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November 1

Angels are a form of supernatural being in some religions.

The biblical version is typically a messenger from God, sent to carry out some particular divine duty. They may assume the form of humans for this purpose, but this is not their usual shape.

In popular culture, angels may be a form that a human (or sometimes other animals) becomes after death. In cartoons, for example, a "dead" anthropomorphic animal may be shown with wings, a halo, and a harp, usually ascending to Heaven.

There are specific angels, such as the Angel of Death . . .

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November 2

Commander John Robert Crichton Jr. is a fictional character played by Ben Browder on the series Farscape. Crichton was a scientist with the International Aeronautics and Space Administration (IASA). Crichton was performing an experiment in space to prove his theory about gravity-assisted propulsion when a wave of energy hit his ship and a wormhole appeared, pulling him in and depositing him on the far side of the universe.

John Crichton lost his mother to cancer five years before the Farscape I experiment. He still regrets the fact that he was not there at her death. He wishes to return home to rejoin his father, Jack Crichton (a former IASA astronaut who walked on the moon) as well as his younger sister, Olivia, older sister Susan and her husband Frank, and his nephew Bobby. John was once almost engaged to Alexandria (Alex) but they couldn't agree on career choices, and Alex left him to study medicine at Stanford University. John had a "strictly friends" relationship with Caroline and was best friends with his partner on the Farscape I project, Douglas "DK" Knox.

After traveling through the wormhole, John reappeared in space and found himself in the midst of a space battle. He accidentally . . .

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November 3

A Goa'uld Queen is the mother of Goa'uld symbiotes. A Queen is often the mate of a powerful Goa'uld system lord. Queen's are a rarity, in fact, there have been only three queens known to the SGC in the series, Hathor, the mate of Ra and mother of Heru'ur and countless other Goa'uld, Egeria, the mother of all Tok'ra and an unnamed queen in league with the Goa'uld Anubis.

Queens are capable of asexual reproduction and they spawn numerous larvae, possibly hundreds at a time. They can spawn even after taking a host as seen in "Hathor." Typically, to ensure compatibility between their offspring and their designated host species, queens require a genetic sample which can be taken sexually. Queens have refined control over their . . .

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November 4

Beverly Barlowe is a fictional character on the TV Series Eureka played by Debrah Farentino. Beverly is the town psychotherapist. who just happens to run a bed and breakfast. Beverly's client list has included presidents, politicians, diplomats, and a number of Eureka residents. She's not above crossing professional barriers and engaging in sexual relationships with her clients.

Beverly is secretive and underhanded and her loyalties are clearly not to Eureka. Instead, it appears her goal is to get as much information as possible on the inner workings of Global Dynamics. Information she plans to share with . . .

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November 5

Witchcraft, in various historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the use of certain kinds of alleged supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft, and may be male or female. While mythological witches are often supernatural creatures, historically many people were also accused of witchcraft, or claimed to be witches. Witchcraft still exists in a number of belief systems, with many modern practitioners.

The term "witchcraft" can have positive or negative connotations depending on the cultural context; for instance, in post-Christian European cultures it has historically been associated with evil and the Devil, while most modern witches see it as beneficial and morally positive.

In mythological contexts, witches are most often female, the male equivalent being a wizard, sorcerer, warlock or magician. In a modern . . .

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November 6

Videodrome was reviled by many critics and ignored by mainstream audiences upon its initial release in 1983, but writer-director David Cronenberg’s visionary film has slowly gained a reputation as a prophetic masterpiece. Ferociously intelligent and absolutely fearless, it combines horror, social satire, kinky sex, and science fiction into a strange brew that still packs a punch.

Max Renn (James Woods) runs a sleazy little cable TV channel that attracts it viewers with the strongest pornography permissible, but he insists that his search for more prurient programming is only motivated by the lust for money. Nonetheless he becomes obsessed by Videodrome, a mysterious show transmitted by satellite that depicts scenes of brutal sadism. He gets involved with seductive Nicki Brand (Deborah Harry), the masochistic host of a call-in radio program, but she soon . . .

