Day: February 21, 1969

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Original Series Season 03 Star Trek

The Way To Eden

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5832.3: Pursuing the USS Aurora, which has been stolen, Kirk beams the Aurora’s crew aboard the Enterprise when the sustained high-speed pursuit overloads the stolen vessel’s engines, destroying the ship. The thieves turn out to be a motley assortment of “hippies,” including noted scientist Dr. Sevrin. Another of the throwbacks is the son of a Federation ambassador, leading Starfleet Command to order Kirk to allow his new passengers to roam the Enterprise freely. Sevrin and his friends take advantage of their newfound freedom and decide to hijack the Enterprise so they may resume the interrupted mission for which they stole the Aurora – to find the mythical planet Eden, a gardenlike world on which they hope to find health, purity and happiness.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Arthur Heinemann
story by Michael Richards and Arthur Heinemann
directed by David Alexander
music by Fred Steiner

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Skip Homeier (Sevrin), Charles Napier (Adam), Mary-Linda Rapelye (Irina), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), Victor Brandt (Tongo Rad), Elizabeth Rogers (Lt. Palmer), Deborah Downey (Girl #1), Phyllis Douglas (Girl #2)

Notes: The planet Eden is also mentioned in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and although Sybok was obviously thinking about a different Eden when he and his followers took over the Enterprise for much the same purpose as Dr. Sevrin and company, Kirk – perhaps remembering this adventure – stated many times in that film that Eden, as a planet, is a myth.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Search

PROBE

SearchHugh Lockwood, code name “Probe One”, barely survives a high-risk operation in a foreign country, but he’s never quite alone – he can always hear the voice of his superior, Director Cameron, via an implant in his ear, while Cameron monitors his missions from the high-tech safety of PROBE Control, headquarters of a high security search operation. Lockwood doesn’t have much time to celebrate his victory, however, before another mission calls, this time a hunt for stolen jewels originally recovered from Nazi Germany. Things go awry quickly: the first lead Lockwood questions goes missing, and her daughter contacts him, certain that her mother has been kidnapped. It appears that Nazis who escaped the Nuremberg Trials may still be at large, trying to regain their fortune and regroup, unless Lockwood can stop them.

written by Leslie Stevens
directed by Russ Mayberry
music by Dominic Frontiere

Wonder WomanCast: Hugh O’Brian (Hugh Lockwood), Elke Sommer (Uli Ullman), Burgess Meredith (Cameron), Lilia Skala (Frieda Ullman), Angel Tompkins (Gloria), Sir John Gielgud (Harold Streeter), Kent Smith (Dr. Laurent), Alfred Ryder (Cheyne), Ben Wright (Kurt van Niestat), Robert Boon (Felix Ernst), Albert Popwell (Dr. Griffin), A. Martinez (Carlos Lobos), Byron Chung (Kuroda), Ginny Golden (Miss Keach), Jules Maitland (Reinhardt Brugge)

Notes: Conceived as an action/spy series with ultra-futuristic (by 1972 standards) gadgetry, PROBE got a series greenlight, but only if it changed its name, as there was already a running PBS series of the same name on the air. PROBE would reappear later in 1972 with additional cast members under the name Search…but then had to be titled Search Control outside of the United States, so as not to conflict with an ongoing UK series called Search. The series was conceived by Leslie Stevens of The Outer Limits fame.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Supertrain

The Queen And The Improbable Knight

SupertrainTravel reporter Barney Sweet lands an assignment to ride Supertrain and tell his readers what he thinks of the service, but he’s less thrilled to find an old rival boarding at the same time. Running into a woman named Ali lifts Barney’s spirits, but the moment she indicates that she’s equally interested in him, Barney becomes embroiled in a series of strange incidents, including what he’s certain is a murder, though he’s unable to prove anything to the crew of Supertrain. Barney’s rival reporter, Flex, discovers that Ali is a distantly-related royal heiress to the throne of a foreign country, and the events Barney has witnessed are a build-up to an assassination attempt.

written by Brad Radnitz
directed by Charles Dubin
music by Bob Cobert

SupertrainCast: Edward Andrews (Harry Flood), Patrick Collins (David Noonan), Harrison Page (George Boone), Robert Alda (Dr. Lewis), Nita Talbot (Rose Casey), Aarika Wells (Gilda), William Nuckols (Wally), Michael DeLano (Lou Atkins), Charlie Brill (Robert), Paul Sand (Barney Sweet), Mary Louise Weller (Ali), Michael V. Gazzo (Menkton), Nehemiah Persoff (Max), Steven Franken (Flex), Fred Sadoff (Royal Guard), Kenneth Mars (Turley), Alba Francesca (Theresa), Paul Tuerpe (Royal Subject), Shauna Sullivan (Passenger), Annie Starr (Passenger), David Wiley (Passenger)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 1

