Mars and Ashes co-creator Matthew Graham told Digital Spy that the end of Ashes would finally reveal everything about both show's time-tossed craziness:

The idea is to unify the two shows. Series three unifies Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes and makes them one show. By the time you get halfway through series three of Ashes To Ashes, you will actually feel like you're watching series five of Life On Mars! ...In a way what we're saying is that we're going to finally explain the mythology we've created... There's no way we could do another series after this. There would be no mystery left.

As someone who liked the ambiguity of Mars' end, I'm not sure how I feel about everything being explained, but it'll still be interesting seeing what they come up with to do so.

'Ashes' finale will explain 'Life On Mars' [Digital Spy]

Scientists studying the Red Planet have developed a few possible explanations for the presence of methane in Mars' atmosphere. Methane on Mars is being constantly depleted by a chemical reaction triggered by sunlight, meaning that the methane is also replenished at a significant rate. One theory, that methane was being carried into the atmosphere by extramartian bodies such as meteorites, has been taken off the table thanks to a new study by researchers at Imperial College London. The study found that the volume of methane released by meteorites upon entering the atmosphere is far too low to supply Mars' current methane levels. Other studies have ruled out another possibility, that volcanic activity has been producing the methane.

This leaves two frontrunner solutions to Mars' methane mystery. One possibility is that the methane is produced as a byproduct of a chemical reaction between volcanic rock and water. The other is that microorganisms are living on the planet's surface and that their metabolic process produces methane.

It's far, far away from indicating life on Mars, but it does narrow down the hunt for the methane's source. A joint NASA/ESA mission is scheduled to head to Mars in 2018 to look for the source of the methane.

Life on Mars theory boosted by new methane study [PhysOrg]

Spaceflight Now is reporting that, within the next few days, NASA plans to publicly discuss new research concerning ALH 84001, the Martian meteorite found in Allan Hills, Antarctica. The research is said to strengthen the findings of the team that studied the meteorite over a decade ago and announced in 1996 that the meteorite might contain evidence of bacterial life.

The new research, detailed in a 46-page peer reviewed paper, looks at magnetic bacteria found on Earth. The researchers have closely studied magnetic bacteria and the formations they create in rocks. The bacteria leave distinctive remnants in the rock, uniquely-shaped magnetite crystals that test with a chemical purity that reflects biological, rather than geological, origins. That these remnants are unique to magnetic bacteria on Earth and are also found in the Allan Hills meteorite strongly suggests that the crystals indicate ancient bacterial life on Mars.

Critics of the original NASA report have doubted these features as reliable fossils, claiming that the shape and chemical purity could be achieved by the same thermal shock that separated the material from Mars in the first place. But new research reported in the paper disproves the thermal shock theory.

Spaceflight says that the new research isn't quite a "smoking gun," but it greatly strengthens the case for life on Mars, and could change the conversation about future NASA missions.

Martian meteorite surrenders new secrets of possible life [Spaceflight via Universe Today]

So like Sam Tyler's 1973 head trip, it turned out The Village was all in Number 6's head. Except that The Village was a shared head trip, and everyone inside it was also awake in the real world. Because The Village took place on another level of consciousness — not the subconscious, but one of the many other levels that Number 2's wife discovered. So in fact, the Village was a dream, and the dreams people were having were of the real world. Whoa! (This was pretty telegraphed in the episode where 2's wife wakes up, and holes start appearing in the Village.)

And all of the people in The Village were damaged in the real world, and going to this idyllic, old-fashioned place in their heads was making them more conformist and well-behaved in reality. Oh, and Number 2's son was sort of a figment of WTFery.

So I guess all those scenes of Number 6 in New York, which we thought were flashbacks, were actually all happening at the same time as the main action — Michael really was running around trying to find out the truth about SummaKor at the same time as he was in the Village, and his behavior in the "real" world changed as his other self got changed by the Village. And the whole thing took place over the course of less than a day. And even while he was fighting the Village, he was being co-opted by it. Or something.

And then we get the shocking twist that, in order to redeem Sarah, the mentally ill girl in the church who's also Number 313 in the Village, Number 6 is willing to take Number 2's place and keep the Village going. Number 2 wins in the end.

As endings go, it's actually not bad — I like it slightly better than Harvey Keitel striding down onto the surface of Mars in his white shoes. It has a similar feeling to the Life On Mars ending, a sense that the producers were sitting around going, "Well, we can't serve up the same ending as the original, so let's shake things up." But it's gutsy, and it does put a different spin on what's come before. This wasn't just an evil surveillance system, spying on people — it was more akin to a pharmaceutical company, putting everyone on anti-depressants. Or something.

It's a neat concept, on paper. And a good ending, in theory. I don't think the show earned it — if I'd ever, even for a moment, felt invested in the struggle between Number 2 and Number 6, I would have been shocked to see Number 2 win. Instead, I felt a vague sense of, "Oh, that's interesting." If the show had wanted me to buy into the idea of The Village as a kind of institutionalized environment where people's individuality is suppressed in order to make them more well-adjusted, then Number 6's arrival should have been in a cloyingly comforting institutional setting, not the "running through the desert" thing that made no sense but looked vaguely cool.

In the end, like the American Life On Mars, this is going to wind up being a curious footnote to discussions of the original, not something people talk about in its own right.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Riff Regan vs. Alyson Hannigan)

What they changed: Joss Whedon financed the original pilot himself, formatting it as a half-hour episode. It is, for the most part, a shortened version of "Welcome to the Hellmouth," but with different casting. The role of the Sunnydale library was played by Torrance High School's library — a much larger and airier room than the cramped Hellmouth library we've come to know and love, with a handy second floor for showing off those Buffy backflips. Instead of Ken "Hyena Chow" Lerner as Principal Flutie, we get a much more straightlaced interpretation from character actor Stephen Tobolowsky. But perhaps the biggest difference is in the role of Willow. Instead of Alyson Hannigan, the geeky witch was originally played by Riff Regan.

How might the series have been different? Flutie probably would have still ended up in the stomachs of his students, but the Scooby Gang might have never been the same. Regan's Willow was a sweet doormat, but she didn't have quite the neurotic, eager-to-please quality Hannigan brought to the role. Incidentally, it wasn't the first time Hannigan replaced an actress after the filming of a show's initial pilot. In 1989, she took over the role of Jessie Harper in the fantasy sitcom Free Spirit.

Unaired Pilot with Stephen Tobolowsky and Riff Regan:

Official Pilot — "Welcome to the Hellmouth:"

Dollhouse (Joss Whedon vs. Fox)

What they changed: The premise and the characters are the same, but the stories unfold in a rather different way. We're initially introduced to Echo through a trio of very different engagements: one philanthropic, one as a revenge date, and one where she talks down gangsters in Espagnol. Boyd is already Echo's handler, and Topher has already caught onto Echo's bison-like grouping with Victor and Sierra. Agent Paul Ballard also comes face-to-face with Echo in the original pilot...when Topher programs Echo to kill him.

How might the series have been different? The original pilot played more as the start of a noir series than as a proof-of-concept for an engagement-of-the-week serial (which is what the official pilot "Ghost" suggests). We probably would have leaped to Dollhouse's underlying plot more quickly, and spent more of the season focusing on Echo's emerging awareness. Plus, it seems the Dollhouse was originally going to be more hands on in addressing Ballard's investigation. We see some of that noir (and slightly more classically Whedonesque dialogue) in the original pilot clip below:

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Bad-Ass Sarah vs. Vulnerable Sarah

What they changed: The most readily obvious difference between the unaired pilot and what aired on Fox is that Tim Guinee, who played Tomin in Stargate SG-1, was originally cast as Sarah's jilted fiance Charley, but was replaced in the official pilot by Dean Winters. But more significant is a key change in the final scene. In official pilot, when Sarah Connor delivers her final voiceover, we see her caress her son's face before walking into her home. In the original pilot, we instead see her pulling a gun out of its hiding place while Cameron and John sit in the same room preparing their weapons, showing that Sarah's focus is on the coming war.

How might the series have been different? It's hard to say to what extent this change represents a shift in tone across the series, but we worried that it signaled a "wimpifying" of Sarah Connor, showing her vulnerability where it could have shown her strength and determination. You can scene the unaired scenes and their official pilot counterparts below:

Life on Mars (US) (Sunny LA vs. Gritty NY)

What they changed: Pretty much whatever they could. The original pilot for the US adaptation of Life on Mars was thoroughly panned, and producers quickly moved the action from Los Angeles to New York (allowing for that Twin Towers shot), and recast several roles. Star Trek vet Colm Meaney was replaced by Harvey Keitel in the role of Gene Hunt and Gretchen Mol took over Rachelle Lefevre's role as Annie Norris (Lefevre might have experienced an unfortunate moment of deja vu when she was recently replaced in yet another role — as the vampire VIctoria in Eclipse). But beyond that, certain scenes from the original pilot were rewritten to more closely match the UK version, and made the scenes visually darker and more textured.

How might the series have been different? It simply wouldn't have been as good. The original US pilot genericized the UK version, washing it of all character. By ultimately sticking closer to the source material, the US version of Life on Mars was able to echo its tone while creating a new mythology to explain Sam Tyler's predicament.

Scene from the Unaired Pilot:

Scene from the Official Pilot:

Star Trek (Christopher Pike vs. James T. Kirk)

What they changed: The original pilot "The Cage" was a completely episode from the official Star Trek pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before," with an almost completely different Enterprise crew. In lieu of William Shatner's syncopated Captain Kirk, Jeffrey Hunter was set to helm the ship as Captain Christopher Pike, and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's future wife, Majel Barrett, played his intellectual and rational second-in-command, known only as "Number One." Spock would be the sole crew member to make the transition from first pilot to official pilot, but even he would undergo some minor changes. The original pilot's Spock was known to smile and use human colloquialisms, while the final Spock inherited Number One's sense of cold, hard logic.

How might the series have been different? The basics of the Enterprise and the Federation would have remained largely the same (in fact, most of the footage from "The Cage" would be cannibalized for a later episode "The Menagerie"). But the dynamics of the crew would have been very different. Pike wasn't the emotive adventurer Kirk would be, and he wasn't cast in as nearly sharp relief against either Spock or Number One. Plus, the original pilot's entirely caucasian cast was hardly the rainbow coalition that made the final version of Star Trek such a progressive piece of television.

Original Pilot — "The Cage:"

Official Pilot — "Where No Man Has Gone Before:"

Doctor Who (The Doctor from the 49th Century vs. The Doctor from Another Time

What they changed: The original episode of the first Doctor Who serial "An Unearthly Child" has the feel of a filmed dress rehearsal, but there were a few changes made beyond tightening the performances and improving production values. The Doctor and Susan both undergo costume changes — Susan into a more casual, less futuristic look and the Doctor from a modern suit to an Edwardian one — and the Doctor is much less gruff than in the original pilot. Also, in the original pilot, the Doctor and Susan talk specifically about being from the 49th Century, rather than the being from "another time, another world."

How might the series have been different? Aside from making the First Doctor outright hostile to his new companions instead of largely indifferent to them, the original pilot is a bit less mysterious about the Doctor and Susan's origins. If it had gone to air, it might have set the stage for a Doctor who is less coy and more forthcoming.

Segment from the Original Version:

Segment from the Official Version:

The scientists found the bacteria, named Herminiimonas glaciei, buried under nearly 2 miles worth of ice in Greenland. Scientists think that, since it's small even for bacteria, it survives on nutrients trapped in veins of ice and uses its flagella to move within veins to seek food.

It took the scientists almost a year to revive the bacteria and coax it to grow; once it did, it yielded small colonies of purple-brown bacteria. Although not as old as the 8 million year old bacteria resurrected from Antarctic ice in 2007, it does lead the Penn State scientists to believe that they might be able to find and re-grow bacteria from Mars or Jupiter's moon Europa:

All we can say is that because ice is the best medium to preserve nucleic acids, other organic compounds and cells, the potential for finding them in these environments is quite high because of the cold... It gives us hope that if something is there, we can locate it.

Because that turned out well for scientists in Species.

'Resurrection bug' revived after 120,000 years [New Scientist]
Eight-million-year-old bug is alive and growing [New Scientist]

1. Douglas Quaid, Total Recall

The Setup:

After visiting Rekall in the hopes of going on a virtual vacation of Mars, unassuming nobody Douglas Quaid learns he's actually Hauser, a mindwiped secret agent. He then proceeds to get his ass to Mars, whereupon he becomes embroiled in a tangled web involving evil government operatives, psychic mutants, ancient aliens, and triple-breasted prostitutes. It's all very tense and exciting until a man claiming to from Rekall shows up to point out this is all just the memory implant he ordered gone horribly wrong.

Quaid dismisses this possibility, but the question remains - did he ever actually make it out of Rekall?

The Case For:

Director Paul Verhoeven has occasionally confirmed that the movie really happened, but that was mostly when it looked like the film was going to get a sequel. Perhaps the best evidence that the events seen actually happened is that Arnold Schwarzenegger played Quaid. In the end, is it really any more believable that a guy as impossibly ripped as Schwarzenegger was just a lowly construction worker than that he was a secret agent? And there is the fact that Quaid was dreaming about something similar to his supposedly recovered memories before he ever went to Rekall, but even the movie acknowledges how weak it is to use a dream to disprove virtual reality.

The Case Against:

The guy who claims to be implanted by Rekall to get Quaid out of his broken mind trip not only correctly points out everything that had happened was in line with the adventure Quaid chose, but he also accurately predicts the rest of the movie. (Quaid's logic in this scene also leaves something to be desired. People in virtual reality can't possibly sweat! Shoot him in the head!) For that matter, a Rekall technician at the beginning of the movie says the memory simulator has brought up the unprecedented element of blue skies on Mars for Quaid's trip. And guess what we see at the end of the movie right before the scene fades to white...

Chances That It Really Happened:

10%. Sorry, Quaid, I don't believe you'll be seeing Richter at the party after all.

2. Sam Tyler, Life On Mars (US Version)

The Setup:

The final episode of the American version of Life on Mars offered a rather unexpected resolution to just what had been going on with Sam Tyler all this time. As it turned out, he was neither a cop from 1973 nor one from 2008. Instead, he was part of the first manned expedition to Mars in 2035 and the virtual reality simulation meant to keep his mind busy during the two year trip to the red planet had gone haywire, accidentally sending him from his chosen reality of 2008 to 1973. His friends in 1973 had really been his fellow crew members, and Gene Hunt was really his father, Major Tom Tyler. But was this real, or just another coma fantasy?

The Case For:

To be fair, the makers of Life on Mars had set up this possibility for much of the series, what with all the Mars Rover stuff. Say what you will about the ending, but it wasn't completely random, and the act that Sam immediately accepts this new reality suggests it's the one he expected to find all along, deep down.

The Case Against:

For a start, there's that shot of the loafer as they step out onto the Martian surface right at the very end. It doesn't prove anything, but it undermines the supposed reality of the situation. And then there's the fact that this vision of 2035 really, really seems like the kind of thing a dude in 2008 would come up with. I mean, President Obama? I've already dealt with the logical gymnastics you have to do to get Malia Obama into the White House for her to send off a space mission in 2033. It seems just as likely that 2008 Sam simply came up with one of the very few recognizable names who could be president in 2035.

Then there's the fact that not-Ray describes his virtual reality trip as a deserted island full of women who looked like Splash-era Daryl Hannah or Scarface-era Michelle Pfeiffer. You know, pretty as both of them were in those films, I'm not sure I buy an astronaut fifty years later singling out those specific women for his two year porn dream. (By the way, does his haircut really look like NASA regulation? You'd think he'd have something more like Sam's crewcut in 2035.) Oh, and do we really want to deal with the implications of Sam sleeping with the daughter of Gene Hunt, when Gene Hunt is really his father? I don't think we do.

Chances That He Really Escaped:

30%. The whole thing just seems too contrived to be real, even if I'm pretty sure the creators intended it to be the actual solution.

3. Neo, The Matrix

The Setup:

I don't really need to recap The Matrix, do I? The main thing we're concerned with here is whether ever really got out of the Matrix once he took the red pill, which was briefly a matter of some fan debate back when the film first came out. So, how about it - did he really wake up?

The Case For:

This should be open and shut, really. Even if Neo's adventures are all illusory, the Matrix itself seems to be real. After all, the first scene of the movie features Trinity and the Agents doing impossible things, not Neo. That's fairly objective proof that the Matrix exists. There's also the fact that there were two sequels and an entire anthology of animated spin-offs made after the original Matrix, which would seem to remove any doubt the original actually happened. Why are we even discussing this?

The Case Against:

Well, there are a couple of loose ends worth considering. How, exactly, did Neo shut down all those sentinels at the end of The Matrix Reloaded using only his mind when he was in the supposed real world? I suppose it could have been some sort of residual link, but it certainly raises the question as to whether that world is any more real than that of the Matrix. Then there's what the Architect explains to Neo in Reloaded. He explains that 99% of humanity accepts the Matrix because they can't face the alternative, and the remaining humans wake themselves up and go to Zion.

But what if Zion itself is just another aspect of the Matrix, one that this tiny sliver of humanity is prepared to accept because it's suitably bleak? It certainly wouldn't be the most ridiculously convoluted plan the Architect came up with. As for the argument that the existence of the sequels proves the originally happened as it appeared to, I can't get away from the fact that, in the end, this is the Wachowskis we're talking about. I long ago stopped expecting them to play by the rules of fairness and logic.

Chances That He Really Escaped:

80%. A lot of weird stuff happens in the sequels that doesn't make a lot of sense, but that probably has more to do with them being terrible movies.

4. Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The Setup:

The episode "Normal Again", the Trio unleashes a demon on Buffy that causes her to suffer severe hallucinatory episodes. She suddenly imagines herself in a mental institution, where she is told she has spent much of the last six years in a catatonia. Her doctor and her parents, who are still alive in this world, take advantage of this rare lucid moment to advise her how she can escape forever. The way to do this, however, is to allow all her friends to die, which is ultimately not something she can do. Returning to Sunnydale and taking an antidote to the demon's attack, Buffy commits to her vampire-slaying life as the real one. But did she choose correctly?

The Case For:

Well, that demon who attacked her did have hallucinatory powers. It's also questionable whether she could plausibly develop such a strong connection to the people she knew in her supposed fantasy world, and you'd kind of think the reality of the mental institution would have intruded just a little bit in the preceding six years.

The Case Against:
But all of those supposed arguments are countered and dealt with in the episode itself. And if she did just hallucinate the whole thing, then who exactly is issuing into existence the last scene of the episode, where the doctor sadly informs her parents that Buffy is gone forever? That happens after she took the antidote, so her mind should no longer be creating anything in that reality.

Chances That She Really Escaped:

50%. Because, in the end, it doesn't really matter which world is real and which is an illusion. What really matters is that Buffy chose the world she wanted to be real, and so the answer can remain safely ambiguous.

5. Batman, Batman: The Animated Series

The Setup:

In the 1992 episode "Perchance to Dream", Batman wakes up to find out he isn't really Batman at all. His parents are still alive, he's engaged to Selina Kyle, and someone else is playing the role of Gotham's Dark Knight. After initially rejecting the possibility that this could actually be real and the life he thought he knew nothing more than an intense dream, Bruce realizes he finally has a chance to be happy and have everything he always wanted.

