They Come Back, But Not Quite Alive

Torchwood: When Jack Harkness is understandably upset when Owen Harper is shot and killed. But at least he's got the Resurrection Gauntlet to bring him back to life, right? Well, sort of. Owen still walks and talks, but he's not precisely alive. His heart doesn't beat, his flesh doesn't heal, and his reflexes are gone. And, if that wasn't bad enough, he can't even enjoy food or sex anymore, and Weevils follow him everywhere.

Caprica: Granted, the consequences of bringing Zoe Graystone back from the dead are pretty far-reaching. After all, it results in the creation of the Cylons and the eventual decimation of humanity. But when Joseph Adama encounters a computerized copy of his dead daughter, her concerns with being back from the dead are more immediate. Without a living body, she has no pulse and just generally feels wrong, to the extent that she can't stand being semi-alive this way.

"Playback" Arthur C. Clarke: Caprica's borrowed a page from Clarke here, who wrote a tale of aliens who try to bring a pilot back to life after his ship explodes. They manage to restore all of his memories, but have no idea what kind of body he had, and he's a bit depressed to find that he's just a non-corporeal simulation.

"The River Styx Runs Upstream" by Dan Simmons: When a young boy's mother dies, his father has her body resurrected. Although her body has returned, her mind simply isn't there, and she wanders through life as an automaton. The boy's distraught father and older brother eventually kill themselves in their grief, horror, and shame, but the boy doesn't think resurrection's so terrible. He himself goes to work for the Resurrectionists, spending his free time with his resurrected family.

You Bring Them Back Wrong

Doctor Who "The Empty Child:" Well-meaning nanobots attempt to reconstruct a child killed during the London Blitz. But not knowing what a human child looks like, they bring him back as a mindless abomination, with a gas mask for a face and ever searching for his mother. Even worse, the bots decide that this is what all humans must look like, and proceed to transmute healthy children as well.

"The Monkey's Paw" by WW Jacobs: The mystical monkey's paw grants wishes, but never in the way you hoped. After the first wish Mr. White makes results in the death of his son Herbert, his second wish is for Herbert to return. Mr. White never sees his son, but he knows after a horrible accident and a week on the slab, Herbert probably isn't the same. His third wish takes Herbert away.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer "Forever:" Following the same vein as "The Monkey's Paw," Dawn tries to resurrect her dead mother via magic. She also never sees her mother, realizing that what comes back won't quite be her, and breaks the spell before her mother reaches their front door.

They'll Try to Kill You Afterward

30 Days of Night: Dark Days: After Eben Olemaun becomes a vampire to save the remaining citizens of Barrow, he turns to ash when the polar sun finally rises. This sets Stella Olemaun on a quest to bring her husband back to life. But when she succeeds, Eben is still a vampire — and a hungry one at that.

"Herbert West — Reanimator" by HP Lovecraft: Medical student Herbert West is fascinated by life and death, and develops a serum he believes will restart the machinery of the human body. The serum works, but turns the corpses into cannibalistic zombies. West is unrepentant , focused on new ways to find dead subjects for his experiments. Of course, eventually his zombie experiments turn on him.

Practical Magic: After Sally Owens' boyfriend Jimmy turns out to be abusive, she drugs him and accidentally kills him. Fearing prison, Sally and her sister Gillian cast a spell to revive him, but Jimmy's immediate reaction isn't exactly gratitude. He tries to kill Gillian, forcing Sally to murder him once again.

Pet Sematary: Any dead creature buried in the ancient Micmac burial ground comes back to life, just not quite the way you put it in. After losing his young son Gage, Louis buries his son in the graveyard. Sure enough, Gage comes back — and promptly murders his mother.

Lexx: You would think that, given the prophecy that the last of the Brunnen-G would kill His Divine Shadow, the last thing His Divine Shadow would do is resurrect a Brunnen-G corpse. But he did exactly that to Kai, making him one of the living dead as a Divine Assassin. It takes over 2000 years, but eventually Kai does get around to killing him.

Supernatural "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things:" College students and necromancy are always a recipe for trouble. When a broken-hearted boy tries to bring his dead crush back, she's of course got to go zombie and start chomping down on her loved ones.

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert: For thousands of years, Leto Atreides has ruled over humanity, and always has a ghola — a copy — of his father's faithful friend Duncan Idaho to serve him. But the Duncan ghola's almost inevitably rebel against Leto and try to kill him, forcing Leto to kill all but 19 gholas. Still, Leto keeps bringing in a fresh Duncan ghola after each attempt on his life.

They Bring Death With Them

Pushing Daisies: When pie maker Ned touches dead bodies, they become reanimated, without regard for mutilation or decay. But if he fails to deanimate them after more than a minute, a random person in close proximity dies, taking their place. And for Ned, bringing the dead back to life is further complicated by not being able to touch them, lest they fall dead once again.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer "After Life:" Actually, bringing a body-stealing demon into the world of the living was probably the least of the disastrous consequences of resurrecting the Slayer. Still, when a demon gets loose in Sunnydale, the Scoobies have to kill it before it kills Buffy.

Carnivale: Ben Hawkins has the power to bring people back from the dead, but it comes with a price: one person of Hawkins' choosing must die in exchange for the life. And, try though he might, he can't choose himself.

Torchwood "Dead Man Walking:" Another fun consequence of Owen's walking death is that Death himself comes along for the ride. He's looking for 13 souls to consume so he can remain in the world of the living and slake his thirst for destruction.

It Will Come at Great Personal Cost

The Dresden Files: The sorcerer Hrothbert of Bainbridge committed a crime against his order by bringing his beloved Winifred back from the dead, prompting the High Council to hand down a severe and lasting punishment: they imprison his spirit inside his skull for all eternity. Hrothbert, now "Bob," has been around over a thousand years, but he can't interact with the physical world.

Torchwood "They Keep Killing Suzie:" The other Resurrection Gauntlet actually does bring the dead back to full-fledged life. But naturally there's still a catch: the resurrected person draws life energy from the living wearer, and permanent resurrection means the death of the living wearer.

