Day: February 27, 1978

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Blake's 7 Season 1

Project Avalon

Blake's 7The Liberator arrives at an icy Federation outpost so Blake can make contact with Avalon, the rebel leader on that planet. But Avalon has been captured by Travis and duplicated with an android who returns to the Liberator after a narrow escape by Blake and his crew, who rescue “Avalon” from a high-security cell block. The android is carrying a tiny sphere with just enough of a lethal virus to kill the entire crew of the Liberator and leave the ship unaffected and, after 24 hours, habitable again. Blake returns with the android and the sphere to get the real Avalon out of danger, leaving Travis with an android that drops the sphere inside the Federation base – and Travis catches the sphere. Servalan is infuriated with Travis’s performance and takes charge of the hunt for Blake personally.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Michael E. Briant
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), Julia Vidler (Avalon), David Bailie (Chevner), Glynis Barber (Mutoid), John Baker (Scientist), John Rolfe (Terloc), David Sterne (Guard), Mark Holmes (Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 2

Hostage

Blake's 7Travis has taken Blake’s cousin and uncle hostage and claims to want to join the rebellion, but when Blake arrives to rescue them, Travis informs Servalan of the Liberator’s presence.

written by Allan Prior
directed by Vere Lorrimer
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), John Abineri (Ushton), Judy Buxton (Inga), Kevin Stoney (Joban), Andrew Robertson (Space Commander), Judith Porter (Mutoid), James Coyle (Molok)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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National Public Radio Star Wars

A Question Of Survival

The Empire Strikes Back NPR Radio DramaAfter barely surviving a night stranded on the surface of Hoth, Han and Luke are rescued by search teams in Rebel snowspeeders. But as Luke recovers, Han and Chewie are assigned a new mission – sensor readings indicate something suspicious on the surface, transmitting a signal. What they find is an Imperial probe droid, perfectly capable of defending itself, and yet it blows apart even with a glancing shot from a blaster. The Empire is now aware of the Hoth base, and even though the probe droid didn’t have time to specifically pinpoint a rebel presence, it’s enough to convince Darth Vader – now commanding the Imperial Starfleet after surviving the Death Star battle – that the Rebels are there. And the Dark Lord of the Sith now has a personal score to settle with Luke Skywalker.

Order this CDwritten by Brian Daley
based on the screenplay Star Wars by George Lucas
directed by John Madden
music by John Williams

See the first episode for cast information.

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Red Dwarf Season 05

The Inquisitor

Red DwarfIn deep space, control of Starbug is wrested from the gang by the Inquisitor, a deranged simulant who has taken it upon itself to remove those it considers worthless from the universe and replace them with someone who could’ve made more of life. The Inquisitor confronts them aboard Red Dwarf, forcing each to justify his existence. Rimmer complains that he’s lucky to have achieved his esteemed status as a corpse-turned-hologram considering his background. Cat insists that his posterior is a work of art and that it’d be cruel to deny the universe of it. Kryten insists that he has behaved as he was programmed but wanted to be much more, and Lister tells the Inquisitor to spin on it. The latter two are selected to be removed from existence itself.

Order the DVDswritten by Rob Grant & Doug Naylor
directed by Juliet May
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: John Docherty (Inquisitor), Jake Abraham (Second Lister), James Cormack (Thomas Allman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 03 Star Trek

Visionary

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: As preparations are being made for an arriving party of Romulans, O’Brien is the victim of a power conduit explosion in Ops and suffers some mild radiation poisoning. An unexpected side-effect of this – which even Bashir cannot explain – is a series of apparent trips into the not too distant future. At first, his visions predict relatively innocuous events, such as a conversation with Quark and a bar brawl between visiting parties of Romulans and Klingons on the Promenade. But when O’Brien experiences such events as the sight of his own death and the evacuation and destruction of DS9, the whole crew takes notice.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by John Shirley
story by Ethan H. Calk
directed by Reza Badiyi
music by Jay Chattaway

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), Jack Shearer (Ruwon), Annette Helde (Karina), Ray Young (Morka), Bob Minor (Bo’rak), Dennis Madalone (Atul)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 01 Star Trek Voyager