But this moment of contentment is fleeting, as his sudden inability to read tips him off that this is a dream after all. In the final showdown with this world's Batman, he learns the Mad Hatter has him trapped in a dream machine from which there is no possible escape. Which he then escapes from...because he's Batman. But did he really?

The Case For:

It's pretty simple, really. Like I said, this is Batman we're talking about. Mind like a steel trap doesn't even begin to describe Bruce Wayne's intellect and inner resolve, so is it really likely a two-bit villain like the Mad Hatter could trap him for all eternity in a VR machine? When the comic book version of Batman faced a similar situation during Final Crisis, he managed to reassert control and destroy Darkseid's machine before he even woke up. There's just no way you can win in a battle with Batman's mind.

The Case Against:

Well, let's think about this for a second. When "Perchance to Dream" came out, Batman: The Animated Series was still a relatively grounded show. There had certainly been elements of science fiction before that, such as Man-Bat, Mr. Freeze, Clayface, and an invisibility cloak, but by and large the show had remained true to its film noir roots. It's only after this that Batman starts tangling with completely impossible characters like the immortals Ra's Al Ghul and Jason Blood, and it's not long before actually superpowered heroes like Superman start showing up everywhere.

In less than five years, Batman goes from barely defeating a guy who hides in the sewers with a bunch of alligators to confidently leading a Justice League of literally unlimited membership in wars with Brainiac and Darkseid. Maybe Batman's mind could never accept a world where he was completely happy. But what about a world where he could share his burdens with other heroes, a world where anything could happen and it frequently did, a world where he could stand toe to toe with evil gods...and win? That might be exactly the kind of world Batman wanted, and it's just possible the Mad Hatter gave it to him.

Chances That He Really Escaped:

98%. It's a nice theory and all, but come on...Batman doesn't lose.

6. Number Six, The Prisoner

The Setup:

In the series's penultimate episode, the unspeakably brilliant "Once Upon A Time", Number Two made the big push to crack Number Six by subjecting him to a lot of drugs and insane recreations of his life story. This backfires, as Number Six gains the upper hand and instead manages to break Number Two. The final episode, "Fallout", finds Number Six before a bizarre masked court, and then a bunch of crazy (but kind of awesome) stuff happens.

Finally, things take a turn for the incomprehensible as Number Six, the rebellious Number 48, the recovered Number Two, and the Village butler gun down the entire court as the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" plays. They then destroy the Village with a big rocket and find themselves on a motorway back to London, signaling that they've all finally broken free. But did any of that actually happen, or did Number Two really manage to break Number Six back in "Once Upon A Time"?

The Case For:

It's somewhat paradoxical to criticize anything that happened on The Prisoner for being impossible or nonsensical. The entire series is littered with little moments that make absolutely no sense whatsoever and go completely unexplained, even compared to the vaguely understandable main plots. This episode just happens to be nothing but absurdity, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's any less tethered to The Prisoner's fractured take on reality.

The Case Against:

"Fallout" is insane, even by the standards of The Prisoner. (The revelation of Number One's identity is just the bonkers icing on an already demented cake.) And it's not as though the Village hadn't successfully trapped Number Six in illusory worlds before, as seen in "A, B, and C" (which used virtual reality) and "Living in Harmony" (which used a lot of drugs).

For what it's worth, the followup Prisoner comic miniseries, Shattered Visage, ran with the premise that the events of "Fallout" were indeed the Village's last, successful attempt to break the mind of Number Six. Considering Patrick McGoohan read Shattered Visage and said that he didn't hate it - which, by McGoohan's standards, qualified as a rave review - there might actually be something to its version of events.

Chances That He Really Escaped:

Pick a number. Any number. Now divide it by zero. Whatever that number is, that's the probability that Number Six escaped.

Check back this weekend as we examine a few more characters who may well still be trapped in virtual reality, even if they don't know it any more.

According to New Scientist, there's a possibility that we may have been... cooking... the evidence of Martian life all along:

[L]ast year, NASA's Phoenix lander... stumbled on something in the Martian soil that may have, in effect, been hiding the organics: a class of chemicals called perchlorates.

At low temperatures, perchlorates are relatively harmless. But when heated to hundreds of degrees Celsius they release a lot of oxygen, which tends to cause any nearby combustible material to burn. For that very reason, perchlorates are used in rocket propulsion.

The Phoenix and Viking landers looked for organic molecules by heating soil samples to similarly high temperatures to evaporate them and analyse them in gas form. When Douglas Ming of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and colleagues tried heating organics and perchlorates like this on Earth, the resulting combustion left no trace of organics behind.

On the plus side, this discovery means that there may, indeed, be proof of life on Mars... it just makes us look rather embarrassed for having wasted years of possible exploration by accidentally looking in the wrong way for it.

Mars robots may have destroyed evidence of life [New Scientist]

1. Your mother falls for you.
When Marty McFly heads back to the Fifties in Back to the Future, I'm fairly certain winning his mother's affections wasn't on his to-do list, especially since he needs her to fall in love with his father in order to be, you know, born in the first place. Also because it's his own mother. It's bad enough as a teenager to have to contemplate your parent's love life; the last thing you really want is to become a participant. And Marty McFly might be a lot of things, but he isn't the guy from Reason #2, who . . .

2. You fall for your own mother.
Sure, Oedipus did it, but we all know how well that went. So when Lazarus Long, the protagonist of Robert A. Heinlein's Time Enough for Love, finds himself doing just that, he should have an inkling it's a bad move. Long accidentally jumps into 1916 when he'd been aiming for the Twenties, and he falls in love with his own mother. In order to avoid the object of his affections, Long enlists in the army and ends up a combat soldier in World War One. (Un)fortunately, he survives and returns to consummate his love. Awkward. (Basically, he manages to end up fighting in war that he didn't really want to and still manages to do his own mother. This makes a strong case against time travel right here.)

(2B. You are your own mother: Heinlein also wrote the short story titled "—All You Zombies—" in which the protagonist somehow manages to be both his own mother and his own father due to a lot of relatively convoluted circumstances, including emergency sex changes and baby-stealing. Thus convincing me that sexual relations and time travel do not mix.)

3. Your mother thinks you're having an affair with your father.
Actually, "Father's Day" (Series 1, Episode 8 of Doctor Who) gives out a whole laundry list of reasons you should never voluntarily go back in time to meet your parents. Rose wants to be there for her father, Pete, on the day he dies, but when she saves him, she seriously messes up time and Reapers (flying creature who eat temporal paradoxes for lunch—literally) descend. When she and her father meet up with her mother, her mother, Jackie, assumes Rose to be her husband's hot young mistress. Rose's father explains that, no, Rose is his daughter, and Jackie reads it as one of those "Surprise! I have a secret lovechild from my dark secret past" things, à la an episode of As the World Turns. Pete hands Rose her baby self, but Rose having physical contact with another her causes further paradoxing. (Perhaps an addendum to the rules of time travel should be, "Don't touch yourself.") Actually, this whole situation is starting to sound like a soap opera. But with paradox-eating monsters.

4. You disappoint your mother and she doesn't even know who you are.
In Episode 4 of Life on Mars (UK), Sam Tyler, still stuck back in 1973, runs into his own mother, Ruth, while trying to take down a gangster named Stephen Warren that has half the police force in his pocket. Warren even tried to pay off Sam, who takes the money very, very reluctantly. When he learns that his mother's having money trouble, he tries to alleviate his guilt by offering her the money. She is, of course, offended, additionally reading him as one of those dirty bribe-taking cops. Lucky for Sam, she has no idea he's her son, so her opinion of Sam Tyler hasn't been lowered any. Just her opinion of a cop she thinks is named Bolan. (Who knew that Sam was a glam rock fan? Additional note: In the equivalent episode of the US remake, Sam's mother is named Rose. That's right. Rose Tyler.)

5. Dramatic Irony
In "In the Beginning" (Supernatural, Season 4, Episode 3), the angel Castiel (who I notice dresses exactly like Loomis from the original Halloween film) sends Dean Winchester back in time to 1973, telling him to "stop it." Stop what? He really doesn't say. And I'm noticing that 1973 seems a popular year to meet your parents. Anyway, Dean meets his father, John, and basically tells him which car to buy, before running in to his mother and learning that (Surprise!) she comes from a family of hunters, and (Surprise! Irony!) it's a lifestyle she would never wish on her own future children. Which is, of course, part of the appeal of John: he's not a hunter, just a nice, normal guy. Again with the dramatic irony. Anyway, by the end of the episode, she's made a deal with the Yellow-Eyed Demon that seals Sam's demon baby fate (and her own doom) in exchange for John's (nice, normal, non-hunter) life. After which, Castiel shows up and tells Dean he couldn't have stopped that from happening anyway. He just told Dean to try in order to prove that you can't. Methinks Castiel needs to find less jerktastic ways of proving his points. But, hey, at least Dean got an experience that O. Henry probably couldn't have written better.

6. Your mother-daughter meet-up becomes a bad after-school special. Literally.
In 1977, Francine Pascal of Sweet Valley fame wrote Hangin' Out with Cici, a Young Adult novel that tells the tale of an adolescent girl named Victoria who thinks that her mother is too strict and doesn't understand her. Clearly, her mother has no idea what it's like being thirteen. One day, however, she finds herself suddenly in the past, where she meets a cool girl named Cici, who's apparently the most awesome new friend Victoria could have asked for. It's no surprise, then, that Cici is Victoria's mother, who does in fact know what being thirteen is like. Touching, right? So touching, in fact, that in 1981, it was made into an ABC Afterschool Special, entitled My Mother Was Never a Kid. I figure the lesson was supposed to be something touching about parental relationships, but what it really teaches you is that time travel can happen anytime, anywhere, without warning or reason.

Hawes said in a recent interview that the second season will be less... well, cheesy, than the first:

It is a darker series. Alex is even questioning whether she actually belongs in 1982, and if 2008 is just an odd memory. Which one is her real reality? There are more stories on police corruption and less of the spoofy clown stuff this time... We haven't gone down the silly '80s fashion route again because I don't think Alex would wear those clothes. When we first met her, she was given the things she wore, but now she's had a chance to go shopping.

No silly 1980s fashions? No David Bowie rip-off clown cameos? It's as if they're taking away everything that made the show worth watching in the first place. Next thing you know, they'll be looking to the American LoM for story ideas, and then it'll all be over.

Keeley Hawes reveals 'Ashes' changes [Digital Spy]

The late twentieth century had a bit of a rough time when it came to fictional presidents, what with Richard Nixon's controversial five-term administration, the suspected impersonation of a comatose president by some two-bit lookalike, and the short-lived Rigelian takeover of the White House in order to build a giant ray gun for an interstellar war (and feel free to blame me – I'd sooner be blasted into space than vote for Kodos). But with all that behind us, the future looks bright for a brave new twenty-first century of honest, inspiring fictional presidents who could restore honor and dignity to the White House…

42*. Lex Luthor (2001-2004)
43. Pete Ross (2004)
44. Jonathan Vincent Horne (2004-2009), from DC Comics

Well, that didn't last long, did it? Sure, Lex Luthor seemed like such a refreshingly different choice - a successful industrialist, an inventive genius, and a man so wealthy there was no danger he'd ever have to bow to special interests. He was like Ross Perot without all the crazy except, as it turned out, he was just a little too obsessed with killing Superman. He did have an early success when he led the successful defeat of the cosmic destroyer Imperiex, but his naturally criminal inclinations soon got the better of him. His attempt to frame the Man of Steel for launching a kryptonite asteroid at Earth was foiled by Superman and Batman, leading to his removal from the presidency. Vice President Pete Ross took over briefly, but then it really, really looked like he was the supervillain Ruin, so he had to go. After all this turmoil, Jonathan Vincent Horne rather quietly led the US through two crises, World War III, and an entire year without the world's most powerful superheroes, without once suspected of being a supervillain (although there was that evil robot...).

45. Barack Obama (2009-2017), from pretty much every other comic ever

He teamed up with Spider-Man, shook hands with the Savage Dragon, helped fight back an alien invasion, handed the Avengers over to noted psychopath and goblin enthusiast Norman Osborn (although that might not technically have been him)...and that was just the first three months.

46. Arnold Schwarzenegger (2017-2021), from Doctor Who, Demolition Man, The Simpsons Movie

After accidentally electing a space monster back in '96, I guess a non-natural-born citizen wasn't quite as big a deal for the American electorate (or the Constitution, for that matter). His decision to encase Springfield, the country's most polluted city, inside a massive bubble proved controversial, although this was ultimately revealed to be the work of his villainous head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Russ Cargill. More politically damaging was the secession of Los Angeles, which had never recovered from the earthquake of 2011, to found the new city-state of San Angeles. His sense of fashion was still known and honored in the year 200100, when two homicidally fashion-conscious androids complimented Captain Jack Harkness on his presidential dress sense before trying to forcibly rearrange his face.

47. Henry Kolladner (2021-2024)
48. Charles Haskell (2024-2029), from Moonfall by Jack McDevitt

Both administrations were inextricably tied to the massive comet that destroyed the Moon in 2024. This cataclysmic event caused a great deal of damage down on Earth, including killing President Kolladner when his helicopter is struck by lightning as he tries to flee a tsunami-destroyed Washington, DC. It then fell to Haskell, who had been on the moon shortly before its destruction to open a new lunar base, to keep the country together in the aftermath of such carnage. He moved the capital back to Philadelphia and was successful enough to win reelection at the end of 2024.

49. Oprah Winfrey (2029-2033), from Century City

The short-lived CBS scifi legal series presented a world of fifty-two states, lunar colonies, increased life expectancies, and, most shockingly, universal healthcare. The legendary talk-show host and philanthropist served as America's first female president (she also was one of the oldest presidents ever elected), and her vice president was an openly gay, retired four-star general.

50. Malia Obama (2033-2041), from Life on Mars

From one of the oldest to one of the youngest presidents, the second President Obama oversaw the first manned mission to Mars. Unfortunately, she wasn't there to personally see the first white loafer set foot on Mars, as she had returned to Chicago with her sister to care for their ailing father.

51. Robert McCallister (2041-2049), from Jack & Bobby

WB's impossibly high-concept show was about two brothers growing up in 2004, one of whom went on to be the 51st president of the United States. Robert McCallister, known as "The Great Believer", weathered no end of crises, including wars, scandals within his administration, questions regarding his own integrity, personal tragedy, and terrorists detonating a nuclear bomb in Chicago. Oh, and he had an affair with his Vice President, Karen Carmichael. Keep in mind that none of this was actually ever shown but merely described in interviews - the meat of the show was a teen drama. It was on the WB, after all.

52. Chelsea Clinton (2049-2053), from Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century

It's been either predicted or joked about roughly a million times, but it took a trilogy of Disney Channel movies to make it a reality. The Zenon movies, set in 2049, referenced but never showed the younger Clinton as the Commander-in-Chief.

53. President Nguyen (2053-2057), from Old Twentieth by Joe Haldeman

President Nguyen, likely named for South Vietnamese president Nguyen Van Thieu, was mentioned as being president in 2054. I would say more, but the 2050s have not been a particularly good time for presidential science fiction, for whatever reason.

54. Graveney Westwood (2057-2065), from the Spy High series

President Graveney Westwood, bringing back a traditional of somewhat silly-sounding presidential names not seen since the days of Millard Fillmore and Rutherford B. Hayes, found himself the target of an assassination attempt. He survived thanks to the help of the kids from the titular training academy for secret agents.

55. President Roberts (2065-2069), from Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

During the world's war of nerves with the alien Mysterons, American President Roberts was also targeted for assassination. Or was he? As it turned out, those wacky all-powerful aliens were really out to destroy an ocean liner that was being christened the "President Roberts" in his honor (one can only assume "President" was also his first name). Which, for the record, they totally failed to do, because humans are awesome.

56. Robert L. Booth (2069-2073), from 2000 AD

He rigged the election of 2068, and then he manipulated public opinion by telling the American people that the rest of the world was freeloading. He started seizing foreign oil, killed anyone who got in his way, and ultimately initiated a nuclear war that devastated the entire planet. He then fled to the Rocky Mountains, where he fought his last stand along with his army of murderous robots against the Judges that now ruled the country. He was finally captured, put on trial for war crimes, and sentenced to a century in suspended animation. He's not generally considered one our better presidents.

57. Hugo Allen Winkler (2073-2081), from The Tercentenary Incident by Isaac Asimov

The world patched itself back together after the disastrous Booth presidency, reforming as a federation in which the United States was only one constituent member. President Winkler was not terribly well respected, seen more as a mediocre career politician than as a capable leader. This all magically changed in the aftermath of an assassination attempt on July 4, 2076, when he dramatically took to the stage and gave an inspiring speech that provided a new plan for the country and set him on a path towards a landslide reelection and soaring approval ratings. Wild, unfounded rumors that he had actually been killed and replaced by a robot duplicate circulated around the political fringe, but these were dismissed as the ramblings of those unable to accept he had simply finally become the man he was always supposed to be.

58. Jim Briskin (2081-2088), from The Crack in Space by Philip K. Dick

Campaigning as America's first black president (I guess the nuclear war wiped out all records of the Obama, Winfrey, and Obama administrations) Briskin came into office at a time of rising racial tensions, as severe overpopulation had forced millions of people, many of them minorities, into cryopreservation until such time as space could be found for them. The sudden arrival of a seemingly empty alternate Earth through a transdimensional warp provides a possible solution for this problem, but things rather quickly go wrong. Indigenous populations of Homo erectus are discovered on the planet, a time distortion meant to speed up colonization causes a 100 years to instantly elapse on the alternate Earth, and one of the colonists (who, in typical Dick fashion, happens to be conjoined twins) has set himself up as a god in the ensuing century and launches a war against Earth. Oh, and then Briskin gets elected, leaving him his two terms in which to deal with these problems, although he ran into trouble towards the end, as we're about to find out.

59. Andrew Harrison (2088-2093), from The Mirrored Heavens by David J. Williams

This cyberpunk thriller mentions that a military state was declared in 2088, where only soldiers and veterans could vote and the country was run by the president and an inner cabinet made up of the heads of the armed forces. President Harrison, a 41-year-old retired admiral, served out the duration of the crisis.

60. FXJKHR (2093-2097), from Futurama

Like the first robot president, John Quincy Adding Machine, the question of whether this alien would go on a murderous killing spree was a key issue in his campaign. Unlike President Adding Machine, he made no promises he couldn't keep, following through on his pledge to devour as many humans as he possibly could. He declined to run for reelection, feeling he had accomplished everything he set out to do.

61. A President (2097-2099)
62. Victor Von Doom (2099)
63. Steve Rogers (2099-), from Marvel: 2099

History has not bothered to record who precisely the time-displaced Victor Von Doom deposed to become president, so completely had the office been taken over by corporate interests. The Latverian ruler's time in the White House was brief, however, as Steve Rogers, the legendary Captain America, reappeared to take back the country and ultimately became president himself. Whether or not this President Rogers was in fact an evil nanotech creation of the mega-corporations is still a matter of lively scholarly debate.

