s even a detailed look at the Ripley Scroll, a manuscript from the 15th century that was supposed to reveal the secret technique for creating a philosopher’s stone.

If you’re interested in “real magic,” the online exhibit also features an in-depth look at potions, alchemy, astronomy, divination, magical creature care, charms, herbology, and even “Defense against the Dark Arts.” It may be the next best thing to an actual Hogwarts education!

Are you excited to see the Harry Potter exhibit online? Cast your spells in the comment section below!

Images: Warner Bros. Pictures 

SUMMON MORE HARRY POTTER MAGIC!

This dad made Diagon Alley in the driveway.
This town hosted a Harry Potter festival.
Check out these awesome color-changing Harry Potter sorting candles.

Barbra Streisand Cloned Her Freakin’ Dog

When news sprung forth from the hillocks of Scotland back in the summer of ’96 that scientists had managed the first ever case of mammalian cloning, we were all convinced that nothing would ever be quite the same. In a year’s time, the planet’s livestock supply would quintuple; all endangered species would again reign supreme across the wild; superpower militaries would be filled to the brim with genetically engineered human drones. Dolly was only the first domino—soon enough, the world would fall to the order of facsimile helices.

We may have jumped the gun.

It’s been 22 years since that Gaelic ewe made international headlines, and cloning hasn’t exactly caught on. Though we’ve gotten a few odd cows, cats, goats, and fruit flies here and there, the practice hasn’t quite permeated popular culture quite the way we expected it to… beyond Orphan Black, that is. But we may be in for a new wave of doggie duplication yet, as all it takes is one celebrity spokesperson to kick off a nationwide trend. And cloning has found just that in Barbra Streisand.

via GIPHY

Unwilling to submit to the inevitability of bidding a permanent goodbye to her aging pooch Samantha, film and theater icon Streisand had the 14-year-old Coton du Tulear cloned last year prior to her ultimate passing. The result, as Streisand told Variety: two identical puppies named Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett, both of whom live with Streisand today.

Though the specifics of the dogs’ gestation, or of how exactly Streisand went about wrangling a Malibu-based dog cloner for just such an occasion, remain unclear, theirs is a story that should provide a bit of warmth and hope to anyone with a full heart, an endless supply of Funny Girl residuals, and a liberal attitude regarding the barriers of scientific possibility.

Would you clone your beloved pooch or kitty? Let us know!

Image: MGM/UA Entertainment Company

More weird science!

The Andromeda galaxy may not be that big
Neptune’s flatulent storm is about to die
What toxin is on Poison Ivy’s lips ?

STAR WARS REBELS’ Dave Filoni on That Surprising Return and the World Between Worlds

Warning: Spoilers are ahead for the Star Wars Rebels season four episodes “Wolves and a Door” and “A World Between Worlds.” 

Monday night’s Star Wars Rebels opened a portal to a place where all of time and space is accessible, a world between worlds. As Ezra walked through the empty space, he heard snippets of quotes from all over the Star Wars timeline–Qui-Gon Jinn, Rey, Yoda. Everything is happening at the same time in this place. At a Q&A at Lucasfilm following a screening of “A World Between Worlds,” Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni communicated he wanted it to be ominous. “To me a very dangerous thing would be this world where all things are happening and possible and time is fluid,” he said. “So, we sound designed in a line from pretty much every single Star Wars film to be happening all at once in this void, to prime you for the idea that time is always happening in here. And all these events are happening.”

The idea of different portals came to Filoni through C.S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew‘s Wood between the Worlds; the story made an impression on him as a kid. He recalled it was powerful, and that’s why Ezra has to watch himself. He explained, “You have to be careful when you’re moving through these big powerful dimensions and what you’re wishing for. Everything he [Ezra] wishes for, out loud, is a dangerous thing to do. If you watch and listen when Ezra talks and he makes certain statements, there’ll be a thunder clap, and that thunder is representative of something else listening. There’s multiple things going on in there and everything becomes a choice between how you want to use power and control, and influence others.”

Ezra restrains himself when it comes to saving Kanan’s life, but he chooses to use his power to save Ahsoka Tano–which is something Kanan engineered. “What particularly excited me about this story was I could tell a story that takes place within the Malachor episode that shows you how she gets out of the conflict with Vader, and then puts her at the end of that episode, which is her going down the staircase and the triangle doorway,” Filoni said.

