Spock
Died: Sacrificing himself by bringing the warp engines back online at the end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, leading to his dying from exposure to radiation.
Undied: His body was resurrected in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock thanks to the Deus Ex Machina powers of the Genesis Planet, and it turned out that his soul had lived on all along thanks to mind melding with Bones.
Cause of Undeath: Mind-meld and blatant plot ridiculousness in order to keep the fans happy. Admittedly, it was all set up in Star Trek II, but still.
Does It Count As Death?: Well, his soul was alive the entire time in Bones, but his body had enough time to go through a funeral and being shot off into space, so... 50/50? But not really, let's face it.

Ellen Tigh
Died: Poisoned by her husband after (in his eyes) betraying humanity in "Exodus, Part II" at the start of Battlestar Galactica's third season.
Undied: Instantly downloaded into a new body as part of the Fifth Cylon retcon, as revealed in the fourth season's "Sometimes A Great Notion."
Cause of Undeath: Traditional cylon download/rebirth.
Does It Count As Death?: Well, she was instantly reborn, which suggests that she was never actually dead as such, but the whole Fifth Cylon thing muddies the waters... especially when she was reborn as someone who wasn't exactly the Ellen she was when she died. We're going with "Kinda, but not really."

Boba Fett
Died: Falling into the Sarlacc's mouth in Return Of The Jedi.
Undied: Climbing back out of the Sarlacc's mouth in comic sequel Star Wars: Dark Empire.
Cause of Undeath: He was swallowed by apparently never chewed or digested and climbed his way out, apparently.
Does It Count As Death?: If you believe Dark Empire, not in the slightest. George Lucas apparently disagrees, however; it's said that he edited Fett's last appearance in the special edition of Return Of The Jedi to make it clearer that it's meant to be the end of the character.

John Sheridan
Died: Avoiding certain death by nuclear explosion at the end of Babylon 5's third season finale, "Z'ha'dum," by jumping into a pit so deep that it was impossible to survive. Oh, and then there was that nuclear explosion, which presumably would've destroyed the pit and everything within it anyway.
Undied: At the start of the show's fourth season, Sheridan was revealed to be in a limbo between life and death because of his love for Delenn. With the help of - and 20 years worth of lifeforce from - helpful fellow limbo-ite Lorien, he comes back to the land of the living.
Cause of Undeath: As Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting would say, choosing life. Who knew it was that simple?
Does It Count As Death?: Nope. Think of it as getting as far as death's foyer, before deciding to turn back because you'd changed your mind.

Tasha Yar
Died: Wanting out of her Starfleet contract early, Denise Crosby got her character killed at the hands of a gloopy, ooky oil monster in the first season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation "Skin of Evil."
Undied: Thanks to time travel shenanigans, turns out never to have died in the alternate timeline of third season episode "Yesterday's Enterprise," and then manages to return to the past of the original timeline at the end of the episode in a way that still doesn't make a lot of sense.
Cause of Undeath: Alternate timelines having prevented her from dying in the first place.
Does It Count As Death?: Well, a Tasha Yar definitely died. In fact, as we learn upon the appearance of the second Yar's daughter Sela, the other Tasha was killed unsuccessfully trying to escape from the Romulans, so it looks as if any and all Tashas would end up dead one way or another.

Superman
Died: At the hands of the apparently unstoppable Doomsday in 1993's The Death of Superman storyline.
Undied: Midway through the follow-on The Return of Superman storyline, when it's been revealed that none of the four characters who've taken up the mantle are the real thing.
Cause of Undeath: He woke up. No, really; the audience is pretty much told that he'd never died in the first place, he'd just gone into superhibernation in order to heal from the fight.
Does It Count As Death?: Not at all, but it definitely counted as a moneyspinner for DC Comics, who went on to kill Green Arrow and Green Lantern within the next couple of years, as well as teasing deaths for the Flash and breaking Batman's back.

Bucky
Died: Trapped on a bomb that mentor and Nazi-fighting partner Captain America had managed to jump off of before it exploded, as explained way back in 1963's Avengers series.
Undied: In 2005's "Winter Soldier" storyline of Captain America, where he got reintroduced and prepped to become the new Captain America in 2007.
Cause of Undeath: Turns out that Bucky was, in fact, blown to bits by the exploding bomb... It's just that they were pretty large bits. Large enough to rebuild him into a brainwashed no-good commie assassin who gets put on ice between missions, until he meets Cap, goes rogue, remembers who he is, and then uses his mighty Russian technology for the good of American mankind.
Does It Count As Death?: What's brainwashed Russian assassin for no?

The Flash
Died: Which one? Barry Allen died in 1985's Crisis On Infinite Earths. Wally West disappeared and was, at various times, presumed dead/missing/no-one could make up their mind in 2004's Infinite Crisis, and Bart Allen kicked the bucket in 2007's The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13.
Undied: Wally came back in 2007's Justice League of America #10, Barry in 2008's Final Crisis #1 and Bart in 2009's Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #4.
Cause of Undeath: Both Barry and Wally had, it turns out, never died. Barry had been swallowed into the Speed Force, which is the cosmic... thing... that gives all super-speed characters their powers in the DC Universe, while Wally's fate was ultimately (after a couple of failed attempts that were quickly contradicted) decided upon a variation of "He took his family on vacation to an alien planet and didn't tell anyone." Don't ask. Bart, meanwhile, did die, kind of... but his teenage self was trapped in a futuristic lightning rod and then magically released in the 31st century to fight Superboy Prime. Again, it's probably better if you didn't ask.
Does It Count As Death?: No question for either Barry or Wally (No), but Bart... I have no idea. I've read Legion of Three Worlds multiple times, and still don't understand the explanation that's given there; let's just never mention it again and pretend it didn't happen.

