Gaters everywhere are expressing their dismay upon learning that Syfy will not be airing a SGU marathon this Christmas. This year Syfy has decided to ditch its pre-planned Stargate Universe marathon, in lieu of old movies.

Not that we don't love Serenity, but we were hoping that the SGU marathon would build up some new fans. Sure, we've been pretty harsh on this new series, but now our theory that this show just needs to be watched in a giant lump to attract new fans can't be tested out, with a giant day of eating, drinking and catching up on Stargate.

So why did this happen? We haven't found the official answer just yet, but we're hoping that it doesn't mean a lack of faith in the show's marathon potential. It's been a bumpy road, but we hope many of our concerns about the shows pace and female characters has been heard and are being acted upon in the second season. SGU really just needs a few nips, tucks, cuts and a pretty bow to be a series worth of it's gritty realism label. But does canceling the marathon mean the higher ups at Syfy don't think they can depend on it to bring in the viewers Christmas day, more than old films will?

But do not fret fans, Hulu is currently hosting ALL of the episodes from Stargate SG-1. So that's a little something to tide you over the holiday season.

[via Gateworld picture via Joseph Mallozzi's Blog]

As much as I took issue with last week's episode, at least we got some bona fide monster action. This week's guest-starring abnormals were of the humanoid variety, which made for less of that sometimes lovely Sanctuary weirdness. In trying to get a hold of a rare fire elemental, the Sanctuary team is pit against a crew of Chicago gangsters led by a type of human-looking abnormal called a Dyukon named Duke. Apparently, the Dyukon's key racial features are bouts of uncontrollable rage and they emit a radiation from their hands that makes contact with them very...unpleasant.

Seriously? Rage and radiation hands? Does the Sanctuary universe have a lot of radiation deaths whose victims have handprints burned into their bodies? It seems like it would be a widespread problem. Anyway, this particular Dyukon managed to become a mob boss thanks to a pair of shiny rage-suppressors worn on his temples. When the mob boss's rage levels get too high, his lieutenant presses a remote that relieves the rage with a vaguely animalistic groan. The effect makes our mob boss resemble a low-rent Frankenstein.

But most of the action focuses on our second abnormal, Jimmy, played by Amanda Tapping's Stargate SG-1 co-star Michael Shanks. Jimmy, a former hoodlum turned Sanctuary courier. Jimmy has a sort of lopsided kangaroo's pouch, but instead of using it to hold babies, he smuggles abnormals inside it. Jimmy spends most of the episode nursing a wounded Kate Freelander. By the way, is Kate an abnormal? She gets shot an awful lot and never seems in much danger of bleeding to death, nor does she have much trouble standing or raising a gun afterward. In one of those improbable television coincidences, it turns out that Jimmy killed Kate's father many, many years ago (and wore a really odd hat while doing it). And the guilt from meeting his victim's daughter is potent enough to make him sacrifice his life.

It seems like there was something missing from this plot, or perhaps I'm missing something. Henry mentions that, just a few months ago, Duke the Dyukon was a pit fighter and now suddenly he's a high-ranking mob boss. The problem is, this guy's not exactly the brightest bulb on the strand. How did he manage to become a mob boss? Since he died at the end of the episode, we won't hear it from him. The optimist in me hopes that someone else is pulling the strings, and that we'll find out in a later episode that someone is setting up easily manipulated abnormals in positions of power to thwart the Sanctuary Network. If so, could the next abnormal gangster please have tentacles or something?

First off, the movie looked great. The 1960s inspiration was fantastic, and the all of the landscapes were extremely impressive for the seemingly small budget. I especially enjoyed the House of Cards Casino.

The modernized plot, in which the Red Queen was kidnapping humans and sucking them dry of their emotions for profit, was just gonzo enough, and had that dark twist that kept us present in a modern day wonderland.

I stand by my standing ovation for the hopelessly charming and impossible to forget Andrew Lee Potts' Hatter. He was the heart and soul of this film. Even when the plot dragged on and the pacing died down it was consistently Potts who helped the cast pick up the pace. Plus he's exceedingly easy on the eyes.

But here's the rub. The chemistry between Alice and Hatter is great, not amazing, but I believe it even when the plot fumbles around with the characters. At the same time, I'm not really sure why these two like each other, besides the fact that Potts is charming and saved Alice's life a few times. But it's hard to understand what's going on in the Hatter's head. First Hatter wants to sell her ring, then he wants to use it to get to the other side and start over, and finally he wants to use it to lead the resistance. Sure characters can change their minds, but this happens so quickly and jerkily, the feelings behind these exceedingly strong sentiments are lost in the shuffle.

The same goes for Hatter's growing emotions for Alice, in the first half he mutters under his breath that Jack is a lucky guy and that later acts jealous when he finds out that Jack is the Prince of Wonderland. But we still never really understand the motivations or reasons why he fancies her. And it started so well, with the half-pervy half-sweet line, "Can't I be nice to a girl in a very wet dress?" We never really knew what his intentions were, at any time. Still we knew he wanted to be with Alice, based on the puppy-dog eyes he kept giving her.

