Chances are, you've come across lots of SF stories where a disabled person regains the ability to walk in some fantastical way. Usually it's a guy, and his ability to stand up on his two legs is portrayed as a reclaiming of his virility and power. Often times, the disabled hero regains full mobility along the way towards becoming super-powered — or as part of a package of superpowers.

Oftentimes, the regained mobility comes from some kind of fancy assistive technology. And yet, these stories always draw a really sharp distinction between the wheelchair (which is also assistive technology) and this other tech, which is better or more natural. Or more rugged and manly, perhaps. (Both Jake Sully and John Locke defiantly say something along the lines of, "Don't tell me what I can't do.")

So here are 20 characters from science fiction who regained the ability to walk:

Star Trek gives us Captain Christopher Pike, who's stuck in a wheelchair and unable to express himself other than by flashing a light "Yes" or "No." (As Evan Dorkin tweeted yesterday, "Nice 23rd cent tech there, btw. Beep. Boop. Stupid Star Trek.") Captain Pike's mind is still alive in there, but nobody's figured out a way for him to use Morse code, or translate his brain activity into speech. So Spock takes matters into his own hands, risking his own career and Captain Kirk's command to help Captain Pike return to Talos IV, the planet of the obscene craniums. There, Captain Pike can live in a kind of dreamworld for the amusement of the sterile Talosians, but at least he'll be perfectly healthy.

Doctor Who has had lots of wheelchair-bound characters, including the evil Davros and the vicious Collector. But the first character to rock a wheelchair in Who was actually one of the good guys — Dortmun, one of the leaders of the anti-Dalek resistance in "Dalek Invasion Of Earth." Dortmun is confined to a wheelchair due to one of his many failed attempts to devise an anti-Dalek explosive. And not coincidentally, he's a terrible leader whose super-explosives never do what they're supposed to. But then Dortmun finally redeems himself, confronting the Daleks and buying time for the others to escape — by climbing out of his wheelchair and standing to face the Daleks at last. His redeeming act of heroism is clearly linked to his abandonment of the chair. (Skip to about 2:30 in the video.)

Batman gets his spine broken in the Knightfall crossover, by the supervillain Bane. Throughout the extremely long Knightquest storyline that follows, Bruce Wayne walks with a cane or travels in a wheelchair. He searches for Tim Drake's parents, despite the warnings of a spinal surgeon that he's only making his spine damage worse and more incurable. Luckily, his new girlfriend, the altruistic Dr. Shondra Kinsolving, turns out to have magical healing powers, and she heals Batman, giving herself irreparable brain damage in the process. There's a lot of lightning involved, okay? We're all so glad to see Bruce smack around the blond imposter, we don't really care how Bats got his back back. I actually bought the novelization of Knightfall for $1.00 because I was curious to see if Denny O'Neil would make Batman's recovery make any sense whatsoever. Here's how O'Neil writes it:

"Shondra, we've got to get away from that window," Bruce said. "I can't move, so you'll have to —"

"Don't worry," Shondra whispered. "You'll be fine."

Her hand slipped over his, and her fingers tightened slightly. He felt as though she were touching every cell of his body at once — soothing, quieting, healing. The world went away, then, ebbed away from him, and he was left alone with Shondra's touch in a place where there was no pain and terror.

And that's it. The next time we see Bruce in the novelization, he's "shirtless, barefoot, moving as easily and gracefully as he ever had in his life," with the sun on his shoulders.

The X-Men's leader, Professor X, is in a wheelchair — except for all the occasions in which he's been able to get out of it. At one point, Professor X gets the Starjammers' physician, Sikorsky, to clone him a new body with no disabilities. At another point, the mysterious Xorn "heals" Professor X using his special powers over metal — until it turns out that Xorn is really Magneto, and he's just been dicking Professor X around.

Gallilee by Clive Barker features a first-person narrator, Maddox, who's been in a wheelchair for 150 years, ever since he was maimed in an accident. An apocalyptic vision causes Maddox to realize time is running out, causing him to write down his family history — and then he has a spiritual epiphany, which in turn causes him to realize he can walk once more.

The Animorphs freak out after their identities are discovered by the evil Yeerks — and they decide to recruit some more kids to join their team, in case the original members all get captured. So they decided to recruit disabled kids to be the new group of Auxillary Animorphs, because they figured the Yeerks wouldn't have bothered to infest a disabled kid. (So the Animorphs could skip the three-day screening period for new recruits.) And they figure the morphing powers would cure any disabilities. The leader of the Auxillary Animorphs, James, is paralyzed, until he becomes and Animorph and regains full mobility.

The Doom Patrol features its own version of Professor X, the disabled scientist Niles Caulder. And just as Grant Morrison got Professor X out of his wheelchair, Morrison did the same for Niles in the early 1990s. In one issue, Robotman rushes to tell Niles that somebody's shot Joshua. Niles Caulder says (from off panel) "Cliff, Cliff, Cliff. Isn't it obvious?" And as you turn the page, you discover that Niles is standing up, and revealing that he's the one who shot Joshua. It turns out that nanotechnology cured Niles, although later he winds up as just a severed head — and finally, he's back in the wheelchair, with a complete body again.

The Talents by Anne McCaffey includes a character named Peter Reidinger, whose spine is damaged after a wall falls on him, paralyzing him for life. Until Peter realizes he's actually a powerful telekinetic, and he teaches himself to walk by moving his own limbs telekinetically.

Star Wars: Commenter db4dbms points out that Darth Vader is basically a torso inside a robotic exoskeleton, since Anakin had his arms and legs chopped off.

Robot Wars Book 5: Final Battle by Sigmund Brouwer features Tyce, a 14-year-old whose damaged spine has been hooked up to a device that lets him control robots. Tyce thinks about having an operation that would restore his ability to walk (at the cost of his ability to control robots). But then his toes start to wiggle all on their own, after he kills the first woman president of the United States (by accident, I think.)

Green Lantern John Stewart left the Lantern Corps after his wife got killed, and winds up joining the Darkstars, who have much less cool uniforms. Unfortunately, John gets badly injured defending the planet Rann, and becomes disabled. Until Hal Jordan, in his identity as Assclown — I mean, Parallax — heals John Stewart on his way to reignite the sun and save everyone.

Dark Angel gives us Logan Cale, a steely eyed cyber-journalist who's secretly known as Eyes Only. After Logan is injured in an accident, he's paralyzed from the waist down, and hires a live-in physical therapist named Bling. (Who, I'm just guessing, teaches Logan the healing power of giant medallions?) And then Logan meets a guy named Phil, who has an exoskeleton and agrees to give Logan one. The exoskeleton allows Logan to walk, and say goodbye to Bling!

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card shows Miro, who's been disabled and unable to speak normally, discarding his old body and creating a new one by teleporting Outside. The new body is intact, and allows Miro to do all the things he could do before his accident. (Thanks, TVTropes!)

The X-Files episode "All Souls" features a wheelchair-bound girl, who's able to walk out of her house miraculously. Then she's found dead, in a "praying position" with her eyes burned out — and the same thing may be coming for two other similar girls, unless Scully can work out the whole faith-vs-science thing pronto.

M.A.N.T.I.S., Sam Raimi's short-lived superhero series, features a scientist who's confined to a wheelchair — until he puts on his exoskeleton and becomes the crime-fighting dynamo M.A.N.T.I.S.!

Alpha Flight features Roger Bochs, a double amputee, who can "phase" into giant robot armor, allowing him to walk around and do superhero stuff. Later on, a healer gives him actual fleshy legs. But then it turns out that the healer harvested the legs from corpses, and the graft fails.

The Cure by F. Alexander Brejcha is unusual, in that it's a story about a disabled person being cured, written by an actual disabled person. Brejcha writes, in an author's note, that he's paraplegic, while his main character is quadraplegic. Not surprisingly, it deals a lot more with the main character's insecurity and adjustment problems after nanotech restores his mobility.

Dr. Strangelove regains the ability to walk, thanks to the awesomeness of setting off a doomsday device that ravages the globe.

Lost's John Locke is confined to a wheelchair for four years after his con-man bio-dad tosses him out a window. Locke will never walk again... until he goes to the Island, where he's suddenly healed, and becomes the awesome, rugged outdoorsman he always dreamed of being. In one episode, "The Man Behind The Curtain," Ben taunts Locke that the "old" Locke was so ineffectual, he got kicked off a Walkabout "because you couldn't walk." Locke's regained ambulatory status is linked to his virility and is proof that the Island has chosen him as a special person. Ben, meanwhile, is stuck in his wheelchair for a long time, because he's evil and the Island doesn't like him as much. (Although Ben, too, gets to walk eventually, thanks to Locke's presence.)

The Rampaging Hulk features Geoffrey Crawford, a former teacher of Bruce Banner's, who's suffering from a degenerative nerve disease that has him confined to a wheelchair. Bruce visits his old mentor, seeking a cure for his Hulk-itis, and Dr. Crawford has a complicated plan, involving mapping Bruce's DNA and using a teleporter to separate him from his Gamma radiation — but it's actually a scheme to steal Bruce's powers, so Crawford can Hulk out and escape from his wheelchair. Crawford becomes the monstrous Ravage, and puts the beatdown on the Hulk. Including the great sound effect, "Snap!". Also, in Incredible Hulk, Bruce Banner suffers from ALS, but then Reed Richards miraculously cures him. Then Banner turns to the reader, breaking the fourth wall, and explains there's no cure for ALS in real life and you should donate to research charities. Also, in an episode of The Incredible Hulk TV show, Banner is paralyzed from the waist down, until he Hulks out, which soon heals him.

Heroes' Arthur Petrelli is a rare example of an evil person who overcomes disability, thanks to the power of evil. I've blotted out the events of season three from my mind, but as near as I can tell, Mama Petrelli poisons Papa Petrelli, but he survives — except that he's totally paralyzed and unable to move. Until he absorbs the healing power from Adam/Kensei and becomes an unstoppable evil-eyebrow machine. Also on Heroes, Daphne has cerebral palsy and is unable to walk... until her mutant ability kicks in and makes her the fastest runner in the world, because irony.

Additional reporting by Josh C. Snyder. Thanks also to Danny Sichel.

Over a million viewers tuned into the American premiere of "The Waters of Mars," giving BBC America its highest ever primetime rating. Richard De Croce, Senior Vice President Programming for the network, said:

The final specials starring David Tennant have opened the door for new audiences to this iconic series while taking longtime fans on an incredible journey. Tennant's remaining two specials, The End of Time, Part One and Part Two, are the most anticipated episodes in the history of the series – which is why we're airing them just a day after their UK premiere.

They're also releasing new behind the scenes videos to tease even more viewers into tuning in:


"The End of Time, Part 1" airs Saturday at 9pm.

X-Men: First Class:

This movie is "basically about the formation of the X-Men. How they began and the relationship between a young Xavier and a young Magneto," says Bryan Singer. And it means you may never get to see the planned Magneto origin movie. "This story would probably utilize some of the Magneto story because it deals with a young Magneto, so it might supersede that because this would explore that relationship between a young energetic professor and a disenfranchised victim of the Holocaust." And he says he's still working on a big-screen Battlestar Galactica movie, but he hasn't found a writer yet. [Heat Vision Blog]

Inception:

Here's a new poster for this Christopher Nolan epic. [MTV]

And apparently a new trailer is appearing in front of Sherlock Holmes, and there are some early descriptions. You hear a voiceover: "What's the most resilient form of parasite? An idea. An idea has the power to build a city… to change the world, and re-write all the rules." And then lots of weird imagery zips past, like a city block folding upwards into an L shape, and a train racing down a street and smashing into cars, and people fighting in mid-air, and a motorcycle racing a car. Then the voiceover turns into Leonardo DiCaprio holding a gun and saying "That's why I have to steal it." ("It" meaning the aforementioned world-changing idea.) And there's lots of people fighting and water imagery. [Slashfilm]

Despicable Me:

Here's a new poster for this animated supervillain epic. [Cinemablend]

Toy Story 3:

Here's some "color script" art, designed to show off how the colors in the film are supposed to look, most of it from the film's flashback sequences. [Slashfilm]

Doctor Who:

Virgin Media has posted a "Viewmaster" type slide show of the first 20 minutes or so of "The End Of Time Part 1." The pictures are mostly old, but the spoilers are pretty intense. As the story begins, everyone on Earth is having nightmares, but only Wilf can remember what they're about — and he realizes he needs the Doctor's help. Meanwhile, the Doctor visits the Ood and they say that they, too, are having nightmares — about the Master.

The Master's widow, Lucy Saxon, gets brought to visit the new governor of her prison, only to find out he's an imposter, one of her ex-husband's acolytes. Using that fateful ring, they resurrect the Master, but he comes back damaged and more insane than ever. He roams a junkyard, scaring the residents. The Doctor, meanwhile, rushes to Earth and uses his super-power of smell to "sniff" out the Master. (No, really. He smells him.) They talk, and the Doctor insists he just wants to help, but the Master is too deranged. And finally he runs away.

Wilf enlists the aid of a bunch of senior citizens, called the Silver Curtain, to track the Doctor down. They talk, and the Doctor realizes that Wilf must be special, since he keeps connecting with the Doctor. The Doctor tells Wilf to tell him anything he knows, and Wilf mentions Donna brought home a strange book by Joseph Naismith. They decide to track this Naismith down, in the TARDIS.

But Naismith, with his paramilitary army, have already captured the Master, who's in bondage. It turns out that Naismith has something called the Immortality Gate, which can heal whole worlds, and he wants the Master to fix it. The Doctor appears in Naismith's basement, and meets two members of the Vinvocci species, Rossiter and Addams, who brought the Immortality Gate there. The Doctor runs upstairs, just in time to see the Master step into the Gate. And then everyone cries out, shouting that the Master is in their heads... [Virgin Media]

The Master actually "takes over the world again," says John Simm. [Planet Gallifrey]

Lost:

So yesterday we showed you some pics of a fight scene between Jin and Mikhail, and now here's a bit of video, courtesy of the same eyewitness, Darin the Pharmacist. [TV Overmind]

Also, apparently the fact that Maggie Grace won't be in the early episodes of season six (despite the alternate timeline where Flight 815 lands safely) will be explained. Not only does the plane land safely, but the repercussions from the nuke going off mean that both Shannon and Boone are very different people than the ones we know. Their backstory will be significantly altered. And also, Sawyer kisses either Kate or Juliet within the first four hours of the season. [E! Online]

And here are a couple new teasers. [Slashfilm]

Supernatural:

Sam and Dean will die and go to heaven. [E! Online]

FlashForward:

Confused? Don't be. Or do, if you prefer. But if you don't like being confused, then ABC is there for you.

