Transformers 3:

Sam's dad, Ron Witwicky, may not be in the third movie! The Hollywood Reporter mentions that actor Kevin Dunn is in negotiations to reprise the role in Transformers 3 — but it's not a sure thing, because of contractual issues and the fact that Dunn is co-starring in a new HBO series. Is there even any point in making a third film without Dunn? I mean, it's really all about the characters. [THR via TLAMB]

Caesar:

This prequel to Planet Of The Apes includes tons of details to make it clear it's a prequel, specifically, to the 1968 film. There's a reference, in the beginning, to Col. Taylor's ship, the Icarus, going missing. There are also reportedly a ton of inside references and nods to the original films — too many to list here. As Caesar changes, his eyes turn green. He's sent to live in a monkey house, where he manages to unite the divided chimps, orangutans and gorillas. By the end of the movie, humanity's downfall is well underway. Caesar is determined to be non-violent, but he sits by while other apes go on a violent rampage. The film explains how Caesar's existence makes the other apes evolve, and why the apes in the POTA films are so much bigger and look nothing like chimps, gorillas or orangutans. More details at the link. [CHUD]

Toy Story 3:

Annnd... here's another new poster. This time showing the gang emerging from their storage box into their new daycare center home. [CinemaBlend]

Nikita:

So remember how Maggie Q was cast as the lead in this show, and there was much talk about this being the "highest profile" drama series role for an Asian-American star on U.S. television? Well, back up. Turns out, Maggie Q plays the old Nikita, the one who's gone rogue and is on the run. Lyndsy Fonseca (How I Met Your Mother) plays the new Nikita, a 19-year-old who's sentenced to 25 years in a federal penitentiary, then recruited by a secret government agency to hunt down Q's character. She's recruited because she's an "attractive, young, white female with virtually no personal ties or paper trail," which is an ideal profile for this sort of work. Melinda Clarke plays Amanda, an operative who's tasked with educating Fonseca's character on "how to use her femininity to her advantage." Aaron Stanford (aka Pyro) plays Birkhoff, a computer specialist who loves Red Bull, potato chips and watching skateboarding bloopers on YouTube. Sigh.

Update: The Hollywood Reporter is claiming that Maggie Q is still a new assassin in training, and Fonseca will merely play another trainee assassin. Let's hope THR is right and Futon Critic is wrong. Thanks to kofianna for the heads up! [The Futon Critic and The Futon Critic]

Doctor Who:

A new Telegraph article has literally a squillion details about Matt Smith's first episode. Including the strange fact that the producers originally wanted Smith's costume to be pirate-esque.

Smith's Doctor will continue regenerating throughout his first episode, and this will be a somewhat involved process by the sound of things. The TARDIS crashlands in the village of Leadworth, where he meets his "kooky" new companion Amy. And the world is threatened with destruction by the Atraxi, "thuggish galactic policemen," not to be confused with the Judoon. Leadworth has a duck pond, whose total absence of ducks sparks an argument between the Doctor and Amy. And as you'll no doubt remember from set reports, a red phone booth blows up. It rained a lot during filming, but new showrunner Steven Moffat may explain that away by saying the Atraxi are preparing to boil the planet.

In one key scene, Smith tries to attract the Atraxi's attention by using his sonic screwdriver (or rather David Tennant's) and then the sonic screwdriver explodes. The Doctor has 20 minutes to save the world, still wearing Tennant's raggedy costume — and he does it with two minutes to spare. Oh, and there are at least a couple "CGI monsters" in this episode.

The new TARDIS interior is probably three times the size of David Tennant's — let's just pause to let that sink in. There are multiple levels, joined by staircases. And the Telegraph adds:

Less grubby than its predecessor, with a transparent plastic floor on the main level, its walls are resplendent with polished copper and its central column features a blown glass decoration that could be straight from Tales of the Unexpected. There are old car seats and downstairs – downstairs! – a swing. With a nod to Paul McGann's Tardis, the central column features an old TV screen on an extendable trellis. It also has a 1980s-style computer keyboard, and a His-Master's-Voice style trumpet speaker. Viewers won't see this Tardis until the end of episode one, when the Doctor and Amy walk in for their first journey together.

And once again, we hear about the "fairy-tale quality" of episode one. Can you wait? If you can, there is something wrong with you. [Telegraph]

V:

New producer Scott Rosenbaum explains what to expect from this show:

"There will be three or four huge, oh-my-God, wow...I-didn't-see-that-coming [moments]," he promises. Plus, big things to come between Anna (Morena Baccarin) and Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell). "Those two are...circling each other, looking for each other's weaknesses and then-boom-the fight happens."

[E! Online]

Warehouse 13:

In case you missed it, we now know why Jewel Staite says her guest role is such a treat for Browncoats. She's co-starring with her former Firefly love interest Sean Maher. Only this time, the roles are reversed. Says the press release:

In "Mild Mannered," Maher plays Sheldon, a quiet unassuming guy whose exposure to a dangerous object brings about shocking physical change. Staite portrays Loretta, the object of his unrequited love. Staite starred as Kaylee Frye and Maher as Dr. Simon Tam in the hit series, Firefly, the award-winning 2002 drama from creator Joss Whedon.

