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From Katy Perry and Stone Temple Pilots to MGMT and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, some of 2010’s most anticipated albums are hitting stores this season. Big debuts from Court Yard Hounds and Drake are due, along with eagerly awaited releases by Christina Aguilera, Hole, the Hold Steady and Gaslight Anthem. Read up on 38 of the spring’s discs, plus get your first listen to new tunes from Jakob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Peter Wolf, and watch exclusive performances and sneak peeks featuring fresh tunes by Erykah Badu, Justin Bieber and more.

March

Justin Bieber
MY WORLD 2.0 3/23

LOWDOWN: Just four months after releasing his debut, teen phenom Justin Bieber is rolling out the follow-up. “With My World, I was a rookie,” says the singer. “I’m still a rookie, but I think of this album as an upgrade, a step above.” The disc — produced by hitmakers Tricky Stewart and Bryan-Michael Cox — leans R&B, from its influences (Boyz II Men, Usher, Anthony Hamilton) to its theme. “I’m not allowed to have a girlfriend until I’m over 16,” says Bieber, who reached the milestone on March 1st. “But I wrote a lot about girls.”

WATCH IT:
Exclusive: Behind the scenes of Bieber’s video for “Never Let You Go”

HEAR IT:
“Baby” feat. Ludacris

LAST TIME:
• Review: My World (2009)

Goldfrapp
HEAD FIRST 3/23

LOWDOWN: Written and recorded in six months, the fifth album from London electropop duo Goldfrapp is a return to the luxurious beatwork that made them dance-floor darlings and Xtina’s studio pals. Heavily influenced by the pillowy atmospherics of Giorgio Moroder and Suicide, Head First is a soft-focus haze smeared with a newfound, ABBA-esque positivity. “I wasn’t very happy before,” says frontwoman Alison Goldfrapp. “We’ve done introspective, we wanted to make an ‘up’ album.”

HEAR IT:
“Rocket”

LAST TIME:
• Review: Seventh Tree (2008)

Meth, Ghost and Rae
WU-MASSACRE 3/30

LOWDOWN: “Lyrics over some nice beats — that’s what the people want from us,” says Ghostface Killah, who recruited fellow Wu-Tang Clan members Method Man and Raekwon for the closest thing to a Wu album since 2007. Even though most of the Clan aren’t involved, the trio got the retro-soul beat for first single “Our Dreams” — which features a 1975 Michael Jackson sample — from RZA’s stash. “When I heard that beat, I was like, ‘Holy shit!’” says Ghostface. “It’s not a roughneck joint — just nice and mellow.”

HEAR IT:
“Our Dreams”

Erykah Badu
NEW AMERYKAH PART TWO: RETURN OF THE ANKH 3/30

LOWDOWN: Erykah Badu’s latest is the right-brained counterpart to 2008’s New Amerykah Part One. “I was in a political place,” she says. “This album is emotional, vulnerable.” To get the moody vibe on cuts like the piano-driven “Window Seat,” about an ambivalent lover, Badu recorded in her shower: “I wanted to sound like I was in a tunnel. I got my laptop and closed the door.”

WATCH IT:
Exclusive: Badu goes through her make-up routine in a visual piece set to “Window Seat”

HEAR IT:
“Window Seat”

LAST TIME:
• Review: New Amerykah (2008)

April

Jakob Dylan
WOMEN AND COUNTRY 4/6

LOWDOWN: Cut in less than a week, Jakob Dylan’s second solo album reunites him with T Bone Burnett, who produced the Wallflowers’ 1996 breakthrough, Bringing Down the Horse. “He brings out the best in people,” says Dylan. The album features cozy harmonies from Neko Case and Kelly Hogan, and is divided between songs about relationships (“We Don’t Live Here Anymore”) and the state of the nation (“Everybody’s Hurting”) — hence the title. Dylan says he’s happy with the album’s rootsy, nonrock feel: “I don’t feel I have to shout so much anymore.”

