Giant Freakin Robot

World-renowned astrophysicist and the director of New York City’s Hayden Planetarium, Neil deGrasse Tyson has done a lot to make science exciting for kids and students. In pop culture, Tyson had a hand in finding Superman’s home planet of Krypton, and he weighed in on the actual weight of Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir. Now Tyson has now chimed in on the age-old question: which is better, Star Wars or Star Trek?

In an interview with Business Insider, Tyson explains why he’s a Trekkie, and why Star Wars never caught his attention. Tyson says, “I never got into Star Wars. Maybe because they made no attempt to portray real physics. At all!” Despite his love of Star Trek, the host of StarTalk Radio did compliment Star Wars for the planet Tatooine’s double suns:

I like the double star sunset scene (on Tatooine). Most stars you see in the night sky are double and triple stars, so that’s a very common thing we would expect in the universe. But, yeah… [as he displays the 'Live long and prosper' hand sign]”

Once he chose a franchise, he was then asked which Starfleet captain he preferred. Tyson picked William Shatner’s Captain Kirk, which is surprising because Tyson seems like a man of intellect, rather than a man of action. It just goes to show that Neil deGrasse Tyson is an old-school Star Trek fan. I wonder what he thinks about J.J. Abrams’ take on Star Trek.

There are few comedians who work geek culture into their acts more than Patton Oswalt, and nobody does it better. His specials and sets give some hilarious takes on the Star Wars universe. But nothing, nothing, nothing will ever touch his 7 1/2-minute Parks and Recreation filibuster that envisions the most erratic and fucking amazing Star Wars: Episode VII ever conceived. I don’t usually need Greek gods and Iron Man in my space opera sci-fi, but I’ll take it and I’ll love it.

YouTube user iZacLess — who is actually visual effects artist Isaac Moores — put together the wonderful above animation, which gives nearly full life to every one of Oswalt’s whimsical franchise mash-’em-up ideas, from the scroll to the ridiculous amount of characters involved. Granted, most of this is just rudimentary Photoshopping and things of that nature, but an incredible amount of imagination went into the details, especially for something as silly as the “Jedi order.” This visual adventure featuring members of Marvel’s Avengers and X-Men, the gods from Clash and Wrath of the Titans, along with the usual gang of Hutts and Jedi. And it’s all probably easier to understand for people who aren’t familiar with these universes. But then, why would those people care enough to watch this?

Many Star Wars fans were unhappy when Disney gave the axe to the long-running Clone Wars animated series a few months back. While it meant fans were left with some unanswered questions, it was part of an overall restructuring now that the Star Wars franchise is under Disney’s banner. There was a silver lining, in the form of a new animated Star Wars series that was said to be in the works. Now it’s official, and it’s called Star Wars Rebels.

Disney and Lucasfilm announced today that the series will premiere on the Disney Channel and then move to Disney XD in Fall 2014. Rebels will be set in the period between Episode III and Episode IV, when “the Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy and hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights as a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking shape.” It’s the same period that was said to be explored by that live-action Star Wars series they’ve been talking about for-freakin’-ever. Who knows if we’ll finally get to see that one now that Disney is ramping up all things Star Wars, but this should give grieving Clone Wars fans something to smile about.

Rebels will also be enlisting a Clone Wars veteran, with that show’s Dave Filoni serving as a producer alongside Greg Weisman (Young Justice). Simon Kinberg, who was already on tap to write some of the Star Wars spinoff movies, will write the Rebels pilot.

When it comes to science fiction fans, we tend to be a little obsessive about our favorite things. We know every episode of Star Trek by name, we can quote Star Wars from front to back. Hell, we may even have memorized all the nicknames John Crichton called other characters in Farscape. So sometimes to make our beloved movies and shows and books and whatnot seem fresh again, all we need is a new set of eyes. Sometimes, however, that doesn’t always work out the way you’d expect. Cast in point, the video above, wherein some dude’s mother attempts to retell the events of the first Matrix movie, wherein Neo becomes Leo, who may or may not be bisexual, and there’s somebody named Moshimo. Or possibly Mustache.

If you enjoy the first video, you should also check out their Star Wars version. YouTuber Pixelpersecond’s friend Amanda had never seen a Star Wars movie all the way through, but she claimed she still knew what happened in them. Here’s her version: