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Classic Season 09 Doctor Who

The Curse of Peladon

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, with Jo in tow, tries another of his experiments in getting the TARDIS working – and to both of their astonishment, the time machine roars into life and dematerializes, taking the two to the stormy planet of Peladon. On the eve of its admission into the Federation that includes Earth, Peladon receives delegates from Federation member planets Arcturus, Alpha Centauri – and Earth itself, a delegation for which the Doctor and Jo are mistaken. Also present are the Doctor’s old enemies, the Ice Warriors, though the motives for their presence may not be as sinister as the Doctor fears – and yet when both the delegates and the royal house of Peladon come under attack, the Doctor can suspect no one else.

written by Brian Hayles
directed by Lennie Mayne
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Henry Gilbert (Torbis), David Troughton (Peladon), Geoffrey Toone (Hepesh), Gordon St. Clair (Grun), Nick Hobbs (Aggedor), Stuart Fell (Alpha Centauri), Ysanne Churchman (voice of Alpha Centauri), Murphy Grumbar (Arcturus), Terry Bale (voice of Arcturus), Sonny Caldinez (Sworg), Alan Bennion (Izlyr), George Giles (Captain), Wendy Danvers (Amazonia)

Broadcast from January 29 through February 19, 1972

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Season 1 Space: 1999

Space Brain

Space: 1999A signal from deep space gives Moonbase Alpha’s crew a much-needed bit of excitement after a long dry spell. An Eagle is dispatched to find the source of the transmission, but it is destroyed as it draws close to the object. When Alan Carter takes an Eagle with a rescue module to retrieve the previous Eagle’s crew – or their remains – an object passes his ship at high speed, eventually colliding with the moon. When Professor Bergman examines the object, he discovers it’s composed of various minerals – and a trace of human tissue. Carter’s copilot, Kelly, undergoes an unusual transformation while performing a spacewalk to retrieve one of the other Eagle pilots. Moonbase Alpha continues receiving an indecipherable signal, though Kelly could be the key to interpreting it…but the only way for Koenig to find out is to attempt a risky mental link with Kelly and whatever has taken over the pilot’s mind.

Order the DVDswritten by Christopher Penfold
directed by Charles Crichton
music by Barry Gray
additional music by Gustav Holst

Guest Cast: Shane Rimmer (Kelly), Carla Romanelli (Melita), Prentis Hancock (Paul Morrow), Clifton Jones (David Kano), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Anton Phillips (Dr. Mathias), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Derek Anders (Wayland)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 14 Doctor Who

The Robots of Death

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Leela arrive in a mobile sand refinery on a distant planet at precisely the wrong time – a murder has just taken place. Since they’re the only newcomers among a bunch of paranoid miners who have been cooped up together for months, the Doctor and Leela are naturally the prime suspects, but even while they’re under guard, members of the crew continue to turn up dead. The Doctor is the first to propose an outrageous theory – that the ships large complement of robots have somehow been programmed to override their built-in inability to harm human beings. But by the time he is able to convince anyone of the merit of this idea, most of the crew have fallen victim to the robots’ onslaught – leaving the Doctor, Leela, and the surviving crew as the next victims.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Chris Boucher
directed by Michael E. Briant
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Russell Hunter (Commander Uvanov), Pamela Stern (Toos), David Bailie (Dask), Rob Edwards (Chub), Brian Croucher (Borg), Tariq Yunus (Cass), David Collings (Poul), Tania Rogers (Zilda), Miles Fothergill (SV7), Gregory de Polnay (D84)

