WEEKEND: MOVIES AND MORE

The cast of "Battlestar Galactica," right, brings a fix to science-fiction fans every Friday. Upcoming are the films "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith," top left, "Fantastic Four," middle, and "Batman Beyond," bottom left. The little guy below is Marvin the Paranoid Android, from the forthcoming film "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy."

Tribune Photo Illustration CHRISTOPHER D. TOBIN

Fans of science fiction, fantasy and affiliated genres know that this is their golden age. And even with the end of the movie saga "The Lord of the Rings" and an in-between year for the "X-Men" series (no movie scheduled for release), 2005 promises to be chock-full of fantastic offerings for die-hards.

In fact, science-fiction fans can get their fix every weekend with the revival of the classic space opera

"Battlestar Galactica." The series premiered last Friday with a two-hour episode and continues tonight at 9 and every Friday on the Sci Fi Channel.

Here are some other offerings that show the aughts are truly great years to be a geek, compiled by The Tribune:

# Keanu Reeves plays the investigator of the supernatural in the movie "Constantine," opening Feb. 18.

# The new PlayStation Portable from Sony, the hand-held version of the PlayStation 2, is scheduled to arrive this spring.

# It was huge three years ago and promises to be even bigger this year: Star Wars Celebration III in Indianapolis, April 21-24.

# "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" opens May 6. The film brings Douglas Adams’ comic novel to the big screen.

# Comics fans of all ages will get a kick out of Free Comic Book Day, May 7.

# Die-hard "Star Wars" fans have May 19 circled on their calendars already. That’s when "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" concludes the prequel trilogy of the series.

# On June 17, Christian Bale dons the cowl and battles the Scarecrow and Ra’s Al Guhl in "Batman Begins."

# Spielberg. Cruise. The "War of the Worlds" remake. It doesn’t get much bigger than this. June 29.

# The fourth season of the young Superman series "Smallville" will conclude this summer with a number of shocking revelations (The WB).

# Flame on! Comic-book heroes battle the evil Dr. Doom in "Fantastic Four," opening July 1.

# The Rock says, go see "Doom," the film starring the pro-wrestling star. It’s based on the first-person-shooter video game and opens in August.

# "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" writer-director Joss Whedon’s science-fiction film "Serenity" comes to the big screen in late September.

# For the younger set: "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" continues the wizard-in-training saga beginning Nov. 18.

# Peter Jackson, director of the series of "The Lord of the Rings" films, remakes "King Kong," scheduled to premiere in December.

# Another for all ages: The C.S. Lewis series is brought to life in "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" through animation and live-action techniques in December.