The two new Fringe script reports mostly confirm what we already knew. Zap2It has a new synopsis:

When something disturbing, unexplainable and just a bit icky happens to the passengers on an international flight, FBI Agent Olivia Warren (Torv) begins an investigation that leads her to Dr. Walter Bishop (Noble), a renegade scientist whose unorthodox experiments into fringe phenomena led arrests and eventually institutionalization. Warren can only get Bishop out with the help of his estranged son Peter (Jackson), a young man with a genius IQ, but questionable morals and motivation. The son isn't ready to reconcile with his father, the father isn't ready to be reintegrated into the outside world and Olivia isn't ready to serve as babysitter, but they form an unlikely team. How does the airplane tragedy relate to The Pattern, a race of unexplained occurrences sweeping the world? And what does any of this have to do with the mysterious Prometheus Corporation, one of the world's most forward-thinking companies? And what do we make of Broyles (Reddick), the head of the Homeland Security's newly formed Fringe Division?

Meanwhile, screenwriter Jill Golick produces a snatch of dialogue between FBI agent Olivia Warren (Anna Torv) and high-school drop-out Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), the son of an imprisoned mad scientist:

Olivia: They gave him the resources to do whatever work he wanted, which was primarily in an area called Fringe Science. He conceived experiments meant to push the boundaries of possibility. And, some would say, ethics.
Peter: Fringe science- you mean "pseudoscience."
Olivia: I suppose. Things like mind control. Teleportation. Astral projection, invisibility, genetic mutation, reanimation, fertility —

Fringe shooting image by Asianz.

Abrams has rounded up an unusual crew of actors around the main character FBI agent Olivia Warren (Anna Torv, pictured above). Joining her is a mad scientist, Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), and his Han Solo-esque son Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) who apparently is a high school drop out with a gambling problem. The gang works together to uncover the secrets behind paranormal activity, sinister corporations and flesh-melting viruses. No word on what Greg Grunberg's likely cameo will be. [Variety]

Virtuality takes place aboard the Phaeton, which just so happens to be Earth's first starship. The Phaeton is on a ten-year journey exploring the outer cosmos. In order to help the crew cope with this long mission a virtual reality (which sounds a lot like Star Trek's holodeck) is installed. Of course something goes wrong between man and machine. The two-hour pilot was written by Battlestar Gallactica's Ron Moore and Michael Taylor. [Variety]

We can only hope Fox has learned the error of its Firefly-snuffing ways. The network has killed several great science fiction shows in their infancy, but maybe the renewal of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles shows it's turning over a new leaf.

So it turns out the new Trek movie has more ties to the other movies' continuity than we thought. The movie starts out after 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis, the last movie featuring Picard and crew. (I guess it's somehow made clear this is taking place later than that.) And the first character we meet in the film is Leonard Nimoy's Ambassador Spock, who's somehow back from Romulan space. And then we follow the older Spock back in time to the beginnings of the Kirk era, where we meet Zachary Quinto's young Spock. (As well as Baby Spock and Baby Kirk, by the sound of things.)

Meanwhile, Abrams told Rolling Stone the monster definitely died soon after the end of Cloverfield. "Yes, he's dead. Ultimately the bombs kill him." The monster's name? "We just called him Clover." Also, that object you saw drop into the water in the very last Coney Island flashback? Abrams says the Cloverfield crew have two theories about it. One of those theories may get followed up if they choose to take the story further. They've been kicking around ideas for a sequel, but nothing is definite yet. [Trek Movie, via TrekWeb]

Sources say some Cloverfield stars including Jessica Lucas (Lily Ford) and Mike Vogel (Jason Hawkins) have been approached. Talks started early in 2008 (at the height of Cloverfield fever.) True to the "just a taste" nature of Abrams' work, none of the original characters' fates were sealed on camera. The movie even hinted at their survival with a barely audible whisper to the audience after the credits rolled. So a number of the actors have their fingers crossed that they made it out of the monster madness unscathed, our source revealed.

But there is no guarantee the new movie has to pick up immediately after the first one left off. Unfortunately when Cloverfield 2 will get its wings, is anyones guess. Just recently director Matt Reeves told MTV that he was putting it on the back burner for his new pet project The Invisible Woman. Only time and randomly placed Easter Eggs in the Cloverfield DVD will reveal more. Please bring back Hud and his one-liners!

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• Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Okay, it's not false advertising to call it a motion picture, is it? There were indeed pictures in motion in this movie. But, this was part of the trend of calling things "The Movie" or "The Motion Picture." Did marketing people think they needed a title like this so as not to confuse people? Just ask the folks behind Superman: The Movie.The problem with this poster, other than featuring a triumvirate of Kirk, Spock, and the bald chick from the movie is the tagling "The Human Adventure Is Just Beginning." How is that true? Did we think it had come to an end?
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• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - No problems with the title, Khan did have a lot of wrath. No, our problem is with the whole "At the end of the universe lies the beginning of vengeance" line. How were they at the end of the universe? Plus, the poster shows the Enterprise firing on the Regula I space station, what the hell is up with that? "To hell with science, Spock! Blow that research station to pieces!"
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• Star Trek III: The Search For Spock - The tagline for this poster is "Join The Search." Uh, how do we do that? By buying a movie ticket? Actually, our main problem with this movie is the title. When did they go searching for Spock? They put the guy's dead body into a torpedo tube and shot it onto the newly formed Genesis planet, for the love of god. They kind of knew where he was. Granted, they later find the tube empty, but it's not like there was a massive galaxy-wide search for him.
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• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Just look at this artwork... is that supposed to be Captain Kirk or Chekov right next to Spock? Plus, did Spock decide to go extra-heavy on the eyeliner that day? Plus, check out the text on the seldom seen Australian version of the poster: "They traveled back where 23rd century man had never gone before, to a more crazy, outrageous time: 1986." Yeah, you know, the Dark Ages had nothing on 1986.
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• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier - Check this out "On June 9, Adventure And Imagination Will Meet At The Final Frontier." Really? How did that end up happening? Unless by "imagination" they meant horrible directing, acting, and writing. Ouch. Now, just when you thought things couldn't get worse for this movie... have you seen the teaser poster? It says "Why Are They Putting Seatbelts In Theaters This Summer?" Yes, because of Star Trek V. It's almost been 20 years, but we still want our money back. Maybe even more so, now.
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• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - "The Battle For Peace Has Begun," was it really a battle for peace? You could probably argue that it was. However, we only remember the Bird of Prey firing shots at the Enterprise, not the Battlecruiser. Maybe they needed something to spice it up a bit. We think General Chang's ominous eyepatch was probably enough. Why overdo it?
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• Star Trek Generations - Granted, it's hard to find a problem with this poster. "Boldly Go" ain't a bad tagline, so what are we supposed to say? "Um... the Enterprise never flew through a giant Starfleet symbol!" Although on the alternate poster the "Two Captains. One Destiny" line is a bit odd. What was that shared destiny, exactly?
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• Star Trek: First Contact - It's hard to figure out why the artists on these posters always make it seem like the faces are beaming in. Ever since Star Trek: The Motion Picture, it's like they have to be depicted as teleporting onto the poster itself. Bizarre. Anyhow, this poster features the Enterprise racing away from an army of Borg... and into the teleporting faces. Plus, is the Borg Queen winking at us? We're just not sure what's going on here, although resistance was definitely not futile.
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• Star Trek: Insurrection - The problem with the tagline on this poster ("The Battle For Paradise Has Begun") is that it's a direct ripoff of the one for The Undiscovered Country ("The Battle For Peace Has Begun"), which was only two movies prior. Did they just phone it in that day? Other than that, we actually kind of like Adhar's craggy face staring down at the Enterprise. It's just too bad the movie was a bit of a letdown.
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• Star Trek: Nemesis - Someone please explain to us how "A Generation's Final Journey Begins" works out here. Do they mean the Remans? The crew of the Enterprise who is beginning to go their separate ways? Picard, since he never had a son? Maybe all of the above... or maybe they meant people who would pay to go see more of these, yikes. The marketing people sure loved to have these posters signifying the beginning of something.
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• Star Trek - J.J. Abrams' film has had several teaser posters put out so far, with some of them even claiming "Stardate 12.25.08" at the bottom. However, now that it's been bumped to the Summer of 2009, those have all become a paper trail of false advertisements. It's gotten to the point that we've stopped trusting the posters altogether. What's next? Trailers that lie to us as well? Oh... wait.
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Once we've seen Abrams' Star Trek and his new X-Files revamp show Fringe, we'll have a much better idea of whether Abrams really is brilliant — or just a clever hack. But already, there's plenty of evidence for both sides of the argument. Here's our list of reasons to believe either point of view:

Genius:

- Cloverfield. Once you got past the hype, it really was a great ride, and the nihilistic ending was sort of awesome in a Blake's 7-y way. For once, the fact that everything's a mystery didn't seem to matter, because the mystery was just in the background. In the foreground, you had this you-are-there spectacle of the city falling into ruins and Rob struggling to find Beth despite the pointlessness of it all.

- Lost. It's another thing we won't really be able to evaluate yet, because a lot depends on how well it ends, and how much sense it actually makes in the end. But last week's time-travel episode recharged our faith in the versatility of the concept. When the show works, it's intense and Hobbesian. The whole flash-forward tapestry storyline thing has the makings of a compulsive DVD rewatch.

- Mission Impossible III. Okay, so the make-your-own-defibrillator thing was sort of wack. And what the heck was the rabbit's foot that Tom Cruise has to find anyway? But considering this was a movie starring Tom Cruise, with "III" in the title, it was way better than we had any right to expect. It was sort of a goofy extended episode of Alias.

He hires geniuses. This is probably the best argument for J.J. Abrams being a genius — he recognizes genius in others and hires appropriately. Case in point: Drew Goddard, the Buffy scribe who now writes for Lost and also wrote Cloverfield. Another case in point: Brian K. Vaughn, another Lost writer who also created Y: The Last Man.

Hack:

- All the viral marketing. During the long Lost hiatus, we were bombarded with "clues" on viral sites, where you could track down a phone number that led to another web site that led to a riddle. Did any of it add up to anything in the end? Meanwhile, Cloverfield was two movies: the stark masterpiece you saw in the theater, and the over-complicated version all the online fans were privy to, with all the clues about Tagruato and Slusho! and news reports in Spanish.

- Armageddon. Abrams co-wrote the script of this Michael Bay splode-fest. I watched it recently, and it's just as nonsensical and bizarre as I'd remembered... but much slower moving.

- Alias. It was a fun show at first, but after a while all the daddy issues (and then mommy issues) and the endlessly spiraling "everything you know is wrong" plots started to give us a headache.

- Forever Young. I pretty much covered this one yesterday. But the treacly plot, with the nonsensical motivations — why would being in suspended animation make his girlfriend's supposedly impending death easier to handle? — is pretty hard to take. The film pretty much slides into the ick zone the moment two cute kids revive Mel in the present day. And then there's the fact that he starts to age rapidly, as a side effect of cryogenic suspension. Wha huh?

- Just the fact that he's so prolific. Besides Lost, Fringe and Trek, he's got a show about cancer patients, a show about a notary, and Cloverfield 2 on his plate.

So is he a genius or a hack? Decide for yourself, and then vote in our poll.

Can you let us know what other scifi projects you've worked on? How did you get started?

My education was at the Art Center College of Design in Product Design (Pasadena, California). Upon graduation I started a design Consultancy with Scott Robertson and we went down many different paths creatively. One of which was products for the disabled. Now, although this was a very satisfying experience, I still yearned for the world of entertainment. So, I will cut to the chase with some of the first experiences. I worked with Rhythm and Hues on many "pitch" projects and a number of films, X-Men and Chronicles of Narnia to name some. A fantastic break, however,was working for James Cameron on Avatar. Started off as a few months and went on forover 2 years. Amazing experience. That then rolled into Cloverfield and Watchmen and currently Star Trek.

How were you approached to work on Cloverfield?

It is kinda funny. While I was in the last few months of Avatar, I received an email from someone who has seen my educational DVDs with the Gnomon Workshop and they liked the way I worked. They said that they were working on a monster movie and would like to see if I could be involved. As mentioned, I was in the last moments of Avatar and overwhelmed with work. Sadly, I did not even respond to the email. Then I got another. Again, I was terrible at responding to them (think of how long it took me to get to answering these questions). Eventually, Gnomon called me up and said this guy is trying to get in touch with you, can you please deal with it. So, I thought, "who is this guy, and what does he want"?. I went online and googled J.J. Abrams and could not have kicked myself harder. Not just for being so bad at responding to the emails, but to be so clueless. Anyhow, it all worked out.

How many iterations did the monster go through? Were there different versions with it walking upright, etc? Were you told specifically to avoid any Godzilla-esque designs?

If an iteration was a sketch, then maybe 50 or so. I really did not have the time to invest in this as I had wanted to, because I was still wrapping up Avatar. So. weekends and evenings were all that was available. With that, I had to be very efficient with my time and the process of development I chose. There were many different versions that we explored as we were all looking for what it could be. There were tentacles, there were fewer limbs, more limbs, no limbs... big, broad strokes in search of Clover. I am not recalling being told to NOT do Godzilla like designs, it was more implicit. Since it was not a Godzilla movie, it would have been a huge mistake to do things like it. However, it still needed to be huge, have a head full of teeth, arms and legs, and, because of it coming out of the water, I felt it needed a tail to justify an aquatic potential origin or existence.

Did you also design the smaller parasite creatures?

Yes. But, not without major help from the talents of Tully Summers. A fantastic creature designer and sculptor. We worked together on Avatar and many a project in the past.

What inspired your design? What sources did you draw from?

Well, once we had a direction the inspirations were definitely aquatic. Especially with the head. There is a very complex skeletal structure in there for eating, but you don't see it at all in the movie or toy. Clover also has a complex breathing system and more than one way to eat. But, again, it is hardly obvious in the film nor toy. Honestly, the biggest inspiration is less about one or two other animals, but rather inspired by biological plausibility in general (ignoring the fact that something that big could never live on land). Sometime the cart has to lead the horse and you make it cool first then justify it later, but I always try to give the creatures I design a "good reason" to be. As for the parasite, I knew that I wanted something thin and vertical and light. Kinda like a flea.

What's a favorite of creature of yours, that you didn't design, in another film or tv show?

A favorite still is Alien. HR Giger is one of the few people out there that did something really new and fresh. Granted, it still had to be a man in a rubber suit for all sorts of other reasons, but Giger has such a unique style, that he even made those challenging parameters work. It would be incredible to one day achieve such a unique style that does become iconic. I can only try.

Was the scale of the creature always the same?

Not sure really. I know that often times the scale changes to suit the particular moment or narrative, but I think Clover was around 250 feet?

The monster looks ungainly and J.J. Abrams has said in the press notes that it's a "baby". Was that also part of the design? For it to look a bit clumsy?

I would have preferred that it be even clumsier. But then it can get comical. Yes, it was the intention that it is a baby and it is not only developing its strength, but also its land legs. The proportions are intended to feel a little like a new born deer or horse. Long, thin and slightly awkward.

How involved were you with the final, CGI version of the creature?

Very and not at all. Phil Tippett's group has way more knowledge in the realm of bringing this stuff to life that I ever will, so they would have no use for me. The "very" part is that the sculpture that I did in "Z-Brush" is essentially what they used. There is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done when you hand over a digital model, but the sculpture part of it usually remains intact.

Have you seen the finished film? If so, what did you think about it?

I have. A couple of times at Paramount and once at the Mann's Chinese Theater with friends. I was real impressed actually. I had no idea how they were going to pull the whole thing off and it was defiantly risky. But, I was engaged from start to finish. Sure it is a little difficult to be completely objective as I was aware of how it was made, what was to happen next, etc. But what was telling for me was that my palms were sweaty from the experience. And I did not throw up from it.

Do you think there will be a sequel for sure? We know they've said that they are working on one.

I am only speculating here, but I do think so. There are so many other movies that have sequels that make you wonder why. So, if a motivation to make a movie is based on the box office success, then it seems very probable. I have asked, and I still don't know yet. Regardless, I am designing Clover 2 in my head.

You can check out Neville's impressive portfolio of work at his website.

IESB has a super-detailed review of the pilot script for Fringe, J.J. Abrams' attempt to revive the X-Files, except with daddy issues.

Fringe starts out with two FBI agents investigating a case where a guy on an airplane injected himself with a weird chemical that caused his skin — and everybody else's as well — to melt. The plane lands full of horribly deformed corpses. The two FBI agents, Olivia Warren and John Scott, are having a secret affair.

But there's a complication, because another senior FBI agent, Broyles, has a huge grudge against Olivia because she blew the whistle on sexual harrassment and sent Broyles' buddy to prison.

Olivia and her lover John investigate the background of the skin-melty chemical from the airplane. John chases a suspect who is the twin brother of the guy who injected himself with the chemical. And then John winds up getting exposed to another weird chemical, which turns his skin transparent and slowly kills him.

The only person who can save John is a super-scientist named Walter Bishop, who's been in a mental institution for 20 years after his experiment killed some people. But Olivia can't get permission to visit Bishop because of Broyles and his sexual-harrassment grudge. The only other way to get to see Bishop is through a family member, so Olivia tracks down Bishop's estranged son Peter.

Peter is a wacky gambler and rogue who has comedy moments involving urinating himself. Olivia finally convinces him to come back and sign his hated mass-murderer dad out of the mental institution, so dad can do some super-science. It turns out Bishop's old business partner, William Bell, is super rich and runs an evil company called Prometheus. Olivia visits Prometheus and meets a woman with a sinister bionic hand.

Instead of just coming up with a cure for John's skin-disintegrating condition, Bishop figures out a way to send Olivia inside John's comatose mind. This involves putting her in a bikini inside a water tank, then zapping her. Olivia (still wearing a bikini?) travels inside her colleague/lover's memories and manages to see the face of the guy whom John chased after. She figures out this was the twin brother of the guy who injected himself on the plane. And he worked for Prometheus, the evil corporation.

Olivia tracks down the twin-brother, and manages to get a cure for John's skin condition. But then it turns out that John is actually a traitor, who pressured the guy into killing his twin brother with the injected skin-melty stuff. Olivia confronts John, who runs and is killed (or is he?) in a car chase.

Then Broyles, the guy who hates Olivia because of all that sexual-harrassment stuff, shows up and recruits her to join his secret FBI group that investigates the paranormal. And somehow, Walter the crazy mass-murdering scientist gets to join too. And his son Peter, the pants-wetting Han Solo-esque guy also joins. They vow to investigate weird goings on every week, until the show gets canceled. Which sounds like it would take about a month. [IESB]

Other spoilers:

• The Romulan villain Eric Bana plays in Star Trek, Nero, is more of a "cameo" than a full-fledged role, Bana says. [TrekWeb]
• Summer Glau's Terminator on The Sarah Connor Chronicles may not be on Sarah's side after all, Glau says. Or at least, her Terminator may have a different agenda than we've been led to believe. [E! Online]
• And here are some new pics from TV Guide's coverage of the Knight Rider TV movie, airing a week from Sunday. Check out that silly fight scene! [SpoilerTV]
• And here are three new pics of the "Battle Morph Mach 5" toy from Speed Racer, which gives some hints of what Speed's car may have in store for his competitors. It includes "jump-jacks" to pop the car up onto two wheels, and it can spit out saw blades and other weapons. [SuperheroFlix]

He crushed the dreams of the Island Def Jam Music Group's marketing department by saying, "Uh, no. I just listened to it while I wrote the thing." Still, maybe the songs worked their way into his subconscious. Here's a list of top five things Fall Out Boy may have given to Cloverfield, and as you'd expect it's chock full of emo spoilers.

• "The Take Over, The Breaks Over":

  Baby, seasons change but people don't. And I'll always be waiting in the back room. I'm boring but overcompensate with Headlines and flash, flash, flash photography.

  Clearly this is all about the monster, who has apparently been around for years, waiting underwater in a deep slumber. When he arises, it's all flash, flash, flash... and shakycam photography.
• "Hum Hallelujah":

  We mix up your guts Your insides x-rayed And one day we'll get nostalgic for disaster

  J.J. Abrams and crew were nostalgic for a disaster when this thing was born from Godzilla toys. Plus, the monster clearly does some gut-mixing, and Marlena really could have done with an x-ray.
• "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs"

  Thanks for the memories Even though they weren't so great He tastes like you only sweeter

  Hey, even a monster can wax poetic about the folks he's eating. Plus the only real memories he's going to have from this whole ordeal are a rude awakening, lots of people screaming, and bombs bursting on his back. Not so great.
• "The Carpal Tunnel Of Love":

  Stomp out this disaster town You'll put your eyes to the sun and say, "I know you're only blinding to keep back What the clouds are hiding."

  Come on, anyone knows this is clearly a reference to the Tagruato Corporation's lost satellite that falls into the ocean near Coney Island in the film's final scene. Duh.
• "Bang The Doldrums":

  Best friends Ex-friends till the end Better off as lovers And not other way around Racing through the city

  OMG! It's like Rob and Lilly's anthem. So touching, so emotional, so vapid. Clearly this is the kind of song Abercrombie & Fitch models want to be hearing on their iPods while giant monsters chase them through urban catacombs.
• "I've Got All This Ringing In My Ears and None On My Fingers"

  And I'm so sorry But not really Tell the boys where to find my body New York eyes

  The monster laments about the destruction he's caused, although not really. Don't be fooled by those crocodile tears. He really just want you to point him towards the next city he can smash up, which according to the song seems to be Chicago. So, watch out Windy City. The music has spoken.

• "The Watch": This was the kickoff scene for these scenes, and it didn't bode well when there was some hammy acting and dialogue. Basically, Jack's father gives him a watch, which belonged to his father. And no, he hadn't been keeping it in his ass. The moral of the scene is "Don't be a crappy father like I was."

  

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• "The Adventures of Hurley and Frogurt": Remember Neil, the frozen yogurt salesman from Season One? The producers always promised he'd become "more interesting." Sadly, that doesn't happen in this clip when he tells Hurley to make a move on Libby or he'll step in.

  

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• "King of the Castle": Ben and Jack play a friendly game of chess, and Ben promises Jack he won't try to stop him from leaving the island... but the island might. He also tells Jack that one day he might look back and regret leaving, and that if he does he hopes that he'll remember this conversation. Ooooooh! This is probably the best acted of all of these, and written by comics scribe Brian K. Vaughan to boot.

  

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• "The Deal": Juliet visits Michael while he's held captive by the Others, and tells him that he can believe Ben's offer of freedom. She confesses that she's staying there to help save her sister, and wouldn't he do anything to save Walt? Michael sure isn't happy about it.

  

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• "Operation: Sleeper": Juliet wakes Jack up and tells him she's been working with Ben all along, and that the other survivors have been right not to trust her. Off all the mobisobes, this one felt the rip-offiest.

  

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• "Room 23": Alarms and panic around the Barracks! Juliet tells Ben they need to let Walt go, but Ben tells her he's special and that Jacob wants him there. She shows him a pile of dead birds around Walt's window and wants to know what's so special about that. Is Walt's power the ability to get birds to commit suicide? We've seen it before, and we'll probaby see it again.

  

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• "Arzt & Crafts": It's Arzt! He's in his pre-dynamite phase, and he's trying to convince everyone on the beach not to move to the caves. That is until they hear the smoke monster's crazy horn bellow, and he craps his pants.

  

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• "Buried Secrets": Michael stumbles across Sun burying her fake California driver's license in the woods, and she confesses that she was going to leave Jin. They almost kiss, but then Vincent cockblocks them. That's right, the dog makes 'em stop.

  

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• "Tropical Depression": Arzt confesses to Michael that he lied about the monsoon season, and that he just wants to get off the island. He also tells him that he'd flown to Sydney to meet a woman he'd been chatting with on the internet, but she left him at the restaurant. Boy, this guy really has a depressing life.

  

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• "Jack, Meet Ethan. Ethan? Jack.": Jack meets Ethan while looking for medicine, and Ethan whips up a few tears and tells Jack his wife and child died in childbirth. Then he creepily stares at Claire. After he leaves, Jack creepily stares at Ethan, like "Hey... I know something is weird about that dude."

  

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• "Jin Has a Temper-Tantrum On the Golf Course": Jin has a Happy Gilmore freakout on the golf course after he can't sink a putt. While Hurley and Michael look on, he sinks to his knees and curses the ball. Probably the best scene out of all of them.

  

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• "The Envelope": Juliet burns her hand on something in the oven, and then almost confesses to Amelia and shows her Ben's x-rays, but someone rings the doorbell. Another exercise in frustration, since this one is really just a deleted scene. Okay, maybe this one was the big ripoff.

  

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• "So It Begins": There's a POV shot of Vincent running through the forest until Jack's dad stops him and tells him to go wake Jack up on the beach, just moments after the crash. So is Jack's dad alive? This is the only real "What the hell?!" clip in the whole bunch.

  

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• Because nobody demanded it, we're going to get to see James Kirk and his brother George as kids in the new Star Trek movie. Maybe we'll get some crucial insights into Jim's formative experiences and the childhood traumas that influenced him to be... waitaminute, this is Captain Kirk we're talking about. Anyway, the 11-year-old Jimmy Bennett will play kid Kirk, and 15-year-old Spencer Daniels will play George.

  Also, apparently the brothers have a scene together without their parents. And we get to see Kirk's mom pregnant at some point (possibly with James?). This is more proof that the Trek movie will visit lots of different time periods. [TrekMovie]

• Meanwhile, J.J. Abrams is already planning on two more Trek movies. [SyFyPortal]
• Will Ferrell's Land Of The Lost movie includes actual time-travel instead of just a hole in the ground, according to a new synopsis: "Eccentric (and remarkably unlucky) paleontologist Dr. Rick Marshall validates his discredited theory of time travel by heading back into an alternate universe inhabited by dinosaurs, monkey people and reptilian Sleestaks." [Production Charts]
• Someone will die on Lost in the second half of this new mini-season. [TV Guide]
• Here's the new official description for the Feb. 14 episode of Smallville: "Lois follows Lex to Detroit and discovers he has found Kara, who has amnesia. Finley (guest star Corey Sevier), a busboy who is obsessed with Kara, fears Lex will take her away, so he shoots Lex and holds Kara and Lois captive. After Lex's comatose body is found, Chloe offers to heal him, but Clark refuses to let her." [SpoilerFix]
• We'll see more of Andy and his chess-playing computer in an upcoming Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, it seems. [SpoilerTV]
• And here are a few new pics from the fourth episode of Torchwood season two. Apparently it's about an alien who's being used as a source of "cheap meat" (no, I'm not making this up) and Gwen's fiance Rhys gets involved as part of the Torchwood team. [SFUniverse]

Abrams was doing the chat live, and running back and forth between setups. Just how much free time do these Hollywood directors have? He also had both Spocks, Quinto and Nimoy, standing over him. Nimoy was most likely saying "Get used to this," and Quinto was thinking "Good lord, is this what I signed up for?" Thankfully, everyone seems to have had a sense of humor (which is also has a presence in the film, see below) about the whole thing.

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• On the weight of responsibility from carrying the Trek torch:

  J.J. Abrams: It's funny that you phrased it that way — carrying the torch — because that's exactly what it feels like. Trek means a great deal to many people, and I fully appreciate that responsibility. But I have never been overwhelmed by that burden. Quite the opposite. The fans have been part of the inspiration. This experience has felt, from the beginning, like a truly unbelievable opportunity. We're only half-way through principal photography, but the torch is burning bright and we're running hard!

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• On when a real trailer will be out, as opposed to a fanwank version:

  Bryan Burk: Barring any thievery from our production office, we're working on our first trailer right now, which will hopefully be in theaters early to mid summer.

• 
  
• The greatest challenge faced when they first decided to take on the movie
  
  J.J. Abrams: This may not be a fair answer, but there were two greatest challenges: the first was getting a handle on the vision of the future. The fact that most of the tech that we use in our everyday lives seems modeled after — and actually more advanced than — TOS, made it tricky to find a way to make our movie's world far more advanced than where we currently are, and yet also consistent with the original show.

  The other challenge was, obviously, casting. How in the world were we ever going to find actors who can fill the shoes of that remarkable original cast? It was tough in theory and harder in practice. We couldn't — and wouldn't have — gone into production with a cast that simply didn't WORK.

  With the amazing efforts of April Webster and Alyssa Weisberg (our casting directors), we somehow did it. This cast is massively talented and smart as hell and funny and dedicated and completely inhabiting these roles. You will see. Kirk f'n LIVES. Spock is HERE, right now. I can see him. Uhura and Bones and Chekov and Sulu and Scotty are ON THE BRIDGE and they are wonderful.

• 
  
• For one of the cast members, what's been your favorite moment on set so far?:
  
  Zachary Quinto: Definitely the first time Leonard and I were both in costume at the same time for the wardrobe test.
• 
  
• Do they follow what fans are saying on the internet at all?:
  
  The Entire Crew: Not really. We never take time to find out what fans on the net are thinking. Thanks for asking.
• 
  
• Will there be comedy in the new movie?:
  
  J.J. Abrams: I'm afraid to answer this question, because The Haters will think that I'm looking at Trek as a comedy. I am not. But humor is hugely important. Humor and humanity go hand-in-hand — there is such wit in the screenplay (kudos, Kurtzman/Orci), and the actors bring such intelligence and humor, that my job is just to keep the thing REAL. Dramatic as hell, but also LAUGHS. Without comedy (my fave TOS eps had GREAT wit), the audience finds their own places to laugh. And in a world of humans and aliens, that could be disastrous. So the short answer? It's very important.
• 
  
• Is Greg Grunberg of Alias and Heroes fame going to be in this movie?:
  
  J.J. Abrams: I am so pissed at Grunberg. The guy was about to be in the movie — had a GREAT PART — but had to bow out because of some LAME OTHER MOVIE HE'S DOING.

  All right, so I'm half-kidding and just disappointed: Grunny WAS gonna be in Trek, and he IS doing another movie, so he can't be in ours — but his movie isn't lame, it's funny, and he's producing and co-writing and long-time collaborator Larry Trilling is writing with him and directing, so I wish them all the best. Even though I hate Greg now. Who knows, maybe he'll be a tribble.

• 
  
• Do you have to pinch yourself to help believe this is real?:
  
  Roberto Orci: No kidding. I think I speak for many of us when I say that we pinch oursleves every day, and it still doesn't work. I'd ask Quinto or Nimoy to "pinch" me, but I just think that would make it more surreal...
• 
  
• Random script question... what is the 10th word on the 10th page of the ST script?:
  
  Bryan Burk: "...and..."
• 
  
• The Trek teaser trailer was very American focused, with all the sound bites from American space program (and none from anywhere else). Star Trek often seemed overly American. How will you make sure that Star Trek is a global film that appeals in Europe, Asia, Latin America, etc?:
  
  Bryan Burk: There were different versions around the world of the teaser trailer around the world to deal with exactly that.
• 
  
• How many visual effects shots will there be in the new movie?:
  
  Roger Guyett, Visual Effects Supervisor: We're anticipating about 1000.
• 
  
• Has there been a particular moment for any cast member while filming that has caught you off-guard and made you stand back and say "wow" or just made you think "how cool is this"?
  
  Chris Pine, Captain James T. Kirk: For me, I still get the chills every time I sit in "the" chair, and every time I say who I am in the movie.
• 
  
• Is there anything I can say to my girlfriend to convince her to go see a movie with me that is titled Star Trek?:
  
  J.J. Abrams: First of all, I'm relieved you have a girlfriend. Secondly, this movie is not being made solely for Trekkers — that is not to say we aren't giving the true believers the fix they want — but we're also making a movie for people (men AND women) who have never seen Trek once in any incarnation.

  What finally pushed me over the edge to direct and not just produce Star Trek was my wife, Katie's, reaction. She loved the characters. She confirmed my deep suspicions that I should direct this movie. The story is dramatic and funny and emotional and romantic and full of adventure. I know I'm biased — but I think people are going to love this experience. For some, perhaps, DESPITE the fact that it's called Star Trek. Who knows? Maybe your girlfriend will see the movie and become a fan of the show.

• 
  
• ILM is doing the effects for the film. Will it all be CGI or have they built a physical model of the New Enterprise?:
  
  J.J. Abrams: I was lucky enough to work with ILM on Mission: Impossible III. Roger Guyette and Sherri Hanson are geniuses who are also a true joy to work with. ILM has always been the best — but in recent years they have — remarkably — gotten even better, making the virtual photo-real.

  Having said that, my goal is to make Trek REAL — that is to say, not have it be camp — not have it be phony — not have it look like a scrap of green screen was used anywhere. Of course, this is Star Trek. We're using every trick in the book. But WHEREVER WE CAN, we are shooting on sets — either built on sound stages or expanding upon found locations. This is important. What this means is that the movie won't have that "actors performing in a blue or green void then placed in front of a spaceship set" feeling that makes me insane. One of our really talented designers recently commented online how we shot on a green screen set and what a shame that was, since we could have built something incredible. And she was right — for that one scene, which will last for maybe thirty seconds on screen, we built only pieces and were surrounded by green. But that is the exception. We can't build EVERYTHING, and need to make this film on a budget (partly because that's the $ we have, and partly because I want the studio to see Trek as viable!).

  The Enterprise will be a combo of the physical and the virtual. A photo is forthcoming!

• 
  
• Will the doors go swoosh when they open?:
  
  J.J. Abrams: Dude. Will they ever.
• 
  

Fringe focuses on the brilliant-but-maybe-crazy scientist Walter Bishop (Noble), his estranged son... and the female agent who brings the two of them together. When the show starts, the elder Bishop is in an institution. Every week, the show focuses on another self-contained paranormal mystery, plus the relationships among the characters. Also, Lance Reddick (The Wire) will co-star as Phillip Broyles, special agent for Homeland Security. Broyles heads up the special Fringe division, set up to investigate a series of terrorist/paranormal events. Alex Graves (Journeyman) will direct the pilot.

Of course, J.J. is in the can-do-no-wrong zone right now, so maybe this show will subvert X-Files the way Cloverfield subverted Godzilla. You never know, right? [Production Charts]

[IESB]

We know about J.J. Abrams going into the toy store in Japan and seeing all these Godzilla figures and being inspired to make this film, but at what point were you contacted and asked to come onboard to direct?

Basically, J.J. and Drew were talking about the story, and they went in and pitched it to Paramount and they immediately said "Okay, we'll make it." It wasn't like, okay write a script and then we'll put it into development. They were like, We love the idea, we'll make it, we know where it goes, we know when to open it. Apparently Drew walked out of that meeting and turned to J.J., because they'd pitched it as if they had everything, and he said "J.J., that's all we have!" J.J. said, "No no, we're gonna do it."

It all happened very, very quickly, so Drew went off and wrote a 60 page outline which we called a "scriptment" because it was a weird hybrid between a script and a treatment. That was what they showed me. J.J. and Bryan Burk, who has been his producing partner for years, came to me and showed me the treatment. I read it and they said I should meet Drew. The thing is... it was clearly filled with a huge amount of special effects. I was thinking, "We can't just go out on the streets of New York and film this as is. There's going to be a lot of effects work." I'd never done effects work before, and I was also in the middle of of putting this film together that I'm hoping to do now called The Invisible Woman, and we were in the middle of a casting snafu and J.J. was like "I want you to do this! Do this first and you can do that film right after." So I said to him, "Why do you want me? It's such a heavy visual effects thing." And he said, "Because I know that you love character, and that's what we want. We want a sense of realism."