[Sci Fi Wire]

Fringe:

A new promo for episode 2x15, "Peter". [FringeTV]

Betwixt:

Remember this CW show about teens who go to a rave and then discover they're changelings? Of course you do. David Gallagher (7th Heaven) will play Tim Bleeker, a changeling who's gone to the dark side — otherwise known as a Cutter. (Really?) He'll have a dark, androgynous look to him. [The Futon Critic]

Sharktopus!:

The first casting news for this Syfy movie is out. Eric Roberts will play the mad scientist who creates this "unholy hybrid," reveals Syfy's Karen O'Hara via Twitter. [Twitter via ShockTillYouDrop]

The Cape:

More casting news, this time for the NBC cop-turned-superhero show. James Frain (The Tudors) will play a supervillain:

Peter Fleming, the Chairman and CEO of the Blackwater-esque Lynx Corporation, who moonlights as "Chess," a murderous villain. Chess is described as wearing a tight black mask in which only his freakish eyes - contact lenses bearing a rook and knight emblem - are visible.

Also, Dorian Missick will play Marty Voyt, a friend of the main character, Vince, who tries to recruit Vince to join Lynx's security forces. [The Futon Critic]

Stargate Universe:

One promo pic for episode 16, "Human." [SpoilerTV]

Also, season two filming began today with "Pathogen," which will actually air fourth, and is directed by Robert Carlyle. [Twitter via Gateworld]

Chuck:

A Canadian promo for Monday's episode features new footage, plus an ultra-grating voiceover. [SpoilerTV]

FlashForward:

Seth MacFarlane had a brief cameo in the pilot as an FBI agent, and he'll reappear briefly in at least one more episode — before, probably, getting shot. [Sci Fi Wire]

Here's a sneak peek from the March 18 episode:

James Callis' character is named Gabriel McDow, and he has a unique spin on the "many worlds" concept. Sonia Walger explains:

Olivia meets this strange character who seems to know an enormous amount about her future, and is very definitive about what he knows – he's played by James Callis, who was in Battlestar Galactica amongst other things – and the reason he knows so much about Olivia's future is that it turns out he has had multiple flash-forwards. So he becomes integral to her believing and subscribing to the idea that there is an alternative, that there was another path that she might have gone on. He also becomes of huge importance to the FBI investigation.

And it sounds like McDow has experienced psychic damage from his multiple flash-forwards. [TV Overmind]

Lost:

The producers answer a question about Vincent's fate — and turns out, he's the only character guaranteed to survive. [Doc Arzt]

Filming, probably for the third-to-last episode, is taking place. In a scene at the school, both Ben and Locke look injured. Locke is still in his wheelchair, of course, and Ben has a broken arm. Ben is beaten up by a guy who gets out of a car — possibly Desmond. And the injured Ben walks out of the school with Alex and gets introduced to Alex's mother, Rousseau, in a scene that mirrors when Ben introduced Alex to her mother back in season four. [SpoilersLost]

Here's another clip from Tuesday's Sawyer-centric episode. [Doc Arzt]

Additional reporting by Mary Ratliff.

Here are our comparisons of the old and new Freddy epics:

Dark Horizons talked to the new Freddy, Jackie Earle Haley about how he changed today's Freddy and here's his reponse:

"We delve in a little bit more, and we learn a little bit more. But it's very based on stuff that we've learned prior. I think he's a bit more serious than what we've seen before. [Freddy's] a little more pissed."

This is the first bit of news that's made us excited about the new Nightmare on Elm Street.

Also interesting, this interview from IESB with Kyle Gallner, the goth kid from Jennifer's Body, who plays Quentin.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your character, Quentin?

KG: Quentin is…he's kind of like that guy that is, he's not like the super-popular kid, but everybody kind of knows him a little bit. He's the kid that walks down the hallway and it's like, ‘Oh, hey, what's going on.' He's that kind of guy. But Quentin's an interesting kid. You know, we don't touch on the fact that Quentin has a mom — he doesn't really have a mom in the movie, so he's got like the mom issues on top of the dreams and his dad. I don't think he gets along very well with his dad. I think he has a little bit of a high stress home life, so he's kind of got a little bit of anger issues, I feel. I mean, this is the way I'm playing him, with slight anger issues and maybe some daddy issues, and my mom's not there. I'm also kind of like, you know, I pop Adderall — I'm kind of this weird, offbeat kid. He's a good kid though. At the end of the day he's a good kid. It's just he's a little high strung and I think what he's going through, he doesn't really know how to handle very well, so he kind of turns to drugs a little bit, and he gets very fidgety and agitated by the end of the movie.

Q: So are some of his personal issues specifically incorporated into his dreams? Does Freddy taunt him with things that bother him?

KG: Not really, not so much. I think that's kind of a separate side. I don't think Freddy really cares about my issues with my mom and whatever. But … it's a weird thing. My dreams are almost, they're not so much like terrifying nightmares — like, I do have some scenes in the boiler room and stuff — but it's almost like a weird thing where Freddy almost uses me as a bit of a vessel, I guess, to kind of show me what really happened to him, as opposed to just torturing me in my dreams. Like, in my first dream, he doesn't even come after me. He's showing me what really happened to him. Later on, he definitely gives me some business in the boiler room, but no, he doesn't incorporate my own personal issues with his vendetta.

Interesting so it sounds like Freddy won't be playing too much into the caricature that he became over time, it's all scares and scar tissue here.

Read the rest of the interview at IESB.

After viewing this film, it's all we can do not to run around screaming, "Get out of my head, Hollywood!" Eat a bag of dragon puppets, Avatar — this the game-changer, right here.

We'd give you the synopsis, but this film literally is Moby Dick with dragons, so there you have it. No release date yet, but we are all over this film.

[via Slashfilm]

In addition to the 24 month sentence, Robert Henderson - who pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement - will also have to pay $24,738 in fines and face three years probation upon release, according to the sentencing handed down by Kansas City Judge Fernando J. Gaitan. Senior VP of Content Protection and Chief of Operations for the MPAA, Mike Robinson, feels the sentencing is appropriate to the crime:

The theft of films by camcording is a serious threat to the health of the motion picture industry and the 2.4 million Americans it employs... we hope [the sentence] will serve as a warning to would-be movie thieves that they will face severe consequences for engaging in these activities.

Earlier sentences under consideration included having half of his face blown up in a Joker-inspired explosion and being tackled off the top of a building by a man dressed as Batman. In that context, suddenly it doesn't seem that bad.

'Dark Knight' Pirater Gets 2 Years in Federal Prison [The Wrap]

The Horde
We've been on pins and needles about The Horde since they debuted the behind the scenes news footage and gorgeous concept art. And now, we finally have a trailer that's longer than a few seconds. In the wake of so many zombie films, this is one that has stood out since the beginning. The story takes place in a run-down high-rise where police stand-off is going down. Both the cops and the crooks are marooned in this building by a swarm of zombies, and they'll have to work together. Take a look at the trailer: You have to admit the make-up is fantastic.

Adele Blanc-Sec
The Adele Blanc-Sec site is up and running and, thanks to Twitch, we now have the trailer! The film is based on the '70s books that take place in Paris just before WWI. The main character, Adele, is a novelist turned investigative journalist obsessed with the occult, which she apparently gets in this film in spades. Check out the dragons/dinosaurs that are unleashed on Paris, plus here's a few stills.

Portrait of a Zombie
If we're going to post another zombie film, we're at least going to make sure it's different. Like this little Irish film right here. We'll let the synopsis do the explaining:

Zombies roam the streets of Dublin. An American documentary crew come to Ireland to make a documentary about the Murphy Family, whose eldest son Billy has turned, but the family still choose to care for him, much to the chagrin of the neighbors and the local crime boss. The Documentary crew soon become enthralled in the proceedings as Billy's story unfolds.

Portrait of a Zombie - Teaser from Portrait of a Zombie on Vimeo.

Maneater
Quiet Earth made us aware of this little monster gem. And by gem we mean, terrible original Syfy-esque feature (Not that there's anything wrong with that). Dean Cain has to go up against the Wendigo that "eats people" and, apparently, light because this trailer is dark. But what will Dean do when he realizes that the monster he's tracking may be, dum dum dum....himself?

A former FBI profiler, now a sheriff of a small town and a single parent of a high school aged daughter, begins to profile a series of unexplained murders only to learn that the monster he's profiling may be himself.

Hitfix spoke with star Seth Rogen after learning news of the movie's delayed release date. Not surprisingly, the actor is in full spin mode, or else genuinely happy that his odd ball, little known superhero flick will have to stand toe-to-toe with big-name productions and Oscar bait.

We're both relieved and psyched about the change. It gives more time for post [production], which would have been immensely rushed if we were to come out in the summer. It also affords us more time to promote the film, (now we can go to Comic-Con with more than a car!) and ultimately is a great vote of confidence from the studio. We got the same date that movies like 'I Am Legend' and 'Avatar' are getting, so we're thrilled to be there."

More time to make a decent movie is never a bad thing, and perhaps a bit more exposure is exactly what this film needs. But it still feels like the move from July 7, 2010 to December 17, 2010 was an effort to quietly dump it off into a cold pasture.

Talking to the LA Times, Cameron admitted that Oz's influence may not be entirely intentional:

Yeah. It's my favorite movie; I had to get it in there somewhere. The production designer was Rick Carter, who actually played that out. He thought how it was, in some ways, like Dorothy's journey. I didn't quite get as much of that [when I first wrote it]. You do things sometimes as a writer subconsciously, things you're not even aware of. I'm always comfortable doing things instinctively because I see it as taping into this vein of archetype that works for a broader audience base. I don't question what I'm doing if it feels right. There might be some other references there I might not be aware of.

Avatar will be released December 18th.

