Category: Space Movies & Shows

Marvel fatigue? Think again, especially after Spider-Man: Brand New Day made over $2.5 billion worldwide and Avengers: Doomsday is looking hot, hot, hot!

But even after the uneven Multiverse Saga ends (hopefully on a high note), Marvel Studios won’t be stopping. So, we've put together a list of all the upcoming MCU movies and shows confirmed so far.

While the MCU isn't stopping, Marvel has slowed its roll, with the powers that be returning to the “quality over quantity” approach that defined Marvel Studios’ Infinity Saga output. This means no more than three movies per year and, perhaps more importantly, severely cutting down on TV productions, with a focus on multi-season shows rather than limited series that should’ve been a movie.

It’s a time of change for both Disney and Marvel, but it seems everyone agrees the big screen reigns supreme, so expect a thinner streaming output and more relevant movies starring characters you actually know.

More will be revealed in due time, but for now, here’s what lies at the Multiverse Saga’s end and beyond...

Spoilers ahead for the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far.

Avengers: Doomsday — December 18, 2026

Release date: December 18, 2026 | Director: Anthony & Joe Russo | Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, Robert Downey Jr.

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (from different Earths, actually) are assembling again in December 2026.

Avengers: Doomsday's cast looks ridiculously stacked, and it’ll finally realize the dream of bringing together the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men (Fox’s original ones, that is) on the big screen. It’s a lot to absorb, and we don’t really know what's going on, but the trailers released so far are promising.

Anthony & Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier & Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War & Endgame) are returning to direct, so that’s a good reason to be hyped even if the duo’s post-Marvel career hasn’t been the most exciting. Stephen McFeely (one of their two go-to scribes) is also back, and Michael Waldron (Loki) is helping out as well. It’s an all-star team for the most ambitious MCU project to date, at least until it all culminates in...

Daredevil: Born Again (Season 3) — March 2027

Release window: March 2027 | Showrunner: Dario Scardapane | Cast: Charlie Cox, Mike Colter, Finn Jones, Krysten Ritter

Daredevil: Born Again’s debut season was far from perfect, but most viewers agreed that Season 2 was a marked improvement.

Hopefully, that energy will continue in the third and final outing, as the Defenders reunite, with Finn Jones, Krysten Ritter, and Mike Colter all returning from their Netflix shows. Another shocker is the (unofficially) confirmed return of Elodie Yung’s Elektra.

We suspect some of these characters will be transferred to movies post-Secret Wars. In any case, Born Again’s final season should be packed, especially if Marvel Television is sticking to eight or nine episodes.

Avengers: Secret Wars — December 17, 2027

Release date: December 17, 2027 | Director: Anthony & Joe Russo | Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, Robert Downey Jr.

Practically nothing about the follow-up to Avengers: Doomsday has been revealed yet (though we assume the MCU’s main players will be part of the ensemble), but we know it fully starts shooting in late 2026 and is eyeing a Christmas 2027 arrival. The plan is to leave a year-long wait between the two event movies, leaving fans hanging like back in the MCU’s glory days.

The title comes from Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Wars (2015), which is probably the main source of inspiration for the upcoming big-screen event. Incursions (realities bleeding into each other) have already been set up during the Multiverse Saga, and we know Doomsday directly deals with the multiverse’s breaking point, so it’s easy to see where the larger picture is going.

No spoilers here, but prepare for a very different kind of Avengers flick if Battleworld is indeed the main setting.

Untitled X-Men film — May 5, 2028

Release date: May 5, 2028 | Director: Jake Schreier | Cast: Kit Connor, Sadie Sink, Adam Driver, Christopher Abbott

Whatever happens in Secret Wars (we’ve heard Marvel Studios intends to soft-reboot), Phase Seven of the MCU will kick off with a long-awaited, fresh take on the X-Men — now part of the larger Marvel universe housing all characters. Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier will be directing, with the same writing team from that movie joining him for another Marvel adventure.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day already did some heavy lifting when it came to setting up one of its leads (Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey), but it’s unclear how the whole group will be assembled.

We know for sure Cyclops (Kit Connor), Rogue (Inde Navarrette), Emma Frost (Samara Weaving), Storm (Maya Boyd), Angel (Asa Germann), Charles Xavier (Christopher Abbott), and Mr. Sinister (Adam Driver) are confirmed to appear, but the cast should grow in the coming months.

Just don’t expect to meet Magneto… yet.

Ghost Rider — July 28, 2028

Release date: July 28, 2028 | Director: Shawn Levy | Cast: Ryan Gosling (more to be confirmed)

Phase Seven’s second movie will be an unexpected one, but the fan reaction to its reveal was glowing: Ghost Rider, starring Ryan Gosling, with Deadpool & Wolverine’s Shawn Levy directing.

The duo worked together on Star Wars: Starfighter, and it seems it went so well that Disney and Marvel are happy with them reviving the Spirit of Vengeance as the MCU expands its dark borders.

It’s too early to even know which Ghost Rider that Gosling will be playing (Johnny Blaze or Danny Ketch) or where the plot is going, but considering Levy’s past movies, we’re expecting an adventurous tone that blends well with Ghost Rider’s very striking, hellish visuals and darker themes.

Of course, this project is an invitation to add more magical beings to the MCU and explore the Strange-adjacent side of it. Maybe it’s our first step towards a Midnight Sons event movie? We can only hope.

Black Panther 3 — December 15, 2028

Release date: December 15, 2028 | Director: Ryan Coogler | Cast: David Jonsson, Denzel Washington, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke

Ryan Coogler has taken a break from Marvel to make the excellent Sinners and help create a new iteration of The X-Files, but he’s confirmed to be coming back to wrap up his epic Black Panther trilogy. A while back, he confirmed he’d convinced Denzel Washington to join the MCU, and it sounds like those plans haven’t changed.

We also have a new T’Challa: David Jonsson (Alien: Romulus), who’s meant to play the son of the original T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman). If the years don’t make sense considering he was a kid in Wakanda Forever, wait until Secret Wars’ “soft reboot” for the answers.