HEAR IT:
Exclusive Premiere: “Everybody’s Hurting”

LAST TIME:
• Review: Seeing Things (2008)

Slash
SLASH 4/6

LOWDOWN: After a 25-year stint in two highly volatile bands, Slash is relieved to finally be calling the shots. “It was very cathartic,” the guitarist says. “I’ll go back to Velvet Revolver with a whole new point of view.” He recruited all-stars for the hard-rock record, including Dave Grohl, Kid Rock, Iggy Pop, Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy. Most surprising is the Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie, who sings the intense “Beautiful Dangerous.” Says Slash, “People are going to trip when they hear the stuff she is capable of.”

Peter Wolf
MIDNIGHT SOUVENIRS 4/6

LOWDOWN: “I’ve never been one to categorize things,” says Peter Wolf of his first solo album in 14 years. The former J. Geils frontman makes his point with an adventurous journey through Philly soul, New Orleans funk (he covers Allen Toussaint) and scruffy blues. “It doesn’t feel strange to have different influences floating around,” says Wolf. Backed by ex-Dylan guitarist Larry Campbell, Wolf cut duets with Merle Haggard, Shelby Lynne and Neko Case. Haggard — with whom Wolf sang on the bar-stool anthem “It’s Too Late for Me” — was his favorite partner. “Merle got so inside that song, everyone was spellbound,” says Wolf. “I’m a musician, but I still get excited when I hear new things.”

HEAR IT:
Exclusive Premiere: “Tragedy” featuring Shelby Lynne

MGMT
CONGRATULATIONS 4/13

LOWDOWN: Fans expecting another album of supercatchy, wry psych-pop gems from MGMT will probably be disappointed. And that’s the idea. “Some will hate it, and some will love it,” says singer-keyboardist Andrew Vanwyngarden. “We want to freak people out.” After touring for two years behind their debut, 2007’s Oracular Spectacular, Vanwyngarden and his partner in the band, Ben Goldwasser, recorded most of the LP in Malibu with producer Pete Kember — of U.K. shoegazers Spacemen 3. The album ranges from quirky, British Invasion-like tunes (“It’s Working”) to sprawling, experimental cuts like the 12-minute Beach Boys-influenced “Siberian Breaks.” “One of our goals has been to infiltrate mainstream culture — and still shock people,” says Vanwyngarden. “I think this will do that.”

LAST TIME:
• Review: Oracular Spectacular (2008)

Coheed and Cambria
YEAR OF THE BLACK RAINBOW 4/13

LOWDOWN: Hard rock’s biggest geeks take their prog ambitions to new heights on this fifth album, which will be released with a 350-page novel co-written by frontman Claudio Sanchez. (Both explore the origins of the characters Coheed and Cambria, mainstays in the band’s mythology.) With NIN producer Atticus Ross and Tool collaborator Joe Barresi, the band crafted a dense, layered LP led by hooky single “The Broken.” “[Ross and Barresi] found ways to make the tunes grow, as opposed to coming right out of the gate at one intensity and staying there,” says Sanchez.

WATCH IT:
Exclusive: In the studio with the band as they record Year of Black Rainbow

HEAR IT:
“The Broken”

LAST TIME:
• Review: Neverender (2009)

pix courtesy of www.mjflix.com

CurveHouse.com would like to introduce you to the beautiful and sexy Kristal Solis – See her exclusive interview with us Here!

All images were provide by MJFlix.com.

If you call yourself a gamer, you’ve almost certainly played Uncharted 2 by now, and if you haven’t, then quit tempting the wrath of the gaming gods and go pick up a copy. Anybody who’s spent a significant amount of time with the continued explorations of Nathan Drake knows just how bad-ass this wise-cracking, action-packed, globe-trotting adventure can be. So much so that IGN recently produced a rap track to announce Uncharted 2 as our Game of the Year.

But no entertainment property is wholly original these days and Uncharted owes a debt to any number of film properties that came before. From the charming anti-hero, to the summer blockbuster tone, to the modern revelation of ancient mysteries, Uncharted pays homage to a number of films currently available on DVD and Blu-ray. While the most obvious reference is Raiders of the Lost Ark, that film has yet to emerge in high-def. So here, at least until Indy cracks the whip in HD, is our list of five Blu-rays to check out if you’re digging Uncharted 2.

While Nic Cage’s character in the National Treasure films hardly possesses the trash-talking wit of Nathan Drake, the tone of these Bruckheimer-produced adventures perfectly complements the Uncharted franchise. Traveling to far-off locations to uncover ancient secrets is essentially Drake’s job description, as is having his discoveries stolen by machine-gun wielding villains. Those similarities combined with the fact that both Uncharted and National Treasure take place in that kind of semi-dangerous, yet family friendly, PG-13 universe make this movie a perfect chaser to a long day of non-stop gaming.

Granted, Romancing the Stone may not involve a world-spanning search for famous historical treasures, but it does feature an action-packed trek through the jungle while a roguish protagonist and a headstrong female fall desperately in love despite their hatred for each other. We’d by lying if we said we didn’t see a little bit of Jack Colton in Nathan Drake, and while Joan Wilder is certainly no substitute for Elena, the concept of the love-hate relationship amidst a light-hearted adventure is absolutely the basis for Uncharted’s design.

Yes, Joss Whedon’s big-screen continuation of the adventures of the Firefly crew, Serenity, is set a few hundred years in the future from the timeline of Uncharted. And yes, it has virtually nothing to do with searching for ancient treasures. But damn if Nathan Fillion’s Captain Mal ain’t the spitting image of Nathan Drake. From the look, to the attitude, to the unblinking ability to kill some pirates in a firefight, Mal sports the same mixture of danger and charm that ultimately makes Nathan Drake such an appealing anti-hero. Also, they’re both thieves who have no problem cracking jokes in the midst of danger.

While Tomb Raider is admittedly an adaptation of another videogame, a comparison between the two franchises isn’t entirely unmerited. While the two properties don’t share a similar protagonist, there’s a fair amount of traveling across the globe to platform through a hazardous environment only to seize some long-forgotten idol and have it captured by men with machine guns. Also similar are the supernatural elements to both games as the mystery of the title relic inevitably leads to the discovery of some unnatural force that threatens the world.

If we had to pick one film on this list that’d be closest to a quasi-adaptation of Uncharted, it’d be Sahara. Why, you might ask?

Historical adventure? Check!
Globe-trotting? Check!
Smarmy-yet-charming anti-hero? Check!
Feminine, though overly capable love interest? Check!
Adventuresome tone? Check!
Gunfights? Check!
Car chases? Check!
Helicopters? Check!
Lost submarines? Check!
Jokey sidekicks and grumpy mentors? Check!

Short of handing audiences a controller and allowing them to play the movie, what more could you ask?!

Playing Bayonetta, the word that springs most immediately to mind is “bizarre.” You play as a leather-clad, long-haired witch battling angels in the service of Hell as you work your way, corpse after corpse, up the heavenly hierarchy toward the Maker himself. Armed with a demonic katana and a pair of high-heel guns that fire each time she kicks, Bayonetta makes her way between the real world, the underworld and “Paradiso” in search of more angels to kill.

And occasionally, whenever she finds a particularly sizeable angel, she kills it… with her hair.

If you can find a direct cinematic equivalent to this little bit of Japanese insanity, by all means let us know. But we’ve been playing this action title for days now despite, or maybe because of, it’s awesomely crazy story, ridiculously sexy heroine and non-stop, ultra-bloody violence. But when we have to put down the controller, we’ve found ourselves in the mood for a few films that typify everything we dig about Bayonetta, and we think that if you love the game as much as we do, you’ll definitely dig these next few films.

Kill Bill Volume 1
Publisher: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Price/Retailer: $16.49/Amazon

Obviously, Kill Bill draws some inevitable comparisons to Bayonetta by virtue of its ass-kicking lead. And while the mythos built around the mysterious “Bill” does make him appear a little god-like, The Bride certainly ain’t choppin’ up angels as she makes her way forward. The real comparisons come less from the story and more from the martial arts style. If you’ve played Bayonetta at all, you’ve no doubt enjoyed commanding your Umber Witch to break-dance across the floor, firing off rounds from her high-heel cannons and chopping up seraphim with her razor-sharp sword. Apparently, Uma Thurman enjoys this as well, taking out the Crazy 88 the same way that Bayonetta does… on the floor.

Puts the “break” in break-dancing.

Lady Vengeance
Publisher: Tartan Extreme
Price/Retailer: Import

This might not be the kind of film that one would immediately associate with Bayonetta, but there’s no doubt a strange, skewed sense of humor to the game – not to mention a very specific, over-the-top style – also applies to Chan-Wook Park’s incredibly violent and darkly funny tale of revenge. Add to that a sexy femme fatale with a rather unique-looking pistol and you’ve got one bad-ass chick film well worth chasing a multi-hour play session.

As deadly as she is sexy.

Ultraviolet (2006)
Publisher: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Price/Retailer: $18.49 /Amazon

This is one to watch for the tone… and for a long-haired Milla Jovovich who, in the right leather outfit, vaguely resembles Bayonetta herself. This kind of over-the-top, uber-stylized, ultra-visual, future-retro actioner may not cover the same supernatural ground as the game itself, but it barrels forward with a very similar sense of bloody abandon. That plus the fact that Jovovich ain’t exactly bad with a sword makes for an experience that feels very much in line with the craziness of the game itself.

Bayo…

…netta?

Planet Terror
Publisher: The Weinstein Company
Price/Retailer: $14.99Amazon

We’d love to say that we chose Planet Terror for reasons other than the fact that Rose McGowan goes through much of the film with a gun attached to her leg… but we can’t. Sure, we could say some stuff about how the grindhouse nature of film can be glimpsed in the film-stock cut-scenes scattered throughout Bayonetta. And we could say something about the mad-cap vibe of the film itself, but really we chose Planet Terror because she shoots people by kicking at them.

Gun leg!

Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Publisher: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Price/Retailer: $11.49/Amazon

The sequel to Hellboy doesn’t feature a powerful, black-haired heroine. OK, well… actually it does if you count Selma Blair. And it doesn’t boast much gunplay. Nope, wait… it does. And it’s not necessarily about battling angels… unless you mean the Angel of Death. But it does take place at the border between two worlds. Balanced between the human world and the secret world of creatures and demons, both Hellboy and Bayonetta include heroes trying to keep their supernatural vendettas from spilling over into the world of man.

Evil angel.

Eviler angel.

If the opening moments of BioShock 2 prove anything it’s that the old saying is true: you can never really go home again. As we trudge heavy-booted and drill-wielding down the dilapidated halls of Rapture, everything feels familiar – just as we left it; all right with the world – except, of course, for the one thing that made the original BioShock so damn powerful – that overwhelming sense of discovery. And we’re given pause for a moment to consider that perhaps the experience might have been more worthwhile had all not been right with the world, or had Rapture not been entirely as we once left it…

But there’s no denying that Rapture is a glorious place, filled with atmosphere and mystery, drawing from the iconic, art-deco style of the 40’s and combining it expertly with notes of steampunk sci-fi and classic film noir. And as we plod slowly toward Sofia Lamb, rivet gun rumbling in our hands, we wonder to ourselves just how we’ll continue to get our fix well after the credits have finished rolling. Consequently, we drew up a list of five Blu-ray releases that all invoke the spirit of BioShock — something to tide us over until the first DLC or, dare we hope, BioShock 3.

Gattaca

Much like BioShock, Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca is set in a vaguely noir-ish, semi-futuristic city in which the manipulation of genetics has given birth to a new generation of class warfare. Through the careful implementation of eugenics, virtually every citizen is born with a pre-programmed genetic makeup, already slated for their ideal future. The best of these citizens are referred to as “valids,” and those born naturally, without the use of genetic tampering, are looked down upon as the lowest class of this new society. It ain’t exactly plasmids and gene tonics, but it’s hard not to see the basic similarity of a neo-noir adventure set amongst the society obsessed with the “power of the gene,” as Andrew Ryan might say.

Good health; high life expectancy.

Lightning from my damn fingers.

Poseidon

It’s fair to say that if we had our druthers, we’d be talking about the original version of The Poseidon Adventure here instead of the recent remake, but sadly, that particular classic isn’t yet available on Blu-ray. That said, the essential premise is the same: an upscale luxury cruise liner – a kind of vacation utopia, if you will – is capsized, overturned and transformed into an utter nightmare as the ocean rushes in reclaim the living as they attempt to escape toward the surface. Likewise in BioShock, there’s a constant threat that the ocean will finally push aside the walls of Rapture and flood the halls, sweeping you away toward a watery grave well below the surface of the sea. Obviously, this is less of a concern in the sequel, but every leak and pool and slowly expanding puddle is a reminder of the awesome strength of the ocean.

Right-side-up or upside down?

Either way, you’re dead.

The Third Man (The Criterion Collection)

There are very few direct thematic connections between the classic film noir The Third Man and the BioShock series. However, the stories that we glimpse through the scattered audio-logs tell us that the essence of noir isn’t limited strictly to the visuals of BioShock, but to the conflicts and struggles that fuel Rapture’s inhabitants. There we find murderers, smugglers, femme fatales and well-intentioned patsies. Noir is everywhere in Rapture. In truth, any classic example of the genre would suffice here — Citizen Kane or Chinatown — but damn if some the best have yet to hit Blu-ray!

“That’s a great moustache.”

“Really? Thanks. Love the hat.”

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

During the pivotal scene in the original BioShock, the phrase “would you kindly…” takes on an extraordinary significance. When the player discovers that those three little words had triggered him to have accomplished all he had thus far done throughout the game, it’s hard not to think of The Manchurian Candidate. Harder still while you’re beating Andrew Ryan to death with his own golf club. While the original film isn’t available on Blu-ray, Jonathan Demme’s remake handles the central conceit of brainwashing sufficiently well to draw the comparison, and suddenly a film about the tenuous notion of self-control is reflected within a metaphor for how and why a character is motivated to proceed through an otherwise linear and scripted game where choice is only an illusion.

A man chooses.

A slave obeys.

Dark City (Director’s Cut)

Few fictional cities can hold a candle to the grandeur and intrigue of Rapture. Alex Proyas‘ Dark City is one such metropolis. This bleak, noir-ish, art-deco city was designed – much like Rapture – as a kind of social experiment, albeit by curious aliens and not rich, social misfits. One gets the distinct impression that a simple stroll through the ever-changing streets of this shadowy city would reveal countless architectural similarities to the neon-lit back-alleys of Rapture itself. And if you count a bespectacled Kiefer Sutherland, both cities probably have an equal amount of bizarre residents who are all far more well-informed than you.

Dark City.

Drown city.

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It bears mentioning that there are a handful of movies that aren’t available on Blu-ray that capture the spirit of BioShock equally well, if not better. In addition to the original versions of The Manchurian Candidate and The Poseidon Adventure, we’d absolutely suggest referencing The City of Lost Children, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Citizen Kane, The Abyss and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. You’ll find Rapture there in all of them.

As every fan knows, the word “crisis” has a special meaning in the DC Universe. It conjures up images of epic, cross-world stories that have a lasting impact on the characters and continuity of entire franchises. So when fans see the title Crisis on Two Earths, there’s a reasonable expectation that the story will be epic and world-changing. While this direct-to-DVD animated title meets the first criteria quite masterfully, it is important to note that it is a standalone title, bearing no connection to any other existing Justice League storyline. Had it been produced as it was originally intended — to bridge the gap between the two TV series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited — it might have had more of an affect on the DC Universe as a whole. That said, it’s still fun and filled with a good balance of plot, action and humor that ought to win over even the most skeptical fan.

Those who want to see the seeds of that connection between Crisis and the television incarnations of the Justice League won’t have to look very hard. The character designs are similar, and although the lineup of heroes is slightly different, it begins with a small, core team working on the satellite that will eventually become the base of operations for a larger cast of characters. The main cast includes Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern (Hal Jordon, not John Stewart, as in the TV series). There are also cameos galore, including some characters we already know and their evil alter egos from a parallel world (who are fun to figure out if you know anything about the DC Universe).

To further distance this story from the others that have come before, there have been some voice cast changes as well. The new voices take some getting used to, and in some cases it’s tough to get over the image that goes along with the voice. But once the well-animated action kicks in, you’ll start to see Batman instead of William (“Billy”) Baldwin, Superman instead of Mark Harmon and Lex Luthor instead of Chris Noth. Not to be outdone, the villains also have some marquee names to their credits, with none other than James Woods providing the subtly sinister voice of alt-universe Batman, known in his world as Owl Man, and Gina Torres sounding at once seductive and strong as Super Woman, an evil counterpart to Wonder Woman.

Taking inspiration from the storylines of the comics — Crisis on Earth-Three and JLA: Earth 2 specifically — the movie finds the Justice League clashing with their evil counterparts in the Crime Syndicate after a desperate, alt-universe Lex Luthor arrives in our world to seek their help. In his own universe, he’s not only a hero, but the former leader of the Justice League, and its sole remaining member. With no one left to stop the Crime Syndicate, Lex fears that his world is doomed to fall into chaos. It takes some convincing, but eventually Superman (Harmon), Wonder Woman (Vanessa Marshall), Flash (Josh Keaton) and Martian Manhunter (Jonathan Adams) join up. So pretty much everyone except Batman (Baldwin) agrees to come and help him save his world.

The Crime Syndicate is run much like the mob (or at least how the mob is portrayed in movies and TV), with a handful of captains managing their own crews, consisting of legitimate super-powered criminals and “made men,” or underlings who are given powers in exchange for their loyalty and service. The upper echelon of villains includes Ultraman (alt-Superman), Owl Man (alt-Batman), Superwoman (alt-Wonder Woman) and Johnny Quick (alt-Flash). They have become so powerful that the authorities look the other way, but the standoff is quickly disintegrating and there are fewer and fewer individuals with the power or the will to stand up to them. When they acquire enough firepower to tip the balance, it’s up to the heroes of our world to stop them. But it’s not just their own world they’re out to destroy.

Wonder Woman director Lauren Montgomery teams up with Planet Hulk director Sam Liu, bringing the best of both of those projects (two of the best to come out of their respective company’s direct-to-DVD lines) to the screen. The animation is impressive, fluid and detailed, with a scale that seems to stretch far beyond the small screen. There’s a lot of action in this too, ranging from intimate one-on-one fights to major conflicts between dozens of characters. Both are handled equally well, and with a playful sense of humor that screenwriter Dwayne McDuffie (a former writer for the Justice League TV series) infuses in the film from the very first scene. There are also pop-culture references abound, from Air Force One to Star Wars to Watchmen.

Whether you’re a longtime comic-book reader, a fan of the television series or completely new to the Justice League franchise, there’s something in this for everyone.

Here are ten shows in the pipeline that we think could bring science fiction and fantasy back to their place of preeminence on your TV set.

Steven Spielberg’s untitled alien invasion series, starring Noah Wylie. We can’t wait until this show gets a title that’s less of a mouthful. Besides Wylie, this also features Moon Bloodgood, of Journeyman and Terminator Salvation fame. TNT has already greenlit 10 episodes up front. Aliens have already wiped out most of the human race, and they’re rounding up the survivors. But Wylie, a college professor, rallies a group of survivors to fight back, including his two sons, and Karen (Jessy Schram), one of the group’s “motorcycle scouts.”

No Ordinary Family Michael Chiklis (The Shield) stars in this ABC drama about a family discovering that it has superpowers. And it sounds like Chiklis’ wife on the show (who’s not cast yet) is some kind of mad scientist. The show just cast Autumn Reeser (Entourage) as the wife’s lab assistant. David Semel, who directed the pilot for Heroes, is directing this one.

La Femme Nikita. The CW just announced that Maggie Q is in line to take on the role played by Anne Parrilaud in the original Luc Besson film, Bridget Fonda in the U.S. remake, and Peta Wilson in the 1997 cable TV series. In the new series, the CIA trains a new Nikita to replace the original, who has gone rogue. Creator Craig Silverstein says he wrote the new Nikita as “beautiful and exotic,” and he wants to use the Asian actress to bust stereotypes (despite that “exotic” thing.) The Hollywood Reporter notes that Q’s casting would be “the highest-profile series role for an Asian actress on a broadcast drama series.”

Betwixt Another CW series, this one is based on the novel by Tara Bray Smith about three Portland, OR teenagers:

During a surreal, drug-filled summer, the three must come to terms with an incredible revelation: they’re all supernatural entities known as changelings. The futures of artistic Ondine Mason, troubled Alaskan runaway Nix Saint-Michael and beautiful, ambitious Morgan D’Amici become irrevocably intertwined during a secret rave in the woods around Mt. Hood. They think they’ve come to a party, but a terrifying arcane ritual called the Ring of Fire reveals their true natures as well as their critical roles in a looming and potentially deadly other-worldy conflict.

I love the fact that they go to a rave and discover their supernatural destinies. The TV pilot, just greenlit, is being written by Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants‘ Elizabeth Chandler. So, you know, guilty pleasure.

Tower Prep and/or Unnatural History. I figure at least one of these two live-action shows on the Cartoon Network will turn out to have science fiction/fantasy elements. Tower Prep is about a rebellious teen who wakes up to find himself trapped at a mysterious boarding school that’s full of arcane secrets, and he has to figure out the school’s mysteries and escape. Paul Dini is producing, plus it sounds like a teen The Prisoner, so it should be pretty awesome. Unnatural History is about a teen, the son of anthropologists, who moves to Washington, D.C. and explores weird mysteries at the Museum of Natural History.

Riverworld. This Syfy miniseries filmed ages ago — we interviewed star Tahmoh Penikett about it last summer — but Syfy just announced an airdate for the first episode: Sunday April 18. Syfy is hoping the miniseries will spawn a new ongoing series, not unlike Penikett’s last Syfy series, Battlestar Galactica. Sure, Syfy already made a stab at doing a Riverworld adapatation a few years ago, but this time Robert Hewitt Wolfe (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Andromeda) is writing. Also co-starring in the miniseries: Laura Vandervoort (Smallville, V). If this is even remotely as great as Philip Jose Farmer’s books, then we hope it does become a series.

Undercovers. J.J. Abrams is creating another new TV series, this time about two married spies. Is it science fiction? We don’t know. Given his track record of inserting science fiction elements into most of his shows, including the spy-focused Alias and even the soap-opera Felicity, we’re betting it’ll be at least somewhat in the “spy-fi” genre. Undercovers is a comedy about a husband-and-wife spy duo, Steven (Boris Kodjoe) and Samantha (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who are recalled out of retirement by the CIA, and rekindle their relationship as they investigate different cases every week. Carter MacIntyre just joined this show’s cast, as a CIA agent with a drinking problem, who goes missing on assignment. (There are also a few other new spy/conspiracy shows coming on this fall, including NBC’s The Event, which is about the biggest government cover-up in U.S. history, involving a “secret facility in Alaska.” and Ridley Scott’s Nomads, for the CW.)

Terra Nova. Another Spielberg show, this time for Fox. It’s about a family from 100 years in the future, who travel back in time 150 million years to the time of the dinosaurs. Spielberg may actually direct some of it, and reports suggest that the special effects will be so expensive and awesome, the show may get greenlit as a series right away, to avoid the expense of filming a pilot, shutting down, and then starting up for the regular series. Dinosaurs! Dude! And as we reported the other day, Spielberg is also reviving his old TV series pitch, Nine Lives, about people who have near-death experiences to reconnect with their dead loved ones.

Being Human (U.S. remake). For those of you who’ve been living under a rock, this is a remake of the intense British drama about a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost sharing a house. Syfy’s Craig Engler tweeted about this remake a lot yesterday, saying that work is progressing, and he expects to see a script “soon-ish.” Various twitter followers asked the same question we’ve all been asking — why remake the show instead of just showing the British version? Engler replied, “1. We don’t have the rights 2. The Brit version would only get a modest rating on us 3. The creator wants to do an American version.” In any case, if original creator Toby Whithouse really does stay involved, we’re all for more Being Human on our screens.

Torchwood (the U.S. remake). Another American revamp of a British show, another original creator in the mix — since Russell T. Davies moved to Los Angeles, this is reportedly going to be one of his pet projects. We’d been assuming that this is a remake, starting over from scratch, but the Guardian seems to believe that Davies might just pick up the story where it left off at the end of “Children Of Earth,” the five-hour miniseries that aired last year. With the Hub destroyed in Cardiff, there’s no reason for alien-fighting organization Torchwood to be tied to that location any more. So maybe Captain Jack (and his new boyfriend Alonso) will just come back to Earth and travel the globe fighting monsters? Will Fox actually let RTD make this show the way he wants to? We can’t wait to find out.

The Cape. Another superhero show — this NBC show involves a cop who’s accused of a crime he didn’t commit, who turns himself into a superhero to prove his innocence. Simon West, who directed the Human Target pilot, is on board to direct this one. According to the Hollywood Reporter, this show will have a “comic book sensibility.” No info yet on who’s starring.

The Walking Dead. Frank Darabont writes, directs and produces this adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s masterful zombie apocalypse comic, in which policeman Rick Grimes leads a group of survivors in search of a new home. Gale Ann Hurd (Terminator) is also producing. In the TV version, Grimes is seriously injured in a police incident in south Georgia, going into a coma. When he awakes, he finds that shit has gotten real while he was out. He goes in search of his family, only to find his neighborhood trashed. He finds two survivors, who tell him the government was setting up a “safety zone” in Atlanta. So he heads there alone, to try and find his family.

A Game Of Thrones. HBO’s adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s acclaimed novel series. HBO has already greenlit a pilot, starring Sean Bean and Jennifer Ehle, and hopes to do seven seasons — one for each novel in the series. Producer D.B. Weiss says it won’t be a huge, splashy series with thousands of orcs stampeding across the screen. Instead, it’ll stay true to the books, and most of the battles will take place offstage.

Gates. This ABC series involves a big-city cop (Frank Grillo) who becomes the chief of police in a “sleepy planned community” and discovers there is more to the residents than meets the eye. Luke Mably plays a cardiologist who’s secretly a “vampire-like creature.”

Haven. Another book adaptation, this Syfy series is based on the Stephen King novella about a spooky town in (where else?) Maine, where “cursed folk” live normal lives in exile. The curses start coming back, so FBI agent Audrey Parker is brought in to help rein them in again, while untangling the mysteries of Haven. The production team all worked on The Dead Zone, so this spooky King territory is second nature for them.

Star Wars: The Live-Action Series. Who knows when we’ll actually see this? Plus, of course, George Lucas’ previous attempts at doing live-action Star Wars TV actually made The Phantom Menace look like Citizen Kane. Still, we can’t help being excited by the idea of this show — maybe it’s the fact that it’s supposed to be more noir, focussing on the underbelly of bounty hunters and smugglers after the rise of the Empire. Any show that features a big role for Boba Fett can’t be all bad. Not to mention, we hope Lucas finds a way to include Jedi-gone-rogue Quinlan Vos. Plus there are all those whispers that Lucas was recruiting some of Britain’s best drama writers to pitch in. So let’s hope it happens.

Plus there are also those rumbles that Joss Whedon is having lunch with the folks at FX, and possibly pitching them a show. (And possibly that missing “O” in the network’s name will make a huge difference.) And Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman just signed a development deal with Fox, meaning there’ll be shows coming down the pike from them. So don’t give up yet! Television hasn’t abandoned you.