The rest of the star cameos came and went rather quickly. Tim Curry yelled a lot and was gone forever, Colm Meaney managed to eke out some strange remorse for loving his heartless Queen Kathy Bates for so long, so much so that he stayed behind and died in the collapse of the casino while the Queen didn't even bat an eye. Very odd. I would have hoped that this would make her care a bit, but no dice. Matt Frewer was a loveable old Knight, until he dug up a bunch of his old companions to act as scarecrows. This moment was totally lost on me and I didn't understand why these skeletons were intimidating at all, if they couldn't fight.

The Father and the Carpenter plot line also made only the tiniest bit of sense, and rang dangerously close to The Tenth Kingdom, especially when Alice was pleading with her mind-wiped Daddy to save her life, so I was fine when he was axed in the end.

The heart of the story is the love story between Hatter and Alice, and while I hated not really understanding why things were so dangerously slow in some places, I adored the little moments here and there, like when you piece it together in the end that Hatter must have jumped through the looking glass moments after Alice left. I'll watch it again, if only to try and wrap my head around a few of the editing and plot decisions, like making Mad March from Long Island. But all in all I had fun, developed a new crush and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery. Horrible truth room CG background, flying flamingos and all.

But what did you think?

Updated with squid-fighting action.

Admittedly, I was prepared to dislike this episode on principle. "Next Tuesday" (without the words "See You" in front of it) has always been teased as Magnus and Will getting stranded somewhere and having a potentially fatal encounter with an abnormal. Sound familiar? It should if you've seen the first season episodes "Kush" (in which Magnus and Will crash in the Himalayas and have to survive a killer abnormal) and "Requiem" (wherein Magnus and Will are stuck in a submarine while Magnus suffers a deadly parasitic infection). Does Sanctuary not pay their other actors enough?

Anyhow, while on a conservation mission to capture the rare vampire squid from the Gulf of Mexico, Magnus and and Will's helicopter crashes inside a decommissioned oil rig, causing the vampire squid to escape. However, we're quickly assured that the vampire squid isn't nearly as exciting as it sounds. Apparently, the descriptor "vampire" refers to it's intellect rather than a penchant for sucking blood (Why? Because Nikola Tesla is a vampire?), and the squid is quite docile. Immediately, I smelled another Big Bertha bait and switch.

"Next Tuesday" is also plagued by incredible crimes against logic, too many to fully enumerate here. Hatches on the helicopter that were open in one shot are mysteriously closed in the next. An acetylene torch similarly appears and disappears. At one point, the helicopter sinks rapidly, but fails to pull any people or objects down with it. And despite claims that the helicopter is soaked in fuel, it only explodes when it's convenient. For such a claustrophobic episode, there is remarkably little attention to detail.

But there was one redeeming factor. We actually got to see some abnormal-on-abnormal violence. It turns out that when the team lifted off, they were carrying an unexpected stowaway: a clever and vicious sea scorpion. And, as a bonus, the normally docile vampire squid becomes quite violent when faced with a turf war with the sea scorpion. After last week, it was refreshing to see a little monster action.

So who wins in the battle between scorpion and squid? As it turns out, no one. The squid bites it, the scorpion bites it, the helicopter bites it, and Magnus and Will are left treading water inside the oil rig (presumably, they'll eventually be rescued). So much for monster conservation.

We were sent an extremely early edit of the film, so I'm not making a final judgment on the two-day mini movie until it airs, but what I did watch I got a excited about.

Here's the premise: Alice is a no-nonsense commitment-phobe and karate instructor. So yeah she kicks ass, and a lot, for better or worse. Strong armed Alice falls for one of her students who sneaks her some sort of magical ring and is promptly kidnapped. Alice follows her boytoy through the looking glass and is transported to Wonderland. But Wonderland has changed. It's now a dirty world that looks strangely like Vancouver. Alice soon learns that the Queen of Hearts is kidnapping humans and imprisoning them in her casino, siphoning off their happy emotions and selling them to the inhabitants of Wonderland. Thus making her beloved, for providing the quick fix, as well as rich.

Alice meets the Hatter in one of these emotion dens and the two strike a deal to go and save her boyfriend, who has presumably been kidnapped by the Queen for emotion harvesting. If I tell you more we'll get into spoiler territory, but there are plenty more twists and turns. It also gets pretty heavy with the family issues and inner love turmoil for poor Alice. In fact it really reminded me of a shorter and less in-depth version of the TV movie The 10th Kingdom, which I adored. So even coming close to that is a good thing.

Plus the cast is just bafflingly great. Tim Curry plays the Dodo, Kathy Bates is the Queen of Hearts, Harry Dean Stanton is the Caterpillar, and Colm Meaney is the King of Hearts. Those names alone are worth tuning in for. You won't want to miss watch Tim Curry walk around with his stomach forward, Dodo-style. Sure, I could mention that Curry really pushes the level of running and screaming that I can take from him, and that Kathy Bates seemed like she was sporting dead face for most of the movie, but they're are small issues.

