Day: April 24, 1965

Categories
Classic Season 02 Doctor Who

The Space Museum

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, Vicki, Ian and Barbara experience a number of completely inexplicable phenomena. Their clothes are suddenly different, and broken glasses instantly leap back into one piece. The TARDIS has arrived on a bleak planet whose only sign of civilization is a museum of space vehicles and hardware – and, as they discover to their horror, travelers. At first, no one else in the museum can see, hear or touch the Doctor or his friends, and they soon find out why – they’re already exhibits in the museum, a fate they must now try to avoid.

written by Glyn Jones
directed by Mervyn Pinfield
music not credited

Guest Star: Peter Sanders (Sita), Peter Craze (Dako), Richard Shaw (Lobos), Jeremy Bulloch (Tor), Salvin Stewart (Messenger), Peter Diamond (Technician), Ivor Salter (Commander), Billy Cornelius (Guard), Murphy Grumbar (Dalek), Peter Hawkins (Dalek voice)

Broadcast from April 24 through May 15, 1965

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Season 02 Star Trek The Next Generation

The Icarus Factor

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 42686.4: Riker, offered a command of his own patrolling a hazardous area of deep space, is also offered advice and a long-overdue retraction of old hostilities from his father, but the impetuous first officer refuses all of this in an attempt to maintain an image of independence in the eyes of his crewmates and his father.

Order the DVDsteleplay by David Assael and Robert L. McCullough
story by David Assael
directed by Robert Iscove
music by Ron Jones

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), Mitchell Ryan (Kyle Riker), Lance Spellerberg (Ensign Herbert)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Deep Space Nine Season 03 Star Trek

Improbable Cause

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: An explosion in Garak’s clothing shop brings the attention of Odo to bear on the usually elusive Cardassian tailor. One lead indicates it could be the work of a Flaxian assassin, but the moment Odo tails the suspect’s spacecraft, it is destroyed by the Romulans who claim he was on their wanted list. Odo takes a solo trip to a rendezvous with a Cardassian who gives him some information – that the attempt on Garak’s life is part of a much larger plot, and that other former members of the Obsidian Order have not survived similar attacks on the same day. Odo and Garak now set out to find ex-Obsidian Order mastermind Enabran Tain on Garak’s hunch that Tain may also be an assassin’s target, but they are intercepted en route by a Romulan ship carrying Tain as a passenger. Tain invites Garak to rejoin him on a joint mission of the Obsidian Order and the Romulan Tal Shiar to attack the Founders of the Dominion on their own turf – and Garak accepts.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Renè Echavarria
story by Robert Lederman & David R. Long
directed by Avery Brooks
music by David Bell

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), Andrew Robinson (Garak), Carlos LaCamara (Flaxian), Joseph Ruskin (Cardassian), Darwyn Carson (Romulan), Julianna McCarthy (Mila), Paul Dooley (Enabran Tain)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 01 Star Trek Voyager

Heroes and Demons

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 48693.2: As Voyager passes near a protostar, Janeway and Torres try to beam some samples of its photonic material aboard. When they try to enlist Harry’s help in studying it, they find that he has disappeared from the ship. Chakotay and Tuvok go to where Harry was last found – the holodeck – and try to learn what happened to their comrade by interacting with Harry’s Beowulf holodeck program. Even Chakotay and Tuvok vanish when Grendel comes to ravage the Hall Heorot. Someone needs to venture into the holodeck to find where the missing crewmen are going, or if they’re still alive. Into Hrothgar’s keep steps a new warrior, the only member of Voyager’s crew immune to the threat of being snatched out of the holodeck. The affair of Grendel was made known to him on his native soil; space travelers said that this hall, best of holo-scenarios, stands empty and useless to all warriors after the evening light becomes hidden beneath the cover of the sky. Therefore his people – or specifically Captain Janeway – advised that he should investigate because they know what his strength can accomplish…but can the holographic doctor grapple with something other than a medical emergency?

Order the DVDswritten by Naren Shankar
directed by Les Landau
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), Marjorie Monaghan (Freya), Christopher Neame (Unferth), Michael Keenan (Hrothgar)

LogBook entry by Earl Green
(featuring a paraphrase from the 1966 English translation of “Beowulf” by Prof. M.H. Abrams, based on F. Klaeber’s third edition in 1950)

Categories
Season 5 Xena: Warrior Princess

Looking Death In The Eye

Xena: Warrior PrincessA peddler in a tavern claims to have the last known scroll written by the Bard of Poteidaia. An old man at the bar makes a grab for the scroll. It’s Joxer, and he confirms that the handwriting is indeed Gabrielle’s. The peddler begins to take bids for the parchment, but Joxer hands over a small bag with 65 dinars in it and leaves with the scroll before anyone else can bid. He hopes that the scroll will give him clues as to what happened to Xena and Gabrielle.

