May 2024

The Downloaded by Robert J. Sawyer

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The novel “The Downloaded” by Robert J. Sawyer was published for the first time in 2023 as an audiobook and in 2024 as a book.

When Captain Letitia Garvey finds herself in her body after spending four subjective years in a virtual world produced by her mind in a quantum computer, she expects the spaceship Hokule’a to have reached the Proxima Centauri system. Instead, it soon becomes clear that she and the rest of the crew are on Earth, in the Quantum Cryonics Institute in Waterloo, Canada. Outside, there are only ruins.

The situation for the newly awakened astronauts becomes even more complicated when they realize that they are not the only humans present at the Institute. Another group of people has awakened and they are criminals who agreed to serve a sort of virtual sentence as part of a rehabilitation project. How can the astronauts trust them?

Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) and the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) in The Devil's Chord (Image courtesy BBC / Disney+)

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“The Devil’s Chord” is an episode of the 14th season of the new “Doctor Who” series, also indicated as season 1, and follows “Space Babies”. It’s available in the UK and Ireland on BBC channels and in many other countries on the Disney+ platform.

Beware that in various adverts and marketing materials, this season is promoted as season 1, marking the start of production by Bad Wolf and distribution by Disney+, hence the double notation. On BBC’s website, “The Devil’s Chord” is indicated as episode 2 of 8 while Disney+ indicates it as episode 3.

Note. This article contains some spoilers about “The Devil’s Chord”.

Roger Corman in 2012

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The legendary director, producer, and actor Roger Corman passed away on May 9 (Photo Angela George).

Roger Corman was born on April 5, 1926, in Santa Monica, California. He studied at Stanford University but between 1944 and 1946 he served in the US Navy. In 1947 he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering but only worked for a few days as an engineer because he realized that he didn’t want to do that kind of job and immediately devoted himself to cinema instead.

In 2009, Roger Corman received an Honorary Academy Award for his rich engendering of films and filmmakers. It’s just a small tribute to a man who has been appreciated for decades for his productions. His influence on generations of filmmakers proves what a master of cinema he was, a craftsman capable of creating quality movies with limited means.

The Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) in Space Babies (Image courtesy BBC / Disney+)

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“Space Babies” is an episode of the 14th season of the new “Doctor Who” series, also indicated as season 1, and follows “The Church on Ruby Road”. It’s available in the UK and Ireland on BBC channels and in many other countries on the Disney+ platform.

The Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) takes Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) on a trip to the age of dinosaurs, with some unexpected side effects. After fine-tuning some Tardis settings, he takes her to the future, to a space station where they find a monster and children who were supposed to be part of a colony project but were abandoned.

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The novella “Exit Strategy” by Martha Wells was published for the first time in 2018. It’s the fourth work of “The Murderbot Diaries” series and follows “Rogue Protocol”.

When the spaceship taken by Murderbot is arriving at its destination, it’s rerouted towards the security area. SecUnit realizes that they’re looking for it and it’s forced to sneak out of the spaceship to prevent the heavily armed security forces from finding it.

Murderbot quickly discovers that Dr. Mensah was accused of corporate espionage by GrayCris and disappeared. Suspecting a kidnapping, it contacts her team, knowing full well that they know its identity and therefore that it’s a SecUnit.