The Leviathan (rises).

The Leviathan — Teaser from Ruairi Robinson on Vimeo.

News over at Deadline.com  suggests that Ruairi ‘Last Days of Mars’ Robinson’s short film about a humanity whose space-travel is powered by space whales (think Avatar crossed with Moby Dick), is now green for go.

In this case, the harvesting is done by prison and slave labour – think Stephen Hunt’s ‘In Dark Service‘, but with fewer volcanoes (or possibly more, given the look of the planet). Anyway, everyone knows that space whale hunting is traditionally done on gas giants.

Simon Kinberg will be a producer on the movie, and as exec-producer there’s the ever-present Neill Blomkamp, with Fight Club’s Jim Uhls down for the script.

Space whales have a long and noble history in science fiction – a space whale powering humanity featured in the Dr Who episode ‘The Beast Below’, and there’s even an entire blog dedicated to them over at http://fuckyeahspacewhales.tumblr.com/