I have recently found myself filling my sci-fi fix through television and not movies. The problem I have with sci-fi movies lately is that there is just not enough time to go in depth on a complicated storyline, with real character drama. Where Movies fail is where TV can move forward. Telling a story over a season of episodes instead of over 2 hours of movie time, allows the view to establish more of a relationship with the characters than a movie will allow. 

Much more like books to be honest. And with the quality of shows like Heroes (which I would consider sci-fi) and the new Battlestar Galactica, it is almost like a mini movie every week. Focus more on the characters than the effects, focus more on the story than the fight, focus more on the way characters evolve over time rather than cut and dry 1 person from begining to end....

I don't rememeber the exact quote or who said it, but a director commented recently that the future of epic science fiction entertainment was in serial episode format, and not in movies and thier sequels. I tend to believe that just in the way tv has now been allowed to push boundries on the stories they can tell in that genre.

And because of the success of those shows, it says that viewers themselves have evolved enough to want more out of sci fi than just space battles and cool gadgets. 

just my thoughts.