Day: March 5, 1966

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Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

The Ark

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS arrives in a verdant forest, which the Doctor, Dodo and Steven assume must be on Earth. They are soon proven wrong when alarms sound in the “forest,” which turns out to be part of a vast spaceship carrying the last remnants of the human race away from a doomed Earth, ten million years in the future when the sun is slowly edging toward its nova stage. The Doctor and his friends also meet the one-eyed alien Monoids, peaceful creatures which seem to languish in a benevolent servitude to the ship’s human crew. But the travelers’ arrival becomes a bad omen when Dodo, suffering from the common cold, accidentally transmits it to the commander of the ship – unaware that the human race ten million years hence lacks her immune system. Condemned for what is perceived to be biological warfare, the Doctor races to immunize the future humans against the cold. Having cleared his name, the Doctor and his friends depart in the TARDIS – but accidentally return to the same place seven centuries later, finding the Monoids in control and the last of the human race in the chains of slavery.

written by Paul Erickson & Lesley Scott
directed by Michael Imison
music by Tristram Cary

Guest Cast: Eric Elliott (Commander), Inigo Jackson (Zentos), Roy Spencer (Manyak), Kate Newman (Mellium), Michael Sheard (Rhos), Ian Frost (Baccu), Ralph Carrigan (Monoid Two), Terence Bayler (Yendom), Edmund Coulter (Monoid One), Frank George (Monoid Three), John Caesar (Monoid Four), John Halstead, Roy Skelton (Monoid voices), Stephanie Heesom, Paul Greenhalgh (Guardians), Terence Woodfield (Maharis), Brian Wright (Dassuk), Eileen Helsby (Venussa), Richard Beale (Refusian voice)

Broadcast from March 5 through 25, 1966

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 2

The Crystals

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyBuck, Wilma and Hawk journey to the volcanic planet of Phibocetes to look for crystals needed to recharge the Searcher’s engines. Dr. Goodfellow believes the crystals can be found here, and Hawk finds one near a mummified humanoid coated with volcanic ash. Buck stays on the planet to begin preparations to mine the crystals as Wilma and Hawk return to the Searcher with the crystal sample, and Buck discovers a human female who seems to have no memory. By the time Wilma and Hawk return with a mining team from the Searcher, Buck has named the girl Laura but hasn’t been able to get her to remember anything else about herself. The Searcher crew members are repeatedly attacked by a large creature which steals the crystals they’ve mined, and sensors show that the being has the same body chemistry as Laura. Crichton discovers evidence that Laura and the creature are of the same race, but one which devolves from a human form into something more like the creature. Both of them share a strange, obsessive attachment to any of the crystals that are unearthed. Crichton also suggests that this could be the result of a virus that may be endangering the entire crew.

Order the DVDswritten by Robert Mitchell & Esther Mitchell
directed by John Patterson
music by Donald Woods

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), Amanda Wyss (Laura), Sandy-Alexander Champion (Chief Petty Officer Hall), Alex Hyde-White (Lt. Martin), James Parkes (Kovick), Gary Bolen (Johnson), Leigh C. Kim (Petrie), Hubie Kerns Jr. (Mummy Monster)

Notes: This episode sees – or perhaps hears – the return of Mel Blanc as the voice of Twiki. Guest star Alex Hyde-White, seen here in a very small role, is the son of Wilfred Hyde-White and later appeared as Nightwatch recruiter Pierce Macabee in the Babylon 5 episode In The Shadow Of Z’Ha’Dum, as well as in the role of Reed Richards in an unreleased, Roger Corman-produced 1994 film version of Fantastic Four. Although the junior Hyde-White plays Lt. Martin here, he plays the role of Ensign Moore only two episodes later.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
KTMA Season Mystery Science Theater 3000

Experiment K14: Mighty Jack

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The KTMA SeasonMST3K Story: Dr. Forrester and Dr. Erhardt are having an argument over changing their approach. Dr. Erhardt feels they aren’t really mad scientists, just angry. Dr. Forrester thinks Dr. Erhardt has turned into Florence Henderson. Joel’s been listening in since Thursday and Dr. Erhardt has a casserole in the oven. The Bots latest attempt at humor involves welding themselves together. Joel only thinks it’s funny once they add women’s underwear to the ensemble. Later, Crow and Servo discuss how they can’t understand what humans find funny, including the appeal of Punky Brewster. Servo thinks Joel’s recent comedy attempts are an indication of a fatal error. He suggests destroying Joel as a solution. When Crow bowls for the Inter-Satellite Championship, the shoes lead him to accidentally reveal his sense of smell. Joel wants to play something else, but the Bots aren’t interested in playing Murderball or Rock-Scissors-Paper, making Joel regret giving the Bots free will. After the movie, Joel and the Bots answer some viewer mail. They all have fans, but Servo gets fired up by his female fan.

Mighty Jack Story: An evil organization known as Q has been wreaking havoc all over the world. A paramilitary group code-named “Mighty Jack” is formed to combat Q. Meanwhile in Tokyo, the mysterious Harold Atari is kidnapped. Colonel Yubuki, leader of Mighty Jack, believes Q to be behind the kidnapping, so he sends Mighty Jack on a rescue mission. Jerry, the forward scout sent in to locate Atari, is captured. Together, Jerry and Atari contact Mighty Jack and are rescued after a furious battle. It is only then that Atari reveals that he is the new Commander of Mighty Jack. Their next assignment is to investigate a missing Antarctic installation. They find a Q base hidden inside an iceberg, built with freezing technology previously unknown. Their investigations lead to several suspects: scientists Dr. Takibana and his son Fritz, the mysterious Manuel Perez, and international reporter Roberto Okamura. Eventually it is revealed that Fritz is behind the theft of the technology with the help of Perez and Okamura. The efforts of the Mighty Jack team lead to their deaths, the destruction of the freezing device and the defeat of Q.

MST3K segments written by Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Jim Mallon, Kevin Murphy & Faye Burkholder
MST3K segments director unknown
Mighty Jack written by Shinichi Sekizawa & Eizaburou Siba
Mighty Jack directed by Kazuho Mitsuta
Mighty Jack music by Isao Tomita

MST3K Guest Cast: Alexandra Carr & Faye Burkholder (Puppet Operations and Voices)

Mighty Jack Cast: Hideaki Nitani, Naoko Kobo, Hiroshi Ninami, Eisei Amamoto, Masanari Nhei, Wakako Ikeda, Akira Kasuga, Seikou Fukioka, Noriaki Inoue, Yoshitaka Tanaka, Mitsubu Ohya, Eijirou Yanagi, Kenji Sahara

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

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Red Dwarf Season 05

Terrorform

Red DwarfRimmer and Kryten, who have taken a Starbug out to do a bit of moon-hopping, have crash-landed on a psi-moon, a self-terraforming world which reconfigures itself to conform to its inhabitants’ psyches. Since Rimmer has become the only living being on the psi-moon, it has uprooted its surface and turned into the hopeless living hell that is Rimmer’s miserable personality. Kryten detaches one of his mechanoid hands and sends it to Red Dwarf to get help. Lister and Cat manage to repair Kryten and set out to find Rimmer. They discover that his persecution complex has manifested itself in an insulting, abusive creature which is about to torture Rimmer just when he is rescued. Returning to the Starbug, they discover that their escape is entirely dependent on how much of a boost they can give to Rimmer’s ego. The guys face their most horrific challenge ever – they must look Arnold J. Rimmer in the eye and tell him they care about him…

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

Guest Cast: Sara Stockenbridge (Handmaiden), Francine Walker-Lee (Handmaiden)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 02 SG-1 Stargate

