Best Science Fiction Film went to Cloverfield and Best Horror Film went to the Johnny Depp/Tim Burton musical, Sweeney Todd. The Best Director nod went to Zach Snyder for his film, 300, which revolutionized green-screen technology and the use of computer-generated imagery to bring the comic book tothe big screen.

Will Smith picked up a best acting award for his almost-one-man-show tour de force turn in, I Am Legend.

The complete list of winners follows:

2008 Saturn Award Winners

Presented by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, June 24, 2008 in Universal City, California.

• Best Science Fiction Film: Cloverfield
• Best Fantasy Film: Enchanted
• Best Horror Film: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet St.
• Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film: 300
• Best Actor: Will Smith (I Am Legend)
• Best Actress: Amy Adams (Enchanted)
• Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)
• Best Supporting Actress: Marcia Gay Harden (The Mist)
• Best Performance by a Younger Actor: Freddie Highmore (August Rush)
• Best Direction: Zack Snyder (300)
• Best Writing: Brad Bird (Ratatouille)
• Best Music: Alan Menken (Enchanted)
• Best Costume: Colleen Atwood (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet St.)
• Best Make-Up: Ve Neill, Martin Samuel (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End)
• Best Special Effects: Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl, John Frazier (Transformers)
• Best Animated Film: Ratatouille
• Best International Film: Eastern Promises
• Best Network Television Series: Lost
• Best Syndicated / Cable Television Series: Dexter
• Best Presentation on Television: Family Guy: Blue Harvest
• Best Actor on Television: Matthew Fox (Lost)
• Best Actress on Television: Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer)
• Best Supporting Actor on Television: Michael Emerson (Lost)
• Best Supporting Actress on Television: (TIE): Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) / Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost)
• Best DVD Release: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (remix)
• Best DVD Special Edition Release: Blade Runner (5 Disc Ultimate Edition)
• Best DVD Classic Film Release: The Monster Squad
• Best DVD Collection: Mario Bava (Box Sets 1 & 2)
• Best Television Series Release on DVD: Heroes (Season 1)
• Best Retro Television Series Release on DVD: Twin Peaks (Definitive Gold Box Ed.)
• The Life Career Award: Robert Halmi, Sr.
• The Life Career Award: Robert Halmi, Jr.
• The George Pal Memorial Award: Guillermo del Toro
• The Filmmakers Showcase Award: Matt Reeves
• The Special Achievement Award: Tim & Donna Lucas
• The Service Award: Fred Barton

Although, many online stores, including Amazon.com, are allowing advanced purchase of the series at a lower price. ($22 at Amazon.com)

For those unfamiliar with the series’ concept, the creators of Masters of Science Fiction decided to take short short stories by well-known science fiction writers and film them as one-hour movies for TV. The six SF authors in this set are: Harlan Ellison, Robert A. Heinlein, Howard Fast, John Kessel, Walter Moseley, and Robert Sheckley.

It was preceded by a sister series, Masters of Horror, that ran for two seasons on cable channel, Showtime.

Although 20 episodes were planned, ABC only ordered six to be filmed. Cancelled before it even aired, only four episodes actually made it to TV screen on Saturday nights at 10 p.m. – known as a graveyard slot in broadcasting.

The DVD set includes the following short films:

“The Awakening”

In the middle of a ferocious firefight outside of Baghdad, US soldiers discover a mysterious body-one that they can’t even identify as human. Swiftly, all over the earth, more such creatures appear and begin to communicate. With this contact, the world is forced to choose between peace and destruction.

Teleplay by Michael Petroni, based on a short story by Howard Fast (Spartacus, The Crossing). Directed by Michael Petroni (The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys). Starring Emmy®-nominee Terry O’Quinn, Elisabeth Rohm (“Law & Order,” “Angel“).

“A Clean Escape”

 A dying Dr. Deanna Evans refuses to believe that her patient, Robert Havelmann, cannot remember the last 25 years of his life. It remains unclear why she has been so obsessed with this particular patient until the final, shocking conclusion.

Teleplay by Emmy®-nominee Sam Egan, based on the short story by Nebula Award- winner John Kessel. Directed by Oscar®-nominee Mark Rydell. Starring two-time Oscar®-nominee Judy Davis and Oscar®-nominee Sam Waterston (The Killing Fields, “Law & Order“).

“The Discarded”

The ultimate story of despised minorities forever adrift in the darkness of outer space. As a last resort – born out of their loneliness and despair – they are forced to make an ominous pact with those responsible for their plight, in the hope that they will finally be offered refuge at home on Earth.

Teleplay by Hugo and Nebula Award-winner Harlan Ellison (A Boy And His Dog, “The Outer Limits“) and Oscar®-nominee Josh Olson (A History of Violence), based on a short story by Harlan Ellison. Directed by Jonathan Frakes. Starring two-time Oscar®-nominee John Hurt, Emmy® and Tony®-winner Brian Dennehy (Assault on Precinct 13, Cocoon) and James Denton (“Desperate Housewives,” “The Pretender“).

“Jerry Was A Man”

Mr. and Mrs. Bronson Van Vogel are the seventh-richest couple in the world. Pleasure is their only work; mundane or dangerous chores are done by anthropoids. All the anthropoids-a few strands of human DNA, grown into a baby and fused with plastics-are named “Joe.” Somehow, Mrs. Van Vogel’s dormant compassion is awakened by a Joe named Jerry. What traits would prove that Jerry is, indeed, a man?

Teleplay by Oscar®, Emmy® and Golden Globe®-nominee Michael Tolkin, based on the short story by seven-time Hugo Award-winner & Science Fiction Grand Master Laureate Robert A. Heinlein. Directed by Tolkin. Starring Emmy®-winner Anne Heche (John Q, “Men in Trees“), Golden Globe®-nominee Malcolm McDowell.

“Little Brother”

NEVER SHOWN ON TV: In a future world where courtrooms exist without human judges or juries, automated justice is the law of the land. Sitting before a kiosk which is the judge, jury, and executioner of the future, Fredon must find a way to convince the machine of his innocence – or find some other way to save himself before time runs out.

Teleplay by Walter Mosley (Devil in a Blue Dress, Always Outnumbered), based on a short story from Mosley’s novel Futureland. Directed by Damell Martin (“Grey’s Anatomy,” Their Eyes Were Watching God). Starring Clifton Collins, Jr. (Capote, Traffic), Kimberly Elise (“Close to Home,” The Manchurian Candidate).

“Watchbird”

NEVER SHOWN ON TV: It seems the perfect solution to a ballooning crime rate – filling the skies with flying robotic droids that can prevent murder before it takes place. However, nobody told these “Watchbirds” that all life depends on a formula of carefully balanced killing. Robert Sheckley’s renowned story examines one of the most important questions of our time – is it wise to sacrifice our liberty in the name of our security?

Teleplay by J. Michael Straczynski (“Babylon 5,” “The Twilight Zone“), based on a short story by Robert Sheckley (Freejack, Escape from Hell Island). Written by Hugo Award-winner Sam Egan. Directed by Harold Becker. Starring Sean Astin, Oscar® and three-time Emmy®-nominee James Cromwell and Oscar® and Golden Globe®-nominee Sally Kellerman as the voice of The Watchbird.

Award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer Octavia E Butler died suddenly Saturday, a victim of an apparent stroke. At age 58, she had achieved much more than once would expect from a dyslexic African American lesbian born to a shoe shiner.

For her work, she had been awarded two Nebula and Hugo awards.

Below is an excerpt from her bibliography at Wikipedia and reprinted under this GFDL license.

Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947-February 25, 2006) was an American science fiction writer, one of very few African-American women in the field, and a leading lesbian writer. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards, and was the first science fiction writer ever to be a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation “genius grant.”

Butler was born in Pasadena, California. Her father, a shoe shiner, died when she was young; her mother raised her in a struggling, racially mixed neighborhood. As a child, she was considered shy and a “daydreamer;” she was later diagnosed with dyslexia. She began writing at the age of 10 “to escape loneliness and boredom.” She was 12 when she began a lifelong interest in science fiction.

After getting an associate degree from Pasadena City College, she attended California State University and UCLA. She gave credit for her development as a writer to the Open Door Program of the Screen Writers Guild of America and the Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop.

Butler moved to Seattle in November 1999. She described herself as “comfortably asocial–a hermit in the middle of Seattle–a pessimist if I’m not careful, a feminist, a Black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive.” She died of a stroke on February 25, 2006 at the age of 58.