After three separate episodes featuring Earthrealm warriors, episode four of Mortal Kombat: Legacy shifts the focus to Outworld. Created using a combination of live action and anime-style animations the tale of twin sisters Kitana and Mileena begins this week.

Jeri Ryan has been one busy actress...

With a career in film and television spanning twenty years; Ryan has acted in starring roles in many successful primetime dramas, including Dark Skies, Boston Public, Shark, The OC, and Law & Order: SVU. For some, she will be best remembered as the cult sci-fi heroine of more than one hundred episodes -- Seven of Nine, from TV's Star Trek: Voyager. An impressive body of work by any measure, but for fans of a certain conccurently running twenty-year video game franchise, about to pale in comparison to a ten episode, digitally distributed series!

Ryan's association with Mortal Kombat began in June, with the online leak of a high-quality production demo called Mortal Kombat: Rebirth [full story]. The eight minute clip, directed by Kevin Tancharoen (Fame, DanceLife), presented a stark reinterpretation of the MK mythos, with a bent toward over-the-top, gritty urban adaptation. Acting opposite action favourite, Michael Jai White (Spawn, Black Dynamite), during interrogation scenes led by his Jax ; Ryan completed the Special Forces duo as a file wielding, business suited Sonya Blade.

For fans concerned the former Miss Illinois will be a paper pushing wallflower version of the fighting Lieutenant, Jeri Ryan has provided pictorial documentation of her action packed role! Via Twitter, the actress promises "ass is being kicked," showing off battle scars from her kombat experience, which includes kicking the occasional door on the Vancouver location shoot, as well!

Photographs from the Vancouver Abandoned Asylum Set!

With Warner Premiere's official press release describing Rebirth as an "unofficial fan short" [full story], it remains to be seen if the digitally distributed series will relate to Tancharoen's job winning reel, or veer closer to the canon of the video game characters fans "know and love".

When Mortal Kombat Online asked Jeri Ryan if she could give us clues about the nature of her role and it's relation to the games, she said, "Can't tell [you] specifics, but it is BAD ASS."

It's one of several messages from the star, who seems very enthusiastic about the quality of the project and it's action -- which won't just boast kick ass martial arts, but also small munitions!

@JeriLRyan tweets from Mortal Kombat:
"BTW, just finished reading the whole script for Mortal Kombat. Holy crap... I think u might just love it. Get ready..."^[1] "I get to channel my inner action hero. ;-)"^[2] posted February 7.

"Don't have any info yet. Will let u guys know when I do"^[3] posted February 9.

"Def top secret right now. Not supposed to talk about it! :-|"^[4] posted February 10.

"... as I limp around & soak in Epsom salts baths. Being an action hero ain't easy...! ;-)..."^[5] "Ok - the temporary gag is (partially) off! I can start tweeting about Mortal Kombat. I will tell u this: Ass is being kicked."^[6] "Jeri Ryan returns to sci-fi to kick some ass in Mortal Kombat http://t.co/jhwm3k8 via @blastr"^[7] "My action face ;-) http://yfrog.com/h6v1rxj"^[8] "Just watched a crazy-awesome special fx shot! Just wait, gang...just wait. #mortalkombat #awesome"^[9] "Ok, off to bed now. Up early for more fun with Sonya Blade. ;-) ..."^[10] posted February 11.

"Ooooookay then...So, we're shooting in a mental institution which is apparently haunted. Had 5 separate crew members warn me already. Cool."^[11] "In other words, another day at the office."^[12] "So how's your day...? http://yfrog.com/h4unxmjj"^[13] "Wow. Another first. Never had fake pit-sweat added before. It's a glamorous life, folks."^[14] "Wrapped early tonight! Sadly, no ghost sightings, but I did get to kick a door in, so that made up for it. ;-) http://yfrog.com/h4rhrbvj"^[15] posted February 12.

Jeri Ryan isn't the only member of the Mortal Kombat crew posting their experiences on Twitter! Vancouver based Director of Photography, C. Kim Miles (@VancouverDP) adds a tantalizing tease about the series' action...

"Fight choreography is looking FANTASTIC! Mortal Kombat begins tomorrow!!!" "Rushing headlong into MK day 3. Gunfire, grenades, martial arts, Michael Jai White and Jeri Ryan. Oh yeah..."

We can report that Leslie Cairns (@BuggyBag), costume maker for the project, has also confirmed the inclusion of Sindel in the series! She made reference to constructing costumes for the "Queen" in one of her posts [based on designs by Alissa Swanson], clarifying the position in a later response. Does this confirm an Edenia similar to the one of the games? That information is yet to present itself.

Warner Premiere today announced development of a live-action digital series based on the best-selling Mortal Kombat videogame franchise. Directed by Kevin Tancharoen, known for his popular unofficial fan short Mortal Kombat: Rebirth which garnered over 10 million views online, and in conjunction with the upcoming Mortal Kombat videogame, this action-packed, digital series will take gamers deep into the history of warriors they know and love such as Scorpion, Johnny Cage and Liu Kang. Shooting for the digital series will take place in Vancouver starting in early February.

Available this spring through online digital retailers from Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, the Mortal Kombat digital series is an anthology of multiple live action shorts, each providing never-before-revealed insights into characters featured in the upcoming videogame as well as the game’s universe. Additional details, including casting, will be announced in the coming weeks.

The folks over at ScrewAttack Have put together a list of what they perceived to be the top ten worst Fatalities in MK's history. In addition to general gripes about Babalities, Frienships, etc. as well as 18 skulls and 32 ribcages in the style of the MK3 era of violence, there are specific finishers they find issue with. Here they are:

10. Tanya's Neck Breaker Fatality (MK4)

9. Kabal's Face Scare Fatality (MK3)

8. Sindel's Swan Dive Hara-Kiri (MK Deception)

7. Kenshi's Telekinetic Destroyer Fatality (MK Deadly Alliance)

6. Quan Chi's Neck Stretch Fatality (MK Deadly Alliance)

5. Raiden's Dual Electrocution Fatality (MK Deception)

4. Reptile's Chimpanzee Animality (Ultimate MK3)

3. Motaro's Head Pull Fatality (MK Trilogy)

2. Liu Kang's Cartwheel Uppercut Fatality (MK1)

1. MK vs. DC overall.

To see the video of the list in its entirety, click here.

The latest issue of Game Informer has hit newsstands, containing a four-page preview of Mortal Kombat: Deception! This issue sheds some new light on the game, and confirms some rumours that had been making the rounds. This article is more of an interview, with members of the MKD design team answering the magazine's questions.

The first point brought up is the character list, and John Vogel confirms that the boss is the Dragon King, and "he's been very 'deceptive'." Steve Beran confirms some of the returning characters: Baraka, Mileena, Noob Saibot, Smoke, Tanya, Ermac, Sindel, and Kabal are all returning. In addition, Luis Mangubat confirms that Liu Kang will be returning as both a ghost and a zombie. The reason for Sub-Zero's altered appearance is also explained, as they wanted to make him look more Chinese and distinct from Scorpion. Herman Sanchez also gives the names of some of the new characters, such as Kira (a female Black Dragon member, whose sketch is shown in the magazine; her costume looks similar to Sonya's), Dairou (a ronin samurai with a score to settle), Ben (a martial arts champion; possibly the source of the "Ken Masters" rumor?), and Ashrah (a mystical demon huntress).

In terms of gameplay, Ed Boon revealed that the characters will again have three different fighting styles, but that they will be even more distinct from one another this time around. Stage weapons were also touched upon, as Jay Biondo explained the stage weapons were much more powerful than standard weapons, but harder to get to. He explains that "getting these weapons will be a challenge, as they are placed near death traps, hidden in secret locations, and sometimes even encased inside other interactive background elements." In the realm of combos, Ed Boon explained that each fighting style and character will have more combos, but each character will also have "break out" moves (similar to combo breakers from Killer Instinct?). As he explains, "This should really even the playfield when fighting against someone who has mastered a character's combos."

They also discuss fatalities as well. Carlos Pesina confirms each character will have two "tasty" fatalities. In addition, he explains, "Unlike Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, limbs can be severed and there will be several Fatalities that take advantage of this new feature. One example would be the fatality in which the attacker rips the opponent's arms off and then beats him with them." A couple of new stage fatalities are also seen in the form of concept drawings. The first shows a multi-layer ice cavern stage, where characters break through floors of ice. If a character is knocked through the bottom-most one, he is devoured by the gigantic ice worm lurking below. In another, a large structure shaped like a dragon's mouth is at the side of an arena; when a character is tossed into it, it chomps down like a rock crusher and crushes the character within it. In addition, Mike Taran gives an idea of what to expect:

"... you will see opponents get buried in rock avalanches, smashed by giant steel presses, ripped to shreds with grinders, eaten by giant slugs, gored with spikes, shaved into chunks with spinning blades, boiled in lava, impaled on stalagmites, or cut to pieces by lasers... Awww yea!"

The article also covers Konquest, Chess, and Puzzle Kombat modes. Nothing really new is covered concerning the first two modes, but Nick Shin gives a bit of new detail concerning Puzzle Kombat:

"You select a character that's unique by their special move abilities. Some of them have offensive power moves that fill up your opponent's screen, while others have defensive moves to help clear our your own screen. Each background in this game mode is also unique in that you get to see Fatalities performed on the victim of a poorly played game. Oh yeah, both of these games modes will be playable online."

As always, we are not able to post scans of this article. However, this issue should be available at your local newsstands, so go on out today and pick up your copy!

Our thanks to all those who wrote in concerning this story, and especially forum/chat member GuiltyByDesign for providing us a copy of this article!