Chuck:

There may be a secret passage leading out of the media room at the Buy More. And Chuck will make out with Kristen Kreuk's character, like a couple of teenagers. [E! Online]

Carina returns in episode 3x02 and it's awesome. Also in that episode, Casey gets to go undercover as someone other than a waiter, with amusing results. Episode 3x03 is a combined Devon/Casey episode, which gives insights into both their pasts. And we meet Shaw in episode 3x04. Also, Kreuk's introduction is "more organic" than fans may have feared. [ChuckTV]

Heroes:

Sally Champlin, who plays Lynette, Tweeted that she has a scene opposite George Takei in episode 4x15, "Pass/Fail." [SpoilerTV]

And here's a new promo for the next two episodes:

Additional reporting by Josh C. Snyder.

It's not just that most of your regular shows are on holiday break this week; the rest of programming is also affected by marathons and special programming that you'd probably be better off avoiding.

Monday, for example? There's really not much to be looked for at all. Fasten your grump-belts: You're going to run into a lot of that this week.

Tuesday

It's not SF, but Dirty Jobs is at least weird enough to occasionally seem like urban fantasy, right? For those who don't believe me, Discovery is running a marathon of the show from 12pm through 12am to convince you otherwise. For fans of Robin Williams' later work, AMC has Jumanji at 1:45pm.

(Edit: There's also a new episode of Better Off Ted on ABC at 9pm, which I highly recommend and would've earlier if I hadn't accidentally thought it was a rerun. Sorry!)

Wednesday

We're still a couple of days before the holiday itself, but that doesn't mean anything to a time lord, which explains why BBC America has two Doctor Who Christmas Specials already: "The Christmas Invasion" (David Tennant's first episode) at 12pm, and "The Runaway Bride" (Catherine Tate's first episode!) an hour later.

Thursday

Dear Syfy, I know it gets a lot of viewers, but a Ghost Hunters marathon for Christmas Eve? Unless they're looking for the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, I'm not a big fan (8am through 5am the following morning). Just watch BBC America's rerun of Doctor Who's "The Next Doctor" (5pm) instead.

Friday

Dear Syfy, Twilight Zone from 8am, then some trashy movies (Monster Ark at 9:30am, Copperhead at 11:30, Ghost Town at 1:30pm and Stephen King's Desperation - sadly, not a film about the desperation of a horror writer with a face like a shaved lion - at 3:30) before Serenity at 6:30, Total Recall at 9pm and Star Trek: The Next Generation from 11:30 through until 4:30am on Saturday? You're forgiven for that Ghost Hunters thing.

And for those who'd rather watch something with a little more (admittedly dubious) educational value, Discovery has a Mythbusters marathon from 12pm until 6am the next day.

Maybe you shouldn't watch the whole thing.

Saturday

Awake post-festive revelry and wondering if there are old SF B-movies to stave off sleep? AMC has you covered, with a triple-bill of The War Of The Worlds (3:30am), The Day The World Ended (5:30am) and Earth Vs. The Spider (7:15am).

Alternately, Syfy has a horrorfest happening, starting with Stay Alive at 9am, Rest Stop at 10:30, The Descent at 12:30, Autopsy at 2:30, then the first three Saw movies (4:30, 6pm and 9pm, respectively) to scare you out of any post-Christmas Day bluster.

Of course, anyone who isn't watching Doctor Who: The End Of Time part one on BBC America at 9pm should consider themselves (a) not in America, (b) someone who may have watced it online the night before, but we won't talk about that or (c) not our friends. Sorry, it's just the way it is (For those concerned: It's an unedited version, at 1hr and 15mins, including commercials).

Sunday

Catch up with the first four episodes of weird, quasi-animation Outer Space Astronauts on Syfy at 9:30am and then just throw away the remote; the same channel has In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale at 11:30am, followed by Beyond Sherwood Forest (Monsters! Robin Hood! Together!) at 2pm and Dragon Wars at 4, before Men In Black II (at 6pm) and Nic Cage's "What if Indiana Jones was happening today and shit?" National Treasure at 8. What better way to end the week than with Cage, after all?

The Observer's Johnny Davis offered up a profile of the actor this weekend, ahead of Friday/Saturday's "The End of Time, Part 1," and gave a glimpse into Tennant's mindset as he approaches the end of his tenure as Time Lord:

For four years I've always been going back to Cardiff at some point in the near future, so when I leave it will be like leaving campus. I don't mean to get things out of proportion, but I was keenly watching George Bush leaving the White House, and the thought of how his life is going to change… I'm not saying his life is like mine. I'm not the leader of the Free World, I'm really not… Oh, that's not really worked out very well for me, has it? It's just the thought that you hand over… and it stops. Maybe I'll be whisked up into something equally all-consuming.

As far as how the fans will take it, he's a lot more self-depreciating:

You know what will happen? Everyone will go: 'Oh, it'll never be the same.' And then two weeks in [to the new series] they'll go: 'Matt Smith: he's brilliant.' That's what happened when I was a kid, when Tom Baker left... That's just how it works.

"The End of Time" begins on BBC One in the UK on December 25th, and on BBC America on December 26th.
It just feels scary… all the time [Guardian.co.uk]

Iron Man 2:

Tony Stark shows off some more of his new gadgets, and works with another helper robot, in a couple of stills I don't think we've shown you before. [Shockya]

Lost:

Here are some more promo pics, of Frank, Richard and Ilana. Meanwhile, the show was filming some scenes involving Locke on the beach with Charles Widmore... and why are there sonic pylons surrounding him? (Also, is that Widmore from when he was booted off the Island, or present-day Widmore?) And finally, one lucky fan, Darin, witnessed the filming of some scenes involving Jin, Sayid, Keamy, Omar and Mikhail, including a rehearsal of a sequence involving gunplay. More pics at the link. [Lyly Ford and SpoilersLost and Hawaii Weblog]

And some new promos make some grand promises about what we'll get in the show's last 18 hours. [Lyly Ford]

Doctor Who:

The star of "The End Of Time Part 1" is really Bernard Cribbins, who starts out the episode seeking solace from the bad dreams that are haunting the whole world, then finds himself at the center of events that threaten the fabric of time itself. The Doctor hints there may be more to Wilf than meets the eye.

Meanwhile, the Master is totally batshit insane and hilarious and terrifying, and he doesn't really seem to have a plan for most of the episode — until it kicks in towards the episode's end, and we discover how terrifying a Time Lord can be if he's not on your side. The identity of that female hand that picked up the Master's ring is nobody you've expected. And the story uses some artful flashbacks to fill in the gaps. [Total Scifi Online]

Says David Tennant:

The forces gathering are quite unlike anything we've seen before. They're on a whole new scale. We've managed to keep a few surprises, even if people think they know what's coming.

And it's official: Timothy Dalton is playing "a senior Time Lord in an extraterrestrial dressing gown." Also, one of Tennant's last scenes involved being 30 feet up on some kind of flying rig. [Daily Mail]

The episode ends with a "doozy" of a cliffhanger, involving a huge plot twist. The episode is amazing, but there are some awfully convenient plot devices introduced a few times, to get the Doctor out of some nasty situations. And some new aliens are a bit naff, although they set up a great line from Wilf. [SFX]

It doesn't sound like Martha Jones is going to appear in "The End Of Time," but Freema Agyeman does insist, "Martha's not done!" [Digital Spy]

And we already showed you a few pics of the Master in bondage, but here are some more... [BlogtorWho]

Twilight: Eclipse:

Bryce Dallas Howard explains her take on the vampire Victoria:

Victoria is a wonderful character. ... It's awfully juicy to play a villain. To play someone that's just evil; Victoria is evil. And I think with "Eclipse," it ends with quite a huge battle, a big spectacle, and it's very scary. It's a very, very scary book and very terrifying set of circumstances, and I think the Cullens are in jeopardy in a way that they never really have been before. It was a really, really exciting world to be a part of, because it was so scary and the stakes were so high.