1969

Stargate SG-1SG-1’s latest mission is slightly delayed when Carter has to run more calculations than usual due to solar flare activity, and before she goes, General Hammond hands her a folded note and cryptically tells her to open it on the other side of the gate. But when O’Neill and his team finally step through the gate, they seem to go nowhere, arriving at the gate room at the SGC again. That environment seems to melt away, and SG-1 finds itself standing under a Titan II missile whose engines are about to be tested – incinerating them in the process. When no one else can find an escape, Teal’c takes a gamble on disabling the missile with his zat gun, but that gets even more attention. O’Neill and the others are captured by soldiers and interrogated by U.S. officers who accuse them of being Soviet spies. The solar flare has thrown SG-1 30 years into the past, and the note given to Carter by General Hammond shows the team how to return to 1999. But first, they’ll have to convince a young Lieutenant George Hammond that their fantastic story is true – and that they need his help.

Order the DVDswritten by Brad Wright
directed by Charles Correll
music by Joel Goldsmith
montage music by Bruce Turgon

Guest Cast: Alex Zahara (Michael), Aaron Pearl (Lt. George Hammond), Amber Rothwell (Jenny), Pamela Perry (Cassandra), Daniel Bacon (Technician), Glynis Davies (Catherine), Fred Henderson (Major Thornbird), Sean Campbell (Sergeant), Efosa Otuomagie (Security Police)

Notes: Jack’s choice of aliases is only partly anachronistic; in early August 1969, the original Star Trek had just aired its final episode mere weeks before SG-1’s capture, so his “Captain James T. Kirk” alias could have been spotted right away; Jack wisely corrects this and claims to be “Luke Skywalker” instead.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Lexx Season 2

Twilight

LexxXev finds Stan passed out on Lexx’s flight deck, and 790 says he’s been out cold for over nine hours. 790 diagnoses Stan with a terminal illness and, atypically, expresses concern for Stan’s well-being – primarily because Lyekka is still aboard the Lexx in her dormant plant form, and would eat Xev if she woke up hungry and couldn’t eat Stan first. Xev transmits a medical distress call and receives a promising reply from the planet Ruuma, whose ecosphere is said to restore health to its inhabitants. The signal leads Xev, Kai and Stan to an island castle, where an odd family of three is eager to begin Stan’s treatment – and none too eager to finish it. Kai goes exploring on the island to see if a legend concerning the discarded bodies of the Divine Predecessors is true. As it turns out, Xev’s suspicions about their hosts and Kai’s rumor both turn out to be true: the leftover host bodies of His Divine Shadow stalk Ruuma by night as zombies, and Stan’s would-be healers only want to steal the Lexx. Things get worse when Xev is bitten by one of the zombies while trying to protect the weakened Stan – and begins transforming into one of them – while Kai begins to exhibit very unusual personality quirks and can no longer defend his crewmates.

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

Guest Cast: Louis Del Grande (Roada), Mary Walsh (Heedia), Louise Wischermann (Lyekka), Jeffrey Hirschfield (790), Tom Gallant (Lexx), Lauren Abraham (Lomea), Christian Murray (792)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Lexx Season 3

Gondola

LexxTrapped on Fire without a moth, Xev, Stan and Kai must hitch a ride aboard a hot air balloon with Fifi, Duke and Bunny, who are also trapped without transport. Quickly realizing that the balloon’s gondola is too heavy to sustain flight, Kai throws himself overboard to make the journey on foot, since he cannot be injured. But there are still too many passengers for the balloon to make it to its destination, and unlike Kai, whoever disembarks next probably won’t survive.

Order the DVDswritten by Paul Donovan
directed by Bill Fleming
music by Marty Simon

Guest Cast: Patricia Zentilli (Bunny), Jeff Pustil (Fifi), Ralph Brown (Duke)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Heroes Season 1

Parasite

HeroesHaving forgotten about Claire, Parkman and Ted Sprague (thanks to the Haitian’s memory-erasing ability), Mr. Bennet is sent on a new assignment with a new partner, a woman who can change her shape. Claire is being taken to Canada, complete with a new identity and cover story, by Bennet’s Haitian partner, but she gets away from him and makes her escape to New York, where she hopes to hide with Peter Petrelli. Peter, however, has gone on the run, following Isaac’s accidental shooting of Simone with bullets that were meant for Peter. Hiro breaks into the heart of Linderman’s empire to steal the sword and regain his power, after sending Ando home for his own safety. But Ando won’t go home, and saves Hiro’s neck – just in time for both of them to teleport into a future where Hiro hasn’t saved the world. Suresh, having finally realized that he’s been traveling with Sylar himself instead of Zane Taylor, drugs Sylar and prepares to take revenge for his father’s murder, as well as the deaths of countless others. But Sylar isn’t kept in captivity easily, and when Peter walks in the door of Suresh’s apartment, he’s immediately at the killer’s mercy.

Order the DVDswritten by Christopher Zatta
directed by Kevin Bray
music by Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman / vocals by Shenkar

Guest Cast: Eric Roberts (Thompson), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Ashley Crow (Sandra Bennet), Cristine Rose (Angela Petrelli), Missy Peregrym (Candice Wilmer), Jimmy Jean-Louis (The Haitian), Ian Gomez (Art dealer), Eugene Byrd (Petrelli’s campaign manager), Matt North (Casino guard), David Barrera (Agent Quesada), Markus Flanagan (Agnet Alonzo), Malcolm McDowell (Linderman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 2 Torchwood

Something Borrowed

TorchwoodThe day before Gwen’s wedding is typical Torchwood – a desperate chase to track down a shapeshifting alien vampire from the rift, followed by a bachelorette party. But as the big day dawns, Gwen has more than jitters or the strange bite on her arm to deal with: she awakens to find that she’s not just pregnant, but very pregnant – almost to full term. Despite the reactions of everyone around her, from Rhys to his parents to her own parents, Gwen is determined to go ahead with the wedding. Owen discovers that the baby isn’t Rhys’s – nor is it that of any other human. The male of this vampire species reproduces by infesting a host body through a bite, and the egg grows in that body until the vampire female arrives to harvest it and give birth. Immediately the hunt is on for the female vampire among Gwen’s wedding guests, but even if she can be found and dealt with, the wedding might be derailed just a little bit – and then there’s the small matter of the rest of the wedding party witnessing a hunt for an alien creature.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Phil Ford
directed by Ashley Way
music by Ben Foster

Guest Cast: Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Nerys Hughes (Brenda), Sharon Morgan (Mary), William Thomas (Geraint), Robin Griffith (Barry), Collette Brown (Carrie), Danielle Henry (Megan), Ceri Ann Gregory (Trina), Jonathan Lewis Owen (Banana Boat), Morgan Hopkins (Mervyn), Valerie Murray (Registrar), Pethrow Gooden (Shop Assistant)

Notes: Nerys Hughes guest starred as Todd in the 1982 Doctor Who story Kinda alongside Peter Davison.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Caprica

Know Thy Enemy

CapricaDaniel Graystone’s star is rising again; after selling his board of directors on the notion of the Cylon as a tireless servant in every household in the Twelve Colonies, he is once again unstoppable. But one man can still bring him up short: his chief competitor, from whom Sam Adama stole the vital component that makes the Cylon prototype work. With a single accusation of corporate espionage, and murder, Graystone finds himself on the defensive again. In Caprica City, terrorist bombings continue, attributed to the monotheistic Soldiers of the One group, and Sister Clarice grows more desperate to find Zoe’s virtual world avatar – desperate enough and bold enough to try to talk her way into the Graystones’ inner sanctum. Clarice’s efforts are also drawing her to the very dangerous attention of an STO militant named Barnabas.

