Mark A. Sheppard Movies

A remake of the popular 1970s fantasy/adventure series of the same name, NBC's Bionic Woman starred Michelle Ryan as Jaime Sommers, the character originally played by Lindsay Wagner. In the earlier series, Jaime was a professional athlete; in the new version, she was a bartender and soon-to-be unwed mother. No matter: In both instances, Jaime was involved in a terrible accident which required emergency surgery--and a complete electronic overhaul. At the behest of her boyfriend Dr. Anthros (Chris Bowers), the first of several characters created for the remake, Jaime was rushed to a secret research lab, where she was outfitted with a pair of bionic legs and a bionic right arm, both of which provided super-strength and the ability to run in slow motion (representing extraordinary speed). She also was endowed with super-hearing skills--and, in an improvement over the original series, a new bionic eye (needless to say, the bill for all this retooling was considerably higher than the six-million-dollar price tag in the earlier show). Whereas the 1970s edition of Bionic Woman was, for all its gimmickry, a fairly straightforward action-adventure offering, the remake bore the heavy influence of 24 and Lost, accommodating a plethora of mysterious conspiracies and sinister secrets which weaved their way through the proceedings, with bits and pieces of vital information revealed on a "need-to-know" basis. There was also a soupcon of the Spiderman movie formula, with a dash of Smallville folded in, as Jamie slowly, awkwardly and sometimes painfully adjusted to her new and awesome powers, and to the responsiblities and consequences attached to them. The cast of characters in the new Bionic Woman included Jonas Bledsoe (Miguel Ferrer), the enigmatic (and slightly satanic) head of the Bionics research program; Ruth Truewell (Molly Price), Bledsoe's slightly more scrupulous assistant; maverick "program advisor" Antonio Pope (Isaiah Washington), the resident "I know more than I'm letting on" guy; and Jaime's computer-hacker sister Becca (Lucy Hale), who was always in trouble with the cops. This Bionic Woman joined NBC's Wednesday-night lineup on September 26, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Author John Ricca (Harry Groener) is murdered, apparently for writing a nasty, warts-and-all biography of legendary Kung Fu movie star Sonny "The Cobra" Chow. In the course of his investigation, Monk (Tony Shalhoub) gathers evidence which seems to indicate beyond doubt that Ricca was murdered by Sonny Chow himself. But this theory may not hold up in court: Sonny Chow has been dead for six years! Before this baffling case is solved, Monk has a too-close-for-comfort confrontation with the real killer, and ends up being buried alive--a grisly fate by anyone's standards, but especially so for a man with a crippling fear of both dirt and the dark. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gigantic, intelligent electric eels are preventing the submarine crews of a United Nations mission to detonate nuclear charges in a growing fissure under the North Pole that is causing the Pole to melt at a disastrous rate. Capt. Andy Raines (David Keith) is brought in to help scientists Dr. Anne Fletcher (Simmone Jade Mackinnon) and Chomsky (Mark Sheppard) figure out how to defeat the eels and save the planet. Little do the rest of them know, but Dr. Fletcher has been communicating with them, and maybe on the side of the slippery fish. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

The talents of the CSI team are stretched to the limit when the unidentified and partially decomposed body of a woman is found stuffed in a shopping cart just off the Vegas freeway. It is clear that the woman's face was deliberately and methodically disfigured -- in fact, she may have been thrust into a rotating fan while still alive. Clues vital to the proceedings include a handbag, a collection of fashion magazines, and several coded messages. This is definitely one case that Grissom (William L. Petersen) and his colleagues are not going to let go unresolved. "The Hunger Artist" was the final episode of CSI's second season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Former TV Superman Dean Cain stars in this sci-fi horror film reminiscent of James Cameron's 1986 classic Aliens. Boa sets its action in the not-too-distant future, where volatile criminals are shipped off to a place called Facility Number One, a super-high-security prison located -- just to be safe -- in the distant, icy confines of Anarctica. What the prisoners and their wardens don't know, however, is that there's a presence more dangerous than all of them combined: A giant, prehistoric, flesh-eating snake, hibernating in the ground just underneath the facility. When the creature gets a whiff of what's going on above ground, the oversized boa decides it's time for a little light snacking, and the good and bad guys have to join together to escape the carnage. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Having grown attached to the Borg Drones, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is reluctant to allow young Icheb (Manu Intiraymi) to return to his home planet, where his mother and father await him with open arms. Somehow, she suspects that Icheb's parents are not entirely upfront when they claim that they have Icheb's best interests in mind. Her instincts prove sound when Icheb finds himself in the middle of a plan to rid the universe of the Borg menace -- a plan that may destroy him in the process. "Child's Play" first aired on March 8, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide