10 A Massacre!

True Blood Season Four (mild spoilers)
Jessica Tuck, who plays American Vampire League spokesperson Nan Flanagan, is being promoted to a regular starring character in season four of True Blood, according to TV Guide. The site also has news of four more new female characters: The L Word’s Janina Gavankar will play Luna, a public school teacher and shapeshifter; Alexandra Breckenridge (Life Unexpected) will play Daisy, a member of a wiccan group led by Marnie (Fiona Shaw), a pretend psychic who develops powers after being taken over by the spirit of a witch; Vedette Lim (As the World Turns) will play Naomi, a formidable fighter who participates in underground cage matches for money.

Final Five Caprica Episode Will Be Aired Back To Back In The States
Syfy will air the five remaining episodes of Caprica back-to-back in one big block on 4 January, reports Entertainment Weekly. A “Save Caprica” campaign attempted to resurrect the show by sending the network over 650 pounds of apples to the network, but failed. Syfy has already greenlit a pilot for another Galactica spin-off, Blood & Chrome.

Hail St Mary’s
Solomon Kane director Michael J Bassett is set to write and direct a supernatural horror film called St Mary’s, set in an abandoned mental asylum, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It will feature people navigating the mazelike building, pursued by a supernatural force that causes them to live out their nightmares (hang on, is this a big screen version of The Crystal Maze?), Bassett is currently working on Silent Hill: Revelation 3D.

Full Moon Fever
Production company Gotham Group (The Spiderwick Chronicles) is developing a feature film based on an as-yet-unpublished werewolf novel, Red Moon, by Benjamin Percy, reports ShockTillYouDrop. The story is about long-persecuted Lycans who live amongst humans in an alternate history of our world post-9/11. The story kicks off when some exiled Lycans rise up, resulting in a “clash of civilisations”. Benjamin himself claims the novel is, “equal parts supernatural thriller, love story and political allegory… I’m taking a knife to post-9/11 xenophobic anxieties, much in the same way Singer did with X-Men.” He also expands on his were-mythology: “Lycans have always lived among us. They were massacred in the Crusades, WW2, westward expansionism. A republic was set up for them around the same time as Israel. There is an uneasy acceptance in the US – Lycans must be registered and must take a transformation-inhibiting drug called Lupex. Resistance movements have always existed, many of them peaceful, but at the novel’s opener a terrorist act – when a Lycan transforms mid-flight and slaughters everyone on board – results in a swift, severe government response that sets the narrative in motion and sends the country spiraling out of control.”

Original Buffy Weighs In
The first movie Buffy, Kritsy Swanson, has weighed in on the new Buffy movie debate… on the side of the new production team. “Let Buffy live. Why not?” she tells Entertainment Weekly. “If they wanted me to be a part of it, I think that would be fantastic and that it would be a blast.” Such touching loyalty shows why she may not have nabbed the role in the TV version. That, and she was rubbish.

@SethGreen My love @ClareGrant & I found the perfect couples costume this Halloween

Ah, Halloween. The day formerly known as Samhain was once a brief window of time when the boundary between our world and the next would become thin enough for spirits to pass through and slaughter anyone who didn’t disguise themselves in costume or a mask. Now, of course, it’s simply an opportunity for fancy dress stores to make a killing and an excuse for the rest of us to scare ourselves silly with Halloween-themed movie marathons. One thing was different this year though, as celebritydom’s whole-hearted embrace of Twitter meant we got a wider glimpse than ever of what some of our favourite stars got up to on All-Hallows-Eve.

Supernatural/Heroes actor Todd Stashwick revealed himself to be a closet Doctor Who fan and went up 5000% in our awesome book with his spot-on Eleventh Doctor costume (@ToddStashwick The Doctor is in! Happy Halloween http://twitpic.com/32snat). Moon director Duncan Jones made a surprisingly convincing walking corpse (@ManMadeMoon Ro’s makeup skills are pretty rad, I have to say. All this Halloweening has left me… shattered. http://twitpic.com/32sa62). Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley gave fans a treat with a glimpse at what Scott’s gay roommate Wallace Wells would be donning for Halloween (@radiomaru Because YOU demanded it, here’s a Halloween Wallace. See if you can guess his costume! http://flic.kr/p/8NZR7n). And Will Wheaton made a pumpkin more likely to give any young trick ’r treaters the giggles than the heebie jeebies (@wilw My jack-o-lantern is supposed to be Two Face. http://twitpic.com/32sngp).

But @NathanFillion officially won Halloween this year, narrowly pipping Seth Green to the crown (see above), with a costume so shiny we’re still squinting two days later. Behold: @NathanFillion My Halloween costume. http://yfrog.us/cbew5z

The SFX Twitter Stream

@Markgatiss I will be spending the evening dressed as the Devil, tracking down and slaughtering all those who keep asking why I left out Nosferatu…

@OldRoberts953 Just seen a little girl in a witch’s hat and a sonic screwdriver. I think she’s meant to be the Rani.

@mishacollins I’m in the UK. The Queen came to my hotel last night to “discuss policy.” It’s 7AM & I need Her out, but She’s so cute when She’s sleeping.

@neilgrayston Things I learned today: Ally McBeal makes @wilw very emotional, and @feliciaday has a huuuuge mustache fetish.

@mrmarkmillar What the Holy SHIT? I take the morning off and there’s a picture of Obama reading Superior #1? Worse, they’re saying it’s Spider-Man!! WTF??

@DAVID_A_SLADE Directing is a primate’s business. Any Monkey can direct. The question becomes, not if the monkey could, but is the monkey’s film any good?

@Jon_Favreau The great Guillermo del Toro stopped by editing today and got a sneak peek of some work in progress.

@Paul_Dini “The Dark Knight Rises.” If the villain does turn out to be Catwoman, I can hear the snickering already.

@edgarwright Answered the door in my t-shirt & underwear expecting it to be a delivery person. It was Kyle MacLachan. Was a magical moment for us both.

@RobertKirkman Shame Charlie Adlard couldn’t make it. National Holiday in the UK kept him from traveling. I think it was double decker bus day.

@daraobriain Wonderful news! My request for a zombie level on FIFA 11 is being passed up the levels at EA. And so the waiting game begins… (*pauses*)

@TimOfLegend New game idea: 30 levels of nothing but people quoting Arrested Development, while Psychonauts music shuffles in the background.

@DamonLindelof Just saw a pic of Yvonne Strahovski in Slave Leia attire. God Bless Halloween and God Bless CHUCK.

@dhewlett Never wanted to be a hobbit until I worked with WETA on Rise of The Apes! Now I know exactly how much fun I’m missing on damn LOTR movies!

And Finally… A fond farewell to Caprica from the cast, crew and one famous fan

@Esai_Morales Thank you all for taking the time to make Caprica part of your busy lives. I’m humbled and honored by your (cont) http://tl.gd/6nhdvj

@OfficialMagdaA Its a sad day today! thank u 4 ALL your guys’s Love! I will for ever cherish the time on Caprica and all ways be proud of it!! : )

@JaneEspenson Was working all day. Just heard the sad news about #Caprica. I hope everyone involved feels proud – amazing work and thanks to all!

@sasharoiz It was a wonderful experience that I will always cherish. I’ll miss Sam and the world we created. Thanks again for following and supporting.

@bearmccreary RIP Caprica. So frustrating that it’s cancelled right when the story arcs get really tight. Those last 6 eps are the best of the series.

@BambolaBambina Its a very sad day….time for mama cylon to go cry a river! Its ok I have you lil cylons to make me smile! #caprica

@simonpegg Sad to hear #Caprica got cancelled. Shows just aren’t given the opportunity to hit their frakking stride these days. “

Spotted outside SFX towers earlier this week. ZOMG!

Part-ay in the SFX Office! At least that’s what we’d be bellowing from the second storey windows of SFX Towers if we weren’t consummate pros, because earlier this week Editor-In-Chief Dave B said sayanora to the UK, albeit temporarily, for a trip to Nova Scotia where he’ll be attending HAL-CON 2010. If anyone out there manages to take a 3,500 mile detour and happens to be in that neck of the woods be sure to drop in, say hello and show your support as he takes to the stage to host a sci-fi quiz and introduce a screening of MST3K.

Seems Halloween isn’t the only thing to get excited about this week then as apparently this is also the Weekend where SFX gets all up in your face. Not only are we hitting up Canada but Jordan and Dave G will be taking a trip down to the Big Smoke for London Expo, where they’ll be manning the SFX stand, judging the latest round of Blastermind and spending time with the stars of Warehouse 13, Eureka and Haven. Well, in-between bouts of Dead Space 2 and Kirby’s Epic Yarn that is. Be sure to drop by the stand and give us a wave if you’re attending.

The latest classic Who books in Ian's collection

There was a sombre mood in the SFX Office this morning as the team woke up to the news that fantastic BSG spin-off Caprica would be disappearing from our screens after just one season. Cries of “Network fowl play!” echoed round the room as traumatic memories of Firefly’s premature cancellation came flooding back. Still, at least there’s Blood & Chrome to look forward to now, eh?

Russell’s been cranking into action for the next but one SFX special this week – though we can’t reveal what it is quite yet. He’s also in Jordan’s bad books after not giving How To Train Your Dragon five stars (or even four stars) in a review he’s written for next issue. Naughty Russell. Elsewhere Rich is on a mission to round up the month’s TV news for the little red columns in Red Alert, despite the fact that he’s reeling from Caprica’s axing. He hopes they at least get round to airing the remaining episodes.

For a sci-fi office, certain members of the team (*cough* RussellJonCatherine *cough*) don’t half talk about Masterchef a lot, we’re sure the surrounding marketing bods must think we had a radical change of remit in recent weeks. It’s got so bad the first thought on Russell’s mind about the news of Batman 3‘s new title, The Dark Knight Rises, was that ol’ Bat brain would be indulging in a spot of baking during his next big screen adventure. Jordan’s had just about enough and has taken to sticking his earphones in at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately he has the music so loud that the next fire alarm could quite easily end with his tragic incineration. Still, at least he wouldn’t have to hear another word about Masterchef again.

Edit (hello, Ian here): Yeah, who wants to hear about rubbish like Masterchef? The Apprentice, that’s what we should all be talking about… thank god that Melissa’s gone

Random quote of the week: “Life’s too short to watch films more than once.”

Whose Fruit? (Last week’s answer: they were Nick and Rich’s dragons – we’ll leave it up to you to decide which one “Porno” belongs to)

Just days after Syfy revealed that it’s working on the pilot for a new Battlestar Galactica spin-off, Blood And Chrome, the network has announced that it’s axing its other Galactica show, Caprica, after just one season.

“We appreciate all the support that fans have shown for Caprica and are very proud of the producers, cast, writers and the rest of the amazing team that has been committed to this fine series,” said a Syfy spokesperson Mark Stern. “Unfortunately, despite its obvious quality, Caprica has not been able to build the audience necessary to justify a second season.”

Caprica began airing in January this year, but after nine episodes went on an extended hiatus. It returned to the screens at the beginning of October, but Syfy is once again removing it from the schedules.

“The remaining first run episodes of Caprica will be removed from the schedule as of next Tuesday, November 2,” says Stern. “The final five episodes will be re-scheduled to air at a to be announced time in the first quarter of 2011, and will conclude the run of the series.”

@SethGreen Jar Jar gets adjusted on the set of Robot Chicken Star Wars 3

Regular readers of SFX Magazine will know every issue, tucked away in the top right-hand corner of the opening contents spread, there’s a list of the “Five Things We Learnt This Month”. Much more than your average headline, these five hand picked news nuggets are the kinds of things you would never know, or need to know but are guaranteed awesome.

Wade through the jibber-jabber and Twitter in this respect is like a never-ending stream of “Things We Learnt This Month”. Were you wondering what Martin Freeman signing up for The Hobbit would mean for Sherlock? All you needed to do was follow @Markgatiss (Huge congratulations to the brilliant Martin Freeman on becoming Bilbo Baggins! No change to #Sherlock schedule, I’m glad to say.) Warehouse 13 fan? You might like this tidbit from @allisonscag (#Warehouse13 writers room effectively back in business. Step one: call and wish them happy writing. Step two: send cupcakes).

Our favourite posts aren’t these fascinating factoids, however, but trivial tweets only the most obsessive of geek could possibly find interesting. Luckily that’s us. Did you know that Eureka showrunner Amy Berg is a Doctor Who fan? (@bergopolis I want a TARDIS bedspread… once under the covers, the bed becomes enormous!!) Or Edgar Wright’s taste in movie soundtrack? (@edgarwright I think the record for my most listened to soundtrack for a film I have barely watched once goes to ‘Vampyros Lesbos‘.) Or that… well, we think we’ll let Felicia Day explain this one: @feliciaday Craft service on Eureka today: cabbage rolls, broccoli, butter beans, chick peas… It’s like someone has a fart deathwish.) Unmissable.

The SFX Twitter Stream

@wilw Sitting in the front car of the sky train, looking out the forward window. I feel like I’m going into Black Mesa in Halflife.

@bonniegrrl Watching “Laser Mission” w/ Brandon Lee & Ernest Borgnine. It’s like “The Crow” but with a lot less makeup, in Cuba, with lasers! #badscifi

@DonCoscarelli Adapting a superb trans-genre 350 pg novel into a 100pg script. How? A paring knife or a chainsaw?? A little of both actually…

@SethMacFarlane Captain Janeway sounds a little like Cobra Commander.                                                                                                                      .

@ActuallyNPH Baby Pic! Here’s our son: Well, sort of. Not his face, but his diaper. His poo has changed both color AND texture: http://yfrog.com/b92ohcj

@JaneEspenson Syfy picking up BSG prequel “Blood and Chrome” is a very good thing! The parts of the franchise bolster each other.

@WilliamShatner Big Foot’s pumpkin look-alike: Sasquash. My best, Bill                                                                                               .

@steven_moffat Spending the day with the Doctor in the TARDIS, cos – well cos my heating’s broken down.                    .

@neilgrayston Thanks to all for the info regarding the shiv/shank concern. Me brandishing my shank aka shiv: http://yfrog.com/638nhj

@TheRealStanLee Some have suggested Dr. Doom’s Latveria for our new nation, but I couldn’t contact him– he was busy invading a few of his neighbors.

@lucasartsgames THAT is a cake http://yfrog.com/jbd73aj

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And Finally… Why we love @simonpegg (and also wish that David Tennant was on Twitter)

@simonpegg

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Me and David Tennant have got a timeshare on a parking space behind Budgens, Crouch End. We’ve never come to blows.

It’s a great system. If I pull up and the Tardis is there, I just beam my car inside and park it on the tennis court.

We also tend to shop at different times to avoid paradoxical physics. He generally shops in the mid seventies. Think he likes the E numbers.

Of course he still has his Tardis, they all do. You really aren’t thinking 4th dimensionally, are you?

Syfy has ordered a two-hour pilot for a possible new Battlestar Galactica prequel series featuring the young William Adama’s adventures during the first Cylon war.

Battlestar Galactica: Blood And Chrome takes place in the 10th year of the first Cylon war. As the battle between humans and their creation, a sentient robotic race, rages across the 12 colonial worlds, a brash rookie viper pilot enters the fray. Ensign William Adama, barely in his twenties and a recent Academy graduate, finds himself assigned to the newest battlestar in the Colonial fleet, the Galactica. The talented but hot-headed risk-taker soon finds himself leading a dangerous top secret mission that, if successful, will turn the tide of the decade long war in favor of the desperate fleet.

Battlestar Galactica executive producer David Eick is back on board, though Ron Moore, is not. Michael Taylor wrote the teleplay from a story by Eick, Taylor and Bradley Thompson & David Weddle.

“While maintaining the themes of politics, social propaganda, and the timeless question: what does it mean to be human? Blood & Chrome will also return us to the authentic, relentless depiction of combat and the agony and ecstasy of human-Cylon war, which was the hallmark of Battlestar Galactica‘s early seasons,” said David Eick.

Or, in other words, there aren’t enough spaceships and battles in Caprica…

A couple of months back we sparked off a bit of controversy when the random quote Jordan decided to use in “From The SFX Office” was “Warehouse 13 was the worst thing ever to happen to Syfy.”

Okay. I’ll come clean. It was me who said that.

Now, before I’m lynched by Artie and The Bionic Woman ’shippers, let me clarify that statement. It was, as those quotes often are, taken shamelessly out of context.

I don’t hate Warehouse 13. Far from it. It’s a piece of diverting fluff, with some likeable characters, that usually raises a few smiles every week. Sure, Eddie McClintock’s “You don’t have to be mad to work here” shtick can sometimes feel a bit like being stuck in a lift with a swarm of pissed-up mosquitoes and the CG looks like it was created by Filmation sometime in the ’80s, but it’s light-hearted fun

No, what that out-of-context quote should have said was, “The success of Warehouse 13 is the worst thing that ever to happen to Syfy.” Especially since the network’s “serious” shows – Caprica and Stargate Universe – are tanking in the ratings, while the frothier Eureka continues to do well. The worry is that Syfy may now think that its shows need to be silly to succeed.

Certainly this seems to be the case with Haven, a show that on the one hand wants to be The X-Files meets The Birds but on the other has plots about stuffed animals coming to life and sentient shadows. Okay, the X-Files had its fair share of silly ideas, but the tone of the show was consistently dour; even the “comedy” episodes were underpinned with real horror and desperate characters. In Haven, though, the cast always look like they’ve only just managed to hold in the giggles before the director shouted cut, especially if they’ve just had to mention “the troubles” in that special way they have of making it sound like a euphemism for an STD.

Haven should be quirky. It should be a procedural show in the same territory as Twin Peaks. Instead, it seems be located somewhere nearer to Eureka. The result is disastrously uneven.

Okay, you might be saying, that’s one show. Hardly the empirical proof of a new trend. But let’s have a look a few other shows Syfy has in development currently. See if you can spot a potential Battlestar Galactica among them:

• BALL & CHAIN: A warring couple call their relationship quits, but are then in a near miss with a meteorite that gives them extraordinary powers. Only problem is, their powers only work when they’re in close proximity to each other. Much hilarity ensues.
• ORION: National Treasure meets Firefly in a swashbuckling space opera about an adventurous female relic hunter and her team. Much hilarity ensues.
• SHERWOOD: A Robin Hood story for the 23rd century. Much hilarity ensues.
• LEGENDARY: Kevin Sorbo plays an exaggerated version of himself  as a former syndicated television series star, enlisted by a fan to combat mythological creatures that threaten to destroy Los Angeles. Much hilarity ensues.
• HUMAN RELATIONS: The Office meets Men in Black as an office temp discovers that his off-kilter and odd-ball bosses at a strange hi-tech ad agency are really aliens working on a plan to destroy the Earth. Much hilarity ensues.

Now, I’ve been very open-minded about the new Syfy version of Being Human. After all, for every Life On Mars US there’s an Office US. And I’ve got to admit, looking at the publicity pics released recently, it looks like a lot of elements from the UK show remain intact (although that may not be such a great thing for a show that needs to establish its own identity – the more similar they are the more the differences will feel irritating). But more and more as I hear about Syfy’s other future projects, I’m wondering whether the UK horror comedy is going to turn out be a US comedy horror, with a wisecracking Jim Carrey wannabe werewolf. Or even worse a Woody Allen werewolf moaning about his time of the month. Please, please, please let me be wrong, and Being Human is the show that bucks the Syfy trend. If not, hey, that’s another future column in the bag.

Oh, and strike me down with an olde English spell – Merlin used a power other than telekinesis this week.

We love Fringe at SFX, so much so that after tuning in every week we can’t help but wonder what our own parallel universe would be like. Step forward Twitter – a fertile ground for idle musings and wanton speculation that (for now) throws up possibilities we can only dream existed in our reality.

Nathan Fillion in Uncharted? It’s already on it’s second sequel in our world. Torchwood and Doctor Who scribe James Moran scripting the new Hulk TV show? (@jamesmoran Dear ABC: Am available & cheap. Job pls. Thx.) He’s the only man for the job. Best of all though is this pair of Caprica spin-offs dreamt up by Sam Adama actor Sasha Roiz: @sasharoiz @JaneEspenson possible #Caprica spin offs. “G.U.H.M. Gay Uncle hit Man” is a go. How about “The Real Housewives of Caprica”?

The SFX Twitter Stream

@simonpegg I support @NathanFillion in his campaign to play Nathan Drake. I’m not sure who Drake is but the other Nathan should have what he wishes.

@bearmccreary Champagne & Smores with Ellen Tigh at her Halloween party tonight. Talked to the actual Crypt Keeper too. No joke.

@steven_moffat You know, this is a REALLY GOOD job for a Doctor Who fan.                                                                                 .

@wilw Having tapas, playing Tetris with the plates to make them fit on the table. Tapas Tetris is a pretty fun (and tasty) game.

@JasonRitter What, you’ve never played a video game and wept at its complex yet simple beauty? Oh. You’ve never played a @fumito_ueda game.

@radiomaru strong belief of mine: Monkey Island 1 & 2 are the pinnacle of gaming; the further sequels are abominations. I feel similarly about Sonic 4

@warrenellis Time for the periodic “I am not the Warren Ellis who works with Nick Cave” message. I have a superior beard and I write comics and books.

@neilhimself No I will not come back with a goatee of evilness. Also the 70s beard of sf tv evil is a van dyke. #70sTVrules #badspock #rogerdelgado

@DamonLindelof Was the Dyson AirBlade created by Miles Dyson, eventual inventor of The Teminator? If so, I am NOT drying my hands up in that shit.

@eliroth I just need to find two more girls and then my Human Centipede costume’s complete!                                           .

@theThomasDekker #tscc fans! Lookie here! Riley and John re-united. http://twitpic.com/2xnunw

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And Finally… Further proof (if it were needed) why we love Chuck courtesy of @JoshuaEGomez.

STARGATE UNIVERSE: “INCURSION, PART 3”

“Wait, what?!”

That must surely have been the reaction of viewers tuning into Stargate Universe for the first time with this episode. Beginning with the longest recap of anything ever is probably not the best way to entice newbies. Which is a bit of a shame, because when it gets going, this is an average, but enjoyable episode.

The big talking point this week is The Lucian Alliance. After capturing the Destiny last season, they’re soon defeated. And a good thing too – a bunch of leather-clad weirdoes are hardly the scariest of bad guys. Having said that, there’s a lot of dramatic potential in the survivors being integrated into the crew, as the end of the episode suggests. Not for the first time, SGU is coming across as Star Trek: Voyager done properly. That show tried something similar with its Maquis storyline, but gave up after about half an episode. I’m shuddering at the thought of Robert Knepper as a regular though – the memories of Heroes season four are still too painful. And the way that Kiva is dispensed with is hilariously throwaway.

Then there’s Lt Johansen, whose pregnancy storyline appears to be resolved – for now. Quite what we’re to make of the aliens who appear in a vision to take her dead baby away is anyone’s guess. It’s either a drug/trauma induced hallucination, or the work of godlike ETs. I’m assuming the latter, and would hope that we’ll see a bit more of them before too long. Lovely effects on the nebula at the end.

Finally, Rush gets to save the day! Hooray! Robert Carlyle is the main reason to watch SGU, and even though his motives are as ambiguous as always, it’s good to see him unequivocally rescue the crew. No doubt he’ll be back to weeing in Destiny’s swimming pool, or whatever, next week.

CAPRICA: “UNVANQUISHED”

The SF show everyone should be watching also returned, and proved once more why it’s every bit the equal of Battlestar Galactica. This run starts (literally) with a bang, as terrorists blow up a Pyramid stadium, and both Adama and Graystone wade ever further into corruption.

As with SGU, this was an awkward little season premiere. But then it wasn’t meant to be a premiere at all – it’s actually episode 10 of season one, running six months later after the series was chopped in two.

Clarice, the psycho-MILF, is in her element here, planning to create a literal heaven on Earth (or Caprica) using the holoband technology. The stadium bombing she orders (complete with pre-teen suicide bombers) is shocking – though revealed to be a fake out. It’s also incongruous to see her hanging out with a bunch of space monks. For the most part, this series looks and feels like Mad Men, so suddenly going full-on sci-fi is a little jarring. And I’m still not sure what the point of Barnabas is, except to give the producers the opportunity to go, “Look! James Marsters!” Hopefully he’ll get a bit more action in the coming weeks.

Fun things: A Cylon army is now in full production, at Tomas Vergis’s command. Exciting – though the first war with the metal meanies is surely still many years off. There’s also a fantastic scene where Graystone learns the true cost of dealing with the mob, when they force him to choose between the deal or blowing up his own mum. Eep! Interesting to see how quickly and easily Adama Senior has accepted this violent way of life. His son would no doubt have something to say about that!

Oh, and Amanda Graystone isn’t dead after all. But that was always completely obvious. A strong episode then, a welcome return – and the most interesting US SF show around at the moment.

There’s a storm on the horizon though. Neither SGU or Caprica are fairing particularly well in the ratings. And while Stargate has a full season ahead of it, there’s no guarantee that Caprica will be back after episode 18. Will either show still be around this time next year? Here’s hoping. Both shows are doing good work, producing proper, thoughtful character based SF – and I never thought I’d say that about anything with the Stargate brand name on. Go on, if you haven’t already, give these shows a chance.

@rcjohnso with a look behind the scenes of Looper.

With many stars running their own Twitter account, sometimes following a celebrity can feel like being granted unfettered access to their gooey brain matrix, including all the things you wouldn’t expect to hear from endless fluffy promotional interviews (as anyone following the wacky @50Cent can attest). Take for example @simonpegg, who last week made his opinions on 3D filmmaking very clear in a long series of tweets which covered everything from its use in adult cinema (“3D used in films not aimed at children is like seeing someone you respect trying too hard. Like witnessing your dad in leather trousers.”) to 3D conversion (“I’m in three 3D movies and am very excited to be so but there is a growing propensity to convert 2D into 3D just to charge more at the door.”).

After a morning of frank 140 character brain bubbles, Pegg back-tracked a little admitting “I take back my first point because I can think of exceptions, Avatar, Piranha. It’s fun and more credible now but it is not the next step.” And “To be clear. Again. I’m not dissing 3D. I’m concerned about panic marketing and 2D films being sidelined. Anyhoo, me & Sawyer up a tree…” But he’s still a legend for this fantastic reaction to the news that the entire Star Wars saga would be re-released in 3D from 2012: “Watching TPM in 3D would be like the car actually crashing into your face as opposed to just unfolding before your eyes.” He wasn’t joking when his first tweet of the day was “Good moaning” now was he?

The SFX Twitter Stream

@DamonLindelof I think THE EVENT is swell, but if 24 and LOST really had a baby it would hate both its parents and regularly engage in torture.

@wilw Again, with the correct hashtag: Marketing can have a strong influence on the weak-minded. #starwars3D #facepalm #lucasisfistingmychildhood

@edgarwright I just discovered the Wiki page for Cornetto which lists two ‘famous fans’ of the ice cream. Me and Kim Jong Ill. http://tinyurl.com/yogso2

@THEHITCHFACTORY Anyway chums, today me and @wossy are driving over to shepperton to play on the Captain America set. Chris is working in full costume today!

@EddieMcClintock Golly, I sure hope #Warehouse13 gets picked up 4 a 3rd season! As of today, we’re still in limbo, dagnabbit! #faithfullytowingthecompanyline

@BambolaBambina Can I go on stage tonight and just wear the caprica tshirt and high heels! Starting some controversy! #capricaisback

@SethMacFarlane Whenever a sci-fi or horror film is described as “stylish”, it usually means the story is utterly indecipherable.

@ManMadeMoon @SethMacFarlane Screw you, hippy.                                                                                                                       .

@steven_moffat Told my son the title of ep 1 of the next run of Dr Who. A pause. “I think we can do better, Daddy.” Then: “We need clever. Not cheesy.”

@rainnwilson If u like loud, indecipherable Aussie owls re-enacting scenes from LOTR & Star Wars, you’ll LOVE “Legend of the Guardians”.

@jamesmoran Ah, Heathrow airport. The Mos Eisley Spaceport of London. But it does have Caffe Nero, so slightly better.

@ normanlovett I’m not on twitter to talk about Red Dwarf. [boo!]

Season 1.5 is almost upon us…

Caprica fans won’t have to wait as long as expected for the second half of season one. Originally it was not scheduled to air until early 2011, but in a sudden bout of schedule shuffling at Syfy, the return of the series has now been brought forward and will return on 5 October. This pairs on the show on Tuesday nights with Stargate Universe, which has moved from its former Friday night slot.

Meanwhile, Sanctuary, which was to have moved from Friday to Tuesday as well, has now been shunted back to 10pm on Fridays, and will start airing on 15 October.

Caprica producer David Eick reckons that the show will “find itself” in the second half of season one, which will finally air, after a gap of far too many months, next January, following its lengthy mid-season hiatus on Syfy. It’s a shame the show had such an enforced break as it was just getting into its flow and finding a loyal audience when Syfy decided to give it a long holiday. So its producers are keen to highlight to Red Alert in SFX200 why season 1.5 (as fans are calling it) will be worth the wait.

“In the second half, we felt like we were able to really isolate and identify, define our characters, in a way that we were still trying to figure out in the first half. And in so doing, we have freed ourselves to tell stories with much more suspense and action – a lot of spectacle, a lot of visual effects,” says Eick. “We deepen the mythology of the virtual world and what we know as New Cap City, in terms of how Zoe is able to harness it to express herself.”

“The second half of the season,” adds Eick’s producing partner Ron Moore, “starts to pay off a lot of that setup and the characters start going into different directions, the plot starts moving faster. It has a little bit more momentum.”

Read the full article in SFX200, out next Wednesday.

We may have half killed ourselves pumping out 52 extra pages this month but it was well worth it because it’s finally here – 15 years in the making – SFX issue 200.

200 Secrets Of Science Fiction

Spock might be hogging all the glory on our cover but if you ask us there’s an even brighter gem sparkling inside. Or 200 tiny gems if you will because for the past year the SFX hive mind has been taking every opportunity to gather together 200 24-carat nugget secrets from the furthest reaches of the galaxy. James Cameron, Russell T Davies, Stan Lee, Mark Millar, Neil Gaiman, Wes Craven, Edgar Wright, David Tennant and Terry Pratchett all contribute. Our favourite, though: Joss Whedon’s five part guide to the secret of great dialogue. Genius.

Star Trek 2

A milestone issue demands a milestone investigation, so we’ve pulled out all the stops to bring you the most in-depth exploration of Star Trek 2 on the planet. There isn’t even a script yet so we went directly to the source – writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and geek hero JJ Abrams – and extracted every last morsel of information we could (short of calling in Jack Bauer) from their grey matter. Don’t miss it.

Leonard Nimoy

The second part of our Star Trek 2 special – Spock Prime talks Trek, Fringe and passing on the torch.

Merlin

We go behind the scenes of the hit BBC One show on the eve of war to talk with stars Anthony Head, Colin Morgan and co-creator Julian Murphy.

Jonah Hex

The victim of bad reviews or a cursed production? Jonah Hex might only be second to The Last Airbender in this summer’s bad buzz stakes but one thing’s for sure – it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen. We speak to star Josh Brolin.

Terry Pratchett – Fannish Inquistion

We put your questions to the legendary Discworld architect and former SFX Guest Editor.

Terry Gilliam

A look back at the life and works of the former Python turned one-of-a-kind fantasy-filmmaker.

Jonathan Ross – Heroes And Inspirations

Find out what makes the one-time mouth of Friday night TV tic.

Peter F Hamilton

Take a glimpse inside the study of the Space Opera maestro as we learn how to craft an epic sci-fi series.

Profiles

Heroes’/Resident Evil’s Ali Larter, Warehouse 13’s Eddie McClintock and novelist Alden Bell melt under SFX’s brutal interrogation lamp in the latest batch of profiles.

Couch Potato – Killer Plants!

The glorious return of an old favourite – that’s right The Happening is back on the pages of SFX. And we take the Michael out of it. A lot.

The History Of SFX

Forgive the indulgence but we are 200 issues old after all. Ever wondered when the first ever Spoiler Zone was? Or what issue the cast of Spaced joined us on the couch? Never wonder again with our handy double page timeline.

A World Without Star Wars

No Lord Of The Rings, no Star Trek Next Gen, no Pixar, but most importantly no SFX. Why the world of science fiction has a lot to thank Star Wars for.

Retro Features

We come across all nostalgic for Buffy The Vampire Slayer and classic Eagle comic Doomlord.

Don’t Miss:

Wishlist: Doctor Who Season Six – Steven Moffat’s first year in the hot seat may have ended with a Big Bang but you let the BBC in on the secret of evolving Doctor Who in the latest Wishlist.

Spoiler Zone: True Blood, Warehouse 13, Futurama, Eureka, Haven and the last ever episodes of Saving Grace in the latest slimline Spoiler Zone.

Big Shot: The Green Hornet – double-barrelled pistols at dawn as Seth Rogen dons the emerald suit in Michel Gondry’s first stab at the superhero genre.

• Our Comic Con Red Alert special kicks off with Joss Whedon’s dream team as The Avengers assemble live on stage.
• The year’s hottest movies: exclusive interviews with the talent behind Tron Legacy, The Green Lantern, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Paul and Megamind.
• TV to die for: the latest word on The Walking Dead, The Event, Caprica, No Ordinary Family, The Cape, Smallville and V direct from San Diego.
• M Night Shyamalan’s reputation might be in freefall but his new thriller Devil finds a group of strangers trapped in a suspended elevator, but one of the group aren’t who they appear to be…
• This year he’s appeared on TV, video games and magazine covers (ahem) but now the eleventh Doctor is making the leap to graphic novels with The Only Good Dalek. We speak to the writer.
• Not to be confused with Dr Fox, Enterprise’s Dr Phlox returns from the wilderness for the latest Afterlife
• Gremlins legend Joe Dante returns to the big screen with family-friendly horror The Hole. We speak to the man himself.

Rated: Scott Pilgrim Versus The World, Kick-Ass, Lost Season Six, Terry Pratchett’s I Shall Wear Midnight, The Flash and Starcraft II.

Next issue: SFX 201, on sale Wednesday 22 September. Why not subscribe?

MOST ILL-ADVISED TAG-LINE OF THE WEEK
Cute pun or creepy sexual innuendo? Read into this banner poster for the heart-warming tale of two bears and their honey what you will. The positioning of the bears on the poster doesn’t help.

PERVY GAME OF THE WEEK
Got a PSP? Like spanking girls? Then Japanese developers Nippon Ichi are developing just the game for you. Criminal Girls is a top-down RPG where you “punish girls” – the hook being (as if it needed another), it’s all set in a prison in Hell. And if you possess slightly less anti-social sexual preferences you can also dish out sexy massages to good girl inmates. Expect PSP sales to sky rocket in Japan this November.

AW, BLESS FANTASY OF THE WEEK
So what happened after Serenity? Gina Torres proves to be a glass half-full gal in an interview with The New York Post: “I will tell you my fantasy: Zoe was pregnant when all that went down [her husband died] and she’s got this little beige, curly red-headed baby running around the ship. Jayne’s trying to teach him about Vera and he and I fight because I think the kid should learn about guns from me. Kaylee and Simon are very happy. It’s a better-verse. And Mal, well, Mal’s still just a little twisted. His communication skills have not improved. But he’s a good uncle Mal and I just think we’re all still flying. I’m by his side.”

WORST BUSINESS DECISION OF THE WEEK
So you live in Haven, a small coastal town where no doubt news travels like wildfire. Especially news like the fact that food is decaying super-fast all over the place. And you’re just about to throw an opening night celebration for your new restaurant. Do you a) think that this is the kind of idea that wouldn’t fly on Dragon’s Den, and delay the opening or b) forge ahead and risk a stern letter from the health and safety people?

BEST SIGOURNEY WEAVER MOVIE OF THE WEEK

James Cameron Laser Cats 5
Uploaded by FilmGeek-TV. – Classic TV and last night’s shows, online.

BEST VAMPIRE IMPRESSION OF THE WEEK
You’ve gotta love Fringe’s Joshua Jackson. This week not only did he produce the brilliant Pacy-Con Comic-Con pisstake, but he’s proved to be a brilliant mimic. Responding to a question from E! Online’s Kristin Dos Santos about whether his old Dawson’s Creek showrunner Kevin Williamson has offered him a role on his new show, The Vampire Diaries, Jackson proved that he can brood like the best of Mystic Falls’ bloodsuckers.

SAD BUT TRUE GRAPHIC OF THE WEEK
Not strictly speaking specific to our genre, this chart created for Cracked.com detailing the lifetime of any TV show nevertheless applies to so many of the series that we cover, we thought we’d share it with you. The bit at the bottom about shows that last over seven years seems all too sadly accurate (we’re thinking Stargate SG-1, Smallville, The X-Files, Charmed…). But, or course, it only really applies to US shows. Doctor Who needs a chart all of its own, and let’s not get started on Last Of The Summer Wine (actually, there are times when we wish the BBC had never got started with Last Of The Summer Wine). Click on the image to see the larger version.

REAL-LIFE SUPERHERO RESCUE STORY OF THE WEEK
Superman has swooped to the rescue of an American family facing the loss of their home. But he didn’t stop a comet from crashing into it, or save it from an earthquake, a supervillain or even a giant mutant kitten. Nope, he saved it from being reclaimed by the bank. The unnamed family were in the process of clearing out their basement when they found a rare copy of Action Comics #1, the one featuring Superman’s first appearance. Only around 100 copies are believed to be in existence. Realising it could be worth something, they contacted comic book auction experts who said the comic could sell for $250,000. The bank have agreed to wait until the sale on August 27.

We did some painstaking research (okay, we pulled out the first Comic Heroes special where we did a feature on this stuff) and discovered that a mint edition of Action Comics #1 sells for $750,000, so we can only assume that moths or red Kryptonite have got to this latest discovery.

RANDOM THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
If someone made a 3D movie version of Cleopatra 2525, would the poster tagline be, “Cleopatra Coming Atcha”? We’ll get our coats.

JUXTAPOSITION OF THE WEEK
For some reason The Daily Moan Mail couldn’t see the irony here:

MOST MISLEADINGLY EXCITING HEADLINE OF THE WEEK
Well, wouldn’t you get excited clicking on a link that promises: “Syfy piranha movie devours Caprica (video)”? What could it be? Eric Stoltz being ripped apart by killer fish? A cool new Cylon battleship called the Piranha?  Nope, it was a story about TV movie Mega Piranha doing better than Caprica in the ratings. With a video clip of the film. We haven’t been so disappointed since the we found out the BO in the headline  “Arnie’s BO Trashes Competition” was Variety speak for Box Office.

POSTMODERNIST INTERTEXTUAL MULTIMEDIA MINDWARP OF THE WEEK
Okay, so we’re in the big crossover week for Eureka and Warehouse 13. That’s freaky enough, especially witnessing Fargo crack onto Claudia, and whipping out his lightsaber and claiming, “20 years of practising in front of the mirror for the best four seconds of my life”). But even weirder, the computerised house from Eureka, S.A.R.R.A.H. has its own Twitter feed where its been Tweeting about the events. Apparently, “Dr Fargo describes our visitor from Warehouse 13 as savory and sweet @Eden75, and she refers to him as ‘Fargo-nator’.” We’re beginning to feel like we’re all living inside the Matrix, or something.

SEXIEST DEFOREST KELLEY IMPERSONATION OF THE WEEK
What can we say? Graham Linehan, you are a seriously weird genius. Last week’s The IT Crowd boasted a “Star Trek sex tape” sequence which was probably bit a too close to home for some viewers who dream about this sort of thing on a regular basis. (Not, us though… we just know someone who… um… er… just watch the video, okay?)

Since it’s rapidly evolving into the hotspot for London’s young cosplayers to congregate, London Expo, which takes place at the ExCeL Centre, is about the only place where the following sights are commonplace: a Lego man and woman struggling to get wristbands over their yellow claws, an Alien and a Predator in a wrestling ring, a giant Deathnote book with “free hugs!” scrawled in it, and a toilet block strewn with discarded bits of fabric.

There was a record-breaking number of people through the door at this May's London MCM Expo.

Writer Paul Cornell, there to promote his TV pilot Pulse as well as his comics work, blogged, “There’s so much cosplay… It’s liberating: the opposite of geek shame. Those kids are starting to make anyone passing by who’s not got a huge cardboard sword feel a wee bit under-dressed. [It's] a social, not closeted, experience.”

Having won the Blastermind quiz Jane, Zoe, Karen and Ian of the Victorian Steampunk Alliance have their photo taken with Dave Golder and Robert Rankin.

The SFX team didn’t dress up, disgracefully, although top author Robert Rankin joined us on our stand and was typically dapper. As well as selling some of his handmade steampunk jewellery, Robert was there to host the now-traditional SFX sci-fi quiz Blastermind, which took place on stage at 4pm on Saturday afternoon. About 20 teams entered, with the number one slot after five rounds – including an impressive sci-fi charades category – going to a team called the Victorian Steampunk Society. These elegant guys and gals were at the event to promote their own gathering, the Asylum steampunk festival in Lincoln but also found time to whip everybody at sci-fi trivia. The fact that Robert Rankin is an honorary fellow of their society had nothing to do with it – all answer sheets were checked by our very own Dave Golder.

Ronald D Moore and Esai Morales talk Caprica on the main stage.

Elsewhere at the ExCeL centre, gamers smashed the Guinness World Record for the “largest handheld game console party”, with more than 580 people gathered with their Nintendo DS handheld consoles. If that sounds like a lot of people, bear in mind that the event overall saw in excess of 41,000 people passing through the doors, making May’s Expo the most successful ever.

Angel Coulby, Katie McGrath and Colin Morgan talk Merlin on the main stage.

They’d come to see main stage appearances like TV writing legend Ronald D Moore, Caprica’s Esai Morales, the cast and crew of Merlin (who told us that it’s the Merlin-Morgana relationship which changes most in season three…), the team from Pulse, Stargate Universe’s Alaina Huffman and Jamil Walker Smith, plus Fringe’s John Noble (who spoke about the different physical methods of playing both Walter and the Walternate). We were also treated to the trailer of upcoming feature-length animation Ultramarines, the first ever Warhammer 40,000 film. The short teaser was also shown on the Ultramarines stand, where screenwriter Dan Abnett and director Martyn Pick signed autographs following a packed Q&A panel in the main hall.

The character of Severus from the CG Ultramarines movie trailer.

At that brings us back to cosplay. The main auditorium also copped an eyeful of the inaugural UK Euro Cosplay Qualifiers, while ex-SFXer Leah Holmes was part of a Tekken-themed team that picked up the Best Performance award in the Expo Cosplay Masquerade. Good work!

Cosplay on the main stage on Sunday. This is from the Tekken team - look carefully, that's SFX's Leah Holmes in the background!

The next London MCM Expo takes place on 30-31 October and to find out more about it head to the official site. You can also read reports from other conventions, and get news about upcoming events, every month in the Event Horizon pages in SFX magazine.

It’s increasingly popular as a way of catching up on quality telly. I’ll bet you’ve been in the situation, you’re either down the pub or at a convention and someone says “Have you been watching…?” then everyone trades their loyal viewing habits. It can get passionate with the odd disagreement of what’s hot what’s not, but you still feel like there’s a show you’re missing out on.

At the time of writing my diet is five regular shows, doing catch-up with two more and three non-genre shows for desert. This still leaves my recently purchased Doctor Who: Creature From The Pit and Martian Chronicles DVDs to make room for and an unfulfilled menu of Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, V and True Blood. I recently had Heroes removed surgically to make more room.

It's the Fringe season one box set.

I’ve just completed a non-genre – season one of The Wire. But now I’m torn. I missed out on Battlestar Galactica (I know, I’m shamed… don’t look at me like that, but it’s so bleak). And this is the rub: not all shows make good “marathoning”. Unquestionably the modern ability to have it all – any time you like is a big pull, as is seeing big story arcs play out with greater clarity. And don’t worry if there’s a bum episode, there’ll be another on along in a minute. Though the cracks do start showing. Anything with a reset button doesn’t have the same effect, and shows referencing their own timeline look a bit odd.

Decision time – I’m definitely doing Battlestar, maybe just in smaller portions? Oh but it’s pricey online! Maybe I could borrow it? That would mean leaving the house though. Tough one.

This is a personal article by John Cooper, one of our site contributors. Are you hooked on box set bingeing? Your thoughts welcome as always, in the comment thread below or on our forum.

CARRY ON QUOTE OF THE WEEK
From the Matt Smith interview in SFX 195, which has just gone out to subscribers: “I’ve had dinner with Peter [Davison], at Steven Moffat’s house, which was very exciting, and we talked all things Doctor Who. And we got his toy out! Which is a collector’s item, apparently. So that was fun.” Matt also wins our Geek Of The Week Award for being stopped at customs… for carrying a sonic screwdriver. Shame he didn’t have his psychic paper with him.

IRRESISTIBLE CAPTION OPPORTUNITY OF THE WEEK
“Anna speaks with forked tongue.” V provides lizard-in-disguise Anna with a sushi fork to provide some not so subtle imagery.

X-RATED MUGS OF THE WEEK
Maybe not the tea set to use when the vicar comes round. The actual mugs come uncensored. But wouldn’t it be great if they came censored but then the real words appeared when hot tea was put inside? Available from Titan Merchandise.

MOST EXCITING OPENING LINE OF THE WEEK
“I recently took my bubble jet printer into an authorised repairer…” From Look Who’s Talking, a collection of Sixth Doctor Colin Baker’s columns for his local paper.

MYTHBUSTER OF THE WEEK
Remember that famous scene in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea with the giant squid attacking the Nautilus? Complete bobbins, according to “I’ve done my research” party pooper China Miéville. In his latest book, Kraken (or, One Of Our Giant Squid Is Missing as it really should have been called) he points out that because of the low pressure of the water near the sea’s surface, giant squid are actually rather lethargic and useless if they pop their tentacles above water. So the one in the Disney film should have been a sitting duck. (The book’s great by the way…)

TOXIC ALERT OF THE WEEK
Depending on your sexual preferences, you may think that Supernatural’s Jared Padalecki has a very nice arse. You might not be so fond of it if you had to work with him. According to Jim Beaver, who plays Bobby Singer on the show, speaking to zap2it.com, “I could never live with Jared. I’m very sensitive to terrible smells. I’m really fond of both of them [Jared and Jensen] . I just wish I could control certain elements of Jared’s diet. Limiting it to food, for example.” And he seems to be such a fan of salad in the actual show…

APRIL FOOL OF THE WEEK
We just love this!

BEST OJ SIMPSON IMPRESSION OF THE WEEK
Cylon girl Zoe goes on the run from the law in a very faithful recreation of the most famous car chase in history – albeit one played back at slightly higher speed than the rather sedate real world chase.

MONDAY 29 MARCH

• Less than a week to go until the start of Doctor Who. Celebrate with our Doctor Who week on the SFX website.
• FlashForward returns to Five at 9pm.
• Today’s haul of new DVDs includes The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, Clive Barker’s Dread, the Catweazle 40th Anniversary Edition, Doctor Who: Myths And Legends and 2012.

TUESDAY 30 MARCH

• Caprica and Fringe are on Sky1 (9pm and 10pm, respectively), while The Vampire Diaries is on ITV2 (9pm).
• Tune into Radio 4 for The Gorbals Vampire, a documentary about a Glasgow “monster” that led to new censorship laws in the UK, “ban this sick filth!”-style.

WEDNESDAY 31 MARCH

• Time’s nearly up for Lost. Start waving goodbye with SFX‘s new Lost Special.
• You may have caught the previews earlier in the week, but today’s the day Kick-Ass makes its proper cinema debut. It’s joined by How To Train Your Dragon in 3D, no less.
• The Winchesters do their thing (they’re quite good at it by now) in Supernatural on Living at 9pm.
• There’s a bunch of Big Finish Doctor Who adventures out today.

THURSDAY 1 APRIL

• It’s April Fool’s Day, so keep your wits about you.
• Seek out Legend Of The Seeker on SCI FI at 8pm.
• James Miller’s Sunshine State comes to bookshops.
• Learn How To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse in Bath.

FRIDAY 2 APRIL

• SEASON PREMIERE! Gene Hunt returns for the last time in the final series of Ashes To Ashes, on BBC One at 9pm.
• Odyssey 2010, this year’s Eastercon, gets underway at Heathrow.
• Jon Culshaw takes a look at Douglas Adams time as Doctor Who script editor in The Doctor And Douglas on Radio 4.
• Star Wars: In Concert lands in Birmingham.

SATURDAY 3 APRIL

• SEASON PREMIERE! It’s the one you’ve been waiting for. Matt Smith makes his debut in Doctor Who at 6.20pm on BBC One. And don’t forget Doctor Who Confidential on BBC Three at 7.25pm.
• Toby Stephens plays 007 in Goldfinger on Radio 4 at 2.30pm.
• SEASON PREMIERE! K9 starts his solo adventures on Disney XD at 4pm.
• There’s also time for a little Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Sky Movies Premiere at 5.30pm, and Heroes on BBC Two at 9.55pm.
• London’s O2 Arena’s the venue for tonight’s slice of Star Wars: In Concert. Make sure you set the DTR for Who.

SUNDAY 4 APRIL

• Celebrate Easter with a bit of Star Wars: In Concert at the O2 (formerly known as The Millennium Dome).
• Catch Heroes on BBC Three at 11.05pm. K9 continues on Disney XD at 4pm.

Got an event you’d like to see in SFX’s listings? Drop us a line at sfxevents@futurenet.co.uk.

Seeing your character blown up in the opening act of a pilot episode doesn’t usually bode well for an actor’s longevity in a new series. For 22-year-old Caprica star Alessandra Torresani, however, on-screen alter-ego Zoe Graystone’s early death opened all sorts of avenues, when the character lives on in both virtual form and in a robot version her billionaire computer mogul dad Daniel has uploaded into his prototype Cylon. We had a natter about playing multiple roles, Battlestar Galactica and the perils of social networking.

You get to play several different versions of the Zoe character. What’s your favourite part of the job?
My favourite parts are when I’m actually interacting with [screen parents] Amanda and Daniel [Paula Malcomson and Eric Stoltz]. It was great in the pilot to do the V Club and that was all madness and fun,  but really my favourite aspect as the series has progressed is me being stuck in the Cylon body and having to watch my parents just absolutely criticise me and hate me. It’s so emotional and heartbreaking that you can’t even cry about it. Imagine your parents saying this stuff without knowing that you’re there, saying what a terrible person you are, hearing these lines that aren’t true but you can’t say anything back.

The scenes with the Cylon Zoe keep cutting between the CG robot and you. Does that make them difficult to film?
Everyone that did a scenes with the Cylon, bless their heart, because they had to do all their takes without me with just the Cylon. The Cylon consisted of a real seven-foot robot that they created, and when it had to do physical stuff, they just had a green stick on set. So all the people that have to interact with the Cylon had to do everything with the robot, then with the stick, and then with the original me, so it was pretty intense for them. I had it easy!

Were you familiar with Battlestar Galactica before you signed on for Caprica?
I was not, but after we made the Caprica pilot I went back and watched all of it.

Are you constantly aware when you’re making it that it’s the BSG prequel, or do you have to think of it as a separate show?
You think of it as a completely different show. I think it just happens to have the same creator and the same writers, and you know all that, but we’re a very different. We’re not a space drama, we’re a character-based drama, we take place on real ground. We’re not being chased by Cylons, and it’s a big difference. I think because we’re the prequel, people don’t need to know what happens at the end right now, because that’s not what we’re about. We’re not about finishing a story, we’re about to start a story.

But there are plenty of fan-friendly references to things to come…
A lot of my friends never watched Battlestar and they just see Caprica as an intense drama, but when I get to speak with the fans it’s really great when they get to find out what the origin of the Cylons really means, and when we say ‘frak’, people love that. And then the stuff about the Adamas, about Willy Adama being a child… That’s awesome.

Even though Caprica’s set on planets light years away from Earth (and there are robots and total immersion videogame worlds), it looks an awful lot like home. Does that make it easier to get into the part?
It’s funny. My mother and I on the show wear Prada, yet we have a robot butler, so you have funny little things like that. My mom drives an Aston Martin, my dad drives a Bentley, but he creates robots. It’s very strange. It’s not like Battlestar was where it’s hard to believe, and you have to imagine what it’s like to be on a spaceship. It’s just like being in any other city.

And, as in Battlestar, there’s plenty of real-world allegories – things like suicide bombing, religious extremism, the rise of technology, even social networking… Do you think that adds an extra level to the drama?

We shot the pilot about two years ago, and I felt that was very common for these random terrorist bombings to go off in trains and stuff, and it was just very believable. It was made even more believable because if you imagine if Bill Gates had a child, a girl that was 15, and then she exploded, and she died and then her family finds out that she might be the reason why the bomb went off – the controversy that would bring up would be so insane and so mind-boggling, because they’re the wealthiest family in the world.

Zoe’s avatar-self is created from little bits of information left over the internet. Has that made you wary of the trails you might leave via things like Facebook and other things on the web in real-life?
It’s scary what information can do, but if someone wanted to make a copy of me then go for it, I’d love to see me again, you know? That’s pretty damn funny.

So you’d like to act alongside yourself?
Yeah, it would be easier. Move aside Mary-Kate and Ashley!

You’re playing a 15-year-old even though you’re a bit older now. Were you like Zoe when you were her age?
I was exactly like that at 15. I had a choice to stay in school or to go and shoot a pilot in Australia for two months, because the school wouldn’t let me do it, and I followed my destiny and went to Australia.

You’re a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Has that changed the way the writers have scripted your character?
It’s funny. They didn’t think I was going to be doing a lot of action towards the second part of the season, and then they decided we’re going to do this one scene, and it was in the episode that [star] Eric Stoltz directed. He said we’d do this action sequence one way, and I said, “You know I’m a black belt in Tae Kwon Do?” They’re like, “What?!” They had all these stunt doubles lined up and this whole choreography and I said, “Let me do it, let me prove to you guys that I can actually do this,” and since then they wrote in a different fight sequence into almost every episode.

Caprica: The Feature Length Pilot is out on DVD from Monday 29 March.

CROSSOVERS OF THE WEEK

Okay, the Nathan Fillion-starring US series Castle isn’t SFX, but the show deserves a mention this week for embracing our genre in an unexpected way. In the latest episode Castle (Fillion) is talking to guest star Dana Delany, who’s playing a top-notch FBI investigator, and they have this exchange:

Castle: “Severed digits? Secret codes? This is like one of my books.”
Agent Shaw: “You should have been with me on the Recapitator case.”
Castle: “What, that guy in Phoenix who switched his victims’ heads? That was your case?”

We believe you’ll find the case in question took place in Phoenix because it was in a multi-episode Medium story  a couple of years back (“Head Games”, “Heads Will Roll” and “Everything Comes To A Head”).

Not content with that, later in the episode Castle’s mother Martha, played by Susan Sullivan is seen watching an episode of The Incredible Hulk which starred her very own younger self! Her character on Castle is an actress, so it made perfect sense in the plot – she was feeling down, so she sat down to watch an example of her acting in 1978.

EPISODE TITLE OF THE WEEK (AND NEXT WEEK)
And talking of Medium, kudos to the show for an amusing new way of naming a two-parter: “There Will Be Blood Type A” and “There Will Be Blood Type B”.

RANT OF THE WEEK
Here’s wonderfully surly comedian Marcus Brigstocke on last Friday’s The Now Show (Radio 4) in the midst of rant about the ridiculous state of British libel laws: “Libel laws make about as much sense as the plot of Lost. Now, by the way, if that show doesn’t conclude with something absolutely, breathtakingly clever and explanatory, I am going after the writers as a livid, kicking column of angry black smoke, and I will be flinging people up trees.” Now, that got a BIG round of applause.

MOST ILL-RESEARCHED JOURNALISM OF THE WEEK
Writing in the Femail section of The Daily Moan, sorry, Mail, columnist Allison Pearson took exception to  the length of Amy Pond’s skirt in the upcoming opening  episode of Doctor Who’s new season, complaining “since when was Doctor Who’s assistant supposed to be sexy?” before going on, “What’s next… Cybermen become Cyberchicks with metal boobs?”

We have two words to say: Leela and “Cyberwoman”.

MOST UNCONVENTIONAL PARENTING OF THE WEEK

The prize goes to grieving Caprica dad Daniel Graystone, for his copious use of physical and mental torture to coax his daughter’s digital avatar into admitting she’s living inside a prototype Cylon. Yes, we know she’s effectively a robot who doesn’t feel pain, but we’re not sure that would hold up in court – either on Earth or in the 12 colonies.

PROOF OF THE WEEK
Earlier this week we posted our How Spoilerphobic Are You? personality test. Question four asked: “Do you cover up the bottom half of the TV screen with a piece you cardboard you keep especially for the job,  so that you can’t see the list of guest stars, just in case an old character will make an unexpected reappearance?” Now, you may have thought we had just made this up for the sake of a laugh, but here’s the proof that such things do go on.

THE NICE IDEA BUT WE WOULDN’T WEAR IT AWARD OF THE WEEK
Some waggish company has reimagined those “Team Edward” Twilight T-shirts with a Battlestar Galactica twist. Nice gag, but who’d actually wear one? They do have the advantage that you don’t need to worry about ironing them, though… Olmos is wrinkly enough already.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST OF THE WEEK
YouTube is awash with people editing together montages of their favourite TV shows or films to their favourite rock and pop tracks (personally we’d like to see a few more mash-ups set to Gilbert and Sullivan, but that’s our problem). But this one’s a little different. katamaran78 has created a Galactica mash-up to The Beastie Boy’s “Sabotage” that apes the original video almost shot for shot.

Sneak peek at the Caprica mid-season finale, “End Of Line”, with yet more Marsters-age…

MONDAY 22 MARCH

• Chocky, Twilight: New Moon, Street Hawk, Paranormal Activity and Salvage arrive on DVD, while The Neverending Story, Galaxy Quest and a bunch of Star Trek movies (most of them not as good as Galaxy Quest) get the Blu-ray treatment.
• MIDSEASON PREMIERE! FlashForward returns from its winter break with a double bill on Five at 9pm.

TUESDAY 23 MARCH

• Fancy an evening in front of the telly? This is as good a night as any, with The Vampire Diaries on ITV2 at 9pm, and Caprica and Fringe on Sky1 at 9pm and 10pm respectvely. (Shame two of them are on at the same time. Hurrah for DTRs!)
• Kelley Armstrong signs Frostbitten at London’s Forbidden Planet.

WEDNESDAY 24 MARCH

• The Winchesters are back in Supernatural on Living at 9pm.

THURSDAY 25 MARCH

• The World Horror Convention, aka Brighton Shock (nice pun), gets underway in Brighton. James Herbert and Ingrid Pitt are special guests at the four-day bash.
• Mike Carey signs The Unwritten at London’s Forbidden Planet.
• Legend Of The Seeker does its weekly thing on SCI FI at 8pm.

FRIDAY 26 MARCH

• Emma Thompson does her best Mary Poppins as Nanny McPhee And The Big Bang explodes into cinemas.
• More from Lost on Sky1 at 9pm and True Blood on FX at 10pm.
• Mike Carey’s The Unwritten goes on sale.
• Three-day anime show Kitacon comes to Northampton.
• Top artists Brian and Wendy Froud sign The Art Of Faerie Oracle at London’s Forbidden Planet.

SATURDAY 27 MARCH

• Head north (pretty much as north as you possibly can) for two days of Hi-Ex 2010 in Inverness.
• It’s the first Memorabilia of 2010 at the NEC.
• A time for Heroes on BBC Two at 10.15pm, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Sky Movies Premiere at 5.30pm.
• Sculptress Of Sound: The Lost Works Of Delia Derbyshire plays tribute to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop legend behind the classic original arrangement of the Doctor Who theme, on Radio 4 at 8pm.

SUNDAY 28 MARCH

• Look out for next week’s Heroes on BBC Three at 10pm.
• The time police steal an hour of your time as the clocks go forward.

Got an event you’d like to see in SFX’s listings? Drop us a line at sfxevents@futurenet.co.uk.

MONDAY 15 MARCH

• See Ray Harryhausen’s ace stop-motion effects in high definition as the original Clash Of The Titans comes to Blu-ray, or catch the fun side of an undead apocalypse in the awesome Zombieland.
• Al Reynolds’ Terminal World arrives in bookshops.
• Joe Hill signs Horns at Waterstone’s in Basingstoke.
• Manchester plays host to Star Wars: In Concert.

TUESDAY 16 MARCH

• Say hello to SFX’s brand new sister magazine, as Comic Heroes hits the nation’s newsagents.
• Tune into the short-lived Eastwick on SCI FI at 8pm, Caprica on Sky1 or The Vampire Diaries on ITV2 at 9pm, and hang around for Fringe on Sky1 at 10pm.
• A busy day for Joe Hill. Not only is Horns on sale, he’s doing signings at the Waterstone’s in Milton Keynes and Birmingham.

WEDNESDAY 17 MARCH

• Joe Hill continues his tour of the nation’s Waterstone’s branches by popping up to Liverpool and Manchester.
• Hopefully he’ll find time to watch Supernatural on Living at 9pm.
• The Jameson Film Club hosts a screening of the excellent Moon in London.

THURSDAY 18 MARCH

• Jasper Kent’s Thirteen Years Later makes its bookshop bow.
• Legend Of The Seeker comes to SCI FI for its weekly outing at 8pm.
• Today Joe Hill’s off to Leeds and Nottingham.

FRIDAY 19 MARCH

• Sport Relief begins on BBC One. Look out for an all-new, ’80s celeb-packed Ashes To Ashes sketch.
• Other TV highlights include Lost on Sky1 at 9pm and True Blood on FX at 10pm.
• Gamers should look out for God Of War III on PS3 and Metro 2033 on Xbox and PC.
• Catch How To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse in Pendle.

SATURDAY 20 MARCH

• Today your TV watching will be all about Heroes on BBC Two at 10.15 and Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Sky Movies Premiere at 5.30pm.
• Joe Hill finishes a very busy week at London’s Forbidden Planet Megastore.

SUNDAY 21 MARCH

• Look out for Heroes on BBC Three at 10pm. It’s next week’s terrestrial episode, so it’s a glimpse of the future.

• Kick-Ass creators Mark Millar and John Romita Jr get some signing action at London’s Forbidden Planet Megastore.

Got an event you’d like to see in SFX’s listings? Drop us a line at sfxevents@futurenet.co.uk.