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.)

Captain Kirk velvet painting from The Velvet Store

Admiral Ackbar velvet painting from eBay auction.

Velvet Yoda painting for sale here, for just $1,500. Cheap!

Velvet Yoda Elvis painting, from BoingBong

Unicorns in space, from BoingBoing!

Star Wars poster on black velvet, from Mike Jackiw.

U.S.S. Enterprise on black velvet — sorry this is so low-res, but I had to include it. From Who Would Buy That? via Site Du Jour.

Chewbacca, plus weird creepy angel heads, on black velvet. From Brancusi7 on Flickr.

Baby Princess Leia on black velvet, from Bonnie Burton at the Star Wars Blog. (Thanks Bonnie!)

Admiral Ackbar (again!) From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

Unicorn on the Moon! From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

Wesley Crusher! As presented to Wil Wheaton. From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

The Winchester Bros. From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

A Sleestak, in contemplation. From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

The Joker. From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

Kim Jong Il and another Sleestak (why??) From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

Get Smart Season 4
Maxwell Smart finally gets the girl in this 4 disc collection of the fourth season of the 1960s TV show. Agent 99, you could've done so much better.

Red Dwarf: Back To Earth - The Director's Cut
The surprisingly not-terrible reunion of the late 80s, early 90s comedy comes to America in the "As it's meant to be seen" format fans would rather watch. Expect behind the scenes footage and the traditional Smeg-Ups to round out the package.

Oct 13
Land of The Lost
Will Ferrells's not-especially-well-received remake of the classic TV series may not have made much of a dent in the box office earlier this year, but somehow we wouldn't be too surprised if it found a (potentially stoned) enthusiastic audience awaiting it on DVD.

Oct 20
Blood: The Last Vampire
Swordplay! Vampires! Violence! They're all coming to your house, as Chris Nahon's take on the Japanese anime gets released on DVD and Blu Ray.

Drag Me To Hell
Sam Raimi's return to off-kilter horror promises to be even more fun on DVD; it's a re-edited "unrated" version.

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen
Michael Bay's ridiculously successful Robots In Disguise sequel gets multiple editions as it transforms into something you can take home: There's a single disc DVD, double disc DVD and double disc Blu Ray. We'd recommend the latter, if possible, for that authentic HD overwhelming robot carnage effect.

Oct 27
Adult Swim: In A Box
A truly bizarre seven disc set, collecting Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Volume Two, Space Ghost Coast To Coast: Season Three, Moral Orel: Season One, Robot Chicken: Season Two, Metalocalypse: Season One, Sealab 2021: Season Two, and the pilot episodes for The Best Of Totally For Teens, Cheyenne Cinnamon, Korgoth Of Barbaria, Perfect Hair Forever and Evan Dorkin's awesome Welcome To Eltingville, none of which made it to series. Don't ask. Just buy it.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
Edward James Olmos' after-the-fact TV movie promises to fill in some of the gaps in just what the cylons' plan actually was, and this DVD version promises footage that won't be shown on Syfy when it airs November. So that's even more gaps filled in, I guess?

Like the movie preview, we've split this preview into months (and, inside those months, into weekly releases), but with releases still unconfirmed and unannounced, we've pushed November and December together. Don't worry; it'll make sense when you click on the links below.

September
October
November/December

The Los Angeles Times caught up this weekend with Phillip Paley, who played the caveboy Cha-Ka in all 43 episodes of the 1974-76 series. Paley earned the role thanks to a childhood spent learning gymnastics and karate; he studied under Chuck Norris and was a black belt by age nine. Today, he's 45 and working at a law firm in Santa Monica, and he tells the Times that, while he no longer has his Cha-Ka costume, he still has the dictionary of the Paku language created for the show that Cha-Ka and his people spoke. Years before Klingon appeared as a full-fledged language of its own in the 1980s in the Star Trek films and on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Land of the Lost hired a UCLA linguist to invent a complete language for Paley and his fellow Pakuni.

Series co-creator Marty Krofft, speaking to British magazine SFX in 1997, said the initial impulse to create an artificial language for the show came from the network, which, hoping to appease the FCC, wanted to ensure that the kids' show had a positive educational component. Sid and Marty Krofft hired linguist Victoria Fromkin to create the language.

In the same issue of SFX, Fromkin said that she developed the language to be revealed over time in the series, so that kids watching could learn new words every week the same way Will and Holly did in their attempts to understand Cha-Ka, by picking up the Paku vocabulary and grammar in context as Cha-Ka used them. (Unfortunately, Fromkin said, the episodes would frequently air out of sequence in reruns, spoiling her lesson plan.) "Since I did a lot of work on West African languages, particularly Akan, the major language of Ghana, Paku appears to be in the Kwa family of Bantu languages," she said. "Or at least if some linguist 2000 years from now would find excerpts of it, through reconstruction methods they would probably conclude that."

Not only was Paku the first artificial language created for a kid's show (according to Stephen Corley and Tim Cain's Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages), but it was also the first instance of a television show hiring a professional linguist to develop such a language. Fromkin went on to invent the far less extensive vampire language spoken in the 1998 film Blade.

Fromkin created a 200-word vocabulary for the Pakuni. A good chunk of which survives in this Pakuni-English dictionary reconstructed by LOTL fan Nels Olsen. So if you're watching the reruns again on SyFy, you can consult the list and learn not to confuse an aganka (iguana) with an agamba (dinosaur).

Lost made just $7.2 million in its first day, leading many to predict an opening weekend somewhere around $20 million (Placing it third, behind The Hangover and Up, holding up well in its second weekend). But, as Nikki Finke points out, that's not good enough for Universal, the studio behind the movie:

Universal told me its expensive Land Of The Lost needed to debut with at least $30M for the studio not to sweat. It's now officially one of the first turkeys of the summer. (Because aren't dinosaurs related to birds?)