Jason Todd
Died: As the result of a real-life phone vote to see if Todd, the second Robin (as in Batman and), should be killed at the hands of the Joker. Seriously, 1988's comic industry, what the hell were you thinking?
Undied: 2004's Batman revealed that Todd was not only not dead, but had magically aged more than most other characters in the DC Universe in his off-panel absence.
Cause of Undeath: Superboy was punching the walls of reality, and things went a bit weird. You know how it is with these superheroes and their punching the walls of reality; history gets rewritten all over the place. Just be glad that Batman didn't end up as Batdinosaur. Although, now that we think about it, that'd be awesome.
Does It Count As Death?: Magically contradicting Schrodinger and his cat, Jason Todd both did and didn't die. His official history has it that he died, and then just came back to life thanks to the punching of reality, meaning that he was still alive. So, while it ultimately doesn't count as permanent death, there was a death in there somewhere.

Jean Grey
Died: In 1980's famous Uncanny X-Men #137, where she sacrifices herself for the good of the universe to stop herself from becoming overwhelmed by the godlike power she possessed that might lead her to eat a couple of planets if she got peckish.
Undied: It's revealed in 1986's Fantastic Four #286 that the Jean Grey who killed herself was never actually Jean Grey at all, but the Phoenix force, who's been cosmically imprinted with Jean's personality. Don't worry; the Phoenix force was already back by that point anyway.
Cause of Undeath: Jean hadn't died (at that point), and the resurrection of the Phoenix force was somewhat implied by the name - The official explanation was that the Phoenix force hadn't actually died either, just lain dormant until someone else (Jean's daughter from an alternate timeline. If you don't already know, don't ask) claimed it.
Does It Count As Death?: Before the retcon and ruined Chris Claremont's X-Men once and for all you bastards, it did. Now? No-one died until years later, when Jean really got the Phoenix power and then ended up dying anyway. Guess there's something unlucky about the name or something.

White's Deviant Art gallery includes tons of these amazing paintings, some of which are still for sale. They're all acrylic on stretched black velvet, generally around 14 by 18 inches, although some are as big as 18 by 24. And they're like your most vivid dreams about robots, spaceships and aliens, only brought to life in pure velvet.

Says White:

I am a huge scifi geek. I saw this velvet painting on the Star Wars Collector's Archive, and I thought it was so cool in an awesome, yet cheesy way. I figured I could reproduce it pretty quickly. I was wrong. Painting on velvet is a lot harder than I thought. I did a few more, which were a little better, but they were still more like the "oh god that's so bad that it's funny" velvet paintings that seem so prevalent. I stopped trying for a while, and then had the idea, instead of trying to make them "cheesy", that I would try to paint them as realistically as I possibly could. Slowly, the paintings got better, and I started to get the hang of working on velvet. So, the more realistic paintings in my "deviantart" gallery are the more recent ones.

Check out more of his artwork here: [Bruce White on Deviant Art]

While Johnson isn't involved in the new television series, he still holds the movie rights to V, and he's convinced that whether the new show is a success or a flop, it can only mean good things for him:

If the show succeeds, it gives us an opportunity to go out with a one sheet that says, 'You like the show, now see the original classic reborn,' [and] if the show doesn't do well, we can always say, 'Here is the "V" you've been waiting for.'

If you've been waiting for a relatively-low budget independent movie, that is:

When I discovered that I controlled the motion picture rights to 'V,' I suddenly had a lot of new best friends. All the major studios, Fox, Paramount, MGM, Warners, wanted to buy the rights with a whole lot of money. They see it as a $200 million tentpole picture, and want to bring someone else to direct. I took a deep breath and said no... I got into the business to direct and do what I do. So what we've been endeavoring to do is to set up an independent production and produce this movie for $50 million. So I can hang on to the director reins and make sure it gets done.

Why are we worried that a Johnson-directed movie may end up like Richard Hatch's Battlestar Galactica sequel? Because Johnson says things like this:

There's a sense that not only do I know the themes, but it's also because I've had that one on one connection with the audience over the years... I really listened to them and have got a pretty good sense of how to make 'V' work.

Fanservice, here we come...?

The television reboot of V premieres on ABC on November 3rd.

'V' voice revisits familiar turf [Variety]

I'm keeping my lips sealed on exactly what the clip is all about, but suffice it to say that every fan of the original series is going to go apeshit over it.

There's no mention of this little treat on the disc itself (it's a secret), but here's what you need to do to access it:

- Go to the extras menu

- Highlight the Admiral to Director featurette

- Now navigate to the right with your remote

- You should see the BSG Seal appear – hit enter and enjoy!

The Plan came out on Tuesday.

via Darth Mojo

Thanks to Titan Books for sending us these exclusive extracts from the BSG season 4 companion book, out now to coincide with the release of the direct-to-DVD "The Plan." No, they won't explain that whole "Opera House" thing, but they are pretty fascinating.

So here are five things you never knew about Battlestar's final season:

1/ As the production began the casting process for an actor to play Starbuck¹s father, they realized that they needed a performer who could not only act, but was also an accomplished musician. That¹s not a small thing to ask, and at one point, the production thought they might have a solution get musician Bear McCreary to play the part himself! McCreary agreed to audition. "I thought, he¹s about the right age, he's a good looking guy, he'll look good on camera, and he can play." laughs director Michael Nankin. "Why not?". During the audition, however, it was mutually decided that music
was where McCreary¹s considerable talents lay! "For the good of the show, and of humanity in general," McCreary jokes on his blog, "I didn't get the role"

2/ Aaron Douglas does an extremely good impression of Edward James Olmos, to the extent that if Olmos was away from set when a read-through has been scheduled, Douglas would stand in and read Olmos' lines

3/ The interest with going the whole hog in blowing Gaeta's leg off was influenced by the question of who may have been directing the episode. "There was a rumor that Quentin Tarantino was interested in doing an episode and his schedule only allowed him to direct during the dates that 'Faith' would go into production," explains [episode writer] Seamus Kevin Fahey. "So, there was a small element of making it this bloody, awful, insane, Tim Roth squirming in the back of Mr. White's car-type teaser. It didn't work out, but I remember that being a germ of inspiration while working on those scenes. Director Michael Nankin did an amazing job with that sequence. It's so brutal. I loved it." Presumably if Tarantino had directed, someone would have also had to lose an ear.

