I seriously cannot wait for this show to return. Only 56 more days!

“The Discarded” is based on the 1959 short story “The Abnormals” by seven-time Hugo Award winner, three-time Nebula Award winner and Science Fiction Grand Master Laureate Harlan Ellison. It is the story of a band of despised minorities forever adrift in the darkness of outer space. As a last resort – born out of their loneliness and despair – they are forced to make an ominous pact with those responsible for their plight, in the hope that they will finally be offered refuge at home on Earth.

The SF Site says that “‘The Discarded’ is clearly the strongest of the quartet of episodes aired during the show’s run”. While this is definitely the series finale for Masters of Science Fiction, there are two more episodes that ABC have chosen not to air. Hopefully they make it to DVD someday, to quench the completist in me.

As always, watch the promo ad here, and a couple of preview clips after the jump:

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Okay, so not too much was actually said about the filming, but it’s better than nothing, right?

In the future, Mr. and Mrs. Bronson Van Vogel are the seventh-richest couple in the world. Pleasure is their only work; mundane or dangerous chores are done by anthropoids. All the anthropoids - a few strands of human DNA, grown into a baby and fused with plastics - are named “Joe.” Somehow, Mrs. Van Vogel’s dormant compassion is awakened by a Joe named Jerry. What traits would prove that Jerry is, indeed, a man?

Watch the promo for it here, as well as the following preview clips. I particularly enjoyed the courtroom scene in clip 2, where the testimonial oath has amusingly been adjusted to accommodate for all religious deities. Although, to my disdain, I heard no mention of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Masters of Science Fiction: “Jerry Was a Man” - preview clip 1

Masters of Science Fiction: “Jerry Was a Man” - preview clip 2

As we all know from the end of season 2, Scofield, Mahone, Bellick and T-Bag are back in prison - one that makes Fox River look like a 5 star hotel - and it’s going to be up to Scofield again to break them out. It’s a pity he didn’t get a map tattooed this time.

At this stage, it’s hard to say whether the show is going back to its roots, or if the writers are just running out of ideas (the show was originally conceived as having only two seasons - but hey, money talks).

I’ll just say this: Season 2 paled in comparison to the premiere season. Perhaps Sona is a chance to recreate that experience, only darker and more intense. The show is called “Prison Break”, after all.

NBC Primetime Preview: Heroes - Season 2

Heroes season 2 beings 24th September 2007 (US).

The year is 1999. It is the 12th episode of the first US series of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. 32-year-old John Carpenter, an IRS officer by trade, has become the second ever contestant to reach the final million dollar question, and the first to do with all three lifelines still available. This alone is an amazing feat, but what happens next is simply unbelievable…

You can read more about him and his historic win in this Wikipedia entry.

Masters of Science Fiction: “The Awakening” ABC promo

The episode opens outside Baghdad, where a strange encounter occurs between an American soldier and an Iraq insurgent. They discover they are able to understand each other despite neither one being able to speak the other’s language. The story then jumps to a military lab where the two men are now being examined, along with another mysterious casualty - one they can’t even identify as human. The central question becomes not what the humanoid is, or how it has affected the men in the manner it has, but rather what the humanoid wants and how the governments of the world should respond.

The two main characters are a young female Lieutenant and a retired Military man of two years (played by Röhm and O’Quinn respectively), and their role in the film is to examine the humanoid and question humanity’s place in the cosmos. William B. Davis (The X-Files) guest stars as the President of the United States, who is ready to take an unpopular course of action without support from the rest of the world (another jab at the Bush administration?).

Stephen H Silver of The SF Site says ““The Awakening” isn’t as strong an episode as the debut episode, but it will appeal more to those who think science fiction needs special effects.”

Check out some preview clips after the jump.

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In case you can’t find it on your favourite BT channel, here’s the complete first episode, “A New Dawn”:

Heroes Unmasked - s01e01 - “A New Dawn”

The song playing at the end of the episode is “Feeling a Moment” by Feeder. There’s an MP3 of it here.

As part of the promotion for this competition, a few of the cast from Weeds have performed their own versions of the Weeds theme song. My favourite would have to be Romany Malco (Conrad) doing a rap version, and adding a few more lyrics of his own. Apparently, according to his wikipedia page, he’s been rapping since age 7, and the rap group he formed in his teens was picked up by Virgin Records. Check it out, with the rest of the cast’s performances after the jump:

Romany Malco (Conrad) raps Weeds theme

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