Day: August 5, 1986

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Max Headroom Series 2 (UK)

Episode 8

The Max Headroom ShowMax gets the end of the show out of the way first before bestowing a generous, if somewhat mismatched, dinner upon a member of his audience. He then admires the animal kingdom’s ability to go about its business without human justifications for behavior, and then proceeds to compare playing music videos to an addiction. Max celebrates all things French – including, but not limited to, odors – before interviewing Vidal Sassoon. Max melts down when he discovers that the world-famous stylist would rather discuss dying (hair) than the game of golf.

written by Paul Owen & David Hansen
with additional material by Matt Frewer
directed by David G. Hillier
music by Matt Forrest and Art Of Noise

The Max Headroom ShowCast: Matt Frewer (Max Headroom), Vidal Sassoon (himself)

Videos: “I Spy” (The Untouchables), “Headbutts” (John Otway & Willy Barrett), “Swords of 1000 Men” (Tenpole Tudor), “Shimmy & Shake” (Ledernacken)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Witchblade

Veritas

WitchbladeTwo armed men ruthlessly hunt down a middle-aged man, catching up with him just after he reads a series of numbers over a cell phone and killing him. But this killing is out of the ordinary in many ways – the victim, William Ticknor, is a former intelligence expert for the U.S. government, and the last person he called, the person to whom he read the numbers, turns out to be Gabriel Bowman, Pezzini’s internet entrepreneur friend who specializes in objects of mystical significance. Pezzini, having recently had a cryptic conversation with the spirit of President Kennedy, is already aware that this case may be deeper and darker than even her partners suspect. Gabriel knew Ticknor, and had a business arrangement with him, but didn’t know exactly what Ticknor would be bringing him. He deciphers the numbers – exact latitude and longitude – and meets Pezzini there, only to find that it’s the exact spot where Ticknor was gunned down. Pezzini finds something taped to the bottom of a park bench, but soon she and Gabriel are being pursued by the same killers who murdered Ticknor. She kills one of them and then goes into hiding with Gabriel. Ticknor’s mystery package is a roll of undeveloped 8mm film of a kind that hasn’t been made for over 20 years, but Pezzini can’t show her face long enough to get it developed – she and Gabriel are wanted by the FBI for the murder of a federal agent. In the meantime, Danny Woo is trying to help Sara stay underground, but he’s growing increasingly suspicious of Jake McCarty’s cozy relationship with the FBI agents working the case.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Jorge Zamacona
directed by Paul Abascal
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Victor Slezak (William Ticknor), Kathryn Winslow (Vicki), Jeff Seymour (Agent Arness), John Bourgeois (President John F. Kennedy), Dean Hagopian (Agent Terrell), Sam Moses (Agent Spector), Patrick Garrow (Vic), and Lazar

Notes: Elements of this episode are based upon former New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison’s theory on motives that the U.S. intelligence community might have had for killing President Kennedy in 1963; these theories were later turned into a movie, Oliver Stone’s JFK, but are best summed up in Garrison’s own book, On The Trail Of The Assassins (1988). Garrison’s theory, however, overlooks the role of Vorschlaag Industries in the Kennedy assassination…

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 09 SG-1 Stargate

The Ties That Bind

  • By Dave
  • August 5, 2005

Stargate SG-1Daniel sees Vala off from Stargate Command, relieved to be rid of a perpetual distraction. When he collapses soon after, Dr. Lam theorizes that he and Vala are still linked. With Dr. Lee unable to find a way to dissolve the bond, Daniel and Mitchell turn to Arlos Kadavam, the scientist from whom Vala originally stole the bracelets. He theorizes that a massive energy surge might have caused the link to persist even without the bracelets – such as that caused by the Ancient communications device. But he will only help break the link if Vala returns another item he stole – his mother’s necklace.

So begins a sequence of escalating deals. To get the necklace, Vala must return a power coil. To get the power coil, she must return a cargo vessel. To get the cargo vessel might be a bit trickier, as it’s in the hands of the Lucian Alliance, a group of smugglers attempting to make themselves a force to be reckoned with in the post-Goa’uld galaxy. Since Daniel and Vala ruined one deal with them, they’re not very likely to cooperate. In fact, they very much want Vala dead. And Gen. Landry is not inclined to provoke any kind of confrontation.

That is, until Vala sabotages a meeting with the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman that already wasn’t going well. With the Goa’uld and the Replicators no longer a threat, with the need to construct more ships like the Daedalus, and with the international community placing its full emphasis and backing on the civilian-led multinational Atlantis project, Stargate Command faces serious budget cuts and a curtailment of its exploration efforts. Frustrated by Vala’s impolitic comments, Landry permits Mitchell, Daniel, and a visiting Teal’c to try and steal the cargo ship right out from under the Alliance by offering them what they want – Daniel and Vala. It’s a plan just crazy enough to work – but will it get them the information they need?