4/ The ship, the Battlestar Galactica, was absolutely integral to the series. Besides lending her name to the show, she was where most of the action of the series had taken place - and so choosing the right way for her to make her exit was important. "Once we had decided that Galactica was going to get to Earth in the distant past, the question was, 'Well, what are we going to do with the ship?" says Ron Moore. "We played around with that quite a bit in the fourth season.". The writers discussed various options before making the decision to send Galactica and the rest of the fleet into the sun. "At one point we talked about maybe burying the ship, and maybe in a flash forward to contemporary times, there were these mounds of unknown origin in Central American," recalls Moore. "That was something Bradley Thompson was talking about. We were going to have someone digging into one of these mounds and discovering metal - and there would be the side of the ship. We also had a version where Adama decided to burn the Galactica, like Cortez burning his ships when he got to the New World"

5/ Ron Moore, a self-confessed Navy buff, says the scenes portraying the build-up to the attempted mutiny aboard the Demetrius were specifically influenced by the Caine Mutiny, a 1954 film set aboard a US destroyer and starring Humphrey Bogart. In the film, the crew are successful in their attempt to remove the single-minded Captain Queeg (Bogart) and are court-martialled on their return to port. Moore was also interested in the look of the Caine, which was a run-down, clausrophobic ship, and the Demetrius also took on those properties, Moore was so pleased with the resulting set that he called the art department together to praise them personally. This initially caused panic amongst the crew until they realised the summons was for good news, not bad.

Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion Season Four on Borders.

Oh, and this one-on-one interview with Olmos contains some spoilers for "The Plan," because we talked specifics with him. So go buy the DVD, watch it and come back to read this, if you're concerned about spoilers.

What's left?

So Olmos has been very vocal about saying that he'd like to make more BSG movies like "The Plan." But what would they be about? He explains:

Simple questions, like what happened to the [final] five during this period of time? Where were they coming from 2,000 years ago? How could they be around for 2,000 years, and yet the understanding of Caprica is that the robotic trend on Caprica was started 57 years ago? How did that work? That question comes into play, and I would love to see how they answered it. That, to me, would be explosively unbelievable. I would love to have that question answered. I would also love to know what is going to happen to the people on the Earth. What is going to happen to Adama and all the different people? What happened to the Raptor that got them to the point of finding their dream space? That, to me, is just two simple ones I can think of off the top of my head.... To me, there's still a lot of beautiful story that's waiting to be unleashed in this world.

Don't download "The Plan!"

Actually, when we asked Olmos about forthcoming DVD movies, he first paused to express his displeasure with everyone who downloaded "The Plan" from the Internet before its release date. Seriously, if you're planning on grabbing this DVD from a file-sharing service, imagine Admiral Adama getting pissed at you — because he is. In a nice way. "People don't understand that if they want to see this universe again, they have to participate by voting, by casting their dollars. If they don't cast their dollars, they won't see any more of these."

So what's the deal with Starbuck?

So speaking of unanswered questions, we had to ask Olmos what was going on with Starbuck at the end of the final episode. He says "I would love to know that," and he would imagine that question being answered along with "the full story of what happened to Lee" after the show ends. Adds Olmos:

I talked with Starbuck about this. She felt that she went with Anders, that she transported herself like an angel, and she went into the sun with Anders on the Galactica. So she went back with Anders. That's her idea.

Love is the key to "The Plan"

Olmos says "The Plan" not only explains what the Cylons' goals were, but also why they weren't very successful in achieving those goals. The reason for the Cylons' failure? It has to do with encountering a human emotion they weren't prepared for: Love. That's why you see the version of Cavil who's living on the surface Caprica finding himself unable to kill Starbuck, when he has a clean shot, towards the end.

Rick Worthy is the catalyst

As we've mentioned, the TV show's most underused Cylon becomes the most memorable character in "The Plan": Cylon Number Four, aka Simon (Rick Worthy), gets a great arc involving one of his model marrying a human and adopting her daughter in the fleet, while another of his model is on Caprica with the resistance. Olmos says Simon's story is "the catalyst" that helps us understand what happened to the Cylons. It illustrates the theme of love, since Simon's love for his wife and child changes him, but it also shows how the Cylons are unexpectedly having huge divergences between different copies of the same model.

Humor is part of "The Plan":

Olmos says he enjoyed bringing out the humor in Jane Espenson's script (which has some incredibly funny moments, especially the ones involving Aron Doral and his teal jacket.) Like much of BSG, the DVD is incredibly dark, but with some moments of strange levity. Olmos says it's important that the humor comes out of the irony and the situation, and that way the comedy doesn't seem forced. Olmos says he was probably chosen to direct this because he had already made humor happen when he directed the episode "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down":

Like when Baltar is making love with Six, and then Starbuck comes walking in and sees him with his pants down and all his privates being exposed, and he's humping away on Six, but you can't see Six. All you can do is just see the doctor there humping. It's hysterical. Because we the viewer understand it, but the situation is one where by now Starbuck thinks the doctor is just out there where the buses don't run.

What you won't see in "The Plan":

Olmos is a huge fan of Dean Stockwell, who plays Cavill, and he says people don't appreciate what a great performer Stockwell is — Olmos has been a fan of Stockwell's since he saw the 1948 anti-war movie The Boy With Green Hair, starring a young Stockwell as a boy with the power to stop war. In "The Plan," Cavill befriends a young quasi-orphan boy, and the boy's costume is an exact replica of Stockwell's costume from Green Hair. Olmos had the costume hand-stitched to match.

But Olmos wanted to go further with the reference: He wanted the boy in "The Plan" to have green hair, and both the studio and writer Jane Espenson refused to let him.

People would have just been in shock, like 'What the hell is that about? And in essence, it would have been a statement that would have reverberated throughout the entire planet for centuries to come. And would have augmented something that needs to be understood, but in turn, the studio and the writer were afraid of it, they just thought "That's crazy." They didn't want it, they thought it was a stupid thing to do. It would be all about, "What? Why did the boy have green hair?" And it would be about the boy with the green hair. It should be about that. It should be that deep and in the context. So may be they'll let me paint CGI green hair and put it on him. From the time he raises his head to the time he dies, he has green hair, and nobody says anything about it. And the audience just has to deal with it. Let them deal with it.

Want to meet Olmos yourself so he can explain more of the ideas behind BSG? Enter the "Dinner With The Admiral" contest over at UGO.

Top image from Gateworld.

There are moments of coolness in this movie for fans, especially those of us who wanted to know more about little-used cylons like the Simon model. We get genuine character development for Simon, as well as a few versions of Cavil and sleeper agent Sharon. Writer Jane Espenson isn't always in her element with Battlestar, but she knows how to write snappy dialogue that Dean Stockwell delivers with pitch-perfect evil prissiness. (There is a great moment where Cavil snarks at a Five model for being too blendy with his fellow models by wearing the same suits, and the Five snaps, "But his jacket was burgundy. This is teal.") We also meet a hooker version of Six who is hilariously awesome.

However, I have to emphasize what I said above: This movie is only going to be cool for fans. Nobody else could possibly understand it - the story jumps around in time throughout the first and second seasons, referencing plot developments that will make no sense to anybody but a die-hard follower of the show. But fans will also quickly become impatient with the story, too. Larded with lots of old footage, "The Plan" often feels like a gussied-up clip show.

A lot of the details that are added in actually make the show even more confusing. For example, a Cavil hanging out with the rebels back on Caprica has a conversation with a Simon model that makes it seem as if both of them know that Anders is one of the final five. Which makes no sense because one of the major issues in the show was that only Cavil knew who the final five were.

We also discover that the Cylons never really had a "plan" at all - basically, Cavil just bamboozled the other models into attacking the colonies for "justice." But what he really wanted was for the final five to be killed in the attacks, and then wake up in their goo buckets having "learned a lesson" that humanity is horrible. Somehow, he thinks that just having lived among humans will have convinced the final five that humans are awful. Then they'll all apologize to him and he'll get a lot of damp hugs from his naked, gooey parents.

Unfortunately, however, the Plan goes awry because none of the final five are killed in the attacks. Plus, they haven't learned anything! They still think humans are cool. Although Ellen is on the verge of death, Cavil decides to keep her alive so that she'll eventually learn her lesson that humans suck.

Could this really have been the whole Plan? Nuke the entire human race so that the final five will resurrect and give out apologetic hugs? I feel like I need another movie just to explain what happened in this one.

However, I don't want you to think that it was all bad, because there were parts of The Plan that reminded me of what made BSG such a great show. One of the Simon models in the Fleet is given a great backstory. He's gone native, married a human, and adopted her child from a previous marriage. His wife, who works with the Chief in engineering, is a strong, interesting character - a woman who once had a job doing aerospace engineering at a top company, who now has to figure out how to make the Galactica's jalopy fighter ships run without any spare parts at all. As Cavil pushes Simon to destroy the ship where he lives, we see the Cylon torn between the family he loves and the Cylons who are his people. It's a great subplot, and could easily have been an episode during the first or second season.

Developments with Cavil's character are also pretty interesting. We see that there are two versions of Cavil who emerge after the colonies are destroyed: one who is the evil Brother we all love, and one who starts to sympathize with the humans.

In fact, the theme of "The Plan," if anything, is that the Cylon's sympathies were always divided. From the beginning, they were torn between love for humanity and rage that they had been enslaved by the creatures who created them. Even Cavil, who is revealed in this movie as pretty much the only reason the Cylons attacked the colonies, is divided in his loyalties. One of the strengths of BSG as a series was that its heroes were dark, and its villains were granted an unexpected goodness. While it doesn't exactly deepen this theme, "The Plan" certainly sticks with it.

I think "The Plan" is destined to be the kind of thing that nobody but BSG completists will want to own. It won't bring new people into the series, and even those who love the series may be disappointed. Though there are standout moments, "The Plan" essentially takes the sensibilities of the final, extremely uneven season of the show and overlays them on the events of seasons 1 and 2. That's something that most of us, especially diehard fans, didn't really want to see.

"The Plan" will be available in stores on Oct. 27.

The Plan debuts on Blu-ray and DVD on October 27th.

Darth Mojo says:

To help celebrate composer Stu Philips' upcoming 80th birthday, Southern California's most lavish movie palace, the Warner Grand, is throwing a party! Great music is a must if you really want to make a party swing, so the theater's house band will be busting out extended suites from some of Stu's most popular work, including the scores of Knight Rider, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Battlestar Galactica.

In this case, the "house band" is the Golden State Pops Orchestra, and the band leader will be none other than Mr. Philips himself!

Want an amazing evening of musical geekery?

Find out more via Darth Mojo (thanks Mojo!)

Inception

Cillian Murphy has apparently read the Inception script. His thoughts? Excited but vague:

"It's conceptual. It doesn't fit into any genre," he explained. "There are elements of different types of things in it but it is all from Chris' imagination. I've never read anything close to it before."

[MTV Movies Blog]

Thor

An eagle-eyed reporter noticed Dominic Cooper was reading casting slides for Thor. Although Cooper cautioned that nothing has been finalized, the part he was reading for is Fandral the Dashing, a member of the Warriors Three, a team of Asgardians who fight alongside Thor. So we might be seeing the trio (and Cooper) in the movie. [Movieline]

Stan Lee is disappointed that Kenneth Branagh didn't consider him for the role of Odin, though he will have a cameo in Thor. [Collider]

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan

The TV Obsessed has another spoilerific review of The Plan, including the fact that the Simon who has a wife and kid on one of the ships in the fleet airlocks himself rather than destroy the ship or be revealed as a Cylon — but he gets found out anyway. And Cavil sets off Five's explosive suicide vest himself. Also, we see the beginnings of Leoben's Kara obsession as he sits alone and listens to the fleet traffic. Cavil randomly stabs a little boy for no reason, just so we'll know how evil he is.

And there are some cool apocalyptic images of the Cylon attack on the Colonies. [The TV Obsessed]

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

Interviews with Terry Gilliam and the cast offer a few more glimpses of the trippy fantasy movie:

2012

If the latest stills from Roland Emmerich's disaster porn teach us anything, it's that the apocalypse will be wet. [IGN]

X-Files 3

David Duchovny would like to do a third film, but if it happens, he'd like to focus on the aliens and conspiracy that were central to the show's mythology. [IGN]

Eclipse

Kirsten Prout has been cast as Lucy, a vampire who appears only in flashbacks. A vampire named turns Jasper Hale into a vampire during the Civil War and recruits him for her vampire army. Jasper eventually betrays Maria and two of her soldiers, including Lucy. [MTV Movies Blog]

Dollhouse

It looks like Paul Ballard and Echo are going to lock lips in an upcoming episode, but that doesn't mean Paul has completely given himself over to the Dollhouse. Tamoh Penikett says that although Paul's been drinking the Kool-Aid a bit, he's going to have more issues with his new corporate role. [E! Online]

And we get a better look at Summer Glau and her poor, poor (left) arm in November 6th's episode "The Left Hand." [Spoiler TV]

Supernatural

In the November 19th episode, "Abandon All Hope," Lucifer will capture Castiel while the latter is on a recon mission in Missouri. Lucifer interrogates Castiel by trapping him in a burning ring fueled by holy oil. [TV Guide Magazine]

Heroes

Executive producer Adam Armus drops a few more hints as to which male original cast member will die:

"We always pull surprises on Heroes. That's all I have to say. It is an epic battle. It's an epic struggle between two very well-loved characters, and it's going to be really compelling."

So, who will be involved in this epic struggle? Hiro and Ando? Parkman and Sylar? Nathan and Sylar? [SCI FI Wire]

FlashForward

In the November 5th episode, "The Gift," the apparent connection between a Blue Hand club and some recent suicides leads Mark, Demetri, Gough, and MI6 agent Fiona Bands to investigate. Aaron will receive a surprise visit from an army buddy of his late daughter's. While Demetri reveals his lack of flashforward to Zoey, Nicole will help Bryce solve the mystery of his while volunteering at the hospital. [Spoiler TV]

Smallville

Lois throws some punches in this preview from Friday's episode "Roulette." [via Spoiler TV]

The Justice Society is assembling on Smallville and three of the members have been identified. Stargate SG-1's Michael Shanks will be playing Hawkman, Andromeda's Brent Stait will play Doctor Fate, and Aliens in America's Britt Irvin will play Stargirl. [IGN]

The Sarah Jane Adventures

This Thursday marks the beginning of the two-part serial "The Mad Woman in the Attic." We get an early glimpse of Donald Sumpter as Erasmus Darkening, Suranne Jones as Mona Lisa, and Eleanor Tomlinson as Eve. [Blogtor Who]

And in the second part of the serial, we'll see a pair of very familiar faces: the Third and Fourth Doctors. Granted, we'll be seeing Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker in flashbacks using archival footage, but we'll also see Sarah Jane's future — one featuring another familiar Doctor. The vision of the future will involve the phrase, "He is returning, he is coming back," and we'll see the TARDIS appear in the Bannerman Road attic. In another flashforward toward the end of the episode, where we'll encounter none other than the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant. Sarah Jane's robotic sidekick K9 will also be back, supposedly for good. [Den of Geek]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown and Charlie Jane Anders.

Iron Man 2:

The central relationship in this film is still Pepper and Tony, despite all the new stars joining the cast, director Jon Favreau tells MTV. But a lot of new stuff is added to the mix:

We introduce Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and she has a dual identity, so that ends up affecting both the superhero side of things and the personal side of things-as I think all good superhero plotlines do... Then we have Don Cheadle. We've upped Rhodey's significance in the film and now I think the cat's out of the bag about War Machine, so he's in that suit," he said. "How does he become War Machine? What's his relationship to Iron Man?

Video at the link. [MTV via ComicBookResources]

As you might already have known, Stan Lee's cameo in this film will be as Larry King, who approaches Tony Stark and asks when he'll be on the show. Stan wore the suspenders and heavy glasses for the role. [Collider]

Predators:

Derek Mears, who recently played Jason Voorhees, will be in this film, probably as a Predator. [ShockTillYouDrop]

Priest:

Karl Urban describes this film as a "post-apocalyptic scifi vampire Western." [Collider]

The Fourth Kind:

A few new TV spots for this Milla Jovovic spooky-alien-owl thriller. [SciFiScoop]

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan:

Latino Review has a ton of pics and spoilers from this direct-to-DVD movie. The special effects are better than anything in the actual series, and we see the destruction of Caprica in much greater detail than before. There's also a ton of nudity and raunchiness, which will presumably be toned down in the televised version.

We follow two Cavils: the Cavil in the fleet, who is trying to complete the work of destroying th e human race so the Final Five will finally love the Cylons more than the humans, and the Cavil on Caprica, who starts to have second thoughts about whether the genocide against humans was really a good idea. It turns out a lot of the fleet's dilemmas in the first season were caused by Fleet Cavil. There are also multiple Sixes, including one raven-haired "floozy" who shares Cavil's bed.

Meanwhile, there are also two Simons: the Simon in the fleet is a human sympathizer, who's married to an engineer who works with Tyrol, and he tries to forestall the death of the human race. The Simon on Caprica, meanwhile, tries to sabotage Anders' resistance group, even as the Caprica Cavil starts to sympathize with these people. Also, Leoben tries to tell the other Cylons that Starbuck has a great destiny that may affect the Cylons in huge ways.

We also get more insight into Boomer, who actually realizes she's a Cylon sleeper agent earlier than we thought — Cavill gives her a trigger (a wooden elephant, I guess) that activates her programming. But even as she's carrying out Cavill's sabotage instructions, she's also trying to help the humans. And she's only really happy when she's living her human life.

All in all, Cavil starts to wonder if the Cylons' attempts at finishing off the human race are failing because the Cylons subconsciously want them to fail — all except Fleet Cavil, who's steadfast in his vendetta. More pics at the link. Warning: One of those pics is mildly NSFW, due to a very blurry naked woman in the background. [Latino Review via ComicBookMovie]

Doctor Who:

Another set report: Matt Smith, dressed in the tattered remains of David Tennant's costume, filmed a scene where the old TARDIS prop materialized, with tons of smoke pouring out of it, and Smith ran out, shouting that he had to get away. [GallifreyBase]

Lost:

Episode 6x05 will be called "Lighthouse." [Spoilers-Lost]

According to an Egyptologist, the hieroglyphics in the new season-six poster say "Who Is The Leader?" or "Who Is The Guide?" [Popular Mechanics]

Carlton Cuse twittered that they were doing a beautiful crane shot (probably in episode five) and at one point, Matthew Fox does some fine and subtle acting under the tropical night skies. [SpoilersLost]

And a bit more about episode five, which sounds like it's a Jack-centric outing. They were filming a scene at night in front of what looks like a concert hall, and Jack had a big scene — but I can't make out who's in the scene with him. Maybe Ben? Most of the set report is about how the tipsters tried to talk to Matthew Fox and he blew them off. But a familiar vehicle is present. More pics at the link. [Spencer-Stacy via Lyly Ford]

Also, sources claim we'll see Cindy again in the opening episode, as two characters open something of Hurley's. One of them has a connection to the Yellow Submarine. [SpoilersLost]

V:

The second episode will be called "There Is No More Normal Anymore." And here are a couple more TV spots. [VisitorSite]

Fringe:

In the Nov. 5 episode, "Earthling," someone (or something) is turning people to ash. And here are some pics from the episode. [Fox]

In an upcoming episode, we'll learn a lot more about the Observer, says actor Michael Cerveris:

We're going to learn about just how many there are and a lot more about what we're supposed to do and what we're not supposed to do.

[Slice Of SciFi]

Supernatural:

Some more pics of Sam and Dean in their scrubs, from the upcoming channel-surfing episode "Changing Channels." [Ten Gossip]

Episode 11 will be called "Sam, Interrupted," and will introduce two new characters, whom the show is casting:

[MARTIN CREASER] A weathered man in his late 40s-mid 50s, this twitchy, anxious ball of nerves is a former hunter who has ended up in a psych ward, where strange happenings are afoot...ANY ETHNICITY/GUEST STAR

[DR. ERICA FLETCHER] A beautiful, smart, credible psychiatrist in her 30s with a sweetly sympathetic manner who seems to understand Dean's conflict and pains...ANY ETHNICITY - GUEST STAR

[SpoilerTV]

Stargate Universe:

Here are a ton of pics from episode five, "Light." Including some supernova nookie. [SpoilerTV]

True Blood:

Season two's theme was about religion and the things it makes you do. Season three will be about embracing your identity. Sookie will start to discover why she has these strange powers — in the books, she finds out she has fairy blood, but in the TV show, it may be different. In any case, Sookie is part of another race, and if it does turn out to be fairies, they'll be fierce and primal, not like Tinkerbell. Sookie and Eric will get together at some point, but not necessarily in season three. We'll meet some shapeshifters who may be Sam's biological family, and they may be sketchy weirdos. [TV Guide]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

The new press release describes "The Plan" as a 90-minute feature, but we're guessing that's just the length of the shorter televised version. Amazon is listing the DVD release as 112 minutes long, meaning we'll hopefully get to see a lot more tangled Cylon sex and politics. (And given how racy the Caprica DVD was, this could be pretty strong stuff.)

Here's the official synopsis:

The Cylons began as humanity's robot servants. They rebelled and evolved and now they look like us. Their plan is simple: destroy the race that enslaved them. But when their devastating attack leaves human survivors, the Cylons have to improvise. Battlestar Galatica: The Plan tells the story of two powerful Cylon leaders, working separately, and their determination to finish the task.

The DVDs will include:

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE PLAN - BONUS FEATURES

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan on Blu-rayTM Hi-Def and DVD takes viewers deeper into the acclaimed space drama with exclusive bonus features, including:

EXCLUSIVE TO Blu-rayTM Hi-Def:

* BD-LIVETM: Access the BD-LiveTM Center through your Internet-connected player to download more exclusive content, the latest trailers and more!
o MY SCENES: Bookmark your favorite scenes from the movie.
o BATTLESTAR GALACTICA TRIVIA: All-new trivia game.

