Originally posted at PrimeTimeGeek.com.

PTG Episode 75 is brought to you by 2010. Yes, we’re not quite there yet, but it’s getting very close, and that means that it’s time to start looking back at all that was good about 2009. With Episode 75 we begin our 3-part series on the top geek movies/video games/comic book series of 2009, starting with movies. Our selections are pictured in the image below; As I said during the broadcast, our assessment is limited to what we reviewed and discussed on the program. Doubtless there are going to be great items in each category that are going to get left off the list. Also, I fully expect folks to disagree with our choices, so if you’d like to suggest an alternate list based on what you’ve seen, or just tell us that we’re out of our minds, head over to the Prime Time Geek Message Board at SomaCow.net/forum and share your thoughts in the discussion thread. See you there!

Also in this episode we review Dark City Director’s Cut on blu-ray and last week’s new Dollhouse episodes, “The Public Eye” and “The Left Hand.” Not much else to add this morning–life has pretty much come to a screeching halt thanks to Dragon Age: Origins. Thirty-two hours played and counting–woo hoo. Check back tomorrow for our weekly affiliate deals spotlight: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince arrives on home video this week, so we’ll have that and more Harry Potter-related toys and merchandise for your perusing pleasure.

Clicking on the images above will take you to the Amazon.com listings for the three different home video options available for Trek through Amazon: blu-ray, Two-Disc DVD/Digital Copy Edition, and Single-Disc DVD Edition, respectively. BUT wait, that’s not all! If the Trek lover in your life can’t wait past this week to snatch up a copy of the movie for themselves, and you’re left looking for a Trek-themed gift, check out what Entertainment Earth has for you!

• Star Trek Movie Action Figures 6-inch Set
• Star Trek Amok Time Kirk and Spock Action Figures
• Star Trek Trouble with Tribbles Captain Kirk Deluxe Chair
• Star Trek Gold Phaser and Communicator Set

FYI: The Gold Phaser and Communicator Set you see in the far right image is an Entertainment Earth limited edition exclusive-you won’t find it anywhere else this holiday season, and you won’t find it for long. Happy Holiday shopping!

PTG Episode 44 is brought to you by MNU Spreads Lies, a blog kept by “Christopher Johnson” detailing the horrible situation unfolding in the slum of Johannesburg, South Africa known as “District 9“. Check out “Christopher’s” blog entries, then head over to D-9.com and make up your own mind as to who is telling the truth. (Either one is sure to suck you into the alternate reality that is the world of District 9, and if you don’t want to see the movie after all that, for curiosity’s sake alone, then I don’t know what will.)

In the first of two hours graced by a return visit by Mad Mario, Destroyer of Worlds, we (along with EricathePimp) break down the many strengths of District 9, then widen our focus to look back at the whole of 2009’s summer movie season and grade the biggest blockbusters of the year. If you’ve been listening to PTG throughout the summer, you’ll probably already have a sense of what those grades might be, but in case you haven’t, well, hit that play button, sit back, and enjoy. We wrap up the hour by talking about a few of the previews we’ve caught at the theater for upcoming 2009 movies, including Inglourious Basterds, Zombieland, Legion, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, and Surrogates.

Hour 2 of Prime Time Geek Episode 20 is brought to you by the final moments of Star Trek VI – The Undiscovered Country, the final screen voyage of the entire original cast of Star Trek: The Original Series. As the new Star Trek warps into theaters and introduces a cast of new faces bringing to life the roles of Captain Kirk and his intrepid crew, we should also keep in mind those wonderful people who originally brought those roles to life, and their final adventure aboard the Enterprise. Aside from an occasionally grating performance from from a pre-Sex-in-the-City Kim Cattrall, this film was a great ride, continuing the tradition of even-numbered Trek films not sucking.

Most of Hour 2 is spent talking about the Marvel Comics character Deadpool, and trust me, I’m just as surprised about it as you are. You see, prior to last week I’d never read a single comic featuring the character–I knew of him from reading Marvel Comics solicitations, seen the covers of comics where he’d appeared, but since I don’t follow the mutant books, I never had a reason to learn more.

Then I saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and heard from many sources that the character had been butchered by the film’s writers, almost as much as he’s mutilated on screen. Of course, controversy peaks interest, so curiosity plus the fact that Deadpool #10 features an appearance by Hawkeye a.k.a Bullseye drove me to pick up the issue and spend some time with ol’ Wade Wilson.

