TV Sci-Fi Movies

 

Season two of Xena: Warrior Princess is noteworthy for several reasons, though two of these stand out above all the rest. The first was the promotion to full "regular" status of the series' principal comedy-relief character, a bumbling wannabe warrior named Joxer (Ted Raimi), who had previously shown up in the first-season installment "Callisto." The second occurred during the two-part adventure "Destiny"/"The Quest," in which heroine Xena (Lucy Lawless) actually died and was brought back to life -- one of several termination-resurrection scenarios which would proliferate in the seasons to come. A potential series-threatening crisis occurred in October 1996, when star Lucy Lawless fell from a horse during a publicity stunt staged for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Suffering a broken pelvis, the actress was forced to sit out several weeks of shooting, necessitating the hastily written episodes "Intimate Stranger" and "Ten Little Warlords," in which Xena's mind and soul was briefly "possessed" by the body of her arch-enemy Callisto (Hudson Leick). Deftly balancing dead-serious episodes (especially those wherein the usually pacifistic Gabrielle [Renee O'Connor] would toy with the notion of learning how to kill her enemies) with delightful excursions into comedy and whimsy (notably "Here She Comes? Miss Amphipolis" and "A Comedy of Eros"), Xena: Warrior Princess wrapped up its second season with 22 highly-rated installments. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Doctor tries to save the soul of a lonely old miser in a bid to save Rory and Amy, who are trapped on a crashing space liner. ~ Michael Chant, Rovi

NYPD veteran Lieutenant Patrick Brogan (Ted Shackelford) teams with ambitious rookie Officer Jack Haldane (Rob Youngblood) to clean up Demeter City, a lawless outpost on the planet Altor that's home to the most notorious criminals in the galaxy in this sci-fi cop show. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

After a moderately successful first season in syndication, the H.G. Wells-based science fiction series War of the Worlds returns for a second season with several radical changes in place--and not merely the new title, War of the Worlds: The Second Invasion. As we shall see, the series has abruptly taken on the dimensions of two other entertainment properties: the Mad Max movies, and the briefly popular network sci-fi series V. As before, scientist Harrison Blackwood (Jared Martin) and his astrophysicist colleague Suzanne McCullough (Lynda Mason Green) continue to wage war against an army of extraterrestrial invaders, but not precisely the same invaders as in the previous season. It turns out that the dreaded Mortaxians, who had the ability to assume the bodies and identities of humans in order to carry out their dirty work undetected, were actually soldiers in the employ of an even stronger other-worldly race, the human Morthrai. Summarily exterminating the Mortaxians for failing to complete their mission of conquering the Earth, the Morthrai show up to finish the job--which is distressingly easy, inasmuch as the entire infrastructure of earthly society has apparently collapsed between Seasons One and Two, leaving the planet in a chaotic, dysfunctional state, with the "leadership" in the hands of local despots and scoundrels. (So much for Mad Max) Commandeering the Morthrai is the Hitlerlike Malzor (Denis Forest) and his beautiful-but-deadly consort Mana (Catherine Disher). Dictating the progress of the war against the humans is the "Joseph Mengele"-type scientist Ardix (Julian Richings), bent on "purifying" the earth by purging all undesirables. Malzor, Mana and Ardix are guided in their sinister ambitions by a jellyfish-shaped deity called The Eternal. (So much for V) Though he hadn't received much official support during Season One, Dr. Blackwood is almost completely on his own during Season Two in his Herculean efforts to ward off the invaders and save the world. Worse still, two of his former colleagues, computer whiz Norton Drake and Army colonel Paul Ironhorse, have been killed off. Luckily, Blackwood can still count on the help and support of his trusted aide Suzanne McCullough, as well as a newcomer to his team, ex-soldier John Kincaid (Adrian Paul). With their original headquarters destroyed, the alien fighters were forced literally underground, running their resistance movement from their city's sewer system. Sensing that the "improvements" wrought on Season Two of War of the Worlds were more hindrance than help, the producers decided to wrap things up permanently in the 44th and final episode "Knight Time", in which a clear victor in the Earth-Morthrai conflict is declared (as if we're going to tell you who it is!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi