“The director is currently being sued for plagiarism by the son of playwright Paul Zindel, whose 1969 play Let Me Hear You Whisper bears a striking resemblance to del Toro’s film.”

Ten years from now, will China be even richer and more powerful than it is today, or....will all of these "China ascendant" future scenarios look as silly and dated as all the "Japan takes over the world" books and movies from the 1980s?

I was never clear on why Christopher Hitchens was out to get poor Speed, but other than that, great movie.

The Hoover the Seal of cetaceans?

Good list, though I'd argue for the inclusion of Agent Dana Scully from the X-Files. Sure, in some ways she's a riff on Clarice Starling, just like Fox Mulder is a variation on Dale Cooper, but the character both made a huge impression at the time and was one of the first female genre TV leads who was defined by her…

The real story of Vlad of Wallachia is so damned epic and interesting (taken as a royal hostage to be raised by the Ottomans, effectively fighting back against the might of the Ottoman Empire by being more ruthless and scary than they were, fighting against his own brother, etc.) that it doesn't even need supernatural…