Turns out the ‘Merc with a Mouth’ IS a fun a character to follow in a wacked-out crazy kind of way. But is the character leading man material for a film. In my opinion, HELL NO, and thus the prospect of a Deadpool spin-off film starring Ryan Reynolds ended up being the subject of this week’s ‘Felix is Fuming’ segment. Be sure and turn down your sound a little bit for that segment at the end of the hour.

Hour 1 of Prime Time Geek Episode 20 is brought to you by this sound clip from the all-new, all-awesome Star Trek film from director J.J. Abrams, featuring Jim Kirk’s (Chris Pine) first meeting with a slightly unnerved Dr. Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban) as they sit together aboard the shuttle that will whisk them off to Starfleet Academy. One of the best things about the new Trek film that in my opinion cannot be hailed enough is the performance of actor Karl Urban, who simply vanishes into the role of “Bones” McCoy and makes him real in a way that I can only imagine the late DeForest Kelley would have enjoying viewing. I’ve sung the praises of Urban before–despite career lowlights like Pathfinder and Doom, the man’s done solid, engaging work in Hollywood, including supporting turns in The Bourne Supremacy and Chronicles of Riddick. His characters, however secondary they might be to the leads in a film, are always interesting, and that’s something I believe is wholly attributable to the actor himself. But Star Trek should be a breakout performance for him–watch out for more leading roles for Urban as the Hollywood starmaking machine sits up and takes notice of who everyone talks about when they walk of seeing Trek.

In addition to my full review of Star Trek, Hour 1 of PTG this week features reviews of DC Comics‘ Power Girl #1, by writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray and illustrated by Amanda Conner (click HERE to listen to PTG’s interview with Palmiotti and Conner about Power Girl and her new series!), and The Flash: Rebirth #2 by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, both of which are definitely worth your while to pick up if you haven’t yet. We wrap up the hour by reviewing the penultimate episode of Smallville for this 8th season, “Injustice”, which is definitely worth watching if only to have a great example of less-than-stellar scripting, direction, and acting. For those of us more discriminating Smallville fans who fondly remember when this show was compelling and when we could wholeheartedly recommend the show to others as “good, fun” television, this point in the series is an all-time low, and if you’re like me at all, the only thing to look forward to about this week’s finale, “Doomsday”, airing on Thursday, May 14th, is that it is, in fact, the end of the season and we’ll be spared anymore inane silliness for the summer.

At this point, especially if you disagree with me and you think this season of Smallville has been great, you may be thinking, “Well, if you think it’s so lame, then why the hell do you keep watching?” It was put best in a forgotten Blake Edwards film from the late ’80s called Skin Deep, starring the late John Ritter. Ritter’s character, Zack, is a writer who, in the face of writer’s block he can’t overcome, has ruined his marriage by drowning himself in booze and extramarital affairs. At one point early in the film, after getting verbally jabbed for his now-lackluster wit by his agent, Zack asks, “If you think my stuff is crap, then why do you keep representing me?”

The agent’s response was (and here’s the point, folks), “That’s like asking a heroine addict why he keeps shooting up. It’s because he keeps hoping for the euphoria of that first high, even though he knows deep down inside that it will never happen.” And there’s your answer to why I keep watching Smallville. Hope springs eternal, and I, like Clark, never give up hope that things can get better.

And I still want his job.

Thanks also have to go to those not-quite-newspeople over at The Onion, and their new (or at least new to me) ‘News Network.’ This story is absolutely hilarious thanks in part to some great parody work on Trekkers and the straight-as-an-arrow delivery by the Anderson Cooper-lookalike news anchor, ‘Glen Bannon’. Only part that went just a bit too far was referring to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry as “a hack.” No need to trod upon the man’s grave, people, come on. Check this out:

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As ‘Fun, Watchable’

Hour 2 of Prime Time Geek Episode 19 is once again brought to you by a snarky Jimmy Kirk hitting on a hot-to-trot Uhura in the new Star Trek movie. Don’t miss tomorrow night’s LIVE broadcast of Episode 20, starting at 8PM EST, as I’ll be reviewing the new Trek film during Hour 1. So far, everyone I’ve talked to has loved it–it’s shaping up to be this summer’s Iron Man in terms of near-universal audience and critical appeal. Kudos to J.J. Abrams–there hasn’t been this much excitement about a Star Trek film since … well, actually, I don’t think there’s EVER been this much excitement and interest among casual moviegoers for a Trek film. Pretty amazing, indeed.