What we know for sure is that series veterans Letitia Wright and Winston Duke are expected to stick around, but no plot details are available yet.

Zodiac — TBA 2028

Release window: 2028 | Showrunner: Unconfirmed | Cast: Unconfirmed

Revealed at NYCC 2026, Zodiac is set to be Marvel Television’s next ongoing series after Daredevil: Born Again is over. Little is known about the premise at this point, though TV boss Brad Winderbaum has confirmed it’s a “globetrotting, international espionage show about secrets and lies and betrayals” with a packed cast of characters.

Word is the show is, more specifically, a British spy thriller with three leads, two male and one female. It’s expected to shoot in London during spring 2027, and chances are we’ll know much more about it well before that.

Of course, longtime Marvel TV fans are hoping for an Agents of SHIELD revival of sorts (its canonicity was never entirely clear), but it seems this show isn’t exactly that, though Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson) might be involved.

We’ve learned to never say never when it comes to Marvel comebacks, so stay tuned for more news.

Marvel Zombies: The Winter Soldier, The Fist of Khonshu & The Last Guardian — 2027/2028/2029

Release windows: October 2027 / October 2028 / October 2029 | Showrunner: Bryan Andrews | Cast: Unconfirmed

Following a four-episode season in 2025, the animated series Marvel Zombies will be returning for three consecutive years (starting in 2027) just in time for Halloween.

The twist is that we’re now looking at three two-part specials: The Winter Soldier, The Fist of Khonshu, and The Last Guardian. It’s a huge departure from the previous plans with the Zombies and What If...? series, but it's one that could pay off.

Nothing is known about these small-scale projects at this point, but we know Marvel Zombies was a large enough hit on Disney+ to warrant more, and we’re okay with being surprised when it comes to format.

One has to assume these specials could work as one-shot comic books, but it’ll be interesting to see whether Marvel Television can tell cohesive and compelling stories with even shorter story arcs.

When "Star Trek" celebrated its 60th anniversary in September, it was a strangely muted affair. Sure, there were fan events, screenings, and even an attempt at a world record for the biggest simultaneous Vulcan salute in history, but the lack of a "Doctor Who"-style birthday episode felt like a glaring omission. It was like everyone had shown up for the party, but the organizers had forgotten to book the headline entertainment.

Luckily, there were rather more fireworks for the show's 30th birthday, when both "Voyager" and "Deep Space Nine" marked the occasion in style. "Voyager" episode "Flashback" took Tuvok (Tim Russ) back to his days on the USS Excelsior bridge alongside Original Series vets Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) and Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney).

But it was "DS9"'s "Trials and Tribble-ations" that turned out to be the more memorable voyage to "Trek" past, as Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) — with the help of some then-state-of-the-art digital trickery — came face-to-face with a young Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner).

While "Flashback" aired within days of "Trek"'s September 8 birthday, fans had to wait a little longer for "DS9"'s contribution to the celebrations. Showrunner Ira Steven Behr was keen to avoid disrupting the space station-set drama's story arc for a comedic diversion, meaning that "Trials and Tribble-ations" didn't debut until November 4, 1996.

In the wake of "Flashback" — not to mention Spock and Scotty's comebacks in "The Next Generation" stories "Unification" and "Relics" — the "DS9" writers' room had already decided they needed to take a very different approach.

Early on, "Battlestar Galactica" creator Ronald D. Moore pitched a follow-up to Original Series episode "A Piece of the Action" (aka the one where the residents of Iotia brought 1920s gangsters to life). In an extremely meta concept that predated "Galaxy Quest" by three years, the story would have taken the Enterprise crew to a planet of Kirk and Spock impersonators.

"For the thirtieth anniversary, you go back, and you're basically going back to the planet of 'Star Trek' fans," Moore recalled in "The Fifty-Year Mission" by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross. "They have conventions; they know all the adventures. It's a phenomenon, and you could comment on 'Star Trek' as a whole. I thought it would be interesting. But [fellow writer] René Echevarria thought it was a dangerous show to do, that we would be talking down to the fans on some level, and perhaps it wasn't the best way to go."

Instead, Echevarria suggested telling a story in the vein of Woody Allen's "Zelig" or "Forrest Gump" (then a zeitgeisty, multi-Oscar-winning box-office smash) and integrating the "Deep Space Nine" crew with the events of an Original Series episode.

"I thought, 'What bigger treat could there be than to go back into the past and board the original Enterprise and have a mission there?'" Echevarria said in a 1996 making-of documentary. "And Ron immediately said, 'It's gotta be "The Trouble with Tribbles!"'"

"The Trouble with Tribbles", a 1967 episode from "Star Trek"'s second season, is one of the most famous in the franchise's history. As well as featuring some minor scuffles with Klingons, it sees the Enterprise and Deep Space Station K-7 infested with the eponymous tribbles — cute, cuddly furballs of calm that reproduce at a dangerously exponential rate.

In "Trials and Tribble-ations", a timey-wimey incident involving the Bajoran Orb of Time transports the USS Defiant (one of the best "Star Trek" spaceships) back to the era of Kirk and Spock's famous five-year mission.

As Sisko recounts the adventure to a pair of agents from Starfleet's Department of Temporal Investigations (named Dulmur and Lucsly in homage to "The X-Files"), we learn how he, Dax (Terry Farrell), O'Brien (Colm Meaney), and Bashir (Alexander Siddig) spent a day playing Original Series cosplay on Kirk's Enterprise. It's "Star Trek"'s answer to "Back to the Future: Part II", as the crew interacts with established events while taking pains not to mess with history.

Although most of the guest stars from "The Trouble with Tribbles" had passed away over the intervening decades, one actor who'd played a pivotal role was still around. By the time he turned up in "Star Trek", 20-something stand-up comedian Charlie Brill had already brushed shoulders with pop-culture legend, having shared the bill with the Beatles when they made their famous appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in February 1964.

Three years later he'd swapped Lennon and McCartney for Kirk and Spock, playing a Klingon spy masquerading as human Arne Darvin, whose cover is ultimately blown by the famously Klingon-phobic tribbles. In the newer episode, the older Darvin travels back in time to assassinate Kirk, plotting his revenge with a bomb implanted in an unfortunate tribble. Thwarting the evil scheme — and preserving the timeline — forms the basis of Sisko's mission.

Brill's return was seemingly written in the stars. When planning the episode, Behr and the other writers met for lunch at Mulberry Street Pizza in Beverly Hills and noted that the actor was alive and still working in the business. Then, just as they were talking about him, they happened to spot Brill across the very same restaurant.

"What were the chances that we would be talking about this old TV episode from 30 years ago, and the guy who we were talking about to bring back on the show would be standing there ordering a slice of pizza?" Behr recalled at the Trek Talks telethon (via TrekMovie).

But however strong its story, "Trials and Tribble-ations" was always going to live and die by its recreation of ' 60s-era "Trek". The production team subsequently pulled out all the stops, with Behr suggesting at the time that it may have been the most expensive hour of TV ever made.

The actors were kitted out in era-appropriate primary-colored outfits and given '60s hairdos. The make-up team also recreated the appearance of the Original Series' Klingons, whose very different look — "We do not discuss it with outsiders," says Worf — would later be explained away in a "Star Trek: Enterprise" two-parter.

The late Walter Koenig (who'd featured as Chekov in "The Trouble with Tribbles") showed the younger officers how to flip open a communicator, and the stunt team choreographed fights to look like the cheesy, Western-inspired brawls of a bygone era.

Behind the scenes, production designer Michael Okuda and his team used a mixture of original plans and scans of the episodes to painstakingly recreate the sets, while the visual effects team constructed an exact half-scale replica of the original 11-foot Enterprise shooting model housed in the Smithsonian.

The biggest magic trick, however, was dependent on CG technology — then very much in its infancy — making everyone believe that Sisko and co were walking the same corridors as Kirk. VFX supervisor Gary Hutzel had provided proof-of-concept early in the process:

"He showed us a clip from the old show," said Behr. "We looked at it and said, 'Okay, that looks good, but what does that have to do with us?' And he said, 'Well, you see that guy coming in through the door? That's not from the 1967 episode. That's one of our people!'"

Shooting in front of blue- and green-screens, the actors' performances were meticulously matched to the Original Series episode. Early on, Moore had identified two sequences from "The Trouble with Tribbles" that would be perfect for selling the concept: Kirk dressing down a line-up of officers after a bar room brawl and Tribbles raining down on Kirk from a storage container.

O'Brien and Bashir were digitally pasted over the original actors in the former, while the latter was explained away by Sisko and Dax's madcap dash to find the elusive explosive tribble. In most other shots, the DS9ers became background observers in existing scenes.

But there were still debates to be had over whether the two captains should meet. "It led to one of the most vociferous arguments we've had," said Behr, a passionate advocate for the "yes" camp. "We were so deadlocked, and there was so much emotion in the air, we actually turned to the writer intern and said, ‘What do you think?’ End of stalemate. Of course, being an intern and being a smart guy, he sided with his executive producer. And life went on." (The scene in which Sisko hands Kirk a duty roster for approval was actually lifted from another Original Series episode, "Mirror, Mirror", with Brooks replacing Barbara Luna (Lt. Marlena Moreau) on the bridge.)

It was all worth the effort. "Trials and Tribble-ations" was the most-watched episode of "DS9"'s fifth season, bagged nominations for three Emmys and a Hugo, and is now widely regarded as one of the best "Trek" episodes of all time.

David Gerrold, who wrote "The Trouble with Tribbles" and appeared as an extra in "Trials and Tribble-ations", described it as "possibly the best episode of 'Star Trek' after the Original Series," and various members of the writers' room have described it as a highlight of their time on the final frontier.

"From the writers to the director to the lighting, costumes, the set, sound effects, visual effects — everybody really put in so much time on that episode to really recreate the original Enterprise in any way they possibly could," said Moore. "Everybody was staring at film clips, doing research into [prop/costume] materials. It was a mania, and everybody just threw themselves into it. They wanted to make it great. And it shows."

'The Trouble with Tribbles' and 'Trials and Tribble-ations' are available to stream on Paramount+ in both the US and UK.

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It also allows you to stream your favorite sci-fi and space series, including 'Dark Matter season 2', which premiered in October on Apple TV.

Joel Edgerton reprises his role as Jason Dessen in Blake Crouch’s mind-bending Apple TV sci-fi thriller, starring alongside Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga, Ellen Wong and Jimmi Simpson.

Picking up after the frantic multi-reality escape of the debut season, season 2 follows Jason and his family navigating the perilous corridors of the multiverse as they search for a safe timeline to call home—only to confront the devastating emotional and physical fallout of their fractured identities.

• We've got you covered with reviews and rankings of the best telescopes, binoculars, star projectors, cameras, drones, Lego, streaming and more.

There is a load of exciting sci-fi series currently available to enjoy, including 'Silo season 3' (Apple TV) and 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4' (Apple TV), which recently premiered the season finale with a nod to two of 'The Next Generation's' greatest-ever episodes.

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Check out our other guides to the best telescopes, binoculars, cameras, star projectors, drones, lego and much more.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Marvel Studios' existential superhero series "VisionQuest" has arrived on Disney+, and we've already been treated to four intriguing episodes that delve into the complex life of Vision, Paul Bettany's intelligent android and former card-carrying member of The Avengers.

The staggered storyline leading up to this show began with 2021's "WandaVision" and the 2024 follow-up, "Agatha All Along," with Marvel Studios proclaiming "VisionQuest" to be "the final vision of the groundbreaking trilogy." So, for those trying to catch up on current events in this trilogy of MCU shows starring Vision, and to avoid any lingering confusion, let’s take a step back to fill in the gaps.

And now, this isn't as simple as just "watch all the Marvel movies and shows in order," because that is a frankly ridiculous undertaking and entirely too much homework to do before watching a show. We're distilling it down to just what you need to know to understand VisionQuest.

