…a top-notch lineup of special guest stars including Ming-Na, Jaime Ray Newman, Ed Quinn, Wil Wheaton, Jamie Kennedy, Chris Parnell, Matt Frewer and Felicia Day…

Given that bit of news, it seemed very likely that we would have at least one episode where Taggart comes back to Eureka.

Then there was a post on the Eureka Unscripted blog, where the writers of Eureka hang out.

Get ready (okay, in about 4 months or so) to deck the halls… it’s been officially announced that this year there will be a Eureka holiday special!

It’s already been written, shot, and edited… and it’s frakkin’ fantastic. Guest stars include Chris Parnell (SNL, 30 Rock) and everyone’s favorite Eurekan Aussie, Taggart (Matt Frewer).

The official announcement of the Eureka holiday episode included a short description on the episode. :)

On Eureka, "as the Global Dynamics employees celebrate the season at the company holiday party, staff member Dr. Noah Drummer (Chris Parnell) nearly absconds with a volatile experiment. The halls get seriously decked when Dr. Drummer’s unstable hydrogen crystal starts to grow at a frightening rate."

Frewer, who was an early regular on the series, will return as the character Taggert.

So woohoo! I’ll certainly be thrilled to see Jim Taggart again. Taggart was always a huge favorite for me in the first two seasons of Eureka!

The episode will air in December. I’ll let you know when I find out on exactly what day the episode will air.

I voted. More than once. :-)

If you’ve watched From Fear to Eternity, you know that Carter was fired. So how did I vote in the poll?

I think Carter should be reinstated. So, I voted Yes. Although there are lots of great plot opportunities for the show if he doesn’t, I like him as the sheriff. Do you think Carter would he have to leave Eureka if he weren’t reinstated? What role would he have in the town?

I’ve thought about this a little bit. He could be a detective, like Monk, freelance but essentially working directly for the local sheriff’s department. Only… Carter isn’t a Monk.

He could be a resident of the town. On several previous episodes, Zoe has revealed a flair for doing well in the Eureka school Tesla. But his role would be greatly diminished.

I don’t really think any of this will happen, because I happen to believe he will eventually be reinstated in some capacity as a law enforcement official in Eureka.

Anyway, I’m definitely interested in your ideas of what Carter would do if he weren’t sheriff, if you care to share!

In Here Come the Suns, it’s election time in Eureka. There’s been no mayor for months, and they’re ready to vote someone into office. Since it’s Eureka, it’s not a stretch to note that there aren’t any age limits on candidates, so the hopeful politicians include Zoe’s boyfriend Lucas. Vincent and Paul Herrera round out the list. Zoe gets so caught up trying to insure Lucas’s success that she ignores her science parter, who is forced to work alone on their science project.

When a second sun pops up into the sky, the heat is on.

Here Come the Suns is a great episode and I loved it, but that’s not to say I don’t have something to say about it. :-)

Lexi Carter has taken her place as a regular in this episode. She’s been as prominent, if not more so, than Henry Deacon in the last few episodes and in this one, she’s pivotal–and it has something to do with Henry. I just wished I liked her more. She seems kind of like a silly addition to the show. I love the show and I love the people of Eureka. So far there hasn’t been anyone I would like to see gone, with the notable exception of Eva Thorne, and I’m hoping that won’t be too far into the future.

With Lexi, my problem is that she’s not that fun to watch. She kind of depresses me. I don’t know if that was the intention–that Lexi become a grounding force that takes the extraordinary and makes it boring, but I sort of doubt that was the goal. However, they’ve done just that. Lexi is pregnant. She’s alone. Her laughter seems forced and her situation seems grim. Not to mention that her missing boyfriend, who hasn’t been told about his future child/children, is being done a terrible disservice. Maybe that’s the entire problem with Lexi. She’s not someone I can relate to. Her choices seem…childish. She needs to grow up and she’s competing with Zoe as the teen in need of guidance.

I’ll just have to keep watching and have faith that Eureka’s creators understand this and plan to grow Lexi.

Now Zane on the other hand, I adore. However, I think there’s trouble to come between him and Jo Lupo. That relationship would certainly be on the skids if Jo were able to see the look on Zane’s face when she made certain serious overtures toward him. No secretive smile from him–he wants to run away. That’s the only way I can describe that look. So look out Jo! Maybe you’ll decide Tag’s the better man after all!

I think this episode marks the tipping point for Degree. Cute and funny is quickly turning sour. Though we might finally be over the biggest part of the commercial hump with this episode. I found the following comments about the product placement and it’s especially relevant because it looks as though this was “the big one.”

It all began way back in October 2007 when the Sci Fi Channel announced to the Eureka staff that…we would have an official commercial sponsor this season, one that was kicking in a lot of dough and would therefore…require tons of product placement throughout Season Three.  We were also told that…ONE EPISODE in Season Three would have to incorporate a storyline in which the actual product HAD to save Eureka somehow, or at the very least, be INDISPENSABLE to Carter’s Act 5 solve….“Here Comes the Suns”…would become that episode.

Ellipses are skipped parts, so if you want to see what I cut out, read the blog post by Eric Wallace, the episode’s writer.

What some others thought of Here Come the Suns

• BlogCritics Magazine TV Review: Eureka – “Here Come the Suns”
• FilmSchoolRejects TV Review: Eureka 3.7 – Here Come the Suns

Oh, and I found this complete recap of Here Come the Suns if you want all the hot details about the episode.

Most notably to me, I love it when my Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis cast show up on Eureka.

Dr. Daniel Jackson suddenly morphs into Christopher Dactylos in the season 2 episode “All that Glitters.” From selfless to selfish, the contrasts between these two characters isn’t as great as one might expect. Both men are obsessive, driven workaholics (apparently). And although I love Dr. Jackson dearly, I must admit that he’s fond of speeches and drawn out explanations. Christopher got to speechify plenty.

Earlier in season 2, eyeglass wearing Dr. Radek Zelenka became Steven Whiticus in the episode “Unpredictable.” Steven lost the accent but the vision problems remain as Steven Whiticus suffers from a severe and debilitating light sensitivity that makes it impossible for him to leave his home.

Dr. Janet Fraiser, beloved heroine, visited Eureka as Diane Lancaster and showed the science-minded Eurekan’s that “God Is In the Details.” Her desire to be reunited with her recently deceased husband has kept her researching for a way to be with him again, and she’s found it by creating a possible doorway to an infinite multiverse. Janet Fraiser lives on in one of those dimensions.

Following in Dr. Fraiser’s footsteps in more ways than one, Dr. Lam drops in as Dr. Anne Young to teach Jack, Jo, and the rest of Global Dynamics’s workforce a few things about sexual harassment. Of course, that’s just the beginning as every woman near Jack turns into a “Maneater”—talk about your sexual harassment! In the same episode, Nyan puts in an appearance as the missing Dr. Stone. And who would have guessed? Dr. Young turns out to be a dog-lover in “Best in Faux.”

Whew! I’m sure there are more crossover events in Eureka that I’ve missed. Feel free to leave a comment and mention anyone I’ve overlooked!

Here’s my ranking. Can you beat my score? :-) Give it a go, I’ll bet you’ll do all right.

I’m ranked A beautiful mind in the Jim Taggart quiz, created by The SCI FI Channel at SCIFI.COM’s Create-A-Quiz. To create your own quiz, click here.

Bummer.

I had it all worked out how Nathan Stark wasn’t moving forward in time like the rest of Eureka—so the backwards part I get. I also understand that since Stark wasn’t bathed in the Indigo Light, he wouldn’t be returning to the normal flow of time when he pushed the button to reset the out-of-sync photon that started the whole time loop. There were consequences and he suffered them.

I figured he might be in an alternate time-line somewhere doing just fine. I was sure the day would come when he would show up at some inopportune time to wreak havoc on whatever Carter was up to with Allison. I guess I was wrong. He dissipated. He is gone, dead, destroyed, ended, nonexistent. He is one with the universe. And there’s just a little bit of him left in that logic diamond of Ally’s for the rest of them—us—to mourn over.

Although…this is Eureka. It’s certainly not beyond the realm of possibility someone will invent something that’ll pull all of Nathan’s scattered photons back into a cohesive unit and bring Nathan Stark back to life.

Until then. :-)

Taggart is Eureka’s biological containment specialist and working veterinarian and he would have been a great asset to have around in Show Me the Mummy and even What About Bob?, and yet he never appeared. Season three of Eureka has been entirely Tag-less.

With Taggart’s fondness for mechanical animals (think geese from Duck, Duck Goose — Season 2), I imagine he would have had an awesome biomimetic dog for Eureka’s dog show (think Best in Faux — Season 3), but he never put in an appearance.

I spent some time searching online, but all I could really come up with was the fact that Jim Taggart’s actor Matt Frewer spent quite a bit of time last year working on the Canadian drama Intelligence. I’ve never heard of the show before now, but then again, I’m not Canadian and it’s not scifi.

What it comes down to is that the Eureka writers might have just eased Taggart out of the series. Although I would love to have the show address what has happened to Jim Taggart (because I haven’t noticed yet that they have), I’m afraid Tag is gone for good.

If, like me, you’re still worrying over Nathan Stark’s future in Eureka, you might want to read an interesting blog post about the issue.

