This tune from The Lonely Island is great. Album comes out 02/10/2009. That's my birthday who's gonna buy it for me?

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Word on the street is, another Wii firmware update has emerged. This would be a post 3.4 firmware update. I haven’t had the chance to check my Wii just yet, but I wanted to spread the word to you guys. Just what on earth could Nintendo need to update? We just had an update not too long ago! I’m sure we’ll find out in a few hours’ time. Thanks to all the late-night Wii-lovers that sent this my way!

Via GoNintendo

Maybe they want to block the new TP (Twilight Princess) Hack?

Paramount has released the first photo of the new USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) from JJ Abrams‘ Star Trek. Entertainment Weekly has the first look, and for the most part, the new Enterprise doesn’t look that much different from the old Enterprise.

JJ Abrams explains “If you’re going to do Star Trek there are many things you cannot change. The Enterprise is a visual touchstone for so many people. So if you’re going to do the Enterprise, it better look like the Enterprise, because otherwise, what are you doing?”

Makes sense to me, and I think it actually looks pretty cool. But why did Abrams decide to make the inside of the ship look like the Genius Bar at an Apple Store? We’ve included a photo of the old enterprise design below for comparison purposes.

Paramount has now accomplished two very distinct things with the release of this increasingly large batch of photos from Star Trek. First, the images are great and they have everyone excited about the movie. That’s a good thing and if the new trailer which is supposed to debut with Quantum of Solace looks half as good as these stills, then they may really get some serious buzz going for this film. Second… they’ve managed to piss off just about the entire Star Trek fan site community.

Here’s the thing: Paramount has released all of these photos as “exclusives” to specially chosen, high-profile websites, most of them backed by big corporations who really have nothing to do with Star Trek. Mere hours ago they did it again with two more photos, included with this post, and released in high-res exclusively to Yahoo and Omelete. Meanwhile in the background, they’ve launched a “Star Trek Webmaster Program” and invited 600 webmasters from movie sites and Star Trek fan sites around the web to join, with the promise that the group will give them all first crack at material for the film whenever it becomes available. The group has been in existence since January of this year, and it has yet to deliver any content of any kind. Instead, what Paramount’s Star Trek Webmasters have been given, is a series of messages with links to Paramount’s corporate partners and their exclusives, directing the webmasters whom they had courted with promises of content… to send all of their readers to other websites which Paramount likes better.

Doling out content in the form of exclusives in exchange for well, whatever mysterious payola big studios gets out of it, is of course a fairly common practice on any high-profile film. And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the sites they’ve released these exclusives to. JoBlo.com for instance was one of them, and they’re a site I personally hold in extremely high esteem. They, and most of the others involved aren’t exactly known as hardcore Trekkies though. TrekMovie.com was also in the bunch given exclusives, a very well run Trek site… yet a Trek site which has only existed since the production on this particular film started, not one of the hundreds of Trek sites which have literally been the backbone of the internet since the web’s early 90s inception; sites which back in January Paramount invited to work with them, and have since gone out of their way to ignore.

For those 600 Star Trek fan webmasters involved in Paramount’s Webmaster Program, it was only somewhat disappointing when Paramount released the teaser trailer to everyone before them, and mildly annoying when Paramount leaked all of the movie’s first posters elsewhere. But last night the private forum inside the Webmaster Program erupted with polite yet perturbed anger, as Paramount continued to ignore them by releasing photo after photo exclusively to other sites. When community members politely asked why they were being ignored, Paramount’s representatives responded with the equivalent of “take a hike.”

This morning, when those same fan webmasters didn’t take kindly to being yet again given the brush off, Paramount simply silenced them by completely deleting the private message board which had been part of the Webmaster Program, ending what had been a fairly polite but concerned discussion of the matter. In doing so, the studio has made something loud and clear here, and it’s something which I’ve been saying for nearly a year now. Star Trek fans: Paramount doesn’t care if you’re involved or not. They want new fans. You’re old, you’re used up. This is a new Star Trek for a new group of fans, hopefully pretty ones who don’t live in their parents’ basements. You can buy a ticket to see it if you want, just make sure you bring a teenager with you and wear a bag over your head.

There’s another way to handle this, a way to bring in new fans while holding on to the old ones. It’s simple. Don’t release images exclusively to IGN, AICN, or even Cinema Blend. Paramount, you’ve started a webmaster program. Use it. Release these Star Trek marketing materials simultaneously to everyone from now on. No, handing them out to the fan community three days later doesn’t count. Everyone, all at once. What’s the worst that could happen? Even more exposure for your film by having the images displayed across a broader range of sites? Or do you think UGO and Yahoo will refuse to cover the movie unless you give them special treatment? Unlikely. Don’t worry, the cool kids will never know you’ve let the nerds have them. It’s not like the Fast and the Furious crowd is going to visit TrekWeb and find out. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, unless you’re really and truly out to cut the Trek community off. If so, I’ll be the Trekkie in the back row with pointed ears drawn on the bag over my head.

Source: Cinema Blend

By now you’ve probably already been blown away by the amazing, first images released by Paramount from their new Star Trek movie. If not, view them here and here. I’ve found myself revisiting them again and again, comparing this new version of Trek with the old one in my head.

Rather than just using my imagination to stack J.J. Abrams’s version up against classic Trek though, I’ve put together a few side by side comparisons, facing off characters and items revealed in the new pictures with their classic Trek interpretations. How does Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk stack up against Shatner's? How different are the uniforms? Those are the questions plaguing this Trek fan, and here are the answers:

JAMES T. KIRK


MR. SPOCK


LEONARD MCCOY


MONTGOMERY SCOTT


HIKARU SULU


UHURA


PAVEL CHEKOV


ENTERPRISE BRIDGE


UNIFORMS / STARFLEET LOGO

Source: Cinema Blend

It’s no secret that the new Knight Rider is lame. I can’t compare it to the old one, because I never watched it. While the producers of the show would never deem the program lame they do admit that there is room for improvement.

In an article released in the wee hours of this morning, Hollywood Reporter has some blessed news for the women of the world who are forced to watch this drivel, or do dishes. NBC has decided to “re-tool” the show.

In addition to cutting three regular cast members, they are also re-doing the story lines. "It's a reboot," Knight executive producer/showrunner Gary Scott Thompson said. "We're moving away from the terrorist-of-the-week formula and closer to the original, making it a show about a man and his car going out and helping more regular people, everymen."

They claim that it’s been in the works for awhile, and has nothing to do with the scathing reviews the show has been getting. Right. The show has been struggling on Wednesdays, and another part of the change is that it will be moving back to Sundays in January.

Source: Cinema Blend

Paramount has begun to distribute the first production photos from JJ Abrams‘ Star Trek around the web. Above is a first look at the crew on the Bridge of the USS Enterprise from MTV. Lindelof says that Kirk’s Black shirt is the Captain uniform, and that the red shirt crew member in the background is of no importance (ie Uhura probably replaces her after she dies early on). The bridge looks extremely cool, I can;t wait to see more of it. UGO has the first cast photo of the Enterprise crew (From left to right: Anton Yelchin as Chekov, Chris Pine as James T. Kirk, Simon Pegg as Lt. Montgomery Scott, Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, John Cho as Sulu and Zoe Saldana as Uhura).

Below is AICN’s photo of Zachary Quinto as Spock (could that be the Vulcan Death Grip? And if so, who is at the other end of it?).

IGN has a photo of Kirk, who appears to have landed in an ice crater on what we assume is an Arctic-like planet.

Below is Eric Bana as the film’s Romulan villain Nero on the bridge of his unnamed rouge vessel from JoBlo.

TrekMovie has a first look at the USS Kelvin, a Federation starship from the generation before the Enterprise. The ship is commanded by Captain Robau (Faran Tahir) with George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) as first officer. Looks like the ship is under attack and in pretty bad shape.

Entertainment Weekly had a big Star Trek feature, and Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine appeared in costume as Spock and Kirk on the cover. EW also had photos from their visit to the set. Let's all drool at the cover together. Don't you think this movie is going to be good?

Name pretty much any successful movie that Fox has made in the last 20 years, and you can bet they're thinking about either a sequel or a reboot. Whether it's Alvin and the Chipmunks or Independence Day, everything can be cannibalized and turned into a new moneymaker, as IESB.net learned when they sat down with Fox's co-chairman Tom Rothman.

Standalone Predator movie? "We would certainly be open to it." Sims movie? "It's in development." Deadpool movie? "We will have to see." Another take on the Hitman story? "I wouldn't rule it out." Pretty much the only thing he's willing to say for certain is that Fantastic Voyage, the 1966 adventure movie, is a remake they're "looking very seriously at."

