There is no contest as to what the genre’s biggest release is on Jan.6 - the first part of Battlestar Galactica’s fourth and final season. If ever there was a show that merited repeat viewing to figure out what clues you might have missed, it is BSG.

Who is the Fifth and Final Cylon? Who devastated Earth? Why is Starbuck not dead? Or did she die and she’s the aforementioned Fifth and Final Cylon? Join SFUniverse as we pain our brains trying to figure these answers out. Extras include an extended-length, unrated version of the movie Razor. BSG, I love you so much I don’t mind that you’re going to pinch me for two sets of DVDs for one season of your show.

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I have a terrible confession to make. Possibly it might even be seen as heretical - but here goes.

The very first Doctor Who episode I ever watched was ‘The Runaway Bride’.

And now I pause this commentary so readers can pick themselves up off the floor, reach for a stiff drink and possibly the phone to call for an ambulance.

You good now? Good. Alons-y!

As a child, I remember my uncle loved Doctor Who. I remember him watching it whenever he was visiting. I remember that I loved the theme music, but that otherwise I just wasn’t interested. Fast forward a few decades and oh look! I still wasn’t interested. Friends told me I should watch the rebooted version of the show but no, no, no, I knew better. I caught one glimpse of stupid silver men lurching through a kitchen or something and I said, Ha! That silly nonsense is not for me!

But they kept saying I should watch it, so at last I gave in. I saw that my local tv station was screening an episode called ‘The Runaway Bride’ and I thought: I will watch it, I will hate it, and I will shut them up.

Me and my big mouth.

I watched it, and fell spectacularly in love with this skinny boy in a suit, who broke my heart grieving for some bird called Rose about whom I knew bugger all. And five minutes after ‘The Runaway Bride‘ ended, I was online ordering Seasons 1 and 2, and panting for Season 3 to air.

When I think of ‘Doctor Who’, it’s David Tennant’s face that rises before me. And when I got my dvds in the mail and watched Season 1 I enjoyed it enormously, but with the knowledge that Christopher Eccleston wasn’t staying. That he was going to morph into David Tennant. And I was okay with that. It was Tennant’s Doctor who got me hooked on the show. And I have loved watching him for three seasons now. Laughed with him. Cried with him. Been astonished with him. Terrified with him. Humbled with him. In my heart, David Tennant is the Doctor.

And now he’s leaving. Which makes me very, very sad. Because I have loved his Doctor so much. In fact, I dedicated a book to Tennant, and to Russell T. Davies, to thank them for the wonderful roller coaster ride they’ve taken me on these past few years.

But as sad as I am to lose Tennant - and I really am, did I mention that? - I find myself kind of intrigued and excited too. Because as of next year there’ll be a new Doctor in town. Matt Smith, his name is. They’ve just announced his casting, you might’ve heard something about it. I’ve never seen him act, all I’ve seen is a photo of him, and you can’t tell a damn thing from a photo. Actors are chameleons. They whip in and out of characters faster than you can say ‘Sybil’.

So while I am intrigued and excited, I’m also feeling a bit discombobulated … because now I’m a Who fan and I don’t want to stop loving the show. I don’t want this to go wrong. I don’t want to be crushed and mangled and have to sleep with the Tennant Who DVDs under my pillow, weeping for what can never be again.

The central brilliance of Doctor Who, I think, always was this genius solution to keeping the show going while allowing actors to move on with their careers or even possibly, inconveniently, die. But I am a Who virgin. This is my first time to lose the Doctor who was, well, the Doctor. For me. And judging from the fan reaction to the news of Matt Smith’s casting, I ain’t the only one.

So to my fellow virgins - and to the fans who liked Eccleston’s Doctor but who also, like me, fell in love with Tennant’s — can I just say this? Let’s all of us take a slow, deep breath and chill, shall we? Let’s not rush to judgement. Let’s not kneecap young Mister Smith (lucky his first name isn’t John, eh?) before he’s even set foot out of the Tardis. Let’s give the poor bloke a chance to show us what he’s made of. By all means, we’re free to not fall in love with him once we see him in the part. But let’s not go building the gallows quite yet, what do you say?

Because this is Matt Smith’s introduction to Who fandom. And I, for one, don’t want him to feel hated just because he isn’t David Tennant. I, for one, want to feel proud I’m a fan. To quote another brilliant SF show - This has happened before, and will happen again. It’s the nature of Who. Companions change, and so does the Doctor.

On with the adventure, I say!

Karen Miller is a writer of speculative fiction. In addition to her mainstream epic fantasy novels, she writes ‘The Rogue Agent’ fantasy series under the pen-name K.E. Mills, and sometimes plays in other people’s universes. So far she’s romped with Star Wars and Stargate. Her website is: www.karenmiller.net

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Here are a few promo shots to hold you over. (And claustrophobic as I am, that first shot gives me fits!)

