Day: May 4, 1966

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Batman Season 1

Fine Finny Fiends

BatmanAlfred visits a fish market in Gotham City to gather the ingredients for an upcoming award banquet held for the city’s exclusive club of multi-millionaires, including one Bruce Wayne, only to be ensnared by the Penguin. Penguin brainwashes Alfred, forcing him to gather information from inside Wayne Manor, unaware that Alfred also has access to the Batcave. Betman and Robin notice Alfred’s odd behavior immediately, and spot the telltale signs of Alfred’s captor. But when they set out to capture the Penguin, they fall into a breathtaking trap…

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Sheldon Stark
directed by Tom Gries
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), Burgess Meredith (The Penguin), Victor Lundin (Octopus), Bill Williams (Multimillionaire), Dal Jenkins (Shark), Howard Wendell (Millionaire), Julie Gregg (Finella)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 11 Doctor Who

Planet of the Spiders

Doctor WhoPast events catch up with the Doctor in an unexpected way. A race of evil giant spiders on Metebelis 3 is looking for one of their planet’s perfect blue crystals to complete a crystal “web” that will broadcast the will of their leader, the Great One (not Jackie Gleason), across the entire universe. But the Doctor stole that crystal during a previous visit without realizing its significance, and his actions have drawn unwanted attention to Earth. The spiders use a monastery in the English countryside as their gateway to Earth, taking over the minds of a criminally-minded man named Lupton whose meditations have failed to turn him into a better person. In the end, the Doctor is obliged to return the crystal to prevent Earth from being overrun by the spiders – but the personal cost will be very high.

written by Robert Sloman
directed by Barry Letts
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), John Dearth (Lupton), Terence Lodge (Moss), Andrew Staines (Keaver), Christopher Burgess (Barnes), Carl Forgione (Land), Cyril Shaps (Professor Clegg), Kevin Lindsay (Cho-Je), John Kane (Tommy), Pat Gorman (Soldier), Chubby Oates (Policeman), Terry Walsh (Man with boat), Michael Pinder (Hopkins), Ysanne Churchman, Kismet Delgado, Maureen Morris (Spider voices), Ralph Arliss (Tuar), Geoffrey Morris (Sabor), Joanna Monro (Rega), Gareth Hunt (Arak), Jenny Laird (Neska), Walter Randall (Captain), Max Faulkner (Second Captain), Maureen Morris (Great One), George Cormack (K’anpo)

Broadcast from May 4 through June 8, 1974

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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

The Return of Starbuck

Battlestar Galactica (original)Dr. Zee goes to Commander Adama with a far-fetched claim – he has had a dream about a man he has never met, a man named Starbuck. While Zee has never met him, Adama fondly recalls the ace pilot – and remembers the last time any of Galactica’s crew saw him. Isolated from the rest of the fleet during a Cylon raid and left behind, Starbuck crash-landed his Viper on a distant world, unable to repair the ship or contact his crewmates. Worse yet, the only company Starbuck found immediately on this planet was an equally stranded Cylon pilot. Buried in the desolate tale of Starbuck’s ultimate fate, Adama reveals, are Zee’s true origins as well.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Glen A. Larson
directed by Ron Satlof

Guest Cast: Dirk Benedict (Starbuck), Judith Chapman (Angela), Rex Cutter (Cy), Ellen Gurkin (Girl on bridge), Gary Owens (voice of Cy)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Max Headroom Series 1 (UK)

Episode 4

The Max Headroom ShowMax contemplates the possibility that the good luck charms drivers hang from their rear view mirrors may end up distracting them (and making them less safe behind the wheel). After insulting moths everywhere and listening to the London talking clock, Max interrogates The Who’s Roger Daltrey about his budding acting career and his post-Who solo projects. And, of course, Max can’t resist bringing up the topic of golf.

The Max Headroom Showwritten by Paul Owen & David Hansen
directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel

Cast: Matt Frewer (Max Headroom), Roger Daltrey (himself)

Videos: “Love’s Great Adventure” (Ultravox), “Driving In My Car” (Madness), “Let Me Go” (Heaven 17), “Call Me” (Go West), “Jeans Not Happening” (Pale Fountains), “After The Fire” (Roger Daltrey), “Act Of War” (Elton John and Millie Jackson)

Note: Roger Daltrey’s name is misspelled “Daltry” during his interview. Despite the faint derision (and bad spelling) with which Max addresses Daltrey’s acting career, the Who vocalist would later find himself in demand for guest shots on such series as Highlander, Sliders and Witchblade.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 05 Star Trek The Next Generation

Imaginary Friend

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 45852.1: As the Enterprise begins an investigation of a nebula, Ensign Sutter and his young daughter Clara are in Troi’s office, where Clara is talking about her imaginary friend Isabella. Ensign Sutter, whose Starfleet career hasn’t allowed him to stay in one place long enough for Clara to make any friends, is concerned that Clara’s insistence on Isabella’s existence is abnormal, but Troi doesn’t think it is anything to worry about. An energy form enters the Enterprise, it materializes just as Clara imagines Isabella and begins to have Clara show it around the ship. Meanwhile, other energy-beings like “Isabella” begin to weave a web of strands around the ship to slow it down so they can feed off its power source. The crew realizes that the only way to try to communicate with the energy-beings is by having Clara try to summon Isabella.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Edithe Swensen and Brannon Braga
story by Jean Louise Matthias & Ronald Wilkerson and Richard Fliegel
directed by Gabrielle Beaumont
music by Dennis McCarthy

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), Noley Thornton (Clara), Shay Astar (Isabella), Jeff Allin (Ensign Sutter), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), Brian Bonsall (Alexander), Patti Yasutake (Nurse Ogawa), Sheila Franklin (Ensign)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Babylon 5 / Crusade Season 1

Survivors

Babylon 5With a visit from the recently re-elected President of the Earth Alliance looming in the immediate future, preparations are in full swing, including maintenance on a docking area which will be the home of a new fighter squadron being brought to Babylon 5 by the President. An explosion in this area brings the President’s chief of security, a woman whose father was killed in an incident 17 years ago engineered by criminals to frame Garibaldi, aboard the station to investigate. A dying worker points the finger at Garibaldi for planting the bomb that damaged the fighter bay, and the President’s security chief pronounces Garibaldi a fugitive from justice. Though he is on the run, Garibaldi puts his life on the line by continuing to investigate the real cause of the explosion as the President’s visit draws near.

Order now!Download this episodewritten by Mark Scott Zicree
directed by Jim Johnston
music by Christopher Franke

Guest Cast: Elaine Thomas (Lianna Kemmer), Tom Donaldson (Cutter), David Austin Cook (Special Agent #1), David Crowley (Lou Welch), Maggie Egan (INS Reporter), Jose Rosario (Nolan), Robin Wake (Young Lianna), Mark Hendrickson (Alien #1), Rod Perry (General Netter), Marianne Robertson (Tech #1), Mark Ginther (Dagool)

Original title: A Knife In The Shadows

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Earth: Final Conflict Season 1

Destruction

Earth: Final ConflictAugur is startled when a holographic image of Rayna, a dead researcher for the resistance, appears and warns him that the alien probe’s secrets – including all that it learned about the resistance – are about to be accessed by the Taelons. Fellow rebel Sahjit, who was going to marry Rayna before the probe killed her, insists on leading the fight to retrieve the probe before the Taelons crack its security systems, perhaps with the misguided hope that he can save Rayna. But the objective of the resistance mission is to destroy the probe if necessary – and at any cost.

written by Alan Templeton
directed by Ross Clyde
music by Micky Erbe & Maribeth Solomon

Guest Cast: Majel Barrett Roddenberry (Dr. Belman), Brooke Johnson (Quo’on), Anita La Selva (Zo’or), Stavroula Logothettis (Kee’sha), Paul Johansson (Sloane), Damon D’Oliveira (Sahjit Jinnah), Sonia Dhillon (Rayna), William de Vry (Joshua Doors), Vint Cerf (Cy Vincent)

Notes: Guest star Vint Cerf also served as the science advisor during the first season of Earth: Final Conflict. He was also one of the originators of the TCP/IP protocol that makes the entire internet possible, so in a way, he’s also responsible for the site hosting this episode listing. This episode mentions the plague unleashed in the preceeding episode produced, Infection… but Infection didn’t air on schedule, and was held back to air in July 1998, two months after this episode.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 06 Star Trek