Check out the entire interview at IESB for details on your favorites.

Midway has announced that Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe will hit stores in North America on November 16th. Ah, good. We were worried we wouldn't have any games to play that month.

Though November is a crowded month for releases, MK vs. DC is the only game hitting stores that lets you solve the great mysteries of your middle school days: "Who would win in a fight, Batman or Sub-Zero?", "Is Scorpion stronger than the Joker?", and "Why am I growing hair there?" Well, the first two questions will be answered, anyway.

MK vs. DC will be released simultaneously for PS3 and Xbox 360.

Finally, a movie that shows the apocalypse from the zombie point of view! Indie flick Deadheads follows a guy who wakes up a member of the dead-walking club, and tries to piece his life back together with his zombie buddy and a bag o' weed. This movie could go one way or the other in my book, but we've collected a gallery of stills and the zombie makeup is pretty gruesome, in an awesome way.

According to the movie's synopsis:

The story follows two zombies, Mike and Brent, who find themselves surprisingly reborn from the dead. This is especially unnerving to Mike who can't even remember the events that led to his apparent murder. When Mike discovers an engagement ring in his coat pocket, his direction becomes clear. Mike's untimely death prevented him from proposing to his long time girlfriend and love of his life, Ellie.

Mike enlists his new found zombie friend, Brent, on a quest for his lost love and to unravel the mystery of his untimely death.What ensues is a hilarious road trip across country as the two zombie friends are pursued by a team of bounty hunters employed by the sinister corporation responsible for their zombification.

This could be the zombie buddy movie I've been waiting for (fingers crossed). I'm slightly on the fence because of the ridiculous deadhead = pot head zombie reference, but it's almost too perfect to pass up.

[Deadheads via Quiet Earth]

When Fox announced that it was canceling King of the Hill, it marked the end of a long run for an animated program that was largely in the shadow of its primetime companion, The Simpsons. But don't bury it yet--reports are surfacing that the show may be thrown a lifeline by another network.

ABC is apparently looking into bringing Mike Judge's King of the Hill over to its schedule, says The Hollywood Reporter. Of course with King of the Hill only recently being dismissed by Fox, the report is far from a sure thing (so don't too excited yet, just marginally excited). Fox reps confirmed to the Reporter that another network is interested in taking on King of the Hill, but talks are only in early stages at the moment.

The idea for ABC would be to pair King of the Hill with another Mike Judge animated show, the midseason toon The Goode Family. However, that wouldn't happen until the next cycle at the earliest, as King of the Hill takes nine months to produce new episodes because of its animation production.

King of the Hill was unfortunately the odd man out in Fox's bloated animation lineup, but news that other networks are looking to take it on is fantastic for King's followers.

Rookie O.J. Mayo did all he could to rally Memphis in the fourth quarter against the Phoenix Suns. Unfortunately, the Grizzlies had no answer for Leandro Barbosa. Mayo had 19 of his game-high 33 points in the final period, but the victory went to the fifth-year veteran known as the Brazilian Blur and Phoenix as the Suns won 107-102 on Monday night.

Paramount Pictures has added a countdown clock on the official website for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek that is counting down to 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern on Monday, November 17th. At that time, the new official trailer will be revealed online, though you can watch it earlier in theaters this weekend with Quantum of Solace.

Opening in theaters on May 8, Star Trek was written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and stars John Cho, Ben Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Winona Ryder, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Eric Bana, Leonard Nimoy, Marlene Forte and Jimmy Bennett.

It’s awards season and the most irrelevant of all awards, the People’s Choice Awards has unveiled this year’s batch of nominees. The award is irrelevant, not because you the people don’t matter, but because you’ve already voted with your ticket purchases. Congratulations, The Dark Knight is your favorite movie of 2008. Now you can vote for it yet again by going to pcavote.com. Here’s the full list of nominees, with my unavoidable, mostly useless commentary:

FAVORITE MOVIE: The Dark Knight Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Iron Man Gutsy of them to nominate a rape movie. FAVORITE COMEDY MOVIE: 27 Dresses Get Smart Mamma Mia! At least one of these movies is not a comedy, and two of them are not funny. Poor Forgetting Sarah Marshall. FAVORITE MOVIE DRAMA: 21 Eagle Eye The Secret Life of Bees Only one of these movies has actually been seen by a large number of people, and it’s not a drama. FAVORITE FAMILY MOVIE: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Kung Fu Panda WALL-E Skadoosh! Maybe the Pixar cult will at least let Kung Fu have this one meaningless award. FAVORITE INDEPENDENT MOVIE: The Duchess Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day The Secret Life of Bees The people have already voted in this category. They have voted with their wallets not to watch indie movies. FAVORITE ACTION MOVIE: The Dark Knight Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Iron Man Hey, these nominees look familiar. FAVORITE CAST: The Dark Knight Mamma Mia! Sex and the City Dead man, bad singing, or slutty women. You decide. FAVORITE ON SCREEN MATCHUP: Christian Bale & Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight Shia LaBeouf & Harrison Ford - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Tina Fey & Amy Poehler - Baby Mamma SNL people against action movies... hmmm. FAVORITE FEMALE MOVIE STAR: Angelina Jolie Keira Knightley Reese Witherspoon Name three women whose movies no one has seen this year but everyone wants to bang. FAVORITE MALE MOVIE STAR: Harrison Ford Robert Downey Jr. Will Smith Name three men who have been in movies everyone has seen this year. FAVORITE MALE ACTION STAR: Christian Bale Robert Downey Jr. Will Smith Vote for the big black bat, the white black man, or the real black man. FAVORITE FEMALE ACTION STAR: Angelina Jolie Anne Hathaway Cate Blanchett None of these women were in action movies this year. FAVORITE LEADING MAN: Brad Pitt Christian Bale Mark Wahlberg Unless you count Mark Wahlberg Talks to animals, when was the last time Marky Mark lead anything? The plants were the stars of The Happening, and the slo-mo was the star of Max Payne. FAVORITE LEADING LADY: Anne Hathaway Kate Hudson Queen Latifah Anyone else getting the impression that Anne Hathaway was the only female star worth watching in 2008? FAVORITE SUPERHERO: Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man Will Smith as John Hancock Sucks to be Edward Norton. FAVORITE FUNNY MALE STAR: Adam Sandler Jim Carrey Steve Carell Steve Carell is the only nominee with no talent.

Yeah, this would have been crap with Brendan Fraser wearing the tights.

"The bandwagon, revisionist, retroactive bashing of Superman Returns has flown to new heights of ridiculousness. This time it’s Brendan Fraser running around pretending Superman Returns sucked, and apparently it sucked because it didn’t have him in it. That's right, Brendan Fraser. Star of quality films like The Mummy 3.

ComicBookMovie has the partial transcript of an interview in which Fraser claims he was offered the role of Superman before Bryan Singer came in and put together his take on the character. Fraser read the JJ Abrams script that Warner Bros was considering using, and waxes poetic about how much better it was than that terrible Superman Returns movie which everyone lavished with praise until it became fashionable to start hating it and pretend that no one went to see it… even though it didn’t and they did. Welcome to the lynch mob, Mr. Fraser.

Fraser claims the Abrams version was better because it was bigger, spanning galaxies and huge, epic locales. He says, “It was Lord of the Rings. I mean, it was that huge. It was like a 3rd World War on Earth involving different planets and universes, and brotherhoods--sibling rivalry and the collision of enormous powers.” I'm sorry Brendan, maybe you haven't heard. Comparing movies to LOTR is out of style. Now everything is the next Dark Knight.

Regardless, well there’s your answer as to why Warner Brothers never made it. They’d already spent millions and millions of dollars over several years trying to get a new Superman movie made. You think Singer’s movie was expensive? Just imagine how much this galaxy spanning sucker would have cost. Instead, Warner Bros. assumed Superman fans were a cerebral, intelligent bunch and gave them a well thought out, character driven film which fans loved. Or at least they did until a year ago when everyone decided they didn’t want none of that smart guy stuff and all they wanted is to see Superman punch stuff.

Much like Barack Obama, that snob Bryan Singer and his boy toy Brandon Routh are now viewed as a pansy-ass elitists (I heard Bryan Singer may even be gay!), a viewpoint which the notoriously brilliant Brendan Fraser is all for agreeing with, complaining that Singer’s version was “smacking you over the head with a symbolic hammer till you weren't paying attention.” Well, I guess this explains The Mummy 3. Definitely no symbolism in there, and for that matter, probably no need to pay attention at all. The public only wants movies it can watch inebriated, the kind of movies you can catch a good nap in, without feeling like you’ve missed out on any of the plot. Yes, the world would have been a better place if someone had put that hack Bryan Singer out of his misery and cast Brendan Fraser as Superman. I guess I’m an elitist too, because I can’t imagine anything worse."

Via CinemaBlend

"Crossover fighting game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is due on November 10th and the full Achievements list for the Xbox 360 version was just unveiled. While you might not care about the Achievements, gamers interested in buying either the PS3 or Xbox 360 version will be pleased to know that the list includes the names of several unannounced characters for the game.

The Achievements are available at Xbox360Achievements.Org, and from that list we now know all the game's 22 playable characters:

DC Universe:
Batman
Catwoman
Darkseid
Deathstroke
Flash
Green Lantern
Joker
Lex Luthor
Shazam
Superman
Wonderwoman

Mortal Kombat:
Baraka
Jax
Kano
Kitana
Liu Kang
Raiden
Scorpion
Shang Tsung
Shao Khan
Sonya
Sub Zero

Little surprising to see Lex Luthor in there but I look forward to the game lore's attempts to explain how a hairless Kevin Spacey can compete in hand-to-hand combat with magical ninjas and super heroes."

Via CinemaBlend

Blogger has recently released a feature that lets you publicly subscribe to other blogs. Google calls this "following" and you can only follow blogs powered by Blogger, at least for now.

"Do you have a favorite blog and want to let the author and readers know that you are a fan? Well now you can do that and more with the Blogger Following feature," explains the help center.

Bloggers can add a widget that lists the people who follow a blog. Visitors can follow a blog from the widget and see their subscriptions in Blogger's dashboard or in Google Reader.


In most feed readers, subscribing to a feed is an anonymous action and the only public information is the total number of subscribers. The new Blogger feature indirectly adds public subscriptions to Google Reader.

Googler John Panzer has more details about the next steps:

"The Followers gadget lets you surf the network of people who read and interact with blogs. Just click on any of the followers and you'll go to their profile. For now, that profile is just their Blogger profile page with the blogs they own... but down the road, we'll also be integrated with Friend Connect. Which will open up this network further, in a couple of ways: A non-Blogger site can add a Friend Connect gadget to show the people following it; and you can filter the followers of a blog to show only the friends you already have on your favorite social network. Which you can view as extending your social network out into the blogosphere, or as the blogosphere incorporating all social networks -- take your pick. Of course all of this is based on OpenSocial, so anyone will be able to add gadgets and talk the OpenSocial protocol to access, with user permission, all of this network data and do new and interesting things on top of it. This represents a natural evolution of the loosely joined, standards-based pieces that have always characterized blogging."

The "followers" feature is not yet available for all Blogger users, but you can enable it by following a blog. The address is:

http://www.blogger.com/follow-blog.g?blogID= (e.g: follow SykoNews).

There are two options: follow the blog publicly and appear in the list of subscribers or subscribe anonymously. In both cases, the blog will appear in Blogger's dashboard and in a read-only Google Reader folder
that can be hidden in the settings.


Instead of building a social network like MyBlogLog, Google creates an application on top of other social networks. Incidentally, the application is first tested for blogger.com, but a future Google Reader API and the migration to OpenSocial/FriendConnect will make it look more interesting.

Via GoogleOS

Hitachi has a few new refrigerators that will actually spritz your food with antioxidants and vitamins to keep things exceptionally fresh and clean (clean). The R-Y6000 and R-Y5400 will evidently sense what types of foods are stored in what compartments, after which a specified amount of nutrients will be emitted in order to keep things from spoiling too soon. We aren't too keen on a robotic fridge having the power to douse our grub with whatever chemical it pleases, but so long as it uses FDA-approved vitamins, minerals, HGH and anabolic steroids, we suppose we'll live.

(Via Engadget.)

MIAMI - Rapper DMX has pleaded out a Miami drug case and now awaits extradition to face more charges in Arizona.

The 37-year-old rapper and actor pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted marijuana and cocaine possession and was sentenced to time served. His lawyer Bradford Cohen says DMX is still in custody waiting for Arizona authorities to pick him up on drug and animal cruelty charges he faces in Phoenix.