One of the series writers has written a post entitled “Goodbye, Nathan” that sums it all up nicely. I particularly appreciate knowing that the writers aren’t stupid–they didn’t write Nathan Stark out of the show of their own accord. That’s great news as far as I’m concerned. I can much better understand why they let him go out the way he did, because he was a strong character and I loved the strong ending for him.

Now, all that said, I’ve decided this particular Eureka writer is evil. Just look at this bit from the post.

And now for the answer to the only question you probably care about right now—Is Stark Really Dead?—the answer is YES.

For now.

Why would he say this after thoroughly explaining why Nathan Stark will not be coming back?

Huh?

That’s what I thought. He’s evil. He wants me to hope Nathan will return–or he’s setting me up for Nathan’s return, because maybe there’s some big secret about Nathan coming back that no one will know until it happens…

Sorry, I went off into la-la land again. I really will miss that character.

However, now that I’ve had some time to think about it and separate myself from the emotions of that killer episode “I Do Over” I’ve realized that to bring Henry Deacon‘s character back to greatness, Nathan had to go.

Henry has been relegated to the background lately, because there just isn’t enough room in the show for three strong males. Of course Jack Carter can’t go away, and there’s too much animosity between Nathan and Jack for them to consistently find themselves working together to solve problems. Henry must return to Jack’s side because I love Jack but even I realize Jack needs intellectual assistance with some of the stuff that goes on in Eureka. It’s a town of geniuses, after all.

So, even though I’m going to really miss Nathan Stark, his absence might just make sense for the show. For now.

So I completely freaked. I know–I run Eurekafan.com so I should keep up with the spoilers. But I don’t. I enjoy the excitement of not knowing what’s going to happen and if I did know, then I’m not sure I’d be such a fanatic for the show.

After watching I Do Over, I went on a spoiler hunt, but I didn’t really find anything about the “death” of Nathan Stark and whether or not it is permanent. However I did find this interview, which I’ll post the relevant bits of here and let you assume what you will. With, of course, a few choice comments from me.

The entirety of this interview with Ed Quinn (Nathan Stark of Eureka) can be found at this site: MediaBlvd Magazine

When asked if he saw himself as part of Eureka for the long haul….

Of course you say, “Yeah, I’d like to be a part of it from beginning to end.” But shows change, shows evolve. And sometimes characters don’t evolve with them. So you just go in every day and every season and just try to do your best work and see where it goes. The show is kind of organic and depending on where it goes and some characters can evolve with the show and some can’t. I think you’ll see this season that there will definitely be some losses of some supporting characters, and an introduction to a bunch of new ones.

A bad sign for the reappearance of Stark, in my opinion!

When asked if he had spoilers to share….

“I think the only ones that I’m allowed to talk about…”

Definitely a hint that Ed Quinn knows something he can’t discuss.

But there is a big, big reveal this season that I think will make the first eight episodes kind of memorable, then really send the show off into a different direction.

I have hope. Stark appears to die (or fade away as he is pulled backwards in time — my own personal theory for what happened to him until someone offers a better theory to me) in I Do Over. However, I Do Over is episode number 4.

Does this mean that Nathan Stark isn’t gone for good? Why would he know about the rest of the episodes and where the direction of the show is moving if he doesn’t have a part in it? Am I reaching? I really don’t know that much about how the world goes round in the tv business…

When asked about the dynamic between Nathan Stark and Jack Carter and if it would continue into season three….

Absolutely…. The creators thought that one of the funner relationships was the Carter/Stark relationship….because a lot of the story lines got resolved, the conflict got resolved. In season one, Carter and Stark were diametrically opposed. Carter and Stark just happened to have the competition of the love for the same lady. In season 2, Stark…didn’t have a dark agenda anymore…. So all of a sudden Carter and Stark had the same objective…. In the beginning of this season there is some more of that.

In the beginning says it all.

I think that wraps it up nicely. Decide what you will, but my opinion? Stark is gone.

And I am sad.

Tag. He’s got to be the funniest resident of Eureka. The romantic possibilities abounded from the moment it became apparent that Tag, weird as he is, found Jo hot. Remember Once in a Lifetime? Tag brought out a side of Jo that she always seems to hold back, and in that small space of time–later undone by Carter–I imagine that Jo and Tag got past their oddities and actually fell in love. I loved that.

Then there’s Zane. Bad boy, good girl, and can you get a more tried and true pairing? These two have chemistry–had it from the moment they met and I loved it.

Now that season three is about to start, I find myself wondering if the animosity between Zane and Tag, as evidenced in A Night at Global Dynamics, will continue. I think I’d like that. Relationships, especially love triangles, always get so wonderfully messy.

What do you think?