Categories
Classic Season 10 Doctor Who

The Green Death

Doctor WhoProblems at a Welsh mining operation draw the attention of UNIT. The Brigadier is frustrated by the usual lack of cooperation from the mining company, Global Chemicals, but the Doctor is more interested in the rash of mysterious deaths among Global’s miners. He goes down into the mine himself to learn more about the glowing green ooze that has killed almost every miner who has touched it, and discovers a horrifying sight – giant maggots, mutated to a grotesque size by Global’s waste chemicals, are secreting the deadly substance and may even be growing hostile enough to attack humans. Despite this revelation (and the well-meaning interference of local environmental protesters), however, Global Chemicals’ chairman refuses to shut down the mines – and it soon becomes evident that someone else is in charge of the operation, someone or something whose sinister motives may include allowing the poisonous insect larvae to reach the surface and hatch into equally deadly giant insects.

Download this episodewritten by Robert Sloman
directed by Michael Briant
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), Stewart Bevan (Professor Clifford Jones), Jerome Willis (Stevens), John Scott Martin (Hughes), Ben Howard (Hinks), Tony Adams (Elgin), Mostyn Evans (Dai Evans), Ray Handy (Milkman), Talfryn Thomas (Dave), Roy Evans (Bert), John Dearth (voice of BOSS), John Rolfe (Fell), Terry Walsh, Billy Horrigan, Brian Justice, Alan Chuntz (Guards), Mitzi McKenzie (Nancy), Jean Burgess (Cleaner), Roy Skelton (James), Richard Beale (Minister of Ecology)

Broadcast from May 19 through June 23, 1973

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Sky

Chariot Of Fire

SearchThe Juganet is revealed: 20th century civilization knows it as Stonehenge. Sky steps into the stone circle and vanishes; a disbelieving Arby follows him, and finds himself in another time, among what he believes is Sky’s civilization, though they banish him to a “place of darkness” for being evil. Sky explains that these are the descendants of humanity, dedicated to harmony with nature – and that they may achieve more than 20th century civilization ever could. But none of that answers the question of whether or not Arby can safely return to his own time.

Order the DVDswritten by Bob Baker and Dave Martin
directed by Derek Clark
music by Eric Wetherell

SkyCast: Marc Harrison (Sky), Stuart Lock (Arby Vennor), Cherrald Butterfield (Jane Vennor), Richard Speight (Roy Briggs), Bernard Archard (Haril), Peter Copley (Revil), Robert Eddison (Goodchild)

Notes: The 2″ master videotape of this episode suffered critical damage in the 1990s, and is Skyrepresented on DVD by a VHS backup copy of noticeably lower quality. This is the final episode of the series, and its nature-over-technology message is strikingly similar to a BBC series, The Changes, aired the same year.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Babylon 5 / Crusade Season 4

Moments of Transition

Babylon 5On Minbar, the warrior caste stoops to treacherous new lows as Delenn receives the news that Shakiri, the warrior leader, will openly attack the capitol of Minbar and its population unless the religious caste offers its immedaite surrender. On B5, Lyta finds herself at a disadvantage since she has gone on the run from Psi Corps. Potential clients who need a telepath to perform even the most routine duties will not accept the services of a known renegade. Psi Cop Bester happens to be on the station, and offers Lyta the renewal of her Psi Corps certification if she will agree to have her Vorlon-enhanced body turned over to Bester upon her death. Lyta refuses to sign such a contract, but she is left with little alternative. The room she occupied during the height of the war is too expensive for her, a visit to Garibaldi seeking work almost but doesn’t quite work due to the insistent disapproval of Garibaldi’s new employer, William Edgars of Mars, and the only other offer of work she gets is from Zack, who wants the evasive former security chief scanned without permission. Lyta must now reluctantly return to the Psi Corps, Delenn must surrender and risk being killed as a symbol of her caste’s strength, and forces under the control of Earth President Clark engage in a killing spree which incites Sheridan to declare war on Earth.

