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WARNING: This column contains moderate to major spoilers for those of you who still have unwatched shows on your DVR.

As the end of 2008 nears, we suffer through the endless barrage of "10 Best" lists. "The 10 Best Books," "The 10 Best Movies," "The 10 Best Bartenders," "The 10 Best '10 Best' Lists," and it goes on ad nauseum.

Well, I?m going to add one more to the nausea, because I can! (Insert evil laughter here.)

The following is a list of "The 10 Best Episodes of Sci-fi/Fantasy Television of 2008." There were some rules I made for myself along the way.

First, I can only pick one episode from each of 10 series. I cannot pick two episodes from any series, because seven of them would probably be from "Battlestar Galactica" and fans of other series would be sending me e-mails laced with anthrax.

I also cannot pick episodes from shows I don?t watch, so no episodes from "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" or "Knight Rider" will be on this list.

Third, I cannot pick episodes from shows I don?t like. See the previous examples for examples. (Honestly, I tried to like one of them, but couldn?t. The other doesn?t even deserve to live.)

All the episodes had to air for the first time in 2008, so episodes of a series from 25 years ago don?t count.

Here is my list. Please keep in mind that I am old, and I am wise, and also very short. I control the horizontal. I control the vertical. You can control all that stuff in any forum discussion afterward. It is my final list for 2008 coming straight to you from my brain (which clearly needs a vacation)!

1. "Dr. Horrible?s Sing-Along Blog" ? While not technically on television, the future of television is on the Net. It's also the most captivating 42 minutes of small screen evil goodness since almost ever. Plus, I?ll never look at hammers the same way again!

2. "Faith" ("Battlestar Galactica") ? Season 4 of BSG so far has been off the charts, and it was not easy deciding which episode to single out as the best. The one episode that stands out for me more than all the others, though, is "Faith."

From the attempted mutiny aboard the Demetrius, to Gaeta losing a leg, to his hauntingly beautiful singing, this may have been the most tense and most artfully-done episode of the season so far.

3. "The Constant" ("Lost") ? Listen. Desmond Hume has come unstuck in time. Again. Desmond?s consciousness keeps jumping from 2004 to 1996 and back again, and the only person who may have a clue as to what?s going on with him, is Daniel Faraday.

Plus, it?s the episode that began to give out some bigger than we?ve ever had before answers as to what the big deal about the island might be.

4. "Comfort Food" ("Pushing Daisies") ? Who doesn't love a cook-off? Not only did we see Chuck break the one-minute rule and stop Ned from re-deading her corpsified father, but we had Marianne Marie Beetle - the Muffin Buffalo lady. She was a crossover from the late, great Bryan Fuller series, "Wonderfalls." Plus, who doesn?t love to hate the Waffle Nazi?

5. "Ghostfacers" ("Supernatural") ? While this series tends to run hot or cold for me, I can?t help but love any episode written by Ben Edlund (who also wrote my favorite episode of "Firefly"). A take-off on "Ghost Hunters," we witness a group of nerds with a camera get themselves in too deep in a haunted house.

6. "Chuck Versus the Cougars" ("Chuck") ? I?m a sucker for high school reunion stories, even though I will never go to one of my own. There is no worse reminder of how much high school sucked than to see your old tormentors and nemeses as life insurance salespeople and international spies.

7. "Our Father" ("Heroes") ? He had me at "Cake"? Bloody Sylar! Never get into an elevator with him, and avoid him on your birthday, especially if you have special abilities.

While defying all logic and the laws of physics and astronomy, "Heroes" has improved this season with each episode. There was a lot of not-so-good resolved in this episode, a lot of bad and evil that was good, plus Claire and Hiro make a fun, albeit brief, team.

And what dying mother wouldn?t want a son like Hiro?

8. "Identity" ("Smallville") ? Who knew this show would go on this long, and actually remake itself and become good in Season 8? This episode was truly a classic Superman story, complete with Clark rescuing Lois, and Jimmy Olsen trying to catch the face of the red and blue blur on camera.

While there are still some aspects of the ridiculous on the show (X-ray vision and super speed are not among them), there is more spontaneity between the characters, and crisper story lines than I?ve ever seen on this series.

9. "Sonata" ("Moonlight") ? The final episode of this unjustly short-lived series, a crisis prompts the vampire community to come together to protect themselves from being outed. With Claudia Black as The Cleaner, "Veronica Mars" references, and steamy Mick/Beth, this episode ably ended the series, but left us wanting so much more.

10. "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang" ("Torchwood") ? Capt. Jack returns from his sudden disappearance (via the Tardis) to find he?s no longer in charge of things. Then Capt. John Hart comes along, and gives him a big one on the lips.

With James Marsters lusting after poodles in his English Evilest, this rollercoaster ride of an episode made sure Season 2 started with a kiss and a bang or two.

Honorable mention: "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadows?" ("Life on Mars"), because Sam?s mother?s name is Rose Tyler.

"You?ll Be the Death of Me" ("True Blood"), because a vampire, a shapeshifter, and Michelle Forbes as The Maenad can?t all be bad (right???).

And "Go Your Own Way" ("Dexter"). While "Dexter" may not be science-fiction, as my son points out, it?s fiction and there?s science in it, plus Dexter is like a really perverse superhero. He thought he created a monster by showing Miguel Prado the ropes (and knives, and syringes), but as Miguel goes on his own killing spree, it becomes apparent he?s not really new at all of this.

With one more week of first-run episodes left of some of these series, it?s not out of the realm of possibilities that the best was saved for last. Unfortunately, without my enhanced precog abilities (robbed from me by another solar eclipse scientists didn?t even know about), I may be leaving some future classics off the list.

Now it?s your turn to make your lists. What were the best episodes of sci-fi/fantasy television for you in 2008?

Robin Brownfield is a staff writer for Airlock Alpha, working out of New Jersey. She can be reached at rbrownfield@airlockalpha.com.