“Uneasy lies the head the wears the crown,” wrote Shakespeare. Since its return in 2005, Doctor Who has featured three British queens who could testify to the weight of royal responsibility. In “Tooth and Claw,”…
The Lady Galadriel who rules the forest of Lórien, is renowned for her beauty (among other traits, including her wisdom and mercy). Gimli the dwarf deems her fairer than “all the jewels that lie beneath…
Deep Space Nine frequently comes under fire from Star Trek fans for being “too dark,” “too militaristic,” “too grim”—in other words, too far from Gene Roddenberry’s bright, shining vision of the future. I used to…
Frank Herbert’s Dune is one of a handful of science fiction novels deservingly called “definitive.” Herbert’s elaborately imagined vision of humanity’s distant future is plausibly extrapolated from hard science, keenly attuned to political dynamics, bursting…
When I think about lawgivers in a sci-fi context, I don’t think first of a fictional character, but of a real science fiction author. One of Isaac Asimov’s enduring legacies is his formulation of the…
When The Empire Strikes Back hit movie screens in 1980, Yoda mania swept the nation. Don’t believe me? No less an authority than People magazine said so! I certainly remember how hard it was to…
Christmas is almost here. Starting tomorrow, Christians who observe the liturgical season of Advent—the four weeks before the observance of Christ’s birth, set aside for prayerful preparation—are entering the home stretch… or, if you prefer,…
We spend much money, effort, and time in our culture candy-coating the Christmas season with superficially “pretty” things. Colored tree lights, shiny wrapping paper, glitter-covered snowflakes—I think we hope these trappings will distract us from…
Today, many Christians—especially in the Roman Catholic, Anglo-Episcopalian, and Lutheran traditions, but also others—will remember the Italian friar Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226). An itinerant preacher and the founder of monastic orders for men and (with…
So it turns out 2012’s mightiest team of cinematic superfriends may not be the Avengers after all… I wasn’t familiar with this project until I saw the trailer, but I have high hopes. My entire…
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