Sci-Fi Squad Sci-Fi Movies, News, Trailers, DVDs and More

An interesting bit of news from Deadline Hollywood this morning reveals that director Christopher Nolan is being asked to "godfather" a new Superman film. It's an odd choice of words, but it may reveal that Deadline Hollywood has no idea what Nolan is doing if he's taking meetings with Warners over the proposed film. To me, "godfather" sounds an awful lot like "producer", if they're naming Nolan as a man to come in and shepherd the project. I just don't think they know what he's doing (yet), but it makes sense that Warner Brothers would approach the man who brought us The Dark Knight and at least get his opinions on what he'd do with Superman.

And what would Nolan do with Superman? Nolan has admitted in the past that he's not a comic book reader, and I have to wonder how familiar he is with the character, first of all. Secondly, are we craving another deadly serious Superman film after Bryan Singer's Superman Returns? Nolan is a skilled director, but his creative interests (namely, complex mysteries) seem at odds with the material. I think fans have been waiting for a more fun approach to Superman on film -- something with more comic book science-fiction and large-scale action. We're waiting on Darkseid and Brianiac and Mongul and Doomsday, not another Lois Lane/Superman love story set against a Lex Luthor money-making real estate scheme. Maybe, just maybe, they're meeting with Nolan to get his thoughts on revitalizing Superman by having him appear in the third Batman film?

Warner Brothers is moving forward on the project while they still have the chance. The rights to Superman revert entirely to the estates of Superman creators Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster in 2013, and a new deal would have to be negotiated at that point (which I'm sure will happen anyway -- I can't see Warners letting Superman go). If they're trying to put something together for Summer 2012, they're going to be moving quickly, so expect more news on this soon.

According to Variety, Sony is looking to outbid Lionsgate on the rights to the Terminator franchise later today. The rights are a steal at their current starting price of $15 million dollars, and there's a big part of me that wishes James Cameron would just come out of left field with a bag full of Avatar coin and buy back the series that he created. I don't think that's going to happen, but there are certainly worse ways the man could spend $15 mill.

Personally, I'd rather see Terminator at Sony than Lionsgate, strictly because Sony has better experience in franchise-handling. Compare James Bond and Spider-Man to Transporter and The Punisher. No contest, really. If either company get their hands on the rights, you can expect another Terminator movie soon, but where could the series possibly go after Terminator Salvation? They seem to have painted themselves into a creative corner. Are there more Terminator stories left to tell?

What would you do with the series if you won the rights to the Terminator? Check out our poll below ...

I watched Starship Troopers on Blu-ray last week for the first time in probably over a decade, and I'd almost forgotten just how sly and silly that film is. It's the closest director Paul Verhoeven ever came to recapturing the lunacy of his modern classic Robocop, and he's past due for a return to sci-fi action. (You're missed, Mr. Verhoeven!)

The craftsmen at Yamato Toy USA are fans as well -- they're selling a 9" replica of the Starship Rodger Young (the ship where Carmen Ibanez, played in the film by the young, uber-kissable Denise Richards, is stationed). The solid pewter replica (which comes with a base for mounting) is available for order through the Yamato website. It's a no-frills toy, but it's unique and well-sculpted (and nine inches of pewter is quite a heavy duty model). Your very own Rodger Young will set you back $129.99. Your very own Denise Richards is not available for order.

TrekWeb has an exhaustive look at Star Trek: Planet of the Titans, the aborted feature film project from 1976 that was tossed in favor of what became Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The scrapped film from screenwriters Chris Bryant and Allan Scott would have seen Spock discovering Kirk living as a wildman on the former homeworld of the Titans -- a technologically advanced race wiped out by the current residents of the planet, the Cygans. To save the planet from a collision course with a black hole, the Enterprise and its crew enter the hole, only to find themselves traveling thousands of years backward in time. In a twist ending that plays with the paradox of time travel, the crew is revealed to be the Titans themselves, bringing their technology to the distant past of this primitive world.

Producers felt the script was "pretentious" and lacked the elements that made Star Trek unique. That, coupled with drastic management changes at Paramount at the time, also killed the project. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry began work on a new Trek television show, Phase II, an idea that snowballed into becoming the 1979 Robert Wise film.

Of particular interest in the article are scans from the out-of-print book The Art of Ralph McQuarrie. McQuarrie, famous for his design work on Star Wars, did a handful of concepts for would-be Planet of the Titans director Philip Kaufman. In those images, you can see a very different looking Starship Enterprise, pairing harsh geometric angles with some of the low-tech design that the ships of Star Wars would become famous for. You can also see McQuarrie's shuttlecraft designs, as well as an impressive-looking asteroid-based space dock. TrekWeb's piece is a fascinating, in-depth look at the Trek that might've been, and it's interesting to see McQuarrie's unique take on the Star Trek universe.

The teaser trailer for Fallout: New Vegas debuted today and, oh, what a tease it is. You don't see one single pixel of gameplay, just a short clip that I can only assume is the game's intro video (based on its similarity to Fallout 3's intro video). Also curious is the age gate you have to pass to be able to watch the clip, despite there not being anything even remotely objectionable in it.

The whole clip is a slow zoom-out from a giant, single-wheeled robot standing tall over the perimeter of the glowing lights of the New Vegas skyline. The camera pulls back to reveal what I assume is your character standing on a nearby hill, looking on. "War...War never changes," Ron Perlman says, once again delivering Fallout's signature catchphrase.

I was already highly anticipating the game, so maybe such a lackluster teaser feels especially cruel as I wait for the release of the post-apocalyptic RPG. It's like sitting in a restaurant, starving, waiting for a steak, and the waitstaff sends over a picture of a steak before your meal arrives. Fallout: New Vegas hits PC, X-Box 360, and PS3 in Fall 2010, but I want it NOW.

To teach ninety sixth-graders about newspaper reporting, a teacher in Yatton took his students to a soccer field and told them of the day that aliens touched down on the green for a visit to their English community. The teacher burned portions of the field the night before, and left blobs of hardened iron soldering around as UFO debris, for the students to discover. He even presented a photo of the fictional spacecraft and pretended it had been taken recently by an eyewitness. A local police officer was on the scene to answer questions about the alien landing.

The problem is the teacher, Phil Okeden, forgot to tell the kids that none of it was real.

Okeden discovered this as the whole town began talking about Yatton's first contact. Most of the children perceived the exercise as hard fact, with many parents looking to the school for answers. Okdeen told This Is Bristol, "We have never had any extraterrestrial visits to the school, so the story must have been pretty convincing." The bottom line is that kids trust those in authority to tell them the truth, all of the time. It seems like the teacher learned the biggest lesson here.

(via Fortean Times)

Last month, I reported on MINDstyle's awesome Tron/The Black Hole mash-up V.I.N.C.E.N.T. vinyl collectible; this month, MINDstyle is returning to The Black Hole for another incredible toy - the evil robot henchman Maximilian.

Now, I know The Black Hole is a cheesy movie. It looked dated almost the very second it came out in 1979, but there are two elements of The Black Hole that are deadly serious, without a trace of cheese. One is the bizarre, disturbing finale which turns Disney's stab at Star Wars into something metaphysical and haunting. The other is Maximilian, still one of cinema's coolest, most dangerous robot bad-asses ever created.

There are no product details on the MINDstyle blog, but in keeping with their previous, similar product specs, the figure will probably be around ten inches tall and retail for roughly $150.

You can see Maximilian in all his unstoppable killing machine glory after the jump.

Our nerdy little genre looks pretty legit today, as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made its 82nd annual Academy Award nominations. While you can see the full list of nods on Cinematical, I've taken the time to single out the science-fiction/fantasy films that are in the running at the upcoming Oscar ceremony. The winners will be announced on Sunday, March 2nd.

Some of them are the typical tech award nominations, which we've come to expect for spectacle movies, but there are also a lot of surprises this year, like the Original Screenplay nomination for Up or that the exemplary District 9 is in the running for Best Picture, beating out ill-received obvious Oscar-bait like Nine and Invictus.

You can see all of the sci-fi/fantasy Academy Award nominees after the jump.

Last week's leaked Green Lantern concept art literally blew my socks off, which was especially remarkable seeing as how I was wearing shoes at the time. Ouch. Now, io9 has two new images they're presenting as legit leaked art from the 2011 Martin Campbell science-fiction superhero film.

Represented in these images are designs for the Guardians and Green Lantern's mentor-turned-nemesis Sinestro (an unfortunate name if his parents ever wanted him to grow up to be anything but evil). The Guardians are the otherworldly beings responsible for the Green Lantern Corps - the intergalactic police force which recruits Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) in the film. They're represented as arrogant and judgmental in the comics, but they're also responsible for who gets a power ring (the outlet for Green Lantern's power) and who doesn't. Sinestro is their star Lantern, until he gets power hungry and turns on the Corps. Mark Strong is said to be taking on the role of Sinestro in the film.

Thanks to Devin at Chud for bringing this new art to my attention. You can see the Sinestro mock-up after the jump.

In one of the more unusual bits of Star Wars licensing news comes the Tom Angleberger novel The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. The story is aimed at the pre-teen set and tells of a class nerd who starts predicting events and spouting wisdom from a paper Yoda finger puppet. His channeling of the Jedi master Yoda is so eerily accurate that classmates start to suspect he's actually in tune with The Force.

It's a clever idea, and if this book had come out when I was in the sixth grade, it would've been a must-read. I'm kind of hoping the book translates well to film -- ss an adult, I'd see the movie for sure. The book will be released the March, but you can pre-order it now on Amazon.

(via StarWars.com)