Some Star Wars-themed episodes of popular animated shows have been nominated for the 60th annual Prime Time Emmy Awards:

• Outstanding Animated Program (for programming less than one hour) - Robot Chicken: Star Wars

• Outstanding Animated Program (for programming one hour or more) - Family Guy: Blue Harvest

Source: TheForce.Net

RELATED STORY:

• Sci Fi programs pick up Emmy nominations

• A long time ago … but somehow in the future …

Science fiction got some props today in the nominations for the 60th annual Prime Time Emmy Awards:

Battlestar Galactica nominations (6):

• Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series, “Six Of One”
• Outstanding Cinematography For A One-Hour Series, “Razor”
• Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series, “He That Believeth In Me”
• Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One-Hour), “Razor”
• Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series, “He That Believeth In Me”
• Outstanding Special Class - Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Programs, “Razor Featurette #4″

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The History Channel series UFO Hunters is sending a crew to the Valley to investigate a March 13, 1997, incident known as the “Phoenix Lights.” On that evening, hundreds of people in the area saw something in the night sky. Some say it was a gigantic triangular craft, while others have said it was flares in a military exercise.

Do you have a story about the Phoenix Lights or another extraterrestrial experience?

You can meet the UFO Hunters team Friday at the Holiday Inn Express by Sky Harbor.

Watch the skies …

UPDATE: Thanks to Dave Pavoni at Motion Picture Production, Inc., for a correction: I erred and said the Sci Fi Channel show UFO Hunters is coming to town, but rather it is his History Channel series of the same name. My apologies and thanks!

The History Channel’s UFO Hunters is currently filming its second season. Welcome to the Valley!

Source: KPHO

RELATED STORIES:

• ‘Phoenix Lights’ inspire research

• New on TV 1/30/08: ‘UFO Hunters’

The top post in the Pegasus Galaxy is starting to feel a lot like the Defense Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts: cursed.

The fifth season of Stargate Atlantis debuts today on Sci Fi Channel, and with it will come another change of command.

Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager, The Wonder Years), pictured, reprises his role as Dick Woolsey, a bureaucrat who once harassed Stargate expeditions but now finds himself leading them when Col. Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) is reassigned. Tapping joined the cast last season after flagship series Stargate SG-1 went off the air, replacing Torri Higginson’s Dr. Elizabeth Weir.

We’ll still see Tapping from time to time, but Higginson has said she won’t return after how she was let go. There were some interesting developments in her character near the end, but now she’s just “out there,” somewhere — and maybe she’ll even be recast! (Higginson took over the role from another actress on SG-1, and many of the characters on that show were based on those portrayed by others in the 1994 Stargate feature film.)

Sci Fi Channel photo

RELATED STORIES:

• Davis, General Hammond on ‘Stargate SG-1,’ dies at age 65
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• Shakeup on ‘Stargate’ (again) 

IMAGES COURTESY OF WARNER BROS.

If you’re psyched for The Dark Knight (July 18) and you want to see Batman like you’ve never seen him before, check out Batman: Gotham Knight, a six chapter movie that blends beautiful anime with powerful storytelling — all surrounding one of the darkest and most legendary comic book heroes.

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Doctor Who isn’t on tonight — it’s the Fourth of July, and Sci Fi is airing a Twilight Zone marathon. (Because, really, what says patriotism like gremlins on a plane, evil children and To Serve Man?)

But the Who season is winding down, and when it returns next week there will only be three episodes left (or four, depending on how Sci Fi decides to handle the 65-minute finale, the ominously-titled “Journey’s End” which airs in the U.K. tomorrow night).

If you’re new to the phenomenon, you might want to check out Wired online’s Cliffs Notes treatment for Doctor Who virgins.

Either way, have a great Fourth, and follow the jump to enjoy some spoiler-rific images from the end of the current season of Doctor Who (if you dare):

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As The Clone Wars draws ever nearer, The New York Times’ Dave Itzkoff profiles George Lucas — who is now apparently “Free to Follow His Heart Right Back to ‘Star Wars’” (if you can still call it Star Wars).

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“SG-1, you have a go.”

With those five simple words, Gen. George Hammond sent the heroes of Stargate SG-1 through a portal to adventure every week for eight years, before his character moved on to working directly with the White House and “Homeworld Security.”

The man who played Hammond was Don S. Davis, and according to the fan site GateWorld, which quoted his representative and wife, the actor died Sunday at the all-too-young age of 65.

In addition to his role on SG-1, which ceased production last year, and an appearance on its spinoff Stargate Atlantis, Davis played a coach in the 1992 film A League of their Own and a dog show judge in 2000’s Best in Show. He also portrayed FBI agent Dana Scully’s father in several episodes of The X-Files. (His character was fond of Moby Dick, and his nickname for Scully was “Starbuck” after the first mate in that novel.)

Davis can be seen later this month in his final appearance as Hammond in the SG-1 direct-to-DVD sequel Continuum.

MGM photo

FOX

If you haven’t yet seen the TV hotness that is Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and want to catch up, Fox has a lineup just for you. Starting Aug. 10, the nine-episode first season will replay almost daily so you can catch up before the second season premieres Sept. 8.

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STUDIO PHOTOS OWNED BY THE BBC

Always the wanderer, the last surviving Time Lord known as the Doctor (David Tennant, above with Kylie Minogue) has traveled through time and space for hundreds of years, battling alien warmongers and showing us the wonders of the universe in his trusty TARDIS — a ship stuck in the disguise of a British police call box.

Yes, it’s crazy. And yes, it’s confusing. But that’s all part of the fun.

Doctor Who is now in its fourth season since its rebirth, airing 9 p.m. Fridays on the Sci Fi Channel. (The original series ran from 1963-89, and its loony legacy is very much a part of the new show.) At the season’s halfway point, there are ominous hints of a long-awaited reunion and a bitter showdown in the Doctor’s near future.

Spoilers after the jump!

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