Mad Max: Fury Road:

Just how big is the set for this film? Says star Tom Hardy:

It's massive. It's enormous," he continued. "It's like turning a mountain upside down and pouring it through a sieve.

Any clue what that means? It sounds epic, anyway. [MTV]

Avatar:

Not sure if we've already run this clip or not, but if not, then enjoy:

And here's a clip we definitely haven't shown you before. I love Neytiri wearing her sunglasses to ride her dragon. [Cineplex via Slashfilm]

The Lovely Bones:

Weird nitpicks: After Stanley Tucci's creepy pedophile murderer tosses his victim Susie Salmon's charm bracelet in the water, but keeps the "house" charm. But then we see all the charms expand into ice sculptures or clouds or topiaries — but the house charm is still among them. Also, before Susie dies we see her reading Seventeen magazine, but after she dies, she fantasizes she's the cover girl in Groovy Teen magazine. Towards the end of the movie, Susie sort of inhabits the body of a goth girl who looks like Emly the Strange, and makes out with Emily's boyfriend, whom Susie loved before she died. Then Susie goes to heaven permanently, and we see Emily and her boyfriend spooning, with no mention of the weird ghost possession make-out that just happened. [Black Book Mag]

Kick Ass:

A new character poster gives us a better look at the Red Mist. Bigger version at the first link. [AICN via Cinemablend]

Endangered Species:

A few new details about Eli Roth's Transformers-meets-Cloverfield movie. It's set against an urban backdrop. He's tweaking the script at Quentin Tarantino's suggestion. He's going to do some visual-effects tests, the results of which will determine how he shoots the thing. It's very character-driven, and he has some actors he's dying to work with. [MTV]

Eclipse:

A new picture of your favorite couple, Edward and Bella. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Doctor Who:

As you may have heard, the show was filming in Croatia this past week, with the Doctor, Amy and new companion Rory in tow. (And some are claiming that Rory is Amy's boyfriend — is he the new Mickey Smith?) The Croatia filming appears to be for an episode taking place in the past, judging from some of the costumes. But don't believe the British media chatter that it's an episode about vampires — it's almost certainly the Van Gogh episode that Richard Curtis wrote. More pics at the links. [Sky and Hello!]

Here are a bunch of promo pics from "The End Of Time," David Tennant's swansong, one or two of which we may have shown you before. They include your first look at the alien, shapeshifting Vinovicci. [BlogtorWho and BSCReview]

Meanwhile, Britain's Radio Times has another cast list for "End Of Time" part 2, which conflicts with the IMDB version. Notably, no Harriet Jones. Hmmm...

David Tennant - The Doctor
John Simm - The Master
Bernard Gribbins - Wilfred Mott
Timothy Dalton - The Narrator
Catherine Tate - Donna Noble
Jacqueline King - Sylvia Noble
June Whitfield - Minnie Hooper
Claire Bloom - The Woman
David Harewood - Joshua Naismith
TRacy Ifeachor - Abigail Naismith
Lawry Lewin - Rossiter
Sinead Keenan - Addams
Alexandra Moen - Lucy Saxon
Karlo Collins - Shaun Temple
Teresa Banham - Governor
Barry Howard - Oliver Barnes
Allister Bain - Winston Katusi
Sylvia Seymour - Miss Trefusis
Pete Lee-Wilson - Tommo
Dwayne Scantlebury - Ginger
Joe Dixon - The Second
Julie Legrand - The Partisan
Brid Brennan - The Visionary
Krystal Archer - Neys
Lachele Carl - Trinity Wells
Paul Kasey - Ood Sigma
Ruari Mears - Elder Ood
Silas Carson - voice of Ood Sigma
Brian Cox - voice of Elder Ood
Nicholas Briggs - voice of Judoon

[BlogtorWho]

Caprica:

This Battlestar Galactica prequel just cast another actor to play William Adama — no, not the future Admiral, but his grandfather. Aleks Paunovic will play the father of Joseph Adama and grandfather to little Willie in some flashback scenes, and he'll be a recurring character. Paunovic already appeared on BSG, playing Sgt. Fischer. [Aleks Paunovic via Battlestar Blog]

Lost:

A deserted area of Hawaiian rainforest hides a new camp which has been set up for this show's sixth season. It doesn't look like much, though. More pics at the link. [SpoilersLost]

Another new set — a ship of some sort, or rather part of one. It's apparently designed so they can rock the deck back and forth and make it look like the ship is caught up in a huge storm. And considering that some prisoner types were hanging around in baggy brown clothes, it may be the Black Rock. More pics at the link. [SpoilersLost]

Jose Yenque tweeted that he's joining the cast of this show. [Twitter via SpoilersLost]

Also, Fionnula Flanagan told an Irish talk show she'll be back for two episodes as Eloise Hawking, not surprisingly. [SpoilersLost]

Fringe:

The cast reveals the names of the Observers, and discusses their significance. [Fringe Television]

Meanwhile, I'm hard-pressed to tell exactly what's going on in this new set video. I think Anna Torv is being blown across a parking lot by some mysterious force, but hard to say. There are seven more videos from the same person under this YouTube account. I do like one commenter who says the intrepid fan making these recordings should shave his/her head and wear a fedora. [Anon120409 on Youtube]

And here's a sneak peek and "scenemaker" for Thursday's new Walter-and-William episode. [FringeRus]

Supernatural:

The show is casting one of the Four Horsemen for the episode "My Bloody Valentine:

[FAMINE] 50 to 80 years old... He is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He is withered, weak, raspy. This character is a creepy and destructive old man filled with a voracious hunger...GUEST STAR

[CUPID] 30s to 40s, doughy, out of shape, naked, his humorously loving character greets everyone with enormous bear hugs that almost break their ribs. He is overflowing with love and positivity to an almost humorous and narcotic degree (think Will Farrell in "ELF" sptv050769)...GUEST STAR

[SpoilerTV]

Also, Julie McNiven says that when Anna goes back in time and tries to kill baby Sam in episode 13, it's for the best reasons:

Everything Anna does is motivated by wanting to do the right thing, wanting to do what she feels is going to keep this apocalypse from happening. I see Anna as always doing what she thinks is right and she's very strong about that and doesn't want to hear anything otherwise.

And she says there's some great hand-to-hand combat and throwdowns in the episode, and hints that Anna does actually survive to try and kill more babies in the future. [AOL]

The Survivors:

There will be a "high octane" second series of this British remake at some point, but no date yet. And here's what happens:

The series picks up moments after the thrilling cliff-hanger to the first series and the survivors are now struggling not just with the difficulties of day-to-day life amidst the ruins of the post-virus apocalypse but also with the threat of other emerging communities and the machinations of the sinister Lab.

As the series begins, Abby is being held by Whittaker and Fiona at the Lab. There, she learns that the scientists have avoided infection and are looking desperately for a vaccine which they believe her unique immune system alone will generate.