Spoiler warning: It should go without saying, but there are spoilers for previous Marvel movies and shows in this article. You have been warned!

TLDR: Marvel shows and movies you need to watch ahead of VisionQuest

We'll go into some detail on all the connections below, but if you just want a list of the essential Marvel shows and movies to watch before VisionQuest, here it is.

Note that this is just the essentials. There are loads of small references to other movies and shows in the MCU, but they're just nods.

• Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Avengers: Infinity War
• WandaVision
• Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness*
• Agatha All Along

*This one is debatable. It continues Wanda's story from WandaVision, but it's not really essential for understanding the events of VisionQuest.

Both are the true vision. Neither is the true Vision

We kick things off with 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War," where the mighty Thanos murdered Vision by plucking out his golden, forehead-mounted Mind Stone for his Infinity Gauntlet. From that moment forward, Vision was dead, and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) was cast into unfathomable grief and not-so-repressed anger.

From there, we pick up the story in the 2021 Disney+ series "WandaVision." Set weeks after "Avengers: Endgame," this show features two separate versions of Vision.

One was a new synthezoid version, Frankensteined together from the components of the old Vision by S.W.O.R.D., nicknamed White Vision. The other Vision is a supernatural manifestation, brought to life via Wanda Maximoff’s sorcery; he is known as Hex Vision.

So, which of these two Visions appears in "VisionQuest"? That's the fun (and confusing) part, because the answer is both of them. At the end of "WandaVision," Hex Vision restores the lost memories of White Vision, essentially merging two entities into one.

So, the Vision we see in "VisionQuest" is the physical body of White Vision, injected with thoughts and remembrances of the model that was magically resurrected by Wanda. Confused yet? Don't worry, it's going to get weirder.

Voices inside my head

In addition to the two versions of Vision from "WandaVision," numerous other AIs exist within Vision's skull and are all represented by human avatars acting as factions of his ravaged psyche.

Cast your mind all the way back to 2015's "Avengers: Age of Ultron," and you'll remember that Vision was conceived from a combination of the artificial brain of Ultron, the Mind Stone, and fragments of Tony Stark’s AI butler companion, J.A.R.V.I.S., who was named after the real Jarvis seen in the "Agent Carter" TV series.

J.A.R.V.I.S. appears in "VisionQuest" as his own unique entity, alongside another of Tony Stark's AI helpers, E.D.I.T.H., aka the AI in the smart glasses that Stark left to Peter Parker after his death. She shows up in "Spider-Man: Far From Home," which is a great movie but not an essential viewing if you're preparing for "VisionQuest."

Then let's toss in the fact that papa Ultron (James Spader) is buzzing around in Vision’s cranium, creating what’s been described as more or less an "Age of Ultron" and a "WandaVision" sequel at the same time. As it turns out, Vision did not destroy Ultron at the end of "Age of Ultron"; he copied his code and absorbed him, so now the rabid robot lives on in Vision’s brain.

Like father, like son

The show’s narrative is centered around the complicated relationship between Vision and his son Tommy Maximoff (Ruaridh Mollica). Tommy was created by Wanda's Hex and should have disappeared when it collapsed, but both he and his brother Billy survived through magical shenanigans that are explained in 2024's "Agatha All Along."

Those two Maximoff boys, Tommy and Billy, both vanished from existence at the conclusion of "WandaVision." "Agatha All Along" exposed the truth that their consciousnesses entered the ether before expiring, only to reemerge into the souls of two teenage boys who had just perished, therefore returning them to life. Are you still with us? Good, just checking.

The finale of "Agatha All Along" hinted at the return of the estranged Tommy, and "VisionQuest" dives into that dangling plot point with relish!

Palad-in for a bad time

Every show needs an antagonist, and the voices in Vision's head can't do all the work. "VisionQuest" has introduced a duo of villains for Vision to contend with. Neither of them has shown up in the MCU previously, though, so you don't need to do any research here.

With a massive bounty on his head after breaking free from S.W.O.R.D.'s control, White Vision must contend with a new villainous foe in the form of a mysterious mercenary named Paladin (Todd Stashwick).

This enigmatic Marvel Comics character was created by Jim Shooter and Carmine Infantino and was first seen prowling the pages of "Daredevil #150" back in 1978. He's basically a gun-for-hire in the Marvel universe, often hired to fight alongside or against various heroes depending on the story. We don't know much about his motivations in the show, but we'll learn more as it goes on.

"VisionQuest" also shines a spotlight on the bizarro character of Ultron's "bride," Jocasta, though the MCU version of this character diverges wildly from the comic book inspiration.

It's enough to drive one to madness! Between all the father-son dynamics dancing around the eight scheduled episodes, being hunted down by mercs, and his transcendent search for meaning, Vision and his saga are hopefully headed to a peaceful end.

Created by Terry Matalas ("Star Trek: Picard," "12 Monkeys") and airing two new chapters each Tuesday night on Disney+, VisionQuest is bolstered by a cast that includes Ruaridh Mollica, T'Nia Miller, Lauren Morais, Orla Brady, Diane Morgan, Polly Frame, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Emily Hampshire, and James D’Arcy.

On Episode 234 of This Week In Space, Tariq Malik and Mike Wall are joined by Than Putzig of the Planetary Science Institute about a NASA-backed payload bound for the Marius Hills Pit on the moon.

In our ongoing quest to develop a moon base, could we possibly utilize the area beneath the surface of the moon in order to make the moon habitable? Could Marius Hills Pit, a roughly 50-meter-wide opening that may lead into a lunar lava tube, become the Moon's first living habitat for humans?

Putzig explains how geophysical instruments on a rover could detect hidden voids beneath the surface and measure the size of these lava tubes. We also ask Than how these lava tubes form, what a follow-up robotic explorer could reveal, and how this research fits alongside NASA’s Artemis plans for a south polar moon base. Join us!

Download or subscribe to this show at: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.