Ex Post Facto

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate not given: Kim returns alone in a shuttle from a trip to Benea which he made with Tom Paris. After getting entangled with a scientist’s wife, and by all accounts murdering the scientist in question, Paris has been sentenced to relive the crime from the victim’s point of view every 14 hours. Janeway, despite Tom’s admittedly less-than-exemplary record, needs to know for herself if Tom is guilty of the crime. When it turns out that the Benean punishment is reacting badly to Tom’s human physiology, he is taken back to Voyager. Mysteries begin to pile up – why are the neighboring warlike Numiri attacking Voyager? And who really committed the murder? The answers can only come from one source – Tuvok must mind-meld with Paris to experience the forced reenactment of the incident himself.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Evan Carlos Somers and Michael Piller
story by Evan Carlos Somers
directed by LeVar Burton
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), Robin McKee (Lidell), Francis Guinan (Minister Kray), Aaron Lustig (Professor Ren), Ray Reinhardt (Benean Doctor), Henry Brown (Numiri Captain)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 01 SG-1 Stargate

Politics

Stargate SG-1Safely returned from his alternate reality nightmare, Daniel’s attempts to warn the SGC of an impending Goa’uld attack are a hard sell, even where his own teammates are concerned. What his teammates are concerned with is an equally imminent invasion by Senator Kinsey, who has learned of the SGC’s existence – and its annual $7 billion price tag – but still isn’t cleared to know of its purpose. Kinsey’s aim is to shut down the SGC permanently, but the President has told him to interview the SG-1 team before making his decision. The Senator believes that the explorations through the stargate have exposed Earth to unimaginable danger, and that the gate should be closed forever. When Daniel tries to back up SG-1’s defense with the incredible news of the coming Goa’uld attack, it may not help the case for keeping the SGC’s lights on.

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

Guest Cast: Ronny Cox (Senator Kinsey), Robert Wisden (Lt. Col. Samuels)

Appearing in footage from Children Of The Gods and The Nox: Peter Williams (Apophis)

Notes: Daniel’s sarcastic reference to “uploading a computer virus to the mothership” is a sly nod toward the 1996 movie Independence Day – which was, of course, the brainchild of Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, who also wrote and directed the original Stargate film. Since Devlin and Emmerich have expressed that Stargate SG-1 – and MGM – took the Stargate universe in a direction that they would not have chosen for future movie sequels, it may be that this is the producers’ response to those comments. (Maybe the producers would’ve been on firmer ground to fire that kind of shot if this episode wasn’t a “clip show” consisting largely of excerpts from not just past episodes, but the movie as well.)

LogBook entry by Earl Green with notes by Dave Thomer

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Lexx Season 3

Boomtown

LexxFifi leads his purloined moths back to Water, as Duke mounts an attack on Gametown. With the first powered flying vehicles that either planet has ever seen, Duke makes quick work of Gametown – only Kai and a young woman named Bunny survive. When one of the moths is close enough, Kai uses his brace to lift himself up to it and remove its crew. Back aboard the Lexx, Kai introduces his friends to Bunny, and orders the ship’s moth-builders to construct more moths. Bunny leads the crew to Boomtown, whose residents are obsessed with sex – something that suits Stanley just fine. But when Duke targets Boomtown next, Stanley and Xev may be too preoccupied to help Kai mount a defense.

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

Guest Cast: Nigel Bennett (Prince), Anna Kathrin Bleuler (May), Patricia Zentilli (Bunny), Jeff Pustil (Fifi), Ralph Brown (Duke)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 07 Star Trek Voyager

Workforce – Part II

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 54622.4: Chakotay is stranded on Quarra. Neelix has beamed back to Voyager with the brainwashed B’Elanna Torres, but with a heavy attack from Quarren security ships, Voyager has had to retreat (under the command of Ensign Kim and the Emergency Command Hologram). The first office manages to elude capture and meets with Janeway, who refuses to believe what he tells her about her true identity. But when the Quarren authorities finally capture Chakotay, and when Janeway’s new love dismisses what Chakotay told her, the fate of Voyager’s entire crew – whether or not they know who they truly are – lies in her hands.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Kenneth Biller & Michael Taylor
story by Kenneth Biller & Bryan Fuller
directed by Roxann Dawson
music by

Guest Cast: Don Most (Kadan), Tom Virtue (Supervisor), James Read (Jaffen), Jay Harrington (Ravoc), Damara Reilly (Alien Surgeon), Robert Joy (Yerid), Matt Williamson (Security Officer #2), John Aniston (Quarren Ambassador), Joseph Will (Security Officer #3), Majel Barrett (Narrator)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Enterprise Season 01 Star Trek

Fusion

Star Trek: EnterpriseThe Enterprise encounters a Vulcan vessel manned by a curiously cordial crew. Over dinner with the crew, T’Pol identifies them as Vulcans without logic, something which the Vulcans refute, claiming instead that they have reached a balance between emotion and logic. T’Pol is skeptical, and reluctantly agrees to try a few experiments in emotional awareness with the persistent Tolaris. But while Archer, Trip and the rest of the crew find themselves becoming fast friends with the emotion-embracing Vulcan visitors, T’Pol discovers that Tolaris is intimately, and dangerously, acquainted with some of his baser emotions.

