Day: February 6, 1978

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Blake's 7 Season 1

Seek-Locate-Destroy

Blake's 7The Liberator crew mounts an attack on a Federation base on Centero, their main objective: to procure a decoder for the Federation’s top priority military communications channel. They manage to get the unit and set explosive charges, but Cally is attacked and loses her teleport bracelet. The others return to the ship and discover there that she must still be on Centero. They learn through the decoder that Supreme Commander Servalan of the Federation has assigned the notorious Space Commander Travis to the “Blake affair,” and that Travis is already on Centero in charge of the investigations. Blake returns to Centero to save Cally, realizing that Travis – his arch enemy from the earlier revolt against the Federation – will stop at nothing to see the Liberator crew dead. Blake uses one of Travis’s old strategies to slip into the base, free Cally, and escape.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Vere Lorrimer
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen), Stephen Grief (Travis), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Peter Craze (Prell), Peter Miles (Rontane), John Bryans (Bercol), Ian Cullen (Escon), Ian Oliver (Rai), Astley Jones (Eldon)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 2

Pressure Point

Blake's 7Blake decides to mount a raid on Central Control, the heart of the Federation on Earth. He has contacted Kasabi, the rebel leader on Earth, and made arrangements for liasons with her troops, but before the Liberator arrives, Kasabi and her troops are captured and Travis forces her daughter to comply with his plan, which involves leading Blake and Gan into a trap and stealing their teleport bracelets. Avon and Vila soon arrive, and the crew is off again, working its way through a minefield of traps and finally reaching Central Control: an empty room where Travis and his guards wait. Jenna rescues them by holding Servalan hostage with the help of Kasabi’s daughter, and the crew flees. Travis lobs a percussion grenade at them while they are all still underground, and the explosion triggers a collapse of the roof which kills Gan.

written by Terry Nation
directed by George Spenton-Foster
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), Jane Sherwin (Kasabi), Yolande Palfrey (Veron), Alan Halley (Arle), Martin Connor (Berg), Sue Bishop (Mutoid)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blackadder Season 2

Money

BlackadderWhile entertaining a professional “lady friend,” Edmund is visited by the Bishop of Bath & Wells, who has come to collect a thousand pounds that Edmund owes the Bank of the Black Monks of St. Herod. Edmund, naturally, does not have the money. The Queen, meanwhile, plays one practical joke after another on Edmund, which in succession see him deprived of what little money he does have. All this leads Edmund inevitably towards his dreadful appointment with the Monks and a hot poker…

Order the DVDswritten by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton
directed by Mandie Fletcher
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: Ronald Lacy (Bishop of Bath & Wells), Cassie Stuart (Mollie the inexpensive prostitute), Lesley Nicol (Mrs. Pants), John Pierce Jones (Arthur the Sailor), Tony Aitken (Mad Beggar), Philip Pope (Leonardo Acropolis), Piers Ibbotson (Messenger), Barry Craine (Mr. Pants)

Notes: In this episode we learn that although there may be Blackadders throughout history, not all Blackadders are made of the same stuff. Edmund’s father has squandered the family fortune on “wine, women and amateur dramatics,” something a true Blackadder would never do (if for no other reason than their long-held hatred of theater). It is one of the few mentions of any of the various Blackadders’ extended families.

Ronald Lacey’s career dates back to the early 1960s. It includes extensive television and film work. Genre appearances include The Avengers, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984).

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

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Season 02 Star Trek The Next Generation

A Matter Of Honor

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 42506.5: Riker becomes the first Federation officer ever to serve on board a Klingon vessel which is slowly warping toward its destruction – and the negligence of a Benzite “exchange student” on the Enterprise is responsible for arousing the ruthless Klingon captain’s suspicions, provoking a savage attack on the Enterprise…

Order the DVDsteleplay by Burton Armus
story by Wanda M. Haight, Gregory Amos and Burton Armus
directed by Rob Bowman
music by Ron Jones

