Day: February 9, 1966

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Batman Season 1

Zelda The Great

BatmanIt’s April 1st in Gotham City, and a bank heist has the Gotham Police perplexed. Batman has a hard time finding clues as well, so he plants a story in the next day’s newspaper, promising the public display of a dazzling emerald that surely his mysterious new nemesis can’t resist. But Zelda the Great, master illusionist, is already watching, and she knows the emerald is a trap. So she decides to make her next illegal windfall happen by other means…such as kidnapping Aunt Harriet and holding her for a ransom.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Lorenzo Semple Jr.
directed by Norman Foster
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti

BatmanCast: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Mrs. Cooper), Anne Baxter (Zelda), Jack Krushcen (Eivol Ekdal), Barbara Heller (Hilary Stonewin), Frankie Darro (Newsman), Jim Drum (Clancy), Stephen Tompkins (Bank Guard)

Notes: Even for 1960s Batman, this episode breaks the fourth wall an awful lot, with everyone from Zelda to a newspaper vendor taking time out to address the audience.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

Return of the Archons

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3156.2: Sulu and another crewman are investigating a primitive but ancient-Earth-like alien culture incognito, but their disguise is blown and they’re running for their lives. The Enterprise can’t beam Sulu up in time, and he is hit by a weapon on the planet which leaves him under the control of something or someone called Landru. Kirk and Spock beam down, finding the planet’s people engaged in unusual rituals, and also finding out from some of the locals that Landru has complete control over most everyone on the planet, aside from a small resistance effort. What begins as an effort to free the people on the planet becomes a matter of survival when Kirk and Spock become hunted by Landru’s “puppets.”

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Boris Sobelman
story by Gene Roddenberry
directed by Joseph Pevney
music by Alexander Courage

Cast: William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Harry Townes (Reger), Torin Thatcher (Marplon), Brioni Farrell (Tula), Sid Haig (First Lawgiver), Charles Macaulay (Landru), Jon Lormer (Tamar), Morgan Farley (Hacom), Christopher Held (Lindstorm), Sean Morgan (O’Neil), Ralph Maurer (Bilar), David L. Ross (Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series Season 02 Star Trek

Return To Tomorrow

Star Trek ClassicStardate 4768.3: The Enterprise visits a planet long thought uninhabited, and finds globes that contain the consciousness of the last survivors of the planet, Sargon, Thalassa and Henoch. The three remaining beings wish to “possess” the bodies of willing Enterprise crew members, leaving the crew members’ minds in the globes briefly as Sargon and his companions use the human bodies to construct android bodies for their minds. Kirk, Spock, and Dr. Mulhall agree to this procedure, but Henoch, occupying Spock’s body, has other plans than building an android frame for himself. In the meantime, Sargon and Thalassa, in the bodies of Kirk and Mulhall, fall in love all over again. One way or another, though, the humans’ bodies must be vacated since their metabolism is incapable of withstanding the levels of activity taken on by Sargon and the others.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by John Kingsbridge
directed Ralph Serensky
music by George Duning

Cast: William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Diana Muldaur (Dr. Ann Mulhall), Majel Barrett (Christine Chapel), Cindy Lou (Nurse)

Notes: Diana Muldaur made a later appearance (as a different character) in Star Trek’s third season, and then replaced Gates McFadden during the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, playing Dr. Katherine Pulaski.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Doomwatch Season 1

The Plastic Eaters

DoomwatchAn airliner bound for San Pedro experiences serious problems during descent: something is eating away at controls, insulation on wiring, anything made of plastic. The pilot issues a mayday, but nothing can be done to save the plane or anyone on it.

Tobias Wren arrives to interview for a job at the recently formed Department of Scientific Work (informally called Doom Watch by those who work there), only to be given an immediate assignment by the Department’s director, Dr. Simon Quist: investigate the San Pedro plane crash. When Quist phones his government contacts to enquire about any experimental means of disposing of plastic, he’s given the cold shoulder, and sends Dr. John Ridge to dig deeper. Ridge finds reports pointing to a biological agent – “Variant 14” – that dissolves plastics. Ridge’s “research” draws the fury of a government minister, who intends to suspend both Quist and Doomwatch. In the meantime, Wren has obtained pieces of the wreckage and is flying back to London with them, completely unaware that the wreckage could introduce the hungry plastic-eating bacteriological agent to a new plane full of plastic…

written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
directed by Paul Ciappessoni
music by Max Harris

DoomwatchCast: John Paul (Dr. Spencer Quist), Simon Oates (Dr. John Ridge), Robert Powell (Tobias Wren), Joby Blanshard (colin Bradley), Wendy Hall (Pat Hunnisett), John Barron (The Minister), Jennifer Wilson (Miss Wills), Kevin Stoney (Hal Symonds), Michael Hawkins (Jim Bennett), Tony Sibbald (First Airline Crew), Monty Brown (First Airline Crew), Gracie Luck (First Airline Crew), Richardson Morgan (First Airline Crew), John Lee (Second Airline Crew), Eric Corrie (Second Airline Crew), Pat Wallen (Second Airline Crew), Caroline Rogers (Second Airline Crew), Edward Dentith (Second Airline Crew), Christopher Hodge (Commissionaire), Andreas Malandrinos (Airline Passenger), Mike Lewin (Airline Passenger), Pat Beckett (Airline Passenger), Toba Laurence (Airline Passenger), Cynthia Bizeray (Airline Passenger), Peter Thompson (Airline Passenger), Michael Earl (Airline Passenger), Tony Haydon (Airline Passenger)

DoomwatchNotes: Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis are well known to fans of UK sci-fi fandom as the creators of the Cybermen, one of Doctor Who‘s most persistent enemies. Much as the Cybermen were the result of former Doctor Who script editor Davis and Dr. Pedler brainstorming about organ replacement gone berzerk, Doomwatch is the result of them continuing their brainstorming sessions about scenarios resulting from human technology and science growing faster than human wisdom. Of the 38 episodes of Doomwatch produced over three seasons (only 37 of which were shown, one being deemed too violent for the BBC), only 24 episodes are still known to exist, and those 24 have been released on DVD.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Star Blazers

Homesickness Of Space

Star BlazersD minus 260 days: The Star Force manages to contact Earth, and Captain Avatar receives a status report – things are getting worse, but there is great hope that the Argo will survive its journey to Iscandar and back. But unknown to the rest of the crew, Communications Officer Homer has been misusing his abilities to stay in near-constant contact with his own family – thus putting the Argo at risk of being located with every communication. After learning that his father is near death because of the radiation wracking the human race, Homer loses his nerve and demands that the ship turn around and return to Earth, and when Venture refuses, the homesick communications officer takes matters into his own hands, even if it means abandoning his loyalty to the Star Force.

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

Season 1 Voice Cast: Kenneth Meseroll (Derek Wildstar), Tom Tweedy (Mark Venture), Amy Howard (Nova), Eddie Allen (Leader Desslok), Lydia Leeds (Starsha), other actors unknown

Full title: Homesickness Of Space: My Mother’s Tears Are My Tears

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1981 TV Series Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Episode 6

Hitchhiker's Guide To The GalaxyTrapped aboard a stunt ship belonging to the rock group Disaster Area, locked into a collision course with a nearby sun, Zaphod and the others are ready to accept any escape route. And Arthur finds one – perhaps: a teleportation system with no automatic controls. Zaphod quickly sweet-talks Marvin into staying behind to help the others escape. Apparently, however, the teleport has no guidance control either – Ford and Arthur find themselves aboard another spacecraft a safe distance away, while Zaphod and Trillian are nowhere to be found. The two hitchhikers hide as they hear approaching footsteps, which turn out to belong to joggers who are just finishing up a few laps on their way back to a room honeycombed with cryogenic suspension capsules. Bewildered, Arthur and Ford make their way to the bridge of the ship, where the Captain – enjoying a bath – explains that they’ve arrived on the “B” Ark from Golgafrincham, currently evacuating one third of the planet’s population to escape a somewhat suspiciously unspecified disaster. As it happens, the “B” Ark is actually carrying the most useless third of the planet’s people – telephone sanitizers, marketing executives, middle management, hairdressers and the like – to their doom.

