Giant Freakin Robot

In addition to being the source — and subject — of countless unparalleled anecdotes, writer Harlan Ellison has been one of the most prolific writers of the last century. He’s written short stories, novels, columns, TV shows, movies…you name it. Unsurprisingly, there’s a ton of his stuff that even the most devout disciple of Ellison has never seen. The folks at Edgeworks Abbey are looking to remedy that, releasing an ongoing series of books that delve into Ellison’s “deep cuts,” and two new editions have just become available.

The first, Brain Movies: Volume Three, includes the script for Cutter’s World, an unfilmed pilot script that beat Firefly to the whole “space western” thing to the punch by several decades. It also includes the partial short story that eventually evolved into “Demon With a Glass Hand,” one Ellison’s unforgettable episodes of The Outer Limits.

The much-anticipated Tomorrowland, a new science fiction film from director Brad Bird and writer Damon Lindelof, has sparked the imagination of both Disney aficionados and sci-fi genre fans. Although there is stll not much known about the film, Lindelof has revealed that none of the movie Tomorrowland will take place in the actual theme park of Tomorrowland.

In an interview with Grantland, Damon Lindelof talked about this film’s inspiration and how it will fit into Disneyland’s mythology. Over the past decade, Disney has used their thrill rides as the basis for several feature-length films, including Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, and the still-in-the-works 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea from director David Fincher. Although the theme park Tomorrowland doesn’t have a narrative, the movie version will feature aspects of the futuristic setting. Here’s Lindelof:

I’ve always been fascinated by Disneyland and Disney World, and my favorite part of the park was always Tomorrowland. But there’s no story there. Like, if you go into Fantasyland, there’s just story happening all around you everywhere, whether it’s sort of a direct kind of connection to a movie that you know or a fairy tale that you know, and the same with, like, Frontierland, or when you go in the Haunted Mansion. My son, who’s 6, when he went on Pirates of the Caribbean for the first time, Jack Sparrow is a part of that ride. He’s going to see the movies in two years, when he’s old enough, and he’s going to think that the movies were the inspiration for the ride, versus the other way around. I would love to do that for Tomorrowland, you know? I would love to give Tomorrowland a story, because right now, Tomorrowland is kind of being taken over by Star Wars — which is great, but it’s called Tomorrowland.

James Cameron’s The Abyss is one of my favorite movies of all time. I’d never make the argument that it’s an overall better film than Cameron’s Aliens, but it is hugely underrated in my opinion. As such, it’s a crying shame that it still isn’t available in high-definition or on Blu-ray, but thankfully that oversight may finally be rectified next year.

The folks at Digital Bits reported the rumor last year that a Blu-ray release of The Abyss was in the works, along with Cameron’s True Lies. The director was reportedly taking a little time off working on the Avatar movies to help prepare the high-def transfers. While there still hasn’t been an official street date or announcement, True Lies actress/geek icon Eliza Dushku mentioned on BBC America’s The Nerdist that she had recently worked on the True Lies Blu-ray. Well, if True Lies is indeed in the works, it stands to reason The Abyss probably is too. Especially since The Abyss will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2014, and movie studios do so love an anniversary-timed home video release.

Sci-fi fans may also finally be able to take home The X-Files in Blu-ray next year as well. Digital Bits says the post facility HTV is working on the X-Files Blu-rays. We reported last November that X-Files Blu-rays might drop sometime in 2013, so this news would fit with that information. The bad news is that HTV was involved in the Star Trek: The Next Generation second-season Blu-rays, and that set had some problems. Hopefully The X-Files will get a little more tender-loving care before it hits the shelves.

Although Star Trek Into Darkness was just released in American theaters last Thursday, you can already pre-order the Blu-ray/DVD and a limited edition gift set of the Star Trek sequel film. Paramount Pictures has not released a street date for the Star Trek Into Darkness Blu-ray/DVD, but it’s most likely to hit stores and online retailers sometime in September or October of this year.

Paramount Pictures is giving Trek fans a few reasons to pick up Star Trek Into Darkness‘ limited edition gift set, which boasts a prop replica of the Starfleet Phaser pistol from the sequel film. Creative studio Quantum Mechanix Inc. will be producing the Phaser, which features a servo-powered spinner to instantly change intensity setting from “stun” to “kill.” Beware, there’s a HUGE SPOILER about Star Trek Into Darkness on QM’s website.

The Star Trek Into Darkness limited edition gift set retails for about $100, but it might be worth the price tag if you’re a big fan of the Star Trek sequel. The gift set comes with four format versions of the film itself: a 3D Blu-ray, a regular Blu-ray, a DVD, and a Digital Copy. As for the box art, it’s one of the movie posters from the film. It’s simple, but direct.