Order now!Download this episodewritten by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by Tony Dow
music by Christopher Franke

Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (Captain Sheridan), Claudia Christian (Commander Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin), Bill Mumy (Lennier), Jason Carter (Marcus Cole), Stephen Furst (Vir), Jeff Conaway (Zack Allan), Patricia Tallman (Lyta Alexander), Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar), Peter Jurasik (Londo), Bart McCarthy (Shakiri), Walter Koenig (Bester), John Vickery (Neroon), Scott Adams (Mr. Adams)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Deep Space Nine Season 05 Star Trek

Empok Nor

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: O’Brien leads a salvage team to Empok Nor, an abandoned Cardassian space station in the Treba system, to obtain needed spare parts for DS9. The team includes Nog as well as Garak, whose help is needed in disarming the booby traps the Cardassians left behind. However, the team soon finds themselves stranded on the station and stalked by three Cardassian soldiers – test subjects for an experimental drug to heighten their racial xenophobia – and Garak too has now been exposed to it.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Hans Beimler
story by Bryan Fuller
directed by Michael Vejar
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Andrew J. Robinson (Garak), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), Tom Hodges (Pechetti), Andy Milder (Boq’ta), Marjean Holden (Stolzoff), Jeffrey King (Amaro)

Notes: Marjean Holden later appeared in the Babylon 5 spinoff series Crusade as regular character Dr. Sarah Chambers.

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover with notes by Earl Green

Categories
Godzilla Other

Godzilla

GodzillaLizard eggs are irradiated as a result of a nuclear test in the South Pacific. Years later, a commercial shipping vessel is attacked and sunk by a giant creature in the South Pacific. The only answer given by a survivor to a French agent is that they were attacked by “Gojira.”

Nuclear research scientist Niko Tatopoulos is pulled away from his worm research near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster to study giant radioactive footprints in Panama. He later investigates a ship that has been beached. It appears to have giant claw marks.

Off the Eastern Coast of the U.S, three fishing trawlers are pulled backwards and sunk by something caught in their nets. The military/scientific crew Tatopoulos has been drafter into receives word of the boats sinking. Tatopoulos suggests it may be a new creature never before seen.

A giant two-footed lizard trashes a fish market in New York City. It moves on to the interior of the city and pulls down a building near a speech by Mayor Ebert, and continues inward. The monster disappears.

Manhattan is evacuated as the military movies in. A search team finds discovers that the creature has entered the subway system and may have slipped out of the secure zone. A convoy of city trucks dump tons of fresh fish on Fifth Avenue near the flatiron building. The monster takes the bait, but is spooked by gunfire and flees. It’s chased by three armed helicopters. A pair of sidewinder missles are fired, but it dodges those and they explode into the Chrysler building. The beast manages to sneak behind the choppers and destroy them. It disappears again.

Tatopoulos collects some blood samples left by the monster, and discovers the creature is asexual, and appears to be nesting in New York. His former girlfriend (and Audrey is her name), who is an intern at a TV station, grabs a “Top Secret” video tape that, includes footage from other areas the monster has attacked, and the questioning of the survivor from the South Pacific sinking. Her boss takes credit for the information and mispronounces the monster’s name as “Godzilla.” Tatopoulos is removed from the project since he was the source of the leak, although his former girlfriend took it without his knowledge. He is snatched by the French agent, who convinces the scientist to help him find the nest. The agent reveals nuclear testing by the French government was the likely cause of the creature, and his team is trying to hide that secret.

Tatopolous and the French team are followed by Audrey and her cameraman into the New York underground. Godzilla crashes through some walls and moves through the subway before resurfacing near Central Park, where another fish trap has been set. Soldiers jump the gun, so to speak, and fire on Godzilla before it reaches the trap. It runs off and slips into the river, where a naval submarines are waiting. They fire torpedoes at the creature, but it swims around and dodges the torpedo, which explodes into one of the subs. As Godzilla attempts to come ashore, more torpedoes are fired. This time they strike the monster, apparently killing it.

Meanwhile, the French team, still followed by the reporters, arrives in a damaged Madison Square Garden. Inside the stadium are of hundreds of eggs over ten feet tall each. As the foreign soldiers are setting explosives, the eggs begin to hatch! And the baby Godzillas are hungry.

Several members of the French team are munched before they can finish setting the explosives. Tatopolous and the French agent manage to escape. Audry and her cameraman also escape the stadium separately. But the monsters are close behind. The four meet up as they are being chased by the babies.

They evacuate to the broadcast center and send a message that the monsters are at MSG and the building must be destroyed before the creatures can escape. The military dispatches three fighter jets. The four humans escape the broadcast center just as several of the creatures break on. They elude the monsters as they flee the building moments before it’s destroyed, killing all the baby Godzillas.

