Lord of the Rings on the big screen. (And the great extended editions that came out on DVD later.)

Debut of the XBox 360, PS3 and Wii.

I would go with, as much as I hate to say it, JJ Abrams Star Trek as it helped me forget the whales.

To a certain extent also it was the rise of the comic book movie, not just The Dark Knight, although that was the exclamation point at the end of comic book movie!

I would think to toss X-Men in here right in 2000. Even with a few of the issues with the movie that I had with it (dialogue in some cases), it seems to me it was the first superhero / comic book movie that did very well to ground itself in our world.

….black leather aside

Video games eclipsing movies in terms of opening sales numbers. Starting with Halo 3, then being beaten by other games later – Grand Theft Auto IV & Modern Warfare 2.

JOSS WHEDON RELEASES “DR. HORRIBLE’S SING-A-LONG BLOG”

Why it was a great day to be a geek: Our favorite geeky TV creators were on strike during the Writer’s Guild of America strike. But one creator, the inimitable Joss Whedon, couldn’t HELP but continue creating, and ended up subverting the studio system and bringing us the best villain (and the only villain) ever to be the star of his own musical! Whedon made it seem possible to create smart, fun, and VIABLE entertainment with a small budget, good writing, and a way to upload to the internet, and now it seems like everyone is doing it!

Why it was bittersweet: The BEST part of Dr. Horrible wasn’t on the web at all, but on the DVD release! The commentary track was ITS OWN MUSICAL called “Commentary: The Musical!” Better songs than the original Dr. Horrible, and it’s only available on the DVD, thus canceling out a bit of the awesomeness of creating something specifically FOR THE WEB. But it’s a new medium that we’re still figuring out how to make profitable, so these kinks are to be expected.

How can you forget the latest Star Trek movie?

Ditto on the comic book movies.

The Raimi brothers returning with Drag Me to Hell. Totally comparable to the Evil Dead series.

The Adobe acquisition of Omniture… okay, maybe I’m the only one geeking out over this.

I’m drawing a complete blank. I don’t know what I’d actually put on this list. I’ll have to think about that one.

Thanks, Josh!

Even though it is brand spanking new and technically won’t be released until 2010 I am going to have to say the filming of A Game of Thrones for HBO is pretty awesome. There are a few epic fantasy series that are upper echelon in fantasy. Rarely do they see the small screen of the television. If they did, they were complete crap. A great effort here with the feel of the LotR movies will open an entire new genre of television.

Sorry Legend of the Seeker, you may fill my fantasy television void now, but you have pissed off to many fans to be considered for this entry.

THE REBIRTH OF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

Why it was a great day to be a geek: A campy tv show from the 70s is brought back to life with much improved special effects that aren’t recycled every episode and writing that proves that being a “genre” show doesn’t mean you can’t be one of the better drama’s on television.

Why it was bittersweet: For some, the unanswered questions and religious overtones of the series finale undid all the good points of the show’s 4 season run.

@David – I’m so glad you included the qualifier “for some” in your bittersweet assessment of BSG, as I was one of those people who LOVED the ending. In fact, I really don’t understand how people were surprised by the religious overtones, considering that there were religious overtones throughout the series! Roslin was supposed to be a prophet! One of the major points of the show was that the Cylons were monotheistic, while the humans believed in many gods. Religion ALWAYS went hand-in-hand w/skepticism and science on that show. I think a lot of people were disappointed that science didn’t “win?” But guess what? There ARE no clear answers as far as science v religion, otherwise, we wouldn’t still be fighting about it. I think the entire show, including the ending, really captured that.

Next week Josh will bring you the decade’s worst geek moments. At least I hope he will because I only have like 34378545 things to add.

@ Josh – Any chance of an edit? “… one of the better drama’s on television.” I goofed and made dramas possessive. Somehow whenever I get quoted by one of the Geeksix, I always manage to screw up some obvious grammar rule.

@Teresa – I agree with you. I personally didn’t have any problems with the ending. And I agree that the religious overtones were always part of the show, mixed in with the science. I think were people got upset was that when it came down to the end, the choice made was “It’s all part of God’s plan”, which then goes back to every religion vs. science question in the show and answers it with “religion wins”. Was Roslin’s visions a result of her smoking the good stuff? No, they came from a higher power. Was the Six in Baltar’s head a delusion caused by guilt or a piece of technology the cylons put there? Neither, she’s an angel. Starbuck’s back from the dead! Is she a Cylon? Nope, another angel send to guide everyone to their destiny. If you’ve got good writers, I think you can straddle the line in arguments like Science vs Religion. But when you finally decide to show your cards as to which side you’re actually on, the ones in the other camp are going to be upset that they “lost”.

BSG – I remember a few people actually complaining about the “re-imaging” and trying to make a case for the original being better. Odd.

I loved Star Trek IV, though. What’s wrong with the whales? Certainly better than V, and the ridiculous Generations.

Trilogy Tuesday – Extended versions of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers and the premiere of The Return of the King.

I have to agree with you on Game of Thrones, Jason. I’m sure that Legend of the Seeker will never compare to it, I’m sure.

What are they going to do with A Game of Thrones? At the rate the books are coming out, the actors might die of old age before we get to see the full story!

I was thinking about the religious overtones BSG the other day. I took it more as a matter of in the end siding with monotheism vs. polytheism rather than science vs. religion.

I didn’t take it as either. I thought the show was actually pretty shades-of-gray on the idea of religion—God might exist or he/they might just be a construct—until the end when *Boom* God was thrown in your face. I preferred the openness of the rest of the show, but that’s just me.

That is, it was never “science vs. religion” to me. It was more, “Obviously, there is science—it is a part of the very fabric of our lives—and there may be a God or gods.” I thought the decided religious note it took at the end was jarring in comparison.

Maybe my status as an atheist influenced what I saw on screen, but I think I was pretty objective, and to me the show left things up to interpretation–until the very end.

The end seemed like kind of a betrayal to me, as they had left it open to interpretation up to that point.

Theresa, I don’t think the “no clear answers” message remained at all in the end. That’s the issue. There was an answer—an answer that to me was entirely too pat. I wasn’t looking for religion to win—nor was I looking for religion to win.

Hah! Er… I wasn’t looking for science to win, that is—or for religion to win. Religion did “win,” though, and it just didn’t work for me. It was too much, having everything be so orchestrated, so laid down throughout time.

Seth, to me it was just more evidence of their lack of planning. They didn’t really have the show’s arc spelled out, and when they got to the end they needed to wrap up all the ambiguous story lines so quickly. So they chose a simple, pat answer to everything—and weakened the show in the process.

Hmmm, this makes me want to go back and re-watch the last half of Season 4 and especially the final episode with all of these thoughts in mind.