Mando Review, Doctor Who Delay, Andy Weir vs. Game Of Thrones - Fandom Pulse Daily Briefing
Hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend! I went to a great barbecue, had a good time, and took a couple of days off, then took the family to a baseball game, so we had a light weekend of content both here and on YouTube. It was nice to take a little break, because it’s a full-time job here now!
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Review: The Mandalorian and Grogu Plays Like a Repurposed Season Four
Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu hit theaters May 22, 2026, and the strongest impression it leaves is that this was almost certainly Season 4 of the Disney+ show before someone upstairs decided to put it on the big screen. The Mandalorian season 4 has transformed into The Mandalorian and Grogu, and you can feel it in every frame.
Dragon Award Winner Brian Niemeier Takes On the Student Debt Crisis in New Kickstarter
Brian Niemeier built his audience without a publisher. His Soul Cycle series began with Nethereal in 2015 and expanded with Souldancer, which won the inaugural Dragon Award for Best Horror Novel in 2016. He crowdfunded his way through multiple campaigns, built a Patreon community called the Court of Kairos, and wrote
Doctor Who’s Christmas Special May Be Canceled
The Sun reported this weekend that the Doctor Who Christmas Special is in danger of being scrapped or pushed to Easter 2027 because the BBC cannot find a new lead actor. Radio Times followed up. Bleeding Cool published a lengthy opinion piece today calling on the BBC to say something. The story has broken into the mainstream entertainment press.
Andy Weir Trashes Game of Thrones Finale in Reddit AMA, Pitches Breaking Bad and Dexter Rewrites
Andy Weir, the bestselling author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary, used a Reddit AMA on r/IAmA under his longtime username u/sephalon to take direct aim at three of the most controversial endings in modern television. When user u/homerj35 asked, “Hi Andy! If you could rewrite the ending to any book/movie which book/movie would you choose?”, Weir we…
The Forgotten Heir of Heinlein: A Spider Robinson Retrospective
There was a time when science fiction readers spoke the name Spider Robinson with the same reverence they reserved for Niven, Pournelle, and Card. He won three Hugos. He won a Nebula. He took home the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1974. Robert A. Heinlein’s own estate picked him to complete the Grand Master’s unfinished novel, passing ov…
Lupita Nyong’o Praised African Cultural Authenticity, Then Dismissed the Same Standard for Greek Mythology
The Odyssey casting controversy entered a new phase this weekend when critics surfaced Lupita Nyong’o’s past statements about cultural representation in Black Panther and placed them next to her defense of playing Helen of Troy.
Star Wars Just Had Its Worst Opening Weekend Under Disney And The Spin Won’t Change the Numbers
The final box office numbers are in. The Mandalorian and Grogu opened to an estimated $81.9 million domestically over its three-day opening weekend and roughly $102 million over the extended four-day Memorial Day holiday frame, making it the lowest opening weekend for a Disney-era Star Wars theatrical release in North America
Sharon Lee On Writing Through Cancer, Forgotten Craft, And Clan Korval’s Enduring Universe
Sharon Lee has been building the Liaden Universe with her writing partner Steve Miller for over 40 years. Six anthology collections deep, the series remains one of science fiction’s most quietly beloved corners with a sprawling space opera built on trade law, honor debt, psionics, and the indomitable Clan Korval. The sixth installment,
https://shapeofcinema.substack.com/p/an-elegy-written-in-fire?r=8dbojf&utm_medium=ios
https://shapeofcinema.substack.com/p/pigs-in-space?r=8dbojf&utm_medium=ios