The Valiant

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate 51825.4: Just after leaving a starbase with a diplomatic message for the Grand Nagus, a runabout carrying Nog and Jake is attacked by Jem’Hadar fighters, but the two are rescued by the USS Valiant, a Defiant-class ship manned by a crew of Red Squad cadets who were out on a training cruise when the war broke out. Nog is made Chief Engineer by Captain Watters, who plans to complete the Valiant’s mission of obtaining technical data on a Dominion battleship. Once this is accomplished, however, Watters decides to destroy the battleship – which may be a fatal mistake.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Ronald D. Moore
directed by Michael Vejar
music by Paul Baillargeon

Guest Cast: Aron Eisenberg (Nog), Paul Popowich (Watters), Courtney Peldon (Farris), David Drew Gallagher (Shepard), Ashley Brianne McDonogh (Dorian), Scott Hamm (Parton), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

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Season 3 Xena: Warrior Princess

Sacrifice – Part 1

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena and Gabrielle find a childhood friend of the bard, Seraphin, as she is about to be sacrificed. Xena interrupts the “ceremony” and Gabrielle takes Seraphin to safety. Callisto appears and kills one of the priests, then disappears with his body. Ares also appears and tries to convince Xena to lead his army against Callisto, but she refuses. After he leaves, Xena and Gabrielle learn from Seraphin that Callisto isn’t the one they have to worry about. The warrior realizes that it is Hope who is building a following. Xena and Gabrielle know they must find a way to stop her.

Order the DVDswritten by Steven Sears
directed by David Warry Smith
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Hudson Leick (Callisto), Kevin Smith (Ares), Jodie Rimmer (Seraphin), Stephen Ure (Werfner), Elizabeth Pendergrass (Atropos), Micaela Daniel (Lachesis), Samantha Adriaanse (Clotho), Jermey Curry (Warlord), Bret Rudnick (First Klansman), Renee O’Connor (Hope)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

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Season 10 SG-1 Stargate

The Shroud

  • By Dave
  • May 4, 2007

Stargate SG-1SG-1 arrives on a planet that has been approached by a Prior – but one who has not made any threats against the villagers. When the Prior returns, SG-1 hides – but is shocked to find that the prior is Daniel Jackson. Landry orders Daniel brought to Odyssey, at which point Daniel asks the team what took them so long. His conversion is all part of a plan, he claims. Merlin’s memories and personality, still trapped in Daniel’s brain, allowed Daniel to convince Adria that he had been converted to Origin. Adria made him a Prior in hopes of converting both Earth and Vala. But Daniel claims that he is still Daniel – that his conversion was simply a ruse to allow him to finish Merlin’s device and then steal an Ori vessel and deliver the weapon into the Ori galaxy. The only hitch in the plan is that Stargate Command will have to deactivate the wormhole that keeps the Ori supergate occupied. That is, it is the only hitch in the plan if Daniel is telling the truth, and even Jack O’Neill can’t be sure about that. To hedge their bets, O’Neill asks Daniel to give him the intel that SG-1 would need to complete the mission on his behalf. Daniel agrees, but the IOA is not so willing to place faith in a Prior. Woolsey orders Daniel to be placed in stasis until SG-1 can verify his intel . . . but that is not part of Daniel’s plan.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Robert C. Cooper
directed by Andy Mikita
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Richard Dean Anderson (Maj. Gen. Jack O’Neill), Morena Baccarin (Adria), Robert Picardo (Woolsey)

Notes: Adria captured Daniel in this season’s The Quest Part 2. Woolsey’s cautious approach to Daniel is motivated in part by the consequences of his decision to keep the Anubis clone Khalek alive in season 9’s Prototype. Richard Dean Anderson’s most recent prior guest appearance on SG-1 occurred in the episode 200.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Season 3 Stargate Stargate Atlantis