Full Metal Alchemist: After their mother dies, Edward and Alphonse try to revive her through alchemy. Not only do they fail to bring her back from the dead, they lose physical pieces of themselves in the process, with Edward losing his left leg and Alphonse losing his entire body.

Supernatural: The Winchesters thrive on death and resurrection. When Sam is shot and killed, Dean trades his soul for Sam's life, with the bartering demon collecting in just a year. Sure enough, after a year, Dean dies and head off to Hell.

It Will Attract Unwanted Attention

The Outer Limits "Josh:" When reclusive Josh Butler resurrects a young girl through a strange electromagnetic pulse, it attracts the attention of a tabloid TV reporter looking for a scoop. Unfortunately, it also attracts the attention of the US Air Force, who promptly seize Josh and start performing medical tests.

The 4400: Shawn Farrell manages to bring a bird back from the dead, just one example of his amazing healing abilities. But not everyone is thrilled about his strange new powers, and they bring him to the attention of Jordan Collier, which is a bit of a double-edged sword.

It's Only Temporary

AI: Artificial Intelligence: The evolved mechas who find David frozen beneath the water are able to give the robotic boy his greatest wish: time with his long-dead adoptive mother Monica. The resurrection only lasts a day and can never be repeated. David's okay with the arrangement, since that one day is perfect, but it's a clear audience tearjerker.

They Were Actually Okay With Being Dead

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow assumed that Buffy's death by interdimensional portal had sent the Slayer to a hell dimension, and conjured up some ill-advised magic to bring her back. Unfortunately, Willow never considered that Buffy might actually be in Heaven, leaving her in a major season-long depression as she adjusts to inferior life back on Earth.

Supernatural: Okay, so Dean didn't exactly enjoy his stay in Hell, but he's dealing with some very Buffy-like issues on his return to Earth. He clearly remembers his agonizing time in Hell and got a real taste for torture. And God might have pulled him out of Hell, but his plans for Dean on Earth involve more havoc and torture.

Green Lantern: Maura Rayner is infected with a sentient virus sent by Sinestro and her son Kyle failed to get back in time to save her. He uses his powers to revive her, but she won't have any of it. She senses that, once dead, there's something wrong with being alive and begs him to let her be dead once again.

You Never Really Liked Them in the First Place

The Venture Bros.: Dean and Hank Venture are a tad on the death-prone side, so their father always keeps a few clone slugs around to imprint with their memories. But once they're alive again, he generally treats them as nuisances — or ignores them entirely. But he does find it handy to have a spare organ donor (or two) around.

Red Dwarf: Nearly the entire complement of the Red Dwarf is killed off in the first episode, only to be resurrected in the eighth season thanks to a little nanobot magic. Lister is no longer the only human in the universe, but he and his cohorts immediately run afoul of the newly reconstructed crew.

It Makes for Unnecessary Sequels

And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer: We said goodbye to several major characters from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series (as well as the entire planet Earth) at the end of Mostly Harmless. Presumably Eoin Colfer's sequel will see Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, and Trillian ride again, and Arthur's none too pleased about it.

ABC has signed Sonnenfeld, who also directed Men in Black and The Addams Family, to a new two-year deal, one that gives him a first look at ABC's upcoming projects and the opportunity to direct pilots. One such project that's caught his eye is a yet-untitled series about a harried mother who finds a suit that grants her superpowers, a la The Greatest American Hero. The show will be a half-hour sitcom, and the current plan is for Sonnenfeld to not only produce, but direct the pilot as well.

[The Hollywood Reporter]

The Hollywood Reporter quotes the Daisies, Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls creator as saying,

It's a tremendous honor to see 'Daisies' win in so many categories — and in the spirit of the show, win posthumously. Now can we please make the 'Pushing Daisies' movie?

While we're waiting for that, Daisies is set to return in a series published by DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint. Fuller, meanwhile, has left the world of genre TV behind after leaving Heroes for a second time this summer; he's currently developing Augusten Burroughs' novel Sellevision for NBC.

'Pushing Daisies' sees life after death [Hollywood Reporter]

It's not just the comic continuations of canceled shows (which also include The X-Files, Angel and, soon, Pushing Daisies), though; old ideas are never allowed to die anymore anywhere; that's why we're reading news about Battlestar Galactica being relaunched as a movie by Bryan Singer, X-Files possibly undergoing a movie reboot, eagerly anticipating the 28-years-later sequel to Tron and worrying whether or not there's going to be a fifth Terminator movie.

Arguments could - and will - be made about how this shows the void of new ideas in the entertainment world, but I'm not sure that those really hold water; this year alone, we've seen District 9 and Moon find success, gotten curious about Chris Nolan's Inception and watched as James Cameron's Avatar has become the most anticipated movie of the year. New stories are out there, and from big studios normally condemned for only sticking with familiar franchises, as well (In television, the same arguments can be made; for all the familiarity of Fringe or Warehouse 13, they're new shows, as are/were Dollhouse, Day One and even Flash Forward. As far as comics go, you only have to leaf through the 400+ page Previews to see all manner of new ideas sharing space with familiar faces). So, if it's not that no-one's coming up with new stories, why do we keep going back to the old?

It can't just be nostalgia; you can't really tell me that Jericho's return as a comic book and potential TV movie comes down to people longing for those halcyon days of 2008, for one thing, and it's not just the sense of unfinished stories or unfulfilled potential (Unless I missed the legions of people crying out for someone to come along and give us the story of bearded Lorne Greene Adama in Galactica 1980 that they knew we deserved for all these years). So, what is it?
I'm worried that, ultimately, it's laziness. Not only laziness on the side of creators, but also on the side of fans; for the creators, resurrecting an old franchise seems like a no-brainer because it:
* offers a way around that whole pesky "coming up with an idea" thing,
* brings a ready-made amount of fans, no matter how small, who are not only already interested in your product but can take up some slack on marketing and publicity (Yes, this involves "I can't believe they're letting Bryan Singer do BSG only months after Ron Moore's show ended" style outrage),
* creates an easy PR hook for whatever publicity you want to do ("[Character X] is back!")
* allows you to learn from the mistakes and successes of your predecessors instead of making yourself look like idiots in public (Until, of course, you learn new ways to do that, which is inevitable), and
* gives you a chance to work out some of your "I could do that idea a million times better!" feelings about original version.

