New and Returning Sci-Fi TV Fall 2008 - Part II

Heroes: In its sophomore season, Tim Kring's highly successful series about everyday people realizing they possess superhuman abilities, wrapped up it's second volume, "Generations". Within that story arc, one of its main protagonists, Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia), prevented the release of a deadly virus, destined to kill most of Earth's population. His shady dealings with immortal villain Adam Monroe (David Anders) came to a close, as did many other sub-plots, including Hiro Nakamura's (Masi Oka) travels to feudal Japan, and Gabriel Gray's (Zachary Quinto) search for a way to regain his powers, thus becoming Sylar once more.

As the season ended, the last scene we saw (which introduced us to the start of Volume 3, "Villains") was Sylar in the back alley of a building, having injected himself with a syringe concocted by Mohinder Suresh (Sendil Ramamurthy), who himself had been working on a cure for the Shanti virus. Sylar tested this injection's potency, by trying his telekinetic powers on a soda can across the alley, which promptly flew through the air, into his hand. A diabolical grin appeared on Sylar's face, as he uttered the penultimate cliffhanger line, "I'm back!"

In this upcoming third season, expect a few surprises, as our aforementioned favorite power-sucking villain liberates what the Company deemed its most dangerous superpowered criminals, those deemed too dangerous to roam freely, spreading death and destruction wherever they go. Based on the TV promo ads NBC has been running in anticipation of the season premiere, Sylar apparently finds a way to liberate said villains from the secretive Level Five (think of a top-secret, Alcatraz-like sub basement, designed to hold each villain and subdue their powers). According to the press releases, the arc for Volume 3 should run roughly 13 episodes, at which point the show will dive into Volume 4, "Fugitives". Expect much from this excellently written and produced show, with one of the most impressive, well-rounded casts on television today.

Smallville: Having accumulated a lot of mileage these past seven seasons, Smallville has taken us through most of young Clark Kent's (Tom Welling) young life as a Kansas highschooler, then college student, all the while fighting all manner of villains and megalomaniacs, including his former best friend Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum).

As Season Seven came to a close, Lex had managed to obtain enough evidence pointing to a Kryptonian secret location in the Arctic, namely Clark's Fortress of Solitude. How the producers are looking to tie in this cliffhanger, while explaining how Michael Rosenbaum won't be back in Season Eight, should prove interesting enough of a challenge. They managed a plausible exit for Clark's love interest Lana Lang (Kristen Kreuk, also not returning this upcoming season) in the season finale, by having her issue Clark a video "Dear John", explaining how living a life with a being like Clark, is too dangerous, and how she could never live happily knowing she'd come first in his eyes, rather than strangers in greater need.

Season Eight of Smallville promises to bring back old favorites, namely the budding Justice League, who will help Clark on a recurring basis. Season Eight will also bring forth new villains, namely Doomsday, who was the famous alien who "killed Superman" in the 1990's comic book. How they plan to integrate this utilizing a regular actor, remains to be seen.

Also in this coming season, will be the storyline which unavoidably leads to the well known established mythos of the Superman legend, that of Clark finally getting a job at the Daily Planet, alongside Lois Lane (Erica Durance). Stay tuned....

Pushing Daisies: This freshman show from the 2007-2008 season had a short run last fall, before the Writer's Strike in the U.S. stopped it in its tracks for the year. Despite having only run its first season for nine episodes, this show had enough time to introduce us to pie maker Ned (Lee Pace), who discovers he has the power to reanimate dead things and people (at a cost -- watch the show to understands his particular caveat). Season One dealt with Ned's experiences with an investigator who sought to profit from his ability to revive murder victims -- albeit no longer than the 60 second time limit (seriously, watch the show) -- in order to benefit from unattainable evidence to the suspect, thus leading to successful arrests, and allowing them to cash in on reward money.

Ned also dealt with the return of past childhood friend Chuck (Anna Friel), herself having been murdered on a cruise. By reviving her and allowing her to live on past the sixty second permanence stage, he also forces himself to never being able to touch her ever again, lest he bring her back to death, permanently. That these two are in the early stages of a romance, makes for one of the most complicated and interesting relationships on television in past years. Season Two should delve further into the extent of Ned's power, and how best to work around his limitations.

Look for a further part in this series, where the new shows of the season will be discussed.

The Cast of NBC's Heroes

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