teleplay by Patrick Masset & John Zinman
teleplay by Patrick Masset & John Zinman & Mathew Roberts
directed by Michael Nankin
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Scott Porter (Nestor), Patton Oswalt (Baxter Sarno), John Pyper-Ferguson (Tomas Vergis), James Marsters (Barnabas Greely), Sina Najafi (William Adama), Teryl Rothery (Evelyn)

Notes: Guest star James Marsters is still best known as the actor behind Spike from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (and later spinoff series Angel), and more recently he made a series of guest appearances on the Doctor Who spinoff series Torchwood, and as a voice artist on Clone Wars. John Pyper-Ferguson has made a number of genre appearances, ranging from Star Trek: The Next Generation to recurring roles on Jeremiah and the remakes of Night Stalker and, naturally, Battlestar Galactica.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Rebels Season 4 Star Wars

A Fool’s Hope

Star Wars: RebelsGovernor Pryce receives a call from deposed Governor Ryder Azadi, apparently ready to sell out the rebel cell on Lothal. Hoping that the capture of Ezra Bridger and the others will provide enough of a victory to avoid her impending execution by Thrawn, Pryce commits a significant Imperial force to taking the rebel base, only to be routed by the Ghost, returning to Lothal with Hera, Kallus, Ketsu, Hondo, and a complement of battle-hardened ex-clone troopers. But perhaps even more critical to the rebels’ victory is Ezra’s growing connection with the Force and the Loth-wolves. At the end of the day, the rebels have not only survived, but have taken the Governor of Lothal as their prisoner.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Henry Gilroy & Steven Melching
directed by Dave Filoni & Saul Ruiz
music by Kevin Kiner
additional music by David Russell, Sean Kiner, and Dean Kiner
based on original themes and music by John Williams

RebelsCast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Vanessa Marshall (Hera Syndulla), Tiya Sircar (Sabine Wren), Steve Blum (Zeb Orrelios / Imperial Captain / Rebel Officer), Keith Szarabajka (Cikatro Vizago / Imperial Officer #1), Dee Bradley Baker (Rex / Clone Troopers / Melch), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Governor Pryce), Jim Cummings (Hondo Ohnaka / Imperial Officer #2), David Oyelowo (Kallus), Gina Torres (Ketsu Onyo), Warwick Davis (Rukh), Clancy Brown (Ryder Azadi)

Notes: Hera’s maneuver – flipping the Ghost over to knock an Imperial transport out of the sky – anticipates a nearly-identical maneuver that a young Han Solo would use to eliminate a TIE Fighter chasing the Millennium Falcon (back when it was Lando’s ship) during the escape from Kessel in Solo (2018). Not so much a self-contained story as a half-hour all-star fight scene, A Fool’s Hope sets the stage for the series finale.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Rebels Season 4 Star Wars

Family Reunion – And Farewell

Star Wars: RebelsWith Governor Pryce captured by the Rebels, Ezra’s plan to rid Lothal of any Imperial presence permanently is now in motion: the Rebels will, using the captured Imperial transports, infiltrate the Empire’s base on Lothal, where Pryce will – at the point of a blaster – recall all Imperial forces to the base for an evacuation. When Grand Admiral Thrawn returns to Lothal ahead of schedule and begins bombarding the planet’s civilian population from orbit in response, Ezra relents and hands himself over to Thrawn, over the protests of Hera and the others. Thrawn has orders to deliver Ezra to the Emperor, but even before then, Palpatine communicates with Ezra via hologram, offering to return his parents to him, alive and well, in exchange for revealing the secret of the gateway into time and space that was accessible from the ruins of Lothal’s Jedi temple. Ezra refuses, aware that his friends have already set his backup plan into motion, buying time for some old allies to attack the Imperial fleet hovering over Lothal. But will the price of thwarting the Emperor’s plans be the loss of another of the last few remaining Jedi?

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Dave Filoni, Henry Gilroy, Kiri Hart, Simon Kinberg & Steven Melching
directed by Dave Filoni, Bosco Ng and Sergio Paez
music by Kevin Kiner
additional music by David Russell, Sean Kiner, and Dean Kiner
based on original themes and music by John Williams

RebelsCast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Vanessa Marshall (Hera Syndulla), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Tiya Sircar (Sabine Wren), Steve Blum (Zeb Orrelios / Imperial Officer / Imperial Tech / Stormtrooper #1), Dave Filoni (Chopper / Imperial Pilot / Stormtrooper #2), Keith Szarabajka (Cikatro Vizago / Imperial Officer), Dee Bradley Baker (Captain Rex / Clone Troopers / Ephraim Bridger / Melch), Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Governor Pryce), Lars Mikkelsen (Grand Admiral Thrawn), Jim Cummings (Hondo Ohnaka / Pellaeon / Imperial Commander / Stormtrooper #3), Matthew Wood (Imperial Technician #1), David Acord (Imperial Technician #2), David Oyelowo (Kallus), Gina Torres (Ketsu Onyo), Zachary Gordon (Mart Mattin), Kath Soucie (Mira Bridger), Warwick Davis (Rukh), RebelsClancy Brown (Ryder Azadi)

Notes: The episode-ending coda reveals that Hera and Captain Rex fought in the battle of Endor, and Rogue One had already revealed the Ghost‘s presence at both Yavin IV and the battle of Scarif. Some time after the liberation of Lothal, Hera has a son, Jacen Syndulla, and Sabine’s narration in the coda indicates that Jacen’s father was Kanan. Ezra’s fate is left unresolved, with the tantalizing hint that Sabine and Ahsoka Tano begin a quest to find him after the fall of the Empire, perhaps to be chronicled elsewhere.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Picard Season 1 Star Trek

Nepenthe

Star Trek: Picard2399: Picard and Soji escape to the planet Nepenthe – not the planet where Soji was constructed, but rather a planet where Picard knows he can find refuge in the home of Will Riker and Deanna Troi, how former Enterprise shipmates. He introduces them – and their daughter Kestra – to Soji, who is still unsure she can trust anyone in her life. On the Artifact, where Elnor stayed behind to cover Picard’s escape, the young Romulan now turns his sword to the task of defending Hugh from the Romulans. Whatever benefits the Romulans brought to the former Borg, Hugh now knows it wasn’t out of altruism, and plans to take the Borg cube away from the Romulans – an ambition that costs him his life, leaving Elnor alone with only one chance to ask for help. On Nepenthe, Picard has to gain Soji’s trust and try to elicit from her the same clues to her place of origin that the Romulans already have.

Order DVDswritten by Samantha Humphrey & Michael Chabon
directed by Doug Aarniokosky
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Michelle Hurd (Rafi Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Jonathan Frakes (Will Riker), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), Jonathan Del Arco (Hugh), Peyton List (Narissa), Tamlyn Tomita (Commodore Oh), Lulu Wilson (Kestra Riker), Kay Bess (La Sirena Computer)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: Will Riker’s home defense system is in place due to recent problems with Kzinti, a cat-like race created by Larry Niven and “imported” into the Star Trek universe in Niven’s sole animated Star Trek episode The Slaver Weapon (1973). Kestra Riker is named after Deanna’s sister, who died when Deanna was a baby (Dark Page, 1993). Deanna apparently never rose higher in rank than commander, a rank she achieved during her tour of duty on the Enterprise (Thine Own Self, 1994). Kestra’s older brother, Thaddeus, was born around 2381, but died young due to a disease whose known cure would have to have been cultured in a synth’s positronic matrix, meaning that Thad died as a result of the synth ban; Riker and his family moved to Nepenthe, a planet with natural healing qualities, in the hope of restoring him to health. Thad was named after an ancestor of Riker’s who fought in the American Civil War (Death Wish, 1996).

LogBook entry by Earl Green