BONUS FEATURES (BLU-RAY™ HI-DEF and DVD):

· DELETED SCENES

· FROM ADMIRAL TO DIRECTOR: EDWARD JAMES OLMOS AND THE PLAN – A day-in-the-life with director and actor Edward James Olmos, as he tackles the most ambitious Battlestar Galactica production to date.

· THE CYLONS OF THE PLAN – Features interviews with the actors who play the film's key Cylons, including Dean Stockwell, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, Michael Trucco, Rick Worthy and Michael Bennett.

· THE CYLON ATTACK – This featurette takes viewers behind the scenes for the planning and execution of one of Battlestar Galactica: The Plan's major action sequences.

· BEHIND THE PLAN - An in-depth look at some stunning visual effects and the role post-production plays in bringing the world of Battlestar Galactica to life.

· FILMMAKER COMMENTARY

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan debuts on Blu-rayTM Hi-Def and DVD on October 27.

And here's a clip!

Ah, memories . . .

via Darth Mojo

Part of what's really cool about looking at concept art from remakes, revamps and rethinks of classic space sagas is seeing how designers reinvent the classic shapes and original images. But another huge part is seeing how designers add new ships and create new concepts to graft onto the existing lore, and try to make it all fit together. So you have Spock's Jellyfish ship and the Narada in Star Trek, and a host of new ship designs in Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek. And sometimes, like in Lost In Space, you just have to start from scratch if you want to create something really cool looking.

Here are the revamped spaceship concept art pics (plus a few other goodies) that prove remakes may be drek on the whole, but they do give us some amazing art to drool over:

Star Trek: Reinventing the Enterprise and creating other new classic ships.

Superman Rebooted: spaceships and a Kryptonian space battlesuit.

Stargate Universe concept art: inside the Destiny

Doctor Who: redesigning the TARDIS interior, circa 2005.

Lost In Space: a weirdly awesome space fighter.

Planet Of The Apes: Awful movie, but amazing spaceship design.

Battlestar Galactica: bringing her back out of mothballs.

Star Wars prequels: the concept art is better than the movies. Really.

Richard Livingston season four concept art from ConceptShips. (more at link.)

Richard Livingston season four concept art from ConceptShips. (more at link.)

Richard Livingston season four concept art from ConceptShips. (more at link.)

Colonial One, original design by Richard Livingston. More at Drex Files.

Colonial One, original design by Richard Livingston. More at Drex Files.

BSG: Razor concept art by Richard Livingston. More at GalacticaTV

BSG: Razor concept art by Richard Livingston. More at GalacticaTV

BSG: Razor concept art by Richard Livingston. More at GalacticaTV

BSG: Razor concept art by Richard Livingston. More at GalacticaTV

BSG: Razor concept art by Richard Livingston. More at GalacticaTV

BSG: Razor concept art by Richard Livingston. More at GalacticaTV

Eric Chu's proposed concept art for Bryan Singer's BSG movie. More at CinemaSpy.

Eric Chu's proposed concept art for Bryan Singer's BSG movie. More at CinemaSpy.

Original concept art for Bryan Singer's 2001 BSG reboot series. From CinemaSpy.

Iron Man 2:

Entertainment Weekly posted a new set pic from this superhero sequel, showing Tony Stark in the famous Randy's Donut's scene (with Nick Fury, not pictured.) More set pics from upcoming movies at the link. [EW]

Predators:

More casting news! ComingSoon.net reports that The Shield star Walton Goggins has joined the cast, playing one of those tough guys who get zapped to the Predators' homeworld. [ComingSoon]

Green Hornet:

Some more set pics give us a better look at the Hornet's weird-looking gun — is it a gas gun? A laser? Something else? More pics at the second link. [People And Daily Mail]

New Moon:

Our first look at Tinsel Korey As Emily, who's like a second mother to the wolf pack. A scratched-up second mother, by the look of things. [Dread Central]

Doctor Who:

Heroic set reporter Alun.Vega was Twittering from the filming, just as we were wrapping up this edition of morning spoilers. Apparently Matt Smith was on set, wearing David Tennant's suit — which was much the worse for wear, with lots of rips, as if Tennant had been caught in an explosion. And it appears that Amy, his new companion, is a police officer when he meets her. They filmed in the fake 1990s village of Leadworth, complete with a fake garden set up around a "White House." (But not THE White House.) And Amy says something to the Doctor about "twelve years of therapy." Amy and the Doctor run to an ice cream truck. (Possibly due to weird post-regeneration food cravings?)

Also, there's a fire truck parked near the White House, and lots of extras stand stock still, as if frozen, holding their mobile phones as if they were in the middle of taking a picture of something. More pics at the second link. [Alun_Vega on Twitter and Flickr]

Lost:

This island-castaway show filmed two different scenes involving Locke on Saturday. One seemed to involve the deserted back offices of Hawaii Telecom, and Locke's old box-company nemesis, Randy Nations (Billy Ray Gannon) was reported to be on set. (So in the alternate reality where Oceanic 815 didn't crash, Locke is presumably back at his old job.) But then a second scene took place at a high school, and involved Locke and Ben — plus a ton of extras playing high school students and a girls' basketball team. Since episode four is called "The Substitute," there's some speculation that either Locke or Ben is a substitute teacher — although maybe that name also refers to Locke's doppelganger? And finally, Katey Segal, who played Locke's lost love Helen, is also in Hawaii — so maybe the Locke who landed safely in L.A. had a reunion with Helen. [Hawaii Weblog]

Another set report involved a scene where Sun, Frank, Ilana and Ben are walking along with Locke's dead body — apparently a continuation of the season finale, coming right after the events at the Four-Toed Statue. They walked back by the remains of the castaways' camp, including Mr. Eko's church. And there are set pics, in which you can't really see anything much, at the link. [Lyly Ford]

