We focused on big, awesome, brain-eating box sets for this roundup — so, for example, we didn't include too many sets that were just individual seasons of TV series, if we could recommend the series' complete run in one set instead. And similarly, for movies, we tried to find the sets that would make the most impressive gift. But we also have a ton of suggestions for bargain-basement DVD sets that still make awesome gifts, in these trying economic times.

Movies On DVD: The Best New Box Sets And Gift Sets

(If galleries bother you, then click here for non-gallery version.)

Give Your Friends Enough Television To Ruin Them For Real Life

(If you hate galleries, click here for non-gallery version.)

10 Cheap-Ass DVD Box Sets That Make Good Ironic Stocking Stuffers:

(Non-gallery version is here.)

We've selected ten types of science fiction fans, offering you great gift ideas for fans of the big franchises, this summer's biggest movies, and even something for the steampunks and zombie lovers. You can also check out our fan gift guide from last year, which also includes gift ideas for fans of Battlestar Galactica, Harry Potter, and Batman.

Gifts for the Star Wars Fan (Gallery-free view)

Gifts for the Star Trek Fan (Gallery-free view)

Gifts for the Transformers Fan (Gallery-free view)

Gifts for the GI Joe Fan (Gallery-free view)

Gifts for the Doctor Who Fan (Gallery-free view)

Gifts for the Joss Whedon Fan (Gallery-free view)

Gifts for the Terminator Fan (Gallery-free view)

Gifts for the Vampire Fan (Gallery-free view)

Gifts for the Steampunk Fan (Gallery-free view)

Gifts for the Zombie Fan (Gallery-free view)

Additional gift ideas by Meredith Woerner.

Whether you're buying for loved ones, loathed ones, ones you barely know but feel an obligation to get something something for or yourself, it's hard to go wrong with a well-chosen toy as a gift. But it's hard to know just what toys you should be looking at, which is where we come in; we've split our choices into three categories: Play, Display and Making Your Life Better, which is to say things that are useful (or, in one case, useless but kind of essential nonetheless). Click through to see our selections.

For Play
LEGO, action figures and things for you to hit other people with safely. After all, isn't that what "play" really means?

For Display
For some people, toys are things to keep on shelves, on their walls or in boxes. Here're a few ideas for the serious collector.

For Making Your (Or Someone Else's) Life Better
In which we suggest gifts offering education, amusement and/or something to hold onto at night. Yes, even that last one.

Additional research by Alex Eichler.

Star Trek Movie Electronic Phaser
We've always been suckers for the phaser, whether it's OG Trek, Next Gen or even Enterprise. No wonder we want one of these awesome toy phasers from this summer's movie, especially with its "authentic lights and sounds" (We're not convinced that it's as "realistic" as they claim, however). For extra authenticity, you can also pick up a communicator and Tricorder to complete the set... Although we think we prefer the original series model on that last one.

LEGO Star Wars: The Clone Wars Fan's Vote Anniversary Edition - Home One Mon Calamari Star Cruiser
It's an irrefutable fact that all LEGO is awesome, but this insane 789-piece set goes the extra distance to become uber-awesome: Rebuild the command deck of the Mon Calamari from Return Of The Jedi, complete with an A-Wing and six figures including Admiral Ackbar, Mon Mothma and Lando Calrissian. There's no way that you can't want this already unless you have a fear of bricks.

Transformers Constructicon Devastator
The movie may have defied things like logic or story, but there's no denying that the robots themselves looked cool, and the giant Devastator (made of six different Constructicon vehicles) may be the coolest of all the toys, especially with his snapping jaws and "construction sounds." It's the next best thing to being chased around the world with Megan Fox!*

(* This is, in fact, untrue.)

Superhero Action Figures
Tried and true, there are enough different variations of superhero action figure that anyone who's ever shown even the slightest interest in Batman is sure to find something they'll appreciate. From DC Direct's upscale figures to Marvel Legends, your choice of characters go from obvious (Wolverine is, unsurprisingly, well represented in the toy world) to obscure (Blackest Night supporting character Saint Walker?). Because we're fans of the old Star Wars figures, we'd plump for the similarly-sized DC Universe Infinite Heroes and Marvel Universe lines to make your choices from. And, if you're looking to get something for us, we'd love a Professor Zoom, thanks.

Bay, Kurtzman and Orci's Batman
Pros: You'd get a new Batman movie every two years, even if Michael Bay would complain and tell people that he didn't want to make it but the studio offered him so much money he couldn't say no. Plus, with Bay attached, you know that they'd get to Catwoman as soon as humanly possible instead of this whole "I am a nihilist Joker" crap from The Dark Knight.
Cons: Kurtzman and Orci would probably take their Daddy issues (Fringe's Walter/Peter complicated relationship, Star Trek's Kirk trying to live up to his dead father's memory by self-destructing but then coming through as the hero he was destined to be, even Transformers' Optimus as Tough-But-Fair Robot Daddy to Shia's Sam Whitwicky) to pop culture's most parent-obsessed character, leading to the risk of a third act emotional breakthrough where Batman cries. There are enough Batman characters to make Revenge Of The Fallen seem understaffed, and the various personality tics of said Batman characters could lead to more unfunny schtick like the Twins and/or Jazz from the Transformers movies. Michael Bay possibly already sees himself as Bruce Wayne. Also, there's every possibility that the movie would make no sense whatsoever (See: Transformers, Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen).

JJ Abrams' Terminator
Pros: Abrams' sense of kinetic, fun filmmaking is just what the franchise needs after Terminator Salvation - He's a sci-fi nerd who knows how to make successful popcorn movies full of tech that are really all about people; in other words, he's a younger James Cameron, before Cameron fell more in love with the tech involved in making movies. A Terminator-ized "Bad Robot" logo would be awesome. There'd probably be a Simon Pegg cameo.
Cons: Abrams' inability to not have a happy ending would mean that Skynet would be completely defeated by the time he was done, whether it was a movie or trilogy. The time travel core concept would allow him to reboot the series whenever he wanted, with Zachary Quinto as Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator. There'd probably be a Keri Russell cameo. Actually, fuck the cons. I really want to see Abrams do Terminator, the more I think about it.

Christopher Nolan's GI Joe
Pros: If anyone could give GI Joe some critical credibility, it's Christopher Nolan.
Cons: Nolan's attempt would probably be called A Real American Hero and would likely be three hours long, most of which would be spent filled with actors who should know better (Yes, Gary Oldman, we're looking at you) telling the audience how difficult it is to be a real American hero in a morally ambiguous world. There would be at least one subplot about abuse of military power to underscore the moral ambiguity until we move into the third act when the audience needs to get pumped and then Duke would abuse military power to stop the bad guy and then walk away in disgust in order to make a point that will be lost on the majority of an audience who were excited to see shit blow up finally. Cobra Commander would be so compelling that you'll start to wonder if he's wandered on set from a different, better, movie. Purists would complain about Snake Eyes' closing monologue about how difficult it is to be a ninja in the US military. No child would ever want to buy a GI Joe toy ever again.

Bryan Singer's Transformers
Pros: Singer's mix of geek cred and understanding of human drama/cheap angst is exactly what the Robots in Disguise need. His X-Men movies show that he can deal with large casts, and also keep the core of the original concepts and characters without getting weighed down by nostalgia. His Superman Returns shows that he, uh... knows Kevin Spacey, who could probably do a good Megatron voice? Okay, maybe not that last one.
Cons: Tom Cruise would end up playing Optimus Prime, and Ian McKellen would cameo as the Matrix of Leadership/Allspark/Creation Matrix/whatever the hell it's called these days. Singer would leave before the last film in the trilogy to go and make a Go-Bots movie about Leader-1 really being Jesus and stalking his ex-girlfriend.

McG's Dollhouse
Pros: Revamping Joss Whedon's television series into a stand-alone movie, McG would give interviews about really getting to the heart of the darkness at the center of the concept but then present a movie that's a series of comedic vignettes wherein Eliza Dushku, Lucy Liu and Ellen Page are sassy, independent girls who have to roleplay different personalities and lives while working undercover for D.O.L.L.house, a secret spy organization that pretends to brainwash people and rent them out to clients - with hilarious consequences!
Cons: Revamping Joss Whedon's television series into a stand-alone movie, McG would give interviews about really getting to the heart of the darkness at the center of the concept but then present a movie that's a series of comedic vignettes wherein Eliza Dushku, Lucy Liu and Ellen Page are sassy, independent girls who have to roleplay different personalities and lives while working undercover for D.O.L.L.house, a secret spy organization that pretends to brainwash people and rent them out to clients - with hilarious consequences!

While present-day Marvel finds itself beginning to tie up their uber-story Dark Reign with this week's Dark Reign: The List - Wolverine and Dark Reign: The List - Punisher, the future presents itself in the form of the Wolverine: Old Man Logan hardcover collection, which can best be described as "What if Mad Max met The Unforgiven, only it was about Wolverine and took place in the future and guest-starred lots of over the top parodies of other Marvel characters as their own 'descendants'?" A particularly guilty pleasure, perhaps, but definitely one that hits a particular target.

Similarly on the "If you like this kind of thing, you'll love this," DC's Ambush Bug: Year None finally finishes its six-issue run with this week's seventh issue - which replaces the much-delayed and rumored-to-be-so-controversial-it-was-killed-by-editorial sixth, originally due out months ago... and that explanation is, oddly enough, one of the best examples of the sense of humor required to enjoy Keith Giffen's weird affectionate superhero parody. More straight-ahead DC thrills can be found in Arkham Reborn - which begins the reconstruction of Batman's favorite lunatic asylum, destroyed after Bruce Wayne died/went time-traveling involuntarily - and World's Finest, which brings together characters from Superman and Batman's supporting casts to solve crimes and compare sales figures.

Elsewhere, Dark Horse has a special issue of the Hellboy spinoff Abe Sapien, as part of its new initiative to get readers to try out new series and franchises (or comics, in the first place; the upcoming Doctor Horrible special is likely to entice some newbies into the fold, I think.)

And those who like that kind of thing are highly recommended to also pick up SLG's Pinnochio: Vampire Slayer graphic novel, wherein Gepetto's little boy realizes that life without cutting your nose off to stake the undead with just isn't worth wishing for. Yes, it's as odd and wonderful as that sounds.

Those looking for nostalgic thrills updated for a new cynical age could do a lot worse than the collection of GI Joe: Cobra, the mini-series I raved about recently (It really is very good.) And for those looking for a beautifully illustrated, touchingly gentle piece of storytelling, the hardcover collection of P. Craig Russell's adaptation of The Sandman: The Dream Hunters can't be beaten; I'd even argue that it's better than Gaiman's prose original.

Just like every week, the complete list of comics reaching comic stores tomorrow can be found here, and your local comic store can be found here. And, if you happen to have some spare change left in your pocket once you've picked up everything you're looking for...? Grab a copy of Boom!'s Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep #5; I've got a text piece about Philip K. Dick in the back, and I need all the help I can get, coming after Warren Ellis, Matt Fraction, Rockne S. O'Bannon and Ed Brubaker's efforts...

The DVD version of the movie - serialized online before being shown on Adult Swim earlier this year - includes new unseen footage, as well as interviews with the people responsible and storyboards like these:

GI Joe: Resolute will be released on November 3rd.

It's nice to know that Stephen Sommers was completely and utterly aware of what he was making: giant splodey toys! G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra will be released on DVD and Blu-ray release on November 3rd. Kabooooom.

Fall is officially in full effect, which means the big bad summer sci-fi season is over! Now, personally, I set my bar so impossibly high that no film could ever come close to pleasing me unless our lord and saviour Michael Bay himself were to direct it. But perhaps some of you plebs are able to enjoy lesser entertainment - though I fail to see how you can watch anything beyond those low brows of yours. So, now that we've had a little while to absorb and reflect the entertainment we've witnessed, what really was a disaster? So, enjoy a mini "clip-show" to refresh your memory and then vote on what was truly a disaster!


WATCHMEN:



DOLLHOUSE:



TERMINATOR SALVATION:



BSG FINALE:



STAR TREK:



X-MEN ORIGINS - WOLVERINE:



TRANSFORMERS-REVENGE OF THE FALLEN:



GI JOE:



SUMMER GLAU:



DISTRICT 9:



OTHER:



Now go vote... and argue!!!

I also want to use this change in format to bring a little news. For a while now, I've been trying to bring you the best Disaster I can with the time that I have when not busy with other ventures. But, in less than two weeks, I will be welcoming a tiny disaster of my own into the world. So between that and other "official" work that I've been involved in, I will be having far less time to put together a weekly "This is a Disaster". So I am going to take a short hiatus.

I will return, I would just rather promise future greatness than deliver regular mediocrity.


I'll still be lurking around here doing the odd 'shop when time and inspiration meet. But if you want to see what work I'm up too check out my blog. I have big plans for ROACH, so continue to check there periodically. And if you are curious what the fuck I'm going to do with a baby, I just started a new blog that I will do my best to keep up with so follow along there.

Thanks for all your interest so far and I will return before you notice I'm gone.

-Garrison Dean

Sectaurs
The Set-Up: A toyline that only lasted one year - perhaps because the world was as grossed-out by the idea of half-insect half-humans as I was when I was ten years old (Nonetheless, props to whoever decided that the character's giant-insect pets/horse-like-equivalents would be gloves, so you could make their legs move) - Sectaurs followed a He-Man-esque model of quasi-mystical good guys ("The Shining Realm of Prosperon," led by the heroic Prince Dargon) versus equally-quasi-mystical bad guys ("The Dark Domain of Synax," led by General Spidrax) on a planet called Symbion.
Was There A Franchise? Comics books, cartoons and kids storybooks.
The Movie: Embrace the alien, and CGI everything to make it look weird and wonderful. Play up the mythical aspects and turn it into a kids franchise with teeth.

Centurions
The Set-Up: In the "near future," three (later five, but no-one remembers the last two) men fight terrorists (led by the aptly-named Doc Terror) by wearing weirdly weaponized robotic suits that give them something approaching superpowers. Despite being the product of the mid-80s, their tagline of "PowerXtreme!" was curiously a decade ahead of its time.
Was There A Franchise? Cartoons and comic books.
The Movie: It's GI Joe with added technology. Seriously, how can this fail? Just remember to rename the bad guy.

Adventures of The Galaxy Rangers
The Set-Up: The Old West becomes the New West as mankind moves off-planet and colonizes the universe, reverting to cowboy style in the process. The concept behind Galaxy Rangers offered a chance to mix-and-match moments of American history as the Rangers themselves - essentially cyborg versions of Western lawmen, riding robotic horses - fight against a "vast and crumbling Empire" ruled by The Queen of the Crown. Oh, and they're against slavery, as well.
Was There A Franchise? Just a cartoon.
The Movie: Pull back on the sleekness of the technology, and give us a steampunk revisionary version that's more Firefly than Wild Wild West.

MASK
The Set-Up: Pretty much "What if Transformers weren't robots but could still transform," MASK - which stood for Mobile Armored Strike Kommand, proving that even the US Government aren't above bad spelling when a good acronym's at stake - was a GI Joe-esque anti-terrorist squad who used vehicles that had alternate combat modes against VENOM (Vicious Evil Network Of Mayhem). Both sides also had helmets that gave them special powers, which may have been a concept too far, really.
Was There A Franchise? Cartoons, comic books, and video games.
The Movie: Oddly enough, MASK was brought into the GI Joe franchise last year in the toys, so maybe this perfect mix of Joe and Transformers is already taken care of, in terms of Hollywood.

Power Lords
The Set-Up: Another failed toyline that ripped off Masters of The Universe, Power Lords saw Adam Power use the Cosmic Power Jewel to become Lord Power, fighting evil dictator Arkus. Much more amusing were the henchmen, who had names like Bakatak, Disguyzor and Drrench, demonstrating how desperate toymakers could get when deadlines loomed.
Was There A Franchise? Comic books and video games.
The Movie: Actually, maybe they should just make the Masters of The Universe movie instead, as this is so clearly stolen from those toys.

Spiral Zone
The Set-Up: Ignore characters with names like Dirk Courage and Benjamin Davis Franklin, and concentrate on the admittedly-awesome concept: A mad scientist hijacks a space shuttle to turn half the planet into an altered state called the Spiral Zone, where everyone within becomes a mind-controlled zombie. Five soldiers with specially-constructed suits to combat the Zone's effects are sent inside to destroy the Zone Generators and save the world.
Was There A Franchise? Cartoons and comic books.
The Movie: Drop everything other than the basic idea, and make it into a dark action movie with Christian Bale working off his Terminator karma. This is one child dystopia that deserves to be brought back meaner and more hardcore than before.

Zoids
The Set-Up: Robotic dinosaurs and ancient creatures trapped in permanently-ongoing wars on alien planets, although if you read the British tie-in comic, you'd know there was much more - and much, much ripped off of popular movies of a few years previously - going on.
Was There A Franchise? Internationally, comic books and cartoons, but not in the US.
The Movie: Is it too much to ask for Jurassic Park: The Robots? Other than simply adapting the UK comic story (Spaceship full of humans crashlands on Zoid planet, characters act out Alien and Terminator cliches), I can't think of any other way to do it.

Crystar
The Set-Up: Another fantasy toyline, but one that wasn't, surprisingly, ripped off from He-Man, Crystar started life as a pitch from Marvel Comics to various toy companies before Remco bit the crystal bullet and manufactured Crystar and his crystaline brothers and Moltar and his fire-themed minions. Despite offering dragons, castles and personifications of a metaphysical battle between order and chaos, the line only lasted one year.
Was There A Franchise? Only comics.
The Movie: Tone down the Chaos/Order subtext, ramp up the "warring brothers" aspect and go all-out on the fantasy - Give us a full-on Lord Of The Rings set on another planet, with the kind of scope and scale that only Peter Jackson or James Cameron could think of.

Rom The Space-Knight

The Set-Up: Sure, the toy - manufactured by Parker Brothers, and originally called COBOL - may have flopped spectacularly in the US, but the cyborg space warrior lived on for years afterwards in his Marvel Comics series, and even longer in our hearts.
Was There A Franchise? Only comics.
The Movie: Redesign Rom to be slightly less... boxy, and pull in The Invaders paranoia from the comic book, and you've got something with an obvious enough hero to play well in multiplexes but with the potential for something much more subtle and sneaky for those who want to look at it that way.

Micronauts
The Set-Up: If ever there was a toyline that deserved a movie, it's this space opera line adapted from various Japanese figures, especially considering that it's the line that indirectly gave birth to Transformers and the 1980s revival of GI Joe that made that franchise what it is today.
Was There A Franchise? Only comics.
The Movie: With "Time Travelers", Mega Cities, Space Gliders and villains who look like Darth Vader, there's surely only one option: Try to create the next Star Wars, complete with new cultures, new danger and derring-do, and an empire that could support Baron Karzas and Acroyears... whatever an Acroyear turns out to be.

This week's GI Joe: Cobra Special is really an epilogue and explanation to the four issues that have come before, telling the origin of the power behind the terrorist throne in such a way that the comic itself becomes a physical metaphor for the characters involved. To say too much more would be to spoil the reveal that came at the end of the original mini-series, but suffice to say that this is literally a comic that deserves to be read backwards and forwards, with a symmetry that at once rewards and betrays the reader.

It's a clever idea, and one that goes beyond its gimmicky nature thanks to the execution and the fact that it legitimately works as a metaphor for the story it's telling; a final sign that this is a different, more thoughtful G.I. Joe.

It's true — GI Joe: Cobra tells a different story than the one we've seen in toys, comics, cartoons (and now, movies) through the years - One of an undercover Joe agent, working his way upwards through the Cobra ranks as the organization puts itself together, and as things get more and more out of his control. Dispensing with almost all of the over-the-top elements of the franchise - although we get easter-egg-style glimpses of the robotic BATTs and the HISS tanks - this is a harder-edged take on the familiar. And it's miles away from the old cartoon's enforced no-bullets, no-death rules (As one captured Joe finds out midway through the story, when an interrogation comes too close to the truth).

Credit writer Mike Costa (working with Christos Gage on the mini-series' four issues) with the revisions, but maybe Ed Brubaker, as well; his Sleeper seems like an obvious influence here, even if this series has a nihilism maybe even greater than Brubaker's modern classic. Artist Antonio Fuso's presence helps, giving the book a spiky freshness unlike the more traditional Joe comics, and fitting in with the off-kilter feeling of the series as a whole.

Even if you haven't read the GI Joe: Cobra series, tomorrow's Special is well worth picking up; it stands alone enough - and has enough formalist play - to work on its own. But if you pick up the four issues that came before, you'll find yourself confronted with a Cobra more realistic, and much more interesting, than you could've imagined when you played with the toys as a kid.

GI Joe: Cobra Special is released tomorrow.

For those scared off by the idea of dropping many clams on collected editions, I'd like to steer you in the direction of the first issues of The Unknown: The Devil Made Flesh (Mark Waid's supernatural super-science mystery series comes back for a second go-around). Also, there's Spider-Man: The Clone Saga (in which one of the 1990s' worst mistakes gets a second chance as original architects of the storyline Howard Mackie and Tom DeFalco do it over and try to do it right, this time.) And finally, the GI Joe: Cobra Special, which - as unlikely as it sounds - is a thriller that plays with the comic format surprisingly effectively as it fills in the background of the public face of the Cobra organization... But I'll tell you more about that in another post later today.

That said, this really is a week for collections. Dark Horse has the much-anticipated second volume of Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba's incredible Umbrella Academy (The Umbrella Academy: Dallas). Dynamite offers the obscure but ahead-of-its-time Power & Glory (by American Flagg's Howard Chaykin).

Meanwhile, from the opposite end of the superhero spectrum (which is to say, sound and fury signifying lack of critical approval) comes from Marvel's Ultimatum hardcover. (Marvel also has an accompanying epilogue collection, Ultimatum Requiem, as well as the Golden Age revival book Avengers/Invaders, hitting stores tomorrow).

The week, however, really belongs to DC Comics. DC offers the first collection of the Zuda strip High Moon (Vampires and werewolves in the old west, and if there's any justice, soon to be a major motion picture.) Also, two "deluxe" editions of classic comics are making a comeback with Absolute Promethea Vol. 1 and Fables: The Deluxe Edition Vol. 1. Promethea collects the first year of Alan Moore's post-feminist, post-deconstructionist take on the female superhero archetype, while Fables brings together the first two paperbacks for a suitable introduction to Bill Willingham's addictive updating of fairytales, myths and legends. Both are highly recommended in any format, but it has to be said... they do look great in these new oversized hardcovers.

As usual, the complete list of comics reaching your local comic store can be found here, and said local comic stores can be found here. Even if you're not looking for a massive slab of classic comics, you should take a look, anyway.

If you're looking for the movie that outright made the most profit? Well, that's Transformers, but only just; right behind it is the movie that offered the best Return on Investment for studios, with some math that could even tempt some studios into spending less money on movies in future... unless Michael Bay is involved, of course. But there's no denying that District 9 has to be some kind of gamechanger for science fiction movies of the future, going by these numbers.

(For the math-inclined, these movies are ranked in terms of ROI.)

[UPDATED to add Wolverine and Harry Potter, because I forgot both. Sorry!]

District 9
Domestic Box Office: $112,440,084 (over 6 weeks - $18,740,014 per week average.)
Budget: $30,000,000
Profit: $82,440,084
(374% return domestically)

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
Domestic Box Office: $401,555,453 (over 13 weeks - $30,888,881 per week average.)
Budget: $200,000,000
Profit: $201,555,453
(200.7% return domestically)

Star Trek
Domestic Box Office: $257,638,255 (over 20 weeks - $12,881,912.75 per week average.)
Budget: $150,000,000
Profit: $107,638,255
(171.76% return domestically)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Domestic Box Office: $179,880,256 (over 21 weeks - $8,565,726 per week average)
Budget: $150,000,000
Profit: $29,880,256
(119.92% return domestically)

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince
Domestic Box Office: $299,695,999 (over 10 weeks - $29,996,599 per week average)
Budget: $250,000,000
Profit: $49,695,999
(119.88% return domestically)

Moon
Domestic Box Office: $4,843,670 (over 15 weeks of limited release - $322,911.33 per week average)
Budget: $5,000,000
Profit: -$156,330
(96.87% return domestically)

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Domestic Box Office: $146,569,665 (over 7 weeks - $20,938,523.43 per week average)
Budget: $175,000,000
Profit: -$28,430,335
(83.75% return domestically)

Terminator Salvation
Domestic Box Office: $125,322,469 (over 16 weeks - $7,832,654.31 per week average)
Budget: $200,000,000
Profit: -$74,677,531
(71.61% return domestically)

In Pandorum, opening this Friday, Quaid plays Payton, one of two space travelers who awake from hypersleep aboard a massive spaceship. (The other one is Bower, played by Ben Foster.) Hypersleep always leaves travelers with total amnesia, so Payton and Bower don't know who they are. Normally, there's supposed to be someone there to help reorient you when you reawaken from hypersleep, but they're on their own. And they're locked in the tiny room they wake up in. The first part of the movie is about their struggle to escape from this room — but once they finally get out, "that's when all hell breaks loose," says Quaid.

Are we ready for the return of space horror? "I sure enough do hope so," says Quaid. "If you have a good story — and this is a great story — a good movie, a fun, exciting movie, the audience will show up." He says Pandorum is "pretty amazing, in that it's part thriller, part horror movie, I guess... it's a myth, asking who are we? Are we who we think we are?"

And even though you've seen weird white creatures attacking our heroes out of the bowels of the spaceship in the trailers and clips, there aren't any aliens in this movie, says Quaid. "The aliens are us."

In the clips we've seen so far, Quaid's character seems like the steady voice of reason, compared with Foster's jumpy, paranoid character. But "that's only what it seems like," says Quaid. "My character is hiding something that even he himself doesn't know." Besides that, all Quaid will say about Payton is, "He's not who he thinks he is, let's put it that way."

He had fun playing off of Foster's jumpy, paranoid character, but also has some "pretty interesting" repartee with Cam Gigandet, who plays Gallo.

Quaid has heard the inevitable comparisons with District 9, what with humans peeling off their own skin and slowly turning into some kind of inhuman creature, but "this is a very different type of story." The film's title, Pandorum, "actually refers to a syndrome that occurs with prolonged space flight, where one begins to lose their grip on reality."

Quaid also appears in the upcoming Biblical horror film Legion, in which people have boils bursting out of their skin, among other things. We asked him which movie was grosser to film, and he said "I think they're about even." He says special effects are much easier to shoot than they used to be — in the old days, they were all mechanical, and now "they basically just build the whole thing around you."

Enemy Mine is one of our favorite films, so we had to ask Quaid about it — many accounts say the space epic was filmed twice, in its entirety. The studio fired original director Richard Loncraine, and director Wolfgang Petersen started over from scratch. But Quaid tells us they didn't quite get to film the entire movie before Loncraine was fired:

We didn't film it completely twice. We shot in Iceland with another director, for about four to six weeks, something like that. [It was] a very different concept of the film, and then the director was fired. And we shot in Germany with Wolfgang Petersen.

Nobody's ever seen the footage that Loncraine shot, and it's rumored to have been junked. But Quaid says it still exists somewhere, "but I'd like to see it myself." Quaid Loncraine's original version of Mine was "grittier," at least partly because it was filmed on location, with real weather, and Petersen shot his version on a soundstage. "It had a grittiness to it." But it was still the same basic story of a human and an alien, enemies in a bitter war, learning to become friends.

And finally, we asked Quaid if he's still on board for G.I. Joe 2. And he says, "Yeah if they do one, i'm there."

Here's a list of all the movies with production budgets of $170 million and over, for the past ten years. (We chose the threshold of $170 million because there were a ton of movies clustered around the $150 million-$160 million mark.) Movies that failed to make back their budget at the U.S. box office are underlined.

2009:

Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince: $250 million

Avatar: $237 million (according to AP)

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen: $225 million (according to NY Post)

Terminator Salvation: $200 million

G.I. Joe: The Rise Of COBRA: $175 million

Up: $175 million

2008:

Quantum Of Solace: $230.6 million

Prince Caspian: $225.6 million

Iron Man: 186.5 million

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull: $185.5 million

The Dark Knight: $185.5 million

Wall-E: $180.5 million

2007:

Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End: $317.4 million

Spider-Man 3: $272.9 million

The Golden Compass: His Dark Materials: $213.4 million

Rush Hour 3: $187.4 million

2006:

Superman Returns: $295.3 million

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: $223.1 million

X-Men: The Last Stand: $209.3 million

Poseidon: $171.3 million

2005:

King Kong: $232.5 million

Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion The Witch & The Wardrobe: $197.6 million

Sahara: $176.8 million

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire: $150 million (2005 dollars)

2004:

Spider-Man 2: $232.2 million

Troy: $199.9 million

Van Helsing: $182.8 million

The Polar Express: $186.6 million

Alexander: $175.4 million

2003:

Terminator 3: $238.4 million

The Matrix: Reloaded: $176.7 million

Master And Commander: $175.6 million

The Matrix: Revolutions: $175.6 million

2000:

The Perfect Storm: $175.6 million

1999:

Wild Wild West: $221 million

The World Is Not Enough: $173.3 million

The 13th Warrior: $206.8 million

Notes: All figures are in 2009 dollars, adjusted for inflation. These figures are just production budgets, and are based on the most accurate figures we could find. They don't include marketing budgets. And of course, many of the films which failed to break even at the U.S. box office did make a profit when you factor in international box office.

Conclusions:

There hasn't been a movie as expensive as Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End since 2007, so you could argue that, over all, movies are not getting more expensive. However, after a few years where there were four mega-budgeted movies per year, the last two years have each seen six movies with budgets over $170 million (in inflation-adjusted dollars.) And as we mentioned above, this year had the most movies costing $200 million or more of any year, with next year likely to see even more films over $200 million.

And the listing above doesn't reflect this fact, but we also found a steep rise in the number of movies costing around $150 million every year — this seems to be the safe point for a film that is expected to do well, but may not be a blockbuster. Films like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Batman Begins, Star Trek and many others all have production budgets in the magic $150 million zone.

At the same time, Hollywood seems slightly better at picking winners lately. We haven't had a year where most of the hugely expensive movies failed to make back their budget at the U.S. box office since 2004, when two historical epics, The Polar Expressand Van Helsing all bombed. Or 2003, when one of two Matrix sequels underperformed, along with Terminator 3 and Master And Commander.

One thing jumps out at me: There were apparently no budget busting movies in 2000, 2001 or 2002. Apparently the first X-Men movie, which came out in 2000, had a budget of only about $75 million. And the Star Wars prequels, hideous though they were, were apparently on the cheap side, costing around $120 million each (in non-adjusted dollars.)

Why would this be? Well, look at the three big-budget movies from 1999. Notice anything the three of them have in common? Hmmm... Other mega-expensive bombs in the late 1990s include Speed 2: Cruise Control, Lethal Weapon 4 and, of course, Waterworld. The only mega-budget movies to make money in the latter half of the 1990s were Armageddon and Titanic.

Sources: Know Your Money, Forbes.com, Listphobia, The Numbers, IMDB, Box Office Mojo, Wikipedia, and other sources as cited.

We know, we know: the Hollywood development cycle is a slow, lumbering beast. It can take anywhere from a couple years (for a "fast-track" project) to a decade for a movie to see the light of day. But given how many people were saying, this time last year, that The Dark Knight had changed everything, you'd expect there to be at least some films in development, if not in pre-production or actually filming.

And there don't seem to be any movies in "the pipeline" that seem consciously influenced by TDK. Here are a few possible contenders:

• Super-Max. Written by TDK co-writer David S. Goyer, this film has obvious elements in common with Knight. From the scraps we've gleaned, it's about the snotty trust-fund superhero Green Arrow, who gets sent to prison, probably for a crime he didn't commit. And he has to escape from the world's toughest, most advanced prison by teaming up with a host of DC Comics supervillains. Gritty dark action? Check. Moral ambiguity? Check. Heroes who cross the line? Pretty much. Too bad that every time we hear about this film, it sounds more and more like it's stuck in limbo.

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• Superman Returns (Again). Every time someone mentions doing another Superman movie in the wake of 2006's underwhelming Superman Returns, they say it'll feature a "dark" take on the Last Son Of Krypton, influenced by Christopher Nolan's take on Batman. Says Warner Bros. president Jeff Robinov, "We're going to go dark, to the extent that the character will allow." More recently, rumored Super-director James McTeigue said something similar. But this "darker" Man Of Steel movie is still stuck in limbo, and Warner Bros. execs told a courtroom that they don't see much box-office potential in another Superman movie. (Granted, they were trying to get out of having to pay Superman's creators' heirs tons of money for Hollywood rights.) In fact, when they talk about doing a "darker" Superman movie, it's usually said with an air of "Well, nobody really wants to make a Superman movie, but if you put a gun to our heads, we'd do a darker one." The confusing copyright situation with Superman means they have to start development on a new Superman film in the next few years, but assuming Warners gets more enthusiasm for the cinematic Man Of Steel again, they'll probably rediscover their love for his fun, escapist side.
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• The Fantastic Four. News sites started claiming last spring that Fox was considering rebooting this super-family series as a darker, "less bubble-gum" version. And now, just the other day, Fox announced it was definitely rebooting the Fantastic Four. On the other hand, they tapped the decidedly non-dark Akiva Goldsman (Batman And Robin, I Am Legend) to produce the new movie, and
  Michael Greene, writer for Smallville, Heroes and the upcoming Green Lantern movie, will write the script. I am having a hard time imagining that team creating a "dark" FF movie. Plus everyone assumes Fox's sudden interest in moving forward with Reed Richards & Co. was motivated by Disney's purchase of Marvel, and the fact that Disney reportedly wants to take back all of the Marvel properties' movie rights as soon as outside deals expire. If Fox wants to impress Disney, a misguided "dark" Fantastic Four doesn't seem a likely approach.
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• Shazam. It's hard to believe, but yes, they were talking about a dark Shazam movie in the wake of The Dark Knight. This is the story of a little boy who discovers a magic cave full of statues of the Deadly Sins, plus an old wizard who teaches him a magic world that will transform him into a big galoot whose nickname is The Big Red Cheese. And then he fights an evil mad-science worm with the help of a talking tiger. Actually, screenwriter John August and director Peter Segal wanted to do a fun, upbeat take on Shazam, but Warner Bros. wanted something more like The Dark Knight. So August rewrote his fun script to make it darker:

  This wasn't "Big, with super powers" anymore. It was Black Adam versus Captain Marvel, with a considerable push into dark territory and liminal badlands like Nanda Parbat. It wasn't the action-comedy I'd signed on to write, but it was a movie I could envision getting made.

  But then Warners pulled the plug on the Shazam movie altogether — remember how I said the enthusiasm for "dark" stories often seems to coincide with a lack of enthusiasm for making the movies at all? And now Shazam is back on track, with Bill Birch writing and comics scribe Geoff Johns pitching in. Says Variety, "The studio is now looking to go back to the original DC Comics source material for inspiration." Going back to the original comics source material is slang for "not fucking it up with a dark reimagining."

So what happened? There are a few theories.

Watchmen happened. You could argue that The Dark Knight changed everything, and then Watchmen changed it all back. Zack Snyder's movie version of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' classic graphic novel was everything the studios were saying they wanted: dark, controversial, morally gray, challenging — and it didn't resonate that well with audiences. It had a so-so opening weekend, followed by a steep drop-off. (Sample headline from the L.A. Times: "Watchmen is going largely unwatched.")

Another "dark" movie that came out this summer, Terminator Salvation, did similarly badly. (It wasn't strictly a superhero film, but it had superhero-ish themes, and starred Bruce Wayne himself, Christian Bale.) And while Frank Miller's The Spirit was more goofy than dark, it did have a noir-ish look to it and was the handiwork of the original "Dark Knight" reinventer.

Meanwhile, movies like G.I. Joe and Wolverine, which were fluffy and bubbly and only challenged you to avoid giggling at their ridiculous dialogue and acting, did great. Audiences didn't suddenly stop liking braindead fun just because they liked one smart, bleak movie.

Also, the economy happened. Suddenly, people were hurting and depressed, and there were a spate of news stories saying that people in an economic shitstorm want upbeat, happy films. They want escapism and a pick-me-up, not a dreadful reminder that life is full of no-win situations and suffering. Whether that theory is true or not, it's one that seems to have a lot of currency in Hollywood.

And finally, looking back through those articles where execs are saying "I want a dark Shazam! I want a dark Dazzler! America needs a dark Howard The Duck!", I can't help noticing that this is usually accompanied by a lack of enthusiasm for whatever superheroic properties they're discussing. Sure, superheroes are big right now, but not every superhero movie is a huge hit, and characters like Superman and the Fantastic Four have fallen squarely into the second or third tier of big-screen spandex-flexers in the past decade or so.

Execs cast about for ways to make those lame fillies run again, and the "dark" thing is one of the ideas they hit on. But at this point, nobody seems to think "dark" is a cure-all for tired superheroes. At least, let's hope not.