James Cameron on 'Avatar': Like 'Matrix,' 'This movie is a doorway' [LA Times/Hero Complex]

The Horde
I'm getting very excited for the zombies cops and robbers flick The Horde by Benjamin Rocher and Yannick Dahan. All of the set reports and stills we've seen so far have been lovely, and I'm hoping it's as pretty as it appears to be. The basic premise is a high rise stake-out/shoot-out between a gang of cops and a bushel of robbers has been interrupted by a herd of zombies. Will foe become friend to help escape the tower of doom? Who knows, but please let there be at least one French Mime zombie, please. Here's the latest teaser trailer:

Planet Of The Vampire Women
A cute little graphic poster and a few sexy stills have been released from this campy film, still in production. The vampire ladies themselves are band space pirates who:

pull off the ultimate heist only to crash into an unknown world. Finding themselves trapped on a storm-shrouded planet overrun with monsters, the intergalactic outlaws unknowingly awaken an unspeakable horror that causes the dead to walk...with an insatiable lust for blood!

For more stills check out Monster Island.

Humpty Dumpty
Remember a few weeks back when we talked all about alien rape and the film Humpty Dumpty? Well, new concept art was released of the backwater abode of Brakk Brothers Swamp House. We can only guess that this is the classy habitat of the villains that brutally assaulted a crashed down UFO, thus ending in the unholy human/alien half breed the movie is calling Humpty Dumpty.

Human Centipede

Ok now this is something so disturbing I'm not even 100% sure it does or should exist. The comedy Human Centipede is screening at London's Fright Fest (which is worth a look on it's own) and it's all about a mad scientist hell bent on making a real life human centipede by conjoining bodies butt to face, no seriously:

Outside the more outré work of Takashi Miike and David Cronenberg, you won't have seen anything quite like Dutch avant-garde artist Tom Six' totally bizarre off-the-wall oddity. Internationally respected Siamese twin surgeon Dr. Josef Heiter has a demented vision for mankind's future existence. He wants to remove human beings' kneecaps so they have to exist on all fours and then surgically graft them mouth-to-anus to form a centipede chain. When two stranded female Americans arrive at his luxury home-cum-hospital looking for help, his long-gestating plan swiftly moves into chilling action with a shocking force. Kidnapping a third Japanese male tourist he begins the tissue matches, teeth removal and buttock moulding to create his triplet creature… The First Sequence in Six's intended trilogy features truly unforgettable imagery, clinically dazzling direction and a so-far-round-the-bend mad doctor performance from German superstar Dieter Laser you'll scream. Behold the grotesque New Flesh. If you dare!

So, you can see where I had my doubts about the mere existence of this flick, and yet in these tiny pictures (I can't make them any bigger I'm sorry) you see a group of people with bandages on their knees, attached face to backside. Make of it what you will readers, it terrifies me.

Deadgirl

And finally, last week we showed you the new trailer for the deeply disturbing story about a group of teenaged boys and their love for a naked zombie girl tied up in their basement. In this new, highly NSFW clip, watch as one boy lovingly rubs dark lipstick all over his undead girls lips, because who wants to spend their days raping a zombie if she looks all tired?

Deadgirl is getting a small little release on July 24th, at these particular theaters:

Landmark Sunshine Cinema - NY
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

Nuart Theater - LA
Screening July 24th @ midnight

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema - AUSTIN
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

Landmark Tivoli - ST. LOUIS
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

Music Box Theater - CHICAGO
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

Grand Illusion - SEATTLE
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

Inwood Theater - DALLAS
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

River Oaks Theater - HOUSTON
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

Fantasia Film Festival - MONTREAL
Screening July 24th @ midnight

In an interview with New York Magazine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, an actor that we normally absolutely adore, talks about what they did to him for his role as Cobra Commander, in the new live action G.I. Joe flick.

There's this crazy kind of get-up that I wear. It's got makeup and it's got all this other stuff, and it's a mask, basically. You can hardly tell it's me. And that, to me, is the best. That's why I love Daniel Day-Lewis or Gary Oldman. Actors like that, where they're so different as each character, the actor disappears. Doing G.I. Joe made it real easy to disappear because of all the elaborate stuff on my face. And it demands a totally different kind of acting style. You sort of check your realism at the door.

Oook that's a stretch with the Oldman and DDL stuff, but he's an actor's actor — it's how they talk, plus he seemed open to it. Moving on...

I was thinking of Slava's Snowshow the whole time [Gordon-Levitt is a producer for the avant-garde Russian clown show]. In Snowshow, they put on makeup; it's old-fashioned makeup, totally different, of course, than what we did in G.I. Joe, but they put stuff on their face to create a character. Now, the guy who put stuff on my face, Kazuhiro Tsuji is his name, the protégé of Rick Baker - he's an artist, man! He's such an admirable artist, and to watch him do this work and have it be all on my face, it's just so fun. And then I get to play with that and create a performance out of that, instead of my own face. It's so much fun for someone like me who gets off on different acting styles, playing with the craft. That's what G.I. Joe is about for me.

Oh JGL stop trying to make this sound cooler than it really is, it's an action movie, with power suits, we know what we're getting into. Who's he really trying to convince here? Although, I do appreciate your attempt to sway me that the mask will be anything but awful.

Please note: Yes, I've probably forgotten a show or two, but things like Doctor Who or Battlestar Galactica aren't included on purpose; we're really asking about the finales on the main broadcast networks over the last month. And if someone wants to make the case that stylistic similarities between the end of House and Fringe really mean that Greg House is just traveling between alternate Earths, we'll happily take that as an excuse to finally claim that the show really is sci-fi, honest.

One thing I always liked about the series were the moral lessons. Would you ever think about having a more challenging social message, maybe in the next Star Trek movie?

Kurtzman: The thing that is genius about Trek, and we've talked about this a lot, is that there was always a veiled message story. You never felt like you were getting beaten over the head by whatever the topic was. The bridge crew itself was this kind of idyllic world, there was a Russian, and in the middle of the Cold War everyone was working together. We feel like if you're going to tell a message in Trek you have to veil it in a really, really clever story.

So what was the message of this movie?

Orci: It sort of reflects where we are when Spock reflects at the end and kind of says, "I've kind of left you in a dark world, keep your chin up." The destruction of Vulcan in Trek lore to us is kind of the equivalent to a September 11th and the Holocaust all rolled into one. How does this crew deal with that? Is it a cynical decision that leads to a war with Romulus? Or is it a singular problem problem solving situation, with the person who really did it?

Are there any social issues you'd like to tackle in the next Star Trek movie?

Orci: It has to be a mosaic, we don't want to make anything a single issue. It would be a mosaic of... of our Southern California upbringing [laughs].

Kurtzman: Different philosophies... I agree, its hard to sort of pin point that we want to make a movie about one thing...

Orci: Adoption! [Jokingly]

You read it here first, the next Trek is all about adopting space babies, and the rough life of an alien orphan in a foster spaceship. Still I like that the two chose to put a positive spin on the film after all the destruction, because what is Trek if not uplifting?

Shônen manga, aka boys' manga (the #1 category in the unapologetically gender-targeted world of Japanese comics), has always involved action and fighting. But after the success of Dragon Ball (which itself arose in the testosterone-heavy climate of early '80s manga like City Hunter and Fist of the North Star), a new generation of manga started to mix fantasy, comedy and a light attitude with the classic martial arts formula of training and maiming. Forget about the big megahit Dragon Ball-influenced manga like Bleach, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Naruto-those ones are okay, but these are the ones you've got to read.

• One Piece (Eiichiro Oda). Wacky super-powered pirates travel the globe of a fantasy world in search of "One Piece," a legendary lost treasure. The illustration for the article comes from this. Running since 1997 in Japan, this series combines the high spirits and humor of Dragon Ball with its own particular brand of gory (yet usually nonfatal) swordfights and punchups. It's Pirates of the Caribbean meets Dragon Quest meets Yellow Submarine, with blood; plus the world of One Piece is much more fleshed out and internally consistent than Dragon Ball ever was Oda says Toriyama is his favorite artist, and the two of them have even collaborated on a one-shot Dragon Ball/One Piece crossover, Cross Epoch. (It's not officially translated, but unlicensed scanlations can be found online.)

• Jing: King of Bandits (Yuichi Kumakura). The fantastical adventures of a young bandit in a Looney Tunes world of surrealism, wild scenery and strange monsters. This 1995-1998 manga (and its more Gothic sequel, Jing: King of Bandits: Twilight Tales) is episodic, without any real ongoing story, but it's a children's fantasy adventure with style.

• Ranma 1/2 (Rumiko Takahashi). Another must-read kung fu manga, which ran in a competing magazine, Weekly Shônen Sunday, from 1987 to 1996. Ranma 1/2 (from the creator of the rather blah Inuyasha) is very different from Dragon Ball; it's a pure action-comedy, with not much story to speak of, and it's about a group of high school martial artists cursed to transform into various animals and things when they're splashed with cold water. The hero transforms from a guy into a girl, often when naked, leading to much speculative fanfiction. But if you read only two manga about Chinese-style martial arts, let this be number two.

• Eyeshield 21 (Riichiro Inagaki, Yusuke Murata). Action manga. Spiky hair. American football. 'Nuff said. This (intentionally) hilarious, melodramatic sports manga has been running since 2002.

• Shaman King (Hiroyuki Takei). Had enough fighting manga in faraway lands, with silly characters? How about a fighting manga set in the modern world, where the heroes are shamans and wizards fighting a tournament ON THE BEHALF OF VARIOUS THINLY-DISGUISED WORLD MYTHOLOGIES TO DETERMINE WHICH WILL BE THE DOMINANT RELIGION FOR THE NEXT 500 YEARS? This bizarre 1998-2005 manga is full of subversive humor, pot leaves (mostly censored in the English edition), American superhero references and crazy fight scenes. Unfortunately it kind of peters out before the conclusion.

• Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya (Masami Kurumada). Running from 1986 to 1990, this series technically isn't influenced by Dragon Ball; the veteran artist, Kurumada, had been drawing boxing comics and boys' action stories long before Toriyama got started. But the cartoony, nonstop violence and machismo of Saint Seiya is a manga classic, the Green Arrow to Dragon Ball's Green Lantern. The plot theoretically involves martial artists who derive their powers from the Greek gods (they're holy warriors, aka "saints"-an element obscured in the unsuccessful English translation of the anime), but basically it's just one fight scene after another. Its over-the-top insanity and complete lack of logic makes Dragon Ball look like a work of heavy intellectualism.

• Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (Hirohiko Araki). Like Saint Seiya, this one's another parallel evolution of action manga. From 1987 to the present day, with breaks of no more than a few months, this horror-superhero-mystery adventure has delivered its own brand of craziness to readers throughout Japan. It starts out as the story of two feuding brothers in Britain in the 1890s, turns into a story about martial artists versus vampires, then about globetrotting psychic-powered heroes who can materialize spirits outside their bodies. The current storyline, Steel Ball Run, is about a transcontinental horse race in the Wild West. With superpowers. Imagine a glam fusion of Burne Hogarth's Tarzan, Bill Sienkiewicz's run on New Mutants, '80s splatter films, and Knights of the Zodiac, and you have an inkling of the idea.

• Dr. Slump (Akira Toriyama). This one isn't the "spawn" of Dragon Ball, it's the older brother. Toriyama's 1980-1984 Dr. Slump, a slapstick comedy about the adventures of a mad scientist and his android "daughter," is full of sci-fi movie references, robots, aliens and poop jokes. Some Japanese culture commentators consider it the last "grassroots" manga megahit, before later shows (including Dragon Ball) became more commercial and calculated. It's Toriyama's personal favorite of his own manga. And he drew it while living with his parents!

Say what you will about Jonze - perhaps he is too meta and indie for his own good - but I have faith that this movie will be, above all things, beautiful. Let's hope the translation lives up to the promise of these pictures, because who knows where this man's mind can go with real-life monsters.

Where The Wild Things Are comes out on October 16th.

The Today Show invited New York Jedi Master Flynn and some other contact-wearing Jedis on camera, to teach them all a thing or two about Jedi workouts. So Lauer, Veira, Curry and even Al Roker donned the robes and clacked their sabers about giggling at the overall concept... then, enter Lord Gifford.

Gleefully calling her and "the other one" Menopausal Monks, Gifford prances around in a confused manner, asking the Jedi Master if he thought this was strange at all? Well clearly not, if he's started his own New York Jedi club. This continues with Gifford squealing that they were running out of time so the show directly cuts to an ad for The Wizard of Oz, starting with: "we're not in Kansas anymore." So true, Dorothy, so true.

At least, that's my interpretation of a new report from New Scientist. Researchers at the GEO600 facility were scanning for gravitational waves from super-dense objects like black holes and neutron stars, but they were puzzled by a kind of "noise" that kept disturbing their detector. But researcher Craig Hogan from the Fermilab in Batavia, IL has an explanation: the GEO600 has stumbled on "the fundamental limit of space-time," a point beyond which the theoretically "smooth" nature of the space time continuum breaks down into grains, like the dots you see if you stare at a newspaper photograph for too long.

Not only does that mean space-time has "microscopic convulsions," it also could mean we're living in what Hogan calls "a giant cosmic hologram." Dude!

It sounds far-fetched, but it ties in with what researchers have discovered about black holes and the Hawking radiation that emits from them. Also, theoretically, the outer shell of the universe must contain the same amount of information as all the "bits" within the universe itself — which is impossible, unless the universe is a bit "blurry."

If we are inside a hologram, then is someone projecting it? Could we somehow manipulate the graininess of space-time to travel faster than light, or look further across the cosmos? Or at the very least, are we about to come much closer to understanding where space-time "comes from"? [New Scientist, via Bruce Sterling's Twitter feed]

Big Man Japan
A nobody who moonlights as a giant superhero has to battle all sorts of beasties but also has to deal with a growing mob of superhero haters, and an Alzheimer’s-stricken grandfather. BMJ will be out in March.

Pandorum

The amazing, astounding, fantastic Ben Foster is stranded on a spacecraft with his coworker Dennis Quaid — and there's something aboard that wants them dead. Release date is September 4.

The Princess and the Frog

Hooray for old timey animation! Disney returns to the princess animations with a New Orleans set Princess in the Frog fairytale out December 25.

Push

It's like Heroes, the movie. Everyone has a brain power in Push, be they Movers or Sniffers (sadly, no Shakers) The powered film comes out February 6.

Crank: High Voltage

Wow Crank 2 just got a whole lot more insane. Will they be stop motion animating Jason Statham, but huge? God, I hope so. Crank 2 is out April 17.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

Kristin Kreuk masters the high-kicks, in her own Chun-Li Street Fighter origins story, due out February 27.

17 Again


Matthew Perry gets shrunk back down to the age of 17, and injected into his own teen's high school, to try and "fix" his crumbling family. That's in theaters April 17.

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian


Bill Hader and Amy Adams join the museum cast as General Custer and Amelia Earhart (or rather, the wax figures of these historical figures that come to life after the museum closes). Museum 2 is out on May 22.

Fanboys


A group of serious fans try and break into George Lucas' Skywalker ranch, and mayhem ensues, on February 6.

Coraline


Neil Gaiman's story about a young girl who visits an alternate world comes to life in breathtaking 3D stop-motion animation, out February 6.

2012


John Cusack cools his heels while the wold ends around him, in one terrible natural disaster after another, in 2012. It's out on July 10.

Knowing


Nicolas Cage uncovers a time capsule that details in numbers when everything awful will happen on Earth. Knowing will be released on March 20.

They Came From Upstairs


Ashley Tisdale and her family have an awesome spring break, before an alien invasion happens. Or maybe after, it's hard to tell. Either way, we'll find out on July 31.

Race to Witch Mountain


Dang teens and their alien abilities to move things with their minds. This reboot of a an old Disney classic is released on March 13.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


The magic boys and girls are back in school, and ready for the fight to end all fights, yet again. Harry is out on July 17.

Cirque du Freak


John C. Reilly is a vampire who runs a circus with Salma Hayek, and your chances of seeing Hayek do something sexy are pretty much guaranteed. There is no release date yet.

More pics at the link. [L.A. Times]

To celebrate the final passing of SGA the Sci Fi Channel is running a week long marathon.

Monday:

The Stargate Atlantis marathon takes flight on Monday, beginning with Season 2 from 8 AM until 4 PM on the Sci Fi Channel.

Movies:
Fox FX has a great selection o' scifi tonight. Watch urinary tracts get healed with the mere wave of an inmate's hand in The Green Mile at 4:30 PM, followed with the rather unfortunate The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen at 8 PM. To top it all off, there is an 11 PM showing of Spawn.

Tuesday:

Stargate Atlantis Season 2 and 3 Marathon on the Sci Fi Channel from 8 AM until 6 PM.

The Universe -

Find out your chances for getting crushed by a world-ending asteroid here on Earth, in this week's The Universe on The History Channel at 9 PM.

Movies:

A three-and-a-half-hour version of Superman Returns is on FX in HD, at 6:30 PM

Wednesday:

Stargate Atlantis Season 3 Marathon on the Sci Fi Channel from 8 AM until 6 PM

Thursday:

Stargate Atlantis Season 3 and 5 Marathon on the Sci Fi Channel from 8 AM until 8 PM.

Movies:

The sexiest video game vixen, Lara Croft, comes to life via Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life on TBS at 10 PM. How insanely hot would it be to have a Resident Evil Alice-versus-Lara Croft fight, and who would win? (It would have to be Alice from the first movie to keep it interesting.)

Friday:

Stargate Atlantis Season 5 is on the Sci Fi Channel from 8 AM until 6 PM.

Stargate Atlantis -
The final episode of Stargate Atlantis "Enemy At The Gate" brings a lot of old faces back to Atlantis to try and stop an invading Wraith Hive from getting into the Milky Way Galaxy and taking over Earth. Team up, SGA and make us proud, this is your last episode ever...until the made for TV movies sometime in the future.

Clips From The Final Episode Of Stargate Atlantis:














SGA Promo:





Batman The Brave And The Bold -
"Enter The Outsiders" pits Batman against a bunch of punk kids, and Wildcat comes along for the ride. The cartoon is on 8 PM on the Cartoon Network

Star Wars Clone Wars -
"The Gungan General" is a Jar Jar Binks-centric episode, mixed with a little chain gang runaway action. Hey, at least Obi-Wan is as unhappy about being around Jar Jar as I am. The next episode is on 9 PM on the Cartoon Network.

Clone Wars Promo





Sanctuary -

This week on the Amanda Tapping-and-monsters show, it's the second part of the "Revelations" two-parter, where Henry and Ashley are held captive by the evil Cabal. Find out if they make it out alive at 9 PM on the Sci Fi Channel.

Saturday:

Movies:

Adam Sandler in a gimmick movie — say what? Click the movie where Christopher Walken hands Sandler a remote control to his LIFE, which of course teaches us all a valuable lesson about something or another. Click is on Fox FX at 5:30 PM.

Here's A Trailer With Kate Beckinsale In Tiny Shorts:





But if that's not heartstringy enough for you. ABC family is showing Practical Magic at 8:30 PM. It's full of midnight all-girl margarita table dancing madness, and witch women Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. I think it's like a rule from the 90s that if you made a movie with a predominantly female cast, you had to have a scene where they all danced around a table.





Sunday:

Movies: Let Wesley Snipes show you how it's possible for vampires to walk in the daylight and get hideous hair cuts. Blade II and Blade Trinity is on TNT at 3:30 and 5:30 PM.

Call me picky, but the "bob, bop blah, blah bip bip" stuttering, talking-over someone humor that Ben Stiller cranks out in every movie irritates the crap out of me. He's a wonderful straight man kind of actor and even better as a Tom Cruise stand in. But once he starts ripping his patented chripy bips and boops, I'm lost. There is a beyond perfect example of this in the Night Of The Museum 2 trailer, when the Lincoln Memorial comes to life and bip bops through a pretty spot on one-liner. It's sort of funny, but nails on the chalk board for me.

Despite the Stiller-isms, I still have high hopes for Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart, and the same goes for Bill Hader as General George Armstrong Custer. (Please start casting Hader in more things, he's hilarious). Adams commits to any character she's given, and no doubt will make this sequel as sweet as anything. If you haven't seen the original, I highly recommend it as a holiday rental that both you and the wee ones will enjoy. In spite of stammering Stiller.

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian is out in May of 2009.