Order the DVDswritten by Carl Ellsworth
directed by Garth Maxwell
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Lucy Lawless (Meg), Ted Raimi (Joxer), Kevin Smith (Ares), Paris Jefferson (Athena), Jason Hoyte (Hephaestus), Stephen Lovatt (Hades), Theresa Healey (Celesta), Mark Warren (Octavius), Jed Brophy (Ramius), Kate Smeda (Kara), Michael Langley (Theon), Samantha Adriaanse (Clotho), Elizabeth Pendergrast (Atropos), Chloe Jordan (Lachesis), Alister Babbage (Patron #2), Bob Blackwell (Bartender), Bruce Burfield (Inebriated Patron), Rachel Gilchrist (Lead Archer)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Categories
Enterprise Season 01 Star Trek

Detained

Star Trek: EnterpriseCaptain Archer and Ensign Mayweather are guests – not by their own choice – of the Tandarans, a race whose military zone they unwittingly violated while exploring in a shuttlepod. They quickly discover that they’re the only human prisoners in a Tandaran detention center otherwise populated by the Tandaran guards and a host of genetically unaltered Suliban captives, including women and children. Colonel Grat, the commandant of the detention center, seems cordial enough at first, promising that Archer and Mayweather will be freed soon, it seems that no such amnesty is in store for the Suliban. When Archer questions Grat’s treatment of the Suliban – who turn out to be innocent civilians and not members of the Suliban Cabal – Grat extends the Enterprise crewmen’s stay and begins to interrogate the captain about his own Suliban encounters all the way back to Broken Bow and Silik’s infiltration of the Enterprise during a later mission. Despite Archer’s claims of being an innocent bystander, nothing will quell Grat’s suspicions – or his willingness to hold the prisoners indefinitely.

Order DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong
story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
directed by David Livingston
music by Jay Chattaway

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), Dean Stockwell (Colonel Grat), Christopher Shea (Sajen), Jessica D. Stone (Narra), Dennis Christopher (Danik), David Kagen (Major Klev), Wilda Taylor (Woman)

Notes: Dean Stockwell was Scott Bakula’s co-star in every episode of Bakula’s previous hit series, Quantum Leap.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
6th Doctor Doctor Who

Doctor Who And The Pirates

Doctor Who and the PiratesEvelyn pays a visit to a student of hers named Sally, arriving quite unbidden to tell her the tale of a recent adventure she and the Doctor experienced on the high seas – a tale of pirates, treasure, daring deeds, and terrible tragedies. Indeed, by invading Sally’s home to foist the story upon her, the Doctor and Evelyn are trying to avert another tragedy – but Evelyn worries that even that may be impossible when, during the recounting of their waterlogged adventure, the Doctor decides it would be better to tell the story in song.

Order this CDwritten by Jacqueline Rayner
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by Timothy Sutton (and Sir Arthur Sullivan)

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Maggie Stables (Evelyn), Bill Oddie (Red Jasper), Dan Barratt (Jem), Helen Goldwyn (Sally), Nicholas Pegg (Swan), Mark Siney (Mr. Merryweather), Timothy Sutton (Mate / Sailor / Pirate)

Timeline: after Jubilee and before Project Lazarus

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
K-9 Season 1

Curse Of Anubis

K-9An unknown object approaching Earth gets the Department’s attention, and Inspector Drake’s first instinct is to blow it out of the sky. When it disappears before he can unleash all of the Department’s firepower on it, it’s assumed to be a meteor. But K-9, Starkey and Jorjie, out for a walk, see an enormous, pyramid-like spacecraft appear in the sky, while soldiers dressed as ancient Egyptian gods appear out of nowhere, with enough firepower of their own to overpower CCPCs. When the alien soldiers move to take Starkey prisoner, K-9 intervenes… and is promptly worshipped as a god. The soldiers even follow K-9 back to Professor Gryffen’s home, where they begin redecorating the lab as a shrine, supposedly to help jog K-9’s memory. Gryffen begins to worship K-9 as well. Starkey and Jorjie discover more about the aliens’ true plan, but then they are captured and brainwashed into serving K-9’s every whim. Only Darius remains unchanged… and now saving the world is up to him.

written by
directed by Karl Zwicky
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake), Michael Turaine (Nehebka), Matthew Reimer (Geb), Todd Levi (voice of Nehebka), Josh Norbido (CCPC), Jason McNamara (CCPC), Eugen Bekaford (CCPC), Dane Paltman (CCPC), Stephen Sourkis (Dept. Technician)