A time warp carries the “B” Ark into the prehistoric dawn of a small blue-green planet, where, to Arthur’s horror, he discovers that the Golgafrinchans are his ancestors…not the cavemen whose extinction from the face of the primitive Earth is assured by the arrival of a more advanced race.

Order now!written by Douglas Adams
directed by Alan J.W. Bell
music by Paddy Kingsland

Cast: Peter Jones (The Voice of the Book), Simon Jones (Arthur Dent), David Dixon (Ford Prefect), Mark Wing-Davey (Zaphod Beeblebrox), Sandra Dickinson (Trillian), Rayner Bourton (Newscaster), Aubrey Morris (Captain), Matthew Scurfield (Number One), David Neville (Number Two), Geoffrey Beevers (Number Three), Beth Porter (Marketing Girl), David Rowlands (Hairdresser), Jon Glover (Management Consultant), David Learner (Marvin), Stephen Moore (voice of Marvin)

Notes: Though a second season of the Hitchhiker’s Guide TV series was planned, Douglas Adams’ insistance on finding another producer for the show led the BBC To cancel the series, despite the fact that more money was budgeted for a further six episodes and the regular actors were booked to appear. Plans for a U.S. version of the series, to be aired on ABC, were cut short by Adams himself when he became disenchanted with the network’s insistence on turning the Hitchhiker’s Guide into “Star Wars with jokes.”

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Babylon 5 / Crusade Season 1

Born To The Purple

Babylon 5Londo stalls negotiations with the Narn – and infuriates G’Kar – when he wishes simply to partake of a seedy bar whose agile young Centauri dancer intrigues Londo; when he winds up in bed with her, talks are delayed even further. But the girl is in the employ of an information trader who plans on using her to get to Londo’s Purple Files, detailing various dirt on many Centauri families – information the Narn Regime would pay handsomely for in order to gain blackmail material against their former masters. When Londo discovers that his secrets have been taken, he begins a desperate quest to track down the culprit and free an innocent pawn.

Order now!Download this episodewritten by Lawrence G. DiTillio
directed by Bruce Seth Green
music by Christopher Franke

Guest Cast: Fabiana Udenio (Adira Tyree), Clive Revill (Trakis), Mary Woronov (Ko D’Ath), Jimm Giannini (Ock), Robert Phalen (Andrei Ivanova), Robert DiTillio (Norg), Tom Lowe (Gunman #1), Katharine Mills (Dancer), Mike Norris (Butz), Laura Peterson (Gera Akshi), Marianne Robertson (Tech #1), Momo Yashima (Dr. Goyokin)

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Deep Space Nine Season 06 Star Trek

Far Beyond The Stars

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: After the loss of a friend in the war, a despondent Sisko is considering giving up and leaving the fight to someone else – but then he begins having strange hallucinations, in which he is Benny Russell, a struggling black writer for a science fiction magazine, facing racism on Earth in the 1950’s. Inspired by a drawing of a space station, Benny writes a story called “Deep Space Nine,” about the adventures of Captain Benjamin Sisko – but the magazine editor, Pabst, refuses to run the story, believing that no one will want to read a story about a black captain. Will Benny’s dream of a better future prevail…or is Pabst right?

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler
story by Mark Scott Zicree
directed by Avery Brooks
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Avery Brooks (Benny Russell), Rene Auberjonois (Douglas Pabst), Michael Dorn (Willie Hawkins), Terry Farrell (Darlene), Cirroc Lofton (Jimmy), Colm Meaney (Albert), Armin Shimerman (Herb), Alexander Siddig (Jules), Nana Visitor (K.C.), Brock Peters (Joseph Sisko/Preacher), Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun/Mulkahey), Marc Alaimo (Dukat/Ryan), J.G. Hertzler (Roy), Aron Eisenberg (Vendor), Penny Johnson (Kasidy/Cassie)

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

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Earth: Final Conflict Season 1

Pandora’s Box

Earth: Final ConflictA sinister experiment to reverse one Taelon’s evolution by injecting it with human DNA backfires badly, leaving the subject of the experiment – a Taelon who has taken on the human features of the unwilling gene donor – in a murderous rage. Doors, fearing the implications of Taelon experiments with human genetics, sends a commando to kill the hybrid, but his operative is killed instead. Boone and Sandoval try to corral the violent Taelon guinea pig, and discover that the only way to end the experiment is to end the life of the human whose DNA was injected into their prey.