Monday:

Riley and John take a not-so-joyful ride to Mexico, — and Sarah gets some much needed face time with James Ellison. Will we finally get from Ellison answers? Plus the promos are promising that tonight will be one character's "last stand." Who will it be? SCC is on Fox at 8 PM.

Sarah Connor Chronicles Promo:

And here's a clip with commentary:

Find out why everyone hates Arthur Petrelli, and what's the deal with the whole Pinehearst nonsense. Hiro travels back in time hopefully to tie some of our lose over at NBC's Heroes at 9 PM.

Heroes Promos:

Heroes Clips:

What happens when you've got split personalities due to a government implanted brain chip that switches you from murderous secret agent to suburban dad right in the middle of gunfire? Sounds like just another silly, yet predictable, predicament for My Own Worst Enemy's Christian Slater on NBC at 10 PM.

My Own Worst Enemy Promo:

NBC's mop headed hero, Chuck, has to fight off his old demons aka, the ex. Watch as hot spy lady gets all sorts of pissed this week at 8 PM.

Chuck Promo:

Preview clips:

Get your end of the world hottie anime lady fix over at the Sci Fi Channel with three back-to-back episodes of Gurren Lagann starting at 11PM.

Movies:

Who you gonna call...again? Ghostbusters 2 on Bravo and 10 and later at 12:30 PM tonight.

Tuesday:

Hooray, Fringe is back on Fox at 9 PM. This week, a parasite is taking over the bodies of FBI agents, Olivia has to go to Germany (hopefully she'll pick up a little personality while overseas) and Walter Bishop and his boy Peter try to jump start a dead guy's brain.

Fringe Promo:

Tonight is the premiere of the Sci Fi Channel "science fiction reality TV show," Cha$e where the contestants travel across a giant board game ad are constantly hunted down by hunters. The new game show airs at 10 PM.

Movies:

Enjoy our favorite web slinger's adventures, before they were ruined with bad hair and equally bad dancing techniques. Spider-Man 2 is on over at FX at 4 PM.

Wednesday:

Still no new Pushing Daisies this week.

No Knight Rider this week, either.

Thursday:

Poor Chloe — Brainiac erased all her memories, and now the only person she remembers is dreamy Sam Witwer who is also Doomsday. Why does everyone pick on Chloe? Is it because it's fun to torture her? Smallville's "The Abyss" is on the CW at 8 PM

Smallville Promo:

Smallville Clip:

This week, our favorite hot brothers who follow scary stuff, Dean and Sam, find a girl who talks to angels and they have to protect her from a demon. Catch Supernatural over at the CW at 9 PM.

Supernatural Clips:

A hostage situation pins time-traveling cop Sam Tyler against a crazed gunman. Plus, Sam's starting to get phone calls from 2008, but he's still stuck in the past. Life On Mars is on 10 PM at ABC.

Life On Mars Promo:

Hood finds a frozen body on a warm beach and it won't thaw, no matter what. Will wonders never cease on the Eleventh Hour? The science-investigation series is on CBS at 10 PM.

Friday:

Over at Cartoon Network, the conclusion of the two part droid-centric Clone Wars storyline comes to a close. Will Anakin and Ahsoka rescue R2 from the clutches of General Grievous? The Clone Wars is on at 9 PM.

Clone Wars Promo:

The Stargate Atlantis crew has to rally around Woolsey, or lose their "play by the rules" boss forever. It's performance evaluation time, people — look busy. The latest SGA airs on the Sci Fi Channel at 9 PM.

Stargate Atlantis Promo:

Genius kiddies are being kidnapped on Ben 10: Alien Force. It's up to Ben to stop them from building their mystery arch. The new episode airs on Cartoon Network at 9:30 PM.

Sanctuary field trip! Mangus goes to Rome to attend a top secret abnormals meeting. The monster goodness starts at 10 PM on the Sci Fi Channel.

Movies:

Hum along with your favorite aliens, and watch Close Encounters Of The Third Kind on AMC at 5 PM.

Don't like aliens? Fine, right afterwards is the badass demon-killer Constantine and his super awesome tattoo powers at 8 PM on AMC.

Saturday:

Movies:

It's a long Andromeda Strain fest over at A&E at 8 and 10 PM then later at 12 AM.

But if the strain doesn't tickle your fancy, Cartoon Network has the direct-to-DVD movie Superman/Doomsday at 9 PM.

Sunday:

Vampire justice is dealt on this weeks True Blood. Now that Bill is in big trouble for his Sookie obsession (and killing another vamp) it's his turn for a beating. Oh, and of course Sookie is being all sorts of ridiculous because she just can't handle not being the center of attention for more than five seconds.

Tonight is the night! We've been waiting for the Robot Chicken Star Wars spoof forever, and finally tonight we'll get our fix of ridiculous stop animation humor loaded with geek-only humor. Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II is on the Cartoon Network at 11:30 PM, here's a clip that aired on Joel McHale's equally as funny show The Soup, (oh and yes that's Seth MacFarlane as Emperor Palpatine).

Movies:

Get double the dose of Christopher Lloyd — first, as a zany alien with Jeff Daniels on WGN at 3 PM in My Favorite Martian, and later, as the mad scientist who builds a time traveling DeLorean in Back To The Future on Encore at 8 PM.