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Space news of the week

• China's secretive space plane caught on camera in incredible new photo released by US military
• Watch Virgin Galactic's new 'Delta-class' space plane take to the skies for the 1st time
• Patrick Stewart, renowned actor and ‘Star Trek’s’ Captain Picard, dies at 86
• 'Star Trek' legend and sci-fi luminary Walter Koenig dies at 90
• NASA's hunting for a secret underground cave on the moon
• Journey Across The Moon - Stunning Images From The SELENE Lunar Orbiter
• LPI - Marius Hills
• NASA Adds New Science Investigations for Moon Base

Model Falcon 9!

Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.

About This Week In Space

This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?

Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.

In space, no one can hear you scream... not unlike in the empty theater screens that aging horror franchises play to when the lustre has gone and their final installments limp to the public. It is perhaps little wonder that some horror franchises go to space to die... or take long breaks, at least.

In celebration of Halloween, we're running down some horror franchises that made the journey to the final frontier, resulting in films that range from the sublime and outrageously campy fun to just pure awful.

Absent from the list are space horror movies that have space baked into their natural fabric. So no Event Horizon, no Alien, and no Critters 4 (they were aliens, so they just went back to space; that doesn't count).

1. Jason X (2001)

2001 was a really weird time for the Friday the 13th franchise. New Line had acquired the series in the wake of the terrible box office returns and critical panning of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. Known as "the house that Freddy built," New Line's plan was clear: pit Voorhees vs. Kruger in a battle of horror icons for the ages.

However, the studio had to keep Jason in the public eye to ensure the eventual crossover lived up to expectations. The first move in that effort, 1993's Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, was an odd start. The movie apparently kills Voorhees, with his iconic hockey mask seized by the equally iconic bladed glove of Freddy Krueger at the end of the film and dragged into the dirt.

Fun bit of trivia: the hand wearing the glove isn't that of Freddy actor Robert Englund but belongs to Kane Hodder, arguably the best Jason Voorhees, meaning Hodder played both Jason and Freddy!

Still, the crossover has stalled in the preproduction process by 2001, as a script couldn't be agreed upon. New Line wanted a new Friday film but in a different environment than the typical Crystal Lake setting. After rejecting a winter-themed movie that would see Voorhees killing cross-country skiers in a snow-covered Camp Crystal Lake, New Line decided to put Jason on ice in a different way, cryogenically freezing Pamela Voorhees' baby boy and sending him to space in Jason X, the tenth movie in the series.

Jason X would see the Crystal Lake Killer slaughter David Croenberg, get his ass kicked by a feisty robot, and double up on his iconic sleeping bag kill from Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (one of my favorites, massively underrated), all on the way to getting a major upgrade from some very unhelpful nanobots to become Uber Jason.

Jason X has a mixed reputation and isn't regarded as one of the better entries in the series, but the movie has a load of positives going for it.

The kills are super inventive, the nitrogen head smash being arguably one of the best in a series known for over-the-top brutality; Kane Hodder is great during his final shift as Jason, and there are a load of laughs. Jason X isn't as tongue-in-cheek as one of the following movies on this list, but it is definitely self-aware and so much better for it.

In honor of arguably the best of these space-relocated horror movies, we'll rate this and the following movies in Uber Jasons out of five. For campy space-based horror featuring a character that is a fish out of water, Jason X is near perfect.

4.8 Uber Jasons out of 5. Hail to the king, baby.

2. Amityville in Space (2022)

Alien is often referred to as "a haunted house movie in space." The elements are all there: isolation, a hidden, poorly understood danger lurking in the shadows, victims picked off one by one. Of course, that is figurative, but Amityville in Space shows why filmmakers should never make things too literal.

Amityville in Space is bad. Not so bad that it is good. So bad, it is bad.

Your opinion on Amityville as a franchise likely depends on your tolerance for utter hogwash. The first movie, The Amityville Horror, released in 1979, is an effective, often quite creepy horror. Since then, the loose Amityville Horror franchise spans nine core Amityville movies and between 50 and 90 low-budget independent additions to the franchise.

Amityville in Space is definitely at the cheapest end of the low-budget spectrum, and as the name suggests, it takes 112 Ocean Avenue further than ever before, to the year 3015 and the edge of a distant black hole.

Literally, the only thing worth watching in Amityville in Space is the hilarious opening that sees a failed exorcism attempt cause the Amityville house to literally blast off the surface of Earth like a rocket.d

Unfortunately, Amityville in Space isn't a corny "so-bad it's good" movie. It's just frustratingly bad. Perhaps disappearing into a black hole is the fate Amityville deserved all along, though with the name being in the public domain, Amityville movies will just keep coming. At least I didn't have to watch Amityville Death Toilet (yes, that really exists).

0 Uber Jasons out of 5. Avoid like a demonic pig called Jodie

3. Leprechaun 4: In Space (1996)

Leprechaun 4 sees the franchise that launched the career of Jennifer Aniston blast its titular antagonist into space. The Leprechaun, played by the unparalleled Warwick Davis, makes the voyage to the final frontier with tongue planted firmly in cheek, and the results are bloody glorious.

The film sees the Leprechaun's attempts to woo a space princess rudely interrupted by space marines and the minor inconvenience of being blown apart by a grenade.

The Leprechaun then exacts his revenge on the spacecraft of the marines, an impressively realized set for a straight-to-video horror movie in the mid-90s.

If you want some camp horror fun on Halloween, the sight of the Leprechaun emerging fully formed from the pants of a space marine is probably going to be unbeatable.

Fans of British sitcoms will be equally delighted by the appearance of Guy Siner ('Allo 'Allo's Lt. Hubert Gruber) as Dr. Mittenhand. While the rest of the cast play the ludicrousness of a leprechaun rampaging through a spaceship offing space marines relatively straight, Davis and Siner don't just chew the scenery; they suck it in like thespian black holes.

As Mittenhand says: "Thank you, Harold, I do the jokes!"

Of course, there is plenty of ropey CGI, as is standard for a 90s genre movie, but there is a wonderful practical creature at the movie's conclusion that pays tribute to David Cronemburg's The Fly. Less Brundle-Fly, more Mitten-Spider. Plus a death that is pure Looney Tunes and a Kaiju-sized leprechaun. Take that, Uber Jason.

4.5 Uber Jasons out of 5. Thank your Lucky Charms

4. Hellraiser 4: Bloodline (1996)

Another horror franchise heading to space for its fourth installment, and this one also came out in 1996. Hellraiser 4: Bloodline marks a real downturn in the fortunes of Hellraiser, being the last in the series to receive a theatrical release and the last to benefit from input from creator and horror maestro Clive Barker.

The film has a portmanteau style beginning in 2127, as Dr. Paul Merchant attempts to solve the mystery of the Lament Configuration, then flashing back to its creation by Merchant's ancestor Phillip LeMarchand in France in 1796. The movie then jumps to 1996, when the Lament Configuration has inspired a skyscraper built by another of Merchant's ancestors.

This second section also sees the franchise's figurehead Pinhead, played by Doug Bradley, come into conflict with the demonic Angelique. A conflict that is carried into 2127.

Arguably, the CGI in Hellraiser: Bloodline is no better or worse than that of Leprechaun 4; the problem is the latter isn't taking itself seriously, but the former really is.

You can't really expect a "fun" Hellraiser movie; that has never been their vibe, and they are better for the serious tone. But it means a poorly realized move to space really doesn't work.

Arguably, the biggest crime of Hellraiser 4: Bloodline is that it's a bit dull. The in-depth investigation of the Lament Configuration is only going to appeal to hardcore Hellraiser fans who will probably just end up wishing they'd watched Barker's original 1987 magnum opus movie instead.

And it was all downhill for Hellraiser after this. The franchise became the poster boy for straight-to-video horror, with some later installments developed from scripts that initially had nothing to do with Hellraiser at all. A real insult to a franchise that felt fresh, daring, and even dangerous at its outset.

Pinhead probably wished he'd stayed in space.

2 Uber Jasons out of 5. You'll need your eyes pinned back to finish it

5. Dracula 3000 (2004)

When you have been around since 1897, it is pretty hard to keep your routine fresh. By 2004, Dracula had pretty much exhausted gothic horror; a relocation to a modern setting hadn't saved Christopher Lee's Dracula in the 1970s and had arguably resulted in the worst entries in the Hammer series.

Where else to take the Count in a new millennium but into space? That's the approach taken by Dracula 3000, which doesn't connect to any other Dracula cinema outings but features character names and locales that pay homage to Stoker's original novel.

The primary protagonist is Captain Abraham Van Helsing, played by Casper Van Dien, fresh from battling space bugs in Starship Troopers. Dracula — here bizarrely called Count Orlok in an unnecessary nod to Nosferatu — is found on the abandoned ship Demeter by Mother III salvage crew member Mina Harker. Unfortunately, the connections to the source material and the infinitely better Nosferatu are present in name alone. The gothic goodness is gone.

However, something strange happened to me as I was watching Dracula 3000. I found myself enjoying it. Dracula 3000 is... fun?

The acting is more wooden than a stake, the dialog is cringy, the characters are so 2D that it is a wonder Drac could draw any blood at all, and the effects are poor. But there is so much here I found myself wanting to show my friends.

Vampire Coolio is a show-stealer; Dracula looks like he has wandered in from a neighboring studio, swanning around a sci-fi setting in full Victorian cape and collar garb. The Demeter hails from the planet Transyvannia, known to be populated by vampires. Drac had no issue procuring oak coffins for his thrall in space. It's all wonderfully silly, and I loved it.

Dracula 3000 isn't as fun as Leprechaun 4, but it definitely isn't boring like Hellraiser 4: Bloodline, and it isn't whatever the heck Amityville is Space is.

3.5 Uber Jasons out of 5. Livin' in a vampire's paradise.

For my money, Leprechaun 4, Dracula 3000, and Jason X would make a cool triple-header of space-horrors for Halloween night. But only 'cause we didn't get the following franchise entry....

Dishonorable mention: Howling IV: Werewolves on the Moon (1988)

OK. Don't Google it. This isn't the Mandela effect at work. The Howling franchise never went to space.

The Howling IV was released in 1988 under the tagline "The Original Nightmare," and though in modern parlance that would indicate a prequel to Joe Dante's 1981 classic, this film is actually a far inferior remake of that first entry in the series.

What a missed opportunity! Though the trope of a fourth film in a franchise going to space, or returning to space in the case of Critters 4, wouldn't be firmly established until 1996, The Howling could have set the ball rolling with its fourth installment.

After all, few horror franchises had suffered the drops in quality seen between the first Howling, a stone-cold classic, and Howling III: The Marsupials (they aren't even werewolves, guys!), with the awful Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf between the two.

The Howling was dying like a werewolf with a silver bullet in its guts already by the fourth film; so an early move to space would have been justified. Come on, at least give us werewolves on the moon!

The franchise would limp on for another four films after the Original Nightmare, including a lame duck reboot in 2011, never answering the question: what would happen to a werewolf on the moon? Is the moon always full on the moon, or is it never full because the werewolf can't see it?

Fans would forgive this missed opportunity. OK, maybe just me.

1,000 Uber Jasons out of Five. It's werewolves on the moon, people. C'mon!

Happy Halloween!

Peacock's "Crystal Lake" takes the story of the Voorhees family back to the beginning.

It's a full-circle moment revisiting Pamela Voorhees (Linda Cardellini), who's the real star of 1980's "Friday the 13th" and the catalyst for all the murder and mayhem. While it's a welcome shake-up to the timeline of the horror franchise, nothing tops the originality of the slasher-in-space spectacle known as "Jason X".

It was 2001, and the "Friday the 13th" franchise had hit a bit of a snag. Audiences had seen Jason Voorhees go everywhere from Crystal Lake to Manhattan and Hell, but where else could this hockey-masked killer go? Screenwriter Todd Farmer had the answer: space.

"Jason X" says the quiet part out loud: Jason (Kane Hodder) can't die. In this movie, we find Jason being held at the Crystal Lake Research Facility in 2010. The head of the facility, Rowan LaFontaine (Lexa Doig), wants to put him in a cryogenic chamber, but the government has other plans for him.