Broadcast from January 29 through February 19, 1977

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Season 1 Wonder Woman

The Bushwhackers

Wonder WomanTexas rancher J.P. Hadley, an old school friend of General Blankenship, calls the General for help when local law enforcement proves completely ineffective in rounding up cattle thieves who are having a serious impact on the Hadley ranch’s operations. The General sends Major Trevor to Texas, and Wonder Woman follows in her invisible jet. Before Trevor can even meet Hadley, the cattle rustlers are trying to keep him from offering any help, but they haven’t counted on Wonder Woman’s presence. Worse yet, someone inside Hadley’s ranch is giving them information on everything Trevor and Wonder Woman plan to do.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Skip Webster
directed by Stuart Margolin
music by Artie Kane

Wonder WomanCast: Lynda Carter (Diana Prince / Wonder Woman), Lyle Waggoner (Major Steve Trevor), Richard Eastham (General Blankenship), Beatrice Colen (Etta Candy), Roy Rogers (J.P. Hadley), Henry Darrow (Lampkin), Lance Kerwin (Jeff Hadley), Tony George (Emmett Dawson), David Clarke (Sheriff Bodie), Christoff St. John (Linc), Christelle Pierrette Gaspart (Babette), Justin Randi (Freddie), David Yanez (Charlie), Carey Wong (Sen), Rita Gomez (Maria), Murray MacLeod (The Man)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Martian Chronicles, The

The Martians

The Martian ChroniclesNovember 2006: Colonel Wilder flies a solo return mission to Earth, hoping to find survivors or some remnants of civilization, but nuclear war has wiped out the birthplace of the human race. The only surviving humans now live on Mars, and no further supply missions from Earth are coming. Wracked with guilt, Wilder returns to Mars.

As the human settlers eke out a meager existence trying to live off the Martian land, though some are seemingly oblivious to Earth’s fate. Wilder lands near the home of a brilliant scientist who, in despair, has turned his talents toward recreating his dead family members with robots. Returning to the Martian ruins that drove Spender mad, Wilder encounters a Martian – or perhaps a recorded message from one – who urges him to make peace with the destruction of Earth and accept that people from Earth are the new Martians.

teleplay by Richard Matheson
based on the novel by Ray Bradbury
directed by Michael Anderson
music by Stanley Myers / electronic music by Richard Harvey

Cast: Rock Hudson (Colonel John Wilder), Gayle Hunnicutt (Ruth Wilder), Bernie Casey (Maj. Jeff Spender), Christopher Connelly (Ben Driscoll), Nicholas Hammond (Arthur Black), Roddy McDowall (Father Stone), Darren McGavin (Sam Parkhill), Bernadette Peters (Genevieve Seltzer), Maria Schell (Anna Lustig), Joyce Van Patten (Elma Parkhill), Fritz Weaver (Father Peregrine), Linda Lou Allen (Marilyn Becker), Michael Anderson Jr. (David Lustig), Robert Beatty (General Halstead), James Faulkner (Mr. K), John Finch (Christ), Terence Longdon (Wise Martian), Barry Morse (Peter Hathaway), Nyree Dawn Porter (Alice Hathaway), Wolfgang Reichmann (Lafe Lustig), Maggie Wright (Ylla), John Cassady (Briggs), Alison Elliott (Lavinia Spaulding), Vadim Glowna (Sam Hinston), Richard Heffer (Capt. Conover), The Martian ChroncilesDerek Lamden (Sandship Martian), Peter Marinker (McClure), Richard Oldfield (Capt. York), Anthony Pullen-Shaw (Edward Black), Burnell Tucker (Bill Wilder)

Notes: Producer Milton Subotsky was one of the founders of ’60s British horror powerhouse Amicus Films, which also released the two ’60s big-screen adaptations of Doctor Who starring Peter Cushing. (Since the Amicus name was associated so closely with horror films, a fictitious production company called AARU Films was credited for the Doctor Who films.) Amicus also released the first filmed adaptation of the Tales From The Crypt comics, predating the HBO series by 17 years.

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Buck Rogers Season 2

The Guardians

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyBuck and Hawk are surveying the surface of a planet which they hope will prove to be suitable for colonization. A freak windstorm forces them to seek shelter in a cave, where they are amazed to find another human being, and an empty grave whose headstone reads “Janovus XXVI.” This, presumably, is the elderly man they have found – but nothing explains the fact that the man knows who Buck is, and appears to have been expecting his arrival. Janovus pronounces Buck the chosen one, and entrusts him with a glowing container which Buck is to pass along to the correct person at the correct time…though he has no idea who or when that will be. The old man then dies. That night, Buck falls asleep and then finds himself back at his family’s house in the 20th century. He continues on through a detailed dream that only ends at the point in his Ranger 3 mission when he was plunged into suspended animation – at which time Hawk awakens Buck. Back aboard Searcher, Crichton can’t penetrate the box with his sensors, and Dr. Goodfellow analyzes some scrolls that belonged to Janovus, discovering references to Guardians of space and time – presumably the ones to whom Buck must deliver the box. Other members of the crew, including Hawk and Admiral Asimov, experience intense hallucinations not unlike Buck’s memories of home – and close proximity to the alien box seems to be the only common factor. The Searcher’s new cargo may drive its deliverers mad before that can rid themselves of it.

Order the DVDswritten by Paul Schneider & Margaret Schneider
directed by Jack Arnold
music by Bruce Broughton

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Harry Townes (Janovus), Rosemary DeCamp (Mrs. Rogers), Paul Carr (Lt. Devlin), Barbara Luna (Koori), Felix Silla (Twiki), Shawn Stevens (Boy), Dennis Haysbert (Helmsman), Vic Perrin (The Guardian), Howard Culver (Mailman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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KTMA Season Mystery Science Theater 3000

Experiment K11: Humanoid Woman

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The KTMA SeasonMST3K Story: The Mads are caught using 3D glasses on a cardboard cut-out of Elvira. They’re also upset that Joel’s ratings actually went up against the Super Bowl. When Joel mentions that they had previously been upset when the ratings were low, Dr. Forrester points out that they’re mad, after all, so what should he expect? Joel and the Bots later play a game of tag that continues even into the theater, leading Joel to declare the theater a “free zone”. Later, Tom Servo meets the girl of his dreams. But just as he’s chatting her up, Joel comes along and drinks juice out of her head. Servo is, naturally, very upset, but gets over it once he learns she’s a blender. At the next break, a tribute to Salvador Dali sees the Satellite of Love overrun by surrealism. After a brief discussion of the Village People, Joel asks Crow what he’ll be up to in the coming week. He doesn’t seem to have much going on. Joel asks that callers not tell them what kind of movies to show, since they can’t control them, anyway. A “Dating Game Kiss” brings an end to the proceedings.

Humanoid Woman Story: A spaceship comes upon a derelict that seems to be the remains of a cloning operation. The ship is lifeless, save for one female survivor. She is taken to the home of a leading researcher, Sergei Lebedev, to determine whether she is a danger or not. Although she has amnesia, she identifies herself as Niya and has memories of her home planet. She finds herself being drawn to Lebedev’s son, Stepan. Encouraged by Lebedev’s associate, Nadezhda Ivanova, Niya begins to have flashbacks to her past, including memories of her “father”, Glan. When representatives of the planet Dessa visit Earth, Niya realizes she is from that planet. She stows away onboard the Astra, a ship traveling to Dessa with the mission to help revitalize the planet. Also on board are Dr. Ivanova, Stepan, and Rakan, the Ambassador from Dessa, who was a friend of Glan’s. They eventually arrive on Dessa to find it virtually lifeless. The only inhabitants occupy underground tunnels and shun the deadly surface of the planet. The Earthlings begin their mission and successfully create an oxygen atmosphere. Turanchoks, a would-be dictator who is using Rakan to further his own ends, attempts to ruin the revitalization plans by poisoning the water and fomenting unrest. He is also able to control Niya through the machinery Glan left behind. When Rakan refuses to continue helping with Turanchoks’ plans, he is stabbed. Near death, Rakan unleashes an amoeba-like creature to destroy those who had betrayed him. Meanwhile, Turanchoks uses his control over Niya to send her to the Astra to destroy it. The attempt is thwarted and Dr. Ivanova is killed during an attempt on Niya’s life. The shock of Ivanova’s death allows Niya to break the mind control that has plagued her. The creature let loose by Rakan, meanwhile, kills Turanchoks and begins to spread over the planet surface. Niya, with the help of the remaining crew, is able to control the creature and its dispersal helps the planet return to life. Despite pleas from Stepan to return to Earth with him, Niya stays behind to help with her planet’s rebirth.

MST3K segments written by Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Jim Mallon & Kevin Murphy
MST3K segments directed by Vince Rodriguez
Humanoid Woman written by Kir Bulychyov & Richard Viktorov (as Kir Brown & Richard Victor)
Humanoid Woman directed by Richard Viktorov (as Richard Victor)
Humanoid Woman music by Aleksei Rybnikov

MST3K Guest Cast: none

Humanoid Woman Cast: Yelena Metyolkina (Niya), Vadim Ledogorov (Stepan Lebedev), Uldis Lieldidz (Sergei Lebedev), Yelena Fadeyeva (Maria Pavlovna), Vatslav Dvorzhetsky (Petr Petrovich), Nadezhda Semyontsova (Nadezhda Ivanova), Aleksandr Lazarev (Klimov), Aleksandr Mikhajlov (Dreier), Boris Shcherbakov (Kolotin), Igor Ledogorov (Rakan), Igor Yasulovich (Torki), Gleb Strizhenov (Glan), Vladimir Fyodorov (Turanchoks)

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

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Season 03 Star Trek The Next Generation

The High Ground

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 43510.7: While tending to innocent bystanders injured in the explosion of a terrorist bomb, Dr. Crusher is taken hostage by a ruthless freedom fighter who is blind to the fate of his rebellion and refuses to hear any argument from the Starfleet officers or the local law enforcers that his way of “liberating” his people may not be just.

Order the DVDswritten by Melinda M. Snodgrass
directed by Gabrielle Beaumont
music by Ron Jones

Guest Cast: Kerrie Keane (Devos), Richard Cox (Finn), Marc Buckland (Waiter), Fred G. Smith (Policeman), Christopher Pettiet (Boy)

Notes: On the BBC, which was the first broadcast outlet in the UK to show Star Trek: The Next Generation, this episode was banned due to fear its allegory to Irish Republican Army terrorism is too controversial (and then there’s that bit about the Irish Reunification in the 21st century in which terrorism was a key successful element).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 04 Star Trek

Crossfire

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: Bajor’s new First Minister – Shakaar, Kira’s old friend and the head of her former resistance cell – arrives on the station for negotiations with Federation delegates concerning speeding up Bajor’s admission. No sooner is Shakaar aboard than there are threats on his life, and Odo must guard him around the clock, a task made especially difficult when Shakaar and Kira start getting close…very close. Odo, who is himself secretly in love with Kira, is caught up in emotional turmoil that starts to affect his ability to do his job, to the point of endangering Kira’s and Shakaar’s lives.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Renè Echavarria
directed by Les Landau
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Duncan Regehr (Shakaar), Bruce Wright (Sarish), Charles Tentindo (Jimenez)

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

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Season 02 Star Trek Voyager

Threshold

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 49373.4: Torres, Kim, and Paris work as a team to cross the transwarp threshold and travel at warp 10, a theoretical impossibility which would allow the traveler to occupy all points in space simultaneously. Though the attempt is successful, Paris’ biochemistry undergoes a massive change which causes him to mutate into a more evolved version of humanity. The new Paris kidnaps Janeway and they both cross the barrier in the shuttle, precipitating more changes in both of them.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Brannon Braga
story by Michael DeLuca
directed by Alexander Singer
music by Jay Chattaway

Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Roxann Biggs-Dawson (B’Elanna Torres), Jennifer Lien (Kes), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Garrett Wang (Ensign Harry Kim), Raphael Sbarge (Ensign Hogan), Miron E. Willis (Rettik), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Paul Campbell

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Babylon 5 / Crusade Season 3

Voices of Authority

Babylon 5On the advice of Delenn and Draal, Sheridan is preparing to embark on a risky quest to enlist the help of the First Ones, whose powers will be vital in the coming Shadow War. But when a “political officer” arrives from Earth, on a mission to ensure that everything the crew says and does is in line with President Clark’s rewritten history of recent events on Earth, Sheridan is forced to stay on the station. Ivanova goes to Epsilon 3 and uses the Great Machine to look for the First Ones, but also stumbles upon definitive evidence that President Clark was instrumental in the death of his predecessor. Sheridan discovers that the station’s new liaison to Earth is willing to use any means necessary to secure his cooperation, while Ivanova and Marcus must use any means possible to gain the trust of the First Ones at Sigma 957.

Order now!Download this episodewritten by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by Menachem Binetski
music by
Christopher Franke

Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (Captain John Sheridan), Claudia Christian (Commander Susan Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Security Chief Michael Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Stephen Franklin), Bill Mumy (Lennier), Jason Carter (Marcus Cole), Stephen Furst (Vir), Jeff Conaway (Zack Allan), Peter Jurasik (Londo Mollari), Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar), John Schuck (Draal), Shari Shattuck (Julie Musante), James Black (Security Guard #1), Joshua Cox (Corwin), Vimi Mani (ISN Anchor), Gary McGurk (Vice President Clark), Ed Wasser (voice of Morden)

Notes: Sakai encountered the First Ones of Sigma 957 in season 1’s Mind War.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Season 1 Xena: Warrior Princess

A Fistful of Dinars

Xena: Warrior PrincessA friend of Xena’s that the warrior had been trying to catch up with is attacked. His attacker takes a pouch and runs away from Xena. Her friend, Lycus, manages to tell Xena that she needs to get the pouch back because it contains a clue to finding the lost treasure of the Sumerians. The warrior tells Gabrielle to stay with him and takes off in pursuit of the thug. Xena catches up to him and they are fighting when suddenly he stops and falls to the ground dead. An assassin, Thersites, stabbed him in the back. He wants the pouch that Xena now has in her possession. But she quickly memorizes the clue and eats the parchment it was on. Thersites follows her back to Gabrielle and Lycus. The bard tells Xena that Lycus died just after she left. The warrior tells Thersites that she will go to Petracles to get the fourth clue. When he is gone, she tells Gabrielle about the treasure. She also tells her that with the treasure is the Titan’s key which opens a fortress that holds ambrosia. On the way to Petracles’ camp, Xena tells her friend that she doesn’t trust the warlord and that she used to be engaged to him.

Petracles is greatly interested in locating the treasure. The trio rejoin Thersites and they head off in search for the treasure. One of the clues mentions retrieving a large ruby from the temple of Demeter. Gabrielle and Thersites go to the temple, while Xena and Petracles prepare a distraction. The bard and assassin are caught when he knocks over the statue that the ruby was resting on. But Xena and Petracles take care of the guards and the group gets away. Finally they locate three large stone heads and from the clues figure out that the ruby must be placed in the right eye of the middle statue. But they will have to wait until sunrise to find the treasure.