But the real standout was Andrew Lee Potts' Hatter. Call me a sucker for British heroes who wear funny suits and like to throw their weight around, but I couldn't rip my eyes off of the Hatter when he was on screen. Almost to the detriment of Alice. Potts is familiar with the scifi world, having starred in the BBC's Primeval, but he really hits his stride here. And while I was watching him on a version that needed copious edits and tweaks, I still really enjoyed watching him try to elevate the story and dialogue he was handed. Yes, making the Hatter a cute hipster is a little eye rolling, but he made it work. Potts really attempted to sell some of his totally implausible actions he was taken in by the script. You heard it here first: If Matt Smith the new Doctor crashes and burns, certainly wouldn't be any worse off with Potts. But that's just hopeful projecting on my part.

So the bottom line: I'm tuning in. I'm anxious to see what the home of Matt Frewer's dimwitted White Knight looks like, as it's merely described as a chessboard forest kingdom. Along with the flying jetski-like flamingo sky cars, and the Queen's casino once the FX are all finished. Plus I wouldn't miss the opportunity to watch Andrew Lee Potts make me reassess my staunch views on men who wear guyliner.

Even though some of the story did feel a bit pushed here and there, and the plot was in an eternal loop of running to the casino and escaping, then running back, and escaping, the characters, settings, costumes and actors make this worth your time. And for those of you worried it's a Tim Burton rip, fear not: This contemporary Wonderland has a strange feel all on it's own.

Here's the trailer:

The first part begins December 6th, 8 PM.

Last night's episode began with what was supposed to be the ultimate Sanctuary shocker: Bigfoot turns up dead in the Sanctuary's morgue. I can't imagine that we're supposed to believe for a moment that the Big Guy is actually dead; he already almost died once this season, and it's unlikely he'd get such an ignominious demise without some sort of build-up. But then there's the kicker: Declan Macrae (a character I constantly forget is on this show) believes that Helen Magnus murdered the Big Guy. Macrae, who's more than ready to hop in as head of the Old City Sanctuary, claims that Bigfoot discovered that Magnus was suffering from a degenerative mental disorder and that Magnus decided to silence him, permanently. Of course, Will is having none of this and, after shedding a few requisite tears for the Big Guy, launches an investigation to prove Magnus' innocence. It doesn't help matters that Magnus is increasingly batshit insane and that there's a video of Magnus actually shooting Bigfoot. By the time the Triad, a group of psychic interrogators from the Sanctuary Network, show up, Will is completely at a loss.

As it turns out, though, Magnus really is crazy — crazy like a fox. She's out to expose the Triad members, who are after Big Bertha, an abnormal capable of leveling whole cities. And why might the Triad want to get their mitts on such a creature? I'll let the lovely Erica Cerra (who's really been making the rounds on Syfy shows this year) explain above.

I definitely perked up at the description of Big Bertha. Tectonic plate-shifting abnormal? Yes, please. We may have had our zombie apocalypse a few episodes back, but we've never seen a single abnormal on such a large scale. I was looking forward to seeing Big Bertha, even if it was just a little glimpse. But sadly, Big Bertha was just a cataclysmic tease, and when Cerra's Triad member opened the shipping container that allegedly held her, there was nothing inside, nada. Instead, we were treated to a breakdown of just how clever Magnus' plan to expose the Triad was. Shooting Bigfoot with a paralytic chemical? Ah yes, very clever. Placing an insanity-inducing beetle in her brain so she could hide her true thoughts from the Triad psychics? Uh-huh, brilliant. Coding a message to Kate so that the team could snare Erica Cerra in Magnus' trap? Yes, we get it, Magnus; you're a genius. But I'm still miffed we didn't get our big earthquake-maker.

I'm not sure what I could have hoped for from this classic monster match-up — certainly not a cage match, but maybe abnormals playing poker? Alas, Sanctuary has not time for such frivolities. Our rubber-suited movie monster is Jack, a creature called a Plesky who has been living in captivity with werewolf Henry's pal Rachel. Rachel has been socializing Jack and teaching him sign language; he's basically like Koko the gorilla if Koko occasionally shot out deadly spores. Yes, Jack has shot his deadly, deadly spores into Rachel, who will die if Magnus and her team can't find a cure. Meanwhile, everyone is trying to figure out why the supposedly tame abnormal poisoned its foster mom. While it's true that people who keep dangerous animals around often wind up tiger chow, the Sanctuary team isn't paying enough attention to Rachel's twitchy husband who obviously has it in for Henry and at one point grabs a gun to shoot up the Plesky's containment cell (nice security, folks). It turns out that Rachel's husband set in motion the events that led to the Plesky's poisonous eruption, and once again we learn that humans are the real monsters. This struck me as a particularly bland entry from Sanctuary, but at least we got to see Henry wolf out a bit, and it was nice to have an abnormal that wasn't computer generated.

Still, next time, I'd like to see abnormals playing poker — or at least a few rounds of Go Fish.

To be fair, Outer Space Astronauts may not sound like the most exciting new show we've seen this year — or even the most exciting new show we've seen from Syfy, considering Warehouse 13 and Stargate Universe's particular thrills — but we were kind of planning to wait to actually see a trailer at the very least before completely damning it to television hell.

