Nominations for the 82nd annual Academy Awards were announced this morning, and for the most part there were no surprises. Science fiction got pretty good treatment this time around, with a total of seventeen nominations among eleven categories (see below).

The biggest genre noms go to Avatar and District 9 for "Best Picture" and James Cameron (Avatar) for "Best Director." Unsurprisingly, Avatar leads the pack with a total of nine nominations.

Somewhat surprising is the fact that Star Trek got more nominations than District 9 (four versus three), though most of the former's recognitions were garnered in technical categories.

Even Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, a film generally derided by critics, got a nod for "Best Sound Mixing," which really can't be argued against. Despite the film's general aesthetic failures, the sound mixing was indeed a strong point.

The one big (though expected) omission was the lack of a nomination for Sam Rockwell's role in Moon. After Sony's ridiculous refusal to back the film because the company is scared of piracy, we were surprised to hear that the studio ended up providing screeners in L.A. However, it apparently was not enough.

All in all, other than the case of Moon, no big beefs from us this year.

For the full list of this year's nominations, visit the Oscars' official website. The Academy Awards show will air Sunday, March 7.

Here are the categories in which science fiction received nominations:

Best Picture

• Avatar
• The Blind Side
• District 9
• An Education
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Precious
• A Serious Man
• Up
• Up in the Air

Best Director

• James Cameron (Avatar)
• Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
• Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
• Lee Daniels (Precious)
• Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)

Best Adapted Screenplay

• District 9
• An Education
• In the Loop
• Precious
• Up in the Air

Best Art Direction

• Avatar
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
• Nine (not to be confused with the animated sci-fi film 9)
• Sherlock Holmes
• The Young Victoria

Best Cinematography

• Avatar
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• The White Ribbon

Best Film Editing

• Avatar
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Previous

Best Makeup

• Il Divo
• Star Trek

Best Music (Original Score)

• Avatar
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• The Hurt Locker
• Sherlock Holmes

Best Sound Editing

• Avatar
• Inglourious Basterds
• Star Trek
• Up

Best Sound Mixing

• Avatar
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Star Trek
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Visual Effects

• Avatar
• District 9
• Star Trek