Earlier this week, Kottke found this on-set image of the filming of the third installment in the original trilogy, showing Fisher and her stunt double catching some sun between takes.

We figured you might enjoy seeing it….

The series returns to Fox tonight at 9 p.m. EST with an all-new episode that focuses on the character of Broyles.  According to reports, tonight’s episode will reveal a few clues about Broyles and his background.

But don’t expect the revelations to stop there.  As the series gears up for the rest of its second season, the cast of the show says there are a lot of questions lingering that can and should be addressed.

If you’ve not seen the second season yet or don’t want to know potential SPOILERS for the rest of season two, please stop reading now.

One of the biggest questions on the show this season has been about Peter, played by Joshua Jackson.  At the end of last season, it was revealed that Peter in our universe had died and been replaced by Walter.  Did Walter go to the alternate dimension to get Peter and did that decision create the coming confict between the two dimension that William Bell told Olivia about a few weeks ago?

And will Peter ever learn the truth about what happened?

“The big [question] that gets raised is, when he finds out the truth about his origins, where do his loyalties lie?” Jackson tells SciFi Wire. “I truly am excited to play it either way. Maybe the decision’s been made—they haven’t told me—but I think it’s just as interesting to have Peter freak out, have his moment outside the flock, and then come back and say, ‘I forgive you, but this is where I belong.’ And I also think it’s quite interesting to have him freak out and say, ‘No, burn it all down,’ and have Peter actually become some version of the bad guy going into season three.”

Another question lingering is that while we’ve seen alternate versions of Broyles and Charlie, we’ve not yet determined if there is another Walter or another Olivia lurking out there.

The cast has begun referring to the other Walter as “Walternate” and Jackson says he’s convinced there has to be one.

His co-star John Noble, who plays Walter, agrees with the assessment and that when we meet the “Walternate” he won’t be happy.

“He’s going to be awfully angry,” Noble says. “That’s my summation. We’ve sort of hinted this, haven’t we? We’ve had little hints of other Walters around the place, and you’ll see that. My guess would be that there has to be a confrontation between the two men. That’s not the writers again, this is just me projecting forward.”

As for another Olivia, Anna Torv says she’s not heard either way but that she looks forward to the opportunity to play her.

“I’m hoping that there is [an alt-Olivia]. But then I don’t know … which I would prefer if she ends up coming. I don’t know if I would prefer her to be just, like, fractionally off, ” Torv says. ” I would love to see … she’s completely, you know, 180 [degrees different]. … My pitch would be, and I think that’s what a lot of people are saying, too, … with the discovery of the fact that the Peter here is clearly not from here, then it makes sense that maybe the Walter over there is angry with the Walter here, and that’s kind of the whole thing behind [the Pattern]. But I don’t know. They do sometimes surprise. Sometimes they put these clues in and then they flip it on its head and you’ve been wrong all along. But that’s where I’m going.”

As for what fans can look forward to in the coming weeks and months, look for an episode that centers on the mysterious Observer and one that sees Walter and William Bell crossing paths.

“We’ve introduced William Bell as a major player now, and Leonard’s been back a couple of times,” Noble says, revealing: “I did a lovely scene with him the other day. A very interesting scene which I’m not going to tell you about, but it was amazing. What it revealed. The revelation in that was shocking. It was shocking to me when I read it.”

Noble adds: “What we’re dealing with is, we’ve been told that there’s a breach, that there will have to be a repercussion for this breach. And so as we build through now, we’re coming towards what they’re calling a war. … [If you] break the laws of nature, you will pay. That’s going to happen. So we’ll build through season two up to that point. In the meantime, we’ll continue to do stories that are interesting, and we’ve done some, I think some of our very, very best scripts. Last, this year, we’ve done some amazing [things]. Just what we’ve been shooting for the last five episodes is extraordinary.”

“Fringe” airs tonight on Fox at 9 p.m. EST.

According to E! Online, promotional clips, posters, still and other things will be held until the show premieres in Janaury.  Citing the desire to keep some of hte big twists for the final season truly secret, the series is said to be keeping a tiht lid on things–even what they reveal to professional SPOILER columnists.

Fans of “Lost” have notoriously examined any clues for hidden details for the show’s past several season.  And there has been some news leaking out this week concering which original cast member has been holding out from appearing in the final season.

Looks like we’ll all have to wait and see what happens in January.

With the success of “True Blood” and “The Vampire Diaries,” it was only a matter of time before another vampire based series was put into development.

This time it’s “The Mortal Instruments,” based on a series of novels by Cassandra Clare, Variety reports.

The story revolves around teenager Clary Fray’s search for her missing mother, which leads her to a city filled with mysterious fairies, raucous warlocks, vampires and other demons.

“Cassandra Clare has created a truly unique, imaginative and universally appealing world seen through the eyes of a 16-year-old girl,” said Robert Kulzer, who will produce for Constantin Film. Martin Moszkowicz will be executive producer.

As the sequel began to slowly move towards become a reality, some fans were hoping that the series might reboot itself instead of just being a follow-up to the original film.

It appears that fans may be (sort of) getting their wish.

Writer David Goyer, who was recently tapped to write the sequel, says that the film won’t be an out and out reboot, but will instead do for “Ghost Rider” what “Casino Royale” did for James Bond.

“It’s not exactly a reboot,” Goyer tells MTV News. “I hate to say it’s more realistic, because he’s got a flaming skull for a head, but it’s a bit more stripped down and darker. It’s definitely changing tone.”

“This story picks up eight years after the first film,” said Goyer. “You don’t have to have seen the first film. It doesn’t contradict anything that happened in the first film, but we’re pretending that our audience hasn’t seen the first film. It’s as if you took that same character where things ended in the first film and then picked it up eight years later—he’s just in a much darker, existential place.”

Goyer also noted that the script is being toned down a bit to try and go after a PG-13 rating. Beyond that, the writer wouldn’t delve into many specific details about the film but added, “”My script is out there on the Internet. We’re not changing much from it. It’ll be significantly the same script.”

Production on “Ghost Rider 2″ begins next year.

Emmerich says that he is currently in talks with ABC to create a spin-off series of the disaster movie that would follow the rebuilding of the planet after its destroyed in the upcoming film.

“The plan is that it is 2013 and it’s about what happens after the disaster,” Emmerich told EW. “It is about the resettling of Earth. That is very, very fascinating.”

Emmerich added that he thinks the show “will focus on a group of people who survived but not on the boats… maybe they were on a piece of land that was spared or one that became an island in the process of the crust moving.”

EW says that Gordon is rumored to be in talks with ABC for the disaster drama. Gordon said: “After the movie, there are some people who survive and the question is how will these survivors build a new world and what will it look like. That might make an interesting TV series.”

Access Hollywood reports that Anderson would like to see a movie filmed in space in his future.

“I’d like to do a movie in space,” Wes told AccessHollywood.com at the Hollywood premiere of his latest film, the animated Roald Dahl adaptation “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” “If possible I would like to try to actually shoot some of it on location in space. That’s my preference.”

Anderson didn’t have any details about the film, but he did say his next project would be an original work and not an adaptation like “Fox.”

The first episode of the highly anticipated remake of the iconic 80’s miniseries delivered solid ratings Tuesday evening for the alphabet network.

“V” was Tuesday’s No. 1 program in several demographics, delivering a bigger number than any other new show this season. It was also the highest rated debut for a drama series on ABC since the first episode of “Lost.”

The good news for ABC is that “V” went up against CBS’ hit series “NCIS” and came out the winner.

“V” averaged a hearty 5.2 rating/14 share in adults 18-49 and 14.30 million viewers overall — an 18-49 level attained in drama this season only by two shows (ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and Fox’s “House”).

Meanwhile, it appears that “V” has a new show runner. It was announced earlier Wednesday that Scott Peters will be replaced by Scott Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum may be familiar to fans of “Chuck” where he served as a producer and writer. He also worked on the hit series, “The Shield.”

The change is the third such change for the new series.

If you enjoy subjecting your youngsters to mindless entertainment, Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a safe bet.

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Russo Rating: 5/10

While the Ice Age series has never been known for classy storylines, the third installment, Dawn of the Dinosaurs took the franchise into a whole new dimension. Offering spectacular action sequences in the third dimension that made the film a smash in theaters, Ice Age 3 offers the at home viewer very little in terms of difference from previous installments.

While the movie looks beautiful in 1080p BluRay, the brains of the movie are a bit lacking. Ice Age 3 writes off the glaring historical inaccuracies with fantastic elements, that dinosaurs have survived the Ice Age in a “center of the Earth” like environment. The jokes are just as contrived, targeting a much younger audience than most Pixar films.

The BluRay set includes a wooly mammoth sized amount of extras as well as a DVD and Digital Copy of the movie. If you enjoy subjecting your youngsters to mindless entertainment, Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a safe bet.

Ruins the good will and momentum that the original sequel built for the series.

Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead

Russo Rating: 2/10

Moving the franchise in the wrong direction, Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead ruins the good will and momentum that the original sequel built for the series.

Again following a group of doomed folk into the villainous, cannibal country of West Virginia, Left for Dead is not nearly as inspired as the last installment, which was a funny twist on a reality show gone awry. Now, a prison transport bus, carrying some hardened felons, and even worse actors, is wrecked, leaving them victims for our mutated killers.

While some of the kills are amusing, the best being an arrow through a perfectly placed nipple, Wrong Turn 3 relies too much on computer animation to round out the gore. And any horror buff knows, a movie that is lacking in story and performances better have some awesome effects or camp to carry the picture. Sadly, audiences hoping for this with Wrong Turn 3 will be, ahem, Left for Dead.

Headlining this year’s list of guest stars will be Garrett Wang, known to Star Trek fans as Ensign Harry Kim on “Star Trek: Voyager.” The success of the new Star Trek movie in May led to requests for a local fan-run convention to continue after local fans stepped up in 2008; they put on a free one-day convention when a professional convention company pulled out at the last minute. For many Midwestern science fiction fans, Starbase Indy is a Thanksgiving weekend tradition.

Part of the tradition consists of activities that suit a variety of tastes. A special activity at this year’s Starbase Indy will be a 1980s video arcade room with games set on free play for attendees. Among games available Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be Tron, Dig Dug, Star
Wars and Super PacMan.

Try other activities, as well. Train your tongue in Klingon during a Klingon language panel, enter the costume competition, or compete into the wee hours in open gaming such as Star Trek Uno, Dungeons and Dragons, Hollow Earth Expedition and Robo Rally. Bring your own robot or build a robot from parts available on site and challenge other robotics designers. Watch the vampire film, Revamped, by Starbase Indy guest star Jeff Rector. Attend a tribute to Indianapolis horror-show legend Sammy Terry. Browse the dealers room for out-of-this world items or engage in another Starbase Indy tradition, the charity auction. In addition, plans are in the works for some science panels. Among other guest stars this year are William Morgan Sheppard, who appeared as the Vulcan science minister in the 2009 Star Trek movie and has guested in Star Trek television episodes. He also appeared as the grandfather, Capt. Archibald Witwicky, in the 2007 box office hit Transformers.

Also scheduled to appear are Jeff Rector, who has had guest-starring roles on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Sliders, and a recurring role on the Sci-Fi (now Syfy) channel series Black Scorpion. He also co-starred on Everybody Hates Chris.
Other guests include Hoosier native and artist Deborah Downey, who appeared in the original Star Trek series in a musical scene involving Mr. Spock, and David Reddick, award-winning cartoonist whose comic strip, “The Trek Life,” appears on the official Star Trek Web site. His more recent comic strip antics can be found on Roddenberry.com and include the strips, “Rod & Barry” and “Gene’s Journal.” Both are filled with is hilarious humor and wonderful artistic abilities.
Starbase Indy is a not-for-profit event run by fans, for fans. For an escape from reality Thanksgiving weekend, try Starbase Indy. Hours are 2 p.m. to midnight Nov. 27, 9 a.m.- midnight Nov. 28 and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Nov. 29. Pre-registration cost is $25 for the weekend or
$35 at the door. Children age 12 and under are free.