Not so much the readers of Sci-Fi Wire, who saw the announcement of the series as a sign that they had to speak now about what has become of the one-time Sci Fi Channel before it was too late. Here're some of the comments:

You have got to be kidding me. What happened to actual science fiction? Oh, wait, you guys aren't the Sci-Fi Channel anymore. I think the name change was perhaps the most appropriate thing the execs could do for this network.

I think Syfy (and science fiction in general) may be heading for a new low. Of course this program is probably very cheap to produce so I guess we shouldn't be too surprised.

This has to be some kind of horribly mistimed April Fool's joke, right? There's no way that they would put something this lame on the air, would they? Oh wait, this is SyFy, the home of lame, not Sci-Fi, the home of science fiction. My mistake, carry on.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

THIS is what "SyFy" has sunk to?! Pathetic!

Does anyone watch this ridiculous excuse of a cable channel anymore??

Goodbye, "SyFy" - or whatever the hell you're calling yourself these days.

Now that SyFy channel isn't using the name Scifi, maybe someone could use the name Scifi Channel and actually show science fiction on it. Anything is better than the Ghost garbage and the Mutated shark/snake/ movie of the week. why not put on like Babylon 5, classic BSG or even Logan's run series.

I think Syfy needs to "imagine greater".

As in, actually -get- an imagination.

Do you want me to send you a collection of sci-fi books for you to research so you can actually see what real sci-fi is so you can make a show that isnt derivative uninspired rubbish for once ?

I guess not, you'd have to read through the pages :(

Next week, SyFy(llis) will debut a new series combining live action and stunning 1890s visual effects. It's about a lump-shaped space ship stuck in a caught in a swirling vortex, headed toward their doom. Filmed entirely on location in the execute restroom at SyFy(llis).

Let's take a look at SyFy primetime:

Monday - Ghost Whisperer - no SciFi not good when first shown on CBS

Tuesday - Scare Tactics - not SciFI not good, not funny, not scary

Wednesday - Ghost Hunters - not -oh my god what was that - good, NOT SCIFI

Thursday - Bad Movies

Friday - SG:U and Sanctuary. OK, I will give you SCIFI on these, but both are poorly plotted, poorly acted, waste of two hours.

Saturday - Bad Movies - Part 2

Sunday - Bad Movies - Part 3

And now a show that was rejected 2 years ago...it is official, the SciFi channel is no more and I will not turn it on any more. It is a shame...this use to be the place to get good scifi news..hell they use to talk about books other then vampire or witch books. What happened to SCIFI?? Go to the book store and it all vampire.werewolf, witch, ghost books. And they ALL have the same theme..goodlooking moral falls in love with even better looking immoral...other immorals what to kill/turn/sleep with mortal. I for one will be turning off my TV and re-reading Clark, Asimov, Bradbury, and a few others. Goodbye and good luck.

Yet another show I won't waste my time on. What happened here? Did Sci Fi get taken over by Noggin? Reminds me of a Wonder Pets Upside Down show Mash up. I can't believe I even know those shows. Just shoot me.

Are you guys trying to make the wrestling portion of your line-up look like a good idea? Come on, you guys once had original series that were as daring as "Lexx" and smart as "Farscape." I know that you guys ran out of franchises to buy from Showtime, but even a tongue-in-cheek fourth revival of "The Outer Limits" would be more appropriate than this.

I think its time to fire the execs again. Whoever greenlit this PoS "show" is a complete MORON.

Whoever watches Scare Tactics is a MORON.

Whoever watches Ghost Hunters (or its poorly-concieved spinoffs) is a MORON.

Whoever wathes 'wrestling' on SyFy (or better yet, whoever OKed its timeslot) needs a beating.

This network has been circling the drain for YEARS. They cancel Sliders, SG-1 SG-A... They fund GOD AWFUL movies that are rip offs of other bad movies... And wouldn't know good Sci-Fi if it came up and probed them anally.

SG-U had promise, but the Lost In Space meets Battlestar Galactics meets Passions needs to be put out of our misery. That show if going nowhere at FTL speeds.

Sanctuary. *sigh* Amanda Tapping is a good actress.. Loved her in SG-1. But.. Sanctuary is a bit meh... However its 110%better then SyFy's other offerings.

First off, apparently I'm alone in liking SGU. Secondly, what the fuck actually happened here? Was there some kind of psychic breakdown about Syfy's direction that all of these people just happened to have at the same time? I'm as much a fan of fanboy rampages as the next person, but this seems like an insane overreaction to the announcement of an admittedly unpromising show. Is this misdirected Dollhouse grief or something? People, just remember: We survived Tripping The Rift.

Syfy launching new series Outer Space Astronauts: Comments [Sci Fi Wire]

Syfy president Dave Howe explains to the Hollywood Reporter:

"We've always been keen on vampires and werewolves, and we loved the originality of Being Human, the fact that the fantastical creatures in it are very young, accessible and charming."

They loved the originality of it so much, they decided to remake it.

Syfy has ordered 13 episodes of a remade Being Human, which could appear on screens as early at next fall. Across the pond the original Being Human gears up for its second season this January. Howe promised this won't be a poor recreation of the series, seeing as most Syfy watchers probably have seen the original, but we've been burned before.

I was one of the loudest haters of the American-ized Office before it aired, because British humor and sensibilities don't translate well in the States. But the show hired good writers, invested in the production and found a wonderful cast. It's engaging, even though it lacks that dry British wit that made me fall in love with the original, and despite the lack of Ricky Gervais and the arguable fact that the American version has been around for far too long, it's still funny. (Though I shudder to think of Jim and Pam, "the baby years.") That said, for every successful Americanized show, there are many dismal translations, such as Life on Mars, Coupling, and a host of other terribly translated or poorly copied series.

Being Human is a completely different show from The Office. You can not translate the kind of dark humor that parallels the main characters lives, without the flippant British style that manages to just slip in a turn of phrase here and there. That humor is what makes the whole idea that a ghost, vampire and werewolf all living together in real life believable, the whole casualness of it all.

The writing is woven together so perfectly. Take the shocking weirdness that comes when we see one character's vampire porno, in which one person cannot be recorded because they're a vampire. The vampire porno itself becomes a whole other plot point, which I won't ruin here. But it's a good example of how Being Human blends darkness and humor together so perfectly. I highly doubt we can make these kinds of jokes on the Syfy Channel, with American writers and actors.

You can also bet that any and all edge will get stripped away, in hopes of garnering more viewers, so kiss the amazing sex scenes goodbye, along with violence, blood and realistic humor.

Plus you will never, never, never be able to recreate the chemistry and timing the trio over at Being Human have. It is by far one of the better ensemble casts working today.

In short, this is a disaster. The worst case is, we'll end up with just another CW-esque dramedy show about pretty white kids and their magical issues. To me, this is on a par with an Americanized Doctor Who, — it's not needed, and all but impossible to adapt properly.

How can this be saved? If Syfy decided to spend lots of money on hard working writers and producers that can actually Imagine Greater. Even then, they'd have to attempt at translating the dark humor without throwing in a green screen, adding reality-show components or trying to make it any darker than it already is. Then they have to cast three people who can sell this crazy premise. But they could always take that money and create new material, and just air the original Being Human along with said new series, instead of butchering a great UK show. Because if it ain't broke...

If this makes more people watch the original, then that's one thing this new reboot has going for it. Still I honestly just don't think it can be done. And now with the internet making foreign shows more accessible to the masses, I think there will be a surprising amount of push-back from U.S. fans.

Sasquatch Hate Vampires: We've apparently abandoned the Lazarus virus plotline from last season. The villainous Cabal had created the Lazarus virus, which infects Abnormals with a sort of rabies, so that they go mad and attack normal humans before sputtering out and dying. As interesting as the monster apocalypse would have been, if the writers felt they couldn't do anything with it, it's just as well that they've ditched it. Nikola Tesla (who's been a vampire for the last 100+ years) managed to develop a cure, and has been trotting the globe to deliver it to infected Abnormals. The only critter who won't take it is Bigfoot, because apparently Sasquatch and vampires don't mix. This means that Bigfoot is sitting in quarantine, suffering and gradually going crazy. What fun.

Vampires Can't Get Drunk (as Much as They Might Want To): I'm so terribly glad that the writers had the good sense to keep Nikola Tesla around. He's just the right kind of obnoxious to lighten up the often drearily serious cast. He's taken to calling Will (still the show's least interesting character) "Huggy Bear," and he's managed to empty out Helen Magnus' wine cellar, even though alcohol doesn't affect him in the least.

There's Such a Thing as Perfect DNA: So the Cabal's latest nefarious plot involves kidnapping people who were once part of a government project to create children with "perfect" DNA. These kids had their genomes scrubbed of any mutations, making them perfectly normal in contrast to the genomes of those wacky Abnormals. Really? What on Earth was their baseline for that?

The Crazy Monster Maker Just Wants to be Your Mommy: Since the Cabal isn't going to be a huge part of season two, I guess we won't be seeing much of the Cabal's monster making scientist after the next episode. That's a real shame, because this lady is batshit crazy in the best way. She's gradually transforming Magnus' brainwashed and kidnapped daughter Ashley into some kind of superbeast, but it's okay because she kind of loves Ashley (in a maternal way) and doesn't want her to ever feel any pain. She stole the show with each creepy stroke of Ashley's hair.

Don't Feed the Sexy Mercenary: Since Ashley's gone AWOL, the Sanctuary needs a new hot girl to be its resident badass. Enter Kate Freelander, with the line, "Yes, that's my real name, even though it sounds made up." Oh, Sanctuary, how I wish you were always so self-aware. At the moment, though, Miss Freelander is working as a kidnapper for the Cabal, at least until she gets captured by Magnus and company. Henry is briefly left the guard her, but screws the pooch when he falls for her seductive brownie bar-eating ways:

Hanging Out with Jack the Ripper Makes You Violent: Who knew? Magnus has been spending an awful lot of time with John Druitt, her sometimes crazy husband who also happens to be Jack the Ripper, sometimes by moonlight. And when, in an inspired moment of violence, she shoots Kate Freelander in the foot, boring old Will is convinced that Druitt is rubbing off on her. Oh look, actual conflict between the characters that has nothing to do with mind control or insanity! There may be hope for them yet.