Cohen says the rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, decided to plead guilty when he was denied bail earlier this week due to the outstanding Arizona warrant.

Cohen says if he hadn't pleaded out, Simmons would have had to sit in jail in Miami until an October trial date.

Source: AZCentral.

Marion “Suge” Knight, the 43 year old gangsta’ rap mogul, and former CEO of Death Row Records has been arrested in Las Vegas on a variety of felony and misdemeanor charges including assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a controlled substance.

According to an AP wire report, the rap promoter was booked into Clark County Jail, but later posted a $19,000 bail bond on the promise he would appear in Las Vegas court on September 26.

The incident reportedly took place when Knight was arrested by police in a parking lot near the Las Vegas strip, where he was found beating a woman said to be his girlfriend and brandishing a knife. The woman was not stabbed, but was treated at a nearby hospital. Police also discovered the drugs Ecstasy and hydrocodone in Knight’s possession. Knight surrendered without incident.

During the nineties, Knight was arguably the hottest rap promoter in music with this label Death Row Records. The label specialized in gangsta rap records by such pioneering west coast rappers as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and the late Tupac Shakur. Knight also became just as well known for his violent reputation, which over the years has included rumored gang affiliations and several brushes with the law.

Knight was in fact present the night that Shakur was gunned down gangland style in 1996, also in Las Vegas. Shakur’s murder was never completely solved, and less than a year later Christopher Wallace, a rival East coast rapper better known as Notorious B.I.G., was gunned down in similar fashion. Conspiracy theories connecting the two murders have proliferated on the internet and in music circles in the many years that have passed since, and in fact continue to this day.

Oasis are pleased to announce that for the first time ever they will be making available a special, fully-loaded limited edition box set of the new album, 'Dig Out Your Soul'. This amazing looking set contains four heavyweight 12" vinyl discs, two CDs, a DVD and hardback book all housed within an embossed hardback box. In fact, this is the only way to get the album and the complete set of all 9 bonus songs, remixes and films that were recorded during the album sessions.

This unique collector’s item is available now for pre-order exclusively through the band’s website for delivery on October 7th. Go to the U.S. & Canada Store now!

Click HERE to pre-order!

Check out this video of the package!

Enjoy!

Source: Oasis U.S. & Canada Store

SCI FI Channel and MGM Television Entertainment have reached an agreement to extend MGM's Stargate brand with a new series for the Channel. Production on the first season of Stargate Universe, a weekly series based on the popular Stargate franchise, will begin in early 2009, with the show targeted to premiere that Summer. Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, co-creators of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis and who both currently serve as executive producers on Atlantis, will serve as executive producers and writers on the new series.

"SCI FI has enjoyed tremendous success with Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis and we're proud to be the home of the new Stargate Universe," said Mark Stern, Executive Vice President, Original Programming for SCI FI & Co-Head Original Content, Universal Cable Productions. "Universe will continue the Stargate legacy of vibrant storylines and compelling adventures, but will re-invent the format in a whole new way."

"The Stargate franchise enjoys a loyal and substantial fan base that welcomes each new installment with fevered enthusiasm," said Charles Cohen, Senior Executive Vice President and Corporate Development for MGM. "We are delighted to be working again with Brad and Robert and look forward to seeing new adventures with the launch of Stargate Universe on SCI FI Channel next year. Stargate Universe will continue the longstanding relationship between MGM's stellar science fiction franchise and cable's premiere destination for all passionate science fiction fans."

Thomas Vitale, Senior Vice President Programming & Original Movies said, "Stargate Universe is a natural progression for the Stargate brand and for our network. Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis have been key drivers for SCI FI and we are looking forward to seeing where this next chapter leads, as each new installment of the Stargate franchise further engages the SCI FI audience."

Wright and Cooper said: "In Universe, we plan to keep those elements that have made the franchise a success, such as adventure and humour, while breaking new ground in the relationships between mostly young and desperate explorers, thrust together and far from home. Above all, we believe the Stargate itself remains an enduring icon with infinite potential as a jumping off point for telling stories."

After unlocking the mystery of the Stargate's ninth chevron, a team of explorers travels to an unmanned starship called the Destiny, launched by The Ancients at the height of their civilization as a grand experiment set in motion, but never completed.

What starts as a simple reconnaissance turns into a never ending mission, as the Stargate Universe crew discovers the ship is unable to return to Earth, and they must now fend for themselves aboard the Destiny.