Notes: In Egyptian mythology, Anubis was edged out by the god Set (who, in some interpretations of the mythology, was Anubis’ father) as the Egyptian god of the underworld. Set was also known as Sutekh. Sutekh figures into Doctor Who mythology as the last of the alien Osirans, godlike beings who occupied the planet Mars until internecine conflict wiped out most of their race. Sutekh survived long enough to be defeated by the fourth Doctor in Pyramids Of Mars, though the Egyptian mythology elements in this episode appear to be a coincidence. In the scene where Jorjie and Starkey look at the book containing the Anubins’ history, two aliens from classic Doctor Who episodes can very clearly be seen: Alpha Centauri (The Curse Of Peladon / The Monster Of Peladon) and a Sea Devil (The Sea Devils / Warriors Of The Deep). If the notion of an alien playing the role of an Egyptian god, hovering over Earth in a pyramid ship, isn’t familiar to you, you probably haven’t watched enough Stargate SG-1 – a show in which K-9 star (and Canadian actor) Robert Moloney has also appeared.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Clone Wars Season 2 Star Wars

R2 Come Home

The Clone WarsAnakin and Windu land their fighters near the crash site of the Endurance and enter the wreckage on foot (with their respective astromech droids following close behind). When they encounter the bodies of clone troopers amid the debris, it’s clear that they’re not crash victims, but the targets of execution-style killings. No survivors are found on the ship’s bridge, but a calling card of sorts is – the helmet of Jango Fett, Boba’s father. Windu puts the clues together and realizes that this is a personal vendetta – and saves Anakin with split-second timing and the Force when the helmet turns out to be the trigger for another bomb. On the surface, the droids run afoul of wild Gundarks, and only Artoo survives. Artoo finds Anakin and Windu pinned in the debris from the bomb explosion, and Anakin orders the droid to return to his fighter and summon help from the Jedi Temple. But as Artoo sets out, he detects another problem: Aurra Sing, Boba Fett, and a hired gun are coming to gather proof of the Jedi’s death – unless the intrepid droid can stop them without bringing the rest of Endurance’s wreckage down on the survivors.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Eoghan Mahony
directed by Giancarlo Volpe
music by Kevin Kiner / original Star Wars themes by John Williams

Star Wars: The Clone WarsCast: Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker), Terrence Carson (Mace Windu), Jaime King (Aurra Sing), Daniel Logan (Boba Fett), Robin Atkin Downes (Castas), Dee Bradley Baker (Clone Troopers / Bossk), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano), James Arnold Taylor (Plo Koon), Tom Kane (Narrator)

Notes: This is the only instance in either film or television Star Wars that Fett’s ship is ever called Slave I on screen. Though the ship had been associated with that name in marketing and merchandising dating back to The Empire Strikes Back (1980), it had never been called by that name on-screen until this episode.

Jedi Fortune Cookie: “Adversity is a friendship’s truest test.”

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Doctor Who New Series Season 05

Time Of The Angels

Doctor WhoAn artifact in a museum catches the Doctor’s eye: a message is written in the Old High Gallifreyan language on its surface, a message in an extinct language meant just for him. The message leads him to a set of coordinates in time and space where he has seconds to rescue River Song after she ejects herself from an airlock aboard the starship Byzantium – a ship she still wants to follow. When the TARDIS next materializes, it’s on an alien planet where the Byzantium has crashed, killing all aboard… all except for a lone Weeping Angel. The Doctor only has moments to bring Amy up to speed on the Angel’s deadly abilities, but it’s already wreaking havoc. And as the Doctor and Amy join River’s expedition to board the Byzantium and destroy the Angel, it soon becomes apparent that it is the expedition that’s outnumbered.

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), Alex Kingston (River Song), Simon Dutton (Alistair), Mike Skinner (Security Guard), Iain Glen (Octavian), Mark Springer (Christian), Troy Glasgow (Angelo), David Atkins (Bob), Darren Morfitt (Marco)

Time Of The AngelsNotes: River Song returns in this episode; Silence In The Library and Forest Of The Dead are still in her future, but have already happened for the Doctor (in his tenth incarnation). She has, however, seen pictures of all of the Doctor’s faces. The Weeping Angels make their first appearance since season 3’s Hugo-winning Blink; along with Silence / Forest, Blink was written by Steven Moffat as a freelance writer during Russell T. Davies’ tenure as showrunner. The Old High Gallifreyan language was first mentioned in 1983’s The Five Doctors; all of the Doctor’s incarnations have been fluent in it, and presumably he passed that knowledge along to River Song; even upon its first mention in 1983, it’s implied that the language had fallen into infrequent use even among the Time Lords themselves.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green