FRINGE: Olivia (Anna Torv) finds herself trapped in a mysterious lab in the FRINGE episode “Bound” airing Tuesday, Jan. 20 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2008 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Craig Blankenhorn/FOX

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Yes, some of these shows are new shows that are probably already as good as canceled. I’m looking at you, Game Show in My Head and Howie Do It. But there are some bigtime shows like Battlestar Galactica (Jan. 16 at 9 p.m. CT) and Lost (Jan. 21, 8 p.m. CT).

The CW jumps to the forefront as both Smallville and Supernatural give us new episodes Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. CT respectively. Overall, this is like a belated Christmas gift for sci-fi and fantasy fans. Will it ever be like this again? It’s hard to say, but I suspect it will have something to do with the ratings from this “winter season” of TV.

We know right now that we’re going to lose Galactica after this year, although Caprica looks poised to replace it. Smallville is very much up in the air as well. Most reports we’re hearing indicate Knight Rider is on life support. If NBC’s treatment of Journeyman and Bionic Woman is any indication, there won’t be an official announcement on Knight Rider from NBC. It just won’t come back to the schedule and finally some exec will begrudgingly cough up the news after it’s already been widely reported for months.

– Pictured: Mary McDonnell as Laura Roslin,Michael Hogan as Col. Saul Tigh –SCI FI Channel Photo: Carole Segal

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This is a moment Star Trek fans have no doubt been waiting for since William Shatner entered the talk show fray with his Raw Nerve show on Biography. Tonight at 9 p.m. CT Shatner will interview his old Star Trek colleague Leonard Nimoy.

I wonder how far they’ll push this “Raw Nerve” gimmick. After all, Nimoy is in the new Star Trek movie and Shatner isn’t. Think Shatner will bring it up? Boy, do I hope so. If you don’t have BIO, don’t worry. The network has been putting the episodes online after they air. So far Shatner has interviewed Jenna Jameson, Tim Allen and Judge Judy. The Judge Judy interview reairs tonight after Nimoy.  Man, he better not get flip with Judge Judy because she does not play around. Don’t hand her a dust bunny and tell her it’s a Tribble, Shatner.

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Now when I say ‘former,’ that’s simply a reference to his heyday as one of the stars of the 1993 series Acapulco H.E.A.T., cause he still looks pretty good to me. I spent time with Michael on the set of one of his movies back in the day and he was friendly and charming and I’m glad to see he’s going strong not only as an actor but as a producer and director.

In War Wolves, Michael stars alongside cult favorites John Saxon, Tim Thomerson and Adrianne Barbeau.  The plot revolves around Saxon’s Jack Ford who leads a special-forces unit back to the United States to hunt down a soldier who has been infected with the werewolf virus that turns man into wolf. Little does he know that three of the female soldiers serving in his unit have also been infected and have already transformed into she-wolves. The she-wolves forces of evil and Ford’s special op forces of good are pitted against each other in the race to save mankind from turning into wolves.

Wait, three female werewolves? Isn’t that the basis for Fox’s new show Bitches?  Hmm, not only the year of the wolf, but the year of the she-wolf to boot.

Watch for War Wolves coming to SCI FI Channel some time in 2009.

Photos courtesy of Digital Jungle

Watch the trailer for War Wolves

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Take it away, Keith. . .

*   *   *   *   *   *

I am now going say something that violates all the rules of the Internet and blogging.

I have no opinion on the casting of Matt Smith as the Doctor.

Yes, he’s replacing the incredibly popular David Tennant. That doesn’t concern me in the least, because he’s the eleventh guy to play the part (thirteenth, if you want to toss Peter Cushing and Richard E. Grant in there). There is nobody on television more replaceable than whoever is playing the Doctor. The folks who have been saying that Tennant was impossible to follow in 2008 were the same ones saying that Christopher Eccleston was impossible to follow in 2005. They were wrong in 2005 and they were wrong in 2008.

As for Smith himself, I must again violate a sacred Internet tenet by saying I’m going to reserve judgment until I, y’know, see him in the role. Or any role, as the only work of Smith’s I’ve seen is The Ruby and the Smoke, and I have no recollection of it, due to TR&TS having bored the living crap out of me.

But Smith impressed Steven Moffat, which is really what counts. A hallmark of Moffat’s prior productions, Coupling and Jekyll, has been picture-perfect casting. Also, there are few writers who have shown the care and understanding of Doctor Who that Moffat has, and this goes all the way back to 1996 when he had a brilliant short story called “Continuity Errors” in one of Virgin’s Who anthologies, Decalog 3: Consequences (which also had a story by some hack named DeCandido—wonder whatever happened to him?), through to The Curse of the Fatal Death and his magnificent episodes of the 21st-century TV show. I think we should give him a little credit based on what he’s done to date.

Yes, in his pictures Smith looks like an emo teenager, but that’s a big look right now, and one that has probably gotten him work. Besides which, if you look at some of David Tennant’s publicity photos from 2005, he looks like a mod poofter. In fact, take the suit off, and Tennant still looks like a mod poofter. But he’s been a most excellent Doctor, despite being the second-youngest person to take on the role.

Well, third-youngest now. And that’s another thing. The last time there was a hue and cry over how will they ever replace this incredibly popular Doctor who’s won over the hearts and minds of so many fans (Tom Baker), he was replaced with the youngest person ever to play the role (Peter Davison). It’s tradition! Or, uh, something.

In any event, I’m going to not play by the rules and refuse to form an opinion until it’s an informed opinion.

So there.

Keith R.A. DeCandido is the best-selling author of many many many novels, comic books, short stories, novellas, eBooks, and nonfiction in a wide variety of media universes, most recently the novel Star Trek: A Singular Destiny and the ongoing Farscape comic book from BOOM! Studios. He was the first native-born American citizen to write official Doctor Who prose fiction with his short story “UNITed We Fall” in 1996’s Decalog 3: Consequences, which also had a short story by some guy named Moffat (wonder whatever happened to him?), and his story “Life from Lifelessness” was in the Short Trips anthology Destination Prague; he also edited the 2008 Short Trips anthology The Quality of Leadership. Read his regular ramblings at kradical.livejournal.com.

Photo Source: Newscom

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Tonight you’ll get a different look at Separatist leader Count Dooku, when Anakin and Obi-Wan attempting to capture him, discover the Sith Lord has already been kidnapped by intergalactic pirates.

Director Jesse Yeh says the episode reveals more insight into Count Dooku’s descent from Jedi Knight to his lofty place within the ranks of those wielding the dark side of the Force.

“I have always been interested in the drama behind this particular character,” Yeh explains. “He thinks realistically, and has a solid mind. The actions he takes are always so direct and straight forward.

“I sense that deep down, Dooku holds a sort of emotional connection with the Jedi,” Yeh says. “I’ve always been interested in the drama behind him. Dooku thinks realistically, he has a solid mind, and the actions he takes are very direct and straightforward.

“In a way, he’s almost pathetic. His mind is constantly being twisted by his pride, which is what originally led him to the dark side. Because of his pride, he doesn’t realize he has turned into exactly the sort of monster that he once fought against. From his perspective, he is not doing anything different from what he did when he was still a Jedi. He’s just trying to save the universe – but this time from what he sees as a corrupt Republic. In the end, he’s become just another expendable pawn of the true evil.”

Yeh said Dooku’s position as a prisoner in “Dooku Captured” provided a dramatic and animation challenge. “Dooku is no longer in control of the situation, do we had to spend some time trying to figure out how to animate this ‘tamed’ Dooku.”

In addition to working with Dooku, Yeh said it was particularly exciting directing an episode that introduces new characters.

“The pirates have a gangster-like society. The fact that they were actually capable of capturing the legendary Dooku took me by surprise,” Yeh says. “Since the pirate chief is a new character, there were really no limitations on how to bring him to the screen. As a director, I got to determine who this new character would be – how to bring out the combative and greedy nature of this particular species, and put those characteristics onto the very surface of his performance.”

Watch “Dooku Captured,” an all-new episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, tonight on Cartoon Network.

The Clone Wars images: TM & © 2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.

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I was raised on Twilight Zone, so I’m quite excited about this development. Variety tells us the Postal Service is working on a series of stamps commemorating the golden age of television. The Early TV Memories series will launch August 11 in Los Angeles and includes stamps honoring I Love Lucy, classic game show You Bet Your Life, and yes, the Twilight Zone.

Variety said the stamps will begin at the current 42 cent price point but remember, there’s a postal price increase coming in May. With more and more companies offering ways to pay bills and complete other transactions online, the Postal Service is pushing the collector’s value of stamps heavily. I’m very stoked about Twilight Zone stamps and can’t wait to see what episodes and/or moments they decide to immortalize.

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Knight Rider: Knight Fever

Air Date: December 31, 2009

KITT MAY HAVE MET HIS MATCH WHEN HE FALLS VICTIM TO A DESTRUCTIVE COMPUTER VIRUS

Mike (Justin Bruening) must stop the spread of a computer virus that threatens a total global meltdown. The job gets much harder when KITT (voiced by Val Kilmer) is infected. Meanwhile, Mike’s jealousy begins to show when Sarah (Deanna Russo) reconnects with an old flame (guest star Jeffrey Pierce, “The Nine”), who may be the key to solving the latest mission.

NBC Photo: Paul Drinkwater

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