Earlier this week, Geeks of Doom reported that about the first full look at the USS Enterprise from JJ Abrams‘ upcoming movie Star Trek.

Few images are so immediately identified with the heart and soul of the Star Trek franchise. Few images have also changed so little over the intervening years; there was one major design for Star Trek: TOS (which changed slightly over the course of the series) and another design introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1978 that lasted almost unchanged until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in 1991.

Mr. Abrams is delivering the first major change in Enterprise design in 30 years, and the first not approved by Trek creator Gene Roddenberry himself. He had to know that anything he and his creative team changed in the profile of the USS Enterprise would be controversial. This is why we are seeing it now, not when the movie comes out — so the Star Trek fan base can talk all this through and figure out if we really like it.

So do we really like it?

As promised — short and simple sweet — the brand new Watchmen trailer that’s attached to Quantum of Solace has been unleashed upon the Internet world.

Watch it here below!

This is easily the best trailer that’s been released so far, especially if you’re a fan of the graphic novel. This right here shows you exactly what to expect in the movie. It shows you tone and lays out a bit of the story. It begins to create the world.

In one very interesting bit o’ news, it has been officially announced that Ridley Scott will direct a movie for Universal Pictures based on the board game Monopoly.

The script is written by Pamela Pettler, who also wrote Monster House and Corpse Bride. Along with Ridley Scott, Hasbro’s Brian Goldner will produce.

No word yet on the plot or who, if anyone, will play the iconic white-mustached man. My guess is that it won’t really look like Monopoly at all, which is why this project is hard to imagine. Best bet is that you’ll have a created story based in the world of real estate investments, maybe with mention of Park Place once or twice. Either that, or the city of Monopoly will be attacked by a gigantic metal doggy. Cloverfield style.

The Heavy Metal movie that’s been dancing around in the Hollywood eye for some time now seems to be making a run at actually happening.

On the Heavy Metal message board, Kevin Eastman, who is the current owner and publisher of Heavy Metal magazine, announced the very cool news that Zack Snyder has joined David Fincher and Gore Verbinski in the all-star directorial lineup. Eastman also mentioned that it looked like the feature would be through Paramount Pictures now.

For those who don’t know, the original 1981 animated Heavy Metal consisted of several shorts, which is apparently the format of the updated version — 4 or 5 segments, which is why they have the incredible collection of directors involved.

Anyone who understands the High School Musical phenomenon will get a kick out of last night’s South Park episode “Elementary School Musical.”

In this episode, the kids at South Park Elementary School are obsessed with High School Music, except for Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny, who can’t understand the new singing and dancing craze. The foursome find that their lack of interest in HSM has made them unpopular, as Bridon, a new boy at the school who can sing and dance just like Zac Efron’s character in HSM, takes all the attention. (Watch the clip “Everyone Is Special” of Bridon’s introduction right here below.)

There’s a subplot in the episode about Bridon wanting to play basketball, but his musical-loving, slap-happy father disapproves, but it’s not as amusing as the songs the schoolchildren sing together (just like in the HSM movies, the kids break out into song and dance in the middle of a conversation). Listen closely to the lyrics of the songs throughout the episode, which you can watch in full at South Park Studios, for lines like “Do what you wanna do, as long as what you wanna do is what everybody wants you to.” The magic really happens at little after 19 minutes into the episode — I’ve watched this part about 20 times already.