Order the DVDswritten by Steven L. Sears and R.J. Stewart
directed by Josh Becker
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Peter Daube (Petracles), Jeremy Roberts (Thersites), John Smith (Marleus), Lawrence Wharerau (Klonig), Huntly Eliott (Calicus), Richard Foulkes (Lycus), Merv Smith (Head Villager)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

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Season 03 Star Trek Voyager

Coda

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate not given: While on a planetary mission, the captain and Chakotay crash and are killed by the Vidiians. Suddenly they are back aboard the shuttle approaching the planet where they recognize the sense of deja-vu. This time they recognize a Vidiian ship and attempt to outrun it, but they die under enemy fire in space, and they loop back to the beginning of the sequence once again. This time they make it back to the ship, but Chakotay no longer has any memory of the time loop and Janeway has the Doctor examine her. This time it turns out that she has the Vidiian phage and is shocked when the Doctor euthanizes her against her will to keep the phage from spreading to the crew. But she comes back yet again to the shuttle with Chakotay where this time they fly into a bright spatial anomaly, whereupon Janeway suddenly finds herself on the planet where she sees Chakotay trying to revive another iteration of herself. They beam back to Voyager where the Captain dies yet again. This time she meets her dead father as the crew undergoes a period of mourning for their captain. But while her father seems to be providing answers for her, it seems as if he has an agenda of his own.

Order the DVDswritten by Jeri Taylor
directed by Nancy Malone
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Leo Cariou (Admiral Janeway), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Paul Campbell

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Season 02 SG-1 Stargate

A Matter Of Time

Stargate SG-1The stargate opens at the SGC, and an unusual signal is received – a signal which the SGC computers have to speed up 600% before it’s recognized as the ID signal for the SG-10 team led by Major Boyd. Boyd’s team, however, never comes through the gate – and the gate doesn’t shut down. A remote probe transmits, at an even slower rate, a horrifying picture: Boyd and his team screaming in utter terror as a black hole fills the sky of the planet they were exploring. No rescue mission can be mounted without sharing SG-10’s fate. But when the gate stays open longer than 38 minutes, Carter realizes there’s a problem. The black hole’s gravity is affecting the SGC through the open wormhole, and even the intense gravity is being felt, affecting time and physical space. If the stargate can’t be closed, everyone and everything on Earth may experience the same fate as SG-10.

Order the DVDsstory by Misha Rashovich
teleplay by Brad Wright
directed by Martin Wood
music by Joel Goldsmith, Richard Band and Kevin Kiner

Guest Cast: Marhsall Teague (Colonel Frank Cromwell), Teryl Rothery (Dr. Fraiser), Tobias Mehler (Lt. Simmons), Colin Cunningham (Major Davis), Dan Shea (Sergeant Siler), Biski Gugushe (SF Guard), Kurt Max Runte (Major Boyd), Jim Thorburn (Watts)

Notes: Marshall Teague is a recurring mainstay of another popular SF franchise, Babylon 5. A former law enforcement officer, Teague was involved in that show from its first filmed episode (Infection), though he became best known for the recurring role of Narn bodyguard (and later ambassador) Ta’lon.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Lexx Season 2

White Trash

LexxWhen the crew of space truckers goes missing, Stan goes exploring the Lexx and discovers a backwater family of rednecks inhabiting the bowels of the ship. Apparently, they’ve been aboard ever since Lexx left the Cluster – and apparently, this uncomfortably close-knit family of four doesn’t realize that they’re no longer in the Cluster at all. Pa Guleen quickly commandeers the Lexx by strong-arming Stanley, forcing him to turn the ship back toward the family’s home planet. When they arrive, however, Stan, Xev and Kai may learn, rather violently, why their guests were sent to the Cluster in the first place.

Order the DVDswritten by Lex Gigeroff and Paul Donovan
directed by Chris Bould
music by Marty Simon

Guest Cast: Maury Chaykin (Pa), Susan Daltin (Sissy), Dave Carmichael (Junior), Brandon McCarvell (Norb), Jon Kristopher Loverin (Gloodel), Karl Lewis Johnston (Glootus), Christian Murray (Gold Lame’ Man), Jeffrey Hirschfield (790), Tom Gallant (Lexx), Louise Wischermann (Lyekka)

LogBook entry by Earl Green