Meanwhile, the family races to save Greg's life as he lies dying from a gunshot wound. Drawn into a burning hospital by their search for the necessary medical equipment, Al and Anya are caught in an avalanche of rubble as the building collapses around them. Tom is faced with the stark challenge of rescuing his friends from a seemingly insurmountable disaster, with only Sarah and Naj to help him.

Characters returning for this high-octane second series are Abby, a devoted mother with a missing son; Greg, a loner, hiding the pain of his past; Anya, a doctor who has seen too much; Al, a playboy who becomes a surrogate father to the young and headstrong Najid; Sarah, a hedonist used to getting her own way; Tom Price, handsome, dangerous and a high-security prisoner before the virus hit; and Samantha Willis, the last surviving member of the British Government.

[Survivors BBC TV]

V:

So just who are the Visitors? Laura Vandervoort explains that they're basically Canadians. Also, she says her character is definitely somewhat evil, but she's not sure how much yet. [Multipleverses]

FlashForward:

Apparently the reason why the show took a week off was simple: Major, huge developments happen in the episodes that were going to be episodes 15 and 16, and the network looked at those scripts and decided they should be episodes 13 and 14 instead (so, less treading water.) And it's not clear whether the original episodes 13 and 14 were scrapped, or just retooled to appear later in the season. Also, the biggest reveals of the season happen in the next two episodes, 11 and 12, says David S. Goyer. [EW]

Chuck:

Episode 3x11 will be "Chuck Vs. The Final Exam." [ChuckTV]

And one more new promo reveals that we'll be seeing a "Whole New Chuck." He's a reluctant spy no longer.

Sanctuary:

In next week's episode, "Penance," Michael Shanks guest stars as an abnormal named Jimmy who has a special David Cronenberg-esque pouch in his stomach, which he can use to smuggle things for the Sanctuary — including, in this case, a dangerous abnormal. Some bad guys get involved, and he's forced to go on the run with Kate, leading to a big secret for the two of them being revealed. And then in the following week's "Sleepers," Will and Magnus are in Mexico looking into some missing teenagers, and they run into vampire Nikoka Tesla, who's up to no good. [Sci Fi Wire]

Additiional reporting by Mary Ratliff.

Terminator Salvation:

Since Warner Bros. and the Halcyon Co. are already planning on Terminator 5, the new movie won't have a tidy ending, says McG:

The ending is indeed elliptical. And it challenges the audience. It's not a happy little bow of an ending at all. The ending is tough and requires reflection, and in some degrees it bifurcates the audience. You walk back to the car and one person thinks it means this, and the other person thinks it means that.

Are you ready to be bifurcated? (Is that where they rip the stem cells out of your neck?) [MTV]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

Concept art for the video game gives a few more hints about how the big robot battles will look, and how those Constructicons will kick Autobot ass. And apparently Terminator Salvation isn't the only movie with a big machine called a Harvester: these pics show something called a Sun Harvester, which is also referenced in the spoilery kids' coloring book and the final issue of the prequel comic. Looks like Bumblebee checks out an inner-city construction site, and fights a Constructicon in Shanghai. And here are some screenshots from the game as well, showing Starscream in flight and Bumblebee attacking an unidentified purple robot. [Transformers Movie Chronicles and Kotaku]

X-Men Origins: Wolverine:

Some new pictures of Wolverine and Sabretooth showcase their mutant angst. [IESB]

Stargate Universe:

Apparently Ming-Na's character, Camille Wray, is a lesbian. The show put out a casting call for Sharon, a major guest star, who's 35 years old and Camille's "long-time partner." (I suppose it's just possible they mean Bridge partner.) She's described as "sensitive, soulful" and has "strong emotional scenes." And she may be a recurring character, in yet another sign that we'll be looking in at the folks left behind on Earth on a regular basis. [SpoilerTV]

Lost:

In the next episode, "The Variable," Mrs. Hawking will explain her relationship to Charles Widmore. (Ooh.) And some characters we used to trust implicitly will make (even more) questionable decisions, which will lead to the major death that's inexorably coming towards us. [E! Online]

Poor old Caesar isn't even a major enough character to count as the "major-ish" death coming this season — let alone the major death. [EW]

The Survivors:

The second season of the BBC's remake of this 1970s post-apocalyptic classic may revisit the Doncaster Earth Centre, where it filmed the scenes involving Samantha Willis' settlement in season one, a producer tells the local paper. [Survivors BBC TV]

Heroes:

Here's the promo and a clip from next Monday's Sylar-tastic episode, "I Am Sylar":

Chuck:

Only a condom (or the lack of one?) will prevent Chuck and Sarah having sex in Monday's episode. Also the second wedding in the season finale is one that Chuck throws for someone he cares about. [EW]

Smallville:

Say the producers, Clark can't fly until he becomes Superman — he has to come to grips with his double life, and then he'll take to the skies. In the meantime, you'll see his leaps get flyer and flyer. Meanwhile, we'll see a lot more of Lois, and the show will never stop digging into what makes her tick. And "stay tuned" for more of Chloe as Watchtower. Chloe and Oliver will keep crossing paths, as their relationship evolves. The Chloe/Clark relationship will keep getting tested. And Green Arrow may team up with the red-blue blur, but with a surprising outcome. [TV Guide]

And here are some pics from episode 8x20, "Beast," airing April 30. Who built this fortress around Davis Bloome's heart? [OSCK]

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.

Well, let's see. There's a new Watchmen trailer. Some new stills from Dragonball. A Lost set report that adds yet another far-flung country to the roster of places Hawaii has impersonated. A metric shit-ton of Heroes spoilers, including clips and set pics. Plus spoilers for Clone Wars, Kyle XY, The Survivors, Flash Forward, Supernatural, Chuck and True Blood. Spoilers are electric!

Watchmen:

Here's a new international trailer, with a smidgen of new footage that wasn't in all the other trailers. In particular, kid Rorschach. [Thanks David!]

Dragonball Evolution:

Here are a couple of new stills, showing Goku in action, and Grandpa Gohan. [DBThemovie]

Lost:

Honolulu doubled for Russia, complete with fake snow, for a scene involving a black-clad Sayid leaving the offices of Oldham Pharmaceuticals. Sayid was hiding something inside his leather jacket. [Hawaii Weblog]

Dollhouse:

Okay, so you know that Joss Whedon's new show is about empty-brained people who can be hired to be anyone or anything you want. But what kind of person would want to hire an empty-brained puppet anyway? Joss says that's the whole question the show will answer, week after week:

”Who would want them to do this and why?” is sort of what keeps it interesting every week. Sometimes it’s somebody extraordinarily nefarious and sometimes it’s somebody very decent, but usually, it’s all the way in between. I mean, as long as nobody gets hurt, as long as the Actives are not harmed, everything’s good, everything is game. Some people would abuse that and some people need it.

Ultimately, you’ll find the one thing that every episode has in common is that Echo is the person you need at that point in your life to either turn your life around, to give you the moment you thought you’d never have, or to pull you out of a place you think you can’t get out of. Or to rob the bank. Whatever it is, she’s a kind of life coach, without even meaning to be. She’s always the perfect person for whatever it is you need.

Sometimes there will be B stories – we’ll always see the workings of the Dollhouse, but we’ll also see other Actives on other engagements, and sometimes they’ll just be B stories, sometimes they’ll cross over or sometimes they’ll just connect thematically.

[DWScifi]

Flash Forward:

Producer David S. Goyer explains the storyline of this new show, based on a Robert Sawyer novel:

The basic idea, without giving too much away — because not unlike Lost, ... it is a serialized show and there are a lot of sort of twists and turns — but in the pilot there is an event that happens, and everyone on the planet, 6 billion people, all black out at exactly the same time. And they black out for two minutes and 17 seconds. For the same duration, and wake up at the same time. And so initially there's tremendous amount of cataclysm—people that are driving cars and flying planes, things like that. But what you learn in the pilot is it's not just that they blacked out. The consciousness of the human race actually jumped forward five months for those two minutes. So if five months from now, the two of us were going to be having this conversation, you and I would both remember those two minutes of the conversation. It's a consistent future.

[Sci Fi Wire]

Heroes:

Will there be melodrama in Monday's midseason finale? (Does cake have frosting?) See for yourself. [HeroesTelevision]

Plus here are some interviews and behind the scenes footage, explaining what happens with Mohinder on Monday, plus how Monday's episode leads into the "Fugitives" arc. (Did you know that Sendhil Ramamurthy has an American accent? I wish he could talk like this on the show.)

Also, the BBC had a segment showcasing two sets from the "Fugitives" arc, the Harbor Watch Shop and a Tokyo street scene. Sounds like Sylar gets in touch with his watchmaker roots, and maybe Hiro visits a red light district? Here are some screencaps. [Heroes Spoilers]

Supernatural:

The producers do want to bring back Anna the angel at some point, although it's not clear when right now. After all, there's an obvious appeal to having Dean dating a disgruntled angel while Sam dates a reformed devil. [E! Online]

Chuck:

Here's a new promo for Monday's episode:

The Survivors:

Former government minister Samantha Willis, who ends up running a commune of survivors, has to cling to the idea that society can be rebuilt, says actor Nikki Amuka-Bird:

I think it becomes her reason for living. She's lost her family; she's lost everything. If something like that happened to you, you'd think "Why me? Why am I the last one standing? Why am I alive?" Her purpose becomes to be of some use, and to help others. She takes the responsibility of making whatever decisions she can to build the future.

[Total Sci Fi]

Star Wars: Clone Wars:

Here's another cool pic from tonight's episode, "Lair Of Grievous". [Warner Bros.]

True Blood:

Here's what happens next season, according to producer Alan Ball:

Jason goes into the Fellowship of the Sun church in a big way and is surprised by what he finds there. There’s a new creature in town that is unlike any other. Nobody knows what this creature is, I’m not sure if it will be entirely explained in the show — it’s not a werewolf. There are new romances for Tara, Jason and Sara. Bill and Sookie have a lot of issues to sort out — including having made a new teenage vampire that’s living in their house. Bill and Sookie also go to Dallas to find one of their own who has gone missing.

[True-Blood]

Kyle XY:

Here's a whole slew of pics from season three, showcasing that Kyle/Jessi team-up and their daring rescue of Amanda. [SpoilerTV]

The Day The Earth Stood Still:

When all seems lost, an unusually serious John Cleese shows up to talk to Klaatu in this movie remake. And, according to director Scott Derrickson, Cleese tells Klaatu that "it is human nature for us to destroy each other. But it is also human nature to have to get into those really difficult messes before there is enough motivation and enough admission of the truth to make the significant changes that are necessary for us to evolve." [Discover Magazine]

Dragonball:

Emmy Rossum says the movie's big Goku/Piccolo fight is awesome. And her character is an intellectual scientist who rides a motorcycle and fights using martial arts. [DBTheMovie]

Transformers: Revenge Of Fallen:

Tyrese Gibson shoots down rumors that his character dies in the new movie, because "I am too sexy to die." [TransformersLive]

Another day, another toy spoiler. This time, it's the toy that supposedly shows how Laserbeak will look in the new movie. Laserbeak!! More pics at link. [TFW2005]

Push:

Here's a new international trailer for this Hong Kong superteen movie, that includes a bit more telekinetic fighty action.

Doctor Who:

The official site has been updated with a game that unlocks some new pics from "The Next Doctor," and a script excerpt featuring a sinister figure turning up at a funeral. [Planet Gallifrey]

Meanwhile, what's the deal with the "Other Doctor"? David Morrisey sort of doesn't explain. Except more hints that his Doctor has "major issues." [SpoilerTV]

Flash Forward:

A new casting call gives a couple of plot hints for this David S. Goyer/Brannon Braga show where everyone in the world blacks out for 2 minutes and has a vision of the future. (Based on the Robert Sawyer novel.)

A sassy British agent, Agent Banks, is having a meeting with Gough about a case, Gough's vision of the future. Gough contacts her, and she confirms that she shared the same vision in every particular. Meanwhile, a South African woman, Kathleen DeVries, calls Dominic (John Cho) to warn him of his appearance in her own disastrous future vision. [SpoilerTV]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

That Navy sub episode we mentioned includes a pair of identitical twins playing Navy sailors. It's hinted that there may be identical models of Terminator infiltrating the U.S. military. (Why would that be useful? More likely, it's the real human and the cyborg replacing her, which the show's already done a few times.) [E! Online]

Star Wars: Clone Wars:

Here's a promo pic from Friday night's episode, where Jedi Master Kit Fisto explores the "Lair Of Grievous," along with his former Padawan, who's tempted to go to the dark side. The clips on the Clone Wars movie DVD made me pretty excited about this one. [Warner Bros.]

