Twilight Zone

Mad scientists and mechanical men, space cowboys and time travelers,  man-monsters and man-eating aliens — clearly this is our kind of crowd. We came up with a list (in no particular order) of 50 essential characters from the sci-fi small screen. Check them out in the gallery above, or better yet, head to the iTunes store and download our Hero Complex Magazine app, which features our Sci-Fi 50 as well as interviews with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“The Dark Knight Rises” and “Looper”), Jonathan Frakes (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) and Benedict Cumberbatch (“Sherlock Holmes” and the upcoming “Star Trek” sequel), a story about Ridley Scott (“Alien,” “Prometheus”) and more. The magazine app also features extra behind-the-scenes photos, video and an interactive “Star Trek” quiz. The invasion from above began on June 27, 1949. On that evening, as America sat down to […]

“This is the fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area we call the Twilight Zone.” With those lines, delivered by Rod Serling with his distinctive diction and deep voice, the television audience of America took its first step into an eerie, one-of-a-kind corner of television storytelling. The CBS anthology series was revolutionary so it’s fitting that Syfy will air an Independence Day “Twilight Zone” marathon that begins Wednesday at 8 a.m. and wraps up 5 a.m. Thursday. To celebrate this exploration into the surreal and frightening, here are some fast  facts and trivia about […]

Fantasy author and iconic dreamer Ray Bradbury, who died Tuesday evening at age 91, didn’t just write influential novels, he also had a strong legacy in television that dates back to the 1950s. In fact, the small screen’s pace and payoff seemed better suited to Bradbury’s rhythms than the big screen, which came again and again to him with promises of projects that never got off the ground. “They say they are going to make movies and then the calls just stop, there’s silence, nothingness,” the irascible author said in 2009 when asked about the rumors that Zack Snyder (director of next year’s “Man of Steel”) would be turning “The Illustrated Man” into a new feature film. “This is nothing new when it comes to the Hollywood films.” There were feature films of course — François Truffaut’s “Fahrenheit 451″ and […]

Hugh Jackman has something to prove — can he be a major movie star when he isn’t in the role of  Wolverine? We have some early looks at the film that Jackman is making right now, the sci-fi action film “Real Steel,” due in theaters next year, and you can bet that the actor is hungry for the boxing movie to deliver a knockout. The 41-year-old Aussie has been given a number of chances — “Kate and Leopold,” “Australia,” “Deception,” “Swordfish,” “Van Helsing,” “Scoop” and “The Fountain” — but he has yet to claw out a major hit with any live-action role away from the Marvel Comics mutant persona. The closest he came was Christopher Nolan’s “The Prestige“ in 2006, a film that pulled in $110 million worldwide and had a lean $40 million production budget, but that was more of an ensemble film […]