Order the DVDswritten by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
directed by Will Waring
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Claudia Black (Vala), Bill Dow (Dr. Lee), Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Wallace Shawn (Arlos), Malcolm Scott (Caius), Michael P. Northey (Inago), Geoff Redknap (Jup), Eileen Peddy (Maj. Gibson), Bruce Gray (Sen. Fisher), Morris Chapdelaine (Tenat), Darren Moore (Vosh)

Notes: The prior deal with the Lucian Alliance referred to in this episode is Vala’s attempt to steal the Prometheus in season 8’s Prometheus Unbound.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Season 2 Stargate Stargate Atlantis

Duet

Stargate AtlantisA seemingly quiet reconnaisance mission is shattered by the appearance of a Wraith dart, which leaves Dr. Beckett unharmed but snatches up Rodney and Lt. Cadman, their armed escort. Sheppard and his troops shoot the Dart down, but when the beam is reversed, only Rodney’s body appears – and yet he insists he can hear Lt. Cadman in his head. As he spends more time with his unexpected visitor, Rodney can be seen having arguments in the halls of Atlantis with someone who no one else can see or hear. Cadman insists on coaching Rodney during a much-anticipated date, but even a woman’s insight can do so much to help the socially inept scientist. And when Rodney does devise a plan to reconstitute Lt. Cadman’s body, it’s not guaranteed to help him escape with his sanity or, for that matter, his life.

Order the DVDswritten by Martin Gero
directed by Peter DeLuise
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Jaime Ray Newman (Lt. Cadman), Claire Rankin (Dr. Heightmeyer), Kavan Smith (Major Lorne), David Nykl (Dr. Zelenka), Brenda James (Dr. Brown), Jeffrey Robinson (Wraith Pilot), Tina-Jane Krohn (Scientist)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Battlestar Galactica (New Series) Season 2

Resistance

Battlestar GalacticaDespite promises to the contrary, Colonel Tigh has declared martial law, refusing to allow the release of President Roslin from Galactica’s brig despite protests from the other Colonial ships. Before long, the other ships make their displeasure known by withholding urgently needed fuel and supplies from Galactica, a situation Tigh sends some of the battlestar’s Marines to resolve. But when that encounter turns an uneasy situation into a deadly one, a division begins forming which could lead to a split at best – and a small civil war at worst – as sides are chosen and strategies concocted to help the President escape from Galactica. And on Caprica, Helo and Starbuck discover the last thing they expected: a human militia is gathering strength for a strike against the Cylons. Unfortunately, Cylons are exactly what the resistance fighters think their new visitors are.

written by Toni Graphia
directed by Allan Kroeker
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (CPO Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Paul Campbell (Billy Keikeya), Nicki Clyne (Cally), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Michael Trucco (Anders), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), Donnelly Rhodes (Dr. Cottle), Lorena Gale (Priest Elosha), Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek), Chris Shields (Cpl. Venner), Bodie Olmos (Hot Dog), Leah Cairns (Racetrack), Dominic Zamprogna (Jammer), Tamara Lashley (Sue-Shaun), Jeremy Guilbaut (Lt. Joe “Hammerhead” Palladino), Heather Doerksen (Marine with a sandwich), Curtis Lee Hicks (Marine sergeant)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 4: Miracle Day Torchwood

The Categories Of Life

TorchwoodGwen returns to Cardiff after Rhys informs her that her father has been taken to one of Phi-Corp’s suddenly ubiquitous overflow camps. Dr. Vera Juarez, upon hearing that the U.N. has issued new legal definitions of “categories of life” (with Phi-Corp’s input), leaves Washington for the west coast to join Rex and Torchwood. In Los Angeles, Phi-Corp prepares for a “Miracle Rally” with Oswald Danes as the keynote speaker, though Danes – already suspicious of how elaborately Phi-Corp has covered its own tracks on the internet – is growing irritated with the many drafts of the speech being written for him. Rex decides to exploit his injury to get admitted to an overflow camp, while Esther goes undercover in the camp’s office. Dr. Juarez uses her credentials to give the camp a surprise inspection, and is horrified at what she finds. The camp in Wales is no better, prompting Gwen to try to break her father out of Phi-Corp’s care, with disastrous results. In America, while Jack tries to exploit Danes’ sense that something is wrong at the heart of Phi-Corp, one of the new members of Torchwood will become the first human being to die in many days. But at whose hands?

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Jane Espenson
directed by Guy Ferland
music by Murray Gold and Stu Kennedy

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson), Alexa Havins (Esther Drummond), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Bill Pullman (Oswald Danes), Lauren Ambrose (Jilly Kitzinger), Arlene Tur (Dr. Vera Juarez), William Thomas (Geraint Cooper), Sharon Morgan (Mary Cooper), Tom Price (Sgt. Andy Davidson), Fred Koehler (Ralph), Teddy Sears (Blue Eyed Man), Marc Vann (Colin Rex and the ModuleMaloney), Daniel Adegboyega (Guard), Brad Bell (Nurse Chris), Charles Carpenter (News Reporter), Jim Conway (Man), Jonathan Dane (Handsome Man), Teresa Garza (Spanish Newscaster), Brendan Hughes (Pidgeon), Joelle Elizabeth Jacoby (Excited Teenager), Liz Jenkins (Rachel), Ria Jones (Pushy Woman), Masami Kosaka (Japanese Newscaster), Eve Mauro (Maria Candido), Francince Morgan (Stressed Woman), Stuart Nurse (Thomason), Tracy Pfau (Pale Woman), Caroline Whitney Smith (Paramedic), Vito Viscuso (Angry Man), Randa Walker (Candice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green