“So, you’re not technically further than you were before with her story, but you get an interesting part of that story. Because I’m not doing that story right now. I don’t want to interrupt it with anything that I might later go, ‘Oh, I have a better idea.’ The thing about Ahsoka you have to remember is that everything she does in Rebels has to service Rebels. If I don’t do that, it’s not true to what we’re doing here and then it will feel very fake, and flawed, and self serving.”

We don’t know Ahsoka’s ultimate fate, but we at least know she’s alive and well after Malachor. And it stems from what happened in “Twilight of the Apprentice.” Filoni said, “Kanan makes a decision on Malachor not to go with his gut–which is that Maul’s going to betray them. Because he’s not willing to step up and say, ‘No, this guy is evil. Let’s get out of here, let’s walk away from this,’ everything bad [falls like] dominoes after that. And Ezra says it. He says, ‘That’s when everything changed.'”

“In a way for Kanan, it’s like a big failure. He doesn’t pass this test of believing in himself and committing to what’s he willing to trade off to defeat evil in this moment. They should have just walked away from Malachor. But they didn’t. So, the only thing Kanan really engineers, that I think is questionably a little bit selfish, is he engineers the rescue of Ahsoka. He wants to see if Ezra can figure out that’s what he’s capable of doing in that moment. So, he puts him in this place where he can do that. That’s why the big wolf is saying restore the past and you redeem the future. Kanan’s correcting that thing where she otherwise dies. Now she’s back in play which is, I think, a good thing because she’s an interesting character.”

And in case you wondered, the Kanan Hera sees is not a Force ghost. Filoni said, “It’s more like a way to show her present memory of a presence that is of course around you, but not there in a way that she would intuitively know or see.”

Images: Disney XD/Lucasfilm

Amy Ratcliffe is an Associate Editor for Nerdist. She likes Star Wars a little. Follow her on Twitter.

Stay rebellious with these stories!

Dave Filoni on the loss of Kanan Jarrus.
What you need to know about Mortis.
An encounter between Ahsoka Tano and Bendu.

STAR WARS REBELS Revealed What Happened to a Beloved Character

Warning: Serious spoilers are ahead for the Star Wars Rebels season four episodes “Wolves and a Door” and “A World Between Worlds.” 

Star Wars Rebels is coming to an end, and in its final episodes, it’s facing questions fans have been holding close for years. Last Monday, the story addressed the fate of Kanan Jarrus. And in this Monday’s episodes, we learned his loss is connected to a fan favorite character. “A World Between Worlds” revealed what happened to Ahsoka Tano in the season two finale after she fought Darth Vader on Malachor.

Ahsoka Tano is alive.

I care deeply about the characters introduced in Star Wars Rebels, but Ahsoka is my favorite, the character I’ve grown alongside as I’ve explored Star Wars fandom. I’ve put hours (more than I want to count) into theorizing about Ahsoka’s fate. We didn’t see the end of her duel with her former master; we only saw Vader limp away from the battle and Ahsoka disappear into the Sith temple. None of my theories about symbolism and the convor (who is not surprisingly an avatar of the Daughter) acting as a guide into another state of being were close to what happened. Ahsoka was saved by Ezra reaching out to save her from the future. To call it time travel seems simplistic, but in a way, it’s what happened.

This Topps card illustrated by Rebels’ executive producer Dave Filoni makes a lot more sense now, huh?

Ahsoka survived. She still has to find her way off Malachor, because Ezra returned her to those final moments from “Twilight of the Apprentice.” I don’t know if she’ll return in Rebels‘ series finale, a la Gandalf “I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.” But that’s besides the point for now. We know her story can continue. Kanan wanted Ezra to save her; it was perhaps his final teaching for his apprentice. He spoke through the cosmic Force as the wolf Dume. As for the wolves, they arguably wanted Ezra to shut down the portal to stop Emperor Palpatine (voiced by Ian McDiarmid) from accessing the world between worlds, a place where we heard familiar lines of dialogue from the likes of Jyn Erso, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kylo Ren, and more floating through the air. Could you imagine the damage Palpatine could inflict by being able to access all of time and space through this place?