For more information, call 317 513 8651 or go to www.starbaseindy.com

Tennant is leaving the series after three and a half seasons as the universe’s best known Time Lord. And while the actor says that he has his regrets about leaving “the best part in the world,” he knows that his successor is the right man for the role.

“I’m really excited for him,” Tennant said in an interview with Newsbeat. “But I remember how exciting it was starting out on this kind of a journey — and nerve-wracking and a bit overwhelming but just such a kick. So I’m jealous he’s [Matt Smith] going through that now but he’s brilliant and it couldn’t happen to a nicer chap.”

When Smith does take over next year, in-coming producer Steven Moffat says that fans “won’t be able to take [their] eyes off him.”

“He’s all the things you’d expect, including ancient”, Moffat said.

Moffat went on to say that he’s feeling the pressure of sustaining the show once current producer Russell T. Davies is gone for good.

You do feel [the] pressure,” Moffat said. “What if I broke Doctor Who? That would be a tragedy.”

The good news is that “Doctor Who” has seen changes at producer and star before and weathered them both.

The probe made the observations during its third flyby of Mercury on Sept. 29, when it took a host of measurements and images of the innermost planet’s surface and atmosphere. Only about half of the planned measurements were made because of a data glitch that affected the spacecraft during the flyby.

The $446 million probe’s third flyby brought it within 142 miles  of Mercury’s surface to cover more uncharted terrain, leaving 98 percent of the planet now mapped. The flyby was also a gravity assist meant to guide the spacecraft into orbit around the planet in 2011.

Mercury’s atmosphere is what scientists call an “exosphere,” and is made up of atoms kicked up from the surface. It is very tenuous and has a very low density, meaning atoms in the atmosphere rarely run into each other. It also has a tail that streams away from the planet in the opposite direction of the sun.

The probe looked at differences in three atoms in the exosphere — sodium, calcium and magnesium — between the probe’s three flybys. They detected much less sodium during the third flyby than they had during the second.

“While this is dramatic, it isn’t totally unexpected,” Vervack said. This is because radiation pressures from the sun change as Mercury moves through its orbit, which changes the amount of sodium liberated from the surface.

In essence, Mercury’s atmosphere experiences seasonal effects during the planet’s orbit.

Calcium and magnesium showed less variation between “seasons” than did sodium, showing that different atoms “are going to have their own unique seasonal varations,” Vervack said.

Understanding these seasonal differences will help scientists understand how surface material is lost and how the surface has changed over time.

Mercury’s atmosphere is “the end product of a few billion years of these processes, they never stop,” said mission scientist Ronald Vervack, Jr., of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) in Laurel, Md.

The classic series from the 80s is now available for viewing.

And, of course, to help give fuel to the fire over which is better–the original or the new series.

This weekend, we get the return of “Legend of the Seeker.”

The hit syndicated series returns this weekend with its second season.

If you’d like to catch a sneak peek at the season premiere, check out the video below.  There are more videos at the official site for the show as well as a link to find when the show airs in your area.

The Prisoner premieres on Sun., Nov. 15 from 8PM to 10PM ET | PT. The Prisoner will air over three consecutive nights, with two episodes each evening, from 8PM to 10PM ET | PT on AMC.

A man, known as “Six,” finds himself inexplicably trapped in “The Village” with no memory of how he arrived. As he explores his environment, he discovers that his fellow inhabitants are identified by number instead of name, have no memory of any prior existence, and are under constant surveillance. Not knowing whom to trust, Six is driven by the need to discover the truth behind The Village, the reason for his being there, and most importantly — how he can escape.

Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ , The Thin Red Line) will play the role of Six; and two-time Oscar nominee Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings, The Da Vinci Code) will co-star as Two.

Fans are buzzing about an upcoming episode that will see actor Michael Shanks guest star as Hawkman.  The episode will feature a growing version of the Justice League and Shanks says that while he’s only in two episodes of the show so far, there’s a possibility Hawkman could be back for more.

“The way it’s set up there is a strong possibility that there could be more,” Shanks explained in an interview with The Huffington Post. “I don’t know where they’re going with their season arc, but they certainly set the table. They’ve left that possibility wide open.”

Shanks also says that Hawkman will help Clark grow into his role as Superman.

“Hawkman being the alpha in the Justice Society, being someone who…has made some missteps along the way, can or could represent a type of mentor character to Clark in his leadership abilities with his burgeoning team members of the Justice League,” Shanks said. “He represents a character that has a lot of wisdom to pass down to this next generation, so there is a strong possibility that once the initial phase wears off that there will be a coming together of those two to paint a larger portrait of the future, of what Clark has available to him and what his options are.”

One part of getting ready for the role is being fitted for wings.

“This is what I’ve been doing the most of, is going for fittings and you know, talking to the producers about the character and discussing the elements of the voices. But mostly it’s been focused on the costume and the logistics of the costume,” Shanks related. “Again, it’s a necessary thing. I really appreciate the reverence that these guys have.”

Shanks’ episode is set to air early next year.

Now an actress and a writer on the series are responding via their blogs.

Actress Julie Benson, who plays 2nd Lt. Vanessa James on the series, has started a blog and has responded to the critics.

“As an actor, Stargate Universe has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. The producers have created the best atmosphere! I love going to work. I love the character I get to play, I love the people I get to act with, and I love the crew. I am now introduced to the fans. What an amazing franchise that so many people out there are so passionate about our show. It is a gift to be involved in something that people have opinions about,” she writes.

Benson goes on to address a certain controversy among fans about whether or not certain parts of her are real or not.

“For all the talk about my natural (and believe me they are 100%) assets I promise you that there is much more to my character. Who knew that a tank top could cause such a stir. LOL!! Our show is about people and people have sexuality. The creators are not exploiting it, they are exploring it. That is what writers, actors and directors do,” she writes.

In fact, the scene in question is raising such a furor among fans that producer Joseph Mallozzi wrote a post responding directly to the fans.

” STOP MAKING IDIOT COMMENTS. Note I didn’t say idiotic comments because that would imply that the lion’s share of the idiocy lies with the comment itself rather than the commentator. No, I mean: STOP MAKING IDIOT COMMENTS,” he writes in his blog, responding to some fans who keep posting negative comments.

“For example, say you have a problem with the James scene in Darkness in which she threatens Riley and Eli after they try spying on her with the kino. You can go ahead and make an argument for the scene being sexist (although I’d argue that there’s a difference between the scene being sexist and the characters in the scene acting inappropriately, especially given that a clearly disappointed Young admonishes both men), but if, in the body of your comment or any subsequent comment, you refer to the James character as Lieutenant Rack or McBoobs, then you’re a hypocrite who has successfully undermined their argument by demonstrating you can’t be taken seriously. Also, you’re an idiot,” he continues.

Mazolli went on to say that the huge amount of negativity being leveled at the show is causing many of the series producers and stars to shy away from the Internet and the fans, something stars and producers of other incarnations of the series openly embraced.

“Sadly, the negativity has also taken its toll on one-time regular Sherry, proud mother of actor Brian J. Smith, who, surprised and saddened by some of the hostility here, has elected to no longer read the blog,” he said. “Also, after several months of connecting with fandom online, Brian is stepping away from his popular twitter account for much the same reason. Some of the very same fans who he was kind enough to open up a dialogue with in the run-up to the premiere started leaving him nasty comments as though he was responsible for the show’s creative direction… [R]ealize – if it hasn’t become apparent by now – that we love our cast and are very protective of them. Trust me when I say that there’s no better way to guarantee a character’s long and fruitful stay on a show than to insist we get rid of them.”

Mazolli had one final thing to say to the fans.

“SGU is NOT SG-1 or Atlantis. It’s a different show in terms of tone and characters. If you’re expecting flawless people, square-jawed heroes, and stories that set up and deliver all the answers over the course of a forty-five minute episode, you WILL be disappointed. And DON’T expect that to change,” he writes.

“Stargate: Universe” airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on SyFy.

Fillion tells MTV News that he’s seen a script for the sequel as well as the score for several musical numbers.  He says that everything is coming together for the sequel to the award-winning first installment except figuring out in which type of media the sequel will debut.

“There are plans,” Fillion told MTV News. “The media for the sequel has not yet been decided, but there is a title.”

“Joss, I was talking to him right before we won the Emmy,” said Fillion. “He said that he’s finished writing a song or two. He told me a couple of verses to the song.”

“It’s going to be great,” he said. “I know a bunch of cast members of Dr. Horrible who would love to get back into it.”

The series, which will air the first four episodes in November and then nine more next year, is a re-telling of the classic mini-series in which aliens come to Earth, at first appearing benevolent but hiding a darker agenda.

Actor Scott Wolf is one of the Earthlings who will find himself uniquely challenged by the Visitors.  Wolf plays journalist Chad Decker who is given a unique choice–become a spokesperson for the Visitors and possibly have his career and life put on a fast track to fame and fortune or follow a code of journalist integrity.

“He’s a successful guy but he’s not attainted the level of success he believes he deserves and he’s looking for that opportunity,” Wolf tells UGO. “He finds it through Anna, the leader of the Visitors and she puts him in a position where I think she has chosen him because she sees him as somebody who is effective enough at what he does but is also vulnerable because of his own ambition.  And I think she believes that she’ll be able to do and say whatever she wants to do through Chad.  And round one does go to Anna, she puts him in a position where at the last moment he has a choice to make between giving up the opportunity of his lifetime or playing by her rules and compromising. ”

Wolf says that he the original mini-series was one of the defining shows of the 1980’s and one of those events that kids “begged their parents to be allowed to stay up and watch.”

When he found out he was going to be on the show, Wolf looked at clips on YouTube to get ready for the new version.  And while both shows share the same starting point, Wolf says that the new version is different from the original becuase the series format allows for the story to unfold more in chapters.

“One of the things that I really wanted to make clear and I think it’s really important for people who are gonna watch our show to know, is that from the outset the intent was to program this show, broadcast this show in a unique way,” he said. ” It is a huge story. It’s literally about an event, aliens arriving on Earth, that affects every single person on the planet.

“So this is the kind of story that needs to be told at a great pace and with huge stories.  I think all the people at the studio and the network knew that the best way to do it was in installments and tell the story in chapters,” he continued. ” So they’re being true to what they set out to do.  I think it’s important for people to know that this isn’t a conventional series that is being broken apart, that the intention was to air it in chapters and blast people with an incredible story for a window and then give them a chance to catch their breath and come back at ‘em again.”

“V” begins tonight on ABC.

Shortchanging traditional animation by literalizing it while robbing actors of their full range of facial expressiveness, the performance-capture technique favored by director Robert Zemeckis looks more than ever like the emperor’s new clothes in “Disney’s A Christmas Carol.” Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella and screen perennial has been retrofitted here as a so-called thrill ride in which Scrooge zooms above the streets of London and rockets halfway to the moon and back, only because now he technologically can. But while curmudgeons, here qualifying as anyone who might prefer earlier versions of the classic tale, will frown, bright-eyed young’uns will ooh and aah from behind their 3D glasses, resulting in bountiful early holiday B.O. tidings for the company that has now incorporated itself into Dickens’ title.

You can read the full review HERE

A couple of weeks ago, we brought you news that one of the major characters from “Heroes” would be dying–and that it appeared this would be a permanent death.

Speculation has run rampant since then with various Hollywood gossip and SPOILER columnists dropping vague hints about who it could be.  For a while the early lead seemed to be Peter Patrelli based on cryptic clues dropped by EW’s Michael Ausiello.

But now the news has hit the world wide web that while we had the right family, we got the wrong brother.  According to E! On-line’s Kristen, it will be Nathan Patrelli who dies in an upcoming episode.

Actor Adrian Pasdar reportedly found out he was being written out of the show when he read it in the script for the upcoming episode.

Of course, this should be taken with a grain of salt since the character has died before and come back.

Analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities predicts the video game sector will lose seven percent of its sales for the year.

This is significant because until now, video game sales were seen as recession proof.

In May, Pachter says he had hoped for software sales to increase by 4%, but now he expects them to actually drop 5%. Coupled with decreases in console sales, the total industry revenues will drop by 6.8%, he estimates.

“While we originally forecast sales growth in 2009 and are disappointed by the likelihood that the year will end up showing a decline in sales, we continue to believe that the video game industry will return to sustainable growth in 2010,” he wrote in the industry note issued Wednesday. “In our view, the decline in 2009 occurred as consumers experienced ‘console fatigue’ in the middle part of the year, and we think that the recent hardware price cuts and better release slate will drive double-digit growth in 2010.”

The special lost its original sponsor last week when Microsoft pulled out after seeing the script for the upcoming variety show.

The special will feature MacFarlane and Alex Borstein in a variety of sketches and skits, including some of them in the famous voices of various characters from “Family Guy.”

Warner Brothers will run an extended look at the upcoming “Holmes” during the special, according to Variety.

The special will not have to have significant reshoots done either.  The special was originally planned to integrate promotional moments for Microsoft and Windows 7 during the show.  However, those are said to be isolated bits and not part of the larger skits.

No word yet on if the special will make reference to “Holmes” or not.

In other good news for MacFarlane’s animated productions, Fox gave the green light to a new season of “American Dad.”

Hopkins will play Odin, the king of Asgard and the father of Thor and Loki reports Mike Fleming.

Chris Hemsworth will play  Thor, and Tom Hiddelston plays  Loki. The movie will be directed by Kenneth Branagh.

Natalie Portman is also set to play Thor’s love interest, Jane Foster.

The script comes from Mark Protosevich and Zack Stentz & Ashley Miller.

The Mighty Thor is a powerful but arrogant warrior of Asgard, but after his reckless actions reignite an ancient war, his father banishes him to Earth to live among humans. He learns the meaning of heroism when he stands tall as his arch enemy from home sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

If you’d like to check it out, you can at Yahoo Movies.

Or, you can check it out below:

Avatar Trailer in HD

Trailer Park | MySpace Video

Titled “The Waters of Mars,” the special will air at 7 p.m. on BBC1.

BBC America also confirmed that American fans will get to see the special quickly.  The cable network announced Friday at the special will air in the United States on Saturday, December 19.

Airdates for the final two specials of the year will be announced in early December.

Those two episodes will feature the final appearance of David Tennant as the Doctor.

BBC America also announced that all three new specials will be released on DVD and Blu Ray on February 2.  There will also be a five disc box set of all the specials released on that day.

No word yet on if the box set will have the usual wealth of box-set extras that other sets have seen.

Sony Pictures, which released the film and initially said the movie would play for two weeks, announced Sunday that it would play through the Thanksgiving weekend. Sony’s “$60 million to acquire rights was money well spent,” says Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com.

Last week’s top draw, “Paranormal Activity” continued to scare up solid business at the box-office with a $16.5 million take.

“Law Abiding Citizen” continues to deliver solid box-office results, coming in at number three with $7.3 million in ticket sales.

“Couples Retreat” and “Saw VI” rounded out the top five for the Halloween weekend.

Head on over, listen to the latest episode (Season 5, Ep 18), read the show notes for the entry rules, follow the instructions, and good luck!

NOTE: Do not send contest entries here to Slice of SciFi… they will be eradicated.