On the fan side of things, though, it gets more complicated. We cling onto these resuscitations because, in a weird way, we feel entitled to them: We've invested all this time and energy in them, and - for want of a better way to put it - that gives us the right to demand more of it until we decide we're done (See: Star Trek and Star Wars and the fact that they'll never go away), and also because... well, we've invested all this time and energy and we want to know that it's not for nothing, and that we won't have to go through it all again with something else that might just break our heart.

In the end, it's as much a success for the market as it is anything else: Everything is available to us if we want it badly enough (Well, as long as what we want already exists; those new things, they still have to be dreamt up), even if it's not what we really need, or what is good for us. Don't get me wrong; for the people who couldn't consider life without knowing what happened to Angel and Illyria after the end of the TV show, I'm happy that they get their chance to find out (And I selfishly look forward to the further adventures of Ned and Chuck, when they appear). I just wish that, sometimes, we were not only allowed to move on from our old favorites and find something else to surprise and amaze us.

There's already precedent for science fiction shows living on past cancellation on Saturday mornings - Lost in Space, and more famously, Star Trek both had stints as cartoons, after all, and Happy Days even became a science fiction show when it became a cartoon:


It wasn't just television shows, of course; why could forget The Real Ghostbusters or Robocop keeping the flame alive for the failed movie franchises?



With all that in mind, can you blame us for thinking of these five dearly beloved - well, and Knight Rider - shows that could perfectly translate into the animated format so that they could stick around for a few more years (and hopefully get the Futurama treatment, coming back to life with a complete season order)?

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Why it'd work: Man versus machine, including time-traveling and ridiculous stunts? The biggest surprise is that the Terminator franchise hasn't made it to Saturday mornings already.
Why it may not be the best idea: Could the show's larger questions about the nature of identity and predestination thrive in an animated series? And, even if they could, would the audience be even smaller without Summer Glau, Brian Austen Green and Lena Hedley to make it look pretty (admittedly, in bruised and bloody way) each week?
Verdict: There could definitely be a Terminator cartoon... But a Sarah Connor Chronicles cartoon...? We're not convinced.

Pushing Daisies
Why it'd work: Quirky, filled with color and with four detectives solving weird mysteries on a weekly basis, it's a less-annoying Scooby Doo with Ned's magic finger replacing the comedic titular dog.
Why it may not be the best idea: Would network standards and practices have a problem with a cartoon with such a high body count every episode? Would the show's tendency towards the saccharine seem even more pronounced with animated actors?
Verdict: If it could keep the level of writing as the original - and Chi McBride and Kirsten Chenowith as voice actors - we'd happily tune into an animated Daisies every week.

Knight Rider
Why it'd work: It's a man fighting crime with the help of his talking car. Let's face it; this should've been a cartoon to begin with. Maybe the scripts would've been better than this recent go-around, if it had.
Why it may not be the best idea: Without the real-life car porn, is there any point to Knight Rider at all? Also, could the show's creators resist the lure of turning KITT into a Transformer now that CGI budget constraints would be gone?
Verdict: Thanks to the thoroughly generic nature of the original, there's nothing worth tuning up for a Knight Rider cartoon model.

Firefly
Why it'd work: High adventure on the space waves with a band of colorful characters risking life and limb as they try to survive? It's like Dungeons and Dragons grown up and transplanted into orbit.
Why it may not be the best idea: Would it hurt too much? Perhaps - or maybe we just wouldn't be interested if we couldn't see Jewel Staite on a regular basis. But Whedon's series work in large part because of the actors as much as the writing, and it just wouldn't be the same without them.
Verdict: Sadly, we're saying that the Serenity should stay grounded.

The Middleman
Why it'd work: From its origins as a comic book to its broad cartoony comedy as a television show, this is another series that has always felt like a cartoon despite its flesh and blood stars. Plus, as a cartoon, imagine everything it could get away with but couldn't afford on an ABC Family budget!
Why it may not be the best idea: We have no reasons why. Seriously, this is a no-brainer.
Verdict: Did you miss the part where we called it a no-brainer above?

So, did we forget a show that would be perfect for the animated treatment? Do you think that we're insane for arguing that a cartoon Firefly wouldn't work? And, most importantly, who do we have to beg for a Middleman animated series?

Monday:

The Universe -
This weeks episode explores the dangers of space exploration, and the many ways the cosmic void can kill you. Check it out on the History Channel at 8 PM.

Tuesday:

Life After People -
Once we're all gone, what will happen to our all our WMDs? Will they detonate eventually, after time has its way with each deadly missile? Assuming any animals survive our extinction, would they be in danger if all the bombs on the Earth went boom? Life After People is on the History Channel at 9 PM.

Movies:

The saddest little robot in all the world with the longest never-ending tale, A.I., is on 7:30 PM on Cinemax.

Meet the man who's so extreme his name has three X's. That's right Vin Diesel's XXX, the movie about some tattooed extreme sports guy who has to fight terrorists (of course), is on 5 PM on FX.

Wednesday:

MonsterQuest -
The monster gang gets to the bottom of a monkey creature that terrorized the people of New Delhi in 2001. A South Asian cousin of Big Foot? I'm thinking yes, but get all the monster facts on the History Channel at 9 PM.

Mythbusters -
Time to test the curve-the-bullet theory from the scrupulously scientific movie Wanted, on Mythbusters over on the Discovery Channel at 9 PM.

Here Is The Actual Video From The User Challenge:

Thursday:

Eliza Dushku fans, rejoice! There's a Tru Calling marathon from 8 AM until 3 PM on the Syfy Channel.

Movies:

Watch the art of dragon riding and pouty swordplay, while watching Eragon at 7:30 PM on the ABC Family channel.

Learn how to drink beer the alien way in the SNL sketch inspired film Coneheads, staring the original players Dan Aykoyd and Jane Curtin. It airs on Comedy Central at 4:30 PM.

Friday:

Batman: The Brave and the Bold -
Jonah Hex winds up in Gotham after a battle with Zebra-Man, and a little time traveling. After some initial misundersandings, Batman is convinced to help Hex back to his time in exchange for information. The new episode is on Cartoon Network at 8:30 PM.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Clip:

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Clip:

Saturday:

Kings -
God save NBC's Kings. The alternate reality monarchy drama is back in action tonight. Where did we leave off? In this episode Jack and David go to Gath to "shore up" the peace, and I think we all know what that means. Also Michelle prances around with her health bill some more, and Silas tries to protect the city from a plague (which was actually made before all this scary swine flu drama so how strangely timely). Kings is back at 8 PM on NBC, for two more weeks.

Primeval -
A flesh eating fungus from the past is unleashed onto our world turning one soul into a fungus monster. BBC America at 9 PM.

Primeval Trailer:

Pushing Daisies -
It's the proper series finale for Daisies. The Darling Mermaid Darling's rival Aquadolls are killed, which means it's time for a mermaid revival. Olive and Ned team up to uncover the murderer, while Chuck hides in the wings. Watch, for the last time, our dear pie-maker and friends, on ABC at 10 PM.

Trailer (Sorry it's in German, can't find English)

Sunday:

True Blood-
It's been too long since we've blown a blood line and got naked with the ridiculous vampire community in Bon Temps. But this Sunday Alan Ball's blood sucking series based on the books by Charlaine Harris is back. So whose foot was that in the car? Are our worst suspicions true, and the very best character from last season is now food for worms? Will I be able to even watch this series without one redeeming character (unless the new religious ones are interesting? I'm thinking no.) Guess we'll have to wait and see, on HBO at 9 PM.

True Blood Trailer Promo

Iron Man 2:

Mickey Rourke says he speaks Russian half the time in this movie, where he plays Tony Stark's adversary Whiplash. He quotes something which may be an actual line of dialog from the film: "If someone kills me, don't wake me up, because I'd rather be dead than live in your world." [Guardian via Cinematical]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

In the first movie, Sam was the keeper of the map. In the second movie, in a real sense, he's become the map, says co-writer Roberto Orci. And it's Sam's open heart that makes the Autobots feel like they can share their secrets with him. [Baltimore Sun]

And here's a new picture of Ironhide, who's got a sort of louche scowl about him. Much bigger version at the link. [Cinematical]

So remember last week when we showed you concept art of The Fallen, this movie's main villain? Well, in case you were dying to see what he looks like from the back, here's the rear view. [TFG2]

Surrogates:

Remember how Bruce Willis has a weird wig in this film when he's playing his robotic "Surrogate," out investigating robot murder? Well, he does. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Doctor Who:

An anonymous tipster gave us some info about Timothy Dalton's supposed role in the final episodes of the David Tennant era. (So take it with a grain of salt.) Apparently, Dalton will be playing the Lord Chancellor of the High Council of Time Lords, and we'll first see him at the end of November's "Waters Of Mars." Also popping up at the end of "Waters"? Daleks and Ood. We'll be seeing more of Dalton, at least, in the final two Tennant episodes, around the end of the year. But we don't know if Dalton's appearances are current events, or flashbacks. Also, the last scene of Tennant's final episode is Matt Smith, wearing Tennant's brown suit, staring out at "the wreckage." Remember, you read it on the internet, so it must be true!

Fringe:

Another anonymous tipster gives some plot info about season two to fansite FringeTelevision.com. The first episode deals with a shapeshifter who continuously re-molds his face. And the second episode is about a mole man who lives under a town, pulling people underground and eating them. Also, Peter will play a more central and active role in solving cases this time around. [FringeTelevision]

V:

The alien-invasion remake, set to debut on ABC sometime in 2010, will have a definite pre-planned ending, just like Lost. New showrunner Jeffrey Bell says he's working out the storylines for the next few seasons, and the first season will build up to a huge conclusion that "will hopefully be awesome," and will lead into season two. And Bell says that like the original series, this new V will ask big questions:

Just as the original "V" used the story of an alien invasion as an allegory for Nazi Germany, the new "V" will tackle issues of government, devotion, race and faith.

"Especially when you look at our current times, with the economy, wars and social strife, it's the perfect time for a force like this to come along," Bell said. "In many ways this is a very American show, about the individual vs. society. It's about how America can appreciate and question things that seem to be too good to be true."

[Variety]

Heroes:

Right after NBC announced that Madeline Zima would be playing Claire Bennet's college roommate, they announced the casting of daytime soap star Rachel Melvin as Annie, a second roommate for Claire. And according to the Hollywood Reporter, Claire and Annie will "share sleeping quarters (and maybe more.)" Are they hinting at a lesbian relationship for Clair-bear, or am I totally misunderstanding? [Hollywood Reporter]

The Sorceror's Apprentice:

Some set pics show rival sorceror Horvath (Alfred Molina) and his sidekick Drake Stone (Tony Kebbell) riding in a taxi — that's surrounded by identical clone taxis, with the same taxi number and advertisement. Are they hiding out from Nic Cage's sorceror? In another scene, they ride in a silver stretch limo. More pics at the link. [StitchKingdom via Cinemablend]

Stargate Universe:

Here's a gallery of close-ups of the new show's crew. Let's start the deadpool: Which of these bright new faces won't survive the first few episodes? [Gateworld]

Eureka:

The second half of the third season picks up right after the midseason cliffhanger, with Jack Carter being removed as sheriff, and Allison expecting her recently dead husband's baby. And of course, Carter is facing some tough decisions regarding his daughter, Zoe. And he has a new love interest, played by Jamie Ray Newman. The upcoming episodes include homages to The Blob and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. [SF Universe]

Flash Forward:

A few new photos show our FBI crew at work, including Joseph Fiennes and John Cho. [SpoilerTV]

Pushing Daisies:

In the final episodes, airing Saturdays this month, Chuck gets some closure — she gets to see the Aunts, and she actually goes and knocks on their door. And we find out what happened to Olive. But if the show had continued, we would have gotten an even better ending for Chuck, says actor Anna Friel. [Sci Fi Wire]

New Moon:

Michael Sheen plays Aro, head vampire of a coven that rules the vampire world. He describes the character: "Oh, there's a bit of a Child Catcher here [from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang]; bit of the Blue Meanie from The Yellow Submarine; bit of Olivier from Richard III. There was a bit of all kinds of stuff." [Empire]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Talking to SciFi Wire, Fuller explained,

The unfortunate thing about how we were breaking the [TV show's second] season was that we were taking a break from the Chuck and Ned central story line for three episodes to tell an Olive story, to tell an Emerson story, to tell a Lily/Vivian story [a]nd then with episode 14, open back up the whole thing with Chuck's father and Ned's father in a bigger way that was going to be our arc of the back nine of the season... but we ended up not getting a back nine. So, in an unfortunate way, those elements of Chuck's father and Ned's father and the pocket watches, that story is the story that's going to be continued in the comic book... We've arced [the series] out. The dangling threads from the series with Chuck's father and Ned's father and the pocket watches are all dealt with, not secondarily, but there's a whole new story that happens when there is a flash flood in the cemetery and all the bodies wash past Ned, and it's Ned versus a thousand corpses. That's the story of the comic book.

The Pushing Daisies comic, to be published by DC Comics through their Wildstorm imprint, is expected to appear before the end of the year; Pushing Daisies' final episodes begin tonight on ABC at 10pm.

Bryan Fuller: How Pushing Daisies ends-and how it was supposed to end [SciFi Wire]

Despite Fuller saying that he was talking to Marvel about publishing the comic book continuation of the cult series just recently, it turns out that it'll be DC Comics who'll handle the 12-issue series, as he explained to E! Online:

We got a 12-issue order for a comic book for DC Comics... I literally just finished outlining the 12-episode arc, which has an ending that propels us into another big story, so it's kind of blackmailing them into ordering more comics, but we'll see if that'll happen.

But what to expect from this first series? Fuller eagerly shared:

It's basically Chuck, Ned, Emerson and Olive versus 1,000 corpses, so it becomes a zombie movie, but the zombies are articulate and smart and can do things that no other zombies can do. The Pie-Maker versus 1,000 corpses.

Doesn't that just mean that he can touch them and unzombie-fy them? Or would they become zombies again as soon as he re-killed them? Oh, the rules of resurrection are so confusing... As before, Fuller hopes to have the new series ready by the end of the year, with a potential sneak peak available at this year's San Diego Comic-Con.

Pushing Daisies Lives On (In the Comic Book World) [E! Online]

Talking to SciFi Wire, Fuller explained that he's already in discussions with Warner Bros. to get the publishing rights for the series, and Marvel Comics, to publish the series, which sounds... well, pretty damn good to this PD fanboy:

I am going to pull together the Pushing Daisies writing staff. It will be run like a writer's room, where I will write the first story, and we will arc out the other issues, which will comprise what we were going to do in the back nine. We'll also make it accessible for those who are not familiar with the TV series, as well as introducing villains we couldn't do on ABC. There is a villain from the Comic-Con preview comic about a guy who got his head cut off. Ned touched it to get some answers; the body came alive too and proceeded to grab his head and get away. We definitely want Head to come back as a big villain... In many respects, [the comic will] probably [be] season three. We're going to see a lot of exploration with Ned and his father, which we teased but were never able to make good on. We had George Hamilton save Ned and Chuck, and by having Emerson and Dwight Dixon clean up the whole mess we're going to understand who Dwight was to Chuck and Ned's dad. Dwight will be making a return, and we'll be seeing the adult Eugene Mulchandani and Danny that involves helium smuggling. There's a lot of fun stuff woven into the series that we were intending to pay off that we can now do in the comic-book series. The fans of the show will see a lot of stuff come to fruition, but new fans will have a greater appreciation, too.

In terms of artists, Fuller's thinking of a fellow Heroes alum, Tim Sale:

He's such a nice guy, and I have a really good relationship with him, so I'm hoping he'll be able to work with us. His art is so specific and has an interesting point of view, specifically with [Sale's Batman series with Jeph Loeb,] The Long Halloween. That was such a perfect melding of comic-book writer and artist, so I'd love to do something like that.

If all rights issues can be worked out, Fuller hopes that the series can begin as early as the fall.

Bryan Fuller teases Pushing Daisies' last eps-and comic series! [SciFi Wire]

1. Daniel Jackson (Stargate SG-1)
While pretty much the entire team has died and come back, Daniel wins the prize for doing it the most. He gets shot, he gets radiation poisoning, he gets killed, he gets killed again. And then again. And then again. You know, it's hardly any wonder he's gotten compared to Kenny from South Park.

2. Ellen Ripley (the Alien movies)
As far as resurrections go, Ellen doesn't totally adhere to the strictest definition. But when she's brought back as a clone in Alien Resurrection, it's in order to bring Sigourney Weaver back. This time with enhanced strength and acidic blood. So she's not only back, but she's also even more badass than she was before. (Which actually seems to be a trend with scifi resurrections.)

3. Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who and Torchwood)
In "The Parting of the Ways," the finale of Series 1, Jack is killed by the Daleks, but is brought back by Rose Tyler, who's essentially ingested the power of the time vortex, making her pretty much all-powerful. When she brings him back to life, however, she kind of overdoes it, and now Captain Jack cannot die.

4. Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
In the hundredth episode, "The Gift," Buffy sacrifices herself for her sister Dawn. After she's been dead for five months, she's brought back by her friends in "Bargaining." Whoever said you can't get by with a little help from your friends?

5. Charlotte "Chuck" Charles (Pushing Daisies)
Really, every single dead person Ned touches comes back to life. (Remember the Resurrection Glove in Torchwood? That's basically Ned, only Ned bakes pie too. And has a few more rules about how long he's allowed to keep the dead alive.) Well, he breaks those rules to let his dead childhood sweetheart, Chuck, remain in the land of the living, making her the most permanently resurrected character on the show.

6. Pretty Much Every Dead Superhero Ever
It would take forever to even tip the iceberg here. I figure it's a pretty fair assumption that if a superhero's died, they've also come back, maybe more than once. And if they haven't, you just have to wait a few years and they will. (Or they'll somehow manage to keep showing up in death. Exhibit A: The Dibnys.) Superman, Jean Grey, Batman, Jason Todd (Robin II), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern I), and on and on and on . . . No wonder they say death is a revolving door in comics.

