Science-Fiction Weekly – Orville, War For the Planet Of The Apes, Shin Godzilla, The Gifted

Inserting Seth MacFarlane's style of humor into Star Trek sounds like an apocalyptically bad idea, but FOX apparently liked this strange amalgamation enough to greenlight it as a new show called The Orville. MacFarlane is not only one of the creators (joined by director Jon Favreau), but he's also the captain of the crew aboard the exploratory vessel, the U.S.S Orville. As a fan of Tim Allen's Galaxy Quest (a vastly underappreciated sci-fi film), I won't write this one off completely. The trailer below has a few laughs in it, but also a ton of MacFarlane doing his thing. I like Family Guy and some of MacFarlane's films, but he's been hit or miss lately (leaning more heavily on the unbearably bad). I thought some jokes in this trailer missed the mark as most of A Million Ways to Die in the West did. We'll see what comes of this. I like the idea of a science-fiction comedy, but my first takeaway is they are trying to Galaxy Quest, and it doesn't look as charming or clever. The Orville debuts on FOX on Thursdays this fall. Again, I'll give it a chance, but that first taste has a bite to it.

If you hated that trailer with every ounce of your being, might I recommend resetting your brain by watching the final War for the Planet of the Apes trailer. Outside of a strange song choice, this new look at this July 14 film shows how tension boils over into war. Humans are not holding back in this fight, which appears to be the final conflict against the apes. Will it lead to a similar outcome seen in the original Apes movies? We'll have to wait and see. This series has been anything but predictable.

War for the Planet of the Apes producer Peter Chernin told Cinema Blend that this is the end of an arc. "We've always looked at these three movies as a trilogy," he said. "Not to say it's the end of the Apes movies, because what we're trying to do is get as close up to the original Planet of the Apes. But we were always looking at these three movies as a trilogy, and I think this movie in some ways completes this trilogy from when Caesar was born. What we're trying to do with this movie is bring it to a final war between humans and apes, and obviously, you'll see what happens there."

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was one of 2011's best films. The sequel was a step down, but was still immensely entertaining. Here's hoping this trilogy concludes in a satisfying way. I like everything I've seen from it thus far.

Shin Godzilla had a limited run in theaters last fall, despite being heralded as a great new entry for the series by theatergoers and critics alike. If you missed its theatrical run, you'll have the chance to pick it up on Blu-Ray and DVD on August 1. I love the old-school Godzilla movies as much as the next person, but I'm also quite fond of Gareth Edwards' recent reboot, as well as Roland Emmerich's from 1998. Sorry, folks. Matthew Broderick's performance (and the high levels of camp all around him) went straight to my heart. You can check out a trailer for Shin Godzilla below.

In the world of Marvel's mutants, I haven't had a chance to check out FX's Legion yet, but people have told me its great for reasons usually not connected to superhero stories. The next television foray into the children of the atom's world is called The Gifted, and is slated to appear on FOX this June. Bryan Singer (the director behind many of the X-Men films) is helping create this show. The lengthy first trailer shows plenty of promise. I feared this show would focus more on the characters than their powers, but it appears we are getting a healthy dose of both of them.

Finally, three big science-fiction games released. Make sure you check out my glowing review for Injustice 2, as well as my not-so-stellar critique of The Surge. Matt Bertz also brings us the final word on Farpoint, the VR alien shooter for PlayStation 4.