Day: April 16, 1975

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Classic Season 3 Tomorrow People

A Man For Emily – Part 1: The Fastest Gun

Tomorrow PeopleA spacecraft with only three human occupants drops out of lightspeed and goes into a parking orbit around Earth to recharge. On the ship, naive, servile Elmer does practically all the labor, freeing his older sister Emily and their mother up to watch transmissions from the primitive world below. As most of those transmissions seem to be cowboy movies, they assume that this is an accurate representation of life on Earth, sending Elmer down to the planet via matter transporter to restock food – and dressing him in full cowboy regalia, which is a little out of place in 1970s England. Having been told how to behave (in accordance with the westerns seen by his sister and mother), Elmer shoots a man rather than paying for food. Already aware of the ship’s presence in orbit, John and Elizabeth jaunt into space, where the ship grabs Elizabeth but leaves John adrift. He returns to Earth to follow TIM’s reports of Elmer’s dangerous behavior. Knowing that Elmer is an alien who likely doesn’t know how to act among humans, John and Stephen try to get Elmer out of harm’s way…but must jaunt out of sight before the police arrive.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Roger Price
directed by Stan Woodward
music by Dudley Simpson

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Elizabeth Adare (Elizabeth), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughn Clarke (Stephen), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Margaret Burton (The Momma), Sandra Dickinson (Emily), Peter Davison (Elmer), Dean Lawrence (Tyso), Robin Parkinson (Publican), Bill Dean (Mr. Greenhead)

Tomorrow PeopleNotes: This episode of The Tomorrow People marks the series television debut of young actor Peter Davison, age 23 – six years before he became the youngest actor ever to be cast as the Doctor in Doctor Who up to that point. (That record was later broken by Matt Smith.) Between The Tomorrow People and Doctor Who, of course, Davison made a name for himself as a reliable and likeable actor in such series as All Creatures Great And Small, Love For Lydia, and Holding The Fort. This was also Davison’s first professional collaboration with his future wife, Sandra Dickinson, who would go on to play Trillian in the BBC’s TV adaptation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Original Series 1 Survivors

The Fourth Horseman

Survivors (1970s series)A routine day in Abby Grant’s cozy world starts to unravel slowly. Her son’s school is locked down due to a flu outbreak – only the latest such outbreak in recent weeks – and her husband’s train is delayed by hours due to power outages and rail backups all the way to inner London. In London itself, Jenny Richards tries to get a doctor to make a house call for her ailing roommate, but by the time help arrives, the woman has died. The doctor admits that the fast-spreading disease is not the flu – and that even modern medicine in a major city like London cannot find a cure. He urges Jenny to head for the safety of the country: before long, the inner city will be piled up with the dead, unleashing more diseases that, despite being fairly common, will wipe out those who remain without medical services. Jenny packs her bags and starts making her way out of London. People make their way to churches and other refuges, and fear leads to isolation. Those seeking shelter are turned away; every man, woman and child must fend for themselves. As the disease wipes out much of the world’s population, the facade of civilization melts away.

Abby herself has fallen ill with the disease, and her husband leaves to find a doctor. But while Abby survives her infection, her husband dies. She sets out alone and finds no survivors in her relatively isolated village; the dead pile up in church pews, living rooms, and cars. Abby finally leaves to go retrieve her son from his boarding school, and is almost relieved to find that her son is missing – at least he’s not among the dead. She finds only one man alive on the entire campus, a teacher who reveals that Abby’s son was among a small group of students who were evacuated just before the disease spread through the student body like wildfire. Armed with this information, Abby returns home one last time to prepare for the quest to find her son – and to say goodbye to the life she once knew.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Pennant Roberts
title music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), Peter Bowles (David Grant), Peter Copley (Doctor Bronson), Christopher Reich (Andrew Tyler), Margaret Anderson (Mrs. Transon), Callum Mill (Doctor Gordon), Blake Butler (Mr. Pollard), Elizabeth Sinclair (Patricia), Giles Melville (Kevin Lloyd), Len Jones (First Youth)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 2

The Dorian Secret

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyMoments before Buck finishes escorting the last of a group of survivors from a volcanic planet aboard a Searcher shuttle, a panicked young woman rushes into the docking bay, begging Buck to let her board. He lets her get on the ship and fights off a masked pursuer before boarding the shuttle himself; Hawk launches the shuttle immediately before further trouble can ensue. Even once the shuttle and its passengers return to the Searcher, no one is safe: a Dorian ship intercepts the Searcher and its captain demands that the woman be handed over to faces charges of murder. When Admiral Asimov refuses that demand, the Dorians ensnare the Searcher in a tractor beam and use a thermal weapon to subject the ship and its passengers to sudden extremes of temperature, extremes that Crichton predicts will be unsurvivable by human life within eight hours. Buck and Hawk tell Asimov that they do have a passenger that the Dorians – who always wear a mask in the presence of other species, allegedly to hide their hideous mutations – were already pursuing one of the shuttle’s passengers. Even with the Admiral’s defiance of the Dorian threat, some of the other survivors have decided to find and hand over the wanted woman to save their own skins.

