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Batman Movies (Adam West)

Batman

BatmanThe disappearance of an eccentric admiral and his light-bending invention is reason enough for Commissioner Gordon to send up the Batsignal. Batman and Robin board the Batcopter to chase the admiral’s missing boat, only to watch it disappear from the water. One exploding shark later, clues begin piling up to an unholy alliance between Batman’s greatest foes: the Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin, and Catwoman are working together. Barely together, at any rate – their partnership is a fragile and fractious one, each one jockeying for the right to boast that he or she wiped out Batman. Catwoman’s plan is put into action: she will pose as Russian reporter Miss Kitka and catch the eye of millionaire Bruce Wayne, who will then be kidnapped by the villains and held hostage until Batman comes to his rescue. Bruce, of course, is all too aware that Batman won’t be saving him, and has to engineer his own escape. Unaware that Miss Kitka is Catwoman, Batman and Robin return to the scene of the crime to save her, only to find another trap. While the Dynamic Duo is kept busy by this double-cross, the quartet of criminal masterminds hatches a plan to capture the leading diplomats of the world’s most powerful nations, plunging the world into chaos and allowing them to seize control…unless, of course, Batman and Robin throw a dash of cold water on their scheme.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Lorenzo Semple Jr.
directed by Leslie H. Martinson
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti

BatmanCast: Adam West (Batman / Bruce Wayne), Burt Ward (Robin / Dick Grayson), Lee Meriwether (Catwoman / Kitka), Cesar Romero (The Joker), Burgess Meredith (The Penguin), Frank Gorshin (The Riddler), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Aunt Harriet Cooper), Reginald Denny (Admiral Schmidlapp), Milton Frome (Vice Admiral Fangschliester), Gil Perkins (Bluebeard), Dick Crockett (Morgan), George Sawaya (Quetch)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 1 Tomorrow People

The Vanishing Earth – Part 4

Tomorrow PeopleSpidron and Steen confront each other, though Spidron seems to make a quick getaway – if, indeed, he was ever there and not appearing in holographic form. John and the Tomorrow People ask Steen, a law enforcement officer for a galactic federation, for help in either saving Earth or evacuating some of its people to another suitable planet. Steen reveals that, with Earth’s primitive state of development, it’s not an important enough planet to merit such extraordinary measures. John, Carol and the others take it upon themselves to prove otherwise by trying to stop Spidron with all of the powers at their disposal.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Brian Finch and Roger Price
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Sammie Winmill (Carol), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen), Stephen Salmon (Kenny), Kenneth Farrington (Smithers), Michael Standing (Ginge), Derek Crewe (Lefty), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Kevin Stoney (Steen), John Woodnutt (Spidron), Nova Llewellyn (Joy)

Tomorrow PeopleNotes: This is the final appearance of either Carol or Kenny in the series; both actors elected to move on after the first season was produced, leaving no time for a formal farewell scene to be written. The first episode of the second season would provide an explanation for their departure while introducing new cast members.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 03 SG-1 Stargate

Point Of View

Stargate SG-1In the Area 51 holding area at Nellis AFB, two people emerge from the mirror device that one transported Daniel to an alternate reality, and are promptly taken into custody by the guards there. They’re brought to Cheyenne Mountain, where everyone recognizes them as Samantha Carter and Major Kawalsky. But in the reality from which they come, not only did Carter never join the Air Force, but Earth has been overrun by the Goa’uld. In the alternate reality, Dr. Samantha Carter was married to O’Neill, who died in the Goa’uld attack on the mountain – and no one from the alternate reality has ever heard of the Asgard. Worse yet, something begins to happen to the alternate Carter as she spends more time in the SGC, and it may be linked to the presence of two Carters in the same reality. A plan is formulated to return Dr. Carter and Major Kawalsky back to their reality, along with some additional firepower from the SGC – and a way to contact the Asgard. First, however, Apophis and his deadly first prime, Teal’c, will have to be overthrown.

