Day: January 6, 1971

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Night Gallery Season 1

Make Me Laugh / Clean Kills and Other Trophies

Night GalleryMake Me Laugh: Jackie Slater, a struggling comedian, is dying to make his audiences laugh…but he consistently bombs on stage. A mysterious man claiming to be a miracle-performing guru offers to work wonders for Jackie: anything Jackie says will bring his audiences to nearly uncontrollable laughter. While this boosts Jackie’s career to incredible heights, he finds it to be a hollow victory. He decides to leave comedy and take up dramatic acting, but his attempts at pathos only bring about more laughter. Can he ever again bring someone to tears?

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Rod Serling
directed by Steven Spielberg
music by Robert Prince / series theme by Gil Melle

Cast: Godfrey Cambridge (Jackie Slater), Tom Bosley (Jules Kettleman), Jackie Vernon (Chatterje), Al Lewis (Mishkin), Sidney Clute (David Garrick), John J. Fox (Heckler), Gene R. Kearney (2nd Bartender), Tony Russel (Director), Sonny Klein (1st Bartender), Michael Hart (Miss Wilson), Georgia Schmidt (Flower Lady), Sid Rushakoff (1st Laugher), Don Melvoin (2nd Laugher)

Night GalleryNotes: Steven Spielberg returns, racking up his third professional television directing credit (his second was a segment of the Night Gallery pilot movie in late 1969). By the end of 1971, he would go on to direct episodes of such series as The Name Of The Game, The Psychiatrist, Columbo, and Owen Marshall, Counselor At Law, ending the year with his first TV movie directing credit, Duel. Within three years, Spielberg was a movie director and no longer a TV director. Tom Bosley, of Happy Days fame, makes his second Night Gallery appearance here, having also appeared in Night Gallery’s pilot movie.

Clean Kills and Other Trophies: Obsessive big-game hunter Colonel Archie Dittman is unable to keep himself from expressing his disappointment that his son, now 21, does not share his preoccupation with hunting. He threatens to leave his son out of the will unless he can kill a deer. Dittman’s lawyer is aghast, immediately recommending that the junior Dittman take legal action against his father. The day of the hunt comes and goes without a kill…or at least without a death in the animal kingdom.

Night Gallerywritten by Rod Serling
directed by Walter Doniger
music by Robert Prince

Cast: Raymond Massey (Colonel Archie Dittman), Tom Troupe (Jeffrey Pierce), Barry Brown (Archie Dittman Jr.), Herbert Jefferson Jr. (Tom Mboya)

Notes: Herbert Jefferson Jr. would go on to numerous guest starring roles in the 1970s before landing a regular role in Battlestar Galactica.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Star Blazers

Fierce Attack: The Telezart Landing Operation!

Star BlazersThe Argo arrives at the planet Telezart, and Sandor’s scans show it to be a hollow world. But rather than a warm welcome from Trelaina, the Argo is targeted by Telezart’s automatic missile defense systems. Wildstar dispatches Sgt. Knox and the Space Marines to do what they do best – make short work of the planetary defenses and clear the way for the Argo. What the Marines find is a desolate world, with evidence of an advanced civilization reduced to rubble. Desslock returns, as ordered, for a meeting with Prince Zordar – and the Gamilon leader is furious with what he perceives as Zordar’s interference with his most recent (and nearly successful) attempt to wipe out the Argo. What neither of them know is that Zordar’s daughter, Princess Invidia, is sowing the seeds of dissent between them in her own grab for power.

Order the DVDswritten by Keisuke Fujikawa & Eiichi Yamamoto
directed by Leiji Matsumoto
music by Hiroshi Miyagawa

Season 2 Voice Cast: Kenneth Meseroll (Derek Wildstar), Tom Tweedy (Mark Venture), Amy Howard (Nova), Eddie Allen (Leader Desslok), Chris Latta (Sgt. Knox), Lydia Leeds (Trelaina), Chris Latta (General Dire), Chris Latta (Captain Gideon), other actors unknown

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Max Headroom Series 2 (UK)

Episode 10

The Max Headroom ShowMax goes insane briefly, ranting about stagehands who sit idle while he rakes in millions, before waxing poetic about America, wondering if cowpokes poke cows, and lamenting that “the Indians have never been forgiven for getting there first.” Max then gives British mime artist Les Bubb his first TV exposure. Tracey Ullman visits Max, who proceeds to ask her questions in a Cockney accent, including the rumor that she’s developing a show for American TV. And finally, Max wants somebody to stop that.

written by Paul Owen & David Hansen
with additional material by Jim Pullin, Bob Sinfield and Matt Frewer
directed by David G. Hillier
music by Matt Forrest and Art Of Noise

The Max Headroom ShowCast: Matt Frewer (Max Headroom), Tracey Ullman (herself), Les Bubb (himself)

Videos: “Panic” (The Smiths), “Breakaway” (Tracey Ullman), “Sledgehammer” (Peter Gabriel)

Notes: Tracey Ullman did indeed go on to create her own series on the new Fox network in the States; it was one of the fourth network’s first original series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 05 Star Trek The Next Generation

New Ground

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 45376.3: The Enterprise is participating in a test of a new method of propulsion that would render warp engines obsolete by generating a wave that a starship would “ride” like a surfboard. While preparing for the test, Worf receives a message from Helena that she and Worf’s son have come to visit. When they beam aboard, Alexander believes that he is staying on the Enterprise, and Helena tells Worf that Alexander has been disobedient and even untruthful, which is proven when, after enrolling in the ship’s school, he steals a model on a field trip. Picard orders part of the ship to be evacuated after a freak accident with the propulsion experiment, but he and Worf discover that Alexander, once again in defiance of Worf’s instructions, has gone to that section of the ship.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Grant Rosenberg
story by Sara Charno & Stuart Charno
directed by Robert Scheerer
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lt. Worf), Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Georgia Brown (Helena Rozhenko), Brian Bonsall (Alexander), Richard McGonagle (Dr. Ja’Dar), Jennifer Edwards (Mrs. Kyle), Sheila Franklin (Ensign), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Space Rangers

The Replacements

Space RangersBoon’s crew is assigned to track down a hijacked ore transport, but shortly after they catch up with the ship and board it, an armed man blasts Doc while someone else escapes in a lifepod. Boon brings Doc back to Fort Hope, where Mimmer starts trying to save his life while Boon interrogates his unhelpful prisoner. Boon complains bitterly about having to take on missions with an exhausted crew and equipment that’s fallen apart in the face of constant budget cuts, taking his anger out on Weiss, an Earth bureaucrat who’s been “exiled” to Fort Hope. Weiss responds to this outburst by assigning an android crewmember to Boon’s ship. After their sole prisoner is mysteriously murdered in his cell with no security record of how he died, the Space Rangers are left with a seized transport which appears to carry nothing but ordinary ore, and a lot of unanswered questions. Little do they know that the hijackers are working against them from inside Fort Hope.

Space Rangerswritten by Gregory Widen
directed by Ben Bolt
music by Hans Zimmer & Mark Mancina

Cast: Jeff Kaake (Captain John Boon), Marjorie Monaghan (Jojo), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Zylyn), Jack McGee (Doc), Clint Howard (Mimmer), Danny Quinn (Daniel), Gottfried John (Weiss), Linda Hunt (Chennault), Richard Grove (Isogul), Keith Berger (Ringer), Richard Marcus (Bashad), Tony Amendola (Smuggler), Mark Venturini (Lieutenant), Gregory Phelan (Technician No. 1), Wendy Way (Technician No. 2)

Space RangersNotes: Although aired first, this was not the series pilot, creating some inconsistencies in the flow of the storyline (i.e. Boon’s wife has already left him and gone to Earth, even later episodes contradict this). Tony Amendola would later become a fixture on Stargate SG-1 as Master Bra’tac. Writer Gregory Widen was the creator of the Highlander franchise, and wrote the screenplay to Backdraft, which was produced by Space Rangers creator Pen Densham.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 05 Star Trek

The Darkness and the Light

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate 50416.2: A Vedek is killed during a religious ceremony – Latha, a member of Kira’s former resistance cell. Kira gets a message with an electronically scrambled voice saying “That’s one.” Someone has a vendetta against the Shakaar, and kills four more of Kira’s friends, each time sending another message of the same sort. It is clear that the murders are all connected to Kira, and that she is the killer’s ultimate target. Kira, who is still heavily pregnant, defies advice to go off on a personal mission to find the person who is killing her friends.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Ronald D. Moore
story by Bryan Fuller
directed by Michael Vejar
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Randy Oglesby (Silaran Prin), William Lucking (Furel), Diane Salinger (Lupaza), Jennifer Savidge (Trentin Fala), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), Matt Roe (Latha), Christian Conrad (Brilgar), Scott McElroy (Guard)

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

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Season 09 SG-1 Stargate

The Fourth Horseman – Part 2

  • By Dave
  • January 6, 2006

Stargate SG-1Teal’c confronts Gerak, now a Prior of the Ori, in the Jaffa council chamber, but their argument settles nothing. When the meeting adjourns, Bra’tac believes that the opposition to the Ori must withdraw to the shadows. Teal’c has other plans. He does not believe that Gerak has yet forgotten his Jaffa nature completely, and intends to force a confrontation on Chulak. He will gather a fleet to oppose any attempts to join the Ori, and dare Gerak and any of his supporters to kill their fellow Jaffa.

The Ori virus spreads to Europe, causing considerable disruption to global political and financial institutions. The leaders of the international consortium now financing the SGC press Landry for answers, while Hammond offers his encouragement. Carter tries to help Orlin work on the cure, but his memories are slipping away despite his best efforts.

Mitchell meets with Haikon to plead for the Sodan’s help, but it turns out to be unnecessary. The Prior had ordered the Sodan to eliminate the population of a planet that refused to worship the Ori – a planet of simple farmers, women and children. The Sodan refused. So unless the anti-Prior device works, they will join Earth as targets of the Ori. They arrange for the Prior to be brought into range of the device, at which point Mitchell attacks him in order to test his powers. They work rather well at first, but Daniel eventually finds the frequency necessary to neutralize them. Mitchell zats the Prior and retrieves the blood sample.

Even with the sample, the CDC is having trouble finding a cure, and Orlin is no longer able to help them. Landry asks him to do one more favor, and brings him to meet with the captive Prior, whom Mitchell and Jackson are trying to convince to turn against the Ori. Orlin remembers the life that the Prior gave up to follow the Ori, and tries to remind him of it. But this simply angers the Prior enough to declare that the Ori are coming to destroy the Ancients; he gathers some of his power and infects Landry with the plague before the others can shoot him.

Above Chulak, the fleets confront one another. Teal’c invites Gerak to a face-to-face meeting on the planet’s surface, where Teal’c intends to convince Gerak to renounce the Ori – or, if he fails, to die as a free Jaffa.

Order the DVDswritten by Paul Mullie & Joseph Mallozzi
directed by Andy Mikita
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Guest Cast: Cameron Bright (Orlin), Tony Amendola (Bra’tac), Don S. Davis (Gen. George Hammond), Tony Todd (Haikon), Jason George (Jolan), William B. Davis (Prior), Garry Chalk (Col. Chekov), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam), Louis Gossett, Jr. (Gerak)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Season 2 Stargate Stargate Atlantis

The Hive

Stargate AtlantisBrought before the Queen on a Wraith hive ship, Sheppard puts up the best resistance he can muster to her interrogation…and is startled to find that it seems to be working. Due to the Wraith enzyme that Ford has flooded his bloodstream with, Sheppard is immune to the Wraith, as are the other prisoners. On the planet, Rodney subjects himself to a massive dose of the enzyme, enough to send himself into a state somewhere between a berzerker rage and schizophrenia so he can disarm Ford’s guards, repair the DHD at the stargate and escape to Atlantis. Once he sounds the alarm – and rants and raves a lot – Colonel Caldwell and the Prometheus leave Atlantis to take out the approaching hive ship, and rescue Sheppard’s team at the same time if possible. With Ford and Ronon still competing with each other fiercely, Sheppard leads a prison break, but he lands his entire team back in the cell when he stops to assist other human prisoners that he didn’t even know were there. But spending time with one of these humans opens Sheppard’s eyes to new avenues of escaping the Wraith – and new threats.

Order the DVDswritten by Carl Binder
directed by Martin Wood
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Rainbow Sun Francks (Aiden Ford), Aaron Abrams (Kanayo), Kavan Smith (Major Lorne), Jenn Bird (Neera), David Nykl (Dr. Zelenka), Mitch Pileggi (Colonel Caldwell), James Lafaznos (Male Wraith), Andee Frizzell (Hive Queen), Woody Jeffreys (Bouncer), Aleks Holtz (Guard), Chuck Campbell (Technician), Kirby Morrow (Airman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Battlestar Galactica (New Series) Season 2

Resurrection Ship – Part 1

Battlestar GalacticaWith Admiral Cain having arrested, tried, and convicted Tyrol and Helo – not to mention having sentenced them to execution – Adama launches Galactica’s Vipers, and Cain responds in kind with Pegasus’ fighters. The only thing that prevents a shooting war between the two Battlestars is the arrival of an unknown ship – actually Starbuck flying the Blackbird fighter home from an unauthorized mission to collect intelligence on a huge Cylon ship in nearby space. Starbuck’s interruption – and the information she brings back – postpones the battle, but in a meeting with Adama and President Roslin, Cain makes it clear that she won’t back down from the death sentence…and after she leaves, Roslin makes it clear to Adama that Admiral Cain must be removed from the equation, by deadly force if necessary. Adama balks at first, but as he learns more about Pegasus’ journey – including Cain’s order to strip jump drives, gear and experienced civilian personnel from non-military ships, on pain of death – the commander slowly comes to the same conclusion. Baltar manages to get the Pegasus’ Cylon prisoner to identify the huge ship: it’s a Resurrection Ship, a breeding ground for the many clones of the Cylons’ human bodies, and destroying it could turn the tide of the war with the Cylons. Admiral Cain concentrates on the upcoming attack on that ship, promoting Starbuck to captain and putting her in command of the Pegasus CAG. But Adama has an assignment for Starbuck as well – on a predetermined signal, she is to put an end to Admiral Cain’s reign of terror. Little does Commander Adama know that Cain has similar plans for him.

story by Anne Cofell Saunders
teleplay by Michael Rymer
directed by Michael Rymer
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (CPO Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Nicki Clyne (Cally), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Michelle Forbes (Admiral Cain), Donnelly Rhodes (Dr. Cottle), Graham Beckel (Colonel Fisk), John Pyper-Ferguson (Captain Cole “Stinger” Taylor), Sebastian Spence (Pegasus Pilot), Luciana Carro (Louanne “Kat” Katraine), Vincent Gale (Chief Peter Laird), Peter-John Prinsloo (Lt. Mei “Freaker” Firelli), Brad Drybrough (Hoshi)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Audio Series Prisoner, The

Departure and Arrival

The PrisonerAn agent of the British Foreign Office unexpectedly submits his resignation, setting off a panic among his superiors, who discovered that he is planning to flee the country and go to the Bahamas. Armed agents break into his home and abduct him, and when he awakens, he is in the Village, a gaily-colored, self-contained community whose residents seem to know nothing beyond its boundaries. No one seems to know who he is, and no one knows his name. A man identifying himself as Number Two introduces himself, and welcomes the newly-christened “Number Six” to his surveillance and control center, the Green Dome. The tools at his disposal for watching every moment of every life within the Village unfold is mind-boggling, with cameras, mobile phones, ubiquitous and even portable screens, and a kind of interconnected network tying it all together at Number Two’s fingertips. Number Two makes it clear that no one leaves the Village – and Number Six suspects that the penalty for doing so would be fatal. A former intelligence colleague of Number Six, Cobb, is also on the island, and mounts a valiant escape attempt, but he is captured by a deadly security device called Rover and taken to the Village’s hospital; not long afterward, Cobb is reported to have committed suicide, though Number Six immediately suspects something far more sinister. A chance meeting with a woman named Number Nine leads to another escape plan, but is Nine truly an ally and a fellow victim of the Village…or is she a trap?