7. The Iron Giant (The Iron Giant)
Now, once you open the list to robots, it gets a little messy. You can, after all, repair and rebuild them. (You have the technology.) In this case, however, the Giant sacrifices himself in order to prevent the entire town getting destroyed by a nuclear missile from the USS Nautilus sent to destroy the Giant. Several months pass, and everyone thinks the Iron Giant is dead, but we see him in pieces at Langjökull glacier in Iceland, slowly calling all his parts together, ostensibly to reassemble. (On top of that, I still hold that voicing the Iron Giant is Vin Diesel's greatest role to date.)

8. Sam and Dean Winchester (Supernatural)
In the finale episodes of Season 2, Sam is killed by Jake, another "special" kid ("special" being "potentially demonic"), who really does think he's doing the right thing. Dean, however, feels that killing Sam is decidedly the wrong thing, so he makes a deal with a Crossroads Demon: Sam back to life in exchange for one year left of life for Dean. That's Winchester Resurrection #1. Unfortunately, Dean only has a year left to live, so at the end of Season 3, he, er, dies. Lucky for him, however, he gets dragged back by an angel named Castiel. (Unlucky for him, it's because it's his job to stop the Apocalypse.) And that's Winchester Resurrection #2. (Actually, it's probably also the second or third time Dean's died. But still.)

9. Captain James T. Kirk (The Return, a novel by William Shatner)
While the canonicity is most definitely in question, The Return also most definitely has Kirk coming back from the dead. He's resurrected by the Borg and implanted with false memories designed to make him hate the Federation. The goal is, of course, to destroy Picard, but at the end of the day, Kirk sacrifices himself in Picard's place, thereby making it seem that he is once again dead. Spock, however, does not believe that.

10. Pat Henry "Hobbit" Hobbins (The Armageddon Rag by George R. R. Martin)
Pat Hobbins was the frontman for a rock band called The Nazgul, but was assassinated at a 1970 concert. When the band reunites with a young lookalike singer named Larry (who's even had the cosmetic surgery to look like Hobbins), they begin noticing a change in Larry at concerts, but only when they perform songs off their aptly named last album, Music to Wake the Dead. Larry, for all intents and purposes, becomes the once-dead Hobbins. Maybe it could be argued more as possession, but the novel's title is taken from one of the band's songs, the second half of which is "The Resurrection Rag."

11. Aslan (The Narnia series, C. S. Lewis)
Hey, what better way to end a post in honor of Easter with a little allegory? He's tortured, humiliated, and murdered by the White Witch and her followers, but come dawn and he's back in all his glory, which he explains thus:

"But if she could have looked a little further back, [...] She [the White Witch] would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."

The show's rumored return may not be official yet, but it's not a full-scale change of heart on behalf of the network... They're simply showing the last three episodes of the second season before it gets released on DVD in July. The episodes - reworked by Fuller before the show's cancellation to bring some sense of closure - are rumored to have a Saturday 10pm timeslot, starting May 30th. I have to admit to hoping against hope that they're an unexpected ratings smash, just to see how the network would react.

Potential schedule moves at ABC [Hollywood Reporter]

Dragonball Evolution:

Chow Yun-Fat did an interview in Mandarin, and they showed a few new super-brief clips of him kicking Justin Chatwin's ass. It definitely looks like Chow had fun making this film. [DB The Movie]

Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li:

Here's how rapper Taboo describes his character, Vega:

He's the one character that you don't know if he's mortal or immortal. In the movie he wears a mask all the time, and he has a claw, and he's in and out. He does his dirty work, and he's gone before you know it, and you're looking to see more. It's a small part, but it's a huge role because it has a legacy and it has an enormous cult following.

[Sci Fi Wire]

Battlestar Galactica:

We already featured some preview pics for Friday's episode, "Someone To Watch Over Me," but here they are in better quality, and with a few new ones. What's going on with Sharon, Hera and Tyrol? And where did Sharon get such a snazzy polka-dot dress? [Dryope via Battlestar_Blog]

And here's the reliably spoilery Canadian trailer for the episode. How many times can sparks fly out of every surface on the CIC before they run out of fuses? [Galactica Sitrep]

Dollhouse:

Here are descriptions for the four episodes after this Friday's:

"Gray Hour": Echo (Eliza Dushku) isn't the only one stealing things when she is imprinted as a safe-cracker whose art heist goes awry after her memory imprint mysteriously vanishes. Plus, Agent Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) gives Lubov (Enver Gjokaj) an ultimatum.

"True Believer": Imprinted as a blind girl, Echo must infiltrate a heavily guarded cult run by a charismatic leader (guest star Brian Bloom) before a Waco-like tragedy strikes.

"Man on the Street": Agent Ballard's investigation takes a surprising turn when he comes face-to-face and fist-to-fist with Echo for the very first time.

"Echoes": A deadly virus outbreak on a college campus sends Echo back to school where pieces of her past come into focus.

[SpoilerTV]

Lost:

Juliet is not the "major-ish" character who's going to die this season. But Penny has no such assurance, especially since Sonya Walger just scored a role in ABC's Flash Forward. (Although a Lost insider says Walger will "juggle both shows.") Meanwhile, we'll meet two new characters on Lost: Jason, a former soldier with loads of gravitas that makes people want to follow him, and Samuel, a sharky J.R. Ewing-esque businessman who's never happy unless he's taking something over. [EW]

Fionnula Flanagan says we'll learn a lot more about Mrs. Hawking's powers in an upcoming episode, probably 3x14. She says Mrs. Hawking can come and go where she pleases, but won't say whether she's able to control those movements. And she says Mrs. Hawking's spiritual beliefs are not of this planet. Also, Jin and Sun won't reunite until the end of the season. [ E! Online]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Here's info on the last six episodes of the season:

"Ourselves Alone" (March 6): The return of Cameron's (Summer Glau) glitch results in regrettable consequences for everyone, and Riley (Leven Rambin) fears Cameron has discovered her secret.

