SciFi Stream

A lot of people are expecting “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” to be 2009′s “The Dark Knight.” It’s pre-sales are high, it holds an instant coolness factor in the form of a hard-as-nails superhero on a dark mission and, despite a disastrous leak to the Web before the movie was even completed, has built enough hype to carry it forward. Sadly, it will never be in the same league as “The Dark Knight.” Instead, “Wolverine” is a directionless cannonball that spends the vast majority of its time seeking approval from the rest of the X-Men franchise instead of concentrating on the character in its spotlight. Who needs the rejects from the X-Men trilogy when you have a protagonist that is so immensely complex and filled with backstory – not to mention muscles – he could singlehandedly carry the …

J.J. Abrams, the director of Star Trek, is well known for burying easter eggs in his various productions. (Anyone remember the "Hanso Foundation" credit at the end of Mission: Impossible III?) His upcoming reboot of the sci-fi franchise is no exception.

Our first viewing of the film last week revealed a few Trek easter eggs and a few more Abrams-universe ones, which we've tried to catalog (with help from TrekMovie.com and Slashfilm, who noticed them first). Once you see the movie, please post yours! Star Trek opens May 8. (Spoilers ahead!)

Zoe Saldana did her best to spill no beans about her role in James Cameron's upcoming 3-D sci-fi epic movie Avatar, but she did offer SCI FI Wire a few spoiler-light tidbits about the making of the state-of-the-art movie and her role in it.

Saldana discussed Avatar in an exclusive telephone interview a few weeks ago to promote Star Trek, in which she plays Uhura and which opens May 8. Following is an edited version of our interview. Avatar, which also features Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Rodriguez, opens on Dec. 18.

Star Trek director J.J. Abrams told SCI FI Wire that Bruce Greenwood and Eric Bana are "massively important" and expressed his pleasure at having Majel Barrett Roddenberry's participation in the film before her passing. (Spoilers ahead!)

"Nero is the character that we go up against," Abrams said in an exclusive interview a few weeks ago. "He's the guy who is the catalyst for the story and the one that really tests our heroes. It's been said that the hero is as strong as the villain. Not only do we have a villain that we can identify with and in some ways even sympathize with, but you've got an actor in Eric Bana who's brought this role to life in a way that was really remarkably considered. He did some amazing stuff. Here's a guy who's playing a bald-headed, tattoo-faced space villain. It really is as preposterous as it gets, but as an actor Bana just brought a gravity, a sense of humor and an emotionality to it that was just wonderful to see."

Former Stargate SG-1 star Michael Shanks told SCI FI Wire that he's busy with a wide variety of projects, including a dramatic TV movie, a pilot with Donald Sutherland and Jacqueline Bisset and, of course, a Stargate adventure.

If there is ever a show that has you sitting on the edge of your sofa wondering what the heck is going on, it is most definitely “Lost.” And although the ABC series is promising answers, there will never be enough conclusions to completely satisfy the rabid fanbase that the castaway-turned-time-traveling drama has amassed over the last five years. But that is certainly not something that is putting the show’s producers off from telling their very individual and unique story. Far from it, in fact, as co-creator Damon Lindelof teases that the final destination is already set in stone and only the route is to be determined. “We can’t let those expectations terrify us,” Lindelof told Variety. “The reality is, we’ve known what the series finale is going to be for a while now. …

Take a peek at the new Stargate-themed cell phone covers from Coveroo.

The Tidbits is now in single digits! And today we have more news on that Vulcan premiere, which we have learned will have a special guest. Also how would you like a private screening next Thursday?…you can have one (if you win an auction). We also have reports on the Star Trek night at yesterday’s [...]

Darren and David discuss one of our favorite seasons of Stargate SG-1! PLUS: Preview interview with Paul McGillion.

One of more exciting things about the new Star Trek movie is that it is also coming out in IMAX (a franchise first). However, the IMAX Experience will be a limited engagement of just two weeks, so you better hurry up. IMAX has sent us their official Star Trek trailer and the official press release [...]

The TV campaign for the new Star Trek is moving into high gear with a number of new spots. We have three new commercials below, which are mostly just remixes of previously seen clips, commercials and trailers (with a couple of minor new glimpses). But it is worth checking it all out below regardless.

Paramount Pictures has released some more sneak peeks at “Star Trek XI” just a little more than a week before it makes its world premiere in theaters everywhere. The first clip is actually an expanded version of what can be seen in the most recent movie trailer where Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) has a little heart-to-heart with James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) in a bar on why he should join Starfleet. After attacking a Federation ship, Nero (Eric Bana) brings aboard a Starfleet prisoner. Of course, there seems to be some confusion not on where the Romulans are, but when. After the Starfleet officer couldn’t identify Leonard Nimoy’s Spock, Nero gives him what for. Pike decides to fly the shuttlecraft himself to take Kirk, Sulu (John Cho) and some Red Shirt to what is apparently Nero’s …