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lt. Worf), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher), Diana Muldaur (Dr. Pulaski), John Putch (Ensign Mendon), Christopher Collins (Captain Kargan), Brian Thompson (Lt. Klag), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Peter Parros (Tactics Officer), Laura Drake (Vemka)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 03 Star Trek

Heart Of Stone

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate 48521.5: Odo and Kira pursue a Maquis raider into the Badlands, eventually landing on a remote planet to search for the Maquis on foot. Chasing their target through a quake-prone cave system, the two run into a snag when Kira’s foot is caught in a strange crystal which seems to be spreading. Despite making every effort with the equipment at his disposal, Odo is unable to free Kira from the crystal, which eventually traps Kira’s entire body. The situation becomes hopeless, and Kira will be completely encased within the crystal in only a few hours – and with nothing left to lose, Odo professes his unsung love for the Major.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe
directed by Alexander Singer
music by David Bell

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), Max Grodenchik (Rom), Aros Eisenberg (Nog), Salome Jens (Female Changeling), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 01 Star Trek Voyager

Phage

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 48532.4: Searching for deposits of refinable dilithium, Voyager stops off at a moon, where Chakotay, Kim and Neelix beam to the surface. It turns out that this moon is not uninhabited. A group of aliens there seem to have left a dilithium trail, and one of them attacks Neelix. When the others come to his aid, Neelix’s lungs have been removed, and only some innovative but risky gambles taken by Voyager’s holographic doctor can keep him barely alive. The aliens flee the moon in their own ship, and Janeway orders a pursuit. It turns out that the attackers are simply trying to survive themselves, their species all but wiped out by a deadly disease. Their only hope for survival is to take working organs from others – and they cannot return to lungs to Neelix, for they have already been used.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Skye Dent and Brannon Braga
story by Timothy de Haas
directed by Winrich Kolbe
music by Dennis McCarthy

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), Cully Frederickson (Deleth), Stephen B. Rappaport (Motura), Martha Hackett (Seska), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 01 SG-1 Stargate

Solitudes

Stargate SG-1A power overload during gate travel hurls Daniel and Teal’c through the gate with unusual force, stranding Carter and O’Neill in an ice cave, and O’Neill is critically injured. Carter finds a dial-home device but can’t get its stargate to power up. In the meantime, Daniel and Teal’c join SG-3 in several missions to other worlds, looking for their missing teammates, and finding nothing but trouble along the way. Nobody can figure out where O’Neill and Carter are – and their situation is growing more desperate by the hour. What no one realizes is that they’re closer to home than anyone can imagine – and whether they realize it or not, they’ve made a very important discovery.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Brad Wright
directed by Martin Wood
music by Joel Goldsmith, Richard Band and Kevin Kiner

Guest Cast: Gary Jones (Technician), Dan Shea (Sgt. Siler)

Notes: Dan Shea, who makes his first appearance in the recurring role of Sergeant Siler in this episode, plays another important role in Stargate SG-1 – he’s Richard Dean Anderson’s stunt double.

LogBook entry by Earl Green with notes by Dave Thomer

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Lexx Season 3

Fire & Water

LexxThe Lexx is adrift, as it has been for thousands of years, its crew in hibernation or, in 790’s case, standby mode. 790 awakens when the ship’s sensors detect something the crew has been waiting for – a habitable planet. Actually, the Lexx has drifted into the gravitational pull of two habitable planets, one an ocean-covered paradise, the other a global desert, orbiting each other and permanently connected by a strand of breathable atmosphere between them.

A hot air balloon from the desert planet comes to investigate the insect-like visitor in the sky; the leader of this expedition questions 790 briefly and then tosses the robot head into the chasm beneath the flight deck. He next awakens Stanley, and introduces himself as Prince. Prince abducts Stanley and the still-frozen Xev and takes them to the desert planet of Fire. Left aboard the Lexx, Kai awakens, finds 790 and repairs it – but the robot head’s love slave programming reasserts itself and 790 now moons over Kai instead of Xev. Unable to pinpoint which planet Stan and Xev have been taken to, Kai mistakenly jumps through the atmosphere interface toward Water.

On Fire, Stanley is forced into slave labor under pain of death, while Prince awakens Xev and questions her about the Lexx, not having gotten what he wanted from Stan. When Xev reveals the Lexx’s destructive power, Prince finally understands what Stan was holding back – and decides that he wants both the Lexx and Xev.

Season 3 Regular Cast: Brian Downey (Stanley Tweedle), Michael McManus (Kai), Xenia Seeberg (Xev)

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

Guest Cast: Nigel Bennett (Prince), Linda Busby (Chief Handler), Jon Loverin (Handler #2), Gary Levert (Lead Balloonist)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 07 Star Trek Voyager

Prophecy

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 54518.2: Voyager is attacked by a cloaked ship which turns out to be Klingon in origin. The Klingon crew is multi-generational, having set out on a religious quest to find a savior before the signing of the Khitomer Accord, and they don’t take kindly to the arrival of a Federation starship. But they quickly cease hostilities when they meet B’Elanna and learn of her pregnancy, believing that her child is their savior. The Klingons even go so far as to sabotage their own ship, forcing Janeway to beam all 204 of them aboard Voyager. The crew is forced to share living quarters with the new arrivals, which causes no small amount of tension. But when the Klingons learn that B’Elanna is only half-Klingon, and that the father of her baby is a human, their spiritual fervor could turn deadly.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong
story by Larry Nemecek & J. Kelley Burke and Raf Green & Kenneth Biller
directed by Terry Windell
music by David Bell

Guest Cast: Sherman Howard (T’Greth), Paul Eckstein (Morak), Wren T. Brown (Kohlar), Peggy Jo Jacobs (Ch’Rega), Majel Barrett (Computer voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Enterprise Season 01 Star Trek

Shadows Of P’Jem

Star Trek: EnterpriseFollowing Archer’s revelation of a Vulcan listening post on the disputed planet of P’Jem, the Andorians mount an attack on that outpost, destroying it completely. The Vulcan response is swift – diplomatic relations with Earth become very chilly, and T’Pol is cited as key player in the listening post’s discovery. She is to return to Vulcan for disciplinary action, something to which Archer objects. The captain is surprised when T’Pol shows no signs of resisting her impending reassignment. Archer takes T’Pol with him for one last mission, a visit to the planet Coridan. But the routine visit turns violent when their shuttle is shot down over the capitol city by rebels. Archer and T’Pol survive their shuttle’s crash-landing, but are taken hostage by the rebels, who proceed to demand weapons from the Enterprise for their safe return. The Vulcan ship which was to take T’Pol back to her homeworld arrives, and its captain tries to take charge of the situation. Trip isn’t eager to sit back and wait for the Vulcans to intervene and launches a rescue operation of his own – and he and Reed are just as quickly captured on Coridan. Their captors, however, turn out to be Andorians – still engaged in hostilities with the Vulcans. Andorian officer Shran informs Trip that the Enterprise crew has just walked into a conflict being engineered by both the Vulcans and the Andorians…and they’re not likely to walk out alive when the shooting starts.

Order DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong
story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
directed by Mike Vejar
music by Paul Baillargeon

Cast: Scott Bakula (Captain Jonathan Archer), Jolene Blalock (Subcommander T’Pol), John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox), Dominic Keating (Lt. Malcolm Reed), Anthony Montgomery (Ensign Travis Mayweather), Linda Park (Ensign Hoshi Sato), Connor Trinneer (Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III), Jeffrey Combs (Shran), Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Forrest), Gary Graham (Ambassador Soval), Steven Dennis (Tholos), Barbara Tarbuck (Chancellor Kalev), Jeff Kober (Traeg)

Notes: The planet Coridan is a reference to the Coridan treaty negotiated by Ambassador Sarek in the classic Trek episode Journey To Babel; that 1967 episode, incidentally, was the first appearance of the Andorians in Star Trek and made a brief mention of their conflict with the Vulcans. Also, Dr. Phlox mentions that T’Pol is not the first Vulcan officer to serve alongside humans on a Starfleet ship, but that she is the first whose tour of duty lasted more than a few weeks; the previous instances ended when, according to Phlox, the Vulcan officers found their human crewmates “chaotic and unpredictable.” Guest star Barbara Tarbuck played the part of another beleaguered alien leader in the 1991 Next Generation episode The Host.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Torchwood

Meat

TorchwoodTorchwood responds to an accident involving a shipment of meat – from the packing plant where Rhys, Gwen’s fiance, works. The truck has wrecked, the driver is dead, and Jack and the team arrive to take a sample of the meat. Rhys has also gotten as call about the aaccident, and sees Gwen on the scene, assuming it’s part of her police work…but she later denies having been there. Owen identifies the meat, and as the team expected, it’s a creature that’s slipped through the rift. Suspicious, Rhys trails Gwen the next day, as she and the rest of her team converge on the slaughterhouse. But before he can confront her, he’s accosted by the men running the operation, and bluffs his way in…where he discovers that they’ve captured a huge, whale-like alien, still alive, which keeps growing and regenerating itself after meat is cut out of its body. Rhys tells Gwen about what he’s seen, and she brings him to the Hub, where it’s decided – very much against Gwen’s wishes – that Rhys is now Torchwood’s best chance to shut down the alien meat operation. Gwen feels that Rhys is taking on the assignment to impress her, trying to compete with her life of secrets and danger, but he temporarily joins the team anyway – even if this mission sends him to the abattoir.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Cahterine Tregenna
directed by Colin Teague
music by Ben Foster

Guest Cast: Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Colin Baxter (Policeman), Patti Clare (Ruth), Garry Lake (Vic), Gerard Carey (Greg), Matt Ryan (Dale)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Clone Wars Season 1 Star Wars

The Hidden Enemy

The Clone WarsThe planet of Christophsis has found itself under attack from Separatist forces and Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker have been sent with their clone troops to defend it. But they soon realize that their security has been breached and they reason that there must be a spy in their midst. While the Jedi infiltrate the enemy’s position, it is up to Commander Cody and Captain Rex to ferret out the traitor before the entire mission is compromised.

written by Drew Z. Greenberg
directed by Steward Lee
music by Kevin Kiner / original Star Wars themes by John Williams

Cast: James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker), Dee Bradley Baker (Commander Cody / Captain Rex / Sergeant Slick / Hawk / Sketch / Chopper / Gus / Jester / Punch), Matthew Wood (Battle Droids / General Grievous), Nika Futterman (Asajj Ventress), Tom Kane (Narrator)

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

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Battlestar Galactica (New Series) Season 4

Blood On The Scales

Battlestar GalacticaWith Tigh and Adama captured, Zarek arrives on Galactica and finds himself at odds with Gaeta, who insists on a token trial for Adama before putting the admiral in front of a firing squad. Zarek just wants Adama executed, and when he sees the quorum squabbling over the trial, he has his loyalists walk into their chambers on Colonial One and kill them all. Lee and Starbuck, having remained on Galactica, break into the brig and release the Cylon prisoners, but Lee is alarmed to find that his father isn’t among them. During the escape, Anders is shot in the back of the head, but barely survives. Roslin broadcasts to the fleet again from aboard the Cylon baseship, trying to reassure everyone that Galactica’s new “commander” has seized control illegally – just as Tom Zarek has done with the presidency. It’s enough to sow more confusion – and disagreement with the new order. But in response, Zarek lies that Tigh and Adama have already been executed, and that’s enough for Roslin to declare all-out war on Galactica.

written by Michael Angeli
directed by Wayne Rose
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Michael Trucco (Anders), Alessandro Juliani (Gaeta), Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek), Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben), Mark Sheppard (Romo Lampkin), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), Sebastian Spence (Narcho), Brad Drybrough (Hoshi)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Destiny Of The Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Shadow Of Death

Doctor WhoAs the Doctor shows off his latest innovation to Jamie and Zoe – a rudimentary gauge added to the console to show the year in which the time machine has landed – just as the TARDIS is dragged off course violently. It makes an emergency landing on a planetoid in orbit around a pulsar whose gravitational effects on local spacetime pulled the TARDIS here. An ancient city lies nearby, with a human expedition puzzling over what is found there – and something is slowly stalking that expedition. The Doctor recognizes it as an entity capable of manipulating time, and braces himself to sacrifice years of his own life to save his friends.

Order this CDwritten by Simon Guerrier
directed by John Ainsworth
music by Simon Hunt

Cast: Frazer Hines (Jamie / The Doctor), Evie Dawnay (Sophie)

Notes: The second Doctor receives a note from the eleventh Doctor via psychic paper; apparently the Doctor hasn’t encountered psychic paper before now. The Doctor is pleased with his future self’s taste in bow ties. Jamie boarded the TARDIS at the age of 22 (The Highlanders), but has lost track of how much time he’s spent aboard the TARDIS other than “two or three years.”

Timeline: after The Invasion and before The Krotons

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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Picard Season 1 Star Trek

The End Is The Beginning

Star Trek: Picard2385: In the wake of the synthetic life forms’ sneak attack on Mars, Admiral Picard and his second-in-command in the Romulan evacuation effort, Lt. Commander Rafi Musiker, push Starfleet Command hard to continue the evacuation effort. But the Federation seems to be more interested in immediately banning all synthetic life forms and leaving the Romulans to their fate. Picard offers to tender his resignation if the evacuation is halted; not only is his resignation accepted, but Rafi is discharged from Starfleet as well.

2399: In the absence of her Starfleet career, Rafi Musiker has turned to isolation, bitterness, and a variety of vices – at least until Picard shows up, hoping she knows of a ship for hire. But this is the first time in fourteen years that Picard has bothered to make contact, and her help is given only reluctantly, introducing Picard to ex-Starfleet privateer Captain Rios. On the Artifact – the Romulans’ name for the captured Borg cube – Soji Asha is granted a meeting with Ramdha, one of the very few Romulans ever to have been assimilated by the Borg. Scarred by her experiences, Ramdha is not exactly stable, and worse yet, Soji brings information to the conversation that she really shouldn’t have, without knowing why. She seeks the comfort of the Romulan named Narek, unaware that he is in league with a Romulan who has infiltrated the ranks of Starfleet, and they are trying to discover what other hidden knowledge Soji has without “activating” her as the assault on her sister activated Dahj. Romulan assassins make an attempt on Picard’s life at his chateau, only to be bested by Laris and Zhaban, with an unlikely assist from Dr. Agnes Jurati, who was coming to pay Picard a visit to ask to join him in his search for missing cyberneticist Bruce Maddox.

Order DVDswritten by Michael Chabon & James Duff
directed by Hanelle L. Culpepper
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Michelle Hurd (Rafi Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Jonathan Del Arco (Hugh), Peyton List (Narissa), Jamie McShane (Zhaban), Tamlyn Tomita (Commodore Oh), Rebecca Wisocky (Ramdha), Orla Brady (Laris), Sumalee Montano (Soji’s Mother), Graham Shiels (Tal Shiar Operative), Son Of Lee (Guard)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: This is Hugh’s first appearance since the 1993 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Descent Part II; he first appeared – and was infected with a trojan horse designed to dissolve at least part of the Borg collective – in 1992‘s I, Borg. In his prior appearances, as well as this episode, he was played by Jonathan Del Arco. Tamlyn Tomita was part of the cast of the 1993 pilot movie that launched competing sci-fi franchise Babylon 5; neither she nor her character, the space station’s Star Trek: Picardoriginal first officer, continued past that pilot. At the time of Star Trek: Picard’s premiere, Rebecca Wisocky had also recently guest starred in several episodes of the Apple TV+ streaming series For All Mankind, co-created by former Star Trek: The Next Generation writer Ronald D. Moore. Vasquez Rocks has been a staple of previous Star Trek series, appearing as various alien worlds in such episodes as the 1967 episode Arena and 1989‘s Next Generation episode Who Watches The Watchers?, but this is its first appearance as Vasquez Rocks.(

LogBook entry by Earl Green