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November 7

Alias is a 2001 TV series that aired on ABC network. The series was created by J. J. Abrams and starred Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow, a college student recruited by a secret branch of the CIA known as SD-6. The series premiered on September 30, 2001, and aired its final episode on May 22, 2006.

Sydney Bristow informs her fiancee Danny about her secret life, and he is shortly killed by the very agency she works for. Her already complicated life becomes more so when her father, Jack Bristow—who also works for SD-6—informs her that SD-6 is not a part of the CIA but a secret organization and enemy to the United States. Sydney becomes a double agent working withing SD-6 undermining and discovering its secrets. Her handler at the CIA is Michael Vaugn, an agent whose father was killed by Irina Derevko, Sydney's mother, a Russian spy sent to . . .

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November 8

The Shadowpact is a team of magic-based comic book superheroes created by Bill Willingham. They consist of magic employing heroes that have stalked the DC Universe for years, to the delight of fans of these long unused characters. They appear in their own on-going series published by DC Comics.

The Shadowpact was brought together to battle the Spectre during a prelude to the Infinity Crisis (2005) limited series crossover event, in the limited series called Days of Vengence (2005). The Spectre entity, now free of its human component, was manipulated into believing that all sources of magic were evil, and went on a rampage to destroy them all. Shadowpact was formed to stop the all-powerful Spectre, a seemingly hopeless task. The wizard Shazam revealed that . . .

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November 9

Maria Conchita Alonso (b. June 29, 1957, in Cienfuegos, Cuba) is a Cuban-born Venezuelan actress and singer. Alonso moved to Venezuela at five with her family and immediately set to work on he dream career in entertainment. She made her acting debut at four in The Nutcracker, and as a child appeared in commercials. At 14, She won the title of Miss Teenager of the World and at 18, Miss Venezuela. She went on to a successful modeling, film and music career and has been nominated three times for a Grammy Award.

After starring in ten Spanish-language soap operas, Alonso moved to the United States in 1982 and made her English-language film debut in Fear City. It was not her first English language role. She'd previously guest starred on Fantasy Island and Knight Rider. Her role in . . .

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November 10

James Paul Marsden (b. September 18, 1973) is an American actor born in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Marsden attended Putnam City North High School in Oklahoma City and went on to attend Oklahoma State University before leaving to pursue acting.

Marsden moved to Los Angeles, where he began appearing in small TV roles on Saved by the Bell, The Nanny, Blossom, Party of Five and Touched by an Angel. Early film roles included No Dessert, Dad, Till You Mow the Lawn, Public Enemies and Gone in a Heartbeat. He landed a role on the 1996 series Second Noah. The series ended in 1997 and he made appearances in the TV movie Bella Mafia, The Outer Limits, and the 1998 film Disturbing Behavior.

Marsden's breakout role came in 2000 when he starred as Scott Summers/Cyclops in the film version of X-Men. He followed up with a recurring role on the FOX series Ally McBeal, and the film Interstate 60. In 2003 he starred in the X-Men sequel X2. He followed up with an appearance in . . .

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November 11

The Brain of Morbius is a four-episode serial from the 13th season of long-running program Doctor Who. Its first episode began airing in the UK on January 3, 1976.

The story unfolds as the Doctor and Sarah arrive on the desolate and stormy planet of Karn, which the Doctor comments is close to his home planet of Gallifrey. There, they encounter a gifted but reclusive neurosurgeon named Solon. Solon quickly welcomes the Doctor into his home, but his motives may be less than virtuous. What is he really up to?

The original script by Terrance Dicks specified that Solon should be a robot, which was intended as a peculiar "monster creates the man" spin on Frankenstein. Script editor Robert Holmes found a . . .

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November 12

The Outer Limits is an American TV series created by Leslie Stevens. Similar to The Twilight Zone, it is an anthology series of self-contained stories and first aired in 1963. The series ended in 1965 and was resurrected in 1995. The new series ran for seven seasons, ending in 2002.

Opening Narration: "There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next . . .

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November 13

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) was the first film version of Jack Finney's novel The Body Snatchers, which appeared in magazine form in 1954 and as a paperback in 1955. His story of alien invaders who duplicate and replace humans, complete with their memories, is a thinly disguised allegory for the Red Scare of that period, the conviction that communist sleepers were hidden among us. The movie, a classic black-and-white thriller starring Kevin McCarthy and Carolyn Jones, appeared the following year, released as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which title has been applied to the novel in most subsequent reprintings.

Directed by Don Siegel, the story unfolds slowly but inexorably, with McCarthy eventually becoming aware of what is happening but unable to convince others. There are variant versions of the film, some of which indicate that the authorities have finally recognized the threat, but even in these the ending . . .

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November 14

Armin Shimerman is an American actor well known to fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Quark and fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Principal Snyder. He was born on November 5, 1949, in Lakewood, New Jersey, and moved to Los Angeles with his family at age 16. As a means of expanding her son's social circle, his mother enrolled him in a drama group. He went on to attend the University of California at Los Angeles and graduated with a degree in English. He then apprenticed at the San Diego Old Globe Shakespeare Theatre where he became a leading comic actor.

He moved to New York where he became a stage actor, performing in the production 3 Penny Opera and the Broadway productions St. Joan, I Remember Mama, and Broadway. He later returned to Los Angeles and began working in television. He guest starred on the series Cagney & Lacey and The Facts of Life and landed a recurring role on Beauty and the Beast and . . .

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November 15

Keith David (b. June 4, 1956, in Harlem, New York) is an American actor whose voice is possibly more familiar than his face. He was raised in Queens and attended New York's High School of the Performing Arts and Julliard. He toured with John Houseman's The Acting Company performing in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Waiting for Godot.

David is a familiar face in the sci-fi genre. Early roles include appearances in John Carpenter's The Thing, Platoon, Bird and John Carpenter's They Live. Other genre appearances include The Puppet Masters, Pitch Black, The Outer Limits, Armageddon (1998 film), The Last Sentinel, and The Chronicles of Riddick. Upcoming roles include Coraline (2008) . . .

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November 16

Donald Pleasence (October 5, 1919 – February 2, 1995) was a Prolific British character actor who played everything from Pinter to psychopaths. From the early 1960's onwards he appeared in a wide variety of films of variable quality and in the 1980's was officially listed by Variety as the busiest actor in the world. He portrayed the recurring role of psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis in the Halloween films (1978–1995), and his numerous other credits include 1984 (1956), The Flesh and the Fiends (1960), Circus of Horrors (1960), The Hands of Orlac (1960), What a Carve Up! (aka No Place Like Homicide, 1961), Dr. Crippen (1963), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Eye of the Devil (1967), You Only Live Twice (1967, as Blofeld), THX 1138 . . .

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November 17

Andee Frizzell is an actress and former model who has worked primarily in the scifi genre. She can most often be seen on Stargate Atlantis playing various Wraith hive queens. Frizzell is a trained stunt fighter with expertise in martial arts and various weaponry. She has also made appearances on First Wave, Andromeda, Flash Gordon and Supernatual. She also appears in the films Blood: A Butcher's Tale and Devour.

Frizzell says, "One of the things I enjoyed the most about that element of Stargate is the religious aspect. Like when you would go on to other planets, or go into another worlds, is there is a constant thread of spirituality, even though it was a different god, or something was worshiped that . . .

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November 18

Flash Gordon is a SCI FI Channel original series starring Eric Johnson (Smallville) in the title role. The 22-hour series updates the comic-strip franchise and is slated for an August 2007 premiere. Johnson will play space-traveling adventurer Gordon, who is joined by companions Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov. Ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, they find themselves as Earth's last line of defense against the forces of the merciless dictator Ming.

Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and Dr. Hans Zarkov are Earth's last defense against Ming—the tyrant of another world who wants to make Earth his next conquest.

Flash's father was lost years ago in a science-lab accident, and taken through a rift that . . .

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November 19

Aaron Douglas (b. August 23, 1971), who plays CPO Galen Tyrol on The SCI FI Channel TV series Battlestar Galactica, has featured in such recent films as John Woo's Paycheck, the remake of Walking Tall, the Pitch Black sequel The Chronicles of Riddick, and Alex Proyas' Isaac Asimov adaptation I, Robot. The Vancouver native is one of the hardest-working actors in "Hollywood North."

After studying acting at Canada's famed William Davis Centre and performing with the Okanagan Shakespeare Company, Douglas has gone on to appear in such films as X2 and Final Destination 2; on such shows as Andromeda, Dark Angel, Smallville, Jeremiah . . .

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November 20

Carolyn Cherry (September 1, 1942 –) has used the pseudonym C. J. Cherryh from the very beginning of her writing career in the mid-1970s. Based on her Morgaine series and similar novels, she quickly established a reputation as a skilled and reliable source for otherworldly adventure novels, and also won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award as best new writer. The Faded Sun trilogy in 1978–79 firmly established her as a major talent, and the elaborate alien culture that she created therein attracted loyal fans similar to those who were drawn to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover novels or Gordon R. Dickson's Dorsai series.

Cherryh's rapidly developing skills won her the Hugo Award for her novel Downbelow Station (1981), one of several books she would set in the Merchanter universe. The direct sequel, Merchanter's Luck (1982), was entertaining but less . . .

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November 21

Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias. Described by Plato as being beyond the Pillars of Heracles, Atlantis is said to have been an advanced civilization of great naval power that once conquered parts of the world before sinking into the ocean in a single day. Atlantis and evidence of its existence has never been found and is seen by some scholars as a myth to illustrate his theories on politics and society. Still, the search for the lost civilization has absorbed seekers of ancient mysteries for many years and expeditions are still funded to explore possible locations for Atlantis and some explorers have even claimed to have located it.

The story of Atlantis has also inspired creative works from comics to film and television. The mystery is . . .

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November 22

Dynamite Entertainment’s Battlestar Galactica series is set during the continuity of the re-imagined SCI FI Channel series, beginning before the first Cylon War. Excerpts from Tom Zarek’s book The Revolution Within provide narration as we learn about his home colony of Sagittaron. Once a key resource provider, Sagittaron gradually becomes marginalized by its fellow colonies, and Zarek’s parents find themselves living a life as virtual slaves, toiling away in Nitrassium processing facilities.

Eventually, the Colonial government creates the mechanical Cylons to lessen the work of humans—but the neglected Sagittaron colony is last on the list, and the development changes very little for its working-class citizens.

The Cylons soon turn on their human masters, plunging the Twelve Colonies into war. During the height of the conflict, the struggling Zareks . . .

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November 23

In Celtic myth, Camulus is the god of war. In the TV Series Stargate SG-1 Camulus is a Goa'uld System Lord played by Steve Bacic.

Following the defeat of Anubis, Camulus arranged a meeting with the Tau'ri to discuss a treaty. He was joined by fellow System Lords Amaterasu and Lord Yu. The treaty would give them use of the weapon used to destroy Anubis fleet which they would used to destroy Baal. Dr. Weir refused to aid them and Camulus requested asylum on Earth.

Camulus was imprisoned at Area 51 until Baal offered to trade . . .

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November 24

Alan Dean Foster has achieved an extremely successful writing career, beginning with his first short story sale in 1968, to August Derleth for Derleth's bi-annual magazine The Arkham Collector. Foster has developed a long-running series dubbed the Humanx Universe, a future in which humans have formed a partnership with an insectlike alien race known as the Thranx, in mutual opposition to the expansionist reptilian race, the Aaan. Beloved characters in this setting include Pip and Flinx, a human and his pet alien mini-dragon. They made their bow in Foster's first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang (1971), a fast-paced space opera considerably less sophisticated than Foster's later work. By the third volume in the series, Orphan Star (1977), Pip was hard at work trying to discover the secret of . . .