"Today is the Day, Part 1 of 2" (March 13): In the first part of a game-changing two-part installment, Jesse (guest star Stephanie Jacobsen) flashes back to a life-altering mission aboard her submarine, the Jimmy Carter. Meanwhile, Sarah (Lena Headey) and John (Thomas Dekker) decide they can't continue living in their house and make plans to leave.

"Last Voyage of the Jimmy Carter, Part 2 of 2" (March 20): The exciting two-parter continues as Jesse's submarine mission in the future takes a fatal turn that has unforeseen consequences for John, Sarah and Derek (Brian Austin Green) in the present. Also, Sarah deals with Cameron, who has become a liability, and John steps up and makes a life-or-death choice.

"To The Lighthouse" (March 27): Fearing for her life, Sarah stashes John in a safe house with the only person she believes she can rely on, Charley Dixon (guest star Dean Winters). Cameron and Derek struggle to work together after she reveals a big secret, and Weaver's (Shirley Manson) entire effort is at risk when John Henry (Garret Dillahunt) is compromised – but by whom?

"Adam Raised A Cain" (April 3)

"Born To Run" (April 10)

[Sarah Connor Society and SpoilerTV]

Kyle XY:

Here's a sneak peek from Monday's episode, "The Tell-Tale Heart":

Heroes:

Apparently that baby that Hiro and Ando were carrying really is "baby Matt," Matt Parkman's kid with his ex, Janice, according to fansite Heroes Television's sources. Baby Matt appears in five episodes, starting in 3x19. And he has a superpower: "when baby Matt gets bad, stuff happens!" (Shoot me now.) And here's a sneak peek from Monday's episode. [Heroes Television]

Chuck:

Here are four clips from Monday's episode, highlighting the scrape-your-eyeballs "supermodel casting couch" subplot. And a few seconds of Adam Baldwin awesomeness. [SpoilerTV]

Life On Mars:

Here's what happens in episode 14, "Coffee Tea Or Annie":

When Valerie Palmer, a Pan Atlantic air hostess turns up dead, Annie volunteers for a dangerous undercover mission, posing as the murdered woman to help solve the second in a possible series of brutal homicides. Annie, Sam and Ray, working one of Valerie's flights covertly, uncover an unlikely suspect. Then, an invitation to a lurid swingers' party leads to an evening full of sensational surprises - not just for Annie and Sam, attending undercover as a couple, but Lieutenant Hunt also arrives with a special guest to mix it up. Juicy sexual escapades bring the swingers' party to a fever pitch, but will the murderer be revealed? Finally, Annie confronts Hunt with the courage of her convictions about her future at the 1-2-5.

And here are some pics from the episode. [SpoilerTV]

Smallville:

All of the show's cast members are back for season nine, with the possible exception of Sam Witwer (Davis Bloome). [EW]

Reaper:

Here's a sneak peak from the season opener!

Pushing Daisies:

EW's Ausiello has seen the final episode, and he says it pits Vivian and Lily against their former synchronized swimming rivals, the Aqua Dolls (Wendy Malick and Nora Dunn). "Inspired silliness ensues." There are Jaws-themed scene transitions, bitchy one-liners, and cameos by Wilson Cruz and Josh Ryan (playing the Aquas' bleach-blond manager.) It's not a totally satisfying end to the series, but Bryan Fuller and co. pieced together a prologue using CG and existing footage. [EW]

True Blood:

Season two strays much further away from the book source material, says Carrie Preston. It's hardly like the book at all. [The Vault]

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.

The show's final three episodes - left in limbo since the show's cancellation at the end of last year, and ABC's unexpected removal from the schedule at the start of January - will be shown in a special screening during the two-week LA festival in April, introduced by Fuller himself. Perhaps more surprising news about the episodes, however, comes from TV Guide, which reports rumors that the episodes will, in fact, be broadcast by ABC during the summer, as a way of boosting sales of the DVD season two boxset. I would have thought that you'd have sold more copies if there were hours of unseen material on there, but whoever said that ABC was making logical decisions about the show in the first place...?

Daisies' Final Episodes to Bloom this Spring - But Not on TV [TV Guide]

Steve McPherson, ABC's Entertainment President, tackled the fate of Pushing Daisies (as well as another recently-disappeared ABC series, Dirty Sexy Money) during his appearance at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour this week, and his take on why the show was cancelled was that the way ratings are recorded is flawed:

[Audiences are] watching on their iPods, on their phones ... and to me we have to get as much of that viewership measured as possible because you want to make sure that we all know what we're reaching so that we can reach them better and understand what they're really compelled by and attracted to and what they are not... I really loved the shows. The producers delivered what they promised. For us it was a frustration that we couldn’t get a larger audience – or that Nielsen says we couldn’t get a larger audience.

As for the "missing" final episodes of Bryan Fuller's reincarnation whimsy, McPherson told the critics that ABC would like to make the episodes "available," before later clarifying that the network plans to make the episodes available online, as opposed to broadcasting them. Of course, you could simply just wait for the DVD.

McPherson plans robust fall, criticizes Nielsen [THR Live Feed]

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Swoosie Kurtz - who played Chuck's Aunt (no spoilers here) Lily Charles in Pushing Daisies - will be appearing in the NBC show's "Fugitives" arc in a role created especially for her by Fuller. Kurtz will be playing Millie, "an old society friend of Angela Petrelli's," according to the site's Michael Ausiello.

(This isn't Chuck's first aunt to make an appearance on Heroes; Ellen Greene, Daisies' Vivian Charles, was Sylar's foster mother Virginia Gray, in the show's first season.)

If we can't have another season or several of Pushing Daisies, then we'll happily watch as Fuller brings more and more of the cast to his new superhuman home. After all, there's no way that a little bit of Chi McBride wouldn't make Heroes much more watchable, and who doesn't want to see more of Anna Friel? What would be even better would be if Fuller just whole-heartedly brought Lee Pace over to the show as a neurotic piemaker who can bring the dead back to life, but that way bad fan-fic lies.

That said, if you happen to be reading, Mr. Fuller? You know it'd be awesome.

Exclusive: 'Heroes' stages 'Pushing Daisies' reunion! [EW.com]

Talking to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, show creator Bryan Fuller confirmed that, not only was tonight's scheduled episode pulled at the last minute, but there is no set date for transmission of the final episodes, tying up not only the cliffhanger of the last-shown episode (wherein Ned's missing father appeared, played by George Hamilton of all people), but also all of the show's dangling storylines. Fuller's quoted as "sighing" that the final episodes "are not scheduled to air right now, and that's all we know."

The fan in me is outraged about this, especially after Fuller reworked the end of the show's final episode in post-production to provide closure to all the plots, but the practical side of me realizes that, sadly, almost everything that's replaced Daisies in that timeslot has given ABC better ratings... and having three unseen episodes sure would help those DVD sales.

So, will ABC schedule the remaining episodes? Will Ned, Chuck and everyone else at the Pie Hole live again, even if it's only for a minute? It may take more than the touch of a magic finger to make that happen, sadly.

Ask Ausiello [EW.com]

Watchmen:

The first 20-odd minutes of this film showed at the Butt-Numb-A-Thon festival, and it's pretty close to the book. After the credits, we see the cops on the street near the Comedian's apartment discussing his murder. Then the camera pans past a figure with a "End Is Near" sign, then up to a panoramic view of the alternate-history NYC, complete with zeppelins and a Gunga Diner balloon.

Rorschach's narration starts, and he rappels into the Comedian's apartment, looking around at his weapons cache. The picture of the Minutemen in the Comedian's apartment turns into the same picture in Hollis Mason's home, where Nite Owl I (Hollis Mason) is reminiscing about his old-school superhero days to Nite Owl II (Dan Dreiberg.) Hollis asks Dan if he misses it, and he lies and says no. The camera lingers on the sign for Hollis' auto body shop, obsolete models a specialty.

Dan goes home to find his door has been kicked in, and Rorschach is in his kitchen, eating beans. They talk about the Comedian's murder (Rorschach makes the joke about "human bean juice") before going down into Dan's basement. Dan says it's not a mask-killer, and tells Rorschach: "Watchmen are over." As Rorschach leaves via a subway tunnel, Dan asks what changed, and Rorschach says, "You quit." Dan's left sitting before his costume display case and looking at the Comedian's bloody pin. [CHUD]

Iron Man 2:

Don Cheadle speculates that the character he's taking over, James Rhodes, will be in a suit of power armor this time around. And Rhodey becomes more integral to the story of Iron Man as the saga goes along, not less. [IGN]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

Still more toy spoilers. The Jetfire toy packaging identifies him as a Decepticon, but fans still think he switches sides and becomes an Autobot during the movie. Meanwhile, there's a toy for Springer, a G-1 Transformer who has a relationship of sorts with Arcee, the triple-motorcycle Transformer. It may just be a bonus toy, or it may indicate the triple-changer Springer is actually in the movie. [Transformers Live]

Battlestar Galactica:

New promos let you know what questions you should really be asking. (Is it just me, or does this really push you towards Dualla being the final Cylon?) [Battlestar Blog and Battlestar Blog]

And here's a new clip. By the way, the "Sit down Cylon" line appears to come from an already released clip where Adama confronts Tigh in his quarters, and they just dubbed that in to frak with you. [YouWillKnowTheTruth]

Also, the webisodes will help to explain some decisions Gaeta makes in the second half of season four, says writer Jane Espenson. We'll learn some of Gaeta's backstory in a very satisfying way. And the webisodes also explore being in (very) cramped quarters with Cylons, and how suspicions and secrets flare up when bad stuff starts happening. [Sci Fi Wire]

Doctor Who:

And here are a couple of new pics of the Cyber-attack in the graveyard, from the fanatically awaited Christmas special. [Daily Mail]

Dervla Kirwan says she plays "an evil woman in charge of the Cybermen." [Telegraph via PlanetGallifrey]

Lost:

It will be "extremely" difficult for the Oceanic Six to get together and go back to the island, says Jorge Garcia. "Major complications will ensue" when the sixsome tries to travel to the island together, so the escapees may have to travel back separately. [TV Guide]

We'll finally meet Jack's grandfather (played by Raymond Barry from Born On The Fourth Of July) in episode seven. [EW]

Also, episode 5x12 will introduce us to Graham, a British SVP at a major financial company, jockeying for the CEO position, and he's ready to come into his own and be a leader. (Wondering if they came up with this storyline back when people still wanted to be CEOs of financial companies.) [SpoilersLost]

Daniel Dae Kim says halfway through shooting season five, he and on-screen wife Yunjin Kim still haven't had a scene together. [TV Guide via SpoilersLost]

Dollhouse:

Here's a cute new pic, from the cover of SFX. [SpoilerTV]

Fringe:

Joshua Jackson talks about the Bishops' father-son relationship and teases some upcoming revelations about his character's childhood. [Fringe Television]

Heroes:

You'll be shocked — shocked! — to hear that Sylar didn't die in Monday night's episode. He'll emerge from the wreckage, and set off on a quest to find his powers, and the truth about his real parents. Also, the blonde character who will appear to die, but actually not be dead, is not Elle. This hasn't happened yet, but it will happen to a character who deserves a second chance because she rocks. And Hiro still lacks powers. [E! Online]

Smallville:

In that upcoming episode where a magic spell turns Chloe into Lois, there's a scene where Clark stares lovingly into Chloe's eyes — but only because he thinks she's Lois. This is the moment when Chloe realizes how hard Clark has fallen for Lois. [EW]

Also, what happens when Lana comes back? Kristen Kreuk explains:

Lana is coming back after being away for a long time. The audience gets to find out what happened to her, what occurred during that time period. She’s very different when she comes back. Then she gets a beautiful send-off. She’s been a victim for so long, so she gets a beautiful send-off as a hero that her fans will really, really like.

And she says if there is a season nine, you won't see her in it. [Fearnet]

Pushing Daisies:

Bryan Fuller is reworking the last episode to give you a bit more closure. [EW]

Knight Rider:

Do you care? Do you, really? If you do, then Billy from BSG wants to share some spoilers in a video interview. Do it for Billy. [KRO]

Additional reporting by Katharine Duckett.