Order DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Phyllis Strong & Mike Sussman
story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
directed by Rob Hedden
music by David Bell

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), Enrique Murciano (Tolaris), Robert Pine (Tavin), Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Forrest), John Harrington Bland (Kov)

Notes: This episode somewhat shockingly establishes that mind melds aren’t the norm among 22nd century Vulcans; the process is considered somewhat taboo, and T’Pol isn’t even aware of what’s involved or how to participate. Robert Pine is the father of Chris Pine, who would assume the role of Captain James T. Kirk in a big-screen reboot of the Star Trek franchise in 2009.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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5th Doctor Doctor Who

The Game

Doctor Who: The GameThe Doctor brings the TARDIS to the planet Cray, at a point in history where one of his heroes, famed peace negotiator Lord Darzil Carlisle, is about to broker peace talks between the Gora and Lineen nations. But before the Doctor can watch Carlisle in action, he’s drafted into playing a hockey-like game called Naxy. The training is exhaustive, but once the Doctor is out on the field for his first real game, he discovers the true nature of Naxy – it’s close-quarters combat to the death, with thousands of lives hanging in the balance. Nyssa, forced to watch the Doctor compete as the Naxy match is broadcast live across Cray, discovers the horrible truth: Naxy has evolved from a popular sport into Cray’s form of warfare – and the Doctor, who hoped to witness the peace process without having to participate in it, has now unwittingly taken sides as a combatant. And Carlisle is powerless to stop it.

Order this CDwritten by Darin Henry
directed by Gary Russell
music by ERS

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), William Russell (Lord Darzil Carlisle), Ursula Burton (Ambassador Faye Davis), Robert Curbishley (Ockie Dirr), Gregory Donaldon (Coach Bela Destry), Christopher Ellison (Morian), Andrew Lothian (Hollis Az), Jonathan Pearce (Garny Diblick), Dickon Tolson (Coach Sharz Sevix)

Timeline: after Creatures Of Beauty and before Time-Flight

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Nocturne

Doctor Who: NocturneThe Doctor brings Ace and Hex to Glast City on the planet Nocturne, home of the Artists’ Enclave, a community of poets, musicians, writers and other creative types, which happens to be one of the Doctor’s favorite places in the universe. But death seems to arrive on the Doctor’s heels: one of the community’s prominent artists is murdered and his home is set ablaze. Hex arrives to try to help, but he’s found by the authorities and arrested on suspicion of murder. The Doctor arrives to vouch for him, but that only brings the Time Lord – and his history of unauthorized visits to Nocturne – to the attention of the city’s security forces. He discovers that someone has been conducting experiments in bioharmonics, the science of living sound, and may have summoned a dark force to Nocture. But by the time there are more deaths for the security forces to investigate, they’ve already decided that the Doctor is their prime suspect.

Order this CDwritten by Dan Abnett
directed by John Ainsworth
music by Steve Foxon

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hex), Trevor Bannister (Korbin Thessinger), Paul David-Gough (Will Alloran), Eric Potts (Lothar Ragpole), Ann Rye (Lilian Dillane), Helen Kay (Cate Reeney)

Notes: Nocturne was the final Doctor Who audio to use the centered-logo cover template established in the earliest Big Finish releases. The following release, Renaissance Of The Daleks, began using a new cover template inspired by the covers of Virgin Publishing’s Doctor Who Missing Adventures novels, although that cover design had already appeared on the first Companion Chronicles CD releases.

Timeline: between No Man’s Land and The Dark Husband

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Review: The Doctor, Hex and Ace finally get back to the future, so to speak, and it’s a welcome departure after a string of trips into Earth history. Since the earliest days of Big Finish’s Doctor Who license, all the way back to Whispers Of Terror, there’s been a conscious effort to do stories that would work well in audio form but not necessarily on television, and the various stories that have tried to accomplish that have either been very good or very bad, but very seldom “eh, that’s okay.” Nocturne is one of the better attempts.

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Season 2 Torchwood

A Day In The Death

TorchwoodHaving survived thus far, Owen is driven to the brink of insanity with the knowledge that he simply can’t die – but with his body hovering between life and complete death, he can’t eat, sleep or have sex either, which rules out most of his favorite activities. Relieved of his duties at Torchwood and replaced by Martha, Owen is reduced to making the coffee until an assignment arises that requires a way to get someone in past heat sensors. Since Owen’s body generates no heat, he’s perfect for the mission, but he also has to make sure not to take any physical damage since his body doesn’t heal either, which may make this a suicide mission – and this, too, may suit Owen just fine.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Joseph Lidster
directed by Andy Goddard
music by Ben Foster

Guest Cast: Freema Agyeman (Dr. Martha Jones), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Richard Briers (Parker), Christine Bottomley (Maggie), Louis Decosta Johnson (Farrington), Brett Allen (Taylor), Gil Kolirin (Webb)

Notes: Joseph Lidster got his start as a professional writer by sending in a spec script for Big Finish Productions’ Doctor Who audio adventures, which – after a few revisions – became 2003’s experimental and somewhat controversial story The Rapture. He’s become one of the most prolific and popular writers in the Big Finish stable, and has also written print fiction for official Doctor Who annuals and short story collections. A Day In The Death was his first professional TV script. Guest star Richard Briers appeared as the evil Chief Caretaker in Sylvester McCoy’s second story as the Doctor, Paradise Towers, in 1987; at least here he didn’t have to act next to any enormous neon eyeballs.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Condemned

Doctor Who: The CondemnedStranded after the crash of the Cybership she helped to sabotage, Charley is cut off from the Doctor, and sets about building a crude crystal radio set to signal S.O.S. into the ether. She’s relieved when the TARDIS appears, but when she steps through the doors, she’s left speechless when she meets its occupant – the sixth Doctor, not the eighth. She’s very evasive about her origins and how she got to the future, which immediately raises the Doctor’s suspicions. The TARDIS next lands in Ackley House, an apartment block in Manchester in 2008 – in the apartment of a man who appears to have been murdered. Charley goes to find help, but never makes it back to the Doctor; instead, he’s found by the police and charged with murder. Charley has been abducted by a woman who lives in one of the other flats, and is held captive there until she manages to break free. When the body of the murder victim vanishes, the Doctor is off the hook, but he’s found a receptive ear in D.I. Menzies and continues to enlist her help in an investigation that involves aliens, money, and – despite appearances to the contrary – murder. Along the way, however, the Doctor begins to suspect that the girl he rescued from the future isn’t who she claims to be.

Order this CDwritten by Eddie Robson
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by David Darlington

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), India Fisher (Charlotte Pollard), Anna Hope (D.I. Patricia Menzies), Will Ash (Sam), Sara De Freitas (Maxine), Lennox Greaves (Dr. Aldrich), James George (Slater), Diana Morrison (Antonia Bailey / Jane), Sephen Aintree (D.C.I. Turnbull / Goon / Police Officer / Guy in Gym), Steve Hansell (P.C. Blackstock / Police Officer / Guy in Gym)

Timeline: for the sixth Doctor, it is unknown if this takes place before or after his travels with Evelyn; for Charley, this story takes place immediately after The Girl Who Never Was

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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Battlestar Galactica (New Series) Season 4

Someone To Watch Over Me

Battlestar GalacticaDespite the ongoing the Cylon repairs, Tyrol’s prognosis for Galactica is grim – at most, the ship has five jumps left before her back breaks. A Six is welcomed as the first Cylon representative to the Quorum, but she shocks Lee by making it clear that her first act is to request the extradition of Boomer, who will be tried and executed for turning against the rest of her model in the Cylon civil war. Tyrol goes to visit her in the brig, where she introduces him to a Cylon form of mental projection, allowing them to visit the dream home that they were never built together. But what Tyrol doesn’t realize is that Boomer’s mission wasn’t just to return Ellen Tigh to Galactica; that was the distraction. Her true mission was to kidnap Hera – and with Tyrol’s unwitting assistance, she’s about to succeed.

written by Bradley Thompson & David Weddle
directed by Michael Nankin
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Tigh), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Michael Trucco (Sam Anders), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), Brad Drybrough (Hoshi), Roark Crichtlow (Pianist)

Notes: The piece of music that Starbuck accuses the pianist of “stealing” is indeed borrowed – from original Battlestar Galactica composer Stu Phillips. The piece is actually called “Exploration” and opened early episodes of the classic series under a narration asking “What if life here began out there?”

LogBook entry by Earl Green