Day: April 3, 1979

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Blake's 7 Season 2

Star One

Blake's 7The Liberator leaves the Milky Way galaxy in search of Star One. The coordinates lead them to a cold planet orbiting a white dwarf star on the edge of the galaxy, and getting there, the crew realize that they are on the route that anyone desiring to reach the nearest galaxy, Andromeda, would take. Star One turns out to have an underground base manned by conditioned engineers from the Federation who maintain an antimatter satellite minefield designed to keep someone or something out of the Milky Way. Blake and Cally are captured on the surface, but Blake discovers that Travis is expected to arrive and assumes that identity. Cally, in the meantime, plants bombs. Avon watches on the planet as Travis arrives, but Travis escapes when Avon is distracted by a woman who claims that everyone else on Star One is out to kill her. Avon finds that this is indeed true, because everyone but Lurena is in fact an alien in the shape of the engineers they killed. Star One’s defense barrier is designed to keep out a possible invasion from the Andromeda Galaxy – and that invasion force arrives on the Liberator’s detectors. Jenna uses Orac to warn Servalan of the impending danger while Travis seriously wounds Blake. Avon kills Travis and the rest of the aliens on Star One, but the damage has been done and the zone will be deactivated on schedule, allowing the Andromedans to invade. The nearest Federation vessels are hours away from Star One, and the Liberator, with Avon in command, remains to fight off the invasion…

written by Chris Boucher
directed by David Maloney
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), Jenny Twigge (Lurena), David Webb (Stot), Gareth Armstrong (Parton), John Bown (Durkim), Paul Toothill (Marcol), Michael Maynard (Leeth)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 1

Flight of the War Witch, Part 2

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyBuck and Dr. Huer refuse Earth’s help in the Pendar-Zad war, and Ardala likewise refuses to offer Draconian support in the conflict. But the Pendar Council won’t take either party back through the interdimensional vortex unless they take Pendar’s side in the war. Once Buck and Ardala both agree to fight the Zad, Ardala tries to double-cross everyone – only Zarina, the Zad’s infamous War Witch, sees through Ardala’s grab for power. Despite her attempted swindle, Buck and the Draconian fighters are soon fighting side-by-side for the first time. But will that be enough to stop Zarina?

Order the DVDsteleplay by Robert W. Gilmer & William Mageean
story by David Chomsky
directed by Larry Stewart
music by J.J. Johnson

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Wilma Deering), Tim O’Connor (Doctor Huer), Pamela Hensley (Princess Ardala), Kelley Miles (Shandar), Donald Petrie (Keeper), Sid Haig (Nero), Michael Ansara (Kane), Julie Newmar (Zarina), Vera Miles (Council Member), Sam Jaffe (Kodus)

Notes: This was the final episode of the first season, and NBC only renewed the show with a half-season order to see if its problems – not the least of which was star Gil Gerard’s constant friction with the producers and writing staff – could be “fixed.” Former Gunsmoke producer/writer John Mantley was brought on board to retool the series into a more thoughtful, less action/FX oriented series patterned somewhat on the original Star Trek. Tim O’Connor was dropped from the show, as was the character of Dr. Theopolis; the change was made more abrupt by NBC vetoing Mantley’s proposal for a “transitional” episode. And worse yet, the Writers’ Guild Strike of 1980 meant that the series wouldn’t return for over nine months.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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National Public Radio Star Wars

Dark Lord’s Fury

The Empire Strikes Back NPR Radio DramaSuspicious things begin happening soon after Han and Leia arrive at Cloud City. Threepio is blasted to bits after wandering off on his own, and Leia is worried when repairs to the Falcon seem to be proceeding slowly. Lando Calrissian escorts Han, Chewie and Leia to dinner – where Darth Vader is waiting. Han and Chewie attempt to challenge Vader in hand-to-hand combat, but when the Sith Lord threatens to use the Force to kill Chewbacca, Han gives up the fight. As it turns out, Vader’s only motive for capturing the Rebels is to use them as bait to trap Luke Skywalker. But one of Vader’s captives won’t be so lucky: Han Solo is to be handed over to bounty hunter Boba Fett, to be taken back to Jabba the Hutt – for which Lando promises to kill Fett.

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.

Categories
Season 02 Star Trek The Next Generation

Time Squared

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 42679.2: Picard is left beside himself when the Enterprise encounters a future incarnation of himself in a battered Enterprise shuttlecraft, containing visual and captain’s logs describing the destruction of the ship and its crew, except for Picard, by an “energy vortex,” and according to the logs, the encounter is only six hours away.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Burton Armus
story by Kurt Michael Bensmiller
directed by Joseph L. Scanlan
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lt. Worf), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher), Diana Muldaur (Dr. Pulaski), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Enterprise Season 01 Star Trek

Oasis

Star Trek: EnterpriseOver dinner with an alien trader, the Enterprise crew learns of the site of a crashed starship on a nearby planet, but the trader seems spooked by what he saw when he went there. Archer, however, insists that the trader’s tale of a haunted spaceship isn’t enough to scare him off, especially when the Enterprise could use a few repairs using parts from the crash site. What he finds there, however, is what seems to be the ship’s entire crew, all in good health. Trip is particularly taken with Liana, the daughter of the ship’s engineer, though the others from her ship seem nervous about her spending so much time with him. Archer is concerned when some of the ship’s logs about the crash are irreconcilable with the physical evidence – particularly when a member of the crashed ship’s crew, who’s still very much alive on the ship, turns up long dead in an escape pod.

Order DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxtelelplay by Stephen Beck
story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga & Stephen Beck
directed by Jim Charleston
music by Dennis McCarthy

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), Rene Auberjonois (Ezral), Annie Wersching (Liana), Tom Bergeron (D’Marr), Rudolph Willrich (Kuulan), Claudette Sutherland (Maya)

Notes: The casting department’s tribute to Trek series past continues with this episode’s inclusion of Rene Auberjonois, who – after a slightly inauspicious start in the Trek universe (his scenes as a Starfleet turncoat in 1991’s Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country were cut from the theatrical print but restored for home video) – played Odo for all seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Auberjonois reportedly told Scott Bakula during filming that he had already shot this episode (probably meaning the similar plotline of the DS9 episode Shadowplay). Future casting directors would continue this tradition, as Annie Wersching, appearing here in here first TV role, would play a major role in the second season of Star Trek: Picard.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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K-9 Season 1

The Korven

K-9Professor Gryffen’s latest attempt to reactivate the device that could retrieve his family fizzles before his eyes – but as he walks away in disappointment, he doesn’t notice that it powers up again and admits a visitor to his house: an alien called a Korven. Gryffen disappears, and Darius reluctantly decides to call Jorjie and Starkey, who are hiding from Department troops with K-9. The Korven is an alien being from 300 years in Earth’s future, who will attempt to invade by terraforming the planet to provide the rest of its species with their ideal environment: bitter cold. This particular Korven intends to remove Gryffen’s memories in the hope that his scientific knowledge can speed the invasion by several centuries. The gas the Korven is using to keep its immediate surroundings cold is not only freezing K-9’s human companions, but it’s affecting K-9’s computer brain – leaving him a very limited time to heat up the rescue effort.

written by Tim Pye
directed by Karl Zwicky
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake), Todd Levi (Medowin), Matthew Renner (Korven), Stephen Sourkis (Dept. Technician), Josh Norsend (CCPC), Jason McNamara (CCPC), Eugen Bekaford (CCPC), Dane Paltman (CCPC)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Doctor Who New Series Season 05

The Eleventh Hour

Doctor WhoFollowing the Doctor’s regeneration, the TARDIS plummets back to Earth, damaged and out of control. The time machine comes to rest in the 1990s, where the Doctor has to seek the help of the first person he finds – namely, a little girl named Amelia Pond who is home alone. In exchange for her help, the Doctor investigates something that’s been troubling Amelia: a crack in her wall through which she says she can hear voices. It turns out that her fears aren’t unfounded: the Doctor finds something from another dimension behind her wall, but he seals the crack and seems fairly sure he’s solved the problem. He promises to return in five minutes; Amelia packs a bag and sits in her garden, waiting for the TARDIS and the mysterious Doctor to return…

The TARDIS rematerializes in the garden, but it’s been only moments for the Doctor – he’s just realized the significance of the crack in the wall. But 12 years have passed for Amy Pond – and for the being behind her bedroom wall. The Doctor finds a door where no door should be in Amy’s house, containing a being known only as Prisoner Zero, which then escapes. As the Doctor works to find the dangerous escapee, Earth receives a signal from an alien race called the Atraxi: if the people of Earth cannot contain Prisoner Zero, the Atraxi will wipe out all life on the planet, just to make sure the escaped prisoner is dealt with. There are only 20 minutes left to save the world, and the Doctor isn’t exactly in peak condition…

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Steven Moffat
directed by Adam Smith
music by Murray Gold

Cast: Matt Smith (The Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), Arthur Darvill (Rory Wiliams), Caitlin Blackwood (Amelia Pond), Nina Wadia (Dr. Ramsden), Marcello Magni (Barney Collins), Perry Benson (Ice Cream Man), Annette Crosbie (Mrs. Angelo), Tom Hopper (Jeff), Arthur Cox (Mr. Henderson), Olivia Coleman (Mother), Eden Monteath (Child 1), Merin Monteath (Child 2), David de Keyser (Atraxi voice), William Wilde (Prisoner Zero voice), Patrick Moore (himself)

The eleventh DoctorNotes: The lightning and thunderclaps in the new opening titles hearken back to the very origins of Doctor Who; the unaired pilot version of An Unearthly Child featured thunderclaps in the theme music, though these were removed before the remount of the series’ first-ever episode. The redesigned TARDIS exterior resembles the police box as seen in the two Peter Cushing Doctor Who movies in the 1960s, while the new set for the TARDIS console room includes elements that recall the early William Hartnell stories (the large metallic light fixture above the console), the Davison/Colin Baker era TARDIS (a sound effect that occurs several times in The Eleventh Hour’s final scenes) and even the TARDIS as seen in the 1996 TV movie (the scanner screen as an old TV hanging above the console). Caitlin Blackwood is a good fit as young Amy because she’s Karen Gillan’s cousin in real life.

A made-for-DVD short, Meanwhile In The TARDIS, bridges the gap between The Eleventh Hour and The Beast Below; it’s a bonus feature on the series 5 DVD box set.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green