Television taken over by fantastic shows!

Well, the number of science fiction, fantasy and supernatural horror shows still pales into insignificance when compared with dreadful sitcoms or awful reality TV shows or CSI: Pick A City type shows, but the lover of fantastic TV has a lot of stuff spread out across the telewaves in the UK now and in the next few weeks.

TERRA NOVA, the all new dinosaur romp joins the recently re-started FRINGE on Sky 1 providing an action-orientated entertainment to counterpoint the more cerebral mystery investigations of the Fringe Division.

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES is back on ITV 2 next week with its teenage take on the toothsome kind, dovetailing nicely with the fact that the same writer's THE SECRET CIRCLE has just kicked off on Sky Living.

HAVEN returns to Syfy where it lines up alongside the currently running LOST GIRL and WAREHOUSE 13.

And for those people who can't be bothered with all that Skybox stuff then the good ol' BBC has MERLIN which is back on BBC 1 for Saturday nights and the much more aimed at adults THE FADES on BBC 3.

And of course, Sky Living is also still scaring the bejeesus out of people with the always excellent SUPERNATURAL.

It is interesting to note that of all the above shows only TERRA NOVA is a straight science fiction show with all the others edging more towards the fantasy and supernatural horror strands.

Does Endgame mark the end for TV's superheroes?

And so THE CAPE came to an end this week after a 10 episode run on Syfy. It's been cancelled and the final episode didn't even make it to the TV screen in the States.

Now, after the cancellation of the likes of NO ORDINARY FAMILY and this show the question arises as to whether there is a place for superheroes on the small screen. Even the legendary HEROES failed after its splashy opening season.

Why do superheroes not fly on TV when at the cinema they are all over the place. The answer, we think, lies in the spectacle. Movies have huge amounts of money to splash on huge set piece action stunts. TV doesn't have that and no matter how much you try to replace that with drama, the show will ultimately fail.

The arrival of shows like TEEN WOLF and LOST GIRL might suggest that the antics of werewolves, vampires and other supernatural entities are inherently more suited to the TV scale than those of masked vigilantes.

Who's the Fairest Of Them All

Syfy launched its latest show LOST GIRL this week and to celebrate, they carried out a survey of all the lads and lasses that we like to lust after in our favourite genre. No big surprises here you would say.

Sci-Fi Babes

1.     Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) – 81.9%

2.     Amanda Tapping (Sanctuary) – 1.1%

3.     Sarah Michelle Gellar  (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) – 0.9%

4.     Jewel Staite (Stargate Atlantis, Serenity, Firefly) – 0.8%

5.     Eliza Dushku (Eureka, The Guild) – 0.7%

6.     Gina Torres (Firefly) – 0.6%

7.     Anna Torv (Fringe) – 0.5%

8.     Morena Baccarin (V, Stargate SG1, Firefly) – 0.4%

8.     Felicia Day (Eureka, The Guild)  – 0.4%

10.  Natalie Portman (Star Wars: Episode 1, 2 & 3) – 0.3%

Sci-Fi Hunks

1.     Jenson Ackles (Supernatural) – 51%

2.     Jared Padalecki (Supernatural) – 17.8%

3.     Mischa Collins (Supernatural) – 11.2%

4.     Mark Sheppard (Dr Who, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly) – 5%

5.     Nathan Fillion (Serenity) – 3.2%

6.     Robert Downey Junior (Iron Man) – 2.4%

7.     John Barrowman (Torchwood) – 1.8%

8.     Hugh Jackman (X Men) – 1.6%

9.     Zach Quinto (Heroes) – 1.3%

10.  Ryan Robbins (Sanctuary) – 0.9%

Lost Girl debuted on SyFy this week and we'll be covering it on the site proper just as soon as we can.