From the ruins of Madison Square Garden, the original monster crashes through the floor. Angered by the deaths of its children, it chases the humans through the city streets. They rush past an American military unit, which tunes into the cab’s radio frequency. They hatch a plan to lure Godzilla to the Brooklyn Bridge. It gets caught in the suspension cables and the fighter jets fire missiles into the monster, scoring several direct hits. But with the death of Godzilla, there is sadness. He is only a wild beast, just as a deer caught on city streets.

Back at Madison Square Garden, a lone egg hatches…

story by Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio and Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich
screenplay by Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich
directed by Roland Emmerich
music by David Arnold

Human Cast: Matthew Broderick (Dr. Niko Tatopoulos), Jean Reno (Philippe Roache), Maria Pitillo (Audrey Timmonds), Hank Azaria (Victor ‘Animal’ Palotti), Kevin Dunn (Colonel Hicks), Michael Lerner (Mayor Ebert), Harry Shearer (Charles Caiman), Arabella Field (Lucy Palotti), Vicki Lewis (Dr. Elsie Chapman), Doug Savant (Sergeant O’Neal), Malcolm Danare (Dr. Mendel Craven), Lorry Goldman (Mayor’s Aide), Christian Aubert (Jean-Luc), Philippe Bergeron (Jean-Claude), Frank Bruynbroek (Jean-Pierre), Francois Giroday (Jean-Philippe), Nicholas J. Giangiulio (WIDF Engineer), Robert Lesser (Murray), Ralph Manza (Old Fisherman), Greg Callahan (Governor), Chris Ellis (General Anderson), Nancy Cartwright (Caiman’s Secretary), Richard Gant (Admiral Phelps), Jack Moore (Leonard), Steve Giannelli (Jules), Brian Farabaugh (Arthur), Stephen Xavier Lee (Lieutenant Anderson), Bodhi Elfman (Freddie), Rich Battista (Jimmy), Lloyd Kino (Tanker Cook), Toshi Toda (Tanker Captain), Clyde Kusatsu (Tanker Skipper), Masaya Kato (Japanese Tanker Crewman), Glenn Morshower (Kyle Terrington), Lola Pashalinski (Pharmacist), Rob Fukuzaki (WFKK Co-Anchor), Dale Harimoto (WKXI Anchor), Gary W. Cruz (WFKK Anchor), Derek Webster (Utah Captain), Stuart Fratkin (Utah Ensign), Frank Cilberg (Utah Sailor #1), Jason Edward Jones (Utah Sailor #2), Roger McIntyre (Utah Sailor #3), David Pressman (Anchorage Captain), Robert Faltisco (Anchorage Ensign #1), Christopher Darius Maleki (Anchorage Ensign #2), Scott Lusby (Anchorage Ensign #3), Alex Dodd (Anchorage Sailor), Terence Paul Winter (Apache Pilot #1), Kirk Geiger (Apache Pilot #2), Pat Mastroianni (Apache Pilot #3), Eric Saiet (Apache Pilot #4), Burt Bulos (Apache Pilot #5), Robert Floyd (Apache Pilot #6), Seth Peterson (Apache Pilot #7), Jamison Yang (F-18 Pilot #1), Nathan Anderson (F-18 Pilot #2), Mark Munafo (F-18 Pilot #3), Dwight Schmidt (F-18 Pilot #4), Dwayne Swingler (Raven Pilot #2), Lawton Paseka (Officer), Greg Collins (Humvee Soldier), James Black (Soldier), Thomas Giuseppe Giantonelli (Soldier), Paul Ware (Soldier), Montae Russell (Soldier on Plane), Christopher Carruthers (Radio Technician #1), Daniel Pearce (Radio Technician #2), Mark Fite (Radio Operator), Craig Castaldo (Radioman), Eric Paskel (Rodgers), Lee Weaver (Homeless Man #1), Leonard Termo (Homeless Man #2), Joshua Taylor (Spotter), Al Sapienza (Taxi Driver), Stoney Westmoreland (Tunnel Guard), Gary Warner (Gun Technician), Ed Wheeler (New York Cop), Bill Hoag (New Jersey Cop), Joseph Badalucco Jr. (Forklift Driver), Jonathan Dienst (Field Reporter #1), Benjamin V. Baird (Field Reporter #6), Madeline McFadden (Reporter #1), Julian M. Phillips (Reporter #2), Raymond Ramos (Reporter #5)

Monster Cast: Godzilla, Baby Godzillas (over 200)

Notes: In fandom, this creature is affectionately known as “GINO,” or “Godzilla In Name Only.” Even though it has been rejected by Toho as part of the official Godzilla continuity, it has been referred to in later Toho films, either in sly remarks or by reproducing some of the visual effects. The monster design makes an appearance in Godzilla: Final Wars and is quickly dispatched by the real Godzilla. Here at theLogBook.com, we debated long into the night whether to include this as part of the episode guide. In the end we chose to do so, since this would be the “elephant in the room” (albeit a large green scaly radioactive elephant) if we did not.