Despite winning Annalee over, the movie was generally badly received by critics, with only a 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

'Hangover' has a good night at boxoffice [Hollywood Reporter]

Talking to the Wall Street Journal, Silbering was asked about whether he was concerned about backlash from Land's more hardcore fans. Not so much, he explained:

Yes, some fans will be upset, but in the end, they don't necessarily want to go out and spend their time and money on a completely faithful recreation that you could find on the ABC Family Channel. What they'll appreciate is that the film is subversive, yet born of hard core fans. Even though I love the show, I purposefully prepared for it without revisiting the old series. I wanted to work purely off my memory, and recapture the essence and cool factor of what I loved as a kid.

Just Asking... Brad Silberling [Wall Street Journal]

Avatar:

Even more deets about James Cameron's mega-movie, from E3. Apparently the planet of Pandora is a lush but oppressive jungle by day, and by night the entire planet glows with bioluminescence, making it look even more alien. And it's not just the native Na'Vi who want the humans off Pandora — all the plants and animals on the planet are opposed to our presence, and serve as natural allies to the Na'Vi. In the movie, we go into "Avatar mode" (with humans piloting alien-human hybrids remotely) pretty early on. And yes, disabled marine Jake Sully switches sides to help the Na'Vi rise up against the human occupation, and kick off the Avatars and humans in power suits — even though Sully will be wheelchair bound without his avatar. [BBC]

Iron Man 2:

A few L.A. film blogs got to visit the set of this sequel, and they released incredibly vague write-ups. Among other things, Tony Stark's workshop has been modded to include some nifty new gadgets (including the floor somehow). There are old Iron Man suits standing in slots around the workshop, but one space that could hold an extra suit is mysteriously empty. And there's something huge and startling in a nearby set. Scenes included Tony looking at a miniature of the 1974 Stark Expo (sort of like the World's Fair) and interacting with his A.I. servant Jarvis. And yes, the movie is all about the repercussions of Tony's abandonment of his secret identity at the end of the first movie, plus his lingering issues with his daddy Howard Stark (John Slattery from Mad Men). [AICN and Latino Review and IGN]

G.I. Joe:

Here are some new pics from the movie, plus what looks like a display at E3 or someplace. [Slashfilm and IGN]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

Maybe these gameplay videos of the movie's tie-in video game give some hints as to the movie's storyline? Video game spoilers! [IGN]

Astro Boy:

Here's a zingy new poster for this fall's anime adaptation, plus a poster for the long-delayed Gatchaman film. Bigger versions at the link. [IGN]

Spider-Man 4:

Apparently the studio is claiming that poster we showed yesterday was a fake, even though it was displayed at a film expo. [Superhero Hype]

Land Of The Lost:

Last day for spoilers for this film. After Rick Marshall's disastrous Today Show appearance, he starts binge-eating, which he does when depressed. And then Holly finds him and says she has proof his theories are correct, so he drags out his tachyon amplifier, his greatest invention, to search for the dimensional portal. Together with Danny, they find the portal inside the Tunnel of Love at Devil's Canyon. Then they lose the tachyon amplifier and become trapped in the land of the lost. And when Rick and Will partake in that hallucinogenic drink, they have visions of a threesome with Chaka the ape-boy. [Newsarama]

New Moon:

Here's a totally bitchin poster that was included with Twist Magazine. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Thor:

Director Kenneth Branagh says he's got a strong idea of how to do this movie, but he's still happily listening to other people and learning from them — and the film will raid from all the best Thor comics, from all eras. That includes the classic early comics, as well as J. Michael Straczynski's run. [MTV]

Moon:

The other Sam Bell that Sam Bell meets on the Moon is younger, angrier and in better shape than h e is. The two Sams act opposite each other for most of the film. [Sci Fi Wire]

Doctor Who:

This blog post doesn't have any spoilers/rumors we haven't already reported, but the comments do. A random internet commenter (so major grain of salt time) claim that the first episode of the Torchwood miniseries "Children Of Earth" explains the absence of Martha Jones by saying that she's off on her honeymoon with Tom Milligan, the man she was dating before. Also, another random internet commenter points out that "Water Of Mars" is an anagram of "Wars Of Master" or I suppose "Master Of Wars." [Den Of Geek]

Sarah Jane Adventures:

A set report we missed from last week. The show was filming a scene where Sarah Jane is eating at a restaurant with the new man in her life (Nigel Havers). Then the three kids sneak up and spy on her through the window, and they see something which shocks them — then they run away. There also seems to be a bit where Clyde seems to be trying to choke Luke (or do something else, as some forum posters suggested). Or maybe they were just horsing around between takes. Photos by Scooty, EmmaG892 and Thai Footsoldier, all of whom rule. [Doctor Who Forum]

Dollhouse:

Despite his commitment on V, we will be seeing Alan Tudyk on Dollhouse next season. [Blast Magazine]

True Blood:

The Bill fans will be upset at times and the Eric fans will be upset at times, but it'll be a balance, says Alan Ball. And because this show is ongoing, it means things will change, and then change again. But Bill and Sookie have a rocky future because of their differences — but there's hope as long as they're honest and put their egos aside and are honest. [HBO via Sci Fi Wire]

Green Lantern: First Flight:

Here are a couple of pics of Kilowog (Michael Masden) the tough drill sergeant who whips that poozer Hal Jordan into shape. [Warner Bros.]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

In many ways, the movie is a recreation of the original TV series with this serious characters taken out and replaced by goofballs who make a lot of pop culture references. Ferrell and company satirize the original show, but most of all they satirize themselves.

I was a big fan of the Krofft Super Show series where Land of the Lost debuted in the 1970s. It was a fun kids' series about an alternative universe full of dinosaurs and lizard aliens, and somebody was always being chomped or threatened with being chomped. Although the show was whimsical, it was sort of like the recent Journey To The Center of the Earth - goofy but snarkless. I couldn't imagine how Will Ferrell's adolescent humor would translate into this universe.

But it did, effortlessly. Instead of a nice dad and his two kids trapped in a dinosaur-packed landscape, we have a self important scientist (who is basically the anchorman, but with time travel on his mind), the hot Oxford graduate student (Holly, played a rather woodenly by Anna Friel) who believes in him, and a sideshow operator (Will, played by Danny Mcbride) whose goal in life is to build a mega casino. Through an accident that involves show tunes and a broken down roadside attraction, the three of them wind up on an alternate Earth where the past, present and future are intertwined. And that's when things get really awesome.

Chaka, the cute primate of the TV series, has been turned into a horny adolescent. The sleestaks are still bulgy-eyed lizard people, but they're kind of scary too. And Dr. Rick Marshall, played by Ferrell with deadpan pizzazz, is the perfect satirical white explorer without a clue. He immediately tries to establish himself as Chaka's master (though Chaka hardly takes him seriously), and is constantly making incorrect proclamations about everything around them. There's a great moment when he thinks the sleestak are guarding when they're actually about to "hit that ass." And even on alternate earth, he can't escape a humiliation he suffered on YouTube.

Part of the fun in this flick is watching Ferrell turn science fiction stereotypes of the intrepid explorer upside down. The other part of that fun is watching him dance to show tunes, pour dinosaur urine all over himself so that his scent will "blend in," and make an ill-advised deal with an alien wearing a tunic. As Will points out wisely, tunics are always bad news.

The plot, such as it is, is pretty simple. The gang falls into an alternate dimension, with the help of Rick's tachyon-enhanced time travel device, and now they need to get the device back if they want to go home. In addition the tunic - wearing alien has told them that an evil alien will use the device to invade earth with his terrible army of lizard aliens. So it's a race against time, and also, strangely, a test of banjo improvisation. Hey, it's Will Ferrell - what do you want?

Somehow along the way we manage to have drug induced male bonding. And boob grabbing. Plus a wide array of poop jokes, which culminate in the biggest poop joke of all. But that's a major spoiler and I won't give it away.

A few scenes go on a bit too long (the drug scene springs to mind), and you may be irritated by the fact that many of the jokes are at the expense of women. But despite this most of the bits are genuinely funny, and I predict you'll be repeating lines from the movie for days afterward. In fact, if you're looking for good science fiction fun this weekend I would recommend Land of the Lost over Terminator 4 any day of the week.

Spider-Man 4/Iron Man 2:

Here are a couple of promo banners for upcoming Marvel superheroes' films. Note that Iron Man doesn't have those weird bands on his arms in this picture. Bigger versions at the link. [AICN]

Deadpool:

Meanwhile, Ryan Reynolds says he'd like to see Cable pop up in the Deadpool solo movie, especially since the two shared a comic for years. But the studio has told him it's probably not happening. More likely to appear, however, are the villains Ajax and Black Tom Cassidy. [MTV]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

Here's the last poster for the film, featuring Optimus with two swords, and lots of confusey-splodey action. Bigger version at the link. [Empire via IESB]

Meanwhile, Shia LaBoeuf talks to Wizard World and explains about how Sam's visions of symbols form a map that leads to the Energon, which the Decepticons need to restore Megatron to life. And he talks about how people are falling out of the sky via a mode of transportation called the Space Bridge, and that's when Sam's hand gets injured (to explain Shia's real-life hand injury). Also, Shia explains why his father doesn't give a "rat's vagina" about Optimus Prime, and how the sailors on an aircraft carrier reacted to having Megan Fox staying on board. [Wizard World via TLAMB]

Harry Potter:

Here are a ton of new (I think) TV spots for this July adaptation. I'm getting excited despite myself!

Land Of The Lost:

Chaka spends the whole movie groping Holly. Will Ferrell's character gets high on the local equivalent of LSD, for no particular reason other than to have some jokes about tripping balls. [Cinemablend]

Anna Friel's Holly was educated at Cambridge and moved to L.A. for work, and she's totally in love with Will Ferrell's character, but he doesn't realize it. Friel says she just tried to play it as her character believing Ferrell's is a genius under all his weird eccentricities. And there's a sequence where Ferrell goes out on his own and dances across the caldera. [IESB]

Planet 51:

A preview of this first-contact movie's video game provides some spoilers. Lem, the alien boy who befriends the human astronaut, has a sequence where he's on his bicycle delivering newspapers to the 1950s-esque alien town. And then his love interest Neera walks by with her boyfriend, and she throws books at him which he has to catch. In another sequence, there's a huge car chase. [Sci Fi Wire]

New Moon:

And because it wouldn't be a day without a bit of New Moonage, here's a new behind the scenes video with interviews. I don't think I've heard the phrase "cool, cool CGI" used seriously before:

Lost:

So there's a rumor going around (partly fueled by Matthew Fox) that Jack will die in the final episode. Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse refuse to confirm or deny the rumor, saying that otherwise "it would be like watching the Sixth Sense and knowing that Bruce Willis is dead." Which the interviewer takes as a "yes." [Sunday Mercury via Lyly Ford]

Meanwhile, Cuse confirms that Claire will be back full time as a regular character for the final season:

Damon and I are very excited to bring Claire back to the show, and even more excited for people to experience just how she will return.

Doc Jensen speculates that either Juliet really did reset time and Claire is now alive, or she'll just turn up from the jungle and people will have to wonder if she's another imposter like Locke. [EW]

Fringe:

John Noble explains what to expect in season two: There will be a lot more revelations about Peter now that we know he's "from another place." Also, there will be conflict between Peter and Walter. But also, having opened up the interdimensional can of worms, there will be some huge events. The writers have some "stunning" and "mind-boggling" ideas coming up.
[Access Hollywood]

Also, more details on that female FBI agent who will replace Kirk Acevedo's Charlie on the show. She's brash, outspoken, quick-witted and capable, and she has a deep-seated belief in the wonders of the universe. [EW]

Smallville:

Some details of some casting pages that have been sent out for new character "Mason," who's probably the show's new big bad. Tess is rushing to the Queen Industries jet, and she's surprised to hear Mason's voice asking if she's "all work and no play." She chides him, saying she'd hoped he would have mastered more than a "lexicon of cliches" by now. Mason says Tess can stand down, because "it's me." But she replies, "precisely who 'you' are is a little nebulous at the moment." Mason says that's just how Tess likes it, and then he keeps trying find ways to seduce her.

Later, Tess comes back to Luthor Mansion, to find Mason there. Mason says she betrayed him, but he survived it. And he psychoanalyzes her some more. He tells her he trusted her, and he was the one shot she had at a fairy-tale ending. She pulls a gun on him, and he reminds her that she still needs him. She realizes that, gosh darnit, he's right. [Kryptonsite via CBR]

Stargate Universe:

Death will be a big part of this show, so don't get too attached to people who you think will be series regulars. [TV Guide]

Flash Forward:

Here's another TV spot for the new ABC series that explains everything. Totally. If you don't understand this video, it's your fault:

True Blood:

Sookie, Bill and Jessica arrive in Dallas in the season's fourth episode, but there's a surprise waiting for them at the airport. And an even bigger surprise happens later, when a special visitor drops by Sookie's hotel room. [EW]

The Vampire Diaries:

So how is this show different than Twilight? Let star Paul Wesley explain:

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

CHUD spoke with McBride (currently stuck in another dimension in Will Ferrell's Land Of The Lost), and he revealed that his dreams to bring on some DC villains for his adaptation of the comic Hench, about an ex-football player who gets work as a henchman for local villains.

While this is a noble idea, I doubt he'll get the DC big-dog bad boys. But wouldn't it be kind of brilliant if McBride was only allowed to bring the truly crap DC villains to life? Think of the randoms like Toy Man, Orca or Calendar Man. It could be pretty hilarious just to see Orca in the flesh (or blubber, if you will.)

The other two science fiction films McBride is working on include an animated picture called Despicable Me. He works with Steve Carell (who plays a villain who acquires three orphans). And then there's a 1980s-set feature called Mr. Machine. McBride describes the flick (which he collaborated on with David Gordon Green):

"It takes place in the '80s," McBride said in a group interview on Friday in Hollywood, where he was promoting Land of the Lost. "It's kind of like a Gremlins kind of feel, about these kids who make this robot for their science project. It ends up taking over their town."

Sounds pretty engaging, and we're pretty desperate for ORIGINAL material in science-fiction films, so we're grateful to McBride and company, merely for coming up with something on their own.

[via Scifi Wire]

So...funny or not? Land Of The Lost will be in theaters this Friday.

Avatar:

So James Cameron came to E3 and talked up his decade-in-the-making space epic. It's set on Pandora in the Alpha Centauri star system, in the 22nd century. It's an Earth-like lush planet with thousand-foot trees and beautiful and scary creatures. The natives are the Na'vi, ten-foot-tall blue-skinned humanoids with tiger-like stripes and tails. They live in a primitive society, and they're ferocious warriors when provoked, but harmonious if you leave them alone.

And the story is about a human/Na'vi hybrid, known as an Avatar — this isn't like The Matrix, and the Avatars are not synthetic alter egos. Humans can be linked to Avatar bodies while they're in a coma, so they can live on the planet. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is a marine who got wounded in combat, so he gets put into an Avatar. There, he falls in love with a Na'vi girl, and there's smoking hot character action. So Sully has to choose between his new Na'vi friends and the human military-industrial dudes. The movie includes crazy fights with helicopters, crazy/scary military shit, and fantastical monsters like the Banshees, and some others whose name you can't even spell.

So all in all, it sounds similar to the scriptment Cameron put out a million years ago. [Destructoid]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

How is this movie different from the first one? Let Shia LaBoeuf explain:

It's bigger, faster and stronger than what we did the first time. We're blowing everything up. I was just at Holloman Air Force Base, where we blew up an entire town! There are new characters that are interesting. Our banter is fast and it's fun, it's table tennis.

Somehow now I'm picturing ping pong where the ball blows up after every point. And he gives a capsule plot summary:

There's cool stuff that happens to Sam. Sam starts to lose his mind. He starts having visions of his grandfather, Archibald Witwicky, and that's fun to play around with. And recess time with John Turturro [who plays the addled fed constantly at odds with Sam] is always fun….

[IESB]

New Moon:

A set pic shows our first look at Dakota Fanning as Jane. [Shockya]

Land Of The Lost:

Apparently there's a scene where Will Ferrell's character goes off by himself feeling sad, and he has to make amends to the rest of their group of explorers. And the song he plays on the banjo for the rest of the group is actually the original Land Of The Lost theme song. And it sounds like there's a second Matt Lauer scene towards the end of the movie, bookending the one at the start. (The one that's in all the trailers.) And in the ending scene, Lauer tackles Ferrell.

Also, there's a scene where Danny McBride 69s with Chaka. And our heroes eat giant crab legs. [IESB and IESB]

Supernatural:

Yesterday we showed you the Smallville season nine poster, now here's the Supernatural season five poster. Mostly, it's just awesome-looking and will make your desktop happy. But also, it does spell out that season five will be about the Winchester brothers fighting the Devil. (In case you didn't know.) [The ODI]

Chuck:

Zachary Levi wants to do more action, including shooting guns and shit, next season. There will be "catches" to the physical skills he gets from the Intersect. And he offers this somewhat confusing quote:

There will continue to be a lot of tension between Chuck and Sarah, which people love to hate to love, but that's TV, and it's good TV. There will be more love interests that kind of pop in and maybe even at the Buy More, stuff like that.

[Sci Fi Wire]

Heroes:

Hiro's headaches and nosebleeds won't be going away next season — and in fact, they'll be cause for speculation that we'll be losing yet another hero. [E! Online]

True Blood:

Is Lafayette alive? It doesn't sound good. Star Stephen Moyer says "I hope he does come back... but who knows." But on the plus side, there will be lesbianism! Sophie the vampire queen and Sookie's cousin Hadley Hale will end up sucking face. [E! Online]

Bill can't keep his fangs off Sookie, but don't count out Eric, who's always had the hots for her. Boots are knocking all over Bon Temps, and everyone gets a romantic arc. The Fellowship Of The Sun, the cult Jason gets involved in, has a huge dark side. When Bill and Sookie visit Dallas, they stay in a vampire hotel that serves up humans as room service. There will be tons of surprises. And a new creature is in town doing horrible things. [TV Guide Magazine via True Blood.net]

The Vampire Diaries:

Here are a few clips from this new CW show about sexy vampires and their pointy love triangles. [ShockTillYouDrop]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Iron Man 2:

Talking to Empire Magazine, director Jon Favreau gives some hints about where Tony Stark's storyline may be going this time around:

Tony's expected to be a role model and I don't think he's ready to be one. He's under a great deal of pressure and when you're under pressure, I think you find outlets for that. That's one of the tensions of the film: it's one thing to say you're Iron Man, and another thing to actually become Iron Man.

And his sidekick Jim Rhodes (Don Cheadle) will be stepping up, and may actually suit up as War Machine. Says Favreau, "Tony's not the only one with technology in the film."

Meanwhile, Mickey Rourke describes the armor he plays as the villain, Whiplash: it weighs 23 pounds and is "a sort of half suit" with Rourke's skin showing through the other half — and that skin is covered with tattoos, because Whiplash has just gotten out of a Russian-zone prison. [Empire]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

Here are a few pics from this Baygasmic movie that we may not have shown you yet, I'm not sure. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

And here's a new TV spot, which I think we showed you in much blurrier format a while back. [Transformers Movie Chronicles]

Paul:

Zachary Levi says he tried to get a role in Simon Pegg's alien movie. He would have been playing one of the idiot agents who are trying to track down Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. As it is, Jason Bateman plays the head agent who has to tell these dumb agents what to do, and one of the field agents is played by Bill Hader. [Collider]

Land Of The Lost:

Here are a bunch more TV spots and a clip for this Will Ferrell vehicle, which comes out next Friday. I can't decide if it looks cute or ultra-annoying.

Looper:

As you may have heard, this film from Rian Johnson (Brick) is set in the present day, where a group of hitmen are sent their victims from the future. Says Johnson, the movie has time travel in it, but it's not about time travel. It just uses time travel to set up the situation. The movie is very violent and has plenty of action, but isn't action oriented. It's more character-based, and especially in the second half, it goes someplace you wouldn't expect it to go. [Sci Fi Wire]

Moon:

The robot who keeps Sam Rockwell's character company is named GERTY. Towards the end of Rockwell's tour of duty on the Moon, he starts to feel strange and out of place — and then one of the extraction machines malfunctions, which starts him down his strange lunar trip. [Coventry Telegraph]

Hot-Tub Time Machine:

Chevy Chase has joined the cast of this time-traveling comedy, in which a group of washed-up party dudes (Rob Corddry, John Cusack and Craig Robinson) discover their old hot tub is actually a time machine, which takes them back to their glory days in 1987. Chase plays a mysterious hot-tub repairman, who "dispenses pearls of wisdom and may or may not be behind their metaphysical road trip." Sounds sort of like Pleasantville, except wetter and less monochrome. [Hollywood Reporter via Slashfilm]

Doctor Who:

Here are a bunch of set pics from David Tennant's final episodes. Nothing shockingly new, but they do give a fresh look at the return of Rose, Jackie and Donna, plus the Doctor's apparent collapse against that brick wall. Donna seems to be yelling at someone, and the Doctor and Wilf are having an argument. [SkyTV]

Lost:

According to the latest recap at ABC.Com, the mysterious statue is definitely Taweret, the Egyptian goddess who at various times is described as the wife of the god of evil, or a fertility goddess. There's a long post at the link which speculates as to what the statue's identity means for Jacob and his adversary (whom they're calling "Esau.") [DocArzt]

Fringe:

So now that Leonard Nimoy is playing the mysterious William Bell, is he a good guy or a bad guy or what? According to Roberto Orci, he's "a potential ambiguous evil figure." What does that mean? Only the Pattern can reveal. [Star Wars.com via SciFiScoop]

Warehouse 13:

Now that we've already learned which Eureka and BSG stars will be showing up on this new Syfy channel series, what's left? Oh yeah, Stargate. Stargate Atlantis' Joe Flanagan will play Jeff Weaver, a rich guy "whose charm captures Myka's interest, but he finds himself under Pete and Myka's scrutiny when a sculpture on which he bid, vanishes in an impossible heist." [Pop Culture Zoo via Gateworld]

Virtuality:

Remember this Ron Moore pilot about the crew of people on a deep-space exploration mission, who distract themselves by having fun in virtual reality — until the V.R. starts going badly wrong? As we mentioned, the pilot is getting aired on July 4, and veteran Star Trek/BSG model maker Doug Drexler blogs that the crew is racing to finish a few additional shots for the series. More spaceship action? Possibly a different ending? We'll see. [Drex Files, thanks Sun Scramble]

Chuck:

Zachary Levi hints that Chuck's new superpowers won't last long when he accesses them, and maybe after he uses an ability once, it's gone. (Forever? He won't say.) Also, Scott Bakula may not be back, because he's on another show. [Collider]

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

A new trailer appeared in front of Terminator Salvation, and here it is:

And here's a new TV spot. Hoping for better quality soon:

And here's a new IMAX poster, plus some new stills that reveal the movie will feature (wait for it) explosions and cars. I'm actually kind of excited. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Ghostbusters 3:

Talking to the Guardian, Dan Aykroyd spilled a few new details about the "new generation" of busters, including the fact that the leader will be a woman:

There'll be a whole new generation that has to be trained and a leader that you'll all love when you meet her. There'll be lots of cadets, boys and girls who'll be learning how to use the neuron splitter and the inter-planet interceptor - new tools to enable them to slip from dimension to dimension.

Also, Aykroyd said that Bill Murray refused to come back unless Ernie Hudson had as big a role as the other original guys. [via Slashfilm]

Land Of The Lost:

Here's a new clip from this June 5 movie, featuring Chaka trying to warn our heroes against a Sleestak ambush. (Sorry, non-U.S. people!) [MTV]

Looper:

Rian "Brick" Johnson describes his science fiction movie again:

It's sci-fi, but it's not huge sci-fi. It's more — just in terms of the scale — it's closer to Children of Men. It's set in the near future and the main sci-fi element of it is time travel. So that presents all sorts of interesting narrative challenges. It presents a lot of headaches in terms of the writing. It's fun, though.

[LAist]

Gamer:

Mimi Michaels describes her role in this film from the Crank guys:

That promises to be one exciting thriller. Lots of action and interest throughout. The story is set in a high tech futuristic world. The video games you get to play are with real lives. My character is a quirky fan of one of the best players.

[Shockya]

New Moon:

Three new pictures from the Twilight sequel. [Horror Year Book]

Sarah Jane Adventures:

So as we suspected, David Tennant's Doctor is showing up on this spinoff show, for a two-parter to be written by Gareth Roberts. (It's part of the third season, airing this fall.) Russell T. Davies tells Doctor Who Magazine that Tennant's appearance isn't a cameo, it's a proper part of the story. And K-9 (the real one, not the weird new version) will appear as well. RTD says the two-parter is "extraordinary, wild and powerfully moving," and the "wedding of Sarah Jane will be a day for everyone to remember." [Den Of Geek]

Lost:

Producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof reiterate that they've known for a long time what the show's final scene will be, and they have a pretty good idea of the final episode. But they're leaving enough wriggle room to account for character development and discoveries along the way. [TV Guide]

V:

A new review adds some more details to the ones we already knew. The UFOs appear over a dozen Earth cities, and the first five minutes deal with their arrival, culminating in the face of the leader, Anna, appearing everywhere. The only human character who gets fleshed out in the pilot is FBI agent Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell) who's more proactive and confident than Juliet on Lost. Her son Tyler is a huge supporter of the alien V's, and goes around spray-painting the letter "V" on trash cans. Also compelling are Chad the conflicted news anchor who sells out to the V's but feels bad about it, and Ryan, the V who betrays his own people. And it sounds like the show actually goes for the Independence Day jokes. [AICN]

True Blood:

The new season picks up the same night as the end of the previous season, says Anna Paquin. And you'll find out who was dead in the back of that car. [TV Guide]

Heroes:

In the fourth season opener, we'll meet a sweet little Japanese girl who tries to save her kitten. [The ODI]

Reaper:

Here's a sneak peek from the season finale.

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.

Terminator Salvation:

A few more early reviews are out, including some details. When Serena Kogan visits Marcus Wright on death row, she's wearing a head scarf to cover her baldness. She wants to turn Marcus into a cyborg, and he agrees in exchange for a kiss. "So that's what death tastes like," he says, which is not what I'd want to hear after kissing someone.

Kate Connor's pregnancy is not even mentioned in the film, even though she's visibly pregnant. Her interactions with her husband are boiled down to just a couple of scenes where she tells him to be careful.

Kyle Reese serves up a delicacy, two-day-old coyote. ("Better than three-day-old coyote," he quips.) Everybody wears snazzy camo pants and vests. Somehow a giant Harvester robot manages to sneak up on a group of people in a gas station despite the fact that it moves slowly and thunderously. Also, the bleak original ending was replaced with a "milquetoast crowd pleaser."
[Emmanuel Levy and Newsarama and BoxOffice.com]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

Here are a couple new images. (More at the link.) [Cinematical]

Gamer:

Allison Lohman explains her character in this film:

I play Trace. She's part of the resistance. I try to get Gerard Butler back to his family. It's this dystopian future where humans are playing humans on a global scale through video games.

And she says the evil future is "debaucherous" and the film is more serious than the Crank films, from the same directors. [Sci Fi Wire]

Land Of The Lost:

A couple new TV spots. (Not 100 percent sure about the second one, but I think there's some new stuff in there.)

Also, Anna Friel says her character isn't just the standard wimpy movie chick: she's strong and ballsy and a Cambridge graduate. Friel is already signed up for the sequel. [Sci Fi Wire]

Spider-Man 4:

The fourth picture will delve into Peter Parker as a human being more deeply than the first three. It'll bring the character to life with a level of detail you haven't seen before, says Sam Raimi. [Sci Fi Wire and L.A. Times]

Planet 51:

Justin Long says he plays an alien who's the Henry Thomas character in this reverse version of E.T.: He takes in Dwayne Johnson's astronaut, who visits his planet. [Sci Fi Wire]

Thor:

Here's the casting call for the ultra-important supporting character, Volstagg:

Male. Early to mid 30s. 6'2" or taller. Obese but agile, fun, good-hearted, a warrior but prefers eating over fighting...SUPPORTING; OPEN TO ALL ETHNICITIES.

[Movies-Spoilers]

Lost:

Elizabeth Mitchell will be a regular on the V reboot, so don't expect Juliet to be a regular on Lost as well. However, she will be in an unspecified number of Lost episodes next year, so it's possible she really did survive the bomb going off in her face. [EW]

Human Target:

Just how vapid will this comic-book adaptation be? Behold four new clips. [Target419.com]

And here are some promo pics. Shiny! [SpoilerTV]

Additional research by Alasdair Wilkins.

