Here’s a happy new year present to you… a brand new 4 minute clip about the Watchmen movie featuring lots of new footage from the film and hosted on Myspace.com, the social networking site that’s owned by Fox, the same studio that’s, well… not being very nice to the people who actually created the film (Warner Bros) and may very well try to stop the Watchmen from being released if they don’t get big piles of money for doing nothing with the property for 20 years. Fun.

Too much drama, but I suppose all of the fuss won’t hurt the film’s visibility to the non-geek crowd as the 3/6/09 date draws closer… hmmm… intentional?

If you still don’t know what Watchmen is all about and why there’s such a big fuss about a superhero movie that doesn’t have Batman or Spider-Man in it, here you go…

In case you hadn’t heard yet, season 2’s Flight of the Conchord’s premiere episode is available now on FunnyOrDie.com. The episode doesn’t air on HBO until January 18th, but you can catch it here and now for free!

(Odds are good that if you’re using IE, you won’t be able to see the video for some reason, even though I can see it with IE on FunnyOrDie. But if you’re using Firefox, it doesn’t matter, because it works there no matter what. That’s just the way it works, folks. Microsoft hates the internet.)

Despite all of the constant Lost-related posts, I swear I don’t work for JJ Abrams or Damon and Carlton (but I’m open to serious offers of any type). I just love me some Lost. So here’s the latest promo for the new season, chock full of juicy teasy crazy schtuff. I’m ready for the 5th season of Lost to begin NOW! How ’bout you?

(and what’s with the crazy computer screen flashes at the end? “Event Window Determined“? hmmm…)

The widow of iconic Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry has died. Majel Barrett-Roddenberry is best known to Trek fans as the Spock-craving Nurse Chapel in the original series and the mother of Deanna Troi in the Next Generation series.

She died early on December 18th at the age of 76 after a long battle with leukemia. It’s believed that her last role was providing the voice of the Enterprise computer for the JJ Abrams 2009 Star Trek feature film, just as she had done in previous Trek films and the Next Generation series. It’s currently unconfirmed, but it’s believed that the film has been mostly wrapped except for some effects. Here’s hoping we’ll get to hear her voice one last time.

After pretty much a year or two of active, consistent downhill sucking (even though it didn’t stop me from watching it), Smallville has returned this season pretty much kicking ass from the get-go. Almost no lowest common denominator T&A fan service, no useless tangent episodes that grind everything to a halt (especially any and all plot and character development), and no Lex and Lana, who I surprisingly don’t miss. And even though Lex has consistently been the most interesting character on the series in the past (and Michael Rosenbaum the most talented), they were doing nothing with him anymore. I would appreciate seeing him back in a guest role for a few episodes (just as Lana has recently and successfully done, without being wincy and tiresome), especially in the finale if the series comes to an end this year. But as I said, even without them, the show has taken some creative leaps, and although we know that nothing bad can ever happen to post-post-post-teen wonder Clark Kent before he puts on the cape and tights, the same can’t be said of his supporting cast.

The fall finale for Smallville actually made me curse aloud when the words “to be continued” came on the screen, and for the first time, not in any negative way. I was actually excited about what they were doing. They were telling interesting stories, not filler crap. Chloe and Jimmy getting married, Lois harboring a secret crush on Clark, and Doomsday actually is kinda cool with a cooler origin than in the comics. If he does kill Clark (even temporarily) as he seems destined to do, it could be a great knock down, drag out fight. Smallville has had it’s share of alightly above tv quality special effects ooh and ahh moments, but if done right, the battle to come could top everything they’ve done so far, especially if they inject a lot of humanity and sacrifice into the tale. And since the actor playing him is a part of the official cast this year, I can see that battle likely coming at the end of the season/series with Lex egging him on (and Lana or Chloe likely getting killed).

But until then, when the series returns to the CW on January 15th, the Legion of Superheroes will make a long trip from the future to give Clark the encouragement and assistance he needs to become the hero they pretty much worship. Expect to see Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, and the Persuader to make a possible future franchise-creating appearance in one or more episodes in 2009. (Ooh! I just thought of something better… what if Lex returned in the final episodes with a Legion of bad guys that could, oh, I don’t know… spell Doom for Clark and his pals, and teamed them up with Doomsday at the front? And as a result, Clark could bring in his old pals from the Justice League and the new future pals from the Legion of Superheroes to fight them in a massive brawl to the finish. Sounds fun to me.)

Check out the new promo for what might be the final episodes of the final season of Smallville right here…

According to a source at Aint It Cool News, the Tron sequel (sometimes called Tr2n or just Tron 2.0… I’m not really sure) will be shot entirely in 3D. The director and crew will actually be wearing 3D glasses during filming so that they can check the effects on the monitors as they shoot. Add this to the fact that ultra-hottie Olivia Wilde (from the tv series House) has been cast as a human lead, makes this film all the more interesting.

And if you don’t watch House and need tangible proof of Olivia’s hotness, just google her. I’m not going to satisfy your lust here, but I must admit that I am more than a little eager to see her in 3D.