*For the record, I realize that Lex Luthor should be the 43rd president, assuming all previous presidents were the real ones. For the purposes of this list, however, I'm assuming that isn't the case, as my description of fictional 20th century suggests. By my reckoning, assuming everything is the same until Richard Nixon has five straight terms, followed by the chain of events I described, then Luthor would be the 42nd president, following Bill Mitchell and Gary Nance from Dave, Bill Clinton from real life, and Kang from The Simpsons.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine:

So one question about the leaked "workprint" of the stabby one's big movie has been answered. Does it include the extra footage that director Gavin Hood shot with Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Liev Schrieber and Dominic Monaghan in Canada earlier this year? No, it doesn't, says Fox Chairman Tom Rothman. The leaked print was an early version, before those extra scenes were filmed. The final version of Wolverine will be about 10 minutes longer and will include a bunch of extra scenes. Fingers crossed that it's the best 10 minutes in movie history. [EW]

The Last Airbender:

M. Night Shyamalan is filming in Reading, PA, and the local newspaper has a bit of a plot synopsis:

The movie's screenplay (written by Shyamalan) focuses on Aang (Noah Ringer), the title character and a so-called Air nomad, who emerges from frozen hibernation inside an iceberg to discover that his village has been annihilated. The Fire nation is waging war on the other three: Air, Earth and Water.

And here are some set pics. (More at the link.) [Reading Eagle via Slashfilm]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

I don't think we've featured these promo photos before... [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Dragonball Evolution:

James Marsters (who really does seem like an obsessive Dragonball fan) explains his character:

I play a character that was in prison for two thousand years with no mirrors. I play a character who was beautiful, powerful and sexy and he gets put into prison. The prison has no mirrors, he's in prison for two-thousand-years, he breaks out, looks into a mirror and he's old and decrepit. He hates the sheriff who put him into prison and he wants to kill the sheriff, the sheriff's family and kill the whole town that the sheriff was trying to protect. That's where Piccolo is, except the whole town in this instance is the Earth...

I'm playing this guy as a prison guy. He's spent a long time in prison and he meets this little pup that thinks he's going to stop him from getting his dragonballs. You got to be kidding me? He thinks he wants a fistfight? I've been in prison for two thousand years; I'm going to pants you, bro.

And Marsters says Piccolo isn't evil, just a guy who got on the wrong side of the Mystics and is pissed off. Also, apparently the message of Dragonball is "You can't chop off your own balls." (Well, it's a bit more lengthy than that.) [Comic Book Resources]

Director James Wong explains a bit more about how that pantsing comes about:

By itself, each dragonball doesn't do anything but if you get them all together, the legend is they will grant the holder one perfect wish. Goku gets this crazy gift on his birthday, but is trying to be a normal teenager. He's interested in a girl too but what happens is his grandfather is killed by Piccolo, who is also looking for the dragonballs. We discover in Earth's history, Piccolo was a warrior who came from another planet to conqueror us. In the past, he was captured by these mystics and entombed. Piccolo, Goku, and his band are in a race to get these dragonballs because something is going to happen when the blood moon eclipses the sun in a few short days.

[Newsarama]

Doctor Who:

The newest issue of Doctor Who Magazine reportedly says the final David Tennant episode features the word "Naismith" somewhere. And eagle-eyed fans spotted an advertisement on the side of "Planet Of The Dead"'s London bus, with "Naismith" in it. Is this the 2009 specials' new version of "Bad Wolf"? [Doctor Who Forum]

Also, a few more details about the filming we reported on the other day, featuring the Doctor and Wilf, at Tredegar House. Apparently the Doctor and Wilf had a scene inside the stables, where "The Next Doctor" was filmed, featuring lots of extra hay. And someone inside the house was tied to a chair. Meanwhile, here's a couple new videos of the scene where one of the party (wedding?) guests, named Joshua, runs outside and drops to his knees. The woman with him, Abigail, tries to talk to him, but when he doesn't respond she runs away. [Planet Gallifrey]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

The official blog released a couple clues about tonight's episode:

What: The Connors close in on Skynet and battle lines are drawn. When John attempts to rescue Skynet's latest target he finds himself closing in on Weaver, but at what cost? Game plans change, causing Sarah and Ellison to reunite. Meanwhile, Weaver learns Ellison's secrets.

Why: "Let me talk to Weaver." -Sarah Connor

And there's a second clip from tonight's episode. Oh, it is on. (Also, I love the user comments on the Youtube page, about how maybe Cameron dies, but then John kisses her and brings her back to life, more human than before because she's experienced the Power Of Love. Heh.) [Fox via Sarah Connor Society]

Supernatural:

Some more details about the next episode, "Jump The Shark," which features the third Winchester brother. Adam Milligan (Jake Abel) is the product of a hookup between John Winchester (early on in his monster-hunting days) and Kate Mullany. Adam's life is changed when he transforms into a monster. [Ace Showbiz]

Eureka:

What happens in season 3.5, starting up in July? Star Colin Ferguson explains:

Nathan [Ed Quinn] dies, and Salli [Richardson-Whitfield's] character is pregnant. So that picks up right after there, where Salli is pregnant through the whole season. One of Joe [Morton's] ... I keep using the actors' names ... One of Joe's long-lost loves comes back. My character has a love interest all the way through. And then Jordan [Hinson], my daughter, deals with "Is she going to go to college and leave Eureka or is she going to stay?" So all that stuff gets resolved.

[Sci Fi Wire]

Chuck:

Here's a sneak peek at next Monday's episode:

Ashes To Ashes:

The BBC spin-off to the original Life On Mars is starting up again soon, and here's the trailer for season two. [Cathode Ray Tube]

The funny thing about last night's series finale of LOM was that, if it had been a season finale instead, I would have been totally hooked. All of that stuff with Sam finally visiting the mysterious town of Hyde, only to find it an eerie ghost town, was really interesting and grabby. And the bit where Sam decides he doesn't want to go back to 2008 after all seemed to be going somewhere really cool.

If they'd gotten a second season, this episode would have ended with some kind of mysterious cliffhanger, right after the part where Sam slams down the phone and says he doesn't to go back after all. And I would have been like, "I can't wait to see where this is going!"

Instead, we know where it was going. The producers were very clear that this is the ending they always planned, and if the show had ended after five episodes or 200 episodes, this is the ending they intended to give us. Which is... interesting.

At first I felt incredibly cheated — it turns out that Sam and the gang are all astronauts on their way to Mars, and they're in a virtual reality simulator that gives them whatever dream they want. (Ray spent the two-year trip believing he was on a deserted island alone with an army of Darryl Hannahs, and a retinue of castrated men.) For some reason, Sam wanted to spend the time dreaming he was a police officer in 2008, but the program went wrong due to a meteor shower.

The more I think about it, the more I think this isn't quite as pointless as it first appears. The whole show, retroactively turns out to have been about Sam's daddy issues. So he's working out his issues with his fictional 1970s father, who's an abusive crook, as a way of working through his issues with his real dad, Major Tom (Harvey Keitel). For some reason, his 1970s dream also included Keitel, but as a father figure rather than as an actual father. Both the 1970s fictional dad and the 2030s real dad have the same snake tattoo, which is meant to reinforce that one is a proxy for the other.

How does this play into the whole business where Sam (aka Luke Skywalker) is going over to the dark side? I'm not honestly sure... there's a hamfisted thing in the clip above where the random old guy with Baby Maya makes a comment about how she "missed 'er Hyde." ("Mister Hyde!" Get it? Get it? Nudge nudge.)

Of course, the British version was sort of about Sam's daddy issues as well — both shows did the episode where Sam and his dad play sports together, and then Sam realizes his dad is a wrong gee. But if I remember correctly, Sam's dad drops out in the second British season, and it's much more about Sam and Gene.

In the end, I'd say this American version of the series will end up being a bit of a footnote to the British one. This version didn't have quite as much to say about society, and how it's changed since the 1970s, and especially what we expect from the police. The themes of abuse of power, and how that abuse can be a powerful fantasy for a "civilized" man from 2008, got muted quite a bit as well.

Instead, what we ended up with was an odyssey towards father-son reconciliation. The main problem with that, as with all things about this show, was really Keitel, who's been the show's weakest link since day one. Just look at this episode, where he spends the whole hour being a teddy bear and offering fatherly advice to people. (I did get a bit choked up when Annie got her promotion though.) Just imagine if they'd actually gotten someone with Philip Glenister's brass to carry that role instead! (And I hate to say it, but I don't think Colm Meaney would have worked either.)

So yeah, it was an extended holodeck episode. But it was also more than that. I'm still trying to decide how much more. What did you think?

Oh, and as with last year, we decided not to stick any April Fools stuff in today's spoilers... and we did our best not to get taken in by any April Fools posts from other sites. Fingers crossed that we succeeded...

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

The two main characters of this sequel are Sam and Optimus Prime, who both go through similar character arcs about being away from home and learning to live on your own. And the "giantic" first bot we see is Wheelbot. Other Transformers in the movie include Jetfire, Arcee, Mudflap, Volt (the electric car), plus the Decepticons (Starscream, Soundwave and the Fallen) and the Constructicons (Demolishor, Hightower, Long Haul, MixMaster, Rampage and Scrapper.) There may or may not be an explanation in the film for why Arcee is a girl. [Sci Fi Wire]

Terminator Salvation:

A new extended trailer shown at Showest included a shot of either John Connor or Kyle Reese holding the iconic photo of Sarah Connor, from the first movie. [Slashfilm]

And here are four new photos, which look pretty fantastic. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

The first look at the penultimate episode of the season, airing Friday. Finally, the strands start to converge! [Fox and Sarah Connor Society]

Lost:

The scene where Sayid shoots Ben will have huge repercussions for the rest of the series, and will be one of the most talked about scenes, says actor Sterling Beaumon. He also claims that now the castaways can change history, because they're stuck in the past. So maybe the massacre will never happen. And "that big older mean Ben that we know very well may not even exist." But the other Ben, Michael Emerson, says it would be wrong to count Ben out, because Ben has a destiny. [TV Guide and TV Guide]

Also, Beaumon had two theories: that Ben and Locke are brothers, and that Miles is Marvin Candle's son. Producer Damon Lindelof told him one of those was true. (I'm pretty sure it's the one about Miles.) [Zap2It]

Ooh, and here are some clips from tonight's episode. Hurley's BTTF riff is amazing. But man, Jack is cold!

Whoever dies at the end of the season, we'll have a Charlie-level freak-out over it, and it'll cause tons of grief and remorse. [E! Online]

According to the spoiler-fiends at SpoilersLost, the "Watch With Kristin" Q&A also included a bit where they said the person who dies in the finale is the polar opposite of Charlie Pace in "at least one physical attribute." But for some reason, the E! Online folks deleted that question and answer after a while. (I never saw it, so I can't verify this.) [SpoilersLost]

Life On Mars:

We weren't the only ones to interview producers Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg. They dropped a few spoilers. In tonight's episode,

The jumping off point is that his mother and father come back into this episode in a big, big way. His mother comes to the station house and says that his father has reappeared and kidnapped a little boy. So, basically, Sam has to save himself, as it were. And it goes from there.

The episode involves a "major climax" to Sam and Annie's shared journey. Perhaps significantly, they say Lisa Bonet, who plays Sam's 2008 girlfriend, will not reappear. And they promise, once again, that tonight's episode will wrap everything up, with no ambiguity whatsoever. Everything's explained, even the "tiny robot." Oh, and once again, they say the ending will be nothing like the BBC version. [TV Guide and EW and Sci Fi Wire]

Fringe:

Speaking of answers, by the end of the first season, "various players' interests and allegiances, like William Bell-like his potential connections to our characters from before-all that will be more fleshed out and their place in the world more defined," says producer Roberto Orci. We'll get a "deeper context" on the Observer. We'll learn why Broyles requested Olivia be part of this unit. Weird science to watch out for in upcoming episodes includes subcutaneous tracking chips, chemtrails, invisibility cloaks, cloning, etc. [Sci Fi Wire]

Supernatural:

You'll be shocked — shocked! — to hear that those imdb spoilers were false. John Winchester does not appear this season, in the flesh or in the spirit. We will see a photo of him at some point though. Meanwhile, Castiel is definitely a season regular in season five, but we can't say the same for Ruby or Anna. And with a couple of deaths coming up in the season finale, neither of them is guaranteed to be safe. [E! Online]

Chuck:

The second season finale is "Chuck Vs. The Ring." [Chuck TV]

Heroes:

The producers answered more fan questions. Hiro's only power is freezing time. In episode 3x24, we'll learn more about how Janice really feels about Matt Parkman, and why she named her baby "Matt." Speaking of which, Baby Matt will get some great screen time, continuing into season four. He's the same Matthew as we saw in the episode "Five Years Gone." And in season four, we'll see Matt Sr. struggling to protect his "very powerful son."

And in next week's episode, 3x22, we'll see a huge Big Matt/Danko showdown that's cathartic for Big Matt. Also, there are hints that Sylar and Nathan will have some quality time together. We won't see Micah and Claire meet up this season, but Micah will meet up with someone in 3x24. [Comic Book Resources]

Star Trek: The New Frontier:

So the real synopsis for Peter David's next New Frontier book, Treason, finally came out. Unlike the weird leaked version we ran back in December, this time there's no mention of Captain Calhoun being stuck in Andromeda. Here's the official version:

It is a time of political upheaval and uncertainty in the New Thallonian Protectorate. Following the brutal assassination of her husband, Si Cwan, former Starfleet officer-turned-newly-appointed-Prime Minister Robin Lefler must now face the growing danger and intrigue surrounding her newborn son and heir to the noble line of Cwan. Following a harrowing assassination attempt, Robin has no choice but to flee New Thallon with her child...seeking refuge with Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur and creating a major diplomatic crisis in Sector 221-G.

The political fallout between the Federation and the New Thallonian Protectorate pales, however, in comparison to the threat of an enigmatic alien race determined to seize the infant Cwan for its own mysterious purposes. But nothing could possibly prepare Calhoun for the shocking betrayal from within — an act of treachery to aid and abet this alien race — forever altering the lives of the Excalibur crew....

I've read every single one of these books up to now, but I'm not sure I'm up for any more Thallonian intrigue. [Simon and Schuster via TrekWeb]

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.

We had an exclusive interview with Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg, producers of the U.S. version of Mars. And they promised that not only will the finale wrap up everything satisfactorily, but science fiction lovers will be thrilled.

The most amazing scene in last Wednesday's episode was the one where Sam gets up on the roof and prepares to jump, thinking it'll take him back to the present day. That's in the original BBC pilot, complete with the guy who's read Sam's psych file and is egging him on. And it was in the unaired David E. Kelley version of the pilot. But you didn't include it in the actual first episode. Why wait until the 16th episode to do that scene? Does it gain more weight because you waited so long?

Josh: You know what's funny, is that, we absolutely borrowed from the BBC, from the beginning to the end of this series. [But] that was a scene that actually kind of evolved naturally. I think the script had actually been written, and they were like, "Oh wait. This is just like that scene from the pilot." There have definitely been things that were conscious decisions to steal, as it were, from the BBC, but that wasn't one of them. [In fact, that scene came out of] our belief that you want the second to last episode of the season to feel like a season finale. And it's all about just trying to top that. The audience feels like it's cumulative, and it's crescendoing in the second-to-last episode, so how the fuck are they going to top themselves next week? And then we'll try to top ourselves, which we hope we did.

Scott: I really believe the back half of the season has been so much about Sam and Annie. The first half was about his mother and father, and those issues, [and] What am I doing here? In the back half, every episode just brought them closer and closer together, so I thought [that rooftop scene] was such a great moment. In fact I just wrote to Gretchen about that, because she does that thing she does in the pilot, where she puts his hand on her heart. And I was like, "Wow, Annie has come so far as a character in 16 episodes, from when she first put his hand on her heart, to that girl on the roof."

And also, we love and revere and have been cannibalizing the BBC all along, [but] we never considered putting that in the pilot - that thing on the roof. I actually think that was one of the rare missteps they made, in the [original BBC] pilot, was that thing on the roof. You hadn't earned it yet. Why is he jumping? Why would he even think? He just got there. He doesn't know anything about anything. Why would he think that jumping off the roof is going to take him home? Whereas by this point, with all the track that we laid, it kind of does make sense in episode 16.

It feels like Sam has been going to some really dark places in the past few episodes, what with going undercover and then believing that he might have committed murder. Is that continuing into the final episode?

Josh: Very much so, the finale if nothing else — I'm not even talking about the end moments of it, which reveal everything — but the finale is very much Sam, on a journey to recapture his humanity or lose it forever... The last few episodes play, and were conceived as, a three-parter in some ways, and they all sort of tie together...

Sam started to feel like it was liberating to be in the 1970s, like he could reinvent himself. In the midseason premiere, that Russian guy even tells him that being in a foreign country is a fresh start, and he takes that on board. But then it turns into him becoming more of a monster.

Scott: Absolutely. The whole fun of this is: Every time Sam sort of gets comfortable, it kind of bites him in the ass. The truth is he's living in a darker time, in many ways, the 1970s. One of the things we like is, that in order to embrace the people around him and the world he's in, it means embracing darkness. And then there's Annie who represents sort of the hope and light. The good news is, when you see Wednesday's episode, one wy or another, whether you love the ending or you hate the ending, I really believe it'll all make sense at least in terms of the emotional journey.

In the British version, it seems like Sam kind of loved it in the 1970s. In some ways, it was a happier, more fun time for him. You kind of have some of that, but at the same time it feels darker.

Josh: We'd hoped to be on the air for seven years, we wanted him to embrace this place as he did in the BBC, and for it to be a fun place he'd be okay living in. In wrapping up the series, we wanted to delve into the dark dimension of the story.

So you decided to go darker when you knew you weren't coming back?

Scott: No, basically, when our ratings started to suck we were all in really bad moods, so we naturally got darker and darker, as we were writing it. (Laughs.) We wanted to be in 1973.

So in the finale, we get more of an explanation for what's been going on? Including the little robots? How science fictional is it going to be?

Josh: Without saying too much, I don't think scifi fans will be disappointed.

Scott: That's for sure.

One thing that really blew us away in last week's episode was Sam's chemistry with Michael Imperioli. Especially where the two of them team up.

Josh: The Michael Imperioli of it all might be one of the great tragedies of the show not being able to move forward. You see those two guys partnered up for a beat or two in that episode, It was so much fun. Having that as a primary element, we could have gotten seven more years. We could have been writing those scenes happily.

Scott: Even the episode where [Ray] and Annie sort of partner up. I just remember, after watching that first cut, thinking "We've got to do more episodes featuring the two of them. They were amazing together."

What are some other things you would have done if you'd gotten a season two?

Scott: As with any first season, you learn what works and what doesn't work. I think it's not a mystery that this last run of episodes has been so strong. We figured out the sweet spot. We don't have to put so much weight on the crime of the week. It's striking so much balance between the mythology and the 1973 and the cases and the cops. I think some of my favorite stuff at the end of the day has just been two characters talking.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine:

Yet another update on the Deadpool controversy. Ryan Reynolds confirms that the weird figure in the trailer with his mouth sewn shut and the freakish tattoos is him, and that it's Deadpool. "When I'm in the scarred makeup, too... you'll see closer shots, obviously, in the film." You can see in the video, the reporter even asks a follow up question to make absolutely sure "the dude with the mouth sewn shut" is Reynolds, and he says yes. [MTV]

Monsters Versus Aliens:

A couple of pretty hilarious TV spots have been airing the past few days, including some new footage of the monsters meeting Ginormica's family and stuff. This movie may be the only time I ever find Seth Rogen cute.

The Thing:

Scribe Ronald D. Moore repeated that his script is a prequel, and added it's a "companion piece" to John Carpenter's original movie. It links up with the Carpenter film, and doesn't try to reinvent it. A director (Matthijs Van Heijningen) is assigned, and now he's waiting to see if Universal Pictures greenlights it. [Sci Fi Wire]

Doctor Who:

The Tenth Doctor will face creatures from Mars right before he regenerates, according to a report from the Mirror. (But it's not clear if these are Ice Warriors, or some new creatures. Or possibly the guys from "Ambassadors Of Death," who were not technically from Mars, but hung out there.) Also, two villains in the final episodes will be played by Neighbors star Peter O'Brien and "glamorous actress" Gemma Chan. [Mirror]

Battlestar Galactica:

Ron Moore tells Sci Fi Wire it was important for him to deliver a finale that tied up most of the loose ends and left a few people dead. (From which I infer, not everybody dies?) [Sci Fi Wire]

Also, the first hour and a half of the finale is so intense, you'll be breathless. And Mary McDonnell, in particular, will have you in tears more than once. A ton of questions will be answered, including some you'd think they wouldn't have time to address. [TV Guide]

Lost:

That mystery upcoming death? Apparently, it's not Sawyer. Also, don't expect to see Nikki again on the show this spring. [E! Online]

What's going on with Young Ben in the upcoming episodes of Lost? Actor Sterling Beaumon explains:

You're going to find out how Ben became the mean, cruel Ben that he is today. And you're going to find out about the roots of the island and how the island became the island. ... In two of the episodes, I'm really not doing a lot, but you just see me a lot, and you'll see what I mean by that.

And he says he's not really doing an impression of Michael Emerson, for a reason that will become apparent. [Sci Fi Wire]

There are six pages from the season finale script that detail some huge twist, which only the actors involved get to have... and Elizabeth Mitchell says she's not one of those people. And Juliet has a lot of insecurity over Kate coming back, and how Sawyer will react. [TV Guide]

Dollhouse:

This week's episode will make you gasp at least once, and possibly rewind to see if someone said what you thought he/she said. And the episode features one of the best hand-to-hand fight scenes ever, a "cool reveal" about the Dollhouse's business model, and lots of shirtless Tahmoh Penikett. [TV Guide]

Also, this Friday's episode is Sierra-centric, and focuses on a documentary about the "urban legend" of the Dollhouse. There's some "sexy time" going on "behind the scenes" in the house, and some of it involves Sierra. And as we've mentioned, Echo and Paul also come face to face. [E! Online]]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

The official description of the season's penultimate episode, "Adam Raised A Cain," fills me with giddy excitement:

When John attempts to rescue Skynet's latest target he finds himself closing in on Weaver, but at what cost? Game plans change, causing Sarah and Ellison to reunite. Meanwhile, Weaver learns Ellison's secrets.

[Sarah Connor Society]

Fringe:

When we find out what Peter's "condition" is, we'll understand why Walter has been so desperately attached to him, and so concerned about him. [TV Guide]

Life On Mars:

Producer Josh Appelbaum hints that the American version of this time-stranded cop drama will have a very different ending than the U.K. version. But he also seems to be saying both Sams are in a coma, so it's hard to tell. [Slice Of Scifi]

Smallville:

Meteor freaks start dying out in Metropolis, but Doomsday may not be to blame. [E! Online]

Heroes:

Angela and Peter Petrelli are on the run together, now that the Hunter is in charge. They hide out in a church on Monday, and then after that they go "someplace special." And Angela has a big role in the rest of the season's episodes. [E! Online]

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.

The best television show endings don't just provide a satisfying conclusion to a serialized drama - they give you the sense that you've traveled, and arrived somewhere. They tie up at least some of the loose ends, and give some thematic resolution. But more importantly - they kick you in the ass and shock you. They make you go, "Wha? That's where this was heading?" By startling you, they make you view the whole series that's gone before in a new light.

Here are the top 10, in my book, from worst to best:

10) Doctor Who. By the late 1980s, the original Doctor Who had run out of steam, with silly storylines and weak production values. But the show's final season saw a bit of a renaissance, with a couple different storylines that addressed the theme of evolution in different ways. The final story, "Survival," brought back the Doctor's old enemy, the Master, and placed him inside a story about "survival of the fittest." Meanwhile, the Doctor's traveling companion, Ace, started evolving herself, reaching a kind of conclusion in this episode where she becomes more than human. The whole thing ends with a nice speech as the triumphant Doctor tells Ace they've got work to do.

9) The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. The TV series, encompassing the first two books, and several large chunks of the radio series, ends on a lovely note. Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect are back on Earth in prehistoric days, and they get the question that goes with the final answer of life, the universe and everything... only it's slightly wrong. Still, it's a beautiful day, and they walk off through the prehistoric meadow as Louis Armstrong sings "What A Wonderful World."

8) Sapphire And Steel. A lot of this British show about two time travelers, played by David McCallum and Joanna Lumley, feels dated and slow now. But the final four part episode, in which the agents get caught in a time trap, is still as eerie and scary as it was originally. They're stuck in a roadside cafe where time appears to have stopped, along with a handful of people who claim to be from 1948. Normally, Sapphire and Steel can solve time-displacements just by using their wits, but this time they're out of their depth. "I saw the future... and it was our future."

7) Space Island One. This show about the crew of a commercially run space station had its ups and downs, but its last couple of episodes were among the best television I've ever seen. The company that owns the space station is trying to decide between shutting it down and just pulling the plug. And the station's best crewmember, Dusan, has already found a new job. But before Dusan goes, the company orders an unwise series of tests, which overload the station's equipment and cause it to go down in a blaze of glory, which not everybody survives.

6) Quantum Leap. Okay, all the commenters talked me into watching this finale, which I barely remembered. It's pretty great stuff, including Sam traveling back to where it all started and meeting a bunch of the people from his past jumps... And the bartender has some revelations for Sam that he struggles to take on board. So Sam makes one last jump, to the wife of an old friend... and you fade out to that message, "Beth never remarried. She and Al have four daughters... Dr. Sam Becket never returned home." Classic stuff.

5) The Prisoner. This is the most polarizing ending of them all - anyone who expected an actual explanation for the craziness which had come before would have been horribly disappointed. But anyone who wanted to see the craziness elevated to the level of Dada, and Number Six's latent egomania turned into the whole point of the series, found "Fall Out" an episode that just gets more rewarding the more you watch it.

4) Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is actually the textbook case of how to do a decent ending to a serialized show, and one that people reference all the time. After a couple of increasingly bland seasons, the show comes back with an episode that ties in with its original pilot as well as giving us a glimpse of the characters' possible futures. It feels grand and epic in a way the series mostly didn't feel after season five.

3) Babylon 5. Famously, this show filmed its Hugo-nominated final episode before the rest of its final season, allowing for some grand thematic resolution instead of a simple pay-off. "Sleeping In Light" takes place 20 years after the end of the Shadow War, and Sheridan is dying at last. He visits Babylon 5 on the eve of its decommissioning and destruction in a last blaze of glory, then prepares for death... except that a new adventure is waiting for him instead.

2) Blake's 7. Yet another show whose final season was drek, but then the actual final episode represented a huge return to form. Not only does the show's ostensible star, Roj Blake, come back from the dead, but we finally see a showdown between Blake and Avon, which seems to come directly out of all the mistrust and warped love the two shared during the first two seasons. You suddenly realize that, despite Blake being absent for nearly half the show's run, it really is all about Avon and Blake, the idealist and the uber-cynic. And it's never going to end well. (And for the record, Avon dies in the end. So there.)

1) Life On Mars. (British version.) I'm putting this at the absolute top because it redeemed the time-traveling cop show for me. Honestly, I was starting to lose interest in this show, even after only a dozen or so episodes. How many times can there be a crime, and Gene jumps to the wrong conclusion and tries to force it using barbaric methods, while Sam stands back and critiques Gene's racism and sexism? (And then, of course, the case turns out to have some connection to Sam's childhood.) I was dying for an episode where Gene was right and Sam was wrong. But the last couple of episodes totally redeemed the show for me, by asking: "How far will Sam go to get back to the present?" And then that turns out not even to be the right question, since the real question is, "Will Sam be happy when he finally gets back to his nice, sanitized boring future"? I have no idea how the American version will end, but somehow I doubt we'll see the American Sam Tyler killing himself, and it especially won't be portrayed as an understandable choice. Apparently this was voted #1 in a list of the 50 greatest TV endings. And apparently the show's makers just wanted to end it with him jumping off the roof.

Lost and The Dark Knight are clear winners in terms of nominations - both get 11 each - but apparently the Academy has gotten Heroes and Battlestar Galactica mixed up, because there's no other explanation for NBC's superhero drama getting more nominations than Sci Fi's amazing space-opera. Well, that or they were really disappointed that Earth was a nuked-out wasteland. My real question about the nominations, though, is how the hell did Gran Torino and Changeling get in there? They're great films, sure, but they're not SF, horror or fantasy...

The awards will be presented June 25th, although the venue is still to be announced. The full list of nominations is:

Science Fiction Film
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" (20th Century Fox)
"Eagle Eye" (Paramount / DreamWorks)
"The Incredible Hulk" (Universal / Marvel)
"Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (Paramount / Lucasfilm)
"Iron Man" (Paramount / Marvel)
"Jumper" (20th Century Fox)

Fantasy Film
"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" (Walt Disney Studios)
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount)
"Hancock" (Sony)
"The Spiderwick Chronicles" (Paramount)
"Twilight" (Summit Entertainment)
"Wanted" (Universal)

Horror Film
"The Happening" (20th Century Fox)
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (Universal)
"The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" (Universal)
"Quarantine" (Sony)
"Splinter" (Magnolia / Magnet)
"The Strangers" (Rogue / Universal)

Action / Adventure / Thriller Film
"Changeling" (Universal)
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)
"Gran Torino" (Warner Bros.)
"Quantum of Solace" (Sony)
"Traitor" (Overture)
"Valkyrie" (MGM / UA)

Actor
Christian Bale ("The Dark Knight") (Warner Bros.)
Tom Cruise ("Valkyrie") (MGM / UA)
Robert Downey, Jr. ("Iron Man") (Paramount / Marvel)
Harrison Ford ("Indiana Jones & Kingdom of the Crystal Skull") (Paramount / Lucasfilm)
Brad Pitt ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") (Paramount)
Will Smith ("Hancock") (Sony)

Actress
Cate Blanchett ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") (Paramount)
Maggie Gyllenhaal ("The Dark Knight") (Warner Bros.)
Angelina Jolie ("Changeling") (Universal)
Julianne Moore ("Blindness") (Miramax)
Emily Mortimer ("Transsiberian") (First Look Studios)
Gwyneth Paltrow ("Iron Man") (Paramount / Marvel)

Supporting Actor
Jeff Bridges ("Iron Man") (Paramount / Marvel)
Aaron Eckhart ("The Dark Knight") (Warner Bros.)
Woody Harrelson ("Transsiberian") (First Look Studios)
Shia LaBeouf ("Indiana Jones & Kingdom of the Crystal Skull") (Paramount / Lucasfilm)
Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight") (Warner Bros.)
Bill Nighy ("Valkyrie") (MGM / UA)

Supporting Actress
Joan Allen ("Death Race") (Universal)
Judi Dench ("Quantum of Solace") (Sony)
Olga Kurylenko ("Quantum of Solace") (Sony)
Tilda Swinton ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") (Paramount)
Charlize Theron ("Hancock") (Sony)
Carice Van Houten ("Valkyrie") (MGM / UA)

Performance by a Younger Actor
Freddie Highmore ("The Spiderwick Chronicles") (Paramount)
Lina Leandersson ("Let the Right One In") (Magnolia / Magnet)
Dev Patel ("Slumdog Millionaire") (Fox Searchlight)
Jaden Christopher Smith ("The Day the Earth Stood Still") (20th Century Fox)
Catinca Untaru ("The Fall") (Roadside Attractions)
Brandon Walters ("Australia") (20th Century Fox)

Director
Clint Eastwood ("Changeling") (Universal)
Jon Favreau ("Iron Man") (Paramount / Marvel)
David Fincher ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") (Paramount)
Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight") (Warner Bros.)
Bryan Singer ("Valkyrie") (MGM / UA)
Steven Spielberg ("Indiana Jones & Kingdom of the Crystal Skull") (Paramount / Lucasfilm)
Andrew Stanton (Wall-E) (Walt Disney Studios)

Writing
Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway ("Iron Man") (Paramount / Marvel)
David Koepp, John Kamps ("Ghost Town") (Paramount / DreamWorks)
John Ajvide Lindqvist ("Let the Right One In") (Magnolia / Magnet)
Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight") (Warner Bros.)
Eric Roth ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") (Paramount)
J. Michael Straczynski ("Changeling") (Universal)

Network Television Series
"Fringe" (Fox)
"Heroes" (NBC)
"Life On Mars" (ABC)
"Lost" (ABC)
"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" (Fox)
"Supernatural" (CW)

Syndicated / Cable Television Series
"Battlestar Galactica" (Sci Fi)
"The Closer" (TNT)
"Dexter" (Showtime)
"Leverage" (TNT)
"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (Cartoon Network)
"True Blood" (HBO)

Presentation on Television
"24: Redemption" (Fox)
"The Andromeda Strain" (A & E)
"Breaking Bad" (AMC)
"Jericho" (CBS)
"The Last Templar" (NBC)
"The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice" (TNT)

Actor in Television
Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad") (AMC)
Matthew Fox ("Lost") (ABC)
Michael C. Hall ("Dexter") (Showtime)
Timothy Hutton ("Leverage") (TNT)
Edward James Olmos ("Battlestar Galactica") (Sci Fi)
Noah Wiley ("The Librarian: The Curse of The Judas Chalice") (TNT)

Actress in Television
Lena Headey ("Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles")(Fox)
Jennifer Love Hewitt ("The Ghost Whisperer") (CBS)
Evangeline Lilly ("Lost") (ABC)
Mary McDonnell ("Battlestar Galactica") (Sci Fi)
Anna Paquin ("True Blood") (HBO)
Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer") (TNT)
Anna Torv ("Fringe") (ABC)

Supporting Actor in Television
Henry Ian Cusick ("Lost") (ABC)
Thomas Dekker ("Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles")(Fox)
Michael Emerson ("Lost") (ABC)
Josh Holloway ("Lost") (ABC)
Adrian Pasdar ("Heroes") (NBC)
Milo Ventimiglia ("Heroes") (NBC)

Supporting Actress in Television
Jennifer Carpenter ("Dexter") (Showtime)
Summer Glau ("Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles")(Fox)
Yunjin Kim ("Lost") (ABC)
Elizabeth Mitchell ("Lost") (ABC)
Hayden Panettiere ("Heroes") (NBC)
Katee Sackhoff ("Battlestar Galactica") (Sci Fi)

Guest Starring Role in a Television Series
Kristen Bell ("Heroes") (NBC)
Alan Dale ("Lost") (ABC)
Kevin Durand ("Lost") (ABC)
Robert Forster ("Heroes") (NBC)
Jimmy Smits ("Dexter") (Showtime)
Sonya Walger ("Lost") (ABC)

'Dark Knight,' 'Lost' lead Saturns [Variety]

Terminator Salvation:

Don't hold your breath for an Arnold Schwarzenegger cameo in T4, even with his face digitally pasted onto the prototype of the T-800 for a moment. Director McG has been hinting that he'll try and get Arnie to appear somehow. But TheArnoldFans.com quotes the California governor as saying, last weekend, that he doesn't want to have a brief cameo in the film, even one second, because then the studio can promote the film by claiming that Arnie is in it as the Terminator. So "they should try to find a way of doing a story that does not include me at all." [The Arnold Fans via Sci Fi Wire]

G.I. Joe:

More hints from Baroness actor Sienna Miller: She has a "really good girl-fight" with "Scarlett" O'Hara, played by Rachel Nichols, which involves rubber bullets and open flames. Meanwhile, that bit in the trailer, where two figures in jumpsuits catapult over rockets and jump through a bus, involves Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans). [MTV]

Iron Man 2:

Director Jon Favreau Twittered this picture of Tony Stark's house in the new movie under construction, our first set pic from the highly anticipated sequel. [Jon Favreau via Cinemablend]

Dollhouse:

Eagle-eyed reader Coaltrain2371 points out that IMDB lists the penultimate episode of season one as being called "Omega," and it includes Alpha... played by Alan Tudyk. So that settles that, unless someone else edited IMDB, which is possible. [IMDB]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Here are a few promo pics from episode 2x20, "To The Lighthouse." [Sarah Connor Society]

Also, in the two-parter that starts Friday, Yuri Lowenthal plays Christopher, a "sonar man" on the Jimmy Carter, Jesse's Terminator-captained nuclear submarine in the future. All he could say about the two-parter is that things aren't always fun on the sub, and something happens towards the end of the story that made him scream when he read it in the script. More and bigger set pics at the link. [Sarah Connor Society]

Stargate Universe:

The ninth episode of the show will be called "Justice" and will deal with shipboard justice and the developing interactions among the crew. [Gateworld]

Smallville:

Here are a couple more clips from tomorrow night's "Clark comes clean, is it just a dream?" episode. [EW]



Fringe:

Here are some minor characters being cast for episode 19:

[SUSAN & NANCY LUTZ] (FEMALE, 29) Twins; pretty but not striking, a loner, reserved. GUEST

[DRIVER] (MALE, 40-50) Bus driver with a frantic passenger. TWO SCENES – PLEASE SPECIFY IF ACTOR IS CERTIFIED TO DRIVE A BUS

[WINTERS] (MALE, 35) Non-speaking, threatening with an air of menace. TWO SCENES

[MICHAEL CARLIN] (MALE, 39) Informant Peter and Olivia go to. ONE SCENE

[MANAGER] (MALE, 55) Building manager, gives Olivia and Peter a tour. ONE SCENE

[FORENSIC TECH] (MALE or FEMALE, 30s) At a crime scene. UNDER FIVE

[SpoilerTV via Fringe Television]

Star Wars: Clone Wars:

Here are a couple more pics, and a clip, from Friday's continuation of the Ryloth storyline, with Mace Windu in a tight spot. [Lucasfilm]



Heroes:

David H. Lawrence, the "puppeteer" Doyle, says his character will have a romantic scene next week that we'll be talking about for a long time. Um, yeah. And we'll learn more about what the oyster-slurping Angela has been planning. We'll meet a character with an Earth-related ability, and it'll be "muddy." Claire and Sylar willl come to an understanding, since they'll both live forever. And the season finale will introduce a female baddie, and will include the word "pipeline" at some point. And here are some set pics showing the filming of the scene where Matt first meets Matt Jr. [The ODI]

Life On Mars:

The show's final episode didn't need too much of a rewrite to change it from a season finale to a series finale, says producer Josh Appelbaum. The show's storylines were mostly going to wrap up in this episode anyway, but the producers had to provide a bit more closure in the final act and get rid of the cliffhanger. It'll make you view everything that's already happened in a new light. Some viewers will hate the ending and some will love it, but either way, it's emotional and mind-bending. [Zap2It]

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.