Author: Nigel G. Mitchell

The feud between Carrie Fisher and William Shatner is probably the greatest thing to happen in sci-fi since…well, I can’t think of anything like it. Let’s review. It all started when William Shatner did an interview making the case that Star Trek was better than Star Wars. Not an uncommon argument, and he made some good points. But what surprised me was when Carrie Fisher came out with her response, which was funnier and made some great points as well. It also took some shots at Shatner. Now Shatner has come out with a video response that is not only…

In an interview with “Vanity Fair”, the director of Empire Strikes Back Irvin Kirshner was asked about the special effects, and talked about how hard it was to shoot the scene in the carbon freezing chamber. Turns out it wasn’t cold, but little-people fainting hot. Q: What was tougher to shoot, Dagobah or the Carbon Freeze scene? A: The toughest shoot was the Carbon Freeze scene. The set was painted black. It was a round set but we couldn’t build the full circle because it would have been very hard to manipulate with the camera. So we built half of…

This week we’re doing something different with Free Scifi. We’re doing an original. You see, a few months ago, one of my favorite anthologies, Machine of Death, held open submissions for the second volume. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a collection of stories about a world where a machine exists that can predict the way you will die. I submitted an original short story, “Alien Abduction.” And, well, it was rejected. So I’ve posted the short story to read free on my writing blog. I thought it was okay. Here’s a sample: By the time Thomas Wiseman found…

If you’re a fan of Doctor Who and want to collect some cool merchandise, the show is ready and willing to accommodate you. There are literally hundreds of gadgets and toys based on props from the show. The TARDIS is a great example. Here are five items from Amazon that can bring the TARDIS into your home and life. Doctor Who: Flight Control Tardis Motion Activated Model – This is, I think, the ultimate TARDIS toy. It’s a model TARDIS that makes noises based on how you move it. If you pick it up, it plays the dematerialize sound. Put…

I’ll never forget my first time. I guess we all remember the first time we saw Doctor Who. November 24, 1963 was everyone’s first time, since that’s when the first episode of Doctor Who aired. I’m not old enough to have seen that one. My experience was a little bit different. You see, I had quite a bit of experience with Doctor Who. I just hadn’t seen him. My first encounter with Doctor Who was as a kid with my older brother’s computer. I was playing it, and stumbled a program that played some strange music and a spinning box…