Our Week in Fandom video series may be taking the week off, but that won’t keep us from revisiting the hottest news in games, movies, and TV this week. For the week ending July 8, we catch up with everyone’s favorite interstellar helmsman, some pocket monsters with a penchant for playing hide and seek, and a xenomorphic murder machine.
Mr. Sulu Revealed to Be Gay
The biggest news this week was the revelation that Star Trek’s Hikaru Sulu is being recognized as a gay character in Star Trek Beyond. John Cho, who portrays Mr. Sulu in Beyond, shared the news with Australia’s Herald Sun on Thursday. The decision to make Sulu gay may have been a nod to George Takei, the actor who originally played Sulu in the first television series who came out of the closet some years ago.
Takei himself wasn’t thrilled with the decision. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he stated, “I’m delighted that there’s a gay character… Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate.”
Actor Simon Pegg, who portrays Scotty in the new movies and also co-wrote Beyond, then responded in a statement released to the Guardian earlier today, “I have huge love and respect for George Takei, his heart, courage and humour are an inspiration… However, with regards to his thoughts on our Sulu, I must respectfully disagree with him.”
Pokémon Fever Hits Mobile Devices
The long-awaited mobile take on the Pokémon series officially came out of beta this week. Within its first hours of release, Pokémon Go is already tearing up the App Store charts and taking the internet by storm. In addition to a number of memes and anecdotes that could almost rival the number of Pokémon themselves, the game also has people talking about how addictive it is. Take a look at our Pokémon Go Starter Guide below to get a head start on your way to catching them all.
Sigourney Weaver and Danny McBride Detail the Future of the Alien Franchise
Boy, that is a headline I never thought I’d write. And yet, these two disparate talents gave Alien fans some much-needed info on the upcoming films to obsess over.
Sigourney Weaver confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that Neill Blomkamp’s delayed sequel to Aliens will disregard the continuity established in Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. According to Weaver, Blomkamp’s film will “somewhat de-canonize” the third and fourth films. She went on to say that “the path forks and one direction goes off to three and four and another direction goes off to Neill’s movie.”
Later in the week, Alien: Covenant star Danny McBride revealed in a Rolling Stone interview that his character is the pilot of the colonist ship Covenant. McBride also talked about the film’s effects, stating that “Most of the stuff is practical . . . when you’re running from an alien it’s really a dude in an alien suit coming after you! The sets are incredible and you’re in them: We go through some inclement weather at one point on the spaceship and this whole gigantic set is on a gimbal, shaking up and down. You don’t have to use your imagination.”
We’ll be back next week with our regularly scheduled video programming. In the meantime, get excited for the upcoming weekend with our Fandom Weekend Preview.