I am – Hercules!!

More “casting sides” emerged Friday for “Angel” 5.1, (the episode series mastermind Joss Whedon begins directing on Thursday). Some revelations:

* The major plotline for the episode, titled "Conviction," involves a very guilty criminal named Fries who threatens to unleash something capable of destroying every living soul in California -- if the new Angel-run Wolfram & Hart can’t engineer a “not guilty” verdict for him.

* Cordy’s old pal (and Spike’s former rebound girlfriend) Harmony is working for Wolfram & Hart as a secretary (or something), fetching coffee for clients and the like.

* Lorne busies himself by making all of Wolfram’s employees sing for him. Angel intends to sack the most evil.

* Handsome Wolfram science-guy Knox is back, still trying to do everything possible to make Fred happy in her new job.

* Following his meeting last episode with the White Room’s “conduit” (the big cat, one assumes), Gunn elects to undergo a mystical medical procedure designed to enbiggen his brain. The bigger brain comes in handy almost immediately.

* There’s no sign of Spike in the sides. One assumes if he turns up in the opener at all, it will be a brief appearance, and likely at episode’s end. (Whedon has stated that Spike will be re-introduced in 5.1, but what he's doing there won't be explained until 5.2.)

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The “Angel” writers all convened at San Diego’s Comic Con Saturday afternoon. Revelations there included:

* Willow’s girlfriend, Kennedy the vampire slayer, will not visit Angel, according to writer-producer David Fury.

* No one ruled out the possibility of Lilah’s return.

* There appear to be tentative plans to extract Cordy from her coma, but they’re contingent on Charisma Carpenter’s availability.

* 5.2 will mark the first writing collaboration of Fury and Ben Edlund.

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The Boston Herald’s Dave Mason earlier caught up with “Angel” mastermind Joss Whedon at the ongoing TCA press tour, and a few details about the upcoming fifth season emerged:

* However Spike comes back (ghost, human, vampire or toaster), he’ll still have his soul.

* Spike’s return will be “long and complicated.”

* The show will indeed deal with at least one of the many vampire slayers Willow created in the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series finale.

* The fifth season will lean more toward “stand-alone” episodes.

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Now a few non-“Angel items. According to the piece in the Globe, Whedon also still sounds keen on a spinoff featuring Faith the vampire slayer (Eliza Dushku). (This may be more possible than it sounds: Dushku’s new Fox series, “Tru Calling,” will air opposite ratings hogs like “Survivor,” “Friends” and “Scrubs” this fall.)

Whedon, hard at work on a “Firefly” movie script, sounds willing to pursue a new “Buffy” movie should Sarah Michelle Gellar ever give the green light. Whedon tells Mason he thinks Gellar might come around after she’s got a few more non-“Buffy” features under her teensy belt.

Read the entire Boston Herald story here.

(By the way, those puzzled by why a “Firefly” movie is even being contemplated should remember this: Paramount has reaped zillions at the moviehouses by reviving failed TV projects for the big screen. ABC’s “Police Squad!” became the movies’ “Naked Gun” franchise. And there was also NBC’s little-watched spaceship saga “Star Trek.” Also, bear in mind that “Firefly,” during its short first season, actually attracted a larger average audience than the most recent seasons of “Buffy" and "Angel." (4.48 million viewers for “Firefly” vs. 3.66 million for “Buffy” and 3.65 million for "Angel." Strange but true.)

I am – Hercules!!