Bad Wolf: a Fried Side of Sci-fi: This Week's TV: Fringe returns, Katee Sackhoff joins Clone Wars

Oh happy day! Good sci-fi returns, but sadly not to SyFy...

In this week's television, Fringe is back — and kicking its universe-spanning storylines into high gear. This week also sees the return of a few of our other favorite shows. Plus the premiere of two brand new shows (to Americans, anyway), including a brand new look at a classic Marvel character.

Meanwhile, Fringe's Kirk Acevedo is trying to save the world from a collision with Mercury. Robot Chicken celebrates its 100th episode in style. Portlandia deals with the perils of Battlestar Galactica addiction. The Simpsons does a Social Network parody. And watch a totally beautiful clip from the next Clone Wars — featuring Katee Sackhoff as a female Mandalorian!

Wednesday:

At 9 PM in most markets, PBS has a new episode of Nova, "Bombing Hitler's Dams."

Thursday:

Also at 8 PM, there's the return of The Big Bang Theory on CBS, with "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver."

Friday:

And at 7:45 PM, Disney has a new Phineas and Ferb, "Tri-Stone Area."

But that's not all! Also at 8 PM, there's a new episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on the Cartoon Network, "A Friend in Need." This one's directed by show creator Dave Filoni, so expect big things. Here's the synopsis:

Ahsoka is ensnared in Lux Bonteri's dangerous crusade to find justice for his mother's death.

And Battlestar Galactica's Katie Sackhoff plays a female Mandalorian, Bo-Katan. Check out a beautiful clip at left.

At 9 PM, Fox has the midseason premiere of Fringe, "Back to Where You've Never Been."

In an effort to find a way home, Peter journeys to the Other Side to confront Walternate. His venture proves more dangerous than expected. Meanwhile, Olivia receives a dire premonition from an Observer.

Also at 9 PM, there's a special time-traveling episode of Supernatural, on The CW, "Time After Time After Time."

Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) tangle with the God of Time (guest star Jason Dohring), who sends Dean back to 1944, where he is immediately arrested by none other than the one and only Eliot Ness (guest star Nicholas Lea). While trying to figure out how to retrieve his brother, Sam is surprised by the reappearance of an old friend.

Saturday:

And at 7:45 PM, Disney has yet another new Phineas & Ferb.

Also, because Syfy loves you and wants you to have a beautiful Saturday night, they're showing a brand new original movie at 9 PM, Collision Earth. Starring Fringe's Kirk Acevedo!

In Collision Earth, premiering Saturday, January 14 at 9PM (ET/PT), a solar flare knocks Mercury out of its orbit and onto a collision course with Earth. With global devastation quickly approaching, the secret military initiative, "Project 7," must be activated to save the world from disaster.

Sunday:

Disney has yet another new Phineas & Ferb at 7:30 PM.

Fox brings back its Sunday night animation bloc, starting at 8 PM with a new Simpsons, followed by Napoleon Dynamite, Family Guy and another Napoleon Dynamite. Oh, and the Simpsons' parody of The Social Network, "The D'Oh-cial Network," might actually be… funny?

As the mastermind and creator of the online social networking phenomenon SpringFace, Lisa is called to trial when Springfield's obsession with the site becomes chaotic and dysfunctional. Lisa recounts her story and explains that she created the site after realizing she had no real friends. But as SpringFace expands and Springfield's fixation with the site causes mass hysteria, Lisa begins to realize that adding thousands of friends online did not compare to having real friendships. Later, Patty and Selma compete against the Winklevoss Twins (guest star Armie Hammer) in the rowing event at the 2012 Olympic Games.

And finally, at 11:30 PM on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, there's the 100th episode of Robot Chicken, which is also the season finale. So expect an extra dose of insanity in "Fight Club Paradise." When we interviewed co-creator Matt Senreich ages ago, he promised this episode would explore the show's robot chicken and scientist characters — and the photo at left, tweeted by Seth Green, seems to back that up.