Stargate Universe:

The first episode of this youngsters-trapped-in-space spinoff is called "Air," and it introduces the young team and gets them aboard the Ancient ship Destiny, which was sent out aeons ago to explore worlds that another ship had previously seeded with Stargates. [GateWorld]

Smallville:

New casting sides reveal plot details for 8x17, "Hex." Oliver meets Cassie, a witch who has lots of pictures of him. She needs Ollie to steal something for her — an item which Lex Luthor collected before he disappeared. (Sounds like she's Zatanna? She talks about her dead magician father.) Cassie offers to bring Ollie's dead parents back, and he tells her the object is too dangerous for her to possess. [SpoilerTV]

Heroes:

Daphne isn't on that plane that crashes during the "Fugitives" arc, killing a bunch of people. Instead, she's looking for our heroes, including her true love Matt Parkman. And the people chasing the heroes are being paid by the government. [E! Online]

Meanwhile, it's still true that a perky blonde heroine (involved in a hot romance) appears to die, but it's all a coverup. And Peter will get his abilities back within a few episodes. And in "Fugitives," we'll learn that Nathan and Tracy's main objective isn't just to create supersoldiers, it's more to do with command and control issues. Having soldiers at Guantanamo Bay who can literally see through people could turn out to be very useful. [E! Online again]

Chuck:

In an upcoming episode, Morgan passes off the task of hiring a new coworker to Jeff and Lester, who trick some Sports Illustrated models into thinking they're actually trying to hire a cover girl for the Buy More catalog. And when the girls find out they've been had, they take it out on Chuck, smacking him across the face. In that same episode, Morgan has to disrobe right after the aforementioned models, which is not a good comparison. And he drags his feet on moving in with Anna. And here's video. [E! Online]
 
 
Supernatural:

Dean plays chess with the Grim Reaper in the upcoming "Death Takes A Holiday." [E! Online]

The Survivors:

In an upcoming episode, according to star Julie Graham, "we come across a group of travellers and one of the women is pregnant. She lost her children to the virus but is expecting again. We had these beautiful twin boys on set taking turns to play the newborn son." [People.Co.UK]

Knight Rider:

What's in store for the last batch of episodes of this chatty car show? Admit it, you're curious. Star Jason Bruening has some hints about the appearance of KARR and the non-appearance of most of the show's supporting cast. [Knight Rider Online]

Additional reporting by Katharine Duckett.

Terminator Salvation:

The speculation continues over Arnold Schwarzenegger's possible role in T4 continues. Director McG supposedly told reporters that the Governator showed up on the lot to film a cameo in the movie, but technology still might keep him out of it. "We’re trying to synthesise a human character with a CGI character and that may or may not have something to do with the T800," said McG. "At the moment it’s not good enough,” he added. “And we’re running out of time.” [TotalFilm via Cinemablend]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

More toy spoilers! Two more images of what may be the official toy of Soundwave (although one site is saying Shockwave) from Transformers 2. Plus an image that someone at TFW2005 cleaned up and improved. [TFW2005 and TransformersLive]

Star Trek:

Star Trek will be "sexed up for a new generation," says Kirk actor Chris Pine. He gets busy with a green Orion girl (Rachel Nichols) in one of the movie's two big love scenes. And that scene where Uhura takes her top off will become "mucho famous." (I think it already did.) [E! Online]

Astro Boy:

Here's a new still from the CG Astro Boy movie. Bigger version at the link. [Cinematical]

The Spirit:

The German trailer includes a bit more footage, and somehow it all sounds cooler in German anyway.

2012:

In Roland Emmerich's latest disaster movie, Amanda Peet plays the ex-wife of John Cusack's character, who has recently married a super-rich dude. And her family is among the people who don't actually know the world is going to end. Some people, including government and military people, do know about the impending end. But Peet is "a civillian." [Sci Fi Wire]

Lost:

Last night, a new music video aired during Grey's Anatomy, which included some new footage from Lost season five. Action Hurley!

Plus apparently there's a bit of an easter egg in there: a logo for the fictional Aijra Airlines. [The ODI]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Here are a couple of clips from Monday's episode. Also, the last two episodes of the year are "Alpine Fields" and "Earthlings Welcome Here." [Sarah Connor Society]

Heroes:

Here are a few pics of Seth Green and Breckin Meyer from their upcoming comic-store dudes guest spot. Plus there are a couple of pics of Hiro's mom, Ishii Nakamura, from episode 12, "Our Father." [SpoilerTV]

Life On Mars:

That was a weird cliffhanger last night, huh? I'll have a recap up later. But for now, producers say that we'll eventually learn the truth of why Sam has been seeing the Mars Rover (although he hasn't lately) and the reasons behind the Rover's appearance will open up "a whole new universe." [Sci Fi Wire]

The Survivors:

Tom Price, the ex-convict played by Max Beesley, is dark and mysterious, but also psychopathic, says Beesley. He's attracted to Dr. Anya Raczynski (Zoe Tapper) but doesn't know how to deal with women because he's been in prison for the past eight years. Plus Tom is a control freak and he loses control of his emotions with Anya. [Daily Mail]

Stargate Atlantis:

In this Friday's episode, "Brain Storm," McKay's old rival Malcolm Tunney claims to have the cure for global warming. But unfortunately, a top-secret demonstration of Tunney's device creates a life-threatening situation. [Gateworld]

Additional reporting by Katharine Duckett.

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

Does Isabel Lucas play a robot in disguise in the new movie, with an evil tongue? She doesn't say, in a new interview. She does say, however, that she doesn't do a lot of stunts in the film. But the stunts which she does perform involve being put in a harness and lifted over the rooftops. Also, there's a pic of her getting out of Bumblebee. [IESB]

Star Trek:

Director J.J. Abrams sat down with Empire Magazine and commented on some screencaps from that new trailer. (Roughly the same screencaps we analyzed the other day.) Kid Kirk driving a Corvette off the cliff is the actual start of the movie, and J.J. wanted a beginning that felt "different and sort of grounded," and didn't scream Trek. And then the futuristic cop suddenly drags us into the future. Some sequences happen in Iowa, some in San Francisco.

Nero kills both of Kirk's parents, who are serving aboard the U.S.S. Kelvin. The young Kirk is aimless and full of squandered potential, because he doesn't know how to use his power. The movie is the story of how he becomes the guy we expect to see. Despite the fact that there's a lot of urgency in the film and not a lot of time for sexing up, Kirk is very single-minded in his pursuit of nookie. Meanwhile, Kirk and Spock have "a rocky beginning and a lot of conflict."

Meanwhile, that now-famous bit where Uhura takes her top off? In that scene, Kirk is hiding in her room watching her undress, and she "quickly realizes he's there." (How on Earth do Kirk and Uhura have a professional relationship after this?) And it sounds as though the shot of Kirk looking under a woman's bed is Uhura's room as well. Kirk is in his underwear at this point.

Sulu fences the Romulans with "an extendable pocket katana."

Nero, the villain, was being held in a Klingon prison, so those are Klingon guards under their funny masks and purple leather trenchcoats. His weird shadowy vessel manages to take down 47 Klingon warbirds single-handed.

You wouldn't be surprised to learn that the weird red snow monster that Kirk fights was designed by Neville Page, who designed the Cloverfield monster. It's one of two great monsters in the film.

As you might have gleaned, the Enterprise arrives at Vulcan and then gets ambushed by Nero, and engages Nero's ship in battle. (Abrams says people might expect Trek to be low-energy, so he wants to prove them wrong with the fighty shooty.) And then Nero drops a "red matter bomb" into the core of Vulcan, which builds a singularity inside the planet. And that's when Spock evacs his parents, while Kirk, Sulu and the redshirt Olsen freefall towards the drilling platform burrowing into the planet.

