Monday:

An all-day marathon of Ghost Hunters turns into a mini-marathon of Ghost Whisperer on Syfy beginning at 8 AM with TAPS, and switching to Jennifer Love Hewitt's whispers at 7 PM.

Movies:

James Bond proves the real meaning of Anglo-Soviet cooperation in a love pod and we get probably the coolest car ever in the form of a suborghini in The Spy Who Loved Me on BBC America at 4 PM.

Tuesday:

Warehouse 13 -
Artie's being questioned by Mrs. Frederic and the Regents, as Pete and Myka and Claudia are stuck in the Warehouse facing a fiery predicament — that may very well make all thousands of the artifacts in the house go haywire, on Syfy at 9 PM.

Surviving Disaster -
This week at 10 PM on Spike, learn how to traverse a burning building, navigate through flames and flame-filled corridors, how to break through walls and even how to rappel to safety from a burning building (all handy tools for the apocalypse).

The Colony -
One colonist, Joey, has a kidney stone; with no electricity and no communication with the outside world, just how painful will it be? Mike and Vlad head out on a recon mission and run into a dangerous situation. Still not sure if this reality TV show on Discovery at 10 PM has the ability to convince me that the contestants truly believe in their make-believe surroundings — maybe fake kidney stones will work this week. I still think they should start a zombie outbreak.

Movies:

Nic Cage dons the flaming ghost head of terrible acting, in Ghost Rider. Cage plays Johnny Blaze, the devil's bounty hunter, and sucks Eva Mendes into his fiery web (yes, that was a comic mix of metaphors) on FX at 7:30 PM.

Wednesday:

Ghost Hunters -
There's a Syfy series cross over at 9 PM tonight, Josh Gates of Destination Truth joins TAPS as the group heads inside a New Jersey prison in the hunt for stuck souls.

Destination Truth -
The premiere for this "is it real and can we touch it... No? okay" show is on at 10 PM on Syfy. Josh Gates attempts to explain supernatural sightings around the globe.

Movies:

Arnold attempts to foil Satan's plans for conquering the world on New Year's Eve 1999 in End of Days on AMC at 8 PM.

Thursday:

Vampire Diaries -

Dear Diary,
This year, I asked for a great campy vamp show to get me through the long winter weeks without True Blood. Instead, I have been given this show about a brooding, orphaned teenage girl and the vamps who love to smell her in the hallways. Yet another vamp adaptation from books.
Thanks a lot.

Elena is beyond happy to capture the attention of Stefan during the first days at a school, where everyone looks too old and too pretty. The dark hottie in her history class who sometimes has fangs is enchanting trouble. On the plus side, LOST's Ian Somerhalder stars as the even hotter villain. Witness Ian's terrible villainous laughter on the CW's 8 PM series premiere.

Supernatural -
The fifth season opens as brothers Dean and Sam have helped to bump up the date for the apocalypse, and Lucifer has come to Earth to prove it. They must also deal with the sad news from Chuck the Prophet that Castiel was blown away by the archangels. On CW at 9 PM.

Movies:

Genetically altered sharks terrorize those experimenting with them — and don't miss the best ever Samuel L. Jackson CG tirade — in Deep Blue Sea on Syfy at 9 PM.

Friday:

Eureka -
Syfy is wrapping up this genius-town show, at 9 PM. It's Tess' first day in charge at Global Dynamics, an Arctic ice core drops the temperature in Eureka drastically and to top it all off, Dr. Jim Taggart returns to town. Tess will no doubt be having a case of the Mondays.

Movies:

Quarantine the remake of 2007 Spanish horror film [REC] and shaky cam film extraordinaire, chronicles the last night of an apartment building, on Starz at 7:30 PM.

Saturday:

The venerable Hercules — Kevin Sorbo — stars as a small town hero in the made-for-tv movie Lightning Strikes, in which a monster rides a lightning bolt (!) down to the ground on Syfy at 9 PM.

Sunday:

True Blood -
The season finale of this breasts-and-blood epic airs tonight. True chaos finally takes over, as Maryann casts Sookie in a starring role in her grand sacrificial ceremony. Sophie-Anne lays down instructions for Eric regarding Bill, Hoyt may finally be pulling out of his mother's grasp, Jason kicks a little ass and hopefully, Eggs gets scrambled. Do not miss our last hour of HBO's slutty vampires at 9 PM.

The Girl Who Cries Blood -
A blood specialist travels to India to check out a girl who spontaneously cries blood and tries to explain it. I've got it — she's a VAMPIRE, oh and she's related to this kid. Thanks to True Blood for bringing to light this sign of vamps. Witness the eye bleeding at 9 PM on the National Geographic Channel.

Defying Gravity -
The ship goes on high alert when a solar flare may result in deadly levels of radiation. Also, the mysterious force cooped up in Pod 4 makes its presence felt, but not quite seen yet. Are you guys thrilled, or excited this dramatic scifi series is wrapping up? Watch the end on ABC at 10 PM.

Monday:

9/11: Science and Conspiracy -
Conspiracy theories abound about the tragedy of 9/11. Tonight, experts weigh in on how plausible any of the most prominent theories really are, plus some thrilling simulations. That's on the National Geographic Channel at 9 PM.

Movies:

Miss The Storm's original airing on NBC this summer? Don't worry Spike is giving you another chance. It's a typhoon of "that guy from that show" style actors in the two-parter made for TV movie. The ensemble cast of Treat Williams, James Van Der Beek, Luke Perry, John Larroquette, and the dude from JAG all play a part in controlling the Earth's weather, which I'm pretty sure will spiral out of control along with some mad grab power struggle culminating in a giant wet mess over a famous statue or building of some kind. Don't miss the first half at 8 PM, followed quickly by the second.

Tuesday:

Weird, True & Freaky -
The second of two new episodes of this show profiles people who've had plastic surgery to look like animals, including leopards and tigers. Fill your cat-people quota, on Animal Planet at 6:30 PM — long before AVATAR comes out.

Warehouse 13 -
Joe Morton from Eureka guest stars, and Claudia ... changes a light bulb? Meanwhile Pete and Myka head out to the prison system of Florida to explain some unexplained suicides. Fingers crossed it's a better version of The Happening, which wouldn't be too hard. Find out at 9 PM on Syfy.

Nova scienceNow -
Michel Gondry would do well to watch when Nova tackles the real science of sleep and the role memories play into it; also, paleontologist Jonathan Bloch's search for the pre-primate missing link on PBS at 9 PM.

Surviving Disaster -
The series premiere is tonight. This how-to show features a host acting out alternative history and what-if scenarios on camera, to teach the audience how to handle themselves during tragic moments. The first episode is at 10 PM, but if it doesn't tackle angel wars, zombie attacks, The Day After Tomorrow type storms and plagues, then what good is it?

The Colony -
We're really sorry we didn't find this series earlier, only because we would have been including it in the roundups. So apologies all around. The Colony is a social experiment, reality TV series where a random crew of people are forced to rebuild a society after a viral attack has left the world devastated. The Discovery Channel show is on at 10 PM, and while the mentality of the survivors doesn't seem all that believable, because the world didn't actually end, and there aren't any real threats — and we're pretty sure the marauders can't beat up the old man with bats and leave him to die in front of the others — it's still interesting at times. This week, the colonists trek across the river and encounter missionaries and new arrivals, who of course cause some tension. And the group is forced to make a sacrifice.

Movies:

John Travolta's super brain powers are tested on Encore at 8 PM, in Phenomenon. Or as we call it, the worst genius movie ever that we always end up watching over and over, for no real reason.

Wednesday:

Weird, True & Freaky -
The medicinal value of animals around the globe is investigated, on Animal Planet at 6:30 PM.

Movies:
Kurt Russell and James Spader headline the original 1994 film about discovering other worlds after deciphering the code on an Egyptian artifact in Stargate on AMC at 8 PM. And if you haven't had enough space-operatic thrills, hang on because Star Trek: Nemesis is on the same channel at 10:30 PM. (Although "thrills" is used loosely in connection with that second movie.)

Thursday:

Animal Armageddon -
The Animal Planet show about prehistoric creatures returns after a hiatus with volcanic eruptions more than 250 million years ago, and the impact they had on the animal life at the time. Be there or be extinct at 6:30 PM.

Movies:

Mel Brooks' classic parody of the horror genre Young Frankenstein, starring Gene Wilder, is on AMC at 8 PM.

Friday:

Eureka -
False alarm — there's no new ep, but let the mourning of Nathan Stark commence all over again with an all-day Eureka marathon with random episodes beginning on Syfy at 8 AM and airing all night, including the pilot episode at 11 PM.

Movies:

Earth is attacked by Martians in the original The War of the Worlds at 8 PM on TCM.

Saturday:

Mythbusters -
Labor Day weekend means fewer new shows and more marathons. Case in point: Mythbusters runs throughout the night beginning on Discovery at 6 PM, and on and on.

Movies:

The Matrix is on A&E at 3 PM, and later part two (Remember when the Coen brothers tried to call it a trilogy?), The Matrix: Reloaded is on 8 PM over at Bravo.

Sunday:

Defying Gravity -
No NEW TRUE BLOOD means I may actually see what the fuss is about this show. This week, Halloween aboard ship brings hallucinations instead of treats, and may hinder Goss' plans for worldwide promotion of the mission, on ABC at 10 PM.

There is no True Blood tonight.

Movies:

Watch Peter Parker begin his descent into angst, Spider-Man 2 airs at 7:30 PM on FOX.

Monday:

Clash of the Gods -
On a realllly slow night, catch up on what made Hades keeper of the Underworld, as well as Greek beliefs in the afterlife. On History Channel at 10 PM.

Movies:
Watch Paul W.S. Anderson's Death Race starring Jason Statham and dream of what the prequel/sequel will be like. On Cinemax at 8:15 PM.

Tuesday:

Nova -
Learn about personal genetic profiles, which could predict your likelihood of certain diseases, and discover a Texas algae farm, where they turn the green stuff into biofuel. On PBS at 9 PM.

Warehouse 13 -
Pete and Myka have to repossess a samurai sword that is about to be given to the President, and they discover an evil version of their Warehouse. There's a rival "collector" competing for their items — maybe we'll finally get a recurring adversary for our duo. That's on Syfy at 9 PM.

The Universe -
A new season of Universe begins with dying stars, stars turning supernova and their effects, and the real threat posed by Earth's nearby stars. Discover a whole new danger, on the History Channel at 9 PM.

Movies:
An earthquake drops a little-league baseball player into Camelot — yes, that Camelot — in A Kid in King Arthur's Court. The best part is keeping your eyes peeled for appearances from Kate Winslet and the newest James Bond, on Disney XD at 5 PM.

Wednesday:

MonsterQuest -
Large tigers, or maybe jaguars, which roam the eastern states, take a bite out of the season finale on the History Channel at 9 PM.

Movies:
Isaac Asimov's stories "inspired" the 2004 Will Smith vehicle I, Robot, but will you be inspired to watch it on FX at 5:30 PM?

Thursday:

CSI: -
On an extremely slow night, CSI is a repeat of an episode that sends the team to Comic Con-esque convention where a TV producer who's planning on remaking a beloved science fiction series is murdered. Watch to make fun of the obvious stereotypes, and keep an eye open for Ronald D. Moore, on CBS at 9 PM.

Movies:
It's scifi movie throwback day on FMC, beginning with 1956's On the Threshold of Space at 10:30 AM and culminating with the attack of live mold from space in 1958 in Space Master X-7 at 8 PM.

Friday:

Eureka -
Allison's baby shower means eco-friendly gifts! Also, drowned scientists are found, where drowning isn't really the most logical explanation. Time to celebrate, on Syfy at 9 PM.

Monk -
Monk faces is up against what may or may not be an alien abduction, when a girl goes missing a and small town has reports of a UFO, on USA at 9 PM.

Movies:
Soothe your apprehensions about the upcoming "next generation" sequel by watching the original Ghostbusters, on AMC at 8 PM.

Saturday:

Being Human -
Mitchell gets sucked into the vampires plot and before he learns a tad bit about what they're really all about, he's recruiting the terminally ill. Meanwhile, George struggles not to tell Nina about his ... time of the month. Annie has had enough of the household poltergeisting and decides to put it to good use, but with mixed results. On BBC America at 9 PM.

Movies:
Syfy continues it's epic run of original movies with Phantom Racer. It's a beautifully fast race car with 550 horsepower, that only runs ... on blood. Yes, I just said blood. Starring Greg Evigan of My Two Dads fame — watch the racer's hood clamp down on people at 9 PM.

Or if possessed cars aren't your thing, Batman Begins is on AMC at 8 PM.

Sunday:

True Blood -
Hell is itching to break out in Bon Temps as Bill, Sookie and Jason return home to town controlled by a very different power. Sam and Andy, meanwhile, have been lured to Merlotte's and are avoiding the bloodthirsty townfolk at all costs. Maryann can't be controlled by a simple glamour (did anyone except Bill really think she could?); Hoyt and Jessica confront Maxine; Sookie reaches out to Tara. Hopefully we'll see the return of fighting Tara and stronger Sam soon, because this maenad is seriously getting on my nerves.

Defying Gravity -
When does stop mean stop forever? The crew decides where their own limits are, way out in space, on ABC at 10 PM.

Movies:
The Showtime series about a girl who turns into a grim reaper and collects souls has a movie wrapping up loose ends: Dead Like Me: Life After Death is on Syfy at 9 PM.

First off, let's remember that Marvel doesn't have access to all of their own characters when it comes to movies; Fox have the rights to the X-Men characters, the Fantastic Four and certain related characters, and the Daredevil franchise, while Sony will doubtless do everything it can to keep hold of the hugely-successful Spider-Man license. So where does that leave Marvel? Well, with plenty of other characters, it seems... Here are our suggestions, complete with high concept pitches to sell them to the execs, and split out into genres:

Action
Comedy
Fantasy
Thriller
Trippy SF

You're welcome, Marvel.

The Eternals
The Pitch: "Learn the true history of humanity!"
The Explanation: Forget Neil Gaiman's recent attempt to restart this franchise and go back to Jack Kirby's original, which said that humanity was just one of three races created by giant, godlike robots called the Celestials, who have come back to Earth to judge us. Oh, and those two other races? They're the idealized Eternals and the evil Deviants, and they're at war over humanity's survival. Imagine a story this epic (and, admittedly, dumb) being given to JJ Abrams and prepare for box office success.
Must Read: The Eternals by Jack Kirby volumes 1 and 2.

Star Brand
The Pitch: "Man has discovered the ultimate weapon. Watch out, Pittsburgh."
The Explanation: Marvel's 1980s attempt at "realism", the New Universe, contained one particular classic, the story of a man who gains the universe's ultimate weapon - a brand that gives its owner unlimited power - and, well, loses his mind in the process, accidentally destroying his home town of Pittsburgh and launching the world into a nuclear winter as a result. We want to see what Charlie Kaufman could do with this, to be honest.
Must Read: Star Brand Classic volume 1 starts the story, but things get more interesting - and more weird - in the not-yet-reprinted later issues.

Machine Man
The Pitch: "What does it mean to be human, when you're not?"
The Explanation: Jack Kirby - yes, him again - created this character, an android just trying to make it in a world of fleshy humans, as part of his continuation of 2001: A Space Odyssey, so you could almost say that he's fated to be a movie star. Downplay the character's various attempts to be a superhero and cut to the core of the character: Kirby's lonely, melancholic outsider wondering what the human condition actually is. Add Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers, and let rise, slowly.
Must Read: Currently out of print, you'd be best served by looking for Kirby's short-lived run on the original, 1970s, version of the Machine Man series.

The Winter Soldier
The Pitch: "It's The Manchurian Candidate with cyborgs!"
The Explanation: Ignore the comic version's association with Captain America - He was originally Cap's WWII sidekick Bucky, and took over as Cap after Steve Rogers' assassination a couple of years ago - and focus on the character's origin story: An American soldier, saved from near death by Russians only to be brainwashed and given cyborg implants before being used as an assassin during the Cold War, struggling to break free of his programming. How could that fail? Just get rid of the long hair he had in the comic.
Must Read: Captain America: The Winter Soldier volumes 1 and 2.

SHIELD
The Pitch: "Everything you've ever wanted James Bond movies to be... but better."
The Explanation: It's Marvel's premiere spy agency, made up of grizzled veterans of wars both Cold and World, keeping the world safe with gadgets that would make James Bond jealous: Flying cars? Artificial intelligence decoys? A floating helicopter city headquarters? Even their terrorist nemesis organizations have cool-sounding names: AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics)! Hydra! You'd have to try to mess this one up. Or, you know, cast David Hasselhoff.
Must Read: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD by Jim Steranko.

Agents of Atlas
The Pitch: "The A-Team does Mission Impossible on a much larger scale."
The Explanation: A resurrected FBI agent inherits a terrorist organization and decides to use it to save the world from itself. Oh, and his best friends include a talking gorilla, a siren, a robot and a nice Jewish boy for Uranus. Jeff Parker's wonderful series repurposing old characters from Marvel's pre-Fantastic Four days is funny, smart and, while it may not seem like it at first glance, exactly the kind of thing to make a movie out of. Give it to the Coen brothers and see what happens.
Must Read: The collection of the original 2007 Agents of Atlas series. Although you wouldn't go wrong with the current monthly series, either.

Black Knight
The Pitch: "What if Martin Lawrence's Black Knight movie wasn't played for laughs and didn't suck?"
The Explanation: Simplify this Avenger's backstory considerably, and you've got the plot for a movie: The ancestor of a famous soldier during the time of King Arthur ends up, through magical process, back in that era and creating the legend that his ancestor was supposed to have personified. Yes, it's Hiro's plot from the second season of Heroes, but Black Knight did it first. And, let's face it, better.
Must Read: Essential Defenders volume 1 gives you some of the character's time traveling history.

Killraven
The Pitch: "War Of The Worlds by way of Planet of the Apes."
The Explanation: Set in an alternate world so far out that it may as well be Middle-Earth, Killraven is the story of War of The Worlds Round 2: The Martians from HG Wells' original story have come back and enslaved humanity, forcing breeding so that they can eat babies (Subtle, this isn't) and otherwise just using and abusing humanity as they see fit. Only one man - Jonathan Raven, apparently called "Kill" to his friends - can save the human race in what can only be described as Battleground Earth done right.
Must Read: Essential Killraven volume 1.

Hellcat
The Pitch: "Buffy for the The Devil Wears Prada audience."
The Explanation: Patsy Walker had it all - Life as a teen superstar, the perfect boyfriend, and her future ahead of her - but somehow, she ended up as a superhero with unexplained magic powers, a former demon as an ex-husband and at least one post-death experience. If someone in Hollywood can't work out how to turn that into a series of allegories for the modern woman, they should just ask writer Kathryn Immonen, whose recent takes on the character's comic incarnation have been quirky, fun and the kind of thing we want to see more of.
Must-Read: The collection of Immonen's Patsy Walker: Hellcat stories comes out a week on Wednesday. You'll want to buy it.

Prime
The Pitch: "Big with superpowers."
The Explanation: 13 year old Kevin Green can turn into an adult superhero anytime he wants... except that he's still the same boy inside, and his adult body reacts to how he's feeling at the time. Which is great when he's feeling invincible and superhuman, but when he's feeling embarrassed or afraid...? Look out. This Captain Marvel (The one with "Shazam," this time) homage adds a layer of self-consciousness and comedy that's perfect for a family comedy... and one that's apparently been in the works for more than five years. So where is it?
Must-Read: All of Prime's appearances are out of print, but hunt the back issue bins for his early 1990s series.

Ka-Zar
The Pitch: "Tarzan meets The Incredibles."
The Explanation: There's little to recommend Marvel's shameless rip-off of Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous Tarzan, with the one exception of the little-remembered late 1990s series by Kingdom Come and Flash writer Mark Waid that brought the character and his family to New York to escape the dangers of his usual prehistoric jungle world, only for those dangers to follow him (and turn out to be something very out of his league). The mix of action, sitcom (especially Ka-Zar discovering his love of gadgets) and drama marks it out as something that could easily work for a mainstream audience, especially if some CGI dinosaurs made an appearance.
Must-Read: Again, nothing in print, but go looking for the 20 issue Ka-Zar series that launched in 1997.

Death's Head
The Pitch: "The Terminator meets Doctor Who."
The Explanation: Everyone's familiar with the concept of the unstoppable killing machine. In fact, everyone's familiar with the concept of the unstoppable killing machine that can travel through time. But what happens when said unstoppable, time-traveling killing machine happens to be a bounty hunter from the future with a strange personal code of ethics and peculiarly English sensibilities, and he's become stranded in our time? Hint: Michael Bay's explosion-filled wet dreams.
Must Read: Death's Head volumes 1 and 2.

Starjammers
The Pitch: "Pirates Of The Carribean in space!"
The Explanation: If Marvel could manage to get these X-Men characters away from Fox (The leader of the Starjammers is Cyclops' dad in the comics), then just imagine the movie that could be made from following a group of intergalactic smugglers-turned-freedom fighters around for awhile. All the fun of Star Wars with none of the Jedi stuff? Surely this is a no-brainer.
Must Read: Essential X-Men volume 3 has a good chunk of Starjammer action.

Vance Astro/The Guardians Of The Galaxy
The Pitch: "Buck Rogers with super-powers and mild insanity!"
The Explanation: The first man sent on a long-term intergalactic mission, Astro wakes up after ten centuries of suspended animation with telekinetic powers and the discovery that the universe is being enslaved by an alien race. Stealing a space ship and gathering together an intergalactic A-Team, Astro dedicates his life to freeing the human race... Or, at least, changing his name to something less dated. I mean, "Astro"? Really?
Must Read: Guardians of the Galaxy: Earth Shall Overcome.

Captain Marvel
The Pitch: "What if Earth's mightiest hero was actually here as an alien spy?"
The Explanation: Firstly, no, he's not the "Shazam" guy. This Captain Marvel is an alien sent to Earth to spy on humanity who ends up empathizing with us a little too much... and pays the price, when his race declare him a traitor for daring to defend Earth. Interstellar politics and a superstrong flying guy who likes to punch things, this is Superman updated for the cynical age. I'm saying, give it to Paul Greengrass and see what happens.
Must Read: Essential Captain Marvel volume 1.

Monday

It's not too late to ditch work and sit through the Threshold marathon all day today on the Sci Fi Channel. Who needs paperwork when you have sexy Carla Gugino and her incredible brain to save the world from a crashed alien spaceship? Go Red Team!

The Middleman is back, showing M.M. fighting injustice and helping his twenty-something sidekick Wendy sort out her crazy life. In this episode, Wendy goes undercover as a sorority sister to investigate a haunted sorority house, which spells pillow fight! The Middleman airs at 10 PM on ABC Family.

Casper Van Dien (or, as I will always know him, Johnny Rico) will be on Chelsea Lately on E! with the rest of the Starship Troopers 3: Marauder cast at 4 PM.

The Japanese shōnen mecha anime Gurren Lagann, about an underground future society, is on twice on Monday once at 11 and again at 11:30 PM on the Sci Fi Channel.

A sad and scruffy retired cop becomes a crusader against fascism in an alternate future. New episodes of the scifi cop drama Charlie Jade air on 3 AM on the Sci Fi channel.

Movies:

In Reign Of Fire, sad humans fight dragons with the help of Christian Bale, pre-Batman voice, and Matthew McConaughey, tonight at 12:30 AM on TBS. Plus, you can almost get to the Moon by watching Apollo 13 at 2:30 on AMC. Deep Impact, the armageddon movie that time forgot, is on soon after the dragon hotness, at 2:30 AM on TBS. And lastly, who needs Star Wars when you can watch a spoof instead? ABC Family is airing Spaceballs tonight at 8 PM.

Tuesday

There's an all day Monster Quest marathon on the History Channel starting at 8 AM. Nova will bring us another inside look at "Cars Of The Future" at 12:30 AM on PBS.

An all new Eureka is coming your way on Tuesday night. The second episode of the new season is adorably called "What About Bob." Follow the sheriff as he hunts down Global Dynamics' own Creature from the Black Lagoon. Eureka airs 9 PM on the Sci Fi Channel.

Wednesday

Eliza Dushku will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC at 12 AM, and hopefully she'll spill some Dollhouse dirt.

The History Channel will delve into the infamous 70s UFO sightings for you, in UFO Files: UFOs of the 70s at 11 PM. Turns out the 1970s were the most active period of UFO sightings ever. (Who knew?)

Movies:

Wrong Turn is on Fox FX at 10 AM, in case you haven't gotten enough Eliza Dushku on Jimmy Kimmel. Watch her get lost in the woods and discover a sinister secret: the people in the mountains have mutated into crazy cannibals, and Eliza's on the menu.

Friday

From 8 AM to 4 PM, the Sci Fi Channel is running a marathon of Doctor Who in case you need to catch up on the tail end of season two.

Movies:

Follow Tom Cruise as he tries to save his ungrateful kids from attacking aliens in War Of The Worlds 8:30 on ABC 10:30 AM. Hang out with Big Red in the first Hellboy at 8 PM on Fox. Escape from a boring Friday night with Snake Plissken, in Escape From New York at 11:30 on AMC. Batman Begins is on at 8 PM (and many other times throughout the night) on Sci Fi.