LogBook entry by Robert Parson

Categories
Prequel Trilogy Star Wars

The Phantom Menace

Star WarsThe Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic sends two Jedi Knights, Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi, to the planet Naboo to investigate a distress call indicating an invasion by the Neimoidian Trade Federation. When their diplomatic visit leads them into an ambush, the two Jedi stow away on the Trade Federation’s landing vessels to warn the people of Naboo themselves. The first local they encounter, Gungan misfit Jar Jar Binks, takes them to his undersea home city of Otoh Gunga for safety, but the Gungans quickly turn all three back toward the surface. Just when the Trade Federation’s battle droid army appears to have captured the young Queen Amidala, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan rescue her, convincing her to escape with them to Coruscant, where she can plea for Naboo’s freedom before the Galactic Senate. Amidala reluctantly agrees, but her personal ship is almost destroyed in the escape from Naboo, saved only by the valiant efforts of an astromech droid designated R2-D2. With her ship’s main drive unit in pieces, the Queen agrees to a brief layover on a frontier planet called Tatooine for repairs.

On Tatooine, Qui-Gon and Jar Jar try to find replacement parts, with a royal handmaiden named Padme’ in tow. As Qui-Gon tries to bargain with a no-nonsense parts trader, Padme’ becomes acquainted with a precocious nine-year-old slave boy named Anakin Skywalker. After failing to strike a deal for the parts needed to repair the Queen’s ship, Qui-Gon and his companions move on, but a run-in between Jar Jar and one of the locals reunites them with Anakin. A chance sandstorm forces Qui-Gon’s entourage to take shelter in Anakin’s slave quarters, where he lives with his mother, who is also a servant. Anakin eagerly suggests that Qui-Gon sponsor him in the Boonta Eve pod race, just a day away – a race whose prize money could allow Qui-Gon to buy parts for the Queen’s ship an escapes. Though Anakin’s mother is concerned for her son’s safety, she agrees, and Qui-Gon makes the bet. At the same time, the Jedi Knight suspects that Anakin is very strong with the Force, since no human has the reflexes necessary to race pods.

The hazardous pod race, overseen by Jabba the Hutt, results in the death or disqualification of most of the contestants – except for Anakin and an alien named Sebulba, who has no qualms about cheating. But quick thinking (and, Qui-Gon believes, the Force) not only keeps Anakin in one piece, but he beats the reigning champion. What Anakin does not know is that Qui-Gon had such confidence in his abilities that he added Anakin’s freedom to his bet. But Anakin falters at the thought of leaving Tatooine for a life of adventure when his mother will still be toiling away. Shmi Skywalker assures her son that he will be safe, and encourages him to pursue his dreams. With a new hyperdrive and a new young passenger, Qui-Gon sets out to return to Queen Amidala’s ship – a journey which is abruptly interrupted by a dark warrior who tries to use his considerable Jedi skills to kill Qui-Gon. Barely escaping with his life, Qui-Gon realizes that his attacker could only have been a Sith Lord – the evil opposite number to the valiant ranks of the Jedi, and probably an assassin in search of Queen Amidala.

On Coruscant, Qui-Gon informs the Jedi Council of the murderous Sith, though some of the members insist that the Sith are extinct. He surprises them even more by introducing them to Anakin, whose Force instincts and genetic makeup both prove to be very unique – and potentially very powerful. But the Council members, after testing Anakin’s skills and interviewing him, conclude that the boy is too old and set in his ways. Elsewhere on Coruscant, Queen Amidala’s attempts to bring the pressure of the Senate to bear are thwarted by bureaucracy. Naboo’s Senator Palpatine suggests a vote of no confidence, which is quickly passed, deposing Supreme Chancellor Valorum from leadership of the Senate. Naturally, Palpatine nominates himself as Valorum’s replacement, and the Senate’s sympathy for the plight of Naboo assures his ascension. Queen Amidala vows to return to Naboo to rally her people, calling on Jar Jar to help her make peace with the isolationist Gungans. Qui-Gon (with Anakin in tow) and Obi-Wan accompany the Queen back to Naboo to protect her.