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November 25

R2-D2 is a fictional robot character (or "droid") famous for his role in George Lucas' Star Wars movie series. He has a .96 meter tall frame and a body in the shape of a bullet. His usual function is "repair droid" who attaches and flies with a Starfighter and X-Wing space vehicles, and can make repairs on the fly. In this capacity he is said to serve an "on-board astromech" function. His appendages carry a number of tools like saws, welding tools, and he gets around on magnetized rollers that can stick to metal surfaces. Some of these tools can sometimes be used as weapons. He also is capable of projecting holographic messages and interfacing with all computerized technology. Though he doesn't speak in a way that we can understand, he can apparently relay complex thoughts and ideas which sound to us like beeps and whistles, but is actually . . .

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November 26

Samuel T. Anders is a fictional character on the series Battlestar Galactica played by Michael Trucco. Anders led the resistance group on Caprica. Prior to the Cylon attack, he was captain of the professional Pyramid team known as a the Caprica Buccaneers.

Anders and his men were undergoing high-altitude training in the mountains above Delphi when the Cylons attacked, destroying the planet's cities with nuclear weapons. Their location in the mountains spared them from the blasts and the radioactive fallout and the Buccaneers became resistance fighters, raiding armories to collect weapons, supplies, and antiradiation medication. Anders' resistance team grew to over one hundred, comprised of hikers and other surviving humans. They took refuge in the Delphi Union High School.

Anders and his team survived on Caprica for two months after the attack before running into . . .

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November 27

Ishta is the leader of the Amazon-like female Jaffa warriors, also known as the Hak'tyl Resistance, who rebelled against the Goa’uld Moloc. She is also a temple high priestess of Moloc and is responsible for keeping records of births and presiding over the Ceremony of Fire, where all newborn girls under Moloc's rule are burned to death. Unlike women on other Jaffa planets, women on Ishta's home world did not have great respect from men. Ishta was mistreated by her husband and was one of several of his wives before his death in battle.

Unable to preside over the deaths of innocent female children without action, Ishta formed the Resistance to save the Jaffa girls. Many of the babies were sneaked off world to safety. However, without ready access to symbiotes, when the girls reached the Age of Prata (puberty) the older women took to attacking Moloc's Jaffa and stealing their symbiotes to . . .

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November 28

Jaime Agusto Richards III (born August 28, 1973) is an American actor born in Washington, DC, and raised in Bladensburg, Maryland. He is best known for his role on the TV series Angel as Charles Gunn.

Richards was attracted to acting early in life and attended a performing arts high school. Following graduation he moved on to the University of Southern California where he received scholarships and grants for theater studies. Richards graduated from USC and immediately began his acting career performing on stage and guest-starring on several TV series, including The Cosby Show, Space: Above and Beyond, Diagnosis Murder, The Practice, and Sliders. His movie credits include . . .

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November 29

Victoria Pratt (b. December 18, 1970) was raised in Chesley, Ontario, Canada. Her first TV series work was as a guest star playing a character on Once a Thief, produced by John Woo and Terence Chang. Her first role in movies was in Legacy, playing opposite Rod Stieger, David Hasselhoff, and Corin Nemec.

Pratt had a role on Xena: Warrior Princess as Cyane, Queen of the Amazons, in the two-part season opener for Season 3, working with Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor, and Claire Stansfield. She next played a character called Sarge in the series Cleopatra 2525, produced by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. Cleopatra 2525 was a half-hour sci-fi show for Studios USA. She worked with Gina Torres (Hel) and Jennifer Sky (Cleo). Together, the three of them battled each week to take back the Earth's surface . . .

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November 30

Cardcaptor Sakura (Kādokyaputā Sakura), also known as CardCaptors and often abbreviated as CCS. Cardcaptor Sakura is published in Japan by Kodansha and was serialized in Nakayoshi. The series consists of twelve volumes. It won the noted Seiun Award for best manga in 2001.

The story involves a young girl named Sakura, who hears a strange noise one day while home alone. She goes down to her father's library and finds a book, the book of clow. When she opens it, it lets out clow cards. These cards each have a personal spirit and power. Also released is Kero, the guardian . . .