Terminator Salvation:

McG introduces a clip (shown to Pizza Hut customers) which details a Harvester's attack on a trashed 7-Eleven, and shows us how it developed, every step of the way:

About 10 minutes into the movie, there's a scene of rebirth, where Marcus Wright (whom we saw die at the start of the movie) crawls naked out of the mud and screams, under a lightning-blitzed sky. The scream lasts about 13 seconds (although the scream may get tweaked, because it sounds a bit silly) and it signals the start of Marcus' journey, says McG. [Esquire]

Also, Bryce Dallas Howard appeared on Craig Ferguson, and they showed a clip and talked about the movie. [Sarah Connor Society]

Star Trek 2:

We're going to have to figure out if this movie is Star Trek 2 or Star Trek 12. Either way, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman hint that classic characters like Khan could turn up, since they've never met our heroes in this alternate timeline. And they say we'll never have to talk about time travel again, because the time-travel device was destroyed at the end of the first movie. They also hint Leonard Nimoy may never reappear. [MTV]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

Michael Bay posted a couple of pics of himself on this movie's set to his official site. [IESB]

Land Of The Lost:

A couple of TV spots, with some new footage, including Chaka freaking out and Will Ferrell repeating "No immediate danger" over and over.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan:

Kate Vernon gives a tiny hint as to how Ellen Tigh is portrayed in this new TV movie:

[T]hey've written me with more heart and more compassion, and this intention to bring some enlightenment and peace, and I got to expand a character, just show a deeper side of myself. So you take the core of your character and you just play those circumstances.

[Sci Fi Wire]

Lost:

What's the sacrifice Ben will be asked to make in tonight's episode? Michael Emerson explains: "Ben has sacrificed his leadership and authority [to Locke], but he's also going to be asked to serve someone else's interests, not his own." Oh, and it doesn't sound like Ben dies in the finale. [TV Guide]

Smallville:

Which two characters are dying in tomorrow night's finale? Apparently the top contenders are Cassidy Freeman, Aaron Ashmore, Justin Hartley, Kristin Kreuk and Sam Witwer. (Is Kreuk even in the episode?) And Allison Mack is an outside possibility as well. [E! Online]

And in fact, Mack says she's definitely signed for season nine... but she hints that she may make an "exit" before the already-certain season ten. [IndieWire]

Heroes:

In the first two episodes of season four, we'll be meeting "Young Ando" and his friend "Young Kimiko," both of whom are around 12 years old, give or take. Sounds like Kimiko maybe a couple years older than Ando. Will this be part of the promised time-traveling shenanigans? [SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.

The new trailer gives a bit more of the movie's story, including the bizarre tachyon device that Will Ferrell builds to get himself to the garbage dump of the space-time continuum. You can watch it in absurdly high definition over at MovieFone.

Star Trek:

This week's Entertainment Weekly has a few minor spoilers for the new movie. In the scene where the Enterprise is launched on its maiden voyage, we see a splash of light across Captain Pike's face when he first sits in the chair - that's an homage to the original series, which often splashed Kirk's face with light during moments of drama. That's also the scene where Chekov can't get the computer to understand his accent, and Sulu forgets to disengage the Enterprise's "parking brake." Also, the Tribble you've heard about pops up during one of the first scenes with Scotty (and maybe that Vulcan moon's cold atmosphere is why the Tribble isn't reproducing?) [EW]

Also, Zoe Saldana talks Uhura's romance with Spock:

They have the most similar characteristics. I almost feel like she had this admiration for Spock because he was older and sort of like a teacher, and there was this crush or platonic infatuation with someone who's wiser, wittier, handsome - and had pointy ears. Why not?

Kirk, meanwhile, ruins his chances with Uhura, when she walks in on him in bed with her roommate. Oh noes! The very last scene of the movie includes Uhura locking lips with Spock, leaving the sexy space love triangle up in the air. [The Sun]

We get Nero's backstory in a quick flashback. And there's a pivotal confrontation between Nero and Old Spock that takes place entirely off camera. [Cinemablend]

And here's a new TV spot, which includes Kirk playing with a salt shaker in the shape of his dad's old ship, the U.S.S. Kelvin. [TrekMovie]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

A source who was at Showest, and saw some private footage, dropped some major spoilers. Soundwave is a satellite in orbit, and he scans Earth vehicles. So as the Decepticons descend towards Earth he gives them their Earth-vehicle "alt modes" on the way down. The Decepticons repair Megatron by using Cybertronian metal tank treads, plus a particle cannon that Soundwave gives him. One or two Decepticons give up their "sparks" to revive Megatron and Blackout, who's third in command besides Starscream. (Both Blackout, a helicopter, and Megatron emerge with some rust.) The humans thought the Decepticons couldn't function under so much water pressure, but they were wrong.

Meanwhile, the robots you see crashing into the aircraft carrier are Constructicons. The yellow robot is Barrage. Mixmaster and Megatron can fly a little bit, but not much. At one point, Long Haul stomps on Jazz's corpse under water, underscoring that Jazz won't be back. A few other jets fly with Starscream, and provide information. Also, more confirmation that Alice, the Desexycon, may actually be Ravage, who was sent to kill Sam but decides to pump him for information after she learns he has some knowledge of the Fallen. After she reveals her true tentacley nastiness, Barricade shows up to help. (A source from Dreamworks says Alice isn't Ravage, but hints she may be another Desexycon instead.) There's lots more at the link, including wrangling between the Dreamworks source and the other source. It's all anonymous, and therefore should be taken with several grains of salt anyway. [TLAMB]

The Fallen has a deeper connection to Earth than anyone realizes. And he blames humanity for his fall, and he wants... wait for it... revenge. We also meet the "one-eyed mechanical jaguar Ravage" who's the servant of Soundwave. And this film will be the mother of robot-on-robot violence, promise writers Orci and Kurtzman. [L.A. Times]

Land Of The Lost:

In this film, an interdimensional misadventure traps three travelers in a wasteland, a sort of cosmic catch-basin where unlucky people and debris wind up like "time-traveling lint." The movie's heroes are a park ranger named Rick Marshall, who was mocked for his theories about tachyons — they turned out to be true, but all of his other ideas, like the benefits of dinosaur urine and running in a serpentine path when fleeing dinosaurs, are totally cracked. Holly (Anna Friel) is Rick's long-suffering research assistant, and Danny McBride plays a survivalist dragged along on their expedition. [L.A. Times]

Lost:

Michael Emerson and Evangeline Lilly were at the Jules Verne festival in Paris. And judging from their remarks, it sounds like there are two crazy cataclysmic events in the finale. Ben is involved in the lesser of them, and Kate is involved in the greater — and weirder — of them. [The ODI]

Meanwhile, we will learn more about the smoke monster's origins before the end of the series, but not necessarily in a flashback. Also, we'll be seeing some dead characters in the season finale, and we'll learn more about how Locke and Christian Shepherd are able to wander around the island after apparently dying. [TV Guide]

Fringe:

Here's the Canadian promo for Tuesday's episode.

