(1) OFF LIMITS PRESS GOING O.B. EIC Waylon Jordan has announced Off Limits Press is shutting down.

Brian Keene said in his newsletter Letters From the Labyrinth 417:

Off Limits Press announced that they were closing, which is unfortunate. I never worked with them but I’m told by those who did that they were reliable and paid well and on time. The books they produced were beautiful, and they provided a good home for a number of great authors, including Samantha Kolesnik, Hailey Piper, Laurel Hightower, Tim McGregor, and J.A.W. McCarthy. As far as shutting down operations goes, from what I’ve heard, Waylon is doing everything correctly, and is a continued model of professionalism. Which sort of just magnifies what a bummer this is. When a publisher folds and lashes out at everyone is a series of spastic death throes like some brain-damaged howler monkey, you’re not sorry to see their back. When they fold like Off Limits is, with care and respct for their stable, and reverting rights, and removing titles from sale as their authors re-home them elsewhere, and continuing to pay royalties — well, that’s a publisher that you’re sorry to see go.

(2) DOCTOR WHO SEASON 2. The Doctor and the nurse, the universe isn’t ready! Doctor Who returns with Season 2 on April 12.

(3) THE ROT IS SETTING IN. Joblo.com has discovered “Hundreds of your Warner Bros DVDs probably don’t work anymore”. (The Steve Hoffman Music Forum has posted what is represented to be a list of DVDs with known defect troubles.)

A few months ago, I dug into an old Humphrey Bogart box set to watch a favorite of mine, Passage to Marseille. After about an hour, the disc simply stopped working. The same thing happened with another movie from the set, Across the Pacific. I actually thought my old Blu-ray player was to blame, and given that I was in need of an upgrade anyway, I bought a new UHD player and just forgot about it.

Flash forward to about a week ago, when I decided to throw on an old Errol Flynn movie called Desperate Journey. The same thing happened. This was more concerning to me, as, unlike the other movies I mentioned, this has never gotten an HD release and was unavailable digitally. I did a little research online, and to my horror, I landed on several home theater forum threads (and a couple of good videos) confirming this was no fluke.

It turns out that virtually every Warner Bros DVD disc manufactured between 2006 and 2008 has succumbed to the dreaded laser rot, where discs simply stop working due to a rotting of the layers. Once it happens, it can’t be undone. This was a frequent problem with laserdiscs back in the 80s and 90s, but it wasn’t a huge problem with DVDs. The issue comes down to the way the discs were authored….

… UPDATE: According to one of our readers, FilmFan-89, WB will replace some discs if you contact them directly, with a catch. They will only replace discs that are currently in print, and sadly, many of the defective titles are not. Reach out to them through the WB Store and keep us posted in the comment thread if they come through with replacements…. 

(4) TECH MUSEUM OPENS. [Item by Marc Criley.] SIGNALS, the Museum of Information Explosion, just opened its doors in Huntsville, Alabama.

Where the past whispers to the present, and the future echoes with innovation.

SIGNALS is a communication technology museum located in Huntsville, Alabama. It provides a hands-on, immersive experience where guests can explore, interact, and learn about communication technologies throughout history. Visitors will leave the museum with more appreciation for the business leaders and inventors alike that have paved the way for the digital technologies we rely on today.

One visitor remarked “Every engineer in town should go as well as people over 40.”

(5) HUGO ART. [Item by Steven French.] Some nice sketches here by the author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables: “Castles in the sky: the fantastical drawings of author Victor Hugo – in pictures” in the Guardian.

(6) ARE YOU READY TO WATCH MEDIA? Erin Underwood has produced a new pair of video discussion and reactions. The first is focussed on the Jurassic World: Rebirth movie trailers for the film that is coming out in July. Underwood also posted one about the new Murderbot adaptation coming to Apple TV+.

• Jurassic World: Rebirth – Does This Franchise Still Have Bite?

With two new trailers for Jurassic World: Rebirth, it’s time to ask the big question: Do we really need another Jurassic Park movie? Every trailer has to prove its film is worth watching, but for a franchise that’s starting to feel a little … fossilized, the bar is even higher. I take an in-depth look at the trailers, the director, and the writer to see what this film brings to the table as well as what it needs to do to make it a ticket-worthy watch. Will it breathe new life into the series or just dig up the past?

• Murderbot Adaptation: Apple TV’s Next Big Hit?

Murderbot is coming to Apple TV! Based on the award-winning series by Martha Wells and starring Alexander Skarsgård, this adaptation has the potential to be one of the biggest sci-fi hits of 2025. I don’t usually do reaction videos for announcements like this, but I couldn’t resist! Here’s what you need to know!

(7) MEMORY LANE.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Space Cases (1996-1997)

Once upon a time in a school in outer space,  
There was a class of misfit kids from all around the place.  
They snuck aboard a mystery ship,  
Which soon slipped through a spacial rip,  
And now they’re stuck on a long strange trip.

— The Theme Song

Twenty-nine ago on Nickelodeon’s Saturday night block of shows known as SNICK, a Canadian created series called Space Cases aired for two seasons. I’ve never seen it but it sounds like a lot of not so serious fun. 

It was created by author Peter David and actor Bill Mumy, and it starred Walter Emanuel Jones, Jewel Staite, Rebecca Herbst, Kristian Ayre, Rahi Azizi, Paige Christina, Anik Matern, Cary Lawrence and Paul Boretski. 

Yes, it had fifteen-year-old Jewel Staite as one of its cast. She’s the ship’s engineer here. Was she cast on Firefly because of her role here? Well, this was a children’s show with the concept being similar to the current Star Trek: Prodigy. It told the story of a group of Star Academy students from different planets who sneaked aboard a mysterious space ship called The Christa. A ship they bonded literally with and ended across the galaxy in. 

It was shot on the cheap in Quebec. Really on the cheap, so props from Are You Afraid of the Dark? and other Nickelodeon programs were used in the series. Game consoles and compact discs were used as props. 

A number of well-known genre performers showed up here including Mark Hamill, Katey Sagal, George Takei and Michelle Trachtenberg. 

It lasted for two seasons comprising of twenty-seven episodes, each bring fairly short at twenty-two minutes.

A quarter of century later, the official website is still up. See if you spot Staite in the cast photo.

I can’t say I’m surprised that it’s not streaming anywhere. 

(8) COMICS SECTION.

• Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal separates location from the event.
• Bizarro spots several guests during an event. Can you name them all?
• Breaking Cat News has opinions on AI. No litter box was harmed in the making of this comic.
• Carpe Diem makes a wish.
• Close to Home witnesses a super vision test.
• The Argyle Sweater deals with the problem of a soundalike name.

(9) TOX SCREEN. “Oscars Best Picture Marathon: Surviving 24 Hours Inside Movie Theater” — a couple has written up their experience for Variety.

Every film buff has their own Oscar tradition. But perhaps the most hardcore is the AMC Theatres Best Picture Showcase, a 24-hour movie marathon featuring the gamut of nominees. We’ve always wondered who in their right mind would choose to watch nine movies back-to-back (to-back-to-back-to-back). So, for the sake of journalism (and masochism), we decided to find out. We checked ourselves into the insane asylum of AMC Empire 25 in Times Square to spend our weekend in Auditorium 7 for the endurance test of a lifetime.

Here’s the rundown:

We will remain inside Times Square’s AMC Theatres for the entirety of the Best Picture Marathon, which begins Saturday at 12 p.m. and ends Sunday around 1 p.m. Nine of the 10 best picture nominees will screen consecutively (“Emilia Pérez,” excluded because it streamed on Netflix, will not be sorely missed), with 10-minute breaks scheduled between each film (plus one 45-minute dinner period). For those doing math, yes, this “24-Hour Marathon” is indeed 24 hours and 50 minutes. As an added challenge, we’re going to try to limit ourselves to only what is sold at AMC concessions….

(10) SEE THE ORIGINAL STAR WARS. “Star Wars Theatrical Cut Finally Available on Streaming (But for How Long?)” wonders Comicbook.com.

Star Wars is one of the most recognizable brands in the world, and there are legions of fans who have watched all of the movies many times over the years. That said, there is one version of the original Star Wars: A New Hope that has been much harder to watch, especially on streaming. That version is the original theatrical cut without a host of changes that were made after 1981, which is why it’s such a big deal that as of right now the film is available on streaming, provided you have Roku and can find the app called Cinema Box (via Men’s Journal). It’s disappeared a few times before, so there’s no telling how long it will stay there, so if you want to watch it you should probably seek it out sooner rather than later.

(11) BLUE GHOST. [Item by John A Arkansawyer.] Nice to have a non-oligarch space company to cheer for: “Firefly Aerospace Becomes First Commercial Company to Successfully Land on the Moon”.

Firefly Aerospace, the leader in end-to-end responsive space services, today announced its Blue Ghost lunar lander softly touched down on the Moon’s surface in an upright, stable configuration on the company’s first attempt. As part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, named Ghost Riders in the Sky, sets the tone for the future of exploration across cislunar space as the first commercial company in history to achieve a fully successful soft-landing on the Moon….

…Carrying 10 NASA instruments, Blue Ghost completed a precision landing in Mare Crisium at 2:34 a.m. CST on March 2 and touched down within its 100-meter landing target next to a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille. Blue Ghost’s shock absorbing legs stabilized the lander as it touched down and inertial readings confirmed the lander is upright in a stable configuration. Following touchdown, Firefly is successfully commanding and communicating with the lander from its Mission Operations Center in Cedar Park, Texas….

[Thanks to Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, N., John A Arkansawyer, Mark Roth-Whitworth, Marc Criley, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, and Mike Kennedy for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Thomas the Red.]