Though Jar Jar has a difficult time convincing his people – now in hiding from the Trade Federation’s battle droids – to help defend Naboo, the Queen puts herself at the Gungans’ mercy. The Gungans commit all of their resources to the battle in an attempt to retake the Queen’s palace, a fight made more difficult by the entrenched army of droids. Anakin is forced to take shelter in a Naboo starfighter, but in trying to protect himself he accidentally launches the ship, hurling himself into the midst of the intense space battle being waged between the Naboo defense force and the Federation’s droid fighters. Darth Maul, the Sith Lord, also reappears, and Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan divert all of their energy and strength to preventing him from assassinating the Queen. The freedom of Naboo depends on the efforts of the Jedi, the determination of Queen Amidala, and the inquisitive Anakin . . . but not all of them will live to see the peace restored.

Order the DVDswritten by George Lucas
directed by George Lucas
music by John Williams

Cast: Liam Neeson (Qui-Gon Jinn), Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Natalie Portman (Queen Amidala/Padmè Naberrie), Jake Lloyd (Anakin Skywalker), Pernilla August (Shmi Skywalker), Frank Oz (Yoda), Ian McDiarmid (Senator Palpatine), Oliver Ford Davies (Sio Bibble), Hugh Quarshie (Captain Panaka), Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks), Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu), Ray Park (Darth Maul), Peter Serafinowicz (voice of Darth Maul), Ralph Brown (Ric Olie), Terence Stamp (Chancellor Valorum), Brian Blessed (Boss Nass), Sofia Coppola (Sachè), Adrian Dunbar (Bail Antilles), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Warwick Davis (Wald), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Silas Carson (Nute Gunray), Dhruv Chanchani (Kitster), Celia Imrie (Bravo Five), Margaret Towner (Jira), Silas Carson (Ki-Adi-Mundi), Oliver Walpole (Seek), Kristina DaSilva (Rabe’), Jerome Blake (Rune Haako), Steven Speirs (Captain Tarpals), Warwick Davis (Spectator), Benedict Taylor (Bravo Two), Greg Proops (Beed), Scott Capurro (Fode), Liz Wilson (Eirtaè), Khan Bonfils (Saesee Tiin), Cin (Adi Gallia), Roman Coppola (Naboo Guard), Michaela Cottrell (Even Piell), Mark Coulier (Aks Moe), John Fensom (TC-3), Ray Griffiths (Sebulba), Warwick Davis (Grimy man), Ray Griffiths (Power Droid), Madison Lloyd (Amee), Lewis Macleod (voice of Sebulba), Geoffrey Pomeroy (General Ceel), Alan Ruscoe (Plo Koon), Hassani Shapi (Eeth Koth), Alan Ruscoe (Bib Fortuna), Christian J. Simpson (Naboo Pilot), Alan Ruscoe (Sil Unch)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 05 Star Trek Voyager

Warhead

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate not given: Harry, in command of Voyager on the graveyard shift, orders a course change to investigate an automated distress signal. Pleased with the ensign’s confidence, Chakotay orders Harry to lead the away mission to find the source of the signal. The signal is being transmitted by an artificial intelligence encased in a metallic shell, and the Doctor is capable of communicating with it. But once the device is thoroughly analyzed aboard Voyager, it is revealed to be an intelligent weapon. An attempt to download the artificial intelligence from the weapon’s casing results in an even worse predicament when the weapon’s intelligence takes over the Doctor’s program. It seals off sick bay with Harry and B’Elanna trapped inside…and the crew’s only hope is to try to reason with the weapon’s intelligence.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Michael Taylor and Kenneth Biller
story by Brannon Braga
directed by John Kretchmer
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: McKenzie Westmore (Ensign Jenkins), Steve Dennis (Alien)

Notes: McKenzie Westmore is the daughter of Oscar-winning makeup artist Michael Westmore, who created the alien prosthetic makeups on Star Trek from the premiere of The Next Generation through the final episode of Enterprise.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor

Loups-Garoux

Loups-GarouxThe TARDIS brings the Doctor and Turlough to Rio de Janeiro in the year 2080, just in time for the carnival. During the festivities, both of the time travelers become aware of another presence that seems out of place – something lurking, waiting patiently in the dark as it has done for centuries – something that will draw them both into the center of a battle for dominion over the human race.