Will write more about this episode later, when I can see clearly–eyes dilated at the moment, makes blogging … challenging.

Hour 2 of Prime Time Geek’s FX International Wrap-Up Edition is brought to you by another clip from Chasing Amy. I’m sure that by the time I have the opportunity to cover another convention, I will have found another sound drop to use to open up a show focused on convention coverage, but until then, this clip is too good not to use. In case you’re not familiar with the film, please be warned that f-bombs abound at the end of the clip.

So you may be wondering why you haven’t seen or heard anything in all this coverage focused on THE biggest name at the convention, the venerable Leonard Nimoy. There may come a day when PTG is so well established and entrenched in the media that dropping $125 to simply be in the same room with the man while he hosts his own panel is not an issue, or perhaps the show is so well established that such fees would be waived entirely. It is certainly my ambition for the show to reach such heights. For now, however, just four months into the life of this program, such expenses are not only prohibitive, but rather simply impossible.

So yes, bottom line: I couldn’t afford to get in the door of his panel, and trust me, neither could a lot of the vendors and exhibitors, even when they ‘discounted’ the entry fee for those working the convention. Yes, I know this is ‘Spock‘ we’re talking about here–only a visit from ‘The Shatner’ himself could trump such star-power–but in this economy, to expect convention goers AND vendors/exhibitors/press to pony up such prices … well, it would seem as though Mr. Nimoy or those in charge of such decisions might indeed be just getting off a shuttlecraft from Vulcan. Under the circumstances, I was happy to simply wish Mr. Nimoy a fond ‘live long and prosper’ from the dealer room and not give it another thought.

Highlights of Hour 2:

• Interview with Christos Gage: Probably one of the busiest writers in comics today, Christos Gage has his writing fingers in many different pies these days, and those pies are being baked by many different bakers. For Avatar Press, he’s writing Absolution (indeed, we interviewed him at the Avatar Press table, where he was firmly entrenched whenever he wasn’t participating in a panel discussion). For Marvel Comics, he’s currently the writer on Avengers: The Initiative, a book that he co-wrote with Dan Slott at the book’s inception and throughout the Secret Invasion storyline. For Wildstorm , he’s continuing his work on WildC.A.T.S in the wake of the crossover story “World’s End”, and for IDW Publishing, he’s co-writing G.I. Joe: Cobra along with Mike Costa. He has a lot to say about his current projects and also about writing in so many different genres at the same time.
• Interview with Jonathan Hickman: Currently the writer on Marvel’s Secret Warriors, Jonathan Hickman describes the way the book has been received by comics readers, working with the character of Nick Fury and the bizarre assortment of Hydra-related villains arrayed against him, and the incredible work of artist Stefano Caselli on the book. Hickman maintains that this book, despite it’s broadening scope is all about Fury’s personal journey, and maintains a focus on character development while building an large-scale epic story through issue #25 and beyond (issue #4 hits stands this month).
• Interview with Sergio Cariello: Illustrator Sergio Cariello graciously took time out from doing sketches for fans to talk about his approach to his various art projects, whether they be set in the ‘Old West’ (The Lone Ranger for Dynamite Entertainment), World War II (The Iron Ghost for Image Comics), or even in biblical times (Son of Samson for Zondervan, The Picture Bible for Cook Communications).

Thanks again to Christos Gage, Jonathan Hickman, and Sergio Cariello for sharing their time and their insights.As with the interviews played back in Hour 1, all these interviews were shot on video as well as recorded for audio, so keep checking back here at Prime Time Geek in the coming weeks for the video footage.

Hour 2 of Prime Time Geek Episode 16 is brought to you by another clip from the upcoming J.J. Abrams-directed revival of Star Trek, courtesy of Collider.com. In this little bit, we get a particularly snarky Kirk going out of his way to piss off “Acting-Captain” Spock (Zachary Quinto) just after Kirk and a very out-of-sorts Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg) beam directly aboard the Enterprise while the ship is traveling at warp. This little bit seems to give audiences a little more about why we’ve seen Spock beating the crap out of Kirk on the bridge in the trailers, and considering little Jimmy Kirk’s attitude, I don’t blame Spock for hauling off on him. These clips go a long way toward telling us who Kirk is going to be in this film at least at the beginning of the film: arrogant, iconoclast, smart-ass, in-your-face insubordinate jerk whose mouth is quicker than his head. It will be interesting to see how we get from there to the Kirk we know of old. Once again, you can hear the audio for the clip right at the beginning of the podcast, and you can watch the clip in its entirety below.

Hour 2 features an impromptu visit from Mad Mario, Highlord of Home Theater, who returns to his role of movie and TV reviewer after delving into console games last week. He shares his always-colorful observations on “Hancock“, the Will Smith superhero-action film from last summer, as well as FOX’s Fringe and Dollhouse. But perhaps most vociferously, Mad Mario delivers his scathing opinions on the film work of Samuel L. Jackson, and in fact dared listeners out there to find one, JUST ONE, good movie featuring SLJ. If you can think of one, and actually defend the film’s worth, head over to somacow.net/forum, go to the Prime Time Geek Message Board, find the thread for the ongoing discussion of Sam Jackson’s work, and post your thoughts. Should provide for some interesting fodder. One film I didn’t think of during the show to mention was Patriot Games–yes, it’s a small role, but he’s IN it and that’s all that counts.

Finally, the final segment of the hour, “Felix is Fuming”, finds me gasping for breath with what little voice I have left by this point and discussing the number of great television shows that are “on the bubble” as far as being picked up for next season and why the broadcast networks continue to kill good TV before it has a chance to really hit its stride. This season, due in part to the lousy economy, a good number of shows face the axe, and most of those shows fall into the “genre show” catagory, shows like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse, Eleventh Hour, Fringe, and NBC’s midseason alternate-reality series,Kings. Pushing Daisies and Life on Mars have already bit the dust this season. Who’s going to be next? And though I’m a fan, I really must ask, “Why the hell isn’t Smallville on that list??”

PTG Episode 16, Hour 1 is brought to you by this clip, courtesy of MTV, from the upcoming Star Trek film directed by J.J. Abrams. The audio of the clip starts off the podcast, and you can listen AND watch the clip in its entirety below. In it, well, little Jimmy Kirk (no, he’s not quite James T. Kirk, not to me, not yet) succeeds in impressing Cadet Uhura with his knowledge of xenolinguistics, but makes much less of a favorable impression upon her would-be Starfleet Academy chaperones. Certainly explains why later we see him with a bloody nose and a split lip. Hour 2 will feature another released clip from the new Trek, so be sure to check back here at primetimegeek.com for that.

Hour 1 gets in gear by presenting all the rumors and stories surrounding Joss Whedon’s slow-to-catch-on new series on FOX, Dollhouse, and the question of whether or not it will actually return for a second season or instead become the latest chapter in the ongoing saga entitled, “Joss Whedon: The Broadcast Networks Hate You.” Now seriously, the stories behind Dollhouse and the other ill-fated Whedon-crafted TV series that met their ends before their times, Angel and Firefly, could not be more different, but when the end results are the same, does it matter? The man is a gifted craftsman of character drama with a talent for quippy, pop-culture aware dialogue that is a perfect fit with today’s 19-39 demographic, yet FOX continually shows nothing but ineptitude in terms of handling and marketing his work. Friday night, running after the terminally-ill Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, THAT’S the best time slot idea they could come up with, really? The web was abuzz with negative premonitions once that was announced, and that was weeks before the series even debuted! Here at PTG we humbly submit that Whedon would be best served by the folks over at NBC/Universal, specifically their cable networks: Sci-Fi Channel (soon to be SyFy), USA Network, hell, even Oxygen at this point, would treat a Whedon property with a whole lot more respect, and in today’s television landscape, probably bring in better Nielsen numbers, to boot.

The DC Comics Spotlight falls on Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2, and boy, is this book turning out to be a letdown. Yes, the writing is at fault–Tony Daniel, for all this ability to draw great scenes, is no master of dialogue or characterization–but one must look to the editorial leadership at DC and the decision to put a first time writer in charge of a heavily-hyped series that will at its end produce a replacement for one of the company’s most popular and well-known characters. The issue itself isn’t bad, and the pretty art helps make it passable, but it’s simply not GREAT, and this series, above all the other Battle for the Cowl tie-ins, needed to be a home-run for fans to even consider embracing the “next” Batman, who we all know will only be filling the bat-cowl for a short time, anyway.

And finally, we wrap with the first installment of the new segment on PTG, “Felix is Fuming” (sound byte intro to come), where I rant and rave about something in the comic book world that truly pissed me off in that particular week. Wait, me ranting and raving about something? How is that any different than any other segment, you ask? Apparently, not much, but hey, you might hear in these segments a few “colorful metaphors” get bleeped out from week to week.

(and yes, this entry might be record-setting in terms of the number of hypenated words used in the text …)