We have spent so much energy getting to Airlock Alpha's 10th anniversary, that I'm actually a bit sad to see it go.

Of course, we know when the year is ending when people are out shopping for presents, people are making plans to watch a ball drop in New York City, and Airlock Alpha releases its annual Top Newsmakers list.

Being a Top Newsmaker doesn't necessarily mean the happiest stories or the worst stories of the year. It doesn't tackle the people or events that had the most stories written about it. Instead, it's stories that were the most interesting throughout 2008, the ones that may change the way we watch television or go to the movies, or the stories that will be talked about for years to come.

This list is kind of like that, except from my perspective, with a considerable amount of input from the writers and staff of Airlock Alpha.

It's been a busy year at Airlock Alpha. You found 955 stories on the site throughout 2008, including 628 news stories, 113 columns and 214 television and movie reviews.

I had to go through each and every one of those 955 stories to come up with this year's list. I will start with No. 5 and work my way up to the biggest newsmaker of the year.

But let me know what you think of our list. Visit our message boards, or you can even drop me a line at mhinman@airlockalpha.com. We may even print some of the best letters we receive as part of our continuing year end coverage.

So no more rambling from me ... let's get to Airlock Alpha's Top Newsmakers of 2008!

5. George Takei Marries, Spats With The Shat -- It was a short-lived law in California, but many gay couples took advantage of the small window of opportunity to finally marry, including "Star Trek" actor George Takei and his longtime partner Brad Altman.

Although several out-of-the-closet celebrities had planned nuptials, including Ellen DeGeneres, for some reason it was Mr. Sulu who was getting most of the attention, something he even talked about with me on SyFy Radio quite extensively.

One person who didn't seem to like being robbed of the limelight was one of Takei's former colleagues in movies and television: William Shatner.

Using his online video interviews with his daughter, Shatner acted as if he barely knew who Takei was, despite working with him over four decades, and said people were making too big of a deal about Takei being gay.

Shatner went further to say that he was not invited to the wedding, something Takei later disputed.

Shatner didn't let Takei take the same-sex limelight too long. In the series finale of "Boston Legal," Shatner's character of Denny Crane marries James Spader's Alan Shore. But unlike Takei's wedding, the Crane-Shore nuptials were more about money than love.

4. Dr. Horrible Sings His Way To Internet Fame -- While the Writers Guild of America strike may have shut down Hollywood, it didn't mean that creatives like Joss Whedon couldn't be, well creative.

Whedon joined his brothers Jed and Zack along with Maurissa Tancheroen to write "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog." It starred Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day, and would go on to be an online sensation, even after television resumed production schedules and people had something to watch on television.

Everyone worked for free with the hopes that future profits through iTunes and DVD sales would compensate them. Whedon is tight-lipped on how much money the production made, but revealed last month that everyone who was involved has been paid.

Is there a future for Dr. Horrible? We certainly hope so, and many more television series could be making their way to the Web following in that success.

3. Who The Frak Is The Final Cylon? --

Although producers of SciFi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica" insist that the revelation will not be a game changer, that hasn't stopped intense fan speculation over the past year on the identity of the final Cylon.

Entertainment Weekly published a two-page spread over the summer of a scene depicting Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper" that featured some of the cast of "Battlestar Galactica" with hints on who the final Cylon is. Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore has said that the final Cylon is not in the picture, which if he's not misleading audiences away from the true identity of the final Cylon, it would eliminate Mary McDonnell's Laura Roslin, Jamie Bamber's Apollo, James Callis' Gaius Baltar, Katee Sackhoff's Starbuck, Tahmoh Penikett's Helo and Edward James Olmos' William Adama.

Airlock Alpha narrowed the list of potential final Cylons to five, with a claim that one of those people were the final Cylon.

We're we right? Did you make the guess?

We'll find out when "Battlestar Galactica" returns Jan. 16.

2. Death of Heath Ledger -- It's been nearly a year since the untimely passing of Heath Ledger, an actor that had been adored by fans all over the world, and who was never afraid to take on the most challenging roles.

Whether it be the son of a colonist during the American revolution, a medieval knight hearing modern rock songs, or a gay cowboy looking to spend time on Brokeback Mountain, Ledger was there with energy and a determination to put in some of the best acting available anywhere.

Ledger was just 28 when he died from an accidental drug overdose, and never had a chance to see his portrayal of the Joker in "The Dark Knight" push that film to the second-highest grossing movie of all time behind only "Titanic."

Even now, 11 months later, we still miss you.

1. Writers Go On Strike ... Actors Next? -- Stopping production for 100 days is no small potatoes, and we can't pretend that the writers strike did not dominate the news pretty much the first several months of the year.

Even when the strike did finally end in spring, in time for networks to return some of its series to the air, people were still feeling the effects. Movies like "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" and "Star Trek XI" were moved to 2009 to fill gaps in the production schedule, and many series that premiered under the threat of strike are faltering in the ratings in their second season, with shows like "Pushing Daisies" and even "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" either already gone or on life support.

Now the Screen Actors Guild are looking for an encore, and had tentatively scheduled a strike authorization vote to demand better compensation from new media like Internet after the holidays, but that date has since been postponed as the guild looks to get better unity in taking what some say is a very unpopular position toward yet another work stoppage.

So there they are, the Top Newsmakers of 2008.

We had a huge list to go through, and picking five was not easy by any stretch of the imagination.

Other newsmakers that got serious attention and almost made the list, in no particular order, include David Tennant's departure from "Doctor Who," the death of Star Trek's First Lady Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the addition of Robert Picardo to "Stargate: Atlantis" and the cancellation that followed, the departure of "Smallville's" series creators, the second cancellation of "Jericho," the discovery of the full print of the science-fiction classic "Metropolis," and the gay invasion of television, including a gay couple on the troubled Fox series "Virtuality" as well as the outing of a male "Battlestar Galactica" character, Gaeta.

Now it's time to start the list for next year ... who or what will be on it?

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Hear Michael Hinman on SyFy Radio every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT at www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SyFyRadio.