All Monsters Have Terrible Yellow Eyes: If it worked for Where the Wild Things Are, it must work for Sanctuary, too. Ashley's monstrous transformation is complete, signaled by her eyes turning a rather awful shade of mustard. Oh, and she's got retractable fingernails, giant incisors, and the ability to rapidly heal her wounds. Basically, she's Wolverine with more eyeshadow. And the Cabal's big plan is to overwrite the genetic code of the people with "perfect" DNA to make more monsters just like her.

Sanctuary is Still Kind of Ridiculous: I tend to knock Sanctuary for not owning its weird ideas enough (maybe I just want to see more aphrodisiac Tribbles) and giving its characters way too much down time. But last night's episode was surprisingly watchable, even if it opted to play things fairly straight rather than go for over-the-top weirdness. Still, the powers that be can't seem to decide if the show is serious or a bit B-movie campy, as evidenced by this final scene:

Syfy's The Phantom miniseries, which could serve as a backdoor pilot, will air in 2010, and stars Ryan Carnes (whom you may remember as the Daleks' pig slave Laszlo in Doctor Who) as Chris Moore (born Kit Walker), who is only just learning about his superheroic birth father. Cas Anvar will play Rhatib Singh, head of the global crime syndicate the Singh Brotherhood (who pulls an O-Ren Ishii and decapitates a subordinate in the trailer), and Isabella Rosselini as Lithia, who heads up an experimental mind control program.

We showed you the new Phantom's outfit a while back — still purple, but now spandex-free — and you can see it in action below:

[via Screen Rant]

Variety reports on the fact that Warehouse 13, the show that became the flagship for the "new" Syfy, was the most successful show ever to appear on the network, with viewership rising throughout the first season, and quotes VP of programming for channel Mark Stern as suggesting that it showcases the future direction for the network:

We're looking for new summer series for next year — for something that would be more along the lines of a more traditional genre piece... We're [also] looking at a potential latenight show, a potential single-camera show, possibly animation. I think that on some level, we're always going to maintain a sense of entertainment and not get too dour.

I have to admit; with Warehouse 13, Eureka and the brand new (and hit) Stargate Universe as flagships, I think that the network's looking healthier and more interesting than it has in a long time, despite skepticism about the rebranding. So much so, in fact, that I'm more willing to entertain the idea of a Syfy late night show. But am I alone? You tell me:

Actually, never mind that "never mind" - the threat at the heart of "What Goes Around, Comes Around" was one that made sense, had a resolution that wasn't too out of nowhere (Although I'm not sure about the "The magnetic fields are knocking out all technology! Except for when it's not!" thing, but that's really just quibbling) and didn't distract from (in fact, grew out of) the one of the two real points of the episode - Zoe leaving the city, and the series, to go to Harvard (Of course, I was as upset as you were that Zoe didn't really explode in the swimming pool, as the trailer had teased, but Harvard is far enough away that I don't think I need to worry about her coming back anytime soon).

It was a nice way to go for the season finale, to center an episode around Sheriff Carter losing the two women in his life, for various reasons; Tess leaves for Australia and a new job, and Zoe for Harvard (Although there must've been some odd time-jump at the end of the episode for both things to happen; wasn't Zoe not going to leave until next semester, at the start?), and instead of dealing with either, he throws himself into his job, of course - Only for his job to lead him back to both women, with the magnetic disturbance having been accidentally created by Zoe's boyfriend, upset by her leaving, and requiring his body to be remote controlled by Tess in order to fix everything (allowing Colin Ferguson a chance to show off some awesome moves along the way. Get that man on Dancing With The Stars immediately).

It was also nice to see a hopefully-not-temporary change in Fargo - Grabbing life (and his new girlfriend) with both hands after the latest near-death experience. All we needed to make the episode complete would've been for Henry and Jo to have done something other than their traditional expositionary duties... Maybe next season. For now, though, I'm curious to see whether the show's creators follow through on their tease about Tess and Carter's long distance romance - Surely someone can create a quicker way to get from Eureka to Australia considering all the experiments going on in the town? Although, now that Jamie Ray Newman is starring in new show Eastwick, maybe not - and whether or not the next season will follow through on Carter's "Some changes can be good" line that pretty much closed the show. This season was uneven, and weirdly paced (not helped by splitting it in two with such a long gap between the runs), but when the show was good, it offered something that many sci-fi (and Syfy) shows don't: Humor and heart. It'd be nice to see if they can keep that up and build on it next year.

Tonight's episode is "Nevermore" is a bit of a return to the weekly artifact hunts of yore, where Pete and Myka witness an artifact's destructive power, identify it, and bring it back to the Warehouse. Plus, we get to meet Battlestar Galactica alum Michael Hogan as Myka's emotionally distant father who gets tangled up with an artifact related to Edgar Allan Poe.

It's by no means show's strongest episode, but one that reflects and respects the show's changing character dynamics. The artifact hunt is fairly straightforward, without the mystery of some of the more recent episodes, but the point is more that we see the team functioning more as a cohesive team. Artie is no longer hiding the ball from his field agents, instead giving clear, concise information where they need it. Claudia takes a spin in the field, and there's still that playful sibling relationship between Pete and Myka, even if it no longer takes center stage. The major ding on character development is that Myka largely sits this episode out, though we at least get a dose of crotchety Michael Hogan (albeit only briefly crotchety) as compensation.

But the season finale, "MacPherson," almost feels like it comes from an entirely different show, one dominated not by artifact hunts and special effects, but one filled with intrigue and danger. James MacPherson, whom we met a few episodes back, provides the series with a much-needed and thoroughly satisfying villain, one ruthless and far more clever than anyone at the Warehouse has anticipated. All of the show's main characters — Artie, Myka, Pete, Claudia, Mrs. Frederic, even the little-used Leena — will have their roles to play, and there will be enough twists to keep you guessing who at the Warehouse you can really trust (and at least one character's loyalties will fall squarely on the wrong side of the fence). We'll even get a revelation about the Warehouse itself that's far more frightening than what's inside the Dark Vault.

Warehouse 13 has been a fun, light summer romp through humanity's secret mystical and technological heritage. But the final episode suggests that the second season could offer more than possessed typewriters and mystical disco balls. It could bring us more into the dark and dangerous underworld that craves these artifacts, and the sometimes disturbing lengths the Warehouse may have to go to in order to protect them.

(Yes, I really did mean to do that pun. I'm sorry.)

"Have An Ice Day" had more than a slight sense of deja vu about it - The first day of a new boss (on flirty friendly terms with Sheriff Carter) at Global Dynamics and everything goes wrong with a disaster that could wipe out the whole West Coast within hours? Wasn't that the plot of season 2's "Try, Try Again" (helpfully re-run last week to reinforce the familiarity)? - but maybe the writers should rework old stories more often, because this felt like the most balanced, coherent episode for awhile, in terms of moving along subplots as well as central disaster of the week, and keeping the characters familiar and believable.

That said, it was also an episode where the plot relied upon a certain amount of temporary stupidity on the parts of its characters; Zane being the only person in the room when Taggart was attacked, while also being the person in charge of the temperature control system when everything is freezing and acting entirely differently than normal should've rang alarm bells way sooner than it did, and Tess not realizing the stalling tactics of comedic Russian security officer (And, really? A Russian who loves the consumerist American society so much he loses track of his job? Did I blink and miss us returning to 1989 or something?) were just two of the "Well, okay, but only because I'm enjoying the show" moments of the episode. That such things don't immediately throw me out of the show is as much down to the actors making it work, even if it's in a screwball over-the-top manner; Colin Ferguson, guest-star Matt Frewer (who should really come back to the show full-time, even with that appallingly-bad accent) and Jamie Ray Newman deserve recognition for their work, and their ability to make more of their material than should sometimes be possible.

Also nice was that - Zoe's future career plans aside - this was pretty much a standalone episode; after weeks of continuity-heavy episodes, it felt like a nice break... and a better one than the clip show that preceded it, for that matter. That said, that it was the second-last episode of the season seems odd, because it highlighted the lack of momentum the show seems to have going towards its season finale; all the long-running plots (The Signal, Kim2, Allison's pregnancy and relationship with Carter) have been resolved for the most part, leaving the only hanging threads the relationship ones - and of those, only Zoe's college plans are actually bringing any sense of urgency or confusion, barring a last-minute wrench thrown into the Jack/Tess relationship (which'll mean, of course, such a wrench is due next week). It's strange, to have enjoyed this episode so much, but be left at the end of it thinking that the series as a whole feels like it's run out of steam too soon. Maybe next week, everything will be different... or perhaps I'm just expecting too much from the admittedly lightweight show in the first place.

Next week: The end of the season! Everything becomes magnetized! And Zoe explodes in a swimming pool? We should be so lucky.

The last few episodes have me convinced that Warehouse 13 is really hitting its stride, and "Breakdown" was perhaps the best yet, with the writers really getting a chance to spread their wings and play with the characters, artifacts, and the Warehouse's mythology.

We had two major plotlines running through this episode. The main plotline centers around Pete, Myka, and Claudia handling a major snag in the machinery that neutralizes the artifacts, causing several of the artifacts to activate at once and threatening to destroy the Warehouse. The second involves Artie's coming to Jesus moment with the shadowy Regents behind the Warehouse.

Earlier in the season, I could have seen the Warehouse's artifacts getting old quickly, but they're actually taking on an increasing charm. Earlier artifacts, like hypnotherapist's James Braid's chair, sometimes felt a bit random, but the latest round of artifacts have a clear logic of their own. After years of school systems trying to convince us that dodge balls are evil, we get actual killer dodge balls, which can only be defeated by being caught. And the mystical replica of Leena's bed and breakfast, which can only be manipulated through the the painting on the wall had a gratifying video game feel to it (Could I please have a Flash game based on Warehouse 13? Maybe something in the vein of the Mystery of Time and Space, but with artifact-based puzzles?). And there's the wonderfully freaky suggestion that the Dark Vault, which we got to peek inside last night, is filled with trapped souls and demonic beings — how long before that evil clown comes out to play? And there was a nice shakeup in pairing Claudia with Pete and Myka for the whole episode, really cementing what was once an odd-couple cop show into an ensemble dramedy.

Artie, meanwhile, gets ambushed by the Regents, who demand that he justify his operations at the Warehouse. It's obviously a talkie bit of scenes, nicely handled by Mark Shepherd — who has become science fiction television's "must have" guest star — and they add a bit more to the Warehouse 13 universe. In some ways, they feel like a less snooty version of the Watcher's Council from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ready to appear at any moment and take the Warehouse staff to task, and I imagine we might see them later, with Artie forced to defend one or more of his crew to them. But even if they look like waiters, retirees, and business folk instead of shadowy figures, there's a very mysterious quality to them. Are they as ordinary as they claim? What is this higher power that they serve? And why do they feel so threatened by Artie's ex-partner-turned-rogue-artifact-hunter James MacPhereson?

We'll find out the answers to that last question at least, soon enough, as we're rolling along toward the season's end. But not before next week's episode, when Saul Tigh himself, Michael Hogan, guest stars as Myka's father in an Edgar Allan Poe-themed mystery.

This week's episode, "Regrets," had all the markings of a fair episode that could have been pretty great. Pete and Myka get shipped off to a prison plagued by mysterious suicides, and it's not clear just what is behind it. Is it the new warden, who took office just before the suicides began? Is it the Reverend John HIll (played by Eureka's Joe Morton), an inmate whose religious teachings against guilt have courted controversy in the prison? Or is it the departure of the deeply Christian previous warden, whose presence seemed to calm the inmates?

Early in the episode, Pete makes a crack about this all probably being the result of some "demonic tchotchke" the new warden keeps on her desk, and it's nice to see that the writers avoided that in this episode, instead giving us an actual mystery complete with false leads and incorrect assumptions. It was also lovely to have Myka and Pete solve the mystery themselves rather than being fed vague kernels of information from Artie, even if it took a bit of plot contrivance to get Artie out of the conversation. We even get a little spookiness going with a traditional dark and stormy night that ends in violence.

Still, there was the sense that so much in this plotline could have been pushed farther. Morton's was our second consecutive Eureka cameo, and he felt underused as the slightly cultish, morally ambiguous preacher. Morton has the chops to push to the darker aspects of his character's personality, but when he eventually steps in to aid our artifact hunters, it's not as surprising as it should be. And given that the prison itself is causing the inmates to experience hallucinations associated with your regret, I would have expected their resulting behavior and suicides to be more — not disturbing (it wouldn't match the tone of the show), but inventive and odd. I also don't quite buy the quick resolution to Pete and Myka's own guilt; we haven't known the characters long enough for the experience to be cathartic, and it would have been more interesting if one of them had been left damaged by their encounter with the prison of regret.

The secondary storyline was a bit trivial, but a sufficiently pleasant sidetrip. I do still enjoy Claudia on inventory duty (What power, I wonder, do the Venus de Milo's detached arms hold?), and Artie's decision to punish her for stealing Alessandro Volta's magnetic suit to change a lightbulb by making her write repetitions on the chalkboard was wonderfully and appropriately old school. I do wonder where his comment about his father being lost but not dead will lead It's clear that Claudia and Artie have a lot in common, and it seems we're being set up for a storyline that will draw them even closer together.

"Regrets" was still a great deal more solid and balanced than the earliest episodes of Warehouse 13, but it didn't have quite the oomph that "Duped" gave us last week. Who would have thought that mirrors and disco balls would make for compelling television that prison cults?

We heard from a source who's had meetings with Syfy execs recently, in which they said they were trying to get away from the "genre stereotype" of science fiction. And rather than being interested in developing new science fiction programs, the execs allegedly said they were looking at developing a cooking show and a talk show for the newly renamed network.

So is there any truth to this? Will you soon be seeing a new version of Space Ghost or some kind of cyborg Iron Chef? We asked Syfy, but the company can't comment on programming in development that hasn't been announced yet. But Mark Stern, Syfy's Executive Vice President for Original Content, did have this to say:

In regards to reality, we're developing all sorts of ideas, and there is an opportunity to push the envelope a bit with the new brand; to see where "Imagine Greater" might take us. That said, as with our scripted programming, anything we do needs to fit within a speculative genre, and the idea that we're celebrating the imagination. So, if we were to do a "cooking show", it definitely wouldn't be a normal, conventional cooking show.

So reading between the lines, it does sound as though Syfy is "developing all sorts of ideas" for reality TV, which makes sense given that Ghost Hunters has been such a hit for the channel. But a cooking show that celebrates the imagination?