Friday 3rd May 2024

Star Wars' Newest Show Fails to Expand on the Franchise's Overlooked Villains

When Dave Filoni announced Tales of the Jedi at Star Wars Celebration in 2022, it felt like the world of Star Wars was finally going to shed more light on some of its most underrated characters: Count Dooku and Ahsoka Tano. The animated shorts collection filled in key parts of both of these characters’ backstories, and it was a delightful if short supplement to what we already saw in The Clone Wars.

With the next collection Tales of the Empire, Filoni takes on a different challenge: Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth, the former Nightsister seen in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka; and Barriss Offee, the Jedi who turned against the order and framed Ahsoka for bombing a Jedi Temple in one of the most acclaimed Clone Wars arcs. But while the series is a welcome look into the past and future of these characters, it’s not nearly what these characters deserve.

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'Masters of the Universe' is Quietly Retconning He-Man's Backstory

In the next He-Man movie, the muscular ‘80s action hero will get an entirely new backstory that borrows from Superman while acknowledging the last live-action He-Man adventure. According to Variety, the new Masters of the Universe will debut on June 26, 2026, and will feature a brand-new story, one unfamiliar to anyone who loved He-Man in the ‘80s, ‘90s, early aughts, or even during his 2020s Netflix incarnation.

While this new premise is a radical departure from the He-Man mythos, it sounds like it just might work. Here’s what the new Masters of the Universe movie is about, why it’s such a big departure, and why it fits in perfectly with the wacky world of Grayskull.

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The Cybertruck's Sharp Frunk Won't Crush Your Fingers Anymore

Tesla’s latest update for its Cybertruck proves it’s paying attention to some early critiques of its polarizing EV. In the 2024.14.3 update, Tesla included features to make off-roading easier, but also one that should make its sharp frunk a lot less prone to accidents. Now, the Cybertruck’s frunk can better detect if something is in the way of it closing safely, as seen in a demo from Top Gear.

Instead of clamping down, the frunk immediately detects something is in the way and returns to an open position, leaving a banana in one piece. It may be a minor change, but it’s one that you’ll be grateful for if you ever absentmindedly put your fingers in the wrong spot.

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9 Years Later, an Iconic Post-Apocalypse Franchise is Doubling Down on an Annoying Trend

Furiosa was born out of artistic curiosity. Mad Max creator George Miller had been working on a new story for years, and while that would lay the groundwork for 2015’s Fury Road, Miller spent so much time building backstories for new characters — Charlize Theron’s Furiosa especially — that the leftover material went on to inspire a “novella” all its own.

“We did it just for the actors and the crew so they could understand it,” Miller recently explained at CinemaCon. “We wrote the story of Furiosa in the 15 or 16 years of her life before we meet her in Fury Road, we wrote a story about Max in the year before he got there and so on.”

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Ethan Hawke Reveals How Maya Hawke Influenced His Move to TV

Directing daughter Maya Hawke in his portrait of Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor, Hawke interrogates why he makes art.

That’s not to say the beloved actor, author, and filmmaker is devout in a strictly traditional sense. Though Hawke’s mother was Episcopalian and took him to church as a child, she raised him to think about belief in all its manifestations, to internalize the writings of great American playwrights and poets as intently as sermons from local priests.

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Gaming's Most Painful Trend Means Even Great Developers Aren't Safe

Another day, another devastating games industry layoff. This time, the losses are centered on two studios under Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two’s Private Division label. Rollerdrome developer Roll7 and Kerbal Space Program 2 developer Intercept Games are reportedly being closed entirely, according to Bloomberg. The layoffs are part of a plan Take-Two announced last month to cut around 600 jobs total.

It can be tempting to look for patterns in the wave of gaming layoffs in the past few years. With Activision Blizzard, job cuts came after an acquisition that made some positions redundant. With countless indie studios, including the developer of last year’s brilliant Saltsea Chronicle, it was a chronic lack of funding for smaller games. But countless other eliminations and closures don’t fit any identifiable mold, Roll7 and Intercept now among them.

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'X-Men '97' Fans Can Soon Stay In the X-Mansion -- But There's a Catch

Remember when Airbnb built a tangible version of Shrek’s swamp home and Barbie’s Malibu Dream House? The vacation company is carving out a niche in uber-bespoke experiences with its Icons series, and a superhero sanctum is next on the itinerary.

Thanks to the animated X-Men ‘97, the mutant superteam is enjoying a well-deserved comeback. To capitalize on their resurgent popularity, Airbnb has converted a Newcastle mansion into a replica of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. The X-Mansion features Professor X’s office, Beast’s lab, and even the X-Men’s War Room, complete with a “working” Cerebro helmet. It’s all rendered in a 2D-3D hybrid so uncanny that initial images looked AI-generated, but Airbnb’s latest listing is 100% functional and will open its doors to X-fans this June.

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An Iconic Prequel Duel Was Crafted By an Underrated Star Wars Actor

In terms of visceral, expertly-choreographed duels, you can’t do much better than the Star Wars prequels. Each film in George Lucas’ prequel trilogy ups the ante, from Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon’s battle with Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace to Revenge of the Sith’s Mustafar duel, a fight that fans are still dissecting to this day. Depending on who you ask, though, the prequel trilogy peaked when Master Yoda was forced to face off against his former padawan, Count Dooku... and finally demonstrate his skills with a lightsaber.

A lot went into Yoda’s big reveal in Attack of the Clones. The 2002 film was the first to remake the character as a computer-generated entity, mostly to accommodate his expanding physicality. Lucasfilm’s creative team has spoken a lot about the process of crafting a digital Yoda, and the hurdles they overcame to do it. But the main inspiration for Yoda’s big duel against Dooku remains an open secret: it all began with Ahmed Best, the actor and martial artist known for playing Jar Jar Binks in the prequels.

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6 Reasons Why AI Gadgets Shouldn't 'Just Be an App'

AI gadgets like the Rabbit R1 and Humane Ai Pin would instantly fail if they were just another app.

We’re now at the beginning of the AI gadget era (one that might never be “finished”). Humane released its Ai Pin that clips onto your clothes, Rabbit launched its R1 last week, and there’s a whole wave of AI-powered devices from the Limitless Pendant to Open Interpreter’s 01 Light that are jockeying to become The Next Big Thing In Tech.

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This Quest 3 Demo Uses Mixed Reality to Level Up Your Drawing Skills

Learning to draw can feel like a daunting task, but the Quest 3 is here to help. A team of developers figured out a fun way to teach the techniques and skills of drawing with the help of mixed reality.

A mixed-reality app called Pencil! offers interactive drawing lessons using the Quest 3, as seen in its demo, which is similar to Pianovision, an app that gamifies piano lessons.

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