Order the DVDsstory by Jonathan Glassner & Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper and Tor Alexander Valenza
teleplay by Jonathan Glassner & Brad Wright
directed by Peter DeLuise
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Jay Acovone (Major Kawalsky), Peter Williams (Apophis), Teryl Rothery (Dr. Fraiser), Ty Olsson (Jaffa #1), Shawn Reis (Jaffa #2), Tracy Westerholm (SF Guard)

Notes: The mirror device was first seen in the first season episode There But For The Grace Of God.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Farscape Season 1

Jeremiah Crichton

FarscapeA frustrated Crichton takes the Farscape One module out for a drive to blow off steam – just as Moya’s pregnancy triggers an unexpected StarBurst that leaves him stranded. He makes his way to the planet Acquara, whose natives remain in a primitive state since something on the planet quickly drains all artificial power sources. He strikes up a friendship with the natives, although a few Acquarans fear that he is a threat to their ambitions. At D’Argo and Aeryn’s insistence, the crew of Moya spends months searching for Crichton. But when they find him, the Acquarans mistake Rygel for a long-awaited deity. Rygel realizes that the Acquarans were once Hynerian subjects – but can he make them understand the truth before they are all executed as religious imposters?

Order the DVDswritten by Doug Heyes, Jr.
directed by Ian Watson
music by Subvision

Guest Cast: Natalie Mendoza (Lishala), Kevin Copeland (Rokon), John O’Brien (Kato-Re), Deni Gordon (Neera), Tania Mustapic (Maid)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Season 1 Stargate Stargate Atlantis

Thirty-Eight Minutes

Stargate AtlantisA recon mission to a Wraith-occupied planet ends with Sheppard’s team under fire, their puddle jumper damaged, and Sheppard himself out of commission with a parasitic alien insect attached to his neck. Lt. Ford winds up with his first, and very nervous command, and keeps it simple by simply trying to get back to Atlantis. But one of the jumper’s engine pods, damaged in the fight, doesn’t retract completely, leaving the ship stuck halfway in and halfway out of the stargate. It’s a situation that McKay, stuck in the rear compartment of the jumper with Teyla, Ford and Sheppard, knows all too well from one of his collaborations with SG-1: if the entire jumper doesn’t go through the gate, the gate will close in 38 minutes, shearing off the forward compartment (and killing the two pilots), and exposing the rest of the jumper to hard vacuum. McKay tries to work out a solution while the brightest minds on Atlantis try to come up with ideas on their end, but even if they can figure out a way to nudge the jumper through the gate, for Sheppard it may only mean the difference between dying at Atlantis or dying in deep space as the parasite digs in.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Brad Wright
directed by Mario Azzopardi
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Paul McGillion (Dr. Beckett), Craig Veroni (Grodin), Christopher Heyerdahl (Hallan), Ben Cotton (Dr. Kavanagh), Fiona Hogan (Simpson), Joseph May (Sgt. Markham), Boyan Vukelic (Sgt. Stackhouse), Edmond Wong (Technician)

Notes: The 38-minute theoretical limit on an open stargate’s wormhole was established in the second season of Stargate SG-1 in A Matter Of Time. However, as worried as McKay was about this time limit, it was exceeded both in A Matter Of Time and in the SG-1 sixth season premiere, Reckoning.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Sisters Of The Flame

Doctor Who: Sisters Of The FlameAfter a near-miss with the TIme Lords’ time scoop in the vortex, the TARDIS materializes in the cargo hold of a space freighter. The Doctor and Lucie are immediately ambushed the moment they set foot on the ship; Lucie awakens in a prison cell, with no idea who took the Doctor or where he was taken, and is questioned by a large, centipede-like police officer named Rosto, who doesn’t seem inclined to believe a word she says. Straxus appears, asks Lucie about the Doctor’s whereabouts, and then infuriates her by leaving her stranded in Rosto’s custody. A woman appears and attempts to kidnap Lucie, but when her cover story slips, Rosto comes to the rescue. Lucie’s would-be kidnapper vanishes into thin air, but not before Rosto identifies her as the leader of the raiding party that took the Doctor. Rosto and Lucie follow the clues and discover that the woman was a member of an obscure mystic sect called the Sisterhood of Karn. Rosto and Lucie travel to Karn, hoping that they’ll find the Doctor there, unaware that a much larger crisis looms, endangering the whole universe.

Order this CDwritten by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Kenneth Colley (Zarodnix), Alexander Siddig (Rosto), Nickolas Grace (Straxus), Barry McCarthy (Bulek / Eurelz Captain), Nicola Weeks (Haspira / Trell), Katarina Olsson (Orthena / Trell), Barnaby Edwards (Galactinet)

Notes: The Sisterhood of Karn was last encountered in 1976’s The Brain Of Morbius, where they helped and hindered the Doctor in his fourth incarnation as he battled the revived Time Lord dictator, Morbius. Guest star Alexander Siddig is practically a household name among science fiction fans, having co-starred as Dr. Julian Bashir in all seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; after returning to Britain from America, Siddig (the stage name of Siddig El Fadil) has returned to theater and TV work.

Timeline: after The Zygon Who Fell To Earth and before The Vengeance Of Morbius

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Review: In the tradition of the new TV series, the eighth Doctor / Lucie audio adventures here begin the build-up to an epic end-of-season adventure. With this second “season” having been released directly to CD before being licensed to BBC7 for radio broadcast, Big Finish had a somewhat freer hand in deciding which classic series villains to revive (the first “season” commissioned by BBC Radio stuck with the somewhat obvious Daleks and Cybermen).

Categories
8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Company Of Friends

Doctor Who: The Company Of FriendsVarious companions of the Doctor recount their adventures with him. Professor Bernice Summerfield recalls her second adventure with the Doctor’s eighth incarnation, while the redoubtable (and irrepressible) Fitz Kreiner looks back on an adventure in which he had to become the hero of the hour. Comic-collecting companion Izzy tries to use time travel to add an elusive back issue to her comic collection, with disastrous results, and finally, much later in his own timeline, a grievously wounded Doctor arrives on the doorstep of an august gathering of 19th century literary luminaries. But since many of them are noted for writing early horror fiction, will they nurse him back to health… or consider him a freak upon whom to run their own macabre experiments?

Order this CDBenny’s Story written by Lance Parkin
Fitz’s Story written by Stephen Cole
Izzy’s Story written by Alan Barnes
Mary’s Story written by Jonathan Morris
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Matthew Cochrane

Benny’s Story Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield), Richard Earl (Klarner), Su Douglas (Venhella)

Fitz’s Story Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Matt di Angelo (Fitz Kreiner), Fenella Woolgar (Commander Hellan Femor), Paul Thornley (Michael Rond), Su Douglas (Gem Weston)

Izzy’s Story Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Jemima Rooper (Izzy), Steve Hansell (Grubb / The Man), Teddy Kempner (Grakk / Clerkie / Camp Robot), Anthony Glennon (Courtmaster Cruel), Robert Forknall (Foreman), Katrina Cooke (Juror), Robert Forknall (Suit), Ian Hallard (Suit), Ian Hallard (Captain Cannibal)

Mary’s Story Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Julie Cox (Mary Shelley), Anthony Glennon (Percy Shelley), Robert Forknall (Lord Byron), Ian Hallard (John Polidori), Katrina Cooke (Claire Clairmont)

Notes: Company Of Friends is a quartet of individual, self-contained stories, the first three of which feature companions originated in other media. Bernice Summerfield was, of course, the first print-only companion, introduced in Virgin Publishing’s New Adventures novels in 1992; her only prior encounter with the eighth Doctor was in 1997’s novel “The Dying Days”. Fitz Kreiner was the Doctor’s companion for much of the BBC Books eighth Doctor range, while Izzy traveled with the eighth Doctor in Doctor Who Magazine’s monthly comics. References to Mary Shelley have been peppered through numerous eighth Doctor audio stories.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Robophobia

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, traveling alone in his TARDIS (which seems to have darkened from blue to black), arrives on a ship bound for the planet Ventaris, carrying a cargo of tens of thousands of robots. His arrival coincides with the beginning of a series of murders, of which he naturally becomes the chief suspect while trying to help the crew. The bodies keep piling up until the ship’s small crew is outnumbered by prematurely activated robots. Ever polite, the robots obliviously try to help the human crew, until a robot is exposed as the killer – and is then exposed to be a killer of a different kind. Now the ship is on a collision course for a heavily populated planet, and if it collides, the robots will be held responsible and others of their kind will be deactivated en masse, unless the Doctor can convince the real murderer to reveal what has driven him to these depths.

Order this CDwritten by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Jamie Robertson

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Nicola Walker (Liv Chenka), Toby Hadoke (Farel), William Hazell (Bas Pellico), Nicholas Pegg (Selerat), Dan Starkey (Cravnet), Matt Addis (Tal Karus), John Dorney (Leebar / Computer Voice)

Notes: Robophobia happens within months of the robot incident aboard the Sandminer (The Robots Of Death), which has apparently been swept under the rug. Robophobia sems to steer clear of most of the elements of the spinoff audio series Kaldor City, which was not produced by Big Finish but did have the blessing of Robots Of Death author Chris Boucher. Dan Starkey, the actor behind the Sontaran mask of the eleventh Doctor’s ally Strax, plays Cravanet here. Medtech Liv Chenka resurfaces alongside the eighth Doctor in the Dark Eyes 2 box set (2014).

Timeline: after Lurkers At Sunlight’s Edge and before Project: Nirvana and Black And White; possibly simultaneous with Protect And Survive

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films Star Trek: Axanar

Prelude To Axanar

Starship Farragut

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate 2241.03: Decades of long-simmering tensions between the Klingon Empire and the young United Federation of Planets explode into war when the Klingons attack the colonized Arcanis system, on the border between Federation and Klingon space. With Starfleet spread thin as the Federation expands, Arcanis falls quickly to the Klingons’ might, and the taste of fresh victory spurs to Klingons to continue their advance into Fedeation space. With the promotion of Admiral Ramirez to lead Starfleet, development begins on a new class of Starfleet vessel capable of meeting the Klingons on an equal footing. Captain Kevlar Garth and Captain Sonya Alexander are among the sharp tacticians who begin to turn the tide against the Klingons, handing them their first defeats.

Watch Itwritten by Alec Peters & Christian Gossett
directed by Christian Gossett
music by Alexander Bornstein

Cast: Richard Hatch (Commander Kharn), Tony Todd (Admiral Ramirez), Kate Vernon (Captain Alexander), J.G. Hertzler (Admiral Travis), Ambassador Soval (Gary Graham), Alec Peters (Captain Garth), Orion Acaba (Narrator), Steven Jepson (Admiral Slater)

Prelude To AxanarNotes: Tony Todd appeared as Worf’s brother, Kurn, in several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Though often remembered as Ellen Tigh in the 21st century reboot of Battlestar Galactica, Kate Vernon has also appeared in Star Trek (namely, the In The Flesh episode of Voyager). J.G. Hertzler was a recurring guest star in Deep Space Nine’s fourth through seventh seasons as the Klingon General Martok, while former Alien Nation star Gary Graham appeared in many episodes of Enterprise as Ambassador Soval. Richard Hatch was Apollo in the original 1970s iteration of Battlestar Galactica, while narrator Orion Acaba is the voice of Clyde in Pac-Man And The Ghostly Adventures.

Prelude To AxanarGarth of Izar was seen in the classic Star Trek episode Whom Gods Destroy, many years after the events of this story, by which point he had gone mad, gone rogue, and has been given shapeshifting ability; his historic feats at the battle of Axanar are briefly mentioned in that episode. This “historical film” is narrated by “John Gill”, a Federation historian who himself went rogue, also encountered by Captain Kirk and company in Patterns Of Force. The Four Years War between the Federation and the Klingons, the Arcanis surprise attack, and Garth’s command of the Marklin-class U.S.S. Xenophon, are lifted directly from the Four Years War expansion module of FASA’s 1980s Star Trek Role Playing Game; other characters, ships and locations are new creations. Co-writer and co-star Alec Peters has worked on Star Trek in an official capacity for CBS, overseeing the auctions of props, models and costumes from all of the television series following the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise; as head of his own company, he was instrumental in recovering the original ’60s Galileo shuttlecraft prop and arranging for its restoration, after which the prop “landed” at the visitor center at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Director and co-writer Christian Gossett is a well-regarded comic writer and artist, known for creating the military-sci-fi-with-magic comic The Red Star. His media credits include work on the 2005 King Kong remake, the screenplay for the video game Pitfall 3-D: Beyond The Jungle, and concept art for Star Wars Episode I and Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland.