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SFX 389 CONTENTS

54

38

20
SUBSCRIABVEE!
FEATURES 50 ELECTRIC
STATE
The Russo brothers power up.
NOW & S o page
Head t etails
78 STAR WARS:
SKELETON CREW
Can’t say we remember no At
20 30 GREATEST 19 for
d Attin…
TV SHOWS 54 STRANGER
Why our eyes went square since THINGS 80 THE GORGE
SFX issue one. The countdown to season five True romance with natural

38 MICKEY 17
begins... Excited yet?
RED ALERT born killers.

Relax, you haven’t missed 60 STAR TREK: 86 SHROUD

Mickey 1-16. SECTION 31 6 IN THE LOST Adrian Tchaikovsky makes first
The Emperor’s new clothes. LANDS contact.
44 THE WHEEL George RR Martin enchants the
OF TIME 66 DEATH LINE big screen. 92 ABSOLUTE
Tanchico time! On set for Going underground for a SUPERMAN
season three. cannibal classic. 8 GODZILLA VS Oi! Supes! Get yer hair cut!
FANTASTIC FOUR
Clobberin’ time just got
seriously clobbery. REGULARS
14 THUNDERCATS: 70 BROUGHT TO
LOST BOOK
Did no one think to put butter We profile novelist James
on their paws? Alistair Henry.

REVIEWS 91 THE WRITE

STUFF
Arkady Martine answers our
74 CAPTAIN author Q&A.
AMERICA: BRAVE
NEW WORLD 96 BLASTERMIND
Anthony Mackie spreads his Test your knowledge of
wings. computers in sci-fi.

50 MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 3

 WELCOME

“But I have

Rants & Raves

to save the
world.
Again!”

Captain’s Log Inside the SFX hive mind

DARREN SCOTT EDITOR

RAVES
Delighted that a new Buffy show is in the
works. Before you complain, you still have 144
episodes to rewatch forever (see page 22).
Very excited to have been among the first to
see footage from Stranger Things season five.
Absolutely cannot wait.
The Fantastic Four looks, well… fantastic.
RIP
So many legends leaving us – but David
Lynch and Gary Fisher (Carrie’s beloved dog)
hit hard.
My beloved Earth 2 didn’t make the cut of
30 shows. Justice for Grendlers!

IAN BERRIMAN DEPUTY EDITOR

RAVES
Visited the set of new Sky show Inheritance
(written by Misfits actor Karla Crome), and it
looks very promising. (And though you
wouldn’t know it from the initial press release,
very SFX-y…)
A Buffy sequel series starring SMG, from the
Thirty years ago, genre shows – when they were around – makers of Poker Face and Nomadland? Yes
please!
were largely American and showing in the UK in strange Picked up the excellent soundtrack for Peter
BBC2 slots, or on Sky TV. Then things slowly started to Weir’s The Last Wave at a record fair (£12!),
change. Star Trek – which wasn’t always as loved when The and it’s made me wonder why there’s no UK
Blu-ray. Sort it out, Arrow/Indicator/Radiance!
Next Generation first started – became more popular, with (I am available as a highly paid consultant, by
spin-offs a-plenty. Babylon 5 changed the way sci-fi the way.)
storytelling was done, arguably changing the television RIP
David Lynch’s death really stang. Once I’ve
landscape too. Buffy kicked down doors, as well as vampires. finally finished slogging through The X-Files, a
Doctor Who came back, twice – and the second time it Twin Peaks rewatch is in order.
opened the floodgates for genre television.
But we were always there, featuring the good, the bad and JONATHAN COATES ART EDITOR
RAVES
the ugly every step of the way. Yes, long before it became the As a Simon Stålenhag fan it’s very exciting
done thing for mags to describe television shows as when an adaptation hits our screens. The
Electric State looks absolutely nuts. Can’t wait!
“cinematic” and decide they wanted in on the action too…
So we set ourselves – and some of SFX’s friends – a ED RICKETTS PRODUCTION EDITOR
challenge to collate the 30 best shows of the last three RIP
decades: the shows that we felt played a part in defining the Absolutely devastated by David Lynch’s
passing to the White Lodge, especially as it
SFX era. Hair was torn out (what’s left of it), toys were came largely out the blue. But the outpouring
thrown ( just not the vintage ones), decisions were made of affection for the man and his art following
(eventually) and from a list of over 100 television shows – it has been heartening to see.

and truly, it could’ve been much longer – we’ve picked the NICK SETCHFIELD EDITOR-AT-LARGE
ones we think you need to watch, or revisit, and provided a RAVES
guide on where to find ’em. Lee and Kirby’s Fantastic Four is one of my
all time favourite runs of comics, so I’m loving
But just think – in 30 years from now there’ll probably be the Silver Age stylings in the trailer. Bring on
thousands more; that’s how mainstream being a geek has Galactus! Bring on the Kirby Krackle!
become. Hopefully we’ll be around in 2055 to pick our top Check out artist Daryl Joyce’s YouTube
channel for some evocative reimaginings of
60. Only with less hair to pull out. such classic Doctor Who stories as “The Sea
See you in four weeks! Devils”: youtube.com/@daryljoyce1211

Get in TARA BENNETT US EDITOR

touch! RAVES
David Lynch, you changed my perception of
art and storytelling. Thank you for every weird
Email
and wonderful moment you chose to share
[email protected]
with us. (Tips a cup of joe, black, into the void.)
Facebook Was one of the first to see live-action How
facebook.com/
SFXmagazine
to Train Your Dragon footage, and now I’m a
tad more optimistic.
X/Instagram The Zuckerman sisters are showrunning a
Follow
@sfxmagazine
new Buffy? Grabbing my stake and reporting
and tag us! for duty!

4 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 MARCH
2025
NEWS //// INTERVIEWS //// INSIGHT //// LEGO!

14

KITTY LITTER
A new era begins for the ThunderCats
– and those who were lost…

6
IN THE
8
GODZILLA
10
GHOST
LOST LANDS VS MARVEL STORIES
Paul WS Anderson Leapin’ lizards! Putting the willies
brings George RR Up from the depths up Britain, one
Martin’s short story and kicking Marvel’s theatre at a time, in
to the big screen. collective asses. a brand new tour.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 5

 TAKE A GANDER AT DIRECTOR
Paul WS Anderson’s now three
decades-long film CV, and literary
adaptations remain few and far between. Aside
from his 2011 action-centric take on Alexandre
Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, Anderson has
instead bathed in the bloody glory of
videogame adaptations, like his Resident Evil
movies, or in the horror milieu more generally
with Event Horizon.
But the call of the printed word, specifically
the siren song of fantasy novelist George RR
Martin’s short story “In The Lost Lands”
(published in the 1982 anthology Amazons II),
has wooed Anderson into new territory.
“It’s an adult fairy tale with bone-crunching
violence and horrific surprises,” Anderson tells
Red Alert. “Looks-wise, it’s very different to
anything I’ve done before. I really wanted to
embrace the mythic fairy tale quality of it, so
it’s an R-rated fairy tale, that’s for sure.”
A self-professed fan of Martin’s Game Of
Thrones world, Anderson says he was
immediately taken by the cinematic feel of the
author’s post-apocalyptic short story. “The
concept was just fabulous,” he enthuses. “It has
everything audiences like from George’s work.
There are the dark, interesting characters, and
the surprising narrative reverses. This was a
chance to broaden out that Martin universe
and give [audiences] a taste of something that Milla Jovovich
was both a little familiar but also a little fresh.” and Dave
Anderson says the other perk was getting to Bautista play
work with Martin on the expansion of the the leads.
short story. “We wanted him to be on board DIRECTOR EXCLUSIVE
with what we were doing to build it out,” he
says. “So we met, we talked. I showed him a lot
of production design artwork. We also gave
him a copy of the script, which he’d had a
chance to read so we knew he was on board
and excited about everything. He gave me some
notes that I definitely tried to address.”
In The Lost Lands is at its heart a two-hander
quest story, which finds the powerful witch
Gray Alys (Milla Jovovich) seeking the
Paul WS Anderson’s In The Lost Lands adapts a George
assistance of Boyce (Dave Bautista), a RR Martin story into a violent fairy tale WORDS: TARA BENNETT
battle-worn guide, whom she hopes can lead

“Sorry mate, her into the Lost Lands to find a much-needed

it’s S&M night magical power.
– no single “They don’t quite trust one another,”
men.” Anderson says of the dynamic between the
pair. “That to me, alongside [Martin’s] Western
imagery, those two untrustworthy characters
that go on an adventure together but have an
attraction to one another, it’s very much the
tropes that you find in Spaghetti Westerns,
which I grew up loving.”
Anderson says he secured the buy-in of
Jovovich, his muse (and wife of 15 years), by
making sure Alys hewed close to Martin’s
characterisation, especially in relation to
Boyce. “Milla hasn’t had a really strong foil
since the first Resident Evil movie, when it was
her and Michelle Rodriguez,” he explains. “It

6 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 “Stop or I’ll
shoot!” “No,
I will.” “No, I
will.”

was very important to Milla that that

relationship was worked on and delivered,
because that’s really the heart of George’s
story: the relationship between Boyce and Alys.
While the movie has some big visual effects in
it and some big action scenes, she was very,
very insistent that she didn’t want to lose the
throughline of what she felt was really
important, which was the relationship between
these two characters.”
In turn, Anderson says Bautista was “very
excited” about the Western elements in the
script. “He’s like, ‘I’ve always wanted to be in a
Western,’ so when I talked about the kind of
iconography we wanted to use and the kind of
framing that I wanted to do, he was very much
into that. He’s like the action hero with the
heart of a poet. I think that comes across in the
movie. He gives a very quiet, minimal
performance, which I think is very beautiful.”

There are the dark,

Two pistols
and she still
interesting characters,
can’t aim and surprising narrative
properly. reverses
Excited for audiences to experience
something different from his other work,
Anderson already has Martin’s approval for the
final product. He even flew to New Mexico to
screen the finished print at the author’s
personal cinema.
“I have to say, having been in this industry
for a little while and made a bunch of movies,
it’s the most nervous I’ve ever been having a
screening,” he chuckles. “I’m sitting there
going, ‘Shit. This is George RR Martin.’
“But at the end, he loved it. He said he felt
that I had captured his voice better than
anyone had in an adaptation, which made me
feel amazing.”
So much so, that he’s even encouraged
Martin to think about pursuing his planned
series of Gray Alys novels. “The movie has a
closed end and, I feel, a very satisfying end. But
if George wanted to weave more Gray Alys
stories, I’d be very excited.”

In The Lost Lands is in cinemas from 14 March.

In The Lost Lands is inspired by the artistic works of Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel and photographer Joel-Peter Witkin.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 7

 Out in April are Gerry Duggan and Giuseppe Camuncoli’s Godzilla Vs Hulk, and Godzilla Vs Spider-Man by Joe Kelly and Nick Bradshaw.

WRITER EXCLUSIVE

Where Monsters Dwell

The King of the Monsters faces off against Marvel’s finest, and they both feel like they’re
different sides of the same coin.
beginning with Godzilla Vs Fantastic Four WORDS: STEPHEN JEWELL That coin is labelled ‘the
unexpected consequences of
scientific progress’, as the
WHILE THE KING OF one-shots, leading into an epic came up with the idea of throwing Fantastic Four are the positive
the Monsters celebrated crossover later this year. Set in these characters together. When side with cosmic radiation leading
his 70th birthday in 2024, different eras, they’ll see the God he contacted me and said, to superpowers, while Godzilla is
nearly five decades have passed of Destruction coming into ‘Fantastic Four versus Godzilla’, the negative side with modern
since Marvel released its first conflict with Spider-Man, the I was already sold, and when he weapons testing leading to kaiju
Godzilla title in 1977, which Hulk, the X-Men and Thor in the added ‘Period piece in the 1960s’ moments.”
represented the giant kaiju’s first coming months. how could I say no?” laughs writer Running for 24 issues from 1977
foray into American comics. Now But first up is the Fantastic Four Ryan North, who is joined by artist to 1979, Doug Moench and Herb
Godzilla is returning to the House in their ’60s heyday. “My editor John Romita Jr. “It’s the perfect Trimpe’s Godzilla: King Of The
of Ideas in a sequence of six Mark Paniccia was the one who time for these characters to meet Monsters was also based in the

8 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 WRITER EXCLUSIVE

Journey Into
Murder Mystery
Marvel’s former Sorcerer Supreme and thunder god
Marvel Universe, although its
team up in Doctor Strange Of Asgard WORDS: STEPHEN JEWELL
events occurred around a decade
after Godzilla Vs Fantastic Four’s
’60s milieu. “This story takes place AFTER BEING TRICKED INTO best to stop Strange from even getting close
before the classic Marvel Godzilla handing over his Sorcerer Supreme to becoming the Asgardian Sorcerer
series does in the timeline, so it’s title to Doctor Doom in last year’s Supreme,” he teases. “While he’s solving the
its own thing,” says North. “Our Blood Hunt, Stephen Strange swaps the murder, Strange is renting a room over a
Godzilla is the one right out of the familiar surrounds of New York’s tavern and he’s got a part-time job in an
classic 1954 film, which I Greenwich Village for the realm of the Asgardian clinic, and he’s questioning shop
rewatched once again before Norse Gods in his latest series, which teams owners and bartenders. So this is street-
writing a word. Godzilla comes Skulduggery Pleasant author Derek Landy level Asgard.”
from Tokyo to New York and is with artist Carlos Magno. Adding that “One World Under Doom is
not in a good mood!” “Strange has none of the support he’s his entire reason for being in Asgard”,
As it delves into the past, the been relying on for the last few years and Landy says Doctor Strange Of Asgard ties in
32-pager also doesn’t tie in with he’s lost his mantle, his home, a degree of with Marvel’s ongoing crossover. “Strange
the First Family’s current flagship his power, his magical authority – and even desperately wants that level of power back
title, which North also scripts. “It’s his cloak isn’t his any more,” Landy tells so he can return to Earth and sort things
a period piece, so it’s in a sense a Red Alert. out,” he continues, referring to Strange’s
little divorced from what’s “One of my favourite aspects of this role as Sorcerer Supreme.
happening in the Fantastic Four whole project has been watching him start “But to do that, he needs to first attain
books I’m writing now,” explains off with one simple, emotion-based goal – to that power, which means trusting others to
North. “But it’s been a ton of fun reclaim the title of Sorcerer Supreme – and handle Doom until he’s ready. It’s been
to go back to those early then acknowledge the fact that there are hugely exciting to be handed Doctor Strange
relationships between the more important things to fix before he gets and then told ‘Okay, here is the new status
Fantastic Four – to who they were around to repairing his wounded pride.” quo he finds himself in, so how does he
when they were just starting out, Landy refuses to confirm whether we can react to it?’”
and Sue was still the Invisible Girl. expect to see any other familiar faces aside
“That said, in another sense, from Thor and Loki, such as his partner Doctor Strange Of Asgard issue one is out on
they are very similar, as one of the Clea or his trusty assistant Wong. “There is 5 March.
things I’ve been doing in the very little I can say about who Strange gets
monthly Fantastic Four book is to interact with because the status quo of a
coming up with surprising but lot of characters have yet to be revealed,”
logical ways for the Fantastic Four explains Landy, who says he’s enjoyed
to use their powers, so there is that writing the god of thunder.
too. And there’s something I don’t “It’s been a source of incredible joy for
Promo art for want to spoil that comes in very me, as both Thor and Strange speak in
the issue, by handy when it comes to taking different rhythms to the rest of the Marvel
Leinil Francis down Godzilla!” Universe, so it’s nice to see them spend
Yu. With King Ghidorah teaming up some time together.”
with Galactus to threaten the Charged with exploring Asgard in more
Earth after becoming the World detail, Landy is focusing on the more
Eater’s latest herald, Godzilla everyday aspects of life in the mythical city.
forms an unlikely alliance with the “Stories about Thor tend to revolve around
Silver Surfer. North refuses to gods and kings and matters of cosmic
reveal what other familiar faces importance, so there’s rarely a chance to just
might appear. “There are a few, wander through the streets and encounter
but I don’t want to spoil them,” he ordinary Asgardians,” he says. “Are they all
teases. “That said: is King gods, and do they all have super-strength?”
Ghidorah wielding the Power With Landy revealing that he is
Cosmic not enough?” introducing “a brand new villain as befits One of the
Strange’s brand new circumstances”, the two covers,
Godzilla vs Fantastic Four issue opening five-issue arc is essentially a by Geoffrey
one is out on 19 March. murder mystery. “Someone is doing their Shaw.

Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Doctor Strange first encountered both Thor and Loki in 1964’s Strange Tales issue 124.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 9

 WRITERS EXCLUSIVE

Ghost Riders
Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson tell
all about Ghost Stories’ new UK tour
and their latest play, The Psychic
WORDS: STEVE O’BRIEN

IT’S 15 YEARS SINCE ANDY NYMAN AND Professor Philip Goodman (played here by Dan Tetsell), a
Jeremy Dyson first premiered their play Ghost paranormal sceptic who’s tasked with investigating three
Stories to rave reviews and gangbusters box office. tales that his hero, fellow debunker Charles Cameron,
But despite the show’s acclaim and popularity – even cannot find a rational explanation for. It was inspired by
inspiring a film version in 2017 – it never enjoyed a Nyman walking past a poster for The Woman In Black in the
UK-wide tour. Until now, that is. 2000s and thinking “How insane that was the only scary
Ghost Stories took to the road on 17 January, and will play in town”.
eventually finish its run at Cardiff’s Millennium Centre on Nyman and his co-writer Jeremy Dyson (best known as a
2 August. A decade and a half on from that first production, member of The League of Gentlemen) have been friends
its writers are clearly stoked that their play has been dusted since they were 15, bonding over a love of horror. With both
down once more, and are keen to let us know that, even if also keen theatre-goers, what they’ve loved most about the
you’ve seen it before, it won’t be quite the same experience reaction to Ghost Stories is that it’s affected people new to
this time round… the theatrical experience.
“It’s the original production, but “It’s so rewarding,” Nyman enthuses.
Jeremy and I and the creatives Clive Mantle “On the first night, in front of us was this
constantly strive to find new moments,” plays Mike group of what I would imagine is a
Nyman tells Red Alert. “There are new Priddle. community group with these really Style icons
things in the sound mix that are amazing tough kids, kids that may never have Jeremy Dyson
and there are new features in the design been to the theatre before. We just and Andy
that make it richer and fuller. So it feels thought, ‘They’re going to be on their Nyman.
very fresh and exciting, and the cast is phones the whole time, they’re going to
superb.” be taking the piss,’ and within two
If you’ve never seen the play or the minutes, they were hiding, they were
movie, Ghost Stories is a portmanteau screaming! I mean, this fucking thing
tale anchored by the character of packs a punch.”

10 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 NEWS
WARP
HIGH-SPEED
INFORMATION
David Cardy
as watchman You remind us
Tony of the babe…
Matthews. Robert Eggers
to write and
direct a sequel
to 1986’s
Labyrinth.
Eggers is
also turning
lycanthropic in
medieval horror
Werwulf, set for
Christmas 2026
release.
Ryan Gosling
rumoured to be
joining Shawn
Levy’s Star Wars
movie.

© HUGO GLENDINNING
Professor Jake
Goodman Gyllenhaal to
star in an
(Dan Tetsell) is untitled
sceptical. supernatural
thriller from
M Night
Shyamalan.
Also sure to pack a punch is the pair’s new play, The
Psychic. Set to premiere next year, it tells the story of a TV
There are rug pulls that just Elliot Page,
Himesh Patel
clairvoyant who, despite being branded a charlatan after keep on giving! Plus, of course, and Jon Bernthal
boarding
she loses a court case, is contacted by a wealthy couple
desperate to make contact with their late daughter. What some delicious scares Christopher
Nolan’s The
Odyssey.
follows, according to the official synopsis, “makes her Dan Stevens
question everything she’s ever believed.” At the time of talking, the pair are about to have their first to return as
“We actually had the first half mapped out 10 meeting with the show’s designer and its magic consultant, Trapper in the
next Godzilla x
years ago,” reveals Dyson on the play’s long but The Psychic and the Ghost Stories tour aren’t the only Kong slamdown.
gestation period, explaining how the Ghost Stories things on their to do list. Also taking up their time is the Harris
movie, as well as various other projects, got in the small-screen adaptation of their 2023 novel The Warlock Dickinson
way, “and the second half was done in lockdown.” Effect, a ’50s-set thriller about a stage magician who gets reportedly in
the frame for
“It’s a world that we absolutely adore, the recruited as a spy by the British Secret Service. Cyclops in
world of showmen,” explains Nyman – “Even before publication it got into a bidding war,” an X-Men
who, away from his work with Dyson, explains Dyson, “and so we were in a very fortunate reboot.
with
is a regular collaborator of illusionist position of choosing who to develop it. We’ve written the Sadie
Derren Brown. first two scripts, and we’re doing that with Hartswood Sink
“But also our inspirations were Films and the BBC, so it’s the Sherlock team of Steven a pick for
Jean Grey.
Sleuth and Deathtrap, those stage Moffat and Sue Vertue.” The Bourne
thrillers where you never quite “It’s got all the things that a Dyson/Nyman thing has,” Ultimatum’s
know what’s happening. With adds Andy, “which is for an audience, you think, ‘Oh, great, George Nolfi
The Psychic there are rug pulls it’s that kind of thing,’ but then it slips through your fingers, is the latest
screenwriter to
that just keep on giving! Plus, and you think, ‘Oh no, it’s that!’ The response to the book take a crack at
of course, there are some has been really touching, people seem to really love it.”
DANIELE VENTURELLI/GETTY FOR ARMANI BEAUTY

Star Wars: New

delicious scares. So, stage plays, movies, TV, novels… Is there anything left Jedi Order.
Matthew
“And with the leads, it’s three on Andy and Jeremy’s creative bucket list? “We just want to Lillard and Scott
fantastic female roles. Having come do purely work that we love with a passion,” smiles Dyson, Foley returning
out of Ghost Stories that was entirely “and if that happens to take us to film or to the stage or to for Scream 7.
Barbarian’s
male, both in what it’s about and television, then great, we love them all.” Zach Cregger to
how it’s presented, it’s been really write and direct
exciting writing these great parts Ghost Stories is currently on tour. For more information, the Resident
for women.” visit ghoststoriesplay.com. Evil reboot.
Drew Hancock
writing The
As an actor, Andy Nyman appeared in ITV’s 1989 adaptation of Susan Hill’s The Woman In Black. Faculty remake.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 11

 Freed’s inspirations for The Mask Of Fear included John le Carré’s spy thrillers for their mix of tension and bureaucratic detail.

AUTHOR EXCLUSIVE

Rogue Heroes
Alexander Freed charts the beginnings of the Empire and the Rebellion in new
novel The Mask Of Fear
SET DURING THE FIRST YEAR OF Organa is one of the very few people aware of
WORDS: STEPHEN JEWELL
Emperor Palpatine’s tyrannical rule, Palpatine’s status as a Sith Lord, approaching
The Mask Of Fear – the first in the the situation from almost a Jedi mindset; and
Reign Of The Empire Saw’s guerilla band doesn’t
trilogy – doesn’t only focus know how to stop fighting
on the varying impact it the last war. Together, they
had on “important people” represent three pillars of
such as the Jedi or Darth what will become the
Vader. Instead, it takes in Rebellion – but at the time
the viewpoint of “the of The Mask Of Fear there
average citizen”, who with is no Rebellion, and Mon,
the end of the Clone Wars, Bail and Saw could just as
perhaps isn’t having such a easily end up opponents
bad time. as allies.”
“Palpatine is promising We can also expect to
an end to political encounter some other
corruption,” author familiar faces. “Bail and
Alexander Freed tells Red Mon both have families we
Alert. “Not everyone wants spend time with including,
to live in a dictatorship, of course, the newborn
but things feel more Princess Leia, and there’s
normal than they have in also a certain powerful
years, and at least battle Imperial – although
droids aren’t marching probably not the one you’re
through the streets any thinking of!” teases Freed,
more. Some people are who explores both
filled with hope, or at least Coruscant’s upper and
relief, while others are lower levels.
grieving – for the dead, “They’re all still dealing
failed causes or the end of with damage from the
democracy. war,” he continues. “We’ll
“It’s a wonderfully also be taking a tour
complicated period and I through Separatist space
wanted to make sure The and a number of new
Mask Of Fear really worlds, including a
grappled with the long-dead city-world
contradictions of the era. whose skyscrapers have
For politicians, Separatist fossilised through the
rebels, people who loved aeons.”
the Jedi or just wanted to With the next instalment
make it through the written by Rebecca
conflict, what’s it like to Roanhorse, the three
have peace again and what volumes of Reign Of The
would you do to avoid a Empire all take place many
return to war? What ideals years apart. “They cover
are worth fighting for, the arc of our major
what ones are worth characters as the Imperial
compromising and what era progresses,” explains
sort of person is the first to Freed. “A Rebellion will
pick up a gun in a time of crisis?” Organa, although Freed prefers not to reveal rise and the Empire will crack down. People
Drawing not only on Revenge Of The Sith but how they interact. “They’re all on different will change sides and reassess old beliefs, all
also The Bad Batch “to establish timing” and journeys,” he explains. “Mon Mothma is living leading to the original film era.”
Andor “for character background”, the novel in a world of shifting senate alliances and
centres on Mon Mothma, Saw Gerrera and Bail legislative responses to the Empire; Bail Star Wars: The Mask Of Fear is out now.

12 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 CREATOR EXCLUSIVE

The Dracula File

Bram Stoker’s Dracula spreads his wings in new
book Shadows Of The StokerVerse WORDS: STEPHEN JEWELL

AFTER VENTURING With McAuley praising his from the late 19th century. “One of
into comics with Dracula “meticulous research”, Dacre also the most exciting aspects of the
The Return: Cult Of The played a vital role. “We consult book is that we explore real-world
White Worm, Dacre Stoker – and each other on the narrative, tone characters that Bram met, and also
co-author Chris McAuley – are and character design of the look at the possible influences on
continuing his great-granduncle StokerVerse,” says McAuley. his writing of Dracula such as the One of Clint
Bram Stoker’s blood-soaked legacy “Dacre provides family insight into occult,” says McAuley. “So we’ll Langley’s
with illustrated story book Bram’s mindset, the history of the meet not only Dracula but also many
Shadows Of The StokerVerse. era and ensures that all of the Van Helsing, Renfield, illustrations.
Lavishly illustrated by 2000 AD content of the franchise in the Frankenstein’s creature,
artist Clint Langley, it features 20 games, comics, audio dramas, werewolves, mummies, the White given free rein by McAuley and
short stories, written by McAuley novels and this artbook align with Worm, Aleister Crowley and Bram Dacre. “We had no fixed way of
with Dacre’s input, that journey Bram Stoker’s original intentions.” Stoker himself.” creating stories and art. Some
way beyond the bounds of Bram’s “We brainstormed ideas McAuley also hints at an stories have been inspired by my
original 1897 novel. together,” adds Dacre. “As per appearance by someone whose art and other art has been created
“We’re no longer solely looking usual, I interjected Stoker family identity he refuses to divulge. “I around Chris’s stories. It’s a
at Victorian London, as we have insight where we felt appropriate.” better not spill all the beans right perfect way of working.”
stories which even go into the wild It’s set around 1896 to 1897, and now!” he laughs. “But there’s “I was very impressed by the
reaches of Wales and into the you can expect to see characters plenty for fans of gothic horror tone of Clint’s work on the
myths of my homeland, Ireland,” from not only across the wider and Dracula to sink their teeth StokerVerse RPG,” adds McAuley.
explains McAuley, who hails from StokerVerse but historical figures into.” “The core appeal, and it’s partly
Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Having previously contributed curiosity, is how exactly Clint will
“With regards to Dracula, the
StokerVerse keeps the original Dacre provides to the Official StokerVerse
Roleplaying Game and its various
illustrate the stories I have
written. That’s a very exciting
villain of the story in line with family insight into side books, Langley welcomed the aspect of writing for me, how an
what Bram outlined. We use the opportunity to return to the artist will interpret my words and
sets of notes which Bram Stoker Bram’s mindset StokerVerse. “The chance to build a universe with them.”
used to expand upon those themes
in a way which we believe he
and the history of illustrate more monsters for the
Dracula universe was too good to Shadows Of The StokerVerse is out
would like to have seen.” the era pass up,” says Langley, who was in March.

“Gibbet Hill”, a previously lost 1890 short story by Bram Stoker, was recently published by the Rotunda Foundation.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 13

 In the cartoon, Bengali, Pumyra and Lynx-O were left to their doom before being rescued by the Ro-Bear Berbils.

ThunderCats
are go! Well,
they’re Lost,
anyway.

WRITER EXCLUSIVE

Cat FightAFTER LAUNCHING DYNAMITE

The Thunderians go to war in new Dynamite
series ThunderCats: Lost WORDS: STEPHEN JEWELL

The Lost line-up includes Bengali, Pumyra directly to the survival of all Thunderians,
Entertainment’s Warner Animation and Lynx-O – who were all introduced in the which ties into both Apex and the ongoing
line last year, ThunderCats is now original ’80s cartoon’s second season. “Their ThunderCats book, but with a bit of a twist that
spawning a spin-off series. Written by Ed origin here varies a little from the readers will have to tune in to find out
Brisson and drawn by Rapha Lobosco – who cartoon,” explains Brisson. “Who about.”
previously collaborated on the ThunderCats: they are hasn’t changed, but the Brisson and Lobosco have also
Apex one-shot, ThunderCats: Lost gives a thrust of their mission has. In created two brand new
darker tone to the feline warriors’ flagship title. the original series, they were characters in Neko and
“The challenges here push the team in ways Thunderians who were Ligon. “We wanted to make
that force them to abandon the moral code the prevented from leaving sure they felt at home
mainline ThunderCats operate under,” Brisson on the same ship as the within the larger
tells Red Alert. “The Lost team has a clear goal: ThunderCats. ThunderCats universe
establishing a new home for the Thunderians. “In our series, they while not feeling
But their mission comes with some major have a little more derivative of any already
twists – ones even the team themselves aren’t agency over their fate existing characters,”
fully aware of. They’re carrying a secret cargo but still find themselves continues Brisson.
– an item critical to ensuring their species’ abandoned. In “Neko is a snow leopard
survival. Unfortunately, that cargo slips ThunderCats: Lost, they who is smaller than the
through their fingers and recovering it have a larger, more rest of the crew but is
becomes a huge part of their journey.” important role that’s tied probably the fiercest

14 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 CREATOR EXCLUSIVE

League Of Losers
Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum are opening up
their series Minor Threats to new creators with
Welcome To Twilight WORDS: STEPHEN JEWELL

WITH A LIVE-ACTION TV glory days are behind you and you’ve still
show currently being developed by got decades of life stretching out?”, writer
Netflix, writers Patton Oswalt and Matt Fraction is joined by artist Mike Allred
Jordan Blum and artist Scott Hepburn are on issue one’s tale of washed-up, bird-
now expanding their Dark Horse Comics winged actor Brock Bronkowicz.
series Minor Threats with Welcome To “Twilight City felt like a great place to
Twilight, a four-issue anthology which spend a little time because it let me tell a
provides guest creators with the story that wouldn’t have fit in anywhere
opportunity to play in their offbeat else,” says Fraction. “What’s it like to look
superhero universe. like a superhero in a world full of them, but
“Minor Threats started from our deep not actually be able to do anything about it?
love of reading tons of comics, and because What would it take for him to finally man up
we spend so much time in these living, and actually act like one? The story that
ever-growing worlds, we began to wonder came out is funny, weird, violent and sexy,
about the little side alleys, slums, suburbs and it could only happen in Twilight City.”
and Skid Rows of the gleaming, A-level “The Minor Threats universe is more in
superhero worlds, and who lived in the line with our culture than some of the
lower depths,” explains Oswalt. classic ones,” continues issue two writer
“We wanted this world to be as vibrant Brian Michael Bendis who, with artist Soo
and alive as everything that lives in the sun. Lee, is introducing a new, highly dangerous
So Welcome To Twilight is a chance for figure, who has mysterious past connections
other writers and artists to be inspired by that will have serious ramifications for
the unseen edges of the world we’ve made.” Twilight City’s future. “I haven’t written
With Oswalt describing Minor Threats’ superheroes in a few years and I really loved
main theme as “How do you live when the scratching that itch in our own unique way.”
“I wanted to be able to diversify the
ThunderCat to date. She’s a skilled warrior and universe with what I know best by
killing machine with a penchant for trying to including our own version of
solve every problem with violence. Ligon, on Chinatown within Twilight,” adds Lee.
the other hand, is a liger – half lion/half tiger Gail Simone and Gene Ha chronicle
– who is the giant on the team. A brutal menace the sad life of failed superhero Crab
on the battlefield who doesn’t need weapons Louie in issue three, while Gerry
beyond his fists, he’s kind and compassionate Duggan and Mark Torres get dirty
when not in battle and is the heart of the team.” with The Cleaner in issue four. “Crab
While he will be familiar to fans of the show, Louie is doing the convention
Brisson refuses to reveal the identity of the appearance circuit, much to his
main villain, who appears later on. But we will family’s dismay,” says Simone. “But he
meet his deputy, ruthless mercenary Scorpius gets a chance for a shining moment.”
– another new character – in issue two. “He’s “His body is a human-shaped pile of
one of the most feared and brutal warriors on crab and lobster parts, which was hard
this planet, who is in charge of hunting down to draw!” adds Ha.
the Lost team and is ready to mow down “Our story meets at the intersection
anyone who dares get in his way,” teases of Spandex and crime,” says Duggan.
Brisson, who’s stranding the Lost crew in a “Our hero is a guy that cleans up
war zone. messes for a living and that’s kind of
“It’s very different to what the main his superpower – he’s a mess, as he
ThunderCats are used to as it’s a place shaped was bitten by a radioactive mess. We
more by technology than magic, which is can’t wait for you to meet the man who
banned here,” he adds. “Its militarised culture sweeps the problems – and the bodies
is not only unwelcoming to cats but they’re – under the rug in Twilight City.”
dead set on eliminating these new arrivals.” Variant cover
art for issue Minor Threats: Welcome to Twilight
ThunderCats: Lost issue one is out on 5 March. one, by issue one is out on 12 March.
Michael Allred.
While some of Welcome To Twilight’s new characters will be spun off into their own series, others are designed as one-offs.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 15

 Doctor Who
Worlds Of
Wonder
exhibition.
Someone now
owns Donna’s
wedding
dress…

NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF

Several writers have been with my next Spectral Scream by Con Museum in San Diego on 15
announced for season two of episode.” Hannah Fergesen. March. Visit comic-con.org/
Doctor Who. Juno Dawson, Inua Angel-Walfall said: “I Audiobook versions will museum.
Ellams, Pete McTighe and Sharma am buzzing to be a part of be released on the same day. Big Finish, in association with
Angel-Walfall join Russell T such an iconic show! I am a Tom Baker was awarded the Whoovers and Derby QUAD,
Davies in the line-up for the massive Russell T Davies fan, so it an MBE in the New Year’s will host one-day convention Big
next eight episodes. is a dream come true to be able to Honours List. Finish Day 2025 on 21 June.
Dawson said: “I started work alongside him, especially on A hardback version of the This year, the event is themed as
watching Doctor Who with my a show that I love. It’s a real Target novelisation of Dalek by The Big Finish Podcast: Live, with
grandma when I was 10 years privilege to be a part of the Doctor Robert Shearman will be released Nicholas Briggs and Benji Clifford
old in the 1990s. From writing Who family. I have loved every on 30 October. hosting a mix of chat and audio
fan fiction for an audience of minute!” Master Replicas will release a drama exclusives. Special guests
one, to scripting the best TV Showrunner Davies said: 1:6 scale statue of Ncuti Gatwa already confirmed to appear
show of all time is truly a dream “Doctor Who takes its talent as the Doctor in “The Church include Colin Baker, Peter Purves
come true. I can’t wait for fans from a glittering galaxy of On Ruby Road” this July. You and Tim Treloar. Visit derbyquad.
and newcomers to see the new names, and these extraordinary can pre-order it at co.uk for more info.
season.” writers span the skies. We’ve masterreplicas.com for £109. Also recently announced by
Ellams said: “For as long as I can got old hands, new stars, voices Further items were revealed in Big Finish are further audio
remember television, I’ve been a from theatre, radio and the PropStore/Children In Need dramas:
Doctor Who fan. I started literature, the whole auction, which closed on The Paternoster Gang:
watching when I was 10 in works! 25 February. Among the 172 Trespassers 4 – Last Stand sees the
Nigeria. The show invited me to “It’s the most wild items were a prop TARDIS team battle an old enemy and meet
dream, to live beyond my reality. and exciting season of from “An Adventure In an old friend, and is released
Getting to write for the show felt Doctor Who yet, and I Space And Time”, Donna in March.
like touching God; it was can’t wait to unleash Noble’s wedding dress and A cover has been released for
blasphemously humbling and their brilliant work.” the Cyberwoman and Pig box set Susan’s War:
© PHOEBE MACKENZIE WELLINGTONNZ, SARNER

exciting, and I can’t wait to share Retailers have Slave costumes. That’s a Grandfather Time, also releasing
my story with the world.” listed new novels fan film, right there. in March.
McTighe said: “The TARDIS featuring the Tickets for Torchwood: Inseparable, starring
is my home away from home, so Fifteenth Doctor Who Tracy-Ann Oberman was released
it’s been a joy to step back Doctor and Worlds Of Wonder: this month, while Torchwood:
inside, with Russell at the Belinda Where Science Rictus – which ties into the
console and the incredible team releasing on Meets Fiction forthcoming Zygon Century series,
at Bad Wolf hanging on for dear 29 May. Fear are available is released next month.
life. I love this show with all my Death By Water Get your own now. The
heart, and am really proud of is written by cutie Ncuti exhibition opens Doctor Who is on BBC iPlayer
what we’ve been able to achieve Emily Cook and statue. at the Comic- (UK) and Disney+ (globally).

Andrew Garfield appeared alongside the Pig Slaves in 2007 episodes “Daleks In Manhattan” and “Evolution Of The Daleks”.

16 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 NEWS
WARP
HIGH-SPEED
INFORMATION

James Norton
to play Ormund
Hightower in
season three of
Game Of
Thrones spin-off
House Of The
Dragon.
DREAMS THAT GLITTER The Blacklist’s
Once a submission to the Lego Ideas platform, now the Cullens’s house Ulrich Thomsen
from Twilight is a 2,001-brick reality. It’s the first ever Lego set based on is cosmic arch-
the Twilight Saga and we suspect it won’t be the last… villain Sinestro in
It comes with seven minifigures (yes, Edward sparkles) including DC’s Lanterns.
Jacob as a wolf. Also included is Bella’s truck and a tree in order to Netflix’s
adaptation of
recreate those moments. Visit lego.com/twilight Neil Gaiman’s
The Sandman
to end with its
second season.
Station 19’s
Rigo Sanchez
ORLOKFACTORY signed for the
The horror must-have that’s so recurring role
popular there’s now a waiting list… of Dragon in the
Heretic’s Nosferatu Eau de live-action One
Macabre is a fragrance they Piece.
TV adaptation
describe as smelling like “an
of videogame
encounter with an apparition in Beyond: Two
the cold, damp caves of Count Souls in
Orlok’s castle.” What you get is a development,
delicious earthy scent: like earth produced by
after a thunderstorm… original game
Visit hereticparfum.com star Elliot Page.
Breaking
Bad
creator
Vince
Gilligan
to bring
us SF
series
Wycaro 339,
targeting a
summer
release on
Apple TV+.
Paul Wesley
– Kirk
in Strange New
Worlds –
to produce a
vampire comedy
series,
written by
Unstable’s
DOWN AND SAFE Victor Fresco.
Thwip! Thwip!
You wait 41 years for another issue of Blake’s 7 Marvel’s
Magazine and then two come along – almost – at animated series
once. Issue 25 is a staggering 192 pages and in truth Your Friendly
more of a book, this time celebrating the series in Neighborhood
home media, particularly the recent Blu-ray collection. Spider-Man
As before, the non-profit publication is raising funds renewed
for charity, this time two personally chosen by Sally for two more
seasons.
Knyvette: UNICEF and Alzheimer’s Society.
JOHN NACION/GETTY

The third
You can order now at linktr.ee/cultedge season of Squid
Game is set to
arrive on Netflix
Published by Marvel UK, Blake’s 7 Magazine ran for 23 issues from October 1981 to August 1983. 27 June.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 17

 David Lynch declined George Lucas’s offer to direct Return Of The Jedi: “I had next door to zero interest.”

THE FINAL FR ONT IER RM GRAY

NEW AUTHOR
MEET THE INTERIOR
DESIGNER BEHIND PIRATICAL
YA FANTASY NIGHTWEAVER

DAVID LYNCH
Remembering a damn fine man
1946-2025
WORDS: NICK SETCHFIELD

ONE OF THE David Lynch in

most 2002, with his
extraordinary beloved
voices of the American cigarettes.
screen, David Lynch
explored desire and
dread, depravity and
sweetness. He dissected Tell us about your protagonist.
Aster Oberon isn’t your average
the underbelly of the dagger-wielding pirate-turned-kitchen
everyday in a body of maid. Fierce, loyal and hell-bent on
work that remains revenge, Aster joins forces with a
endlessly open to Nightweaver – a monster she’s spent
her whole life hating – to hunt down
interpretation while
her brother’s killer and gain her
stamped with his freedom.
singular spirit.
For Lynch, darkness How does the magic work in this
lay at the heart and not world?
It’s an elemental magic system, but
the edge of town. It was with the twist of bloodlust and the
a truth he had known psychological abilities of vampire
since childhood: “I legends.
learned that just
beneath the surface Did anything in
particular spark the
there’s another world, idea?
and still different I have an unhealthy
worlds as you dig obsession with
deeper.” pirates, and I wanted
to explore a world
The man Mel Brooks where pirates exist
called “Jimmy Stewart alongside traditional
from Mars” was born fantasy creatures like
in Missoula, Montana. As a student he made unicorns and pixies
his first experimental short in 1967. Moving to Mulholland Drive (2001). 1990’s paranormal as well as grim,
gruesome monsters
Los Angeles to take a filmmaking course at the murder mystery Twin Peaks not only defined that would have
AFI Conservatory, Lynch began work on the that vision but proved a game-changer for given me nightmares
harrowing, provocative Eraserhead, which television itself, anticipating today’s world of as a child.
soon won a cult following. longform prestige drama.
Did you have to do much research?
Recognising a maverick genius, Brooks Big-screen prequel Fire Walk With Me Find anything interesting?
recruited him to helm 1980’s The Elephant followed in 1992 before 2017’s Twin Peaks: The A ton! Nightweaver takes place in a
Man, a true-life story that Lynch brought to the Return delivered a characteristically fantasy world, but I wanted to include
screen with style and empathy. While the film uncompromising victory lap. details from recognisable eras of our
bagged eight Oscar nominations its director Lynch made art that captured the tipping own history so that the world felt both
familiar and new, which led to hours
proved no easy fit for Hollywood: 1984’s Dune point between dream and nightmare. “I don’t sifting through pirate lore and looking
saw Lynch bruised by the studio blockbuster think people accept the fact that life doesn’t at menus from Victorian dinner parties.
experience and from that point he pursued his make sense,” he once observed. Steeped in
Have you got any advice for SFX
CHRIS WEEKS/WIREIMAGE/GETTY

own vision in such deeply idiosyncratic fare as mystery, unsettling to the last, his work
readers who are budding authors?
Blue Velvet (1986), Wild At Heart (1990) and reflected and celebrated that truth.
Write what you love and never give
up. If you can do both of those things,
even when aunt so-and-so asks you
what you’re going to do when the
JEANNOT SZWARC 1939-2025 CHRISTOPHER BENJAMIN 1934-2025 “writing thing” doesn’t work out, then
you’re going to go far.
French director known for Jaws 2, Supergirl, British actor who made appearances in Doctor
Somewhere In Time and Smallville. Who, The Avengers and The Prisoner. Nightweaver is out on 6 March,
published by Penguin.

20 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

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MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 19

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS

e
we asked som
brate ou r 30 th anniversary d fantasy
To cele names in sci-fi
an
of the biggest , directors and producers
ters
(including wri e series): what TV show
vo urit
of your fa ree decades?
d ou t fo r yo u in the last th k you!
stoo sults may shoc
Some of the re l subjective and
But they’re al abetical…
definitely alph

Babylon 5
1993-1998, 110 episodes, six TV movies mistrust, the backstabbing and a mixing stories of Martian
Apple TV+, Prime Video few totalitarian regimes, unlikely independence with epic
Richard Edwards, former SFX Editor friendships were allowed to grow. mythology about a pair of feuding
The evolution of Londo and G’Kar ancient races – until they got the
WHEN BABYLON 5 landed changer. My dad may have scoffed from bitter enemies to cranky, odd hell out of our galaxy, anyway.
on Channel 4, it was like when teenage me claimed it was couple BFFs is one of TV’s great Babylon 5 was a series made for
nothing I’d ever seen before. “like Star Trek, only more realistic” character arcs. streaming long before streaming
I loved Star Trek: The Next but, three decades later, I stand In that regard Babylon 5 was even existed, doomed to exist at a
Generation, of course, and The by it. years ahead of its time. In an era time when missing a single crucial
X-Files was the show everyone While Jean-Luc Picard and the when stories-of-the-week were episode meant you may have
talked about. But with its famous gang were busy upholding the the TV norm, JMS (who wrote the missed it forever. With Babylon 5,
five-year plan, overlapping Prime Directive, pretty much vast majority of the show’s the stakes really did feel that high.
storylines and cast of morally everyone on Babylon 5 – whether episodes) played the long game. There’s no question the show
WARNER BROS

ambiguous characters, J Michael they be human, Minbari, Centauri Sure, you got the odd standalone feels dated now. Many of the sets
Straczynski’s ambitious space or Narn – acted in their own here and there, but mostly this was look like they’ve been lifted from
opera felt like a genuine game- self-interest. But despite the a giant interstellar soap opera, an open-plan office, while modern

20 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS

Being Human
2008-2013, 37 episodes
BBC iPlayer, ITVX
Dave Golder, former SFX Editor

HEARD THE ONE ABOUT

the vampire, the ghost and
the werewolf who shared a house?
It sounds like the first line of
a joke, and indeed BBC Three’s
supernatural comedy drama could
be very funny at times, as its
evolving roster of central
supernatural housemates (starting
with Mitchell, Annie and George;
ending with Hal, Alex and Tom)
tried to lead normal lives in Bristol
and later Barry Island.
But it could also be very, very
Battlestar Galactica dark as the characters fought with
the darker sides of their nature as
well as a series of unnervingly blue
2003-2009, 2012, 76 episodes, two TV movies collar baddies, culminating with
ITVX the Devil in the guise of a
Stephen Gallagher, screenwriter and novelist foul-mouthed pensioner in a tatty
seaside hotel.
IT'S NOT THE IDEA, IT'S THE It also boasted a brilliant final
execution. I know it had/has its own cult episode, featuring a coda that was
fandom but for me Glen Larson’s 1978 either one of the most uplifting or

BBC
predecessor was a big and shiny knock-off of bleakest endings ever.
Western movie tropes reskinned as science
fiction. The 2003 reboot from writer/producer
Ronald D Moore and producer David Eick took
the bones of it and fashioned a very different
creature, with all of the spectacle and epic
grandeur but in support of an intense
character-driven
drama with a sense
of real urgency and
danger.
The regular
series that followed
kept up the
standard even
when Moore left to
work on Carnivàle,
another show in
TVs do the innovative-at-the-time my top 10 of the
computer-generated visuals few era [see page 23].
favours – even though many of the Galactica’s
spaceship designs were truly out storytelling was
of this world. complex and adult
But Straczynski’s odyssey also and Katee
shifted the dial on TV sci-fi, Sackhoff, Grace
transporting convincing drama Park, Jamie Bamber and James Callis were
about flawed humans (and aliens) each blessed and cursed with a career-defining
to outer space, paving the way for role with which this viewer will forever
the more critically acclaimed likes associate them.
of Battlestar Galactica and The After a couple of seasons the show began to
NBC UNIVERSAL

Expanse. So I’ll have to falter with less of the sense of a story unfolding,
respectfully disagree with Spaced’s more of a casting around for ideas to keep it
Tim Bisley on this one. Babylon 5 going. But when it was good, it was great.
is anything but “a big pile of shit”. That’s enough.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 21

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS

Buffy The
Vampire Slayer
1997-2003, 144 episodes
Disney+, Paramount+
Juno Dawson, screenwriter and novelist

WHEN I WAS GROWING UP IN THE ’80S, TOO

often female characters were sidekicks or love
interests. As a child, I watched Willie Scott scream at
insects in Temple Of Doom or Andy from The Goonies hang
off Josh Brolin. But horror, paradoxically, felt like a safer
The crew space for women; Laurie Strode or Sidney Prescott could
of the USS overcome their male oppressors.
Callister in It was into this climate that Buffy Ann Summers
Black Mirror. back-flipped onto the scene in 1992’s Buffy The Vampire
Slayer. A tonally confused movie, but nine-year-old me was
entirely sold on a monster-killing valley-girl cheerleader. It

Black Mirror was unlike anything else I had ever seen. The DNA of what
would become the defining TV series is there: the legacy
and responsibility of the slayer; the quickfire dialogue; the
female strength.
2011-present, 27 episodes, one interactive special I’m not going to detail here the much-discussed
Netflix misconduct on the set of Buffy or Angel. It’s heart-breaking
LaToya Morgan, Showrunner/Co-Creator, Duster (HBO Max) to me that women were made to suffer on a show I love so
much. I have to work to reconcile these two truths. Even
TWENTY-SEVEN technology run amok. Within with the legacy tarnished, the stories themselves remain
episodes of pure science each episode is a morality play something the cast can be proud of. The influence on genre
fiction goodness is why Black stretched to its limits, forcing its television is undeniable.
Mirror is one of the most powerful characters, and by extension the Buffy – and the vast majority of the scripts hold up 25
television series of the last 15 viewing audience, to go deep into years on – felt crisp and modern. While the actors may have
years. I remember where I was the darkest corners of human been pushing 30, Sunnydale High felt as real as my West
when I watched the compellingly nature. And just like when staring Yorkshire comprehensive. The “monsters” Buffy and her
horrifying dilemma at the heart of into a mirror, we get a glimpse of friends faced were often allegorical for the real trauma of
the first episode “The National our true selves. growing up: a neglected teenage girl turns invisible; a
Anthem.” I couldn’t believe the The writing is exceptional. mild-mannered boyfriend possesses a jealous streak that
plot as it unfolded, but more The filmmaking is outstanding. turns him into a beast and, perhaps most famously, Buffy
importantly, I couldn’t shake the Production design is impeccable. shags a guy one time and he becomes a whole different
feeling that if what happened in Every season’s cast manages to person.
the episode happened in real life, I make each episode their own. This intelligent, layered storytelling set Buffy apart from
wasn’t sure if I wouldn’t watch the Some of my all time favourite even its best counterparts. Charmed was a passable soap,
insanity being broadcast along episodes of television are packed and Roswell had a fun set-up, but they didn’t have the depth
with the rest of the world. into those six seasons. The most of Buffy. The monster-of-the-week format with a greater
It stopped me cold and made gorgeous, unexpected love story in story arc setting up a yearly Big Bad has been as influential
me think. Hell, it made me cringe “San Junipero”. The darkest Star as the characters themselves. Every season offered a soft
– in the best possible way. And Trek homage in the history of reset so new fans could return or join, thus avoiding the
Charlie Brooker, in his diabolical television in “USS Callister”. An head-scratching fatigue of something like The X-Files. This
brilliance, has not taken his foot epic choose your own adventure approach has been adopted widely, most notably in the
off the gas since. Each season’s story in “Bandersnatch”. A bleak 2005 reboot of Doctor Who, which reused the formula to
technological advances and stakes mechanical future shot in glorious great success.
become even more poignant and black and white in “Metalhead”. But I wonder if Buffy’s greatest feat remains the centring
terrifying than the last. And the darkest and most of female characters. Without the cult success of Buffy, we
But let’s be real – The Twilight poignant trifecta of endings in may not have had – deep breath – Alias, Dark Angel, Tru
Zone is one of my all time favorite “White Bear”, “Beyond the Sea” Calling, Ghost Whisperer, Dollhouse, Vampire Diaries, True
shows and Black Mirror owes a lot and “White Christmas”. Blood or Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. Buffy proved that
to its anthological predecessor. But Rod Serling would be proud. there was an appetite for girls with agency. I don’t love
Black Mirror sets itself apart by I’ve never been more jealous or Buffy because she’s “whip-smart” or “kickass”, I love her
taking us through the looking glass more inspired by a show. Maybe because she’s flawed, occasionally sullen, sometimes selfish,
to a dark future not-so-distant heaven is indeed a place on Earth… and suffers real Main Character Syndrome.
from our own. It explores the where one gets lost in the dark As Buffy turns 30, I don’t think she’s been bettered. I
allure, power – and in most cases tales flickering on one of our remain torn on whether I want to see Sarah Michelle Gellar
NETFLIX

– the destructive nature of technological devices. pick up her stake again.

22 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS
Buffy and
chums. Hey,
there’s a spin-
off name…

Carnivàle
2003-2005, 24 episodes
NOW
Stephen Volk, screenwriter and
novelist

I LOVE THAT DANIEL

Knauf dreamt up my
favourite show of recent times 15
years before it was finally made,
pissed off with his job as a health
insurance broker. Carnivàle was
his dustbowl tornado of a concept,
born of a lifelong fascination with
travelling sideshows, and the
experience of growing up with a
disabled father considered by
some to be a “freak”.
From this uninspiring but
inspired germ Knauf initially
penned a mammoth, unmakeable
180-page screenplay that uniquely
showcased the odd, the raw, the
desperate and the supernatural
while exploring the vast, warring
enigmas of good and evil.
Thank God and the Devil for
HBO, who said that his wild vision
for a movie was actually a TV
show all along. To me, it’s a
horror-fantasy epic of Biblical
proportions, as if Ray Bradbury
and Cecil B de Mille were sat in
the writers’ room.
Add to that heady mix a
barnstorming Burt Lancaster part
for Clancy Brown as deranged
Brother Justin, and Nick Stahl as
the faux-Christ innocent who runs
away to join the circus. What a
circus it is: miracles and magic
springing from the dry desperation
of the Depression. And in
“Babylon”, one of the most chilling
episodes of television ever made.
Jeff Beal’s score for Carnivàle
never fails to thrill me, and I have
the soundtrack on CD. It’s
inspiring as the best of anything
always is. The intended trilogy of
“books” (two seasons each) never
transpired: at $4m an ep, even
HBO shuddered. Possibly my
favourite genre concoction in any
medium and one of the real
PHOTO 12 / ALAMY

wonders of the Golden Era of TV,

cancellation does not dim its
brilliance one iota.
FOX

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 23

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS

Doctor Who
2005-present
BBC iPlayer
Soo Hugh, Showrunner/writer/EP,
(Pachinko, The Terror)

DOCTOR WHO? FEATURING

the oldest question in the
television universe, there’s no other
show quite like it. With 40 seasons
under its belt and an impressive
roster of 15 Doctors, I will brazenly
attest that Doctor Who is the most
underrated show ever in television
history. Truly.
Name another show that has
churned out as many brilliant
episodes across this many genres
ranging from the horror masterpiece
of “Blink” to the unforgettable
uncanniness of “The Empty Child” to
the sweeping romance of “The Girl
In The Fireplace” and so on. Not to
mention all the cultural touchstones
that have become certifiable icons
– Weeping Angels! The TARDIS!
Daleks! The Sonic Screwdriver!
And while too many shows rest
on tired laurels, Doctor
Who isn’t afraid to
self-detonate, constantly
challenging itself to
reinvent the television
wheel, even if this means
taking a stumble. Sure,
not all episodes are
great, but the ones that
are – and there are a
slew of them – transcend
the medium, stretching
the bounds of
convention, genre and
form. And while
featuring a murderers’
row of lead and guest
cast that includes David
Tennant, Matt Smith,
Carey Mulligan, Daniel Kaluuya,
Simon Pegg and Bill Nighy, the show
is a masterclass on what happens
when you allow amazing actors to let
loose and have fun while trying to
save the universe.
I have had so many feels while
watching this show. I’ve laughed and
I’ve cried and I’ve thrown things at
the TV and watched with eyes half
closed and have even puked once
(though I might’ve had the flu). But
most importantly, I’ve been awed.
That most wondrous of feelings
where you’re left watching the end Billie Piper
credits and asking yourself how in and David
hell they just did that. Tennant: cool
BBC

for cats.

24 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS

Farscape
1999-2003, 88 episodes
ITVX, Prime Video
Chris Chibnall, Showrunner/writer/EP (Doctor Who) The Fringe
folks:
I DIDN’T DISCOVER IT UNTIL THE EARLY 2000S, VIA DVD ironically, only
box sets. It takes the standard “bunch of strangers thrown together
on a spaceship” set-up and juices it for strangeness and brilliance,
becoming richer and deeper and stranger as the seasons progress.
Fringe one on show.
HALLMARK ENTERTAINMENT

Kind of like an Aussie-American Blake’s 7 on ’shrooms; with added

puppeteering, and writing that (once it really finds its voice towards the 2008-2013, 100 episodes
final third of the first season) keeps wrongfooting and surprising you. It’s ITVX
funny and dark and daft and occasionally hallucinogenic, has great Tara Bennett, SFX US Editor
characterisation and performances, lovely production design and a
terrific series villain. GREAT TELEVISION SHOWS HAVE
always needed time to cook. That was
“Chris Chibnall especially the case with sci-fi shows that
simply loves needed to figure out their grooves, including
my work, you the JJ Abrams executive-produced Fringe. The
know.” series premiered in 2008 on Fox – already a
scary prospect for the notoriously genre-
twitchy network – and was received by critics
and audiences with curious uncertainty.
Initially, the show felt like an X-Files knock-
off, assembling together a trio of unlikely
collaborators – icy FBI Special Agent Olivia
Dunham, eccentric “fringe scientist” Dr Walter
Bishop and his slightly dodgy son, Peter – to
investigate, on the down low, weekly cases
involving weird science.
Then “The Arrival” introduced an Observer,
a strange, pale bald man in a fedora, and its
unique mythology was born. Every week John
Noble’s Bishop got more endearing and a little
scarier, sweet Astrid held down the lab, and
Olivia and Peter got closer, all becoming a
found family made more vital with every
episode. Then executive producers Jeff
Pinkner, JH Wyman and Akiva Goldsman
lowered the sci-fi boom in its first season finale
by introducing a parallel dimension.
From that moment forward, those who
granted the series their patience were amply
rewarded with five seasons and exactly 100
episodes of engrossing serialised storytelling
that swung for the fences because it was
perennially threatened with cancellation. But
the Fringe faithful knew what a gem it was.
It never failed to surprise. The writers
confidently laid out dense mythology and
tasked their amazingly agile ensemble of actors
to make us adore all versions of their
characters.
They are what elevated the series beyond its
procedural structure and created a complete
story that didn’t leave its loyal fans hanging. For
me, Fringe took on another level of importance
WARNER BROS TELEVISION/FOX

as it captured my imagination and heart so

much that it sparked an idea embraced by the
showrunners. This was then woven into the
canon of the series in “The Boy Must Live”, and
still exists forever as my and Paul Terry’s
September’s Notebook.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 25

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS

Futurama
1999-2003, 2008-2013, 2023-present, 160 episodes Earth because an episode of the long ago
Disney+ transmission of Single Female Lawyer was
Mark Gatiss, Showrunner/writer/EP (A Ghost Story For Christmas, Sherlock) interrupted. You can sense that the whole show
is infused with that shared love of the genre
FUTURAMA BEGAN WITH A BIG The premise (like a low-rent Starship which began with TV showings of giant ants in
problem. It wasn’t The Simpsons. Enterprise) means that the Planet Express the desert or Metalunans with giant foreheads
Developed by Simpsons creator Matt Groening crew can go almost anywhere and naturally do, all those years ago.
and producer David X Cohen, it was encompassing time travel, monsters, mutants One of my favourite episodes, “Where No
commissioned as a response to the huge and rarified physics jokes along the way. Raised Fan Has Gone Before”, reunites most of the
success of the other show yet there was an on ’50s ‘B’ movies and (particularly) Star Trek, then-surviving crew of the Enterprise (now
initial sense that this wasn’t going to be in the what’s immediately apparent is that the show’s heads in jars) in a storyline where Trek became
same league. Indeed, how could it be? creators know their stuff. There’s a glorious a forbidden religion, climaxing in a fight to the
Lightning doesn’t strike twice, so how could rightness to the satire and also huge, huge death by combat which just makes you grin
anything hope to match the era-defining affection. In the future, despite vast global with sheer pleasure at how spot-on it all is.
brilliance of the Springfield behemoth? But changes, TV remains the predominant Because the show has had years and years to
Futurama is a perfect example of how great entertainment – one early episode even grow, it’s developed a whole slew of call-backs
comedy can grow, can be nurtured and loved, involves aliens (naturally stentorian, booming- and in-jokes. The dreaded Hyno-Toad. Slurm
cancelled (numerous times) and come back voiced voiced aliens) threatening to destroy (the show’s equivalent of Duff beer).
from the dead to become very much its Apparently benign but actually evil robot
own thing. Bender and creator Mom. Hopeless Troy McClure-in-
New York, 1999. Philip J Fry is a very his pal on a Space pilot Zapp Branigan and his put upon
ordinary, slightly hopeless pizza delivery guy typical night number one, Kif. And, of course, the wonderful
who wakes up in New New York 2999 after out. Nibbler, Leela’s pet; an impossibly cute little
being accidentally cryogenically frozen. He thing which eats everything and who might
20THC.FOX/EVERETT/SHUTTERSTOCK

then becomes a delivery boy again (sort of ), just have influenced a remarkably similar
working for the Planet Express Delivery creature in Doctor Who…
Company alongside his descendant Professor But then, like anything good, the whole show
Farnsworth, one-eyed mutant Leela, antisocial is a fantastic tapestry of influences, steals and
robot Bender and the joyously strange decapod subversions. It’s also, at times, extremely
Dr Zoidberg (“the important thing is I’m moving, becoming richer and more pleasing
meeting new people!”) among many others. as the years go by.

26 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS
Eleanor, Chidi,
Michael and
Shawn in The
Good Place.

Game Of Thrones
2011-2019, 73 episodes
NOW
Mark Millar, comic book writer

I ALWAYS GET INTO THINGS LONG

after everyone else and Game Of Thrones
was no exception. My barber would talk about
it every month, baffling me with
unpronounceable names and complex
genealogy. Eventually, I caved and bought a box
set when it was all over, but I have to admit I
The Good Place
was sceptical. Like many people who work in
fiction all day, I chill out to facts to keep a foot 2016-2020, 53 episodes
in the real world and am more likely to be Netflix
watching Channel 4 News than JRR Tolkien. Steven Moffat, Showrunner/writer/EP (Doctor Who, Sherlock)
Imagine my surprise when I burned through
six seasons in four weeks. From the moment SKIP TO THE NEXT ONE. dead, arriving in the afterlife.
Jaime Lannister If you haven’t seen The Good Topping that takes something.
tosses an innocent Place, I’d rather not spoil anything Well, top it they did. A full-on,
child from the roof for you. I’m only writing this floor-shaking, paradigm-shifting
of a castle I knew sentence to give your eyes time to gob-smacker.
this was the show flick ahead without damage. “But at what cost?” I cried
for me. I’m a TV Okay, The Good Place – and I’m aloud. It was obvious to me that
snob, but this was still going to be circumspect, they had just ruined their own
as good as anything because some fool will keep story. They had traded their future
else on HBO and reading. Yes, YOU. I’m looking for one big shock moment. I tuned
such a clever right at YOU! I’m using special in at the start of the next season,
subversion of sentient words. I’m making eye looking forward to the rare thrill
genre material it contact. of pitying people much more
genuinely changed Obviously, I’m saying this talented than me.
the way I write. because there’s a twist. And even And oh dear god.
There’s a saying there’s a twist can spoil a I think the first few episodes
formula to stories, twist, so that’s a risk in itself. And of season two might be the most
a covenant with while this twist, in the season inventive, head-spinning,
the audience going back centuries with beats finale, is a belter, it gave me audacious piece of storytelling I’ve
that leave us satisfied if they’re hit in the something I enjoy even more than ever witnessed – apart from all the
correct order. To mess with this is risky, but great TV entertainment: a glorious other episodes of season two. And,
showrunners Benioff and Weiss beheaded the feeling of superiority. Because I quite frankly, the entire rest of the
rulebook and no character was safe. What a knew something the poor fools series.
treat for the audience to know that anything making this show clearly didn’t. Those unbearable geniuses had
can and will happen. Despite the witty, effortless not just gotten themselves out of
I couldn’t wait to go back and talk to my brilliance of the first series, they the corner they’d reversed into
barber about this masterpiece. But I was too had made a show-killing mistake. – they came out blazing. Oh, I was
late again. He was already watching Ted Lasso I explained this to all my friends, so happy for them. I can still show
and the circus had moved on. wearing my smuggest smile. Well, you the punch marks in my wall.
I was aiming for smug – god I took comfort in one thing,
A White knows how it came out. I’m old though. They still had one big, in
Walker from now; my face is mainly folds. fact insurmountable, problem. It
the episode Imagine a smirk on a pile of was, I declared, impossible to
“Hardhome”. towels. finish this story in any satisfactory
“You see,” I said, all languid and fashion. And everyone in the room
hand-wavy, “the twist is literally agreed with me. (I was alone.)
TOO GOOD. The show simply The next twist, of course, was
can’t survive it.” I added a that the last episode was entirely
sorrowful shake of my head. brilliant. And moving. And wise.
I wasn’t wrong, actually. It was And oh, please stop.
a sensational twist. Look, you As my powers weaken and the
know that old “the main character winters grow colder, I hug to
was dead all along” reveal? Yeah, myself this one comfort: surely
HOME BOX OFFICE

well, this show started with that. Michael Schur will never make
Literally the first scene of the first another show as good as this one.
episode: the main character, stone But then I remember: nor will I.
NBC

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 27

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS

Philip

Life On Mars Glenister and

John Simm:
ACAB?