Then I got very excited, because I was reading it and I was seeing all of the crazy detail, I thought if we could really do this, against this epic scale... on the page it read like a Roland Emmerich-sized Independence Day kind of movie. But I thought, if do it in this kind of intimate, naturalistic style... And I wanted to do some improvisation and other things to make it feel real. That was very exciting to me, and they said great, so J.J. and Drew and I got together and started talking about the direction to take the outline and we fleshed it out further.

That's basically how I got involved. I'm going to guess they had their pitch around January or February, and then Drew wrote up that very extensive treatment very quickly. By the end of February I'd already read it and was on board, and we started developing the treatment further and going into production on the teaser trailer. There was no script when I got on-board, so from when I got on to the release date, is still under a year, which is crazy. In fact, we didn't even have a script until four weeks before we started shooting. Drew was still working on Lost, and we were working on weekends and talking about how to rework the story, coming up with the structure of the flashbacks and all that stuff. It was all madly coming together because we knew that we had this release date, and we also knew we wanted to finish this teaser trailer and get it onto the front of Transformers.

We thought for a movie that didn't have any recognizable people in it, we thought it would be great to tease people with that trailer on the front of a huge movie like Transformers, and we had no idea what kind of a reaction we'd get. All of that, working on the script, readying the trailer, was all happening at once.

How different was this experience vs. your other feature film, The Pallbearer?

It was very different, although it's funny because the casting process was very similar in that... it's funny, because when we did that film I wanted the main character to be someone you didn't recognize, and who you'd meet as that new character. When we cast David Schwimmer at the time he was on the first season of Friends. We thought it was this show that had just begun, and he was part of a huge ensemble, and in it's first season it wasn't a hit, it was only sort of a middling success. However, right when it began filming it became this monster smash, and we knew this because we'd be out on location filming and kids, little kids, would come out and surround where we were shooting, and then we realized, "Oh, we don't have an unknown cast."

In this case, we thought it was critical to cast people you didn't realize, because in trying to create this "reality," and create this illusion that you're watching found footage. If you're supposed to be looking at someone's camcorder, you don't want to end up seeing Will Smith, because as great as he is, that immediately tells you that you're watching a movie.

The actual process itself was different, and not just for me, because I'd never done effects before, but also for the visual effects people as well. I went to them and I said "Okay, I don't know how this is done, but this is what I want to do. I want it to look handheld, and I want it to be continuous takes." I thought it was critical that this needed to look like a handheld film. Our escape route has always been that we could put in a jump cut, but I felt if we used that in this, people would feel cheated. So when we met with the vfs people, they suggested shooting on steadicam and then adding shake later, but the problem with that is that anyone who is doing these kind of videos that you see on YouTube every day, which is really our audience, will say "Hey, that's not authentic." So they had to figure out a way that it could all be done handheld.

Also, in most films you have all these shots that are like a small shot here, a few seconds there, and it would all be very containable and the visual effects people would know exactly how many shots they'd be working on. But, with this film since we were doing everything in continuous takes, we'd shoot a scene and I'd ask them "How many effects shots is that?" and they'd say, "Well, we don't know." Instead of doing many shots, we did one long shot that would basically take in all the effects of many shots.

It was also really different for the crew, because I was having the camera operators run the cameras as unprofessionally as possible. And the focus pullers as well... focus pullers lose their job if they're not dead on when someone walks into a room and hits their mark. I'd be saying "No! You're too dead on! This is autofocus on a handheld consumer camera, it has to go past them, and come back." They'd say, "Well, this is the kind of thing that gets me fired." I told them, "Not on this movie!"

I also wanted to be able to use the handheld camera as a basis for improvisation as well. Instead of shooting the scene a normal way where you'd have several angles, I'd only have one angle. I would also shoot the rehearsals, because you never know if something great was going to happen. Then after we'd done the scenes a bunch of times, I'd say "Okay, forget the words and lets just try something else. You know what the scene is about." I'd let them go and improv the scene, and a lot of times those ended up in the movie, because they felt more understated and natural.

Were you inspired at all by the original 1954 Gojira film?

Yeah, absolutely! That's actually an incredible film, and we've seen the bastardized version here in the United States. Most people are familiar with the film and have seen the Raymond Burr intercut scenes, but that movie is far inferior to the original. It came out the same year as Seven Samurai, and is considered to be a masterpiece in that country. It is a great movie, and it's very haunting.

There's no question that we were aware of the fact that the monster in that film was really a metaphor for the anxiety of that time. That was definitely the idea here that we wanted to create our own national monster the same way Godzilla did to create a monster of our time.

When you worked with artist Neville Page who designed the monster, what inspirations did both of you draw from? What was that like?

We wanted it to be totally original. He is really amazing, he has this thing I affectionately call his "Wall of Terror." You walk into this office and there's this very colorful wall of pictures, and immediately you want to walk over to it and check it out. However, the closer you get to it, the more quickly you want to look away. They're images of intestines and body parts and all these different things because there's a very biological, evolutionary logic to his work. He was coming up with all of these different features for the monster, and drawing from nature for this.

In working with him I was very interested in what the creature was going through, and we came up with the secret that the creature was a baby. It was this enormous baby that was going through terrible separation anxiety, it didn't know what was going on, and it was pissed. I wanted a creature that would be ferocious and angry, but also that there would be fear in the eyes. He showed all these sorts of fearful eyes, like how horses have a lot of white showing under their eyes when they're scared. He would always come up with these diabolical features that the creature would have. He has a singular talent, and he's really amazing.

So, at the end of the film, after the credits, a walkie-talkie crackles to life and you hear... something. What is it?