Which is another key part of this episode: Star Wars Rebels has introduced this huge piece of mythology to the Star Wars universe. The portal is likely why Palpatine has nurtured a special interest in Lothal. It’s not clear if other access points to this world exist in the galaxy. He had Imperials tearing the Jedi Temple apart for artifacts, a la Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Indiana Jones influence was present in visual cues and in Kevin Kiner’s music (which has been on another level for these final episodes). And the idea of the Empire looking to what is like a religious institute for sources of power fits the structure of Raiders all too well.

This exploration of the deep and the unusual in regards to the Force is part of what makes Rebels unique. If you’ve been watching this series, you probably didn’t blink at Rey’s mirror scene in the cave on Ahch-To in The Last Jedi. You’re already used to confronting the Force in unconventional methods outside of the Jedi—through the Mortis gods, through beings like Bendu, and creatures like the loth-wolves. Though it may not directly affect plot points in the films, it opens passages so you can look at the Force differently.

And of course, it introduces questions I don’t have answers for right now. The Minister (voiced by Malcolm McDowell, by the way) mentioned the Mortis gods were documented in the Jedi Temple. Is that because of what happened in the Mortis trilogy in The Clone Wars? Or do they have an even bigger role to play? Why does this world between worlds exist and who created it? What do all the animal constellations in the “sky” of the world signify? Do they represent creatures like the loth-wolves that have a strong connection to the Force and guard portals on other planets?

It’s enough to make your head spin in the best kind of way. I don’t know if I’m ready for the final 90 minutes of this series.

How do you feel about what happened to Ahsoka on Malachor? Did any of your theories involve time-bending possibilities?

Images: Disney XD/Lucasfilm, Topps

Amy Ratcliffe is an Associate Editor for Nerdist. She likes Star Wars a little. Follow her on Twitter.

More from Star Wars Rebels!

Dave Filoni on the loss of Kanan Jarrus.
The beautiful way Rebels handled grief.
What is up with those loth-wolves?

Did THE LAST JEDI Novelization Reveal Luke Skywalker’s Wife?

The Last Jedi did not go the way anyone thought, but is the movie’s novelization about to shake things up even more by adding a Mrs. Luke Skywalker to the galaxy far, far away? We discussed it on today’s Nerdist News Talks Back, along with whether Mark Hamill will appear in the next Guardians of the Galaxy, and what new character descriptions might tell us about Stranger Things season 3.

Host Jessica Chobot was joined today by Nerdist managing editor Alicia Lutes, as well as producers Derek Johnson and Jesse Gill. They hit the hyperdrive on a report The Last Jedi novel opens with a line about Luke standing on Tatooine with his wife. Uh, we’re pretty sure that wasn’t in the movie (feels like we would have remembered that), so what could this mean? Is it a dream sequence? A deleted scene? A fantasy of Luke’s? Or could this mean Mara Jade might still be official canon? But after Luke’s death, does this even matter?

Speaking of Luke Skywalker, a Twitter conversation between Mark Hamill and his neighbor director James Gunn might mean a role for him in the third Guardians of the Galaxy. Would Hamill be a good fit for that world? With the way the movies mine nostalgia, are we surprised he hasn’t appeared in one already? Could this be how Disney finally connects Star Wars and the MCU? And who would be our dream cameo in Vol. 3?

Finally, with casting under way three new character descriptions for Stranger Things 3 have surfaced: a mayor who only cares about himself, a compromised reporter, and a kindly elderly woman who likes to garden. How do we think these roles will factor into the next season? Could any of them be a major villain? What new face in season two was our favorite? And what can the show do to get back to the level of its first season?

Nerdist News Talks Back airs live Monday to Thursday on our YouTube and Alpha channels at 1 p.m. PT , and we end the week with our brand new hour-long recap Nerdist News What the Fridays at 1 p.m. PT exclusively at Alpha. When you join us you can be a part of the conversation.

Which is way more fun than waiting for the Nerdist News Talks Back novelization to come out.

We want to hear from you about today’s topics right now though, so share your thoughts on them in the comments below.

Images: Lucasfilm, Netflix

The ‘Shimmer’ and Ending of ANNIHILATION Explained

As you might expect, this piece features major plot spoilers for Annihilation. If you haven’t seen it and want to remain unspoiled, please read our non-spoilery review. Otherwise, we’re gonna take trip into the spoiler-shimmer.Annihilation is a mind-bending sci-fi epic with a lot to say – and a lot to piece together. In the vein of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Under the Skin, and other genre staples that provoke without answering, Annihilation rips open the id, questioning the finality of human biology and our tendencies toward self-destruction. It also introduces a truly singular and fascinating setting in “the Shimmer,” a scientific anomaly where much of the film takes place. The Shimmer is an update on the book’s themes, giving the movie its own motivation. But what exactly is the Shimmer? And how does it tie into the mystifying – and downright mystical – ending? Let’s dig in.

What is the Shimmer?

In Jeff VanderMeer’s novel, Annihilation, the mysterious anomaly that appears out of nowhere is referred to as Area X. It doesn’t have the same oily, iridescent quality that its film counterpart does. It’s merely a dreamy, odd plot of perverted biology containing unknowable creatures and a  structure called the “the tower” – which houses an odd, descending staircase where much of the book’s craziness takes place.

The film reimagines a lot of what the novel posited, renaming the area the “Shimmer” and further explaining its bizarre qualities. As Tessa Thompson’s physicist character Josie Radek observes, the Shimmer is actually a prism, but it doesn’t just reflect light; it also reflects DNA and other physical properties. When the all-female team infiltrates the Shimmer, they are subjected to its utter lack of reason: Time is warped, their equipment malfunctions, compasses spin. This is no easily traceable phenomena. The Shimmer is something different, something extraterrestrial.

The story of Annihilation is told non-linearly. We open with a biologist named Lena (Natalie Portman) recounting her infiltration of the Shimmer, as well as her escape. She was part of the 12th expedition into the anomaly, only entering after her husband Kane (Oscar Isaac) returned from his own government-ordered Shimmer penetration. Kane’s trip proved cataclysmic; he was the only survivor, and returned to the real world with massive radiation poisoning. Lena enters the Shimmer of her own accord, hoping to gather the information her husband could not, and also hoping to rediscover herself along the way.

Along with a psychologist, a magnetologist, a paramedic, and a physicist, Lena willingly penetrates the Shimmer. At first, things are weird (they lose a few days), but not too crazy. But as they get closer to the lighthouse – the most affected structure in the Shimmer – the scientists observe increasingly bizarre happenings. A crocodile with an extra row of teeth attacks them in a boathouse, and a crazed bear creature mauls and kills two team members, acquiring one of their screams in a scene so freakish and terrifying that it’s already infamous. The scientists start to uncover the prism’s properties, including its ability to mutate and duplicate matter. Once the suicidal Radek is fully aware of where she is, she allows herself to be overtaken by the Shimmer’s biological power. By the end, only Lena and Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) remain.

What is the ending trying to say? 

Lena eventually finds her way to the lighthouse, where she discovers Kane’s seared corpse, and realizes the husband she thought escaped was actually a physical duplicate. She enters a hole in the lighthouse’s wall where she finds Ventress, who is fully giving herself over to the powerful extraterrestrial force that created the Shimmer. Ventress, who is now enlightened to the alien’s modus operandi, informs Lena that the being lacks a consciousness but does have a driving force: it wants to annihilate human biology and rebuild it from a molecular level.

Ventress “dies” but the being accumulates her matter and refocuses it into a strange chunk of iridescent anatomy, which presents itself to Lena. It then takes a humanoid form and attempts to duplicate Lena’s physicality. Lena tries to escape, but the humanoid traps her, locking her into a tête-à-tête of reconfiguration. Lena is able to outsmart this other being, and hands it a phosphorous grenade that winds up killing both the humanoid and the entire Shimmer in the process. The disintegration of the Shimmer allows for Lena’s escape back into the real world, where she is reunited with her “husband.”

Lena might not be who she says she is

In the end, Lena is reunited with Kane in the Southern Reach facility. She asks him a simple question: “Are you my husband?” He isn’t quite sure. And of course, he’s not really Kane – we saw the real Kane commit suicide with a grenade in the lighthouse. But is she Lena? Kane asks her this and she doesn’t answer, but instead embraces him before we see her eyes glow, similar to his.

While this might seem to indicate that Lena isn’t really Lena, the actual answer might be more complicated. As we learned earlier in the film, Lena was “infected” by the prism. At one point, she studies her blood and realizes it’s been manipulated. That means that no matter what, she’s exiting the Shimmer with complications. That would allow for her eye glimmer and for her odd behavior after leaving the anomaly. The film is intentionally ambiguous about the real answer here – but in a way that makes it everlasting, the sort of sci-fi possibility we’ll be questioning forevermore.

Images: Paramount

Get more Annihilation

There’s an Ex Machina Easter egg at the end of Annihilation.
Breaking down the differences between the movie and book .
13 movies to watch after you’ve seen Annihilation

BIZARRE STATES: DECLASSIFIED Dives Even Deeper into the Strange and Sinister

On our Bizarre States podcast hosts Jessica Chobot and Andrew Bowser have gone where few souls dare to venture, by exploring the creepiest corners of this world–and the next–by lifting the veil on the most famous urban myths, murders, and monsters. But after nearly 180 episodes of looking into the scariest, strangest, most sinister tales, you’ve had one major request: give us more. That’s why we’ve unleashed them to go deeper than ever before into the macabre, with our new spin-off series Bizarre States: Declassified.

Every month, exclusively on our interactive online community Alpha, Andrew and Jessica will be sitting down with celebrities and expert guests at L.A.’s Mystic Museum to investigate the weird and supernatural with more depth than ever before. They’ll be digging into topics ranging from famous hauntings, to UFO encounters, to the downright bizarre. Because there’s no question too weird for them to ask.



What’s even more exciting is that we’re not going to make you wait to see the first episode, because it premiered today, Monday February 26. Here’s a clip from the debut episode, where Jessica and Andrew sat down with Bigfoot expert Matt Moneymaker, who shared the story of the closest he physically came to the legendary creature.



But while Jessica and Andrew will be going to some very dark places, we’re celebrating our newest show with something that will brighten up your day. Because we’re giving you a free 60-day trial of Alpha when you sign up. Just use the code MYSTIC and your first two months are entirely on us.

You asked for more, and we’re giving it to you with Bizarre States: Declassified, but we promise there’s nothing ominous about this offer.

What topics do you hope they’ll explore on the show? Don’t keep your thoughts declassified, share them with us in the comments below.

More of the latest nerdy things

You’re going to want to sell your house and move into this Millennium Falcon bedroom !
There’s an exciting Ex Machina Easter egg at the end of Annihilation
Everything coming to Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu this March

Defend Gotham’s Country Clubs with a Batman Tumbler Golf Cart

One would think a golf course is a place to relax. You can hang out with friends, shoot some links, and grab a beer after you’re done. This is not the case. Evil can strike anywhere, whether you are walking in a dark alley at night or trying to find your ball in the rough. Hammacher Schlemmer’s here to help you can scare off ruffians and try to better your golf score at the same time with their Batman-inspired golf cart.

Reported by Geek Alerts, Hammacher Schlemmer’s design is based on the Tumbler from the Dark Knight Trilogy. While we don’t recommend trying to crash through parking garages or riding over rooftops, the six wheels on the “TumblerCart” are golf course friendly. Thanks to its six horsepower electric go-cart motor (which is pretty darn good for a golf cart), anyone who tries to drop their ball illegally instead of hitting it where it lies won’t get away easily, as the cart can reach a top speed of 38 mph.

The body of the TumblerCart has a replica of the huge afterburner but remember: it’s an electric cart. You won’t see any flames shooting out on the course.

The wings of the TumblerCart fold around the passengers, giving them full protection from either golf balls or thrown clubs from one of those rage quit golfers. It doesn’t look like the TumblerCart will convert into a mini Bat-Pod, but if any of you fabricators are able to create it, please let us know!

If you are ready to raise your golf game a few Bat-Levels, then you can order the Gotham golf cart for a measly $28,500 from Hammacher Schlemmer’s website.

Are you golfing fans ready to see how the Dark Knight sees the course? Let me know on Twitter at @donnielederer or sound off in the comments below.

Images: Hammacher Schlemmer

More Bat-vehicles!

The Mars Rover concept vehicle looks like Tumbler.
A Dark Knight-inspired stroller.
Cars 3 almost included a Batmobile.