On a wind-swept pier in Yokohama, Japan, the world’s largest mobile humanoid robot has a new lease on life. Originally set to close on March 31, 2023, the towering mech at Gundam Factory Yokohama has had its operations extended by another full year, just in time for the return of the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury anime series this month.

Like Star Trek, the Gundam franchise comes from the humble beginnings of a canceled TV series that found a second life in reruns and movies. With the life-sized “Moving Gundam,” which weighs 25 tons and stands almost 60 feet tall, it’s now one step closer (quite a few of them, actually) to leaving science fiction for reality. Certified as the biggest robot of its kind by Guinness World Records, the Moving Gundam gives the illusion of walking and can move its head and hands or even kneel before standing back up and pointing to the sky. It’s an engineering feat that most people outside Japan never got to observe up close — until last October when the country finally reopened its borders after two years.

Some of Pixar’s most recent successes thrive on a unique sense of authorship not common in studio animated features. It’s not a surprise that the best ones are influenced by their creators’ own lives.

Luca, for example, took cues from a close childhood friendship that shaped Italian-born animator Enrico Casarosa. Turning Red derived from director Domee Shi’s teenage years during the boy-band-obsessed early aughts in Toronto, Canada. Elemental, the newest Pixar film directed by Peter Sohn, seeks to do something similar with its tale of opposites attract.

The future of cinematic Star Wars is finally coming into sharper focus. In the coming years, big-screen adventures set in a galaxy far, far away will happen in three distinct time periods, seemingly unconnected from each other. But make no mistake, this new anti-trilogy is a big deal and will shake up the Star Wars timeline permanently.

At Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London, Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy revealed details for the three new Star Wars films, each of which takes place in a different timeline.