Order the DVDswritten by Stephen McPherson
directed by Jack Arnold
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), Devon Ericson (Asteria Eleefa), Denny Miller (Saurus), William Kirby Cullen (Demeter)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Alien Nation Season 1

The Touch

Alien NationCathy learns that Andron, a child who she protected about the Tenctonese slave ship, is receiving some sort of special treatment, and she suspects it’s the same “treatment” he’s been receiving for years: he was taken from her to be indoctrinated into the ranks of the Overseers, beginning with the violent sacrifice of one of his own people. At first, Cathy’s warnings fall on deaf ears among both human and Newcomer child protection officials, and with no proof to back up her claims, even Sikes and George can’t act on her warnings. Desperate to help Andron and expose the Overseers who are working to once again enslave the Newcomers on Earth, Cathy takes matters into her own hands and spirits the boy away, but all she accomplishes in so doing is drawing potential kidnapping charges. The Overseers soon track Andron down, and decide that Cathy would make a fitting sacrifice to complete the boy’s training…

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episodewritten by Steven Long Mitchell & Craig W. Van Sickle
directed by Harry S. Longstreet
music by Steve Dorff & Larry Herbstritt

Guest Cast: Jenny Gago (Beatrice Zepeda), Mike Preston (Rigac), Barbara Bush (Lorraine Clark), Jonathan Brandis (Andron), Dorothy Fielding (Ella Day), Doug Ballard (Mr. Eugene), Martin LaPlatney (Troy), Margaret Howell (Andron’s Mother), Yvette Freeman (Helen), Mitchell Allen (Andron at 7), Vlado Benden (Desk Clerk), Dustin Berkovitz (Newcomer Boy), Eli Guralnick (Female Overseer), Marin May (Newcomer Girl), Tom Pabst (Newcomer Sacrifice), Van Quatro (Male Overseer)

Notes: Cathy’s Tenctonese name is revealed to be Gelana. Guest star Jonathan Brandis would soon find fame in another genre series, seaQuest DSV, in which he starred as whiz kid Lucas Wolenczak. He does not say a single syllable of dialogue in this episode. Brandis later took his own life, at the age of 27, in 2003.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Lexx Season 2

Brizon

LexxMantrid’s drones continue to consume entire galaxies, and Kai decides it’s time to stop running. Stan broadcasts a challenge to Mantrid on all frequencies, followed by an offer to join forces with anyone wishing to fight back. A response comes immediately from a small insect fighter – of the same kind piloted by Kai when the Brunnen-G fell. Inside, barely alive, is Brizon, a former bio-vizier of the Divine Order and Mantrid’s predecessor. Though no one trusts Brizon, his knowledge is the only advantage the Lexx has in the fight against Mantrid – and he has already performed some major bio-engineering operations on himself. Brizon insists that one of the drone arms should be captured so he can study it, and Stan and Kai find the nearest world being attacked to retrieve one. In the meantime, Brizon remains on the Lexx, taking perhaps too personal an interest in Xev’s unique human-cluster lizard biology. When the captive drone arm is brought aboard, Brizon springs his trap and reveals his true plan: he doesn’t want to just destroy Mantrid, he wants to take over Mantrid’s artificial body and his resources…including the destructive drones.

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

Guest Cast: Earl Pastko (Brizon), Dieter Laser (Mantrid), Jeffrey Hirschfield (790), Tom Gallant (Lexx)

Original title: End Game

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Farscape Season 1

PK Tech Girl

  • By Dave
  • April 16, 1999

FarscapeMoya encounters the Zelbinion, a derelict Peacekeeper ship which served as Rygel’s first prison a hundred cycles ago. When Crichton and Aeryn board the ship looking for salvageable wares, they find it gutted, with a lone Peacekeeper tech on board. Gilina’s crew, sent by Crais, fell victim to an attack from local scavengers called the Sheyangs. While Gilina and Crichton attempt to get the Zelbinion‘s defense screen functioning before the Sheyang send another crew to finish the job (and wipe out Moya in the bargain), D’Argo trades on his race’s reputation to stall for time, and Rygel determines to enter the graveyard of his demons.

Order the DVDswritten by Nan Hagan
directed by Tony Tilse
music by Subvision

Guest Cast: Jane Cook (Gilina), Derek Amer (Teurac), Peter Astridge (Lomus), Peter Knowles (Evran), David Wheeler (Captain Durka)

Notes: Oddly enough, this was the first episode of Farscape ever broadcast, as a “sneak preview” episode on USA Network five days before the series premiere aired on the Sci-Fi Channel; the episode was actually the seventh produced and the fifth aired on the Sci-Fi Channel.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Categories
Lexx Season 3

Girltown

LexxXev has escaped the balloon battle by riding a stray gondola through the atmospheric interface and onto the surface of Fire, and Stanley and Kai follow with little idea of her precise landing point. They do find what’s left of her balloon, and decide to scout for her at the nearest town on Fire – a place known as Girltown. Within the town’s walls, a strange drama of gender reversal appears to be playing itself out, as Kai discovers an oppressed population of men who seem to be fulfilling traditionally female roles. Stanley is captured and brought before Girltown’s ruler, the vicious Queen, only to realize that she may be Giggerota in disguise. Queen seems intrigued by the fact that Stanley hasn’t died yet – indeed, en route to Girltown, Kai admits that he has noticed that many of his enemies from the other universe seem to have resurfaced on Fire or Water in some form. Even when Kai and Xev arrive to rescue Stanley from what Queen says will be but the first of his many deaths, the rescue attempt goes horribly wrong, leaving Xev alone – with the key to the Lexx.

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

Guest Cast: Ellen Dubin (Queen)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Enterprise Season 02 Star Trek

Horizon

Star Trek: EnterpriseAs Enterprise is en route to study a planet whose sudden orbital shift has drastically changed its environment, Ensign Mayweather requests leave time so he can visit his family aboard the freighter Horizon, an early cargo-hauler capable of reaching just under warp two. Mayweather particularly looks forward to seeing his father, who had to relinquish his command of the Horizon during an illness. What the Enterprise’s helmsman doesn’t know, however, is that the illness has claimed his father’s life, leaving the ensign’s brother Paul in command. During his visit, Mayweather tries to help upgrade the ship (and boost morale), and neither effort meets with the approval of the Horizon’s new captain. Mayweather’s Starfleet discipline clashes with his family’s fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants frontier lifestyle, and he may not be able to reconcile his feelings before an attack by alien pirates puts them all in jeopardy.

Order DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Andrè Bormanis
directed by James Contner
music by Mark McKenzie

Guest Cast: Corey Mendell Parker (Paul Mayweather), Joan Pringle (Rianna), Nicole Forester (Nora), Philip Anthony Rodriguez (Juan), Adam Paul (Crewman Nichols), Ken Feinberg (Alien Captain)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Doctor Who New Series Season 01

Aliens Of London

Doctor WhoThe Doctor brings Rose back to Earth, promising that as far as anyone there is concerned, she’s only been gone for 12 hours. As it turns out, though, the Doctor’s control of the TARDIS is somewhat erratic – Rose has, in fact, been gone for 12 months, making her mother’s life a living hell and making her boyfriend Mickey a murder suspect. Just as things seem to calm down after her arrival, an alien spaceship plummets through the skies over London, crashing right through Big Ben and coming to rest in the Thames. The Doctor seems optimistic at first that perhaps this is humanity’s first contact with aliens, but his curiosity takes him to a hospital near the crash site, where the body of the ship’s pilot is being kept. He quickly discovers that all is not as it seems, and that aliens have, in fact, been on Earth for some time, but even the Doctor doesn’t suspect how deeply they’ve entrenched themselves into society until the Slitheen reveal themselves.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by Keith Boak
music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Corey Doabe (Spray Painter), Ceris Jones (Policeman), Jack Barlton (Reporter), Lachele Carl (Reporter), Fiesta Mei Ling (Ru), Basil Chung (Bau), Matt Baker (himself), Andrew Marr (himself), Rupert Vansittart (General Asquith), David Verrey (Joseph Green), Navin Chowdhry (Indra Ganesh), Penelope Wilton (Harriet Jones), Annette Badland (Margaret Blaine), Naoko Mori (Doctor Sato), Eric Potts (Oliver Charles), Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), Jimmy Vee (Alien), Steve Spiers (Strickland), Elizabeth Fost (Slitheen), Paul Kasey (Slitheen), Alan Ruscoe (Slitheen)

Reviews by Philip R. Frey & Earl Green
LogBook entry by Earl Green