Tao Of Rodney

Stargate AtlantisRodney and a science team unseal a room in Atlantis that hasn’t been touched since the Ancients lived in the city. Rodney reactivates a dormant control console, which somehow singles him out to receive a massive mental “upgrade,” giving him abilities such as telekinesis and even the capacity to read minds. He sets about trying to upgrade the city via a newly enhanced neural link, but his upgrade is cut short when his teammates learn the cost of Rodney’s new powers – the enhancements to his mind are drastically shortening the lifespan of his physical body. Rodney has mere days to learn how to ascend as the Ancients did…or die.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Damian Kindler
directed by Martin Wood
music by Joel Goldsmith and Neil Acree

Guest Cast: Kavan Smith (Major Lorne), David Nykl (Dr. Zelenka), Leela Savasta (Esposito), Donna Soares (Coleman), Chuck Campbell (Technician)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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2000s Series Season 1 V

Hearts & Minds

V (New series)Ryan receives word from his fifth column contact that a shuttle filled with V trackers – from whom Ryan and his wife barely escaped before – will soon be en route to Earth to find Ryan’s wife and their unborn hybrid child. Father Landry makes a misstep with his newly cultivated contact – reporter Chad Decker – tipping Anna off to Ryan’s plan to shoot the shuttle down. Using a ground-based rocket launcher, Hobbes shoots down the V shuttle, only to discover that Anna has outmaneuvered them: not a single Visitor is aboard the shuttle, which is instead full of humans. The resistance has a public relations disaster on its hands, and worse yet, evidence at the scene leads the FBI to Landry.

written by Gregg Hurwitz
directed by Bobby Roth
music by Marco Beltrami

Guest Cast: Charles Mesure (Kyle Hobbes), Mark Hildreth (Joshua), Christopher Shyer (Marcus), Rekha Sharma (Agent Sarita Malik), Roark Critchlow (Paul Kendrick), Scott Hylands (Father Travis)

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Doctor Who New Series Season 07

The Crimson Horror

Doctor WhoThe Doctor is summoned to the Victorian era once again by Madame Vastra and her colleagues. People are signing up to become model residents of a walled-off, gated community promising traditional values… and then, once accepted, they are never heard from again. The Doctor and Clara pose as another perfect couple hoping to become residents of Sweetville, and their application is quickly accepted. Once inside the gates, though, the time travelers learn that residency in Sweetville carries a horrifying cost, one which puts them out of the picture. Now the fate of humanity, and the Doctor, rests with the Doctor’s unlikely trio of allies.

Order the DVDwritten by Mark Gatiss
directed by Saul Metzstein
music by Murray Gold

Cast: Matt Smith (The Doctor), Jenna-Louise Coleman (Clara), Dame Diana Rigg (Mrs. Gillyflower), Rachael Stirling (Ada), Catrin Stewart (Jenny), Neve McIntosh (Madame Vastra), Dan Starkey (Strax), Eve de Leon Allen (Angie), Kassius Carey Johnson (Artie), Brendan Patricks (Edmund / Mr. Thursday), Graham Turner (Amos), Doctor WhoOlivia Vinall (Effie), Michelle Tate (Abigail), Jack Oliver Hudson (Urchin Boy)

Notes: Dame Diana Rigg is one of the most recognizable faces of British TV, having co-starred as Mrs. Peel in The Avengers with Patrick Macnee for several seasons. (Her predecessor as Steed’s sidekick, Honor Blackman, had a guest starring role in parts 9-12, a.k.a. Terror Of The Vervoids, in 1986’s The Trial Of A Time Lord.) The BAFTA, Tony, and Emmy-winning actress has also appeared in the James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and more recently in Game Of Thrones. Actress Rachael Stirling is Rigg’s daughter and a well-regarded actress in her own right, having appeared in Minder, Tipping The Velvet, Hotel Babylon, and Snow White & The Doctor WhoHuntsman.

The Doctor mentions traveling with an air stewardess who wanted to return to Heathrow; this is a rare reference to Tegan Jovanka, the Australian companion of the fourth and fifth Doctors. Though the character has been revived by actress Janet Fielding for the Big Finish audio adventures, this is the first mention of Tegan in the new series. (She was also mentioned in the laundry list of former TARDIS travelers and their respective outcomes in part two of the Sarah Jane Adventures story The Death Of The Doctor (2010).

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green