Giant Freakin Robot

Fox has gone all out today by revealing its entire schedule for 2013-2014, and dropped the full previews for all of them. And while Giant Freakin’ Robot isn’t too invested in Dads or Sleepy Hollow, we are definitely looking to partner up with Almost Human, the sci-fi robo-buddy cop drama from Fringe creator J.H. Wyman and executive producer of everything else J.J. Abrams, whose name is like a mating call around these parts.

Set in the year 2048, Almost Human will follow LAPD officer John Kennex (Karl Urban), who was involved in a life-threatening accident which left him in a two-year coma, all because his mandatory robotic partner traded his own safety for that of others. Kennex is given bionic parts to assist in his recovery, and once healthy, he returns to the force. He is soon paired up with Dorian (Michael Ealy), a human-like android who has far more personality than his updated brethren — of course, that bit of unpredictable behavior is exactly what Kennex isn’t looking for. Together, Kennex and Dorian will take down whatever criminal element in present in future L.A., presumably while trading deprecating one-liners.

Although there is no American release date for the Ghost in the Shell prequel series yet, fans of the influential sci-fi anime film are eager to lay their eyes on Ghost in the Shell: Arise. The anime that was a big influence on the Wachowskis’ Matrix trilogy hasn’t gotten its due in the U.S., but in Japan, it’s one of the country’s biggest sci-fi properties. The trailer above features the film’s thrilling action, and a young Motoko Kusanagi kicking ass with the Section 9 assault team.

Ghost in the Shell: Arise will open theaters in Japan this June, but sadly the trailer above isn’t dubbed or subtitled into English. Just sit back and enjoy the action! A few months ago, I.G. Productions released an earlier version of the trailer, and even the entire opening title sequence. In true Japanese anime fashion, there’s plenty of fan service to enjoy!

This week we will finally get to watch the long-awaited Star Trek Into Darkness (assuming it isn’t already out in your neck of the woods). Before 2009′s J.J. Abrams reboot film, Star Trek was almost in a holding pattern after the tepid Star Trek: Nemesis and the lukewarm Star Trek Enterprise TV series. Now Abrams and Bad Robot have been tasked with breathing new life into another space franchise with Star Wars:Episode VII. In a new interview with Total Film, actor Simon Pegg talks about how J.J. Abrams will re-invigorate Star Wars, just like he did with Star Trek.

After the prequels, it seemed unlikely that we’d see new Star Wars movies anytime soon…or at least any that we could get excited about. Abrams’ involvement is as controversial as anything else he does, with some enjoying his work and other thinking he’s a franchise-killing antichrist. Here’s what Pegg thinks Abrams’ involvement will mean for George Lucas’ venerable film franchise:

What will he bring to the franchise? Everything that was missing from the last three. That’s what he did to Star Trek, really – invigorate it with a little bit of Star Wars magic. He switched it from science-fiction to science-fantasy.

And I think if anyone can pull [Star Wars] out of the mire, it’s J.J. He’ll bring the fun back. Lucas seemed to misread what made the first ones great, and concentrate on things that people didn’t really care about, or willfully ignore the things that people cared about. Whereas J.J. will embrace them all.

A sequel to Roland Emmerich’s summer blockbuster Independence Day has been in the works since the film’s release in 1996. Emmerich and his producing/writing partner Dean Devlin have often talked about their plans for the sequel, which has the current working title of ID: Forever. It’s always been a question of bringing the original cast back for a sequel film, including Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, and Bill Pullman.

During a screening of Independence Day at the Los Angeles Times Hero Complex Film Festival, Emmerich and Devlin were joined by Jeff Goldblum to talk about making the 1996 film, and what they’d like to see in a sequel film. Emmerich and Devlin indicated their continued interest in making ID: Forever happen. Devlin said, “Roland and I would really like to do one. We have some pretty darn good ideas on how to do one and, hopefully, that will all come together. A lot of things have to align. The planets have to piece together and if they do, it’ll happen.”

A few months ago, Roland Emmerich explained what could be in store for audiences if/when an Independence Day sequel is finally made. He said the sequel film would take place 20 years after the events of the original, when the aliens would return to Earth to seek revenge. In fact, the aliens would have traveled through a wormhole, so their voyage back to Earth only took seconds for them, but for the people of Earth, over 20 years had past.