If you didn’t see it in front of The Day the Earth Stood Still, you can catch the X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer on MySpace.com. It’s a little more low-key than I expected it to be (could it be the influence of the more dour Dark Knight peeking through?), but it’s got lots of eye candy for Marvel fanboys (and lots of studly shirtless Hugh Jackman footage for the ladies) with glimpses of Gambit, Deadpool, the Blob, a young James Howlett, and, of course, Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth. And upon seeing those Logan in World War II scenes, the geekiest part of me hopes and prays for a very unlikely cameo from Nick Fury or Captain America. You have to admit, it would be sweet…

The Battlestar Galactica webisodes have begun as of yesterday and after this week will debut 2 new chapters a week, Mondays and Wednesdays, leading up to the final 10 episodes of the season on the Sci-Fi Channel. The description from Sci-Fi.com:

The action continues with 10 exclusive webisodes of Battlestar Galactica. “The Face Of The Enemy”, picks up where Season Four of the series ended. Lieutenant Gaeta is sent off in a raptor with a handful of strangers when one of them mysteriously dies. The psychological Human vs. Cylon struggle ensues in the restrictive confines of a raptor as everyone is a suspect and paranoia sets in among the group. One by one more passengers die under puzzling circumstances and those remaining must ask themselves if a Cylon is responsible for the deaths, or if it is one of their own — a human.”

If you’re not a fan of the show, you probably won’t understand a thing that’s going on, but unlike the webisodes of some shows I won’t mention, the quality of these, from acting to production to writing, is on par with any episode you’d see of the regular series. There’s a reason that this show has been called the best show on television. This webisode series is shaping up to prove that television isn’t the only place Battlestar Galactica proves itself as quality entertainment (yes, I’m a BSG evangelist).

If you have been following Marvel’s Secret Invasion series over the last year, then you’ve seen the final page of the 8 issue series. The Dark Reign has begun and Marvel.com has released the official trailer for this event in stores today (12/10/08). Dark Reign is written by Brian Michael Bendis and his old Alias partner, Alex Maleev.

I remember Terminator: Salvation director McG telling us at Comic-Con that this trailer would be attached to Quantum of Solace. Apparently he was mistaken. It will make its silver screen debut in front of The Day the Earth Stood Still (along with X-Men Origins: Wolverine) this Friday.

But if you can’t wait and you like to watch it on a slightly smaller computer screen, CLICK HERE!
(make sure Quicktime is installed)

Terminator: Salvation hits theaters on May 22, 2009 and stars Christian Bale, Anton Yelchin (soon to be Chekov in the new Star Trek movie), Sam Worthington, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common, and Moon Bloodgood (rowr!).

If the trailers haven’t been enough, the exclusive Watchmen movie footage they showed us at Comic-Con 2008 is finally available to the general public at iTunes. Even better, it’s free! However, I now feel a little less special now that it’s out there for all those lazy people who didn’t make the effort to stand in line for a few hours last July. *sniff*

Actually, I don’t really remember some of this footage, so maybe it’s not exactly the same stuff they showed us. Or I’m just getting old. Muh brain not work so good these days. But whether you’ve seen this stuff at Comic-Con or not, it’s worth checking out if you’re hungry for this movie like I am.

ABC has committed to creating a pilot for the award-winning Bill Willingham fantasy comic series Fables. Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner (Six Degrees creators/exec-producers) are writing the script and David Semel will direct the pilot for Warner Bros TV.

Fables tells the story of characters from fairy tales and every world mythology as they eek out a living in modern day New York after fleeing the invasion of their other-dimensional homeworlds. Familiar names such as Snow White, Prince Charming, the Big Bad Wolf, and Gepetto play a big part in the ongoing series available through DC Vertigo comics.

I imagine they’ll have to clean up the story for television, as these fairy tale characters are far from kid-friendly. It’s one of my favorite creator-owned projects and I am dying to see it translated to the small screen.

You can read more about it at The Hollywood Reporter.

EMPIRE MAGAZINE (January 2009 issue) has the first official image of Gambit from the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie (along with a few more images), coming to theaters in May. He’s got the cards. He got the scruff. But will he pull off the cajun accent without sounding like a total douche? Hopefully we’ll get a better full-motion glimpse if the official trailer is attached to The Day the Earth Stood Still as I’m guessing (they’re both 20th Century Fox films).

Christmas just got so much sweeter. The official DVD release of Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog from Buffy and Firefly mastermind Joss Whedon will hit the shelves on December 19th. The three part web series, written and filmed during the writer’s strike earlier this year, tells the story of a wannabe super villain who tries to win the heart of the girl he meets at the laundromat in between attempts to take over the world. And it just so happens to be a musical. A really good musical, actually, that stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day.

So why would you want to buy the DVD if you can just watch the series for free on Hulu.com? Three words: “Commentary! The Musical!”. That’s right. Not only will you get a musical, but you’ll also get a musical commentary that plays over the musical. If anyone’s going to pull it off with panache, it’s going to be Joss Whedon and gang.

This Amazon.com Exclusive is available for pre-order at $13.49 and will be released on Friday, December 19th.

Okay, sure, there isn’t a whole lot of new footage in this promo trailer, but it doesn’t make me any less excited to see what the final 10 episodes of the surprisingly amazing Battlestar Galactica holds for those of us who know great television. The final season begins January 16th on the SciFi Channel.