2007-2007, 16 episodes
BBC iPlayer, Netflix
Nick Setchfield, SFX Editor At Large

“AM I MAD, IN A COMA, OR BACK IN

time?” asked existentially displaced
copper Sam Tyler on a weekly basis, as the title
sequence to Life On Mars played out.
“Whatever happened, it’s like I’ve landed on
a different planet.”
For many viewers it was a familiar world all
the same, albeit one rapidly receding in the
rear-view mirror of an asphalt-scorching Ford
Cortina. Created by Matthew Graham, Tony
Jordan and Ashley Pharoah, the series arrived
in the wake of Doctor Who’s 21st century
resurrection but used time travel in a distinctly
different way.
John Simm’s wary, bewildered Sam was
every one of us, returned to the Brut-splashed
age of 8-tracks and Watneys Party Seven. The
show certainly knew how to deliver endorphin
hits of nostalgia, from the cryptic smile of the
BBC Test Card girl to the glam stomp of the
Sweet’s mighty “Blockbuster”, but the sharp,
sensitive writing also fixed a cold
contemporary eye on the grime, prejudice
and corruption of the near-past as well.
It was so smartly done. Sam was ironic
distance in a leather jacket, the character that
licensed the writers and the audience to relish
the unreconstructed, Sweeney-style joy of it all.
And in DCI Gene Hunt the series minted
nothing less than a genuine pop-culture icon.
Brilliantly embodied by Philip Glenister, the
Gene Genie was a bruising, swaggering force of
nature, Godzilla – Copzilla – in a camel-hair
coat. But while he may have been the
acceptable face of police brutality there was
never any doubt that a very human heart was
beating beneath the bluster (“I’ve never fitted
anyone up who didn’t deserve it!”).
Armed with a terrific
supporting cast, immaculate
period detail and a killer ’70s
soundtrack, Life On Mars truly
was the freakiest show, a
pint-swilling, ’oop-guzzling,
lout-thumping mash-up of police
procedural, science fiction and
historical drama. It may have
seemed parochial, as British as
warm beer and overflowing pub
ashtrays, but the genius of the
premise proved universal.
Everyone, it turns out, has a Mars.
Winning two International Emmy
Awards for Best Drama Series, it’s
been remade by the Americans,
the Spanish, the Russians, the Czechs and
the South Koreans.
The world is surrounded by armed bastards.
BBC

28 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS

Lost
2004-2010, 121 episodes
Disney+, Netflix
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Director/scriptwriter (28 Weeks Later)

LOST HAD AN IMPACT THAT WENT FAR BEYOND THE USUAL

boundaries of any successful TV show, leaving a powerful influence on the
dramatic construction of television storytelling. A legion of storytellers followed in
its footsteps, inspired by its deeply original blend of
mystery, magical realism and science fiction.
It’s a worthy heir to another great audiovisual
“epiphany”: Twin Peaks, the groundbreaking ’90s
series that revolutionised television narrative. Both
shows share a fundamental legacy in their use of
enigma and mystery as structural elements of their Peter Weller
plots, keeping audiences in a constant state of (centre) leads
speculation about what would happen next, only to the cast of
surprise them with unexpected resolutions. Odyssey 5.
Along with my friend and collaborator, writer
Jesús Olmo, we would lock ourselves in my house in
broad daylight, draw all the curtains to plunge the Odyssey 5
room into total darkness, and project episode after
episode on a big screen. Like addicts, we couldn’t
stop until we had devoured an entire season. But the 2002, 19 episodes
most astonishing part came afterward: once our “fix” Only available on DVD
was over, the boundaries between our reality and the Russell T Davies, Showrunner/
show’s fiction would blur. We literally felt like writer/EP (Doctor Who, It’s A Sin)
survivors in a world that suddenly seemed strange, full of signs and mysteries we
couldn’t quite comprehend – but they made us feel more alive! ODYSSEY 5 MIGHT NOT
be my greatest Desert Island
From left to Disc show, but it’s got a lot to love.
right… er, And I want to give it space here for
actually, just having the best premise of all time.
watch it. Six astronauts are in the Space
Shuttle, tootling about, happily
doing whatever astronauts do.
When the entire Earth below
them explodes! Gone! And they’re
the only ones left! God, that’s
good. That’s the most magnificent
pitch, by a great old sci-fi stager,
Manny Coto.
Okay, like all startling pitches,
it’s hard to follow through, and
maybe the series had trouble
catching up with that magnificent
opening. Though it starred
Christopher Gorham, so I was
very happy to watch. But these
days, with every launch of a rocket
or shuttle, I think of that show.
And I hope Elon Musk never saw
it, or he might take it as a
blueprint.
COLUMBIA TRISTAR / EVERETT/ALAMY
ABC TELEVISION

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 29

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS
Things get
quite strange
Over The
Garden Wall.

Lee Pace and

Anna Friel:
what a lovely
couple.

Over The Garden Wall Pushing Daisies

2014, 10 episodes 2007-2009, 22 episodes
Apple TV+, Prime Video Apple TV+, Prime Video
Kate Herron, Director/writer/EP (Loki) Lisa Joy, Executive Producer/Director/writer
(Westworld)
“SOMEWHERE, LOST IN and is Emmy-winning, but it is
the clouded annals of history, interesting to me seeing where the PUSHING DAISIES WAS UNLIKE
lies a place that few have seen – a show did bump for people when it anything I’d seen before. A Technicolor
mysterious place, called the came out. As someone who world with a magical Pie Maker; a girl named
Unknown – where long forgotten attempts to make television, I see Chuck who came back from the dead; a
stories are revealed to those who this show not only as a masterclass lovelorn waitress with a penchant for bursting
travel through the wood…” of worldbuilding but also to get into song; a dog named Digby; and a chaste
The Unknown is the setting for something this tonally complex on romance with live or die stakes.
one of my favourite shows, Over television is a feat, even more so It was such a weird show it’s honestly
The Garden Wall, and I find myself when this is a show for families. incredible to me that it made it to air. But I
longing to travel back to the The bumps in question were loved its weirdness. The way it turned genre on
Unknown every year. For me, the whether it was too scary for kids, its head. It was a criminal procedural where a
best television has a clear sense of confusion with the tone in how it diaper-wearing monkey driving a stick-shift car
identity, and from the opening mixes comedy with the macabre, was the murderer of the week. In a time when
moment in which the frog named and the musical numbers – but for ChatGPT has proven adept at imitation and
Jason Funderberker plays a lullaby me, this recipe is what makes the recombination of existing material, the most
on piano, it was clear to me that show so perfect. precious works of art are those that don’t fit
Over The Garden Wall’s team knew Subverting a genre works best into any box or template. Those that truly
exactly what they were doing. when the identity of your show is surprise.
Created by Patrick McHale clear and Over The Garden Wall Because they’re weird; bursting with heart
(formally of The Marvelous blends the gothic dark-themes and ambition; occasionally chaotic; maybe even
Misadventures Of Flapjack and with family-friendly jokes with a little bit crazy. Just like humans. Though I
Adventure Time) the show follows ease. We’re all scared of the take no credit for its inventiveness, it will
two brothers, Wirt and Greg, who unknown no matter how old we always have a special place in my heart because
find themselves lost in the are, so let’s find the light and it was also the first show I ever wrote on. It
Unknown and must find their laughter in that. introduced me to the world of genre and the
way home. As a kid I loved scary stuff and job of TV writing and for that I will always
ABC

The oldest, Wirt (voiced by I love how this show handles be grateful.
Elijah Wood), is a melancholy horror. Many characters who at
teenage poet stuck with his first appear scary turn out to be
younger eccentric brother, Greg allies to the characters, or not
(voiced by Colin Dean). It’s this what they seem at all. In a world
relationship, Wirt’s worry mixed that is now pushing any kind of
in with Greg’s sweetness, that is otherness to be dangerous, a show
the heart of the show – but also which encourages empathy is not
takes us on the many twists and a bad message at all.
turns, as they meet all who are For the weird kids in your life
hiding in the woods. With a voice (and if you are a grown-up weird
CARTOON NETWORK STUDIOS

cast that includes Melanie kid), this is the one. Don’t wait for
Lynskey, Christopher Lloyd and autumn: get your cosy sweater out,
Tim Curry, it’s a real treat for the find a fireplace and a frog and
senses too. watch this show. You will never
I am not alone in my passion; not want to make Potatoes and
the show has a dedicated fanbase Molasses and not sing that song.

30 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS

Stargate SG-1
1997-2007, 214 episodes and two straight-to-DVD movies
MGM+, NOW
Jayne Nelson, SFX contributor

IN 1994, ROLAND Judge), whose species had a

Emmerich’s Stargate movie serious quibble with the Goa’uld,
combined the nerdy joys of the galaxy’s Big Bads. The
Egyptian mythology with space US-focused military themes
wormholes and alien overlords; stayed, although they were toned The crew of
the film’s big-name headliners, down a little and leavened by the Deep Space
Kurt Russell and James Spader, presence of Shanks’s moral Nine in their
were the cherries on top of what scientist, Dr Daniel Jackson. school pic.
was clearly a blockbuster concept. The result was an entertaining
The sequel TV show that series that not only lasted for 10
followed in 1997 needed to operate seasons but also prompted four Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
on a much smaller budget, of spin-off shows: the cheerful
course. Forget Lawrence Of Atlantis; Universe, a dramatic
Arabia-esque deserts: most of the powerhouse and arguably the best 1993-1999, 176 episodes
planets our heroes now visited in the franchise; cartoon Infinity Netflix, Paramount+
looked suspiciously like a forest in and a forgettable prequel, Origins. Robert Kirkman, Creator, Executive Producer (The
British Columbia. Oh, and let’s not forget the TV Walking Dead, Invincible)
Russell was replaced by the movies, video games and even
decidedly smaller-screen star podcasts. DEEP SPACE NINE WAS AN EVOLUTION OF STAR
Richard Dean Anderson, while Sure, Stargate SG-1 may have Trek at a time when Star Trek: The Next Generation
Spader’s gentle boffin was dated badly in places. Its repetitive was running. Star Trek: Voyager was very quick to start and
imitated, sometimes uncannily, by formula started to creak as the definitely overlapped with Deep Space Nine. It was a
Michael Shanks. years passed, even with the completely different flavour of Star Trek. It was also the first
But that core concept remained addition of Farscape stars Ben Star Trek show that had a continuing narrative and had an
juicy: a universe-spanning array of Browder and Claudia Black. And episodic nature to it.
Stargates that allowed for travel despite some fascinating, I watched it at a time when I was working very early on
between worlds without all the format-breaking ideas here and the Invincible and The Walking Dead comics. It was my
futuristic hassle of “boldly going” there, the series struggled to lunch break show. I would make a pile of hot dogs, and then
from a spaceship. The show added provide anything more than a I would devour hot dogs while I watched Deep Space Nine.
token female character Captain cosy familiarity. They did so many multi-part episodes, but with the
Sam Carter, played by Amanda Eventually, shows like Lost Dominion War… it’s like six episodes in a row that end with,
Tapping, initially standing her sucked up all the energy in “To be continued”. And
ground amid teeth-grinding ’90s mainstream sci-fi, leaving the that would just ruin days
sexism until, finally, the writers Stargates looking old-fashioned. for me, because I’d be like,
figured out that they didn’t have to But nostalgia for SG-1 remains “I guess I’m watching the
mention she had ovaries and gave strong today, from its pumping, next episode now because,
her a personality. brass-filled opening theme tune to I gotta watch it.”
Then there was a taciturn the iconic whoosh of the Stargate. The storytelling of the
brick-shithouse of an alien by the Altogether now: “Chevron seven Changelings, that started
SCI-FI

name of Teal’c (Christopher is locked…” with Odo and then carried

on throughout the entire
season, when you find out
that – to spoil things –
they’re behind the
Dominion War,
manipulating that quadrant
of space and are actually
bad guys…
You can definitely see a
lot of DNA from Deep Space
Nine – definitely/accidentally – in Invincible. There’s a top
cast and it goes into some really crazy stories that you
wouldn’t expect. The story with Tony Todd playing
Benjamin Sisko’s son, who has experienced a life without
Benjamin Sisko because he’s lost in time, is absolutely
PARAMOUNT

They’re a heartbreaking. Really top level stuff from Michael Piller and
cheery lot the crew that were heading up the writing. I absolutely love
down at the that show.
Stargate SG-1.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 31

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS

Star Wars: The

Mandalorian
2019-present, 24 episodes
Disney+
Roger Christian, Production Designer on Alien

WHEN THE MANDALORIAN LAUNCHED ON

Disney+ it brought back the Spaghetti Western-in-
space universe that we created for the first Star Wars film,
A New Hope.
“Who are you Jon Favreau based the Mandalorian character on the
calling a clone, lone wanderer played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone’s
boy?” Don’t Spaghetti Westerns, which were themselves very much
mess. influenced by the lone samurai in Akira Kurosawa’s samurai
movies. He also set it on planets very similar to the dusty,
Western-like locales we created in Tunisia for Tatooine.
The series feels closely aligned with the Star Wars world
Star Wars: The Clone Wars the fans embraced and wanted back again.
With a convincing performance by Pedro Pascal, The
Mandalorian found a way to engage the audience with a
2008-2014 and 2020, 133 episodes lead character who spends the entire series behind a mask.
Disney+ Introduced as a bounty hunter on a mission to rescue and
Henry Calvert, TikTok creator bring in Grogu, a childlike Yoda character, Pascal developed
a range of emotions the Mandalorian could build on
AS KEVIN KINER’S SCORE and evil the Jedi hunter can be. throughout the series, especially the feelings of a parent to
blasts and Tom Kane starts And “Revenge” saw the return of a child. In some ways it reflected the relationship of Luke
narrating about disputes in the Darth Maul, who through his with R2-D2, who saves Luke’s life a few times – just as
outer rim, it may not be John three seasons of tormenting Obi Grogu, using his underdeveloped Force powers, saves
Williams and an opening crawl, Wan Kenobi, a masterful the Mandalorian.
but it sure is Star Wars. performance by Sam Witwer and The series gives us a science fiction world that’s real and
Namely Star Wars: The Clone an imposing design, solidified the believable. Throw in some droids who bring fun to the
Wars, the hit 3D animated mostly voiceless character from thrilling dramatic action, a really appealing and iconic lead
anthology series headed up by the The Phantom Menace as one of the character and a baby Yoda who the audience fall in love
legendary George Lucas and Dave greatest Star Wars villains of with – plus an original score by Ludwig Göransson that uses
Filoni. A show which over seven all time. natural sounds as music, integrating what Ben Burtt and
seasons established itself as a The Clone Wars gave fans the John Williams created for Star Wars. The Mandalorian
pillar of the Star Wars universe expansion they craved. It brings a new and fresh approach to the world George Lucas
and set a benchmark for all other introduced us to countless new created all those years ago.
TV projects in a galaxy far, far species, Jedi and planets. We were What let the series transcend to a new level of reality was
away to live up to… able to see relationships grow and the creation of the virtual studio in Los Angeles using what
After a rocky start with a movie develop in front of us as opposed was termed the Volume. It meant that the camera could
which was essentially the first to simply being told about run-ins move anywhere, freeing the filmmakers from the limitation
three episodes of the show, The with Gundarks we never see. The of the old technology of rear projection. The background
Clone Wars quickly found its feet. anthology structure allowed for moved correctly with the foreground as the angles changed,
It focused on the core dynamic of stories of many genres and themes creating a reality never before available live on set. In the
Obi Wan Kenobi, Anakin to come to the forefront. fully inclusive environment of a studio, the actors see it live
Skywalker and Anakin’s padawan, A Seven Samurai homage, a and react accordingly. This was a game-changer.
Ahsoka Tano, a series original – guerilla warfare arc, a political For the first time, a scene of a spaceship like the
and of course the titular clones. chess match, a prison break… The Razorcrest landing meant that instead of the actor reacting
The show provided Clone Wars had time to show us to an empty greenscreen, the Razorcrest actually came
recognisable elements for things we’d never usually get to down near him and all the reflections and drama became a
long-time fans while also see from Star Wars, making every unified experience. Skies and background action synced
providing lots for new, younger arc and episode just as memorable naturally, and shadows and reflections were seen through
viewers to latch onto. That’s not to as the last. the camera, reflected off the massive video walls.
say the show catered solely to its The lasting impact The Clone This revolutionised filmmaking, but Dave Filoni and
younger demographic; more adult Wars has had on Star Wars is Jon Favreau were not tempted to push the effects and
themes of loss and grief were often undeniable. Without Filoni’s work overwhelm the drama. They kept the quest of the
touched on and violence certainly on this show there would be no Mandalorian central, with a group of new characters and
wasn’t avoided. The Mandalorian, there would be creatures in line with the Star Wars universe. It reignited
LUCASFILM/DISNEY

“Lair Of Grievous” provided the no Ahsoka, and an entire the passion for the saga that George created back in 1977,
spluttering General a chance to generation of Star Wars fans fully respecting his vision to bring science fiction to a family
show off how truly intimidating would cease to exist. audience and make it entertaining and real.

32 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS

Stranger Things
2016-2025, 42 episodes
Netflix
Darren Scott, SFX Editor

THE ‘80S. HORROR. SCI-FI. ALL BIG

ticks on the list for many, myself included
– but could anyone really have foreseen the
cultural impact that Stranger Things would go
on to have? At that time, original Netflix shows
were still a relatively new concept, and a genre
show might have been considered a gamble. If
so, the bet certainly
paid off in spades.
The story of a
missing child in a
weird American
town where all is
not what it seems
has captured the
imagination and
hearts of people
the world over in a
way that’s rarely
seen. It’s lightning-
in-a-bottle stuff
that’s now a
multi-platform
franchise with
theatre productions, live action immersive
experiences, books, comics, albums, more
merchandise than you can shake a CB radio at,
and several theme park attractions. Plus it
catapulted a 37-year-old Kate Bush song to
number one around the world. And that’s
before there’s even been a spin-off.
More than anything, it’s just brilliant stuff –
the theme tune alone gives me goosebumps.

Stranger
Things’
Eleven: what
LUCASFILM/DISNEY

metaphor?

The
Mandalorian:
NETFLIX

“Take it off!
Take it off!”

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 33

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS

The Terror
Sam and 2018-present, 20 episodes
Dean hit the ITVX
demon- Toby Whithouse, Showrunner/writer (Being Human)
hunting road.
WHILE SEEKING THE painful, understated, dignified
fabled Northwest Passage, heroism. Paul Ready is so

Supernatural HMS Terror and Erebus become

trapped in the Arctic ice. The crew
must survive the harsh weather
compelling as the gentle,
overwhelmed Dr Goodsir, I had
to check IMDb to confirm that this
conditions, while being hunted by is the same actor who played Lee
2005-2020, 327 episodes an elusive, supernatural monster. in Utopia.
Prime Video It’s essentially a “base under Adam Nagaitis plays the
AC Bradley, Executive Producer/writer (What if...?, siege” story. But the danger isn’t antagonist Hickey like when you
Ms Marvel) just the creature that circles the realise you’re in a dream and can
ice-locked ships, but the deadly shape and mould reality. And his
SOME SHOWS ARE JUST SHOWS. OTHERS climate, and the deteriorating first on-screen murder is one of
become something more – a fixture in our lives, a sanity of the terrified, dwindling the most chilling I’ve ever seen.
constant presence through years of change. Supernatural crew. The way the tension – and body
was that for me. I started watching the first count – builds slowly and
When it premiered in 2005, I was a film student, the episode on a plane. Within 10 inexorably, like the thickening ice
same age as Sam Winchester, watching him and his brother minutes I realised this was that will eventually crush the
Dean take to the road in a ‘67 Impala, hunting what-goes- something special, something ships, is beautifully paced. There
bump-in-the-night, taking on Hell and Heaven to save the that needed to be experienced is a dizzying seasickness as hope
world. Over the next 15 years, as I rambled along in my properly. I’ve watched the entire gradually slips away, and you
twenties, found my path – my road – in my thirties, and series three times now and with realise these characters that you
eventually watched the series finale while starting a family each viewing I find whole new have grown to love will all die.
of my own, Supernatural was always there, riding shotgun. strata of meaning, detail and But it’s the efficiency and
That kind of staying power – 15 seasons, over 300 even beauty. delicacy of the characterisation
episodes – is like finding a Anyone who saw Being Human that left me shaking my head in
unicorn in today’s “cancel it will know how much I love awe. Whether it’s the entire
after two seasons” television combining genres, and maybe devastating love story between
landscape. The traditional 20+ that’s why The Terror continues to two characters, that’s played out
episode seasons gave us have such an impact on me. The across maybe seven scenes, and
something rare and precious: collision of the supernatural and about 30 lines of dialogue. Or
time. Time for sprawling the derring-do of a Boy’s Own Crozier’s voice breaking as he
storylines, deep character arcs Adventure that goes horribly decides to detox from alcohol
and relationships that evolved wrong, told through granular addiction in order to save his men.
in ways six-episode seasons character exploration, is unlike Or Ciaran Hinds’s Captain
every three years could never anything I’ve ever seen. Franklin standing to receive
match. Nowhere was this more In many ways it’s a show about someone else’s applause.
evident than in the shifting brutality. The brutality of the Everything you need to know
dynamic between Sam, Dean creature, the brutality of life about that character is in those
and their father, John aboard the ships with its lashings moments.
Winchester. and starvation rations, and the Each episode contains about
In the early seasons, their brutality of the environment. As eight scenes that, had I written
father was a defining source of Jared Harris’s Captain Crozier them, I would have taken the rest
conflict: Dean, the loyal soldier, idolised him; Sam resented says, “This place wants us dead.” of the week off. There isn’t a line, a
him for the childhood spent hunting demons. Supernatural Every performance is a beat of direction, a gesture or
AMC/ITV

killed John off in season two, but his absence loomed large, masterclass, none more so than sound effect that isn’t perfect.
his impact echoing across the series for over a decade. Harris, who plays Crozier with Now I want to watch it again…
Then, in the final season, Jeffrey Dean Morgan returned for
one last round of beers with his sons – and a chance for Sam Ciaran Hinds
and Dean, now men in their thirties with their own metric is about to
ton of baggage, to see him not as an unshakeable figure from experience
their past, but as a flawed human who spent his life fighting The Terror.
off the darkness, both literal and otherwise.
That’s what made Supernatural more than just a
monster-of-the-week series. It was a story about family: the
one you’re born with, the one you choose, and how time has
this way of healing wounds you thought would bleed
WARNER BROS

forever. Supernatural wasn’t just something we watched – it

was the road we travelled together.

34 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS
The
Torchwood
team meet
their match.

Twin Peaks: The Return

2017, 18 episodes
Paramount+
Pete McTighe, Screenwriter/EP (Doctor Who, Wentworth)

IT’S SUBTITLED THE RETURN, BUT ALSO IT’S

season three of one of the greatest television
programmes of all time. This is an 18-hour movie,
mainlining David Lynch right into our eyeballs. It’s
unstructured, illogical and unfathomable. It’s deeply
disturbing, hilarious and moving. And it’s brilliant.
Nothing ever scared me more than Bob climbing over the
sofa in the original series, until “Gotta Light”, the Lynchian
opus that is episode eight of this show. The man was a
genius, and this is TV by his rules. Which means it’s not TV
at all. It’s something other.

The much-
missed David
Torchwood: Children Of Earth Lynch as
Gordon Cole.

2009, five episodes

BBC iPlayer
Ian Berriman, SFX Deputy Editor

DOCTOR WHO’S SHAPE-SHIFTING “GROWN-UP”

spin-off was best received in its third incarnation, a
five-part event series stripped across a single week. An
image of children standing motionless and saying, “We are
coming” was the kernel of the idea. Working with
Coronation Street veteran John Fay and Torchwood/Doctor
Who writer James Moran, Russell T Davies expanded this
intriguing visual into a gripping paranoid conspiracy thriller
with one foot in the corridors of power and one in the
domestic sphere.
The story reveals Captain Jack’s role in a shocking
cover-up – one which comes back to bite him in spectacular
fashion, as Torchwood’s Roald Dahl Plass base is destroyed
by a bomb. In 1965, the British government traded 12
children to an alien race known only as the 456. Forty-four
years later they return, grabbing attention by freezing
children across the world in a series of displays of power,
then demanding that we hand over 10% of our offspring.
Their motivation couldn’t be more ghoulish, as is
memorably revealed when we see one of these thrashing
Cthulhian monsters hooked up to the withered husk of a
child, using it as a drug supply.
Children Of Earth went to darker places than any
iteration of the Whoniverse before or since – including
Downing Street, with its COBRA meeting discussions on
devising a metric for deciding whose children will die
proving particularly chilling. But it was still tinged with that
quintessential Torchwood madness, perhaps best illustrated
when the unkillable Jack is sprung from imprisonment –
SHOWTIME NETWORKS / ALBUM/ALAMY

encased in concrete – with the aid of a stolen bulldozer,

a punch-the-air moment of endearing lunacy.
Arguably the show’s most enduring legacy, however, is
the aftermath of the controversial decision to kill off Jack’s
lover Ianto, struck down by an alien virus at MI5 HQ.
Fifteen years on, an impromptu fan “shrine” at a Cardiff Bay
location is still bewildering foreign tourists – and even has
its own Tripadvisor page!
BBC

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 35

 THE 30 GREATEST SHOWS

Ultraviolet
1998, six episodes
Channel 4
James Moran, screenwriter (Doctor Who,
Torchwood)

JOE AHEARNE’S 1998 SHOW

Ultraviolet was a game-changer for UK “Wanna swap
genre TV. A vampire show wrapped in a police weapons?”
thriller, it made vampires feel believable, basing “Nah, I’m
their characteristics in science. Most of the The Walking Dead alright.”
vampire trappings were there – no reflection,
wooden stakes, garlic – but with a modern
twist. The team uses carbon bullets instead of 2010-2022, 177 episodes
wooden stakes, garlic-based gas grenades, and DIsney+, NOW, Prime Video
guns with cameras as sights to identify Will Salmon, Comics Editor Newsarama
vampires (because they don’t show up on any
electronic devices). WE TAKE THE WALKING Saviors – were marked by falling
Above all else, on a purely shallow level, it Dead for granted now – ratings, a relentlessly dour tone,
was just really, really cool. Good-looking 11 years, 177 episodes and six and the sense that the show was
people hunting even more good-looking spin-offs later. It has undoubtedly relying on cheap shock tactics to
vampires, mysterious organisations, clever become a part of the televisual get by. Glenn’s brutal murder
twists and a genuinely smart (and chilling) furniture, but that wasn’t always proved a step too far for many,
vampire plan for the human race. The highlight the case… even if comics readers had long
for me was episode five, “Terra Incognita”, It’s hard to overestimate just known it was coming.
where Idris Elba’s character was trapped in a how impactful that first season Even at its grimmest, though,
warehouse with several time-locked coffins, was when it snarled its way onto The Walking Dead was always
counting down to the moment when they TV screens back in 2010. The worth watching. Those who
would release their vampires. ageing zombie genre had risen loyally stuck by it were rewarded
I still remember holding my breath as the from the grave with films like by its rich world-building, parade
timer ran down, and the climax is an incredibly 28 Days Later, Shaun Of The Dead of wonderful characters (many of
clever example of using a dire situation to and Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the whom, admittedly, died horribly)
resolve that same situation. Ahead of its time in Dead remake, but it was The and some truly hissable villains.
never saying the word “vampire” (instead the Walking Dead that truly brought In its final years the show even
characters said “leeches”, or “Code 5s” – V for zombies into our homes. managed a surprise critical
5, V for vampire), it led the way for shows like Adapted from Robert Kirkman, resurrection.
The Walking Dead to never say “zombie”, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard’s It regained its warmth and
adding to the realism. It lasted for one perfect long-running comic, the show humour and allowed hope back
season, burned through more plot and landed at the height of “peak TV” into what had become the darkest
character work than most shows do across and came with some impressive of TV worlds. Rick and Danai
their entire run, flamed brightly and vanished. names attached: The Shawshank Gurira’s Michonne moved on, but
We got enough closure to be satisfied, Redemption director Frank that allowed space for the rest of
WORLD PRODUCTIONS

although it could have gone on for another Darabont and This Life star the cast to step up and take centre
season or two. But ultimately, I’m perversely Andrew Lincoln as the heroic Rick stage. Norman Reedus’s taciturn
glad it only lasted as long as it did. It never ran Grimes, to name just two. Most Daryl and Melissa McBride’s
out of steam, threw everything on the table, importantly it looked the part, Carol became the new heart of the
and left us wanting more. with impressive production design series, while Jeffrey Dean
and some truly brilliant prosthetic Morgan’s performance as Negan
effects on the ravening “Walkers”. turned the former villain into a
Rarely had TV horror been this more complex and human
full-blooded and fearsome. character, without ever losing his
The Walking Dead didn’t always dangerous, unpredictable edge.
have an easy ride, mind. It burned From the outside The Walking
through four showrunners: Dead perhaps looked like the same
Darabont departed after the first old show, year after year, but in
season, to be replaced by Glen truth it quietly reinvented itself
Mazzara, who stuck around for repeatedly over more than a
two before handing over to Scott decade. It’s that ability to adapt
Gimple and, finally, Angela Kang. that has meant, even though the
And while it surged to ever- main series finally ended in 2022,
Cheer up increasing viewership in its first the franchise continues to not only
folks, it might five seasons, its middle years – aka survive but thrive, some 15 years
never… oh, the war with Negan and the after Rick Grimes first woke up.
AMC

it has.

36 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 Watchmen
2019, nine episodes
NOW
Simon Racioppa, Executive
Producer (Invincible, The Boys
Presents: Diabolical)

I COULD PROBABLY
name 20 to 30 other shows,
but just staying with comics,
Watchmen popped out. I love the
original books. The show was not
the spin-off you expected. There “I still say we
are 99 ways to make an okay fry it with a
Watchmen show, and maybe one
way to make a great Watchmen
show, and I feel like they hit that
The X-Files few onions
and tatties.”

by just going off in a totally

different way. 1993-2002, 2016-2018, 218 episodes
The emotions they hit, the cast Channel 4, Disney+, Paramount+
they put together, the production Doug Naylor, Director/Producer/writer (Red Dwarf)
quality of the show, I thought was
all through the roof. The writing I FIRST STARTED WATCHING THE against me for unpaid taxes. I’m sure this was
team and the themes they hit, I X-Files in late 1993, and fell instantly in just coincidence. I’ve unplugged my Alexa just
didn’t know where every episode love. It seemed to me to have the perfect blend in case though. I’ve also removed all the
was gonna go. of strong writing and great characters, all set lightbulbs in my house on the off chance they
Every episode was a brand new against a backdrop of science fiction, mystery, contain hidden cameras. You can never be too
treat. It was like, “Oh my god. horror, conspiracy, thriller, procedural and careful.
They’re doing this totally original comedy. Each Where was I? Oh, yes. The X-Files. It felt like
thing?” week we were a series of mini-movies to me with its high
And then, I also love that it was treated to either production values, eerie visuals and great
one-and-done. It was finished. It a monster of the sound design. It also, I believe, paved the way
had a start, had a middle, and it week episode for Lost, Stranger Things, Supernatural, Fringe,
had an end. I found that really featuring a Black Mirror and many more besides.
appealing, versus a show that kind supernatural or Along with the wonderful theme tune, I
of stops, and then maybe there’s extraterrestrial loved the great character dynamic between
another season, maybe not. No, entity, or a Mulder and Scully, both beautifully played by
this was: it’s done. Here is the end! mythology episode David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. The
They haven’t made any more. I involving alien chemistry between them, especially as the
DC/WARNER BROS ENTERTAINMENT

think that’s perfect. It was one of cover-ups and series developed, got better and better. The
the things, actually, that drew me secret X-Files also had great villains: the Cigarette
to Invincible. Even when I was experiments. I was Smoking Man, Eugene Tooms and the
reading it, way before the show, a sucker for all that Flukeman, to name just three.
the book builds to an end. And and watched it I have many favourite episodes. “Bad Blood”,
endings are just as important in voraciously. “Ice”, “Pusher”, “Memento Mori”, “The
stories as any other part. Invincible When Rob Erlenmeyer Flask”, “Paper Clip” – and “Drive”
does it. Watchmen does it. [Grant] and I created Red Dwarf, we decided written by Vince Gilligan and starring Bryan
to create a science fiction show that didn’t Cranston. I wonder what happened to those
Who involve aliens. We thought it would force us to two? Probably my all-time favourite episode,
watches the explore the characters on the ship rather than though, is “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose”,
Watchmen? rely on meeting a different breed of ET each written by Darin Morgan and starring Peter
You did. week. That didn’t mean I wasn’t intrigued by Boyle as a reluctant psychic who can predict
the subject myself, though. I have a small how people will die. It won two Emmys.
library of books on the subject, as it’s always Anyway, I have to go now, there’s someone
fascinated me. at the door. Two men, actually. They’re both
The X-Files arrived at the perfect time. The wearing identical black suits with white shirts,
’90s was a decade of paranoia, and trust in black ties, and black fedoras. They have
government was at an all-time low. Nothing unusually pale skin and expressionless faces.
like it is today. Ha! I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. They’re
As I wrote this (I promise this is true), my probably just a couple of funeral directors
FOX TELEVISION

phone rang and I received a message from an who’ve mislaid their coffin and are wondering
automated voice saying they were from the if I’ve seen it.
government and were about to take legal action The Truth Is Out There.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 37

 MICKEY 17

38 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 MICKEY 17

EAT, WORK, DIE, REPEAT. WELCOME TO THE LIFE OF ,

AS DIRECTED BY BONG JOON HO

WORDS:
TARA BENNETT

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 39

 MICKEY 17

Mickey 18 and
17, played
by Robert
CROSS SOUTH Pattinson.
Korean filmmaker
Bong Joon Ho’s
exceptional
filmography, the only
universal truth that’s
become clear
throughout his
25-year directing
career is that he
won’t conform to
expectations, even in the wake of success.
“I have strange taste,” a self-deprecating
Bong acknowledges to SFX. “It’s not like I
intentionally try to make my films super-weird,
but that’s the response I get once the film is
made. They’re hard to put my finger on, and
especially the marketing team – they always
have such headaches trying to figure out what
my film is about.”
Inspired by author Edward Ashton’s 2022
novel Mickey7, Mickey 17 is Bong’s more
expansive and blackly comedic exploration
of humanity’s near future, one in which
environmental catastrophe has pushed our
species into the far reaches of space to
establish beachhead human colonies on new
planets – like that of Niflheim.
Those who have no power or wealth
can volunteer themselves as lab rats known as
expendables, for controversial experimental
technologies like the human printing of DNA.
The volunteer’s mind is backed up in a server
that can then be uploaded back into a printed
replica of their body in case death occurs in the
process of perfecting new vaccines, exploration
or scientific procedures.
Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) is one of
those down-on-their-luck humans who
volunteers as an expendable and spends the
four and a half year journey to Niflheim
PICTURES: JONATHAN OLLEY/WARNER BROS. STOCK IMAGES: FABIAN ZURHEIDE, MAROOSHKA/GETTY

“dying” and then getting regenerated by the event that happened in a certain time, or a
medical staff 18 different times. particular issue that we see on the news every
day, I really wanted to focus on issues that have
TAKING T HE MIC K EYS repeated throughout history, that surpass a
Usually compelled to tell his own original particular time and place, and we always see
stories, Mickey 17 is Bong’s first feature them continue,” Bong says of core issues like
adaptation since Snowpiercer. Post global basic human value, environmentalism and the
lockdowns in 2021, Warner Bros and Plan B moral problems that come out of technological
offered the director a summarised treatment of Naomi Ackie advancement.
the still unpublished novel to consider, and (Nasha) with “In The Host, we see a powerless family who
Bong says he was immediately “captivated” by Pattinson. receive no help from the government or the
the Mickey character. system. In Snowpiercer, we see, again, another
“I thought that through him, I would be able Director Bong powerless group in the tail section. That’s sort
to portray the current youth and current Joon Ho lifts of Mickey’s journey in this film,” Bong says.
working class,” the director explains. “Mickey the mood. “He also does not have any power, no
in the original novel is more of an intellectual. authority, no strength.
He’s a historian, but I found the potential for “But the main question is, why do we
the character to resonate even more with continue to see powerless groups like that
contemporary young people, especially the when we talk so much about the future and
working class, because it’s about a guy who has advancements in technology? Society is
to die every day for his job. supposed to be progressing, but why isn’t that
“I feel like that in itself is such a fascinating getting any better? I thought that this story
subject. Instead of focusing on a particular really lends itself to exploring that question.”

40 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 MICKEY 17

Robert Pattinson on playing

Mickey 17 (and 18)

On being taken with the

director’s Memories Of Murder
“I always want to work with directors where
I see a performance they’ve already
achieved with another actor and I think
maybe, if I work with them, I’ll make a
similar kind of performance.”

On the director’s ability to do

physical comedy
“I hadn’t really done anything which had
that similar kind of idea before. So, when I
came across this movie, I saw the script and
I was like, this is unlike anything I’d ever
seen. I just thought it was going to be an
extremely exciting prospect.”

On jumping between characters

“It took a little while to get used to it. The
first week, we were trying to figure out
exactly how to do it because it’s so difficult
to know how it’s even going to read.”

On the difficulties of defining

each Mickey
“It’s kind of a complicated situation because
the audience has to see the delineation of
the characters. But the characters within the
story can’t appear too different, otherwise it
Society is supposed would be incredibly obvious. We had to
really calibrate the very finely tuned
to be progressing, but differences between them. Bong would be

why isn’t that getting like, literally, ‘It needs to be more 17, or
more 18.’ After a few weeks, I knew exactly
any better? what he meant. I wouldn’t be able to explain
what that is, but he just knew where to push,
as I’m sure I was confused a million times.”
In Bong’s screenwriting hands, Mickey’s
world expands on the ship travelling to On being asked the inevitable
Niflheim. It’s filled with all kinds of workers question about death
and classes. Mickey Barnes toils at the bottom, “I did find it a quite moving scene where he
and isn’t even respected by the working class. tries to actually explain what it’s like. I found
The exception is Nasha Adjaya (Naomi it really interesting to say, if you’ve died and
Ackie), a cop who immediately takes a shine Bong said he naturally turned to Pattinson. come back to life, and everyone’s like, ‘What
to his kind heart, decent looks and strange “I’m sure many filmgoers will agree that there’s was it like?’ that I have no way of explaining
existence of coming back again and again a certain toughness and strength that you it. It’s the same thing as saying, ‘What was it
like before you were born?’ If everyone is
almost exactly the same… until a mishap when sense from Rob, especially in his eyes,” Bong asking me this question the whole time, it
a Mickey 18 is regenerated, although Mickey 17 says. “We’ve seen him play superheroes like does make you feel very strange. But
is still alive. The more docile 17’s existence is Batman, where there’s this unstoppable, then, I have a very, very simple
threatened by a more assertive Mickey 18. rough energy to his performances. outlook on life. I’m literally basically
Needing an actor who could play the script’s “But at the same time, you sense this thinking about what time do I
odd comedy, be a romantic lead to Nasha and timidness and also some anxiety and this wake up in the
also play the subtleties of different Mickeys, sense of being really vulnerable in the morning?”

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 41

 MICKEY 17

The Mickey
conveyor belt
just never
ends.

Keeping track
idea where this is going.’ You’re being taken on
a ride.”
Naturally, I just
of the Mickeys When she was told who her fellow cast thought Rob was the
is a full-time
job…
would be, Ackie says she was “freaking out” at
the calibre of performers, from Pattinson to
perfect actor to play
Steven Yeun. this role
characters that he’s played before. I thought “Being able to work with this incredible cast
that combination was perfect for Mickey was a really big deal for me,” she admits. “I as I’m not focusing on this whole scene, we’re
because he essentially had to play two roles. genuinely was so nervous, but also so excited to allowed a lot of freedom within the frame to
There are some scenes where we see 17 and 18 work with all of them. There were so many explore and innovate as I go along.
clash, and they have such different things at play that I was just like, there’s no “Obviously, you’re familiar with the scenes
personalities, yet we see both of them in one question in my mind that this is something I and you know your lines, but you didn’t have to
frame. Naturally, I just thought Rob was the wanted to do.” really, really know them because in each frame,
perfect actor to play this role, and that’s how Ackie says she experienced plenty of maybe you’d just have a line in it,” she
I ended up offering it to him.” technical firsts working with Bong, including continues. “Maybe you wouldn’t have dialogue
Coming out of theatre and navigating her shooting double to support Pattinson’s dual at all. Sometimes it was just action stuff, or
still relatively new path in movies, British Mickeys in certain scenes, and his style of moving from one space or another, or an
actress Naomi Ackie put Bong on her shooting the storyboards, frame by frame. expression. That kind of isolation meant you
aspirational list of collaborators after she was “If director Bong is concentrating on the put all of your attention onto that thing.”
introduced to his work with Parasite. physical elements, then my job is to go from A She swears it’s a great way of filming now,
“I’m really attracted to work that combines to B within this frame and tell this section of but one that she didn’t think she would
genres, and that doesn’t follow a throughline,” the story without needing to concentrate on assimilate into well. “It was funny, because
she says. “With Parasite, I was like, ‘I have no everything else,” Ackie explains. “Interestingly, when he told us he did it that way, I had no

42 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 MICKEY 17

It’s a Health
and Safety
nightmare,
frankly.

Bong Joon Ho you have someone like that in your corner, in

has a go at your actual life. Someone who without
piloting. question is, like, ‘I have this person’s back,’ and
she’s fierce with it. It’s not soft. She’s a fighter.
Being able to represent that type of love,
through that gaze was also super, super fun
for me.”
Bong’s admiration for compassion extends to
other species, like the Creepers – as named by
a disgusted Hieronymous (Mark Ruffalo) – and
Gwen, a huge, potato bug-esque native species
that Mickey first encounters and treats with
Hieronymous kindness. The director makes it clear that
(Mark Ruffalo) humanity’s habitural hostile reception to what
holds court. we don’t know is a deep flaw, something which
he’s explored before in his films.
“If you look at animal documentaries, you
realise just how incredible it is that they are so
faithful to their instincts,” he says about making
heroic what is often deemed “monstrous”.
“There is a part of that that makes them feel
even more sublime than human, and that’s
always my aim when I try to create features
and films.
idea,” she laughs. “We all looked at each other. didn’t do it on purpose. It was more in reaction “Mickey treats them as creatures who are
It was me and Rob and Steven around the to what I was receiving from Rob, who is equal to him and treats them with respect,
table, looking like, ‘Huh?’ But [Bong] was like, genuinely just a fantastic fucking actor.” which is, I think, why the audience is able to
‘Five days, and you’ll be used to it,’ and he was As one of the most empathetic characters in empathise with the Creepers.”
completely right.” Mickey 17, Ackie says she admired how Nasha Ackie says Bong’s humanist approach to
As his other most present scene partner, was written to be protective of all versions of expressing the value of all life permeates
Ackie says she wasn’t even aware in the Mickey. “There is something about when you Mickey 17 and is what ultimately makes such an
moment how she changed her performance love someone, you love them through their eclectic film so accessible.
between the Mickeys. “Rob is so good that if I different phases, just as with people who don’t “What was so special about the story was the
played it differently, it was because of him,” she regenerate,” she muses. message was so clear, which is: people are not
says. “The man works hard. We’re doing the “People change, and the consistency of her disposable. When the message is clear for a
same scene twice, where he’s switching in- love was something that I found really story, you know that you’re in for a really
between, and it’s all very technical. beautiful amongst the strange world that amazing creative experience.”
“But he gave such different energy with they’re in. The throughline was very easy to
both. I guess there were subtle changes, but I follow, and very touching. You just hope that Mickey 17 is in cinemas from 7 March.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 43

 THE WHEEL OF TIME

THE WHEEL OF TIME RETURNS FOR ANOTHER

SPIN. SFX HEADS TO SOUTH AFRICA TO WITNESS

THE SHOW’S THIRD SEASON BEING FILMED

WORDS:
JACK SHEPHERD

44 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE WHEEL OF TIME

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 45

 THE WHEEL OF TIME

HE SUN IS SETTING NEAR CAPE

Town, South Africa, and SFX is driving
to set. Dry fields and desert sprawl
around us; cranes carrying huge lights
pierce the darkening orange and blue
sky. Our car pulls up at an artificial
beach where a pirate harbour has been
built. Wooden huts sit above water with
gangways and planks between them.
Boats are moored and kept in place by
ragged rope. Fake fruit and fish are
ready to be sold. The details are impeccable.
When night quickly takes over, torches are
lit and actors, dressed as ruffians and sea
merchants, take their places. The illusion is so
great that it feels dangerous – like anyone
could draw a sword – until the director calls
cut and everyone breaks out in smiles. This is
the bay of Tanchico, a major city in Robert
Jordan’s 14-volume The Wheel Of Time series,
recreated here for Amazon’s TV show, now
entering its third season.
“The books change as they go on, they
become more complex, they become darker,
and they get better,” showrunner Rafe Judkins
tells SFX during a break from filming. “We
need to always aspire to do the same with the
TV show. Every season should get better.”
The sheer scale of the production speaks to
Judkins’s ambitions: this season was filmed in
both Prague and South Africa. The cast will
soon be moving towards the Namibian border,
where they will camp in harsher conditions to
capture the feel of the Aiel Waste.

BY THE B OO K Rand and Lan

But before we get into too much high-fantasy are covering
terminology, let’s recap. The Wheel Of Time’s all bases in
first two seasons see Rand al’Thor, a young this fight.
shepherd from the Two Rivers, discover that
he’s the Dragon Reborn, the reincarnation of
a fabled hero and humanity’s only hope of
defeating the Dark One. He’s mentored by
Rosamund Pike’s Moiraine Damodred, a
The third season sees Aviendha and Rand
traverse the dangerous Aiel Waste with
It’s a weird show!
member of the Aes Sedai, a powerful coven Moiraine, her warden Lan Mandragoran, and It does strange things
of witches.
The second season ended with Rand
Rand’s partner Egwene. Elsewhere, Rand’s
friends Nynaeve and Mat head to Tanchico,
and it works best when
defeating the Dark One’s lieutenant Ishamael while Perrin returns home to the Two Rivers it’s doing that
and the world learning of Rand’s prophetical where there’s trouble afoot.
nature. Aviendha, a member of the Aiel race, Now, book readers, don’t start burning
declares Rand the Car’a’carn, or “chief of copies of SFX – we know this is not what – and even then certain plot elements have
chiefs”, the one destined to lead her people. happens in Jordan’s third novel, but his fourth changed. That’s by Judkins’s design; the new
season will cover events of books three through
five, adding some elements from books one and
two that were previously dropped.
“Each season is not an adaptation of each
book,” he says. “Each season is a piece of the
adaptation of The Wheel Of Time series as a
whole. This season, we’re doing quite a close
adaptation of four, and it’s much closer than
season one or two was to the books.”
Rosamund Galina, For Judkins, the key to adaptation is making
Pike as Liandrin and sure there’s an emotional throughline to the
Moiraine Tsutama mean characters, which may mean changing the
Damodred. business. timeline of events or moving characters to

46 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE WHEEL OF TIME

ROSAMUND PIKE
IS MOIRAINE
DAMODRED
The Oscar nominee
talks channelling her
Aes Sedai powers
How does the scale of something like
this compare to, say, Bond?
We’re building stuff on that scale, but
they don’t have to withstand an Aston
Martin car chase. Horses, yes. Cars, no.
I met somebody who took rock samples
from when we were shooting in Tenerife
[in season two] and matched it
completely with the columns we were
building in a studio. This season’s on a
huge scale, especially compared to
season one, when we were just the seven
main cast members. There weren’t so
many other people. Now, you look on the
Mat Cauthon call sheet and see someone is cast
(Dónal Finn) number 376 and realise how much
in fancy local we’ve expanded.
garb.
Where do we find Moiraine in
this season?
She doesn’t really understand why she’s
in the Aiel Waste. Rand has gone against
where Moiraine thinks he should go. She
thinks he should go take this sword
dodging incoming spear strikes. Watching a called Callandor, which is the greatest
weapon known to man and only the
different locations. For instance, in the books, few takes behind the monitors, it becomes Dragon Reborn can take it, so she feels
Mat goes with Rand to the Aiel Waste. “If we apparent the new season is being filmed in a that’s a logical place to go. Yet the Aiel
had stuck with the books, Mat would become more cinematic aspect ratio. It’s a small detail prophecies are saying that this man is
a bit player this season,” Judkins says. “It’s that showcases the series’ evolving nature. meant to come and Moiraine starts to
important that he remains a main character, “[We’re] taking swings,” Judkins says. “One understand there is a reason why they’re
and that we follow him emotionally.” thing you often find with big shows is that there.
Judkins also wants this season to feel like things can get blunted. When you have a huge
we’re “living” with the characters, rather than number of eyes on something, if you do
How has Moiraine’s relationship with
the Aes Sedai changed?
their actions just setting things up. “With something weird, there’s going to be someone
Moiraine’s a very loyal person. She’s
shows that only do two or three seasons, it’s who doesn’t like it. dedicated her life to finding the Dragon
hard to ever reach that point,” he continues. "We’re lucky with how [Amazon’s] letting us Reborn, but she believes in the structure
“With our season three, we know who these fly our freak flag. It’s a weird show! It does of the White Tower as a force of good.
people are, so the relationships can become strange things and it works best when it’s doing She is aware that there are factions at
more complex and adult. The story that we’re that. It’s not trying to be normal.” play that are making it a very dangerous
telling with Rand and Moiraine has layers and The series is changing similarly to the way place, and there are sisters who can no
longer be trusted.
layers of emotional complexity, deeper than that the books did, Judkins adds. “Robert
any of the stories we told in season one.” Jordan was asked by his publishers to make Rafe said that you asked to use your
SFX drives to the other side of the studio lot, them more like The Lord Of The Rings, but he powers more this season…
to an encampment of rugged Aiel tents. A fire was later allowed to let his freak flag fly. You I didn’t sign up to have my powers taken
roars outside. They’re filming a big moment for can see it around books four, five and six, and away in season two! I wanted to see
Aviendha, who puts on a fierce fighting display, that’s when they blew up. They are much Moiraine at the peak of her channelling
actor Ayoola Smart rolling around the sand, edgier and much more like television. The powers because that’s exciting.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 47

 THE WHEEL OF TIME

DANIEL HENNEY
IS LAN
MANDRAGORAN
Moiraine’s warden has
bonded back with her –
now he’s training the
Dragon Reborn Elayne,
Egwene and
Does this season feel bigger? Nynaeve
It always feels big to me, but coming to saddle up.
South Africa feels like, “Oh, this is a little
different. This is a big jump.” Everything
screams scale and excitement. We’re earlier books are very skewed to one character
and rely heavily on traditional fantasy tropes
Everyone puts
going to spread our wings a little more.
I’m confident that this will be our best which would be hard for us to put on TV and everything they have
season. And I like that it feels like camp
– all the actors stay in the same place.
not be compared to The Lord Of The Rings.”
The “one character” Judkins refers to is
into making it feel as big
We’re working our balls off. It gets
super-hot, but that bonds you.
Rand. Fans have complained that he’s been as we possibly can
sidelined compared to his book counterpart,
Where do we find your character but Judkins explains how the writers wanted
this season? to give other characters more depth. Now, rock and they are all fully kitted out. The
Last season was quite formative for him, come season three, Rand is front and centre. cameras may never venture inside, but these
spending time away from Moiraine. Now, “We’ve been hiding him a little bit so that details create the illusion of a lived-in world.
after the rebonding, she sees him in a you don’t become so reliant on him,” he says. “We don’t have as much money as some of the
different way, and he sees her in a “There’s a version that, when he becomes the other big fantasy shows, but everyone puts
different way. They’re equals and that’s Dragon Reborn, the whole show shifts its focus everything they have into making it feel as big
what he wants. This season is about home to him. The way that TV storytelling works, as as we possibly can,” Judkins says.
for a lot of the characters. Moiraine has
opposed to a novel, is everything can start to That’s especially true of the season’s opening
represented home to him for a long time,
and he’s starting to open his mind to his feel about one character, and if you’re away 15 minutes – a magical fight between good and
real home and shifting his focus to that. from that storyline, then you’re not in the heart evil witches at the White Tower, described as a
of the show any more. “massive action set-piece with women in their
What is his relationship with “We worked hard to make sure people cared forties and fifties just fucking shredding each
Rand like? about those other characters, and this season, other” – and the seventh and eighth episodes,
Lan understands that Rand needs a we spend a lot of time with Rand and see him that “feel like two back-to-back season finales”.
strong male figure. In season one, there in a totally different way. You get closer to him, “We have these three storylines going on
wasn’t a lot of trust between them. Lan inside his head and his relationships. this season and felt like the Perrin storyline
was doubting him. Who was this kid? He “He is the central character of this season, really needed a whole episode to itself, so
was snarky at times. But Lan knows now
but we needed to make sure that, when you’re episode seven is this epic finale to that,”
that Rand needs a strong figure to look
up to, to build a foundation for him, so with the other characters, you feel like you’re Judkins teases. “When you’re watching it, you
he’s teaching him through swords. That’s in the heart of the show still. In what Robert almost forget about Moiraine and Rand and
more mental training for him because Jordan wrote, what other people are doing Egwene, but then you get the actual finale
he’s got so much going on that he needs matters just as much as what Rand is doing. which is huge for these other characters.”
something almost meditative that he can That set the tone for us.” A few months later, after the first trailer
rely on. Those scenes are really beautiful. drops, SFX catches up with Judkins. “This
STOCK IMAGES: GEENGRAPHY/GETTY

It’s teaching him how to relax throughout

this chaos.
WORLD BUILDIN G season has really come together, our teams are
A day later, SFX returns to set, this time to firing on all cylinders,” he says. “The VFX work
What are you most excited for walk the confines of Cold Rocks, an important is just unbelievable. It looks good in the trailer,
people to see this season? Aiel settlement. Production designer Ondřej but that’s not even finished, it is going to look
I’m so proud of the costumes and the Nekvasil tells us they meticulously recreated even better.”
scale. I’ve got a lot of cool action stuff, the look of the rocks near the Namibian border The footage puts Moiraine and Rand’s
some cool scenes with Ran, sparring so the two filming locations feel part of the relationship front and centre, with Pike’s
and training. same world. There are houses built into the character saying that she has looked into a

48 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE WHEEL OF TIME

Olivia Williams
as Queen
Morgase
Trakand.
JOSHA
STRADOWSKI
IS RAND AL’THOR
The Dragon Reborn
talks being a different
kind of chosen one
Priyanka Bose
plays Alanna Where do we find Rand this season?
Mosvani There’s a real difference with season two
where people wanted him to be the
(centre). Dragon and Rand didn’t want it. Now,
Rand has an agency. He wants to fulfil the
prophecy, and he’s looking for people he
can trust. Egwene gives him that, but he
can’t show himself fully to her because
she’s afraid of the dark side of him. Then
he’s with [member of the Forsaken]
Lanfear who accepts him fully, the dark
and the light, and at the same time, he
balances her out, because he brings the
lightness out of her. But she’s the Devil.
You can’t love the Devil, or can you?
Then there’s Moiraine, who has been with
him for a long time, but now she doesn’t
see who he has become. She doesn’t
listen to him. It seems like he can’t trust
her any more.

Sophie What makes Rand different to other

Okenedo as “chosen one” characters?
Siuan Sanche. There is a simpleness to his upbringing,
Eek! the amount of love he was given growing
up. What happens to Rand throughout
the series is very dark. You come to a
point where you think, “How is he able to
still do the right thing?” That’s only
because of the love [his adoptive father]
thousand futures and in none of them do they that are six or seven seasons, but part of what Tam gave him. It’s so strong and honest,
both survive. “Right from the first episode, the makes the series great is the length. It’s one of and something no one can take away
stakes are raised, lives are on the line,” Judkins the reasons people read it and it stands alone in from him.
elaborates. “We are going to lose a few people that sense. But I’m always realistic. What’s so beautiful about season three
we love, some that will be unexpected, and that “I’m sure everyone will be happy if they’re is that in the [Aiel] city of Rhuidean, Rand
is weighing on our characters the whole way like, ‘Oh, can you just do a satisfying ending in goes through the lives of his ancestors
and you see the sacrifices they had to
through the season.” season four because we don’t make shows that make and the fights they had to fight,
The turnaround between seasons has long any more’. and it all leads up to Tam finding that
lengthened, with 18 months passing between “The truth is, the property doesn’t lend itself baby on a mountain hill and taking him
seasons instead of a year. “Ideally, you want it well to that. My job is to do everything I can to home and treating him like his own son.
to be a year, that’s what I’m always working get it to the end and give you Jordan’s ending
towards,” he says. “I’m hopeful that we can because it’s so powerful. It really does stick the You wear prosthetics this season…
reduce that gap in the future, and we’ve proved landing. I play all Ran’s ancestors myself. That
that we could do it in post.” “And if we don’t, my job is to make sure process of working with make-up, effects,
Amazon has yet to renew the series, but we’re telling a great story up to that point.” costume was so creative. I play a guy in
his sixties and it took seven hours to get
Judkins says there was never a chance the
ready for set! I had to find a character
show would get a satisfactory ending in just The Wheel Of Time is on Prime Video from while the camera was on my face. It was
three seasons. “I can see versions of the show 13 March. very challenging.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 49

 THE ELECTRIC STATE

THE TEAM
BEHIND
NETFLIX’S
ADAPTATION
OF SIMON
STÅLENHAG’S
THE
ELECTRIC
S TAT E
TALK ABOUT
HOW THEY’VE
BUILT ON THE
GRAPHIC
NOVEL
WORDS:
TARA
BENNETT

WEDISH ARTIST SIMON Not surprisingly, it attracted the interest of and the Russos decided to direct The Electric
Stålenhag’s milieu is crafting Hollywood – specifically AGBO, the production State as their second Netflix feature project.
intriguing character-based company founded by Joe and Anthony Russo “How do you make a big, giant fantasy film
narratives that are supported by his – before it was even published. Andy that honours the level of detail and
haunting paintings, often featuring Muschietti was attached to direct and the inventiveness and vastness that Simon suggests
retro-futuristic technology existing in screenplay adaptation was undertaken by in his art, and in his sort of vague narrative?”
traditional landscapes. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Anthony Russo says of the challenge which
Graphic novel The Electric State, his 2017 From 2017 to 2020, the writers and the faced them. “At the same time, be able to afford
post-apocalyptic hit, is an intimate tale about Russos diligently worked on keeping the spirit to do that at a big scale. That’s how we found
the human Michelle explaining how she came of Stålenhag’s narrative, including specific the tone. That’s how we found the type of
to be on the road with the robot Skip to find visuals from the page, while expanding the movie it was going to be.”
her long-lost younger brother. It’s cinematic, world-building, including a backstory about a McFeely says they fell in love with the core
moody and builds to a big reveal, making it one human/robot war that's alluded to in the book. concept of a girl and this drone/robot crossing
of Stålenhag’s most loved books. Then Muschietti departed for other projects, the country to find her brother. But they

50 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE ELECTRIC STATE

decided they had to start their story in a period aftermath. Viewers see events through the eyes whose company helped turn the tide of the AI
before the book’s narrative. of Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) and her War. He’s the purveyor of ubiquitous VR-like
“There’s a before and an after for both brilliant younger brother Chris (Woody contraptions called neurocasters (think helmet
narrative purposes and world-building Norman), who before the war are supportive smartphones on steroids) which allow humans
purposes,” McFeely details. “So what was the siblings with their whole lives ahead of them. to plug in and escape.
before and the after? For us and for Simon, to Post-war, Michelle is a troubled orphan living As The Electric State takes place in that
some degree, it’s a different kind of war. It’s in foster care after her mum, dad and Chris nostalgic sweet spot of Amblin Entertainment’s
called the AI War. And our AI is represented were killed. heyday, the Russos adopt the signature look
by various robots that are implied and She exists in an America littered with the and feel of those Spielberg-produced classics,
sometimes taken straight out of his work.” detritus of defeated robots. Those still including a vibrant colour palette that’s
The film opens with a prologue that sets up operational were remanded to an Exclusion reflected in the southwest US locations and the
this alternate but still familiar version of Zone in New Mexico. Tech is now controlled still operational robots. They worked out the
history taking place from 1990 to 1994: the by Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci), who plays an details of this world which would have
period leading up to the war and then the Elon Musk-meets-Bill Gates style tech leader advanced AI robotics, but not the tech we use

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 51

 THE ELECTRIC STATE

in 2025. “We decided they had autonomous

robots in 1994, but no cell phones,” McFeely
explains. “They’ve got neurocasters. So we’re
not trying to drag everything back into 1994.
We’re just trying to say we took a slight
narrative timeline detour here, and as a result,
this grew and developed.”
Certain iconic visual touchstones also made
the cut, like having the Planters peanut brand
mascot, Mr Peanut (Woody Harrelson),
become the elder statesman for the AI robots,
and ultimately the signer of their peace treaty
with the humans.
Markus says this robotic version of the
mascot came out of them asking, “Wouldn’t it
be fun to take this thing you’ve seen your
whole life and basically download an entire
history and personality? That became so kind
of giddying,” he laughs. “It almost felt like
taking a 70-year-old superhero and giving him
a modern problem.”

TRASH TALK
Around Mr Peanut, however, they created
their own original ensemble of outcast robots
to temper that nutty swing. “If every character Michelle (Millie
we met was branded, then for me, it takes me Bobby Brown)
out of their personalities,” McFeely says of with Cosmo
their decision not to rely entirely on iconic (Alan Tudyk).
commercial IP.
“Yet on a visual level, we wanted to
definitely make sure that they looked like they
were from the whole timespan of robots,”
Markus says of their designs, many of which
are pulled from Stålenhag’s pages, or are
deeply inspired by what’s established in his
paintings. “Some of them are old-fashioned.
Some of them are much more modern and
functional, so that, in a way, you could have
PICTURES: PAUL ABELL/NETFLIX. STOCK IMAGES: CONSTANTINE JOHNNY, WIRATGASEM, REZA RASENDA/GETTY

ages. They’ve all been essentially thrown in the

trash, and that’s what a junkyard looks like.”
Anthony Russo adds: “One of the things we
discovered along the way is because we’re Russos Joe
dealing with an alternate version of history, we and Anthony
had to have a certain threshold of actual history with Millie on
in order for it to feel like some version of set.
history and not just like a complete fantasy
world that never happened.
“There’s a balance between how much we
have to be specifically evocative of something experienced team of motion-capture players Yet they made a decision to make a version of
that happened, and that you may remember, or who did a great deal of detail work, developing the story that is not as dire.
part of this didn’t happen but it feels like it the nuances and the subtleties and the Markus says that in the early days of
could have. It was us walking that line behaviour that informs the reality of these development they did seriously toy with
constantly in terms of where we would land characters. This is by far and away the hardest portraying that dark future. However, they
on the stylistic design spectrum.” VFX film we’ve ever done, but the quality of pulled back on that, so as not to reduce the
When it came down to the final decision the VFX in it are just superb.” conversation to a binary “tech is bad”
on how to bring these robotics to life, they It wasn’t lost on them that Stålenhag’s book approach.
ultimately went to some of their previous was remarkably anti-tech in the way he starkly “In the movie that exists, there’s still a
visual effects collaborators like Digital Domain, illustrated the detrimental darkness,” he says. “If [Michelle] takes a left on
ILM, Lola VFX and others to get the best effects of the neurocasters, a street, you may well find desiccated corpses
performances out of the tech characters. which pull humans into an wearing neurocasters. Everything that happens
“It’s the most tech-intensive movie we’ve all-encompassing in the book can still happen in
made,” Joe explains. “The majority of the addiction akin to this world.
characters are CG. [We used] a very heroin or meth. “But the inevitable

52 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE ELECTRIC STATE

been carefully calibrated to appeal to that age

range so that they will actually sit and watch
the movie.”
For that message to come through, they say
Brown’s Michelle is the perfect conduit.
“Michelle is going to change a number of
people along the way through her steadfast
determination,” McFeely says.

THE Y, ROBOT
Because Michelle starts as a tech-averse young
adult survivor of the AI War, there’s much for
her to learn in her journey across the
Southwest and Pacific Northwest with
mysterious robot Cosmo as her companion.
The character was one of personal importance
for her and Chris, and the robot will incite an
equally personal quest that will flesh out who,
VW vans or what, is ultimately responsible for their
certainly are current post-war existence.
sturdy, it Through other humans she meets, like Chris
seems… Pratt’s junk trader Keats, or robot allies like
Herman (Anthony Mackie), Michelle will
uncover hard truths about her brother, the
culpability of the robots in exile, and ultimately
choose whether a new middle path is the better
road to travel.
Though Stålenhag’s book is a self-contained
story, his post-apocalyptic world contains a
multitude of untold potential as implied in
every one of his detailed paintings on the page.
Anthony Russo says his work inspired a wealth
of ideas as they developed this script.
“When you see Simon’s artwork in his book,
you just have this feeling that there is a
narrative happening beyond what you’re able
to access graphically, or even verbally through
the text,” he says with enthusiasm.
“That was one thing we just loved about it,
the fact that it was a vast world with a vast and
complicated history and characters all over the
place that you could explore. We wanted to
hold on to that as we crafted the movie, and to
allow ourselves, and others potentially, to see
Herman what those things may be in the future.”
(voiced by Markus says if Netflix audiences around
Anthony the globe receive their interpretation of The
Mackie). Electric State well, they’re ready to return to
this world to explore and maybe revisit
underlying moral of two- It’s not an anti-tech characters via narrative paths that didn’t fit in
thirds of all fantasy and science fiction is this first chapter.
‘Humans suck’,” he continues, and that is movie. It’s a movie about “There’s a tremendous amount of backstory,
inherently more interesting to them. “Yes,
technology may have had some downsides, but
having a healthy balance and there’s an implication of the future story,”
Markus confirms on where they leave
it’s the human interface with it, and what they with tech in your life audiences. “A next thing doesn’t necessarily
choose to do with it, that’s the problem. In the have to be, ‘What does Michelle do the next
end, it’s a story about, are you engaging or it. You’ve got to overcome the negatives and day?’ It’s, how did we get here? How did that
switching yourself off? The fun of this is that have a healthy relationship with it. robot get here? Who are those [robot] scabs
it’s the robots who want to engage and humans “Those who are most technologically over there? Are they just monsters? How did
who want to switch off.” exposed are under the age of 25 in our culture,” that happen?
Joe concurs, adding, “It’s not an anti-tech he notes. “This movie is intended to reach a “There’s story potential in so much of it, and
movie. It’s a movie about having a healthy wide audience, but specifically an audience of with her.”
balance with tech in your life. There’s lots of young people who have iPhones and iPads
positives to tech and there’s a lot of negatives to glued to their hands all day long. The tone has The Electric State is on Netflix from 14 March.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 53

 STRANGER THINGS

T D OW N
UN
CO

TO
STR

5
GS

N
A

I
N

GE
R TH

54 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 STRANGER THINGS

EVERYTHING

YOU NEED TO

KNOW IN THE

COUNTDOWN

TO THE FINAL

SEASON OF

STRANGER
THINGS
WORDS:
DARREN SCOTT

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 55

 STRANGER THINGS

The fifth and final season is due to launch 1 “The Crawl”, directed and
on Netflix later in 2025. Filming began on written by the Duffer Brothers.
8 January 2024 and wrapped on 20 December. 2 “The Vanishing Of…” This
title is incomplete, and director
Writing for the fifth season began way and writer(s) are yet to be
back on 2 August 2022 – the entire season announced.
had been mapped out prior to season four 3 “The Turnbow Trap”,
being filmed, due to the pandemic. However, directed by Frank Darabont.
the season five finale was altered following 4 “Sorcerer”, directed by the
feedback to season four. Duffer Brothers.
5 “Shock Jock”, directed by
Some unused ideas for the second season Frank Darabont.
have been used in season five. 6 “Escape from Camazotz”,
director and writer(s) TBA.
The Stranger Things writers team has 7 “The Bridge”, director and
described season five as “if season one writer(s) TBA.
and four had a baby which was injected with 8 “The Rightside Up”, directed
steroids”. by the Duffer Brothers. The gang
are clearly
Rumours that the season will be split into delighted to
two parts – as with season four – have not be back.
been confirmed. Fans took to social media
in late January, posting
Returning as series regulars are Jamie pictures of the demolition of
Campbell Bower, Millie Bobby Brown, the long-standing Hawkins
Cara Buono, Natalia Dyer, Priah Ferguson, High building, telling people they had just days Joe Keery, appearing on The Tonight
Brett Gelman, David Harbour, Maya Hawke, left to see the set. It is now almost entirely Show with Jimmy Fallon, also talked
Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Gaten Matarazzo, demolished. You can see for yourself via about the last season. He said: “It’s crazy, it
Caleb McLaughlin, Amybeth McNulty, Winona @thehawkinsreporter on Instagram. was a long year. But to wrap it all up and the
Ryder, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink and Finn anticipation of working on something for so
Wolfhard. long – I mean it’s been one-third of my life,
Linda Hamilton also joins the main cast in really.
an undisclosed role. Finn Wolfhard, speaking to Collider, said “It was emotional. We sort of got to that last
about the show ending: “It’s definitely a day and it was like everything really hit on that
long season. Not every episode is like a last day of shooting.”
full-blown movie, but there are definitely some
Episode titles for season five were episodes this year that the runtime is definitely
revealed on Stranger Things Day – film-length. When all that adds up, I guess they
celebrated on 6 November, the date on which are like micro-movies. But there are some Sadie Sink, also appearing on The Tonight
Will Byers disappeared. episodes that are still 40 minutes, 45 mins.” Show, admitted to taking a number of

Gaten Winona Ryder

Matarazzo goofs around
(Dustin) on with her
set. younger pals.

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 STRANGER THINGS

“There was one tiny thing it was really hard to say goodbye. I wouldn’t say
that I kind of begged the it was the best of days, but it was the perfect
Duffer Brothers to give me this way to end, and you guys will be really happy
year and they technically gave with it.”
me what I wanted,” Wolfhard
said. Matarazzo added: “That last week of
He also talked about their filming was definitely one of the harder
final table read, saying: “We weeks of my life.”
were all crying pretty hard, I
will say, and then Noah went McLaughlin said that season five has
the extra mile and cried a little been his favourite to appear in and told
bit more than everyone.” fans: “It will answer a lot of questions and
you’ll be happy with the results. Or… you may
Speaking about the final not be happy with the results… We’ll see!”
scripts, he said: “I didn’t
know what was going to
happen but I was surprised,
definitely, at some of the stuff in A new range of Stranger Things Valentine
it. I was surprised at how gifts were recently made available
emotional I got, actually. alongside the extensive tie-in merchandise at
“I think we all walked into it netflix.shop.
being like, ‘Oh yeah, we got this,
none of us are going to be
emotional at all’ and by the end
of it we were all just like on the Following the Next On Netflix event, a
floor basically. In the end it was, promotional poster – featuring Eleven
items from the set. “I needed Max’s skateboard, like, a really great positive experience.” – was released. It prompted anyone who had
that was actually gifted to me. I’ve got some seen her to call a number. When the number
Walkmans, some Kate Bush cassettes and some Schnapp’s favourite scene of the series is was called, fans were treated to a pre-recorded
Vans and stuff. I need to kind of be careful one from season five. He also noted: “I message:
’cause the house is slowly starting to look like would say the hardest [scene to film] would be “Thank you for contacting the Hawkins
a Stranger Things museum.” in the recent season, which I honestly can’t talk Police Department. Due to the recent 7.4
about.” magnitude earthquake, Hawkins is currently
under lockdown to ensure the safety of our
When asked to describe season five in residents.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow has three words he said: “Really sad, really “The Hawkins Emergency Task Force is
just had a second media night in sweet and really shocking.” working closely with Hawkins PD to track
London’s West End, celebrating the new cast. down missing persons, of which Jane Hopper
The stage show – a prequel to the series, Talking about filming his final scene, is a priority. We urge you, as a responsible
which looks at the origins of Vecna – opens on Schnapp said: “It was very sad. I was citizen of Hawkins, to assist us in our search to
Broadway, at the Marquis Theatre, with heartbroken. I was devastated. I was crying and locate her.”
performances from 28 March. Visit
strangerthingsonstage.com.
Stranger
Things: The
First Shadow
The cast of Stranger Things have a on stage.
number of other productions coming
soon. Millie Bobby Brown stars in Electric State
(see page 50). Finn Wolfhard is in The Legend
Of Ochi, releasing in April. Joe Keery will star
in upcoming thriller Cold Storage, and Sadie
Sink is in upcoming apocalyptic musical drama
O’Dessa. David Harbour appears in A Working
Man and Thunderbolts*, while Jamie Campbell
Bower appears in upcoming film The Haunting
In Wicker Park.

Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin,

Noah Schnapp and Finn Wolfhard
attended PeopleCon’s Stranger Fan Meet in
Paris earlier this month. Speaking at the event
they gave various teases about season five.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 57

 STRANGER THINGS

The Duffer Brothers presented a world-first look at footage from Stranger Things season five at the
global Next On Netflix event last month – then took to the stage to talk about what to expect

The Duffers DNA with Stranger Things

check out because it’s about a group of
some new misfits who fight an otherworldly
footage. evil. Only unlike Stranger Things,
it’s set in a retirement community,
so that’s something different. This
time our misfits are a little on the
older side. They ride golf carts, not
bikes. It stars Alfred Molina,
Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, Bill
Pullman and a host of other screen
icons who we’re obsessed with.
We’ve seen the first three
episodes, and we’re really pumped
about it. It’s fun, scary and
Jamie touching too, and we can’t wait for
Campbell you to see it.
Bower as
Vecna. Ross: Then there’s Something
Very Bad Is Going to Happen, a
series that follows a bride and
groom in a chaotic, anxiety-filled
Ross: We spent a full year filming play called Stranger Things: The exist and always blazes its own week leading up to their wedding.
this season. By the end, we’d First Shadow, which is a prequel path. And also, it needs to basically It dives into the horror and dread
captured over 650 hours of about Henry Creel before he just be… awesome. Or we need to that often comes with making a
footage. So, needless to say, this is became Vecna. think it’s awesome. And there are a lifelong commitment to someone
our biggest and most ambitious lot of what we think are awesome – something that anyone who’s
season yet. It’s like eight Ross: The play is directed by things in the pipeline. ever been in a relationship can
blockbuster movies. It’s pretty Stephen Daldry, who is a definitely relate to. We don’t want
insane. straight-up genius, along with Ross: But our world doesn’t just to say too much more about the
Justin Martin, and it’s written by revolve around Stranger Things. In story yet, but the title is accurate.
Matt: At the same time, we think Kate Trefry, a brilliant writer who 2026, we’re executive-producing Bad things do happen.
it’s our most personal story. It was has been working on our show two new shows through our
super-intense and emotional to since season two. They did an company, Upside Down Pictures. Matt: The show’s written by
film – for us and for our actors. incredible job – it feels like a mega We have The Boroughs and Haley Z Boston. This is her first
We’ve been making this show episode of the show unfolding live Something Very Bad Is Going To show, and she is a major new
together for almost 10 years. There before your eyes. The stagecraft is Happen. talent, we think, as are the stars of
was a lot of crying. There was so groundbreaking. And in March, Both shows encompass what the show – Camila Morrone and
much crying. The show means so it’s coming to Broadway, which we feel is at the core of Stranger Adam DiMarco – and the director,
much to all of us, and everyone put is… really surreal and just a dream Things and that is they’re stories Weronika Tofilska, who recently
their hearts and souls into it. And come true for all of us. about ordinary people who directed a little show you may
we hope – and believe – that encounter the extraordinary. They have heard of called Baby
passion will translate to the Matt: There are more Stranger play in a genre sandbox, but Reindeer. You should check it out.
screen. Things stories to tell and in the they’re always grounded in a
works. It’s a bit early at this point reality that audiences can relate to. Ross: All of this to say: we’re
Matt: But while this might be the to talk about them, but we’re gonna be hanging around at
STOCK IMAGES: UMER IQBAL/GETTY

end of the story for Mike, Hopper, deeply involved in every one. It’s Matt: Of the two projects, The Netflix, which has been our home
Dustin, Lucas, Eleven and the very important to us that anything Boroughs probably shares the most for the past 10 years. We couldn’t
others, it’s not goodbye for with the Stranger ask for better
Stranger Things. There are many Things name on it is Back in the partners. If you want
more stories to tell. You can find of the highest quality stage show, to tell original stories
one of those stories right now on and not repetitive – things are like we do, this is
the West End – an Olivier-winning that it has a reason to hotting up. really the place to be.

58 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 STRANGER THINGS

sequences for the show so they

can get started on those, so that
“It’s either they can be running in time for
egg or cheese, a release,” Matt said.
I reckon. Looks When asked for an indication
The teaser for season five fine.” of when the series will be
shown at the Next On Millie Bobby released, Matt said: “A lot of it
Netflix event has, at the time of Brown and a hasn’t been decided, in terms of
ON SET PHOTOGRAPHY: ANDREW COOPER, CLAY ENOS, ATSUSHI NISHIJIMA, NIKO TAVERNISE. STRANGER THINGS: FIRST SHADOW PICTURES BY MANUEL HARLAN. VECNA PORTRAIT: STEVE DIETL. ALL PICTURES © NETFLIX/ ROSS DUFFER (@ROSSDUFFER).

going to press, not been made Duffer share a exactly the release dates and
available online. moment. cadence. That’s one reason I’m
It featured a recovered not allowed to talk about it.
Vecna, Max running through We’re getting on a call in about
the Void, Hopper with a a couple weeks about it. I just
shotgun, Demodogs, Dustin in know it was very important for
a new cap – get ready for the us and Netflix that we get it out
merch – Linda Hamilton in this year. But even that is quite
what appears to be a military the push.”
uniform, a stained glass window This led to much speculation
at the Creel house and Eleven – and even some reporting as
in oversized clothing. fact – that season five will not
Mike is heard telling Eleven air in 2025, which simply isn’t
that they’ll finish this fight true. Speaking days later at
together. A voiceover from SCAD TVfest, they confirmed
Eleven says: “They don’t get to the series will air in 2025, just
write the ending – but we do.” not soon. Editing is ahead of
schedule and they confirmed they’d actually
filmed more than 650 hours. They also
mentioned season five will include flashback
Toy company Jazware has secured sequences from an early season.
a global deal with Netflix
to release a new range of Stranger Things
merchandise. It’s all smiles
These include action figures, playsets and as filming The Duffer Brothers also elaborated on
environmental sets in varying styles and scales, finally comes their plans for spin-offs. Speaking at
alongside toy vehicles and plush options. to an end. SCAD TVfest Matt said: “This story, these
There will also be ranges of costumes and characters’ stories, that’s done. That whole
accessories encompassing everything from There are a number of official Stranger story is coming to an end. There’s not like a
Halloween to cosplay, alongside pet toys, Things books due for release in July and Steve/Dustin spin-off or something like that.
clothing and accessories. September this year – perhaps giving fans a The hope is that we finish telling this story.
Jazware has already released several hint at when to expect to see their favourite And then you leave it and tell new stories. And
characters in their Squishmallows x Stranger show return. hopefully, there are new characters that people
Things collaboration, ranging from 3.5 to 10 Stranger Things Season 1: The Junior can fall in love with.”
inches in size. Additional characters will be Novelization and Stranger Things: Hawkins
added to the line soon. ABCs (Funko Pop!) Little Golden Book are
published on 8 July.
The Little Guide To Stranger Things, by When the Duffer Brothers were asked if
Orange Hippo, is due on 11 September, with they were looking to repeat the success of
Despite the Duffer Brothers saying it was graphic novel Stranger Things And Dungeons & “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush, Matt
“too early” to talk about spin-offs, one Dragons: The Rise of Hellfire out on 30 said: “You can’t really manufacture it. If you try
was announced in 2023. September. to manufacture it, you’re almost guaranteed for
The Stranger Things animated series will Finally, Stranger Things: The Official it to not hit.”
be produced by the Duffers, alongside Eric Cookbook: Recipes From Hawkins And
Robles’s Flying Bark Productions as well as Beyond is scheduled for 3 February
Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen’s 21 Laps 2026.
production team. For more information you can visit Threezero has announced the
The Duffers said: “We’ve always dreamed of readstrangerthings.com. latest in its line of 1/6 scale figures.
an animated Stranger Things in the vein of the The season one Jim Hopper has 35
Saturday morning cartoons that we grew up points of articulation, comes with
loving, and to see this dream realised has been an array of accessories, and is
absolutely thrilling.” The Duffer Brothers spoke available to pre-order now
They added that they were “blown away” by to Variety and confirmed from sideshow.com
what they’ve seen, adding, “the scripts and that most of their year will be
artwork are incredible, and we can’t wait to spent in post-production on Stranger Things is on
share more with you! The adventure season five. “Right now, we’re Netflix. Look for updates in
continues…” just cutting all the visual effects Fancy your every issue of SFX this year.
very own Jim
Hopper action
figure? MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 59
 DESIGNING STAR TREK:
SECTION 31

GERSHA PHILLIPS, COSTUME DESIGNER ON STAR TREK: DISCOVERY,

STRANGE NEW WORLDS AND STARFLEET ACADEMY, DISCUSSES THE
LOOKS OF THE LATEST TREK MOVIE WORDS: DARREN SCOTT

DESIGNING FOR THE FUTURE

On Discovery I used specific brands as inspiration, people that were
doing futuristic looks, and also the way they construct. Iris van Herpen is
phenomenal in terms of her otherworldly looks, which are really quite
fabulous. We actually got her to send her stuff and she invited me to her
shows in Paris. Just seeing them in person is even more magical than
seeing them when you look at them online. Another designer that I used
a lot – and a lot of people that do sci-fi use them, because I can always
see them in other peoples’ costumes – is Gareth Pugh. Alexander
McQueen, especially. There’s some Sarah Barton, obviously. We did
a lot of Rick Owens; Michelle wore a lot of Rick Owens in Discovery.
Schiaparelli, as well, does some pretty fabulous pieces, Viktor & Rolf
sometimes too.
We were doing Vulcans and Klingons and things like that, so we were
taking things like conquistadors and mixing it with Alexander McQueen,
and doing a mash up that creates something that looks futuristic.
For me, the markers for futuristic, I always said were sleek, something
unexpected. What we tried to do was create characters for different
species. The biggest thing about the future is always trying to push the
look forward, take whatever you’re seeing of the most extravagant,
futuristic looks that are on the runway and online.

P H I L I P PA G E O R G I O U
T H E B A R A A M LO O KS
Michelle [Yeoh] pitched me the Balenciaga idea because she’s an
ambassador. She wanted them to be involved and I thought, “Well,
that’s a pretty great idea,” because I know I had used Balenciaga for
inspiration in the past for Discovery for her, so it didn’t feel like a stretch
IMAGES: PARAMOUNT, CBS. STOCK IMAGES: NAOKIKIM, GEENGRAPHY

for me to do that.
The other thing that she mentioned was that she wanted to be
completely different from the character that we had already established,
the Emperor Georgiou character. The word she used was actually
butterfly – she wanted to look like a butterfly. That’s where we went into
these purpley iridescent things.
Colour became a thing, and I was looking at different things that felt
butterfly-esque and also colourful, in a way that felt like it wasn’t too
departed from Georgiou, but it still was different enough that you felt
that this was not the same person exactly. The idea that she had
evolved, and she was a little different. With Balenciaga, I went through
their archives. I pulled images of all the things I liked from there, then I
mixed that with things that I had illustrated. The first thing they sent
back, I was like, “No, that’s not going to work.” It was too much fabric,
too overwhelming. Because the other mandate actually came from
Olatunde [Osunsanmi, director] – he wanted her to have a cape that
would come off during the fight. They wanted to use the costume as a

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 DESIGNING STAR TREK:
SECTION 31

The phase
pod Georgiou
places on the
weapon.

weapon, so that when she lashes out, it can injure. The last piece was
the choker coming off and being a dagger. So a few things to
incorporate that were a little challenging!
The final dress was something that they had in black, and they had
another dress that they had done for Beyoncé for her tour – it was a
strapless version and the same large beads. We married these two P H I L I P PA G E O R G I O U
dresses together, which was this cape dress that I think Nicole Kidman S E C T I O N 3 1 LO O K
wore as a closing look in one of their fashion shows, and then the beads. We leaned back into her Emperor Georgiou in Discovery
So that’s how we came up with that final dress. I actually would have from season three – the slim, sleek black leather looks. We
loved it as the first dress, but because of the fighting sequences and just updated it. It was a little bit more feminine in terms of
everything, there was just no way. The dress is so heavy and movement the way it fitted her, and it was a little less hard. The coat’s
in it is so limited. It’s very difficult to do a lot of things in it. pretty severe with the shoulders, but it’s sort of her battle
Balenciaga gave us these really pointy shoes that Michelle couldn’t gear, so it should have that vibe about it.
wear, so we had to redo a boot. We got I think it was a Gucci boot, and We knew we wanted to do that long coat, that’s why we
we asked them to send us extra fabric. So we covered the boot in the put those slits in it. I’d done that quite a bit, even in
same fabric as the legging, so it looks like it’s one piece when she steps Discovery, where I just opened the coat up so that it had
down the stairs when we first see her. Things like that, we had to movement. Also, Olatunde really loves when things have
incorporate and change around. movement and fly around, like that Matrix-y vibe.

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 DESIGNING STAR TREK:
SECTION 31

RAC H E L G A R R E T T
SECTION 31
The idea of her Section 31 look is that it’s supposed to feel a
little bit Starfleet, so that’s why it was blue. Her chest plate
piece is reminiscent of something we did for Discovery, so
there’s elements of it that are there. Her pants feel
uniformy, her boots, everything had a little bit of that vibe
to it.

RAC H E L G A R R E T T
T H E B A R A A M LO O KS
With her disguise looks, the idea is to make her look as
different as possible. Somebody was saying that they didn’t
even recognise that was the same character, which I
thought was really great. I guess we really did a good job
with this.
Kacey [Rohl] has got such a great body to dress – she
wears anything very well and was totally game to have fun
and go the distance. I love her two dresses. I feel like we
didn’t see them enough to really get the vibe from them.
They were different things that I found that I liked and
reworked, and pushed it forward, with fabric and stuff
like that.
Her final dress was actually an Alexander McQueen
homage to a dress that Sarah Burton had done, I think
maybe in her last or second last collection.
We actually made our own print – we took a galaxy
sky image and worked that with the spiral over top,
and then had it printed on fabric, on this really great
material called liquid silk. So it has this really cool,
iridescenty feel, with a really great personality.

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 DESIGNING STAR TREK:
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A LO K
He’s the darkest and the most severe and the cleanest. His
look was more about bringing a little bit of his character,
knowing that he was from a different time, and trying to
lean back into that and bring it forward somehow, so that
there’s a little bit of those elements in his costumes.

MELLE
Her dress was another that, obviously, she had to be able to
move in. She was also supposed to be super, super sexy
– the idea is that when people look at her, she can draw
them in. I had a few different vibes of dresses that I chose,
and that one also was another kind of liquid metal, so it
looks stunning. But it is the most difficult fabric to work
with, the worst, because the little pieces, the filaments,
when you cut the fabric you have to bind them so they
don’t all fall out, because they just start to unravel and fall
out of the bottom.
We had to work with the fabric in a certain direction so it
looks good on the body. We fitted the dress, it was all great
and fantastic, and we were about to start beading, and then
they had a whole hair fiasco. The first bald cap didn’t work.
So that’s why she has that collar – we had to add it as a
secondary thing to help hide it, because her hair actually is
down her back under the bald cap.
So we had to redo the dress – it was just a nightmare, I
have to say. The material is tricky enough, and then when
you put Swarovski on something, it changes the way it fits
right away. It was just problem after problem after problem
that we kept having to solve to get it to look really great on
her. Then obviously we had to make a double for fighting
and everything was just crazy. It was such a crazy journey.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 63

 DESIGNING STAR TREK:
SECTION 31

FUZZ
[I was] trying to create looks and silhouettes that looked
different and also individual to the persons that they were.
So with Fuzz, we gave him this chest pack with his guns in
the front of him, so they were always available and ready.
His first look was something that I showed Alex
[Kurtzman, executive producer] and Olatunde – I was
actually quite shocked that they picked it, it had these
crazy wide leg pants. We actually printed on top of fabric
to give it a little bit more texture and also leaning into Fuzz
and what he would pick, because he’s a Nanokin, so his
tastes are going to be a little bit different. I’m gonna say
bug-like, coming from the insect world. I wanted his stuff to
have that little extra layer of stuff on it.
Because he’s a little bit flamboyant and extra, we added
the chains and the extra jewellery, he had great rings and
all of those things. So he was always flashy. I’m going to say
he was the dandy of the guys.

Quasi’s stun
stick. It’s not a
fun stick.

QUASI
He also had a bit of a dandified look as well. We leaned into
a little bit of the past for him, mixing almost Edwardian, say,
with contemporary, doing a mash-up. So it’s taking that and
bringing it forward and adding these other silhouettes. The
first thing he wears is very long, and it has almost an
Edwardian frock coat feel, but then with the asymmetric
way of closing the jacket. I do think he was dandy, too, but
less flashy, more reserved.

64 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 DESIGNING STAR TREK:
SECTION 31

Unfortunately,
San also has a
phase pod!

THE INTRUDER
I did something very different, because the way he was
described in the script was that he was wearing a balaclava-
like mask. So I did something soft and more in that vein and
got notes back that they wanted him to be more armoured.
I got a picture of something from a Guillermo del Toro
movie, a character who wears a mask. They said, “Can you
lean into this?” My illustrator did a whole bunch of different
versions that we sent out, they narrowed it down. We went
on a journey where they wanted it to be more armoured. So
then we created a whole armour piece for him.
Again, we had to take into consideration the nature of the
fight, so we built it similar to how we do our spacesuits,
where they’re in three pieces. A vest that goes over a tunic
top, then the pants, so that it’s all separate pieces that can
move, and then it allows the bending.

Star Trek: Section 31 is on Paramount+.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 65

 DEATH LINE

66 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 DEATH LINE
PICTURES: RANK FILM DISCTRIBUTORS, STOCK IMAGES: ISAAC74, RICHARD NEWSTEAD/GETTY

OVER FIFTY YEARS AFTER

I
N 1892, LONDON UNDERGROUND ancient cannibal story,” Gary Sherman tells
tunnel diggers were trapped in a cave-in SFX. “I had been doing a lot of research on the
between Russell Square and the now-
ITS RELEASE, LONDON history of the tube and reading about a 16th
defunct British Museum stop. The subway UNDERGROUND HORROR century clan in Scotland – highwaymen were
company went bankrupt, so it sent no forced to eat their victims because they were so
rescue team. Eighty years later, two troglodyte D E ATH LI N E notorious, they couldn’t show their faces
descendants of those trapped workers are STILL RETAINS ITS anywhere.
hungering for raw meat… CHILLING POWER. “It occurred to me that combining those two
The unsettling backstory to Gary Sherman’s stories and overlaying political commentary of
brutal 1972 directorial debut Death Line (aka DIRECTOR GARY SHERMAN the rampant racism, classism, and all the other
Raw Meat in the US) is enough to give daily SHEDS LIGHT ON HIS evil ‘isms’ that existed in British society was
Tube commuters the heebie-jeebies. Perhaps CANNIBALISTIC DEBUT possible. And if I made it horrible enough, no
even more disturbing is how much of this one, except the most astute, would realise how
urban legend was plucked from reality. political the piece was.”
“I created the backstory loosely based on WORDS: OLIVER PFEIFFER Sherman’s longtime writer-producer friend
some actual events, combining it with an Jonathan Demme (who would notably go on to

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 67

 DEATH LINE

It takes a lot
of work to
direct the equally cannibalistic The Silence Of make things
The Lambs) brought the script to the attention look this bad.
of American producer Paul Maslansky. He
gave it to future 20th Century Fox Studios’s
president Alan Ladd Jr and his associate,
Jay Kanter.
“They were enthusiastic from the start and
incredibly supportive,” Maslansky told SFX,
speaking before his death in December. “We
put the crew and locations together in about
three weeks. The hours were long, the
locations difficult and unpleasant, but we
finished every day with optimism, and the
London crews were fantastic.”
“They read it, got what it was all about, loved
it, trusted me to make it, and gave me
a total free hand,” continues Sherman. “I
brought in Ceri Jones to write it with me
because I wanted a comedy element and
needed a British writer with a great sense
of humour.”
Horror veteran Donald Pleasence brought
that humour to life in the stand-out role of the
sarcastic, continuously tea-drinking Inspector
Calhoun, tasked with investigating the strange
disappearance of a high-ranking MP in the
bowels of the London Underground. Pleasence
clearly enjoys delivering cheeky put-downs to
every character he encounters and, in one
scene, notably shares a heated head-to-head
with horror icon Christopher Lee in a cameo
role as an intimidating MI5 boss.
“Donald was a joy, a consummate
professional, and the nicest person anyone
could ever imagine working with,” continues
Sherman. “He loved the part. Ceri and I were
Donald Pleasence
so proud to hear our words coming out of his UNDERGROUND was the nicest person
mouth. He and Norman Rossington [playing anyone could ever
his sidekick, Detective Sergeant Rogers] did
test me a bit the first few days, but I guess I
BEATS imagine working with
passed the test because once I did, we were Death Line opens in London’s
a team.” seedy Soho and features a funky tries in vain to keep his dying pregnant partner
score by British musician, alive. “Hugh had no problem with being a
ME THOD TO THE MADNE SS producer and one-time film second choice to Brando,” the director
composer Wil Malone.
Screen legend Marlon Brando was initially continues. “Hugh and I spent many hours at
Restricted by a miniscule
sought for the pivotal carnivorous role of the budget, Malone chose a Moog the great ape house at Regent’s Park Zoo
primitive, nameless “Man” who, riddled by synthesiser to compose the watching gorillas and chimpanzees.
malnutrition, feeds off London Underground unforgettably pounding “We had hours and hours of discussions
commuters to survive. “[His agent] Jay Kanter cacophonous theme that starts the about the character. In retrospect, I am
told me that Marlon had always wanted to play film. We follow a respected MP grateful that Hugh played the part rather than
a role where he had so much make-up on no (James Cossins) leaving a strip joint Brando. Had Brando done it, it would have
and making his way to the bowels
one would recognise him,” reveals Sherman. been a Marlon Brando film rather than
of the London Underground, where
“He was filming Last Tango In Paris with he is ultimately attacked and taken standing on its own two legs.”
Bertolucci. Jay called him and sent him the by the “Man”. Armstrong gives a compelling performance
script. He said yes, but just before he was to Starting off as a member of ’60s as the filthy, boil-faced cannibal who resides in
come to London, his son Christian became experimental band Orange Bicycle, the derelict tunnels of the Underground and
deathly ill with pneumonia. Malone would go on to produce hauntingly repeats the line “Mind the doors!”
Marlon quickly wrapped the albums for bands such as Black (mimicking the safety announcement) in a
Sabbath, The Verve and Massive
filming in Paris and rushed Attack – notably arranging and
frustrated bid to communicate with the outside
back to Los Angeles to take conducting the strings on the world.
RGR COLLECTION / ALAMY

care of his son.” latter’s 1991 hit “Unfinished The confined, claustrophobic setting of the
Instead, British theatre- Sympathy”. London Underground and its abandoned
trained actor Hugh Armstrong tunnels was authentically captured by British
embodied the grotesque yet director of photography Alex Thomson, who
sympathetic role of the would go on to shoot such striking films as
tortured flesh-eater who Excalibur, Legend, Labyrinth and Alien 3.

68 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 DEATH LINE

David Ladd
and Sharon
Gurney played
the couple. UNDERGROUND
HORRORS
Death Line isn’t the only horror
film to use the claustrophobic
confines of the London
Underground to unsettling effect

Quatermass And The Pit (1967)

Hammer Studios’ third and final Nigel
Kneale adaptation is inventive and
genuinely gripping. It centres
“Man” (Hugh on the shocking discovery
Armstrong) and subsequent
attends to his consequences of an
partner. ancient alien artefact by
workers on a London
Underground extension.
Look, a Man hardships, and we were so excited about what It would later have a
is just trying we were getting that the dank environment notable impact on Tobe
to make ends just disappeared.” Hooper’s science fiction
meat. When it was released in September 1972, the horror Lifeforce.
film received an intriguing critical reception.
Some criticised the lacklustre performance of An American Werewolf
David Ladd (Alan’s paternal half-brother) in In London (1981)
one of the lead roles, and the implausibility of Over 40 years on, the
unforgettable sequence in
the story, while others celebrated its gruesome
which the largely unseen
terror and clever commentary on the class titular predator slowly
divide while praising Armstrong’s moving hunts a sole commuter
portrayal. through the empty
“The strange thing was that most of the tunnels and escalators of
lower-end newspapers gave us the worst Tottenham Court Road
reviews, but the Financial Times, The Times Station remains a
terrifying highlight of John
and the British Film Institute gave us raves,”
Landis’s revered horror
says Sherman. “Robin Wood, probably one of comedy.
the most influential critics at that time, was our
hero. I will never be able to thank him enough Creep (2004)
for championing Death Line.” Christopher Smith set
Due to the initial mixed reception, the film the proceedings of his
was initially placed on the second half of a relentless horror debut
double bill by its US distributors (where it was entirely in the
edited to avoid an X rating and retitled Raw increasingly
Particularly impressive is an uninterrupted Meat) with Ivan Reitman’s horror-comedy uncomfortable confines
of the London subway.
seven-minute tracking shot of the cannibal’s Cannibal Girls.
Owing more than a
gruesome lair. The sequence takes in the “However, by the second or third day of its passing debt to Death Line
rotting, maggot-infested remains of his victims release, they dropped the other picture and (though Smith said the
and his dying partner before regressing were running Death Line back-to-back,” Underground sequence in
through tunnels to hear the audio history of the continues Sherman. “The audience was our Landis’s film inspired him), Creep
collapsing tunnellers and finally tilting above to final arbiter. What can I say? Fifty-three years similarly takes its heroine through
HAMMER FILM PRODUCTIONS, POLYGRAM PICTURES, DAN FILMS, DNA FILMS

modern-day commuters on the platform. later, they’re still watching Death Line. How forgotten derelict tunnels and spooky
hideouts, where an unseen predator
“Alex Thomson was one of the most brilliant many other pictures have had that longevity?”
stalks her to, er, creepy effect.
cinematographers I had ever had the pleasure The director would go on to make notable
of working with,” continues Sherman. “He and genre films like undead “video nasty” Dead &
28 Weeks Later (2007)
I had done dozens of commercials together. Buried, exploitation crime thriller Vice Squad,
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s
And, of course, the fact that he had shot many and the sadly ill-fated sequel Poltergeist III intensely atmospheric
award-winning features didn’t hurt.” before directing an episode of the largely sequel to Danny Boyle’s
Nevertheless, despite such pedigree talent, unconnected ‘90s Poltergeist TV series. classic re-entered that
filming in the often disgusting bowels of the However, his gritty, London-shot debut – horrific post-apocalyptic
London Underground was challenging, to say a grim precursor to Tobe Hooper’s The Texas world with a new take on
the least. “It was awful working down there! It Chain Saw Massacre – arguably left the most the enraged Infected. It
features a memorably
was cold, damp, dirty and rat-infested. It was significant impact. “Death Line was my
intense London
also initially filled with human faeces and firstborn, and I’m very proud of my baby,” Underground encounter in
urine,” says Sherman. “Of course, we sent he says. the dark, where Robert Carlyle’s
cleaning crews in ahead of us, but the stench infected father has a showdown with his
was still there. The dailies made up for the Death Line is available on Blu-ray. terrified kids.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 69

 Brought THE SFX AUTHOR
INTERVIEW
To Book

JAMES ALISTAIR HENRY

Novel approach: the sitcom writer tells us why he’s moved into books
Words by Jonathan Wright

LTHOUGH MANY PEOPLE FROM jokes, had the series been “tricking” him so that dragons
elsewhere in the UK refuse to acknowledge the suddenly appeared.
fact, Cornwall is a nation distinct from the rest of As it happens, Deadwind featured no mythical creatures
the country. Just ask novelist James Alistair and was set in Finland, but Henry’s doubts over what he
Henry, who as a child moved from Blackpool to was watching helped unlock Pagans. “My thought was, ‘If
the land where people put jam on a scone ahead people aren’t into the alternate history, that’s absolutely fine
of the cream. “Cornwall is just not England,” he because you could just follow the plot, and hopefully the
says. “I mean, I know technically it is England, but if you say plot will make sense as a proper police procedural.’”
something [there] about Cornish people being English, It does indeed, right down to having odd-couple coppers:
you’ll get a sharp intake of breath – and rightly so.” Captain Aedith Mercia, pragmatic daughter of a powerful
Joking aside, this idea of living somewhere with its own Saxon leader, and (in the role of mystical maverick) Celtic
distinct sense of place is of course by no means unique to BIODATA Tribal Detective Inspector Drustan. “You’ve got to have two
Cornwall in the British Isles. As he got older and moved From mismatched cops tracking a ritualistic serial killer and the
first to Derby and then to Kent, Henry began not just to Born in Blackpool, crime turns out to have links to one of the characters,” says
notice the obvious cultural differences between different raised in Cornwall. Henry. “That’s how Nordic noirs normally work.”
parts of the UK, but to become fascinated by the way these Greatest Hits
were rooted in historical events, such as when the Saxons As well as such T HE K ING OF COMEDY
pushed (at the considerable risk of generalising) TV hits as Green He knows of what he speaks, because Henry’s background
“contemplative, quiet Celts” west, into Wales and Cornwall. Wing, Campus is in writing for television. After university he decided to
and Piglets,
But what if these different cultures and nations had never Henry has worked become a scriptwriter. “I thought, ‘Well, if I’m not making a
been shoehorned together? What if Britain had never built in radio, creating living as a scriptwriter within a year, I have failed,” he says.
an empire – or been the first country in the world to the comedy “Then within the year, I was like, ‘Oh, I failed.’”
show Wosson
industrialise? Most crucially, what if 1066 and all that had Cornwall (2023) He moved to Canterbury, where a succession of “crap
never happened? These are the questions that lie at the for Radio 4. jobs” gave way to working in Waterstones. He started
centre of alternate history police procedural Pagans. hosting Q&As with writers, which he loved. At the turn of
Random Fact
“In this world, Britain’s never been a player,” says Henry Having done
the millennium, Henry won a Channel 4 sitcom-writing
of the timeline he created for the book, which takes place an online competition. He was on his way. Via work on Bob The
against the background of a Unification Summit that’s showrunning Builder and Smack The Pony, he landed a spot on the team
supposed to bring together Britain’s different tribes: course with his writing cult medical sitcom Green Wing.
friend Matthew
Vikings, Saxons and Celts whose societies were never Graham, Henry For a while, he carried on working part-time in the book
disrupted by the Norman conquest and William’s land- doesn’t think it’s trade, until this became impossible. “At one point, there was
grabbing retinue of chancer lords. “The class system is for him. “I’m not a queue building up, and I was in the back room having a
set up for arguing
subtly different, which I think is really interesting,” adds all the time…” conversation with my agent on the phone,” he recalls. “I
Henry. “This idea there isn’t quite an upper class in the way thought, ‘This is not very responsible, I should probably just
that we’ve had for hundreds of years.” commit to writing.’”
Henry’s still working in TV, most recently with Green
WH E R E T HE W IN D BLOWS Wing alumni on Piglets. He now lives in Cornwall again
At first, Henry thought the novel would be a fantasy “where with his wife (a tech-sector copywriter) and children. “We
all the dragons and zombies have been pushed to the edges” thought, ‘We’re gonna have kids, I’d rather have cute
but people have “laptops and cars”. This was “fun to write Cornish kids than terrifying London kids.” As for why he’s
for about 10,000 words” but “the plot wasn’t there”. And so moved into novels, that’s partly because the pandemic gave
things might have rested but for Henry’s love of Scandi him the time and space to switch to books.
noir. Having moved beyond entry-level hits such as The Besides, Henry’s always written “too novelistically” for
Bridge and The Killing, Henry was getting his fix by television, like the time his Green Wing script called for
watching a series called Deadwind. It was snowy and icy, Stephen Mangan’s Dr Guy Secretan to blush to order.
and people spoke in Scandinavian accents. “Mangan went, ‘Look, I’m really good, but I’m not that
“I thought, ‘I don’t actually know what country this is,’” fucking good!’”
he remembers. “I was even thinking, ‘Is this a made-up
country?’” He wouldn’t have been entirely surprised, he Pagans is out on 27 February, from Moonflower Books.

70 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 BROUGHT TO BOOK
JAMES ALISTAIR HENRY

You’ve got
to have two
mismatched
cops tracking
a ritualistic
serial killer

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 71

 MARCH
2025
edited by Ian Berriman

CINEMA 74 TV 78 HOME ENTERTAINMENT 80 BOOKS 86 COMICS 92 GAMES & STUFF 94

THIS ISSUE

53 REVIEWS

74

CAPTAIN
AMERICA:
BRAVE NEW
WORLD
Seeing Red

78
SKELETON CREW
80
THE GORGE
86
SHROUD
Four kids get lost in It’s a case of love The ever-prolific
space in the Amblin- across the divide as Adrian Tchaikovsky
apeing, youngling- two snipers guard a takes us to a pitch-
friendly Star Wars mysterious gateway black moon deadly to
show. to Hull. Sorry, Hell. human life.

RATINGS EXPLAINED SUPERB GOOD AVERAGE POOR TERRIBLE

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 73

 CINEMA

“Damned
glasses… is
that Red Hulk,
or just Hulk?”

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD

Human Shield
so hard to ape The Winter Soldier White House, has to catch us up here, lost in a world of murky
RELEASED OUT NOW! that it can’t help but look inferior with the likes of The Incredible visuals and, even with some of the
12A |118 minutes by comparison. Hulk, more than one Avengers best stunt teams in cinema at
Director Julius Onah We’re also back in homework movie, and even Eternals (yes, it hand, unable to put together many
Cast Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, territory, because as much as the hasn’t entirely been forgotten). memorable melees.
Shira Haas, Harrison Ford film wants to fill us in seamlessly This is also a film without All is not lost, though. In the
with the required information on satisfying villainy. Giancarlo connection between Sam, his new
Tasked with not only proving movies past (and future elements, Esposito hams it up early on in a Falcon sidekick Joaquim Torres
that Marvel can get back on track in one case literally), it ends up nothing mercenary role, and poor (Danny Ramirez) and imprisoned
following the stumbles of 2023 (in with people becoming walking Tim Blake Nelson is mostly former super-soldier Isaiah
part due to creeping superhero exposition delivery systems. reduced to spouting vengeful Bradley (Carl Lumbly) – both
fatigue) and can do so without the There are so many scenes of clichés as Samuel Sterns, while introduced in Disney+ series The
audience-boosting laughs, someone discovering exactly the looking for all the world as if Toad Falcon And The Winter Soldier
self-referential nods and cameo right file they need to explain the from Fox’s X-Men films had a – there is humanity and humour,
power that Deadpool & Wolverine next plot turn that it becomes accident with a popcorn machine. sorely needed amongst the VFX.
could deploy, this latest Captain near-parody. The story of Wilson Ford fares better, giving good Sam’s concerns about how he’s
America outing finds itself a little trying to work once more with gruff attitude as Ross, with perceived also make for a welcome
too overburdened to land as Thunderbolt Ross (Harrison Ford, appropriate layers of bitterness grace note. It may not soar, then,
smoothly as it might. replacing the late William Hurt), and regret. Of course, once he gets but the latest MCU effort flies
Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson who has now ascended to the angry all acting bets are off, as Red right enough to make this a more
remains a charismatic character, Hulk reduces the film’s finale to promising sign for the future.
and his take on the Cap mantle is This is a film yet another CG-heavy punch-fest. James White
different in attitude and action to
Steve Rogers, but around him,
without satisfying Director Julius Onah (of The
Cloverfield Paradox and the far Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford

Brave New World as a film is trying villainy superior Luce) feels submerged
bonded over a shared love of woodwork,
with Ford giving Mackie tips on routers.

74 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 “I shouldn’t
have sniffed
that second
bag of catnip.”

THE PEOPLE’S DOG MAN

JOKER RELEASED OUT NOW!
U | 89 minutes
RELEASED OUT NOW! Director Peter Hastings
See bit.ly/peoplesjoker for details Cast Pete Davidson, Isla Fisher,
15 | 92 minutes Lil Rel Howery, Peter Hastings
Director Vera Drew
Cast Vera Drew, Kane Distler, The brains behind the
Lynn Downey, Nathan Faustyn Captain Underpants franchise
take a welcome leap into the
It’s a miracle that comedian world of Dog Man, its graphic
Vera Drew’s “indie Batman novel spin-off, in this enjoyably

FLOW
queer coming of age film” nutty adventure.
exists, and even more so that Dog Man is a police officer
it’s available for audiences to who ends up with a man’s body
watch given its use of and a dog’s head after an
characters owned by DC. accident. Like a furry RoboCop,
Clearly “Fair Use” and a lengthy
disclaimer can go a long way.
Water World this law-enforcement hybrid
lives to solve crimes; unlike
Drew (who directs and also lunkheaded Labrador, a selfless RoboCop, he also enjoys
co-wrote the film) stars as RELEASED 21 MARCH crane that might be a saint. Absent fetching balls. His nemesis is
Joker the Harlequin, a U | 85 minutes of dialogue or voice-overs, the evil cat Petey (Pete Davidson),
struggling anti-comedian Director Gints Zilbalodis fascination of the film is in how a ginger puss who has all sorts
battling depression and gender well its story is told through the of wicked schemes on the go,
dysphoria in an even-more- This CG-animated indie film, animals’ terrifically readable including cloning a baby
dystopian version of Gotham created by Latvian animator Gints expressions and behaviour. One version of himself (voiced by
watched over by a hardline Zilbalodis, received a publicity marvellous scene shows them Lucas Hopkins Calderon) and
Batman. Unexpected hope boost recently when it was having an argument that escalates trying to reanimate a psychotic
comes in the form of fellow nominated for two Oscars: Best disastrously. Also contributing is dead fish named Flippy (voiced
stand-up Jason Todd/Mr J Animated Feature and Best the music, by Zilbalodis and by Ricky Gervais).
(Kane Distler, styled as Jared International Feature Film. Rihards Zal‚upe, evocative without As dog chases cat, the result
Leto’s Joker from 2016’s Suicide It’s a flood myth without being manipulative. is ferocious, unceasing silliness.
Squad). The two strike up a humans or words. The hero is a The bright, atmospheric visuals With such frenetic pacing, the
relationship, but J’s past black cat with wide yellow eyes immerse us, though gamers may film is clearly aimed at
connections to Batman threaten which convey curiosity and fear in find the film’s world distractingly pre-teens – but adults aren’t
to pull them apart. equal measure. At first its home is close to an RPG environment. forgotten. A cheeky quote from
A patchwork of disparate a verdant green landscape with After the captivating opening, Aliens is a joyous highlight,
animated sequences and live man-made structures but no there are some slack moments, although a character having a
action filmed on greenscreen in people. Then a flood comes, the and the final pay-off isn’t fully gerbil named “Colonel Kurtz”,
just a few days, The People’s water rises remorselessly, and the satisfying. of all things, comes a close
Joker lands somewhere cat must take refuge on a small But it’s a stimulating journey, second.
between outsider auteur Neil sailboat, together with an amiable motored by suggestions rather Not since The Mitchells vs
Breen’s visionary amateurism capybara. than slogans, and provides a The Machines has an animated
and a heartfelt examination of Soon there are more voyagers: counterpoint to DreamWorks’ movie’s gag hit-rate been so
Drew’s life and transition. a lemur super-hoarder with its mega-hit The Wild Robot, which relentless. And while the
It’s pretty much the basket of trinkets, an amusingly had a broadly similar ecological animation looks simplistic at
definition of “not for everyone” ethos but insisted on having its first glance, there are nuances
– the film’s garish aesthetic,
especially, will be a major
It’s motored animals talking – sometimes far
too much.
that will reward multiple
viewings. Thanks to the printed
hurdle for some. Those who by suggestions Andrew Osmond source material, there’s real
connect with it, though, will
likely have found their new
rather than Director Gints Zilbalodis previously made
depth to this world… even if it
is barking mad.
favourite film. Will Salmon slogans a similarly-themed animated short called
“Aqua”. Watch it at bit.ly/aquashort. Jayne Nelson

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 75

 CINEMA

THE MONKEY
unsuspecting seller of antiques,
the key-operated simian around
which the plot revolves eventually
winds up in the hands of his twin
sons: cocksure bully Bill (Christian
Toy’s Gory Convery) and his slight,
bespectacled sibling Hal (also
Convery). One slain babysitter and
A wacky mash-up of the Final a brace of offed relations later,
RELEASED OUT NOW!
15 | 95 minutes
Destination franchise and such evil
toy tales as Child’s Play and
Annabelle, this story of a now
they twig that it’s bad news and
drop it down a well – though not
before it has sown a seed of enmity
SEPTEMBER SAYS
Director Osgood Perkins
Cast Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, drum-banging toy monkey that that yields a quarter-century of RELEASED OUT NOW!
Colin O’Brien, Elijah Wood only needs to be wound into action fraternal estrangement. 18 | 100 minutes
for someone to die horrifically Twenty-five years later, sadsack Director Ariane Labed
First published in 1980, the strings together an elaborate series Hal (Theo James) has a dead-end Cast Mia Tharia, Pascale Kann,
Stephen King short story that of kills for the audience’s titillation job, a contemptuous ex-wife and a Rakhee Thakrar
inspired Osgood Perkins’s latest and amusement. teenage son (Colin O’Brien) who
film uses the pitiless malevolence Balk at the sadism if you will, can’t stand to be with him. Based on a 2020 novel by
of a cymbal-bashing toy ape to yet there’s a real élan to this Just the time, then, for the Daisy Johnson, this is the
evoke a chilling atmosphere of cavalcade of calamity that makes monkey to make a reappearance directorial debut of Ariane
creeping dread. for a deliriously demented treat – and begin another lethal scythe Labed, best known for her
A lot of that carries over to albeit one that can’t hope to match through the people it comes into leading role in Attenberg. And
Perkins’s adaptation-cum- the spine-tingling discomfiture contact with, starting with an it’s not hard to trace a line from
expansion, though it is largely and outrageous Nicolas Caginess ageing aunt whose protracted the antisocial, sexually naive,
superseded by grisly, grotesque of Perkins’s previous journey to demise incorporates everything animalistic character she
silliness, in a manic follow-up to the dark side. from a box of fishhooks to a bottle played in said Greek drama.
the director’s 2024 horror hit Introduced early doors as an of rubbing alcohol. It follows the meek July
Longlegs that needs no invitation unwanted curio that pilot Adam The creative demises that (Mia Tharia) and dominating
to go bananas. Scott can’t wait to offload on an follow offer plenty of grisly yuks September (Rakhee Thakrar),
sisters who while not twins are
Don’t forget
the lid when
There’s a real often snapped in matching
outfits by their photographer
blending a élan to this mother, and practically joined
smoothie.
cavalcade of at the hip. Their strange
behaviour – which includes
calamity barking and growling – sees
them labelled freaks at school.
in what eventually becomes an After July becomes the victim
almost apocalyptic orgy of death of cyber-bullying, the family
and destruction. But having decamp to Ireland for a holiday.
established that every character You may be thinking “All well
is fundamentally expendable, it and good, but does it warrant
seems odd that Perkins would ask SFX’s attention?” For the first
us to invest emotionally in Hal and hour or more, we were of the
son Petey’s thawing relationship, same mind. Then their mother
let alone the far more fractious randomly finds two lemurs in
one that resumes when Bill the kitchen, which just as
(James again) re-enters the scene. quickly vanish – a surrealist
That Tatiana Maslany, in the touch that serves to solidify a
role of the twins’ mother, is mostly general uncanny tone. Finally, a
confined to dream sequences and twist arrives; though cunningly
flashbacks also deprives this disguised, it’s a variation on one
male-dominated yarn of some common in psychological
leavening feminine energy. thrillers of this ilk.
As a jump-filled, guts-splattered Don’t go to September Says
thrill-ride, however, The Monkey expecting a fantastical flight of
is never short of funny moments fancy, then. But it is worth a
– not least when Elijah Wood pops look for excellent performances
up as a self-styled expert in by its two young leads, who
fatherhood. Neil Smith breathe fascinating life into
their oddball siblings, with their
The monkey bangs its drum to “I Do Like
To Be Beside The Seaside”, the popular
childish habits and flashes of
music hall song first recorded in 1909. psychopathy. Ian Berriman

76 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

THE RULE OF JENNY PEN
Plastic fantastic
health, while Lithgow’s gleefully
mean-spirited performance will
please fans of Dexter and Raising
Cain (watching the way Crealy
clears the dancefloor during
“Knees Up Mother Brown” is
“What’s that, enough to infect the old pub
RELEASED 14 MARCH Jenny? Kill ditty forever).
TBC | 103 minutes them all, you Interestingly, writer/director
Director James Ashcroft say?” James Ashcroft located horrors in
Cast Geoffrey Rush, John Lithgow, a juvenile detention centre in his
Nathaniel Lees, Holly Shanahan debut feature Coming Home In

Creepy dolls have been a Jenny is not

favourite plaything of the horror
genre since ventriloquist dummy
herself evil in the
Otto elicited shudders in 1929’s style of Chucky
The Great Gabbo. Dementia doll
Jenny Pen is the latest model to The Dark. Here, the retirement
get in on the act, and deserves her home is filmed in muted colours
space in the toybox. and soft-focus backgrounds, a
Like Otto, Jenny is not herself hermetic world of mundane
evil in the manner of Chucky, routine and fading senses. The
Annabelle, Megan et al. It is Dave occasional bright colour (sickly
Crealy (John Lithgow), the owner greens, menacing reds) and
of the hand that animates her, match, for Stefan Mortensen Like What Ever Happened To forced-perspective shot (looong
who’s the sociopath here, (Geoffrey Rush), an arrogant, Baby Jane?, The Rule Of Jenny Pen corridors) only amplify the unease.
calculatedly terrorising his fellow unforgiving judge, arrives at the is an escalating battle of cruel wits Jamie Graham
care home residents without ever hospice following a stroke, and that benefits from the considerable
Stephen King tweeted that Jenny Penn
arousing the staff’s suspicions. But immediately decides to dispense abilities of its senior stars. Rush is “one of the best movies I’ve seen this
now the sly bully has met his some justice. truly captures the terror of failing year… I urge you to watch it”.
 TV

DRINKING GAME
Knock back a beverage of
your choice every time…

A line of dialogue wouldn’t

feel out of place on
International Talk Like A
Pirate Day.

One of the kids uses “wizard”

as a synonym for “excellent”.

The show’s one-and-only

lightsaber ignites.

An adult admits they’ve never

heard of At Attin.

Another of Jod Na Nawood’s

aliases is revealed.

Wim spends one of his Old

“Well, I Republic Credits.
still say it’s
X-Wing fighters make a
postmodern, cameo appearance.
not Cubist.”

SKELETON CREW Season One

scoundrel who keeps you guessing
about his true nature: could he be
a lapsed Jedi, the kids’ saviour, a
genuine bad ’un or maybe a mix of
all three?
Like almost every Disney+ show
Original Pirate Material from the Star Wars or Marvel
universes, Skeleton Crew could
stand to lose an episode or two.
galaxy as a sandbox. It may be set Skywalker on Tatooine, Jedi- Indeed, if Lucasfilm still made
UK/US Disney+, streaming now in the same post-Return Of The obsessed Wim (Ravi Cabot- Star Wars movies (it’s more than
Showrunner Jon Watts, Jedi time period as The Conyers) dreams of adventure and five years since The Rise Of
Christopher Ford Mandalorian, The Book Of Boba excitement among the stars. But Skywalker), this story would have
Cast Jude Law, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Fett and Ahsoka, but it never gets – having grown up on Planet worked brilliantly over two hours.
Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Kyriana Kratter, bogged down in the wider, Suburbia (otherwise known as At Nonetheless, co-creators Jon
Robert Timothy Smith, Nick Frost increasingly complex mythology Attin) – he and his gang of space Watts and Christopher Ford
of the era. The most significant Goonies are even less equipped to (whose previous collaborations
EPISODES 1.01-1.08 The latest Star overlap is Vane, a bit-part pirate deal with the darker corners of include Spider-Man: Homecoming)
Wars TV show feels like a who crossed paths with Mando the galaxy. have rediscovered the joy of
throwback to a more civilised age and Grogu in season three of With the Imperial Remnant igniting a lightsaber or jumping to
– and for all the right reasons. Not The Mandalorian. sitting this one out, bad guy duties hyperspace, serving up a reminder
only does the effortlessly fun The premise – four ordinary fall to a gang of pirates. Although of why we fell in love with George
Skeleton Crew deliver a pitch- pre-teens get lost in space – is far the script goes a little heavy on Lucas’s universe in the first place.
perfect imitation of classic Amblin from original (Explorers, anyone?), clichés of the high seas – at times Even if the Skeleton Crew
movies from the ’80s, it’s also the but it’s tackled with such joy and Skeleton Crew feels like Pirates Of adventure ends here – and we
first Lucasfilm offering in ages that wonder that it really doesn’t The Caribbean in space – there’s a wouldn’t feel shortchanged if it
doesn’t require any advance matter. Rather like Luke pleasing Jabba’s Palace vibe to does – this likeable quartet of kids
revision to make sure you Skeleton Crew’s rogues’ gallery. deserved their time in the suns.
understand what’s going on. Doesn’t require Nick Frost has fun voicing Richard Edwards
Because Skeleton Crew is a
standalone adventure that just
any advance hench-droid SM-33, while Jude
Law’s Jod Na Nawood is a One episode was directed by Daniel

happens to use the vast Star Wars revision wonderful enigma, a self-styled
Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, creators of
Everything Everywhere All At Once.

78 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

YOUR FRIENDLY
“Just swing on
this caption
box, and I’ll be

NEIGHBORHOOD
off the page!”

SPIDER-MAN Season One

New Peter
full advantage, putting a fresh spin
UK/US Disney+, streaming now on familiar beats.
Creator Jeff Trammell Here Tony Stark isn’t Peter’s
Cast Hudson Thames, Kari Wahlgren, mentor; instead Norman Osborn
Grace Song, Eugene Byrd is – a smart move, which cleverly
subverts expectations. Norman’s But its beating heart is Peter’s scenes their simplicity is unable to
An energetic
EPISODES 1.01-1.10 investment in Peter may not support network. In particular, his capture the deep feelings
theme – starting with a sample of ultimately be in the young hero’s friends Nico (Grace Song) and characters should be conveying.
the 1967 cartoon theme before best interests, making their Lonnie (Eugene Byrd) will steal It’s arguably the only way the
launching into a rap – perfectly alliance a fascinating one to follow. audiences’ hearts, with the former series falters, though. Trammell
indicates what Your Friendly That’s just one way the series learning how to open herself up to and co have not only given us a
Neighborhood Spider-Man is all remixes lore. Fans will enjoy nods others, and the latter feeling fresh take on Spider-Man, but one
about: blending old and new in a to MCU history scattered forced to make difficult choices. that does justice to the character.
fun way. Depicting Peter Parker’s throughout, and it’s chock-a-block The show opts for a stripped- Emily Murray
early days as Spidey, its events take with characters from the comics, back aesthetic. For the most part
For a while, Jeff Trammell considered “de-
place on an alternate timeline, and including deeper cuts like Speed its colourful, cartoonish visuals ageing” Jessica Jones and including her as
showrunner Jeff Trammell takes Demon and Unicorn. work. However, in more emotional a classmate of Peter Parker.

SEVERANCE Season Two

Mark S, the
ball is in your
court. For
now, anyway.
Back to work
folders. Season one closed with
UK/US Apple TV+, Fridays, three “Innies” activated in the
streaming now outside world, Quantum Leap-ing
Creator Dan Erickson into the lives of their counterparts.
Cast Adam Scott, Zach Cherry, It’s a cliffhanger which initially
Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman requires considerable resetting to
put our heroes back in the box.
EPISODES 2.01-2.10 Arriving so long We’re told Lumon has learned and
after its debut run even dedicated changed due to their whistle-
admirers may have forgotten the blowing attempts… Yeah, right.
“previously on”, this new season of What follows is a box of delights
the dystopian workplace thriller is which deepens key relationships,
every inch the match of the first. expands the show’s horizons,
This is no difficult second album. unpacks further implications of Innie?” are explored. And you’re feels like a satisfying wrap-up (and
A quick reminder: it centres on the high concept, and delivers wry never far from a delightfully whose events leave you wondering
employees of Lumon Industries satire of corporate culture’s hollow absurdist touch like Miss Wong’s how key characters could continue
– part corporate behemoth, part rhetoric and petty humiliations. theremin, or Irving’s fruit head… to play a part). Fingers crossed for
Church of Scientology – who have A team-building retreat sees the We get answers to questions a season three green light, as
submitted to an implant which Innies camping in a snow- Lost might have dragged out for there’s so much more of this
bifurcates their existence. On shrouded national park. Romance another five seasons. Yes, Mark endlessly ingenious, linguistically
exiting the office, “Outies” retain blossoms between Mark (“really” does meet the wife he believed dextrous, flawlessly realised
no memory of their work day – a bereaved history professor) and was dead. And an explanation is universe left to explore. Ian Berriman
and the “Innies” of Macro Data Helly (“actually” the daughter of given for what he’s working on.
The animated “Lumon Is Listening”
Refinement are no wiser as to why Lumen’s CEO). Issues like “Is it It all culminates in a 75-minute corporate video in episode one features
they drag random numbers into cheating if you kiss your husband’s finale which (thematically at least) the voice of Keanu Reeves.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 79

 HOME ENTERTAINMENT

THE GORGE
Mind the gap
reliably charismatic Anya ketchup on her best blouse on a
RELEASED OUT NOW! Taylor-Joy is Drasa, the Eastern first date. In the months that
2025 | 15 | SVOD
Director Scott Derrickson
crack shot. Miles Teller –
troubled, earnest, just a little dull
– takes aim as Levi, the Western
follow they make snowmen and
dance adorably to the Ramones
before Levi finally abandons his
MERMAID LEGEND
Cast Anya Taylor-Joy, Miles Teller,
Sigourney Weaver, Sope Dirisu marksman. Standing guard in their post, zip-wiring over for dinner RELEASED OUT NOW!
respective towers on opposite and a shag. 1984 | 18 | Blu-ray
APPLE TV+ In romcoms they call it sides of the chasm, they are None of it feels true. This Director Toshiharu Ikeda
the “meet cute” – the moment two officially forbidden from making Hollywood adorability not only Cast Mari Shirato, Jun Etō,
potential lovers meet in contact. Naturally they begin a undermines the reality of these Kentarō Shimizu, Yoshirō Aoki
improbable circumstances. long-distance relationship, elite military veterans but the very
Released for Valentine’s Day, communicating via binoculars and threat at the heart of the story. BLU-RAY DEBUT Let’s get two

this perverse blend of date flick cheeky notes and flirty exchanges Wouldn’t simple survival instinct things straight for starters. This
and high-concept horror delivers of firepower. insist they spend every last second Japanese film doesn’t feature a
one of the stranger meet cutes in It’s here, in the very set-up, that anxiously levelling their guns at mermaid. And there’s no
movie history. In a remote the logic of it all begins to splinter. the canyon, awaiting the next reference to a legend. Someone
mountain range, two elite snipers Even after the gorge disgorges a onslaught? And why, given what’s call Trading Standards!
are drafted to keep watch above a horde of gnarly “Hollow Men”, ultimately revealed as the Director Toshiharu Ikeda is
mist-shrouded ravine, rumoured scuttling up the cliff face like a world-threatening scale of this best known for gruesome 1988
to be nothing less than the hungry zombie army, the cuteness threat, is it only held at bay by horror Evil Dead Trap. So it
gateway to Hell itself. continues, seemingly equally two snipers? confounds expectations that
It’s a top-level “containment unstoppable. Drasa holds up a sign The tone shifts and darkens at Mermaid Legend kicks off as a
strategy”, a pact by East and West saying “Best birthday ever” – as the halfway mark. As we head into sensitively drawn portrait of
initiated in the aftermath of the opposed to “What the actual the depths of the gorge itself, ruthless capitalism, in which
Second World War. Looking like f***?!” – and they laugh across the director Scott Derrickson (Doctor fishermen fall foul of the
a combat-ready wood sprite, the divide, as if she’s just spilled Strange, The Black Phone) machinations of developers.
A diver’s husband is
“So, uh, do
you come here
A perverse murdered while she’s
underwater. Surviving attempts
often?” “Oh, blend of date to off her too, the shell-shocked
you.”
flick and high- Migiwa (Mari Shirato) hides
out, eventually returning to
concept horror enact bloody vengeance.
As events progress, things
marshals some effectively become increasingly
nightmarish imagery. It’s a twisted heightened. Migiwa lives
fairy tale realm, seasoned with through impossible damage; by
bio-horror, where the bloodied the end, as she slashes a swathe
pincers of giant bugs emerge from through corporate suits, she’s
a forest of bones and branches, become an elemental force.
and skull-faced spiders break from This bravura 10-minute
the shadows. sequence alone makes a viewing
Pity, then, that it’s all in the worthwhile. A stumbling,
service of what often feels like a chaotic massacre, featuring
videogame narrative, generic high-pressure spurts of blood, it
sequences of assorted perils being looks like it must have been
blasted into bits by guns. utterly exhausting to film.
The Gorge has a great hook, and Extras Writer Takuya
eerie spectacle to spare. But it’s Nishioka (30 minutes) recalls
torn apart by its own divide, Ikeda as so “hard to deal with”
caught between romance and he tried to exit the project. A
terror and never quite finding the 20-min video essay on composer
sweet spot in-between. Toshiyuki Honda (whose wistful
Nick Setchfield theme impresses), picks out
some highlights of his jazz-funk
The Hollow Men are named after TS Eliot’s
1925 poem – also the inspiration for the
oeuvre. Plus: a rather dry critical
title of a Doctor Who novel. commentary; trailer. Ian Berriman

80 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

THE TERMINAL MAN
“Lie back and
try not to
think of killing
people.”
Runaway brain
seizures increasingly rapidly until
RELEASED 10 MARCH he’s tipped over the edge.
1974 | 15 | Blu-ray Misrepresented by poster art
Director Mike Hodges more suited to The Six Million
Cast George Segal, Joan Hackett, Dollar Man, it’s a deliberately
Richard A Dysart, Jill Clayburgh sterile affair, with a melancholy
Bach score. Denuded of human
BLU-RAY DEBUT Though the general warmth or colour (Hodges wanted
public were less enthusiastic, to shoot in black and white – this
Stanley Kubrick was an ardent was as close as he could get), it
admirer of this adaptation of a boasts some powerful imagery: a
Michael Crichton novel by the slow-mo waterbed killing; blood
director of Get Carter. trickling along the cracks between
It’s not hard to see why: in floor tiles, suggestive of the the director’s cut (which snips filmography (22 minutes), then
foregrounding its themes of destructive impulses firing some studio-mandated exposition pays tribute to cinematographer
depersonalisation, Mike Hodges through Benson’s synapses. designed to make Harry more Richard Kline (26 minutes). Berger
brings a chilly detachment to this Extras This Arrow Video release sympathetic). There are three new also contributes to a solid critical
tale of a man (George Segal) who offers both the theatrical cut and visual essays. Josh Nelson argues commentary.
has psychosurgery to control the persuasively that the film is a Plus: A nine-minute excerpt
seizures which induce blackouts A deliberately “misunderstood masterpiece” from 2022 doc Mike Hodges: A
and psychotic violence. (19 minutes). Howard S Berger Film-Maker’s Life; trailer; gallery;
It all goes horribly wrong, of sterile affair, with (who got to know both the men in booklet. Ian Berriman
course – Harry Benson’s brain
becomes addicted to the stimulus
a melancholy question) draws out a recurring
theme of “institutional The film’s look was heavily influenced

from electrodes, triggering the Bach score brainwashing” in Hodges’s

by Edward Hopper’s work, after Hodges
came across a book on the painter.

“Beryl! Fetch
the Deep Heat,
me bones are
flaring up.”
Blood Grandpa
spin on vampirism, elevated by the
RELEASED OUT NOW! old man’s touching relationship
1992 | 15 | 4K/Blu-ray with his mute granddaughter, and
Director Guillermo del Toro eccentric character work. Ron
Cast Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Perlman excels as a heavy tasked
Claudio Brook, Margarita Isabel with acquiring the device; Angel is
a thug, but with his sardonic
Great filmmakers don’t manner and plastic surgery
usually arrive fully formed, but obsession, one with personality.
Guillermo del Toro did: his debut And as we’ve come to expect from
is a compendium of images and del Toro, the craftmanship behind
themes that he’d later obsessively the world-building is hugely
revisit, from sympathetic monsters impressive.
and family melodrama to innocent Extras Few directors are more Also fresh: a del Toro interview Also familiar are a 2006 Luppi
children and scuttling roaches. articulate, passionate and open with a French critic (34 minutes). interview (five minutes), and 1987
Federico Luppi is Mexico City about their inspirations, aims and He’s further represented via an short “Geometria” (six minutes), a
antiques dealer Jesús Gri, who methods – something evidenced on-stage BFI talk (74 minutes, lurid tale of a boy who summons a
discovers a mysterious golden across del Toro’s six appearances 2017) and two 2010 interviews demon. The director also discusses
artefact. Invented by an alchemist, in this two-disc BFI set. (18/60 minutes). The latter stems that (seven minutes). Plus: trailer; a
it can grant immortality by Jason Wood’s new expert from the 2011 Blu-ray, as does a comprehensive gallery (15 minutes
filtering your blood. But such commentary is solid, though both chat with DOP Guillermo Navarro long!); 60-page booklet; four
rejuvenation comes at a cost… this and an old producers’ one pale (13 minutes). A Ron Perlman postcards; poster. Ian Berriman
Toying with religious imagery in comparison to del Toro’s 2002 interview (seven minutes), in
One inspiration for the Cronos device was
(it’s no coincidence Gri’s wounded yack track, which delivers all the which he calls the film “life- the maquech beetle, sometimes adorned
in the palm) it’s a highly original granular detail you could want. altering”, is of a similar vintage. with jewels and worn as a living brooch.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 81

 HOME ENTERTAINMENT

THE WITCHER:
Even Geralt
forgets which
sign does

SIRENS OF THE DEEP

what.

Something fishy
Witcher’s voice is Doug Cockle,
RELEASED OUT NOW! who played Geralt in the
2025 | 15 | SVOD videogames. Studio MIR provides
Director Kang Hei Chul the anime visuals again, delivering
Cast Doug Cockle, Joey Batey, atmospheric combat sequences.
Anya Chalotra, Christina Wren The folklore plundered for the
plot is the tale of the Little
NETFLIX Set during the first Mermaid, with a dash of Romeo
season of the TV show, Sirens Of And Juliet. Geralt is hired to rid
The Deep comes two years after Bremervoord of a monster which Essi, who falls for the Witcher, It’s better paced and more
The Witcher’s last live-action has been eating local pearl although her role and affection for thrilling than the recent LOTR
episode and four since the harvesters. Meanwhile, the prince Geralt seem undercooked to make animation The War Of The
previous animated film of Bremervoord is in love with the space for secondary characters. Rohirrim. Themes of greed,
(Nightmare Of The Wolf). It’s mermaid Sh’eenaz. Bremervoord Several sequences occur in the prejudice and compromise run
based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s is Jaskier’s home, and he merfolk’s underwater kingdom, throughout, and there’s a great
1992 story “A Little Sacrifice”, introduces Geralt to old friend giving us not-entirely-welcome twist, with an outcome vastly
although details have been added Aquaman flashbacks, and there are different from the source material.
with wild abandon. There are some some rather peculiar tonal shifts: Purists may despair… Dave Bradley
Joey Batey (Jaskier) and Anya
Chalotra (Yennefer) reprise their
rather peculiar we’re treated to a song by the sea
witch Melusina, creating an A new Witcher novel, Rozdroże Kruków

roles from the series, but the tonal shifts unexpected Disney vibe.
(Ravens’ Crossroad), came out in Poland in
November. No word yet on a translation.

MOM THE BABY IN CARA THE DEAD THING

RELEASED OUT NOW! THE BASKET RELEASED OUT NOW! RELEASED OUT NOW!
2025 | 15 | Download 2025 | N/A | Download 2025 | N/A | SVOD
RELEASED OUT NOW!
The real monster in this 2025 | 15 | DVD/download Fearing an imminent return SHUDDER This indie horror

neatly circular little ghost story to a mental institution, a basically asks “What if you
is the lack of appropriate Say what you will about the psychologically troubled were ghosted by a ghost?”. After
psychiatric care offered to new Devil but he certainly puts it internet camgirl takes revenge the alienated Alex takes a shine
parents. Poor Meredith is about. The latest entry in the on an abusive world in this to her latest app hook-up, Kyle,
struggling with a newborn and Satan-spawn genre finds a indie horror. she sees him with another
a completely useless partner – demonic bundle of joy left on Building to a viciously woman – then is shocked to
but when she tells her therapist the doorstep of a remote bloody, borderline absurd learn that he died a while ago.
that she’s seeing ghosts and Scottish monastery, to be cared finale, this is a tough, frequently It’s a challenging role for
fantasising about murder, no for by an order of nuns. grisly watch, anchored by Elle former New Mutant Blu Hunt
actual help is offered. This Luciferian riff on the O’Hara’s performance as Cara, (certain sequences resemble
So while, yes, there are a Moses myth is well-shot and as steely as she’s vulnerable. trippy POV porn), who acquits
couple of decent jump scares benefits from a real world Hallucinatory scenes show herself well. But they should
and some truly horrible gore location. But the storytelling director Hayden Hewitt has a have splashed on grotesque car
images, what’s really scary is often feels stilted, and despite gift for horror imagery, but it’s crash victim prosthetics for the
how plausibly tragic the whole some effective atmosphere the more grounded moments undead Kyle. And ultimately it
heartbreaking story feels. there’s a lack of essential dread. that prove the most disturbing. all boils down to a controlling
Sarah Dobbs Extras None. Nick Setchfield Nick Setchfield boyfriend drama. Ian Berriman

82 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW
MASSACRE 2
The family that slays together LEGEND OF THE
Following radio DJ Stretch
(Caroline Williams) as she
predecessor, it’s not the
catastrophic failure many once
8 SAMURAI
RELEASED OUT NOW!
1986 | 18 | 4K/Blu-ray investigates the cannibal clan, and derided it as. RELEASED OUT NOW!
Director Tobe Hooper relishing white trash culture as Extras Arrow Video’s two-disc 1983 | 15 | Blu-ray
Cast Dennis Hopper, Caroline enthusiastically as a John Waters Limited Edition is a significant Director Kinji Fukasaku
Williams, Jim Siedow, Bill Moseley film, it boasts some vivid upgrade on their 2017 release. The Cast Hiroko Yakushimaru, Hiroyuki
performances. A post-rehab only new commissions are two Sanada, Etsuko Shihomi
How do you follow up one of Dennis Hopper brings steely visual essays (24/14 minutes). One
the greatest horror films of all intensity to his role as a cowboy- argues that the film “questions the BLU-RAY DEBUT This bonkers

time? Tobe Hooper’s solution: by hatted, saw-wielding avenger validity of Reaganomics”; the dark fantasy represented a
deploying a tone completely at (uncle of the ’74 film’s Sally), and other compares it to European second bite of the apple for
variance from the original. Bill Moseley is off-the-hook as films like WR: Mysteries Of The director Kinji Fukasaku. Like
While The Texas Chain Saw deranged Vietnam vet Chop Top. Organism. The target audience for his 1978 Star Wars cash-in
Massacre has a gruelling sense of Tom Savini’s gore effects such genre-gentrifying Message From Space (a previous
realism and bleakness, its belated impress in a high-octane opening windbaggery remains unclear. Eureka! Masters Of Cinema
sequel is an outrageously OTT which sees an unlikeable yuppie Bonuses carried over from 2017 release), it’s a loose take on 19th
effort which embraces black sawed in the head from a moving provide two highlights: 2006’s It century epic novel Satomi
humour, to campy effect. This vehicle. So does the nightmarish Runs In The Family, an excellent Hakkenden.
pleased few at the time, but production design of the Sawyers’ feature-length doc (82 minutes); Legend Of The 8 Samurai
decades later Hooper’s attempt to labyrinthine underground lair. So and a talking head by the similarly looks to the West, its
do something different can be while 2 exists in the shadow of its ever-astute Stephen Thrower writer advised to draw not only
better appreciated. harrowing, vérité-style (29 minutes, 2013). from George Lucas’s space
opera, but Indiana Jones. Flash
“Oh come on Dennis Hopper Gordon also leaps to mind.
now, put a
brave face on brings steely Featuring blasts of cheesy soft
rock, it’s all turned up to 11.
it.” intensity Following an escaped
princess who gathers eight
Goodies from editions by Shout “dog-warriors” to take on the
Factory (2016) and Vinegar undead clan who slaughtered
Syndrome (2022) have also been her family, it’s a stylish
hoovered up. Altogether there are production, richly stocked with
10 interview pieces (totalling 203 extravagant costuming and sets
minutes); stand-outs include – one sword fight unfolds before
Williams, who “loved every a gorgeous mural riffing on
minute” despite becoming “a map Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss”.
of bruises”, and a stuntman who It boasts some fabulous
calls the shoot “a grind of souls”. supernatural elements: an old
Plus: three cast/crew crone who turns into a giant
commentaries; further interviews centipede; an enormous flying
shot for Cannon Films doc Electric snake. So you can easily see why
Boogaloo (40 minutes); offcuts it was the most successful
from It Runs (30 minutes); a Japanese-made film of 1984.
locations trip (25 minutes); Extras A video essay (16
behind-the-scenes footage (43 minutes) provides an excellent
minutes); deleted scenes (11 summary of production matters.
minutes, from VHS); trailers/TV The late director’s son discusses
spots; galleries; booklet; poster; his attitudes and working
five postcards. Ian Berriman methods (25 minutes). A critical
commentary proves somewhat
Bill Moseley was cast as a result of making
a parodic short film entitled The Texas
monotonous. Plus: trailer;
Chainsaw Manicure. booklet. Ian Berriman

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 83

 HOME ENTERTAINMENT

DOCTOR VAMPIRE
“You might
feel a very
large prick.”

Horror Hospital
couldn’t throw martial arts blows
RELEASED OUT NOW! from a distance, or fire laser beams
1990 | 15 | Blu-ray from his eyes…
Director Jamie Luk The comedy is broad and
Cast Bowie Lam, Ellen Chan, juvenile. The medic’s sidekicks act
Sheila Chan, Peter Kjaer more like frat boys than surgeons.
In one scene, a nurse who bursts
BLU-RAY DEBUT Belatedly riding in on them examining their
the coat-tails of Ricky Lau’s Mr friend’s bite marks leaps to the
Vampire, this horror-comedy conclusion that they’re fellating
mixes things up by substituting him. Another sequence sees a
the Western vampire for the vampirised patient shambling
“hopping corpse” jiangshi of about with a prominent boner.
Chinese folklore. Bowie Lam’s The script still raises the odd turns up in Hong Kong, prompting dominance”), a video essay (22
young surgeon is bitten during a chuckle, but the movie is only some satisfyingly acrobatic action. minutes) details filmic examples of
trip to England (amusingly really saved when the caucasian Just be prepared for references to times when the usual defences
depicted as a place where your Big Bad – a curly-haired Count “sissies” and an AIDS gag en route. against vampires don’t work. This
local castle may contain a pub/ rocking (shudder) a ponytail – Extras In a talking head (20 Eureka! release also includes
brothel). On returning home, he minutes), academic Stacey Abbott chatty, jovial commentaries by two
starts to develop a taste for the red
stuff – and wearing a black cloak.
The medic’s draws useful (if obvious) parallels
to the likes of Vamp and The Lost
different pairs of Hong Kong
cinema experts, and comes with a
It’s a tradition the film seems sidekicks act Boys. When not getting bogged booklet. Ian Berriman
curiously unengaged in, too busy
inventing its own eccentric lore
more like frat down in describing the plot (or
throwing around phrases like The castle is Allington Castle, in Kent.

– last time we checked, Dracula boys “patriarchal and colonial

Filming for the 1965 The Avengers episode
“Castle De’ath” took place there too.

GOLEM
“Mmm fmm
mmmffmfm
ffmmm
mmffmm.”
A made man
world of Dickensian squalor.
RELEASED OUT NOW! Marek Walczewski plays the blank
1979 | 15 | Blu-ray slate (but good-hearted) product
Director Piotr Szulkin of an ill-defined “humankind
Cast Krystyna Janda, Marek reconstruction programme”
Walczewski, Joanna Żółkowska aiming to create a “better, more
resilient human” – though the
BLU-RAY DEBUT Polish filmmaker balding, cardigan-wearing Permat
Piotr Szulkin’s profile in the West is clearly no ubermensch.
got a boost last year via a Radiance A string of random encounters
box set release. Second Sight now follows, often with belligerent
expand the picture with his debut. characters – a police interrogator;
Like his later works, it’s an a ranting student; a brusque,
idiosyncratic, gloomy, satirical one-armed lift operator. There are Extras Sight & Sound writer MCMLXXVI” (four minutes) sees
take on sci-fi – though the director surrealist touches aplenty: the Michael Brooke provides a very an apple slowly pulverised by an
himself preferred the term “asocial windows of a building flap open well-informed commentary; industrial press – an apt metaphor
fiction”. Gustav Meyrink’s 1915 and shut, almost as if it’s alive; a drawing on interviews and a for life in the Polish People’s
novel The Golem is an accredited marching band endlessly novella version Szulkin wrote Republic? Two more are, well,
source, but as Szulkin found that rehearses the same two steps. years later, it’s highly illuminating. indescribable accumulations of
indigestible (resorting to asking a The overall effect is both bleak The are four early shorts by non-sequiturs. Plus: storyboards
friend to summarise chapters) it’s and baffling, but as absorbing as a the director. “Wszystko” for that fruit-torturing short;
more a distillation of fragments vivid cheese dream. There are (“Everything”, seven minutes) 20-page booklet. Ian Berriman
than an adaptation per se. echoes of Franz Kafka and Andrei simply records a refuse collector
The opening titles use Albertus – the same
Painted in mouldy green hues, Tarkovsky, and Terry Gilliam expertly spinning bins to the cart. font deployed on John Carpenter films like
it’s set post-global nuclear war, in a would probably feel at home too. “Copyright Film Polski Escape From New York and The Thing.

84 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 NOW ON DIGITAL FORMATS The Damned • Kraven The Hunter • Moana 2 • Nosferatu • Rumours • The Universal Theory

Both: “How

ROUND UP
do you get
your hair like
that?”

SATAN’S BLOOD
RELEASED 28 FEBRUARY Hugh Grant flexes some
1978 | 18 | Blu-ray different acting muscles in
A24 horror HERETIC (out
Director Carlos Puerto now, 4K/Blu-ray/DVD), in
Cast Ángel Aranda, Sandra Alberti, which two young Mormon
Mariana Karr, José María Guillén missionaries visit his Mr
Reed, then find they’ve
BLU-RAY DEBUT Testing the been locked in… We said:
moral boundaries of post- “A tense, talky thriller
which thrusts fascinating
Franco Spain, this entry in theological questions to
the Eurosleaze canon may the forefront gives way to
introduce itself with a sober, something much sillier.”

MASTERS OF
Open University-style lecture Sole bonus: a commentary
by writer/directors Scott
on black magic – “There exists
Beck and Bryan Woods.
an aesthetic of evil” – but its Set 200 years before
titillating intentions soon Frodo’s time, anime movie

THE UNIVERSE
become clear as a pair of THE LORD OF THE
newlyweds find themselves in RINGS: THE WAR OF THE
ROHIRRIM (3 March, 4K/
the clutches of occultists. Blu-ray/DVD) explores the
With only four main players conflict that gave Helm’s
and one key location, it’s Deep its name. We said:
essentially a creepy, lusty
chamber piece, exploiting the
Being He-Man “Spirited performances
and a rich seam of
references ensure this is a
fear and fascination of the ’70s least the makers of the upcoming worthy prequel.” Extras:
swingers’ scene. The Satanic RELEASED OUT NOW! movie know what not to do. three featurettes (27
seduction premise is a slim 1987 | PG | Blu-ray Extras The interviews on this minutes). In German-
excuse for the orgiastic action, 88 Films Collector’s Edition – language thriller THE
Director Gary Goddard UNIVERSAL THEORY (out
but it rallies for an authentically Cast Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella, Lundgren (13 minutes), director now, Blu-ray), a physicist
nightmarish final sequence, as Meg Foster, Courteney Cox Gary Goddard (44 minutes), attending a conference is
illogical as it is haunting. producer Ed Pressman (seven tangled up in a mystery
Extras New bonus content BLU-RAY DEBUT Masters Of The minutes), co-writer Stephen involving a series of
for this 4K restoration includes Universe landed too late to Tolkin (four minutes) and strange deaths and
something dangerous in
an astute personal appreciation capitalise on either the post-Star production designer William Stout the heart of the Alps. We
by writer Stephen Thrower (49 Wars fantasy slipstream or the (10 minutes) – were conducted for said: “There’s a sweeping
minutes) and an equally popularity of the He-Man toys and 2014 documentary Electric grandeur to the visuals…
informed look at the career of cartoon. With no iconic theme Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story The plot is less effective: a
string of bizarre incidents.”
producer Juan Piquer Simón by tune, no Prince Adam and few of Of Cannon Films. So a significant Bonuses? Nein. As you’ll
Kim Newman (20 minutes). the franchise’s heroes and villains, chunk of the chat concerns the surely know, WICKED
There’s also an enjoyably this overly serious live-action now-defunct studio and its (10 March, Blu-ray/DVD)
exhaustive survey of ’70s adaptation also bears little relation unconventional owners. Beyond adapts the hit musical
Satanic cinema (26 minutes), an to the gloriously silly source. that, the filmmakers discuss the centred on Elphaba (aka
the Wicked Witch of the
overview of Spanish horror (13 In addition, the magic of Eternia challenges of working on a West) and Glinda (… the
minutes), and a commentary by is lost as the adventure relocates to franchise that was already in Good). We said: “Has all
experts Jonathan Rigby and Earth, with local kids Julie and decline, while also accommodating the makings of a superior
Kevin Lyons. Kevin (Friends’ Courteney Cox Mattel’s strict guidelines. musical movie moment.”
Bonuses: a sing-along
An archival retrospective (47 and Star Trek: Voyager’s Robert There’s also an old commentary
version; 10 deleted scenes;
minutes) talks to cast and crew. Duncan McNeill) proving a poor by the director, and a wonderfully a 46-minute Making Of;
There’s also an interview with substitute for Ram Man, Orko, retro 1987 featurette (five three featurettes; two
composer Librado Pastor Trap Jaw and co. minutes). Plus: gallery; trailers; commentaries (director
(19 minutes), who performs Frank Langella does his best to picture book; poster. Richard Edwards Jon M Chu/the two leads).
Finally, the latest TV box
some classic themes (nine ham things up as Skeletor, but set is THE MANDALORIAN
Skeletor minion Pigboy was played by
minutes). Plus: trailer, gallery, Dolph Lundgren does little more eight-year-old Richard Szponder, who’d Season Three (out now,
booklet. Nick Setchfield than look the part as He-Man. At won a competition to appear in the movie. 4K & Blu-ray).

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 85

 BOOKS

as Juna’s – and, by extension,

Mae’s – thought processes and
fears have nowhere to hide. With
everything they know about this
world based on tiny, often
unreliable snippets of information,
it feels appropriate that the reader
is never granted the status of a
privileged observer.
The creatures and landscapes
described are so out of the THE FROZEN
ordinary that it’s hard to get a true
picture of what’s out there (it’s
also dark outside), adding to the
PEOPLE
moon’s mystique. Indeed, while RELEASED OUT NOW!
some books feel like thinly veiled 352 pages | Hardback/ebook/
“Come and get me!” pleas to audiobook
Hollywood, Shroud is defiantly Author Elly Griffiths
uncinematic, a novel perfectly

SHROUD
Publisher Quercus
engineered for its medium.
There are definite echoes of Elly Griffiths knows her
Alien Clay, Tchaikovsky’s similarly way around a crime thriller,
brilliant 2024 SF novel, as Shroud having penned the popular Dr
evokes an unrelatable Ruth Galloway series (among
extraterrestrial world. It’s also others). With The Frozen People
Strange New World reminiscent of Andy Weir’s Project
Hail Mary in the way it explores
she’s tackling sci-fi, although
the book’s fantastical elements
are presented without
Shroud, a freaky moon with no
light, stronger-than-Earth gravity,
A novel sensationalism, enabling her to
continue that mainstream,
RELEASED 27 FEBRUARY
438 pages | Hardback/ebook/audiobook and a soupy, poisonous, high- perfectly down-to-earth realism.
Author Adrian Tchaikovsky
Publisher Tor
pressure atmosphere that makes it
entirely hostile to humans.
engineered for Here we’re introduced to
detective Ali Dawson and her
Weirder still, the constant noise its medium engaging cold-case team. On
Space-set science fiction can across the entire electromagnetic behalf of the British
fall anywhere between big, spectrum prevents their probes the difficulties of communicating government, their task is to
cerebral ideas, and the adventure from returning any significant data with species when you don’t have investigate past crimes by
and excitement we crave from about what’s down there. In short, a Universal Translator, or any time-travelling back to witness
Star Wars. Adrian Tchaikovsky’s it’s the complete antithesis of the shared frame of reference. who did what. They can’t stop
latest, Shroud, manages to straddle friendly, oxygen-rich M-Class Tchaikovsky sympathises with anything from happening, but
both extremes, as the author worlds that are the bread and both his human protagonists and they can at least find out the
delivers a pacy adventure that butter of Star Trek – and the sort Shroud’s unconventional fauna in truth. Which is all well and
keeps you thinking, even when its of hellscape where great tales of a book that revels in questioning good, until Ali travels back to
protagonists are in extreme peril. survival are born. both perception and perspective. London in the 1850s and can’t
In this standalone tale, the Juna and snappy engineer Mai His strategic deployment of get home again. Meanwhile, in
human race has left Earth far Ste Etienne are the unfortunate literary devices also keeps you the present day, the murder of
behind, as greedy corporations crewmembers marooned on the guessing throughout – once you’ve an MP complicates everything.
colonise the galaxy in the name of surface with only a two-person finished, there are several passages Ali and her acquaintances are
profit. They make no secret of the walking craft to protect them from you’ll want to revisit with the impeccably drawn, fleshed out
fact that their employees are little the lethal conditions outside. They benefit of hindsight. so convincingly that you can
more than a commodity, can’t see much on their If any of that makes Shroud feel visualise them as clearly as
chemically and genetically viewscreens, but that may be a like hard work, it really isn’t. The characters from, say, Slow
manipulated to work in outer blessing, seeing as Tchaikovsky’s “solve one problem, here’s Horses. There’s a similar
space. In order to protect the story is set in an inventive – and another” storytelling ramps up the grubby reality to Griffiths’s
bottom line, they’re kept in genuinely alien – ecosystem. tension, which Tchaikovsky is descriptions of life in London
hibernation until their services Because despite appearing to tick equally adept at dissipating with a past and present, while the
are required. none of the boxes usually required smart quip. Remarkably, this is his book’s slow-burn mystery is fab.
Narrator Juna Ceelander is for life, Shroud is absolutely fourth novel in the space of a year If you wanted to be picky,
a professional go-between, a teeming with the stuff. Most of it (plus a couple of novellas), but you could argue the big finale
competent but unspectacular is unfriendly, and one ubiquitous being prolific is clearly no barrier whooshes by too quickly. But as
member of the “Special Projects” species even exhibits signs of to quality. RIchard Edwards this is the start of a series, there
team, and the management glue intelligence. will be plenty of time to
Next up from Tchaikovsky is Bee Speaker,
that holds them together. They’re Telling the story in the first the third novel in his near-future-set Dogs
luxuriate in the eventual sequel.
assigned to research the titular person is a wise narrative choice, Of War series. It’s due for release in June. Jayne Nelson

86 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

FUTURE’S EDGE SPELLS, STRINGS
RELEASED OUT NOW! AND FORGOTTEN
320 pages | Paperback/ebook
Author Gareth L Powell THINGS
Publisher Titan Books
RELEASED 27 FEBRUARY
Having already written a 400 pages | Paperback/ebook
trilogy starring a gun-wielding, Author Breanne Randall

PAGANS
fighter-pilot monkey (the Publisher Aria
Ack-Ack Macaque saga), Gareth
Powell is clearly an author In a small Californian town,
unafraid to let his freak flag fly. three sister-witches run a shop
Future’s Edge, at first glance, selling tea and books. They
feels like it could capture a
similarly lurid approach, but
Tribal Gathering spend their spare time at home
with their cats, baking.
what we get is an oddly murdered in a brutal and Everything seems perfect; their
haphazard space opera that RELEASED 27 FEBRUARY ritualistic manner. It falls on lives are basically a Pinterest
never quite figures out its 292 pages | Hardback/ebook/audiobook two cops with very different board the author has labelled
dramatic tone. Author James Alistair Henry backgrounds – well-connected “Cosy vibes”.
The book follows Ursula Publisher Moonflower Books London homicide cop Aedith But all is not what it seems.
Morrow, an ex-archaeologist Mercia and a Celtic detective, Calliope, Eurydice and Thalia
stranded in an alien refugee The north-south divide has Drustan of Dumnonia – to lost their mother years before,
camp thanks to an incursion of been a feature of British life for as investigate. A serial killer, it seems, a disappearance tied to a
multi-dimensional entities long as anyone can remember. But is on the loose. mysterious magical Dark Oak
trying to wipe out all life in the what about the east-west divide? Viewed purely as a crime (basically a MacGuffin – the
galaxy. Most of humanity is It’s a gap, contends James Alistair thriller, Pagans – the first part in tree isn’t really given much
already dead, and Ursula might Henry, that still affects us a planned trilogy – works explanation). A dark witch
be key to saving what’s left culturally today. In the novelist’s beautifully, blessed with a plot named Lucien starts hanging
thanks to her encounter with reading, the Saxon east is a that snaps into place at the end around, a man Calliope can’t
an ancient alien artefact. She’s dog-eat-dog place, whereas the without ever seeming forced or stop thinking about – usually
drafted in to help by her soldier Celtic west is rather more chilled. contrived, and leads who are good naked. And nasty wraiths are
ex-boyfriend, who’s now Demonstrating this case is company. Better still, the issues on the prowl, with murder on
married to an intelligent complicated by the invasion of the book deals with – identity, their minds.
starship. But of course. 1066, which overlaid a new ruling racism and the divide between As you may have worked out,
Powell is clearly aiming for class upon England. But what nationalists and internationalists it’s all a bit Charmed (although
a rambunctious, Firefly- might the country look like had – are handled adroitly. the sex scenes here would make
influenced adventure here, but this never occurred? What would Henry’s world-building is those TV-friendly ladies blush).
the characterisation is a polytheistic London be like to arguably less impressive, although It’s also a jolly rehash of several
surprisingly flat, only move through? a more charitable reading here current BookTok trends and
occasionally feeling truly These are questions Henry might be that he has an awful lot magical tropes, none of them
compelling. And the bleaker answers in Pagans via an approach of details to sketch in, which particularly original, but all of
story elements like Ursula’s past rooted in alternate history, one in sometimes weighs the book down. them perfectly readable.
alcoholism and the multiple which the Normans never skewed Nevertheless, by the end of the It’s just a shame that the
ruminations on humanity’s Britain’s story, with a book you’re anticipating the next prose is so pretentiously
extinction sit oddly next to the Scandinavian-tinged police volume. An exercise in slipstream flowery and stuffed with
flip humour and the regular procedural taking place against a crime fiction more than good descriptional clichés –
Casablanca homages. backdrop of talks to unite the enough to give the likes of Ben characters have “fathomless”
Future’s Edge needed to fully Celtic West, Saxon East and Aaronovitch and Adam Simcox a eyes “the colour of a storm-
embrace either its colourful Nordic Scotland. run for their money. tossed sea”, or “honey-wheat
weirdness or its gritty darkness, There are powerful forces that Jonathan Wright hair”, for example. Once you
and instead ends up in don’t much like the idea of a new start noticing these tics, they’ll
Pagans has been optioned for Apple TV+
unbalanced territory. nation, however, as becomes clear by production company Media Res (The
jar you out of the plot like a slap
Saxon Bullock when a Celtic diplomat is Morning Show, Scenes From A Marriage). to the face. Jayne Nelson

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 87

 BOOKS

THE ART OF THE Fledgeling

Great Eagle

LORD OF THE
art by Aisha
Ari Hagiwara.

RINGS: THE WAR A THOUSAND BLUES

OF THE ROHIRRIM
Drawing from the past
RELEASED 13 MARCH
268 pages | Hardback/ebook/
audiobook
Author Cheon Seon-ran
Publisher Doubleday

Two Towers is analysed, adapted horses they had to animate for For those of us of a certain
RELEASED 27 FEBRUARY and built upon with great a battle. Or art director Adam disposition (and, um, age), a
256 pages | Hardback sensitivity, no doubt thanks to the Middleton complaining that Peter few bars of the theme for The
Authors Daniel Falconer inclusion of Middle-earth experts Jackson had already shot all the Adventures Of Black Beauty are
Publisher HarperCollins Alan Lee and John Howe, plus a best angles of Helm’s Deep. Or enough to get us all misty-eyed.
wealth of expertise from LOTR that a designer’s pet Java sparrow, Once a horse fan, always a
The story of Helm stalwarts Wēta. Author Daniel Chai, was used as a reference for horse fan. So this writer may
Hammerhand and his hitherto- Falconer, who worked as a the eagles. not be the most objective
unnamed daughter Héra, this concept artist on the film, The end result, like the film, is reviewer for a book about two
anime version of one of Tolkien’s interviews all the leading voices a world you can get lost in – albeit teenage girls and a robot
untold tales is a lot better than its here, from producer Philippa with a few reservations, the plotting to save the life of an
disappointing box office would Boyens to director Kenji misspelling of Dominic ailing racehorse.
suggest. Much of the Kamiyama and everyone Monaghan’s name being one of Ten years from now, robots
reason for that is in between. them. Whoops. have taken over every job from
beautifully laid out in He uncovers fun titbits, too: Jayne Nelson bank clerk to… jockey? Yes, in
this book. for example, the Japanese this translation of an award-
Rohan’s landscapes riff on its New Zealand
The Rohan society team expressing abject film locations, with added mountains from
winning Korean novel, the
we first met in The horror at the number of Islamabad and Switzerland. replacement of human riders
with lighter-weight robots
means racehorses are breaking
records and raking in ever more
filthy lucre.
The fact that our four-legged
friends – like former champion
King Helm, by Today – are also burning out
Miyako Takasu faster is just a minor detail for
and Sato. their owners. Not so for sisters
Eunhye and Yeonjae; or for
Coli, Today’s wrecked robot
jockey, who is rescued from the
scrapheap by Yeonjae. Their
plan? To run the slowest race
that Today has ever done.
ARTWORK © 2024 WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.

On the face of it, this is a very

A Snow-Troll simple tale. The novel is even
concept by structured so that we know
John Howe. Heraldry by (part of ) the end right from the
Tamiko start. But the heartstring-
Kanamori. tugging glimpses of a sad
injured pony are cleverly
layered with a multi-
generational backstory about
Hèra concepts the various impacts of
by Stato and technological change on
Miyako people’s lives. Lovely stuff.
Helm in both Takasu. Nic Clarke
regular gear
and armour.
88 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025
 REISSUES
Our pick of the
paperbacks is Taran
Matharu’s epic fantasy
DRAGON RIDER ( ,
27 February,
HarperVoyager) – the YA

LONDON UNCANNY SMALL FIRES GREENTEETH

author’s first “grown-up”
novel. It follows Jai, son of
an executed
rebel, who
RELEASED OUT NOW! RELEASED 27 FEBRUARY RELEASED OUT NOW! lives as a
240 pages | Hardback/ebook 300 pages | Paperback/ebook/ 279 pages | Paperback/ebook/ hostage in the
Sabine Court.
Author Clive Bloom audiobook audiobook When it
Publisher Bloomsbury Academic Author Ronnie Turner Author Molly O’Neill descends into
Publisher Orenda Books Publisher Orbit Books chaos after a
Alan Moore’s recent novel coup, he takes the chance
The Great When explores the Once upon a time, there A long-haired, green- to escape, taking with him
notion that London has a were two sisters who killed skinned woman mythologised a handmaiden and a
dragon egg which he “soul
shadow self – a fantastical other their parents. Or maybe it was as evil, but who has more of a bonds” with. An epic
realm where all of humanity’s just one of them? Neither sister heart than you might have journey of survival follows.
ideas about the city are made was convicted of a crime, but believed… no, it’s not the We said: “The prose is
manifest. Though Moore everyone knew their story, so Wicked Witch of the West, but colourful and the
worldbuilding impressive…
himself features only fleetingly they ran away to the other side Jenny Greenteeth, a “river-hag”
An exciting adventure ripe
in London Uncanny, this “gothic of the country to build a new of English folklore, who takes with ideas and passion.”
guide to the capital in weird life on a haunted island. on a quest to save her new Scott Alexander Howard’s
history and fiction” offers a Unfortunately, the stories friends in this engaging debut debut THE OTHER
similar thesis. followed them… by Molly O’Neill. VALLEY ( ,
27 February, Atlantic) has
Clive Bloom’s book is about The act of storytelling shapes Jenny is shocked when a an intriguing setup. A
the resonances between real everything in this book, as witch is thrown into her lake coming of age tale, it
life strangeness and fictional everyone from kids to creepy one spring day. Despite her centres on a 16-year-old
events, taking in everything old women in the woods has a carnivorous nature, she chooses girl living in
from Edgar Allan Poe to David tale (or 12) to tell. The main to rescue Temperance and one of a
succession
Bowie, Hammer horror and narrative is told from two learns of the new parson who is of identical
Arthur Machen via the perspectives: Lily, the younger, stirring up hatred in the local valleys. Head
Invisible Man, Hellraiser and prettier sister that everyone village. Except he’s not just a west and
Aleister Crowley. likes; and Silas, an islander who parson but in fact the Erl King you’ll find the
same town
For example, one section of hopes to extricate Lily from the of European myths, come to 20 years in the past; head
the book moves from the clutches of her older, scarier spread his evil to a Britain east, and it’s 20 years in
infamous Enfield Haunting to sister Della. whose magic is dying. Joined by the future. By seeing some
ghosts of a very different kind: But no matter who’s talking, goblin tinker Brackus, Jenny visitors from the future,
ABBA Voyage, the hit stage the prose is flowery and archaic and Temperance begin a Odile realises that her
friend is going to die…
show in the Queen Elizabeth – so much so that it’s jarring journey around the isles to find We said: “Lyrically written,
Olympic Park, where eerie when someone mentions a way to stop him causing and has a solidly gripping
hologram avatars of the listening to a podcast, because further devastation. plot… A moving and
four-piece, forever younger otherwise the events described This is a charming tale of quietly beautiful novel.”
Finally, Jinwoo Chong’s
than their actual years, play the could be happening a hundred British folklore and landscape satirical debut FLUX
hits. That in turn is linked to years ago. It should be that explores friendship, family ( , 4 March, Melville
Charles Babbage and the enchanting, but it feels too ties and belonging, as well as House) follows three
earliest computers, and then to stilted to ring true. the confusion of conflicting interconnecting characters
the literal auto-eroticism of JG More irritating is the attempt identities in a changing world. as their lives spin out of
control – one a guy whose
Ballard’s novel Crash. to construct a twist by clumsily Jenny’s struggles with her obsession with an ’80s
There will likely be moments obfuscating the details of the painful past and uncertain cop show
reading London Uncanny where stories our characters tell. future are gradually revealed, starts to
you scratch your head at some Everything comes down to the and though you’re never really bleed into
reality after
of Bloom’s connections. This sisters – “one bitter, one sweet” in doubt about the ending, the
he agrees to
feels less like a book with a – and which is the final twists and turns are brain scans
coherent point than a flâneur- untrustworthy one, but there’s cleverly played out. for a
ish stroll through the city’s no true mystery there, just a lot It’s a warm-hearted, shadowy tech
history, both real and imagined. of portentous waffle. satisfying read that shines with startup. We said: “A
beautiful and strange
Nevertheless it’s always Maybe not all stories are O’Neill’s love for the source book, with a sardonic wit
engaging, strange and suitably worth telling. mythology. and a bitingly cynical view
mind-altering. Will Salmon Sarah Dobbs Rhian Drinkwater of corporate culture.”

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 89

 BOOKS

ALSO OUT
As ever, there’s plenty
more books that we
couldn’t fit in (or which
didn’t arrive in time). The
late Christopher Fowler’s
last novel, medieval

SYCORAX
fantasy THE FOOT ON
THE CROWN (out now,
Bantam) sees “myths
reimagined and history
RELEASED 27 FEBRUARY retold”. Set in London, it
400 pages | Hardback/ebook/ sees a mysterious outsider
arriving in the court of
audiobook King Scarabold – a
Author Nydia Hetherington dysfunctional place full of
Publisher Quercus characters with names like
Lord Carapace, Earl of
“The foul witch Sycorax” Beetles. Set in 2272, in a

THE RIVER
is an unseen character in partially submerged
Buenos Aires, Michel
Shakespeare’s The Tempest Nieva’s DENGUE BOY (out
– dead before the play begins, now, Serpent’s Tail) blends
she is the mother of Caliban, body horror and

HAS ROOTS
a “blue-eyed hag” who was cyberpunk, following a
humanoid mosquito as he
expelled from Algiers and
searches for his true
arrived on the island pregnant. origins. A sociopathic
This novel looks at the life that governess called Winifred
led her there, tying in a failed Notty is the central
historical invasion and an
examination of a life lived in
Music, marriage and murder character in Virginia
Feito’s sardonic period
horror VICTORIAN
chronic pain. unwary stroller (or, in this case, a PSYCHO (out now, Fourth
Raven – later named Sycorax RELEASED 4 MARCH chicken) can cross the border into Estate) – and she has
by the townspeople – is born to Arcadia without realising. gruesome plans for her
144 pages | Hardback/ebook/audiobook
a wise woman and her husband The two daughters of the family employers and their
Author Amal El-Mohtar children for Christmas…
just outside an unnamed city. Publisher Arcadia have reached the age where Turning to continuing
The locals’ suspicion of suitors are coming to call. Elder series: our reviewer
witchcraft and outsiders hangs If you’re not familiar with folk sister Esther prefers a described Saara El-Arifi’s
over everything, while music, your image of it probably shapeshifting contender from Faebound as “a grimdark
tale of neverending war
Sycorax’s attempts to build a consists of hippies wearing Arcadia, who has taught her to that morphs into a
life, using her medicinal potions sandals, drinking cider, and play the harp, over a greedy and throbbing romance”.
and knowledge of the coming singing about “maidens fair” with charmless human neighbour Sequel CURSEBOUND
storms to help the port city, a finger in one ear. And yes, okay, whose overtures make Mr Collins (out now, HarperVoyager)
seem doomed to failure. there certainly are plenty of from Pride And Prejudice seem sees exiled Elf soldier
Yeeran returning to her
Her constant need to trust maidens about, but the typical appealing. Ysabel, meanwhile, homeland, only to find
that this time things will be tone is a lot less peaceful than you feels quietly overshadowed by her that her former lover now
different and people will be might imagine. golden-haired elder sister, and threatens war against the
understanding is heartfelt but This lyrical new short novel, fears losing Esther to the realm fae. A follow-up to David
Hair’s fantasy adventure
frustrating, as time and again from one of the authors of the of Faerie. The Burning Land, THE
she is proved wrong. And her Hugo-winning This Is How You If you are familiar with folk DROWNING SEA (out
struggle with rheumatoid Lose The Time War, is steeped in music, you’ve probably already now, Arcadia) revisits his
arthritis (“Sycorax who, with the rhythms and sensibility of folk guessed that we’re in murder world of Vestal Knights
age and envy/Was grown into music. Specifically, it draws on the ballad territory here. We won’t empowered by a magical
crystal. Finally, Mark
a hoop”, said Prospero), from tropes of traditional ballads: songs spoil things by saying which one, Iveson’s PETER
which the author also suffers, that tell stories, often with a but El-Mohtar’s (sub)version CUSHING: THE
is well told. fantastical edge. reworks the tale in lilting prose RELUCTANT
With Sycorax living In a small town named and a heartfelt, feminist new key. GLOBETROTTER
(out now, Telos)
constantly in pain, trying to Thistleford, the Hawthorn family A powerful, gorgeous little story of
focuses on the
help people but always feared sing folk songs to the willow trees sisterly love, the power of words, limited
and shunned, the reader rages on their land as they harvest and revenge as a dish best served number of
and hopes for her while always magical wood for market. But as in in verse. films that
knowing where this story is a ballad like “Tam Lin”, the wall Nic Clarke the
homebody
going to end. It’s a fascinating between the worlds of humanity horror icon
That ballad (spoilers!) has been recorded
exploration of an obscure and of the supernatural is by Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Steeleye Span, made
character. Rhian Drinkwater permeable here, such that an Loreena McKennitt and Clannad. abroad.

90 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 THE SFX AUTHOR
QUESTIONNAIRE

Arkady
Martine

KAREN OSBORNE
This Hugo-winning author
didn’t quit the day job

What is your daily writing I have never Chandler’s attention to detail and
routine like? clarity of prose. We often think of
I don’t have one, except to say particularly Chandler as being deeply clichéd,
that when I have a project in
process I try to touch the
wanted to be a all “A dame walked into my office
and I knew she was trouble”, but
manuscript every day, and get 100 full-time writer when you actually look at his
new words. I have a weird and spare, imagistic, evocative style it’s
strangely scheduled other job, shape while I vigorously tell my amazing how much he can do with
which can be alternately very character you, you, you are doing very little. “I needed a vacation, I
intense and very quiet, so my daily this, you specifically. needed a home in the country.
schedule hasn’t ever been What I had was a coat, a hat and a
conducive to building a daily Ever come up with a good plot gun. I put them on and went out of
routine that has more structure idea in a dream? the room.” Guh.
than keeping the project I’m Not a good plot idea, but the
working on active in my mind and action sequence where the heretic Recommend one book you love,
close at hand. priest is chased by his fae/demonic that’s not very well known.
lover into a ruined church and has It’s possible that I shouldn’t have
Which of your books was the to kill her using only the shards of read Guy Gavriel Kay’s Tigana as
most difficult to write? stained glass window he has put early as I did – I think I was 12 –
I got very stuck in the middle of his hand through… that’s pretty but that book continues to
writing Rose/House – which I good. resonate enormously for me and
wrote during the worst of the has shaped a lot of my own the desire – to quit our day jobs
pandemic – mostly because that Is there any particular author interests as a writer. The politics the instant we get published. The
super-fluid process I mentioned whose writing ability makes you of memory, power, and desire are money is a lot smaller than most
broke down for me when I had no envious? central to my own writing. As are people think, and it comes in
ability to divide my day into I’m still learning from Raymond unwise, difficult, and strangely timed batches. More
climate policy work and writing uncomfortable but incredibly real importantly for me, I like my other
work and being at home with my love stories, and lush, lyrical job, and I have never particularly
wife. Turns out it’s very difficult to Raymond descriptive language. wanted to be a full-time writer;
concentrate on complex black-box Chandler there’s not enough external input
GEORGE PLATT LYNES/CONDÉ NAST/GETTY

murder mystery solutions when having a laugh Where’s the oddest place you’ve with just me alone with the inside
you have no structure in your on holiday. seen one of your books? of my head.
own life! In the hands of a New Mexico
Public Regulation Commissioner. What’s the best writing advice
Got any writing “bad habits” you’ve received or read?
that you have to keep in check? What’s the biggest There are no rules. There’s only
I have a terrible habit of misconception people have what works.
beginning to write every story in about being an author?
second person; a kind of sketchy, Oh, good lord, that we all Rose/House is out on 13 March,
hesitant grasping at the thematic immediately have the money – and published by Tor.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 91

 COMICS

ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN
Working Man (of Steel)
versions of Batman and Wonder later, where a now-adult Kal-El is
RELEASED OUT NOW! Woman). In this alternate reality, battling exploitative corporate
Publisher DC Comics
Writer Jason Aaron
Krypton is a rigidly class-based
society sleepwalking into
action in South America, and
coming up against Lazarus Corp GODZILLA’S
Artist Rafa Sandoval environmental disaster, and these
first four issues echo the themes of
agent Lois Lane.
Writer Jason Aaron packs these MONSTERPIECE
THEATRE
ISSUES 1-4 For such an iconic the original Siegel and Shuster issues with plenty of incident and
character, it’s amazing how much stories from the ’30s, where conflict, making this a briskly
Superman is viewed as an Superman was the champion of enjoyable read, and his work is
old-fashioned problem in today’s the working man. complemented by artist Rafa RELEASED OUT NOW!
pop culture. “Big-hearted lug who Here, the “S” logo is the symbol Sandoval’s eye for striking, Publisher IDW
wants to use his powers for good” of the working class, and Kal-El’s well-crafted visuals. Writer/artist Tom Scioli
is somehow a lot less relatable parents are anti-establishment Unfortunately, the story’s
than “Traumatised billionaire with rebels fighting to evacuate the “mystery box” approach also ISSUES 1-3 Like The League Of

a bat-themed arsenal”, and DC’s planet – but the series’ biggest causes significant problems; most Extraordinary Gentlemen with
latest reboot shows both the change is that Kal-El is fighting notably, this new version of added kaiju, this three-parter
benefits and the problems of alongside them, since he’s a Superman is played so pits Godzilla against various
modernising the Man of Steel. young boy when Krypton meets mysteriously that he’s hard to care vintage science heroes, fictional
Part of the Absolute universe, its destruction. about. Absolute Batman did a and factual.
DC’s new ongoing title up-ends This opening arc bounces much better job of quickly Opening in New York in the
the traditional Superman between extensive Krypton defining its protagonist, while here Roaring Twenties, it turns Jay
mythology (as with their Absolute sequences and Earth six years so much of the story is being told “Great” Gatsby into an unlikely
action star when the love of his
Harder-edged life Daisy Buchanan is lost at
sea after Godzilla devastates the
and more violent city. This prompts him to
than you’d expect assemble G-Force, whose
members include a cyborg Jules
it to be Verne and the Time Machinist.
Big G is often a background
from other perspectives that figure, as Tom Scioli portrays
Superman himself still feels Jay, Daisy and her husband Neil
distant and unknowable. Buchanan’s tragic love triangle,
The series is also harder-edged before turning Daisy into the
and more violent than you’d latest Bride of Dracula.
expect a Superman comic to be. The story also boasts
While the story’s deliberately Sherlock Holmes, who doesn’t
political themes give it more really get any complicated
modern-day relevance, it fails to conundrums to solve, and a
avoid some uncomfortable white female Watson; later Baron von
saviour tropes, while occasionally Frankenstein, the Monster, the
deploying the kind of grimdark Mummy and some wolfmen are
“This ain’t your daddy’s thrown into the mix.
Superman!” posturing that Zack While the dayglo colours are
Snyder would approve of. reminiscent of ’60s newsprint,
Despite all this, Aaron clearly the real highlight is Scioli’s
understands Superman, and does eye-catching art. It combines
add moments featuring the heart Jack Kirby’s dynamism with a
and humanity that make him an Daniel Clowes-style indie edge,
iconic hero. There’s potential for alternating between intricately
Absolute Superman to become a designed multi-panel pages and
compelling take on the character awe-inducing spreads, such as
– if it can figure out its current the image of Jay transforming
Supe’s gone growing pains. Saxon Bullock into a giant-sized, truly Great
all emo. “It’s Gatsby. It all makes for a
not a phase, Aaron’s cousin is Gustav Hasford, who
superbly phantasmagoric blast
wrote the original novel that became the
mom.” Stanley Kubrick movie Full Metal Jacket. into the past. Stephen Jewell

92 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

LIFE GI JOE
RELEASED OUT NOW! RELEASED OUT NOW!
Publisher DSTLRY Publisher Skybound/Image Comics
Writers Brian Azzarello, Writer Joshua Williamson
Stephanie Phillips Artist Tom Reilly
Artist Danijel Žeželj
ISSUES 1-3 Skybound’s shared
ISSUES 1-4 Indie comics Iron Man: Energon Universe has been one
publisher DSTLRY launched all wrinkles of the more surprising comics
with the promise that they eliminated, success stories of the past
would do things a little bit guaranteed! couple of years. Having started
differently. That’s certainly the with sci-fi adventure Void

IRON MAN
case with Life. This six-part Rivals and developed in the
thriller is split into two stories, rebooted Transformers, it now
“Pros” and “Cons”, that can be brings in iconic action figure
read in any order, with each line GI Joe (while several of
issue presented as a flip book. the characters like Duke,
In “Pros”, ex-con Bobby
leads his crew to an abandoned
Stark truths Scarlett and Destro have
previously appeared in their
planet in the hopes of pulling The resulting story is strongest own miniseries).
off a final heist, little realising RELEASED OUT NOW! when exploring how Tony ends The key to all of this is
that the former mining colony Publisher Marvel Comics up defeated at every turn by his Energon, the highly coveted
isn’t as uninhabited as he’d Writer Spencer Ackerman company board’s desire to make as extraterrestrial fuel (and
thought. In “Cons”, a group of Artists Julius Ohta, Javier Pina much money as possible. Transformers juice) that arms
Earth’s most notorious killers Ackerman’s background manufacturers MARS
are forced to live out every ISSUES 1-4 In a world where it’s knowledge gives certain sequences Industries and terrorist
moment of their multiple life increasingly difficult to see tech in these opening four issues a organisation COBRA intend to
sentences thanks to a twisted billionaires as good guys, Tony believable sense of reality. exploit on Earth. The Joes are
form of experimental Stark’s status as an ultra-rich Unfortunately, outside of these on the case, but their enemies
punishment. ex-weapons manufacturer makes highlights, he also indulges in such are many steps ahead of them…
That Life is secretly one big him a challenging character to goofy satire and over-the-top Writer Joshua Williamson
story spanning hundreds of write. Marvel’s latest reboot for comic-book storytelling tropes and artist Tom Reilly deliver a
years is not a huge revelation. the character takes an interesting that the series never hangs very enjoyable, if largely
What is surprising is just how approach to this problem, by together as a coherent whole. unsurprising, new take on this
well the flip book format works enlisting political journalist Instead, we get a jumble of fight material. It looks fabulous, full
to explore these different Spencer Ackerman onto the scenes and campy superhero of dynamic action scenes and
points of view. While Bobby’s creative team for a story that – in luridness, combined with a with a more fantastical flair
crew find themselves in a sci-fi certain ways – tackles the reality frenzied pace that crams what than its grittier war comic
horror movie (think The Hills of corporate politics head-on. clearly should have been a sibling, GI Joe: A Real American
Have Eyes meets Alien), the This new volume opens with six-issue arc into only the first Hero. The ties to the rest of the
characters in “Cons” see their Tony in a bad place and trying to three issues. The follow-up issue Energon line are well-
arrival as a form of salvation finally recover control of his (featuring a Scarlet Witch cameo) considered too, adding
– albeit a bloody one. company Stark International, only doesn’t inspire confidence either. additional context but never
Danijel Žeželj’s shadowy to face a takeover from the evil While Julius Ohta and Javier overpowering the main story.
art wonderfully conveys this Roxxon Oil that also threatens to Pina’s artwork brings a gritty However, while Skybound’s
beaten-up future, while Brian exploit his Iron Man technology. energy to the action sequences, Transformers has a visceral
Azzarello and Stephanie sadly this new phase of Tony quality, GI Joe – in these
Phillips’s script offers a visceral Over-the-top Stark’s life is off to an extremely opening issues at least – feels
mix of action and outrage at the haphazard start. like it’s playing things a little
inhumanity of a prison comic-book Saxon Bullock safe. Still, it’s one of 2024’s
industrial complex which has
run rampant.
storytelling Ackerman worked as a political consultant
best-selling titles and is sure to
run and run.
Will Salmon tropes for the 2009 film In The Loop, Armando
Iannucci’s spin-off from The Thick Of It. Will Salmon

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 93

 GAMES & STUFF

INSIDE NO 9:
STAGE/FRIGHT
The Play’s The Thing ETERNAL STRANDS
death during a production of The seeing series four’s “Bernie RELEASED OUT NOW!
RUNNING UNTIL 5 APRIL Terror In The Asylum, the duo Clifton’s Dressing Room” Reviewed on PS5
Venue Wyndham’s Theatre inform the audience. File that one recreated live in front of you. But Also on Xbox Series X|S, PC
Director Simon Evans away for act two, when the show Stage/Fright is much more than Publisher Yellow Brick Games
Cast Steve Pemberton, in question is restaged… just “greatest hits” – there are
Reece Shearsmith, Miranda Hennessy, Before that, the audience is some truly joyous Easter eggs. It VIDEOGAME This thrilling

Anna Francolini treated to some familiar scenes in feels like you’ve watched several action game about slaying giant
a series of carefully linked plays by the end, all of them monsters is almost completely
STAGE PLAY Old theatres are, by sketches. Due to the ever-present brilliant and oh so clever. ruined by its story: a crap,
their very nature, somewhat secrecy surrounding the Aside from being narratively overly verbose visual novel
haunting, so it’s apt that Steve programme, little was known devious and technically joyous – where bland fantasy archetypes
Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith about the stage version in advance, there are special effects that evoke drone at you until you start
should embrace this for a meta so anyone expecting an entirely the Pepper’s ghost technique, wishing that it wasn’t the
ghost story using their London new production may be slightly among many others – it’s wickedly monsters you were slaying.
venue not only as the set but the put out to discover that a large funny, with digs at modern living, You take control of Brynn, a
basis of their latest Inside No 9 tale. segment of it revisits a TV episode. theatre culture, girl bands and warrior exploring a generic
Wyndham’s is, apparently, That said, you’d have to be a influencers, and many jokes about fantasy land in search of lore,
haunted following an accidental right old misery to not enjoy actors and their art. The word play loot, and large beasties to take
down. You’ve got your sword
Keith Harris’s
later years
It feels like (yawn), your bow (zzz), and
also several nasty spells
were quite you’ve watched (hooray!). It’s great to play a
difficult.
several plays by game where the fire and ice you
summon can start infernos that
the end spread, or chill you to the bone.
The magic here has to be used
is delicious and the timing with real care if you don’t want
razor-sharp in a show that’s to accidentally burn yourself to
hilarious, surreal, meta and a crisp.
ridiculous all at the same time. Other spells let you summon
Both Stage and Fright are companions with a bad habit of
constant elements, but although exploding, or tunnels of kinetic
some jump scares add to the fun, energy that allow you to fling
they don’t feel particularly Inside yourself at opponents.
No 9. And that becomes very
It’s a show that keeps you on necessary when the Great Foes
the edge of your seat, guessing enter the fray: a series of nine
until you think you’ve seen it all, colossal monsters that you have
and it’s cleverly engineered to to clamber up and repeatedly
make you feel exactly that… Did stab in the head, freeze in place,
we mention that it was clever? and generally do whatever you
The show is sold out, though can to win these tense David
returns do become available so and Goliath battles – all while
make the effort to grab them when keeping an eye out for
they do. (Or cross your fingers for counterattacks.
a national tour.) Now, can we get So you won’t struggle to
both this and the full series on track down a good time here,
Blu-ray please? but thanks to the insipid nature
of the narrative, you’ll have to
MARC BRENNER

Darren Scott
swallow an awful lot of dull
Keep your eyes peeled for the hare that’s
hidden within episodes – it makes more
fantasy gruel in order to reach
than one appearance. it. Abbie Stone

94 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

THE TIME TUNNEL: THE
NIGHTMARE BEGINS
History in the remaking
until the team back at base yanked
RELEASED OUT NOW! them to a different period.
Running time 150 minutes This is where Big Finish takes
Format CD/download over. It’s 2025, and the world
Publisher Big Finish experiences a “shudder” that
creates an alternate, dystopian
AUDIO DRAMA Anyone who knows reality. Only two hackers and two
Irwin Allen’s original The Time military researchers on a sub are
Tunnel might spend the first half aware this has taken place, so they
hour of this Big Finish production team up and head for what they boot up the project again and past its sell-by date. The on-going
wondering if they’ve been sent the believe is the source: the now chase them through time. Which bad guys, meanwhile, have an
wrong discs. Because this is not a abandoned Project Tic-Toc. Could in this volume includes fighting excruciatingly glacial delivery
remake, but a sequel, kicking off in Tony and Doug’s time travelling Germans alongside air ace Amy suggesting that the actors haven’t
a very unfamiliar 2025. have caused the shudder? Johnson and navigating religious a clue what they’re talking about.
The ’60s show followed the The only way to find out is to rifts in the English Civil War. As the story-of-the-week formula
adventures of two scientists lost It has so much potential. But the settles in, things improve, but the
in time after a top-secret US first episode is bogged down by series remains oddly listless and
government programme, Project This is not a excessive exposition, set-up and unfocused. Jonathan Norton
Tic-Toc, went awry. Each week
they’d have exciting adventures in
remake, but technobabble, while the main
characters rely on Buffy-style Nicholas McArdle (evil scientist Dr Muir)

different eras, past and future, a sequel quipping and smart-alec sass way
played druidic sect leader De Vries in 1978
Doctor Who “The Stones Of Blood”.

CALL ME MASTER:
INNER DEMONS
Personality Crisis
years, before being picked up by a
RELEASED 27 FEBRUARY group of pilgrims who believe him
Running time 224 minutes to be the Great Zenith. As he
Format CD/download recovers from centuries of
Publisher Big Finish isolation he gradually reasserts his
identity as “the chaotic one”. It’s a
AUDIO DRAMA Modern Who has surprisingly playful story and
had plenty of fun with different Dhawan pulls off long stretches of
incarnations of the Master, and monologues impressively well.
Sacha Dhawan’s “Rasputin”- “The Clockwork Swan” ramps a more sombre tone, grappling the cackling Master from the TV.
dancing latest is no exception. up the playfulness even further as with issues of immigration and There’s a fine line to walk in
Here we delve further into his the Master impersonates a hatred of outsiders. Young student making a bad guy the “hero”, but
psyche with three stories in which detective investigating deaths in Elta looks for truth on a holy it’s a task Big Finish have once
the master of disguise once again the cast of a holo-theatre island, hoping to find a teacher to again succeeded in, ensuring that
tries on a variety of different roles, production – complete with truly help her make sense of the loss of the Doctor’s closest enemy is
this time attempting to work out terrible French accent. It’s a clever balance in the world. Instead she always entertaining, while never
who he really is when faced with storyline that (without giving too meets the Master, who really suppressing the evil within.
an identity crisis. much away) leans into the seems to be trying to be good for a Rhian Drinkwater
First up is “Self-Help”, which contemporary fears of actors and while – before realising he’s really
“The Good Life” was inspired by Mervyn
sees the Master trapped on an icy their possible replacement. bad at it. He’s genuinely creepy by Peake’s Mr Pye, in which a man grows
mountain-top for several hundred Set-closer “The Good Life” has the end, slowly transforming into wings when he’s good/horns when bad.

MARCH 2025 | SFX MAGAZINE | 95

 BlastermindThe SFX quiz

COMPUTERS
Do you know a bit about bytes, even when the chips are down?
We hope this quiz doesn’t make your brain crash...
Quizmaster Ian Berriman, Deputy Editor

QUESTION 1
Which actor provided the voice of
the USS Enterprise computer?

QUESTION 2
Who wrote the original novel on
which the 1977 film Demon Seed
was based?

QUESTION 3
Whereabouts is WOTAN, the
megalomaniacal computer in the
Doctor Who story “The War QUESTION 4 QUESTION 8
Machines”, based?

QUESTION 4 Picture Question

Name this computer, and the TV
series you’d find it in.

QUESTION 5
Which ’80s television series
featured a hand-held computer
called Box?

QUESTION 6
Name the computer which QUESTION 12 QUESTION 16
Professor Xavier uses to detect
QUESTION 11 QUESTION 16 Picture Question
Dyall 20 The Sarah Jane Adventures
and locate other mutants. murder 18 EM Forster 19 Valentine
In The Prisoner’s “The General”, Supply the title that’s been 17 By explaining that it’s committed
QUESTION 7 Number Six short-circuits the removed from this movie poster.
Hattie Hayridge 16 WarGames
Oakey 14 Ziggy 15 Norman Lovett,
According to Arthur C Clarke, titular computer by feeding it a 11 “Why?” 12 Mother, Alien 13 Phil
what does the name of 2001: A question. What’s the question? QUESTION 17 book 10 “The Thirteenth Floor”
Wonder Woman 9 Willow scans a
Space Odyssey’s killer computer In the Star Trek episode “The
PICTURES: © BBC, ABC, 20TH CENTURY FOX, MGM/UNITED ARTISTS/ALBUM/ALAMY
QUESTION 12 Picture Question
ALgorithmic computer 8 IRAC,
HAL stand for? Ultimate Computer”, how does 7 Heuristically programmed
Name this computer, and the film Kirk get rogue computer M-5 to
Blake’s 7 5 Star Cops 6 Cerebro

QUESTION 8 Picture Question

3 The Post Office Tower 4 Orac/
it featured in. shut down? 1 Majel Barrett 2 Dean Koontz
Name this computer, and the TV Answers
series you’d find it in. QUESTION 13 QUESTION 18
Who sang the theme tune for the Which author wrote the 1909
QUESTION 9 1984 computer/human love short story “The Machine Stops”? How did you do?
In the Buffy The Vampire Slayer triangle movie Electric Dreams? What’s your processing power?
episode “I, Robot… You, Jane”, QUESTION 19
0-5
a demon is accidentally released QUESTION 14 Name the actor who voiced the ZX81
into cyberspace. How exactly does What’s the name of the computer computer Deep Thought in the TV 6-10
it happen? which runs the Quantum Leap version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide Atari ST
project? To The Galaxy. 11-15
QUESTION 10 PowerBook

Name the regular strip in weekly QUESTION 15 QUESTION 20 16-19

El Capitan
horror comic Scream! which Name both of the actors who Which TV series featured “an
featured a vengeful computer played Red Dwarf’s shipboard extraterrestrial supercomputer in 20
Google Willow
called Max. computer Holly. the wall”?

96 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

 NEXT ISSUE

IN THE NEXT ISSUE

MARCH 2025 | Issue 389
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Editor
Darren Scott
[email protected]
Deputy Editor Art Editor Production Editor
Ian Berriman Jonathan Coates Ed Ricketts
ian.berriman@ jonathan.coates@ ed.ricketts@
futurenet.com futurenet.com

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futurenet.com

Editor At Large US Editor

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Total Recall Personal recollections of cherished sci-fi and fantasy

Destiny Of The Doctors

Dom Carter, freelance writer down corridors than you can shake the database of video clips from old episodes felt
Doctor Who must be frustrating Graham Williams era at. This might all sound like a pre-YouTube treasure trove. Remember,
for game developers. Here’s a tame to fans fed on a rich diet of the 2005 this was back when many stories were still yet
property that has the potential to revival, but in the late–’90s you took what you to be released on VHS.
go anywhere and anywhen, but could get. The main highlight though is undoubtedly
with a sandbox that big how do The gaming experience was somewhat Anthony Ainley, returning to play the Master
you guide the player through an adventure? clunky and tedious even by 1997 standards. one last time. The specially shot video
Destiny Of The Doctors’ solution: don’t open the Each level saw you yomp through sequences where he chews the
TARDIS doors. the TARDIS on your way to pixelated scenery are a hilarious
Made before but not released until after the complete some vaguely blend of camp and menace
1996 TV Movie, Destiny Of The Doctors sees outlined task, while trying to which have rightfully found a
you play as the Graak – an entity made of remember whether it was the new audience via memes and
floating psychic blobs – whose mission is to radio or the beehive which kills parody videos.
solve puzzles in order to release the Doctor’s the Autons. Tomb Raider it You have to sift through some
© BBC WORLDWIDE. PHOTOGRAPHY BY OLLY CURTIS.

first seven incarnations, which have been wasn’t. And yet, despite the dated graphics and slow plotting
imprisoned by the Master. repetitive challenges, there’s to get to the good stuff in
Like a lot of Doctor Who media from the lots to admire. Destiny Of The Doctors, but what
Wilderness Years, the game is something of a Piloting the TARDIS is a could be more classic Who than
greatest hits retrospective. Classic villains thrill, Daleks and Cybermen that?
make an appearance, there’s newly recorded seem uniquely scary when
audio of Doctors Four through Seven and the they’re coming after you instead Dom wishes you good luck,
Brigadier, and it features more running up and of a television character, and the Graak, you’re going to need it.

Fact Attack!
When you win, the game Writer Gary Russell used Want to see the footage of Prolific Doctor Who writer/ Superfan Ian Levine
ends with the Master being this sequence of events as a the Master but don’t have a script editor Terrance Dicks expanded the game into a
locked up and taken away to convenient excuse for Paul computer that runs Windows was involved with the script unlicensed serial. He even got
be put on trial. A neat lead-in McGann’s Eighth Doctor not 95? It’s all on the “Survival” for the Master, giving his Sylvester McCoy to play the
to the TV Movie… appearing in the game. DVD as a bonus feature. dialogue an authentic touch. Seventh Doctor.

98 | SFX MAGAZINE | MARCH 2025

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