Order this CDwritten by Marc Platt
directed by Nicholas Pegg
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Elanor Bron (Ileana De Santos), Nicky Henson (Pieter Stubbe), Sarah Gale (Rosa Caiman), Jane Burke (Inez), Burt Kwouk (Dr. Hayashi), David Hankinson (Anton Lichtfuss), Derek Wright (Jorge)

Timeline: between Phantasmagoria and Singularity

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 03 Star Trek

Countdown

Star Trek: EnterpriseThe Xindi-Reptilians and Xindi-Insectoids have commandeered the sphere-weapon and abducted Hoshi from the Enterprise by transporter. They can’t arm and launch the huge sphere until they’ve obtained a third launch code from another member of the Xindi Council, but none of the other races are willing to step forward in support of the frontal assault on Earth. In fact, Archer is negotiating with the Xindi-Aquatics, the most powerful of the Xindi species opposing the war, to help him launch an attack to destroy the weapon before it can be launched. Archer correctly assumes that during his meetings with the Council, Hoshi impressed the Reptilian commander with her linguistic abilities – and he hopes to harness her gifts to crack the remaining launch code for the weapon.

Major Hayes and his MACO commandos launch a desperate mission to recover Hoshi, with an all-out attack by the Enterprise and the other Xindi races as a cover. The Sphere Builders, furious that events are turning the timelines toward their own extinction at the hands of a combined human/Xindi force, intervene and give the Reptilians and Insectoids the means to launch the weapon. Hoshi is rescued and returned to the Enterprise, critically injured by repeated injections of neural parasites to wear down her resistance to the Xindi, but Major Hayes perishes in the rescue operation. The Weapon launches toward Earth at a speed greater than the damaged Enterprise can hope to reach. Archer enlists Reed and several of the remaining MACOs to take on a mission to intercept the sphere in Degra’s fast but vulnerable ship, hoping to stop the sphere by any means necessary, also bringing Hoshi with him over Dr. Phlox’s dire protests. Trip and T’Pol are left in command of the Enterprise, which will remain behind to destroy the network of other spheres that still controls the Expanse.

Time to the sphere’s arrival at Earth: 10 hours.

Order DVDswritten by Andrè Bormanis & Chris Black
directed by Robert Duncan McNeill
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Steven Culp (Major Hayes), Scott MacDonald (Reptilian Commander), Rick Worthy (Xindi-Arboreal), Tucker Smallwood (Xindi-Humanoid), Randy Oglesby (Degra), Josette DiCarlo (Sphere-Builder Woman), Bruce Thomas (Reptilian Soldier), Andrew Borba (Reptilian Lieutenant), Mary Mara (Sphere-Builder Presage), Ruth Williamson (Sphere-Builder Primary), Paul Dean (Reptilian Technician)

Note: This episode won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series in 2004.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Doctor Who New Series Season 03

42

Doctor WhoThe Doctor is modifying Martha’s cell phone for “universal roaming” when the TARDIS suddenly picks up a distress signal. The call for help comes from the cargo ship Pentallian, whose engines have just died, sending it on a slow but fatal trajectory straight into the sun. The moment the Doctor and Martha announce their presence, pressure doors seal them off from the TARDIS – and when the Doctor tries to open the door to evacuate everyone with his timeship, he learns that the temperature in that area has risen dramatically. The ship’s auxiliary engines are controlled on the other side of the ship, and a crew member is suffering from an unknown infection. Martha and one of the remaining crew go to try to reach the backup engines, while the Doctor tries to get the main engines restarted, but the ill crew member soon proves to be even more important. Though heavily sedated, he proceeds to get up and utters the phrase “burn with me” over and over just before vaporizing the ship’s doctor. He continues to pick off the crew one by one, leaving them with little chance of escaping their fiery fate – and before long, he’s not the only one saying “burn with me.”

Download this episodewritten by Chris Chibnall
directed by Graeme Harper
music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: Michelle Collins (Kath McDonnell), Adjoa Andoh (Francine Jones), William Ash (Riley Vashtee), Anthony Flanagan (Orin Scannell), Matthew Chambers (Hal Korwin), Gary Powell (Dev Ashton), Vinette Robinson (Abi Lerner), Rebecca Oldfield (Erina Lessak), Elize Du Toit (Sinister Woman)

Notes: The fourth Doctor once mentioned a “Pentallian drive” in the story Revenge Of The Cybermen; it may or may not have been related to the ship of the same name, which was set further in the future than 42.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green