Things go as well as can be expected, with Jason freeing himself and slaughtering military men like they're pancakes at a buffet. Fortunately, Rowan manages to lure Jason into a cryogenic chamber as he stabs her, leaving them both frozen in time.

Fast forward to 2455, when a group of space explorers — led by Professor Brandon Lowe (Jonathan Potts) — discover the research facility and the frozen bodies. They bring Rowan and Jason on board their ship, the Grendel.

While they believe Jason to be dead, they're able to revive Rowan using nanotechnology. As it so happens, Jason isn't dead at all (what a shocker); he was just catching up on some sleep and dreaming about stuffing teens in sleeping bags and whacking them against each other. He rises from his slumber and goes on a killing spree in the spaceship.

It's not the slasher-in-space concept alone that elevates this flick (it's pretty much a running joke that every horror franchise ends up in space eventually). No, it's the brave (and honestly wild) turns that Jason X takes towards the end.

They turn the movie's android KM-14 (played by Lisa Ryder of "Andromeda" fame) into a Rambo-esque action hero in the third act, whereby she annihilates Jason with a combination of hokey martial arts moves and ridiculously overpowered weapons.

Sadly, KM-14 makes a critical mistake: she obliterates the silent but violent killer near the medical station where the nanites reside. Not only does Jason get rebuilt bigger and stronger than before, but he's also now a cyborg with a brand-new metal mask and armor.

Needless to say, "Jason X" fully commits to every eccentric idea and bonkers premise. From the "Kung Pow"-before-"Kung Pow" face-off between KM-14 and Jason to the totally ludicrous and gory kills that border on implausible, this is the "Friday the 13th" movie that you'd dream up after eating too much cheese at midnight.

Most importantly, though, it's never afraid to embrace the shlock and humor that's evidently part of its DNA. "Jason X" is a B-movie through and through, and it waters its roots to grow wilder rather than hide or trim them down.

For instance, when Condor (Steve Lucescu) fights against Jason, he throws a bunch of stiff attacks at Crystal Lake's most famous citizen. However, Jason simply pushes him into a giant drill that's conveniently placed there (where are the health and safety regulations on the Grendel?!).

That isn't even the best part here, because when Elijah Brodski (Peter Mensah) asks the others about Condor's status, he gets met with the sensational line, "He's screwed." How this movie didn't get an Oscar nomination for best screenplay is still a mystery…

It would also be remiss to not mention the greatest kill in "Jason X" — and maybe the "Friday the 13th" franchise as a whole — as Jason freezes Adrienne's (Kristi Angus) head in liquid nitrogen then shatters it against the counter. It's a scene so iconic that even the "MythBusters" became fascinated with this idea and had to try it themselves, though without actual human heads being used, of course.

What "Jason X" represents is a different time in Hollywood, when studios and filmmakers weren't afraid to take outlandish risks with their franchises. Think about it: What else was there left for "Friday the 13th" to do? Let Jason murder more teens who cross his path?

Instead of just repeating the same formula over and over again, these filmmakers decided to think outside of the box and venture into an unexpected direction. Whether you like it or not, you have to appreciate the commitment to trying something new and reinventing the franchise.

When all is said and done, "Crystal Lake" will be remembered as a more cerebral examination of the Voorhees family, but "Jason X" might be seen as the pinnacle of creativity in the series that's never going to be reached again. It's so goofy and silly, but the concept of taking an unkillable killer, chucking him into space, and making him a cyborg deserves a standing ovation.

We're once again left wondering: Why aren't we making horror movies like this anymore?

Want to relive the madness of "Jason X" for Halloween? You can catch it on Philo, and you can watch the new Jason/Friday the 13th prequel "Crystal Lake" on Peacock.

Dune: Part Three's marketing campaign has been a long and generous one, but Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures knew an extra push was needed in order to compete with Avengers: Doomsday, as both sci-fi blockbusters will be releasing next to each other at Christmas. In its final trailer, Denis Villeneuve's threequel goes all out.

This isn't the first time a Dune: Part Three trailer has left us with more questions than answers, but the in-depth look at the character dynamics and plot beats that await will make longtime fans of Frank Herbert's works raise their eyebrows.

Messiah, the second installment in the book series, is a novel of long monologues and very tense conversations. Action has a place in it, but it's a more restrained and quieter book for the most part — one that deals with the consequences of Paul's (now a space dictator) originally well-meaning actions.

Of course, the cinematic medium requires a very different language, especially when the main reason why these movies have become blockbuster hits is that Villeneuve has expertly balanced the drama and large-scale action. So, it comes as no surprise that his take on Messiah is looking to bring Herbert's concluding thoughts on Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) to life without sacrificing the grandeur that defined the first two movies.

More shocking to readers, of course, is Zendaya's (Chani) much larger role in this finale versus the book, where she was slightly sidelined with a more passive part. Paul's lover walking away from him at the end of Part Two was a major departure, and one that set her up for bigger things in the third entry. Considering how good Zendaya has been in the role so far, we consider this a win... unless Villeneuve completely bungles her arc in the final stretch.

Dune: Part Three emerges from the sand of Arrakis on December 18, 2026, only in cinemas.

On Episode 233 of This Week In Space, Tariq Malik and guest host Rick Jenet are joined by Dr. Amanda Smith-Hackler, the Director of Education for the Universities Space Research Association and Principal Investigator for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Scholars and STEM Workforce Development Programs, about the new and exciting opportunities available to young people seeking to enter the space workforce.

Newspace is hiring! With the major powers heading to the moon, low-Earth orbit becoming busier than ever, and countless new companies entering the space marketplace, the hiring pipeline is more critical than ever.

Download or subscribe to this show at: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Space news of the week

• Watch NASA's update on accelerating Artemis moon plans today
• After Starshield interruption, Ukraine wants to build its own satellite communication network with ICEYE and Nokia
• Van Gogh's 'The Starry Night' depicts the sky on July 22, 1889, researchers find
• The Air Force Research Laboratory Scholas Program

Model Falcon 9!

Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.

About This Week In Space

This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?

Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.

It didn’t take long for fans to figure out that the fourth season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" was going to be unlike any season of "Star Trek" before it. The entire season was one giant gimmick, and that gimmick was shoving "Trek" into as many genres as possible and often directly adapting classic films from those genres.

You could argue that an entire season of gimmick episodes is a bold risk: putting the characters in fun, wacky situations to see how they react. It could be interesting, but the season we got never made the most of the concept. It was all so safe and paint-by-numbers, and, most importantly, it didn't have anything profound or interesting to say.

That should trouble any Trekkie. "Star Trek" — a show built on progressive ideals, thoughtful characters, and boundary-breaking television — was completely and totally afraid to say anything at all.

Mash it up, Scotty

To be clear, "Star Trek" is no stranger to genre mashups, and they're not inherently a bad thing. Trek has been running for nearly 1,000 total episodes, and they've been doing mashups since the very first season of "Star Trek: The Original Series", which featured gangster, historical fiction, and war-themed episodes.

The holodeck took things further, giving the writers an excuse to set the action anywhere they could dream up. No more alien planets that look suspiciously like Earth were necessary to completely flip the series’ genre; just work up a hologram malfunction and suddenly "Trek" is a Sherlock Holmes-esque mystery or a noir thriller. And even without the holodeck, genres are fluid things that often take from each other to tell stories within each other’s realms.

But while "Trek" has always dabbled, it's never done an entire season of genre episodes… in fact, that might be unprecedented in all of science fiction TV itself, let alone "Star Trek". This season of "SNW" didn’t use occasional gimmicks to take a break from space fare; it was all gimmick, all the time.

Check out the episode rundown below:

• Episode 1: Dinosaur adventure/western (Land of the Lost)
• Episode 2: Space horror (Event Horizon)
• Episode 3: Raunchy comedy (The Hangover)
• Episode 4: Wartime drama (Casablanca)*
• Episode 5: Puppets (The Muppets)
• Episode 6: Disaster movie/real-time story (The Poseidon Adventure)
• Episode 7: Soap opera (Days of Our Lives)
• Episode 8: Cold War film/submarine movie (The Hunt for Red October)
• Episode 9: Fairytale fantasy (Anything with a dragon)
• Episode 10: Star Trek (Yes, this episode was basically SNW mashing up with TOS, and we're counting that).

* Some of you are screaming that Episode 4 was a noir. It was not. Not everything in black and white with fedoras is noir.

"Strange New Worlds" season 4 was genre-blending at scale. This wasn’t a hint of another genre influencing the episode; it was full-blown immersion into each and every one.

In the past, when other genres have come into "Trek", the series still felt tonally consistent; the characters never bent to the will of the genre, and its direction stayed the same. That was not true of this season. Characters, directorial style, and tone all bent to the will of the selected genre instead of fitting into the already established universe. There were multiple episodes this season that felt nothing like a "Star Trek" episode.

Also — and I may be in the minority here — there were only two episodes this season that I’d argue were executed well (Episode 6 and Episode 8), meaning that the relentless gimmicks paraded out each week felt not just detrimental to the show itself, but they weren’t much fun to watch either.

To go where everyone has gone before

The real question that crops up from this season is why they did it at all. If you listen to the show’s producers, it’s because they love "Trek" so much and they thought it would help move the characters along.

"I really do respect and hear the criticism that: 'When you have 10 episodes [per season], should they be more homogeneous?’”, co-showrunner and executive producer Akiva Goldsman told TV Line when addressing the criticisms for the season. “For us, the answer was no, because the original series always jumped around in genre … Part of what 'Star Trek' did well was use genre for storytelling, and that was what we wanted to explore in this series.”

He is, of course, absolutely correct; that is exactly what "Trek" has traditionally used genre episodes for. When "The Original Series" went to the Nazi planet, it was one of the first and earliest examples of directly confronting fascism and Nazism on American television. When the show played with Greek gods, it took the moment to have a groundbreaking interracial kiss. Even when it went broad comedy in “The Trouble with Tribbles,” it at least kept its characters consistent and its universe coherent.

For the most part, that practice continued throughout classic "Trek" and even into the modern era, with genre being used to aid storytelling, not overwhelm it.

Season 4 of "Strange New Worlds" does none of this. It isn’t using genre as elevation; it’s using it as a distraction: a shiny gloss over a collection of episodes too afraid to say anything that will get the series accused of being “woke” or progressive. Later in the interview, Goldman claims that they can’t please everyone, but that seems like exactly what they were trying to do this season-- resulting, of course, in pleasing no one.

This season is running scared from the current moment, and it’s doing so by hiding behind gimmicks. Any previous series of "Trek" (or any great science fiction) would be tackling subjects such as immigration, fascism, war, or any other societal issue that is overwhelming us right now, but "SNW" is doing none of that, instead presenting farcical genre fare

Fear exists for one purpose; to be conquered

It’s hard not to draw a direct line from this approach to the purchase of Paramount by Skydance last year and the company’s new leadership, who are more than cozy with President Donald Trump. There seems to be little other reason that a franchise and series that were being bashed for being “too woke” and overly progressive would veer so hard into gimmickry that barely hides the hollow shell this show has become.

Rewatching the first three seasons of "SNW" shows how hard a turn this series has taken since the re-election of Trump and the steady march of companies trying to kowtow to a government that wants to squash progressive ideology.

The show has gone from telling powerful stories for both its characters and society to a series of running gags that do little more than slap the Federation delta onto people’s chests so people think it's still "Star Trek".

It isn’t. This season of nothingness is exactly what you get when you ask "Trek" not to push boundaries, not to be hopeful, not to be bold, and not to progress forward. When a show founded on speaking out and saying something spends an entire season running away from doing just that, it’s not just a condemnation of the show itself; it’s a condemnation of the creative process behind it.

The real issue with this season isn’t the attempt to play in genre for ten episodes straight; it’s that the reason they did it was fear, not hope.