Smallville:

There are some detailed spoilers for Thursday's episode, "Injustice," which mostly jibe with the details we posted ages ago. Some new details: Tess Mercer's new "Injustice" gang includes Plastique, Voltage, Leech and Fallout. They're tailing a woman. Then Voltage is leaning over Fallout's dead body and crying — apparently they fought with Doomsday, and Fallout paid the ultimate price. Tess Mercer is pissed, because she ordered them not to engage Doomsday, but wait for "the Traveler" to arrive. Voltage wants to leave Tess Mercer's crew, but she ends up dying by having a chip in her skull explode. But still, Plastique and Leech won't believe Chloe when she says Tess killed Voltage, because they're kind of slow.

But later, Leech and Plastique realize Tess betrayed them, and they tie her up. Plastique tortures Tess to get her secret password, but Oliver shows up with Lex's kryptonite ring, hurting Leech — because Leech stole Clark's powers. The pain Leech is in won't stop until he gives Clark's powers back. Then we find Tess looking at a wooden box, which turns out to contain the Phantom Zone crystal. Her science goons have tried everything to destroy it, but it's indestructible. [Comic Book Movie]

And here are some more new photos from the season finale. You know, Photoshop has this amazing tool that would get rid of that unsightly red-eye effect on Davis. [OSCK]

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.

Star Trek:

Another day, another batch of early Trek reviews, containing some spoilers. Variety says the movie starts with a 12-minute "action prologue" (presumbly the Kelvin battle) and Captain Pike says "Let's punch it," about 40 minutes in. Kirk starts out cocky, but then experiences enough setbacks and "rough surprises" that he's forced to become more thoughtful. Uhura "bestows her favors on one officer to the exasperation of another."

Meanwhile, Urban Cinefile says that Spock says "Fear is necessary for command," but later finds out that love is sometimes a better reason than logic. (And Uhura is "appealing" as Spock's love interest.) And we get to see the Enterprise's maiden voyage.

And here's a picture of Kirk on his badass motorcycle. Bigger version at the link. [MTV]

Meanwhile, Simon Pegg explains about Scotty's sidekick Keenser:

Scotty is not alone on that planet, there's another guy there with him who just happens to be an oyster faced little guy called Keenser played by the brilliant Deep Roy who is a fantastic actor. You know, the literally multicultural nature of space is something that is always interesting. Keenser's no Jar Jar man, come on! What we really liked playing in that whole thing is the notion that these two guys have pretty much been stranded on [Delta Vega] alone and have kind of a slightly odd couple relationship, where they kind of don't like each other but really will miss each other when they're apart and it was another part of trying to create a universe that was varied and multicultural.

[Slashfilm]

Land Of The Lost:

The new movie keeps the original TV show's theme song ("On a routine expedition," etc.) But Anna Friel's character is not Will Ferrell's daughter, but a woman who convinces him to carry on his abandoned research. And Danny McBride is not Ferrell's son, but rather a "scummy survivalist" and gas-station owner, who gets dragged along. [MTV]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

The fact that Optimus came up short in his battle against Megatron at the end of the first movie was on the minds of the writers as they worked on the sequel, says Roberto Orci. And Soundwave, summed up in one word, is "Spy." And he adds that Soundwave isn't following Megatron exactly, but rather "doing his own thing." [TLAMB]

X-Men Origins: Wolverine:

A new Internet-only trailer includes a good look at Logan's bone claws during his first fight with Sabretooth, plus more of the Blob.

Lost:

There's an alarmingly huge Lost spoiler, which (if true) would make me quite sad. Supposedly Daniel Faraday is the son of Charles Widmore and Eloise Hawking. And after Faraday returns to the island via submarine, he goes to talk to Dr. Pierre Chang/Marvin Candle and tells him the truth about the island and Chang's son, Miles. Daniel tries to convince Chang to evacuate the island.

Daniel then ventures to the Others' camp and tries to talk to his mother, Eloise. But before he gets the chance, she shoots him and he dies. She doesn't realize until afterwards that he was her son. She finds out from Jack and Kate what Daniel was planning to do, and she swears to carry it through with help from Richard. [The ODI]

Supernatural:

The rumors that Bobby's going to die in the season finale keep coming. And in an interview, Jim Beaver reiterated that Bobby is only briefly in that episode. And he refused to comment on what Bobby's role would be in season five. "I'm not sure what I could say that would be both truthful and helpful." Noooo not Bobby! [Fanbolt]

But when TV Guide confronted Beaver about those rumors, he insisted "Nobody takes Bobby down easy!" (I just watched the one where two little girls almost took down Bobby, so I'll reserve judgement. Okay, they were ghosts. But still.) Beaver also said the season finale is "intense and astonishing," and "people are going to have their expectations toppled." [TV Guide]

Heroes:

A bunch of clips from Monday's season finale:

Smallville:

Erica Durance explains what tonight's episode means for Lois and Clark:

What's lovely is you get to see Clark see Lois in a totally different light -totally smitten and sweet, with all of her barriers down - and that is really romantic... Clark becomes closer to Lois, because he gets to see this honest and generous side of her. I was pretty thrilled about it.

[TV Guide]

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.