The crew will travel to the far reaches of the universe, connecting with each of the previously launched Stargates, thus fulfilling the Destiny's original mission. Challenges will arise though as the ship comes into range of Stargates placed centuries ahead of the Destiny and the crew is unable to control the ship's navigational schedule. If someone is left behind, there is no way to go back for them, adding to the drama of encountering new races, enemies and adventures.

Stargate Universe will debut as a two-hour movie event on SCI FI. Following its premiere, Universe will assume a regular hourly slot in Summer 2009.

Universe will be distributed by MGM Worldwide Television Distribution.

The SCI FI Channel is ending Stargate Atlantis after five seasons, Multichannel News reports.

The show will go on, though, with a 2-hour movie that will air on SCI FI in 2009, and be released on DVD by MGM. The film will be written by executive producers Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie.

It's intended to be the first of an on-going series of Atlantis movies, according to the report. Stargate SG-1 has released two very successful movies direct-to-DVD this year, though neither has aired on U.S. television yet.

"The show will live on as a network franchise," the report also says. This could indicate that future Atlantis movies are a lock for SCI FI, or it may be a general statement about the cable network's commitment to the Stargate franchise.

Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, who created and executive produced Atlantis, pitched a third television series in the 11-year-old TV franchise to the network last year. While SCI FI has not yet announced a green light for that show, the end of Atlantis may clear the way -- the dollars available for original programming, that is -- for the next series.

Though Stargate Atlantis has been a solid ratings performer for SCI FI -- and was its highest-rated original program ever when it premiered in July 2004 -- in recent years series like Eureka have supplanted it in the "Live" ratings.

Atlantis remains an extremely strong performer in DVR-delayed viewing, though, often building as much as 25 to 30 percent on its premiere night audience.

Season Five will go out on a cliffhanger, with "Enemy At the Gate" expected to premiere in January. Expect the first Atlantis movie to wrap up that hanging storyline.

Stargate Atlantis airs Friday nights at 10 p.m. (9 Central) on SCI FI.

SG-1 was canceled on August 21, 2006.
SGA was canceled on August 20, 2008.

August isn't a good month for Stargate. Go sign the petition to save the show here.

Stay tuned.

Source: GateWorld

Philip Kindred Dick, aka Philip K. Dick, aka PKD, was often considered a science fiction writer that was way ahead of his time. He was critically acclaimed and won several writing awards, but was not particularly successful commercially for most of his career. Much of his writing was dystopic and unnerving, but filmmakers have found a fair bit of commercial success with film adaptations of his writing, starting with Blade Runner. (PKD died during the production.)

There have been more than 10 movies made directly from PKD’s writing (excluding documentaries), and three more are in the works. Here’s a quick rundown of PKD movies, in chronological order, and with relevant video clips and posters / stills when available.

1. Blade Runner (1982).
Director: Ridley Scott.
Writers: Philip K. Dick (novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” aka D.A.D.o.E.S.), Hampton Fancher.
Release Date: Jun 25, 1982.
Actors: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah.
IMDB: Blade Runner.
Video: Final Cut trailer.


2. Total Recall (1990).
Director: Paul Verhoeven.
Writers: Philip K. Dick (short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”), Ronald Shusett.
Release Date: Jun 1, 1990
Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone.
IMDB: Total Recall.


3. Screamers (1995).
Director: Christian Duguay.
Writers: Philip K. Dick (short story “Second Variety”), Dan O’Bannon.
Release Date: Jan 26, 1996.
Actors: Peter Weller, Roy Dupuis, Jennifer Rubin, Andrew Lauer.
IMDB: Screamers.
Video: The video clip below is of a Cinefiles episode in which they explore films based on Philip K. Dick stories. Screamers is mentioned.


4. Total Recall 2070: Machine Dreams (1999).
Notes: Pilot for TV series.
Director: Mario Azzopardi.
Writers: Philip K. Dick (short story), Art Monterastelli.
Release Date: Jan 5, 1999.
Actors: Michael Easton, Karl Pruner, Cynthia Preston, Michael Rawlins.
IMDB: Total Recall 2070.
Video: Possible spoilers.


5. Impostor (2002).
Director: Gary Fleder.
Writers: Philip K. Dick (short story “The Impostor”), Scott Rosenberg.
Release Date: Jan 4, 2002.
Actors: Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe, Vincent D’Onofrio, Tony Shaloub, Tim Guinee, Gary Dourdan.
IMDB: Impostor.
Notes: Sinise and Dourdan are now in CSI: NY and CSI, respectively; D’Onofrio in Law & Order: CI; and Shaloub in Monk. (Samantha Morton, who is in Minority Report, is in Cold Case.)


6. Minority Report (2002).
Director: Steven Spielberg.
Writers: Philip K. Dick (short story), Scott Frank.
Release Date: Jun 21, 2002.
Actors: Tom Cruise, Max Von Sydow, Steve Harris, Neal McDonough, Patrick Kilpatrick, Jessica Capshaw, Samantha Morton.
IMDB: Minority Report.


7. Paycheck (2003).
Director: John Woo.
Writers: Philip K. Dick (short story), Dean Georgaris.
Release Date: Dec 25, 2003.
Actors: Ben Affleck, Aaron Eckhart, Uma Thurman, Paul Giamatti, Colm Feore, Kathryn Morris (Cold Case).
Notes: My personal PKD movie favorite, displacing Blade Runner.
IMDB: Paycheck.


8. A Scanner Darkly (2006, Animated).
Director: Richard Linklater.
Writers: Philip K. Dick (novel), Richard Linklater.
Release Date: Jul 28, 2006.
Actors: Rory Cochrane, Robert Downey Jr., Mitch Baker, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson.
IMDB: A Scanner Darkly.
Notes: This movie is live-action with a layer of animation over the frames.


9. Next (2007).
Director: Lee Tamahori
Writers: Philip K. Dick (novel “The Golden Man”), Gary Goldman, Jonathan Hensleigh, Paul Bernbaum.
Release Date: Apr 27, 2007.
Actors: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel, Thomas Kretschmann.
IMDB: Next.
Notes: Lee Tamahori directed Once Were Warriors (1995) about a family of Maori Warriors (which won 19 awards) as well as several other edgy movies.



10. Radio Free Albemuth (2008).
Director: John Alan Simon.
Writers: Philip K. Dick (novel), John Alan Simon.
Release Date: Jun 11, 2008.
Actors: Jonathan Scarfe, Shea Whigham, Katheryn Winnick, Alanis Morissette, Hanna Hall, Frances Fisher, Julie Warner.
IMDB: Radio Free Albemuth.

11. Owl in Daylight (2009).
Director: unknown as of yet.
Writers: Philip K. Dick (novel, unpublished), Tony Grisoni.
Release Date: 2009.
Actors: Paul Giamatti.
IMDB: Owl in Daylight.
Notes: Paul Giamatti, who was in Paycheck (see above), plays Philip K. Dick in this sort of biography that also discusses the Owl in Daylight novel, which was planned but not actually written before PKD died.
Video: n/a

12. Screamers 2 (2009).
Director: Sheldon Wilson.
Writers: Philip K. Dick (original story), Tom Berry (story), Miguel Tejada-Flores (screenplay and story).
Release Date: 2009.
Actors:

	Gina Holden	...	Victoria Bronte
	Tim Rozon	...	Madden
	Greg Bryk	...	Andy Sexton
	Stephen Amell	...	Guy
	Christopher Redman	...	Rafe Danielli
	Holly O'Brien	...	Hannah
	Stephen Patrick Dunn	...	Teenage Boy Screamer
	Sarah Small	...	Teenage Girl Screemer
	Lynley Hall	...	Jessie

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1214983/.
Notes: A group of humans arrive on Sirius 6-B to investigate an SOS signal sent out from the planet, which has been supposedly deserted since the destruction of the man-made weapons known as "screamers." Once the squad arrives, they find a group of human survivors eking out an existence in an old military outpost, but more important, they discover that the threat of the screamers has become even more insidious, now that they're able to morph into human form.
Video: n/a

That’s now 12 movies and counting. (You might notice the time between PKD movies becoming shorter and shorter.) Some guess the next candidate is “The Man in the High Castle“, which is based on an alternate Earth where the Nazis didn’t lose WW II and they and the Japanese jointly occupy the United States. However, others think that The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and/or Valis is being developed. Well, This blogger hopes every story he's written is given honor in production and not dragged through the dirt.

Sources: MovieCrunch and IMDB