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Batman Season 1

The Ring Of Wax

BatmanThe Riddler crashes a ceremony to unveil wax statues of Batman and Robin. Following the Riddler’s cryptic clues to the Gotham City Library and then back to the wax museum, the Dynamic Duo repeatedly falls victim to traps set by their enemy. The Riddler is trying to learn about an ancient Incan treasure, and Batman and Robin, suspended over a vat of boiling wax, are almost out of chances to stop him.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Jack Paritz & Bob Rodgers
directed by James B. Clark
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), Frank Gorshin (The Riddler), Linda Scott (Moth), Joey Tata (Tallow), Michael Greene (Matches), Ann Ayars (Madame Soleil), Elizabeth Harrower (Miss Prentice), Al McGranary (The Mayor)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

The Alternative Factor

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3087.6: The Enterprise encounters brief but intense turbulence after entering orbit above an uninhabited world. Kirk leads a landing party to the surface to investigate any possible connection between the planet and the disturbance, and they find a man named Lazarus, who, though he seems healthy and normal, claims to be fighting his own equivalent from a universe of antimatter. Lazarus proves to be a threat to the Enterprise’s security, and the increasing blasts of turbulence seem to confirm Lazarus’s story that he has a powerful enemy in another dimension.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Don Ingalls
directed by Gerd Oswald
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), Robert Brown (Lazarus), Janet MacLachlan (Charlene Masters), Richard Deer (Barstow), Arch Whiting (Asst. Engineer), Christian Patrick (Transporter Chief), Eddie Paskey (Lesley)

Notes: Robert Brown had to take the role of Lazarus on very short notice; actor John Barrymore was originally contracted to play the part, but failed to show up on the shooting dates, earning a rare censure from the Screen Actors’ Guild and putting himself out of work for months. In the end, The Alternative Factor guest starred an alternative actor.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Star Blazers

Earth: Yamato Returns

Star BlazersD minus 131 days: After a one-month layover on Iscandar, the Argo heads back to Earth – but Desslok has escaped with one last Gamilon destroyer and plans to exact his final vengeance on the Star Force. But even Desslok’s sneak attack goes wrong when the Argo goes into warp – and rematerializes around the Gamilon vessel. Desslok takes advantage of the collision and the chaos, leading his men into the belly of the Argo and pumping a radioactive sleeping gas into the ship to render the crew unconscious. Nova makes a last-ditch attempt to save the crew by prematurely activating the radiation-cleansing Cosmo DNA machine, but nearly pays for it with her life – she inhales enough of Desslok’s gas to fall into a coma. The Star Force returns to Earth at last, but the first day of the human race’s salvation will be Captain Avatar’s last day alive.

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

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Battlestar Galactica (Classic Series) Season 2 (Galactica: 1980)

Spaceball

Battlestar Galactica (original)Xavier, the corrupt member of the Council of Twelve who tried to introduce Galactica’s technology to Earth’s past, avenges his thwarted takeover by sabotaging Troy and Dillon’s Viper. Xavier’s next targets are the Colonial children, still sheltered on Earth – and making very public use of their unusual abilities.

written by Frank Lupo, Jeff Freilich and Glen A. Larson
directed by Barry Crane

Order the DVDsDownload this episodeGuest Cast: Allan Miller (Colonel Sydell), Jeremy Brett (Xavier), Paul Koslo (Billy), Bert Rosario (Hal), Mike Brick, Jeff Cotler, Nicholas Davies, Ronnie Densford, Georgi Irene, Tracy Justrich, David Larson, Eric Larson, Michelle Larson, Jerry Supiran, Eric Taslitz (Super Scouts)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 05 Star Trek The Next Generation

The First Duty

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 45703.9: The Enterprise is heading back to Earth so Picard may deliver Starfleet Academy’s commencement address, and the crew is also looking forward to an aerial stunt display performed in orbit over Saturn by Nova Squadron, the Academy’s elite flight group, including Wes Crusher. As the Enterprise arrives, news reaches Picard and Dr. Crusher that Nova Squadron’s five planes have collided during a practice maneuver, injuring four of the pilots and killing one of them. An inquiry is launched into the accident, and squadron leader Locarno – backed up by Wes and the other cadets – testifies that blame lies on Cadet Joshua Albert, who died. Picard, while the investigation is underway, pays a visit to his old friend Boothby, the Academy gardener since Picard’s days as a cadet. Wise old Boothby, and later Picard himself, begin to wonder if perhaps the surviving cadets of Nova Squadron aren’t simply diverting the responsibility for their own mistake.