Yes, you do hear something! That's another sort of radio chatter moment. I don't actually want to give that away at this point, because it is decipherable. That's the very last thing we did on the mix, I sort of jumped up to the microphone and did this thing. I know someone will figure it out, but I don't want to give it away yet.

Ohhh, all dark and shiny! Actually, this does look genuinely cool. Maybe JJ can save the franchise after all?

For one thing, the synopsis gets enough stuff right that it seems to come from someone who actually had seen the movie. Even the most obsessive fan wouldn't have known those details back when this review got posted. Then there's the fact that it spends so much time referencing viral marketing crap, like the Japanese Slusho! drink and the evil Tagruato Corporation. Again, an obsessive fan might have thrown that stuff in, but it looks more like someone trying to keep up the dizzy dance of viral marketing a little while longer. We love the part where the faker swears he/she doesn't work for Bad Robot, J.J.'s production company.

The question is, how much does it cost to pay someone to post fake spoilers on IMDB? We're curious! Does anybody know?

Holy duplicates, Batman! This couldn't look more like Cloverfield unless they called it Cloverdale and set it in New York City instead of Tokyo. They even use the same font to plug to direct-to-DVD date of 01-15-08. I guess they're hoping that their three day lead on J.J. Abrams' film will fill up their coffers with bewildering video store browsers. Not surprisingly, it's from the same director who brought you Snakes on a Train. We can't wait to see his next flicks: Space Journey and Tungsten Man.

Movie Trailer: Monster - The Asylum's Cloverfield Knock-off [/Film]

Whist was pretty cagey about discussing any specifics of Cloverfield, but he did talk a bit about his creative process for the film:

How was this different from working on movies you've done before, like the Tenacious D movie or Lemony Snicket?

The goal was, in a strange way, realism, and obviously the stage and set for the environment it all takes place in [are meant to be as realistic as possible.] There's little information as to why things are happening. It's kind of a fusion of fantasy and realism, with the goal to be as real as possible, as it's all told in the first person.

Judging from the trailer, it's a very bleak look and a very muddy palette. Did you try to add anything extra to the designs to make it more scary?

There's nothing outside out of the box that I wanted to do. The story takes care of itself. It's not stylized in that way. It's a completely different format of film-making.

I read that a big chunk of the movie is actually filmed in high-def, but then they make it look like the handheld camera.

That's true, definitely, because a handheld camera, like a regular consumer grade camera, doesn't have the amount of information necessary to project for one thing, and also to add the visual effects.

When you were designing Cloverfield, were you worried about invoking memories of 9/11?

Because of the realism of the whole project, obviously the comparisons are going to be made.

Director Matt Reeves told Variety yesterday, "The fun thing is you do see everything over the course of the movie in several different ways, but it's filmed heavily from one point-of-view. You move quickly. By the end you have intimate contact." So that means we'll at least find out what the monster is. Until then, give us some fake tissue samples, "leaked" government documents, a Photoshopped aerial photo of the destruction, or some more weepy hand-held camera wailings. Just no more photos like this, please.

New Look at Vogel and Stahl-David in 'Cloverfield' [Bloody Disgusting]

"I think it's amazing, and it looks pretty incredible" Reeves managed to blurt out while wiping the excess Jergen's lotion from his hands in mid-strokefest. "I was like 'Wow!' Just the scope of it, the scale of it, you just look at it and it's so elegantly done." You mean, you like the thing?

The real question is whether further Cloverfield pre-release frenzy could actually backfire. It has more buzz than Snakes on a Plane, and we know how that turned out. Seems like Abrams is trying to make Star Trek fans go see his movie in an effort to pad the box office. Why not just release the trailer to the nets to the rabid fans who have been speculating about the size and shape of Zachary Quinto's Vulcan ears for months now? Don't make 'em pay for it. Better yet, put it on television during the Super Bowl, or during a very special airing of Andromeda on the Sci Fi Channel. Or you can put it up on the web for all to see. In fact, the phone lines are open here at io9, so give us a jingle. That way it can be seen the way it was meant to be: for free.

Of course, this might all become moot when it hits the webs .05413 seconds after its first showing.

'Cloverfield' director starry-eyed over 'Trek' trailer, footage [MTV Movies Blog]

First of all, ABC issued the official press release describing season four:

With only 48 original episodes left until the final episode airs in 2010, this season truly is the beginning of the end with the promise of rescue at hand. Jack has radioed a freighter stationed somewhere off the island. But when it's disclosed that Charlie's dying warning was that these people may not be who they say they are, the castaways are split as to what to do. Jack is convinced that the freighter people are there to rescue them, while Locke is not. A division occurs among the survivors. Who is on the freighter? What was the significance of the flash-forward showing Jack and Kate off the island at some point in the future? What will the consequences be when the characters once again encounter Michael, who seemingly escaped the island after murdering two of the survivors? These are some of the questions "Lost" will explore during the action-packed fourth season.

The band of friends, family, enemies and strangers must continue to work together against the cruel weather and harsh terrain if they want to stay alive. But as they have discovered during their 90-plus days on the island, danger and mystery loom behind every corner, and those they thought could be trusted may turn against them. Even heroes have secrets.

On top of that official info, there are some pretty credible spoilers that have leaked out about the new season:

• Jeff Fahey (Lawnmower Man) will play a character named Frank Lapidus, and Australian actor Grant Bowler also has a guest-star role in an upcoming episode [SpoilersLost]
• Also, episode two will be called "Confirmed Dead" and will be all about the Freighter People. [SpoilersLost again]
• Horace Goodspeed and Olivia are key to the backstory of Dharma, while Annie is key to the story of the island, so we'll see those characters again at some point. [TVSquad]
• As we mentioned, the islanders split into two teams, probably in response to the freighter, and it turns out Juliet will be on Jack's team. [E!Online]
• At least two characters will die during the eight episodes that have been filmed. [Ask Ausiello]
• The "Oceanic Six" are the survivors who escape from the island and become semi-famous, including Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Kate, Sun and Jin. [Remote Access]