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Original Series Season 03 Star Trek

Whom Gods Destroy

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5718.3: The Enterprise is carrying a new drug to the mental hospital on Elba II, where it is hoped that the last dangerously insane patients in the Federation can finally be treated. But when Kirk and Spock beam down, they do not realize that the facilities have been taken over by the inmates, led by Garth, a former Starfleet captain who has also become a shape-shifter. Before anyone on the Enterprise realizes what is transpiring on Elba II, Garth has activated a shield to prevent the landing party from escaping.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Lee Erwin
story by Lee Erwin and Jerry Sohl
directed by Herb Wallerstein
music by Fred Steiner

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Steve Ihnat (Garth), Yvonne Craig (Marta), Richard Geary (Andorian), Gary Downey (Tellarite), Keye Luke (Cory)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 07 Doctor Who

Spearhead From Space

Doctor WhoDr. Liz Shaw is uprooted from her research at Cambridge to serve as the scientific advisor for the recently formed United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, headed by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The Brigadier seeks Liz’s help in the investigation of two mysteriously precise meteor showers which could be signs of alien interference with Earth. But the Brigadier’s luck improves with the arrival of a police box in the midst of the most recent meteor shower, though its sole occupant is a man he’s never seen before. The Doctor, however, does recognize the Brigadier despite recovering from the trauma of his forced regeneration at the hands of the Time Lords, and the two join forces – with a somewhat bewildered Dr. Shaw in tow – to fight an alien menace which can inhabit and control one of the most common substances manufactured on Earth…plastic.

Download this episodewritten by Robert Holmes
directed by Derek Martinus
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Hugh Burden (Channing), Neil Wilson (Seeley), John Breslin (Captain Munro), Antony Webb (Dr. Henderson), Helen Dorward (Nurse), Talfryn Thomas (Mullins), George Lee (Corporal Forbes), Iain Smith, Tessa Shaw, Ellis Jones (UNIT personnel), Allan Mitchell (Wagstaffe), Prentis Hancock (Reporter), Derek Smee (Ransome), John Woodnutt (Hibbert), Betty Bowden (Meg Seeley), Hamilton Dyce (Scobie), Henry McCarthy (Dr. Beavis), Clifford Cox (Soldier), Edmund Bailey (Waxworks Attendant)

Broadcast from January 3 through 24, 1970

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Buck Rogers Season 1

Space Vampire

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyBuck and Wilma visit Theta Station to have repairs made to Twiki. Mere minutes behind them, a derelict freighter emerges through the stargate and collides with Theta Station, after the station’s crew fails to make contact with anyone who might be on board. The crew of the freighter is found dead inside, and with no cause readily apparent, Station Commander Royko declares a quarantine. After further examination, Dr. Ecbar discovers that the “corpses” are not dead – but not long after he reveals this to Buck, the doctor dies mysteriously, his neck discolored in the same inexplicable fashion as the other victims. Wilma repeatedly experiences strange sensations, and even begins to see a chilling alien humanoid appear. Royko insists in believing that havoc is being wreaked by a hallucinatory virus, but after narrowly surviving a violent encounter with the same being that Wilma has been seeing, Buck thinks that a soul-stealing creature – the 25th century equivalent of a vampire – is responsible for the mounting body count.

Order the DVDswritten by Kathleen Barnes and David Wise
directed by Larry Stewart
music by Stu Phillips

Buck RogersCast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Wilma Deering), Tim O’Connor (Doctor Huer), Christopher Stone (Commander Royko), Nicholas Hormann (The Vorvon), Lincoln Kilpatrick (Dr. Ecbar), Phil Hoover (Helson), Patti Maloney (Twiki), David Moses (Technician), Jeanne Fitzsimmons (Freighter Captain)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 18 Doctor Who

Warriors’ Gate

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS is boarded in mid-flight – a virtually unthinkable event – by Biroc, a lion-like Tharil who seems to be on the run from something. He brings the TARDIS to the zero point – an intersection between E-space and N-space that could finally get the Doctor back to his home universe. This is also of interest to Rorvik, the captain of a space freighter carrying a load of Tharil slaves. Rorvik’s ship has been stranded here for some time, and his plans for escaping are growing more desperate and impractical. A mysterious and seemingly ancient gateway appears as space at the zero point begins to fall in upon itself. Romana is determined to free the Tharils from slavery, even if it means missing the chance to escape from E-space… but the Doctor learns the oppressed were once the oppressors, and there may be no justice for either party this time.

Download this episodewritten by Stephen Gallagher
directed by Paul Joyce
music by Peter Howell

Guest Cast: Clifford Rose (Rorvik), Kenneth Cope (Packard), David Weston (Biroc), Jeremy Gittins (Lazlo), Freddie Earle (Aldo), Harry Waters (Royce), David Kincaid (Lane), Vincent Pickering (Sagan), Robert Vowles (Gundan)

Broadcast from January 3 through 24, 1981

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 20 Doctor Who

Arc of Infinity

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Nyssa’s visit to a tranquil region of space known as the Arc of Infinity is cut short by a strange phenomenon – some kind of entity penetrates the TARDIS and tries to merge with the Doctor’s body. The attempt is short-lived, and the Doctor escapes harm, but apparently the incident has been noticed – the Time Lords are recalling him to Gallifrey. With Nyssa in tow, the Doctor returns home only to discover that his biodata extract has been accessed by an unknown party – information that could be used to allow someone to take over his physical form. Fearing the ramifications of a Time Lord being taken over by an alien entity, the High Council – now led by the regenerated Borusa as Lord President – votes to have the Doctor executed. But a second attempt at a merge interrupts the execution, and the Time Lords find out that it’s no alien entity at work, but one of their own.

Season 20 Regular Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Mark Strickson (Turlough)

Order the DVDwritten by Johnny Byrne
directed by Ron Jones
music by Roger Limb

Guest Cast: Leonard Sachs (President Borusa), Michael Gough (Hedin), Ian Collier (Omega), Colin Baker (Maxil), Paul Jerricho (Castellan), Neil Daglish (Damon), Elspet Gray (Thalia), Max Harvey (Zorac), Andrew Boxer (Robin Stuart), Alastair Cumming (Colin Frazer), John D. Collins (Talor), Maya Woolfe (Hostel receptionist), Malcolm Harvey (The Ergon), Guy Groen (Second receptionist)

Broadcast from January 3 through 11, 1983

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Deep Space Nine Season 02 Star Trek

The Alternate

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: Dr. Mora Pol, the Bajoran scientist who studied Odo and first discovered that Odo is a living creature, arrives on DS9 to enlist the shapeshifter’s help in another research endeavor – this time a journey into the Gamma Quadrant to investigate a world that may once have harbored beings similar in nature to Odo. Finding only the ruins of some past civilization at first, the away team also find some local flora that appear to bear some resemblance to Odo. A geological upheaval on the planet sends the members of the away team scrambling for cover from suffocating natural gases. After returning to their runabout and going back to the station, most of them wind up recovering in the infirmary recovering from gas inhalation. Only Odo appears to be unaffected, which is fortunate since something the away team has brought back from the Gamma Quadrant would appear to be lose aboard DS9 – something with abilities remarkably similar to Odo’s…

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Bill Dial
story by Jim Trombetta and Bill Dial
directed by David Carson
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), James Sloyan (Dr. Mora Pol), Matt MacKenzie (Dr. Weld Ram)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Babylon 5 / Crusade TV Movies

A Call To Arms

Babylon 5On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the formation of the Interstellar Alliance, Garibaldi – who has been heading up the project to construct a new destroyer-class starship with Earth, Minbari and Vorlon technology – picks up President Sheridan for a secret test run of the new vehicle. However, the test run is neither successful nor secret. Unknown to Sheridan or Garibaldi, a technomage called Galen is watching them, against the wishes of his fellow wizards. Galen uses the technological magic of his order to contact Sheridan secretly, warning him that the Drakh – the surviving servants of the Shadows who engineered the Alliance’s war with Centauri Prime – are preparing to ascend to the throne of their former masters by launching an attack on Earth. Galen drops a hint about the planet Daltron 7, and is then gone. Galen also sends Sheridan a vision of Babylon 5, and Sheridan immediately sets off for the station at top speed with Garibaldi in tow, sketching a handful of faces from his vision…faces of people whom he has never met.

After arriving at the station, the faces from Sheridan’s vision begin to appear – Dureena Nafeel, a skilled thief and the last known survivor of the Shadow-destroyed world of Zander Prime, and Captain Anderson, an Earthforce officer who, like Sheridan and Dureena, has been contacted by Galen through mysterious visions. With three pieces of the puzzle together, Sheridan puts a plan into motion to stop the Drakh before they can attack Earth, until Anderson points out that his Earthforce heavy cruiser may not be enough to stop the Drakh if they now command abandoned Shadow technology. Sheridan, Dureena and Anderson quietly slip away, returning to the proving grounds for the two new destroyers and hijacking both ships. Soon, the Excalibur and the Victory – under the command of Sheridan and Anderson, respectively – are en route to Daltron 7. But upon arrival, they find an annihilated world and a dead Drazi, the only remaining face from Sheridan’s vision. The Drazi, however, left a recorded message with a warning – the Drakh have revived a Shadow planet killer, the most powerful weapon in their arsenal, and intend to use this to wreak vengeance on Earth.