[MTV]

True Blood:

Lindsay Pulsipher (The Beast) will play Crystal, a young woman who has an "electric" connection with Jason. [EW]

Caprica:

Ryan Robbins describes his character, Diego, as a badass and a militant on the side of the monotheists. And it sounds like he's the character who gets to mack on Lacy. [Up And Comers via Battlestar Blog]

Also, Smallville/V actor Ryan Kennedy (Cosmic Boy) is joining Caprica, but no word on whom he's playing yet. [KSiteNetwork]

Chuck:

Here's your first glimpse of Angie Harmon as Sydney, a spy for The Ring tasked with taking out Awesome. Full version at the link. [ and EW]

And here's a new sneak peek at episode 3x01, "Chuck Vs. The Pink Slip":

FlashForward:

Here's another character we'll meet in episode 18, from a casting call:

[ROSS] 25-35 yrs, any ethnicity. Very intense. Has gone over the edge and puts himself in a life threatening position. GUEST STAR

[SpoilerTV]

Supernatural:

Episode 5x17 will be called "Your Time Is Gonna Come." [SpoilerTV]

Smallville:

Episode 9x16 will be called "Escape." [KryptonSite]

And here's a couple new promos:

Heroes:

This show returns with a special two-hour episode, "Upon This Rock; Let It Bleed." Here's the synopsis:

As Claire (Hayden Panettiere) becomes immersed into the world of the Carnival, she becomes increasingly suspicious of Samuel's (Robert Knepper) motives. Hiro (Masi Oka) is on a mission to rescue one of his own, but has difficulty communicating his intentions to Ando (James Kyson Lee). Samuel has his sight set on Emma (guest star Deanne Bray) and her ability to complete his master plan. Meanwhile, Sylar (Zachary Quinto) returns to the Carnival in search of answers and Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) continues to struggle with the loss of his brother. Elsewhere, H.R.G. (Jack Coleman) sets his plan in motion to take down the carnival.

[SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Mary Ratliff.

The British Court of Appeals upheld the original British verdict that the familiar white-and-black costume couldn't be considered copyrighted because it wasn't art. Instead, the costume has been considered "industrial design," and therefore only allowed to keep copyright for 15 years after creation. British Lord Justices Rix, Jacob and Patten considered the look of the Empire's cloned warriors to have a "utilitarian," rather than artistic, purpose, and denied Lucasfilm the right to enforce their US copyright in the United Kingdom.

It'll be interesting to see how this ruling could affect future British copyright cases. Can British companies now produce merchandise based on any movie or television designs, as long as they're older than 15 years, and use this as a defense? The Cybermen have been around for almost three times that long, let's see if someone's brave enough to test the BBC's legal wrath.

George Lucas loses court appeal over Star Wars costume copyright [Times Online]

It's the Master! It looks like he's pretty helpless, but wait...

Appearances can be deceiving. Meanwhile, DigitalSpy saw the first episode of "End Of Time," and has a handful of fairly major spoilers. The first line of the episode is the one you've heard in the trailers: "It is said that in the final days of planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams." There's that scene you've already watched, where the Doctor lands with his Hawaiian lei and meets Ood Sigma. And it continues with him having visions of the Master, Joshua Naismith, and Wilf. The Master's resurrection is "preposterous," and his (ex?) wife Lucy Saxon plays a major role.

That other scene you've seen, where the Doctor and the Master have their "force lightning" battle, happens fairly early on. Besides Star Wars, the episode also references Jaws (with the iconic music) and The Matrix. So why does Joshua Naismith bring the Master back to life? He wants the Master to do something for him — and it turns out just as well as you'd expect using the Master to.

We see a lot of Wilf, but not much of Donna, at first. But we do find out what she's been doing with her life, and she's still very "special." And we meet (or see) the President of the United States. Also, Wilf says the word "cactus," the Master says "so hungry," and the Doctor says the word "shimmer," as well as "...new man goes sauntering away." A reference to regeneration? We can't wait to find out.

[FilmShaft and DigitalSpy]

Kick-Ass

The final character poster has been revealed to give us purple-haired, plaid skirt-wearing Hit Girl. She still kind of looks like Stephanie from Lazy Town. [/Film]

Daybreakers

The human blood shortage means something more monstrous than vamps forgoing their bloody snow cones. The one sheet below depicts a subsider, the horrific creatures vampires become if they go too long without feeding. [ShockTillYouDrop]

The Book of Eli

Mila Kunis looks much more appropriately post-apocalyptic in these stills than in the character posters. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

X-Men: First Class

Not only has Bryan Singer signed on to direct the new prequel, it also has a writer: Jamie Moss, who has been working with DreamWorks to develop a live-action version of Ghost in the Shell. [THR]

Toy Story 3

This new still reveals little, except that Buzz Lightyear's helmet has seen better days. [/Film]

The Phantom

Character breakdowns for the miniseries reveal a great deal about the plot. Chris Moore, the biological son of the Phantom, takes up his father's mantle after his adoptive parents are killed by the Singh Brotherhood and his girlfriend Renny's life is put in danger. Guran has an unbreakable mystical connecton with Chris, and serves as his most trusted ally. When Able Vandermaark, Chris' conservative mentor and keeper of the ways of the Phantom, forbids Chris from returning home to protect Renny and her father, it is Guran who ensures Chris gets his wish. Meanwhile, as Chris chafes under Vandermaark, Chris begins to question his mentor's true intentions.

Paramedic Renny was Chris' elementary school crush, and is later reunited with him at the scene of an accident involving Chris' friend Jordy. Their flirtatious quickly turns to a passionate relationship, but then Chris suddenly disappears at the same time Renny's father is wounded in a shooting. Renny's father is treated for his injury in Bengalia, and that is where Renny learns Chris' identity as the Phantom.

Raatib Singh is of course the leader of the Singh Brotherhood, and he attempts to keep wars and social and economic upheaval churning so that the Brotherhood can reap a profit. He is obsessed with the implementation of a technology called "Flicker" and has plans to assassinate Jalil Ben David, a politician who could bring stability to the Middle East. But he doesn't regard the Phantom as a real threat, and that leads to his assassination plans being foiled. The Brotherhood's latest asset is Dr. Bella Lithia, who developed the Flicker technology. Flicker can turn ordinary citizens into deadly assassins, but it has its limits. But when Singh refuses to heed Lithia's warnings and tries to control the technology himself, Lithia tries to outsmart him. [PhantomSite]

Doctor Who

The BBC six o'clock news interviewed David Tennant about his final episodes and gives a behind-the-scenes look at "The End of Time," including a fiery moment with the Master. [Blogtor Who]

True Blood

Mad Men actress Shannon Welles has been cast as "a mysterious old woman who lives in the middle of nowhere." It sounds like Bill will be shacking up at her place following his abduction. [EW]

Dollhouse

We'll be seeing more of Alan Tudyk's Alpha in the "Epitaph Two" finale. [EW]

Being Human

The vampire, werewolf, and ghost flatmates return in January, and here's a new one-sheet. Poor Annie is still stuck in that same outfit. [Den of Geek]

Lost

We will soon find out how Mikhail lost his right eye, but someone whose name is three letters long already knows (Ben?). [EW]

And here are a few more of those casual wear photos. [Lyly Ford]

