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.

Death By Sci Fi TV - and we love it

Way back in July 2008 we bemoaned the lack of anything remotely genre to watch on TV. Well, here we are two years later and it appears that we are going to have to become hermits to watch all of the new stuff that is piping down our teletubes some time soon.

New show HAVEN has just started on Syfy in the UK and joins its stablemates EUREKA and WAREHOUSE 13 as things we're goggling at. Eureka's in its fourth season and WAREHOUSE 13 in its second, but we're still enjoying them both.

BBC1's got MERLIN to fill up our Saturday nights and CBBC is just about to plunge into THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES once again, giving us our weekly dose of the DR WHO universe whilst Matt Smith is off twiddling his thumbs

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES is back on ITV4 with another season of toothsome adventures, whilst Sky brings back the third season of FRINGE and the second season of STARGATE UNIVERSE.

And there are more shows slated for the near future as well. How will we cope? We're gonna need a time machine just to keep up.

Happy viewing.

EUREKA vs WAREHOUSE 13

The dangerous artefact hunters of WAREHOUSE 13 are back for their second season of adventures on Syfy and are sharing a couple of crossover episodes with stablemate show EUREKA (or A TOWN CALLED EUREKA) if you prefer. Sounds like a good reason to compare and contrast the two shows if you ask us.

So which is better - EUREKA or WAREHOUSE 13?

First off, it's a fair comparison because both shows inhabit the same general area in the genre. Both are action/adventure shows, but with a light comedic touch that is brought out through their casts and some witty banter. Both involve items that inevitably end up bringing the immediate area to the brink of destruction and both are on Syfy. So there.

Of the two, we're plumping for EUREKA. Why? Well for one thing, it's been around longer. That's not a fair comparison, but we have had longer to get to know the characters and, to be fair, we like them a whole lot better than the ones in WAREHOUSE 13. The lead pair in EUREKA are Colin Ferguson as Sheriff Carter, an everyman whose position amongst the town of geniuses provides endless scope for mugging as he fails to understand a word said to him. Compared to him, Eddie McLintock is a charisma vacuum as Pete Lattimer in WAREHOUSE 13. Joanna Kelly compares better with Salli-Richardson-Whitfield as Myka to Allison, but the supporting characters fall far short once you get past that. Saul Rubinek is fun bordering on irritating as Artie in the Warehouse, whilst the rest of the supporting cast fail to register. In EUREKA there is deputy Jo and her gun fetish, Fargo and his ability to press the wrong button at the wrong time, Henry who bridges the gap between Carter and the rest, the arrogant Nathan Stark and bonkers Jim Taggart (no longer with us), the rebellious Zoe...the list goes on. WAREHOUSE 13 just can't cope.

Then there is the chemistry between the leads. The will they/won't they of Carter and Allison Blake in EUREKA fuels the show and Jo has an interrupted love story with Zane going on at the same time whilst other more minor characters have all been having some sort of relationship. In WAREHOUSE 13 it's work, work, work with no romance hinted at between any of the characters, making it all a bit cerebral and cold.

Both shows have clever, clever plotting, great devices to cause mayhem with, not bad special effects and production values.

In the end it comes down to the human factor. EUREKA has it, WAREHOUSE 13 hasn't. But then, there's time yet.