Day: July 10, 1987

Categories
1980s Season 2 Twilight Zone

Time And Teresa Golowitz / Voices In The Earth

The Twilight ZoneTime And Teresa Golowitz: Uninspired Broadway songwriter Bluestone has a visitor who identifies himself only as Prince…and Prince points out that Bluestone is actually lying on the floor dead, rather than his spirit, which is still sitting at the piano. Offered one visit to any event or place in time or space before judgement is passed on him, Bluestone opts to go back to 1948, a party in his senior year of high school, where he hopes to convince his high school crush to sleep with him. Unimpressed, Prince grants the request, but when he arrives in 1948, Bluestone is fixated on another classmate: a shy, awkward girl whose fate he doesn’t remember. When Prince reminds him that this night, this party, convinced Teresa Golowitz to end her own life, Bluestone decides to change his plans for the evening, along with history…whether that pleases any higher powers or not.

teleplay by Alan Brennert
based on the short story by Parke Godwin
directed by Shelley Levinson
music by William Goldstein

Twilight ZoneCast: Gene Barry (Prince), Grant Heslov (Blaustein), Kristi Lynes (Teresa Golowitz), Paul Sand (Bluestone), Gina Gershon (Laura), Beau Dremann (Bob), Heather Haase (Mary Ellen Cosgrove), Wally Ward (Nelson Baxley), J.D. Roth (Boy at Party), Laurel Green (Girl at Party)

Voices In The Earth: An aging academic heads up the last scientific expedition to the ecologically ruined, abandoned planet Earth before the planet is scheduled to be strip-mined to its core. Unsure of precisely what it is he seeks, he explores abandoned structures on foot and keeps encountering glowing people who appear to be from the past, people who implore him to join them. They claim to be the spirits of the last Earth-born humans, the ones who were left on the planet while those who had the means to do so fled into space…and they need a host body to avoid being destroyed with what’s left of Earth.

Twilight Zonewritten by Alan Brennert
directed by Curtis Harrington
music by William Goldstein

Cast: Martin Balsam (Professor Donald Knowles), Jenny Agutter (Jacinda Carlyle), Wortham Krimmer (Leader), Tim Russ (Archer), Dennis Haskins (Bledsoe), Ted Lehmann (Old Man), Eve Brenner (Old Woman), Sandra Ganzer (Girl), C’Esca Lawrence (Young Woman), Christopher Lofton (Middle-Aged Man)

Notes: The short story on which Time And Teresa Golowitz was based, “Influencing The Hell Out Of Time And Teresa Golowitz”, appeared in January 1982’s Twilight Zone Magazine; that segment features early career appearances for Gina Gershon and Grant Heslov (Hulu’s Catch-22). The second segment is packed with genre fan favorites, including Martin Balsam (The Six Million Dollar Man), Jenny Agutter (Logan’s Run, Red Dwarf), Tim Russ (Star Trek: Voyager), and Wortham Krimmer (Babylon 5), along with future Saved By The Bell star Dennis Haskins.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 4 (1987-1988) Tales From The Darkside

Hush

Tales From The DarksideBuddy, an asthmatic boy stuck at home with this babysitter, Jennifer, while his mother goes out, invents things in what used to be his father’s workshop. Most of them are toys made out of found items around the house, but Buddy’s latest is his attempt to finish something that his father had started – a “noise-eater” which, with its ghastly and organic-looking mouth-stalk, sucks the “noise” out of anything that’s making noise…but what it’s actually doing is draining the energy from whatever is making sound. To Buddy and Jennifer’s horror, that includes a caged bird kept by Buddy’s mom: the noise-eater can drain the life out of living things too. Now they have to figure out how to escape the house and trap the noise-eater inside…and the biggest obstacle to that seemingly simple goal is Buddy’s persistent cough.

teleplay by John Sutherland
based on a story by Zenna Henderson
directed by Allen Coulter
music by Pat Irwin

Tales From The DarksideCast: Nile Lanning (Jennifer), Eric Jason (Buddy), Bonnie Gallup (Beth), Paul Sparer (Narrator)

Notes: Director Allen Coulter would go on to direct numerous television projects, as well as the movies Hollywoodland and Rememeber Me. John Sutherland is a pseudonym for writer/director/composer John Harrison, who wrote (and directed) numerous other Tales From The Darkside installments, as well as going on to adapt and direct Frank Herbert’s Dune in miniseries form for the Sci-Fi Channel in 2000.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 02 Star Trek The Next Generation

Peak Performance

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 42923.4: The Enterprise undertakes Federation-mandated wargames, as Zacdorn tactical observer Sima Kolrami observes and, more often, pesters the crew. Picard is pitted against Riker in a maneuver that is harmless until a Ferengi attack puts the crew of the Enterprise and the Hathaway, Riker’s vessel in a no-win situation – to which Riker has the key.

Order the DVDswritten by David Kemper
directed by Robert Scheerer
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), Roy Brocksmith (Sirna Kolrami), Armin Shimerman (DaiMon Bractor), David L. Lander (Ferengi First Officer), Leslie Neale (Ensign Nagel), Glenn Morshower (Ensign Burke)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 02 SG-1 Stargate

Prisoners

Stargate SG-1SG-1 is about to finish their survey of a jungle-like world when a disheveled man emerges from the forest, warning of the coming of Taldor. Moments later, the team – and their new acquaintance – are snatched away by a blinding beam of light. The voice of Taldor speaks, sentencing O’Neill and his teammates to life imprisonment on a distant world. When they arrive, the almost all-male population of the prison makes a beeline for Carter, until an older woman intervenes and declares Carter “off-limits” – and the men seem to heed her warning. O’Neill and Carter begin discussing an escape plan with the woman, but it’ll be quite a feat to engineer an escape through a stargate that has no dial-home device. But even if SG-1 can pull it off, the question remains: why was their co-conspirator imprisoned on this world, and what will happen if they free her?

Order the DVDswritten by Terry Curtis Fox
directed by David Warry-Smith
music by Joel Goldsmith, Richard Band and Kevin Kiner

Guest Cast: Bonnie Bartlett (Linea), Laara Sadiq (Technician), Mark Acheson (Vishnoor), David Bloom (Scavenger), Kim Kondrashoff (Roshure), Colin Lawrence (Major Warren), Michael Puttonen (Simian), Andrew Wheeler (Stan Kovacek), Colleen Winton (Dr. Greene)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 1 Witchblade

Legion

WitchbladeAn elderly Catholic priest is murdered in his own church, and a suspect is immediately captured – a mentally ill man named Edward Nolan who had frequently sought absolution by confession to the deceased priest. Two other priests admit that Nolan may, in fact, be possessed by Satan – but Pezzini doesn’t buy it. When Danny appears to her to offer advice, Pez asks him to put her in touch with the murdered priest – but this deposition from beyond the grave leads her to answers more terrifying than she could have imagined. There is a strong possibility that the Catholic Church may have its own agenda where the Witchblade is concerned – and so too may the devil himself.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Richard C. Okie
story by Ralph Hemecker & Richard C. Okie
directed by Neill Fearnley
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Roger Daltrey (Father Del Toro), Nestor Serrano (Captain Dante), Kim De Lury (Conchobar), Paul Robbins (Father Petrozzi), David Hemblen (Monsignor Bellamy), Sandrine Holt (Newscaster), Martin Samuel (?), Jessica Booker (Old woman), Jamie Robinson (?), Noah Dianev (?), Neill Fearnley (Desk officer) and Lazar

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Eureka Season 2

Phoenix Rising

  • By Dave
  • July 10, 2007

Eureka A month after the accident that killed Kim, Henry is still reliving it in holographic form. Carter reaches out, suggesting that the two of them help each other deal with their situation. But Henry keeps insisting that events will keep diverging further and further from the timelines they remember. Case in point: at a festival celebrating a solar eclipse, Kevin’s occupational therapist bursts into flames. Two Global Dynamics researchers suffer the same fate, and Carter tries to piece together the link between them while also dealing with the conflict between his memories and this new timeline. Another major shift occurs when Allison – not Henry – is placed in charge of Global Dynamics after Stark is removed. Carter realizes that all three victims were near the lab with the artifact when Kim died, which makes him wonder if Henry is responsible – and if Stark is next.

Season 2 Regular Cast: Colin Ferguson (Sheriff Jack Carter), Salli Richardson (Allison Blake), Joe Morton (Henry Deacon), Jordan Hinson (Zoe Carter), Ed Quinn (Nathan Stark), Erica Serra (Jo Lupo), Neil Grayston (Douglas Fargo)

Order the DVDswritten by Jaime Paglia
directed by Michael Rohl
music by Bear McCreary
main title theme by Mark Mothersbaugh

Guest Cast: Debrah Farentino (Beverly Barlowe), Matt Frewer (Taggart), Tamlyn Tomita (Kim), Christopher Gauthier (Vincent), Meshach Peters (Kevin), Garwin Sanford (Congressman Faraday)

Notes: Congressman Faraday appeared in season 1’s Alienated. Henry traveled back in time to prevent Kim’s death, and Carter traveled back to stop him, in the season 1 finale Once in a Lifetime.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Categories
Season 3 Torchwood

Children Of Earth: Day Five

TorchwoodTorchwood has been defeated, and Ianto has paid the price with his life. Jack bargains for the release of his daughter and grandson, as well as Gwen, who is reunited with Rhys and goes to inform Ianto’s family of his death – and to warn them to take their children to safety. Despite the Prime Minister’s assurances that children should return to school – in reality, a ploy to herd them together so the military can deliver them to the 456 – many families, including Ianto’s, have kept their children home. The military steps up its use of force, and any remaining pretense of civility crumbles as parents step forward to protect their children; Gwen and Rhys are on the run again. Having been informed that his children will join those being sacrificed as a publicity move to show that even high-level officials are suffering, Frobisher leaves Whitehall, goes home, murders his own family and commits suicide. Having witnessed enough of Whitehall’s dealings with the 456, the government strike team tasked with hunting down Torchwood instead springs Jack from prison to see if he can save the world yet again. Mr. Dekker and his equipment are rounded up and brought in to help Jack, but they can only reach one conclusion: one terrible sacrifice will have to be made, one child’s life to save the rest of the world’s children – and after making that call, Jack decides he’s had enough of Torchwood and enough of Earth.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by Euros Lyn
music by Ben Foster

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Peter Capaldi (John Frobisher), Nicholas Farrell (Brian Green), Susan Brown (Bridget Spears), Lucy Cohu (Alice Carter), Ian Gelder (Mr. Dekker), Cush Jumbo (Lois Habiba), Liz May Brice (Johnson), Colin McFarlane (General Pierce), Deborah Finlay (Denise Riley), Charles Abomeli (Colonel Oduya), Katy Wix (Rhiannon Davies), Rhodri Lewis (Johnny Davies), Hillary Maclean (Anna Frobisher), Luke Perry (David Davies), Aimee Davies (Mica Davies), Bear McCausland (Steven Carter), Julia Joyce (Holly Frobisher), Madeleine Rakic-Platt (Lilly Frobisher), Simon Poland (456 voice), Lorna Bennett (Female Teacher), Louise Minchin (Newsreader), Rhiannon Oliver (Mum)

Notes: If one counts Harold Saxon (in reality the Master) and presumes that his brief stint in office directly followed that of Harriet Jones (former MP for Flydale North), then assuming that Brian Green does step down following this story (and assuming that he took office after Saxon), three successive Prime Ministers have fallen in the Doctor Who/Torchwood universe.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Persuasion

Doctor WhoUNIT scientific advisor Elizabeth Klein is discussing work performance issues with her recently-hired assistant, Will Arrowsmith, when the dreaded “Umbrella Man” is sighted nearby. Klein orders Will to stay put while she tries to follow the Doctor to ask him why he’s there; Will, naturally, follows them both right into the TARDIS, which then proceeds to take off. It lands in postwar Germany, where something decidedly strange is happening. A couple speaking entirely in couplets seems to have the nearby village in their thrall, while a man named Schalk, the developer of a prototype mind-control device called the Persuasion Machine, hides out among the locals hoping to escape the notice of anyone who would wish him to build such a device for them; sure enough, a spacecraft does turn up looking for him, as does the Doctor, who is aware of Schalk’s past as a wanted war criminal. The Persuasion machine could conceivably end free will throughout the universe, and more than one party would do nearly anything to claim either the machine or its inventor. The Doctor must be prepared to be even more ruthless, and this, he reveals, is why he has brought Klein with him.

Order this CDwritten by Jonathan Barnes
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Tracey Childs (Elizabeth Klein), Christian Edwards (Will Arrowsmith), David Sibley (Kurt Schalk), Jonathan Forbes (Lukas Hinterberger), Paul Chahidi (Shepherd / Bondsman Tango-Veldt), Miranda Raison (Shepherdess / Acquisitor Prime), Gemma Whelan (Casta / The Sylph / Khlecht)

Timeline: after UNIT: Dominion and before Starlight Robbery; the Doctor seems to be aware that he will regenerate soon, so probably not long before the 1996 TV movie for the Doctor.

Notes: Apparently Klein has finally convinced UNIT to hire an assistant for her (UNIT: Dominion). Persuasion‘s opening scenes with Klein and Will are said to take place in 1990.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green