SciFi Friday (Sunday Edition): Torchwood Ends and Doctor Who Returns; A Cylon Civil War; An Aging Starlet?; and a Special Passover Feature

For viewers of the U.S. feeds of the shows, this week marked the end of Torchwood and the start of a new season of Doctor Who. Exit Wounds, the finale of Torchwood presented a surprise as it turned out that Jack’s brother Gray, and not John, was the real villain. John was really the prisoner, not Gray, and was being forced to do all those nasty things to Jack and the others at Torchwood. Besides concluding the Gray storyline, we also say a conclusion to the hinted at romance between Toshiko Sato and Owen Harper. Sadly it also meant the end of both of their lives. This does leave things open for changes in the show, such as bringing back Martha Jones, but hopefully they will not destroy what has made the show great, as some rumors suggest.

The SciFi Channel returned with the Christmas episode of Doctor Who, The Voyage of the Damned, which I previously commented on here. Next week they start the actual season. The season begins with the return of Donna, as well as someone else. In the second episode The Doctor takes Donna to Pompeii, on volcano day, allowing for a look at the question of changing history. The third episode features a trip to the plane of the Ood.

Battlestar Galactica has shown the Cylons degenerate into a civil war. While the pre-season rumors that Starbuck would be thrown in the brig were true, this didn’t last long as she has now been given a ship of her own to once again find Earth. Apparently it isn’t as easy as suggested at the start of the season. Cally found out that her husband is one of the four newly identified Cylons with tragic results. Incidentally, did anyone else notice the homage to Star Trek? The room where Cally overheard the conversation naming the Cylons had a designation of NCC1701-D, the call letters of the Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

While Battlestar Galactica is ending, there has been news of yet two more projects for Ron Moore. He will have a trilogy of movies, and Fox has approved a two hour pilot for Virtuosity.

The sci-fi project, from Universal Media Studios and producers Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun, is set aboard the Phaeton, Earth’s first starship, on a 10-year journey to explore a distant solar system. To help the 12 crew members endure the long trip and keep their minds occupied, NASA equipped the ship with advanced virtual reality modules, allowing them to assume adventurous identities and go to any place they want.

I hope this doesn’t turn into a series of holodeck adventures. Perhaps it won’t matter. Odds are that a science fiction show starting on Fox won’t be around very long. At least Fox has renewed Terminator: The Sarah Connor Adventures.

Lost returns with five new episodes on April 24. SciFi Wire has some mild spoilers regarding the final episodes. They primarily talk about what information will be revealed without actually revealing anything.

Believe it or not, Scarlett Johansson (above) is considered too old, at least for one role. Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) has replaced Johansson in Napoleon and Betsy.

SciFi Friday concentrates on television, and has also included both movies and books.  If Andrew Haydon has his way, science fiction will extend to theater.

Finally, for the Passover edition of SciFi Friday I will  include a link to an unusual reference. When reading about various animals in  fantasy literature have you ever wondered if their meat is kosher? If so, Ecstatic Days has the ultimate reference.

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