Also, we've been wondering when we'd see Matthew Fox and company filming some scenes where they're still wearing their Dhama jumpsuits, following on from the events of the previous season finale. And now one eyewitness has spotted a jumpsuited Fox, plus Evangeline Lilly, filming a scene with John Hawkes, who's joined the cast as corporate spokesperson Lennon, plus the long lost flight attendant Cindy, played by Kimberly Joseph. There were also a ton of extras in ragged clothes. They were filming a set at the Temple. Also around later on were Daniel Dae Kim and Jorge Garcia. [Hawaii Weblog]

Producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof say they've found a way, in the final season, to bring back the sense of learning more surprising stuff about these characters all the time that they had in the first season. This new device will lead to some emotionally intense moments of discovery. And don't hold your breath for tons of extra Dharma Initiative stuff this season. They also imply Richard Alpert will be getting a fairly involved flashback sequence. [Sci Fi Now via SpoilersLost]

Caprica:

A new promo includes a few seconds of precious footage of episodes after the pilot... including a slugfest between Graystone and Adama. [Battlestar Blog]

Sarah Jane Adventures:

Here are the official descriptions for parts 1 &2 of the second story, "The Mad Woman In The Attic":

Part 1: Rani investigates strange rumours about a demon living in a funfair at the seaside. What she finds there, however, is far more alarming than that and she makes a decision that affects not only her future, but also the futures of all those she cares about... Far in the future, in 2059, an old Rani remembers the day when her whole life went wrong. As her younger self investigates mysterious disappearances at an abandoned funfair, she sets into motion a chain of events which unleash the terrible powers of the alien Eve.

Part 2: Alien Eve's powers grow out of control, with everyone caught in her sinister and endless games. As the echoes of an ancient war threaten the modern world, the danger extends all the way to the year 2059. If Rani fails to change her own destiny, then everyone is doomed.

And here are some promo pics from the first story, "Prisoner Of The Judoon". [BlogtorWho]

Dollhouse:

Here's a new interview with Enver Gjokaj and Dichen Lachman. [BuddyTV]

In episode 4, "Belonging," we witness how Sierra wound up in the Dollhouse firsthand. And Sierra has some intimate moments with Victor. Also, Boyd is worried about Echo. [Fox]

Supernatural:

Our first pic of Paris Hilton in Thursday's episode looks... like Paris Hilton. With a weird knife. Full version at the link. [Chicago Tribune]

And here are a couple of clips from the episode:

And according to a casting call, we'll be meeting another new demon in episode 10:

[CROWLY] 40's or 50's male Demon - he is bit more urbane and sophisticated than what we've seen up to this point. He wears a suit, drinks fine wines, still pretty cruel and decadent, though. Please submit all ethnicities. RECURRING GUEST STAR

[SpoilerTV]

FlashForward:

Here's a sneak peek from Thursday's new episode.

Someone's flying to Japan in episode nine apparently — at least, we'll meet a bilingual Japanese flight attendant, according to a casting call. [SpoilerTV]

Also, in episode five, Mark finds himself on the defensive in a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, while Olivia receives an anonymous message. And Janis wonders how her vision of the future will affect her relationship. [SpoilerTV]

Heroes:

Claire vamps it up and Sylar gets dissheveled and then joins the circus, in new promo pics from episode 5, "Hysterical Blindness." [SpoilerTV]

Fringe:

Can Olivia handle the truth? We'll find out on Thursday.

Smallville:

Here's the official description for episode 5, "Roulette":

DC COMICS CHARACTER ROULETTE SHOWS OLIVER HER CARDS - Oliver (Justin Hartley) is drugged and kidnapped by a woman named Victoria AKA Roulette (guest star Steph Song), who tells Oliver that he's involved in a dangerous game and must fight for his life. After Victoria shows up dead and Oliver is arrested by the police, he turns to Chloe (Allison Mack) for help. Meanwhile, Lois (Erica Durance) berates Clark (Tom Welling) for not telling her about Oliver's suicide attempt.

[Kryptonsite]

Fall is officially in full effect, which means the big bad summer sci-fi season is over! Now, personally, I set my bar so impossibly high that no film could ever come close to pleasing me unless our lord and saviour Michael Bay himself were to direct it. But perhaps some of you plebs are able to enjoy lesser entertainment - though I fail to see how you can watch anything beyond those low brows of yours. So, now that we've had a little while to absorb and reflect the entertainment we've witnessed, what really was a disaster? So, enjoy a mini "clip-show" to refresh your memory and then vote on what was truly a disaster!


WATCHMEN:



DOLLHOUSE:



TERMINATOR SALVATION:



BSG FINALE:



STAR TREK:



X-MEN ORIGINS - WOLVERINE:



TRANSFORMERS-REVENGE OF THE FALLEN:



GI JOE:



SUMMER GLAU:



DISTRICT 9:



OTHER:



Now go vote... and argue!!!

I also want to use this change in format to bring a little news. For a while now, I've been trying to bring you the best Disaster I can with the time that I have when not busy with other ventures. But, in less than two weeks, I will be welcoming a tiny disaster of my own into the world. So between that and other "official" work that I've been involved in, I will be having far less time to put together a weekly "This is a Disaster". So I am going to take a short hiatus.

I will return, I would just rather promise future greatness than deliver regular mediocrity.


I'll still be lurking around here doing the odd 'shop when time and inspiration meet. But if you want to see what work I'm up too check out my blog. I have big plans for ROACH, so continue to check there periodically. And if you are curious what the fuck I'm going to do with a baby, I just started a new blog that I will do my best to keep up with so follow along there.

Thanks for all your interest so far and I will return before you notice I'm gone.

-Garrison Dean