When looking back at the most truly terrifying moments in film in the last thirty years, some can be found in both Alien and its sequel Aliens. Though the series started to focus more on action than horror in its later iterations, no one can say the first time they saw Sigorney Weaver face to face with a xenomorph that it wasn’t a horrifying experience.

The Alien franchise has always had a home in video games with everything from side scrolling adventures on the NES to the much acclaimed first person shooter Aliens vs. Predator titles on PC in 1999. SEGA is now bringing out two new Aliens titles over the coming months. The most prominent of the two comes in the form of Aliens: Colonial Marines for PC, XBox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Aliens: Colonial Marines has been a subject of much discussion in the video game world. At one point, there was a game set to release in 2002 entitled Aliens: Colonial Marines which ended up being canceled. Later, SEGA revived the name with a new development team and concept, slating it for a 2009 release. It would end up being delayed for about three years in favor of development of the updated Aliens vs. Predators title which came out to mixed reviews.

Now, Aliens: Colonial Marines looks like it is finally set to come out in 2012 from Gearbox Software. Gearbox is the team that put together the Opposing Force and Blue Shift expansions for the original Half-Life and most recently released the now infamous Duke Nukem Forever.

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All good things must come to an end, that means some of our favorite shows from this summer must as well. The good news (everyone), is that in the case of Comedy Central’s Futurama, that means it’s time for an all-out special episode in which anything could and probably will happen.

In Thursday night’s season finale, the Planet Express crew goes through a bit of a change, as the show gets told in 3 different animation styles, for the first time ever. Those three styles are “Classic Black and White”, “Old School Videogame,” and “Japanese Anime.”

So there’s a little bit of something for everybody, which is why we love Futurama in the first place. It’s unknown whether this episode will fall under their typical “alternate universe” episodes, but all we know is how awesome it will be to see our favorite delivery crew in different styles.

Check out the preview after the jump and catch the season finale of Futurama Thursday night at 10pm/9pm Central on Comedy Central.

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Even though Apple hasn’t officially announced the iPhone 5 (even though we all know it’s coming) that hasn’t stopped one company in Germany from deciding to go ahead and start taking pre-orders for it anyway. That’s right, if you happen to be a customer of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom beginning today you may begin reserving Apple’s next-generation iPhone 5 smartphone.

As a service to its customers, the company will hand out coupons to customers who reserve the device. This will take place regardless of the fact that Apple has confirmed no features, specs or a release date for the iPhone 5. Heck, we don’t even know if it will actually be called the iPhone 5.

Still, it’s awfully nice of Deutsche Telekom to take pre-orders. I wonder if they will start charging customers immediately or wait until the devices actually ship? Let’s hope they wait.

Apple is expected to launch a fifth-generation iPhone and an updated fourth-generation model some time next month. I’m willing to say that’s probably pretty accurate. Fingers crossed the iPhone 5 is amazing.

Are you guys excited for a new iPhone? Sound off in the comments.

(Note: That is not a picture of the actual iPhone 5. In case you were wondering)

Futuristic sci-fi films are always a good time. We’re lucky enough to live in a time where we have already surpassed these future milestones set in certain classic science fiction films and novels, in which humanity is to be enslaved by robots, or the earth is to be destroyed, or crime is to be abolished.

Sadly, we haven’t hit these milestones, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still a few we can’t hit. Luckily, super fan Michael Hobson over at Tremulant Design put together this full infographic on when certain sci-fi milestones are set to hit, so that we have the fully skinny on when to expect these fictional dates.

In his studies, Hobson found out a few fun details some may not be aware of. Such as the fact that the events in Avatar take place between Alien and Aliens. Or that we can expect some pretty violent reality TV to hit the airwaves in less than a decade.

So take a look at the full graphic after the jump, and bone up for when we decide to send nukes into the sun to jump start it, or when art is banned and we live in a totalitarian society. Never a bad idea to be prepared for such events.

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Given the bad stigma it’s gotten in the past with such actors like George Reeves and James Gandolfini, but if the role is worth it, typecasting isn’t necessarily a bad thing when the role is that good. That seems to be what True Blood actor Stephen Moyer has going for him in the new feature The Double.

The film is chock full of other stars, such as the film’s focal point, Richard Gere, Martin Sheen, Odette (former Yustman) Annable, and Topher (don’t call me Venom) Grace. Here’s the film’s intricate plot for you to attempt to digest.

In The Double, the mysterious murder of a US senator bearing the distinctive trademark of the legendary Soviet assassin “Cassius,” forces Paul Shepherdson (Gere), a retired CIA operative, to team with rookie FBI agent, Ben Geary (Grace), to solve the crime. Having spent his career chasing Cassius, Shepherdson is convinced his nemesis is long dead, but is pushed to take on the case by his former supervisor, Tom Highland (Sheen).

Meanwhile, Agent Geary, who wrote his Master’s thesis on Shepherdson’s pursuit of the Soviet killer, is certain that Cassius has resurfaced. As Shepherdson and Geary work their way through crimes both past and present, they discover that Cassius may not be the person they always thought him to be, forcing both to re-examine everything and everyone around them.

Check out the trailer, featuring Gere and Moyer in a duel, after the jump. Catch The Double in theaters on September 23rd.

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There’s no point in expressing how impressed we are when a film is able to stay at the #1 spot for over 3 weeks in a row, but we’re too busy trying to figure out what it is about Buena Vista’s The Help that has netted the film over $100 million since its release 4 weeks ago.

Following the film’s meager $19 million weekend pull, the weekend’s three new releases were not too far behind. It would be good to note that The Help has made just over $125 million worldwide, which is nearly $100 million over the film’s production budget. (Sequel?)

Coming in at the #2 spot, the beginning of our political thriller season starts with The Debt, which opened at $12.5 million. Meanwhile, the two horror films of the weekend, Apollo 18 and Shark Night 3D were within pennies of each other, with Apollo opening at #3 with $10.7 million and Shark Night opening at $10.3 million.

Sadly, last weekend’s releases, Columbiana, Our Idiot Brother, and Don’t be Afraid of the Dark all had over a 22% drop and came in under the top 5.

Next weekend, expect a good show from Soderbergh’s Contagion, which is opening in over 3,000 screens. Also, you can see Lionsgate’s Warrior to be a fan favorite, while Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star will open to murmurs.

Today is a holiday here in the United States which honors those who, well, labor. So, to commemorate this great feat, we will be giving the fine folks who write this site the day off. Expect to see a few articles today, but not as many as we usually bring you.

Of course, if something major happens, we will bring it to you. Otherwise, expect our usual brand of humor, articles, interviews, reviews and more to return refreshed and ready to roll tomorrow.

We wish you a happy holiday and we’ll see you on the other side.

This week’s pick is the 1983 Cold War classic War Games directed by John Badham and starring Matthew Broderick (David Lightman), Dabney Coleman (Dr. John McKittrick), John Wood (Dr. Stephen Falken), Ally Sheedy (Jennifer Mack), and Barry Corbin (General Beringer).

War Games is the ultimate Cold War thriller that questions whether or not there truly is a winner in a nuclear war. Matthew Broderick stars a David Ligthman, a highschooler with a fondness for computers and getting himself way in over his head. Lightman uses his computer hacking skills to mostly hack into his school’s computer in order to alter his grades, a dream every kid with a computer would hope to do.

At the same time, officials at the NORAD missile defense complex in Colorado, are wanting to remove the human element from America’s nuclear umbrella and devise a fully automated response system that will launch nuclear missiles once approval has been given by the president of the United States.

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Atomic Robo is the comic book that everyone should be reading.  The book stars an atomic powered robot that was built in 1923 by Nikola Tesla, and has dedicated itself to saving lives, grand adventures, and SCIENCE! With a description like that how can you not read this book?

This is the sixth volume of Atomic Robo, and while jumping into the sixth volume of anything can be scary, each volume of Atomic Robo is self-contained. Making each story accessible and enjoyable to all. After reading The Ghost of Station X, I can guarantee you are going to rush to your local comic book store to buy the other volumes.

To get you interested in this series, we have a preview of Atomic Robo: The Ghost of Station X #1. Here’s the scoop on the book directly from our friends at Red 5 Comics.

There are two kinds of people. Those who love Atomic Robo and those who haven’t read it yet. What’s that? You don’t want to start on the sixth volume? Well, GOOD NEWS! Every volume is stand alone. BOOM. You can start with this one and know what’s going on from page one. KA-BOOM. Then go back and read the other volumes in any order. THWACKA-BOOM. Oh, a plot? Okay, fine. Astronauts are stranded in a deteriorating orbit, and it’s up to Atomic Robo to save them in a race against the laws of physics!

Look for Atomic Robo: The Ghosts of Station X #1 to hit store shelves on September 7, and check out the preview after the jump.

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Welcome to another edition of On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage during the week. Let is know if we missed something interesting.

Let’s get started!

• One of our favorite video game fanfilms of recent history, Fallout: Nuka Break is now an even more awesome web series. Enjoy it!

• Want to know what the Futurama characters would look like if they were real and in 3D? Check out these haunting clay busts of Zoidberg, Nibbler, Farnsworth, and Leela.

• Looking for that awesome party beverage for the long weekend? Why not bring it back to the 80s with a home replication of Hi-C’s Ecto-Cooler!

• Fans of both The Muppets and Doctor Who will both be entertained for hours and may have an exploded brain after seeing this mashup of the two universes.

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A couple years ago I named Christopher Young’s Drag Me To Hell as my favorite score of the year. It had all of the big, bold, bombastic sounds you think of with true gothic horror. What raised that score above its genre and made it stand alone as the best was its sense of fun. It very well could have been the theme music for the tea cups ride at Inferno-Disney.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a new horror film with a strong pedigree. It takes its cues from a more classical age of horror movies and the film’s score follow suite. The music sounds like it’s from another time and shares many of the trademarks of Young’s score. This is particularly evident with the opening title, which actually made me look at my iTunes to confirm I wasn’t listening to Drag Me To Hell.

Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders have put together a very consistent sounding soundtrack for this throwback horror flick, in fact I often went ten minutes without realizing the track had changed. This ends up being a double edged sword for the album, on one hand I like what the music is giving me, so consistency means it is all gravy.

However, after the strong opening, the album never really hooks you again. You pretty much have heard everything dynamic this score has to offer in the first few tracks.

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I guess it doesn’t pay to be Jada Pinkett Smith these days. First, rumors surface of your alleged affair with Mark Anthony which made Will Smith cry and now TNT has decided not to renew your TV show.

That’s right, for those of you watching Smith and her co-stars each week on Hawthorne, the show will not be back for a fourth season. This news comes after TNT recently canceled another show that, at least in my opinion, was pretty good and worth watching: Men of a Certain Age.

Apparently also “on the bubble” is the Jason Lee starrer Memphis Beat, which has been on for two seasons already. According to reports, the odds of it returning are pretty much even money.

Here’s the official statement about Hawthorne from TNT:

TNT has decided not to order a fourth season of HawthoRNe. TNT truly appreciates the tremendous dedication of everyone involved in HawthoRNe. The series gave TNT the opportunity to work with many outstanding people, including Jada Pinkett Smith and the rest of the show’s talented cast, crew, producers and writers. We wish everyone involved with HawthoRNe nothing but the best.

Nothing but the best. Isn’t that nice? And they say people in Hollywood don’t care.