Order the DVDswritten by Ronald D. Moore and Naren Shankar
directed by Paul Lynch
music by Jay Chattaway

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lt. Worf), Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher), Jacqueline Brooks (Admiral Brand), Ray Walston (Boothby), Robert Duncan McNeill (Nicholas Locarno), Ed Lauter (Lt. Commander Albert), Richard Fancy (Captain Setalk), Walker Brandt (Hajar), Shannon Fill (Sito)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 06 Star Trek

Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: On what would have been her mother’s 60th birthday, Kira is contacted by Dukat, who claims that he and her mother had been lovers. Kira investigates via the Orb of Time, which sends her to 2346. There, she meets and befriends her mother, Kira Meru, only to be taken along with her when they are chosen as “comfort women” for the Cardassians. Meru catches Dukat’s eye, and to Nerys’ dismay, seems to be taken in by his solicitude. Will Nerys let her anger and disappointment lead her to change the timeline?

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler
directed by Jonathan West
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Leslie Hope (Meru), Marc Alaimo (Dukat), David Bowe (Basso), Wayne Grace (Legate), Tim deZarn (Halb), Thomas Kopache (Taban), John Marzilli (Scavenger), Marc Marosi (Gul), Judi Durand (Station Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

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Farscape Season 3

Self-Inflicted Wounds Part 1: Could’a, Would’a, Should’a

FarscapeMoya is searching for a planet on which Zhaan can heal when Pilot informs Crichton that they’ve detected a wormhole. While he knows the urgency of Zhaan’s condition, Crichton figures a quick survey of the wormhole to gather data can’t hurt. Unfortunately, that’s when another craft comes spinning out of the wormhole, crashing through and merging with Moya. The fused craft is bouncing through a series of wormholes, and Moya’s systems seem to be shutting down as a result. The crew also begin to see visions of a flying serpent-like creature. The commander of the other ship, Neeyala, reports that the only way to disentangle the ships and escape the wormhole is to have the ships push off against each other, with the result being that one ship will be sucked into the wormhole and destroyed. Moya’s deterioration makes her appear to be the logical candidate, to everyone’s grief, particularly Zhaan. As the crew prepares for the detachment, they accidentally open another of the cryopods – but this time, the occupant survives. As Crichton scans through the data collected from the wormhole loop, he sees a familiar transmission – an old television broadcast. A sign of home.

Order the DVDswritten by David Kemper
directed by Tony Tilse
music by Guy Gross

Guest Cast: Tammy MacIntosh (Jool), Victoria Longley (Neeyala), Nicholas Hope (Kreetago), Dwayne Fernandez (Cresto), Kerith Atkinson (Shreena), Brian Carbee (Lastren)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Clone Wars Star Wars Tartakovsky Series, Vol. 1

Chapter 13

Star Wars: Clone WarsMace demonstrates to the Separatist army exactly how powerful an ally the Force can be.

Order the DVDsstory by Bryan Andrew, Darrick Bachman, Paul Rudish and Genndy Tartakovsky
directed by Genndy Tartakovsky
original music by John Williams
new music by James L. Venable and Paul Dinletir

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Time Works

Doctor Who: Time WorksThe TARDIS brings the Doctor, Charley and C’rizz to a world where time is frozen – and faces are frozen in fear of some unknown force. The Doctor suddenly orders his friends back to the TARDIS, but when they reach it, not only are they unable to open it, but the Doctor is nowhere to be found. Time resumes its normal course around the Time Lord, and he finds himself an hour in the past, in a society where everyone lives in fear of the Clockwork Men, who strike if anyone is idle when they should be working toward the goal of Completion. As he has no duties other than to ask questions, the Doctor soon becomes such a target, and has an unpleasant audience with the local monarch. In the clock tower at the center of this kingdom, Charley and C’rizz find time is still frozen around them – including the scene of Doctor’s own execution by beheading, mere minutes into his future…

Order this CD written by Steve Lyons
directed by Edward Salt
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), India Fisher (Charley), Conrad Westmaas (C’rizz), Ronald Pickup (King Kestorian), racey Childs (The Figurehead), Beth Vyse (Vannet), Adrian Schiller (Prince Zanith), Philip Edgerley (Collis), Merryn Owen (Revnon)

Timeline: after Other Lives and before Something Inside

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Key 2 Time: The Chaos Pool

Doctor Who: The Chaos PoolThe search for the final segment of the Key to Time leads to the starship Eschaton, which is itself on a search for a destination known only as the Chaos Pool. But pursuing the Eschaton is a shipload of Teuthoidians, carnivorous slug-like creatures who, according to the Doctor, shouldn’t be there: they’re at the wrong end of time, which may mean that the decaying final segment of the Key is causing events near the death of the universe to “wrap around” and meet events at the dawn of time itself. Zara is also here, having ingratiated herself with the crew of the Eschaton, and she uses the power of the segments in her possession to take Amy’s place and throw the Doctor off his search. The Doctor is stunned when he meets a familiar face in command of the Eschaton, but things are not as they seem: the Guardians are no longer trapped in Earth’s distant past, and rather than simply relying on a few hand-picked agents, they have amassed armies, each hoping to claim the Key for himself. But the Guardians didn’t actually create the Key; the beings who created Amy and Zara did. When they appear, all bets are off, and they expect everyone, from Amy and Zara to the Doctor, to do their bidding without question… or die.

Order this CDwritten by Peter Anghelides
directed by Lisa Bowerman
music by Jamie Robertson

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Ciara Janson (Amy), Laura Doddington (Zara), Lalla Ward (Madam President), David Troughton (The Black Guardian), Ben Jones (Captain Pargrave), Toby Longworth (Commander Hectocot), Cate Hamer (The Voice)

Notes: Chronologically, this story takes place before the Gallifrey audio spin-off series, and as such, Amy’s fate ties in with elements of the Gallifrey storyline, even though she isn’t featured in that series by name.

Timeline: between The Destroyer Of Delights and The Caves Of Androzani

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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2000s Series Season 1 V

Welcome To The War

Survivors (1970s series)The destruction of the V’s warehouse full of the R6 drug has not come without a cost. One V security guard survives who saw Erica, Father Landry and Ryan, and he pays Landry a visit, stabbing him in the church and leaving him for dead. The guard’s next stop is Erica’s home, but she thwarts his attack and kills him in the process. Ryan suspects that the guard was not acting under orders, but was instead trying to round up and kill those involved in the warehouse bombing to save face before reporting back to Anna (who would almost certainly have executed him for failing to guard the R6). Erica’s son Kyle is nowhere to be found, having gone to the V mothership at the invitation of Anna and Lisa.

Knowledge of the warehouse bombing quickly goes public, and Erica is left in the uncomfortable position of taking part in the FBI’s side of the investigation. When V investigators claim to have found human fingerprints, Erica braces herself to be exposed as a member of the resistance, but is surprised when the trail of evidence leads to someone who had no connection to the explosion: wanted mercenary Kyle Hobbes. Erica has no idea why the aliens want to blame Hobbes for the crime, but she does have to admit that this man – who she has tried to hunt down many times during her law enforcement career – could become very useful if the resistance could recruit him.

written by Scott Rosenbaum
directed by Yves Simoneau
music by Marco Beltrami

Guest Cast: Nicholas Lea (Joe Evans), David Richmond-Peck (Georgie), Charles Mesure (Kyle Hobbes), Christopher Shyer (Marcus), Roark Critchlow (Paul Kendrick), Mark Hildreth (Joshua), Scott Hylands (Father Travis), Rekha Sharma (Sarita Malik), Lexa Doig (Dr. Leah Pearlman)

Notes: It’s yet another Canadian Science Fiction All-Star Week on V; guest star Nicholas Lea (seen in Kyle’s “memory chamber” flashbacks) is best known to SF fans in the high-profile recurring role of FBI Agent Alex Krycek in The X-Files; Lea also worked on Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, which starred Lexa Doig as the Andromeda’s human avatar. British-born actor Charles Mesure appeared numerous times as the Archangel Michael on sister series Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys; his V character, mercenary Kyle Hobbes, is roughly analogous to mercenary Ham Tyler (Michael Ironside) from the original V series.

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7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Architects Of History

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS is now in Klein’s hands, and she has rewritten history as she pleases. Whenever threats arise to challenge her “Fourth Reich”, she simply goes further back in time and prevents those threats from existing. The web of time is stretched to its breaking point. In a cell in Klein’s headquarters, a Time Lord called the Doctor is kept in chains, because he remembers events that Klein wiped from history, from meeting her in in Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising to taking her to an alien world to thwart genocide. To anger Klein is to risk being erased from time itself; even though she’s not the nominal Fuhrer of the Fourth Reich, few dare to cross her. But when a Selachian attack force arrives with its own time travel technology, the Doctor instantly becomes a suspect – and, it turns out, he helped to plan the Selachian invasion in advance. Or maybe he did that in another timeline. In any case, Klein and her “Bureau of Temporal Affairs” have met their match, and her own place in history is subject to revision.

Order this CDwritten by Steve Lyons
directed by John Ainsworth
music by Jamie Robertson

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Tracey Childs (Elizabeth Klein), Lenora Crichlow (Rachel Cooper), Ian Hayles (Sam Kirke), Jamie Parker (Major Richter), Lloyd McGuire (Generalleutnant Tendexter), Chris Porter (Selachian Leader), Rachel Laurence (Feldwebel/Computer Voice), David Dobson (Pilot/Selachian)

Notes: The Doctor’s TARDIS is disguised from the Selachians, and everyone else, by means of a perception filter, a decidedly new-series Who of terminology (The Sound Of Drums, Torchwood: Everything Changes). The other Doctor’s TARDIS is reduced to the dimensions of a mere police box in a scene that instantly recalls the ninth Doctor’s discovery of the gutted TARDIS in Father’s Day. The end of this story, which sees Klein in a new role as UNIT’s new scientific advisor, sets up the sprawling chain of events of UNIT: Dominion. The Selachians were introduced in the BBC Books Past Doctor Adventures novel The Final Sanction, written by Steve Lyons, who scripted this story as well as Klein’s introduction in Colditz.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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6th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Industrial Evolution

Doctor WhoThomas Brewster is back in his element, laboring at a factory as the rise of unions and workers’ rights begin to gain a foothold in the early industrial era. One of his fellow workers loses a hand on the job, and Brewster is surprised when the Doctor and Evelyn arrive to investigate, believing that they had left him and continued their travels. In the basement levels below the factory, an entirely different kind of machinery lurks, intelligent and capable of building more like itself, centuries ahead of human technology. Not everyone is oblivious to the silent spread of the self-replicating machines, and once again the Doctor and Brewster have to form an uneasy alliance to keep history from being rewritten. But this time, Brewster will take measures to save Earth of which the Doctor would never approve. Is their tenuous partnership done at last?

Order this CDwritten by Eddie Robson
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Fool Circle Productions

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Maggie Stables (Dr. Evelyn Smythe), John Pickard (Thomas Brewster), Rory Kinnear (Samuel Belfrage), Warren Brown (Stephen Gibson), Joannah Tincey (Clara Stretton), Hugh Ross (Robert Stretton), Paul Chahidi (George Townsend)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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4th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Wrath Of The Iceni

Doctor Who: The Wrath Of The IceniThe TARDIS lands in 60 A.D., where Leela is entranced by the sight of Boudica routing a legion of Roman soldiers. The Doctor, knowing full well how history will unfold for Boudica and her followers, orders Leela back to the TARDIS, only to be disobeyed. Leela saves Boudica from two Romans and then, after hearing her story, pledges to leave the TARDIS and fight by Boudica’s side. The Doctor attempts to leave, only to be accused of being a spy. Leela claims the Time Lord is a prophet, which saves him from execution but turns every word he says into something that could change the course of human history.

Order this CDwritten by John Dorney
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Richard Fox & Lauren Yason

Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Louise Jameson (Leela), Ella Kenion (Boudica), Nia Roberts (Bragnar), Michael Rouse (Caedmon / Festucas), Daniel Hawksford (Pacquolas / Man)

Timeline: after The Talons Of Weng-Chiang; after Renaissance Man and before Energy Of The Daleks

Notes: Leela is in good company – Boudica, also sometimes called Boadicea, crossed swords with Xena in the controversial 1997 Xena: Warrior Princess episode The Deliverer, during that show’s third season, though that televised rendition of Boudica diverged even more from the known details of history than this audio story does. Ella Kenion also appeared in 2011’s TV episode Let’s Kill Hitler, as the crew member responsible for ensuring a close likeness to anyone whose body was copied by the Teselecta.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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Rebels Season 2 Star Wars

Twilight Of The Apprentice – Part 1

Star Wars: RebelsKanan, Ezra, and Ahsoka set out with Chopper to find out why the vision of Yoda directed Ezra to go to Malacore. The answer is obvious when they arrive: an ancient Sith temple lies waiting. And that’s not all that lies in wait: the Inquisitors are already there, though not all of them are expecting the Rebels. A third Inquisitor is hunting “the shadow”. A floor collapses in the temple, separating Ezra from the others, and he befriends an old man who simply calls himself the Old Master. The Old Master has been trapped alone in the Sith temple for years, but since all Sith technology and architecture requires two people – a master and an apprentice – to operate it, he enlists Ezra’s help to retrieve a Sith holocron. The Old Master is the shadow.

But he was once known as Darth Maul.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Dave Filoni
directed by Simon Kinberg & Steven Melching
music by Kevin Kiner
based on original themes and music by John Williams

RebelsCast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano), Robbie Daymond (Eighth Brother), Sam Witwer (Maul), Dee Bradley Baker (Rex), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Seventh Sister)

Notes: Introduced – and then dispatched (or so we thought) – in live action in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Maul returned to hound Obi-Wan and the Jedi in the fourth and fifth season of Clone Wars.

LogBook entry by Earl Green