According to Hunter, the key to understanding ABC's island weirdathon drama is to start from the assumption that it's all about time-loops, alternate time lines and, most importantly, the ability to travel back in time:

The LOST series revolves around the use of a quasi-conventional time machine.  All of the "mysteries" that the show presents can be explained through an understanding of how this time machine is used.  While many think that a time machine is a "cheap" answer to the show, I can assure you that once LOST makes the "big reveal," there will be much to think about and reflect upon.

Worryingly enough, the theory makes a lot of sense when you start to think it all through. Has Jason worked out the secrets of television's self-styled most confusing show? And if so, how long before someone tries to make him take down the site?

Lost: A Theory on Time Travel.

The Happening:

Another bad early review of M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening has gone up online. It's "The Birds without any birds." A neuro-toxin is released without any warning around the Northeastern U.S., and it causes people to murder themselves in terrible ways. Early on, we see a cellphone video of a guy walking into a lion cage without any awareness of what he's doing. And a row of people shoot themselves, and when each person drops the gun, the next person picks it up and uses it.

Mark Wahlberg is a passive-aggressive high-school teacher who's on the outs with his wife, Zooey Deschanel. They flee together, along with a few other people (plus the daughter of a fellow teacher) and they try to figure out what's happened. There are some War Of The Worlds-style fleeing sequences, including a barn with a trigger-happy farmer. And then it turns out the plants are releasing the neuro-toxin to get rid of the pesky humanity. Shyamalan attempts to "cut to a menacing-looking tree." And then they find a nice old lady whose house was built for hiding slaves — which turns out to come in handy. And instead of the trademark Shyamalan twist ending, the film has no ending at all. It just stops. Oh, and here are some images I don't think we've shown before. [Collider]

Fringe:

Here's the first promotional still from Fringe, J.J. Abrams' show that's really not an X-Files rip off. This must be from the scene where Anna Torv puts on a bikini to go inside the mind of her comatose boyfriend John. [New York Times]

Smallville:

On tonight's Smallville, Lex tells Clark he loved him (like a brother). And then they have their big showdown, and a buttload of stuff falls on top of Lex. The show ends with a big cliffhanger: is Lex alive or dead? [Serrico]

Stargate: Atlantis:

In season five of Stargate: Atlantis, Teyla keeps the baby. [Friendshipper]

Doctor Who:

Here's a snippet from the script for Saturday's Doctor Who episode featuring Agatha Christie:
ROGER: Miss Christie, I've a question. Why a Belgian detective?
AGATHA: The Belgians make such lovely buns
REVEREND GOLIGHTLY: Where do you get your ideas from?
AGATHA: Murder is easy, vicar, when you've killed as many people as I have.
And a clip. It's not really a spoiler to reveal that the Doctor and Donna will have to explain they're not married at this point, is it? [Planet Gallifrey]

Chuck:

Chuck's producers are looking for a major star to play a retired secret agent who gets called out of retirement to tutor Chuck. [Chuck TV]

Heroes:

Here's a first look at Daphne, the speedster who confounds Hiro in the new season of Heroes. [Heroes TV Show Spoilers]

Lost:

Here are some more sneak peeks at tonight's episode, including Michelle Forbes:

Kyle XY:

In the Kyle XY third season premiere, Kyle will meet face to face with the scientists of Latnok at last. He'll mostly interact with one of them, Daniel Cassidy. Kyle insists he'll never work for Latnok, but Cassidy is sure Kyle will eventually come back to the people who created him. [TV Squad]

X-Men: Magneto:

In addition to the Wolverine prequel to the X-Men movies now filming, there's also a Magneto prequel in the pipeline. And apparently it will feature a young version of the Beast aka Hank McCoy, the blue-furred, leaping mutant with the thesaurus-boosted vocabulary. No word on who will step into Kelsey Grammer's blue makeup for the film. The special effects house doing Hellboy II and Land Of The Lost had a test photo of the young Beast, and confirmed it was from Magneto. [Latino Review]

Smallville:

Remember those Smallville casting sides we mentioned the other day? About two new characters, Davis Bloome and Tess? Well, it turns out Davis Bloome, the charming bartender, is actually Doomsday, the alien destructo-monster who killed Superman in the comics. Why is Doomsday working in a bar? It's Smallville: Everybody's just a little bit less awesome than in the comics.

Meanwhile, Tess is someone who was trained by Lex and is totally devoted to him. She has super-strength and is willing to use coercion or "seduction" to further the missing Lex's agenda. Nobody can resist her beguiling ways, even Clark. Tess doesn't remember anything from before the day she met Lex, and when she realizes her past is buried, she's desperate to retrieve it. (I'm still wondering if she's Maxima. Or some other random woman from the Superman mythos.)

Also, there's an update on whether Alison Mack will be back as Chloe next season. The current thinking is she may copy Kristin Kreuk (Lana) and only return for a handful of episodes. [Ask Ausiello]

And here's a somewhat spoilery video from tomorrow night's season finale. [Turkey Whisperer]

Spectacular Spider-Man:

Here are four new images from this Saturday's Spectactular Spider-Man, including the Black Cat, voiced by Tricia Helfer. Spidey has to team up with the Black Cat to clear his name after the Chameleon goes around committing crimes disguised as him. Also, it looks like we get our first glimpse of the Venom symbiote, contained in Curt Connors' lab. [Black Cat image from TV Guide]

Lost:

The "spectacular kiss" in the Lost season finale actually stops time for a moment. (Or maybe that's a metaphor.) And it makes the entire world vanish. Also, there's a lot of bloodshed in the season finale, and a very significant death. And we won't be seeing Libby this season. [Ask Ausiello]

Also, "Horace," the guy who built the cabin, and "Jacob," are played by the same actor according to IMDB — so maybe they're the same person? [Looking Glass Station]

At the ABC upfront, they showed a scene from tomorrow night's Lost in which the Oceanic Six land in a small plane, to face the waiting hordes of press reps. And Michelle Forbes (Admiral Cain from Battlestar Galactica) is the Oceanic Airlines rep, in stiletto heels. Everyone has family greeting them, except Kate and Sayid. Admiral Cain tells the Six they can duck out on meeting the press if they want, but Jack says they'll answer any questions the press has. If the press asks anything tough, they'll say they're in shock. Sun replies that they actually are in shock. [E! Online]

And here are a couple more sneak peeks from tomorrow's Lost episode, plus stills from both tomorrow's episode (the press conference) and the two-hour finale, coming in two weeks (the beach scenes). [Spoilers Lost]

After interviewing showrunner Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, the mechanical journalists have their own idea of where the show is heading:

[T]he creators did let slip that the rest of this season will revolve around some very real—and very big—physics: the Large Hadron Collider, the much delayed European particle accelerator that could reveal information about the Higgs boson and dark energy. Some physicists believe the LHC will produce mini black holes, which might actually be able to open a one-way portal to another universe—a gateway that can only be kept open by a force of energy as strong as Jupiter ... or an electromagnet inside a desert island. 

Michio Kaku, author of Physics of the Impossible, thinks the Lost creators are using cutting-edge science to lay the groundwork for a transversible wormhole to another point in space and time—a trip foreshadowed in an off-season video about the so-called Orchid station, which Lindelhof and Cuse promised would be a key to the next few episodes. "They're amping up the energy to the point where space and time begin to tear, and the fabric begins to rip," Kaku tells PM. "When the fabric of space and time begin to rip, things that we consider impossible become possible again."

Lost Science Debunked [Popular Mechanics]

Thundercats:

Here's a model of what the heads will supposedly look like in the new CGI Thundercats movie, which appears to be using some kind of motion-capture and supposedly stars Hugh Jackman, Jessica Simpson and Michael Clarke Duncan. [TGISFW]

City Of Ember:

A new one-sheet for the City Of Ember movie came out, featuring a detailed plot synopsis of the Bill Murray adaptation of a young adult novel set in a post-apocalyptic underground city. Here's the synopsis:

For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights - underground. Built as a refuge for humanity and powered by a massive generator - this city will only sustain for 200 years. Now Ember is falling into darkness as the generator fails, and the dazzling lights begin to flicker and fade.

Despite growing concern for the future of their beloved city, Ember's students find themselves confronting the next step in their lives. A rite of passage for all graduates, it is Assignment Day, the day on which the Mayor himself will stand before the graduating students as they choose, by lottery, how they will spend their lives working for their society. Lina, praying with all her might to be a messenger, is appalled to be assigned to the Pipeworks, the vast network of pipes underneath the city. Her classmate, Doon Harrow, who wants more than nothing else to work in the Generator, panics when he pulls the messenger assignment. The Pipeworks isn't the Generator, but it is close enough and Doon offers to swap assignments with Lina. She is thrilled and grateful and eagerly changes jobs. Thus, an unlikely friendship is born, one that, as it blossoms, will change the course of all the lives in Ember.

Lina takes easily to the job of messenger and finds herself zipping all over Ember, delivering important missives to even more important people, including the mayor himself. At home she cares for her aging and forgetful grandmother, and her baby sister Poppy. When an old metal box is discovered in their closet, Lina's grandmother is overjoyed. Completely sure that the contents of the box are of the utmost importance, she is completely bereft of any memory as to why.

Lina manages to jimmy the lock open, and discovers some cryptic and decrepit papers inside. Unable to piece the papers together, Lina resolves to decipher their meaning and enlists Doon's help.

As blackouts in the city become more frequent, Lina and Doon realize that the information inside that box could lead to the salvation of their city and their fellow citizens. Now racing against the clock, the two follow the clues, cleverly maneuvering around corrupt politicians and unsavory characters hoping to keep them from their goal: restoring the light in the CITY OF EMBER.

Doctor Who:

Another set of probably bogus spoilers for the last two episodes of Doctor Who season four. Former British Prime Minister Harriet Jones becomes a super-Dalek (as in other recent spoilers). And Rose's alternate universe collapses, dumping Rose, Jackie and Mickey back in our universe. And the Sontarans fight the Daleks. And the Doctor's daughter Jenny is in it. And the Master is manipulating everything from behind the scenes. But Donna is secretly controlled by the Racnoss, those spidery creatures. And Dalek creator Davros is helping the last Dalek (from the Great Depression episodes) create a new race of Daleks. And the Doctor gets split into two Doctors, one of whom goes with Rose. (That part we actually did have pictures of the filming of, at least.)

I apologize to anybody who's not a raving Doctor Who fanatic, who might be struggling to make sense of the above paragraph. The fact that you need a PhD in Who to understand them, by itself, makes the above spoilers highly unlikely. Although you do never know. [Sunny Tyler]

Lost:

Lost was back filming scenes in the funeral home where Jack visited the mystery coffin at the end of season three. And the only Lost star to be seen there... was Desmond! Is he in the coffin? Or was he paying his respects? [Spoilers Lost]

And here's a sneak peek from Thursday's new Lost episode:

Futurama: Slurm

When Fry gets to tour the factory for his favorite drink (and meet Slurms McKenzie) he discovers a nasty secret. The secret ingredient is actually green worm excrement. The queen worm is a shit-making factory and her goo is shot directly into the cans of Slurm. But in the end it doesn't really change his mind anyway. Futurama's other great food moment is "Parasites Lost" where Fry eats the parasite filled egg sandwich that in turn makes him brilliant and he is able to play the holophonor.

Demolition Man: Rat Burgers and Taco Bell

It's the year 2032 and alcohol, sex, nicotine, meat and other unhealthy foods are all outlawed, but that's not the worst of it. The only restaurant is Taco Bell. Now, how can you make a crunchy-cheesy gordita without cheese, salt, fat and cat food? It's impossible! Talk about a dystopia. But on the flip side, I'll pass on the other option, which is: live with the underground resistance led by Denis Leary, that dines on rat burgers. I find it hard to believe that John Spartan had no problem ripping into rat flesh, but more power to him.

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory: Violet's Bad Berry

"By gum, it's gum." A three course dinner wrapped into one piece of gum. A little girl learns the hard way not to be such a freaking brat and listen to her elders, courtesy of some transforming gum. Watch the expansion of Violet Beauregarde below.

Waterworld...you know the scene

So Kevin Costner chose to create a machine that filters urine into water. Hmmmm... How did he test this? Seriously, were there trial runs? More importantly, why urine? Why not salt water? If you're going to put enough time and effort into something into creating a machine, why not go ahead and have it filter the most plentiful substance around?

Lost's Fish Biscuits

True love is sharing your fish biscuit. Sawyer and Kate are locked up in bear cages. First of all, who knew you could make such and thing as a fish biscuit? And second why were bears on the island in the first place? Little crazy details like DHARMA biscuits sets Lost apart from other scifi shows. With one pink biscuit you're knocked on your ass with questions.

Matrix: Steak of Deception and Breakfast of Snot

Neo and friends had a downright obsession with food. Steaks, noodles and utensils ('there is no spoon') were used to explain even the most complicated theories about the the matrix. But it actually helped break down complicated ideas. Who could forget the Mouse's conundrum over breakfast, which made you question how would artificial intelligence know what things tasted like? What about the orgasm inducing dessert from the Merovingian that demonstrated how he could manipulate the Matrix to suit his needs? Or the biggest betrayal of all, when Cypher trades in his fellow crew over a steak. It wasn't a bad meal per se, but it was the worst meal because Cypher's a bastard. It may be juicy but I think it tastes like your demise, my friend.

It's People!

So I know Soylent Green is people, and you know Soylent Green is people. But the first time you watched the movie weren't you completely horrified at what the future held for man? Was it the idea that the masses didn't know they were ingesting corpse wafers or just the actual act? Either way it put me off government cheese for good.

Tonight

Tonight sees the two-hour season premier of American Gladiators on NBC. This show is set in a bleak future dystopia where a drugged populace watches people compete in brutal events like "Rocketball" and "Vertigo," where survival is the greatest prize. Oh, wait.... never mind. If you like your contests of life and death a little more fictional, AMC is showing Terminator 2 at 8 PM.

Shia LaBoeuf is on Letterman tonight at 11:30ish, talking about Indiana Jones and explaining why he thought it was a great idea to play a "swashbuckling biker" named Mutt.

Tuesday

Shia LaBoeuf continues his TV rampage by appearing on Good Morning America, along with William Shatner.

The History Channel has two episodes of Mega Disasters at 8 and 9 PM, including a new episode, "Mega Tsunamis." Did waves taller than the Statue of Liberty smash the coasts of the Mediterranean sea 8,000 years ago — and could a tsunami like that happen again? Also, at 11 PM, the History Channel has a rerun of Earth's Black Hole, a special about black holes and whether they affect our life here on Earth. The answer, apparently, involves going to the Bermuda Triangle. (Of course it does.)

Also, FX is showing League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen at 5, and Hellboy at 8 and 10:30.

And Wednesday morning at 1:10, TMC has The Man Who Fell To Earth starring David Bowie at his absolute freakiest.

Wednesday

The History Channel comes to our rescue once again, with an episode of Modern Marvels called "Mad Electricity" — it's all about Nikola Tesla, and how we're all using his discoveries constantly today. That's at 8 PM, followed by reruns of MonsterQuest and UFO Hunters.

And at 10 PM, TMC is showing Hollow Man 2, in which Christian Slater plays a cop pursuing an invisible killer. Yeah. I didn't know they made a sequel either.

Thursday

It's the Smallville season finale, "Arctic." This could be the last time you ever see Lex and Clark face off, with the smouldering and the Lex wanting to probe Clark's secrets. After tonight's episode, Lex actor Michael Rosenbaum is leaving the show — possibly never to return — and Lana will only be back for a few episodes. Also possibly gone? Chloe. Oh, and the show's co-creators Miles Millar and Al Gough are also taking off. So even though Smallville is coming back next season, this may as well be the show's final episode because it'll be almost unrecognizable next year. So maybe we'll actually get some resolution of the show's main plot arc? It might be worth tuning in just to find out. In any case, Lex finds Clark's Fortress of Solitude and learns Clark's secrets. Anyway, it's on The CW at 8. Here's a clip:

And then Lost has the first hour of its three-hour season finale, "There's No Place Like Home Pt. 1." The survivors and the freighter people begin their final confrontation. And here's a trailer:

Also, TVLand has the 1999 movie of My Favorite Martian, starring Christopher Lloyd, at 8 PM. And TBS has the original Austin Powers at 9.

Friday

The Sarah Jane Adventures is already zooming towards the end of its first season on Sci Fi, with the second half of "Whatever Happened To Sarah Jane?" airing at 8 and the first half of "The Lost Boy" airing at 8:30. Sarah Jane gets restored to our timeline, but then her cozy little family gets broken up a different way: a family turns up claiming that her adoptive son Luke is their child. Oh, and Maria's dad finds out all about Sarah Jane's world-saving activities, and decides Maria should have no part of it. Here's a clip:

And at 9 PM, Sci Fi has the first half of a Doctor Who two parter, "The Sontaran Strategem." Some people liked this episode a lot better than I did, with the campy dancing and weird Sergey Brin knock-off. In any case, it brings the Doctor and Donna back to present-day Earth for a reunion with Martha Jones and the military organization U.N.I.T. You can read our recap of the episode here.

Battlestar Galactica has a new episode at 10 PM on Sci Fi: "Guess What's Coming To Dinner." The human survivors of the Cylon genocide reluctantly join forces with a group of rebel Cylons to destroy the crucial Resurrection Hub. And it looks like Hera has a favorite auntie. Oh, and if you're in Seattle, you can watch it with a group of fans. Here's the trailer:

Saturday

As usual, the CW has two Spectacular Spider-Man episodes starting at 9:30, including a new episode at 10. But this week's new episode is pretty special, because it features the debut of the sexiest female character from Spider-Man's comics (sorry, Mary Jane): the Black Cat. And just to up the sexiness quotient considerably, she's voiced by none other than Tricia Helfer, aka the Cylon Six on Battlestar Galactica. How much sexiness do you think you can stand at 10 AM on a Saturday morning?

And meanwhile, the Cartoon Network has another new Ben 10: Alien Force at 10: "Max Out." "The team searches for Gwen's missing brother Ken and uncovers a secret of the DNAliens invasion." And then at 10:30, there's a new Transformers: Animated, which sounds like the sort of wheel-spinning episode (sorry!) that TV shows do while they're waiting for the end of the season to shake things up: "Investigating a mysterious race car, Bumblebee gets involved with an illegal underground street racing circuit, which also captures the attention of the Decepticons." Street racing? Why would the Autobots care about street racing? Whatevs.

The Sci Fi Channel is showing all three 1980s Indiana Jones movies, starting at 4 PM. (They're also showing during the day on Sunday.) Also, at midnight, Sci Fi has Timeline, followed by Tremors 4: The Legend Begins and Prophecy: The Foresaken. (Why did it take until Tremors 4 for the legend to begin??)

Sunday

At 9 PM, Sci Fi is showing its big promo special about the new Indiana Jones movie: Mystery Of The Crystal Skulls. Apparently there really are 13 crystal skulls, of which a few have actually been found in Mexico and Central and South America. And they're a huge mystery to archeologists because they're so perfect and awesome. Not only that, but it turns out that if you assemble all 13 skulls, you can stop the world from coming to an end in 2012. (Why is Sci Fi the only channel reporting on this? You'd think CNN and C-Span would be interested in whether the world was ending in four years as well.) Anyway, it's investigative journalism at it's finest, and in no way is it just a cheesy promo stunt.

And Spike is showing Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back at 8 PM.

The Happening:

The secret of The Happening, M. Night Shyamalan's newest movie, is that it's a virus produced by plants and trees to fight back against humanity. It spreads through the air and makes people kill themselves. And the main characters, a family fleeing from the disaster, finally kill themselves at the movie's end. [Edward J.R.]

Smallville:

Someone claims to have casting sides for two new characters who will appear in Smallville season eight. There's a twentysomething bartender at Ace Of Clubs named Davis Bloome, who meets Lois when he serves her whiskey, and seems to read her mind as she's musing about a friend. It's a "weirdly sexy" moment. They snark back and forth, but then the conversation gets too weird for Lois. In a second audition scene, Lois seems to know Davis much better, and she finds him with blood on his hands. He says a waitress broke a tray of glasses and cut herself, but Lois doesn't believe him. And then it turns out Davis has blackouts where he can't remember anything he did. Lois offers to help, but Davis just begs her not to tell anyone. And she suddenly feels afraid.

The second character is Tess, who meets Clark in his barn, where she's wearing a pencil skirt and high heels. She tells Clark she's moving into Luthor Manor in Lex's absence. And she baits Clark about the fact that he was the last one to see Lex alive, and asks why Lionel Luthor would take a farmboy under his wing. Clark says Lionel was just a family friend, but Tess thinks Lionel lusted after Martha Kent. And her second scene involves Jimmy sneaking into the Daily Planet archives. Tess has been looking for Jimmy, but he's a hard guy to find. Jimmy tells Tess he didn't work for Lex, but she knows better. She tells him to spill what he knows about Lex's last trip... or else.

So... Lex is being replaced by a woman. And Lois is getting a new creepy love interest. [Notes... Written On Water]

Battlestar Galactica:

Battlestar Galactica just recently filmed a scene that started to explain how Starbuck came back from the dead. And "it's not an uplifting understanding," says star Edward James Olmos. "It's as dark as everything else. You sit there and you go, 'You guys are sick!'" [Boston Globe]

Doctor Who:

Once again, Digital Spy has a bunch of spoilers for Saturday's Doctor Who episode, three of which are fake. Off the top of my head, I can believe Donna tries to fit in with the 1920s by saying "spiffing" and "chin chin," Agatha Christie hits on Donna to no avail, Chief Inspector Smith shows up, and Donna thinks that Enid Blyton's "Noddy" is real and that "Murder On The Orient Express" is a song. [Doctor Who Insania]

Lost:

Time travel is definitely happening on Lost, say producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. And you shouldn't be asking if Claire is dead, but rather "What happened to Claire?" And we should be asking, "What is dead?" (Whoah.) Richard Alpert will be more prominent in the future of the show. Some of the show's mysteries, like the numbers, will never be explained, for fear of cheapening them the way the Force was cheapened on Star Wars after we learned about midichlorians. By the season's end, you'll have a sense of where the Penny-Desmond storyline is going. [E! Online]

Someone who's on set says the last week of filming includes scenes in the jungle, in a church, in a rescue plane and on the studio lot. And the "extra babies" (doubles for Aaron?) are girls. Significant? Or just random? [Lyly Ford]

Stargate: Atlantis:

Stargate: Atlantis will have a big two-parter halfway through its fifth season: "First Contact" and "The Lost Tribe." Dr. Daniel Jackson (from Stargate: SG-1) will visit Atlantis to do research on Janus, the scientist who invented a time-traveling puddle jumper, and who also saved Dr. Weir when she traveled back in time 10,000 years. Daniel and Rodney McKay discover a research laboratory on another planet, which belonged to Janus. But the other Atlanteans did not look favorably upon Janus' work. And Jackson and McKay aren't alone there.

Meanwhile, "Todd" the Wraith seizes control over the Earth battlecruiser Apollo, and only Ronon and Keller remain at large. Todd threatens to start killing people unless Ronon and Keller turn themselves in. Todd is heading to Janus' laboratory, to shut down the "Attero device," which threatens his new alliance. But Col. John Sheppard and Dr. Zelenka have joined up with a Traveler ship led by a captain named Katana, and they're are rushing to get to Janus' lab first. Sheppard and Zelenka work with a 15-year-old engineer, Mila to upgrade the Traveler ship's engines, because if they don't make it to Janus' lab before Todd, Jackson and McKay may be dead. [Gateworld, via Leliana McKay]

Firefly:

An upcoming Firefly comic book series, The Shepherd's Tale, will detail more about the mysterious pastor, Shepherd Book. According to actor Ron Glass, we'll learn that Book found God in a soup bowl, something about Book is artificial, Book's greatest victory was his worst defeat, and Book took the name of someone he killed. [Firefly Fans]

Star Wars: Legacy Of The Force:

More spoilers for Star Wars: Invincible, the Legacy Of The Force book that comes out on Tuesday: Jaina kills Jacen, after injuring him severely. Jacen has gone totally batshit, but really is trying to save Tenel Ka and Allana from some sort of danger. But Jaina doesn't believe him. Daala becomes chief of state. And Luke Skywalker is "around" but doesn't do much. His son, Ben, fights Tahiri and captures her. [Jacen's Heart]

Apparently, you could hide a lot of things under those 1950s circle skirts, because teenage Emily's got a bun in the oven and it hardly even shows. That bun turns out to be wee John Locke, born prematurely after Emily gets hit by a car. Little John is a "miracle baby," according to a nurse, because he's the youngest preemie to survive at their hospital. Shortly thereafter, who shows up peeking through the hospital window but the long lost Richard Alpert! It turns out he's got his eye on Locke, dropping by when the youngster is of school age to see if he qualifies for the home Alpert runs for kids who are "extremely special." Locke's special all right — he's already drawing the smoke monster attacking stick figures. Alpert sets a group of objects in front of him (baseball mitt, Book of Laws, Mystery Tales comic book — "What Was The Secret of The Mysterious 'HIDDEN LAND!'"—compass, vial of what looks like sand, and knife) — and asks John to pick the ones that belong to him. But when John picks the knife (in addition to the vial and the compass), Alpert angrily yanks it out of his hands and hits the road. Is little John messing with him—or just not ready to take the Book of Laws over the lawless knife?

When next we see Flashback Locke, he's being rescued from his high school locker by a sympathetic teacher/counselor. Turns out Alpert's been by the school — he wants Locke to go to Mittelos Laboratories' science camp. But Locke doesn't want to face his destiny just yet (even though his science fair project is a model of an island). He's not a science nerd; he likes cars and sports, dammit! When the teacher — okay, maybe he's not so sympathetic — tells John he'll never be a super hero, Locke for the first time utters, "Don't tell me what I can't do." He still isn't ready for destiny years later when, in physical therapy after his father tosses him out the window, his orderly — none other than Mr. Abbadon, apparently not a harbinger of death all the time — tells him to go on a walkabout.

Of course, Locke finally does go on that walkabout (it'll be interesting to see what happens when his path again crosses that of Abbadon — and you know it will), and now he's on Craphole Island looking for Jacob's cabin with Ben and Hurley — because they're the craziest, in Hugo's opinion. And when they do find the cabin — thanks to a dream visit from Horace, murdered Dharma Initiative math guy — Locke comes face to face with Christian Shephard, and ... Claire. Which is definitely one in the pocket for those in the "Claire is dead" camp — or is it? And how do you move an island anyway? In time or physically or some other way? My guess is the first.

Back on the freighter, Keamy's returned and he is ticked off. He tries to kill Michael/Kevin for giving him up to Ben, but Michael's unkillable. Keamy's prepping to return and "torch" the island, armed with a secondary protocol and lots of materiel. When Lapidus balks at flying them back to the island on this mission, Keamy slits the doctor's throat (thus fulfilling what the Islanders already know). He kills the captain too, for good measure, after Keamy reveals he's got something (a detonator, perhaps?) strapped to his lovely, well-muscled arm. (Note to Lost writers/producers: more naked Kevin Durand, please!) By now, Desmond has to be regretting his decision to stay onboard the Kahana, after Sayid escapes in the motor launch.

Lapidus, flying the helicopter against his will, jettisons a working satellite phone over the beach, where it's found by Jack and crew, who assume it's a message for them to follow the whirlybird. Don't know if that's a good idea, kids.

Wolverine:

The Wolverine solo movie, which already has a pretty massive cast of mutants tromping through it, now also guest-stars the young Scott Summers aka Cyclops. How does Cyclops fit into the storyline of Logan's early years in the Weapon X military taskforce? [Superhero Hype]

Heroes:

Bruce Boxleitner will play a new character in Heroes season three, one who was originally modeled on Sen. John McCain, but who may have been reconceived now that Bruce is playing him. In any case, this new character shares many scenes with one of our female regulars. (Angela, maybe?) This makes me think the new season will be way more political than we'd been led to expect, with that "supervillains" theme. Also, even though we're hearing about lots of new characters in season three, the focus will be on our core characters from the show's original pilot. [Ask Ausiello]

Battlestar Galactica:

Here's a pretty carefully constructed chronology of all the spoilers about upcoming Battlestar Galactica episodes that have come out so far. The only ones that may be news to me are that Tigh gets onboard a baseship, and there's a "powerful scene" between Tigh and Admiral Adama, possibly about President Roslin's capture by the rebel cylons. [Leliana McKay]

Doctor Who:

Here's a snippet from the script and a clip from Saturday's episode, "The Doctor's Daughter":
Jenny picks herself up, unharmed, excited, grinning. The Doctor is furious with her.
The Doctor: Why did you do that?
Jenny: They were trying to kill us!
The Doctor: But they've got my friend
Jenny: Collateral damage. At least you've still got her. He lost both of his men. I'd say you came out ahead. [Planet Gallifrey]

Some kind soul has scanned in some pages from some British magazines that include a few spoilers for the rest of the season. The Doctor's "daughter" is related to him but is necessarily his daughter daughter — it's complicated. So how does he end up with a daughter? According to one article, he sticks his hand into a machine that spits out grown-up offspring a moment later. In the season finale, there's a segment on a fake talk show where the "lights in the sky" are discussed. And one of the companions appearing in the finale may not survive. (My money's on Rose, actually.) [Loftio]

Remember those incredibly suspect spoilers we posted yesterday for the end of the season? The ones where Donna dies, and then the Doctor undoes her death, and then he wipes her memory? The guy who posted them has been banned from Digital Spy, where he posted them, and has become the laughingstock of the Doctor Who forum. Poor guy — he was just trying to keep us entertained. [Boards.ie]

Lost:

Some more preview photos have come out from the season finale, showing the Oceanic Six in mid-escape.

And here are two more short clips from tonight's Lost episode. It looks like Locke meets a ghost from the Dharma Initiative, and Sayid has a plan to save everyone on the island. [Spoilers Lost]

Final Crisis:

Entertainment Weekly has a five-page preview of Final Crisis, with script pages from writer Grant Morrison. It looks very much like 52 part two, or maybe "53." In a nutshell, Dick Turpin (from Metropolis Special Crimes Unit) finds Orion in a dumpster, half dead. And then he has a conversation with ex-cop Rene Montoya, who's become a superhero called The Question. Meanwhile, the sky turns red and freaks out, and John Stewart, who's a Green Lantern (a space cop with a magic ring) gets called to a "1011" emergency. Oh, and old Justice League villain Libra is behind everything, but uber-villain Darkseid also plays a major role. [Entertainment Weekly]

In the comic Wendy tries to balance her crime fighting days with a problematic, overly sensitive filmmaker boyfriend (are there any other kind?), a sexy roommate and one freeloading hippie. The Middleman, on the other hand, is 100% hero most of the time, and he's the latest in a long line of Middlemen which Wendy may join after he's gone. Together they battle an interesting mix of villains including Mexican Wrestlers and evil brainiac monkeys. The show will premiere on June 16, 2008. [ABC Family via Comics2film]

.

Moon:

Remember Moon, the movie directed by David Bowie's son Duncan Jones, and starring Sam Rockwell (Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind)? Now that it's in post-production, a few more details have leaked out. The reason Rockwell is stranded alone on the Moon for three years: he's mining a gas that Earth needs to solve its energy crisis. And while he's stuck up there, he has an encounter that will change the course of human history. Even though Rockwell is alone on the Moon, he has costars in the movie: Matt Berry (The IT Crowd) and Kaya Scodelario (Skins). Are they playing aliens he meets, or other people who turn up? Or the people waiting for him back on Earth? [Slice Of Scifi]

The Dark Knight:

In the new Batman movie, part of what drives Harvey Dent over the edge into becoming Two-Face is that his fiancee is killed. This is presumably Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). This will also give Batman something else to angst over, since she's his old flame and his "hope for a normal life." [Comic By Comic]

Battlestar Galactica:

Someone posted a ton of spoilers for episode 9 of Battlestar Galactica season four, "The Hub," which airs June 6. Roslin and Baltar are in the hands of the rebel Cylons (the Leobens, the Sharons, the Sixes) who are planning an attack on the "Resurrection Hub," without which no Cylon can resurrect anywhere, even with a resurrection ship. The humans have an uneasy alliance with these rebel Cylons. And some human pilots help with the attack, including Helo, Seelix and "Gonzo" Pike. The humans also decide to help the rebels to retrieve D'Anna (Lucy Lawless) so they can learn the identity of the Final Five within the fleet. D'Anna is un-boxed and immediately starts being manipulative and playing mind games again. The battle to destroy the Hub is "insane."

Helo feels very threatened when he realizes that when "his" Sharon died and was resurrected over the algae planet, her memories became available to all the other Sharons.

Baltar does the one thing that could surprise me at this point: he confesses his role in the destruction of humanity to Roslin — leaving her with a tough moral quandary. We see Roslin's death in a flash-forward, and the "L-word" is finally spoken between her and Adama. Elosha puts in an appearance as Roslin's spiritual adviser. [Battlestar Blog]

Star Wars: Clone Wars:

Here's our first look at Asajj Ventress, one of the main villains of the Star Wars: Clone Wars movie (coming this August) and TV show (coming this fall). As with previous versions, she's bald and venomous-looking. [USA Today]

And more story details about the movie have come out. Jabba the Hutt's son has been kidnapped, and the Jedi agree to rescue him in exchange for access to shipping routes, but this may be a plot to divert the Jedi to the remote planet of Teth. Anakin, his student Ahsoka, and a Clone squadron, travel to the B'omarr monastery on Teth to find Hutt Jr., but they find themselves surrounded by General Grievous' battle droids and hunted by Asajj Ventress. R2D2 helps them find a way out, and Obi-Wan brings much-needed reinforcements. [Jedi News]

Lost:

Lost's Sonya Walger (Penny) was spotted in Hawaii. Does that mean Penny's coming to the island? Or just that she's going to appear in an upcoming episode? Also, there are hints another one of our "favorite castaways" will die in an upcoming episode. [Spoilers Lost]

Smallville:

Here are some pics from the Smallville season finale, where Lex finally gets into the Fortress of Solitude. [The TV Addict]

And this week's episode, "Quest," follows Lex to Zurich, where he keeps trying to learn about the "Veritas" mythology. Lex gets attacked by a monastic-robed stranger with Kryptonian symbols carved into his chest, which seem to be a message for Clark. Meanwhile, Jimmy takes an interest in the symbols carved in the Kawatche caves, and Clark thinks about their symbolism. Clark and Chloe team up to investigate and learn that a member of the Veritas clan has survived and is hiding out in a church. Clark and Lex race to be the first to find this Veritas member, who holds the key to Clark's survival. [Buddy TV]

Doctor Who:

Here's a possibly spurious summary of the last two episodes of the current Doctor Who season. Former Prime Minister Harriet Jones is consumed with hatred for the Doctor, especially after she finds out her successor as prime minster was a member of the Doctor's own species. She managed to get aboard the Valiant and witnessed the entire year of Harold Saxon's reign of terror which "never happened." It was Harriet who stole the Master's ring from his funeral pyre, and uses it to help an army of Daleks, led by Davros, to escape from beyond reality.

This causes Rose's alternate universe to unravel. As head of her universe's Torchwood London, Rose knows what's going on, but doesn't know how to stop it. She desperately tries to reach the Doctor. Meanwhile, Donna has read her own life story in that future library (the one from the Steven Moffat two-parter) and knows she'll be killed by the Racnoss, the spider-creature that ruined her wedding day.

Donna is left alone inside the TARDIS, hurtling out of control, and doesn't know what to do. Then Rose appears on the screen, having managed to get a signal through a fracture in reality — after the Doctor has already completely vanished from our universe. Donna and Rose try to use the TARDIS to bring the Doctor back. They keep colliding with alternate realities, including their own lives if they'd never met the Doctor. Finally, they manage to bring the Doctor back. He's confronted Davros and Harriet, who's now the Red Dalek.

Realities collide, bringing Jackie and Mickey back to our universe. And then the Daleks kill Donna's mother and grandfather. And then Donna is controlled by the insect on her back, by means of a Racnoss Empress from an alternate reality, which came to our universe through the hole the Daleks have made. The alternate Empress joins forces with Davros and Harriet. The only way to stop Donna's evil back-spider is to kill Donna, which the Doctor refuses to do. Meanwhile, all the universes are threatening to collide, destroying everything. The Doctor reaches the Medusa Cascade, but the only way to close the rift again is to sacrifice a human life. The Doctor falters, unable to sacrifice anyone. But then Donna chooses to sacrifice her own life to save everything.

But after Donna is gone, the Doctor decides to break his most sacred rule for her, and goes back in time 24 hours to change his own past, so the Daleks and Harriet can be stopped without sacrificing Donna's life. Then Captain Jack erases Donna's memory so she has no clue what's happened and won't try to find the Doctor again. She won't remember him at all. This restores everything to the point it was before, with Rose, Mickey and Jackie once again sealed in their alternate universe. [Planet Gallifrey]

Transformers: Animated:

Here are some screencaps from an upcoming episode of Transformers: Animated called "SUV: Society For Ultimate Villainy," which already aired in the Middle East but won't air in the U.S. until June or later. It features a Decepticon called Swindle, and a villain who fires a time-freezing blast, using a pocket watch. The "clockwoman" teams up with Nano and the Angry Archer to build a time-control machine for Swindle. [TFW2005]

Spectacular Spider-Man:

And meanwhile, Spectacular Spider-Man is unaccountably airing its Halloween episode this Saturday. Here's the blurb:

"The Uncertainty Principle"... presents a number of perplexing situations for Peter Parker and Spider-Man as they both try to find clarity amid the masks, mysteries and menace of Halloween. While Colonel John Jameson struggles to land his damaged space shuttle, Spider-Man continues his ongoing battle with Green Goblin, who also threatens Hammerhead and Tombstone. Still, Peter's greatest challenge will be facing the awful truth when he finally learns the Goblin's "true" identity.

This claymation short aired in 1996 on Nickelodeon's Kablam segment (you may also remember Action League Now). All of the shorts have Prometheus teaching Bob to do the simplest things such as, dress, use the restroom, build a shelter and survive. Every episode usually ends with Prometheus getting hit in the head with something. But it's Bob's sweet nature and Prometheus' never-tiring patience (especially when Bob knocks him unconscious and he and the monkey take Prometheus' clothes) that makes these shorts truly memorable.

Check out the Prometheus and Bob fan site for all 39 episodes.

Iron Man 2:

Iron Man 2 will be about Nick Fury recruiting Tony Stark to help battle the super-terrorist known as the Mandarin. And the Mandarin will have super-dragon Fin Fang Foom on his side, according to sources familiar with the movie's storyline — but there's no script yet. [Cinemablend]

Batman 3:

And the third Batman movie will feature a lot more of Two-Face, the villain who debuts at the end of The Dark Knight. But the Joker won't be in it, largely due to Heath Ledger's death. And the story will be based on the graphic novels "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory" — especially the second one, which charts the rise of Two-Face and introduces Batman's sidekick Robin.

Indiana Jones:

Here's a new TV spot for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, with a bit of new footage. In particular, Shia tells Indy: "Get on, gramps!" [ComingSoon.net]

Doctor Who:

The first (lukewarm) review of Saturday's Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Daughter" is online. Jenny, the Doctor's you-know-what, has amazing abilities and challenges the Doctor at every turn. Martha gets captured by the fishlike Hath, while the Doctor and Donna fall in with the humans, who want their help in continuing their war against the Hath. The Doctor tries to stop the fighting and explores "what makes a person a person." Martha and the Doctor hardly have any time together, making their farewell at the episode's end a bit hollow.

And there's the usual mixture of spoilers and red herrings from Digital Spy, including Martha helping to set a fish's dislocated shoulder, the Doctor putting a gun to someone's head, Donna calling the Doctor's daughter "G.I. Jane," and the Doctor being surprised what he finds when he puts a stethoscope to Jenny's chest. [Doctor Who Insania]

The Doctor-less episode, "Turn Left," happens in a bombed-out looking Leeds with corrugated tin covering people's windows. And Donna has some kind of animatronic insect on her back, and people keep commenting on it. Soldiers (including UNIT soldiers) are running around, and one soldier tries to arrest Donna because of her back-insect. The Racnoss spaceship (from Donna's first appearance in the 2006 Christmas special) is attacking Earth. Towards the end of the episode, Donna runs out in the street carrying something that looks like a "vortex manipulator" and gets hit by a car. Rose appears and kneels next to Donna's body.

Rose is in a relationship with someone in the alternate universe, and it's not Mickey. And there are more rumors the Daleks recruit former Prime Minister Harriet Jones to become a new Supreme Dalek. The Supreme Dalek is red and has three head-lamps instead of the standard two.

Also, more details on the final scene of the fourth season, which we reported on a while ago. Donna falls down, and the Doctor and Grandpa Wilf help her to her feet. Then Wilf and the Doctor have this parting moment as the Doctor is leaving:
Doctor: Get a lot of this. Atmospheric disruption. (The rain stops.) Bye, Wilfred.
Wilf: What about you? All those friends of yours....who have you got?... Next time, at night, when the stars come out... I'll look up and I'll think of you... out there on your own... on her behalf...
The Doctor turns, walks sadly across the road, gets out his key, opens TARDIS and goes inside... Also, the Doctor shouts "You can never tell her!" at Wilf right before this exchange. The person watching filming surmised that maybe Donna has lost her memory of him.

And it's rumored the Chrismas special is based on the "One Doctor" audio play, in which a con artist pretends to be the Doctor. And those bronze Cyber-Shades are fakes cooked up by the fake Doctor (David Morrisey.) But then the real Doctor and the real Cybermen show up. (I think this is a bit dodgy, actually.) [Doctor Who Forum]

Lost:

It turns out Sawyer isn't in that scene of the Oceanic Six getting on the raft after all — that was Desmond's stand-in. And Desmond is definitely in the scene. [Lost.sc]

Both Sawyer and Locke are still alive and on the island in the future "Oceanic Six" timeline. And it sounds as though the finale's "spectacular kiss" may be between Sawyer and Kate. Also, the next two seasons will include more stories about the Oceanic Six's adventures off the island. And here's another new preview clip from Thursday's episode. [E! Online]

Smallville:

In the tail end of Smallville season seven, Lana gets better and then decides to leave town, which is why she's not in next year's episodes. [E! Online again]

Tonight

Another slow Monday in scifi-land. FX is showing Elektra at 9 PM, just in case you want a yardstick to compare Iron Man to. And Sci Fi is showing a ton of Star Trek: Enterprise episodes, which means there's an even chance you'll see Jolene Blalock decontaminating herself if you watch all of them.

Robert Downey Jr. is on Jay Leno tonight at 11:30 on NBC, probably gloating about how many truckloads of cash Iron Man made over the weekend, and making completely random predictions about the storyline of Iron Man 2.

And at 1 AM Tuesday, AMC has The Cell, in case you want to fantasize that it's your disturbed unconscious that J.Lo is wandering into.

Tuesday

The History Channel has a new Mega Disasters at 9 PM, with an episode called "Hypercane." Somebody offered me some Hypercane at a party recently, but I heard that stuff eats away at your sinuses. Actually, here's the blurb:

65 million years ago a massive asteroid crashed into Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. 75% of all life on earth vanished; but could a single asteroid have been the lone killer? Theories about what happened after the impact have been speculated on by the entire scientific community. Ranging from global warming to lethal worldwide firestorms, ideas have been put forth—but none have been proven. Then in 1995 a new theory claimed that a powerful mega storm known as a Hypercane caused the extinction. The Hypercane allegedly reaches 20 miles into the stratosphere and has wind speeds of up to 700 miles per hour. 3-D computer animations will reveal how this storm could have brought down nearly all life on the planet.

FX is showing Batman Begins at 8 PM, in case you want to refresh your memory before The Dark Knight comes out.

And at midnight, Encore has the original Alien.

Wednesday

The History Channel has another new UFO Hunters at 10 PM, featuring analysis of NASA's actual UFO footage. If it comes from NASA, it must be real, right?

Encore has Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me at 8, and Waterworld at 9:40.

Emile Hirsch is on Letterman, talking up Speed Racer, which comes out Friday.

Thursday

There's a new Smallville on Sci Fi at 8 PM. Robert Picardo, the holographic doctor from Star Trek: Voyager, takes some time out from his role on Stargate: Atlantis to play a funny monk guy who has a whole serve-the-Traveler thing for Clark. Here's the trailer:

And then there's a new Lost at 10:02 PM, "Cabin Fever." Things heat up on the freighter, and meanwhile we learn a whole lot of new stuff about Locke. Here are a couple of preview clips:

Sci Fi has the first two Resident Evil movies at 7 and 9 PM.

And at 4 AM Friday morning, AMC has 1958's Earth Vs. The Spider, about hot-rodding teens who have a run-in with a giant arachnid. But is one of that motorcycle-riding kids named Mutt?

Friday

Sci Fi has another unstoppable Friday night lineup. At 8 PM, Sarah Jane Adventures has two more episodes, the end of "Warriors Of The Kudlak" and the first half of "Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?" "Kudlak" has a somewhat disappointing revelation that you can see coming a mile off, but still features some great ass-kicking Sarah Jane moments. And "Whatever Happened" is basically pure win, making you realize quite what a dire place the world would be without our hero.

And at 9 PM, there's a new (to Americans) Doctor Who episode, "Planet Of The Ood." It's the return of those subservient wormy-faced slave creatures from season two's "Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit," now with more nonsensical exobiology. The episode in general doesn't make much sense, but it does feature some good moments between the Doctor and Donna. You can read my recap here. And here are the first 10 minutes of the episode:

And at 10, there's the sixth episode of Battlestar Galactica season four, which means we're halfway through the 2008 episodes already. This is the episode featuring Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Nana Visitor as another cancer patient, and that means you can expect to see lots of President Roslin battling her own cancer. I wonder which book the Admiral will read to her from this week. Here's the trailer. Poor Gaeta:

Also, at 8:30 PM, TCM has 1959's On The Beach, one of the earliest post-apocalyptic movies ever, where survivors of a nuclear war wait in a submarine off the New Zealand coast for the radiation to reach them.

Saturday

There are two Spectacular Spider-Man episodes starting at 9:30 on The CW, including a new episode featuring the Green Goblin and John Jameson, the astronaut son of newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson. And another classic Spider-villain may make an appearance.

The Cartoon Network has a new Ben 10: Alien Force at 10, followed by a new Transformers: Animated at 10:30. Transformers features "the debut of Wreck-Gar as well as the return of the Angry Archer."

IFC is showing the scifi-ish Human Nature at 9 PM — it's one of the lesser known Charlie Kaufman scripts, but still very worth checking out for its weird neuroscience and mice learning to eat salad with a knife and fork.

And the Sci Fi Channel has B-movies all day from 9 AM to 5 AM, including quite a few Sci Fi Original Movies. I want to list all the titles, just because they make me giggle: RAPTOR ISLAND, CARNOSAUR, CARNOSAUR 2, CARNOSAUR 3: PRIMAL SPECIES, PTERODACTYL, ROCK MONSTER, AZTEC REX, SABRETOOTH, and RAPTOR. I think Aztec Rex is appearing for the first time ever, at 9 PM and 1 AM. Somebody is excited, to the point of making a celebratory LOL-dinosaur.

Sunday

At 7 PM, Sci Fi has the movie Hybrid. It's either the 1997 movie about people who go into a dark, scary lab and get chased by a half-something, half-something else monster. Or the 2000 movie about the guy in the 1930s who was obsessed with creating a new breed of corn. Or maybe... it's a hybrid of the two! Anyway, whichever hybrid it's about probably won't lurch out of the bath and blather about Kara Thrace causing the apocalypse, sadly.

And FX is showing I, Robot at 8 PM.

Speed Racer:

On the heels of its featurette about Racer X, IGN Movies has a 3-minute clip featuring Speed Racer himself. It's mostly footage we've already featured, but I think there might be a teeny bit more of it. [IGN Movies]

X-Files: I Want To Believe:

X-Files 2 features a scene between Mulder and Scully in the FBI offices. And Scully is struggling with the conflict between her rational scientific outlook and her faith (as a Catholic.) Mulder is still struggling with his faith in the paranormal. [XFilesNews]

Hancock:

That scene in Hancock where the slovenly superhero has sex with an underage girl? It's been cut, to try and get the film a PG-13 rating instead of an R rating. Apparently there was a scene where he gets drunk and fools around with a 12-year-old too, but that was mostly a "bargaining chip" to try and convince the ratings board to let a similar scene involving a 17-year-old stay in. But now all the underage girls are gone. The movie is about "why Superman can't get a date," and involves Hancock being physically unable to spend the night with a woman he meets at a party. (Because of the "woman of tissue paper" thing, or something else?) [New York Times]

The Happening:

M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening is a 90-minute paranoia movie, which pays tribute to Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. A group of people are trying to get out of an area affected by some other-worldly threat, and they understand the situation better than everyone around them... but nobody else will listen. [LA Times, via Defamer]

Doctor Who:

The title of episode 12 of Doctor Who's current season is still a mystery, but fans are speculating it could be "War On Skaro." (Skaro is the name of the evil Daleks' home planet, which has been destroyed a couple of times.) After all, British toymaker Play.com has started taking preorders on a "War On Skaro" playset, which goes on sale in October. And the playset includes a Davros action figure. [Room 515]

In next week's episode, "The Doctor's Daughter," the daughter in question says "Hello, Dad!" to the Doctor. And she wields a machine gun. And the aliens in the episode, the Hath, are half fish, half human, and communicate using bubbles. [SciFiPulse]

Heroes:

Heroes' Noah Bennett, aka HRG, is currently imprisoned at the bottom of Level Five in the Company's secret facility. "I think there may be an escape in the offing, but at a cost," says actor Jack Coleman. And HRG will probably be hunting those escaped psycho villains who are like a dozen Sylars. Meanwhile, Mohinder is getting a lot less mild-mannered, and Claire wants to use her powers for a greater good instead of just blending in. And I'm not sure what to make of Coleman's prediction for Hiro:

"He's firmly planted in Yakamoto Industries now," says Coleman. "I think Hiro's more the guy who starts out wealthy and comfortable and is very unhappy taking over his father's business and needs the quest. That's his destiny."

Smallville:

Even though Michael Rosenbaum just announced he's through with Smallville, the producers are still dropping hints he may be back for the eighth season finale, which may be the show's finale episode ever. Also, all the signs point to the show's new female villain being Maxima, the alien queen who wanted to marry Superman in the comics and wasn't willing to take no for an answer. And apparently this time around, Clark may not want to give no for an answer anyway. [ComicBookResources]

Lost:

Castaway drama Lost just filmed a scene for the season finale in which the Oceanic Six (plus Sawyer, and some person who's not moving) swim onto a life raft. (And it looks like Desmond might be there too.) [Ryan's Flickr page, via Approaching Lost]

Also, in Thursday's episode, Claire goes into Jacob's Cabin with Locke, and we learn more about why we saw her dad (and Jack's) in there. We see Ben's father figure Horace Godspeed (who got Ben's dad his job and died in the purge) back from the dead. And Michael and Frank argue on the freighter. [Nicole's Lost]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

We will see some more of the mysterious girl at John Connor's high school, Cheri, again at some point in TV's Terminator spinoff. But season two of the Sarah Connor Chronicles will move towards having one plot per episode, instead of juggling three or four plots every time. And the show's second season will flip some of its character dynamics on their head, as John becomes more of a man instead of a boy. [IGN]

Eureka:

Do any of you guys watch the Sci Fi Channel's Eureka, the show about a town full of supergeniuses and weirdos? If so, then you'll be happy to hear that Sheriff Jack Carter may actually get a girlfriend in the new season. Also getting lucky in love may be Sally, the Smart House and possibly even Fargo. The new season will also include a Biodome-themed show, a Groundhog Day riff involving "2 AM and ice water," a "robot mangy dog show," and maybe more disappearing pizza guys. Eight episodes of the new season will air starting in late July, with the rest airing later. [Monsters And Critics]

Star Wars:

The blurb for the upcoming Star Wars novel Millennium Falcon gives some spoilers about what happens in the earlier novel, Invincible. The brief-but-brutal rain of Darth Caedus (worst "Darth" name ever) comes to an end, and the formerly evil Imperial Admiral Daala unites the galaxy to forge a lasting peace. Luke Skywalker tries to chart a new future for the Jedi Order and tries to understand why his nephew Jacen Solo turned to the Dark Side. Leia and Han, grieving for both their dead sons, adopt Jacen's force-sensitive daughter Allana, at the request of her mother, Queen Tenel Ka of Hapes. The newly formed family goes off to research the history of Han's ship the Millennium Falcon, but then they stumble on a new threat to the Jedi Order — and maybe to the Force itself. [The Force.net]

And the blurb for the first graphic novel based on the new Clone Wars movie/series has gone up on Amazon: In "Shipyards of Doom," Obi Wan and Anakin lead a mission to destroy the Separatists' shipyards, but the enemy finds out. They're forced to rely on their new wet-behind-the-ears padawan, Ahsoka, who must face the droid armies of General Grievous. [Amazon]

So Jack has appendicitis, even though as Rose points out in a Dramatic Moment, people on the island don't get sick, they get better—except for everybody who's died, of course. Juliet decides to operate, and sends Sun to the medical station to get instruments. Daniel goes along because he knows what the instruments look like, Charlotte goes along ... just because ... and since nobody trusts her at all and Daniel only marginally, Juliet sends Jin along with a gun. This excursion gives Jin the opportunity to find out that Char speaks Korean—which he uses to his advantage (along with the threat of skills acquired during his hit-man past) to get her to promise to take Sun off the island when the helicopter arrives. Unlike Jin, I didn't notice that Daniel and Char have a thing going on, quite possibly because I find her so very annoying. (Loved Rose's "Just watch your tongue, Red"!) Does Char even have the authority to get Sun on that helicopter anyway?

In a flashforward, we see Jack and Kate shacked up in connubial bliss, right up until Jack catches a glimpse of his father, and then gets a call from Hurley's doctor. Hugo's institutionalized ("he's crazy," in Jack's professional opinion), and now he's refusing to take his meds, isn't sleeping, and doesn't believe his therapist exists. He does, however, have a message for Jack from Charlie, who's a regular visitor: "You're not supposed to raise him, Jack," meaning Aaron, of course. This freaks Jack out, as does Hurley's assurance that, per Charlie, Jack will soon have a visitor. Of course, it's his dad, this time in the waiting room, nicely dressed in a dark suit and white shoes. Jack immediately starts popping pills. He also gets wildly jealous of Kate, who needs to do something for Sawyer, who we find out CHOSE to stay on the island. Jack gives Kate a hard time about not being related to Aaron, but doesn't seem to know that he, in fact, is Aaron's uncle. This is clearly the beginning of Jack's furry mad man phase.

Meanwhile, Miles, Sawyer, Claire, and Aaron are still trekking through the jungle to the beach. As they pass through the site of the ambush, Miles hears Rousseau and Karl's last moments, falls to his knees, and uncovers their bodies—damn! Rousseau is really dead!—which freaks out both Sawyer and Claire. Sawyer doesn't trust Miles at all, and puts a "restraining order" on him around Claire after he catches Miles looking at Claire like he's never seen her before. But Miles isn't interested in Claire the way Sawyer thinks he is (project much, Sawyer?), but as someone "sensitive" in the psychic sense—and maybe he hears Charlie, too. I also think Miles has recognized Aaron as, well, an "individual of interest." After the four of them barely escape death at the hands of Kearny and crew (thanks to Lapidus) Claire is visited by Christian Shephard—her dad as well as Jack's—and follows him into the jungle, where she disappears, leaving Aaron behind.

This and that:

• Jack reads to toddler Aaron from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), specifically from Chapter 2, "The Pool of Tears." Here's the full quote—because it's one of my childhood favorites, and because it was an excellent fit in last night's episode:

  Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: "Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, THAT'S the great puzzle!"

• Aaron's got a toy Millennium Falcon!
• Is that a piece of twine Island Kate is wearing as a headband? Surely there's a box of Dharma-logo hair ribbon somewhere on the island.
• Jack picks up a newspaper with the headline "Yankees Bludgeon Red Sox in Series Sweep." Anybody got a theory on why there have been so many NY-Boston world series references? Obviously, it's an easy way to mark time, but knowing Lost, there's probably more to it than that—or is there?
• Island Jack has an appendectomy but Future Jack has no scar?
• Lately every time toddler Aaron pops up in an episode, his cherubic good looks combined with the storyline that seems to suggest he is Very Special make me think of the Infant Jesus of Prague—especially as the latter appears in John Waters's Multiple Maniacs.

It's Alive:
The Island is alive and Jacob is the brain. The island can control its own matter and create apparitions (like the smoke monster). Also three rich and powerful "Kings" are involved in some power play against each other over the island: Hanso/Dharma, Widmore and Paik. Widmore was Ben's superior in the past but has been overthrown recently. There will be a throwdown between Hanso, Widmore and Paik.

Lindelof: B+, Cuse: B
They both agree the the island is "probably" alive, kind of a gimme. But Lindelof tells this fan that after last weeks episode, "they might be losing a King." And Cuse encourages the fan to tweak the theory a bit, which after watching Ben go toe-to-toe in an angry staredown with Widmore, I kind of like the three-man Risk game. Besides, it coincides nicely with the actual playing of Risk that foreshadows it in the latest episode.

Blame The Dog:
Are Walt's dog Vincent and the smoke monster one and the same? The fan based this assumption on the fact that Walt is special, therefor his dog should be as well. Vincent can make loud "dinosaur" noises. Also Vincent stares at the other survivors before the first attack and knows English when told to, "go find Jack." Also there are a lot of dog references throughout the show.

Lindelof: C, Cuse: A
Cuse admits that they had discussed doing a dog flashback in Season 1. Lindelof makes jokes, explains nothing which makes me believe they haven't actually decided what to do with Vincent, but Cuse wants to go in that direction.

Time Travel, It's A Disease:
Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sun and Sayid are the only people that can leave the island because they were not near the Swan Station when it imploded. Therefore they are the only survivors from Oceanic 815 that can leave without dying. The people close to the station are all infected with a time travel disease and must take the Dharma shots along with finding their constants when they time travel (Desmond did both). Baby Aaron is safe because he was injected at birth.

Lindelof: A, Cuse: B+
Cuse practically agrees with the fan and says that there is indeed a sickness involved with the island. Lindelof even says, good catch with the sickness, but the Oceanic 6 aren't the only ones who can leave.

Dharma is Everywhere And Planned It All:
Dharma is actively trying to get someone back on the island to finish their work with the Valenzetti Equation. Ms. Hawking is a part of that plan, the fan explains that, "Her visions include a complicated pattern of people that are required to be on the island in order for a set series of events to occur for Dharma to return to the island. With the help of others, including Christian Shephard, Richard Malkin, Nadia and Libby, the group ensures that specific people are on the plane in order for the series of events to occur." So everything that has happened (Desmond causing the plane to crash etc.) has to happen in order for Dharma to get control again.

Lindelof: A, Cuse: A
Both Cuse and Lindelof agreed with most of this theory: everything happened for a reason and was predestined by Dharma. Cuse and Lindelof wouldn't even really comment because it was very, very accurate, not 100% but close.

Baby Aaron Is Old Man Jacob:
Baby Aaron grows up but is always entangled in the islands presence, even off the island. He eventually gets involved in some secret military/science program that (of course) goes horribly wrong. Aaron is then trapped in another time or dimension. From there he can manipulate space and time but can not get out and becomes old man Jacob on the island. So this whole thing is a desperate effort from Jacob over many years to change the course of events that led him to his time prison.

Lindelof: A, Cuse: A
Cuse says the space-time idea is pretty spot on but the facts are a little blurry, Lindelof agrees. Maybe Jacob isn't stuck in time but can play with time? Still the idea that Jacob and Aaron are the same seems to make some sense. [USA Today]

Iron Man:

As you've probably heard, Iron Man doesn't feature the rumored cameo by Samuel L. Jackson as eyepatch-wearing superspy Nick Fury. At least, not the version shown to preview audiences. But some people are claiming the final version released to theaters will have an extra added scene that was left out of the preview version, in which Jackson shows up as Fury, recruiting for a group called the Avengers. Whether this is towards the end of the film, or after the end credits, I'm not sure. [JoBlo]

Also, director Jon Favreau has a slight cameo in the film as Happy Hogan, a supporting character from the comics who will be much more important in the second film, if any. And the DVD of the first movie will include a deleted scene at a party in Dubai where Tony meets Ghostface Killah and they know each other. [Superhero Hype]

Robert Downey Jr. says he thinks the Iron Man sequel will deal with Tony facing his newly godlike power, and Tony will turn to drink as he contemplates the enormity of what he's done. And Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts gets a boyfriend, and Tony says he's happy for her while taking a drink to console himself. Then Tony gets drunk and shows up at Pepper's place during her date, dressed in his Iron Man suit, demanding to know what the boyfriend has that he doesn't. [Sci Fi Wire]

Superman: The Man Of Steel:

And speaking of actors who aren't named Edward Norton but still have script ideas, Brandon Routh has some hints about the sequel to Superman Returns, which seems to be officially called Superman: Man Of Steel. Routh says this time around, Superman will have a "good villain that we can actually have physical altercations with." Because Superman didn't get to punch anyone/anything in the first movie, so it'll be good to have more punching this time. And there'll be more humor from Clark, plus more funny Clark/Jimmy interactions. And maybe things between Superman and Lois will be more smoothed over, and Lois "can afford to be nicer to Clark." Routh still believes Superman and Lois will end up together. [Superhero Hype]

Wolverine:

The new Wolverine-focused X-Men prequel movie, due out in 2009, is much darker than the X-Men trilogy, and is more along the lines of Batman Begins, promises star Hugh Jackman, who could star in another 10 or 11 Wolverine movies. [MTV Movies]

Star Trek:

The new Star Trek prequel movie starts with the crew going off on the start of their five-year mission, says Uhura actor Nichelle NIchols. [TrekToday]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is scouting for two new recurring characters: Becky, a "hot teenaged hipster" who may be John's new girlfriend. And Catherine, an "unusually earthy" business leader in her early 40s, who's sort of a female Bill Gates. [Ask Ausiello]

Battlestar Galactica:

On Battlestar Galactica, the search for Earth may not take as long as you might think this season. [Ask Ausiello again]

Lost:

Here are two more clips from tomorrow night's new Lost episode, in which Jack needs medical attention. [Spoilers Lost]

Doctor Who:

More about those Doctor Who spoilers from Death Ray magazine: Gwen and Ianto from Torchwood are definitely in the season finale, the magazine says. And maybe they recruit Mickey and Martha into the depleted Torchwood team? Also, Martha is in episode six, "The Doctor's Daughter" — where the Doctor meets his daughter. And faces aliens called the Haff. Oh, and Death Ray speculates that his daughter really does come from stolen DNA. [Thanks to Keith]

Smallville:

Here are some more new images from Thursday's Smallville episode which takes place in an alternate universe,