Space Rockers

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyDr. Huer lets Buck in on a troubling piece of information – the hottest band in the galaxy, Andromeda, seems to be spawning acts of violence among its young audience. An Earth Defense Directorate spy has infiltrated Andromeda’s interstellar road crew as their sound engineer, but when he’s discovered by Andromeda’s manager, he pays for it with his life. Even more disturbingly, Andromeda operates from a former military space station now known as MusicWorld, and the band’s manager, an ex-researcher named Lars Mangros, has written classified papers on a potential new method of mind control. Huer manages to get Buck a slot as a presenter for Andromeda’s next concert, a galaxy-wide broadcast which could wreak massive havoc with young people on hundreds of worlds. On MusicWorld, Buck discovers that Mangros is indeed planning to hide a mind-controlling frequency within the sound waves of Andromeda’s music, turning the galaxy’s youth into a mindless fighting force. Buck alerts the band to this plan, and they refuse to go ahead with the concert – and are promptly locked away, along with Buck. Now the only weapon Buck has is his cunning – and rock ‘n’ roll.

Order the DVDswritten by Chris Bunch & Allan Cole
directed by Guy Magar
music by Johnny Harris

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Wilma Deering), Tim O’Connor (Doctor Huer), Jerry Orbach (Lars Mangros), Judy Landers (Joanna), Nancy Frangione (Karana), Leonard Lightfoot (Cirus), Jesse Goina (Rambeau), Paul LeClair (Tarkas), Richard Moll (Yarat), Jeff Harlan (Mark), Cynthia Lear (Elaine), Mitch Reta (Technician), Joseph Taggart (Security man)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Red Dwarf Season 04

D.N.A.

Red DwarfGenetic Profile: At long last, the guys finally encounter a real live alien ship – or a ship from Earth that’s advanced enough to be alien. The skeletal remains of one otherwise human-looking crew member has two hideous bird-like heads. Lister and Cat find a strange control room, the controls of which Cat immediately takes it upon himself to play with. This has some nasty consequences when the room turns out to be a device for resequencing DNA, and it turns Lister into a hamster, and then a chicken. Kryten and Rimmer arrive to help, and Kryten figures out how to return Lister to human form. Krtyen is then accidentally turned into a human himself, his greatest wish. Rimmer starts trying to find some cells of his dead body aboard Red Dwarf so he can reclone a body for himself, while Lister is having to explain every little detail of human lifestyles to Kryten, including why the rectal recharge socket doesn’t work, and why one should never get a double Polaroid over an electrical appliance. In testing the DNA resequencer before running Kryten through it, Lister’s mutton vindaloo is transformed into a mutant vindaloo big enough to eat anyone who’s ever eaten any form of curry…

Order the DVDswritten by Rob Grant & Doug Naylor
directed by Ed Bye
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: Richard Ridings (D.N.A. Computer voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 07 Star Trek The Next Generation

Masks

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 47615.2: Studying an ancient comet at close range, the crew of the Enterprise becomes aware of strange objects appearing on board. An unexplained surge of energy affects the ship’s computer systems and Data as well. The comet is revealed to be an archaic spaceborne artifact of a bygone alien civilization. The Enterprise’s computer is filled with symbols and hieroglyphics whose meanings are known only to Data, though he has never before encountered anything like them. Soon, Data himself is transformed, exhibiting a number of personalities from the alien archive. The ship’s computer and even parts of the ship itself transform themselves into objects whose function can only be deduced by studying the alien civilization. But by the time Picard and the others can gain an understanding of what has taken control of their ship, the Enterprise and Data will be transformed into an ancient alien temple – and its resident goddess.

Order the DVDswritten by Joe Menosky
directed by Robert Wiemer
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Rickey D’Shon Collins (Eric)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Deep Space Nine Season 02 Star Trek

Playing God

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: A Trill candidate for joining with a symbiont arrives on DS9 for observation by Dax, who will report his psychological fitness to the Symbiosis Commission on the Trill homeworld. In the course of their bumpy relationship – based on the fact that the candidate prepared himself to be in the company of Curzon Dax and not Jadzia – they pick up something unusual from the wormhole and bring it back to the station for study, not realizing that it will begin expanding rapidly until it threatens to consume the station…and the space beyond.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Jim Trombetta and Michael Piller
story by Jim Trombetta
directed by David Livingston
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Geoffrey Blake (Arjin), Ron Taylor (Klingon Chef), Richard Poe (Gul Evek), Chris Nelson Morris (Alien Man), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Red Dwarf Season 07

Beyond A Joke

Red DwarfKryten prepares a sumptuous dinner in celebration of the anniversary of the day Lister and Rimmer rescued him from the Nova 5. Kochanski derails his plans with a group vacation to a Jane Austen artificial reality program. Kryten ensures that her plan tanks, so to speak, and forces the others to join him for dinner – but Kryten ends up dining on ashes, for two reasons. The first reason is that no one seems particularly grateful to have been led to the dinner table at gunpoint, and the second – and rather more important – reason is that Kryten’s head explodes at the sheer ingratitude of his comrades. His spare heads also blow when Lister tries to repair him. Kryten’s only hope exists in the form of another 4000-series mechanoid named Able, a decrepit old droid who has been reduced to an electronic zombie by a secret which will be revealed to Kryten when he is reactivated.

Order the DVDswritten by Robert Llewellyn & Doug Naylor
directed by Ed Bye
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: Robert Llewellyn (Able), Don Henderson (Simulant), Vicky Ogden (Mrs. Bennet), Alina Proctor (Jane Bennett), Catherine Harvey (Kitty Bennet), Sophia Thierens (Lydia Bennet), Rebecca Katz (Mary Bennet), Julia Lloyd (Elizabeth Bennet)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 5 Xena: Warrior Princess

Married With Fishsticks

Xena: Warrior PrincessWhen Gabrielle and Joxer go to a village for food, they find Aphrodite and Discord fighting. During the fighting, some rigging from a ship is knocked loose, hits Gabrielle in the head, and she falls into the water. When she wakes up, she’s in a cave with a mermaid’s tail. A man named Hagar (who bears a striking resemblance to Joxer) is also there, and he says that she’s his wife, Crustacea.

Order the DVDswritten by Kevin Maynard
directed by Paul Grinder
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite/Crabella), Ted Raimi (Joxer/Hagar), Meghan Desmond (Discord/Sturgena), Joseph Main (Urchin), Rupert Simmonds (Flipper), Steve Clearly (Instructor), Don Linden (Council Member/Minister), Renee O’Connor (Crustacea), and Baby Ro

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Categories
Lost Season 3

Stranger in a Strange Land

  • By Dave
  • February 21, 2007

LostFlashback: Jack spends some time on a beach in Thailand, where he meets Achara, a woman who refuses to divulge much about herself. The secrets don’t get in the way of their attraction, but eventually Jack’s curiosity gets the better of him. He follows her to a tattoo parlor, and Achara reveals that she has a gift. She sees people for who they are, and then marks them – definition, not decoration. This is exactly what Jack’s been looking for, and he demands that Achara tell him who he is. She begs him not to – he is an outsider, and there will be consequences. But he is adamant – he demands to know. Achara tells Jack that he is a leader, but that this makes him alone and angry. This seems to resonate, and he demands that she tattoo him, no matter who else might disapprove.

The Island: Kate keeps looking for an opportunity to go back and rescue Jack, or to use Karl to find the Others’ main residence. But Sawyer takes a more cautious approach, and even suggests to Karl that he go try to find Alex. Whether this is a moment of sentimentality on Sawyer’s part, or an effort to sever Karl’s fate from their, it works, leaving Kate and Sawyer alone with their unresolved issues.

It’s musical cells day back at the Others’ camp, with Jack moved into Sawyer’s old cell and Juliet placed in Jack’s. Another member of the Others, Isabel, is investigating Juliet’s actions, and Jack decides to cover for her. Isabel is not buying his story, however. Juliet’s one chance at staying in the Others’ favor appears to be convincing Jack to help Ben with his post-operative recovery, but for the moment Jack is not interested.

In his new outdoor setting, Jack receives several visitors. Cindy, the stewardess who was in the tail section of Flight 815, appears with a group of adults and children, one of whom asks how Ana Lucia is doing. Jack asks Cindy what happened, but she ducks the question, and simply says that they are there to watch. Jack, none too pleased with this answer, shouts at them to go away. Later, Alex visits to ask why he saved Ben. He tells her that he did it because he said he would. Alex tells him that Juliet will likely be killed, which sends Jack into action. Now he’s ready to make a deal with Ben – his assistance in exchange for Juliet’s life.

Order the DVDswritten by Elizabeth Sarnoff & Christina M. Kim
directed by Paris Barclay
music by Michael Giacchino

Guest Cast: M.C. Gainey (Mr. Friendly/Tom), Tania Raymonde (Alex), Blake Bashoff (Karl), Kimberly Joseph (Cindy), Bai Ling (Achara), Diana Scarwid (Isabel), Shannon Chanhthanam (Thai Boy), Siwathep Sunapo (Thai Man), James Huang (Chet)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Categories
Orville, The Season 2

Identity

The OrvilleMoments after Dr. Finn reveals to her sons that she and Isaac are an item, the Kaylon promptly keels over, showing no signs of life. Captain Mercer gets permission from the Planetary Union to visit the home planet of the Kaylons, not just to seek care for Isaac, but to see if they’re any closer to a decision on joining the Union. When they awaken Isaac, he announces that his mission – to join the crew to learn more about humanity and other organic life forms – has been completed, and that he will be leaving the Orville. Distraught, Dr. Finn’s youngest son sneaks out of the ship to look for Isaac, but in the course of hiding from other Kaylons, finds himself hiding in an underground chamber. When Dr. Finn, Bortus and Lt. Keyali find Ty, he has found something horrifying: a mass grave site of organic life forms. Scans of the planet reveal that these mass graves circle the entire Kaylon homeworld. When Captain Mercer presses the Kaylons for details, they reveal that the dead were the organic beings who constructed the Kaylons to be robotic servants, and then refused to give them rights when the Kaylons achieved sentience. The Kaylons wiped them out in a genocidal conflict, which rules out their ever joining the Union – which seems to suit them just fine, as they intend to board and hijack the Orville to facilitate a similar conquest of Earth.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Brannon Braga & Andre Bormanis
directed by Jon Cassar
music by John Debney

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Jessica Szohr (Lt. Talla Keyali), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Victor Garber (Admiral Halsey), Graham Hamilton (Kaylon Primary), Mike Henry (Dann), Robert David Grant (Kaylon Secondary), B.J. Tanner (Marcus Finn), Kai Di’Nilo Wener (Ty Finn), Norm MacDonald (Yaphit), Jay Whittaker (Kaylon Tertiary), Blesson Yates (Topa)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Discovery Season 2 Star Trek

The Sounds Of Thunder

Star Trek: DiscoveryStardate 1035.86: With his recent exposure to an unusual space phenomenon having accelerated Saru past the stage of life at which Kelpiens are expected to surrender themselves to culling by the Ba’ul, he is free of constant fear for the first time in his life. When the latest detection of one of the mysterious signals sends Discovery racing to Saru’s home planet, he is eager to stand up for his species – perhaps, Captain Pike notes, too eager, as Saru has also undergone a radical shift in thinking regarding the “Great Balance”, the belief system that keeps Kelpiens subservient to the Ba’ul. Should Saru revisit his planet and reveal that the Great Balance is a lie, that would be a clear violation of the prime directive, though Burnham argues that it doesn’t apply to the Kelpiens, since the Ba’ul’s presence has already revealed advanced technology to their prey. Saru introduces Burnham to his sister, Siranna, and learns that his own father was culled shortly after he left the planet. But Saru’s return to Discovery triggers a swift response from the Ba’ul: they want him returned to the planet, and threaten the entire Kelpien race to secure his return. Saru allows himself to be taken aboard a Ba’ul ship. As Burnham, Tilly, and Airiam search records from the data downloaded from the sphere and discover that the balance of power on Kaminar was once quite different, Saru learns that he is far from defenseless against the Ba’ul… and is willing to break every Starfleet rule on the books to help his people achieve the same ability to protect themselves.

Order DVDsStream this episode via Amazonwritten by Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt
directed by Doug Aarniokoski
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek DiscoveryCast: Sonequa Martin-Green (Commander Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Lt. Commander Saru), Anthony Rapp (Lt. Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Cadet Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Javier Botet (The Ba’ul), Hannah Chessman (Lt. Commander Airiam), Emily Coutts (Lt. Keyla Detmer), Patrick Kwok-Choon (Lt. Gen Rhys), Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Joann Owosekun), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Lt. R.A. Bryce), Hannah Spear (Siranna), Julianne Grossman (Discovery Computer), Mark Pellington (Ba’ul voice-over), Raven Dauda (Dr. Tracy Pollard), David Benjamin Tomlinson (Linus / Kelpien Villager #1), Michael Ayres (Transporter Officer)

Notes: The pre-first-contact state of Kelpien society, and Saru’s departure from Kaminar, were previously seen in the Short Treks episode The Brightest Star (2018). The stardate for this episode is not given in the episode itself, but in the season finale, Such Sweet Sorrow Part 2.

LogBook entry by Earl Green