Saturday

Find out why almost all the aliens we hear about are little gray men with big heads, in the UFO Files: New UFO Revelations: the Grays' Agenda, at 10 AM on the History Channel.

The space and time continuum opens up for another monster series Primeval. Follow the zoologist Professor Nick Cutter as he searches for his missing wife and tries to wrangle the occasional monster that steps out of the show's space and time rift. The creepy creature show is in its third season on the BBC, and the first season premieres on BBC America at 9 PM.

Movies:

Out Of Time airs at 4:30 PM on TNT. And there are back-to-back Flubber movies on TCM. Follow the original Absent Minded Professor as he discovers flubber, at 9 AM. Then follow up with The Son of Flubber at 10:45 AM.

Sunday

If you're up early (or late) feast your eyes on Ghost In the Shell at 4 AM on Adult Swim. Plus, the Venture Brothers will have a new episode for fans on Sunday at 11 PM at Adult Swim.

Tonight

The History Channel is re-running a special called Star Wars Tech at 8 PM.

Take a look at the technology shown throughout the six Star Wars films and examine their viability through the eyes of cold hard science. Could a Death Star really be built? Can you build an army of clones? What is 3-D imaging, and where can you get a Light Saber? Travel to a galaxy far, far away to answer all of these questions and more.

Tuesday

There's a new Nova on PBS: "Lord Of The Ants." Which makes me think of Michael Flatley and a bunch of ants in spangly tops clogging really quickly to some celtic folk-rock. But it's actually about the Mofu people of Cameroon, and their "unlikely alliance" with giant killer ants. Plus biologist E.O. Wilson's theories about ants. Check your local listings for times.

If you're ditching work, you have to choose between two movies, both
airing at 10 AM: Not Of This Earth on Sci Fi and Starship Troopers on TBS. What will you do? You may have to go to the office just to avoid the dilemma.

Also, Harrison Ford is on Letterman talking up the new Indiana Jones movie. Hopefully he'll look a little less embarrassed than he did on Good Morning America last Friday. Lost's Matthew Fox is also on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where he will probably try not to talk about Speed Racer.

Wednesday

PBS has a two-hour special called Depression: Out Of The Shadows, which I'm expecting to delve into some pretty science fictional themes, including the widespread use of brain-altering drugs by the population. Plus brain scans, and maybe electro-shock therapy. But yes, it will be somewhat depressing and feature wailing music. Here's a trailer:

If you're that rare person who A) cares about Lost and B) hasn't been keeping up with Lost, ABC is showing two recent episodes at 8: "Something Nice Back Home" and "Cabin Fever." And ABC Family is showing the 1998 U.S. version of Godzilla at 7 PM. It's got Matthew Broderick — how bad can it be?

And Harrison Ford continues his talk-show sweep, hitting Conan O'Brien.

Thursday

The History Channel has another new Mega Disasters, "Volcanic Winter," at 9 PM. Here's the damage:

The largest volcanic eruption of the past two million years occurred on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, 75,000 years ago. The impact from the super volcano Toba decimated the local habitat, but gas, ash and debris from Toba made their way around the planet and formed a shield in the atmosphere that deflected the sun's warming rays. Temperatures plummeted and the planet was thrown into a volcanic winter and may have even pushed the planet into an ice age. 3-D computer animation will recreate the storm and unveil how this one volcano could have brought humanity to the edge of extinction.

Also, the CW has a Smallville rerun, "Bizarro," at 8 PM.

AMC is showing science fiction movies pretty much all day, with Beneath The Planet Of The Apes at 9:15, The Lost World (the 1960 movie about dinosaurs and hot-pink dresses) at 11:15, The Thing at 1:15, The Day The Earth Stood Still at 3:30, Planet of the Apes at 5:30 and Jurassic Park at 8.

At 7:15, TCM has a documentary, Spielberg On Spielberg, followed by Close Encounters of the Third Kind at 9. And at 10 AM, TBS has Batman and Robin — which I think you guys voted the worst science fiction movie sequel of all time.

Guess who's on Regis And Kelly? Harrison Ford! Somebody is really nervous about whether people will come out to see Indiana Jones.

Friday

Why is the Sci Fi Channel taking a week off from its unstoppable Friday night block? I don't know, but they are. Instead, they're showing their usual diet of crappy movies: Meltdown: Days Of Destruction, Solar Attack, Scorcher, Fire Serpent... Aaaaa!

But fear not. IFC is showing the award-winning Icelandic film Paranoia 1.0, otherwise known as One Point Oh, starring Jeremy Sisto, Deborah Kara Unger and Lance Henriksen. A young computer programmer named Simon starts receiving weird empty packages in his apartment. He investigates, and discovers that stuff going on in his building includes an artificially intelligent robot head named Adam, a virtual reality sex game, and an evil company that may be conspiring against him. Simon's grip on reality gets more and more tenuous, and his craving for fresh milk increases. Creepy! That's at 9 PM.

Harrison Ford is on The View, and this time he's got Karen Allen (Marion Ravenwood) with him. That could actually be sort of interesting. And Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer is on The Late Show With Craig Ferguson.

At 12:20 Saturday morning, Cinemax has a movie with the intriguing title of Super Ninja Bikini Babes. You pretty much know, after reading that title, whether this is your type of movie. Apparently a coed discovers an alternate universe. A universe... of bikinis.

Saturday

Both Spectacular Spider-Man episodes on The CW starting at 9:30 are reruns. Sorry. And so is this week's Ben 10: Alien Force on the Cartoon Network.

But at least there's a new Transformers: Animated: "Rise Of The Constructicons." Finally, we're getting somewhere. A couple of construction vehicles get brought to life by the Allspark. Bulkhead makes friends with them, but the Decepticons want them to help with a new construction project. (It's a patio, I bet.) That's at 10:30 on the Cartoon Network. Also new (to Americans) is an episode of French cartoon Robotboy at 11:30 on Cartoon.

Sick of Harrison Ford yet? A&E is re-running his Biography episode at 7 AM, followed by Shia LaBoeuf's at 8 AM.

And there's a rerun of another Star Wars documentary, Star Wars: Empire Of Dreams, on A&E at 11 AM. It's followed by Sphere and Alien: Resurrection.

Sunday

Spike has the original Predator, with Arnold Schwartzenegger versus an invisible hunter-killer alien, at 3:30 PM. FX is showing League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen at 5 PM, if you're feeling masochistic.

At least next week, there'll be stuff again. Lost will have its two-hour season finale, and Battlestar Galactica will be back. And A&E will be showing its four-hour Andromeda Strain miniseries on Monday and Tuesday nights at 9. Hang in there.

Tonight, there's a new New Amsterdam on Fox at 9 PM. John investigates the death of a young man who resembles the son he lost in the early 1900s, and he starts questioning his past actions and the consequences they have on the people around him.

Also, FX is showing Terminator 3 at 8 PM, in case you want to compare its timeline with that of The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

It's also worth mentioning that as you read this, the Sci Fi Channel is having a Battlestar Galactica marathon that's going to carry on all week, from 8 AM to 6 PM every day. For some reason, the only episodes Sci Fi isn't showing are the first miniseries and the start of season one. Why, Lords of Kobol, why?

Tuesday, Nova investigates the possibility of life on Saturn's moon Titan, with "Voyage To The Mystery Moon," on PBS at 8 PM. (Check your local listings.) And in the companion website, NASA's Carolyn Porco (an advisor to the new Star Trek movie) discusses the water plume on another moon, Enceladus. And in case you need more Moon action, some PBS stations are also showing a rerun of American Experience: Race To The Moon.

And at 9 PM, the History Channel features a new The Universe, all about "Nebulas," which are the "crown jewels" of the universe, and the places where stars are born and die.

But that's not the end of Tuesday's science fictional documentary action. At 10 PM, ABC News has a special called Live To Be 150... Can You Do It? The bad news: Barbara Walters is going to live to be 150 as well, and she'll keep lisping at you from the nursing home TV set.

During the day, AMC is showing Escape From The Planet of the Apes, followed by Beneath The Planet of the Apes and the Poseidon Adventure. It all starts at 8 AM. And in the evening, FX has Terminator 3 again, followed by The Day After Tomorrow.

I'm not going to make any snarky comments about how Flip That House should be considered science fiction in today's housing market.

Wednesday there's more documentary action with a new UFO Hunters on the History Channel at 10. This time around, it's "Alien Contact." We meet people who claim to have had intimate contact with aliens, and then the experts determine what, if anything, really happened. Somehow it lasts a whole hour.

And at 1 AM Weds. morning, AMC has Species. Although honestly, I'm sort of intrigued by the probably-not-scifi Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?, on Oxygen at the same time. Also, at 8 PM, FX has Terminator 2. And The Day After Tomorrow is on FX once again, at 5:30 PM.

Thursday there are Smallville and Lost reruns. It's your chance to get caught up on Smallville, if you've been skipping it. This is the episode featuring superhero Black Canary as a New Wave, knife-throwing, leaping Ann Coulter clone. That's got to be worth a look, right?

And for those of you who telecommute or have a TV in your office, AMC is at it again, with Enemy Mine followed by The Thing, starting at 8 AM. And then at 5 PM, AMC has Terminator 2 again. Also, FX has Jonathan Demme's Manchurian Candidate twice, at 8 and 11 PM.

At midnight, FX is showing White Chicks, possibly the most disturbing scifi movie of all time.

And then on Friday at 10 PM, you finally remember why you even own a television set. Battlestar Galactica returns to Sci Fi with "He That Believeth In Me." The episode picks up right where season three ended, and it's a pretty intense ride from beginning to end. To recap: Starbuck is back from the dead and claims she's been to Earth. Two beloved characters, and two not-so-beloved ones, have turned out to be Bob Dylan-loving Cylons. And the other Cylons are about to trash the humans once and for all. Here's a promo clip:

Meanwhile, Spike has the basic cable premiere of Star Wars Episode 1 at 8 PM, part of a Star Wars marathon that carries on this weekend and next weekend.

Also, AMC has the original Planet of the Apes at 11 PM and FX is once again showing the retina-scorching White Chicks at 9.

Saturday morning, there's the final ever episode of Legion of Superheroes, "Dark Victory Part 2," at 9:30 on CW, followed by a new Spectacular Spider-Man, featuring the Rhino. And then at 10:30 on Cartoon Network, there's a new Transformers Animated: "Megatron Rising, Part 2." Which sounds like good news for Megatron, and maybe not such great news for Optimus Prime. The Autobots fail to protect Earth from the Decepticons, and have to fight harder than ever to safeguard the Allspark.

And then in the evening, Torchwood bounces back from its circus lowpoint, with a really quite decent episode. Gwen is determined to investigate the disappearance of a teenager, even after Jack tells her to leave it alone. What she discovers makes her see Torchwood in a whole new light. That's on BBC America at 9 PM.

Meanwhile, Spike continues its celebration of having bought the rights to the Star Wars movies, re-running The Phantom Menace at 5 PM and then showing the basic cable premiere of Attack of the Clones at 8 PM.

And on Sunday, Spike finishes its first weekend of Star Wars, showing Clones again at 4:30, followed by the broadcast premiere of Revenge of the Sith at 8 PM. And here's a nifty trailer:

There's another new (to Americans) episode of Life on Mars on Tuesday at 9 PM on BBC America. A bomb scare leads the cops in 1973 to believe the IRA is mounting a new bombing campaign in England.

Also on Tuesday at 9, PBS has a new NOVA (check local listings.) "Missing in MiG Alley" narrates the first ever jet war, as American and Russian pilots faced off over North Korea in the 1950s. The battles pitted the American F-86 Sabre against the Russian MiG-15, and some downed pilots disappeared without any trace. Archival footage and "dramatic reconstructions" put you in the cockpit.

More PBS science porn: Wired Science has a new episode on Wednesday at 9 (again, check local listings.) The Wired gang explores a "space junkyard," shows how researchers are using human perception to digitize books, and interviews DNA pimp Craig Venter.

And "level five" of Rise of the Videogame talks about the development of emotional and intimate dimensions in gaming. In other words, teledildonics. That's Wednesday at 8 on the Discovery Channel.

Thursday's Smallville is a rerun of the one where the three "meteor freak" girls want to use Clark's super-cousin for their own bad-girl aims.

Friday on Starz, there's a new documentary: Anime: Drawing A Revolution. As you'd expect, it's a look at the rise of Japanese animation and how it's affected live-action movies like The Matrix. Early buzz says it's worth watching.

Sunday night, Fox is showing Spider-Man 2, on the off chance you don't already have the special-edition DVD with the three extra hours of Peter Parker unmasking himself to random strangers.

And that's it for this week. It's a slow week, but not because of the life-sucking effects of the writers' strike. This is just the normal holiday TV blahs. Next week will undoubtedly be worse.

Get your space opera thrills with Nova Vol. 1: Annihilation Conquest. Nova, the Marvel Universe's answer to Green Lantern, came back from total obscurity during 2006's Annihilation mega-crossover. This trade collects the first seven issues of the Nova series that came after Annihilation ended. It crosses over with some other storylines, including Civil War, but manages to remain amazingly readable on its own.

Also from Marvel: The Ultimates Vol. 2 gets collected in a $35 hardcover.

If you're looking for something less superhero-y, Astronaut Dad Vol. 1 looks pretty great. It's a coming-of-age tale in the 1960s, about two kids who discover their dads aren't just astronauts in training — they're working on an orbital spy program. It's the first of two volumes, and it's only $5.95. And from IDW, there's the Transformers Megatron Origin TP, which reveals at last how the Megatron became the baddest bot and gathered his own Manson Family in the form of the Decepticons.

Meanwhile, in the floppies, Fantastic Four #552 starts to reveal what Reed Richards was really up to during Civil War. Many fans had a lot of complaints about Richards' apparently out-of-behavior psycho behavior during that series, and writer Dwayne McDuffie has been slowly rebuilding Richards into a believable character again. So this could be an interesting character-saving patch, or a pointless detour.

Also, Battlestar Galactica: Origins #1 shows how Gaius Baltar became the puppy-eyed, weepy, threesome-having politician/religious figure he is today. Nexus: The Origin reprints an award-winning one-shot from 1991 that gets you up to speed on Horatio Hellpop and his tortured world. And Booster Gold #5 dares to tamper with one of comics' most iconic — and controversial — stories, as Booster travels back to stop the Joker from shooting Batgirl in the spine.

Famous names: Keith Giffen, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Simon Furman, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Scott Kolins, Renato Arlem, Kev Walker, Jorge Lucas, Gregory Titus, Andrea DiVito.

Crunchy goodness: 4

Spinoffs/Sequels/Copycats: Two one-shots focus on the Heralds of Galactus after the brutal smackdown they received in the series. In 2007, Marvel launched an ongoing Nova comic and published a followup set of miniseries called Annihilation Conquest. Also, Marvel is publishing What If: Annihilation, which shows what would have happened if the Annihilation Wave had reached Earth.

Sights you'll never unsee: The evil Thanos captures Moondragon, the lesbian daughter of Drax the Destroyer, and rips off her ear to send to Drax.

Elevator pitch: It's like if the Borg teamed up with Darth Vader and Ming the Merciless, and beat the crap out of the Klingons and the Romulans.

"Annihilation" MegaReview