On the heels of the release of the new trailer for the Pixar film, Elemental, we’ve gotten word that the feature will be preceded by a short with two main characters from the movie Up.

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The short is called “Carl’s Date” and features one of the last performances of Ed Asner as Carl Fredricksen as well as Carl’s beloved dog, Dug (voiced by the short’s writer and director, Bob Peterson). If you’ve forgotten the beginning of Up, we get a montage of Carl having a wonderful life with his wife, Ellie, who passes away before the events of the movie begin.

“No one will ever replace Ellie for Carl,” said Peterson at a press conference (via /Film). “This is just honoring her and Ellie saying, ‘Go have a new adventure,’ and this really puts it to the test. Should he do this or should he not?”

Here’s the short’s official synopsis:

This year, Pixar Animation Studios resumes the magical moviegoing tradition of pairing their feature film with an animated short—like 2018’s Oscar-winning “Bao” that accompanied Incredibles 2 in theaters. Releasing in front of Elemental is a new short that catches up with Carl Fredricksen (voice of Ed Asner) and his lovable talking dog, Dug (voice of Bob Peterson), who were introduced in Pixar’s Oscar-winning feature Up. Written and directed by Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Bob Peterson and produced by Kim Collins, this all-new short, “Carl’s Date,” finds Carl reluctantly agreeing to go on a date with a lady friend—but admittedly with no idea how dating works these days. Ever the helpful friend, Dug steps in to calm Carl’s pre-date jitters and offer some tried-and-true tips for making friends—if you’re a dog.

You can see the short when Elemental hits theaters on June 16, 2023. If you’re looking for a bit more before then, you can also check out this poster below.

These journeys aren’t ending anytime soon. While Star Trek: Discovery has just one more season to fly, the rest of Paramount’s Starfleet of shows show no signs of slowing: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been renewed for a third season, and Star Trek: Lower Decks for a fifth.

What’s more, both shows return to Paramount Plus this summer! The second season of Strange New Worlds arrives June 15th; the fourth season of Lower Decks hasn’t got a specific date yet.

If you’re waiting on Star Trek: Prodigy, however, you’ll have to be a bit more patient: Variety reports that season two will air “this coming winter,” which is vague but somewhat more distant.

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As we learned last summer, Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks will have a crossover episode this season; Lower Decks‘ Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid will appear on SNW in an episode that’s both live-action and animated. If you immediately thought of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, well, so did star Anson Mount, so you’re in good company. It’s sort of a three-way crossover if you take into account the fact that Jonathan Frakes directed that particular episode.

The other delightful new thing about Strange New Worlds is that Carol Kane will be on board as the ship’s engineer.

With two Trek shows about to end—the currently airing Picard and 2024’s final season of Discovery—there is, of course, a lot of curiosity about what might join the fleet. It’s practically impossible to go online without stumbling across mutterings about a potential Picard spinoff, though nothing is official. A Starfleet Academy show has been cooking for quite some time—and then there is, of course, the appropriately mysterious and long-whispered-about Section 31 series, which is supposed to star brand-new Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh.

For now, though, you can mark your calendars for June 15th, when Strange New Worlds returns.

Mark Hamill is just the best. His admiration and support of the Ukrainian people as they face down a monstrous attempt to end their independence and their lives have been evident since the beginning of Russia's war on them. Now Hamill is the voice of an air raid warning app. — Read the rest

If the movie is half as good as this ad…

[H/t Tim Hutchings]

In a follow-up from 2021 "I Interviewed animals with a tiny mic," YouTubing zoologist Maya of the Alveus Sanctuary has interviewed even more animals with a tiny mic, in the brilliantly-titled "I interviewed animals with a tiny mic, again." — Read the rest

A camera makes for an interesting build for anyone, because it’s an extremely accessible technology that can be made from materials as simple as cardboard. More robust cameras often require significant work, but what if you could make a usable camera from LEGO? It’s a project taken on by [Zung92], who hasn’t simply made a working 35 mm camera from everyone’s favorite construction toy — he’s also managed to make it exude retro style. Best of all, you can vote for it on the LEGO Ideas website, and you might even get the chance to have one for yourself.

Frustratingly there’s little in the way of in-depth technical detail on the Ideas website, but he does mention that it was a challenge to make it light proof. Even the lens is a LEGO part, and if diffraction-based photography isn’t for you there’s also a pinhole option. We look forward to seeing this camera progress, and we hope we’ll see it advance to becoming a LEGO Ideas kit.

This is an extremely polished design, but surprisingly, it’s not our first LEGO camera.

Thanks [Michael] for the tip.