Fringe

Fringe's second season is going on hiatus early in the new year, but on January 11th, we'll be getting an unaired episode from the first season, titled "Unearthed." [Spoiler TV]

Chuck

Chuck tests out his new powers — and encounters a bar full of spies — in images from the season premiere "Chuck vs. The Pink Slip." [Spoiler TV]

And glittery streamers and beach torches aside, everyone looks very serious in the second episode, "Chuck vs. The Three Worlds." [ChuckTV]

And everyone (including Ellie and Awesome) get fancied up in the season's third episode, "Chuck vs. The Angel de la Muerte." [Spoiler TV]

Iron Man 2:

So you've noticed that press clippings about Tony Stark are a big part of this sequel — and three of them have been appearing on various sites. The clippings talk about Tony Stark "coming out" as Iron Man, but they each have a different word highlighted: Secret, Stark, and Confession. Is Tony going to confess something else besides being Iron Man in the next film? [MTV]

John Carter Of Mars:

Mark Strong plays the villain, Matai Shang, and he's not doing any motion-capture — although his character is a shape-shifter, so he's had to be photographed by a 360 degree camera, so he can shift into things. He mostly turns into other people, says Strong. [ComingSoon]

Avatar:

Here's a new clip of dragon-flying excitement. [MTV]

And Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver were talking the film up on The View:

Dangerous Species:

Apparently Eli Roth's Cloverfield-esque film is no longer called Endangered Species. Or else somebody misheard him. [Collider]

Daybreakers:

Wondering just how crazy it gets when the future vampire population starts to run out of blood? Behold for yourself, in a new clip:

Doctor Who:

Another new trailer includes a bit of new footage of John Simm's Master rocking the weird bottle-blond/hoodie/collar look. [Thanks again CJ!]

Lost:

Michael Emerson says:

I think next year, after the conclusion of the final season, when people see the strength and style of how we go out, I expect Lost to have more recognition.

And he says Terry O'Quinn is continuing to do staggering work in the final season, and Josh Holloway is also having a really strong final season, with a gripping, moving storyline. [TV Guide Magazine]

Says Carlton Cuse:

I think we're doing something new in this final season narratively, so we have that combination of fear and giddiness. The fear is, oh, what if people don't like it, what if the audience doesn't like what we're doing?

[TV Guide]

The show was filming a beach scene with Locke, Ben, four scientists... and Widmore? Is this on the Island, or just some random beach? [SpoilersLost]

Apparently clues in the latest Lost posters include a flaming ankh in Hurley's hand, and an upside-down Oceanic logo. [SpoilersLost]

Dollhouse:

Felicia Day says the final episode, which she co-stars in, "wrap[s] up the storyline in an amazing way and I'm blown away by the writing." But doesn't really go into specifics. [TV Guide Magazine]

Supernatural:

Rejoice! Ash, the mullet-sporting nerd, will be back soon, says actor Chad Lindberg via Twitter. [Twitter via SF Universe]

Chuck:

Chuck's new abilities may include speaking Thai and sky-diving, among other things. Someone else besides Awesome will learn Chuck's secret this season (my money's on Morgan). Robert Patrick is playing a soldier from Casey's past, and Stone Cold Steve Austin is a baddie that Chuck gets trapped on a plane with. [Sci Fi Wire]

And here is a sneak peek, plus some new promos!

Caprica:

Here are some new featurettes about this BSG prequel:

Heroes:

Remember this series? Well, it remembers you. And here's what's coming up when it returns:

As Claire becomes immersed in the world of the carnival, she becomes increasingly suspicious of Samuel's motives; Hiro goes on a mission to rescue one of his own; H.R.G. recruits Matt to help him take down Samuel.

[SpoilerTV]

Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths:

William Baldwin (Dirty Sexy Money) plays Batman, and here are some pictures of Bats from this new original animated film. [Warner Bros.]

Additional reporting by Mary Ratliff.

If you were reading Doctor Who novelizations in the 1970s or 1980s, you'll recognize Achilleos' trademark epic-flames-and-grayscale-heads design. But he also did some great art for other media entities, including this nice Blade Runner image. And if you followed his early, straight-up media SF images, then you would have been startled to see him turn towards erotic pin-ups and fantasy art... but he never lost the splashy sensibility that made his early Who work so memorable.

Sirens, the collection of Achilleos' art, has been out of print for 20 years, but Titan Books just reissued it. Here's the official description:

The second book of fantasy illustrations by Chris Achilleos, Sirens is a feast for the eyes, bursting with full-color art, sketches and development drawings in everything from oil paint to airbrush and inks. Massively popular and highly regarded, Chris Achilleos' glamour and fantasy artwork ranges from his acclaimed Doctor Who and Star Trek book covers to the erotic pin-ups that made him famous, embracing along the way Greek mythology, role-playing games, Tolkien and movie posters for the likes of Heavy Metal. With full-color gallery shots and pin-ups, as well as pencil sketches, Sirens will delight old and new fans alike.

Warning: The last couple images in this gallery might be slightly NSFW, due to sassy breastplates.

Iron Man 2

Entertainment Tonight premiered a few moments from the film, including a scene where Pepper kisses Iron Man (well, his helmet, anyway). [via Cinema Blend]

Forbidden Planet

As if he doesn't have enough on his plate, James Cameron has confirmed that he's "actively involved" in J. Michael Straczynski's project. But apparently he hasn't made any decisions about what his role will be. [MTV]

Inception

We get our first one-sheet for Chris Nolan's mysterious thriller. Apparently, the crime scene inside Leonardo DiCaprio's mind has a plumbing issue. [/Film]

Toy Story 3

A new pic shows the toys heading off to their new home. Check out the full-sized image at Empire Magazine.

Sherlock Holmes

If you've always wondered what goes on the set of a Guy Ritchie movie, Cinema Blend has a bunch of behind-the-scenes clips. [Cinema Blend]

Rec 2

Here's the Italian trailer for the sequel to the Spanish plague film. [via ShockTillYouDrop]

Doctor Who

The Angels will have the phone box once again. Steven Moffat has revealed that the creepy Weeping Angels from "Blink" will return in the next season. [Blogtor Who]

Also, the Tenth Doctor wishes you a Merry Christmas in a pair of station identifications. [Planet Gallifrey]

True Blood

The casting directors have been very busy lately. Joe Manganiello, who has had recurring roles on One Tree Hill and How I Met Your Mother, landed one of the season's key parts — that of the heroic werewolf Alcide. [E!]

Eric's dancing lover has also been cast. Natasha Alam will play the Fangtasia employee who takes up with the blond viking. And Gregg Daniel has been cast as Reverend Daniels, spiritual adviser to Tara's mom (and object of her affections). [EW]

But that's not all! Sam and Lafayette are both getting new parental units. Cooper Huckabee will be introduced in the season's second episode as Joe Lee Mickens, Sam's father, and multiple Emmy Award-winner Alfre Woodard is signing on as Lafayette's mom. [ShockTillYouDrop, ShockTillYouDrop]

Lost

As promised, there's no new footage in the pre-premiere promos, but relive the previous seasons' tragedies to "Amazing Grace." [via /Film]

More news from the sets. At the Diamond Head Stage, Desmond, Mikhail, and Sayid are going to be getting wet. At an airport, Sun and Jin were seen going through customs. [DarkUFO]

And here are few more of the casual wear promo pictures. [Lyly Ford]

Chuck

Zachary Levi promises that Chuck's cool new powers (including fluency in Thai) won't change the klutzy heart of the show. Armand Asante will be playing the leader of the Costa Gravas, a sort of Castro-like figure. Chuck gets stuck on an airplane with Stone Cold Steve Austin's bad guy character. According to the creators, Brandon Routh and Kristin Kreuk's characters will be more than romantic obstacles for Chuck and Sarah, and that they will be connected to the larger mythology of the show. Kreuk's character Hannah will set multiple hearts aflutter at the Buy More, and that's just one issue the store has to deal with. Buy More will contend with cutbacks and management overthrows, and will get a new assistant manager. [Cinema Blend]

Chuck goes kung fu in Converse sneakers in a new Season Three poster.

Meanwhile, the set photos show Chuck giving Brandon Routh a lift. [Socialite Life]

And NBC has more promos to get you ready for the new season. [via Spoiler TV]

Still want more Chuck? In a new special preview feature, the cast talks about the new season.

And Zachary Levi is excited to get back to superspying.

Smallville

More details have emerged on the two-hour Justice Society movie. Apparently, the first episode starts with a death, which sets Clark's encounter with the JSA in motion. But one member has a special interest in clark. Says Britt Irvin of her character Stargirl:

"She has a special connection with Clark because he reminds her a lot of her mentor," says the actress. What's more, when the JSA gets wind (via Dr. Fate) of Clark's destiny, Stargirl realizes "he's very important for mankind."

Irvin also says that her mysterious mentor will make an appearance (as a corpse?), and that Stargirl and Hawkman will have some friction with Green Arrow in the beginning. [Fancast]

FlashForward

Here's a casting call for the 15th episode:

[WOMAN] 30s-40s.. Any Ethnicity. Office worker leaving at the end of the work day. She encounters an incident outside her building and is forced to wait to go home...CO-STAR

[FBI AGENT #1] 30s-40s, Male, Any Ethnicity. No-nonsense FBI Agent. Tasked with handling a sensitive issue, he must maintain order while tempers flare...CO-STAR

[FBI AGENT #2] 30s-40s, Male, Any Ethnicity. No-nonsense FBI Agent. Tasked with handling a sensitive issue, he must maintain order while tempers flare...CO-STAR

[DINA] 30s. Female, Any Ethnicity. An amusement park employee with a talking parrot that are both very helpful in giving directions.sptv050769..CO-STAR

[Spoiler TV]

And another for the 16th episode:

[KENT NELSON] 40s... Any Ethnicity. Homeless, a loner. He experiences a violent encounter with someone from his past...Co-Star/Possible Recurring

[GREG] 30s, Male, Any Ethnicity. A Secret Service Agent assigned to protective detail. He is by-the-book and official in his interaction with a visitor whom he escorts to meet with his boss...Co-Star

[DAVID] 30s-40s, Any Ethnicity. An Episcopal minister. Welcoming, relatable. He shows his church to some visitors who are interested in using it for a ceremony...Co-Star

[CHUCKIE] 50's, Any Ethnicity. A sandwich maker at Bay Cities. Frustrated with amount of orders from demanding customers.sptv050769..Co-Star

[Spoiler TV]

Additional reporting by Josh Snyder and Charlie Jane Anders.

Here's the latest clip from "The End Of Time Part 1". As some of the trailers have shown recently, the Master has new lightning hand powers, which seem to gain strength from rubbing his palms together. And the Doctor is forced to his knees!

[Buzzcocks clip via Oh No They Didn't , thanks to CJ for "End Of Time" clip]

Monday

Get your day started off in the right way with Syfy's Highlander: The Raven marathon, from 8:30 in the morning until 3:30 in the afternoon. Wait, did I say "right"? I meant, "It's Highlander, surely you can find something better to watch on another channel."

The CW, meanwhile, takes advantage of everything else in primetime being on holiday break by starting a weeklong catch-up for The Vampire Diaries at 8pm, with two episodes running each night until Friday.

Tuesday

You know you're in trouble when a new episode of Syfy's Outer Space Astronauts is the highlight of the day (It's on at 9pm). Otherwise, it's an Early Edition marathon on the same channel from 8am through 3pm and another two hours of The Vampire Diaries on the CW at 8pm for you. Suddenly, NBC's Glee/American Idol mash-up The Sing-Off seems very tempting, doesn't it...?

Wednesday

Again, it's a Syfy marathon from 8am to 3pm (Today, Moonlight) and two hours of Vampire Diaries (from 8pm on the CW) to keep you busy today, although your sanity may be regained with the help of a brand new Mythbusters on Discovery at 9pm (It's called "Hidden Nasties," which can only bode well) and you can always wash your brain out at the end of the day with Eastwick's new episode, "Tea and Psycopathy":

After Jamie reveals to Roxie that Darryl is his father, she sets about having a dinner party where father and son can bond. However, Jamie has a secret, darker plan for the evening. Meanwhile, Kat embraces her newfound power by healing every patient she is exposed to, but her compassion leads to drastic physical consequences. Max asks a reluctant Joanna to help him crack a famous unsolved Eastwick murder, but their snooping leads them to a perilous situation with Eleanor.

Admittedly, after a plot description like that, I'm not sure anyone needs to actually watch the show.

Thursday

I don't remember Level 9, but Syfy definitely does; that's their 8am through 3pm marathon for the day. Aside from the CW's two hour Vampire Diaries block - 8pm until 10pm, remember - your night is both free and clear for you to tune into the special Christmas compilation of Saturday Night Live sketches on NBC at 8pm, just to see if "Dick In A Box" is still funny years later.

Friday

Finally, Syfy's daytime marathon comes through with the goods! It's Stargate SG-1 all day from 8am to 3pm.

As well as (an old) Christmas episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, you can be advance-grateful for Dollhouse's latest double bill ("Stop-Loss"/"The Attic", Fox 8pm) for giving you something new to watch instead of another couple of episodes of The Vampire Diaries on the CW at the same time. If you need any more reason to tune into the Whedon world, this double bill includes the episode where Victor's contract expires...

Saturday

Syfy put in a strong showing with a monster movie marathon (9:30am: Mutants, 11:30am: Lockjaw: Rise of The Kulev Serpent, 1pm: Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, 3pm Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed, 5pm: Ice Spiders, 7pm: Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, 9pm: My Name Is Bruce, 11pm: Alien Apocalypse and finally at 1am, the infamous Mansquito).

But U.S. viewers who haven't already found a way to watch it will be much happier with BBC America's Doctor Who afternoon, which runs old episodes from 2:30 before the 8pm Inside The Tardis behind-the-scenes episode, and the 9pm premiere of the uncut The Waters Of Mars. Thank you for being so good to us, American Beeb.

Sunday

I think you might want to leave the house for the day. Do some last-minute holiday shopping or something, because there's not really a lot to keep you inside and in front of the television... Maybe you should TiVo all those Vampire Diaries and watch them...

The story, "The Last Doctor," is the first of what Cornell's calling his 12 Blogs of Christmas, a series of blog posts about "the three worlds I move in: science fiction; comics and Doctor Who." He's calling this story fan fiction, but consider the fan in question was responsible for the amazing S3 double bill of "Human Nature"/"The Family Of Blood", you can take that with a grain of salt.

As part of the series of special posts, Cornell will be answering all questions addressed to his Twitter account between 10am and 10pm BST tomorrow. Get up early and ask him who we have to threaten to get Captain Britain and M13 back at Marvel Comics. (Update: He's moved it to Wednesday.)

The 12 Blogs of Christmas: One. A Doctor Who Story for Christmas [Paul Cornell]

Ghostbusters 3:

So you might have heard that Sigourney Weaver says that Venkman (Bill Murray) will be a ghost in the new movie? And that her character's son, Oscar, will have grown up to be a Ghostbuster? People who've been paying attention to the rumors and chatter around this film are pretty sure she's just repeating old rumors — like Bill Murray reportedly told someone four years ago that he would only be in the movie if he played a ghost. And Weaver probably hasn't actually seen a script, since nobody else has yet, either. On the other hand, Murray playing a ghost could be sort of fun. [Screen Rant]

Transformers 3:

People have been circulating a draft script for this upcoming masterpiece. I don't for a scond believe that this movie has a script yet, and even the people who are reposting the script thinks it might be a fake. On the other hand, apparently a similarly rough draft script of Revenge Of The Fallen popped up online long before it came out, and was viewed as similarly wild — but turned out to be real. Plus, it's always entertaining to read these things, and it's probably better than the real script will be.

So apparently this draft script includes the Aerialbots, the Combaticons, Perceptor, Wheeljack, Ultra Magnus, and Shockwave, and is a big love letter to fans of the 1984 animated series. As it begins, hostilities between the Autobots and the Decepticons have gotten worse, and calls for the Autobots to leave Earth have gotten more shrill. Sam (who's now an intern at the Large Hadron Collider) finds another fragment of the Allspark, which could give off enough energon to power all the Transformers forever, if bombarded with the right kind of particles. Optimus sends for the Ark, and Sam invites Mikaela to come join him there for a romantic evening, or something, and then proposes to her. Sam and Optimus Prime are all set to examine the Allspark fragment aboard the Ark, when Megatron attacks, but then Starscream betrays him. And somehow this leads to everyone traveling back in time to 1982, where Starscream steals the Allspark and kills Megatron "twice in one day," has he puts it.

This means that all of the Autobots have to disguise themselves as period cars (would GM even allow this?) meaning Optimus becomes a Peterbilt Semi, and Mirage becomes a Pontiac Trans Am, but also sometimes a Formula 1 race car. And Sam meets his own grandfather, and realizes that he can erase the Autobot/Decepticon war from history by getting rid of the Cube. But yeah, it's almost certainly a fake. Click here to read the whole thing. [Comic Book Movie and Allspark]

Iron Man 2:

Robert Downey Jr. says the thing that made the first movie work was that it was grounded in reality, and the high tech looked like something out of Popular Mechanics rather than a galaxy-spanning saga. And with the Marvel Universe as crazy as it is, it would be easy for the next movie to be too wild, but he and Jon Favreau want to keep it grounded. And he explains how they'll avoid sequel-itis:

My take - Jon [Favreau] was in agreement, and Marvel supported us - was that once you tell an [origin] story pretty well, that's usually where things start to get dull, and one or two or three things start to happen over and over again," Downey explained during an interview with Rotten Tomatoes. "So, we made Tony Stark's challenges very much outside the usual realm of activity. As much as anything else, it's much more of a side job for him the second time around.

[Rotten Tomatoes]

Remember how we reported the first movie was totally improv, with almost no script to speak of? Olivia Munn (who's admittedly not one of the film's main actors) says it was much the same this time around. "There's a bunch of improv, over and over." And apparently Munn improv-ed so well, Downey Jr. stopped the filming to give her a round of applause.

Thor:

Ray Stevenson, who plays Volstagg, says he wears a fatsuit, but he's got muscles and isn't the "weeble-shaped" figure from the comics. And he says the character has a ton of "Falstaffian vigor," which makes sense given that Branagh is directing. [Superhero Hype]

The Sorcerer's Apprentice:

Apparently we first meet the apprentice as a young boy (Jake Cherry) and then later as a young adult (Jay Baruchel). And producer Jerry Bruckheimer explains why we should be excited:

"He's more like a rock star," producer Jerry Bruckheimer tells PEOPLE about the film, due in theaters July 10. Like the animated version, this Sorcerer's Apprentice will also feature those dancing brooms. "We did it in a realistic way," Bruckheimer says. "The [brooms] are really dancing and doing their thing."

How could it be bad? [People]

Daybreakers:

Here's an international trailer, which I don't think we've shown you before — it includes a bit more footage from this vampire-dominated future dystopia. [Reelz Channel]

The Wolfman:

A new international poster shows that the wolfman's powers include causing people's heads to float randomly and to be eaten by unnatural shadows. [ShockTillYou Drop]

Spider-Man 4:

Some have speculated that Bryce Dallas Howard could be back as Gwen Stacy, but she hasn't been contacted yet, which makes it seem less likely. Meanwhile, don't hold your breath for her to return as Kate Connor in Terminator 5 or 6 — she's not signed up for any further installments. (But she would defininitely consider it.) [Coming Soon]

Avatar:

The New York Daily News review has a pretty good summary of the film:

Sam Worthington is Jake Scully [sic], a paraplegic Marine in 2154 assigned to a deep-space moon called Pandora, where his consciousness controls an avatar, a clone of Pandora's indigenous, humanoid Na'vi people. As Jake lies in a high-tech tanning bed, his mind is in his blue Na'vi, which is 10 feet tall with pointy ears, cat eyes and a tail.

A scientist (a tough Sigourney Weaver) created the process to aid diplomatic relations with the Na'vi, since the air is poisonous to humans and space suits, apparently, get in the way. It's the last chance for the peaceful aliens - who know what the avatars really are - since a corporate goon (entertainingly weaselly Giovanni Ribisi) wants a valuable element buried deep under the "hometree," the Na'vi's spiritual center. And if diplomacy fails, a gung-ho sergeant (Stephen Lang, overdoing it) will get it at any cost.

Cameron counts too much on the connection we'll have to his goofy-looking blue man group, or with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), the Na'vi warrior princess who helps Jake's heart go on. Saldana - Uhura in last summer's "Star Trek" - delivers a remarkably full-bodied motion-capture performance, but the mystic-tribal clichés around her suggest every Netflix queue on Pandora includes "Dances with Wolves" and "The Last of the Mohicans."

[NY Daily News]

And there's a new Czech TV spot, plus a big Panasonic tie-in commercial that you may actually have seen.

Harry Potter:

Tom Felton says Deathly Hallows will be truer to the book than any of the previous films. [Movies-Spoilers]

Doctor Who:

So Alexandra Moen, who plays the Master's wife Lucy Saxon, says she wasn't the one who picked up the Master's ring at the end of "Last Of The Time Lords." Since we last saw her, Lucy has been locked up in a big ominous castle-like prison, and it just got a new governor. And it sounds like she breaks out of there. She's decided to try and go straight, but she's not at peace — she's full of anger. And her scenes are mostly with the Master and a few other actors. [Digital Spy]

Lost:

Some more filming details: episode nine is definitely Alpert-centric, and the Black Rock is definitely a prison ship. Also, we see an Ilana scene taking place at an old hospital in Russia, suggesting that Ilana is tied in with Alpert's backstory somehow. Separately, there's a scene with Jin working in a hotel, and Sun was there too. Also filming in the same location was a Keamy/Omar scene, and Mikhail was there and spoke Korean. There was also a Jin scene involving the same community college where Hurley's asylum was filmed. And a scene at a nice house with Hurley and Alpert. [The Transmission via SpoilersLost]

Also, Sayid was filming a scene with a large group of the "temple Others," including Zoey, and probably Cindy and Zack. Also present: seven to 10 scientists, for some reason. [SpoilersLost]

The show is casting an E.R. doctor making rounds, an MRI tech, and an African American female lawyer who won't be pushed around, for its eleventh episode. [SpoilersLost]

And there's an extended version of the season six promo:

Fringe:

I really like these new wallpapers, which emphasize the "passing between universes" theme as well as more of Walter's oddness. [SpoilerTV]

Remember that set video we showed you last week that included Anna Torv getting blown around? Now it's her, plus a bunch of extras:

Supernatural:

I know we mentioned that Cupid would be showing up (along with Famine, one of the Four Horsemen) in the Valentine's Day episode "My Bloody Valentine." Apparently, he'll be doughy, out of shape and naked, and constantly giving everybody bear hugs. [TV Guide Magazine]

And we'll be meeting a holy man in episode 5x16, "Dark Side Of The Moon":

[JOSHUA] This benevolent — dignified, very Zen man in his 50's-70's is inflappable, simple, but not insincere. A Morgan Freemen type vibe. PLEASE SUBMIT ALL ETHNICITIES. GUEST STAR.

Could that actually be God? [SpoilerTV]

And after the rerun of "The End" the other day, they showed a new trailer for the next episode, coming January 21.

And here's a set video for 5x15, "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", in which all you can basically see is Sam and Dean walking inside a house:

True Blood:

The show is looking for someone to play Alcide, who's described as "rough looking but articulate and basically decent," and he takes a liking to Sookie and may even have some mutual attraction with her. It sounds like he takes her out, given that we meet a giant nightclub bouncer who knows Alcide but is suspicious of his guest, Sookie. Also, an old-school Ob/Gyn examines Arlene with an ultrasound, and a pastor officiates at Eggs' funeral service. [EW and SpoilerTV]

Chuck:

As you've probably heard, we're done with Chuck's "reluctant spy" act. He's now a fully gung-ho spy, but he's also aware of how much his career puts his family at risk. And Awesome will get drawn into Chuck's espionage world to a much greater extent — and we'll get to see how awesome Awesome really is. As season three starts, we'll realize something awful has happened between Chuck and Sarah in the mean time, and eventually we'll learn just what that is. We'll also learn how crucial Sarah is to whether Chuck makes a good spy. Carina, Sarah's old partner from season one, will be back. And Jeffster will perform again in a very special episode. [TV Guide]

Also, Casey is going to have a lot to deal with this season — a secret from his past is going to come to light, and it'll make his life complicated. Also, he'll get more responsibilities at the Buy More, and will start to discover that Buy More may actually be his future. Meanwhile, Lester has a "Fight Club" episode where he goes nuts. And we'll get to see Lester's bedroom and his pajamas. [ChuckTV]

FlashForward:

Episode 13 will be called "Better Angels." [SpoilerTV]

Smallville:

Here's a new trailer for the next batch of episodes, starting January 22:

Heroes:

It's the death that sticks — for now, anyway. Tim Kring says we definitely won't be seeing Nathan again for the rest of season four. [Fancast News]

Additional reporting by Mary Ratliff.

In this era of franchises based on pre-existing... well, franchises, really, it should be tough for brand new characters to make any significant impression, but I feel like we've been spoiled for choice in some ways; beyond the five mentioned below, I could've also gone for Y The Last Man's Yorick Brown, Scott Pilgrim's Kim Pine (Because, really, it's all about Kim. Admit it), Fringe's Walter Bishop or Dollhouse's Adelle DeWitt, to name just a few more. I'm not talking about the most important characters of the last ten years, or even the most popular, please understand; this is purely a (selfish and subjective) question of quality, for once. These, however, are my top 5:

Benjamin Linus
Color me one of those people who drifted in and out of Lost throughout the first two seasons of the show... Well, until Ben entered the picture. Michael Emerson's smarmy, knowing performance as "Henry Gale" brought something that the show had needed since the beginning: A Bad Guy. Or, at least, someone who we didn't know much about, but were pretty sure we shouldn't be trusting nonetheless. As we've learned more about the character since then, it's been Emerson's performance that's led the way, convincing us about a control freak who likes to think that he's one step ahead of everyone even though he's lost sight of the bigger picture. In a show filled with great characters - Locke was so close to making my top 5 - Ben stands apart as the best of them all.

Thaddeus S. "Rusty" Venture
Cynical, selfish and entirely delusional when it comes to his importance in the world, The Venture Bros.'s patriarchal figure may be one of the most oddly complex, nuanced character on television these days. On the surface, he's a self-centered coward emotionally scarred from a childhood as a Boy Adventurer who resents his life, his family and pretty much the rest of the world, but the longer the show goes on, the more we see a different Rusty: The father who's grooming Dean in his image - because there's no way that could go wrong - excited about sharing his passion for prog rock and science (and, surprisingly, offering support and advice in times of need), for one thing, or the man who's so pissed off by trouble ruining his plans that he ends up doing heroic deeds just to make his own life easier. Never mind that he's also genius enough to successfully clone his kids for years, replacing them if and when they died... Rusty Venture isn't the kind of man you could rely on, but he certainly makes for entertaining viewing.

Gaius Baltar
And talking of people you can't rely on, Battlestar Galactica's Baltar may have been chosen by God/The Gods/Some Higher Power/Ronald D. Moore to lead humanity towards its new home, along the way discovering a spiritual side, falling in love and growing as a human being, but that wasn't why we loved him so much. No, with Baltar, it was all about the weasel. Whether he was trying to maneuver himself into even greater positions of power, trying to stay alive after surrendering the colonies to the cylons on New Caprica or just trying to seduce whatever character had caught his attentions that week, Baltar was never better than when he was being weak and giving in to his worst impulses. James Callis' performance was one of the best things throughout the entire series, giving us a character that we Loved To Hate To Love, as well as some of the few moments of genuine comedy throughout the entire run. You just know that he'd have given up that whole farming thing within a month of the finale, don't you?

Donna Noble
She didn't fall in love with the Doctor. It's worth repeating: She didn't fall in love with the Doctor. After Rose and Martha, that fact alone made this particular Doctor Who companion feel like a breath of fresh air, but there was so much more to her than that: Her enthusiasm, and heart. Her ability to say the wrong thing in almost any occasion. Her self-confidence, misplacing in many ways, but making her feel like the Doctor's peer and friend instead of someone who believes everything he says and puts him on a pedestal (Catherine Tate deserves all credit for making that charming and irritating at once). Given her (intentionally) annoying first appearance in "The Runaway Bride," it's surprising that Donna turned into the companion I'll miss most from this new run, but it's definitely true; her exit was heartbreaking, entirely fitting and proof that Russell T. Davies loved her too much to kill her off. I'm selfishly hoping she survives "The End Of Time," too.

Kate Kane/Batwoman
Still relatively new, there's something fascinating about DC Comics' latest Batman spin-off. Under writer Greg Rucka's control - and, given her few appearances elsewhere, only under Rucka's control - Kate Kane is at once a reminder of, and refusal of, Bat-cliches. Yes, she was born of family tragedy, but her response wasn't to focus her entire life towards justice, but instead run off the rails in self-destructive behavior. Like Batman, she sees herself as a soldier, but she actually approaches her missions in that mindset, no doubt helped by her father and their shared military background. Most refreshingly, Batwoman is wonderfully fallible - Misunderstanding a prophecy to be about her own death in the recent "Elegy" storyline - and, at times, unlikable. Given her relatively few appearances since her debut in 2006's 52, it's surprising that she comes across as so rounded and real a character, but she does - and we hope her career is as long-lived as her male counterpart.

But enough about our love of Dr. Zachary Smith updates and redheaded women - What're your choices for the character who's made the greatest impression on you after appearing for the first time at some point during the last ten years? The comments are there for a purpose, after all...