Final thought: "This is a treatment of Star Trek with action and comedy and romance and adventure, as opposed to a rather talky geekfest." [Empire]

Doctor Who:

John Simm, who rules my world the more of the UK Life On Mars I watch, put a stop to rumors that he could take over as the Doctor, but hinted that he might be back otherwise. "I'm the Master. Simple as that. I don't want to be Doctor Who. I might be the Master again... I'm not allowed to say." [PlanetGallifrey]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Here's a new featurette called "Girl Power," in which Summer Glau reveals that her nice Terminator character will never be the same after that car bomb, and we'll get more moments where we're not sure if Cameron can feel something or not. Plus Brian Austin Green did an interview on Good Day L.A., including a new clip from Monday's episode. [Sarah Connor Society]

Heroes:

Here are a whopping six clips from Monday's episode, plus some behind-the-scenes footage crammed with Seth Green goodness. Whopping! And a spoilery new Canadian trailer. [Heroes Television and Heroes Television]

Also on Monday, Seth Green plays Sam, proprietor of Sam's Comics in Lawrence, KS. Breckin Meyer is Frack, Sam's most loyal customer. Hiro and Ando come into the store looking for Daphne. (Although didn't they already go there this week, looking for education?) Sam and Frak flip out, because Hiro is the protagonist of 9th Wonders!, that comic book. And comics by several Heroes writers make cameo appearances. Sam's Comics is a chain with multiple locations, so we'll see another location next spring. And Green and Breckin may reappear. [TV Guide via SpoilerTV]

The show's producers answered your questions: The "Villains" arc ends with buildings blowing up, but won't necessarily end in a clear-cut victory by the heroes. We haven't seen the last of Usutu the Austrafrican aborigine.

By falling out the window when he did and distracting Claire from going inside the Pinehearst building, Peter either "averted or delayed" the evil future where Claire goes to work for Pinehearst. We'll find out if Adam has any descendants, but not this season.

If Arthur dies, the people whose powers he's stolen don't get their powers back — so it won't be that easy for Peter to recover his. In episode 12, "Our Father," someone will restore someone's lost memories by healing them. (Claire's blood, maybe?)

Doyle, the puppeteer guy, will turn up in episode 13, "War," and also make an appearance at one point during next spring's "Fugitives" arc. [Comic Book Resources]

Fringe:

Joshua Jackson did a couple of TV interviews, and revealed that the Observer's name is September. (Or is that just an internal codename on the show?) [FringeTelevision]

Jackson also tells E! Online that Peter does have a relationship with Olivia: "We work together. Romantic? Not so much." [E! Online]

Supernatural:

EW's Michael Ausiello got hold of this image from tonight's new episode. [EW]

Smallville:

Erica Durance says Lois is sensitive to the fact that Lana is Clark's first love, and she's very important to him. Lois is a fighter, but she knows sometimes you have to be patient. And you know that Lois and Clark will wind up together, so the "joy" is seeing how they get there. [TV Guide]

The Survivors:

In the remake of the classic 1970s plague series, the virus becomes more a part of the ongoing storyline. Instead of just setting up the plot and then vanishing, the virus keeps being an important part of the story, says producer Adrian Hodges. The new version will explore the reasons for the virus and what it means, as it goes along. We might even learn who was behind the plague, especially if the show gets a second season. [Sci Fi Wire]

Chuck:

Here's the official synopsis for "Chuck Vs. Santa Claus," the Christmas episode:

Christmas Eve does not go as planned when an amateur criminal on the run from the police crashes into the Buy More and takes Chuck (Zachary Levi), Ellie (Sarah Lancaster), Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) and the rest of the Buy More gang hostage. In order to protect Chuck’s cover and the safety of the other hostages, Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) and Casey (Adam Baldwin) secretly go in to the store to remove Chuck, but the mission quickly falls apart when Chuck refuses to leave his friends and family behind.

(We reviewed a huge chunk of this episode's script here.) [SpoilerTV]

And here's a new promo for Monday's episode:

Pushing Daisies:

Here are some stills from episode 2.09, "Candle On The Water." [SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Katharine Duckett.

And yes, before anyone else jumps in and says it, I'm aware that we do stretch the definition of "spoilers" a bit here at MS as well on occasion. But we have never stooped to wig spoilers.

Watchmen:

Director Zack Snyder won't exactly give away what replaces the infamous squid in the end of the movie, but he says:

No-one knows yet what we've done but we hope it's similar in philosophy to the ending of the graphic novel. I mean the end is all about taking a superhero all the way - you know it's the bad guy who is the one who wants world peace. It's a moral dilemma for all the characters involved.

And original artist Dave Gibbons says the moral dilemma remains intact. (As far as I know, the new ending is the one where Ozymandias' alternative energy project turns out to be a scheme to create nuclear explosions with the same "energy signature" as Dr. Manhattan, thus framing the blue guy.)

Meanwhile, Snyder says the DVD will include the full Behind The Mask documentary, apparently shot in 1985 but including a show from 1972 where the heroes appear and a comedian tells them to fuck off. [IGN]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

Here's a slightly less blurry image of the Soundwave toy, showing how the Decepticon will look in the new movie. Also, it's looking more likely that this is genuine. Bigger version at the link. [TFW2005]

The Day The Earth Stood Still:

The MTV special did include some good stuff, though, such as this new trailer for the Keanu Reeves remake. A bit more Gort action and crazy destruction, and a teeny bit more insight into the reasons why Klaatu has been sent to wipe us out.

The Spirit:

Here's a new TV spot for Frank Miller's movie of Will Eisner's classic comics series. Will The Spirit be Christmassy? Judge for yourself. Also, apparently, someone thinks the Spirit is a menace. [ScreenRant]

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button:

A new TV spot shows more of Brad Pitt's backwards-aging character as a cranky kid who looks like an old guy.

Dollhouse:

Creator Joss Whedon explains his new show's premise and why, in spite of all that mind-wiping, it will never be a "reset button" show. [TheWriteEnvironment]

Lost:

Season five will be "more science fiction-y" and season six will be "fucking crazy," say producers Lindelof and Cuse. The show's ending will answer all of the major questions about the island, but if you've fixated on some minor mystery, it may or may not get resolved in the end. There will be an upcoming episode focusing on "the oft-confused Steve and Scott," and they're involved in a very tragic event. We'll never "meet" the DeGroots, but we are going to "see" them. And the producers' favorite moment from the show's final episode supposedly involves a volcano — but they may have been kidding about that. [Spoilers Lost]

Someone in Hawaii witnessed the filming of an upcoming Lost episode with a submarine in it. [The Hart Family Hawaii Chronicles]

Also, the show is looking for actors who are fluent in Tagalog (the main language of the Philippines) to dub some dialogue for an already-recorded episode. English accents a plus. And meanwhile, a new promo showing before Quantum Of Solace in some theaters includes a few new clips: Desmond and Penny are in bed, and Desmond gets up to Penny's dismay. Jack is in a tuxedo and says "Let's get them back." And Locke falls from a tree or some other high object. [Spoilers Lost]

Heroes:

Here are some set pics from the "Fugitives" arc, probably the same one that has commando Sylar. Looks like Mohinder is back to "normal," and he and his co-dad Matt have patched things up. Are they helping to hunt down the fugitives, or are they on the run? Either way, I welcome the return of the Matthinder bromance. [Heroes Spoilers]

Also, those pics from last week, showing Sylar in swat gear carrying a young guy with a Darth Vader thing on his chest? Seems like the young guy is David, the angsty new teen character, who is rumored to be Sylar's new apprentice. [SuperHiro]

Plus here's Masi Oka talking about the new season on the Today Show, including a 30 second clip from tonight or next week, when the amnesiac Hiro tries to remember how to teleport.

The reason the villain of that Haitian storyline is named Samedi is because he's very powerful, in the context of the story. Samedi does have some "abilities" to manipulate and control, but they're not exactly "superpowers." Meanwhile, Nathan and Peter have a bit of "dischord" in the Haitian jungle, until it comes to a head just as they find what they need to find. They run through the jungle being chased by soldier guys. [E! Online]

Chuck:

Someone is going to try and kill Sarah — and you'll never believe who's holding the gun. Or maybe you will, I dunno. [E! Online]

Here's the official description of the Dec. 8 episode, "Chuck vs. the Delorean":

Chuck (Zachary Levi) spies on Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) and sees her on a date with an older man (guest star Gary Cole). Chuck frantically tries to warn Sarah after he has an Intersect flash, but she assures Chuck that she is not in danger and reveals the identity of the mystery man. Meanwhile, Anna (Julia Ling) wants to move into an apartment with Morgan (Joshua Gomez) forcing him to finally act like an adult. Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) offers to help Morgan pay for the apartment, but a relic from the past causes Morgan to lose focus on his new grown-up responsibilities.

[SpoilerTV]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

It sounds as though Riley doesn't find out about the whole robots-from-the-future thing any time soon, judging from this interview with Leven Rambin. Also, says Leven, "She's just a regular person. Not a Terminator." (Side note: Apparently Leven is recording music with George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic. I cannot picture this.) [Crave]

And here are some pics from the Nov. 24 episode, "Strange Things Happen At The One-Two Point." Sarah and Cameron try to impress members of a start-up company, where they're pretending to be investors. (I think most start-up companies would be falling all over themselves to impress potential investors at this point.) [Fox]

Fringe:

In upcoming episodes, the show will have more of a "rogue" feel to it, as the crew goes "off the books" to work their cases. The storyline about Olivia and Agent Scott will play out by mid-season, and Olivia's issues will revolve more around her stepfather. With her stepdad in mind, she'll be leaping before she looks more often. "Her drive and her intensity is going to increase," says J.J. Abrams. The characters we met last week, including the parasite-ridden agent and the German guy, will figure into future episodes. Also, we'll learn why Nina took Scott's body, and what weird connection Broyles has to Nina. [USA Today]

And here's what happens in the Dec. 2 episode, "Safe":

While investigating a series of bank robberies, Olivia, Walter and Peter are shocked to find one of the suspects inexplicably trapped inside a vault wall as if it solidified around him. Walter realizes that the high-tech thieves have figured out a way to defy the law of physics and that, much to his dismay, the crooks are after something of his. As the ongoing investigation unfolds and the mystery deepens, the perilous situation climaxes when a member of the trio is ambushed.

[SpoilerTV]

That Dec. 2 episode features some great moments of Walter being inappropriate, says actor John Noble. And in this week's episode, when he goes back inside the institution, it's a very fearful Walter who comes back out. The ensemble will start to gel, and in the first episode of 2009, we'll see the cast bond a bit more and act more like people who've known each other for a while. At some point in the future, we'll see Walter and Olivia coming together, in a father-daughter way. (I think.) [FringeFanatic]

Eleventh Hour:

Does Jacob Hood discover illicit experiments in this show's Dec. 4 episode, "The Titans"? Yes. Yes he does.

Hood travels to Oklahoma to investigate why some college students are dying of the bends, a condition normally associated with scuba divers, and discovers an enormous medical cover-up on campus.

[SpoilerTV]

The Survivors:

In the remake of the classic plague show, Abby is a wife and mother whose kid has just recovered from leukemia, and she fusses over him. She and her husband go off on vacation leaving their kid at a camp, and when they come back, the plague breaks out. She panics, because people are dropping like flies and there are long lines for petrol and other supplies. Once most people are dead, Abby goes looking for her son, who she thinks may be alive. Along the way, Abby becomes a bit of a leader. Also, don't assume the plot is just like the original series. [DigitalSpy via SurvivorsBBC]

Meanwhile, Max Beesley plays Tom:

A lifer given a chance of freedom when his prison guards all die from the virus, we first meet Tom looking in distaste as his plague-victim cell-mate gasps his last. In the scene I'm watching being filmed, Beesley's character is being hit in the small of the back with a rifle by a member of a rival gang. This is the version of the future as violent and feral, competed over by warring tribes.

And Nikki Amuka-Bird plays the last government official left alive, a junior health minister in charge of responding to the crisis. In a shocking twist, one of the major characters from the original series, who survives all the way through, dies in the first 20 minutes of the remake. [The Independent]

And here's what happens in the series' fourth episode:

Abby learns of a group of young boys living at a nearby mansion called Waterhouse.... She is determined to see if Peter is there, and leaves her new friends in order to find her son.

When she arrives at Waterhouse, she walks into the middle of a land dispute between Jimmy Garland, an ex-Army officer who has an ancestral claim to the mansion, and an aggressive group of teenage boys who have taken up residence there.

When Jimmy is injured in a skirmish, Abby nurses him and the two quickly become close. Despite her growing loyalty to Jimmy, Abby must find out if Peter is at the house. She must earn the boys' trust and convince them that a truce with Jimmy would be beneficial for both sides.

In Abby's absence, her surrogate family is in danger of falling apart. Tom, Sarah, Al and Najid are drawn to the comfort and security that Samantha's community provides. Tom settles into his new surroundings quickly and starts to see himself in a position of power in the new society that Samantha hopes to build. Things quickly go wrong for Al, however, as he is ejected from the community when Samantha decides he will not fit in. Tom sees the chance to prove himself to Samantha, but will his criminal past catch up with him?

Greg and Anya, meanwhile, are left to protect the survivors' house alone, and an encounter with some unwelcome visitors provides a vivid reminder of how vulnerable they are without the group.