Sheridan convinces Captain Lochley to warn Earth of the impending attack as the Excalibur and the Victory race to lead the battle. But when the Drakh assault on Earth is over, the human race’s days are numbered, the Earth’s ecosystem poisoned with a lethal, contagious, time-released toxin of alien origin. And all at once, nothing will ever be the same…

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by Michael Vejar
music by Evan H. Chen

Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (President John Sheridan), Jerry Doyle (Michael Garibaldi), Jeff Conaway (Security Chief Zack Allan), Carrie Dobro (Dureena Nafeel), Peter Woodward (Galen), Tony Todd (Captain Leonard Anderson), Tracy Scoggins (Captain Elizabeth Lochley), Tony Maggio (Drake), Michael Harris (Bishop), Scott MacDonald (First Officer), Wayne Alexander (Drakh), Carlos Bernard (Communications), Burt Bulos (Navigation), Ron Campbell (Drazi), David Coburn (Minbari Ranger), Matt Gallini (Rolf), Valeria Ghiran (ISN Reporter), Marjean Holden (Navigation), Endre Hules (Yuri), Tim O’Hare (First Mage), Tom Ramirez (Second Mage), LaRita Shelby Mullen (Lynne), Kayla Spell (Sarah)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Short Treks Star Trek

The Escape Artist

Star Trek: Short TreksStardate not given: A Tellarite bounty hunter buys wanted man Harry Mudd from a fellow bounty hunter, partly to settle a personal score, and partly to hand Mudd over to the Federation for a fat reward. But Mudd’s fast-talking ways aren’t slowed by this setback, and he’s already plotting his next escape…assuming he needs to escape at all.

Order DVDsStream this episode via Amazonwritten by Mike McMahan
directed by Rainn Wilson
music by Jeff Russo

Cast: Rainn Wilson (Harry Mudd), Dan Abramovici (Guard), Harry Judge (Tellarite), Barbara Mamabolo (Bounty Hunter), Myrthin Stagg (New Guard), Jonathan Watton (Federation Officer)

Short TreksNotes: Writer Mike McMahan’s popular parody Twitter account detailing unlikely (but funny) scenarios for a never-made eighth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation led to an officially published book, Warped: An Engaging Guide to the Never-Aired 8th Season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and his influence on the Star Trek franchise would continue from here to the first comedy-focused spinoff in the franchise, Star Trek: Lower Decks, also produced for CBS All Access. He has also been a production assistant on such animated shows as Drawn Together, South Park, and Rick & Morty, the latter of which he has also served as a writer.

Short TreksLatinum is already the currency of choice for those 23rd century soldiers of fortune who need it, long before it became a favorite of Deep Space Nine‘s Quark. Though Tellarites appeared in the Star Trek: Discovery episode The Wolf Inside, this is the first time a Tellarite has been the focus of a Star Trek episode since the Enterprise episode United in 2005. Careful examination of the extra Mudds reveals that Harry is already wearing fashions for which he will become famous, or at least infamous, in the future, echoing costume designs from the Star Trek episodes Mudd’s Women and I, Mudd.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Orville, The Season 2

Primal Urges

The OrvilleBortus is the last member of the Orville’s crew that Captain Mercer would expect to have attendance problems, and yet the normally stoic Moclan is asking to leave nearly every shift early…and is arriving in his quarters very late every evening. When Bortus’ spouse, Klyden, attempts to kill him – the Moclan method of initiating a divorce – Dr. Finn is able to save Bortus’ life, over his protests. Mercer has Klyden thrown into the brig and finally begins to demand answers, but since the incident has disrupted routine duties aboard a Union ship, the captain refuses to acknowledge the lethal divorce proceedings, instead “sentencing” Bortus and Klyden to couples counseling. But Bortus still has a secret – he’s been using the holographic simulator aboard the Orville to satisfy some base desires…and his appetite for doing so may put the entire ship, and a high-stakes rescue mission, in extreme danger.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Wellesley Wild
directed by Kevin Hooks
music by John Debney

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Kelly Hu (), Lesley Fera (), Mike Henry (Dann), Michael C. Mahon (Altox), Darren Dupree Washington (Simulated Moclan), Jude B. Lanston (Moclan Prison Guard), Veronica Matheu (Nyxian Girl), Gavin Lee (Henry Park), Joseph Johnson (Moclan Doctor), Michael James Lazar (Moclan #1), Torrance Jordan (Moclan #2), Aaron McPherson (Crew Member)

LogBook entry by Earl Green