written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Jamie Robertson

Cast: Mark Elstob (Number Six), John Standing (Number Two), Celia Imrie (Number Two), Sara Powell (Number Nine), Helen Goldwyn (Village Voice), Sarah Mowat (ZERO-SIX-TWO), Jim Barclay (Control/Old Captain/Cobb), Barnaby Edwards (Number 34/Danvers/Butler)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Audio Series Prisoner, The

Your Beautiful Village

The PrisonerNumber Six awakens to find his quarters in the Village – and indeed the entire Village itself – plunged into darkness. Phones and loudspeakers also seem to be on the fritz, and his attempts to contact Number Nine to check on her well-being are beset by blasts of radio frequency interference, dropped calls, and occasionally an almost unfathomable silence. Occasionally Number Two breaks through and claims that the entire Village is experiencing these problems and they need Number Six’s help. Refusing to give up, Number Six leaves his quarters in pitch blackness and tries to reach Number Nine, but is unable to do so. In addition to the darkness, Number Six finds that his memory of the Village’s layout isn’t as accurate as he thought. Number Two naturally wants to help Number Six reach his goal…and to help Number Six appreciate the beauty of the Village.

written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Jamie Robertson

Cast: Mark Elstob (Number Six), Michael Cochrane (Number Two), Sara Powell (Number Nine), Helen Goldwyn (Village Voice), Sarah Mowat (ZERO-SIX-TWO)

Notes: Unlike the other three stories in the first Prisoner audio box set, Your Beautiful Village is a story original to Big Finish and not based on a previously filmed episode of the television series. The story deals with sensory deprivation torture, a subject that has been explored in such works as George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four”.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Prodigy Season 1 Star Trek

Kobayashi

Star Trek: ProdigyStardate 43929.9: After fruitless years of searching for the Federation starship Protostar, the Diviner – last of the Vau N’Akat species – uses his own genetic material to create his progeny, a new Vau N’Akat to take up the search in case his frail condition prevents him from finding the ship…

Stardate not given: The Protostar’s proto-drive doesn’t just leave the Diviner behind, it leaves him behind to the tune of 4,000 light years in mere seconds. After that unlikely thrust – something that Jankom Pog can’t even bring himself to believe – the proto-drive shuts down and goes inoperative, and the hologram of Captain Janeway, who knew nothing of the drive’s existence, can’t help bring it back online. At this point, Pog, Rok-Tahk and Zero insist to Dal that their best bet for safety is to contact the Federation. Upset that his simply saying “no” to this proposition isn’t putting an end to the discussion, Dal’s discovery of the holodeck, and a Starfleet simulation called the Kobayashi Maru test, seems fortuitous. Surely he can ace this test and prove his worthiness as leader to the Protostar’s new crew. With the best of the best of Starfleet’s past backing him up, how hard could it be?

Order DVDswritten by Aaron J. Waltke
directed by Alan Wan
music by Nami Melamud
Star Trek: Prodigy main theme by Michael Giacchino

Star Trek DiscoveryCast: Brett Gray (Dal R’El), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Angus Imrie (Zero), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf / Klingon 2 / Gentleman Caller), Jimmi Simpson (Drednok), John Noble (Diviner), Kate Mulgrew (Hologram Janeway), Robert Beltran (Captain Chakotay), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), James Doohan (Scotty), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Leonard Nimoy (Spock), David Ruprecht (Kobayashi Maru Captain), Bonnie Gordon (Ship Computer), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), Brook Chalmers (Klingon 1)

Notes: The flashback to the Diviner’s decision to create Gwyn is noted as having happened 17 years ago; the stardate for the flashback places it between the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes Sarek and Menage a Troi, making it seem likely that whether intentionally or not, the Protostar time traveled from a period of time after Star Trek: Voyager‘s series finale into its own past, before the Protostar was actually built. Dedicated to the memories of Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, and Rene Auberjonois, this episode uses dialogue from prior Star Trek episodes and movies featuring those characters (and Uhura) to revive those characters in holographic form. The only new dialogue recorded for this episode by a past Trek character appears to have been performed by Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher. The Kobayashi Maru test originated in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982), but has been referenced heavily in other movies such as the 2009 Star Trek film and as recently as the season opener of Star Trek: Discovery‘s fourth season.

LogBook entry by Earl Green