written by Malcolm MacRury
directed by Tibor Takacs
music by Micky Erbe & Maribeth Solomon

Guest Cast: Majel Barrett Roddenberry (Dr. Belman), Leni Parker (Quo’on), Anita La Selva (Zo’or), Kari Matchett (Rho-ha), Nigel Bennett (Major Ray McIntyre), Maurice Dean Wint (Johnson), Janet Zenik (Ne’eg), Elle Downs (Maddy Johnson), Matthew Koller (Cal Johnson)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 3 Xena: Warrior Princess

One Against An Army

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena and Gabrielle stop by a stream to treat the bard’s sprained ankle when a young man, Phiddipides, appears. He says that he just ran from Marathon where combined forces of Greeks and Spartans were unable to defend against a foreign invasion. From the description he gives, Xena realizes that it’s the Persian Army. The warrior sends Phiddipides on to meet the Athenian Army, while she and Gabrielle find a way to divert the Persians.

As the two women are discussing the plans, another man appears wearing a Spartan uniform. Dorian tells them that he was injured and ran from the battle. He agrees to help them. Persian scouts appear, and Xena sends Gabrielle away to safety. When the bard realizes that Dorian is just standing and watching, she turns back to convince him to take cover. But before they can get very far, Gabrielle is struck in the back with an arrow.

Order the DVDswritten by Gene O’Neill and Noreen Tobin
directed by Paul Lynch
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Douglas Kamo (Dorian), Nick Kemplen (Phiddipides), and Argo

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

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Season 06 Star Trek Voyager

Tsunkatse

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 53447.2: A visit to a civilized world provides a prime opportunity for shore leave. Seven and Tuvok plan to visit and study a nearby nebular phenomenon, while Janeway plans a similar away mission for some “relaxing” scientific discovery. But most of the crew is enthralled by the gladiatorial sport of Tsunkatse, in which two opponents vie for the prize – to be the only one left alive in the ring. Seven and Tuvok’s shuttle goes missing during their mission, and Chakotay and the others are horrified to find that their Borg crewmate is the next competitor in Tsunkatse. An attempt to beam Seven out of danger fails because she isn’t there – the fight is being broadcast from a remote location. Seven is being forced to do battle not only for her own life, but for Tuvok’s – and the savage competition may strip her of whatever humanity she has regained aboard Voyager unless her crew can rescue her.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Robert Doherty
story by Gannon Kenney
directed by Mike Vejar
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Jeffrey Combs (Penk), J.G. Hertzler (Hirogen Hunter), The Rock (Champion)

Original title: Arena

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Eleventh Hour Original UK Series

Miracle

Eleventh HourHood visits a “healing spring” that has drawn attention for supposedly curing a young boy’s tumor, but runs into resistance when he tries to take a small sample of the water for study; the boy’s father, who has practically turned the spring into a tourist attraction, insists that a sample will taint the spring’s “aura.” But when those who come to drink the water instead find themselves falling dangerously ill, Hood’s investigation switches from trying to debunk a myth that could stop people from seeking proper treatment to finding out what’s slowly killing the village. When government agents move in to take command of the situation, however, Hood realizes that – against all of his scientific training – the miracle cure may be real, but it may also be a symptom of something far more sinister.

written by Simon Stephenson
directed by Roger Gartland
music by The Insects

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Professor Ian Hood), Ashley Jensen (Rachel), Clare Holman (Dr. Williams), Roy Marsden (Drake), Sandra Voe (Mrs. Evans), Darrel D’Silva (Daniel), Matthew Williams (Alfie), Donna Alexander (Hospital Manager), Russell Dixon (Landlord), Nicholas Blane (Surgeon), Martin Reeve (Hydro Manager), James Vaughan (MI6 Officer), Vashti MacLachlan (Journalist), Smug Roberts (Policeman), Elianne Byrne (Nurse), Clyve Bonelle (Paramedic)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Rebels Season 1 Star Wars

Call To Action

Star Wars: RebelsWith Gall Trayvis revealed as an Imperial collaborator, Kanan decides to borrow a strategy from the playbook of Ezra’s parents, and launch a Rebel pirate broadcast to inform everyone on Lothal and in nearby systems of the truth of Imperial rule. But rather than constructing a crude transmitter in a building, Kanan wants to hijack the Empire’s own communications array – the biggest transmitter on the planet. His move, however, is anticipated by the latest Imperial arrival to Lothal: Grand Moff Tarkin, governor of the outer rim worlds. With a ruthless attitude toward those who have repeatedly failed to capture Kanan and his crew, and cold, calculated strategic thinking, Tarkin allows Kanan to take the transmitter – and then destroys it himself, capturing Kanan in the process.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Greg Weisman and Simon Kinberg
directed by Steward Lee
music by Kevin Kiner
based on original themes and music by John Williams

RebelsCast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Alton Kastle / Stormtrooper #1), David Oyelowo (Agent Kallus), David Shaughnessy (Commandant Aresko / Taskmaster Grint), Brent Spiner (Gall Trayvis), Stephen Stanton (Grand Moff Tarkin), Kath Soucie (Minister Maketh Tua), Jason Isaacs (The Inquisitor)

Notes: This episode is effectively the beginning of a three-part season finale, and introduces Tarkin to the Rebels storyline. It also sees the exit of incompetent Imperial officers Aresko and Grint, beheaded (offscreen) by the Inquisitor in one of the darkest plot developments of the series to date.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Avenue 5 Season 1

Wait A Minute, Then Who Was That On The Ladder?

Avenue 5Captain Clark, an actor hired to portray a space captain, is incensed to learn that his bridge crew is made up of actors hired to portray a bridge crew. While meeting the real crew – a collection of brilliant social misfits kept below decks where no one can see them – Clark resolves to learn more of the real mechanics of space flight. One of the things he learns is that the radiation shielding protecting the entire crew and complement of Avenue 5 is filled with the most reliable insulation against radiation yet discovered: human excrement. While Clark tries to grow into his role as the ship’s captain, Judd holds parties in his private lounge for select groups of passengers, only to find that this still won’t silence their complaints about life on the ship. A pipe on the outside of the ship bursts, spewing human solid waste into space – an unlikely spectacle, and a harbinger of certain death if the leak isn’t repaired immediately…and everyone decides that the heroic Captain Clark is just the man to perform a spacewalk and repair the leak.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Ian Martin & Peter Fellows
story by Armando Iannucci & Ian Martin & Peter Fellows
directed by Natalie Bailey
music by Adem Ilhan

Avenue 5Cast: Hugh Laurie (Captain Ryan Clark), Josh Gad (Herman Judd), Zach Woods (Matt Spencer), Rebecca Front (Karen Kelly), Suzy Nakamura (Iris Kimura), Lenora Crichlow (Billie McEvoy), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Rav Mulcair), Ethan Phillips (Spike Martin), Andy Buckley (Frank Kelly), Matthew Beard (Alan), Jessica St. Clair (Mia), Kyle Bornheimer (Doug), Neil Casey (Cyrus), Julie Dray (Nadia), Adam Pålsson (Bridge Crew), Simon Connolly (Max), Anne Witman (Lauren), Priyanga Burford (Lori Hernandez), Daisy May Cooper (Sarah – bridge crew), Milo Twomey (Engineer), Jennifer Armour (Newscaster), Joseph Balderrama (Tim), Theresa Godly (Zeke’s Mom), Seline Hizli (Engineer), Richard David-Caine (Waiter), Ben Ashenden (Rick), Sacharissa Claxton (Jaz), Kelly Bennett (Passenger), Rachel Handshaw (Teri), Alana Maria (Tina), Teowa Vuong (Newscaster), Nasa Ohalete (Newscaster), Haruka Abe (Newscaster), Erich Redman (Engineer), Raffaello Degruttola (Fernando Bianchi), Victor Perez (Engineer), Jairaj Varasni (Zeke), Benito Ward (Teen Crew), Eva Caballero (Teen Crew)

LogBook entry by Earl Green