And then in the fifth episode:

When a so-called spiritual leader called John turns up at the survivors' home with his group of followers, some in the house are suspicious of his motives...

Charming and eloquent, John is a preacher with a unique perspective on the new world, but the family's opinion of him is split. Some find comfort in his message, while others are deeply distrusting of his motives.

Linda, a woman in John's group, is pregnant, and Abby allows her to stay until the baby is born. Anya fears that she will be forced to reveal the fact that she is a doctor if there are any problems with the birth. Worse than that, she picks up on some unusual remarks made by John, which make her concerned for the group's safety.

Al is much more positive about John's group. He spots a pretty woman called Louise and uses his charm to seduce her. He is feeling much more like his old self – until he realises that Louise isn't as innocent as she seems.

Meanwhile, Anya's fears are realised when Linda experiences complications and John's serene façade starts to crumble.

As the situation reaches crisis point, Anya is forced to confront some harrowing truths about her own past, putting her relationship with Tom on a new footing. Abby and the others also realise that, through a misguided act of kindness, they have put themselves in terrible jeopardy.

[BBC and BBC via SurvivorsBBC]

Additional reporting by Katharine Duckett.

In the original 1970s verison of The Survivors, a plague wipes out 98 percent of the world's population over a period of a few weeks. The few humans who are immune are faced with the challenge of maintaining some semblance of civilization when all of the factories, power plants and other aspects of modern infrastructure have collapsed. A very bleak and slow-paced show, the original Survivors probably wouldn't go over that well with present-day audiences.

The new version, written and produced by Primeval creator Adrian Hodges, will run for just six episodes, including a 90 minute pilot. Unlike the pretty homogenous original, the new version will be much more diverse, including Muslim and lesbian characters. Here's a breakdown of the characters from the new series, and how they compare with the original. The new version also sounds like it'll have a pretty soap-operatic storyline, with more explicit sexuality. I can't find a plot synopsis for episode one, but here's what happens in episode two, according to the BBC:

Abby and her new friends find a house to shelter in and set about gathering the essential supplies they need to stay alive, as Adrian Hodges's new drama, a re-imagining of the classic Seventies BBC drama series, based on the novel by Terry Nation, continues.

When they visit a local supermarket they are confronted by Dexter, the leader of an armed gang which has laid claim to the contents of the store. Abby is shocked by how quickly people have resorted to selfishness and violence. As Dexter's gang leaves, Abby sees a face she thinks she recognises, a teacher who took her son to hospital before the worst of the virus hit. The gang is gone before she can speak to him.

Abby can't forget about the teacher. She takes Tom with her and goes back to the supermarket in the hope that Dexter's gang will return. Dexter soon arrives but he has no interest in helping Abby. Instead, he gives them a chilling final warning to stay away.

Greg, meanwhile, goes in search of the main supermarket warehouse. When he gets there, he finds Bob Murphy and Sarah Boyer, who had planned to use the contents of the warehouse to start a trading business. Their plans are halted, however, when Bob is severely injured in an accident.

Greg is able to stabilise Bob's condition and agrees to stay the night to keep an eye on him. Once Sarah is alone with Greg she tries to seduce him. She needs a man who can protect her and do the heavy work. Greg can see that Sarah wants to use him, but he still finds it hard to resist a beautiful young girl throwing herself at him...

I'm a little alarmed by the "beautiful woman turns into a slut in order to get a man to protect her" subplot, but maybe it'll be more subtle than it sounds. In any case, not sure that would actually work in practice, as a survival strategy. Luckily, the third episode has a more Thatcher-esque female character, who was a man (played by George Baker) in the original series:

Abby stumbles across a community that could hold the key to everyone’s future, as Adrian Hodges’s re-imagining of the classic Seventies BBC drama series, based on the novel by Terry Nation, continues.

The group is led by Samantha Willis – the last surviving member of the Government. She has set up a community that still boasts light, hot water, food and power, all drawn from sustainable sources. Abby and Samantha hit it off immediately and Abby is full of hope that Samantha might lead the remaining population to build a new and better society. Samantha sees that Abby could become a trusted ally, but Abby’s illusions are shattered when she sees the lengths Samantha will go to in order to maintain control of her fledgling community.

Meanwhile, Greg and Tom are out searching for supplies when they encounter a family stranded on an isolated farm. The father has successfully sheltered his children from the virus by keeping them imprisoned in their own home. When the daughter of the family reaches out to Tom and Greg to set her free, they are faced with a terrible dilemma – any contact with them could kill the family.

Early reports say the show has (not surprisingly) a very 28 Days Later vibe, and it also sounds very Blindness-esque, what with the people trying to take over a grocery store and create their own power base. In any case, I'm always down for a painfully psychotic look at a ruined future society descending into barbarism and fascism. Sign me up! And here's a fansite with more info: [SurvivorsBBCTV]

Actually, the nice thing about the mid-1970s version of The Survivors (created by Doctor Who writer Terry Nation) was the fact that it was slow and talky, with lots of speeches about what happens after most of the human race is dead due to a mystery plague. A post-apocalyptic world probably would be quite boring, punctuated with bits of terror or rage. There would be an awful lot of repetitive processing of what had happened and what we do now, and nobody would be in the mood to talk about sex, except in the sense of carrying on the species.

But that kind of show probably wouldn't fly today, and the new version will probably be more watchable. This quote from writer-producer Adrian Hodges is promising anyway:

Survivors is about what it means to be human. It asks questions about our nature and confronts us with our deepest fears. When everything else is stripped away, would we band together and find the best in ourselves, or would we fall apart and retreat into barbarism and savagery?

He's describing, pretty much, the perfect formula for post-apocalyptic stories right there.

The main character of The Survivors, Abby Grant, doesn't sound too different from the original version, except that now she's the gorgeous Julie Graham. She's still a bored housewife, but she's no longer rich. She lets her son Peter go on an adventure holiday, and it sounds as though he goes missing. Instead of dying off early on, it looks like her husband David will be a recurring character. (And in the original series, Abby vanishes after the first season. Wondering if that will happen here as well.)

Most of the other characters, however, seem completely new, like handsome playboy Al Sadiq (Philip Rhys), who's stuck being an inadequate single dad to his kid Najid. (I think in the original, there were two kids, John and Lizzie, but they were both orphans.)

And then there's the lesbian doctor, Anya Raczynski (Zoe Tapper), whose girlfriend is stricken by the plague. Doctor Who's Freema Agyeman plays a schoolteacher who risks everything to save the life of her dying housemate Patricia. And Nikki Amuka-Bird (who played an alien sleeper agent on Torchwood) plays a government minister trying to staunch panic at the disaster. Finally, awesome character actor Max Beesley is a ruthless convict who is stuck in his cell as everybody else dies around him.

Actually, it sounds quite promising. I'm down for a bit of post-apocalyptic soap opera.

[Digital Spy and DenOfGeek]

The alien visitor from a doomed world:

The most famous refugee in science fiction is probably Superman, who gets sent to safety when his home planet Krypton is destroyed. It's no coincidence that Superman is also the posterboy for assimilation — his "real" family is the Kents of Kansas, and he thinks of himself as an American. He gets to live the refugee's dream, being totally accepted into a prosperous new world — plus he's physically and mentally superior to everyone else around him, which is a plus. He's the embodiment of the melting pot, even as he has the power to melt you. (And of course, his creators Siegel & Schuster were the sons of poor Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, mainly Lithuania and Ukraine.)

Doctor Who, meanwhile, has the same alien-world story as Superman, but without the assimilation. The Doctor, in the early episodes from 1963, drops hints about being on the run and in hiding, but doesn't explain further. The show's creators had a vague sense, originally, that he was fleeing a space war. But by the time it's explained in 1969, the explanation is much more benign: the Doctor's species are dicks. (No, not Terrance Dicks. Just dicks.) It's not until the show's 42nd birthday that we get back to the idea that he's fleeing a space war (upgraded to a time war.) And his planet has been destroyed, just like Superman's. But like I mentioned, he doesn't assimilate with Earth/British culture — even though he constantly takes on weird British affectations like jelly babies or cricket, they only make him seem like more of an outsider. He's like those Indian immigrants in the TV show Goodness Gracious Me, who anglicize their names and try to be more British than everyone else, only to look more out of place than ever. In many ways, the Doctor is the anti-Superman.

The protagonist who's fleeing war or genocide:

There are also tons of characters who flee a doomed or destroyed Earth, including Arthur Dent in the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series. And John Varley's novels frequently take place in a universe where humans have been forced to flee an Earth invaded by aliens, and have colonized the rest of the solar system as a result.

And then there's Hope Hubris, the hero of Piers Anthony's Bio Of A Space Tyrant series. As the first book's title, Refugee, suggests, Hubris starts out as a humble refugee from the moon Callisto, fleeing to Jupiter, where his family gets killed horribly. This starts him on his path towards becoming the "Tyrant of Jupiter."

The rag-tag fleet of humans:

And then there are plenty of stories in which a straggling mob of people flees from a disaster or massacre in space. Maybe the most critically acclaimed SF show right now — if not the most popular — is Battlestar Galactica, where the Cylons drive the humans out of their homeworld not once, but twice: on Caprica, and then on New Caprica. At the end of season three, Lee Adama makes a huge speech in which he says this has changed humanity from a civilization to a "gang," on the run and doing whatever it takes to survive.

Less organized rabbles also turn up, fleeing wars or political unrest, in books like C.J. Cherryh's Downbelow Station, where swarms of refugees pack into Pell Station in the wake of conflict between the Earth Company and outer stations. And a mob of refugees from a disaster that befalls the H9 colony swarms aboard a cruise ship, only to be exploited by the media, in Eric Idle's The Road To Mars. The TV show Babylon 5 is also full of refugee crises, like the people fleeing the Vorlon attack on Ventari III in "Falling Towards Apotheosis." (We also see a ship full of refugees under attack in the first regular episode, "Midnght On The Firing Line.")

Eco-refugees or disaster survivors on Earth:

Every eco-disaster narrative or post-apocalyptic story includes some kind of refugee motif, with people fleeing the destroyed cities or trying to find a safe haven. Like The Day After Tomorrow, The Postman, Waterworld, or Mad Max. Or Steven Gould's novel Blind Waves. The Martian attacks in War Of The Worlds spawn a huge fleet of refugee ships running away from the carnage. Islanders flee rising sea levels, only to drown or wind up in horrible refugee boat camps, in the 2002 young adult novel Exodus. And of course, there are tons of refugees from the collapsing nations of the world, seeking sanctuary in the U.K., in Children Of Men. Not to mention the Raft of refugees organized by telecommunications magnate L. Bob Rife in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.

One of the most arresting moments in the TV show Jericho is when our heroes find the remains of a refugee train a mile wide, made by people fleeing the frozen north. The refugees have left their icy dead where they lay. (Not to mention the whole gaggle of refugees who settle in Jericho, only to face expulsion again.)

Survivalists:

And the survivalist narrative is a huge part of science fiction. Robert Heinlein not only wrote the novel Farnham's Freehold, about people surviving a nuclear war, but according to the source of all lies, he also wrote "How To Be A Survivor" and other essays on surviving nuclear war. Frederik Pohl deals with similar themes in his story "Fermi And Frost." Also, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle write about a group of survivors barricading themselves into a mountain retreat after a deadly comet strike, in Lucifer's Hammer. Plus there's The Survivors, the TV show Terry Nation made between his work on Doctor Who and Blake's 7 (which is also a refugee show, sort of.)

And then there are the narratives about people going on the run from repressive regimes. Like Logan's Run, where Logan flees the non-stop beautiful-people orgy where they kill you when you reach 30, in search of the mythical Sanctuary. (And in the Logan's Run TV series, he's just on the run, every week, with a rogue android. In Roger McBride Allen's The Ring Of Charon, Marcia MacDougal can only escape from the repressive Naked Purple movement, which has taken over a lunar penal colony, by being declared a refugee when her house burns down.

Fleeing from the future:

And finally there are refugees in time — sort of like the Doctor, except they're fleeing a particular oppressive future through time travel. Just type "refugee from the future" into Google (with the quotation marks) and you get a bunch of weird stories — including various X-Men who have journeyed back to our time to escape one of those Mutants-in-concentration-camps dystopian futures.

I feel as though I've just scratched the surface of science fiction's nearly endless store of refugees here — this post could be twice as long. But these seem to be the main types of refugees in science fiction, and I was somewhat surprised by how many of them I turned up when I started looking.

History is full of mass evacuations and displacements, and we've gotten pretty used to the sight of streams of humans struggling across an unforgiving landscape with whatever they can carry, trying to escape from something or other. But it seems pretty likely the 21st century will see more refugee crises than ever before, as the number of humans on the planet continues to skyrocket and there are more ecological disasters and wars over scarce resources. There will be more and more refugees — possibly including you.

And science fiction is uniquely suited to tell the stories of these fleeing people, because the stark reality of the refugee condition is so awful, we need metaphors to cover it. It's easier to think about people running away from an exploding planet than it is to think about grabbing what you can and running from your home before you get ethnically cleansed. A dollop of escapism — or, in the case of Superman, a truckload — helps us swallow the unthinkable.

Note: The illustration up top comes from Wagner James Au's New World Notes blog, from a report about a virtual "Camp Darfur" in Second Life, which was being vandalized by asswipes spouting racist slogans. So a team of Green Lanterns, most of them extraterrestrial, took it upon themselves to guard the site.